lOIO 
A curious and concije Defcription of Book HI. 
If the Europems had never entertained much bolder 
and more romantick Schemes than thefe, we had never 
known more of Japan ; than what was handed to us in 
Ma:fco Polo*& Travels ; and why our Anceftors in Cock- 
Boats, in Comparifon of our Ships, and with few or 
none of the Advantages vs^hich we poffefs, fhould at- 
tempt Difcoveries, eftablilh Colonies, and make Con- 
quefts that we ought not fo much as to entertain any 
Thoughts of, is paying fo high a Compliment to them, 
and throwing fo depreciating a Charader upon ourfelves, 
as with all our Faults I think we can hardly deferve. 
But fuppofe we did take it for granted, that we were 
luch mean fpirited daftardly Creatures as this Compari- 
fon would make us, let us not expedt that our Pofterity 
, muft follow our Examples, or that we are to decline 
and grow downwards to the End of Time. If foftened 
by Luxury, if enervated by Corruption, if hampered 
by private Interefts,. and the Chains of exdufive Com- 
panies, the prefent Generation dare ad nothing that is 
great and noble, let us at leaft preferve our Thoughts 
free, and difcover, fettle, and conquer in Imagination ; 
nor need we debar ourfelves the poor PJeafure of ho- 
ping that thofe who come after us may be better than 
we, as well as thofe that went before us. 
II. When fuch a Race of Men fhall arife, the Ad- 
vantages that we have already propofed will in all 
Probability appear fufEcient to engage them either to 
chufe one of thefe Methods which we have offered, or 
to think of fome other which may be preferable to 
kny of them, and which at the fame Time may do 
Honour to their own Invention. They will alfo in all 
Probability pufh Things kill farther, and entertain Hopes 
of new Difcoveries, when they once find themfelves 
fettled on the Frontiers, as it were, of the known 
World. I beg my Readers will now refled, that I 
fpeak of thofe who fhall live when we are no more, 
and that I do not pretend to exped any modern Su- 
percargoes, who can make great Fortunes in two or 
at moft three Voyages, Fadors at Buenos Ayres^ Pana- 
ma or Jamaica^ who in the Space of a few Years can 
rife from Indigence to Opulence, though now and then 
their Pradices may plunge the Nation in a feven Years 
War or fo •, or thofe adive and bufy Spirits, who know 
how to fifh golden Treafures out of the troubled Wa- 
ters of ^Change- Alley ; I fay, I do not exped that thefe 
fhould fo much as relifh my Propofals, much lefs con- 
cern themfelves in their Execution ; indeed I fhould be 
forry if they did, for I fliould then have the Mortifi- 
cation to fee the Trade to Corea made a Bubble; or, 
the Revival of our Commerce to Japan^ a Jobb. No, 
I pleafe myfelf with the Profped of a new Race of 
Men, who when our Confufions are over, and our Ani- 
mofities buried in Oblivion ; when Parties, Fadions, 
Intrigues, Corruption and Stockjobbing fhall '^be no 
more, may inhabit under a new Heaven as it were on a 
new Earth, 
It is from thefe Men, full of the good old Engli/h 
Spirit, that fent Drake and Cavendijh round the World, 
that infpired the great Sir Walter Raleigh with the View 
of peopling Virginia^ and even in our degenerate 
Times, excited another Gentleman I need not name, to 
an Attempt which will be the wonder of future Ages, 
as the Negled of it will be the Reproach of ours ; from 
thefe Men, I fay, I exped that when they have fixed 
fuch an Eftablilhment as I have been fpeaking of, that 
they would confider what it is makes the Japan Trade fo 
dear to the Dutch, in Spite of the Dangers, the Diffi- 
culties, and the difagreeable Circumftances with which 
it is attended. They will find, that it is the rich Cop- 
per they receive from thence, by which they always 
make fourfcore, and fometimes Cent, per Cent, that it 
is the Silver of which they likewife make a Profit, and 
that a great Part of the former, and almoft all the lat- 
ter, come to the Japonefe, from Countries to the North- 
eaft of their own, and of thefe Countries wherever they 
lie, I make no Doubt but fuch EngUJhmen, upon thefe 
Informations, will go in Quefl. 
