ABSTRACT
[409/1] So prodigious are the riches of that most opulent Monarch that I believe they will appear incredible, especially to those who have not dared, or been able, to leave the confines of their own limited districts. For such folk can with difficulty persuade themselves that those prodigies can be true which are narrated or described by men who, like myself, have visited so many Provinces, Kingdoms, and Nations, and seen in them such wonderful things, at the cost of intolerable toil and [409/2] difficulties scarcely to be borne, besides the greatest risk and danger to one's life. And admitting that as a Brother I have, in the midst of so much that was unpleasant, laid stress on the support and advantage derived from obedience: yet, even then, willing as the spirit may be, the flesh in its weakness does not, therefore, cease to feel natural impulses.
