uFfome o f which I ihàll infert the names in a note, that they
may be confulted by thofe who chufe it, I do not think I ought
to leave unnoticed the errors o f the writers o f th¿Encyclopédie,,
Cluverius, and de la Martiniere, who' rriày lead many others into
miftakes, as they adtually led me at firft. Therefore I ihall take
the liberty; in the proper places, to fee their miftakes in view.
At prefent I ihall only take notice o f the thameful blunder o f the
author o f the geographical articles in the ’Encyclopédie* who puts
the ifland of Ofero in Italy, and lhews thereby, that, either he
did not Jutow the fituation o f the firft, or the ancient and modem
confines o f the laft. O f this blunder, wnicil is not the only one-
I ihall have occaiion to fpeak again, -J* it is very difagreeable indeed*.
Farlati, IUirico faao, Bordin, all the authors on the ¡(lands,, and efpeclally P .
Coronelh, Pi d’ Avity, in his de/criptions, which are accurate, and'laftly, Salmon.'
in his book o f voyages. , , n } ;
* Diction, de V Encyclopédie> art. Ofero or Qfqro*
+ T o tranfport an ifland from one kingdom to another, or ffom one province-
to another, is certainly a miftake which does no honour to a geographer, but to
create a city where one never exifted, is ftill worfe. T h e Cbcvluer .de 'Iaucourt
frequently inferts, in his articles, fuch particulars, concerning a.place as really
are not, and takes no notice of thofe for which it,is remarkable. We will take
for example the article of Manp,* village well known among us. In the -fiV
cyclopedic, it is called “ a (mall city. of. Italy, in the Paduan territory.” jitbano
'w h ich, in our days, is a very fmall village with few. inhabitants, was never either
city, or town, or caflle. No higher, title than that of village or.hamlet could
ever be given if ;, bqt it was,, and is -ftill fo famous for other reafons, t’hat the
geographer, may be juftly blamed who only laid two or three words, about it and
even thofe not true. He ought rather to have taken notice of the medicinal,
qualities of« its hot baths, and the curious phenomena, that may bé obférved about
it, both in the vegetable and animal kingdoms.. Nothing o f this, however is.
mentioned in the Encyclopédie, and to multiply inaccuracies, the fame geographer
a:few aaicles after, talks of an “ A p e , a fountain of Padua, where there ne-
-ver was a fountain of that name; which feems coined by caprice, being neither
Italian* Latin nor Fjenchv
<fiecd, fhat, an a work o f fuch diftinguifhed merit, there fhouM
!be found fo capital miftakes o f all kinds, which certainly ought
to be correifeed. .Errors, o f fa&,< pfpecially,-ought not to be perpetuated;
and if, through the,in attention or infuflteieney of any
member o f that illuftrious fociety, too great a number are obvious
in the firft edition, the fubfequent editions ihould at lead be
«revifed and corredted.
Concerning the Origins af> the various names above mentioned.
The name o f Jjfirttdes is ixertainly the moftj ahdient appellation
of thefe iflands recorded in any writings now extant
The Greek authors, for the moft part, derive it, asTias been
already obferved, from the murder o f Apfirtus; as they fay fo
much about the expedition from Colchos, in purfuit o f the argonaut
adventurers, and of the royal maiden Medea, that it would
be a kind o f prelumption to aflert the whole to be a fable from
beginning to end. I believe I may fay in this cafe with our
Dante r
O voi che avete g l' intelletti fani,
“ Mirate la dottriha che s'afconde
** Sotio illv ’elame de R acconti Jlramfi
I am very far from pretending to fee the ftory o f the voyages
•and death o f Apfirtus, in fo clear a ligh t, as to take on me to
.affirm it demonftratively true: yet I cannot deny, that I am rather
difpofed to believe it not altogether falfe. Indeed I ihould
look upon myfelf as without any criterion, i f I judged otherwife.
Let this be, however, as it w ill; i f we cbofe to derive the names
° f Apfirtides, Apforus, Crepfa, and AJforrus from a fource more
B b b 2 Ample,