A A = ^^ c= A^ o = CO o a = C= ' — — X o m E 31 1 01 = CD —— O = 2 6 m 7 = Hj: 7 = ■^~ 55 9 = 3> SI -< = o 9 = ^^— r— A — — — ^^ < 4 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES CAUTIONS TO CONTINENTAL TRAVELLERS. BY J. W. CUNNINGHAM, A.M. LATE FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; VICAR OF HARROW, MIDDLESEX; AND DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD NORTHWICK. Would thou hadst hearkened to my words, and stayed With me, as I besought thee, when that strange Desire of wandering, this unhappy morn, I know not whence, possessed thee ! We had then Remained still happy. Parad. Lost, b. ix. SECOND EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS. LONDON : 1823. [Preface. — The following remarks are designed to apply, not so much to the class of Travellers who merely snatch from the toils of a busy and anxious life a few weeks Or months to refresh themselves by a rapid glance at the scenery of the Alps or the Rhine, as to those who either domesticate them- selves and their families in foreign countries, or so protract their Continental visits as to allow themselves leisure to catch something of the manners and spirit of the countries which they visit. — The very simple and obvious Cautions at the end of the volume, may not, however, be altogether without their use to the first class of Travellers ; and, if so, the Author desires to confine this little book to no class of his fellow-countrymen, bur* to put it into the hands of all who will do him the honor of perusing it,— humbly begging them to pardon its deficiencies, and to assure themselves that they cannot, either at home or abroad, be happier or better than these few remarks are designed, under the Blessing of the Almighty, to render them.] CAUTION, &c. The circumstances of Great Britain with regard to the other nations of Europe, are such, at the present moment, as to demand the most serious consideration from every well-wisher to his coun- try. Since the cessation of hostilites, our native land has been visited by a few foreigners of the very highest distinction, and by others of inferior ranks.; but the whole number of visitors, espe- cially when distributed amongst the respective nations to which they belong, has not been considerable. The want of money in foreign countries ; the known expenses of English travelling ; the wide difference between English and continental tastes and man- ners ; our serious and somewhat haughty national demeanour ; our indisposition to converse, upon our own soil especially, in any language but our own ; — these, and various other circumstances, erect a sort of barrier between us and all foreigners whom the ardor of science, or love of vagrancy, or strong perception of the excellence and elevation of the English character do not dispose to break through every obstacle. The danger, then, arising from the influx of foreigners into our own country, does not appear to be considerable. But, on the contrary, if we examine the list of travellers from this country to various parts of the continent, it will be found to be large beyond all previous calculation. It was stated by the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, in Parliament, that more than 9 others, none will be more astonished than themselves. An idler thus roused and stimulated, like the tree in Virgil, " Miraturque novas frondes, ct non sua poma." This class of persons, unless so transformed, will be characterised rather by receiving any form which society may choose to impress upon them, than by stamping it with their own seal. Another class of travellers, to whom we have adverted, was the young. — These, if possessed of little influence now, will soon escape from the inefficiency of youth, and will influence the circles in which they move in proportion to their rank and attainments ; and it will be no fault of the parents and guardians of many of them, if the whole of their prepossessions are not opposed to the habits and institutions of their country ; if the reminiscencies of their earliest, and perhaps happiest years, do not associate themselves with foreign manners so as to leave them no taste for what is purely British. A third class, to whom we have referred, were females. And when their just and natural ascendancy in refined society is consi- dered, every change in their habits and manners must be contempla- ted with deep solicitude. The extent of the control exercised by the female sex on national manners, few, I conceive, will be dis- posed either to question, or, in the present state of our own country, to regret. While this mild authority is chiefly exercised in soften- ing the manners and quickening the sensibilities of man — in lessen- ing our sorrows and doubling our joys — checking our too feverish pursuit of worldly objects, and winning us back to the quiet charms of domestic life — who would be disposed to break a single link of his silken chain ? And, still more, when this ascendancy is em- ployed, as in the case of those females who are living under the deep and abiding influence of religion, in taming down the fiercer pas- sions and more turbulent humors of man — in prompting us to acts of benevolence — in discovering to us the worth of religion by displaying its fruits in our own family — in exhibiting all that is good, in alliance with all that is tender and interesting and lovely — in supplying to us an example of humility — in showing us the effect of prayer, and the value of a deep and intimate union with God ; — who is there that would not consider the overthrow of this gentle dominion as the loss of one of the main instruments of personal im- provement and domestic happiness ? Nor is the exercise of this mild and persuasive power, this despotism of affection, by any means rare. Without giving in to the coarse and vulgar sayings upon this topic, it must be