The Present Work Is The First Of The Kind That Has Ever Been Attempted In
Scotland:
And though, as already avowed in the Prospectus, the Editor has
no wish to detract from the merits of
Similar publications, it might appear
an overstrained instance of false delicacy to decline a statement of the
circumstances which, he presumes to hope, will give some prospect of the
work being received with attention and indulgence, perhaps with favour. It
certainly is the only General History and Collection of Voyages and
Travels that has been hitherto attempted in the English language, upon any
arrangement that merits the appellation of a systematic plan. And
hence, should the plan adopted be found only comparatively good, in so far
the system of arrangement must be pronounced the best that has been as yet
devised. If this be conceded, and the fact is too obvious to require
extended proof or minute elucidation, the Editor shall not feel mortified
even if his arrangement may be considerably improved hereafter.
The only work on the subject that has the smallest pretensions to system,
and that is fanciful, involved, irregular, abrupt, and obscure, is PURCHAS
HIS PILGRIMS. Even admitting the plan of that work to be in itself
excellent; although it may be a General History, so far as it
extends, it certainly is in no respect a Complete Collection of
Voyages and Travels. In a very large proportion of that curious work, it is
the author who speaks to the reader, and not the traveller.
In the present work, wherever that could possibly be accomplished, it has
uniformly been the anxious desire of the Editor that the voyagers and
travellers should tell their own story:
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