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PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION

OF

FATHER LOBO'S VOYAGE

TO ABYSSINIA.*

THE

HE following relation is fo curious and en tertaining, and the differtations that accompany it fo judicious and inftructive, that the tranflator is confident his attempt ftands in need of no apology, whatever cenfures may fall on the performance.

The Portuguese traveller, contrary to the general vein of his countrymen, has amufed his reader with no romantick abfurdites or incredible fictions: whatever he relates, whether true or not, is at leaft probable; and he who tells nothing exceeding the bounds of probability, has a right to demand that they should believe him who cannot contradi& him.

He appears by his modeft and unaffected narration, to have defcribed things as he faw them, to have copied nature from the life, and to have confulted his fenfes, not his imagination. He meets with no bafilifks that destroy with their eyes; his crocodiles devour their prey without tears; and his cataracts fall from the rock without deafening the neighbouring inhabitants.

For an account of this book, fee the Life of Dr. JOHNSON, by the Editor.

The

The reader will here find no regions curfed with irremediable barrennefs or bleft with fpontaneous fecundity; no perpetual gloom or unccafing funfhine; nor are the nations here defcribed either devoid of all fenfe of humanity, or confummate in all private and focial virtues: here are no Hottentots without religion, polity, or articulate language; no Chinese perfectly polite, and completely skilled in all fciences: he will difcover what will always be difcovered by a diligent and impartial inquirer, that wherever human nature is to be found, there is a mixture of vice and virtue, a conteft of paffion and reafon; and that the Creator doth not appear partial in his diftributions, but has balanced in moft countries their particular inconveniencies by particular favours.

In his account of the miffion, where his veracity is moft to be fufpected, he neither exaggerates overmuch the merits of the jefuits, if we confider the partial regard paid by the Portuguese to their countrymen, by the jefuits to their fociety, and by the papifts to their church, nor aggravates the vices of the Abyffiians; but if the reader will not be fatisfied with a popish account of a popifh miffion, he may have recourse to the Hiftory of the Church of Abyffinia, written by Dr. Geddes, in which he will find the actions and fufferings of the miffionaries placed in a different light, though the fame in which Mr. Le Grand, with all his zeal for the Roman church, appears to have feen them.

This learned differtator, however valuable for his industry and erudition is yet more to be esteemed for having dared fo freely in the midft of France, to declare his difapprobation of the patriarch Oviedo's

fanguinary

anguinary zeal, who was continually importuning the Portuguefe to beat up their drums for miffionaries who might preach the gofpel with fwords in their hands, and propagated by defolation and flaughter the true worship of the God of peace.

It is not eafy to forbear reflecting with how little reafon these men profefs themfelves the followers of JESUS, who left this great characteristick to his difciples, that they should be known by loving one another, by univerfal and unbounded charity and be

nevolence.

Let us fuppofe an inhabitant of fome remote and fuperior region, yet unfkilled in the ways of men, having read and confidered the precepts of the gospel, and the example of our Saviour, to come down in fearch of the true church; if he would not enquire after it among the cruel, the infolent, and the oppreffive; among thofe who are continually grafping at dominion over fouls as well as bodies; among thofe who are employed in procuring to themfelves impunity for the moft enormous villanies, and studying methods of deftroying their fellow-creatures, not for their crimes but their errors; if he would not expect to meet benevolence engage in maffacres, or to find mercy in a court of inquifition-he would not look for the true church in the church of Rome.

Mr. Le Grand has given in one differtation an example of great moderation, in deviating from the temper of his religion; but in the others has left proofs, that learning and honefty are often too weak to oppose prejudice. He has made no fcruple of preferring the teftimony of father Du Bernat to the writ

ings

ings of all the Portaguefe jefuits, to whom he allows great zeal, but little learning, without giving any other reafon than that his favourite was a Frenchman. This is writing only to Frenchmen and to papifts: a proteftant would be defirous to know, why he must imagine that father Du Bernat had a cooler head or more knowledge, and why one man, whofe account is fingular, is not more likely to be mistaken than many agreeing in the fame account.

If the Portuguese were biaffed by any particular views, another bias equally powerful may have deflected the Frenchman from the truth; for they evidently write with contrary defigns: the Portuguefe, to make their miffion feem more neceffary, endeavoured to place in the ftrongeft light the differences between the Abyffinian and Roman church; but the great Ludolfus, laying hold on the advantage, reduced thefe later writers to prove their conformity.

Upon the whole the controverfy feems of no great importance to thofe who believe the Holy Scriptures fufficient to teach the way of falvation; but, of whatever moment it may be thought, there are no proofs fufficient to decide it.

His difcourfes on indifferent fubjects will divert as well as inftruct; and if either in thefe, or in the relation of father Lobo, any argument fhall appear unconvincing, or defcription obfcure, they are defects incident to all mankind, which however are not too rafhly to be imputed to the authors, being fometimes perhaps more juflly chargeable on the tranflator.

In this tranflation (if it may be fo called) great liberties have been taken, which, whether juftifiable

or

or not fhall be fairly confeffed, and let the judicious part of mankind pardon or condemn them.

In the first part the greatest freedom has been used, in reducing the narration into a narrow compafs; fo that it is by no means a tranflation, but an epitome, in which, whether every thing either useful or entertaining be comprised, the compiler is leaft qualified to determine.

In the account of Abyffinia, and the continuation, the authors have been followed with more exactness; and as few paffages appeared, either infignificant or tedious, few have been either shortened or omitted.

The differtations are the only part in which an exact tranflation has been attempted; and even in thofe, abstracts are fometimes given inftead of literal quotations, particularly in the firft; and fometimes other parts have been contracted.

Several memorials and letters, which are printed at the end of the differtations to fecure the credit of the foregoing narrative, are entirely left out.

It is hoped that after this confeffion, whoever fhall compare this attempt with the original, if he fhall find no proofs of fraud or partiality, will candidly overlook any failure of judgment.

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