14 The Student of Padua. 



Putting on, however, as indifferent an air as I could assume, and 

 carelessly humming a tune, I cautiously cocked the pistol I held in 

 my hand, and made up my mind to settle at least one of my anta- 

 gonists, in case they showed any symptoms of attack. They looked 

 at rne suspiciously as they approached, and then, apparently satisfied 

 that I was otherwise protected, quietly passed on. A few minutes 

 after I nearly stumbled over the body of a man, whom I at first took 

 to be one of our own soldiers in a state of inebriation. On a nearer 

 inspection, however, I discovered that it was the body of the ill-fated 

 chapelgorri that I had so lately encountered. A horrible gash across 

 the throat nearly severed the head from the body ; and the wine 

 running out from the bung of the uncocked bota, mingling with the 

 blood that issued from several stabs in the head, gurgled over the 

 face and presented altogether a most horrid spectacle. With a 

 shudder at the thought of what might have been my own fate, I pro- 

 ceeded on, and at length heard the voice of the officer of the guard 

 challenging an advanced sentry. Guided by the friendly sound, I 

 soon found myself in safety. On my arrival at my own quarters I 

 found that C., growing impatient at my prolonged absence, had, 

 assisted by the more expert chapelgorri, instituted a search, and in a 

 loft in a remote part of the house discovered a pile of bread sufficient 

 to supply a whole regiment. The patrona was glad to compound 

 for the expected loss of all by the sacrifice of one and falling to, 

 with a good appetite, not diminished on my part by my walk through 

 the forest, we soon finished our supper and again sought repose 

 nor did we awake till the sound of a bugle, and the unwelcome notes, 

 " Turn out the whole," summoned us to resume our long and toil- 

 some march to Vitoria. 



THE STUDENT OF PADUA. 



THE courtesy of the author enables us to present our readers with an extract from an 

 unpublished tragedy bearing the above title. It has only been printed, as is stated in 

 the preface, for private circulation ; but we trust that it will at an early period be given 

 to the public in a legitimate form. We are so unused of late years to meet with plays 

 adapted for the closet as well as the stage, that we were no less surprised than pleased, 

 on perusing this drama, to recognise in it the production of a superior and cultivated 

 understanding. If men possessing the capabilities of the anonymous author of the 

 *' Student of Padua" would write for the stage, we might again hope to see ballets and 

 spectacles permanently expelled from the national theatres, and exiled to the congenial 

 atmosphere of Astley's and Sadler's Wells. We have extracted a portion, not because 

 we think it better than the rest, but simply that it is more easily separated from the 

 adjoining matter in an intelligible form. The scene is laid in Venice ; but the satire 

 is evidently levelled at the vices of a great metropolis not so far distant from home. 

 Our readers will perceive that the author has^studied attentively the springs of human 

 action, and is well acquainted with life not as it seems but is. The play is not without 

 blemishes, but we have derived so much pleasure from its perusal, that we should be 

 captious indeed if we complained of the few and trifling irregularities that detract from 

 its exact symmetry. 



