| Authorship Notes |
This work is a description of Italy in the 'Reason of State' tradition, giving accounts of those states and their armies, manners, and fiscal systems, enlivened with anecdote. The preface gives a brief praise of travel for practical ('mechanicall') and moral reasons followed by instructions on travelling with an emphasis on education. This apodemic preface occurs sigs. A5r-A12r. This preface is not included in Gailhard's 'Present State of Venice' (1669), a work which owes more to the popular contemporary work Paul Rycaut's 'The Present State of the Ottoman Empire' (1668), also published by John Starkey. See Gailhard, Jean (fl. 1659–1708), ODNB. |
