morning's tea in the evening, all delay is
avoided; and the infusion moreover is
stronger.
To any
of your readers, who may be
disposed to try this simple remedy, I
would observe, that he must regularly
and constantly use it, or expect to be
punished for his neglect, by a return of
the complaint. In corroboration of Mr.
Butler's testimony to that effect, I have
myself experienced the evil consequences
of remissness in the application: for,
having lately, during four or five weeks,
substituted the common tea every even-
ing, and sometimes also in the morning,
I began, toward the end of that period,
to feel the same disagreeable symptoms
which had formerly been the usual fore-
runners of my gravel-fits. Thus warned,
I seasonably took the hint, resumed the
regular use of my remedy, morning and
evening, and was soon relieved from
those troublesome and unpleasant sen-
sations.
Your's, &c.

J. CAREY.
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

F

SIR,

Na late excursion through Cornwall, I saw, near Trevose Head, a bird, which the people in that part of the country call, a sea-pie. It was less than a mag-pie, with plumage of the most beautiful kind; consisting of scarlet, white, green, and blue.

Now, Mr. Editor, I should be glad to learn from the gentleman who favoured you with the catalogue, p. 433, 527, vol. xxvi, if he has noticed this bird under any other name. Also, whether the red-legged, or Cornish daw, p. 434, is the bird usually called the Cornish chough. Your's, &c. D.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

S the season is now set in, to which

A the following correspondence is in

afternoon of the 14th of February last, two men and a boy were let into Hockley-pool, near Birmingham, by the breaking of the ice, where the depth is about seven feet, and near to the middle of the pool. A young man of the name of Thomas Patrick, immediately flew to their assistance; there was no reason to suppose that any implements to assist him could possibly be procured in time to afford effectual relief, and his presence of mind suggested the only practicable expedient, that of endeavouring to recover the sufferers by means of his coat. The edge of the ice was sunk below the suiface of the water, so that he had to venture on his hands and knees to feel for the edge, which having attained, he threw his coat as far as he could, keeping hold of it with one hand. By this means, at the imminent risque of his own life, one of the men and a boy were rescued; but the other man perished, being too far spent to grasp the coat when within his reach. During these efforts, two or three other persons came to his assistance; he intreated them to withdraw, perceiving the impossibility of the ice sustaining any additional weight; one of them however, persisting, was plunged over head in the water. Patrick and another were half

covered, and with much difficulty the three escaped.

The

The writer has to plead the impossibility of stating the exact comparative merits of the actors, in this scene of confusion and distress; he was himself on an elevated bank of the pool, at the dis tance of upwards of fifty yards, and mang persons were moving about between hin and the spot. He has, however, since conferred with three of the active persons, and finds, that, though they are not exactly agreed in their statement, yet they are unanimous in giving the praise to Patrick, as being the first and most successful amongst them. names of two of the others are, William Newell and Humphrys. Io addition to Patrick's merit, it remains to be stated, that he afterwards exerted himself with extraordinary activity, to recover the man who was sunk under the ice, by means of a boat belonging to the pool. Many obstacles presented themselves; and though they had to break the ice, a distance of perhaps nearly eighty yards, the body was in the boat in the space of about twenty-five minutes, from the time of its first immersion.

Tagus, covering with its gardens, parks, farms, and vineyards, the flat plain between the river and the rising grounds on the South. The palace is the work of different periods from that of Philip the Second to modern times, and is richly furnished within, as well as surrounded with delicious shady woods watered by the Tagus, there a bright and rapid stream, conveying fertility and freshness to the neighbouring grounds. The adjoining town has been laid out in regular open streets and squares, subsisting entirely by the presence of the court; the population at such times amounting to ten thousand people.

On the 24th I proceeded south-westerly down the left bank of the Tagus to Toledo, distant about six leagues, or twentythree miles. The vale is wide and open, bounded on both hands by high grounds, those on the left gradually increasing to a range of high hills. The country in the vale is generally in culture, producing abundantly various kinds of grain and fruits: its fertility being mantained by the innundations of the river in winter, and by artificial waterings in summer. The population is however disadvantageously drawn together in large villages, instead of being distributed in hamlets over the country. As we draw near to Toledo, the southern hills and the Tagus gradually approach each other, until a mile from the town the road is hemmed in between them. At last the city is discovered proudly situated on the summit of a large round rocky hill, presenting by its numerous churches and towers an object particularly striking in the exterior, but to which the interior bears a very distant resemblance.

The site of Toledo is singular, and in the ancient state of warfare was almost impregnable. It has been observed that the Tagus by slow degrees approaches the hills forming its southern boundary: but instead of being repelled into an opposite direction by these hills, it makes its way into their solid mass of granite, and describing a semicircular sweep cuts off a large block of rock, separated from the great mass by a deep, rugged, narrow, and impassable chasm, through which the river forces its course. On the summit of this detached rock stands the present town, now nearly circumscribed within its most ancient limits. This vast rock is connected on the northern side to a low isthmus, stretching all the way across the vale of the Tagus to the opposite hills. The sumit is very uneven, of an elliptic form, and where highest is about 400 feet above MONTHLY MAG. No, 182.

the bed of the river. The streets, from the nature of the site, and the genius of builders in former times, are narrow,crooked and irregularly built: but many houses constructed in the good days of Spain, in the times of Charles the Fifth, Philip the Second, &c are large and handsome stone structures, enclosing courts surrounded with arcades in the manner of the Exchange of London; and both external and internal fronts ornamented with Grecian architecture. Many other edifices however give evident marks of their having either been erected whilst the Moors were masters of the town, or by architects whose ideas had been formed on the models left by that extraordinary people.

