FOREIGN OPINIONS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 287, 31 August 1935, Page 23

FOREIGN OPINIONS

Impressions of England Through Four Centuries "As the Foreigner Saw Uk,” by Malcolm Letts (London: Methuen). This book records the impressions of a number of foreign travellers to Eng* land and Scotland from about 1465 to 1830. French, German, Italian and Spanish opinion is here represented by a host of names, some familiar, many probably quite unknown to the ordinary reader, but not less interesting on that account, as the unstudied remarks of a comparatively obscure visitor often show up habits, customs and small doings which may pass the notice of the greater man. It is always of interest to see one’s forbears as others have seen them, even though one may sometimes be unpleasantly surprised at the views expressed. It is well known that early England did not exactly welcome strangers with open arms, and it was often only those of importance and with powerful friends in the country wlio could travel in comfort or even safety. It is certainly difficult in many cases to sort out clear impressions from these translations, as some written at the same period flatly contradict each other. Erasmus,' writing about 1500, gives a picture in which, in spite of the extravagant description of the beauty and graciousness of the women, one wonders how any managed to survive the, to put it mildly, revoltingly unhygienic conditions of the England of that period. The letters pass on down the centuries, giving glimpses of travel conditions, people, architecture, scenery, amusements, general outlook, religion, industries, business, administration of laws and so on. Perhaps out of all this the Englishman’s love of food and the incredible dullness of the English Sunday are the two impressions that seem to be most often recorded.

The book gives one somewhat a feeling of screen flashes, and it is interesting to watch through these, contradictory though they often are, the gradual development of a country and its people. In cases where it might be over-chastening to see our ancestors through foreign eyes, the traditional English habit of unbelieving' laughter at anything in the nature of adverse criticism may come to the rescue. Mr. Lett’s book, which closes with a picture of Regency London, is well illustrated, and includes notes and a full bibliography.