nations of Europe, that Great Britain is eminently qualified by art and nature to carry on a widely extended commerce, as she derives every requisite for that purpose from her insular situation, the produce of her lands and plantations, the excellence and variety of her manufactures, the skill and perseverance of her sailors, and the opulence and enterprising disposition of her merchants.

CHAPTER IV.

FOREIGN TRAVEL.

AS travelling is considered a part of education indispensably necessary for all young men of rank and fortune, it becomes a very interesting subject of observation. The most important topics which this subject includes are its general advantages, the con sideration of the time of life when the traveller ought to begin his excursions, the previous information necessary to be acquired, the countries most proper to be visited, the objects most deserving his attention; and what are the best effects, which a tour through foreign countries is calculated to produce upon the character and manners.

Travelling, as far as it introduces a man into genteel and well informed society in various parts of the world, and leads to an extensive knowledge of persons and places, expands the mind, removes local prejudices, produces a comparison between our own and foreign

countries, satisfies that curiosity and that fondness for change, which are so natural to mankind, supplies new sources of pleasing and useful information, and conduces to the increase of philanthropy and generosity of sentiment. He who is confined to his own country reads only one page of the book of human nature, and perpetually studies the same lesson; nor does he understand that completely, from his ignorance of its relative merit, and connexion with all other parts.

If the great and the opulent reside constantly in their own country, they are acquainted only with a luxurious, easy, and enervating mode of living. Foreign travel enures them to the severity of wholesome hardships; the dangers of the sea, disturbed nights, scanty fare, uncomfortable inns, and bad roads diversify their lives, and place them in new situations. Thus they experience such changes and wants, as render the luxuries which they can command at home, and which otherwise would be insipid, the sources of real enjoyment; and their occasional privations of ease and plenty may increase their sympathy for the lower and more indigent classes of the community.

He who forms his notions of mankind from his constant residence in one and the same place, resembles the child who imagines the heavens are confined to his own limited prospect. The Russians, before the reign of Peter the Great, thought themselves possessed of every national blessing, and held all other people in contempt; so contracted were they in their notions as to believe that their northern mountains encompassed the globe. The untravelled Spaniard may suppose that every Englishman is dressed in boots and a hunting-cap, and that horses and

dogs are the constant subjects of his thoughts and conversation. The untravelled Englishman may imagine that the Spaniard is always wrapt in a cloak, that he is a prey to perpetual jealousy, and is haughty, superstitious, and inactive. These misconceptions may probably result, in a considerable degree, from the popular novels of each country; and the Knight of La Manca and Squire Western may have equally caused them to mistake a particular for a general character, and filled them with false and exaggerated notions of each other. Thus is one nation disposed to draw such a caricature of another, as gives an extravagant as well as an unpleasing idea of the original; it is only amid the civilities of mutual intercourse, and the exchange of friendly offices, that the true and faithful likeness can be taken.

"Not long ago the map of the world in China was a square plate, the greater part of which was occupied by the provinces of that vast empire, leaving on its skirts a few obscure corners, into which the wretched remainder of mankind were supposed to be driven. If you have not the use of our letters, nor the knowledge of our books, said a mandarin to a European missionary, what literature, or what science can you have." Ferguson on Civil Society, p. 313.

Travelling not only divests the mind of such prejudice as this, but gives the highest polish to the manners. This polish however does not result from that excessive attention of the traveller to his deportment and external appearance, which takes off the mind from more important pursuits, and gives a studied air to his general, behaviour; but arising originally from true benevolence, and a desire to please, is perfected by intercourse with well-bred and polite company,

displays itself upon every occasion in an easy and unaffected carriage, an unembarrassed address, and proper attention to all around him. It has no connexion with effeminacy or formal ceremony, or with that cringing mien and affected complaisance, which would be inconsistent with the ingenuousness, and would lessen the dignity of a British gentleman.

The qualifications of a young traveller ought to be such, as may not only exempt him from the imputation of frivolous curiosity, but enable him to derive the greatest advantages from his excursions. His mind ought to be improved by a classical education : after having studied at the university the most important points, which form the subjects of this work, he will be well qualified for his intended tour. He ought to possess a critical knowledge of his own language, to understand the laws, constitution, and history of his own country, the forms of proceeding in our courts of justice, and the state of our commerce, agriculture, and arts. In such points he ought by no means to be deficient since to make a comparison between other countries and his own, is more particularly requisite as an obvious and leading object of attention. Such preparatory acquirements will give a young man great advantages in his conversation with foreigners, particularly if they are intelligent and well informed. They form the basis of education, upon which travelling may be raised, as its highly ornamental and elegant superstructure.

Let him not hasten to foreign countries, before he has satisfied his curiosity by exploring the most interesting parts of his own. There are various places which will fully repay the labour and the expense of his excursions, directed as they may be to different

and pleasing objects of pursuit and observation. It is almost superfluous to mention the wild and romantic scenes of Wales, and the North of England; the highly cultivated fields of Norfolk, Berkshire, and Kent; the manufactures and commerce which distinguish London, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, and Birmingham, and the large and populous county of York; the beautiful scenes of the Isle of Wight and Derbyshire, and the flourishing cities, fisheries, and manufactories of Scotland. In the course of these domestic excursions, whatever is most beautiful and curious in the fine arts, whatever is deposited in the cabinets of the virtuosi, produced in manufactories, or dug in the mines, should not be disregarded.

"In those vernal seasons of the year, when the air is calm and pleasant, it were an injury and sullenness against nature, not to go out and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with heaven and earth. I should not therefore be a persuader to them of studying much then, after two or three years that they have laid their grounds, but to ride out in companies with prudent and staid guides, to all quarters of the land; learning and observing all places of strength, all commodities of building and of soil for towns and tillage, harbours, and ports for trade; sometimes taking sea as far as to our navy, to learn there also what they can on the practical knowledge of sailing and of seafight. These ways would try all their peculiar gifts of - nature; and if there were any secret excellence among them, would fetch it out, and give it fair opportunities to advance itself by, which could not but mightily redound to the good of the nation, and bring into fashion again those old admired virtues and excellencies, with