A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany.
Volume One.
by Thomas Frognall Dibdin.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
If I had chosen to introduce myself to the greatest possible advantage to the reader, in this Preface to a Second Edition of the "_Bibliographical, Antiquarian, and Picturesque Tour_," I could not have done better than have borrowed the language of those Foreigners, who, by a translation of the Work (however occasionally vituperative their criticisms) have, in fact, conferred an honour upon its Author. In the midst of censure, sometimes dictated by spite, and sometimes sharpened by acrimony of feeling, it were in my power to select pa.s.sages of commendation, which would not less surprise the Reader than they have done myself: while the history of this performance may be said to exhibit the singular phenomenon, of a traveller, usually lauding the countries through which he pa.s.ses, receiving in return the reluctant approbation of those whose inst.i.tutions, manners, and customs, have been praised by him. It is admitted, by the most sedulous and systematic of my opponents--M. c.r.a.pELET--that "considering the quant.i.ty and quality of the ornaments and engravings of this Tour, one is surprised that its cost is so moderate."[1]
"Few books (says the Bibliographer of Dijon) have been executed with greater luxury. It is said that the expenses of printing and engraving amounted to 6000 l.--to nearly 140,000 franks of our money. It must be admitted that England is the only country in which such an undertaking could be carried into effect. Who in France would dare to risk such a sum--especially for three, volumes in octavo? He would be ruined, if he did."[2] I quote these pa.s.sages simply to shew under what extraordinary obliquity of feeling those gentlemen must have set down to the task of translation and abuse--of THAT VERY WORK, which is here admitted to contain such splendid representations of the "bibliographical, antiquarian, and picturesque" beauties of their country.
A brief account of this foreign _travail_ may be acceptable to the curious in literary history. MONS. LICQUET, the successor of M. Gourdin, as Chief Librarian to the Public Library at Rouen, led the way in the work of warfare. He translated the ninth Letter relating to that Public Library; of which translation especial mention is made at p. 99, post. This version was printed in 1821, for private, distribution; and only 100 copies were struck off. M. c.r.a.pelet, in whose office it was printed, felt the embers of discontent rekindled in his bosom as it pa.s.sed through his press; and in the following year HE also stepped forward to discharge an arrow at the Traveller. Like his predecessor, he printed but a limited number; and as I have more particularly remarked upon the spirit of that version by way of "Introduction" to the original letter, in vol. ii. 209, &c. I shall not waste the time of the Reader by any notice of it in the present place.
These two partial translators united their forces, about two years afterwards, and published the whole of the Tour, as it related to FRANCE, in four octavo volumes, in 1825. The ordinary copies were sold for 48 francs, the large paper for 112 francs per copy. The wood-cuts only were republished by them. Of this conjoint, and more enlarged production, presently.
Encouraged by the examples of Messrs. Licquet and c.r.a.pelet, a Bookbinder of the name of LESNe (whose poem upon his "Craft," published in 1820, had been copiously quoted and _commended_ by me in the previous edition) chose to plant his foot within this arena of controversy; and to address a letter to me; to which his model, M. c.r.a.pelet, was too happy to give circulation through the medium of his press.[3] To that letter the following metrical lines are prefixed; which the Reader would scarcely forgive me if I failed to amuse him by their introduction in this place. "_Lesne, Relieur Francais, a Mons. T.F. Dibdin, Ministre de la Religion, &c._"
Avec un ris moqueur, je crois vous voir d"ici, Dedaigneus.e.m.e.nt dire: Eh, que veut celui-ci?
Qu"ai-je donc de commun avec un vil artiste?
Un ouvrier francais, un _Bibliopegiste_?
Ose-t-on ravaler un Ministre a ce point?
Que me veut ce _Lesne_? Je ne le connais point.
Je crois me souvenir qu"a mon voyage en France, Avec ses pauvres vers je nouai connaissance.
Mais c"est si peu de chose un poete a Paris!
Savez-vous bien, Monsieur, pourquoi je vous ecris?
C"est que je crois avoir le droit de vous ecrire.
Fussiez-vous cent fois plus qu"on ne saurait le dire, Je vois dans un Ministre un homme tel que moi; Devant Dieu je crois meme etre l"egal d"un roi.
