exhausted. It may be observed, likewise, that the same objects are
capable of exciting a greater or less degree of interest according to the
manner in which they are viewed and represented, and the colouring that
is gram to them. The Voyage d’un Philosopher by Monsieur Le Poivre,
contakts in point of fact no new discoveries, very little information, and
that «little not always correct, and abounds in declamation • yet it is a book
that h|\yays has been and must continue to be read with pleasure, and
one from which some instruction may be derived.
The Author is not unaware of an objection that may be urged against the
present work, on account of the shortness of the stay made at each of the
places which were wisited on the voyage. He certainly does not mean to set
up pretensions to ample and accurate information on every spbject.,which
he has introduced : a book of voyages or travels does not indeed imply it j
but, at the same time, he has no hesitation in saying that, by him who makes
a proper use of his eyes and his ears, much knowledge may be collected
within the sphere of his observations, in the course of a very few days. It
has justly been remarked, that a person will obtain a more correct notion of
a city or town from walking the length of one of its principal streets, than
from the most detailed description. The truth of the observation will be
felt by every one who may have passed up one side and down the other
of the High Streetjin Oxford. In like manner the natural historian, in
skimming over the surface of a country, will be able to seize and to communicate
a more distinct and comprehensive view of its productions, and
their value, than one who, ignorant of natural history, shall have passed his
whole life upon the spot. And here the Author cannot but lament his own
want of knowledge, and consequently the deficiency of his materials, in this
part of his subject. It was in the progress of the voyage he was first made
sensible of the high and important advantages which a competent knowledge
of natural history is capable of imparting. To him thus instructed, every
living creature, however contemptible it may appear to common eyes ;
every plant that grows, from the stately tree of the forest down to the
humble moss, every stone, from the sparkling diamond to the dull
pebble that strews his path; in short, every object in the creation, however
insignificant in ordinary estimation, is capable of exciting in Khe
naturalist a lively degree of interest, Whether he may chance to proll
the flowery fields, or climb the mountain’s brow, or walk the strap, or
sail upon the ocean, he has at all times and on all occasions thsj means
within himself o f deriving from the surrounding objects a pleasurd'Sand an
advantage denied to those who have neglected the study of this valuable
branch of science. Such will only meet with dreary wastes,- atfiMeel no
■other sensation than that of weariness, where the .observer ofjature
“ Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,#
« Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.” .-JpF
v J p
But not to himself alone are confined the superior advantages which necessarily
result from the knowledge o f natural bjstory. Without a
•systematic classification, it is next to impossible focommunicate to others
distinct ideas of any particular object among the almost endless variety
»that occurs in the universe. To say that an unknown plant resembles such
a plant that is known, when perhaps in point of fact they are totally unlike,
except in the shape of a leaf, is conveying not|mly vague but faulty
information. The Author would, therefore, most earnestly recommend
to every young person, and more particularly to such ¡as may be designed
for travel, the study of natural history | by which the will contribute
largely to the stock of his own pleasures, as well as to the real information
of those to whom he may afterwards communicate his Gjfeservations.
The moral and physical advancement or retardationpf Europeans in their
foreign settlements \ the influence of their conduct on mat of the natives, and
its effect in promoting the happiness or increasing did misery of the latter, in
accelerating or retarding their progress towards civilization; their endeavours
to extend the cultivation of suchjarticles of colonial produce as are
valuable for local consumption or for commerce, are subjects of the highest
importance to the concerns of humanity, but such as can only be accurately
represented after long and «patient investigation, conducted with