It may be said, too, there are faults in the language; more pains should have been taken. Perhaps it may be so; yet there has not been wanting a considerable degree of attention even to this. I have not indeed confined myself to a painful and slavish nicety that would have produced nothing but a disagreeable stiffness in the narrative. It will be remembered likewise, that one of the motives of my writing is my own amusement, and I would much rather renounce the subject altogether than walk in fetters of my own forging. The language is, like the subject, rude and manly. My paths have not been flowery ones, nor would it have added any credit to the work, or entertainment to the reader, to employ in it a stile proper only to works of imagination and pleasure. These trifling faults I willingly leave as food to the malice of critics, who perhaps, were it not for these blemishes, would find no other enjoyment in the perusal of the work. It has been said that parties have been formed against this work. Whether this is really the case I cannot say, nor have I ever been very anxious in the inquiry. They have been harmless adversaries at least, for no bad effects, as far as I know, have ever as yet been the consequences; neither is it a disquisition that I shall ever enter into, whether this is owing to the want of will or of power. I rather believe it is to the former, the want of will, for no one is so perfectly inconsiderable, as to want the power of doing mischief. Having now fulfilled my promise to the reader, in giving him the motive and order of my travels, and the reason why the publication has been delayed, I shall proceed to the last article promised, the giving some account of the work itself. The book is a large one, and expensive by the number of engravings; this was not at first intended, but the journey has proved a long one, and matter has increased as it were insensibly under my hands. It is now come to fill a great chasm in the history of the universe. It is not intended to resemble the generality of modern travels, the agreeable and rational amusement of one vacant day, it is calculated to employ a greater space of time. Those that are the best acquainted with Diodorus, Herodotus, and some other Greek historians, will find some very considerable difficulties removed; and they that are unacquainted with these authors, and receive from this work the first information of the geography, climate, and manners of these countries, which are little altered, will have no great occasion to regret they have not searched for information in more ancient sources.