PART I.
nd even as I write this heading I feel my heart failing me somewhat. First the largeness of the subject before me is a cause of misgiving and next the thought of the many differing minds and impressions of the people who travel nowadays, and who, most of them, are of the generation of globe-trotters. These care more about covering the surface of the earth with their tracks, and are not in the least degree anxious about the culture that may be acquired in travel, and the nearly dormant condition of the intellect carried about with them in their peregrinations. Others who travel are eager to see, but have had in their past life neither the time nor the means to educate themselves for enjoyment; or they are too young to have had the opportunity to do so. We all meet with examples of these classes on our own travels, and there are few of us who have not, at some time, had cause to exclaim, “Good gracious! what on earth did these people come abroad for?” so little interest do they find or show in the beauties of nature or art which surround them. They are far more interested in their meals, the bills at the hotels, and the extortions of the shops, than in the finest pictures by Guido, or the loveliest and grandest view from a mountain-side.
But even while I write, this I know, that the earnest study of years and the reading of many books would hardly suffice to the knowing of it all; and we often have to be content with the careful reading of Baedeker or Murray, and the use of our eyes; and reserve the reading-up of the subject until we have reached home once more. Even then, we often do not know what to get in the way of reading, unless we have some direction to aid us. It is to help those who have time before starting, and those who desire to read up, as I have said, afterwards, that these articles are written, and if there be some shortcomings, some books left out, or others inserted that should not have been put in, it must be remembered that my views of what I personally want to prepare myself for a journey may not be your views; and that everyone is not interested in a special object. Therefore the list must be comprehensive, so as to take in all comers.
It always seems to me a good plan to start with the history of the country to which your steps are turned, because the chief interest of every land must naturally be derived from its past, from the people who made it what it is, and who lived in its buildings, on its lands, and worshipped in its temples. If the country in which we travel be our own England, we generally have learnt enough of its history to make the names of the actors in it household words; and the local histories have been carefully collected for us by the many archæological societies in all parts of England. So that we may, if we like, know all particulars of the styles of living, and the people, and manners of the past centuries. In England especially, men who lived in it made the interest of the land they lived in, and the same is true of Scotland. But in Ireland it was different, and there the land is the chief point of interest, and the interest is with legend more than with real people and things. If the Green Isle had only been fortunate enough to have a wizard-like Walter Scott to touch the scenery, and make it alive with people, what a change it would have worked for her to-day!
For a history of England we cannot do better than select Green’s History of the English People, which is not only history, but history written in a delightsome manner, and quite long enough to be interesting and concise enough not to fatigue the reader of any age. But if time be not an object to you, take Miss Strickland’s histories and read them through, every one of them, even including those of the Bachelor Kings. It may be the fashion to think her gossipy, but her gossip is worth anything in making you feel that the people of whom you read really lived, breathed, and walked the earth. Scott, Wordsworth, and Tennyson, Shakespeare, and Ossian; and in Ireland both Lever and Lover should bear you company, while the reminiscences of Dean Ramsay and Wilson will make you feel Edinburgh doubly delightful. In the far north, William Black has touched Thule and the Hebrides with the pen of romance; and Kingsley and Blackmore have done the same in the south, with Westward Ho! and Lorna Doone. And in London we walk with Thackeray and Dickens, on every side, from Piccadilly and Clubland to Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Fleet Street.
Beside the romancer we must also read Freeman’s English Towns and Districts and Fergusson’s Architecture, George Barrow’s Wild Wales, King’s Handbook of the Cathedrals, and Cassell’s Old and New London. Alfred Rimmer’s book on the Ancient Streets and Homesteads of England is most helpful, and I will end by remarking that you had better begin Ruskin, with, I think, the Elements of Drawing and the Lectures on Art.
In France we are very well off for books in all languages; but in the way of history, Guizot’s is rather a long business, and any shorter history which is available is less tiring, if you be not a rapid reader. Viollet le Duc will be a great delight to you, I am sure, and Hare’s Walks in Paris and Ways near Paris, and Eastlake’s Notes on the Louvre, with a good guide, should be enough for the capital. In the way of romance, you have Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. Miss M. B. Edwards’ France of To-day, A Year in Western France, and Holidays in Eastern France are charming books, and so are Hamerton’s Round my House, Modern Frenchmen, and A Summer Voyage on the Saône. Miss Pardoe’s books on the Court of France are also well worth reading for the historical side of life.
Switzerland I have always thought most resembles England, in the interest of its history, and in the character of its people. In many ways it is the model country of Europe, for the Swiss are ever open to change and improvement, and to trying experiments in all the social walks of life into which many other greater nations would shrink from embarking. A book recently published on Social Switzerland gives a view of their charitable and other institutions, and shows this very clearly, and it is worth reading if you be interested in that side of the country. General Meredith Reade’s two great volumes of Vaud and Berne, deal entirely with the historical, descriptive, and family side of the country, and are very interesting. Foreigners have done much to make Switzerland delightful, and especially the English, for have we not that delightful Playground of Europe by Leslie Stephens, and J. A. Symonds’ Swiss Highlands, Tyndall’s Glaciers and Whymper’s Alps, to say nothing of a long series of most excellent guide-books, and histories, and the finest of poetry, beginning with Coleridge’s Hymn to Mont Blanc, and Byron’s Prisoner of Chillon.
There seems to be hardly a foot of this most delightful country that is without its interest, and its literature; and if we read French and German it is well worth the trouble to read Vinet, the philosopher and religious writer, and Amiel’s Diary, the saddest and most beautiful of records.