MEMOIR OF PENNANT. 
35 
he says, “ A few years ago, I grew fond of imaginary 
tours, and determined on one to climes more suited to 
my years, more genial than that of the frozen north. 
I still found, or fancied that I found, abilities to di- 
rect my pen. I determined on a voyage to India.” 
We can almost imagine the day-dreams which sug- 
gested these narratives, can follow the now aged na- 
turalist to the splendid scenes which his extensive 
reading would call up in the east, and see him in the 
fancied delight of traversing a country so rich in the 
stores of both art and nature. But he could not 
stop here : he built up a fabric which he meanwhile 
knew he never would complete ; and the same well- 
stored imagination carried him over most of the 
countries in the world. We. must agree with his 
concluding reflection, “ Happy is the age that could 
thus beguile its fleeting hours without injury to any 
one, and, with the addition of years, continue to rise 
in its pursuits.” 
The work which he now planned at his sixty- 
seventh year, was to consist of fourteen quarto vo- 
lumes ! It was to be entitled, “ Outlines of the 
Globe," and was to contain a sketch of every coun- 
try in the world, with their productions. Four vo- 
lumes only were published ; and two of these ap- 
peared after the decease of their author, being super- 
intended by his son. The two first arc devoted to 
India, the one containing what he denominates Wes- 
tern Hindostan and the Island of Ceylon; the se- 
cond reviewing the line of the Ganges, or Gangetic 
