RAMBLES M EUROPE: SERIES OF FAMILIAR LETTERS. BY REV. MY TRAFTON, M. A. BOSTON: GHAELES H. PEIRCE AND COMPANY. No. 5 CORNHILL. 1852. Entered according to Act of Congress, in th.e year 1851, By CHARLES H. PEIRCE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. Printed by George C. Rand. 10 G. W. PICKERING, ESQ., WHOSE GENEROSITY SEOCSED THE GRATIFICATION OF A LONG CHERISHED DESIRE, Eijis 2Sttprctcntiinc(; 17oIumc IS PvESPECTFULLT INSCRIBED, BT IIIS OBLiaED AND GEATEFUL FFaEND, THE AUTHOR. INTRODUCTION. When the writer of the following letters left home for a short tour in the " Old World " he promised some friends an occasional letter for the periodicals of which they were the editors. He endeavoi-ed to fulfil this engagement, and a number of these letters were issued in the Zionh Herald^ and others in the Ladies'* Repository, published in Cincinnati, Ohio. Some of the letters were brought home by the writer, and subsequently published. It was his practice to take notes of all that interested him ; and these rough and imperfect sketches were subsequently filled up and brought into their present shape. But he had not the most distant idea of "writing a book;" and he feels that it is due to himself to say that it was wholly owing to an infirmity which attaches to his constitution, an inclina- tion to yield to the persuasion of friends ^ that these fugitive letters are presented to the public in their present form. He therefore begs the utmost forbearance of that worthy and high-minded fra- ternity called critics, lest he should be forced to say, " save'me from my friends ! " The writer went out to see what he long desired to look upon — the " Old World.'' He has given his own views, boldly, but kindly. He has endeavored to write Avithout severity ; and if his English friends shall imagine otherwise, he begs to assure them that, while he has commented freely upon public faults and anti-republican customs, his heart cherishes none but feelings of kindness. He Avent out an American ; he came back unchanged. vi INTRO'DUCTION. The writer desired to see things as they were ; to visit the Old Woi-ld — not to gaze upon crowned heads, or mingle in the circles of wealthy nobles and an oppressive, purse-proud aristocracy — hut to visit the people, and form his own opinion of their condition, sufferings and wrongs. He has expressed himself freely, and en- deavored to give to those who may read his unpretending letters precisely the impressions made upon his own mind by a hasty glance at what came before him. His time was short, and he made the best possible use of it. He may have made many mistakes ; and, if so, no one can regret this more than himself. If he has wounded the feelings of an English brother, it was not intentional ; the fault was in the matter commented upon ; the sin, if any, he will hasten to confess. One word more : The writer does not come before the public as a teac/