while the Patagonian tribes that inhabit the land on the opposite side of the Magellan Straits, are said to be of gigantic proportions. The deep ignorance that has hitherto existed respecting this dreaded and degraded people, has, however, been at length in some measure dissipated. A little work has lately appeared, the production of an American sailor, who in the year 1849 spent a period of between three and four months in captivity among them, and who has subsequently given to the world a narrative of his extraordinary experiences and sufferings. The volume bears the somewhat high-sounding title of, "The Giants of Patagonia: or, Captain Bourne's Account of his Captivity amongst the extraordinary Savages of Patagonia;" and, as much of the information which it contains will be of interest, not only to the friends of missionary enterprise, but likewise to all those of our readers who believe, with Pope, that draws near the stormy shores of Terra del Fuego, or the Land of Fire, will peer through his glass and seek to descry the spots shadowed and sad dened by this mournful incident. The debased natives themselves hereafter, when evangelization shall have wrought its transforming work, and they shall have been brought to appreciate the full import of this sacrifice of life made on behalf of them and their fathers, will enroll the names of these worthies in the chronicles of their benefactors, and give them the foremost place in the martyrology of the future Patagonian church. The names of Gardiner, Maidment, and Williams will, we may hope, ere long be held in the same grateful remembrance and reverence by the restored tribes of the southern extremity of the American continent, as among us are the names of those primitive servants of Christ, by whom it is traditionally believed that the gospel was first introduced into our island. Among the many painful circumstances which mark this distressing event, there is still one fact upon which it is pleasant to reflect. In the terrible death to which these devoted men fell a prey, the we propose to embody in this paper some of the natives had no hand. Savage and barbarous as more striking disclosures of the work. they are reputed to be, and frequently, it is to be The occasion of Captain Bourne's visit to these feared, as they have been guilty of deeds of the inhospitable shores was as follows. During the darkest atrocity, yet they are at least innocent of prevalence of the "gold fever," which had become shedding the blood of their intended benefactors. quite epidemic in the United States in 1848-9, it Nor, so far as we have been able to gather from is well known that hosts of adventurous spirits the journal of the sufferers, were the latter se- left that country in quest of the auriferous treariously molested by them during their lingering sures of California. Among these gold-hunters decline by famine. The only notices which we were a company of twenty-five men, who, charterhave of the aborigines are to the effect that, during a ship at New Bedford, started with the ining the perilous attempts of the mission band to discover a suitable haven and landing-place in Banner-roads, a number of them congregated around the strangers on several occasions, both by land and water, and by certain warlike demonstrations led them to believe that an attack was meditated. In every instance, however, the little missionary band contrived to escape unharmed from the Patagonians. The dearth of all specific and detailed information regarding these outcasts of the human family has been so great, that when the intelligence of the failure of the Patagonian mission burst upon our country, it took most persons by surprise, and sent the more inquisitive to their discarded geographical manuals, to refresh their memories as to the locality of this terra incognita, and also in quest of particulars illustrative of the nature of the country and the character of its inhabitants. We need scarcely remark, that such researches were seldom likely to be very successful; for there are few spots on the face of the earth, of an equal extent, of which less is accurately known. It will be in the memory of some persons living, perhaps, that in 1830, the benevolent Captain Fitzroy brought to England some children of the Fuegians, intending to educate them and instruct them in religion at his own expense. Two of these died of the small-pox; but three returned to their native land after the lapse of four years, exhibiting considerable improvement, though there is reason to fear, from their subsequent isolation from all civilizing and religious influences, that they speedily relapsed into the barbarism of their tribe. The Fuegians, to whom Captain Gardiner's mission was mainly directed, are of very diminutive stature, The proper study of mankind is man," tention of passing the Straits of Magellan, and sailing round the southern continent on their way to this new land of promise. Captain Bourne, the hero of these adventures, held the situation of mate in this vessel. Nothing worthy of particular record occurred until their arrival at the Straits, which they reached on the 30th of April. Here they fell in with two other vessels, bound for the same destination. Being becalmed within a few miles of the first narrows, advantage was taken of the opportunity thus afforded, to land and undertake a gunning excursion on the shores. The