Guadaramas is of a much superior and more salubrious quality, being not so subject to the dangerous extremes of heat and cold, and much oftener refreshed with showers, the great desideratum, for which the monks of Madrid so frequently importune their poor helpless saint Isidore, and make him feel their vengeance, whilst for months together the unrelenting clouds will not credit him with a single drop of rain. "Upon our road this day we purchased three lambs, at the price of two pisettes (shillings) apiece, and, little as it was, we hardly could be said to have had value for our money. Our worthy Marchetti, being an excellent engineer, roasted them whole with surprising expedition and address in a kitchen and at a fire, which would have puzzled all the resources of a French cook and which no English scullion would have approached in her very worst apparel.-A crew of Catalonian carriers, at Torrequemara, disputed our exclusive title to the fire, and with their arroz a la Valenciana would soon have ruined our roast, if our gallant provider had not put aside his capa, and displayed his two epaulets, to which military in signia the sturdy interlopers instantly deferred. "There is excellent morality to be learnt in a journey of this sort. A supper at Villa Rodrigo is a bet. ter corrective for fastidiousness and false delicacy, than all that Seneca or Epictetus can administer, and if a traveller in Spain will carry jus tice and fortitude about him, the Calasseros will teach him patience, and the Posadas will enure him to temperance; having these four car. dinal virtues in possession, he has the whole: all Tully's offices cannot find a fifth. "On the seventh day of our tra vel we kept the pleasant D›uro still in sight. Surely this river plays hi natural sovereign a slippery trick; rises in Gallicia, is nourished and maintained in his course through Spain, and as soon as he is become mature in depth and size for trade and navigation, deserts, and throws himself into the service of Portugal This is the case with the Tagus also: this river affords the Catholic King a little angling for small fry at Aran juez, and at Lisbon becomes a mag. nificent harbour to give wealth and spiendour to a kingdom. Th Oporto wines, that grow upon banks of the Douro in its renegado course, find a ready and most profitable vent in England, whilst the vineyards of Castile languish from want of a purchaser, and in some years are absolutely cast away, s not paying for the labour of mak. ing them into wine. "The city and castle of Burges are well situated on the banks of the river Relancon. Two fine stone bridges are thrown over that stream, and several plantations of young trees line the road as you approach it. The country is well watered, and the heights furnish excellent pasture for sheep, being of a light downy soil. The cathedral church of Burgos deserves the notice and admiration of every traveller, and it was with sincere regret I found myself at leisure to devote no more than one hour to an edifice, that re quires a day to examine it within side and without. It is of that or der of Gothic, which is most prefusely ornamented and enriched; the towers are crowned with spires of pierced stone-work, raised upon 3 arches 1 1 hes, and laced all through with in his zeal for making converts, en-work like filigree: the win. ws and doors are embellished th innumerable figures, admira. y carved in stone, and in perfect eservation; the dome over the ve is superb, and behind the grand tar there is a spacious and beauti1 chapel, erected by a duke of rejas, who lies entombed with his chess within a stately monument, cumbent with their heads resting pon cushions, in their robes and oronets, well sculptured in most xquisite marble of the purest white. The bas-relieves at the back of the rand altar representing passages in he life and actions of our saviour, re wonderful samples of sculpture, nd the carrying of the cross in paricular is expressed with all the deliacy of Raphael's famous Pasma de Sicilia. The stalls of the choir in brown oak are finely executed and exhibit an innumerable groupe of igures whilst the seats are ludicrously inlaid with grotesque representations of fauns and satyrs unaccountably contrasted with the sacred history of the carved work, that encloses them. The altars, chapels, sacristy and cloisters are equally to be admired, nor are there wanting some fine paintings, though not profusely bestowed. The priests conducted me through every part of the cathedral with the kindest at. tention and politeness, though mass was then in high celebration. "When I was on my departure, and my carriages were in waiting, a parcel of British seamen, who had been prisoners of war, most importunately besought me, that I would ask their liberation of the bishop of Burgos, and allow them to make their way out of the country under my protection. This good bishop, had taken these fellows upon their "We pursued