more prevalent than either, the chagrin he may feel
at not being rated in the estimation of others, according
to that value he puts upon himself. Could Dr.
Smollett rise from the dead, and sit down in perfect
health, and good temper, and read his travels through
France and Italy, he would probably find most of his
anger turned upon himself. But, poor man! he
was ill; and meeting with, what every stranger must
expect to meet at most French inns, want of cleanliness,
imposition, and incivility; he was so much disturbed
by those incidents, that to say no more of the writings
of an ingenious and deceased author, his travels into
France, and Italy, are the least entertaining, in my
humble opinion, of all his works. Indeed I have
observed that most travellers fall into one extreme,
or the other, and either are all panegyric or all
censure; in which case, all they say cannot be just;
for, as all nations are governed by men, and the bulk
of men of all nations live by artifice of one kind
or other, the few men who pass among them, without
any sinister views, cannot avoid feeling, and but
few from complaining of the ill treatment they meet
with; not considering one of Swift’s shrewd
remarks;
I never said he,
knew a man who
could not bear the misfortunes of another perfectly
like a Christian.
Remember therefore, when I tell you how ill I have
been treated either by Lords or Aubergists,
or how dirtily served by either, it is to prepare
myself and you too, to be content with neighbours’
fare.
When a man writes remarks upon the manners and customs
of other nations, he should endeavour to wean himself
from all partiality for his own; and I need not tell
you that I am in full possession of that single
qualification, which I hope will make you some amends
for my defects in all the others; for it is certainly
unjust, uncandid, and illiberal, to pronounce a custom
or fashion absurd, because it does not coincide with
our ideas of propriety. A Turk who travelled into
England, would, upon his return to Constantinople,
tell his countrymen, that at Canterbury; (bring out
of opium,) his host did not know even what he
demanded; and that it was with some difficulty he
found out, that there were shops in the town where
opium was sold, and even then, it was with greater,
he could prevail upon the vender of it to let him have
above half an ounce: if he were questioned, why
all these precautions? he would tell them, laughingly,
that Englishmen believe opium to be a deadly
poison, and those people suspected that he either
meant to kill himself, or to poison another man with
it.