first party that ventured forth returned laden with sea-fowl. Their success emboldening others to follow their example, Captain Bourne and three men, taking with them guns, a bag of bread, and some tobacco, started for the beach. As they approached, a crowd of ill-favoured, black-looking giants gathered along the water's edge to gaze upon the strangers. Not being at all prepossessed with their looks, and recalling vividly to mind the ugly stories current as to their cruelty and barbarity, our Americans lay off in their boat at a safe distance from the shore. Here they opened communications with the natives, and in broken Spanish offered to barter bread for eggs, fowl, and beef. These much-craved provisions were promised in abundance by the crafty savages; and, waxing more confident of their good intentions, the party gradually neared the beach. As soon as they were landed, notwithstanding the earnest warnings of Captain Bourne, the men suffered themselves to be lured into the interior by savoury promises of good things in the shape of fresh provisions; so that, in a short time, the captain found himself isolated from his companions, and surrounded by nearly a thousand of these sons and daughters of Anak. To render his position still more difficult and perilous, the tide had fallen so much as to leave his boat aground on the beach, which was crowded, moreover, with savages. Apprehensive of some terrible disaster befalling his crew, he begged of an Indian the use of his horse, and rode with all speed after his fugitive men, whom he strove by remonstrance and peremptory commands to induce to return to the boat. All in vain, however; for the cunning of the natives, together with the inordinate longings of their appetites, had lulled to sleep not only suspicion but common prudence. The village to which the Patagonians professed to be taking them was nowhere to be seen on the arid plain that opened before them. Bourne determined, therefore, to return at once, Captain even though he had to go alone. 349 The ordered him to the summit of an adjoining eminence, and gave him an old skin to wave as a signal in order to decoy the men treacherously into their power. Finding, however, that this course did not succeed, they set off for the shore, the captain riding the chief's horse, the chief himself being mounted behind and clasping him tightly in his gigantic grasp. On reaching the boats, the ransom was displayed by the sailors, and the old man declared that if the articles that composed it were landed, the hostage should be given up. after some natural hesitation, was done. This, Indians greedily picked up the goods, and Captain Bourne claimed his release. Not so, however; the perfidious savages were not disposed to suffer tous old chief said, "he had not got plenty of rum their prey thus readily to escape them. The covenant remonstrance and ineffectual struggling to yet; he must have a barrel." After much indigescape the squeeze of this giant, the captive was hurried away from the scene of action, leaving him barely sufficient time to intreat the men in the boats to come again the next morning, and on no account to abandon him. This, it appears probable, it was not in their power to do, for, on visiting the beach on the following day, the waters were vexed with a furious gale, during which no boat could hope to have lived in the billows. All three vessels had dragged from their anchorage, and on the second day had disappeared altogether, leav ing the forsaken captive in a state of prostration bordering on despair. "At this point," says our narrator, "the mask was thrown off. The Indians seized my bridle, and arrested my progress. We all dismounted, with a view to retreat on foot; but before I could reach the man nearest to me, the Indians had robbed him of his gun. With a mutual agreement to stand by each other in case of pursuit, we hastened our retrograde march, but had made no great distance when we saw the Indians coming after us. They rode in advance of us, halted in our front, and manoeuvred to cut off our retreat; but by various zigzag movements, or boldly turning their horses' heads, we made considerable progress. Our foes, however, knew what they were at; it was only a question of time with them. A sudden and decided movement indicated a crisis. I drew my pistols; but before I had time to cock one, I was jumped upon from behind by some halfdozen of these monstrous creatures." At this juncture an old chief came up, and grasping him firmly by the wrist, reproached him for not accompanying them to their houses, according to promise, at the same time shielding him from the menaced attack of the crowd of savages who pressed upon him, and flourished their knives before his face. After long and angry deliberations among themselves, it was arranged that Captain Bourne was to be detained as a hostage, while the three men were allowed to return to their vessel to procure a ransom. Three Indians, accordingly, each took a man with him on a horse, and started for the boat. But it soon became evident from their conduct that they had no sincere intention of releasing the sailors; for before reaching the margin of the shore they halted, and refused to go any further. The prisoners, however, struggled desperately, and at length got clear of their captors. One rushed patriarch of the tribe entered, and, by means of a Shortly after completing this dim survey, the up to his neck in water, the others sprang into the brass tinder-box, kindled a blaze that brilliantly boat, pushed off, and rescued their comrade as he illuminated the strange scene. By its light Bourne was struggling with the waves. Having reached was enabled to survey the first specimen of Patathe schooner, they told their tale, and represented gonian architecture that ever met his vision. It the desperate situation of the mate. All hands was constructed of three parallel rows of stakes immediately commenced breaking up the cargo, to arranged in the pointed style, and covered with get at introduction to the élite of Patagonian society, Our unwilling visitor had now the honour of an being conducted to the palace of Patagonia, if we may so term it. Having reached an Indian village, five or six miles inland, "I was," says Captain Bourne," set down by the old chief at his wigwam. whom he had four), who ordered me into the hut He gave me in charge to one of his squaws (of and bade me sit down on the ground. While sitting there, and casting an inquisitive glance around the rude habitation, my attention was suddenly attracted to what appeared to be several pairs of eyes in a dark corner, shining with a strange brilliancy. I speculated silently on the sight, much doubting whether they belonged to human beings or to wild beasts; but, on carefully reconnoitreing, I discovered that they belonged to three huge women. closed a number of dark-skinned boys and girls, of Further investigations disdivers ages and sizes, playing and capering about the premises." a very short space of time, two boats, well sinews of the ostrich, the only thread used by the manned, and provided with the required articles, people. For purposes of ventilation some interstarted for the shore, which they reached a little stices were left; but when a fire was kindled the before dark. And now the deceit and cunning of these savages became unmistakeably apparent. Instead of supposed to feel in the process of curing. No lapse conducting Captain Bourne to the shore, they of time was sufficient to reconcile my eyes, nostrils, smoke was most annoying. "I felt," says Captain Bourne, " as bacon, if conscious, might be and lungs to the nuisance; often have I been more than half strangled by it, and compelled to lie with my face to the ground as the only endurable position. The chief and his numerous household, however, seemed to enjoy immense satisfaction; and jabbered, and grunted, and played their antics, and exchanged grimaces, as complacently as if they breathed a highly exhilarating atmosphere." The captain's first meal with the savages, even at the chieftain's board-of course using that word metaphorically-was calculated to deepen the disgust already felt, and proved the Patagonians to be a race in whom almost every vestige of humanity was extinct. The meat, hacked by an old copper knife from the carcase of some animal, was inserted on the forked ends of crotched sticks and warmed and smoked at the fire, after which it was torn into fragments by the dirty hands of one of the squaws, and pitched into the midst of the ravenous assembly, who enjoyed it with as much gusto as if Soyer or Ude had been the culinary artiste. The old chief remarking the aversion with which his captive regarded the disgusting viands before him, exclaimed in colloquial Spanish, "Why don't you eat your meat? This meat very good to eat very good to eat. Eat, man! eat!" Fearing the effects of his resentment should his hospitality be despised, the captain forced a morsel into his mouth, the flavour of which he found not so disagreeable as its offensive mode of preparation had led him to expect. During the earlier portion of his captivity, he made several ineffectual attempts to escape, though the country, being almost entirely destitute of trees, afforded no facilities for concealment. These efforts to recover liberty were usually made at night, when the whole household and tribe were apparently wrapped in profound slumber. He generally found, however, on such occasions, that the glaring eyes of the vigilant old chief followed all his movements; or, if he managed to elude them, no sooner had he stepped stealthily into the midst of the encampment than he was arrested by the barking of a hundred dogs, their howling "making the night hideous." For some time occasional visits were paid to the coast, to look out for any vessels that might be passing, the chief's acquisitiveness having been excited by fresh promises of tobacco, bread, etc., on condition of the captive being restored to the society of white men. Some vessels were descried and hailed; fires were kindled on the beach, and his flannel shirt was hoisted as a signal; but all in vain. After desperate endeavours and agonies of suspense, they swept by in the distance, inflicting a death-blow to all hopes of relief; for after this period the tribe struck their tents and commenced their migrations from spot to spot. Captain Bourne urged them now to take him to some white settlement-for instance, to Port Famine, a penal settlement of Chili, on the Straits-where he suggested they might turn his liberation to profitable account. This, however, they peremptorily refused, and not without good reason, as afterwards appeared, for not long before they had visited that part of the country on a horse-stealing expedition. They