A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xviii Part 28

Besides the want of capital, which might be supplied, and would indeed be actually supplied by industry and invention, the French are dest.i.tute of the stimulus to industry and invention. As a nation, they are much more disposed to be content with a little, and to enjoy what they possess without risk, anxiety, or further labour, than to increase their wealth at such a price.

The princ.i.p.al commercial ports of France on the Atlantic are Havre, St.

Maloes, Nantes, Bourdeaux, and Bayonne: Ma.r.s.eilles is the only commercial port of consequence in the Mediterranean. The princ.i.p.al exports of France are wines, brandy, vinegar, fruit, oil, woollen cloth of a very fine quality, silk, perfumery, &c.: the imports are Baltic produce, the manufactures of England; fruits, drugs, raw wool, leather, &c. from Spain, Italy, and the Mediterranean states.

3. The next division of Europe comprehends Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece.

Spain, a country highly favoured by nature, and at one period surpa.s.sed by no other kingdom in Europe in civilization, knowledge, industry, and power, exhibits an instructive and striking instance of the melancholy effects of political degradation. Under the power of the Arabians, she flourished exceedingly; and even for a short period after their expulsion, she retained a high rank in the scale of European kingdoms. The acquisition of her East Indian and American territories, and the high eminence to which she was raised during the dominion of Charles V. and his immediate successors,--events that to a superficial view of things would have appeared of the greatest advantage to her,--proved, in fact, in their real and permanent operation, prejudicial to her industry, knowledge, and power.

It would seem that the acquisition of the more precious metals, which may be likened to the power of converting every thing that is touched into gold, is to nations what it was to Midas,--a source of evil instead of good. Spain, having subst.i.tuted the artificial stimulus of her American mines in the place of the natural and nutritive food of real industry, on which she fed during the dominion of the Moors, gradually fell off in commercial importance, as well as in political consequence and power. The decline in her commerce, and in her home industry, was further accelerated and increased by the absurd restrictions which she imposed on the intercourse with her colonies. All these circ.u.mstances concurring, about the period when she fell into the power of the house of Bourbon,--that is, about the beginning of the eighteenth century,--she sunk very low in industry and commerce, and she has, since that period, continued to fall.

And yet, as we have observed, she possesses great natural advantages: a sea coast on the Atlantic and Mediterranean of considerable extent; a great variety of climate and soil, and consequently of productions,--she might become, under a wise and free government, distinguished for her political power and her commerce.

On the Atlantic, the first port towards the north is Saint Sebastian; then succeeds Bilboa, St. Andero, Gijon, Ferrol, and Corunna; but though some of these, especially Ferrol and Corunna, possess excellent harbours, yet the poverty of the adjacent country prevents them from having much trade. To the south of Portugal is Seville, on the Guadalquiver, sixteen leagues from the sea; large vessels can ascend to this city, but its commerce was nearly destroyed by the transfer of the colonial trade to Cadiz. This last town, one of the most ancient commercial places in the world, is highly favoured both by nature and art as a port; and before the French revolutionary war, and the separation of the American colonies from the mother state, was undoubtedly the first commercial city in Spain. The exports of the northern provinces consist princ.i.p.ally in iron, wool, chesnuts and filberts, &c.; the imports, which chiefly come from England, Holland, and France, are woollen, linen, and cotton goods, hardware, and salted fish.

On the Mediterranean, Malaga may be regarded as the third commercial city in Spain, though its harbour is not good; the other ports in this sea, at which trade is carried on to any considerable extent, are Carthagena, Alicant, and Barcelona, which ranks after Cadiz in commercial importance, and now that the colonial trade is destroyed, may be placed above it. The princ.i.p.al exports from these Mediterranean towns are wines, dried fruits, oils, anchovies, wool, barilla, soap, kermes, antimony, vermilion, brandy, cork, silk, &c. Barcelona formerly exported an immense number of shoes to the colonies. The imports consist chiefly of Baltic produce, the articles enumerated as forming the imports of the north of Spain, and some articles from Italy and Turkey.

