If you are interested in the flowers of the mountains, you have a delightful book by W. Robinson, Alpine Flowers; and The Alps in Winter are written of by Mrs. Main (Mrs. Fred Burnaby), and the many books on Davos Platz, and the Engadine, may all be found in any catalogue, if health be in question. If you were interested in geology, glaciers, and botany, you can study them with ease in Switzerland, as well as Lancastrian dwellings, and the last methods in tree-culture. As for schools, they abound, and the Swiss education is the best in the world, in its thoroughness and complete grounding in all subjects. Lately, too, it has been found worth while to study the Swiss army, and its manœuvres which take place every year in the month of September.
One of the European countries round which both history and literature have been making and growing is Holland; and for so small a country the amount of both is quite marvellous. It is all so interesting too, and most of it in our own tongue, so that we need not be professors in Dutch. The most delightful of all histories have been written for us by American hands, and no library is complete without Motley’s two great Dutch works, The Rise of the Dutch Republic and the History of the United Netherlands. The great Italian writer, Edmondo de Amicis, has written two books on Holland—Holland, and Holland and its People; and we have the charming volume on the Dead Cities of the Zuyder Zee, H. Taine’s Low Countries, and Holland and Germany, by J. P. Mahaffy and J. E. Rogers. In the “Story of the Nations” Series there is an excellent volume by J. E. T. Rogers, and there are several delightful tales published lately, with the Low Countries for a background. And we have made acquaintance with Maarten Maartens, the author of stories that are Dutch in their characters and surroundings.
You must bear in mind that the Netherlands means Holland and Belgium. For so small a portion of the earth, the history of Holland is most interesting; and we must remember that she was once the mistress of the seas. There is a popular history of the Great Dutch Admirals, by Jacob de Liefde, and he has also written Beggars, Founders of the Dutch Republic. Prescott’s work of Philip II. of Spain covers much the same ground as Motley’s Rise of the Dutch Republic, though from the point of view of Spain. In this connection, W. C. Robinson’s The Revolt of the Netherlands may be read. Holland claims to be the birthplace of printing, and advances the claims of Haarlem, in opposition to Mentz, and the record of the Elzevir presses at Leyden, Amsterdam, and the Hague is a very famous one. Lord Ronald Gower has written a Pocket Guide to the Art Galleries of Belgium and Holland, containing both the public and private galleries; and Kate Thompson has contributed a Handbook to the Picture Galleries of Europe, while there are several very excellent guide-books in the ordinary way.
Now that Norway is so much visited, it would not be well to leave it out of the list of places to be seen, and read up before visiting. I think the most charming book I have ever read about it is Mrs. Stone’s Norway in June, which is quite as delightful as her Tenerife, and its Six Satellites. Round about Norway, by Charles W. Wood, is another pleasant volume; and Professor Boyesen’s History of Norway is one of the best-written of histories.
There are several best books on Sweden. The Land of the Midnight Sun, by Du Chaillu, and Under Northern Skies, by Charles W. Wood, are concerned with both countries; and in the way of romance, we have Frederica Bremer’s works, which are full of national colour. Paul du Chaillu has also written a delightful book called, The Viking Age, in two volumes, illustrated. The Story of Norway has been written also by Mrs. Arthur Sedgwick. In the way of Historical Biographies, there are many. Charles XII., Gustavus Vasa, Gustavus Adolphus, and the Thirty Years War; with that wonderful woman, Queen Christina, and Queen Caroline Matilda, who was the sister of George III.
The early history of Denmark is of course comprised in the history of Scandinavia generally; and the same may be said of Iceland and Greenland. An excellent Handbook of Runic Remains and Monuments, both in England and Scandinavia, has been written by Professor George Stephens, and these you should know something about in reference to both countries. The Danish novel Afraja, and Björnstjerne Björnson’s Stories and Norse Tales are well worth reading. Mrs. Alec. Tweedie has written A Girl’s Ride in Iceland, and a pleasant book about Finland. And there is the Ultima Thule of Sir Richard Burton, and The Story of Iceland, by Letitia MacColl. The Land of the North Wind, by E. Rae, and Under the Rays of the Aurora Borealis is a book written by a Dane, and translated. One of the most delightful books I ever read of, one of which a new edition was issued in 1887, is that entitled Letters from High Latitudes, by the Earl (now Marquis) of Dufferin; and there is a charming book by Baring Gould, on Iceland, its Sagas and Scenes. Iceland is a country which is more and more visited every year; but there are no more recent books than those I have mentioned.
