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vi PREFACE.
Men of reading and candour may compare this work with that of
Prevost, which still remains the most esteemed of all the former col-
lections ; and then judge whether the plain and veracious plan, here
adopted, be not of superior advantage to the dry historical narrative,
and inaccurate quotations of that meretricious work; which in the French
translation resembles the mistress of the Roman Poet, infida sed pulchra.
The author at first proposed a work of similar beauty, with marginal
indications and other typographical advantages, and some account of the
authors whose travels were not thought worthy of being inserted. But
as on this plan not above one volume could have been published in the
course of a year, it was over-ruled. ‘The omission of the accounts of
obscure travellers is supplied by the ample catalogue contained in the
last volume; and the first plan has been radically adhered to in the
general presentation of the authors, with their original authenticity ; so
that this collection may be used with the same confidence as the original
works themselves ; an advantage which, though of supreme importance,
will rarely be obtained from similar compilations.
Among other advantages of the present, it must not be forgotten that
perhaps the only travels worth preservation, in the former large col-
lections in the English language, by Churchill, Green, Harris, the
Harleian, &c. will here be found reprinted, so as to exonerate the pur-
chaser from a prodigious expense. Many volumes of high price, such
as Pococke’s, Shaw’s, &c. &c. will also be here found entire, with the
single omission of wretched plates, which convey no idea of the objects.
Translations and extracts of many important travels, not before known in
the English language, are also intermingled ; with several small treatises,
objects of research among the curious, and otherwise liable to be lost
or unknown, such as Ferber’s Tract on the Mineralogy of Derbyshire,
Dolomieu’s singular and interesting pamphlet on the terrible Earth-
quakes of Calabria, 1783, only known in the Roman edition; with
several other examples of similar curiosity and rarity. In this point of
‘view it is believed that the purchaser of this work could not procure the
same collection, in the originals, for less than three or four hundred
pounds; not to mention that he must be peculiarly fortunate if he were
to
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