I'hefe Countries muft be inhabited, otherwife their 
Mines could not be wrought, and from the Climates in 
which they lie, the People muft ftand in Need of warm 
Cloathing, fo that without Queftion, our woollen Ma- 
nufadures would be very acceptable to them ; when 
thefe Countries are found, they will lead to the Difco- 
very of new, for Countries without doubt there are, 
from Japan to California ; and as the wife Columbus 
rightly forefaw, that a Weft Courfe, muft of Neceffity 
carry Men from Europe to the Ea§i-Indies ; fo with equal 
Security we may pronounce, that this North-eaft Navi-* 
gation will fooner or later bring them to that North- 
weft Paflfage, which whenever it is difcovered, will fee 
the Name of Dobbs on a Level vfith that of Magellan, 
I do not wifh that thefe Difcoveries fliould lead to Con- 
queft, or that the Englijh, like the Spaniards, fliould em- 
ploy their Force in fubduing the Natives, and bury 
Millions in digging to fupport thek Luxury. No, from 
fuch Men I exped better Things, and that they will 
place their Glory in what all- wife Providence has made 
their Intereft, in civilizing the Savages they may find, 
in teaching them Humanity, and the Truths of the 
Gofpei, and in Exchange for the Bleffings their own 
fruitful Countries enjoy, bring back the Tribute of 
thofe new difcovered Lands. 
Thefe are high and noble Sentiments, which howe- 
ver flighted and defpisM by fuch as have no Principle 
but Gain, and no God but Gold, are thofe that tend 
to make a People truly great, and to eftablifli that 
Grearnefs upon a Foundation never to be Ihkken. If 
the modern, narrow and felfifh Notions had prevailed 
in former Ages, the Eaji-Indies and the Weji had ftili 
remained unknown ; and if they had not been propa- 
gated in fucceeding Times, there would not remain at 
this Day a full third Part of the habitable Globe to 
be difcovered. At the fame Time that we know this 
with as much Certainty as it is polfible, that a Thing 
of this^Nature fliould be known, we cannot but be fen- 
fible that it is ridiculous to complain of Want of 
Trade, while fo many Branches remain unopened *, we 
likewife know, that within a fliort Time after their 
being firft difcovered. Trades are the moft profitable, 
and are at the fame Time eafieft kept, as appear’d by 
our preferving for a long Time our Commerce with 
Ruffia, in Confequence of our finding the Route thither 
by Archangel, and our quiet Enjoyment of the Hudfon\ 
Bay Trade, in Virtue alfo of our being the firft Dif- 
coverers. 
To fuch Men as I have deferibed, to thofe who hava 
found Heads and honeft Hearts, thefe will be perfuafive 
Arguments ; and far from confidering the Revival of 
the Trade to Japan, as the utmoft Limits of their 
Hopes and the Britijh Commerce, they will embrace 
every Opportunity to carry their own Knowledge, and 
the Commodities of their Country farther, and try 
every Method that can Art dictate, or Genius can devife, 
for gaining frefli Information. Nor will they have any 
Apprehenfions that their Labours may prove fruitlefs, 
or their Difcoveries ineffedual, fince this will be fuf- 
pefting Providence, and fuppofing that God would cre- 
ate Countries, and place Men in them beneath the No- 
tice, and unworthy the Conveffation of their Fellow- 
Creatures ; which, impious as it is, may be agreeable 
enough to the Pride of corrupted Minds, but muft 
feem equally abfurd and fliocking to every well fea- 
foned Underftanding. Befides, Experience tells us, 
that never any Difeovery was yet made, which proved 
utterly ufelefs, ineffedual, or when properly pur- 
fued. 
The Coaft of Guinea, when firft vifited by the Par- 
tugueje, did not promile any mighty Things, and yet 
it proved the Way to the Indies. The Country about 
the Cape of Good Hope was deferred by more Nations 
than one, as abfolutely worthlefs and incorrigible, and 
yet in the Hands of the Dutch it it a kind of terreftriai 
Paradife. We may fay the fame of the Shores of the 
Magellanic Straits, which are inhofpitable to the laft 
Degree ; but they open into the South-Seas, and are, if I 
may be allowed the Expreflion, the Gates to a new 
jWorld. As thefe are Wonders difclofed by paft Dif- 
coveries; they may well provoke Men of high Spirits 
and true Courage to profecute the fame Road, and en- 
deavour, by frefh Expeditions of the fame kind, to ri- 
