French, but find it hard to condemn many of their measures; while, on the contrary, the English are very generally beloved, and their measures execrated. The former government of Portugal, of which the present regency is the representative, was a very bad one. Its oppressions and its ignorance were alike notorious. Yet we have linked ourselves to this government, and not to the people. We make no appeals, as it were, directly from nation to nation. All that we say comes to the people through the medium of magistrates, not beloved nor respected, further than that they hold an arbitrary power in their

hands.

"I beheld at Lisbon a government, hated, yet implicitly obeyed; and this was to me a kind of clue to the national character, where the hereditary rights of tyrannizing in the great, and long habits of servitude in the multitude, compose the principal traits. But the people are awakened; they are appealed to; they are armed! and habits of freedom will, by degrees, arise among them.-Never. This nation, with all its old rites, its superstitions, and its prejudices of three centu ries, is in its decrepitude. To produce any good the whole race must be renewed. Their present enthusiasm, produced by the pressure and the concurrence of wonderful circumstances, proves to me nothing."

From Lisbon, the author set out to travel post to Seville, by the way of Badajoz and the Sierra Morena; and, notwithstanding the forebodings of his friends, who endeavoured to dissuade him from the undertaking, he accomplished the journey, and reached Seville in safety. He passed a week in this ancient city, and devotes a chapter to a description of the remarkable objects contained in it. He then prosecuted his journey to Cordova and Granada, not, as hitherto on horseback, but in a muleteer's train; which mode of travelling was slow, but afforded him an undisguised view of the manners of the Spaniards in humble life. We extract a few of the passages in which he seems to have been most successful in conveying an impression of their customs and disposi

tions.

"On the afternoon of the 16th of February, I repaired to the gate of Carmona,

where I found the muleteers and their cattle already collected. My portmanteau was placed on one side of the back of a mule, and balanced on the other with a large bundle of bacalao, or salt fish. I rode upon an ass without a bridle, with my pistols, my cloak, and my leathern wine-bottle, fastened to the pummel of my saddle. A woman, who was also going to Cordoba, sat in a kind of chair on the back of another ass; and about three o'clock, the principal carrier having given the signal, the whole procession, consisting of five or six men, and nearly forty mules and asses, moved on along the road of Carmona."

"At this season, nothing could surpass the beautiful appearance of the plain of Sevilla, covered with fields of rising corn and olive plantations. Here and there some of the later kinds of trees stood, yet bare of leaves, and presented striking contrasts to the universal green which surrounded them. As we proceeded, the fields became less cultivated, and the hedges were, in general, of aloes mixed with pines. It was dark before we reached Ervizo, a stage of four leagues from Sevilla, and a place of about five hundred houses. The mules were all unloaded, and their burthens piled up together at one end of a hall, paved with rough stones, which occupied the whole length of the house. At the other end was the fireplace, where the mistress of the house, expecting our arrival, was already busy in preparing our supper of salt fish, eggs, teers spread out the furniture and saddles and oil. After supper, each of the muleof his mules for a bed; whilst, for me, a few bundles of straw were laid side by side over the stones, on which, wrapped up in my cloak, I slept soundly till the morning.

"It was 8 o'clock on the 17th, before our caravan was completely in motion. The first part of our road was through a country of continued hills and dales, cultivated in patches of beautiful green, amid vast tracts of wild and barren land. As we approach Carmona, a stage of two long leagues, the soil is in general of a sandier This part of the country appeared to be nature, but more extensively cultivated. remarkably destitute of water; I did not observe a single brook all this morning. Near the road side was a peasant girl selling water; and a Spanish soldier being drinking at the same time, I went up to follow his example. Having drank a goblet full, I was proceeding to pay for it, but the girl informed me that the senior who hąd just walked on, had paid for me,