The Letter however is in prose, with some very few exceptions; and it is just possible that the indulgent Reader may endure a specimen or two of the prose of M. Lesne, as readily as he has that of his poetry. These specimens are equally delectable, of their kind. Immediately after the preceding poetical burst, the French Bibliopegist continues thus:
D"apres cet exorde, vous pensez sans doute que, bien convaincu de ma dignite d"homme, je me crois en droit de vous dire franchement ma facon de penser; je vous la dirai, Monsieur. Si vous dirigiez un journal bibliographique; que vous fissiez, en un mot, le metier de journaliste, je serai peu surpris de voir dans votre Trentieme Lettre, une foule de choses hasardees, de mauvais calembourgs, de grossieretes, que nous ne rencontrons meme pas chez nos journalistes du dernier ordre, en ce qu"ils savent mieux leur monde, et que s"ils lancent une epigramme, fut-elle fausse, elle est au moins finement tournee. Mais vous etes ANGLAIS, et par cela seul dispense sans doute de cette politesse qui distingue si heureus.e.m.e.nt notre nation de la votre, et que vos compatriotes n"acquierent pour la plupart qu"apres un long sejour en France." p. 6.
Towards the latter part of this most formidable "Tentamen Critic.u.m," the irritable author breaks out thus--"C"est une maladie Francaise de vouloir toujours imiter les Anglais; ceux-ci, a leur tour, commencent a en etre atteints." p. 19. A little farther it is thus: "Enfin c"est _en imitant_ qu"on reussit presque toujours mal; vous en etes encore, une preuve evidente. J"ai vu en beaucoup d"endroits de votre Lettre, que vous avez voulu imiter _Sterne_;[4] qu"est-il arrive? Vous etes reste au-dessous de lui, comme tous les Imitateurs de notre bon La Fontaine sont restes en deca de l"immortel Fabuliste." p. 20. But most especially does the sensitive M.
Lesne betray his surprise and apprehension, on a gratuitous supposition--thrown out by me, by way of pleasantry--that "Mr. Charles Lewis was going over to Paris, to establish there a modern School of Bookbinding." M. Lesne thus wrathfully dilates upon this supposition:
"Je me garderai bien de pa.s.ser sous silence la derniere partie de votre Lettre; _un bruit a.s.sez etrange est venu jusqu"a vous_; et Charles Lewis doit vous quitter pour quelque temps pour etablir en France une ecole de reliure d"apres les principes du gout anglais; mais vous croyez, dites-vous, que ce projet est surement chimerique, ou que, si on le tentait, il serait de courte duree.
Pour cette fois, Monsieur, votre p.r.o.nostic serait tres juste; cette demarche serait une folie: il faudrait s"abuser sur l"engouement des amateurs francais, et ceux qui sont atteints de cette maladie ne sont pas en a.s.sez grand nombre pour soutenir un pareil etabliss.e.m.e.nt. Oui, l"on aime votre genre de reliure; mais on aime les reliures, facon anglaise, faites par les Francais. Pensez-vous done, ou Charles Lewis pense-t-il, qu"il n"y ait plus d"esprit national en France?
Allez, le sang Francaise coule encore dans nos veines; Nous pourrons eprouver des malheurs et des peines, Que nous devrons peut etre a vous autres Anglais; Mais nous voulons rester, nous resterons, Francais!
Ainsi, que Charles Lewis ne se derange pas; qu"il cesse, s"il les a commences, les preparatifs de sa descente; qu"il ne prive pas ses compatriotes d"un artiste soi-disant inimitable. Nous en avons ici qui le valent, et qui se feront un plaisir de perpeteur parmi nous le bon gout, l"elegance, et la n.o.ble simplicite. p. 25.[5]
So much for M. Lesne. I have briefly noticed M. Peignot, the Bibliographer of Dijon. That worthy wight has made the versions of my Ninth and Thirtieth Letters (First Edition) by M.M. Licquet and c.r.a.pelet, the substratum of his first brochure ent.i.tled _Varietes, Notices et Raretes Bibliographiques_, _Paris_, 1822: it being a supplement to his previous Work of _Curiosites Bibliographiques_."[6] It is not always agreeable for an Author to have his Works reflected through the medium of a translation; especially where the Translator suffers a portion, however small, of his _own_ atrabiliousness, to be mixed up with the work translated: nor is it always safe for a third person to judge of the merits of the original through such a medium. Much allowance must therefore be made for M. Peignot; who, to say the truth, at the conclusion of his labours, seems to think that he has waded through a great deal of _dirt_ of some kind or other, which might have been better avoided; and that, in consequence, some general declaration, by way of _wiping, off_ a portion of the adhering mud, is due to the original Author.