admitted, both that it exists, and that, in our own state of society at least, it is possessed to a wider ex- tent than it is deserved. Any change, therefore, in the character of 460 Rev. J. W. Cunningham s Caution [10 those who to such an extent give the tone and complexion to socie- ty, must be attended with large results to the national character. But, lastly, it has been stated, that the body of modern travel- lers is a heterogeneous mass, composed of men of all ranks and classes in society. — In many instances, the nobleman, who by the natural influence of property commands with almost feudal autho- rity the whole population of his neighbourhood, is studying for the future discharge of this high function among the enlightened nobles of Italy and Venice ! Country gentlemen are rehearsing their duties to their villagers, amongst nations to whom the charac- ter, name, and office of a country gentleman is unknown! — Nor does the evil terminate here. Our travellers have, as we have seen, been draughted from all classes of the community. Lest any rank of our stayers at home should by any chance forfeit the peculiar benefit which springs from direct and intimate communication with travelled persons of the same rank of life, some " voyageurs" will be found who occupy precisely the same level with themselves. There are nobles for the nobility, commons for the commonalty, clergy for the clergy, tutors and pupils, painters and musicians, and tailors and milliners, and students and apprentices, and tradesmen and servants, all prepared to inoculate their respective classes. None will have to complain that he is cut off from the benefits of free and confidential intercourse with those who have quitted their own country to grow wise and good amidst the wonders of another. We are like a company of men, each having hold of some link of an electric chain : all touch it, higher or lower, and all, whether for their benefit or injury remains as yet to be seen, must expect to feel the shock. And let it be remembered, that the control exercised by the travelled over the untravelled, will be strengthened by a great varie- ty of causes. There is an universal disposition in our nature to con- sider men wise in proportion to what they have seen ; to esteem what is " unknown, magnificent;" and especially to admire others for attainments which we do not ourselves possess. There is also a certain ease, and polish, aud security of pleasing, communicated by intercourse with varied society, and especially with society of the higher classes, which will often invest those possessed of it with very unmerited authority. Who will presume to dispute with those on the results of infidelity, who have themselves measured them in the Louvre or the Thuilleries ? Who will rashly pretend to canvass the evils of Popery with a disputant that has himself conversed with Cardinals, heard Grand Mass at St. Peter's, or talked over the matter with some picturesque monk at St. Bar- nard's ? There is, besides, one peculiar quality, not unfrequently acquired 11] to Continental Travellers. 461 in travelling, which is of prodigious efficacy in all ranks of so- ciety : I mean, that species of latitudinariauisiii which is dignified by the name of liberality. Let me not be conceived to dispute the value of real candor and liberality. 1 would desire to search for the spirit of candor and of Christian charity, as for hid treasure ; and to lay it up among the choicest riches of our inheritance. But, " decipimur specie recti :" there is a species of indifference to all modes of thinking, believing, and acting, which is a not unfrequent result of journeying amidst men of various opinions, and which is as far from Christian liberality as error is from truth. 1 shall have occasion presently to consider this question in relation to the indi- vidual thus liberalized : 1 am now speaking of its effects on society at home ; and I contend, that this latitudinarianism gives a man an incredible advantage in society over his less easy, because more orthodox, brother. Such a person can deal charitably with all opinions, because he cares for none. He has no low-minded par- tiality for one mode of faith, because he has no regard to any. He would admit Christ into the Capitol, because he could admit Jupi- ter into the Church. He can deal most tenderly with vice, be- cause he does not contemplate it in all its overwhelming results. He does not see it as a Christian Sees it, surrounded with its innu- merable victims — care, disease, death, perdition. Whilst the plain, home-bred, sincere Christian, contemplating vice in the mirror of Scripture and in the results of experience, views it with horror, con- templates the vicious with alarm and with sorrow, gives sin its proper name, and rebukes the vicious as the Master he serves would have rebuked them ; these more generous spirits allow them- selves in no such austerities ; they have soft names and elegant apologies for every thing. But be it observed, this spurious libe- rality will be almost sure to win the day, in the eyes of an unthink- ing world, against serious orthodoxy ; and travelled scepticism will wear the honors which ought to be yielded to Christian firmness and consistency. Having thus endeavoured to show that the influence of foreign travelling 3 will be considerable, both as respects the travellers themselves and the country from which they have emigrated, I go on to inquire — . III. " What the real nature of this influence is likely to be.' Before entering upon this discussion, 1 must observe, that it would far exceed the limits prescribed to these observations, if the survey were to be extended to all the nations of the Continent. As France, therefore, is the nearest of those countries ; as it will be visited by an infinitely larger number of persons than will visit any other country ; as its probable influence