Editor's Table [pp. 233-240]

Editors Table.
Such examples of English self-sufficiency
have we seen again and again in continen tal registers kept at nmemnorable spots, and
but that personal reminiscence and the ar gumenturn ad hominem are hardly fair wea pon s of controversy, we could cite a score
of incidents tending to illustrate, eis revatche,
the conduct of John Bull as a traveller.
We once journeyed in a private carriage
for three whole days, along the most beautiful road in the world skirting the blue
Mediterranean, at a distance of not more
than a hundred yards firom an English
Milor also in his own conveyance, and
though we stopped at the same hotels, refreshed our horses at the salme villages,
walked up the smiling slopes of the Appenines in sight of each other beneath the
exquisite sky of Italy, and strolled along
the beach at the suggestive hour of sunset
not two minutes apart, not one word did
his Lordship say to us during the entire
drive. Was this the "true spirit of travel?"
Or to which class did Milor belong-the
Gentle or the Churl? Pardon us, reader,
for one other melneory of travel, but shall
we ever forget, oh poetic Castle of Clillon,
the " independent Briton" who drove off
alone in his roomny carriage from thy dark
portals to Vevay, the while the rain dashed in sheets across Lake Leman and two
ladies stood with their protector uider the
dripping doorway without other miean s than
an open boat of accomplishing the five
miles which separated them from the comfortable shelter of the Hotel des Trois Cou
monthls, he whips the whole world. His
success in checking tavern bills, the skill
with which he manages guides and postboys, the energy with which he surmounts
difficulties, the perseverance with which
he writes himself everywhere, and at all
times, a citizen U. S., are truly wonderful.
His feet are untiring, his will unrelaxingyet we cannot hold out to him the hand of
fellowship, or recogniise in him the true
spirit of travel. He is a smart traveller,
a regular go-ahlead but ve fidin d i his
tracks little of thie sentiment, the taste, or
the heartfulness which are essentials of the
gentle. We have milet some luidicrous instances of the reverse. We were made
prisoner once by a heavy shower in the
halls of the Alhambra, and as we sat musinig andl dreaming there, tho old custodian
or major-domo brought us the visitor's book,
and tlhere, amid dull poem —s, duller sophisms, and heavy facetise, we lit on this precious couplet —
The initials were ameant to help the rhyme,
not the incognito, for beneath was written
in large letters, Williamri Thoompson, Boston,
U. S. It was considerate thus to relieve
the world of all doubt as to the au-thorslip,
to liar future critics from questions and
quibbles, to leave conjecture no peg to
hang upon, to drop no bone of contention,
no apple of discord, among towns and nations which might strive hereafter to clain
the writer as their own.'"
Amiable sketcher of national peculiarities! it is easy to see that you were " sold,"
"d done," (if you prefer a bit of English
slang,) "come over,"' regularly taken in by
the shrewd Bostonian. Thompson with a
P., clever individual, saw that you, Stupid,
were taking notes for English circulation,
and lie gave you that tuneful couplet which
you were not able to recognise as a burlesque. We should like to look over that
visitor's book in the Alhambra. We will
ventures to say that in it may be found
many such memoranda as these The Honorable Augustus Henry Silverfork and the Lady Harriet Silverfork of Albata Lodge in Hants visited the Alhambra
in October of 1848-think it a gooilishl ruin
and recommend the Court of the Lions as
worthy of olbservation.
Dobbs Dobbs Esq. of Dobbs Hall considers the Allhambra well enough in its
wvay, but slow. Might have been very fine
in the days of the Moorish occupation.
Tolerable brandy at the inn and the landlord a very civil person.
formies?
Indeed, we would most willingly submit
the question to a jury of outsiders, composed of Frenchmen, Sw-edes, Italians, Poles,
Russians, Germans-take two of each to
constitute the legitimate twelve-as to
which is the better traveller, the Yankee
or the Briton. Let him speak w ho has
seen the dowager on the Rhine producing
her own tea-caddy at the table d'hote, and
the linen-draper of Fleet Street drinking
beer out of his own private flagoni in Cologne, and the country gentleman;monopolizing the only copy of the Tities at the
Quatre Saisons, all endeavoring to carry
with them into the land of the foreigner the
"comfort" of home, and yet all supremely
uncomfortable, as we might suppose Mrs.
Hopkins would be, as Tomn Moore has imagined her
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I Oh, Alhambra, thou shalt ever be
The dearest thought of W. T.!'