This is a custom very common among all ranks in Spain, towards those whom they perceive to be strangers. It is meant to give an exalted idea of the generosity and magnificence of the Spanish character; and the traveller will sometimes be surprised to find his dinner paid for at a publick table by some unknown, who has left the house, whom he most probably will never see again, and whose very name is concealed from him. In the present instance, however, I did not long remain indebted to my bare-legged benefactor; he being on foot, I speedily overtook him; and, although he positively refused to accept of money, he allowed me to discharge the obligation, by a long draught out of my leathern bottle, which came away very lank from his embrace."

a

"I was surrounded, at the village of Posadas, by people of all classes, who, under various pretences, asked me hundred questions, and examined minutely my cloak, my dress, and my English saddle. On my account a better supper was prepared than had met with since leaving Sevilla. Five or six rabbits were broiled upon the embers, then pulled to pieces, put into a large wooden bowl, and over all was poured hot water, mixed with oil, vinegar, garlick, pimento, and salt. As usual we all sat down together, a large leathern bottle, holding about three quarts, was filled with tolerable wine, and being intrusted to one of the company to act as our Ganymede, the repast began. For some time, hunger prevented all conversation, but our cupbearer performed his office with such dexterity, that before supper was finished, our bottle was emptied, and the Andalusian peasant began to show himself in all his vivacity. It was voted unanimously that the bottle should be replenished. They talked loud, they laughed, they sang, they cursed the French, and swore that even should all the rest of Spain be overrun, Andalusia was sufficient to protect itself from every invader. On a sudden a fierce quarrel arose, high words passed, knives were drawn, and I expected to see our supper end in bloodshed; when the hostess, after various vain attempts to allay the storm, began to repeat the evening service to the virgin. Immediately all was calm, the knives were sheathed, all hats were off, and at each pause the whole assembly murmured forth the response, and devoutly made the sign of the cross. As often as the quarrel seemed likely to be renewed, the good woman had recourse to the same expedient, and always with the same success, until the anger of the

parties being wearied out, rather than assuaged, we broke up in silence, if not in friendship. These Andalusians are certainly a strange, good natured, irascible, fickle, lively kind of a race. On the ensuing morning I expected to see some traces of a quarrel so violent and so recent; but far from it, the parties were now the best friends in the world, and, although it was Sunday, were very busily engaged at a game of cards."

"Our protracted stay at Posadas enabled me to witness one of those scenes which mark, as it were, the very outskirts of war, and affect us more than those of greater horrour. A poor woman of the place had been informed that her only son was killed in battle, and she, of course, had given herself up to` grief; but this very morning a peasant arrived with certain intelligence, not only that her son was living, but that he was actually approaching the village, and not above a league distant from it. The first shock of these good tidings overpowered the mother's feelings; she ran out into the street, uttering screams of joy, and telling every one she met that he was not dead, that he was living, that he was approaching, that he would soon be in his dear mother's house. After some time, she exclaimed: But why do I stop here? come away, come away, and meet him,' and so saying, attired as she was, she hurried into the road, and soon disappeared. But what can describe her return? Her son lived, but, alas! how changed since last she saw him! His arm had been carried away by a cannon ball, the bandages of his wound were died with blood, he was pale and emaciated, and so weak that he was with difficulty supported on his ass, in a kind of cradle, by the help of a peasant who walked by his side. On the other side walked his mother-now looking down on the ground-now up to heavenbut chiefly on her son, with anxious eyes, and a countenance in which joy and grief, exultation and despondency, reigned by

turns."

On arriving at Granada, Mr. Semple is so forcibly struck with the beauty of the prospect, as to cease to wonder, that the Moors on the Barbary coast should continue to pray for the reestablishment of their empire in this seat of magnificence

and luxuriance. The ruins of the Alhambra engaged, in course, his particular attention; and he admired

its beauties in detail: but when he viewed it as a whole, he experienced the same disappointment in this as in other Moorish monuments. Being so near the Sierra Nevada, Mr. Semple determined to ascend towards its summit as far as its condition at that season [the beginning of March] would permit his approach; but the enterprise was attended with considerable hazard, at least on the second day, when his progress is thus described:

"We rose by dawn of day. The morning was charming, but my companions were shivering with cold, although not exceeding that often experienced in England, on a fine morning in autumn. As soon as the shadow of the peak became visible on the snow to the westward we set out. The deep chasm or valley on our right led directly to the bottom of the peak, but other chasms from the heights on our left opening into this principal one, intersected our path at every interval of five or six hundred yards; and occasioned us infinite trouble in passing them. By degrees the sides and bottoms of these chasms became covered with snow, fragments of broken ice, and rocks smooth with the dew frozen on their surface, to which the sun had not yet reached. At length we arrived where all traces of vegetation were lost and buried beneath the snow, which extended in every direction to the summit of the peak. Here my guide, fatigued and alarmed, would proceed no further, but pointed out some broken rocks on the left, called the Heights of Saint Francisco, at the foot of which he promised to watch my progress and await my return. I ascended now alone, more cautiously and slowly, along the summit of a ridge which appeared to terminate at the bottom of the very highest part of the peak. Sometimes the surface of the snow was softened, and I sunk up to the midleg, not without occasional apprehensions, until I found myself uniformly stopped by a frozen bank beneath. At other times my progress was along so slippery a surface, that I proceeded with the ut most difficulty, being frequently obliged to break small holes with my stick, and crawl upon my hands and knees. In this manner, however, I surmounted all the neigbourg peaks and ridges of moun tains, an elevation of which I was made

fully sensible by the sudden change of the atmosphere. Bathed as I was in perspiration, an extremely cold wind all at chill over my whole frame, the effects of once blew upon me, and caused an instant which I felt long afterwards. But the sight of the highest peak, to which I was now so near, inspired me with fresh courage, and after great exertions I arrived to within two hundred yards at farthest of perpendicular height from the summit. Here all farther progress became impossible. I had now got to the end of the ridge on which I had proceeded so long, and nearly to its junction with the highest part of the peak, which rose before me exceedingly steep, and entirely covered with frozen snow. I endeavoured to make holes with my stick, and to ascend in a slanting direction; but having proceeded twenty or thirty paces, and stopping to take breath, on casting my eyes downwards, I was not a little alarmed to find, that from the moment of leaving the summit of the ridge, I had incurred the danger of slipping down into a tremendous valley on one side of it. I almost turned giddy with the sight. The pieces of frozen snow which I had broken off slid down with astonishing rapidity, and clearly showed me what my fate must be should I make a single false step. Having stopped a few minutes to recover myself, and become familiarized with the sight of the deep valley of ice, I retraced my footsteps, and never felt more thankful than when I regained the summit of the ridge. I was not before aware, that in so short a distance I could have incurred so great a danger. From this point I was fain to content myself with the views of the surrounding mountains, which appeared every where tossed in great confusion, although all apparently connected with, or branching from the high mountain on which I stood. It did not appear possible even if provided with proper instruments, to group them under any form, so strangely did they intersect each other. Towards the east, the view was intercepted by the peak and its slope in that direction, but on every other side it was a stormy sea of mountains. I was able clearly to distinguish the mountains which separate the province of Granada from that of Andalusia, those towards the northern parts of Murcia, the Sierra of Malaga, and the mountains towards Gibraltar. Ön some of these ridges immense white clouds rested as if immovable; on others dark storms appeared to be brooding, whilst some

On leaving Granada, Mr. Semple resolved to change again his mode of travelling. He had sustained a robbery when in the company of the muleteers, and he now took care to set out together with a party who were able to protect themselves. They proceeded to Malaga, and in their route discovered the vestiges of the Moors in several of the publick buildings, but more frequently in the features of the inhabitants. The continued practice of irrigation afforded also a pleasing example of the preservation of Moorish improvements. From Malaga, Mr.Semple travelled to Gibraltar, whence he determined to cross over to the Barbary shore, and attempt a journey to Fez. In this expedition he was accompanied by three of his countrymen, sir William Ingilby, Dr. Darwin (the son of Dr. Erasmus Darwin) and Mr. Theodore Galton. Since nothing can be done among the Moors without presents, the travellers took with them patterns of cloth of various colours, each sufficient for a Moorish garment; to which they added a tent, a table, and a stock of utensils for cookery; and, as they were wholly unacquainted with the language, they provided themselves with an interpreter. They crossed over to Ceuta, and proceeded without interruption as far as Tetuan; but, on applying for passports to Fez, they found it impossible to remove the suspicions which were conceived by the Moors, in regard to the object of their journey to the interiour. In vain they urged the pleasure which they would enjoy from the sight of a country and of manners so different from their own, since the governour and his counsellors insisted that men could never be so foolish as to take so much trouble for the gratification of mere curiosity. The Moors, however, pro

