The author, after noticing the ancient writers who have left us any description of Babylon, mentioned the short accounts of Benjamin of Tudela, of Rauwolf, Pietro della Valle, Pere Emmanuel, Niëbuhr, and Beauchamp, from which little information is to be derived, compared to what may be gathered from a succession of British travellers; among whom, first in point of time and importance, is Claudius James Rich, late British consul at Bagdad, whose steps have been successively followed by Kinneir, Ker Porter, Buckingham, Keppel, and Mignam.