第14章 THE VOYAGE(2)

He added many asseverations that he was a gentleman,and despised money;not forgetting several hints of the presents which had been made him for his cabin,of twenty,thirty,and forty guineas,by several gentlemen,over and above the sum for which they had contracted.This behavior greatly surprised me,as I knew not how to account for it,nothing having happened since we parted from the captain the evening before in perfect good humor;and all this broke forth on the first moment of his arrival this morning.He did not,however,suffer my amazement to have any long continuance before he clearly showed me that all this was meant only as an apology to introduce another procrastination (being the fifth)of his weighing anchor,which was now postponed till Saturday,for such was his will and pleasure.

Besides the disagreeable situation in which we then lay,in the confines of Wapping and Rotherhithe,tasting a delicious mixture of the air of both these sweet places,and enjoying the concord of sweet sounds of seamen,watermen,fish-women,oyster-women,and of all the vociferous inhabitants of both shores,composing altogether a greater variety of harmony than Hogarth's imagination hath brought together in that print of his,which is enough to make a man deaf to look at--I had a more urgent cause to press our departure,which was,that the dropsy,for which I had undergone three tappings,seemed to threaten me with a fourth discharge before I should reach Lisbon,and when I should have nobody on board capable of performing the operation;but I was obliged to hearken to the voice of reason,if I may use the captain's own words,and to rest myself contented.Indeed,there was no alternative within my reach but what would have cost me much too dear.There are many evils in society from which people of the highest rank are so entirely exempt,that they have not the least knowledge or idea of them;nor indeed of the characters which are formed by them.Such,for instance,is the conveyance of goods and passengers from one place to another.Now there is no such thing as any kind of knowledge contemptible in itself;and,as the particular knowledge I here mean is entirely necessary to the well understanding and well enjoying this journal;and,lastly,as in this case the most ignorant will be those very readers whose amusement we chiefly consult,and to whom we wish to be supposed principally to write,we will here enter somewhat largely into the discussion of this matter;the rather,for that no ancient or modern author (if we can trust the catalogue of doctor Mead's library)hath ever undertaken it,but that it seems (in the style of Don Quixote)a task reserved for my pen alone.

When I first conceived this intention I began to entertain thoughts of inquiring into the antiquity of traveling;and,as many persons have performed in this way (I mean have traveled)at the expense of the public,I flattered myself that the spirit of improving arts and sciences,and of advancing useful and substantial learning,which so eminently distinguishes this age,and hath given rise to more speculative societies in Europe than I at present can recollect the names of--perhaps,indeed,than Ior any other,besides their very near neighbors,ever heard mentioned--would assist in promoting so curious a work;a work begun with the same views,calculated for the same purposes,and fitted for the same uses,with the labors which those right honorable societies have so cheerfully undertaken themselves,and encouraged in others;sometimes with the highest honors,even with admission into their colleges,and with enrollment among their members.

From these societies I promised myself all assistance in their power,particularly the communication of such valuable manus and records as they must be supposed to have collected from those obscure ages of antiquity when history yields us such imperfect accounts of the residence,and much more imperfect of the travels,of the human race;unless,perhaps,as a curious and learned member of the young Society of Antiquarians is said to have hinted his conjectures,that their residence and their travels were one and the same;and this discovery (for such it seems to be)he is said to have owed to the lighting by accident on a book,which we shall have occasion to mention presently,the contents of which were then little known to the society.

The king of Prussia,moreover,who,from a degree of benevolence and taste which in either case is a rare production in so northern a climate,is the great encourager of art and science,I was well assured would promote so useful a design,and order his archives to be searched on my behalf.But after well weighing all these advantages,and much meditation on the order of my work,my whole design was subverted in a moment by hearing of the discovery just mentioned to have been made by the young antiquarian,who,from the most ancient record in the world (though I don't find the society are all agreed on this point),one long preceding the date of the earliest modern collections,either of books or butterflies,none of which pretend to go beyond the flood,shows us that the first man was a traveler,and that he and his family were scarce settled in Paradise before they disliked their own home,and became passengers to another place.Hence it appears that the humor of traveling is as old as the human race,and that it was their curse from the beginning.

By this discovery my plan became much shortened,and I found it only necessary to treat of the conveyance of goods and passengers from place to place;which,not being universally known,seemed proper to be explained before we examined into its original.

There are indeed two different ways of tracing all things used by the historian and the antiquary;these are upwards and downwards.