All I fret and fume at, and what most distresses my invention at present, is how to bring the point itself to bear; for as your worships well know, that of these heavenly emanations of _wit_ and _judgment_, which I have so bountifully wished both for your worships and myself—there is but a certain _quantum_ stored up for us all, for the use and behoof of the whole race of mankind; and such small modicums of ’em are only sent forth into this wide world, circulating here and there in one bye corner or another—and in such narrow streams, and at such prodigious intervals from each other, that one would wonder how it holds out, or could be sufficient for the wants and emergencies of so many great estates, and populous empires. Indeed there is one thing to be considered, that in _Nova Zembla, North Lapland_, and in all those cold and dreary tracks of the globe, which lie more directly under the arctick and antartick circles, where the whole province of a man’s concernments lies for near nine months together within the narrow compass of his cave—where the spirits are compressed almost to nothing—and where the passions of a man, with every thing which belongs to them, are as frigid as the zone itself—there the least quantity of _judgment_ imaginable does the business——and of _wit_——there is a total and an absolute saving—for as not one spark is wanted—so not one spark is given. Angels and ministers of grace defend us! what a dismal thing would it have been to have governed a kingdom, to have fought a battle, or made a treaty, or run a match, or wrote a book, or got a child, or held a provincial chapter there, with so _plentiful a lack_ of wit and judgment about us! For mercy’s sake, let us think no more about it, but travel on as fast as we can southwards into _Norway_—crossing over _Swedeland_, if you please, through the small triangular province of _Angermania_ to the lake of _Bothmia_; coasting along it through east and west _Bothnia_, down to _Carelia_, and so on, through all those states and provinces which border upon the far side of the _Gulf_ of _Finland_, and the north-east of the _Baltick_, up to _Petersbourg_, and just stepping into _Ingria_;—then stretching over directly from thence through the north parts of the _Russian_ empire—leaving _Siberia_ a little upon the left hand, till we got into the very heart of _Russian_ and _Asiatick Tartary._