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P R E F A C E .
J T may poflibly excite curiofity to know, why a native o f Italy,
a country abounding in all the beauties o f nature, and the
fmeft productions o f art, ihould voluntarily undergo the danger
and fatigue o f vifiting the regions o f the A r&ic Circle.
He promifed to himielf, and he was not diiappointed, much
gratification from contrafting the wild grandeur and fimplicity
o f the North, with the luxuriance, the fmiling afped, and the refinements
o f his own country. He was willing to exchange, for
a time, the beauties o f both nature and art, for the novelty, the
fublimity, and the rude magnificence o f the northern climates.
Nor was it probable that fuch a contracted fcc ne would prove
barren o f inflrudion, or be deftitute o f amufement. There is no
people fo far advanced in civilization, or fo highly cultivated, who
may not be able to derive fome advantage from being acquainted
with the arts and feienees o f other nations, even o f fuch as are
the moll barbarous. T he human underftanding is benefited by
communication,