promised, however, to take him to a place which they called "Holland," where, they remarked, "there was plenty of rum and tobacco"-the grand In the slight space that remains, we can only throw together a few facts respecting the nature of the country and the character of its inhabitants, as drawn from Captain Bourne's observations. The part of the land traversed by this tribe, on the Atlantic side, is bleak, barren, and desolate in the extreme. Low bushes and a wiry grass are the chief productions of its light, sandy soil. Streams of water are rare, and the natives draw their supplies chiefly from the brackish springs or pools of the valleys. The variety of animal is nearly as limited as that of vegetable productions. The guanaco, a quadruped allied to the lama, whose flesh is the chief support of the natives; the cougar, or American lion, whose chase affords a favourite though dangerous sport; foxes, mice, the condor, and the cassowary, a species of ostrich, are almost the only beasts and birds of the region. The climate of the country is very severe. The Patagonians are of gigantic stature, their average height being nearly six and a half feet, while some are said to be not less than seven feet high. They are as imitative as monkeys, and are dreadfully addicted to lying. The youngest seem to inherit the taint, and vie with the oldest in displaying it, while the detection of their falsehood or treachery appears to give them no uneasiness. They never wash themselves, and the colour of their skin can only be seen as the ancient deposits of dirt sometimes crack and fall off. The men, too, bedaub their faces and breasts with a kind of red earth, while charcoal is also used as a cosmetic, the women rendering themselves hideous by the application of a pigment of clay, blood, and grease, which is apparently as precious in their eyes as the finest Parisian pomade. Such, indeed, is their passion for grease, that no woman will consent to marry unless the suitor will guarantee to supply her largely with that indispensable article. So much for the ladies. The great recommendation of the man, when soliciting the hand of a Patagonian maiden, is, that he should be an expert stealer of horses, As a race they are indolent to the last degree, and will seldom go on a hunting expedition until goaded forth by hunger and menaced by famine. In invention they are absolute babes, and have no mechanical skill. When they were first allowed to listen to the ticking of the captain's watch, they were transported with delight, and there is little doubt that it aided materially in saving his life on more than one occasion, when the people seemed bent upon sacrificing him to their jealousy or their fears. Many of the women, too, were his inveterate and sleepless foes, and, but for the greedy chief's protection, would have accomplished his destruction. The captain intimates his conviction that they are addicted to cannibalism, and men tions the fact, that after a widow had been delibe rately murdered in order to seize upon the horses she possessed, some "strange flesh" appeared at the royal board, of which, contrary to the usual practice, he was not allowed to partake. Such is Patagonia! But such, or very nearly so, was Great Britain two thousand years ago; and we have confidence that the same missionary effort which has raised the one, will, if faithfully applied, in due time raise the other. To return to Captain Bourne, however. After innumerable disappointments, the crisis to which all his diplomacy and questionable use of fictitious promises had been directed, drew near. He one day mounted his horse, attended by a reduced escort, and after travelling many hours reached a river, at the mouth of which, near the Atlantic, was a small island, which the Patagonians affirmed was the long sought Holland.' Several small huts were dimly discerned upon its surface. An English flag, which had been saved from some wreck, was hoisted, and the bushes on the beach were kindled, to attract the attention of the islanders, the chief meanwhile being concealed in a thicket, from which, with cat-like vigilance, he watched every movement. After a long period of disheartening suspense, a boat was seen approaching; whereupon, in order to make sure of the captain, he was ordered back to the camping-ground. Setting the mandates of the chief at defiance, however, he started off at full speed towards the boat, the Indians following in hot pursuit. He reached the shore-parleyed a few moments with the men who were drawing near-leaped into the water-and, after a desperate struggle, was drawn into the boat half dead with exhaustion and terror. The disappointed A sorrowful book I am reading, dear- That breeze to my ear was soft and mild "Tis the memory, love, of a far-off day Many a year has come and past "Mamma"-and she closer press'd her side,- "Mamma," said the child with streaming eyes, "My daughter, I know-I believe it all,- I have you, my darling-I should not sigh. 351 natives vented their vexation in hideous shouts and vindictive cries, but did not dare to follow, although they lingered menacingly on the coast for some weeks afterwards. The asylum on whose shores Captain Bourne now found himself was called Sea Lion Island, and contains a small settlement of an English company, established for the purpose of collecting guano and preparing it for exportation. He was treated