urager of art and science, I was well assured
would promote so useful a design, and order his archives to be searched
on my behalf. But after well weighing all these advantages, and much
meditation on the order of my work, my whole design was subverted in a
moment by hearing of the discovery just mentioned to have been made by
the young antiquarian, who, from the most ancient record in the world
(though I don't find the society are all agreed on this point), one long
preceding the date of the earliest modern collections, either of books
or butterflies, none of which pretend to go beyond the flood, shows
us that the first man was a traveler, and that he and his family were
scarce settled in Paradise before they disliked their own home, and
became passengers to another place. Hence it appears that the humor of
traveling is as old as the human race, and that it was their curse from
the beginning. By this discovery my plan became much shortened, and
I found it only necessary to treat of the conveyance of goods and
passengers from place to place; which, not being universally known,
seemed proper to be explained before we examined into its original.
There are indeed two different ways of tracing all things used by the
historian and the antiquary; these are upwards and downwards.

The former shows you how things are, and leaves to others to discover
when they began to be so. The latter shows you how things were, and
leaves their present existence to be examined by others. Hence the
former is more useful, the latter more curious. The former receives the
thanks of mankind; the latter of that valuable part, the virtuosi.

In explaining, therefore, this mystery of carrying goods and passengers
from one place to another, hitherto so profound a secret to the very
best of our readers, we shall pursue the historical method, and endeavor
to show by what means it is at present performed, referring the more
curious inquiry either to some other pen or to some other opportunity.

Now there are two general ways of performing (if God permit) this
conveyance, viz., by land and water, both of which have much variety;
that by land being performed in different vehicles, such as coaches,
caravans, wagons, etc.; and that by water in ships, barges, and boats,
of various sizes and denominations. But, as all these methods of
conveyance are formed on the same principles, they agree so well
together, that it is fully sufficient to comprehend them all