PEEFACE TO FIRST EDITION. XI 



The topics actually discussed in these papers are so 

 various, that it has not seemed needful to place them 

 in the order of their original publication. Nor have I 

 attempted other arrangement than that of bringing 

 together, in one or two cases, those which have some 

 slight affinity of subject. 



I have already avowed a certain feeling of personal 

 interest in many of these Essays, from their associa- 

 tion with various scenes and incidents of travel, and 

 with some localities which belong to the history of the 

 world. This interest I cannot expect to convey to others, 

 and the papers must therefore rest on whatever value 

 they may themselves happen to possess. It would be 

 false modesty not to mention that I have been asked to 

 publish them thus together, by several persons whose 

 opinion I have every reason to respect. To one of 

 these a dear friend, and, in later years, a family con- 

 nection I should probably have ventured, had he 

 happily still been living, to dedicate this volume. Yet I 

 might well have hesitated to do so, from the fear of 

 provoking a comparison with those admirable Essays 

 he himself contributed to the ' Edinburgh Eeview ; ' the 

 volumes containing which form one of the precious 

 bequests he has made to the language and literature 

 of his country. 