our eighth day's journey over a deep rich soil, with mountains in sight covered with snow, which had fallen two days before. There was now a scene of more wood, and the face of the country much resembled parts of England. England. We advanced but seven leagues, the river Relancon accompanying us for the last three, where our road was cut out of the side of a steep clit, very narrow, and so ill defended, that in many places the precipice, considering the mode, in which the Spanish Calasseros drive, was sericily alarming. The wild woman of San Anders, who nursed my infant, during this day's journey was at high words with the witches, who twice pulled off her redecilla, and otherwise annoyed her in a very provoking manner till we arriv. ed at Breviesca, a tolerable good Spanish town, where they allowed her to repose, and we heard no more of them. "From Breviesca we travelled through a fine picturs que country of a rich soil to Pancorvo at the foot of a steep range of rocky mountains, and passing through a most romantic fissure in the rock, a work of great art and labour, we reached river Ebro, which forms the boundary of Old Castile. Upon this river stands the town of Miranda, which is approached over a bridge of seven stone arches, and we lodged ourselves for the night in the posada at the foot of it; a house of the worst reception we had met in Spain, which is giving it as ill a name as i can well bestow upon any house whatever. "A short stage brought us from Breviesca to the town of Vittoria, the capital of Alaba, which is one portion of the delightful province of Biscay. We are now for the first time lodged with some degree of comfort. We shewed our passport at the custom-house, and the administrator of the post-office having desired to have immediate notice of our arrival, I requested my friend Marchetti to go to him, and in the mean time poor Smith passed a very anxious interval of suspence, fearing that he might be stopped by order of government is this place, (a suspicion I confess not out of the range of probabi lities) but it proved to be only punctilio of the sub-minister Canpo, who had written to this gentle. man to be particular in his atten tions to us, inclosing his card, ast in person present to take leave; this mark of politeness on his part produced a present from the adm. nistrator of some fine asparagus, and excellent sweetmeats, the produce of the country, with the further favour of a visit from the donor, a gentleman of great good mannes and much respectability. The marquis Legarda, gore. nor of Vittoria, to whom I had a letter from count D'Yranda, the marquis D'Allamada, and other gentlemen of the place, did us the honour to visit us, and were er tremely polite. We were invite by the Dominicans to their convent. and saw some very exquisite paint. ings of Ribeira and Murillo. At noon we took our departure for Mondragone, passing through a country of undescribable beauty The scale is vast, the heights are lofty without being tremendous, the cultivation is of various sorts. and to be traced in every spot, where the hand of industry can reach a profusion of fruit trees in blossom coloured the landscape with such vivid and luxuriant tiots, that we had new charms to admire upon every shift and winding of the road. The people are laborions, and the fields being full of men and women at their work (for here both sexes make common task) nothing could could be more animated than the scenery; 'twas not in human nature to present a stronger contrast to the gloomy character and squalid indolence of the Castilians. And what is it, which constitutes this marked distinction between such near neighbours, subjects of the same king, and separated from each other only by a narrow stream? It is because the regal power, which in Castile is arbitrary, is limited by local laws in Catalonia, and gives passage for one ray of liberty to visit that happier and more enlightened country. sustenance and medicine, and to her alone in the disorder of my senses I was uniformly obedient. "It was at this period of time that the aggravating news arrived of my bills being stopped, and my person subjected to arrest. I was not sensible to the extent of my danger, for death hung over me, and threatened to supersede all arrests but of a lifeless corpse: the kind heart however of Marchetti had compassion for my disconsolate condition, and he found means to supply me with five hundred pounds, as I have already related. It pleased God to preserve my life, and this seasonable act of friendship preserv "From Mondragone we went to Villa Franca, where we dined, and finished our twelfth day's journey at Tolosa; the country stilled my liberty. The early fruits of presented a succession of the most enchanting scenery, but I was now become insensible to its beauties, being so extremely ill, that it was not without much difficulty, so excruciating were my pains, that I reached Tolosa Here I staid