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Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6 (of 6) - With his Letters and Journals by Thomas Moore
page 286 of 497 (57%)
extracts from Pausanias and Strabo, it is, as the title imports, a
mere itinerary of Greece, or rather of Argolis only, in its present
circumstances. This being the case, surely it would have answered
every purpose of utility much better by being printed as a pocket
road-book of that part of the Morea; for a quarto is a very
unmanageable travelling companion. The maps[1] and drawings, we shall
be told, would not permit such an arrangement: but as to the
drawings, they are not in general to be admired as specimens of the
art; and several of them, as we have been assured by eye-witnesses of
the scenes which they describe, do not compensate for their
mediocrity in point of execution, by any extraordinary fidelity of
representation. Others, indeed, are more faithful, according to our
informants. The true reason, however, for this costly mode of
publication is in course to be found in a desire of gratifying the
public passion for large margins, and all the luxury of typography;
and we have before expressed our dissatisfaction with Mr. Gell's
aristocratical mode of communicating a species of knowledge, which
ought to be accessible to a much greater portion of classical
students than can at present acquire it by his means:--but, as such
expostulations are generally useless, we shall be thankful for what
we can obtain, and that in the manner in which Mr. Gell has chosen to
present it.

[Footnote 1: Or, rather, _Map_; for we have only one in the volume,
and that is on too small a scale to give more than a general idea of
the relative position of places. The excuse about a larger map not
folding well is trifling; see, for instance, the author's own map of
Ithaca.]

The former of these volumes, we have observed, is the most attractive
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