514 Adventures in Colombia. [Nov 



departed for his country residence, in order to superintend the requisite 

 preparations ; the next day, when the " Illustrissimo Senhor" and suite 

 made their appearance, he stood at his door ready to receive and wel- 

 come them with all the genuine warmth of English hospitality. 



It is to be regretted that an observance of the common rules of deco- 

 rum prohibits me from relating how the monarch returned this hospitable 

 reception. The subject is of too gross and degrading a nature to admit 

 of even a hint at it. The world, therefore, must be spared the oppor- 

 tunity of seeing how far a creature appointed to preside over society, 

 may forget what is due to it ; and how utterly low, vulgar, and despi- 

 cable it is possible for a monarch to become. Perhaps, after all, such a 

 violation of decency as that to which I allude an act of the grossest 

 indelicacy committed in the most sumptuous apartment of his enter- 

 tainer would fail to excite credibility, except in those to whom the 

 dirty habits of Don John are known. I shall merely add, therefore, 

 that scandal with her hundred tongues gave as many different ver- 

 sions of the occurrence; and on Winton's return to the metropolis, 

 he found himself the butt at which ridicule aimed its shafts. He had 

 not philosophy enough to join in a laugh at his own expense, but took 

 it so much to heart that he neglected his commercial pursuits, and con- 

 fined himself to the privacy of his own house. From this state of 

 uneasiness he was relieved by a letter from England, acquainting him 

 with his father's illness, and advising his immediate return to that 

 country. He embraced the excuse with avidity ; and having, with as 

 little delay as possible, completed the necessary arrangements for his 

 voyage, he bade a final adieu to a land which furnished him with many 

 grateful and pleasing recollections, counterbalanced only by the remi- 

 niscence of one painful event. 



He shortly after embarked for Jamaica; here he became acquainted with 

 Simon Bolivar, whom he assisted with considerable advances of money, 

 and ultimately accompanied to the Spanish main ; and we find him now 

 leaning upon a cannon, one hour after sunset, on a platform in front of 

 the town of San Tomas de Angostura, enjoying the cool evening breeze, 

 contemplating the majestic appearance of the Orinoco river, the grandeur 

 of the surrounding scenery, and indulging in the reflection with which I 

 first introduced him to the reader's notice. 



The political horizon of Venezuela at this period, wore a lowering 

 aspect, and Edward Winton might have been excused for indulging 

 reveries of a less pleasing nature ; he had thrown nearly his whole 

 fortune into the scale, and the balance appeared to preponderate against 

 him. The Spanish General Morillo had just proved victor in the battle 

 of Calaboza, and Bolivar had retired upon San Fernando, on the Apure ; 

 in fact, the republican commander and his army owed their momentary 

 safety to the cavalry of the redoutable Paez, who had with distinguished 

 courage protected the retreat. The renown which the latter chieftain 

 obtained by this brilliant achievement was wormwood to Bolivar, whose 

 envious disposition could ill brook a rival in fame. This man's character, 

 altogether, appears to have been most woefully mistaken by Europeans 

 in general ; he has been deemed unassuming, unambitious, an adept in 

 military tactics ; in short, he has been held up (by his partizans) to the 

 estimation of the world as a second Washington. Those who best know 

 him, however, are fully aware of the absurdity of the comparison ; these 



