farmer, cultivates fields of his own, and by his advice and example improves the agriculture of the Spanish farmers,

that the whole neighborhood has acquired additional beauty and fertility under his influence.

At Gibraltar, I met with an old friend and intimate in Mr. McCall,* the American vice-consul, and with a new friend, but one of the most obliging, hospitable, warm-hearted men I ever knew, in our countryman Mr. Sprague.

At Cadiz, I remained but a part of two days. It is a beautiful city-one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, but one is continually reminded that all the outward gayety and splendor of its snow-white and spacious mansions cover internal poverty, ruin, and wretchedness. I heard nothing while there but repinings at past prosperity and present distress. Mr. Burton, our consul, to whom you gave me a letter, was unremitting in his kind attentions; you had likewise given Mr. Gessler a letter to him, and you could not have done him a greater service. Mr. Burton has in consequence given him the right hand of good fellowship, and will in fact be a right hand to him; for he is experienced in the official duties of a consulate, and in the mode of dealing with captains and sailors; all which would be wonderfully perplexing in the commencement to honest Gessler, who is more accustomed to courts and camps than to seaports. At Cadiz I left my fellow travellers for a few days, they intending to remain there for a short time, and I being impatient to get to Seville. I embarked at Cadiz on a steamboat at seven o'clock in the morning, and at

*Dick McCall, as he was familiarly called among his gay companions, when he formed one of the Lads of Kilkenny, and was dubbed a knight at the Old Hall near Newark. See vol. i., chap. xi.

about five o'clock the same day landed at Seville, after a very pleasant voyage.

I have thus given you a brief outline of one of the most interesting tours I ever made. You expressed an intention. once of visiting the south of Spain, before you left the country. I would advise you to do so by all means, and I am sure you will be delighted both with the country and the people.

Take the Andalusians with proper allowance, and they are an admirable race, and I know you are not one who regards any people with national or popular prejudice. From all that I have seen, too, the dangers of travelling are much exaggerated. You can always ascertain what parts of your route are really dangerous, and in such, from your official character, you can procure gendarmes as escort, who are the most dreaded by the robbers. A couple would be sufficient, and they would be serviceable in a variety of ways on the journey. In all our route from Granada by Adra and along the Mediter ranean coast to Malaga, we had only one escopeta, a common guide of the country, all that coast being considered safe.

In the mountains of Ronda, we had a gendarme on horseback, and another on foot. It is probable that by next year such arrangements will be made as will render the most desirable points of Andalusia perfectly accessible to female travellers, in which case the ladies could accompany you. A dili gence is to be established in connection with the line between Madrid and Cordova. It is to run from Andujar to Granada. A diligence has recently been established between Granada and Malaga, and was to arrive for the first time at Malaga the very day I left that city. From Malaga, the road to Gibraltar along the seacoast is easy, and requires but two days; ladies can travel it comfortably on mules or horses with saddles like arm

chairs. From Gibraltar the road to Cadiz is likewise very practicable for ladies, and is one of the safest in Spain. We took no escort on that road; part of it lies through mountains beautifully wooded. It affords a pleasant specimen of moun tain travelling, without the hardships of the other sierras, for you can always put up at good inns. From Cadiz, the steamboat takes you to Seville, and here you meet the diligence to take you back to Madrid. It would be a tour with which Mrs. Everett would be particularly interested, and Miss Louisa might find materials to fill her letters to her friends with wonderful details. I have been fortunate enough to meet with Wilkie here, and promise myself much gratification in visiting the masterpieces of Murillo in company with him.

There appears to be much to be seen in this city, and the whole character of the place is peculiar, retaining a strong infusion of the old Moresco. I am apprehensive it will be close and sultry in summer, though I am assured that the mode of living in the lower stories, with patios covered with awnings, and deep in the interior of the houses, guarantees one against the heat of the sun. The houses have certainly a cool and delicious appearance, the inner courts, shady, decorated with fountains, and set out with citrons, oranges, and flowers. If I find them as comfortable in hot weather as they are described, I shall probably remain some time here.

To Peter he writes the same day, which was the day after his arrival at Seville, which he considered the end of his tour:

Wilkie is here, and will remain here a few days longer, when he returns to Madrid, and thence proceeds to Paris. He has sketched out on canvas his defence of Saragossa, in

which he has introduced an excellent likeness of Palafox. The Prince Dolgorouki writes to me in the highest terms of this picture. My stay in Seville is uncertain. I have not seen the libraries. I shall probably remain here some weeks till I can get the work we talked of in order for the press.

The work here alluded to was the Conquest of Granada, which he had brought with him in an unfinished state from Madrid. "If I continue in motion," he adds, "I shall lose the fall season. I think a little close application and hard work will soon get all in train." He also anticipated the necessity of considerable emendations in the second edition of Columbus, from some English publications which Murray had sent him, and some curtailments to reduce the volume of the work.

Instead of the few weeks which he speaks of as the probable limit of his stay in Seville, we shall find his sojourn in that beautiful city and its vicinity prolonged to more than a year.

CHAPTER XVIII.

EXTRACTS FROM DIARY-WILKIE AND THE PAINTING OF ST. THOMAS-LETTER TO ALEXANDER H. EVERETT-QUARTERS AT MRS. STALKER'S-LETTER TO ALEXANDER H. EVERETT, AFTER RECEIVING HIS OPINION OF COLUMBUS-LETTER TO PRINCE dolgoroUKI-CHARACTER OF THE ANDALUSIANS-THE CHURCHES RICH IN PAINTINGS-LETTER TO MADEMOISELLE BOLVILLER-THE ACCUMULATING DEBT OF CORRESPONDENCE-BULL FIGHTS, HIS NOTION OF-Seville A RESIDENCE FOR A COURT-SAN JUAN DE ALFARACHE-RELICS OF MOORISH LABOR AND MOORISH TASTE.

I

INTRODUCE a few extracts from his diary:

Friday, April 18th.-Went with Wilkie and Mr.

and a young gentleman of Lima to see the church of La Caridad-noble painting of Moses striking the rock-opposite, the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

Went into chapel of St. Thomas-saw St. Thomas, by -, fine painting-much admired by Wilkie. [The artist for whose name Mr. Irving, when making his record, was evidently at a loss, was Zurbaran, who preceded Murillo; the painting, St. Thomas Aquinas. I have heard him speak of the impression it produced on Wilkie, who stood gazing at it for a long while in deep admiration, and then gave vent to his surprise at the early perfection of Spanish art: "And this they had before Murillo."]

Tuesday, April 22d.-Sat to Wilkie this morning for a