ΤΟ CONTINENTAL TRAVELLERS. BY J. W. CUNNINGHAM, A. M. VICAR OF LATE FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; WOULD thou hadst hearkened to my words, and stayed Desire of wandering, this unhappy morn, I know not whence, possessed thee! Remained still happy. We had then PARAD. LOST, b. ix. SECOND EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS. LONDON: [PREFACE.-The following remarks are designed to apply, not so much to the class of Travellers who merely snatch from the toils of a busy and anxious life a few weeks or months to refresh themselves by a rapid glance at the scenery of the Alps or the Rhine, as to those who either domesticate themselves and their families in foreign countries, or so protract their Continental visits as to allow themselves leisure to catch something of the manners and spirit of the countries which they visit.-The very simple and obvious Cautions at the end of the volume, may not, however, be altogether without their use to the first class of Travellers; and, if so, the Author desires to confine this little book to no class of his fellow-countrymen, but to put it into the hands of all who will do him the honor of perusing it,-humbly begging them to pardon its deficiencies, and to assure themselves that they cannot, either at home or abroad, be happier or better than these few remarks are ́designed, under the Blessing of the Almighty, to render them.] CAUTION, &c. THE circumstances of Great Britain with regard to the other nations of Europe, are such, at the present moment, as to demand the most serious consideration from every well-wisher to his country. Since the cessation of hostilites, our native land has been visited by a few foreigners of the very highest distinction, and by others of inferior ranks; but the whole number of visitors, especially when distributed amongst the respective nations to which they belong, has not been considerable. The want of money in foreign countries; the known expenses of English travelling; the wide difference between English and continental tastes and manners; our serious and somewhat haughty national demeanour; our indisposition to converse, upon our own soil especially, in any language but our own;-these, and various other circumstances, erect a sort of barrier between us and all foreigners whom the ardor of science, or love of vagrancy, or strong perception of the excellence and elevation of the English character do not dispose to break through every obstacle. The danger, then, arising from the influx of foreigners into our own country, does not appear to be considerable. But, on the contrary, if we examine the list of travellers from this country to various parts of the continent, it will be found to be large beyond all previous culculation. It was stated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in Parliament, that more than 90,000 persons had embarked, in little more than two years, from one port alone, of whom 12,700 remained abroad. Now this fact, taken in all its bearings, cannot, I conceive, but be regarded as likely to exercise a considerable influence on the national character: and our countrymen, or country women, who are perhaps on the wing for a continental expedition, will forgive me, if, in somewhat of our plain, home-spun English manner, I endeavour in the following remarks to point out the real nature of this influence. We belong to a great and happy country; and this greatness and happiness we owe, not certainly to any intercourse with foreign countries, but, next to the blessing of a merciful Providence, to our insular situation, to our political constitution, and to our religious and moral privileges. It is my wish to inquire, to what extent, and in what manner, the measure of our elevation and comforts is likely to be affected by our new circum stances. To abridge my labors, I shall not think it necessary to inquire into the advantages of travelling. However great and numerous they may be, they appear to be fully appreciated. Hundreds embark upon the strength of them every week. They are blazoned in volumes of all sizes and complexions; they are traced in ink, sketched in mezzotinto, and painted in every hue which colors the gay banks of the 'arrowy Rhine.' No man, who can either read or hear, is at the present moment likely either to be ignorant of these advantages, or to forget them. My endeavour, therefore, will rather be, to call the attention of my readers to the following questions: 1. Whether our numerous travellers are of a class likely to be much influenced by the scenes they visit? 2. Whether, if so influenced themselves, their influence upon their native country is likely to be considerable ? 3. Whether much is to be apprehended from the actual state of foreign countries ? 4. What is the precise manner in which the character of travellers is likely to be affected? 