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In the course of the subsequent narrative, the author has generally used a plural expression, even with reference to his own personal observations. This mode of writing was adopted, not solely, with a view to divest his style of egotism, but in allusion to his friend, the cause and companion of his travels, JOHN MARTEN CRIPPS, M.A. of Jesus College, Cambridge; whose unceasing ardour in prosecuting every enterprise, added to the mildness and suavity of his manners, endeared him to the inhabitants of every country he visited. The constancy and firmness which he preserved through all the trials and privations of a long and arduous journey as well as the support which he rendered to the author, in hours of painful and dangerous sickness, demand the warmest expressions of gratitude. The Plants collected during the route were the result of their mutual labour; but the whole of the Meteorological Statement in the Appendix', together with the account given of Relays and Distances, are due to his patient observation and industry.

To the Rev. REGINALD HEBER, late Fellow of All-Souls' College, Oxford, the author is indebted

(1) See the Appendix to Vols. II. IV. VI. & VIII.
(2) Ibid.

for the valuable Manuscript Journal which afforded the extracts given in the Notes. In addition to Mr. Heber's habitual accuracy, may be mentioned the statistical information, which stamps a peculiar value on his observations: this has enriched the volume by communications which the author himself was incompetent to supply.

TO AYLMER BOURKE LAMBERT, Esq. Fellow of the Royal, Antiquarian, and Linnæan Societies, author of several Botanical writings, and, among others, of a splendid work on the Genus Pinus, as well as possessor of the finest Herbarium in Europe, for his kindness in arranging the Plants collected in the Crimea, and in preparing a List of them for the Appendix'.

If the Vignettes prefixed to the several Chapters, answer the purpose for which they were intended, by exhibiting, within a small compass,

(3) See Appendix to Vol. II. Mr. Lambert is the present possessor of the celebrated Herbarium of Pallas, purchased by Mr. Cripps during his residence with the Professor, and brought to England, in the Braakel, by the author's brother, the late Captain George Clarke, of the Royal Navy, A. D. 1805.

and in the least obtrusive manner, objects referred to in the text,-the merit is solely due to her, whose name appears occasionally annexed to those Designs, and who, from the rudest documents, has afforded an elegant and faithful representation of truth.

Notwithstanding the care bestowed upon the accuracy of the text, it is highly probable that some errors have escaped the author's notice. Should this prove to be the case, it is hoped that the Public will overlook defects in the style of a mere writer of travels; from which the more responsible pages of an Addison, a Steele, and a Gibbon, have not been found exempt. In the progress of transcribing a journal written in a foreign land, remote from scenes of literature, more attention was often given to fidelity of extract, than to elegance, or even purity of composition.

The unsettled state of English orthography, as far as it affects the introduction of Russian names, produces considerable embarrassment to the writer who wishes to follow a fixed rule. Upon this subject it not only happens that no two authors agree, but that the same author is inconsistent. Jonas Hanway, whose writings are

more accurate than those of any other English traveller who has visited Russia, may be considered as affording, perhaps, the best model in this respect: but Hanway himself is not consistent'.

In the Russian alphabet there is no letter answering to our W; yet we write Moscow, and Woronetz. Where custom has long sanctioned an abuse of this kind, the established mode seems preferable to any deviation which may wear the appearance of pedantry. The author has, in this respect, been guided by the authority and example of Gibbon; who affirms, that "some words, notoriously corrupt, are fixed, and as it were naturalized, in the vulgar tongue. The Prophet Mohammed can no longer be stripped of the famous, though improper, appellation of Mahomet; the well-known cities of Aleppo, Damascus, and Caïro, would almost be lost in the strange descriptions of Haleb, Damashk, and Al Cahira." But, it may be fairly asked, where is the line to be drawn? What are the Russian

(1) The name of the same place is written Kieva in vol. I. p. 9. Khiera in p. 15, and Khiva in a note. Nagai Tartars, in p. 8. vol. I. are written Nagay Tartars in p. 11. Throughout his work, the terminating vowel is sometimes i, and as often y; as, Valdai, poderosnoi, and Yakutsky, Nasorowsky.

(2) P.S. to Pref. ch. XXXIX. Hist. of the Decline and Fall, &c.

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names, which we are to consider as fixed and naturalized in the vulgar tongue? Are we to write Woronetz, or Voronéje; Wolga, or Volga; Kiow, or Kiof; Azow, or Azof? Lord Whitworth wrote Chioff and Asoph, although both these names have the same original termination. It is the B (Védy) redoubled in compound words, which occasions the principal difficulty, and which has been confounded with our W. Thus, as it is mentioned by Storch, from Lévesque, the Russian word Vvédénié, signifying introduction,' consists of the preposition vo or v (into), and védénié (to conduct). The proper initial letter in English, therefore, for this word, would be V, whose power it alone possesses; and not W, which conveys a false idea of pronunciation. When this compound occurs as the termination of a word, it is best expressed by our f; as Orlof, for Orlow; which exactly answers the mode of pronunciation in Russia. Some writers use the letter doubled, as ff: the latter ƒ is however superfluous. The plan pursued by the author, but to which, perhaps, he has not regularly adhered, was to substitute a V for the Russian

(1) Account of Russia, by Charles Lord Whitworth. Strawberry Hill, 1758.

(2) Tableau de l'Empire de Russie, tom. I. p. 19. See also Histoire de Russie par Lévesque, tom. I. p. 17. Hamb. 1800.

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