BY FRANKLIN J. DIDIER, A. M. M. D. &c. La terra molle, lieta e dilettosa, Tasso. New-Bork: PUBLISHED BY JAMES V. SEAMAN, NO. 296 PEARL-STREET. J. & J. Harper, Printers. ...... 1821. District of Connecticut, ss. BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the twenty-second day of June, in the forty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Robert M'Nutt, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit: "Letters from Paris and other cities of France, Holland, &c. written during a tour and residence in these Countries, in the years, 1816, 17, 18, 19, and 20, with remarks on the conduct of the ultra-royalists since the restoration, by Franklin J. Didier, A. M. M. D. &c." La terra molle, lieta e dilettosa, Tasso. In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An "Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, "Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the "time therein mentioned." PREFACERARY DURING my residence in France, I kept an interesting correspondence with my friends at home; besides, as a means of acquiring a habit of observation, I wrote down, every day, reflections on what I had heard and seen during my walks in society. When I returned, I reduced my letters and memorandums into the form of a "Series of Letters," (adding as I procured any facts and observations which had before escaped me,) which having been perused by several of my friends, it was thought they would be interesting to the Public, as works on the same subject had hitherto enjoyed, at least, a momentary share of general patronage. Accordingly, after a few hasty alterations and additions, I now let the work take its chance down the current of public favour; and as I make no pretensions, I hope that criticism will be indulgent. I can scarcely expect to add much to the mass of human knowledge-I shall be satisfied if I afford amusement, and if my "Letters" receive a place on the shelf of lounging books-" books that one takes up," says Horace Walpole, " in the gout, low spirits, ennui, or when one is waiting for company." I imagined that the form of Letters would be more amusing than the tedious division into chapters, sections, &c. Letters that have any merit at all, are generally pleasing; and when they treat of interesting subjects, they cannot fail to be more amusing than a continued monotonous narrative. |