mised to write to Fez for passports; but a tedious delay of three weeks intervened, and the permission, when received, extended no farther than Tangiers, Sallee, and a few other towns along the coast.

Wearied with the evasions of the Moors, the travellers determined to confine their journey within narrow limits. They were highly gratified with the fertile and romantick country around Tetuan; and they were surprised to meet with numbers of camels, an animal which they did not expect to see so near the confines of Europe. In riding across the country from Tetuan to Tangiers, they had an opportunity of observing the simple manners of the Moors in their huts and tents; in which the women were employed in spinning a coarse kind of thread, or in grinding corn between two flat stones, while the children were making butter by swinging backwards and forwards a skinful of milk suspended from the top of the tent. From Tangiers, the party crossed over to Tarifa in Spain. Short as this African journey was, Mr. Semple recommends a similar excursion to every person who travels in Spain. A visit to Tetuan and Tangiers may be performed in four or five days, and even this transient glance will suffice to bring under the traveller's observation many points of resem blance in the customs of the Spaniards and the Moors. The armour, the dress, and the riding accoutrements of both are the same; their houses are formed on the same model; and the Spanish cookery is evidently of Moorish origin. In both countries, the implements of agriculture are the same, and the progress of the art equally slow.

On returning to Gibraltar, Mr. Semple found the town thronged with Spaniards, and French refugees. The cannon, mortars, and bullets of the Spanish lines had been removed into the fortress, and placed

at the disposal of the governour. From the old rock, our traveller returned to England by way of Cadiz; and he concludes his work with observations on the political state of Spain, written with considerable animation and energy. He is of opinion that, with so large a disposable force as we possessed, much more might have been done to aid the Spaniards in their struggle. We regret that our limits do not permit us to make

a quotation from this part of the book. The plates representing the dress of the Spaniards in various ranks of life, appear to be faithful and lively delineations. And on the whole, this little volume, though transgressing in the points to which we have already adverted, will be found equal in interest to the labours of several travellers of the present day, who came before the publick with loftier pretensions.

AVAUNT, ye crying philosophers, your sobbing and blubbering will not do now. "Take it for all in all," it is a poor sort of a pastime; and a good, hearty laugh, which helps to shake the dust and cobwebs of melancholy off the heart, is worth a belly-full of it. If we did not at first altogether relish the idea of having one of the esteemed tragedies of our divine bard metamorphosed by low burlesque, we could not help shaking our old sides when we found the thing so well done. Now, gentle reader, think not that our senses are gone to the valley of the moon on our making this confession. Had Shakspeare himself, who was a merry grig of the first water, been alive, he would have delighted in this very comick travestie of his Hamlet, and have relished the humorous blackguardism by which affecting scenes are converted into broad farce. The modern slang is played off to good effect, both in the dialogue and in the songs, which are substituted for the soliloquies; and throughout the burlesque is well preserved. We feel ourselves obliged to the author for relieving the ordinary dullness of our occupation, by so sprightly a sally: we have relished his fun; and we recommend

a perusal of it as no bad expedient for dissipating the effects of November and December fogs; for he who laughs heartily will never be disposed to tuck himself up to his bed post, or to throw himself into the river. That our readers may have a taste of this oddly cooked and fantastically garnished Hamlet, we present them with the substitute for the sublime soliloquy in the first act, beginning, "O that this too, too solid flesh," &c. which is thus untragedized: