Portraits of Places (London: Macmillan & Co., 1883)

by Henry James (1843-1916)

For other versions of this work, see Portraits of Places.

PORTRAITS OF PLACES

PORTRAITS OF PLACES

BY

HENRY JAMES

London

MACMILLAN AND CO.

1883

Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh.

NOTE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.

The papers contained in this volume were first published in various American magazines and journals; and it is especially true of several articles embodying impressions—it is to be feared very superficial—received during the early months of a residence in England, that they were at that time addressed altogether to an American public. It is probable that they can have but a limited interest for English readers, familiar, naturally, to satiety with many of those minor characteristics to which the author has ventured to call the attention of his less initiated countrymen. It may be added that such pages represent a stage of observation on the writer's part which belongs to freshness of acquaintance. His impressions have been modified and enlarged, and he would not to-day have the temerity to write letters upon England. The four last sketches, dealing with American scenes, were the earliest written, and their only merit at present is that of testimony to the past. A period of thirteen years in the United States produces extraordinary changes, and the places in question would have now to be described in very different terms.

CONTENTS.

		PAGE
I.	Venice	1
II.	Italy Revisited	39
III.	Occasional Paris	75
IV.	Rheims and Laon: A Little Tour	96
V.	Chartres	120
VI.	Rouen	130
VII.	Etretat	139
VIII.	From Normandy to the Pyrenees	148
IX.	An English Easter	181
X.	London at Midsummer	210
XI.	Two Excursions	228
XII.	In Warwickshire	247
XIII.	Abbeys and Castles	270
XIV.	English Vignettes	287
XV.	An English New Year	307
XVI.	An English Winter Watering-Place	316
XVII.	Saratoga	324
XVIII.	Newport	338
XIX.	Quebec	350
XX.	Niagara	364