with the greatest kindness during his sojourn on the island, which extended to a period of several weeks. The islanders were very anxiously awaiting the arrival of a vessel belonging to the company, which was to bring them some fresh stores, those in their possession having become alarmingly short. At length, after considerable suspense, a whaling vessel touched upon the coast, by means of which Captain Bourne was restored to his country and his family. We regret to have to remark, that the policy arrangements for the transmission of Cleopatra's needle to often pursued towards his Patagonian custodiers the Sydenham Palace. It would appear, however, from was such as did not accord with Christian principle communications which have been received from him, that or the dictates of the highest wisdom. He sought ment of antiquity have presented themselves. The needle is secure his safety and purchase his freedom by is actually built into a part of the sea-wall and ramparts dazzling promises, which he certainly never in-forming the fortification of the city of Alexandria, and to thaded to fulfil; and although he ultimately eluded pull down so much of the fortification as would be retheir grasp, the influence of his example uped quired to disinter the obelisk and to launch it, and aftertheir minds will be unfavourable to the pharupowards to rebuild the wall, would not only occupy a great of the white men, and may recoil retributively upon sense not originally anticipated. In addition to which, other unfortunate beings who may hereafter fall it is stated that the Viceroy himself has a very strong into their power. We are sorry also ter fall it je tion to a breach of such a nature being made of spirit of revenge cleaving to him after his escape. CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE.-Mr. Anderson was lately deputed by the Crystal Palace Company, of which he is a director, to visit the shores of the Mediterranean and make great difficulties in the way of the removal of this monu space of time, but must involve a considerable amount of It surely would have been more magnanimous and politics. The Pasha at the same time assured Mr. Anderhowever, it is evident, is not Captain Gardiner. lovely to have pitied and forgiven. Captain Bourne, sonstoned by the company to collect works of art in left open for any time in the present state of European son that every facility should be given to any person com Egypt. Varieties. "I AM A LOST MAN."-Under this sub-head we gave insertion, on page 240, to a passage from the Rev. M. B. Grier, in which he comments with great seriousness upon what were alleged to be almost the last words of Marshal Bugeaud. Since its publication a correspondent, in an intelligent and candid letter, has written to explain that the construction put upon the expression is incorrect, and calculated to convey a wrong impression respecting the "latter end" of this celebrated warrior. The occasion on which the words were used appears to have been this. A short time before his death, the medical attendant being about to apply the stethoscope to the patient's heart, the marshal, conscious of the incurable nature of his disease, said in a natural voice, "Je suis un homme perdu"-an idiomatic phrase equivalent to, "It is all over with me." We regret that such a misconstruction should have arisen. MANUFACTURE OF PAPER.-There are at present upwards of 700 paper mills in the United Kingdom, threefourths of them constantly at work, and the estimated value of the paper made is about 4,000,000l. The quantity charged with excise duty in 1850 was no less than 141,032,474 lbs. EDUCATED WHEAT.-We are informed, in a recent number of the "Literary Gazette," of a singular discovery that has been made in France by a M. Fabre, a humble gardener of Ayde, but of some local note as a botanist. It appears that an herb, named cegilops, which produces a species of grain resembling wheat in form, though much smaller, has long grown abundantly on the shores of the Mediterranean, but has hitherto been considered as worse than useless. In 1839 M. Fabre sowed a quantity of this grain, and he was struck by observing that the produce of it seemed to bear a close affinity to wheat. That produce he sowed the next year, and the yield was still more like wheat. He went on sowing the yield in this way year after year, and each year found a marked improvement in the produce, until at last he had the satisfaction of getting as fine a crop of wheat, and of as good quality, as he could wish to see. At first he produced his crops in a garden, but his later sowings were made broad-cast in an open field. Thus then a wild and mischievous herb, which is particularly destructive to barley crops, can be educated into excellent wheat. FEMALE SOVEREIGNS AMONG THE ARABS.-In a letter from Col. Rawlinson, dated Baghdad, Feb. 15th, is an announcement of the curious discovery, that the northern Arabs about the head of the Red Sea were really governed by queens, and that Solomon's queen of Sheba no doubt came from that quarter, about the Gulf of Akaba, and not from the southern extremity of the peninsula. The proof of this is found in a list of the Syrian tributaries of Pul, or Tiglath Pileser, where the last name after Hurim or Hebron is "Sabibim, queen of the Arabs." This list, which has been made out by joining Layard's fragmental inscriptions, is very curious, and, taken in connexion with Sennacherib's Syrian tributaries, etc., give a complete tableau of the great cities and provinces bordering on the Mediterranean. By recent accounts it appears that a number of sepulchral jars have been discovered, all containing small rolls of sheet lead, inscribed with Chaldean legends, in very minute writing. RELIC OF BARBARITY.