Agreeably to the intimation expressed in a preceding page, I am now, in due
order, to notice the labours of my translators M.M. LICQUET and CRAPELET.
Their united version appeared in 1825, in four octavo volumes, of which the
small paper was but indifferently well printed.[8] The preface to the first
two volumes is by M. Licquet: and it is not divested of point and merit. It
begins by attacking the _Quarterly Review_, (June 1821, p. 147.) for its
severity of animadversion on the supposed listlessness and want of
curiosity of the French in exploring the architectural antiquities of their
country; and that, in consequence of such supineness, the English,
considering them as their own property, have described them accordingly.
"The decision (says the French translator) is severe; happily it is without
foundation." After having devoted several pages to observations by way of
reply to that critical Journal, M. Licquet continues thus:--unless I have
unintentionally misrepresented him.

The Englishman who travels in Normandy, meets, at every step, with
reminiscences of his kings, his ancestors, his institutions, and his
customs. Churches yet standing, after the lapse of seven centuries;
majestic ruins; tombs--even to the very sound of the clock--all unite
in affecting, here, the heart of a British subject: every thing seems
to tell him that, in former times, HERE was his country; here the
residence of his sovereigns; and here the cradle of his manners. This
was more than sufficient to enflame the lively imagination of Mr. D.
and to decide him to visit, in person, a country already explored by a
great number of his countrymen; but he conceived that his narrative
should embody other topics than those which ordinarily appeared in the
text of his predecessors.

"His work then is not only a description of castles, towns, churches,