Portugal, not nearly so extensive as Spain, nor blessed with such a fertile territory, is before her in commerce: she possesses two sea-ports of the first consideration, Lisbon and Oporto; and five of the second cla.s.s. There are few cities that surpa.s.s Lisbon in commerce. The princ.i.p.al trade of Portugal is with England; from this country she receives woollens and other manufactures; coals, tin, salted cod, Irish linen, salt provisions, and b.u.t.ter: her other imports are iron from the north of Spain; from France, linens, silks, cambrics, fine woollens, jewellery; from Holland, corn, cheese, and drugs for dying; from Germany, linens, corn, &c.; and from Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, Baltic produce. The princ.i.p.al exports of Portugal are wine, oil, fruits, cork, &c.

The Italian States, the origin of the commerce of the middle ages, are no longer remarkable for their trade; the princ.i.p.al ports for commerce are Leghorn, Naples, Venice, Genoa, Messina, and Palermo. The exports of Leghorn are silk, raw and manufactured; straw hats, olive oil, fruits, marble, &c.: its chief trade, however, consists in the importation of English merchandize, which it distributes to all parts of the Mediterranean, receiving in return their produce to load the British s.h.i.+ps on their home voyage. The greatest import to Naples consists in European manufactured goods, and salt fish; its exports are those of Leghorn, with capers, wool, dye stuffs, manna, wax, sulphur, potash, macaroni, &c. Venice has declined very much, from the influence of political circ.u.mstances: her exports are olives, looking-gla.s.ses, rice, coral, Venice treacle, scarlet cloth, and gold and silver stuffs; the imports are similar to those of Leghorn and Naples. The exports and imports of Genoa, consisting princ.i.p.ally of those already enumerated, do not require particular notice.

Sicily, a very rich country by nature, and formerly the granary of Rome, has fallen very low from bad government: her exports are very various, including, beside those already mentioned, barilla, a great variety of dying drugs and medicines, goat, kid, and rabbit skins, anchovies, tunny fish, wheat, &c.: its chief imports are British goods, salted fish, and colonial produce.

The princ.i.p.al trade of Greece is carried on by the inhabitants of Hydra, a barren island. The commerce of the Hydriots, as well as of the rest of Greece, was very much benefited by the scarcity of corn which prevailed in France in 1796, and subsequently by the attempts of Bonaparte to shut British manufactures from the continent. These two causes threw the greatest part of the coasting trade of the Mediterranean into their hands.

The chief articles of export from Greece are oil, fruits, skins, drugs, volonia, and gall nuts, cotton and wool. The imports are princ.i.p.ally English goods, and colonial produce, tin, lead, &c.

We have already dwelt on the causes which produced the immense commercial superiority of England; and we shall, therefore, now confine ourselves to an enumeration of its princ.i.p.al ports, and the princ.i.p.al articles of its export and import. London possesses considerably above one-half of the commerce of Great Britain; the next town is undoubtedly Liverpool; then may be reckoned, in England, Bristol, Hull, Newcastle, Sunderland, Yarmouth, &c.; in Scotland, Greenock, Leith, Aberdeen, Dundee, &c.; in Ireland, Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Belfast, Waterford, &c. From the last return of the foreign trade of Great Britain it appears, that by far the most important article of export is cotton manufactures and yarn, amounting in real or declared value to nearly one-half of the whole amount of goods exported; the next articles, arranged according to their value, are woollen manufactures, refined sugar, linen manufactures, iron, steel and hardware, bra.s.s and copper manufactures, gla.s.s, lead, and shot, &c. &c.; of colonial produce exported, the princ.i.p.al articles are coffee, piece goods of India, rum, raw sugar, indigo, &c. &c. The princ.i.p.al imports of Great Britain are cotton wool, raw sugar, tea, flax, coffee, raw silk, train oil and blubber, madder, indigo, wines, &c. &c. The princ.i.p.al imports into Ireland consist of old drapery, entirely from Great Britain; coals, also entirely from Great Britain; iron wrought and unwrought, nearly the whole from Great Britain; grocery, mostly direct from the West Indies; tea, from Britain, &c. &c. In fact, of the total imports of Ireland, five-sixths of them are from Great Britain; and of her exports, nine-tenths are to Great Britain.

