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THE THIRD QUARTO EDITION OF

PART THE FIRST.

A

THIRD Edition of the FIRST PART of these Travels, within the short space of time that has elapsed since its original publication, may be considered as affording a good practical answer to certain objections which have been made against it. Whether this presumption be true or false, the author ventures, upon such encouragement, to proceed with the rest of the work according to his original plan.

In the present Edition, the text has been revised: the account given of the state of the society in Russia has been suffered to remain nearly as it was printed in the former Editions, and as it was written upon the spot.

TRUMPINGTON, near CAMBRIDGE,

May 1, 1813.

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THE SECOND QUARTO EDITION OF

PART THE FIRST.

In the present Edition, some verbal corrections will be found in various passages. Some additions have also been made; and it is hoped that they will add to the general interest excited by the work. The Notes, in certain instances, have been augmented, and the number of Inscriptions increased, by very valuable communications from Charles Kelsall, Esq. of Trinity College, Cambridge, who lately pursued a similar route to that of the author, in the South of Russia. Robert Corner, Esq. of Malta, has also obligingly added to the Appendix, an important article concerning the Internal Navigation of the Russian Empire'.

After the fullest and most impartial consideration, the author is contented to rest the truth

(1) See the Appendix to this Volume.

and validity of his remarks, concerning the Russian character, upon the evidence afforded by almost every enlightened Traveller who has preceded him. In addition to their testimony, the unpublished observations of the late Lord ROYSTON' may be adduced, to shew that, subsequently to the author's travels, and under happier auspices of government in Russia, the state of society appeared to that gifted young Nobleman, as it has been described in the following pages. Lord ROYSTON, when writing to an

(1) The kindness of the Earl of Hardwicke authorizes this allusion to his Son's Letters. Lord ROYSTON's name carries with it a claim to public consideration. Although the knowledge of his great acquirements had scarcely transpired beyond the circle of his Academical acquaintance, his erudition was regarded, even by a PORSON, with wonder. The loss sustained by his death can never be retrieved; but some consolation is derived from the consciousness that all the fruits of his literary labours have not been annihilated. The sublime prophecy of his own Cassandra, uttering “a parable of other times," will yet be heard; in his native language, shewing "her dark speech," and thus pourtraying his melancholy end.

"Ye cliffs of Zarax, and ye waves which wash

Opheltes' crags, and melancholy shore,

Ye rocks of Trychas, Nedon's dangerous heights,
Dirphossian ridges, and Diacrian caves,

Ye plains where Phorcyn broods upon the deep,

And founds his floating palaces, what sobs
Of dying men shall ye not hear? what groans
Of masts and wrecks, all crashing in the wind?
What mighty waters, whose receding waves
Bursting shall rive the continents of earth?"

Viscount Royston's Cassandra, p. 28.

accomplished friend, who was snatched from the pursuit of worldly honours by a fate as untimely, although not so sudden as his own?, thus briefly, but emphatically, characterizes the state of refinement in the two great cities of the Russian Empire'. "A journey from Petersburg to Moscow is a journey from Europe to Asia. With respect to the society of the former city, I am almost ashamed to state my opinion, after the stubborn fact of my having twice returned thither, each time at the expense of a thousand miles but although I had not imagined it possible that any place could exist more devoid of the means of enjoying rational conversation, I am now, since my residence here, become of a different opinion. Not that I have not been excessively interested, both during this and my former visit to Moscow. The feudal magnificence of the nobility, the Asiatic dress and manners of the common people, the mixture of nations to be seen here, the immensity, the variety, and the singular architecture of the city, present, altogether, a most curious

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(2) Rev. G. D. Whittington, author of an Historical Survey of Gothic Architecture," published since his death by certain of his distinguished friends. See the elegant tribute to his memory, in a Preface to that work, by the Earl of Aberdeen. ¿

(3) This Letter is dated, Moscow, April 13th, 1809.

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