Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. A word about the impressions themselves They were written down at the time, in journals and letters, more or less roughly, with no idea of publication. In these days, such a visitor would be writing for a newspaper, or consciously preparing for a book. In 1872 we were not so sophisticated, and if I took copious notes it was with no thought that they would ever be published. If it had been otherwise, doubtless I should have secured many useful particulars now lost, but I hope that a cer tain freshness is retained by the fact that I thought only of my own instruction and pleasure. The elderly man who puts these pages together has not attempted to tone down the enthusiasm of the boy who wrote them; yet, if a sagacious reader is inclined to laugh at so much zeal about poetry and such sustained illusion, why, the author will not be grieved, but, somewhat sadly, will smile too.