There Is, Probably, Not A Famous Picture Or Statue In All Italy,
But Could Be Easily Buried Under A Mountain Of Printed Paper
Devoted To Dissertations On It.
I do not, therefore, though an
earnest admirer of Painting and Sculpture, expatiate at any length
on famous Pictures and Statues.
This Book is a series of faint reflections--mere shadows in the
water--of places to which the imaginations of most people are
attracted in a greater or less degree, on which mine had dwelt for
years, and which have some interest for all. The greater part of
the descriptions were written on the spot, and sent home, from time
to time, in private letters. I do not mention the circumstance as
an excuse for any defects they may present, for it would be none;
but as a guarantee to the Reader that they were at least penned in
the fulness of the subject, and with the liveliest impressions of
novelty and freshness.
If they have ever a fanciful and idle air, perhaps the reader will
suppose them written in the shade of a Sunny Day, in the midst of
the objects of which they treat, and will like them none the worse
for having such influences of the country upon them.
I hope I am not likely to be misunderstood by Professors of the
Roman Catholic faith, on account of anything contained in these
pages. I have done my best, in one of my former productions, to do
justice to them; and I trust, in this, they will do justice to me.
When I mention any exhibition that impressed me as absurd or
disagreeable, I do not seek to connect it, or recognise it as
necessarily connected with, any essentials of their creed.
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