Lie under so many impediments in communicating our
sensations out of our own sphere, as often amount to a total
impossibility.
It will always follow from hence, that the balance of sentimental
commerce is always against the expatriated adventurer: he must buy
what he has little occasion for, at their own price; - his
conversation will seldom be taken in exchange for theirs without a
large discount, - and this, by the by, eternally driving him into
the hands of more equitable brokers, for such conversation as he
can find, it requires no great spirit of divination to guess at his
party -
This brings me to my point; and naturally leads me (if the see-saw
of this desobligeant will but let me get on) into the efficient as
well as final causes of travelling -
Your idle people that leave their native country, and go abroad for
some reason or reasons which may be derived from one of these
general causes:-
Infirmity of body,
Imbecility of mind, or
Inevitable necessity.
The first two include all those who travel by land or by water,
labouring with pride, curiosity, vanity, or spleen, subdivided and
combined ad infinitum.
The third class includes the whole army of peregrine martyrs; more
especially those travellers who set out upon their travels with the
benefit of the clergy, either as delinquents travelling under the
direction of governors recommended by the magistrate; - or young
gentlemen transported by the cruelty of parents and guardians, and
travelling under the direction of governors recommended by Oxford,
Aberdeen, and Glasgow.
There is a fourth class, but their number is so small that they
would not deserve a distinction, were it not necessary in a work of
this nature to observe the greatest precision and nicety, to avoid
a confusion of character. And these men I speak of, are such as
cross the seas and sojourn in a land of strangers, with a view of
saving money for various reasons and upon various pretences: but
as they might also save themselves and others a great deal of
unnecessary trouble by saving their money at home, - and as their
reasons for travelling are the least complex of any other species
of emigrants, I shall distinguish these gentlemen by the name of
Simple Travellers.
Thus the whole circle of travellers may be reduced to the following
HEADS:-
Idle Travellers,
Inquisitive Travellers,
Lying Travellers,
Proud Travellers,
Vain Travellers,
Splenetic Travellers.
Then follow:
The Travellers of Necessity,
The Delinquent and Felonious Traveller,
The Unfortunate and Innocent Traveller,
The Simple Traveller,
And last of all (if you please) The Sentimental Traveller, (meaning
thereby myself) who have travell'd, and of which I am now sitting
down to give an account, - as much out of NECESSITY, and the besoin
de Voyager, as any one in the class.
I am well aware, at the same time, as both my travels and
observations will be altogether of a different cast from any of my
forerunners, that I might have insisted upon a whole nitch entirely
to myself; - but I should break in upon the confines of the VAIN
Traveller, in wishing to draw attention towards me, till I have
some better grounds for it than the mere NOVELTY OF MY VEHICLE.
It is sufficient for my reader, if he has been a traveller himself,
that with study and reflection hereupon he may be able to determine
his own place and rank in the catalogue; - it will be one step
towards knowing himself; as it is great odds but he retains some
tincture and resemblance, of what he imbibed or carried out, to the
present hour.
The man who first transplanted the grape of Burgundy to the Cape of
Good Hope (observe he was a Dutchman) never dreamt of drinking the
same wine at the Cape, that the same grape produced upon the French
mountains, - he was too phlegmatic for that - but undoubtedly he
expected to drink some sort of vinous liquor; but whether good or
bad, or indifferent, - he knew enough of this world to know, that it
did not depend upon his choice, but that what is generally called
CHOICE, was to decide his success: however, he hoped for the best;
and in these hopes, by an intemperate confidence in the fortitude
of his head, and the depth of his discretion, Mynheer might
possibly oversee both in his new vineyard; and by discovering his
nakedness, become a laughing stock to his people.
Even so it fares with the Poor Traveller, sailing and posting
through the politer kingdoms of the globe, in pursuit of knowledge
and improvements.
Knowledge and improvements are to be got by sailing and posting for
that purpose; but whether useful knowledge and real improvements is
all a lottery; - and even where the adventurer is successful, the
acquired stock must be used with caution and sobriety, to turn to
any profit: - but, as the chances run prodigiously the other way,
both as to the acquisition and application, I am of opinion, That a
man would act as wisely, if he could prevail upon himself to live
contented without foreign knowledge or foreign improvements,
especially if he lives in a country that has no absolute want of
either; - and indeed, much grief of heart has it oft and many a time
cost me, when I have observed how many a foul step the Inquisitive
Traveller has measured to see sights and look into discoveries; all
which, as Sancho Panza said to Don Quixote, they might have seen
dry-shod at home. It is an age so full of light, that there is
scarce a country or corner in Europe whose beams are not crossed
and interchanged with others. - Knowledge in most of its branches,
and in most affairs, is like music in an Italian street, whereof
those may partake who pay nothing.
