By the TRANSLATOR.
_The +Baron de Pollnitz’s+ Account of his +Travels+, and of the
Observations he made wherever he came, both of +Persons+ and +Things+, has
had such a Run in Foreign Parts, that the Bookseller at +Amsterdam+, who
first printed it in three Volumes in +12^{mo}+, soon after published a
second Edition of it in +four+ Volumes, and has now printed a third
Edition in +five+ Volumes._
_The three first Volumes, which are those that are translated in our first
and second, he calls +Letters+; and to the fourth and fifth he has given
the Title of +Memoirs+, which is +that+ we have chose for our Translation
of the Whole._
_It happens that these two New Volumes were written by our Author before
the first and second that were translated and publish’d last Year; but
why they were not also printed before the others, is thus accounted for by
M. +Changuion+ the Bookseller at +Amsterdam+, in his Preface to the
Original of these Memoirs_, viz.
_‘The Author, when at +Paris+, sold the Copy to a Person, who sold it
again to a Bookseller in +Holland+; and the latter was actually going to
print it when he heard that I was just ready to publish the +Letters+ of
the Baron +de Pollnitz+, (the same that are the Subject of our two first
Volumes). The Title-Pages of the one and the other had such a Resemblance,
that the Bookseller in +Holland+, who purchas’d the Copy, of which these
two additional Volumes are a Translation imagin’d it to be the same with
the other, and laid the +MS.+ by. But not long after this, he took it into
his head to review it, and by comparing it with the former Volumes, he
found this a quite different Treatise. He saw, that it not only contain’d
a History of the Author’s +Life+ and +Family+, but an Account of several
Courts and Courtiers of +Europe+, very circumstantial, and altogether new;
and that here was a Relation of several Travels of our Author, that to
+Spain+ in particular, of which there’s not a Word in the former Volumes;
in short, that this Copy of his was the Account of the Baron’s +first
Travels+, antecedent to those already publish’d.’_
_Upon his communicating this Discovery to M. +Changuion+, the latter
bargain’d with him for it, and has just published it in +Holland+, as a
Sequel to the former Volumes, tho’ if he had had the +MS.+ sooner, he
would undoubtedly have given it the Preference._
_At the End of the last Volume there is a Translation of a remarkable
Piece from the +Italian+ Original, which is the +Confession of Faith+ made
by the Baron +de Pollnitz+, and his Motives for changing his Religion._
_The said Bookseller thinks, that the Author (tho’ he has since abjur’d
the +Romish+ for the +Protestant+ Religion, as may be seen in our Preface
to the first Volume) will not be angry with him for publishing that Piece,
because it has such a tendency to confute the malicious Insinuations which
he complains of in his +Memoirs+, and proves, that if he did not then
embrace the +True Religion+, he took the Pains however to examine it._
_On the other hand, the Publication of this ample +Confession+ will
demonstrate to all Catholics, that whatsoever Arguments they employ
against Christians of the +Protestant Communions+, the latter are not
afraid to let them see the Light._
_To conclude; tho’ some Places are here and there mention’d in these
Volumes, which are also to be found in the Two First, and with that
Conformity indeed betwixt them, which the +Truth+ unavoidably demanded;
yet ’tis proper to observe, that the Descriptions are sometimes more
copious, the Reflections almost every where different; and that in both
there is an agreeable Variety and Vivacity which we flatter our selves
will not fail to recommend +These+ to the same good Acceptance from the
Public, with which it has favor’d the +former+ Volumes._