5. Whether the evil, if proved to exist, admits of any remedy? : Let not my readers, however, be alarmed at this formidable catalogue of topics, as it is my intention to be very brief on all of them. And still less let them impute what may be said, to presumption, to narrowness of spirit, to religious bigotry, to homebred prejudices, to personal unacquaintance with every country but my own, or to a headlong determination to condemn travellers of all classes, and under all possible circumstances. I know, from personal experience, that virtue is not confined to that happy corner of the earth where we have the happiness to dwell. I can conceive the circumstances where travelling may become a positive duty. I can as easily discern the cases in which it may be considered as VOL. XXI. Pam. NO. XLII. 2 G lawful recreation. I wish not impertinently to scrutinise any man's principles of action, and far less rashly to condemn them. But I could also wish every man, deeply and solemnly, where the very highest interests are at stake, to examine the grounds of his own conduct. If it is true that travelling has its advantages: it is also true that it has its dangers: that these dangers are not of ordinary dimensions; that every man is not in a state to encounter them; that they are not to be encountered in a careless spirit, and without an adequate motive; and that it is a primary duty at the present moment to take these dangers into serious consideration, and to endeavour to erect some bulwark against them. Proceeding upon these principles, may I not hope for the pardon of my readers, if a few very popular topics should be handled in these remarks not precisely in the courtly manner in which it is now customary to handle them?-if I should borrow the privilege of my country, to call things, principles, and even men, where the case demands it, by their just and legitimate titles? The times have been, when this moral jealousy of continental habits and vices was neither rare nor unpopular; and it is well, however ardently we may desire the extinction of every bad feeling between ourselves and our neighbours, to keep this spirit alive. Sincerely wishing the continental powers every benefit which an improved system of thinking and acting would be likely to secure to them, I have no other desire for my own country than that she should be as great, as good, and as happy, as our laws, our government, and our religion are calculated to render her. After this preface I shall enter upon the proposed discussion. I. The first question, then, which we are to consider, is"Whether our numerous travellers are, generally speaking, of a class likely to be much influenced by the scenes and individuals they visit." This question I feel no hesitation to answer in the affirmative ; and this for the following reasons: In the first place; the great bulk of our travellers are persons not occupied by any specific object or pursuit-persons, I may say, in a somewat indolent, oscitant, unoccupied frame of mind. A part of them, at least, are forced out of their country by restlessness, by an ill-defined curiosity, by ennui, by, the love of dissipation, by a spirit of wandering, by a fancied regard to works of art, by the love of novelty, by the all-governing consideration that "every body travels," by the superabundance of money, by the fond persuasion that although in their own country care is found usually to mingle a few of her bitters with the sweets of life, things are managed better on the Continent, and that sorrow and weari ness will not presume to climb the bold mountains of Switzerland or darken the sweet valleys of Piedmont. I am far from thinking that others are not influenced by better and weightier considerations; but persons such as I have described constitute a large part of the motley groupe.-Now, of travellers in such a frame of mind it is not hazardous to affirm, that they are in a state of all others the most susceptible of new impressions. The emigrants of other days have fled from religious persecution, or political tyranny, or revolutionary madness and proscription; or else they have been stimulated to travel by the spirit of scientific research, or commercial speculation. But, in such circumstances, men ordinarily carry about with them a subject of thought and interest vast enough to absorb the heart, to steel it against new impressions, and to attach it to the habits of the mother country. Business of itself has a tendency to fortify the mind; and, at least, leaves it little leisure to be wrought upon. Distress, in like manner, excludes men from society, disenchants the world of its attractions, occupies men with their own calamities instead of the tastes and fashions of others; and thus, in a measure, shuts out all foreign influence. But the indolent, the careless, and the mere lovers of pleasure, are apt, like a certain little sensitive animal, to take the complexion of every object which they approach. They travel, in some measure, in quest of excitement; and whatever excites, gives a new impulse, and often adds a new feature to the character. There is all the difference between the two classes of travellers here noticed, that there is between hard metal merely subjected to a momentary grasp, and metal locked up in a state of fusion in the mould. The change in the two cases will be widely different. And, thus, men deeply interested or occupied will, I conceive, in a thousand instances, return safely from scenes where the less occupied would sustain the most fatal injury. But, secondly, a considerable proportion of our modern travellers are persons in the earlier stages of life.-Those who have been journeying on the Continent have been much struck with this circumstance. They have found the towns, villages, mountains, and dells, crowded with the young of both sexes. At one post they have met a party of the junior members of an inn of court solacing themselves for a winter of professional expectation at home, by a summer of professional forgetfulness abroad;-at another, a larger party of youths relaxing from the iron severity of university discipline in the beams of Italian sun-shine ;-at another, a company of young ladies carrying to the cities of the South attractions which we may safely say they would rarely have found, and which we earnestly hope they may not leave, in those more relaxed regions.-Nor is this, if an evil it is to be considered, the whole of the evil. Who |