We are so near to Russia that it seems foolish to pass it by, though I feel it is a difficult country to deal with. The history of Russia is dealt with in the “Story of the Nations” Series. Mr. A. J. C. Hare has given us Studies in Russia, and the R.T.S. a charming Russian Pictures drawn by Pen and Pencil. Mr. W. S. Ralston’s Songs of the Russian Peasantry contains an excellent account of the social life of Russia. In the way of poetry, the Rev. T. C. Wilson has translated for us Russian Lyrics into English Verse, which gives specimens of all the best recent poets, and there are translations of the works by most of the Russian novelists, as well as of Tolstoi’s books. But I do not feel inclined to advise you to enter on this troubled sea of thought. As a mere traveller you will not need to do so. Turner’s Studies in Russian Literature, and his Lectures on Modern Novelists of Russia, are quite enough for you, I fancy. The latter were delivered at the Taylor Institute, Oxford, and are pleasant and instructive, both. An Art Tour to the Northern Capitals of Europe, by Atkinson, includes those of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kiel.
In Germany the poets are our best travelling companions. I remember Nuremberg best through the medium of Longfellow, and its history through the historical tales of Mühlbach, Auerbach, and Marlitt. The Baroness Tautpheous, the Howitts, and even Hans Christian Andersen, and Grimm, have all, too, lent a magic to the land. The literature that has arisen with Wagner and Bayreuth, for a centre, is very wide, and begins with the Arthurian Legends and the Nibelungen-Lied. Of the first you will have some knowledge from our own Tennyson and the Idylls of the King, even if you do not go as far as the Mabinogion, which was edited and translated by Lady Charlotte Guest, of which there is an abridged edition. We have a translation of the Nibelungen-Lied by W. N. Lettsom, and another by A. G. Foster-Barham, in the “Great Musicians” Series. Wagner is written by Dr. F. Hueffer, who has also written Wagner and the Music of the Future. There is a volume to be obtained at Bayreuth of all the operas given there, which you will most likely procure, if you should be led there any August to assist at the Wagner festival.
For Austria we have several delightful fellow-travellers. Amelia B. Edwards, in Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys, deals with the Dolomite region; a more recent book is Robertson’s Through the Dolomites; and there are two books by W. A. Grohman on Tyrol and the Tyrolese, and Gaddings with a Primitive People. Victor Tissot’s Unknown Hungary has been translated from the French, and the little-known Dalmatia has been dealt with by Mr. T. G. Jackson. C. W. Wood has written In the Black Forest. There are several modern books on Bismarck and his master, the Emperor William I., and also on Imperial Germany, and you should choose the most recent of these. There is an illustrated book, by K. Stieler, called the Rhine from its Source to the Sea, which has been translated and is very interesting. As a general thing, the guide-books are so many and so various, dealing with health, baths and spas, and the various artists, musicians, battle-fields, and seats of learning, that unless you were looking up any special subject, they will give all the information you require for travelling in the Fatherland.
In the way of extended literature, you may read, if you like, Helen Zimmern’s Half-hours with Foreign Novelists, and in the way of distant travels there is, to me, the ever-fascinating Ida Pfeiffer, that wonderful German woman, whose wanderings were worldwide, and the contents of whose purse was microscopic at all times. Mrs. Bird, Miss Gordon Cumming, Lady Brassey, Miss Kingsley, and that delightful Miss Gates, who is quite the equal of Madame Pfeiffer in her fearless and adventurous spirit, are all worth reading. James Gilmore, as a writer and traveller, is so delightful that one feels the deepest regret at his early death. Mr. and Mrs. Pennell are always excellent companions, whether they travel to the Hebrides or take a Sentimental Journey through France; or one nearer home, On the Stream of Pleasure; The Thames from Oxford to London, or Play in Provence. They are the pioneers in cycling, for the tourist, and have steadily ridden from the days of the tricycle, till it has been eclipsed by a more rapid machine.