A FROM BENGAL TO ENGLAND, THROUGH THE NORTHERN PART OF INDIA, KASHMIRE, AFGHANISTAN, AND PERSIA, AND INTO RUSSIA BY THE CASPIAN-SEA. BY GEORGE FORSTER, IN THE CIVIL SERVICE OF THE HONOURABLE THE EAST-INDIA COMPANY. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR R. FAULDER AND SON, NEW BOND-STREET. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL CORNWALLIS, KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER; ONE OF HIS BRITANNICK MAJESTY'S HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL; LIEUTENANT-GENERAL OF HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES; GOVERNOR-GENERAL AND COMMANDER-INCHIEF OF ALL THE POSSESSIONS AND FORCES OF HIS BRITANNICK MAJESTY, AND OF THE HONOURABLE THE UNITED COMPANY OF MERCHANTS OF ENGLAND, IN THE EAST-INDIES, &c. &c. &c. MY LORD; DEDICATORY praise hath ever been suspected of sincerity; and passes, indeed, among men of the world, as a strain of turgid language, designed to court favour, soothe the vanity of a patron, or in its best sense, to express the hasty dictates of gratitude.-Yet, I have the confidence to hope, that the tenour of this Dedication will deserve a less severe censure, and that it will be even said, I have narrowed the limits of my subject. WHEN I had resolved to intrude my book of Travels on the notice of the public, I naturally looked around, being an unknown author, for some name to give it a sanction; not the sanction of wealth or grandeur; for they are not always the criterion of worth; but that which was to be obtained from the man, who stood eminent for the qualities which most essentially contribute to the honour and welfare of his country. THE object of this search, which does not cross the eye at every glance, was seen with pleasure; and though the uses derived from it may be deemed presumptuous, I could not resist the desire of fixing so bright an ornament to my work; and of offering, however slender, my tribute of applause to actions, which demand a distinguished page in the annals of our nation. |