Vlll 
PREFACE. 
communication, even with ignorance itfelf; juft as commerce 
and wealth derive profit from an intercourfe with poverty. Every 
fpecies of knowledge may be promoted by travelling into different 
countries : in all of them there will be found ample fcope for ob- 
fervation and refledion, natural, moral, and political. It is only 
by a comprehenfive and unconfined furvey of nature, external 
and internal, by a growing accumulation of fads and concluftons, 
compared and combined with one another, that the empire of 
fcience is to be extended : and the raoft ftriking objeds for fuch 
a combination and comparifon, will probably be thofe which 
prefent themfelves in a fudden tranfition from one extreme to 
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the other; fuch as from the South to the North of Europe. 
It was not without the utmoft relud&nce, that the Author 
yielded to the preffing folicitations of his friends to print this 
work. It is the firft that he has offered to the public, and he is 
fenfible that it would be in vain to court for it the indulgence of 
his readers, if he fhould fail of recommending himfelf by it to 
their efteem. 
The firft part of thefe Travels, written for the gratification of 
a fmall circle, who were curious to learn the prefent ftate of arts, 
8 fciences. 