upon our own manners 402 Rev. J, W. Cunningham's Caution [12 and principles will bear a proportion to the number of such visi- tors ; as the evil thrown over many of its enormities is so dexter- ously woven as apparently to deceive the eye even of some" keen examiners; I shall chiefly confine this inquiry to the actual state of France. And for the sake of brevity, I shall notice only a few main features of the case ; arranging what I have to say under the heads of Manners and Religion. Under the head of Manners, may be classed that spirit of trifling by which the French, as a people, are so eminently characterized. Voltaire has left many mischievous legacies to his country ; but, perhaps, none which is at once a greater evil in itself, and will do more to perpetuate every other evil, than the spirit of universal badinage and trifling. To laugh, is with him the great business of life. In securing materials for laughter, he lavishes all the powers of his genius, and immolates truth, decency, and religion. If he begins by reasoning, he ends with a joke. Submit to his arguments, and he laughs at you : push him by your own argument, and he es- capes by laughing at himself and you. He has been termed, in imitation of the witticism upon our countryman Goldsmith, who was once called an H inspired idiot" — the " inspired monkey :" and it would not be difficult to assign many features, and especially this of everlasting grimace, which would justify such a classification. Ha,d this quality, however, been confined to himself, we might have been satisfied to grieve over the loss and perversion of his extraordinary powers ; but the misfortune is, that it has diffused itself over a vast proportion of his countrymen. A Frenchman is rarely serious for a length of time about any thing. He trifles alike with all sub- jects — with the most serious questions in politics, and the most awful topics of religion. Chemists have succeeded in reducing the most solid substances to gasses : and the most substantial truths attenuate into U trifles light as air," in the grasp of this extraor- dinary people. But can any habit of mind be at ouce more conta- gious and destructive of all that is manly and great ? Seneca says, " qaicquid est boni moris extinguimus levitate." Lord Bacon maintained, that no majesty of character could be combined with a light and trifling spirit. Madame de Stael, who will not be sus- pected of any undue leaning to superstition, or disregard to philosophy, considers the introduction of a more serious temper into the south of Europe by the northern barbarians, to have been more than a compensation for ali the evils inflicted by them. And, in truth, real greatness or goodness never long survive the impregnation of the mind with a love of trifling and persiflage. Those great topics upon which our highest duties and destinies are suspended, refuse to be approached except with the decent homage of a thoughtful and reverend mind. — Now, in this particular has consisted as yet 13] to Continental Travellers. 403 one of the main distinctions between ourselves and the French na- tion. They account us a grave people ; a nation of shop-keepers ; busy, thoughtful, serious ; — and we admit the charge, but contend that these very qualities constitute the elements of our moral and national greatness. Let our communion with that ill-fated coun- try be sensibly increased ; let our vagrants be mixed up a little more in its dense population ; let the two nations come into closer con- tact ; and this distinction will soon melt away, and we, with a little practice, become as arrant triflers as our neighbours. Nor let it be thought that changes as extensive as this, in national manners and character, are either impossible or uncommon. France herself pass- ed, almost by a leap, from a state of abject political submission to a state of the most unbridled anarchy. Spain, formerly the most en- terprising and quixotic of nations, surrendered all her grand quali- ties to a single satirist. And, under new circumstances, it is not impossible that this nation may soon undergo this sort of transfor- mation, and exhibit only the relics of her former self — the " Mctgni nominis umbra." 2. A second quality, which may be ranged under this head, is vanity. — Perhaps it is not too much to say, that no nation ever discovered the same portion of self-conceit and the same love of display with the French. Every other feature in the national cha- racter seems to exist in combination with this. It accompanies them into courts and senates, into the field of battle and the shades of retirement : it equally dives with the poissarde into her cellar, and squeezes with the minister into the crowds of his levee. The beggar in the street knows so well the constitution of his coun- trymen, that he flatters while he begs. The preacher flatters while he rebukes ; so that even the sermons of Massillon and Bourda- loue present a sort of chequered exhibition of stern reproof and the most revolting sycophancy. — Thus, also, in military matters. Bonaparte governed the nation by cajoling its vanity. Even now, it is difficult to persuade a Frenchman that their armies, in the late conflict, have sustained any defeat ; and there is said to be a pic- ture in Paris, of a grenadier keeping the allied armies in check by the mere terrors of his countenance. But it is needless to esta- blish a charge against the French, the justice of which none will deny. Nor is it possible, in an essay such as this, to attempt any enumeration of the evils of vanity, either to nations or individuals. I will rather direct my readers to a masterly writer, who has the merit of first exhibiting vanity in its true size and colors, and surrounded with its proper consequences. " Vanity," he says, " when disappointed, (and it is often disap- pointed,) is exasperated into malignity, and corrupted iuto envy, in this stage the vain man commences a determined misanthropist. He detests that excellence which he cannot reach. He detests. 