-In former times, one of the extraordinary and barbarous modes of punishment for sacrilege was by nailing the skin of the offender, in terrorem, on the door of the church. Tradition has usually connected this practice with the times of the Danes. Such a door, of which both sides have once been covered with human skin, is still to be seen at Westminster Abbey; and it was pointed out by Mr. E. Cooke, the artist, during the visit to the abbey last year, under the guidance of Professor Donaldson, for the inspection of the royal tombs. VALUE OF MANUFACTURED IRON.-The spring of a watch weighs 1536 of a grain, and a pound of iron makes 50,000. The pound of steel costs 2d.. and a single spring 2d.; so that 50,000 will produce 4167. 138. CONSUMPTION OF TOBACCO.-If the population of the earth be taken at 1000 millions, and the consumption reckoned as equal to that of the kingdom of Denmark, or seventy ounces a head, the produce of the whole world will amount to near two millions of tons (1,953,125) a year. Seventy ounces a head, of course, far exceeds the average consumption of Europe, in most of the countries of which tobacco is heavily taxed. It is certain, however, on the other hand, that it falls far short of the consumption of Asia, containing the majority of mankind, where women and children smoke as well as men, and where the article is, moreover, untaxed. Near half the British tonnage which "entered inward" or "cleared outward" last year would be required to convey the above quantity of this American weed, of which the value, at twopence a pound, will amount to nearly thirty-six and a half millions sterling, 36,462,500l.-Journal of the Statistical Society. MONS MEG. An account was recently communicated to a meeting of the Archæological Institute, of the mon ster cannon preserved at Edinburgh castle, and known as Mons Meg. This ancient piece of ordnance was formerly kept at the Tower, from whence it was conveyed back to Scotland, by order of George IV, in 1829. It closely resembles the huge bombard at Ghent, supposed to be the same which is mentioned by Froissart. Mons Meg is first named in the reign of James IV, having been used at the siege of Dumbarton in 1489; but tradition affirms that the piece existed long prior to that time. The construction is very curious; long bars of iron are welded together, like the staves of a cask, and strongly hooped with welded iron; the length is upwards of fifteen feet, and the enormous weight rendered this cannon almost unmanageable in the field. It has been supposed, with much probability, that it was fabricated at Mons, in Flanders, whence James II, king of Scots, imported in 1460, as chroniclers have recorded, a celebrated bombard, called the Lion. visited this eminent historian, remarks that everything in MR. PRESCOTT AT HOME.-A recent traveller, who his abode reminds us of his occupation. In the hall there knights, meet our eye on the walls, and a rich historical is a portrait of Cortez; Spanish princes, queens, and library, containing the works of Spain and her possessions in the sixteenth century, with a large collection of manu scripts of that period, fills his study. Mr. Prescott was, by the natural weakness of his eyes, and perhaps likewise by the amiable mildness of his temper, prevented from taking an active part in politics, or from becoming a regular business man. He devoted his time to literature, and, starting from the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Peru, his researches led him to the history of the splendid reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. He is now occupied on that of Philip II. It is a gigantic task; for the history of Spain under that king is also the history of Protestantism in Germany-of independence in the Netherlands-of liberty in England-of the struggle between the power of the crown and the local institutions in France and in Spain. A family relic in the dining-room of Mr. Prescott has a peculiar interest, as an evidence of the impartial way in which Bostonians look upon their revolutions. Two swords, crossing one another on the wall, are those of the grandfather of Mr. Prescott and of the grandfather of his wife, both officers in the battle of Bunker Hill-the one in the American, the other in the English ranks. WASHINGTON IRVING AT HOME.-"We had," says M. Pulszky, in his "Sketches of Society in the United States," a most pleasant dinner party, where we met Washington Irving, whose name, ever since I have been acquainted with English literature, was connected in my mind with such genuine freshness of conception, that I fancied the author of the Sketch Book,' and of the radiant pictures of the Alhambra, must remain always young. I was, therefore, rather childishly surprised to see a gentleman, on whose lofty brow years have impressed their traces, and to hear that he was the man whom my imagination had endowed with the unwithering vigour of youth. But listening to his conversation, full of hope and warmth, I found that my early impressions had not been wrong, |