COLLEGE COPYRIGHT, 1882. 1886, 1888, 1890, BY TROW'S PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK. ΤΟ THE FRIENDS WHOSE KINDLY AID HAS RENDERED THE LABOR OF PREPARING THESE PAGES A PLEASURE; ANL TO THOSE WHOSE COMPANIONSHIP IN TRAVEL HAS LEFT A THOUSAND HAPPY MEMORIES OF EUROPE, THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. PREFACE. THE following work has been the outgrowth of wants experienced in repeated visits to Europe. The requirements of the American in Europe at the present day, are essentially different from those of twenty-five years since. The desirable routes, the localities to be visited, and the objects to be seen, are all comparatively well known. Railway and hotel officials, and, to a large extent, tradesmen and servants, have become so Anglicised as to have removed the principal impediments offered by a foreign tongue. That large portion of a Guide-Book devoted to this desirable information is, therefore, no longer needed. At the same time, the American public has become aware that, to the intelligent visitor, the supreme attraction of the Old World, centres in its great Collections of Art-a source equally of pleasure and culture which his own country cannot bestow. The want of the American is, therefore, less as to routes, hotels, and cost, and more as to the Arts, Galleries, and Masterpieces. The question was, however, whether by the omission of what is unimportant, a fair summary of that which is so desirable, could be comprised within reasonable limits; whether the fifteen full volumes of Murray, or the nine of Baedeker required between Edinburgh and Naples, could be reduced to one of companionable dimensions. Those who have visited Europe know full well that, however good may have been one's knowledge of history, mythology, and art, he is met at every turn by some object whose story he cannot recall, by some work or name with which he is not familiar. It would be beyond reasonable anticipation that any suitable Hand-Book could meet all such exigencies. But by discarding the unfrequented routes, the localities rarely visited, and the numberless objects paraded as of vast importance by local guides and books, but of no greater interest or value than multitudes of similar ones in our own country, a larger amount of the more indispensable information has been crowded into a single volume, than was at first deemed possible. In the Galleries it has been the endeavor to select the works which, either from historic note or artistic excellence, are regarded as specially important to be recognized and remembered by the American visitor. The cuts or illustrations are intended simply as aids to identi fication in preparatory reading, and in retaining a distinct impression of the masterpieces when once seen. In the references to the works of art, it has been deemed of importance to the student, to add the criticisms of well-known scholars and acknowledged authorities. With regard to the formulas of pronunciation, it may be proper to say that the English language having no sounds corresponding to those of the French u and n, and some others, any attempt at figuring the pronunciation of such sounds, must, at best, be but an approximation. In the compilation and condensation of such a multitude of facts, many of which are wanting in the united support of any two authorities; and of figures, many of which refer to elements in themselves constantly fluctuating, it is impossible that au occasional error should not escape the closest scrutiny. The author trusts, however, that such instances will rarely be found, and that the work will prove a helpful companion to many a pil grim to the home of History and the abode of the Arts. APRIL, 1888. L. C. L |