PREFACE
Nothing seems more difficult to write than a Preface.
But wc shall be brief and explicit We have studied to product a work
accessible to all classes of readers, as there appeared to us no
royal road to direct the historian, antiquary, or tourist, through
the endless mazes of enchantment, that lie deeply embosomed in every
nook and comer of this classic land. Our aim has been to give
increased information, in less than the accustomed space, anti
at a minimum cost; and to preserve dates of remarkable historical
events and circumstances, in correctly classified and methodical
order. It would be invidious to render thanks to some, where
gratitude is due to all who have given us their kind assistance and
valuable co-operation. We have laboriously consulted contemporaneous
history, and endeavoured to build our structure upon the simple
narration of farts, evidenced to us by truthful and impartial
witnesses. There may be faults of omission and commission, perhaps,
but these we shall only be too glad to correct in a future issue of
this work. To float with the stream of time for upwards of a
thousand years, and take up and set down those we chose to travel
with, each at the proper offing and the right time, is a voyage of
greater magnitude than some may contemplate. We have made free use
of the writings and opinions of others, our end and aim being to
conduct those who trust us by the best and easiest route, whether by
the highway of those who have preceded us, or the byway of our own
choosing.
If the footfalls of the following unassuming pages,
leave just impressions on the minds of those who road them, and
truth and goodness seem the lovelier in their historic robes, our
wish and purpose will be magnanimously and happily accomplished.
It may interest some to know that the illustrations
are all from drawings taken from the ruins. No effort has been
spared to make them accurate as well as artistically elaborate.
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