"Before I [S. S.] enter upon the more important part of my dissertation [The Explanation of the Apocalypse], it may not be improper to give you some account of the present state of the Seven Churches in Asia, as they are, _which was communicated to me_ by a certain _friend of mine_, in the description of a short tour which _he_ made through the principal parts of the Levant: should they be accompanied with a few casual notes _of my own_, I trust the work will not be less acceptable to you on that account." It must be obvious, after this declaration, that the _Tour_ set forth so conspicuously in the title-page, was not written by Swinney. Now the "Itinerary" which follows is advowedly "wrote by _the author of the preceding account_," and this brings the reader and the work itself to "The End!" The truth I suspect to have been this:--Swinney was not prudent and was poor, and raised money occasionally, after the miserable fashion of the time, by publishing books on subscription, and receiving subscriptions in anticipation of publication. About this time, from 1767 to 1769, he published a _Sermon_; _The Ninth Satire of Horace_, a meaningless trifle of a hundred lines, swollen, by printing the original and notes, into a quarto; a volume of _Fugitive Pieces_; and the first canto of _The Battle of Minden, a Poem in three Books, enriched with critical Notes by Two Friends, and with explanatory Notes by the Author_. Of the latter work, as of the _Tour_, I have never seen but one copy, a splendid specimen of typography, splendidly bound, containing the first and second canto. Whether the third canto was ever published is to me doubtful; some of your correspondents may be able to give you information. My own impression is that it was not, and for the following reasons. Swinney, it appears, had received subscriptions for the work, and promised in his prospectus _a plan of the battle_, and _portraits_ of the heroes, which the work does not contain. "However, to make some little amends" to his "generous subscribers," Swinney announces his intention to present them with "_three_ books instead of _one_." The first book is dedicated to Earl Waldegrave, who commanded "the six British regiments of infantry" on the "ever memorable 1st August, 1759," and a note affixed states that "Book the Second" will be published on 1st January, and "Book the Third" on 1st of August. But the public, as Swinney says, were kept "in suspense" almost three years for the second book, which was not published until 1772; and in the dedication of this second book, also to Earl Waldegrave, Swinney says: