Henry James

Portraits of Places Henry James

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.