The princ.i.p.al articles of export are linen, b.u.t.ter, wheat, meal, oats, bacon, pork, &c. &c.

On the 30th September, 1822, there belonged to the United Kingdom 24,642 vessels, making a total of 2,519,044 tons, and navigated by 166,333 men; of the vessels employed in the foreign trade, including their repeated voyages, in the year ending the 5th of January 1823, there were about 12,000, of which upwards of 9,000 were British and Irish, and the rest foreign vessels. The coasting trade of England is calculated to employ 3000 vessels. We have already stated the proportion which the trade of Ireland to Britain bore to her trade with the rest of the world; this point may be still further elucidated by the following fact: that the number of vessels, (including their repeated voyages,) which entered the ports of Ireland, from all parts of the world, in the year ending the 5th of January, 1823, was 11,561, and that all these, except 943, came from Great Britain.

From this rapid view of the commerce of the European states, it appears that, with the exception of Great Britain, by far the largest portion and greatest value of the exports of each country consist in the produce of the soil, either in its raw and natural state, or after having undergone a change that requires little industry, manual labour, or mechanical agency.

Britain, on the contrary, derives her exports almost entirely from the produce of her wonderful mechanical skill, which effects, in many cases, what could alone be accomplished by an immense population, and in a few cases, what no manual labour could perform.

In reviewing the commerce of the remaining parts of the world, we shall find the articles that const.i.tute it almost exclusively the produce of the soil, or, where manufactured, owing the change in their form and value to the simplest contrivances and skill. We shall begin with Asia.

Turkey possesses some of the finest portions of this quarter of the globe; countries in which man first emerged into civilization, literature, and knowledge; rich in climate and soil, but dreadfully degraded, oppressed, and impoverished by despotism. The exports from the European part of Turkey are carpets, fruit, saffron, silk, drugs, &c.: the princ.i.p.al port is Constantinople. From Asiatic Turkey there are exported rhubarb and other drugs, leather, silk, dye stuffs, wax, sponge, barilla, and hides: nearly the whole foreign trade is centered in Smyrna, and is in the hands of the English and French, and Italians. The imports are coffee, sugar, liqueurs, woollen and cotton goods, lead, tin, jewellery, watches, &c.

China, from the immense number of its population, and their habits, possesses great internal commerce; but, with the exception of her tea, which is taken away by the English and Americans, her export trade is not great. She also carries on a traffic overland with Russia, to which We have already alluded, and some maritime commerce with j.a.pan. Besides tea, the exports from China are porcelain, silk, nankeens, &c.; the imports are the woollen goods, and tin and copper of England; cotton, tin, pepper, &c. from the British settlements in India; edible birds' nests, furs, &c.

The trade of j.a.pan is princ.i.p.ally with China: the exports are copper, lackered ware, &c.; the imports are raw silk, sugar, turpentine, drugs, &c.

The trade of the Birman empire is also princ.i.p.ally with China, importing into it cotton, amber, ivory, precious stones, betel nuts, &c., and receiving in return raw and wrought silk, gold leaf, preserves, paper, &c.

European broad cloth and hardware, Bengal muslins, gla.s.s, &c. are also imported into this country.

