PREFACE. THE press has teemed of late with the works of American tourists, some artistic, some scientific, and others, again, of a more purely literary type. There are, therefore, many readers who will doubtless expect an apology from one who ventures now to place himself and his itinerary before the public, though claiming no eminence in the world of letters and making little pretension to superiority in any particular accomplishment. But we live in an age when the people are becoming paramount in all things; and the wanderings described in this little volume took place among a people more interesting to the American than any other upon earth. For forty years, the land from which we have drawn our political, and most of our social institutions, has been undergoing a quiet but important revolution, the tendency of which has been steadily to favor a closer approximation between the habits, feelings, hopes, and fears of the two great families of the Anglo-Saxon stock. While the one has advanced in a most brilliant career upon a republican model, the other has been continually softening and smoothing down the salient points which chiefly distinguish a limited monarchy from a republic. During these forty years, the United States has gradually lost the character of the "daughter" of Great Britain. She has assumed in her maturity the novel relationship of a sister; and the reaction of her opinions, her manners, and her prosperity has come to be felt and acknowledged in the old homestead, with a force which few can appreciate until they have mingled with the English masses. The tourist of wealth and fame is thrown by circumstances chiefly into contact with the small minority which forms the upper classes, in countries where such classes are established. He sees little of the multitude that multitude with whom it is not improbable that we may be compelled, before many years have passed, to stand side by side in the armed defence of our common principles against the inveterate foes of our common liberties. The artistic or poetical tourist, usually more humble in fortune, is brought more closely into contact with the people; but, accustomed to look upon nature and humanity under the reflected light of his own genius and taste, he is prone to see all things, whether charming or disgustful, in unreal colors, and his pictures too frequently owe more to the imagination than the judgment. The writer of the following pages claims not to belong to either of the foregoing classes of travellers. Educated to a mechanical profession, he has never aspired to move in the circles of wealth; and too busy with the realities of life to devote much time to the accomplishments, his offerings at the shrine of the muses have been few and little noted. But some moments of relaxation occur to all men, and from youth he has been blessed with occasional glances into the bright realms of soul-land. The songs of his father's fatherland were familiar to his childhood; the classics and the nobler poems of England were read with avidity in somewhat riper years; and he learned to think, with a feeling amounting to awe, of those great master-spirits of literature whose writings have crowned them with immortality. To visit their distant graves-to stand in the shadow of the time-worn castleto wander through the dim aisles of Gothic churches, and taste of those sacred springs from which they drew their inspiration, became a passion with him; and so soon as the slender accumulations of early industry warranted the undertaking, he flew to the accomplishment of his desire. His journeyings in Scotland, Wales, and England were chiefly performed on foot, amid the pressure of many difficulties. The wayside cottage was a home to him, and the wayfarer was his brother and his equal. His pencillings and sketches were partly communicated to American journals, that the proceeds might aid him on his way, but were chiefly preserved for the gratification of a few who were near and dear to him, with a mere vague and dreamy idea that they might one day reach the public eye in volume form. They were submitted to the inspection of a literary friend, who urged their publication, and who, at his request, has penned this scarcely necessary preface. The author has looked upon England and the English from an unusual position; and there is a truthfulness, an unpretending sincerity in his descriptions, which will carry the reader with him in his lonely rambles; while even those who may be deeply versed in the history of the country and its literature, will find within these pages some illustrations both of men and things which they will prize not lightly. With these remarks, the volume is committed to the public, in the full faith that it will not be deemed a useless or impertinent addition to the long catalogue of recent tours. C. |