three days, and when I found my fever would not yield to James's powder, I resolved to attempt getting to Bayonne, where I might hope to find medical assistance, and better accommodation. "On the seventeenth day, after suffering tortures from the rough. ness of the roads, I reached Bayonne, and immediately put myself under the care of doctor Vidal, a Huguenot physician. Here I passed three miscrable weeks, and though in a state of almost continual delirium throughout the whole of this time, I can yet recollect that under providence it is only owing to the unwearied care and tender attentions of my ever-watchful wife, (assisted by her faithful servant Mary Samson) that I was kept alive; from her hands 1 consented to receive the season, and the balmy tempe. rature of the air in that delicious climate, aided the exertions of my physician, and I was at length enabled to resume my journey, taking a day's rest in the magnificent town of Bourdeaux, from whence through Tours, Blois and Orleans I proceed-' ed to Paris, which however I entered in a state as yet but doubtfully convalescent, emaciated to a skele ton, the bones of my back and elbows still bare and staring through my skin.' I had both Florida Blanca's and count Montmorin's passports, but my applications for posthorses were in vain, and here I should in all probability have ended my career, as I felt myself relapsing apace, had I not at length obtained the long-withheld permission to pass on wards. They had pounded the king of Spain's horses also for the space of a whole month, but these were liberated when I got my freedom, and I embarked them at Ostend, from whence I took my passage to Margate, and arrived at my my house in Portland-Place, destined to experience treatment, which Phad not merited, and encounter Josses, I have never overcome. "I will here simply relate an incident without attempting to draw any conjectures from it, which is that whilst I laid ill at Bayonne, insensible, and as it was supposed at the point of death, the very monk, who had been so troublesome to me at Elvas, found his way into my chamber, and upon the alarm given by my wife, who perfectly recognized his person, was only driven out of it by force. Again when I was in Paris, and about to sit down to dinner, a sallad was brought to me by the lacquey, who waited on me which was given to him for me by a red-haired Dominican, whose person according to his description exactly tallied with that of the aforesaid monk; I dispatched my servant Camis in pursuit of him, but he had escaped, and my suspicion of the sallad being poisoned was confirmed by experiment on a dog. "I shall only add that somewhere in Castile, I forget the place, but it was between Valladolid and Burgos, as I was sitting on a bench at the door of a house, where my Calasseros were giving water to the mules, I tendered my snuff box to a grave elderly man, who seemed of the better sort of Castilians, and who appered to have thrown himself in my way, sitting down beside me as one who invited conversation. The stranger looking steadily in my face, and after a pause put his fingers in my box, and, taking a very small portion of my snuff between them, said to me I am not afraid, sir, of trusting myself to you, whom I know to be an Englishman, and a person, in whose honour I may per fectly repose. But there is death concealed in many a man's souf box, and I would seriously advise you on no account to take a single pinch from the box of any stranger, who may offer it to you; and i you have done that already. I sincerely hope no such consequence as I allude to will result from your want of caution." I continued in conversation with this stranger for some time; I told him I had never before been apprised of the prac tices he had spoken of, and, being perfectly without suspicion, I might or might not have exposed myself to the danger, he was now so kind as to apprize me of, but I observed to him that however prudent it might be to guard myself against such evil practices in other countries, I should not expect to meet them in Castile, where the Spanish point of honour most decidedly prevailed. "Ah, senor," he replied, "they may not all be Spaniards, whom yea have chanced upon, or shall hereafter chance upon, in Castile.” When I asked him how this snuf operated on those who took it, bis answer was, as I expected-" on the brain." I was not curlons to enquire who this stranger was, as I paid little attention to his informa tion at the time, though I confess it occured to me, when after a few days I was seized with such agonies in my head, as deprived me of my senses; I merely give this anecdote, as it occurred; I draw no inferences from it. "I have now done with Spain, and if the detail, which I have truly given of my proceedings, whilst I was there in trust, may serve to justify me in the opinion of those, who read these memoirs, I will not tire their patience with a dull recital of |