Page:The grand tour in the eighteenth century by Mead, William Edward.djvu/138

 size in all Europe can boast such a wealth of art and of picturesque architecture. Yet Evelyn, who was far above the average tourist in intelligence, recorded in his Diary merely: "We dined at Pistoia, where, besides one church, there is little observable." Bromley says of Pistoia: "I had little time for seeing this place, staying only the changing caleshes; it is an old place, and I was assured had very little worthy notice." Misson, who should have known better, says: "There is nothing in Pistoia that deserves either the trouble or charge of going out of the way to see it." The usually keen-eyed De Brosses remarks, "This city, ancient and deserted, appeared to me to have nothing remarkable except the baptistery. … Opposite the baptistery is the cathedral, with the air of a village church." And Northall in 1752 merely observes: "Ruin, desolation, and indolence are seen in all the streets, which are well paved, with large flags." Even Mariana Starke's accounts of notable places are often vague and entirely lacking in distinctiveness, or they arbitrarily single out an item or two and ignore everything else.

Yet these travellers were far above the average run. Those who did not venture to put their experiences into print, but who chattered constantly about what they had seen, were more fairly representative. On the utterances of this type of tourists Steele has some interesting comments in the "Spectator," No. 474: "But the most irksome Conversation of all others I have met with in the Neighborhood, has been among two or three of your Travellers, who have overlooked Men and Manners, and have passed through France and Italy with the same observation that the Carriers and Stage-Coachmen do through Great Britain; that is, their Stops and Stages have been regulated according to the Liquor they have met with in their Passages. They indeed remember the Names of abundance of Places, with the particular Fineries of certain Churches. But their distinguishing Mark is certain Prettinesses of Foreign Languages, the Meaning of which they could have better express'd in their own. The Entertainment of these