New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-11-19
FREEMAN AS 4 IRA TELLER.
THE HISTORIAN IN GREECE AND ITALY.

| STUDIES OF TRAVEL: GREECE BY Edward
| A. fireman. PIP vii 2sG G. +. Putnam's Sons
| STUDIES OF TRAVEL. ITALY. By Edward A.
| Freeman PIP. w., a2i q. =. Putndms Sons.
| Many books OF travel are records rather Of
the travellers moods than of his observations.
| If mans thoughts gather round his dinner like
| sixpenny nails around a horseshoe magnet the
reader will be treated 10 series OF bills OF
| fare interspersed with such literature as the
| diner may be capable Of producing. one may
vary this illustration he likes; IL is fact that
| many books of travel are vastly better material
for students in psychology than they are for
the devotees Of any other 2rt or science.
Something Of this kind IL true Of these postum
nous notes Of tie historian Freeman. They are
an important contribution to the study Of a
mind worthy Of the most careful analysis On
| the other hand It would be a mistake to think
! that Freeman wholly absorbed in himself
He was all eyes and a journey. but what
he and what he heard came somehow
very much in the line Of his lifelong labors
OF himself he rarely thinks. If one can judge
from the fact that he almost never speaks Of
himself or Of his companions The contrast be-
tween him and another famous traveller in
this matter Of self-absorption. against attcn-
ton to outward things is brought out very
/
practically the same Journey. The fact that
Freeman and the othe- traveller mentioned are
separated by period ot two thousand
years helps to make the contrast vivid Hor-
aces poetical history of his journey to Brund-
isum is a model Of that sort OF writing In
which the author Is vastly more than all he
sees. His slightest mishaps-fcr example the
fact that he loathes the water he has to drink
imuort in VII nf hp rni hat
1T is Horace who is describing his own feelings.
When he has to put ointment on his weak eyes
the proceeding is 10 him as important as meet
ing on affairs Of state between Maeccnas and
Cocceiuj. AT all events, he brackets the two
occurrences together. The frogs and gnats that
disturb his slumber. and the lean birds that
come near being burned a spit. OF more
interest TO him than the public incidents OF the
tour or the towns that ne visited. For brcv-
ity that absolutely leaves out everything which
might be Of interest about a town famous be-
fore Horaces time and after, commend US 10
his closing line, In which ne names Brundisium
and adds only that there his journey and his
writing material both ended at once
Freeman had his eye upon Horace all the
way in his Tier ad Brundsium." and yet he
never thinks Of mentioning any of his own
personal discdmforts, nor does he allide to
those which Horace mourned over. He picks
out only the scraps Of real information vouch-
safed by the Augustan poet. and these he sup
pements from his own observations or from
those recorded by others II he is humorous 1t is
not upon the contemplation Of his own pecu-
liarities Of what has happened to himself. but
upon a topic germane to the antiquities that
rise before his eyes. And he is not without a
glimpse Of something worth a smile. And at
one point in Ferenuno." says he. mot far
from the Porta Maggiore. 1t will be well to go
down the hill a little to study the long in
sc1ption cut In the rock in honor OF local
worthy and magistrate. Auus Quinctilius by
name. who seems to have played much the
same part at Ferentinum in pagan days which
Sir William Harpur played ages later at Bed
ford lie founded everything that. according
TO the notions Of his day. could be founded
among other things he ordained that thirty
pushels OF nuts should be yearly given 10 be
scrambled for by the boys of Ferentinum. with
out distinction Of bond free. Now, is the Will
OF this pious founder carried out? Are there
any Italian Charity Commissioners TO look into
these matters. and to see that the boys get
lheir nuts? Or. If the scrambling for nuts be
oee'hed huisance-yet many well-remembered