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PREFACE.

THE Hand-Books hitherto published for the use of travellers on the Continent have been the subject of so much complaint and objection, both in reference to their bulk and voluminous character, that the Publishers of the present volume determined to meet the requirements and oft-expressed wishes of the public, by undertaking the task of supplying to them Continental Hand-Books, small and convenient in size, yet replete with all the descriptive, historical, and other useful information so ably and faithfully given in the large volumes published by their contemporaries. And they trust that this effort of theirs will not be looked upon as an unwarrantable intrusion upon ground already occupied, nor yet as an unworthy rival to books of a larger and more elaborate description.

The present Hand-Book furnishes the traveller with a valuable companion in his Tour through Belgium and on the Rhine. And with a view to his convenience and information, we have given him a book small and compact, capable of being consigned to the pocket, or borne in the hand without trouble or annoyance; whilst it furnishes him with matter-of-fact descriptions of what ought to be seen on his journey and in his visits, carefully selecting all the historical details and anecdotes, and such other matters as we believe calculated to interest, whilst they instruct the English traveller, at the same time that we have excluded all that was dry or useless. In our descriptions of buildings and institutions, though we have not burdened our readers with the genealogical histories of their founders, proprietors, and architects, yet we have not confined ourselves to giving a mere catalogue of them, but we have furnished all that was valuable in connection with their histories, paintings, and architecture, at the same time that we have illustrated them by very beautiful engravings.

In all our arrangements we have observed, so far as possible, a simple and condensed style; and wherever practicable have availed ourselves of good and correct information gathered from other sources. The nature or character of this volume tolerates little novelty, and admits of no deviation from the principle on which such a work must be essentially based. Books in foreign languages must be the chief sources of our information, modified by personal observation and experience.

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