1088 
my house in Portland-Place, desti- 
ned'to experience treatment, which 
Thad not merited, and encounter 
losses, ] have never overcome. 
ss J will here simply relate an in- 
cident without attempting to draw 
any conjectures from it, whieh is 
that whilst 1 laid ill at Bayonne, 
insensible, and as it was supposed at 
the point of death, the very monk, 
who had been so troublesome to me 
at Elvas, found his way into my 
‘chamber, and upon the alarm given 
‘by my wife, who perfectly recogni. 
zed his person, was only driven out 
of it by force. Again when 1 was 
in Paris, and about to sit dewn to 
dinner, a sallad was brought to me 
by the lucquey, who waited on me 
which was given to him for me by a 
red-haired Dominican, whose person 
according to his description exactly 
tallied with that of the aforesaid 
monk; 1 dispatched my servant 
Camis in pursuit of him, but-he had 
escaped, and my suspicion of the 
sallad being poisoned was confirmed 
by experiment on a dog. 
-  Tshall only add that somewhcre 
in Castile, I forget the place, but it 
was between Valladolid and Burgos, 
as I was sitling on a bench at the 
door of a house, where my Calas- 
seros were giving water to the mules, 
Tteidered my snuff box to a grave 
elderly man, who scemed of the bet- 
ter sort of Castilians, aad who ap- 
pered to have thrown himselfin my 
way, sitting down beside me as one 
who invited conversation. ‘The 
stranger looking steadily in my face, 
and after a pause put his fingers in 
my box, and, taking a very small 
portion-of my snulf between them, 
said;to me—? Lam not afraid, sir, 
of trusting myself to you, whom [ 
know to be an Englishman, and a 
person; in whose honour I may per- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806. 
fectly repose. But there is death 
concealed in many a man’s snuff 
box, and I would seriously advise 
you on no account to take a single 
pinch from the box of any stranger, 
who may offer it to you; and if 
you have done that already, 1 sin- 
cerely hope no such consequences 
as J allude to will result frou “your 
want of caution.”? | continued in 
conversation with this stranger for 
some time; [ told him L had never 
before been apprised of the» prac- 
tices he had spoken of, and, being 
perlecty without suspicion, f might, 
or might not have exposed myself 
to the danger, he was now so kind 
as toapprize me of, but I observed 
to him that however pradent it 
might be to guard myself against 
such evil practices in other countries, 
I should not expect to meet them in 
Castile, where the Spanish point of 
honour most decidedly prevailed. 
“* Ah, senor,” he replied, “ they 
may not all be Spaniards, whom you 
have chanced upon, or shall here+ 
after chance upon, in Castile.” 
When L asked him how this snuff 
operated on those who- took it, his 
answer was, as b expsctel—* on 
the brain.” L was not curious to, 
enquire who this stranger was, as I 
paid little attention to his informa- 
tion at the time, though £ confess it 
occured to me, when aftera few 
days ! was seized with such agonies 
in my head, a8 deprived me of my 
senses ; I merely vive this anecdote, 
as it occurred ; I draw no inferences 
from it. 
*¢ | have now done with Spain, and. 
if the detail, which I -have truly 
given of my proceedings, whilst I 
was there in trust, may serve to jus- 
tify me in the opinion of those, who 
read these memoirs, | will not tire 
their patience with a dull recital of 
si 4 
