THROUGH TURKEY IN ASIA, THE HOLY LAND, ARABIA, EGYPT, AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD: GIVING A PARTICULAR AND FAITHFUL ACCOUNT OF WHAT IS MOST MANNERS, RELIGION, POLITY, ANTIQUITIES, AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THOSE COUNTRIES: WITH A CURIOUS DESCRIPTION OF JERUSALEM, AS IT NOW APPEARS, AND BY CHARLES THOMPSON, ESQ. INTERSPERSED WITH THE REMARKS OF SEVERAL OTHER MODERN TRAVELLERS; ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES, HIS- TORICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS. PREFACE. We all find in ourselves a strong desire of viewing the world, and being acquainted with whatever is remarkable in distant nations; but this inclination, how general soever, few have sufficient fortune or opportunity to gratify. And indeed, were it in our power, it would not be very commendable to indulge an idle curiosity, without proposing some real advantage either to ourselves or others. But when we consider that travelling, in its own nature, tends to wean us from our prejudices, to polish our manners, to improve our judgment, to refine our taste, and to furnish us with every kind of useful knowledge; I say, when we consider this, we must own it has of late been deservedly prac tised and encouraged, not only by the nobility and gentry of Great Britain, but those of our neighboring nations. If, then, the advantages of travelling are so evident and unde niable, it necessarily follows, that many must likewise arise from reading the writings of travellers. By this means a man may sit at home in ease and safety, and, for the expense of a few shillings, make all that treasure of observations and experience his own, for which the traveller has gone through innumerable difficulties and dangers, has spent the prime of his years, and perhaps great part of an ample fortune. What we here present the reader with is the travels of the late Mr. CHARLES THOMPSON, whose learning and abilities as a scholar and a gentleman are too well known to need any encomium. In the following work the footsteps of our blessed Saviour and his apostles are traced out, many disputes between historians and travellers adjusted and determined, and the doctrines of our holy religion, illustrated and confirmed; and that in a style so polite, pure and delicate, so easy and familiar, that the learned readers will be agreeably entertained, while the unlearned are both delighted and instructed. The account of the Holy Land will naturally excite our piety and devotion, when we consider it as the theatre of the greatest part of scripture history, and the place where the glorious work of man's redemption was accomplished. When we take a view of Jerusalem, every heap of ruins make us reflect on the instabil ity of human grandeur and remind us that we are strangers and pilgrims upon earth, seeking a city which hath (everlasting) foundations whose builder and maker is God. Our Author's accurate description of this country, and his judicious remarks will be of great service towards a thorough understanding of the Old and New Testament. More time need not be spent in shewing the benefit and pleasure of reading books of this nature; since it is evident, that the geographer and the historian, the architect and the statuary, the poet and the painter, philosopher and the divine; in a word, persons of every art and profession, of every rank and station in life, may draw great advantages from the labours of a wise and judi-. cious traveller. ,°( €, TRAVELS THROUGH TURKEY IN ASIA. WE sailed from Constantinople on the 2d of September, 1733, on board a vessel bound for Smyrna, and in eight days time arrived at the Dardanelles, where we were obliged to stop, as all outward-bound ships are, in order to be searched whether we had any slaves belonging to the Turks;, notwithstanding which caution, scarce a day passes but some of these poor creatures find means to escape. No ship of war, of whatever nation, is exempted from being thus visited, without express orders from the Porte; but indeed the search is little more than a ceremony. Having 'passed by the island of Tenedos on the 13th, the next day we were forced by contrary winds to put into the port of Castro, the capital of the island of Metelin, anciently called Lesbos; where we went ashore, to make some observations on a place so famous in antiquity. It is pretty plain from Strabo's description of the two ports of Mitylene, that Castro was built on its ruins; and how large and magnificent that city was, appears from Cicero, Stephanus Byzantius, Vitruvius,* and other authors. The remains of its ancient grandeur are still abundantly visible; for every where about * Cicero (De Leg. Agrar.) commends the ancient Mitylene for its situation, the beauty of its buildings, and the fertility and pleasantness of the adjacent country: Et natura, et situ, et descriptione ædi. ficiorum, et pulchritudine in primis nobilis Mitylene'; agri jucundi et fertiles, &c. But Vitruvius, (Lib. I. cap. 6.) though he allows the elegance and magnificence of its buildings, does not approve of its situation, as not enjoying a very healthful air : In ea (urbe) quippe dum flat Auster, incolæ ægrotam; dum Caurus, tassiunt; cum Septentrio, in salubritatem restituuntur. |
