to mdulge Ks tails in lliat puiSiit, and g a t t a inditcriminately whatevet pretenls ilTdf to his
view. Pleated witli his coHeilion. he hattens to his firiends, who. more eiilighlened, and
accuilomed than himtclt to that branch of natural hitlorj-, affitl Mm in the ariangemcnt of
his liltle treafnre, and fmd that in ivhat appeared at fiift fight a mere fit of enthufiafm, has
been the caufe of leading them on impetceplibly to a new field of remarks, and difoovered
frelh i-eafoos for admiring the fuhlinre works of that omnipotent Being, who has created
every thing for the utilit)' and happincis of mankind.
This immenfe ridge of mountains, of about fix hundred miles in extent, which appear
at firtt fight both awRil and tnimendous, wfll, no doubt, loon become to the pliilofophie
traveller a fubjea of ailonifiimcnt and admiration, when he finds tliat the real caufe of
the riclinefs and fertility of tlic Italian foil is in a great meafme owing to thofe vaft heaps
of fnow, wliich, from being almoft perpetual on the fiimmits of thofe icy regions,
form, by melting during the hot fiimmer months, tliofe cxtenCve and numerous rivers
which fertiliie the plains of Lombardy, &e. and tlien precipitate themfelves into the
Adriatic Sea.
The Autlior being defirons of rendering this Work both intercHing and inSraaive, to
fer at Icall as obfervations which were the refult, not of a cnrfory but of repeated and ^
fatigumg inveftigation, andYiEws taken byhunfelf with fidelity and eitailnefs, can make it,
has alternately made nfe of pen and pencil, in order to fnpply with the one what might be
wanthig in the other. Being fully perfuaded that eorreftaels in works of this kind is preferable
to an overflt«ined elegance, which too often Jhinea at the cxpencc of truth, he will
therefore content himfelf witli tekitmg fimply what he has feen. exhibiling the various
objefls as they prefented themfelves to his view and to his ideas.
The Chart at the beginning of the Work, deferiptive of the high toad from Coni to
Antibes. being intended as an itenerary to thofe who may be tempted to vifit that cliain of
the Alps, the Author has omitted fhading the numerous mountains wHch occupy the
greateft part of that eountry. for featofmakhig it too confiifedi but he has particularly
noted tliofe of the Col de Tcnde, the Brovis, and the Brans, as being not only the moft
elevated peaks of the Maritime Alps, but the three which He on tlie direS road from
hence to Italy. A defcription of the inferior mounUins is given in the references.
The accuracy with which this map has been taken need not be doubted, it having
been copied from one of Borgognos, whofe correanefs is too well known, to doubt of
its want of exadtnefs.
The plans of Nice, Monaco, and Vuitimiglia, were taken by himfclf; he can therefore
anfwer for their fidelity.
It may not be unneceifary to acquaint the reader that the " Seled Views in the Soutli
of France," publilhed laft year (an account of which is given in the Englifh journal called
the Monthly Review, of June 1794, page 183), are by the fame author, and to be eonfldered
as a continuation to the prefent work; which would certainly not have appeared till after
this, had not the unforefcen events of war tlurown Toulon into the hands of tlie Engliih,
which dceided him on giving a view, plan, and defcription, of that city, from Ore idea of
its being then peculiarly acceptable to the pubhc; but which does not by any means derange
the prefent undertakuig. as the two volumes will complete the work to the limit the author
had prefcribed, which was, to give an cxaiSl defcription of the road and grand paifage acrofs
the Maridme Alps, from Coni in Italy, to Lyons in France.