BOOK OF THE DAY: PATRICK SKENE CATLINGreviews The Smell of the Continent: The British Discover Europe, 1814-1914by Richard Mullen and James Munson Macmillan, 380pp; £20
THE PERIOD between the defeat of Napoleon and the outbreak of the first World War was when British travellers to Europe became known as tourists, and tourism was developed as a major industry. The distinction between travellers and tourists was one of social rank, money and the length of visits. One characteristic they shared at that time of imperial power was xenophobia. Going abroad confirmed their belief that they were superior to all foreigners and that Britain was better than everywhere abroad.
Though most Victorians deplored what they perceived as the faults of the Continent – the bad drains, bad roads, bad food and a lot of people who didn’t know how to speak English – the tourists were much more numerous as the years went by and gradually they imposed their own standards of hygiene and comfort on foreign countries. The natives, in turn, though disliking most of the visitors with equal fervour, did everything possible to give them what they wanted, because they paid so well. International relationships on a personal level apparently have not changed much, if at all.
Oxford historians Richard Mullen and James Munson have been incidentally collecting curiosities of British European travel for the past 30 years, but have not allowed their compatriots’ supercilious misanthropy to weaken their own tolerance and sense of humour. This book might have been sour. It isn’t. It is entirely benign, even when revealing snobbery reduced to absurdity: “Lady Frederick Cavendish, visiting Switzerland in 1864, asked herself, ‘Why does one hate and despise nearly all one’s fellow-countrymen abroad?’”
Charles Lever, an Irish-born novelist, commented on the clients of Thomas Cook, one of the pioneer travel agents: “Anything so uncouth I never saw before!” They were “low-bred, vulgar, and ridiculous”. As Robert Louis Stevenson observed, “Grumbling is the traveller’s pastime”.
The authors balance the negatives with some positives, the ways mass tourism benefited both the tourists and the toured. Guided by the handbooks of Murray and Baedeker, the tourists headed straight for the icons of culture. The first favourite destinations were Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples, and the range was soon extended to Germany, especially the health spas, and, thanks to the Romantic Movement, the Alps. Even the lowliest tourists on the briefest holidays had the will to cover great distances, motivated by literature and growing railway networks.
European travel influenced many great writers, including Ruskin, Trollope, Dickens and EM Forster.
In spite of channel-ferry sea-sickness and in spite of difficulties adjusting to European hotels and restaurants, many tourists actually learned to admire and enjoy the Continent, and brought back feelings of sympathy. Some tourists even acquired a liking for French cigarettes and coffee containing chicory. Not all European smells were revolting. The book is enhanced with contemporary illustrations, notably from Punch and the Illustrated London News.