464 Rev. J. W. Cunningham's Caution [14 o his species, and longs to be revenged for the unpardonable injustice he has sustained in their insensibility to his merits. He lives upon the calamities of the world ; the vices and miseries of men are his'' element and his food. Virtue, talents, and genius, are his natural enemies, which he persecutes with instinc- tive eagerness, and unrelenting hostility. There are who doubt the existence of such a disposition ; but it certainly issues out of the dregs of disappointed vanity : a disease which taints and vitiates the whole character wherever it prevails. It forms the heart to such a profound indifference to the welfare of others, that what- ever appearances he may assume, or however wide the circle of his seeming virtues may extend, you will infallibly find the vain man is his own centre. Attentive only to himself, absorbed in the contemplation of his own perfections, instead of feeling ten- derness for his fellow-creatures as members of the same family, as beings with whom he is appointed to act, to suffer, and to sympathize ; he considers life as a stage on which he is performing a part, and mankind in no other light than spectators. Whether he smiles or frowns, whether his path is adorned with the rays of beneficence, or his steps are dyed in blood, an attention to self is the spring of every movement, and the motive to which every action is referred. His apparent good qualities lose all their worth, by losing all that is simple, genuine, and natural : they are even press- ed into the service of vanity, and become the means of enlarging its power. The truly good man is jealous over himself, lest the notoriety of his best actions, by blending itself with their motive, should diminish their value; the vain man performs the same ac- tions for the sake of that notoriety. The good man quietly dis- charges his duty, and shuns ostentation ; the vain man considers every good deed lost that is not publicly displayed. The one is intent upon realities, the other upon semblances : the one aims to be virtuous, the other to appear so." 1 " The same restless and eager vanity which disturbs a family, when it is permitted in a great national crisis to mingle with political af- fairs, distracts a kingdom ; infusing into those entrusted with the enaction of laws a spirit of rash innovation and daring empiricism, a disdain of the established usages of mankind, a foolish desire to dazzle the world with new and untried systems of policy, in which the precedents of antiquity and the experience of ages are only con- sulted to be trodden under foot ; and into the executive department of government, a fierce contention for pre-eminence, an incessant struggle to supplant and destroy, with a propensity to calumny and suspicion, proscription and massacre." 2, u ' tl Modern Infidelity considered:" a sermon, by the Rev. Robert Hall. * Hall's " Modern Infidelity considered." 15] to Continental Travellers. 465 Here, then, is another source of danger to our English travellers. Vanity, among its other evil qualities, is of a nature so highly in- fectious, that our countrymen cannot breathe the air of .France without running some risk of contracting it — of exchanging their simplicity for a spirit of display — of learning to be fops, in aiming to be gentlemen. What La Harpe said of an individual, is true of the nation to which she belonged : " II est difficile d'avoir moins de sensibilite et plus d'egoisme." And shall we not tremble at the approximation to a disease such as this ? 3. A third blot in the minds and manners of our continental neigh- bours, is the almost total disregard and disrelish for domestic plea- sures and virtues. It has been said a thousand times of the French, and in general of the southern nations of the Continent, that the word home is scarcely known among them. In France, no one stays at home, except to receive company — except, that is, to be as much iu public as though they were not at home. Men, women, and children, live in public — in theatres, and gardens, and prome- nades, and exhibitions, and coffee-houses. Of course, in such a state of society the cultivation of domestic graces and virtues would be superfluous. But suppose our countrywomen, especially, to contract this taste for publicity ; what a blow would be struck at our national happiness ! It is, next to the favor of his God, the highest joy of an Englishman, that he has a bosom at home on which to cast his sorrows, and perplexities, and disappointments ; — that, released from the feuds of parliament, or the oar of professio- nal duty, or the din and hurry and anxiety of commercial specula- tion, he may return to a companion who, dwelling amidst scenes of comparative repose, has been providing in his own little man- sion a balm for his aching heart and a cordial for his exhausted powers ; — that, when hisjaded mind is sinking under the accumulated burdens of life, he has a hand prepared to lead him beside the " still waters and green pastures" of heavenly consolation. With this species of " pleasures," we fear that other countries are less ac- quainted. But, who, that has once tasted of them, will be contented to exchange them for the smooth indifference, the stratagems, the dexterous double-dealings, the subtle prettinesses of foreign politeness ? On the subject of domestic "virtues" I shall be satisfied, with some apology for the explicitness of the language iu which their judgment is conveyed, to let two very intelligent travellers deliver their opinion — the one, as to the state of France ; the other, as to that of Italy. The following extract is from " Scott's Visit to Paris." "These breaches of nuptial fidelity, it is affirmed, are less uni- versal at present than they were before the Revolution ; but, I be- lieve, it is doing no injustice to the state of French morals to say 466 Rev. J. W. Cunningham's Caution [16 that they now constitute the majority of cases of conduct after wed- lock in the genteel circles of Paris." The rest of the passage, although of a still more decisive charac- ter, is too coarse for extraction. Mr. Forsyth, a no less keen observer, in his Observations on Italy, speaking of Florence, says that the females "keep the con- versation perpetually fluttering on the brink of obscenity, and often pass the line." And again : " Cecesbeism, though perhaps as gene- ral, is not so formally legalized as at Naples, where the right of keeping a gallant is often secured by the marriage contract; yet, here, no lady can appear in fashionable company, or before God, without such an attendant. She leaves her husband and children at home, while her professed adulterer conducts her to church, as if purposely to boast before Heaven of the violation of its own laws." If one half of this is true, can any motives, which are not of the weightiest nature, justify Englishmen in exposing the females of their family, especially by a protracted visit to these countries, to the contagion of such habits i The truth is, that in France, especially, the whole education and discipline of the female sex is directed to a different object from that which is contemplated in England. A French woman is edu- cated simply and exclusively for display. No virtue will atone for the absence of the power of drawing and fixing attention : scarcely any vice will tarnish the lustre of this power. What a " damning proof" of the truth of these assertions has a late trial in France supplied to the surrounding nations ? A woman had been detected in most infamous circumstances. When brought to the bar, as a witness in a most awful case of murder, she admitted her own in- famy — she repeatedly perjured herself — she insulted the judges — she trifled with the lives of the prisoners — she sported with the murder itself — and yet, because she fainted at the proper moment, because she encountered the queries of the court with frontless insensibility, because she strutted over this field of blood like an actress — because she played a part, and spoke in metaphor, she was almost worshipped at Paris under the title of " the Angel of Destiny." The judges, the lawyers, the people, the secretaries of state, all exhaust the power of language and fancy to panegyrize this infamous woman. — Such a state of society is little short of a moral plague ; and no man should hope to escape the infection who rashly exposes himself, or those he loves, amongst its miserable victims. But I must not dwell longer on the subject of manners, and shall now turn to the still more important subject of Religion. i would be far from pronouncing any general sentence on the 17] to Continental Travellers. 467 principles or practice of the population of a mighty Empire. Doubtless, the Saviour of the world has sincere worshippers in every land where temples are erected to his honor. Even in the countries where Popery appears to have most effectually withered the growth of pure and spiritual religion, many a devout supplicant serves God by unconsciously violating the principles of a church which he does not venture to dispute or examine. Many escape from the mists of error and impurity into the sunny region of truth and holiness. But, admitting this, we shall risk nothing in assert- ing that France and Italy, and especially the former country, are almost universally divided between the most heartless infidelity and the grossest superstition. I shall dwell for a moment on each of these subjects. 1. And first, let us touch on the subject of infidelity. — The court of Louis XIV. was the proper seed-bed of infidel principles. By exhibiting a sort of religious profession in combination with ambition, inordinate vanity, and unbridled sensuality, it could not but bring religion into the most abject contempt. The preachers also, as has been already observed, conspired to degrade the altars at which they ministered, by casting upon them the gross offerings of unhallowed adulation. It is difficult to say, whether the preach- er " qui prouve la religion," or he " qui la fait aimer" offended the most, in fuming the insatiable monarch with the incense of his own applause. After the death of this sovereign succeeded a Re- gency, whose profligacy was the common cry and bye-word of the civilized world. The succeeding reign of Louis XV., if less coarse- ly and disgustingly profligate than the Regency, was not less sen sual and inwardly corrupt : and the constitutional timidity and in- dolence of the monarch and of his ministers, gave ample scope for those stratagems to strike root downwards, and bear fruit upwards, which were to scatter the seeds of moral ruin over the world. " Aprts, nous" said Madame de Pompadour, " le deluge;" and, sure enough, a deluge of enormities followed this disastrous reign, which swept away every land-mark of religion and virtue in France, and threatened the utter annihilation of civilized society. This is no place to enter upon a detailed account of conspiracies, on the banner of which was inscribed " Ecrasez V Infame" and of whose leaders it was the fond prediction that Christianity would in less than a century be expelled from the face of the earth. It is enough to say, that as to Prance herself, the prediction was well-nigh ac- curately fulfilled ; that, within a very few years of the present mo- ment, she endeavoured to root out every vestige of Christianity from her soil ; that she erected a strumpet into a divinity, and wor- shipped her as the " goddess of reason." Let it never be forgot- ten, in forming our present estimate of Prance, that within a few 468 Rev. J. W. Cunningham's Caution [18 years she exhibited the only example upon record of a nation of professed atheists. In what respects the reign of Bonaparte was likely to recover this apostate country, let those judge who remember his own profession of Islamism, and the well-authenticated fact that on his return from Elba he consigned the administration of the new schools for the education of the poor to Carnot, with the express injunction that no letter of the Bible, and no particle of Christianity, should be introduced into them. And we venture to say, that whoever, since the cessation of hostilities, has held any extended intercourse with Frenchmen, will discover that the adhe- rents of Bonaparte, the great body of the military, (that is, in fact, the mass of the community,) are not ill-prepared for the deification of any other image or person whom it may be thought desirable to substitute for their discredited goddess. 2. But secondly, where infidelity does not prevail, superstition has too generally occupied the place of real piety. Look at the actual state of those who are professed believers in Christianity. In the first place, all the mummery of Popery is retained ; and even some ceremonies, which the good sense of Louis XVI. had rejected, have been restored by the existing sovereign. He is, by a solecism in reform, attempting to force a gross superstition down the throats of an infidel people. What a re-action must this pro- duce ! In the next place, there is literally no Sabbath. The Sabbath is not a day of rest, but of increased dissipation. The shops are open — the courts are held — the theatres are thronged — public shows and national celebrations are eagerly multiplied. Next, the nation is suffering under that general curse of Popery, the detention of the sacred Scriptures from the mass of the people. The great mass of the nation is afflicted with a most perilous dis- ease ; and they are forcibly excluded from the only fountain of health. Add to this, certain peculiarities, which have deep root and wide growth in that neglected soil. Ridicule is the almost universal test of truth. — " A man had better," says M. Jouy (a gentleman who has given a very faithful though not very attractive sketch of the manners of his country), " be vicious than ridiculous." All distinctions of character are confounded. — No woman is shut out from society because she has violated some of the most sacred duties which she owes to it. Vice is reduced to a regular system. — Gross indecency is indeed prohibited, as being in bad taste ; but, in return, secret profligacy is recognised and licensed. The Government lease out the public stews. '« There is but one Palais Royal in the world," say the J 9] to Continental Travellers. 4(>9 French : M It is happy for the world," replies Mr. Scott, " that there is but one." Now, I do not mean to state these as the necessary fruits of superstition ; but they are its not unnatural concomitants. A re- ligion which substitutes forms for principles constitutes a sort of marsh land in morals, where every thing noxious is generated, and, above all, licentiousness, simulation, mock homage and real con- tempt for all that is great, and venerable, and holy. Although, for reasons before stated, and especially from the ap- prehension of extending this discussion beyond its legitimate bounds, little reference has been made to the religious circumstances of the other southern nations ; it need scarcely be added, that as these nations are almost exclusively under the influence of Popery, from which many of these evils flow, the same observations, to a consi- derable extent, apply to them. Popery has an almost irresistible tendency to inflict the obposite evils of superstition and infidelity, wherever it prevails. When the religious authorities of a country demand more than right reason and conscience allow us to yield, the obedient almost necessarily become bigots, and the disobedient infidels. Free toleration would supply an intermediate spot, a sort of border country, where the dissidents might rest ; but Po- pery does not tolerate ; and the dissatisfied have no temptation to embrace any other mode of religion, when it is the common belief of their country that one only can save the soul. Hence the land is almost necessarily, to a great extent, divided between those who believe every thing, and those who believe nothing. The actual condition of most Papal countries will be found to substantiate these observations. The thick night of unbelief is only here and there broken by the lurid glare of superstition. Having thus presented a very brief and imperfect sketch of the moral condition of a part of the continental nations, I proceed to our next point of inquiry. — IV. " What are some of the actual effects which may be antici- pated from the influence of these Continental visits, on the minds and character of our travellers!" — The brief observations I shall be able to offer upon this point, may be arranged under the heads of Letters and Religion. In the first place: Although it is obvious that considerable lite- rary advantages may, under some circumstances, be reaped from travelling; under other circumstances, many evils are to be appre- hended. The advantages I will, as before, suppose to be known : let us touch for a moment on the disadvantages. 