網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

The subject of this volume, and the purpose for which it is written, admit of little novelty, most of the information it contains being necessarily derived from books, modified by actual observation. But many of the works consulted are in foreign languages, and not easily accessible to English readers. To this have been added the results of the writer's personal experience and inquiries made on the spot; and he has taken much pains to acquire the most recent information from the best authorities, and to bring it down to the present time. Many of the routes also have never before been laid down in any Guide Book published in this country, and the whole is so arranged as to be fitted for the use of the English traveller. This volume is complete in itself as far as it goes, and is intended to preclude the necessity of resorting to any other Guide Book in the countries which it professes to describe.

Should the book be found to possess any superiority over others of its class, it is because it is based upon a personal knowledge of the countries described; since those routes which have not been travelled over by the author himself have, with very few exceptions, been revised by friends to whom they are actually known. Many of the descriptions of routes have already served to guide travellers abroad, and have thus been verified on the spot.

That such a work can be faultless is impossible, and the author has therefore to throw himself on the indulgence of his readers, to excuse the inaccuracies (numerous, no doubt) which may occur in the course of it, in spite of the care taken to avoid them; and he most particularly requests all who make use of it to favour him by transmitting, through his publisher, a notice of any mistakes or omissions which they may discover. Such communications will be carefully attended to in the event of a new edition being required. The blunders of the author of a Tour on the Continent," published for the edification of the public at home, may escape detection; but a book of this kind, every word of which is liable to be weighed and verified on the spot, is subjected to a much more severe test and criticism. What Dr. Johnson said of Dictionaries is also applicable to Guide Books: They are like watches; the worst is better than none - the best cannot be expected to go quite true."

[ocr errors]

66

The writer begs to express his acknowledgments to numerous friends, whose names he is not at liberty to mention, who have obligingly favoured him with notes and corrections during the printing of the book.

August, 1836.

ABBREVIATIONS, &c. USED IN THE HAND-BOOK.

The points of the Compass are marked simply by the letters N. S. E. W.' (rt.) right, (l.) left. The right bank of a river is that which lies on the right hand of a person whose back is turned towards the source, or the quarter from which the current descends.

[ocr errors]

Route; St. or Stat. =

Railway Station.

m. = mile; R. or Rte. When miles are spoken of without any descriptive epithet, English statute miles are to be understood.

The names of Inns precede the description of every place, (often in a parenthesis,) because the first information needed by a traveller is where to lodge. The best Inns, as far as they can be determined, are placed first.

Instead of designating a town by the vague words "large" or "small," the amount of the population, according to the latest census, is almost invariably stated, as presenting a more exact scale of the importance and size of the place. In order to avoid repetition, the Routes through the larger states of Europe are preceded by a chapter of preliminary information; and, to facilitate reference to it, each division or paragraph is separately numbered.

Every Route has a number, corresponding with the figures attached to the Route on the Map, which thus serves as an index to the Book; at the same time that it presents a tolerably exact view of the great high roads of Europe, and of the course of public conveyances.

The Map is to be placed at the end of the book. The Plans of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, and Frankfurt on the Main, are to be placed respectively opposite to the commencement of the descriptions of those towns.

N. B. The information given in the following pages respecting steamers, railroads, exhibitions, &c., applies to the usual summer travelling season. There are usually fewer trains and steamers, and shorter times of admission, during the end of the autumn, the winter, and early spring. These changes are easily ascertained on the spot: it is only necessary to caution the traveller respecting them.

INTRODUCTION,

CONTAINING INFORMATION WHICH MAY BE OF USE BEFORE LEAVING ENGLAND.

[ocr errors]

-

a. Maxims and Hints for Travelling. b. Language. -c. Money: Circular Notes. -d. Passports. -e. Couriers. - f. Carriage.g. Some Requisites for Travelling.h. Steam Boats from England. — i. Landing on the Continent :Custom Houses and Commissionaire. k. British Custom House: Transmission of Goods from the Continent to England.-1. Inns and Innkeepers.m. English Church on the Continent. -n. A few Skeleton Tours. o. Tables of the relative Value of the Money of Germany compared with that of England and France.

a. MAXIMS AND HINTS FOR TRAVELLING.

