By MAJOR W.E. FRYE
EDITED WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES
By SALOMON REINACH
Member of the Institute of France
LONDON 1908
To
V.A.M.
S.R.
PREFACE
The knowledge of Major Frye's manuscript and the privilege of publishing it
for the first time I owe to the kindness of two French ladies, the Misses
G - - . Their father, a well known artist and critic, used to spend the
summer months at Saint Germain-en-Laye together with his wife, who was an
English woman by birth. They had been for a long time intimately acquainted
with Major Frye, who lived and ended his life in that quiet town. The
Major's hostess, Mme. de W - - , after his death in 1858, brought the
manuscript to Mrs. G - - and gave it to her in memory of her friend. It was
duly preserved in the G - - family, but remained unnoticed. The Misses
G - - rediscovered it in 1907, when it had been lying in a cupboard for
upwards of half a century. On their showing it to me I thought it was
interesting for many reasons, and worthy of introduction to the public. I
hope the reader will share my opinion, which is also that of several
English scholars and men of letters, to whom I communicated extracts from
the manuscript.
The reminiscences are in the form of letters addressed to a correspondent
who, however, is never named and of whose health, family and private
circumstances not the slightest mention is to be found. So I am inclined to
believe that he never existed, and that Major Frye chose to imitate
President de Brosses and others who thus recorded their travelling
experiences in epistolary form.
The manuscript - which will eventually be deposited in a public library - is
entirely in Major Frye's large and legible hand; at some later time it was
evidently revised by himself, but many names which I have endeavoured to
complete were left in blank or only indicated by initials. There are three
folio volumes, bound in paper boards. In this edition it has been thought
advisable to leave out a certain number of pages devoted to theatricals, of
which Major Frye was a great votary, and also some lengthy descriptions of
landscapes, museums and churches, the interest of which to modern readers
does not correspond to the space occupied by them. For the information
contained in the footnotes I am indebted to many correspondents, English,
French, Swiss, Belgian and Italian, to whom I here express my hearty
thanks. I am under special obligation to Sir Charles Dilke, Mr Oscar
Browning, Professor Novati, Professor Corrado Ricci, Commandant
Esperandieu, Professor Cumont, Professor Stilling and Mr Hoechberg.
Major Frye's tombstone is in the cemetery of Saint Germain, and reads thus:
"To the memory of Major William Edward Frye, who departed this life the 9th
day of October, 1858." On the same stone has been added in French:
"Perceval Edmond Litchfield, decede le 15 Avril, 1888." About P.E.
Litchfield I know nothing; he must have been the Major's intimate friend
during the last period of his life.