1. In the first place, there is much danger of learning to rest satisfied with superficial knowledge. — Many quit their country with- VOL. XXI. Pam. NO. XUI. 2 H 470 Rev. J. W. Cunningham's Caution [20 to" out any such qualifications for travelling as enable them to reap the real advantages which it offers. Others, although furnished with many pre-requisites for travelling, are seduced from useful pursuits by the dissipations or attractions of foreign countries. Others, who have journeyed with industry and care, neglect, on their return, to correct their own observations by comparing them with the ob- servations of others ; and thus lose the benefit of experience by a negligence in study. Now, in all such cases the traveller will, in spite of his wanderings, remain really ignorant ; but, what is worse, he runs the risk of continuing satisfied with his ignorance. His measure of information, however scanty, is just enough to pass current with many for real knowledge ; and if the counterfeit will pass, few, it is to be feared, will be at the cost of procuring the legitimate coin. 2. The habit of rambling is apt to communicate a spirit of rambling to the mind. — The benefit of those pursuits to the intel- lectual faculties, which collect, confine, and concenter the atten- tion, has been universally admitted. But a change of place, and object, and pursuit, has the opposite tendency of distracting and dissipating attention ; of scattering the powers of the mind among so many subjects, as to leave no fixed thought and deliberation for any; of teaching us to cut those Gordian knots which it is the most useful occupation of the understanding to untie. 3. Another common effect of travelling, is that of tempting the traveller, who is in the constant habit of combining pleasure with instruction, to abhor all studies which cannot be thus agreeably as- sociated. — Every person, who has watched the operations of his own mind, is conscious of the inebriating effect of that species of leading which is calculated mainly to stimulate and to amuse. The student thus stimulated, finds great difficulty of returning, if 1 may so speak, to his sober cups. But it is peculiar to the traveller to live under a perpetual stimulus ; to have all his objects and pur- suits associated with attractive scenes and events. It may be ex- pected, therefore, that he will find no small difficulty in exchang- ing his picturesque employment for the dull routine of the every- day student. 4. Continental travelling, also, has perhaps a tendency to attach men rather to an elegant and trijliug species of literature, than to those more hardy and profound pursuits, which involve the highest interests and duties of man. — A taste indeed for the fine arts, tor the classics, for many of the pursuits which embellish life may often be both inspired and nourished on the banks of the 1 iber, or amidst the wild sublimities of the Alps. Nor am 1 by any means disposed to undervalue any attainments by which life may be strip- ped of its grossness, or its innocent delights be multiplied. At the same time, it is possible to polish our mind at the expense of its 21] to Continental Travellers. 471 marrow anil substance ; to sacrifice all the hardy and masculine qualities of the intellect at the shrine of imagination ; to gaze away our understandings ; to consume some of the most precious years of life in search of laborious nothings, in deciphering what ought never to be deciphered, in forgetting all that ought to be remem- bered, and remembering much that cannot be too soon forgotten— to return to our country the petit muitre purveyor to the wonder- ments of a dilettanti club, but with a heartless indifference to all those awful topics which command the attention of senates, or ex- haust the energies of the patriot and the preacher. It is men of business that our country requires ; and their place will be ill sup- plied by graceful copyists of the worn-out grace and majesty of of ancient Greece and Rome. So much for the literary dangers to which some of our travel- lers appear to be exposed. Let us next turn to the more impor- tant topics of morals and religion. Here, again, it is by no means difficult to imagine cases in which travelling may be productive of great moral advantages. The rank, the circumstances, the preparation, the peculiar temper, taste, and habits of the traveller, the company in which he travels, the places at which he stops — these, and other like points, must have much weight in any decision as to the probable results of the expedition. Instances may be conceived, in which a journey, pursued with a due regard to all these circumstances, may assist in liberalizing the mind ; in forming it to independent habits of thinking and acting ; in communicating a more kind and catholic spirit ; in lifting the soul, by the contemplation of all the glories of the universe, to its Great Author and Architect. It is, indeed, often useful, to those whose minds have been cramped or stinted by the prejudices of a narrow education, to escape from this petty corner of the earth ; to take their stand among the prodigies of creation ; to survey the great family of God distributed over the face of nature ; and to learn, from the characters of tenderness and mercy with which every spot is pregnant, some fresh lesson of forbearance and love to all mankind. But, even with this as a counterpoise, the moral dangers of a traveller seem greatly to preponderate over his moral advantages. He is, in the first place, exposed to a wholly new class of temp- tations, arising out'of the broad, naked, and shameless profligacy of foreign manners. — Upon this point, for obvious reasons, it is im- possible to dwell. He is, moreover, peculiarly exposed to the influence of a wide- spread and deep-rooted infidelity. And, especially, if he belong to a literary class, he discovers the walks of literature to be peculiarly infected with this spirit. And perhaps, with much national mau- vaisc honte, and with little comparative facility in reasoning in a 47*2 Rev. J. W. Cunningham's Caution [22 foreign language, he may find himself able to say less in defence of the strongest points in religion than the meanest dabbler in dia- lectics is able to say against them. And, by degrees, mistaking his own infirmity for the infirmity of the cause of which he is so de- fective a champion, he surrenders the faith, which has stood the test of ages, the