“the English Traveller’s imagination is lively and ardent—­and his spirit, that of raillery and lightness.  He examines as he runs along; that is to say, he does not give himself time to examine; he examines ill; he deceives himself; and he subjects his readers to be deceived with him.  He traverses, at a hard trot, one of the most ancient towns in France; puts his head out of his carriage window—­and boldly decides that the town is of the time of Francis I."![9] p. xviij.

There is pleasantry, and perhaps some little truth, in this vein of observation; and it had been better, perhaps, for the credit of the good taste and gentleman-like feeling of Mons. Licquet, if he had uniformly maintained his character in these respects.  I have however, in the subsequent pages,[10] occasionally grappled with my annotator in proving the fallacy, or the want of charity, of many of his animadversions:  and the reader probably may not be displeased, if, by way of “avant propos,” I indulge him here with a specimen of them—­taken from his preface.  M. Licquet says, that I “create scenes; arrange a drama; trace characters; imagine a dialogue, frequently in French—­and in what French—­gracious God!—­in assigning to postilions a ridiculous language, and to men of the world the language of postilions.”  These be sharp words:[11] but what does the Reader imagine may be the probable “result” of the English Traveller’s inadvertencies?...  A result, ("gracious Heaven!”) very little anticipated by the author.  Let him ponder well upon the awful language which ensues.  “What (says M. Licquet) will quickly be the result, with us, of such indiscretions as those of which M. Dibdin is guilty?  The necessity of SHUTTING OUR PORTS, or at least of placing a GUARD UPON OUR LIPS!” There is some consolation however left for me, in balancing this tremendous denunciation by M. Licquet’s eulogy of my good qualities—­which a natural diffidence impels me to quote in the original words of their author.

“A Dieu ne plaise, toutefois, que j’accuse ici LE COEUR de M. Dibdin.  Je n’ai jamais eu l’honneur de le voir:  je ne le connais que par ses ecrits; principalement par son Splendid Tour, et je ne balance pas a declarer que l’auteur doit etre doue d’une ame honnete, et de ces qualites fondamentales qui constituent l’homme de bien.  Il prefere sa croyance; mais il respecte la croyance des autres; son erudition parait....[12] variee.  Son amour pour les antiquites est immense; et par antiquites j’entends ici tout ce qui est antique ou seulement ancien, quellesque soient d’ailleurs la nature et la forme des objets.”  Pref. p. xv. xvij.

Once more; and to conclude with M. Licquet.  After these general observations upon the Text of the Tour, M. Licquet favours us with the following—­upon the Plates.  “These plates (says he) are intended to represent some of the principal monuments; the most beautiful landscapes, and the most remarkable