Of one of the most delicious episodes in a long period of foreign travel, this volume is the imperfect and hastily written transcript. Even at the time it was written, the author felt its experience to be a dream—so exempt was it from the interrupting and qualifying drawbacks of happiness in common and working life—but, now, after an interval of many years, it seems indeed like a dream, and one so full of unmingled pleasure, that its telling almost wants the contrast of a sadness. Of the noble ship, whose summer cruise is described, and her kind and hospitable officers, the recollection is as fresh and grateful now, as when, (twenty years ago,) the author bade them farewell in the port of Smyrna. Of the scenes he passed through, while their guest, he has a less perfect remembrance—relying indeed on these chance memoranda, for much that would else be forgotten. It is with a mingled sense of the real and the unreal, therefore, that the book is offered, in a new shape, to the Public, whose approbation has encouraged its long existence, and the author trusts that his thanks to the surviving officers of that ship may again reach them, and that the kind favour of the reading Public may be again extended to this his record of what he saw in the company of these officers, and by their generous hospitality.
Highland Terrace,
October, 1852.
CONTENTS.
LETTER I.
Cruise in the Frigate “United States”—Elba—Piombino—Porto Ferrajo—Appearance of the Bay—Naval Discipline—Visit to the Town Residence of Napoleon—His Employment during his Confinement on the Island—His sisters Eliza and Pauline—His Country House—Simplicity of the Inhabitants of Elba [1]
LETTER II.
Visit to Naples, Herculaneum, and Pompeii [7]