It was the Author's original intention to publish his work in two volumes, one of which was to contain the whole of his first voyage to the Levant, with his return to Italy, describing all the places he visited previous to his departure from Palermo, whence he set out on his second voyage to Turkey.
This voyage would have formed the second volume, but finding the time allowed him on leave of absence insufficient to complete his design, he has been obliged, for the present, to withhold the latter part of it; and therefore, to make the first in some degree a complete work in itself, he has curtailed his journal, and added a brief account of Constantinople, and of the leading events in the present war between the Porte and the two Imperial Courts. Convinced that these would never be so interesting as at the present moment, he could not think of withholding them from the public till he should have leisure to publish his second volume. And indeed, even in the time since his letters on these important transactions were written, the scene, as he foresaw, is entirely changed, and the Russian and Austrian armies are now advancing towards Constantinople with such success, that the safety of that capital seems no longer to depend upon the Turks, but on those Powers, without whose countenance, it is to be supposed, the Porte would never have engaged against such superior enemies.
The Author during his first voyage, treated but slightly on the manners and government of the Turks. The customs of those people being totally different from any other nation he had visited, his respect for the public would not permit him to offer a particular description on so slight an acquaintance, especially as he was to return to Turkey immediately, and to pass near a twelvemonth in that country.
He therefore desires to have himself considered as being now on the point of leaving Palermo, on his return to the Archipelago; and if the indulgence of the Public should give him sufficient encouragement to appear before them once more, he will endeavour to gratify their curiosity, by publishing the second part of his Tour as soon as his military duty will permit him.
If the Author has not been so copious as he might on Italy and Sicily, it is out of deference to Mr. Moore and Mr. Brydone, whose elegant works have been so universally read and admired, that but little can now be said on the same subject.
The very liberal and distinguished patronage with which the Author has been honored, merits his warmest acknowledgment; and he has only to add, that it now rests with the public, either to encourage him to appear before them again, or by their silence, to command his.
FINIS.