r by the Swiss passes, the latter perhaps the most
romantic of routes in spite of their difficulties and other
objections.

[Illustration: On English Roads]

Automobiling in Spain is a thing of the future, and it will be a big
undertaking to make the highroads, to say nothing of the by-roads,
suitable for automobile traffic. The present monarchs' enthusiasm for
the sport may be expected, however, to do wonders. The most that the
average tourist into Spain by automobile will want to undertake is
perhaps the run to Madrid, which is easily accomplished, or to
Barcelona, which is still easier, or to just step over the border to
Feuntarabia or San Sebastian, if he does not think overrefined
Biarritz will answer his purpose.

More than one hardy traveller, before the age of automobiles, and
even before the age of steam, has made "the grand tour," and then
come home and written a book about it until there seems hardly any
need that a modern traveller should attempt to set down his
impressions of the craggy, castled Rhine, the splendid desolation of
Pompeii, or the romantic reminders still left in old Provence to tell
the story of the days of the troubadours and the "Courts of Love."

It is conceivable that one can see and enjoy all these classic
splendours from an automobile, but automobilists from overseas have
been known to rush across France in an attempt to break the record
between some Channel port and Monte Carlo, or dash down the Rhine and
into Switzerland for a few days, and so on to Rome, and ultimately
Naples, where ship is taken for home in the western world.

This is, at any rate, the itinerary of many a self-made millionaire
who thinks to enjoy himself between strenuous intervals of
international business affairs. It is a pity he does not go slower
and see more.

The real grand tour, or, as the French call it, the "_Circuit
Europeen,_" may well begin at Paris, and descend through Poitou to
Biarritz, along the French slope of the Pyrenees, finally skirting
the Mediterranean coast by Marseilles and Monte Carlo, thence to
Genoa, in Italy, and north to Milan, finally reaching Vienna. This
city is generally considered the outpost of comfortable automobile
touring, and rightly so, for the difficulty of getting gasoline and
oil, along the route, and such small necessities as an automobile
requires, continually oppresses one, and dampens his enthusiasm for
the beauties of nature, the fascination of historic shrine