Accordingly, at the end of his a.n.a.lysis of M. Licquet"s version, (which forms the second Letter in the brochure) he does me the honour to devote seven pages to the notice of my humble lucubrations:--and he prefaces this "_Notice des Ouvrages de M. Dibdin"_, by the following very handsome tribute to their worth:
Si, dans les deux Lettres ou nous avons rendu compte des traductions partielles du voyage de M.D., nous avons partage l"opinion des deux estimable traducteurs, sur quelques erreurs et quelques inconvenances echappees a l"auteur anglais, nous sommes bien eloigne d"envelopper dans le meme blame, tout ce qui est sorte de sa plume; car il y auroit injustice a lui refuser des connaissances tres etendues en histoire litteraire, et en bibliographie: nous le disons franchement, il faudroit fermer les yeux a la lumiere, ou etre d"une partialite revoltante, pour ne pas convenir que, juste appreciateur de tous les tresors bibliographiques qu"il a le bonheur d"avoir sous la main, M.
Dibdin en a fait connoitre en detail toute la richesse dans de nombreux d"ouvrages, ou tres souvent le luxe d"erudition se trouve en harmonie avec le luxe typographique qu"il y a etale.
At the risk of incurring the imputation of vanity, I annex the preceding extract; because I am persuaded that the candid Reader will appreciate it in its proper light. I might, had I chosen to do so, have lengthened the extract by a yet more complimentary pa.s.sage: but enough of M. Peignot--who, so far from suffering ill will or acerbity to predominate over a kind disposition, hath been pleased, since his publication, to write to me a very courteous Letter,[7] and to solicit a "continuance of my favours."
Agreeably to the intimation expressed in a preceding page, I am now, in due order, to notice the labours of my translators M.M. LICQUET and c.r.a.pELET.
Their united version appeared in 1825, in four octavo volumes, of which the small paper was but indifferently well printed.[8] The preface to the first two volumes is by M. Licquet: and it is not divested of point and merit. It begins by attacking the _Quarterly Review_, (June 1821, p. 147.) for its severity of animadversion on the supposed listlessness and want of curiosity of the French in exploring the architectural antiquities of their country; and that, in consequence of such supineness, the English, considering them as their own property, have described them accordingly.
"The decision (says the French translator) is severe; happily it is without foundation." After having devoted several pages to observations by way of reply to that critical Journal, M. Licquet continues thus:--unless I have unintentionally misrepresented him.
The Englishman who travels in Normandy, meets, at every step, with reminiscences of his kings, his ancestors, his inst.i.tutions, and his customs. Churches yet standing, after the lapse of seven centuries; majestic ruins; tombs--even to the very sound of the clock--all unite in affecting, here, the heart of a British subject: every thing seems to tell him that, in former times, HERE was his country; here the residence of his sovereigns; and here the cradle of his manners. This was more than sufficient to enflame the lively imagination of Mr. D.
and to decide him to visit, in person, a country already explored by a great number of his countrymen; but he conceived that his narrative should embody other topics than those which ordinarily appeared in the text of his predecessors.
"His work then is not only a description of castles, towns, churches, public monuments of every kind:--it is not only a representation of the general aspect of the country, as to its picturesque appearances--but it is an extended, minute, though occasionally inexact, account of public and private libraries; with reflections upon certain customs of the country, and upon the character of those who inhabit it. It is in short the personal history of the author, throughout the whole length of his journey. Not the smallest incident, however indifferent, but what has a place in the letters of the Bibliographer. Thus, he mentions every Inn where he stops: recommends or scolds the landlord--according to his civility or exaction. Has the author pa.s.sed a bad night? the reader is sure to know it on the following morning. On the other hand, has he had a good night"s rest in a comfortable bed? [dans un lit _comfortable_?] We are as sure to know this also, as soon as he awakes:--and thus far we are relieved from anxiety about the health of the traveller. Cold and heat--fine weather and bad weather--every variation of atmosphere is scrupulously recorded.
