The "Antiquarian and Picturesque" portions remain nearly as heretofore; and
upon the whole I doubt whether the amputation of matter has extended beyond
_an eighth_ of what appeared in the previous edition. It had long ago been
suggested to me--from a quarter too high and respectable to doubt the
wisdom of its decision--that the Contents of this Tour should be made known
to the Public through a less costly medium:--that the objects described in
it were, in a measure, new and interesting--but that the high price of the
purchase rendered it, to the majority of Readers, an inaccessible
publication. I hope that these objections are fully met, and successfully
set aside, by the Work in its PRESENT FORM. To have produced it, _wholly
divested_ of ornament, would have been as foreign to my habits as repugnant
to my feelings. I have therefore, as I would willingly conclude, hit upon
the happy medium--between sterility and excess of decoration.

After all, the greater part of the ground here trodden, yet continues to be
untrodden ground to the public. I am not acquainted with any publication
which embraces all the objects here described; nor can I bring myself to
think that a perusal of the first and third volumes may not be unattended
with gratification of a peculiar description, to the lovers of antiquities
and picturesque beauties. The second volume is rather the exclusive
province of the Bibliographer. In retracing the steps here marked out, I
will not be hypocrite enough to dissemble a sort of triumphant feeling
which accompanies a retrospection of the time, labour, and money devoted..
in doing justice, according to my means, to the attractions and worth of
the Countries which these pages describe. Every such effort is, in its way,
a NATIONAL effort. Every such attempt unites, in stronger bonds, the
reciprocities of a generous feeling between rival Nations; and if my reward
has not been in _wealth_, it has been in the hearty commendation of the
enlightened and the good: "Mea me virtute involvo."[16]