Page:An Account of Corsica (1769).djvu/50

40 has been aided at different times by the power of France, and by that of the empire of Germany?

The Corsicans have been obliged to shew particular force of spirit. The Swiss and the Dutch were both assisted by powerful nations in the recovery of their liberties: but during the long and bloody war which Corsica has carried on, the Powers of Europe, who might be supposed friendly to her, have stood aloof, and she has single and unsupported, weathered the storm, and arrived at; the degree of consequence which she now holds.

To give an account of this island, is what I am now to attempt. The attempt is surely laudable; and I am persuaded that my readers will grant me every indulgence, when they consider how favourable is the subject. They will confider that I am the first Briton who has had the curiosity to visit Corsica, and to receive such information as to enable him to form a just idea of it; and they will readily make allowance for the enthusiasm of one who has been among the brave islanders, when their patriotick virtue is at its height, and who has felt as it were a communication of their spirit.

The plan which I have prescribed to myself is, to give a Geographical and Physical description of the island, that my readers may be made