242 Recollections of Sceties and Cilies. [^Sept. 



lowed the murderer would have been madness. I stole from my quarto, 

 gained the kitchen, and waking a muleteer, who was asleep on one of 

 the benches, told him what I had seen. He roused the innkeeper, and 

 the dead man was brought into the posada. I know nothing more of 

 the affair. I asked the innkeeper, in the morning, whether the mur- 

 derer was likely to be punished, and his answer was " segu7i," which 

 has the same meaning as that very significant French expression, " fa 

 depend," and which, in English, meant, " If the murderer be richer 

 than the relations of the man he killed he will hear nothing more about Jt; 

 if he be poorer he will be hanged" — for so these things are managed in 

 Spain. 



The most ruffian countenance I ever saw in Spain, was seen under 

 somewhat startling circumstances. I had lingered till long after sunset, 

 in the Al-hambra of Granada, and foolishly resolved to explore a new 

 path in returning ; but not being sufficiently acquainted with the locality, 

 it led me a lang circuit behind the mount, upon which stands the convent 

 of Hieronomites, and to the bank of the Xenil ; and it fell dark when I 

 was yet half a league from the city. The towns in Spain are not like 

 those in England, stretching in suburb a mile or two on every road ; it 

 is as perfect solitude half a league out of Granada, as in the midst of the 

 Sierea Nevada. There is a deep and low dell about the spot I speak of, 

 in and out of which the road winds ; and in the heart of it, stands a 

 small chapel dedicated to the Virgin ; before reaching the spot, I saw a 

 gleam of light thrown across the road, from the candle that burnt before 

 the altar. The door was open ; and I stopped an instant, and cast my eyes 

 within. Prostrate upon the floor, lay a man, in the attitude of devotion ; 

 his face appeared to touch the ground, and his brown sinewy hands 

 were half hid in his black curly hair ; the dead silence was impres- 

 sively broken by a half audible prayer in the deep-toned voice of the 

 worshipper. The light shone full on his countenance, as he slowly 

 raised himself from the ground, and never before, or since that time, did 

 my eyes rest upon so ruffian a face. I started aside, knowing that no- 

 thing was more likely than that such devotion was the result of some 

 dark deed, perhaps newly committed, and might be the precursor to 

 another, and I stole round the building till he should leave the chapel 

 and precede me on the road ; that he did immediately, and it was with 

 no small satisfaction that I soon afterwards heard the tinkling bells that 

 announced the approach of a train of mules, going towards Granada ; 

 but I can never forget the countenance of the single worshipper, in that 

 lone spot and dimly lighted chapel. 



Of all the cities in Spain, my favourite is Seville. 



Quien no ha visto Sevilla, 

 No ha visto una maravilla. 



Which may be translated — 



He who hath not in Seville been. 

 Hath never yet a marvel seen. 



This is perhaps going too far, and is an Andalusian gasconade. But 

 still, of all the cities 1 have ever seen, my favourite is Seville. Prom 

 earliest youth, Seville had been enshrined in my imagination as a place 

 far distant ; a place of romance and mystery, where the guitar was never 

 mute, and where masks and mirth divided the empire with love and 



