, on a rupture between them and the court of Spain,
to form their enterprizes in those seas with more readiness and
certainty. Should we pursue this method, we might hope that the
emulation amongst those who were commissioned for these undertakings,
and the experience which, even in the most peaceable intervals, they
would thereby acquire, might at length procure us a proper number
of able engineers, and might efface the national scandal which our
deficiency in that species of men has sometimes exposed us to: and
surely every step to encourage and improve them is of greater moment
to the public, as no persons, when they are properly instructed, make
better returns in war for the distinctions and emoluments bestowed
on them in times of peace: of which, the advantages the French have
reaped from their dexterity, too numerous and recent to be soon
forgot, are an ample confirmation.

Having mentioned engineers, or such as are skilled in drawing and the
other usual practices of that profession, as the properest persons
to be employed in these foreign enquiries, I cannot but lament, as
it offers itself so very naturally to the subject in hand, how very
imperfect many of our accounts of distant countries are rendered by
the relators being unskilled in drawing, and in the general principles
of surveying, even where other abilities have not been wanting. Had
more of our travellers been initiated in these acquirements, and had
there been added thereto some little skill in the common astronomical
observations, all which a person of ordinary talents might attain with
a very moderate share of application, we should, by this time, have
seen the geography of the globe much correcter than we now find it;
the dangers of navigation would have been considerably lessened, and
the manners, arts, and produce of foreign countries would have been
better known to us than they are. Indeed, when I consider the strong
incitements that all travellers have to pursue some part at least of
these qualifications, especially drawing; when I consider how much
it would facilitate their observations, assist and strengthen their
memories, and of how tedious, and often unintelligible, a load of
description it would rid them; I cannot but wonder that any person who
intends to visit distant countries, with a view of informing either
himself or others, should be wanting in so necessary a piece of skill.
And, to enforce this argument still farther, I must add, th