ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 
agreeable, cheerful, natural man- 
ners: I became acquainted with him 
at Madrid, through the introduc. 
tion of my friend doctor Geddes, 
late principal of the latter college, 
but since bishop of Mancecos, mis- 
sionary and vicar-general at Aber- 
deen. I had an introductory letter 
to the intendant, but my stay was 
too short to avail myself of it; and 
I visited no church but the great 
cathedral of the Benedictines, where 
mass was celebrating, and the altars 
and whole edifice were arrayed in 
all their splendour—The fathers 
were extremely polite, and allowed 
me to enter the Sacristy, where I 
saw some valuable old paintings of 
the early Spanish masters, some of a 
later date, and a series of Bencdic- 
tine saints, who, if they are not the 
most rigid, are indisputably the 
richest order of religious in Spain. - 
“ Our next day’s journey ad- 
vanced us only six short leagues, 
and set us downin the ruinous town 
of Duenas, which, like Olmedo, is 
surrounded by a Moorish fortifica- 
tion, the gate of which is entire. 
The Calasseros, obstinate as their 
mules, accord to you in nothing, 
but in admitting indiscriminately a 
load of baggage, that would almost 
revolt a waggon, and this4s indispen- 
sible, as you must carry beds, pro- 
visions, cooking vessels, and every 
article for rest and sustenance, not 
excepting bread, for in this country 
an inn means a hovel. in which you 
may light a fire, if you can detend 
your right to it, and find a dunghill, 
called a bed, if you can submit to 
lie down in it. 
‘¢ Our sixth day’s stage brought 
us to the banks of the Douro, 
which we skirted and kept in sight 
during the whole day, from Duenas 
through Torrequemara to Villa Ro- 
1083 
drigo. The stone bridge at Torre- 
quemara is a noble edifice of eight 
and twenty arches. The windings 
of this beautiful river and its rocky 
banks, of which one side is always 
very steep, are romantic, and present 
fine shapes of nature, to which no- 
thing is wanting but trees, and they 
not always. ‘The vale through 
which it flows, inclosed within 
these rocky cliils, is luxuriant in 
corn and wine ; the soil in general 
of a fine loam mixed with gravel, 
and the fallows remarkably clean ; 
they deposit their wine in caves 
hollowed out of the rocks, ‘In the 
mean time it is to the bounty of na-~ 
ture rather than to the care and in- 
dustry of man, that the inhabitaut, 
squalid and loatksome in his person, 
is beholden for that produce, which 
invites exertions, that he never 
makes, and points to comforts that 
he never: tastes. In the midst of 
all these scenes of plenty you en- 
counter human misery in its worst 
attire, and rnined villages amongst 
Juxuriant vineyards. Such a boun- 
tiful provider is God, and so impro- 
vident a steward is his vicegerent in 
this realm. 
* It should seem, that in this valley, 
on the banks of the fertilising Dou- 
ro, would be the proper scite for 
the capital of Spain; whereas Ma- 
drid is seated on a barren soil, be- 
side a meagre stream, which scarce 
suffices to supply the washer-wo- 
men, who make their troughs in the 
shallow current, which only has the 
appearance of a river, when the 
snow melts upon the mountains, 
and turns the petty Manzanares, 
that just trickles through the sand, 
into a roaring and impetuous tor- 
rent. Of the environs of Madrid I 
have already spoken, and the cli- 
mate on the northern side of the 
Guada. 
