Recollections of Europe | Page 2

an account of the more
ordinary characteristics of Europe. But the mass of all nations can form
their opinions of others through the medium of testimony only; and as
no two travellers see precisely the same things, or, when seen, view
them with precisely the same eyes, this is a species of writing, after all,
that is not likely to pall, or cease to be useful. The changes that are
constantly going on everywhere, call for as constant repetitions of the
descriptions; and although the pictures may not always be drawn and
coloured equally well, so long as they are taken in good faith, they will
not be without their value.
It is not a very difficult task to make what is commonly called an
amusing book of travels. Any one who will tell, with a reasonable
degree of graphic effect, what he has seen, will not fail to carry the
reader with him; for the interest we all feel in personal adventure is, of
itself, success. But it is much more difficult to give an honest and a

discriminating summary of what one has seen. The mind so naturally
turns to exceptions, that an observer has great need of self-distrust, of
the powers of analysis, and, most of all, of a knowledge of the world, to
be what the lawyers call a safe witness.
I have no excuse of haste, or of a want of time, to offer for the defect of
these volumes. All I ask is, that they may be viewed as no more than
they profess to be. They are the gleanings of a harvest already
gathered, thrown together in a desultory manner, and without the
slightest, or, at least, very small pretensions, to any of those
arithmetical and statistical accounts that properly belong to works of a
graver character. They contain the passing remarks of one who has
certainly seen something of the world, whether it has been to his
advantage or not, who had reasonably good opportunities to examine
what he saw, and who is not conscious of being, in the slightest degree,
influenced "by fear, favour, or the hope of reward." His compte rendu
must pass for what it is worth.

FRANCE.
LETTER I.
Our Embarkation.--Leave-taking.--Our Abigail.--Bay of New York.
--The Hudson.--Ominous Prediction.--The Prophet falsified.--Enter the
Atlantic.--"Land-birds."--Our Master.--Officers of Packet-ships. --Loss
of "The Crisis."--The "Three Chimneys."--Calamities at Sea.
--Sailing-match.--View of the Eddystone.--The Don Quixote.
--Comparative Sailing.--Pilot-boats.--Coast of Dorsetshire.--The
Needles. --Lymington.--Southampton Water.--The Custom-house.
TO CAPTAIN SHUBRICK, U.S.N.
MY DEAR SHUBRICK,
"Passengers by the Liverpool, London and Havre packets are informed
that a steam-boat will leave the White Hall Wharf precisely at eleven,
A.M. to-morrow, June 1st." If to this notice be added the year 1826,

you have the very hour and place of our embarkation. We were
nominally of the London party, it being our intention, however, to land
at Cowes, from which place we proposed crossing the Channel to
Havre. The reason for making this variation from the direct route, was
the superior comfort of the London ship; that of the French line for the
1st June, though a good vessel and well commanded, being actually the
least commodious packet that plied between the two hemispheres.
We were punctual to the hour, and found one of the smaller steamers
crowded with those who, like ourselves, were bound to the "old world,"
and the friends who had come to take the last look at them. We had our
leave-takings, too, which are sufficiently painful when it is known that
years must intervene before there is another meeting. As is always done
by good Manhattanese, the town house had been given up on the 1st of
May, since which time we had resided at an hotel. The furniture had
been principally sold at auction, and the entire month had passed in
what I believed to be very ample preparations. It may be questioned if
there is any such thing as being completely prepared for so material a
change; at all events, we found a dozen essentials neglected at the last
moment, and as many oversights to be repaired in the same instant.
On quitting the hotel, some fifty or a hundred volumes and pamphlets
lay on the floor of my bed-room. Luckily, you were to sail on a cruise
in a day or two, and as you promised not only to give them a berth, but
to read them one and all, they were transferred forthwith to the
Lexington. They were a dear gift, if you kept your word! John was sent
with a note, with orders to be at the wharf in half an hour. I have not
seen him since. Then Abigail was to be discharged. We had long
debated whether this excellent woman should, or should not, be taken.
She was an American,