For any deviation from that carefully adopted arrangement, the heads of
which are here repeated.
GENERAL PLAN OF THE WORK.
PART I.
Voyages and Travels of Discovery in the middle ages; from the era of
Alfred, King of England, in the ninth century to that of Don Henry of
Portugal at the commencement of the fourteenth century.
PART II.
General Voyages and Travels chiefly of Discovery; from the era of Don
Henry, in 1412, to that of George III. in 1760.
PART III.
Particular Voyages and Travels arranged in systematic order,
Geographical and Chronological.
Note. - This part will be divided into five books, comprehending, I.
Europe. - II. Asia. - III. Africa. - IV. America. - V. Australia and
Polynesia; or the prodigious multitude of islands in the, great: Pacific
Ocean. And all these will be further subdivided into particular chapters or
sections correspondent to the geographical arrangements of these several
portions of the globe.
PART IV.
General Voyages and Travels of Discovery during the era of George III.
which were conducted upon scientific principles, and by which the Geography
of the globe has been nearly perfected. .
PART V.
Historical Deduction of the Progress of Navigation Discovery and
Commerce by sea and land, from the earliest times to the present
period.
In the deliberate construction of this systematic plan, it has been a
leading object of anxious consideration, to reduce the extensive and
interesting materials of which the work is composed under a clear,
intelligible, and comprehensive arrangement, so combined in a geographical
and chronological series, that each successive division and subdivision,
throughout the whole work, may prepare the mind of the reader for that
which is to follow, and may assist the memory in the recollection of what
has gone before. By these means, an attentive perusal of this work must
necessarily be of material usefulness, in fixing distinct and just ideas of
geography, history, and chronology in the minds of its readers; besides the
important information and rational amusement which it will afford, by the
frequent description of manners, customs, laws, governments, and many other
circumstances, of all the countries and nations of the world.
In determining upon an era for the commencement of this work, the Editor
was naturally led, from a consideration of the accidental discovery of
Iceland by the Norwegians in the ninth century, as coincident with
the reign of the great ALFRED, who ascended the throne of England in 872,
to adopt that period as the beginning of the series, both because the
commencement of modern maritime discovery took place during the reign of a
British sovereign, and because we derive the earliest written accounts of
any of these discoveries from the pen of that excellent prince. It is true
that the first accidental discovery of Iceland appears to have been made in
861, eleven years before the accession of Alfred to the throne; yet, as the
actual colonization of that island did not take place till the year 878,
the seventh of his glorious reign, we have been induced to distinguish the
actual commencement of maritime discovery by the modern European nations as
coinciding with his era.
From that time, till the year 1412, when Don Henry, Prince of Portugal,
first began to prosecute a consecutive series of maritime discoveries along
the western coast of Africa, during which a long inactive period of 551
years had elapsed, the only maritime incident connected with our subject,
was the accidental re-discovery of the Canary or Fortunate Islands, by a
nameless Frenchman, about the year 1330, though they were not attempted to
be taken possession of till 1400. This long interval, between the eras of
King Alfred and Don Henry, constitutes the first Part, or grand
division of our work, in the course of which, a considerable number of
adventurous travellers penetrated into the almost unknown regions of
Tartary and the East, and considerable notices of the empire of China, and
even of Japan, and of the coast and islands of India and north-eastern
Africa, were communicated to the Europeans by the Polos and others.
In separating Part IV. from Part II. the General Voyages and Travels of
Discovery which have been undertaken during the long and busy reign of our
present venerable Sovereign, from those of a similar nature which succeeded
the discovery of the new world, and of the route by sea to India, the
Editor only pays a just tribute to the enlightened spirit of the age, under
the munificent and enlightened patronage of the beloved Monarch of a free
and happy people. Those former voyages of Part II. were mostly undertaken
from mere interested views of direct or expected commercial benefit; while
these of the era of George III. originated in the grand principles of
endeavouring to extend the bounds of science and human happiness.
Perhaps it may occur to some readers, that PART V. the last in order of the
general heads of our plan, ought to have formed PART I. as partaking of the
nature of an introduction to the subject, and forming a summary of the
whole work. Upon even a very slight consideration, however, it must be
obvious, that it is impossible to compose that proposed deduction in any
adequate manner, until the whole mass of selected materials is possessed by
the Editor, and definitively arranged. It may likewise be known to many,
that introductions and prefaces, though usually placed at the beginning of
books, are uniformly and necessarily last composed, and usually last
printed, except in new editions.
A great variety of Collections of Voyages and Travels have been published
at different periods, many of which are inaccessible from their scarcity,
or from being in foreign languages: And such great numbers of Voyages and
Travels to particular regions and countries have been printed, as to be
Altogether unattainable by the generality of readers.