But by far the most important commerce that is carried on in the eastern parts of Asia, consists in that which flows from and to Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. In fact, the English country trade there, as it is called, is of great value, and embraces a very great variety of articles. Bombay is the grand emporium of the west of India, Persia, and Arabia; here the productions of those countries are exchanged against each other, and for the manufactures, &c. of England. The princ.i.p.al articles of export from Bombay to these places, as well as to England, are cotton piece goods, sugar, and saltpetre, received from Bengal; pepper from Sumatra; coffee from the Red Sea. The imports from Europe are woollens, tin, lead, &c. A very lucrative trade is carried on from Bombay to China, to which it exports cotton in very great quant.i.ty, sandal wood, &c., and receives in return sugar, sugar-candy, camphire, nankeens, &c. There is also considerable traffic between Bombay and Bengal, Ceylon, Pegu, and the Malay archipelago. The exports of Ceylon are cinnamon, arrack, coir, cocoa nuts: the imports are grain, piece goods, and European merchandize. The commerce of the eastern coast of Hindostan centers in Madras: the exports from this place are princ.i.p.ally piece goods, grain, cotton, &c.; the imports, woollen manufactures, copper, spirits, pepper, and other spices. The trade of Bengal may be divided into four branches: to Coromandel and Ceylon, the Malabar coast, Gulph of Persia and Arabia, the Malay archipelago and China and Europe. The princ.i.p.al exports by the port of Calcutta are piece goods, opium, raw silk, indigo, rice, sugar, cotton, grain, saltpetre, &c.: the princ.i.p.al imports are woollen goods, copper, wine, pepper, spices, tea, nankeen, camphire, &c.

A considerable trade is carried on in the Malay archipelago from Prince of Wales Island, which, since it was settled by the English, has become the emporium of this trade.--Batavia, Bencoolen, and Achen; the princ.i.p.al articles of export from these islands are cloves, nutmegs, camphire, pepper, sago, drugs, b.i.+.c.hedemer, birds' nests, gold dust, ivory, areca nuts, benzoin, tin, &c.: the imports are tea, alum, nankeens, silks, opium, piece goods, cotton, rice, and European manufactures. Manilla is the depot of all the productions of the Philippines, intended to be exported to China, America, and Europe. The exports of these islands are birds' nests, ebony, tobacco, sugar, cotton, cocoa, &c. The commerce of New Holland is still in its infancy, but it promises to rise rapidly, and to be of great value: a soil very fertile, and a climate adapted to the growth of excellent grain, together with the uncommon fineness of its wool, have already been very beneficial to its commerce.

The external commerce of Persia is princ.i.p.ally carried on by the foreign merchants who reside at Muscat, on the Persian Gulph: into this place are imported from India, long cloths, muslins, silks, sugar, spices, rice, indigo, drugs, and European manufactures; the returns are copper, sulphur, tobacco, fruits, gum-arabic, myrrh, frankincense, and all the drugs which India does not produce.

The Red Sea, washed on one side by Asia, and on the other by Africa, seems the natural transit, from this consideration, of the commerce of the former quarter of the globe to that of the latter. Its commerce is carried on by the Arabians, and by vessels from Hindostan: Mocha and Judda are its princ.i.p.al ports. The articles sent from it are coffee, gums and drugs, ivory, and fruit: the imports are the piece goods, cotton, and other produce of India; and the manufactures, iron, lead, copper, &c. of Europe.

Egypt, in which anciently centered all the commerce of the world, retains at present a very small portion of trade: the princ.i.p.al exports from Alexandria consist in the gums and drugs of the east coast of Africa, Arabia, Persia, and India; rice, wheat, dates, oil, soap, leather, ebony, elephants' teeth, coffee, &c. The imports are received chiefly from France and the Italian States, and England; and consist in woollen and cotton goods, hardware, copper, iron, gla.s.s, and colonial produce. The commerce of the Barbary States is trifling: the exports are drugs, grain, oil, wax, honey, hides and skins, live bullocks, ivory, ostrich feathers, &c.; the imports, colonial produce, (which indeed finds its way every where,) cutlery, tin, woollen and linen goods, &c. The exports of the rest of Africa are nearly similar to those enumerated, viz. gums, drugs, ivory, ostrich feathers, skins, gold dust, &c. From the British settlement at the Cape are exported wine, wheat, wool, hides, &c.

