3S6 The Traveller's Oracle. [Ocr. 



" Never stir \vithout Paper, Pen, and Ink, and a Note Book in your Pocket- 

 Notes made with Pencils are easily obliterated by the motion of Travelling. 



" Commit to Paper whatever you See, Hear, or Read, that is remarkable, with 

 your sensations on observing it ; do this upon the Spot, if possible, at the moment 

 it first strikes ; at all events, do not delay it beyond the first convenient oppor- 

 tunity." 



This is a very admirable rule ; and, by attending to it, a traveller may 

 bring home a tour with him or, what amounts to the same thing, the 

 heads of chapters which should fill it without ever feeling the trou- 

 ble of composition as lie goes along. Short notes are sufficient ; and, 

 indeed, perhaps the best; because, if you lose your pocket-book, the con- 

 tents are then (according to the formula of advertisement in such cases) 

 "of no use to any but the owner.'' We recollect seeing a chapter of 

 twenty pages upon the town of Chelmsford once written, in the course of 

 a " tour," by a traveller ; for which the only words taken in his note- 

 book had been "Fleas" "a cheating landlady" and "a large church." 



Beds : 



" As Travellers never can be sure that those who have slept in the Beds before 

 them, were not afflicted with some contagious disease, whenever they can, they 

 should carry their own sheets with them." 



The same caution is said to be necessary with respect to shaving-tackle ; 

 as the doctor assures us and " doctors" should know that " a man 

 might get his death by being cut with a razor which had shaved a diseased 

 person !" 



" The safety of your Bed Room Door should always be carefully examined ; and 

 in-case of Bolts not being at hand, it will be useful to hinder entrance into the 

 Room, by putting a Table and Chair upon it against the Door ; such precautions 

 are, however, less necessary in England than they are on the Continent, where it 

 is advisable to choose a Room with Two Beds, and to let your Servant sleep in the 

 Room, and to burn a light all Night : when you enter the room to go to rest, take 

 a peep behind and under the Beds, Closets, &c. and all places where concealment is 

 possible. 



" I read the above to an old Traveller, who told me, that when travelling in 

 Italy, about thirty-five years ago, he always adopted this plan; and that on one 

 occasion, at a poor solitary Inn, he could not obtain a double Bedded Room, and 

 \vas told that his attendant must sleep in another part of the House observing 

 that there was no fastening to the Bed Room Door, and apprehending some bad 

 intention, he placed a Bureau against it, and thereon set a Basin and Ewer, in such a 

 position as to easily rattle, so that on being shook they instantly became " molto 

 agitato," and seemed to say, "Don't ye Don't ye P II tell if You do" 



In proceeding from town to town, we are cautioned that 



" Trunks, &c. should not be fastened behind Carriages, unless with Chains ; 

 except Servants ride behind and attend to them." 



Perhaps it would be an improvement to this suggestion, in the last case, 

 if the servants were to be chained too. 



In the chapter upon " General Travelling," the author differs entirely 

 from Shenstone, Johnson, and various other authorities, who have pro- 

 nounced " a tavern chair to be the throne of earthly felicity." The 

 " welcome" at an inn none can dispute ; but as to the felicity, we are dis- 

 posed to be of the same opinion with our friend. " Felicity" is a word 

 necessarily of comparison or reference ; and we suspect that those persons 

 who are violently delighted with inns will commonly be found to be in 

 that station of life which admits of but little luxury and perhaps not of 

 very perfect convenience in their own dwellings. There are not ten Jnns 



