WANDERER: OR, A COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL TALES AND ESSAYS, FOUNDED UPON FACTS; ILLUSTRATING THE VIRTUES AND VICES OF THE PRESENT AGE IN WHICH ARE INTRODUCED The Oriental Travels of a Learned Mahometan INTERSPERSED WITH ORIGINAL POETRY. BY CHARLES FOTHERGILL, ESQ. "Man! proud man, "Drest in a little brief authority; "Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd, PRINTED FOR WYNNE AND SCHOLEY, 45 AND 1803. 249. S. 437. Having such an end in view, I now present this volume to the world, in which I have endeavoured to set forth the evils that do result from the vices of mankind, as well as to display the incalculable advantages that are attainable by the pursuit of virtue and knowledge. In order to do this the more effectually, I have drawn a faithful picture of transactions that have either tended to debase the moral and intellectual character of man, or that have added lustre to his name. I have endeavoured to render the plain matter of fact interesting to my readers, by as warm a glow of colouring as the subjects required, or as I was able to bestow; and by paying a due regard to truth, I have laboured to impress their minds with a veneration for what I conceive to be a great and incontrovertible maxim-that, unless we cherish all the finer feelings of the heart, and do away all that tends to render those callous, we can neither expect to enjoy happiness ourselves, nor effectually contribute to that of our fellow creatures. And as I believe every human being to be in search of what he thinks happiness, and that all his exertions tend towards this great object, I have deened it neceffary (according to the best of my ability) to shew, that true happiness is founded alone on virtue and knowledge. "To be good is to be happy; angels "Are happier than men, because they're better. "Th' avenging fiend, that follows us behind "But rest in everlasting peace of mind, "And find the height of all their Heav'n in goodness." Whether it is the monarch, who contemplates his people as so many machines which he can use or adapt to his various purposes of aggrandisement; or the minister, who industriously plunders the people and cheats his master; or the ecclesiastic, who battens on the wealth of his superstitious followers; or the lawyer, who consumes the flower of his manhood in laying up the materials that enable him to swindle his clients; or the physician, who throws his countenance into all manner of contortions, the better to impose on the credulity of his foolish patients; or the gay fashionable, who consumes equally the health of his body and mind in a routine of endless dissipation; or the military puppet, who WANDERER: OR, A COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL TALES AND ESSAYS, FOUNDED UPON FACTS; ILLUSTRATING THE VIRTUES AND VICES OF THE PRESENT AGE IN WHICH ARE INTRODUCED The Oriental Travels of a Learned Mahometan INTERSPERSED WITH ORIGINAL POETRY. BY CHARLES FOTHERGILL, ESQ. "Man! proud man, "Drest in a little brief authority; "Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd, VOLUME I. LONDON: 45 AD PRINTED FOR WYNNE AND SCHOLEY, 1803. 249. S. 437. |