A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume One | Page 6

inn. If talent be sought in these Engravings, it will
doubtless be found in them; but strangers must not seek for fidelity of
representation from what is before their eyes. The greater number of
the Designs are, in some sort, ideal compositions, which, by resembling
every thing, resemble nothing in particular: and it is worthy of remark
that the Artist, in imitation of the Author, seems to have thought that he
had only to shew himself clever, without troubling himself to be
faithful." To this, I reply in the very words of M. Licquet himself: "the
decision is severe; luckily it is unjust." The only portions of the designs
of their skilful author, which may be taxed with a tendency to
extravagance, are the _groups_: which, when accompanied by views of
landscapes, or of monuments, are probably too profusely indulged in;
but the individuals, constituting those groups, belong precisely to the
country in which they are represented. In the first and second volumes
they are _French_; in the third they are _Germans_--all over. Will M.
Licquet pretend to say that the churches, monasteries, streets, and
buildings, with which the previous Edition of this Tour is so elaborately
embellished, have the slightest tendency to IMAGINED SCENERY? If
he do, his optics must be peculiarly his own. I have, in a subsequent
page, (p. 34, note) slightly alluded to the cost and risk attendant on the
Plates; but I may confidently affirm, from experience, that two thirds of
the expense incurred would have secured the same sale at the same

price. However, the die is cast; and the voice of lamentation is fruitless.
I now come to the consideration of M. Licquet's coadjutor, M.
CRAPELET. Although the line of conduct pursued by that very
singular gentleman be of an infinitely more crooked description than
that of his Predecessor, yet, in this place, I shall observe less respecting
it; inasmuch as, in the subsequent pages, (pp. 209, 245, 253, 400, &c.)
the version and annotations of M. Crapelet have been somewhat
minutely discussed. Upon the SPIRIT which could give rise to such a
version, and such annotations, I will here only observe, that it very
much resembles that of searchers of our street-pavements; who, with
long nails, scrape out the dirt from the interstices of the stones, with the
hope of making a discovery of some lost treasure which may
compensate the toil of perseverance. The love of lucre may, or may not,
have influenced my Parisian translator; but the love of discovery of
latent error, and of exposure of venial transgression, has undoubtedly,
from beginning to end, excited his zeal and perseverance. That carping
spirit, which shuts its eyes upon what is liberal and kind, and withholds
its assent to what is honourable and just, it is the distinguished lot--and,
perhaps, as the translator may imagine, the distinguished felicity--of M.
Crapelet to possess. Never was greater reluctance displayed in
admitting even the palpable truths of a text, than what is displayed in
the notes of M. Crapelet: and whenever a concurring sentiment comes
from him, it seems to exude like his heart's life-blood. Having already
answered, in detail, his separate publication confined to my 30th
Letter[13]--(the 8th of the second volume, in this edition) and having
replied to those animadversions which appear in his translation of the
whole of the second volume, in this edition--it remains here only to
consign the Translator to the careful and impartial consideration of the
Reader, who, it is requested, may be umpire between both parties. Not
to admit that the text of this Edition is in many places improved, from
the suggestions of my Translators, by corrections of "Names of Persons,
Places, and Things," would be to betray a stubbornness or obtuseness
of feeling which certainly does not enter into the composition of its
author.
I now turn, not without some little anxiety, yet not wholly divested of

the hope of a favourable issue, to the character and object of the Edition
HERE presented to the Public. It will be evident, at first glance, that it
is greatly "shorn of its beams" in regard to graphic decorations and
typographical splendour. Yet its garb, if less costly, is not made of
coarse materials: for it has been the wish and aim of the Publishers, that
this impression should rank among books worthy of the
DISTINGUISHED PRESS from which it issues. Nor is it unadorned by
the sister art of _Engraving_; for, although on a reduced scale, some of
the repeated plates may even dispute the palm of superiority with their
predecessors. Several of the GROUPS, executed on copper in the
preceding edition, have been executed on wood in the present; and it is
for the learned in these matters to decide upon their relative merits. To
have attempted portraits