"TRAVEL in the younger sort is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country, before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel. That young men travel under some tutor, or grave servant, I allow well; so that he be such a one that hath the language, and hath been in the country before; whereby he may be able to tell them what things are worthy to be seen in the country where they go, what acquaintances they are to seek, what exercise or discipline the place yieldeth; for else young men shall go hooded, and look abroad little. The things to be seen and observed are the courts of princes, especially when they give audience to ambassadors; the courts of justice while they sit and hear causes; and so of consistories ecclesiastic; the churches and monasteries, with the monuments which are therein extant; the walls and fortifications of cities and towns: and so the havens and harbours, antiquities and ruins, libraries, colleges, disputations, and lectures, where any are; shipping and navies; houses and gardens of state and pleasure near great cities; armories, arsenals, magazines, exchanges, burses, warehouses, exercises of horsemanship, fencing, training of soldiers, and the like; comedies, such whereunto the better sort of persons do resort; treasuries of jewels and robes; cabinets and rarities; and, to conclude, whatsoever is memorable in the places where they go; after all which the tutors or servants ought to make diligent inquiry. As for triumphs, masks, feasts, weddings, funerals, capital executions, and such shows, men need not to be put in mind of them; yet are they not to be neglected. If you will have a young man to put his travel into a little room, and in a short time to gather much, this you must do: first, as was said, he must

have some entrance into the language before he goeth; then he must have such a servant or tutor as knoweth the country, as was likewise said let him carry with him also some card or book describing the country where he travelleth, which will be a good key to his inquiry ; let him keep also a diary; let him not stay long in one city or town, more or less as the place deserveth, but not long; nay, when he stayeth in one city or town, let him change his lodging from one end and part of the town to another, which is a great adamant of acquaintance; let him sequester himself from the company of his countrymen, and diet in such places where there is good company of the nation where he travelleth; let him, upon his removes from one place to another, procure recommendation to some person of quality resid ing in the place whither he removeth, that he may use his favour in those things he desireth to see or know thus he may abridge his travel with much profit. As for the acquaintance which is to be sought in travel, that which is most of all profitable is acquaintance with the secretaries and employed men of ambassadors; for so in travelling in one country he shall suck the experience of many: let him also see and visit eminent persons in all kinds which are of great name abroad, that he may be able to tell how the life agreeth with the fame for quarrels they are with care and discretion to be avoided; they are commonly for mistresses, healths, place, and words; and let a man beware how he keepeth company with choleric and quarrelsome persons; for they will engage him into their own quarrels. When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him; but maintain a correspondence by letters with those of his acquaintance which are of most worth: and let his travel appear rather in his discourse than in his apparel or gesture; and in his discourse let him be rather advised in his answers than forward to tell stories: and let it appear that he doth not change his country manners for those of foreign parts; but only prick in some flowers of that he hath learned abroad into the customs of his own country." LORD BACON. Essays, XIX.

"Ours is a nation of travellers; and no wonder, when the elements, air, water, fire, attend at our bidding, to transport us from shore to shore; when the ship rushes into the deep, her track the foam as of some mighty torrent; and, in three hours or less, we stand gazing and gazed at among a foreign people. None want an excuse. If rich, they go to enjoy; if poor, to retrench; if sick, to recover; if studious, to learn; if learned, to relax from their studies. But whatever they may say, whatever they may believe, they go for the most part on the same errand; nor will those who reflect think that errand an idle one.

"Almost all men are over-anxious. No sooner do they enter the world, than they lose that taste for natural and simple pleasures, so remarkable in early life. Every hour do they ask themselves what progress they have made in the pursuit of wealth or honour; and on they go as their fathers went before them, till, weary and sick at heart, they look back with a sigh of regret to the golden time of heir childhood.

« 上一頁繼續 »