The last traveller to distant regions, of whom there are notices in our
Sexagenarian’s Recollections, was a noble Lord, the history of whose
life involves many extraordinary particulars. The gay, the witty, but
depraved Lord ⸺, was his uncle, and he has often been heard to detail the
very mysterious circumstances of the death of his relation, with much
solemnity and pathos. He was at that time at school, his morals therefore
were not contaminated by his connection with that nobleman, though it
cannot be denied that he afterwards launched into the gaieties of youth,
and the dissipation of the times, with an ardour to which, unfortunately,
his rank and situation afforded too many and too great facilities.
Disappointed and injured in the domestic establishment he had formed, he
had, moreover, to contend with the most cruel and abominable aspersions
aimed at the very vitality of his character. These however, from the
cause which excited them, as well as from the source from which they were
circulated, were, by all those who were qualified to ascertain the facts
with precision, discovered ultimately to be the result of calumny and
malice. The late Lord Kenyon, as good a judge of evidence as the most
experienced lawyer could possibly be, avowed this opinion forcibly and
solemnly from the bench.
In the extreme perturbation of mind and spirits, naturally produced by
such circumstances, the noble Lord very judiciously determined to make
the experiment, how far change of scene, and the exploring of remote
regions, might tend to restore him to the tranquillity he had lost. At
this period he obtained an introduction to the Marquis W⸺, who filled
the high office of Governor General of India with great dignity and
splendour. To his hospitality he accordingly resolved to resort, and he
afterwards lived with the Marquis on terms of friendship.
He proceeded to India, where he enjoyed every facility which authority
could bestow, or curiosity require. He first visited Calcutta, on the Bay
of Bengal; he then went up to Lucknow, where he spent a month. He then
returned down the Ganges to Calcutta, sailed to Ceylon, thence coasted
the W. of Ceylon and the eastern shore of the Peninsula to Madras. He
afterwards crossed through the Mysore to Mangalore, sailed to the Red
Sea, and again returning to Bombay, proceeded to the Red Sea a second
time.
His Lordship had intended to have visited Agra, but he was prevented
by the war with the Mahrattas. Whilst at Bombay, however, he visited
Poonah, the capital of the Mahratta country, and such other places as
were deserving the investigation of an enlightened traveller.
From Bombay he crossed the Indian ocean, and arrived at Mocha, in the Red
Sea. After a certain sojourn at that place, he proceeded to Massouah, the
key by which means, Bruce was enabled to penetrate to Abyssinia. From
Massouah, Mr. Salt, Lord ⸺’s Secretary, was dispatched to visit the Ras
at Antalow. Mr. Salt having successfully accomplished this expedition,
joined his illustrious friend at Massouah, and after various perils and
difficulties, they arrived in safety at Suez. The rout from Suez was
that usually pursued by travellers from the East, namely, to Cairo,
Alexandria, Malta, &c.
The details published of these interesting travels, were not, however,
so popular as might reasonably have been expected, and as they actually
deserved. They certainly contained a great deal of original matter,
and a large mass of important information. They were more favorably
received on the continent. The translator of them into French has, in his
introduction, drawn a strong contrast between the reception Lord ⸺ met
with in his native country, and what would have been given in France to
a man of his Lordship’s situation in life, who would have performed such
a work. Bonaparte considered it so important as to the State of India,
that Notes were ordered to be inserted by the Police, as an antidote,
which was done; the original order is in his Lordship’s possession, and
it is curious that Lord V. has often been the subject of Napoleon’s
conversation with Englishmen.
They were considered by the very learned Editor of the voyage of
Nearchus, as entitled to the merit of having elucidated many abstruse
and complicated points in ancient geography, and in many parts as fairly
claiming the honour of actual discovery. Certain it is, that no modern
navigator has before taken an actual survey of that part of the African
coast, from the straits of Babulmandeb to the 26th degree N. &c. Perhaps
the principal cause which restrained their more extensive circulation,
is to be found in the first volume, where too great importance has been
given to trifles, and the work too much swelled out with circumstantial
representations of Oriental ceremonies, visits, dresses, and presents,
which scholars contemn, and which in fact had not the charm of novelty to
recommend them.
The work was afterwards published in a smaller compass, pruned of many of
these eccentricities and unnecessary appendages, and can never, in its
present form, be perused without much gratification and improvement.
Upon this work and its author, the following remarks subsequently occur
in our manuscript, and are evidently written in another hand, but
they well deserve preservation, as well from their erudition as their
sagacity.
Indiscriminate praise is of no value, but the sense of this noble Lord’s
merits as a traveller, arises from the consideration of his engaging
in such a service, at a time of life when young men of rank, think of
little but their pleasures. It arises, moreover, from his attention to
the manners of the nations which he visited, and from the judgment of the
plan, which he executed with so much ardour and perseverance.
The survey of the western coast of the Red Sea, was a grand desideratum
in geography, where nothing essential had been done since the voyage of
De Castro. It is not a speculation of curiosity, but a duty incumbent
upon a nation, possessed of the greatest maritime power that ever
existed, to explore every region, where the sea is navigable, and this
not only in a commercial view, but for the extension of science.
Lord ⸺’s coarse from the straits of Babulmandeb, up to Salaka, is a
survey, not only of importance to navigation and science, but of great
utility in shewing that there are means of approaching the most
barbarous inhabitants of the coast.
Many of the observations which are introduced upon the coast, above and
upon the country of Adel, are the best illustrations possible in regard
to ancient geography. They must have been peculiarly gratifying to the
very learned Dr. Vincent, as they coincide with the nature, both of the
natives and the countries which his pen had delineated from ancient
authority.
The trade and caravans of Adel, the intercourse of that country with
Arabia and Adooli, the western entrance of the Straits, the Opsian Bay,
the Bay of Adooli, the regal government of Axuma, the double sovereignty
of Suakin, the independent Bedoweens, above the Tahama, or Tessiborike,
the site of Berenice, in Foul Bay, the existence of the gold mines, and
the evidence of gold, still obtainable on the coast, all prove, whatever
may have been the revolution of governments, or the changes effected by
the lapse of time, that the general features are still indelible, and the
portrait true.
The bay to which the noble traveller has given the fantastic appellation
of “Botherem Bay,” with all its intricacies, shoals, and islands, will be
found perfectly consistent with both Agatharchides and Diodorus.
The Axumite inscription proves incontestibly the prevalence of the Greek
language in Abyssinia. The fact undoubtedly was, that as soon as Adooli
became a mart, approachable by the Greeks from Egypt, Greeks established
themselves there as residents. Thus they had formerly done all around the
Euxine, from the time of Herodotus, to the time when it was visited by
Arrian, in the reign of Adrian.
Greeks of this sort were not only merchants, but became ministers, or
agents for the native Sovereigns, such as Xenophon found in the time of
Scuthes, and by such a Greek, the inscription was doubtless drawn up for
Aeizaneus.
The whole work does the writer great credit. The style is unaffected;
and the commercial speculations, in regard to Arabia and Abyssinia,
of greater public importance, than they hitherto appear to have been
considered.
You sign your place and calling, in full seeming
With meekness and humility; but your heart
Is crammed with arrogancy, spleen, and pride.