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Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819
By
By SALOMON REINACH
Member of the Institute of France
LONDON1908
To
The knowledge of Major Frye's manuscript and the privilege of publishing itfor the first time I owe to the kindness of two French ladies, the MissesG——. Their father, a well known artist and critic, used to spend thesummer months at Saint Germain-en-Laye together with his wife, who was anEnglish woman by birth. They had been for a long time intimately acquaintedwith Major Frye, who lived and ended his life in that quiet town. TheMajor's hostess, Mme. de W——, after his death in 1858, brought themanuscript to Mrs. G—— and gave it to her in memory of her friend. It wasduly preserved in the G—— family, but remained unnoticed. The MissesG—— rediscovered it in 1907, when it had been lying in a cupboard forupwards of half a century. On their showing it to me I thought it wasinteresting for many reasons, and worthy of introduction to the public. Ihope the reader will share my opinion, which is also that of severalEnglish scholars and men of letters, to whom I communicated extracts fromthe manuscript.
The reminiscences are in the form of letters addressed to a correspondentwho, however, is never named and of whose health, family and privatecircumstances not the slightest mention is to be found. So I am inclined tobelieve that he never existed, and that Major Frye chose to imitatePresident de Brosses and others who thus recorded their travellingexperiences in epistolary form.
The manuscript—which will eventually be deposited in a public library—isentirely in Major Frye's large and legible hand; at some later time it wasevidently revised by himself, but many names which I have endeavoured tocomplete were left in blank or only indicated by initials. There are threefolio volumes, bound in paper boards. In this edition it has been thoughtadvisable to leave out a certain number of pages devoted to theatricals, ofwhich Major Frye was a great votary, and also some lengthy descriptions oflandscapes, museums and churches, the interest of which to modern readersdoes not correspond to the space occupied by them. For the informationcontained in the footnotes I am indebted to many correspondents, English,French, Swiss, Belgian and Italian, to whom I here express my heartythanks. I am under special obligation to Sir Charles Dilke, Mr OscarBrowning, Professor Novati, Professor Corrado Ricci, CommandantEspérandieu, Professor Cumont, Professor Stilling and Mr Höchberg.
Major Frye's tombstone is in the cemetery of Saint Germain, and reads thus:"To the memory of Major William Edward Frye, who departed this life the 9thday of October, 1858." On the same stone has been added in French:"Perceval Edmond Litchfield, décédé le 15 Avril, 1888." About P.E.Litchfield I know nothing; he must have been the Major's intimate friendduring the last period of his life.
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W.E. Frye was born Oct. 29, 1784, and received his education at Eton(1797-9) in the time of the French Revolution. "The system was," he says,"to drill