PREFACE.

THE Writer of this Journal has spent nearly two years in Great Britain, without any other object than that of seeing the country. He was born in France, and had resided more than twenty years in the United States of America before he made this voyage. To give the friends he had left in America the pleasure of following him upon the map,of seeing and thinking with him, and, in order to retain some traces of new objects, the remembrance of which would otherwise soon have faded on his memory, he sent, from the beginning, a journal of what he did and saw, faithfully and plainly recorded. Such a journal is like gathering fruit in a basket. If you attempt it only with your hands, when they are full, you drop what you have already, in endeavouring to get more.

The Journal was written in English, because the things and persons the traveller saw were best described in the language of the country, which is become familiar to him by long habit. It was seen in England by a few friends, who read parts of it with interest, and, for the first time in his life, the idea entered his mind of writing a book! He does not mean to throw any responsibility on his friends; none of them pressed him to publish; he did not yield to their solicitations; and he alone is answerable for the consequences, alarming as they may be. He was, indeed, encouraged by the consideration, that no French travels in England had come to his knowledge deserving of notice. M. Faujas de St Fond gave all his attention to minerals; Madame Roland, Madame de Genlis, and Madame de Stael, have spoken incidentally of what they have seen in England, through the medium of their various prejudices, or for effect in works of imagination. In remoter times, the Chevalier Hamilton published only the chronique scandaleuse of a profligate court. Sully thought only of his embassy.

Their present successor did not merely traverse England; he lived in it without business, and was not pressed for time. His wife, who is English, was with him; and he owes to her introduction a greater share of domestic intimacy than foreigners usually enjoy in England, or indeed in any country.

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His acquaintance with the language enabled him to observe with greater ease and accuracy than the generality of French tourists. In short, he might hope to do better what none had done well.

Private anecdotes have been excluded as much as possible. It is a great sacrifice; for they do not merely amuse the reader, but they initiate him into the peculiarities of national manners, and the mysteries of domestic life. They instruct without the form of instruction. You may give them to your friends ;but it is an unpardonable indelicacy to make a public exhibition of those who have opened their doors to you, and shewn you kindness.

At the same time that personalities were struck out, the traveller was tempted to extend those occasional remarks he had introduced in his original Journal, on the constitution, the commerce, the finances, and the politics of Great Britain,-on its geology and its literature. He perceived at last that he had made essays instead of remarks, and that the events and objects out of which the latter grew naturally, did not so well account for the former. His friends have found also, that he digressed too abruptly from one subject to another totally unconnected, and he has been advised to class and arrange his materials under different heads or chapters. It would have been recasting his work altogether,—an undertaking

above his strength or patience, and the advantage of which did not appear to him adequate to the labour. There is a certain charm in the journalform, and a peculiar interest, which it was not worth while to sacrifice to greater order. Had he made separate chapters on the government, on political economy, &c. few readers would have taken the trouble of cutting the leaves of such chapters. They may just as easily skip digressions as chapters, and, glancing over the margin, read only where dates shew them that the traveller is again on the road, and tells of what he saw and not of what he thought, as in novels, reflections are passed over, to come to the story and adventures.

He had collected some information respecting Ireland, which he thought might be interesting to foreign readers; but as he did not see that part of the British empire, and had no opportunities of personal observation, he has introduced his remarks in an Appendix.

There are so few French travels, that the publication of this Journal might require an apology in France; in England it cannot be deemed necessary. Nothing is more usual for an Englishman, who had crossed the channel, spent his month or six weeks at Paris, when such a thing could be done, and pushed as far as the Lake of Geneva, than to

publish on his return a Tour through France and Switzerland. The public, indeed, was not always grateful for such favours, and was apt sometimes to laugh at the traveller and his book. Yet this multiplicity of accounts of foreign countries, from real observation, furnished new facts, spread general information, and tended to dissipate prejudices. There are, accordingly, fewer in England than in France, although the French are unconscious of theirs.

Should this work be favourably received in England, the success would be the more flattering, from the author's having done little to please. He has spoken with freedom, à charge and à décharge, but always with perfect sincerity, and, he believes, with strict impartiality. This might not prove a recommendation everywhere,–but he really hopes it may in England.

The author has not spoken of Bonaparte! This silence in the times in which we live may appear singular, and deserves some notice or explanation. He knows, in fact, his Imperial and Royal Majesty only through the medium of the newspapers, and has no new facts to communicate. As to what he may think of him, the opinions expressed in the work on matters of government will inform his readers sufficiently.