The United States claim our first notice in giving a rapid sketch of the commerce of America: we have already pointed out the causes of their extraordinary progress in population and wealth. American s.h.i.+ps, like English ones, are found in every part of the world: in the South Sea Islands, among people just emerging into civilization and industry; among the savages of New Zealand; on the north-west coast of America; and on the dreadful sh.o.r.es of New South Shetland. Not content with exporting the various productions of their own country, they carry on the trade of various parts of the globe, which, but for their instrumentality, could not have obtained, or ever have become acquainted with each other's produce.

The exports from America, the produce of their own soil, are corn, flour, timber, potash, provisions, and salt fish from the northern States; corn, timber, and tobacco from the middle States; and indigo, rice, cotton, tar, pitch, turpentine, timber, and provisions, to the West Indies, from the southern States. The imports are woollen, cotton goods, silks, hardware, earthen-ware, wines, brandy, tea, drugs, fruit, dye-stuffs, and India and colonial produce. By far the greatest portion of the trade of the United States is with Great Britain. The princ.i.p.al ports are Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans.

The British settlements in America export, chiefly from Quebec and Halifax, corn, potash, wheel timber, masts, lumber, beaver and other furs, tar, turpentine, and salted fish from Newfoundland. The imports are woollen and cotton goods, hardware, tea, wine, India goods, groceries, &c.

The exports of the West India Islands are sugar, coffee, rum, ginger, indigo, drugs, and dye stuffs. The imports are lumber, woollen and cotton goods, fish, hardware, wine, groceries, hats, and other articles of dress, provisions, &c.

Brazil, and the late Spanish settlements in America, countries of great extent, and extremely fertile, promise to supply very valuable articles for commerce; even at present their exports are various, and chiefly of great importance. Some of the most useful drugs, and finest dye stuffs, are the produce of South America. Mahogany and other woods, sugar, coffee, chocolate, cochineal, Peruvian bark, cotton of the finest quality, gold, silver, copper, diamonds, hides, tallow, rice, indigo, &c. Carthagena, Porto Cabello, Pernambucco, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Ayres, are the princ.i.p.al ports on the east coast of South America; and Valparaiso, Calloa (the port of Lima), Guayaquil, Panama, and Acapulco, on the west coast.

Our sketch of commerce would be incomplete, did it not comprehend a short notice of the manner in which the trade of great part of Asia and Africa is conducted, by means of caravans. This is, perhaps, the most ancient mode of communication between nations; and, from the descriptions we possess, the caravans of the remotest antiquity were, in almost every particular, very similar to what they are at present. The human race was first civilized in the East. This district of the globe, though fertile in various articles which are well calculated to excite the desires of mankind, is intersected by extensive deserts; these must have cut off all communication, had not the camel,--which can bear a heavy burden, endure great famine, is very docile, and, above all, seems made to bid defiance to the parched and waterless desert, by its internal formation, and its habits and instinct,--been civilized by the inhabitants. By means of it they have, from the remotest antiquity, carried on a regular and extensive commerce.

The caravans may be divided into those of Asia and those of Africa: the great centre of the former is Mecca: the pilgrimage to this place, enjoined by Mahomet, has tended decidedly to facilitate and extend commercial intercourse. Two caravans annually visit Mecca; one from Cairo, and the other from Damascus. The merchants and pilgrims who compose the former come from Abyssinia; from which they bring elephants' teeth, ostrich feathers, gum, gold dust, parrots, monkies, &c. Merchants also come from the Senegal, and collect on their way those of Algiers, Tunis, &c. This division sometimes consists of three thousand camels, laden with oils, red caps, fine flannels, &c. The journey of the united caravans, which have been known to consist of 100,000 persons, in going and returning, occupies one hundred days: they bring back from Mecca all the most valuable productions of the East, coffee, gum arabic, perfumes, drugs, spices, pearls, precious stones, shawls, muslins, &c. The caravan of Damascus is scarcely inferior to that of Cairo, in the variety and value of the produce which it conveys to Mecca, and brings back from it, or in the number of camels and men which compose it. Almost every province of the Turkish empire sends forth pilgrims, merchants, and commodities to this caravan. Of the Asiatic caravans, purely commercial, we know less than of those which unite religion and commerce; as the former do not travel at stated seasons, nor follow a marked and constant route. The great object of those caravans is to distribute the productions of China and Hindustan among the central parts of Asia. In order to supply them, caravans set out from Baghar, Samarcand, Thibet, and several other places. The most extensive commerce, however, carried on in this part of Asia, is that between Russia and China.

We have already alluded to this commerce, and shall only add, that the distance between the capitals of those kingdoms is 6378 miles, upwards of four hundred miles of which is an uninhabited desert; yet caravans go regularly this immense distance. The Russians and Chinese meet on the frontiers; where the furs, linen and woollen cloth, leather, gla.s.s, &c. of Russia, are exchanged for the tea, porcelain, cotton, rice, &c. of China.

This intercourse is very ancient. There are also caravans of independent Tartars, which arrive on the Jaik and Oui, and bring Chinese and Indian commodities, which they interchange for those of Russia.

Tombuctoo is the great depot of central Africa: with it the maritime states of Egypt, Tripoli, Algiers, Tunis, and Morocco carry on a very extensive and lucrative trade by means of caravans. They take 129 days in travelling to Tombuctoo from the borders of the desert, but only fifty-four are spent in actual travelling. There is also another caravan which sets off from Wedinou, and after collecting salt at West Tagossa, proceeds to Tombuctoo.

This goes as far as the White Mountains, near Cape Blanco, and is occupied five or six months in its journey. The merchandize carried by these caravans is German linens, Irish linens, muslins, woollen cloth, coral beads, pearls, silk, coffee, tea, sugar, shawls, bra.s.s nails, &c. &c. In exchange they bring back chiefly the produce of Soudan, viz. gold dust, gold rings, bars of gold, elephants' teeth, gum, grains of paradise, and slaves. There are also several caravans that trade between Cairo and the interior of Africa, which are solely employed in the traffic of slaves.

There can be no doubt that caravans arrive at Tombuctoo from parts of Africa very distant from it, and not only inaccessible, but totally unknown, even by report, to Europeans, and even to the inhabitants of North Africa.

What a picture does modern commerce present of the boundless desires of man, and of the advancement he makes in intellect, knowledge, and power, when stimulated by these desires! Things familiar to use cease to attract our surprise and investigation; otherwise we should be struck with the fact, that the lowest and poorest peasant's breakfast-table is supplied from countries lying in the remotest parts of the world, of which Greece and Rome, in the plenitude of their power and knowledge, were totally ignorant. But the benefits which mankind derives from commerce are not confined to the acquisition of a greater share and variety of the comforts, luxuries, or even the necessaries of life. Commerce has repaid the benefits it has received from geography: it has opened new sources of industry; of this the cotton manufactures of Britain are a signal ill.u.s.tration and proof:--it has contributed to preserve the health of the human race, by the introduction of the most valuable drugs employed in medicine. It has removed ignorance and national prejudices, and tended most materially to the diffusion of political and religious knowledge. The natural philosopher knows, that whatever affects, in the smallest degree, the remotest body in the universe, acts, though to us in an imperceptible manner, on every other body. So commerce acts; but its action is not momentary; its impulses, once begun, continue with augmented force. And it appears to us no absurd or extravagant expectation, that through its means, either directly, or by enlarging the views and desires of man, the civilization, knowledge, freedom and happiness of Europe will ultimately be spread over the whole globe.

