The Author of the following Observations, made during #A MORNING'S
WALK#, will doubtless be allowed to possess but a moderate degree of
literary ambition. He has not qualified himself, by foreign travels,
to transport his readers above the clouds, on the Andes, the Alps, or
the Apennines; to alarm them by descriptions of Earthquakes, or
Eruptions; or to astonish them by accounts of tremendous Chasms,
Caverns, and Cataracts: but he has restricted his researches to
subjects of home scenery, which thousands can daily examine after him;
and consequently has not enjoyed that _latitude_ of fancy, or been
able to exercise any of those rare powers of _hearing_ and _seeing_,
by means of which travellers into distant regions are enabled to
stimulate curiosity and monopolize fame.
The class of readers who seek for sources of pleasure beyond the
ordinary course of nature, will therefore feel disappointment in
attempting to follow a pedestrian tourist through a route so destitute
of wonders. Nor will this feeling, it is to be feared, be confined to
searchers after supernatural phenomena in regard to the facts which
appertain to such a work. In the sentiments which accompany his
narrations, it will be found that the Author, accustomed to think for
himself, admits no standards of truth superior to the evidence of the
senses and the deductions of reason; consequently, that his
conclusions on many important topics are at variance with existing
practices, whenever it appears they have no better foundation than the
continuity of prejudices and the arbitrary laws of custom. He
therefore entertains very serious doubts whether his work will be
acceptable to those #learned Professors# in Universities, who teach no
doctrines or opinions but those of their predecessors; or whether it
will suit #Students#, whose advancement depends on their submission to
the dogmata of such superiors. He questions whether it will ever be
quoted as an authority by #Statesmen# who consider the will of princes
as standards of wisdom;--by #Legislators# who barter away their votes,
and decide on the presumed integrity of ministers and leaders;--by
#Politicians# who banish the moral feelings from their practices;--or
by #Economists# who do not consider individual happiness as the
primary object of their calculations. Nor is he more sanguine that his
work will prove agreeable to those #Natural Philosophers# who account
for phenomena by the operation of virtues or influences which have no
mechanical contact;--or to those #Metaphysicians# who conceive that
truth can be exhibited only in the sophistical subtleties of the
schools displayed in the mazy labyrinths of folios and quartos;--or to
those #Theologians# who maintain that the obligations of reason and
morality are superseded by those of Faith. While, in regard to those
#Topographers# and #Antiquaries# whose studies are bounded by dates of
erection, catalogues of occupants, and copies of tomb-stones;--to
those #Naturalists# who receive delight from enumerations of Linnaean
names of herbs, shrubs, and trees, and from Wernerian descriptions of
rocks;--to those #Bibliomaniacs# who value a book in the inverse ratio
of the information it contains;--and to those #learned Philologists#
who see no beauties in modern tongues, and affect to find (_but
without anticipating any of them_,) all modern discoveries of Natural
Philosophy in Homer, and all improvements of mental Philosophy in the
mysteries of Plato--the author deeply laments his utter inability to
accommodate either his taste, his feelings, or his conclusions.
In regard to the spirit, tone, and character of the author's opinions,
they have necessarily emanated from the state of knowledge, in an era
when, at the termination of four centuries after the adoption of
Printing, mankind have achieved _four_ great objects; (1,) in the
#REVIVAL# of Literature, and #REGENERATION# of Philosophy; (2,) in the
#EMANCIPATION# of Christendom from the systematic thraldom of Popery;
(3,) in the assertion of #THE RIGHTS OF MAN#, against overwhelming
usurpations; and (4,) in the establishment of #A SPIRIT OF FREE
ENQUIRY#, which constitutes the vivifying energy of the age in which
we live, and promises the most important results in regard to the
future condition and happiness of the human race.
The accomplishment of these circumstances has generated, in all
countries, a numerous class of readers, among whom are many
#Professors#, #Philosophers#, #Statesmen#, #Politicians#,
#Theologians#, #Antiquaries#, #Naturalists#, and #eminent Scholars#;
besides #Amateurs# of general Literature, with whose taste, feelings,
and principles, the Author of this volume is anxious to identify his
own, and whose favourable opinion he is ambitious to enjoy;--these are
the free and honest searchers after #MORAL#, #POLITICAL#, and #NATURAL
TRUTH#,--the votaries of #COMMON SENSE#,--the patients of their
#NATURAL SENSIBILITIES#,--all, who are neither #TOO OLD#, #TOO
POWERFUL#, nor #TOO WISE#,--and, finally, all those #WHO PASS THEIR
LIVES IN SEARCH OF HAPPINESS#, and who are not unwilling to be
pleased, in whatsoever form, or by whomsoever the attempt may be made:
TO SUCH ESTIMABLE PERSONS, IN ALL COUNTRIES, AND IN ALL SITUATIONS,
THE AUTHOR RESPECTFULLY DEDICATES THIS VOLUME.
_Holloway, Middlesex;_
_February 8, 1817._