If the author were required to give a reason why he has written on a
country so well known as Italy, he might be puzzled to give any other
answer than that he loved the subject, and has been indulging his own
recollections possibly more than he will please his readers.
As this, like most other books, must speak for itself, the author
has little to add, in the way of Preface, to what has already been
published in the work with which his travels commence. He has
endeavoured to avoid a pretension which his research would not justify,
while he hopes some may be glad to go over again, even this beaten
road, in his company.