Excerpt from The Works of Bayard Taylor, Vol. 5: By-Ways of Europe, And, Hannah Thurston Whoever you may be, my friendly reader, whether 1 may assume the footing of familiar acquaintance which comes of your having read my former books of travel, or whether we stand for the first time face to face, self-intro duced to each other, and uncertain, as yet, how we shall get on together, - will you let me take you by the button hole and tell you some things which must be Said now, if at all? This is probably the last volume of travels which I shall ever publish. [t closes a series of personal and literary experiences which cannot be renewed, and which I have no belief will be extended. Now, therefore, all that I have done as a traveller detaches itself from my other labors, lies clear behind me as a life by itself, and may be considered with a degree of self-criticism which was scarcely possible while it lay nearer. The brief review which I desire to make, must necessarily be autobiograph ical in its character, and I am aware that this is question able ground. Bnt as I have been specially styled, for so many years and little to my own satisfaction, a traveller or a tourist, and in either character have received praise and blame, equally founded on a misconception of the facts and hopes of my life, I claim the privilege, this once, to set the truth before those who may care to hear it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.