Impressions of Travel 45 



through the agency of that deplorable evil, war, is 

 that it brings two widely separate nations into juxta- 

 position. A. rights and conquers B., and is obliged 

 to stay with and see something of B. B. discovers 

 that A. is not a bad fellow after all, and that the only 

 reason for which they never fraternised before was 

 that A. possessed a sense of national dignity for which 

 B. had never given him credit. 



If Ireland had been travelled over to the same extent 

 that Scotland has, there would have been as little 

 alienation, as few misunderstandings with England, 

 as there are now between Scotland and England. If 

 the Chinese had travelled as did the old Venetians, 

 China might have produced a Bellini, a Titian, a 

 Tintoretto, or a Paul Veronese, instead of stagnating 

 in pigtails and grinning idols. How much of Dr. 

 Johnson's blind obstinacy and narrow prejudice, of 

 Scott's feudalism and Toryism, would have vanished 

 had they emigrated or travelled ! 



Applied to case after case, infinite are the advantages 

 of going abroad ; and yet there is much to be said 

 for the other side, although book after book upon the 

 subject proclaims the virtues and urges the necessity 

 of travelling. What made England ? Not entirely 

 our great explorers and our sailors : Spain possessed a 

 Cortes, a Pizarro. England has produced the greatest 

 nation in the world ; and her backbone has been and 

 is the strong, patient character forced to stay at home 

 and work. 



As a rule, it is the light character who travels ; the 



