my little Marie I kiss her hand and hold myself her loyal and devoted knight. If she wishes at any time the head of a giant or the tail of a fiery dragon, she has but to call upon me. My arm and my court sword are always at her command.

With the greatest regard, your friend,

WASHINGTON IRVING.

CHAPTER XIX.

REMOVES TO A COTTAGE IN THE VICINITY OF SEVILLE-LETTER TO ALEXANDER H. EVERETT-LETTER TO MADEMOISELLE BOLVILLER-THE QUIET AND COMFORT OF HIS NEW QUARTERS-THE CATHEDRAL OF SEVILLE-LETTER TO PRINCE DOLGOROUKI-IMPRESSIONS OF SPANISH BEAUTY-ADVICE-WILKIELETTER TO ALEXANDER H. EVERETT RESPECTING COLUMBUS-LETTER TO PETER IRVING CONQUEST OF GRANADA-ARRANGEMENT WITH CAREY-JOURNEY TO PALOS-LETTER TO ALEXANDER H. EVERETT, IN REPLY TO ONE ANNOUNCING THE KING'S PERMISSION TO HIM TO INSPECT THE ARCHIVES OF THE INDIAS, AND GIVING HIM AN EXTRACT FROM HIS CRITIQUE ON COLUMBUS.

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N the first of July, Mr. Irving removed with John Nalder Hall, the young Englishman in delicate health, who had been his fellow lodger at Mrs. Stalker's, to a cottage in the vicinity of Seville, where he passed six weeks, occupied upon the Conquest of Granada and a second edition of Columbus. This cottage was enclosed by a high wall, and at sunset the keeper shut the gates and locked them in for the night. Occasionally the gates were closed also upon some suspicious looking horsemen, who would come and go mysteriously, and to whom the keeper would appear to be giving harbor for the night.

The record in his diary of the second day's sojourn,

would seem to mark their lonely abode for an ominous

vicinity.

Wednesday, July 2d.-At Casa de Cera-write at Granada -evening go out with Hall who rides while I walk-make a tour by the river Guadayra-old Moorish mill-bridge near by, with cross on it of murdered traveller.

It was from this cottage, in which they hoped to get through the hot season better than they should at Seville, that the following letters were addressed.

In the second, which has more or less bearing upon his personal and literary life, will be found a description of these new quarters, for which he had exchanged his English boarding house in Seville, and an allusion to the companion who shared them with him.

MY DEAR SIR:

[To Mr. Alexander H. Everett.]

SEVILLE, July 11, 1828.

* * * I am so much out of the world here that I hear nothing. A newspaper three or four weeks old is full of intelligence to me, and quite fresh in its contents.

* *

I

I have corrected my work on Columbus for a second edition, as far as I have the means of doing so. Mr. Rich writes me word that Mr. Navarrete says his third volume will contain some curious matter for my second edition. am told his work will not appear until September, and I presume we may allow a still more remote date in consequence of the customary delays in this country. I cannot defer the pub

fication of the second edition for such an indefinite period. I believe the most material facts Mr. Navarrete alludes to are drawn from the papers of the pleito, between the heirs of Christopher Columbus and the Spanish crown. Should you

have occasion to see Mr. Salmon in the course of your official transactions, I should take it as a kindness if you would pro. cure me an order to inspect the papers and documents "in the pleito between the Admiral Don Diego Colon and the fiscal of crown, and other papers that may relate to the history of Christopher Columbus." The part of the request underlined you may omit should it cause any difficulty.

the

any

I believe an order will readily be granted for any specific documents. The difficulty only is with respect to general requests to search the archives. I find great kindness and attention here among the people of the cathedral and its librarians. In the course of my rummaging, I have come by chance upon a work on Cosmography, &c., by the Cardinal Pedro Aliaco, which is cited by Las Casas as having been several times in his hands, and full of marginal notes by Columbus and his brother, the Adelantado. I found the precise work, with all the marginal notes, mostly in Latin, remarkably neatly written. It is curious in the extreme, as containing relations, &c., of Columbus, of various things bearing upon his theory, and written prior to the discovery. None of the people of the library knew of its being the handwriting of Columbus; or, indeed, seemed to attach any particular value to the book until I made them sensible of it. What a prize this would have been for friend Rich.

[To Mademoiselle Bolviller, Madrid.]

SEVILLE, July 20, 1829.

I ought to make you many excuses, my dear Mademoiselle Antoinette, for suffering so long a time to elapse without

No

writing, but the weather set in exceedingly hot, and for a time seemed to incapacitate me for every mental exertion, and I afterwards became unsettled in all my customary habits by a change of residence, having taken up my quarters in a cottage about half a league from Seville. I shall now endeavor to get myself "en train." From what I have written to you about scenes in Andalusia I find you have taken an idea that this is a most lovely and most wonderful country; but you must recoilect I only speak of particular places. The general appearance of Andalusian plains, for a great part of the year, is cheerless and sunburnt, from the heat of the climate and the want of trees, that prevalent defect in Spanish scenery. The cottage in which I am residing looks out over an immense plain, called the “Tablada," which is now completely parched, and the air from it as warm as the vapor of a furnace. trees are to be seen, except at a great distance a few plantations of olives-those wretched groves, which to my eye make a landscape still more arid. The great comfort of the cottage is a little garden behind it full of orange and citron trees, with a porch overhung with grape vines and jessamines. I have taken up my quarters here with a young English gentleman, who is in a critical state of health from having broken a blood vessel. The place suits me from its uninterrupted quiet. The mornings and evenings are cool from the prevalence of the sea breezes, and the nights are delicious. I pass my time here, therefore, completely undisturbed, having no visits either to pay or to receive; with a horse to ride about the plain for exercise, or to take me to Seville when I wish to visit the library. It is a long time since I have been so tranquil, so completely insulated, so freed from the noises and distractions of the town, and I cannot tell you how much I relish it. There is a quiet