What immediately follows, is unworthy of M. Licquet; because it not only implies a charge of a heinous description--accusing me of an insidious intrusion into domestic circles, a violation of confidence, and a systematic derision of persons and things--but because the French translator, exercising that sense and shrewdness which usually distinguish him, MUST have known that such a charge _could_ not have been founded in FACT. He must have known that any gentleman, leaving England with those letters which brought me in contact with some of the first circles on the Continent, MUST have left it without leaving his character _behind_ him; and that such a character could not, in the natural order of things--seen even through the sensitive medium of a French critic--have been guilty of the grossness and improprieties imputed to me by M. Licquet. I treat therefore this "d.a.m.nation in wholesale" with scorn and contempt: and hasten to impress the reader with a more favourable opinion of my Norman translator. He _will_ have it that
"the English Traveller"s imagination is lively and ardent--and his spirit, that of raillery and lightness. He examines as he runs along; that is to say, he does not give himself time to examine; he examines ill; he deceives himself; and he subjects his readers to be deceived with him. He traverses, at a hard trot, one of the most ancient towns in France; puts his head out of his carriage window--and boldly decides that the town is of the time of Francis I."![9] p. xviij.
There is pleasantry, and perhaps some little truth, in this vein of observation; and it had been better, perhaps, for the credit of the good taste and gentleman-like feeling of Mons. Licquet, if he had uniformly maintained his character in these respects. I have however, in the subsequent pages,[10] occasionally grappled with my annotator in proving the fallacy, or the want of charity, of many of his animadversions: and the reader probably may not be displeased, if, by way of "avant propos," I indulge him here with a specimen of them--taken from his preface. M.
Licquet says, that I "create scenes; arrange a drama; trace characters; imagine a dialogue, frequently in French--and in what French--gracious G.o.d!--in a.s.signing to postilions a ridiculous language, and to men of the world the language of postilions." These be sharp words:[11] but what does the Reader imagine may be the probable "result" of the English Traveller"s inadvertencies?... A result, ("gracious Heaven!") very little antic.i.p.ated by the author. Let him ponder well upon the awful language which ensues.
"What (says M. Licquet) will quickly be the result, with us, of such indiscretions as those of which M. Dibdin is guilty? The necessity of SHUTTING OUR PORTS, or at least of placing a GUARD UPON OUR LIPS!" There is some consolation however left for me, in balancing this tremendous denunciation by M. Licquet"s eulogy of my good qualities--which a natural diffidence impels me to quote in the original words of their author.
"A Dieu ne plaise, toutefois, que j"accuse ici LE COEUR de M. Dibdin.
Je n"ai jamais eu l"honneur de le voir: je ne le connais que par ses ecrits; princ.i.p.alement par son _Splendid Tour_, et je ne balance pas a declarer que l"auteur doit etre doue d"une ame honnete, et de ces qualites fondamentales qui const.i.tuent l"homme de bien. Il prefere sa croyance; mais il respecte la croyance des autres; son erudition parait....[12] variee. Son amour pour les antiquites est immense; et par antiquites j"entends ici tout ce qui est _antique_ ou seulement _ancien_, quellesque soient d"ailleurs la nature et la forme des objets." Pref. p. xv. xvij.
Once more; and to conclude with M. Licquet. After these general observations upon the _Text_ of the Tour, M. Licquet favours us with the following--upon the _Plates_. "These plates (says he) are intended to represent some of the princ.i.p.al monuments; the most beautiful landscapes, and the most remarkable persons, comprehending even the servants of an 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_, const.i.tuting 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. c.r.a.pELET.
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. c.r.a.pelet 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, sc.r.a.pe 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 a.s.sent to what is honourable and just, it is the distinguished lot--and, perhaps, as the translator may imagine, the distinguished felicity--of M. c.r.a.pelet 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. c.r.a.pelet: 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 coa.r.s.e 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 upon wood, would have inevitably led to failure. There are however, a few NEW PLATES, which cannot fail to elicit the Purchaser"s particular attention. Of these, the portraits of the _Abbe de la Rue_ (procured through the kind offices of my excellent friend Mr. Douce), and the _Comte de Brienne_, the _Gold Medal of Louis XII_. the _Stone Pulpit of Strasbourg Cathedral,_ and the _Prater near Vienna_--are particularly to be noticed.[14] This Edition has also another attraction, rather popular in the present day, which may add to its recommendation even with those possessed of its precursor. It contains fac-similes of the AUTOGRAPHS of several distinguished Literati and Artists upon the Continent;[15] who, looking at the text of the work through a less jaundiced medium than the Parisian translator, have continued a correspondence with the Author, upon the most friendly terms, since its publication. The accuracy of these fac-similes must be admitted, even by the parties themselves, to be indisputable. Among them, are several, executed by hands.. which now CEASE to guide the pen! I had long and fondly hoped to have been gratified by increasing testimonies of the warmth of heart which had directed several of the pens in question--hoped ... even against the admonition of a pagan poet ...