scrutiny of the most profound examiners, and which has carried millions in peace and honor through all the stages of life, and will present them calm and undismayed at the tribunal of their God. The instances are not rare in which the whole of this process has taken place. If the traveller, in his endeavours to escape from the hazardous region of infidelity, betake himself to the circles of more orthodox society, he is there assailed by an opposite danger. Perhaps what- ever measure of religion he may himself possess, is seated chiefly in his imagination, and is therefore ready to retreat before any fairer vision which may present itself to his fancy : and, perhaps, he may discover this more seducing spectacle in Popery itself. Pious minds, of more susceptibility than strength, and the slaves of impressions rather than the simple and sober scholars of Christ, can scarcely fail, for a time at least, to have their attention arrested and their affections interested by some of the solemnities of the Roman Church. A celebrated living German poet is said to have embraced Popery from having seen a funeral procession issue at midnight from a church, followed by a picturesque train of monks with torches, whose dim lustre flashed across their wan counte- nances and solemnly lighted up the ancient edifice which towered above them, and whose chaunt seemed nothing less than the re- quiem of angels to the soul of the dead. Others have looked them- selves into Popery at the solemnity of the Papal benediction at Rome ; when the Pontiff appears, as it were, suspended in the air, and pronounces his blessing on the universe, and, at the firing of cannon, the whole of the innumerable multitude collected before him prostrate themselves as one man in his awful presence. Others, of a timid cast of mind, are perhaps frightened out of Protestant- ism into Popery by the solemn bodings of some smooth and solemn priest, who with an air of infallibility denounces everlasting ruin upon every soul which is not within the pale of the Roman Church. If such instances of apostacy from a pure to a corrupt faith are rare, I myself have known cases sufficient to convince me that the danger is not by any means chimerical. The main temptation, however, of the traveller, is not perhaps to any open and violent rejection of the faith of his fathers, but rather to such an adulteration of the fundamental principles and precepts of his religion by an infusion of Popery, or to such a complete though secret surrender of them, as to render his pro- of little or no value. 23] to Continental Travellers, 473 Consider how many circumstances tend to this formidable result. The traveller, generally speaking, is excluded from all means of public instruction, and therefore, from all the checks, warnings, en- couragements, and exhortations, which these merciful provisions fur our spiritual welfare are calculated to supply. He may wish to " go up to the house of his God," but perhaps wishes it in vain. He may wander on mountains which never listened to the bells of the Sabbath ; or may dwell in cities where the still voice of truth is stifled by superstition and mummery. He may halt in a spot, either where there is no religion, or where religion is degraded to a mere pantomime. And who can calculate the probable effects of such a change of circumstances, especially if of long duration ? In the next place, he lives in countries of which it is scarcely too much to say, that " they keep no Sabbath ;" where, at least, the dissipation of one part of the day is calculated in the strongest de- gree to neutralize every conceivable benefit of the other — where any possible spark of religion which may be kindled by what may be termed a very heavy ff spectacle" performed by the priests in the morning, is thoroughly and almost inevitably extinguished by a far gayer and more attractive species of" spectacle" in the evening. Let those who have felt the powerful influence of the Sabbath upon themselves, in prompting holy resolutions, in stimulating the drowsy affections, in quickening the dull conscience, in solemnizing, instructing, strengthening, consoling, sanctifying the heart — decide what must be the result of even a temporary suspension of all the benefits of this sacred day. Again : the traveller resides for the most part, in countries where, from various causes, and especially from the vices of the religious orders, a religious profession is to a considerable extent identified with hypocrisy and priestcraft, and where he must feel it no small difficulty to maintain a respect for that which it is the general usage to suspect and despise. Add to these the following new sources of temptation; — that he is, perhaps, far more drawn into promiscuous society than when at home ; that he has less opportunity of knowing the real character and designs of those with whom he associates ; that he has strong- er inducements to frequent even the more questionable scenes of public amusement ; that, as a stranger, he has little or no character to sustain ; that he lives in that state of perpetual whirl and dissi- pation the least favorable to reflection, to meditation, to prayer ; that his moral superiority to most of those around him is likely to betray him into high notions of himself ; that he is possibly without friends to advise, or ministers to instruct, or restraints to control him; and it is surely no evidence of timidity, or bigotry, or home- bred narrowness, to anticipate the most serious results from the 474 Rev. J. W. Cunningham's Caution [24 operation of these combined causes. Nor is it the part of a good citizen to be silent when so large a proportion of our more intelli- gent countrymen are about to be subjected to this novel process — this Cautions to con- G91c — tinantal travell - ers UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 677 909 4 DA 115 C91c