[6] Since this part of our work was written, the narrative of Lieutenant Franklin has been published: from this it appears, that he was engaged in this arduous undertaking during the years 1819, 1820, 1821, and 1822; that the route he followed to the Coppermine River was to the east o the routes of M'Kenzie and Hearne; that he reached the river three hundred and thirty-four miles north of Fort Enterprize; and the Polar Sea in lat. 67 47' 50"; and in longitude 115 36' 49" west; that he sailed five hundred and fifty miles along its sh.o.r.es to the eastward, and then returned to Port Enterprize.

CATALOGUE OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.

_Preliminary Observations on the Plan and Arrangement pursued in drawing up this Catalogue_.

It is obvious, that whoever undertakes to draw up a catalogue of books on any particular subject, must proceed on one or other of these two plans,--either to give a complete catalogue of all the works published on that subject, or a select catalogue of what seems to him the best works. It is scarcely necessary to point out the objection to the first plan, arising from the impracticability of making any catalogue absolutely complete; but it may be said, though not absolutely complete, it may, by sufficient information and diligence, be rendered nearly so. Let us suppose, then, that by unwearied a.s.siduity and research, aided and guided by the requisite knowledge, a catalogue is rendered as perfect as it practically can be made,--is the utility of such a catalogue enhanced in a proportion any thing approaching to the labour, research, and time expended upon it; or, rather, would not such a catalogue be much less useful than one within smaller compa.s.s, drawn up on the plan of selection?

On all subjects there are more bad or indifferent works published than good ones. This remark applies with peculiar justice and force to modern works of voyages and travels. A very extensive catalogue, therefore, must contain a large portion of bad or indifferent books, which are not worth the purchasing, the consulting, nor the perusing; consequently, if such works appear in a catalogue drawn up for the purpose of guiding those who purpose to travel in particular countries, to write on the subject of them, or merely to read respecting them for the sake of information, it is plain that such a catalogue cannot be trusted as a safe and judicious guide; as if the persons consulting it select for themselves, there is an equal chance of selecting useless books as good ones; and if they attempt to peruse all, they must waste a great deal of time.

It may be said, however, that this objection can easily be obviated, by distinguis.h.i.+ng such works as are bad or indifferent from such as are good, either by a short notice, or by a particular mark. The first plan necessarily must increase the size of the catalogue; and it really appears a piece of superfluous labour to introduce works not worthy to be perused, and then, either by a notice or mark, to warn the reader from the perusal of them. Is it not much more direct to omit such works altogether?

As the object in view in the present catalogue is to render it useful to the generality of readers, and not valuable to the bibliographer, those works are omitted which have no other recommendation but their extreme scarcity. For such works are of course accessible only to very few, and when obtained, convey little interest or information.

A select catalogue then appears to be the most useful, and of course must occupy less room. But to this objections start up, which it will be proper to consider.

In the first place, What is the criterion of good works of voyages and travels? The antiquarian will not allow merit to such as pa.s.s over, or do not enter, _con amore_, and at great length, into the details of the antiquities of a country: the natural historian is decidedly of opinion, that no man ought to travel who is not minutely and accurately acquainted with every branch of his favourite science, and complains that scarcely a single work of travels is worthy of purchase or perusal, because natural history is altogether omitted in them, or treated in a popular and superficial manner. Even those who regard man as the object to which travellers ought especially to direct their attention, differ in opinion regarding the points of view in which he ought to be studied in foreign countries. To many the travels of Johnson and Moore seem of the highest merit and interest, because these authors place before their readers an animated, philosophical, and vivid picture of the human character; whereas other readers consider such works as trifling, and contend that those travels alone, which enter into the statistics of a country, convey substantial information, and are worthy of perusal.

Whoever draws up a catalogue, therefore, must, in some measure, consult the judgment, taste, and peculiar studies of all these cla.s.ses of readers, and endeavour to select the best works of travels in all these branches.