"Vitae summa brevis SPEM nos vetat inch.o.a.re LONGAM."
But such hopes are now irretrievably cut off; and the remembrance of the past must solace the antic.i.p.ations of the future.
So much respecting the _decorative_ department of this new edition of the Tour. I have now to request the Reader"s attention to a few points more immediately connected with what may be considered its _intrinsic_ worth. In the first place, it may be p.r.o.nounced to be an Edition both _abridged_ and _enlarged_: abridged, as regards the lengthiness of description of many of the MSS. and Printed Books--and enlarged, as respects the addition, of many notes; partly of a controversial, and partly of an obituary, description.
The "Antiquarian and Picturesque" portions remain nearly as heretofore; and upon the whole I doubt whether the amputation of matter has extended beyond _an eighth_ of what appeared in the previous edition. It had long ago been suggested to me--from a quarter too high and respectable to doubt the wisdom of its decision--that the Contents of this Tour should be made known to the Public through a less costly medium:--that the objects described in it were, in a measure, new and interesting--but that the high price of the purchase rendered it, to the majority of Readers, an inaccessible publication. I hope that these objections are fully met, and successfully set aside, by the Work in its PRESENT FORM. To have produced it, _wholly divested_ of ornament, would have been as foreign to my habits as repugnant to my feelings. I have therefore, as I would willingly conclude, hit upon the happy medium--between sterility and excess of decoration.
After all, the greater part of the ground here trodden, yet continues to be untrodden ground to the public. I am not acquainted with any publication which embraces all the objects here described; nor can I bring myself to think that a perusal of the first and third volumes may not be unattended with gratification of a peculiar description, to the lovers of antiquities and picturesque beauties. The second volume is rather the exclusive province of the Bibliographer. In retracing the steps here marked out, I will not be hypocrite enough to dissemble a sort of triumphant feeling which accompanies a retrospection of the time, labour, and money devoted..
in doing justice, according to my means, to the attractions and worth of the Countries which these pages describe. Every such effort is, in its way, a NATIONAL effort. Every such attempt unites, in stronger bonds, the reciprocities of a generous feeling between rival Nations; and if my reward has not been in _wealth_, it has been in the hearty commendation of the enlightened and the good: "Mea me virtute involvo."[16]
I cannot boast of the commendatory strains of public Journals in my own country. No intellectual steam-engine has been put in motion to manufacture a review of unqualified approbation of the Work now submitted to the public eye--at an expense, commensurate with the ordinary means of purchase. With the exception of an indirect and laudatory notice of it, in the immortal pages of the Author of Waverley, of the Sketch book, and of Reginald Dalton, this Tour has had to fight its way under the splendour of its own banners, and in the strength of its own cause. The previous Edition is now a scarce and a costly book. Its Successor has enough to recommend it, even to the most fastidious collector, from the elegance of its type and decorations, and from the reasonableness of its price; but the highest ambition of its author is, that it may be a part of the furniture of every Circulating Library in the Kingdom. If he were not conscious that GOOD would result from its perusal, he would not venture upon such an avowal.
"FELIX FAUSTUMQUE SIT!"
[1] M. c.r.a.pelet is of course speaking of the PREVIOUS edition of the Tour.
He continues thus: "M. Dibdin, dans son voyage en France, a visite nos departemens de l"ouest et de l"est, toutes leurs princ.i.p.ales villes, presque tous les lieux remarquables par les antiquites, par les monumens, par les beautes du site, ou par les souvenirs historiques.
Il a visite les chateaux, les eglises, les chapelles; il a observe nos moeurs, nos coutumes; nos habitudes; il a examine nos Musees et nos premiers Cabinets de curiosite; il s"est concentre dans nos Bibliotheques. Il parle de notre litterature et des hommes de lettres, des arts et de nos artistes; il critique les personnes comme les choses; il loue quelquefois, il plaisante souvent; la vivacite de son esprit l"egare presque toujours." A careful perusal of the notes in THIS edition will shew that my veracity has not "almost always led me astray."
[2] GABRIEL PEIGNOT; _Varietes, Notices et Raretes Bibliographiques, 1822, 8vo. p. 4_.