Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1804-02-29


complete Gytem { Geography, than has yet
appeared in any language: Cor the Spaniards
s, Italians bevc been dormant in this icierce;
the French works OF La Croix end others are
too brief; while the German compia,ioc$
OF Buiching, Fabri, Eteling, Sc. Sc. are
OF most Tremendous proliSity, arranged in
the mott taltecfs manner, and exceeding in
dry names, and triliing details, even the
minutene,s of our Gazetteers. a descrip-
ton of Europe in fourteen qusrto volumes
may well be contratled with Straho's de-
fcFip,ion of the world in ore volume; aud
Geography seems TO be thar branch Of fci-
ence in which the anciente have ehabli!hed
more claf!ical repu,atio theo the moderns.
Every great literary monument may be laid
to be erected by comcildtien, from the
time Of Herodo,us 10 that Of Gibbon, and
from the sge Of Homer 10 that Of Shakes
peare hot in the use Of the materials there
ia wide difference between S:rabo, Arri--
an, Ptolomy, Psufanias, meIa, fiiny, and
other celebrated ancient names, and mo
dern general gcographers ell .! whom f,
except d'Anviie, feem under. graduates in
literature, without the diairgumed talents,
or reputation, which have accompanied al =
mo9 every other literary exert on, Yet it
may iofely be affirmed that production Of
real value in universal Geography reqnrcs
wider extent os various knowledge than
any other literary department, as embracing
topics OF the moR mul,iFarious defcriplion-
There il however one tame, that of dan
vile, peculiarly and justly eminent in this
ecience but his reputation Is chiefly derived
from his mapa. and from his Illustrations Of
various paris Of ancieo' Cecgrsphy In
ipecial departments, GoGeiin aad other
Foreigners, have alto been recently diGin-
guiIhed; nor 10 it necci!ary to remind 'be
reader OF the great merit of Renneil and
Vincent in our own country,
With fUch examples the author confeiTes
his ambitious ieiirc chat the present work
may. at lear, pc regarded as more tree from
defeae than any preceding ty@em Of mo-
dern Geography, Dy the lberal,ty OF the
publihers no cxpeule has been !ps1ed in col.
le6Sing materials from all quarters and the
aGemblage OF occks 9; maps you'd amount
to an expense hardly credible. If there be
any fsilue, the blame mua foley ref with
the author; who being however corvertsnt
with the iu ,ect from hio eagy youth,
when he was accpRomed 90 draw maps,
while engaged 10 The Rudy of hi,tory, and
never having neglected his deyotion to this
important science, he hopes that the an
pie materials will be found not 10 have been
entrueted to inadequate hands. lie may
affirm that the moi seduious attention has
been exerted, in the fele6tion and arrange
ment of the rnoa intereaiog topics aud
he hopes that the no=e!:y CT the plan viii
not only be recommended by greater enf-
add expedition, in usiag this work az
BOOK of reference but By more stria and
clear and sa,isfa9orv Information on &c.
neral pernisl. The nature and csufc, of
the plan sh.lI be expainsd in the prelr;na-
ry observations, as being intimately co.,
neGed with othcr topics there nvea.iea,cd.
II may here Gufice 10 oble,ve, tha, the
ohjeGta mott eTcnialiy clIicd with each
other, instead of being difPeried se frag-
mems, are here gathered ino jiaiaa beads
or cbaptera, arranged in uniform progtefs,
except where particular circumstances COM
manded udevia ion; ndiosead Of pretended
hif'ories, aVd proliI COMMERCIAL documents,
the chief attention 10 devoted TO fubietfs
frietiy geographical, but which IN prece-
ding lyRems have often appeared in the
form of mere In OF names, the evapef-
cent fhsdes Of knowledge, Meagre details
of hiltory can bs Of no fervice even TO
youth, aud are foreign 10 the name and ma.
ture Of Geography, which, ike Chronicle
gy, only aipirss to iIlua,ate hitory and,
without encroachipg upon other provinceo,
has more than efficient difficulties to Gu
counter. The Stalea are arranged accor-
ding to their comparative importance, as il
is proper that the objr1s which deferve
moh attention hould be treated at the
grea,eH length, and claim the earliest OBJ.
leryation of the eudent.
In the Introduction Protector Vince
ieems to have omitted nothing in astronomy,
OF meteoroIogy, that conld n the least Illus.
tratc Geography; and hao carefully awaited
bimGef Of the laieA inventions and difcove.
res. For the Botany Of the feveral coun-
tries this work 10 indebted 10 Mr.. Arthur
Akin, jealous and intelligent cultiya,or
OF Natural Hiaory. 1t my be neceGsry