The most elevated position within the town is occupied by the castle or Al-cazar, the Arabic term generally used over Spain for such places of strength. This castle, of great antiquity in its origin, was much augmented by Alonzo, or, as we call him, Alphonzo the Tenth, in the end of the thirteenth century: but the building now in existence was in the greater part constructed underCharles the Fifth. It consists chiefly of one noble quadrangle of great height supported within by two orders of arcades, the corinthian and the composite. This magnificent edifice suffered much from a fire about a hundred years ago, during what is called the war of the Succession, and it lay neglected until the late king Charles the Third granted it for the purpose of being converted into a house of industry, for the education and maintenance of the idle youths of both sexes, from the environs. It was accordingly duly fitted up within, the exterior appearance being still preserved; and the expence is chiefly defrayed from funds appropriated by the late Cardinal-Archbishop, in particular from the income of a spacious inn in the town, erected out of his revenue.

The Cathedral is a vast structure of the Gothic of the thirteenth century, with a lofty tower in the centre; the whole remarkable for the boldness as well as the delicacy of the workmanship. The inside has at various periods been fitted up with great magnificence; but not always in a style corresponding either to that of the edifice itself,or to the Grecian and Roman orders intended to have been imitated. It contains many capital paintings, and the treasures of the sacristy are immense: the library is copious, possessing many precious manuscripts. At the west end of the church stands the archiepiscopal palace a large and commodious structure;

adjoining

stones. Near St. John's hospital, beforementioned,are likewise shown the remains of a theatre, but too much defaced to enable the antiquary to ascertain its dimensions or parts.

On the banks of the Tagus under the castle are ruins of an aqueduct-bridge for conveying water across the river, at a great height, to supply the old town. The piers are placed on projecting points of the rocks; and in several places of the hill beyond the river are to be seen channels for conducting the water, with castella aqua or reservoirs constructed, like the aqueduct itself, of small stones and mortar. In the neighbourhood of this aqueduct are also observable remains of an ancient Roman road, formed of hewn

serving the cathedral and all the others for their own use. Many inscriptions in Arabic remaining from their times, particularly on a number of round pillars resembling Roman milliary columns, standing in various parts of the town, were examined, copied, and translated, some years ago, by the ambassador from Morocco, on his way to Madrid. The church of Santa Maria la blanca, formerly employed as a Synagogue, while the Jews were tolerated in Spain, likewise presents a number of inscriptions in Hebrew.

The bridge over the Tagus on the entrance from Aranjuez was either founded or considerably improved by the Moors, as appears from an inscription preserved in the gate at the end next the town, there placed when the bridge was repaired in 1258, when it and many others throughout Spain were carried away by very extraordinary floods in the rivers. This inscription states, that the bridge was constructed in 988: it is very lofty and narrow, consisting of a single arch about 130 feet in span, through which the whole water of the Tagus passes, with a small arch at each end. In the original construction or in posterior repairs, Roman materials have been employed; one bears an inscription to the memory of a Lady in these words Caecilia Murcella H. S. E.

On the South side of the town is another bridge of five arches; and near it are the ruins of a third, supposed to have been erected by the Goths.

Besides the protection afforded to Toledo from its situation, its walls, and its castle, it had likewise a fortress seated on the bill to the eastward, commanding the plain on that side. The origin of this work is unknown; but it was repaired in 1399, and now presents a small rectangular court inclosed by walls of moderate thickness, and defended by round towers at each angle, with a large one in the middle of the north side, which overhangs the

river.

now forming the harbour of Bilbao, called in ancient history Chalybs, and of the inhabitants of the environs called Chalybes, The manufacture of sword-blades was, until within these five and twenty years. carried on at Toledo by private artists: but about that period the king removed all who wished to continue in that branch of industry to a spacious new building erected on the north bank of the river a little below the town, there to be employ ed at the public expence; it was however the general opinion that the swords produced from this public establishment, were far inferior in quality to those formerly manufactured by the same persons in private.

A propos of swords-At a celebrated couvent of Hieronymites near Toledo was shown the very identical blade which was used in the decollation of St. Paul at Rome under Nero. This sword having been carefully preserved in that city until the beginning of the 16th century was then presented by the sovereign pontiff to Cardinal Albornos, who carried it to Spain and deposited it in the hands of the Hieronymites.

The convent is situated in one of the

most barren, bleak, and rugged spots that can easily be found, and offers nothing attractive to the vulgar traveller excepting this same sword, which had it been genuine and really a Roman sword, must have been truly a curiosity, nearly I may say unique; the only certain rival being, I believe that preserved in the king of Naples' museum at Portici. I must be understood in so speaking to allude to Roman swords of iron; for others of hardened copper and mixed metals are far from rare in many collections; at the same time it is to be observed that these last swords' are very uncommon in Italy where the Romans certainly lived and fought, but very common in the northern parts of Europe where the Romans never appeared The weapon however preserved at La Sisla, the convent before mentioned, must depend on evidences of its authenticity very different from those drawn from its form and substance: for it is sha

The Tagus or Tajo (pronounced Taho) formerly renowned for its golden sands, was subsequentlycelebrated for the temper its waters gave to the sword-blades made on its banks; so that a Toledo was synony-ped like a modern cutlas with one convex mous with a sword of the first quality. It does not however appear that any iron was ever discovered in this quarter of Spain; on the contrary, we are constantly told that the material was drawn solely from the mountains of Biscay, where especially in the environs of Mondragon it is still found in great abundance and of the best kinds. And from this ircumstance were derived the names of the little river

cutting edge ending in a sharp point, The blade and hilt seem to be of one piece, but the iron cross has been fixed on. The blade I imagine to be of hardened copper from the fine glossy rust with which it is covered: and on each side towards the back are vestiges of an inscription, in Roman capitals of a golden colour, alluding to the beheading of St Paul; the words on one side being Paulus . .

capite,