spoken of in the translations of Don Quixote, are not the acorns of our English oak, which is rarely found in Spain, but the ilex-nut or fruit of the ilex, which is sometimes called the evergreen oak: and this name as well as the similarity in the appearance of the two fruits, may excuse the translation into the word acorn. The goat-herds were not singular in spreading these acorns upon their table; wherever the ilex is abundant, its fruit forms an article of sustenance for both man and beast. In all the markets of Andelusia as well as La Mancha, baskets full of ilex nuts are exposed for sale, and almost every peasant has a pocket half filled with them, though indeed, in the date districts, dates take the place of ilex nuts. Sancho it appears was not neglectful of the acorns, for while his master delivered his harangue, he kept his teeth employed upon the acorns.'"

We now introduce a sample of the criticisms in which the Rambler and the Barber frequently indulge themselves.

46 6

As we have just mentioned the adventure of the fulling-hammers,' said I, and are even now near to the spot where it took place, I will disburden myself of a thought that I have had about this same adventure; and if thou can'st help me to an explanation of my difficulty, I'll be thy debtor.'

"Your worship is welcome,' said the barber, to all my poor stock, if aught I know or think can help us in a difficulty.'

"It seems to me, said I,' that it is an error in Cervantes to make his hero conscious of his delusion: which, in the adventure of the fullinghammers, he is; for when the morning dawned, and they discovered that the sounds which had so terrified Sancho, and so elevated the chivalrous hopes of the knight, were occasioned by six fulling-hammers, and when Sancho gives way to laughter, at the expense of his master. Don Quixote says, 'I will not deny that that which has happened to us, is ridiculous enough;' now why in this instance, should the knight be epresented as yielding his senses to the same evidence as that to which the senses of other men surrender, when he has not done so, in any of his previous adventures. When for example, he has been vanquished by the windmills and when Sancho, distressed at the bruised condition in which he finds him, says, ' did I not assure you that they were no other than windmills? I believe, nay am certain, that the sage Freston, who stole my closet and books, has converted those giants into mills in order to rob me of the honour of their overthrow.' Then again, when after the adven-. ture with the flock of sheep, when the knight is in the most grievous plight, and when Sancho, beholding with amazement, the madness of his master,' and coming to his assistance, says, 'did not I warn you signor Don Quixote to turn, and assure you that those whom you went to attack were no armies, but flocks of innocent sheep?' 'How strangely,' replies the knight, can that miscreant enchanter, who is my enemy, transmogrify things to thwart me; the malicious wretch who persecutes me, envying the glory I should have gained in this battle, doubtless metamorphosed the squadrons of the foe into flocks of sheep.' Now, in the adventure of the fulling-hammers, can'st thou friend give me any reason why Don Quixote should not in place of admitting the thing to be ridiculous, and

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that he had been deceived, have ascribed what he saw to the machinations of the enchanter his enemy, and have asserted, that the fullinghammers had been something else than fulling-hammers?'

"Your worship,' said the barber, has started a difficulty that did at one time occur to me also; but I think it can be made clear, that nothing can in this be charged against Cervantes, or the consistency of the character of the knight, or of his adventures, one with another. Don Quixote never refuses at any time, to receive the evidence of his senses; and on no occasion does Cervantes carry his delusion to such a length, that we are forced to conclude his hero to be insane. His madness is on all occasions a madness that the reader has some sympathy with. In the advedture of the windmills, he has just sallied forth, eagerly looking for adventures, and it must be recollected that the adventure of the fullingmills differs from the adventures which your worship has just instanced, wherein he did not admit that he had been deceived: and indeed, the fulling-mills ought not to be called an adventure at all. In the adventures of the windmills and the flock of sheep, the delusion of the knight is carried to the utmost length to which Cervantes could safely carry it; his mental delusion does not vanish with the discovery that he has been attacking windmills, and slaying sheep; he yields to the evidence of his senses indeed, in admitting them to be windmills and sheep; but the same delusion that led him to fancy the windmills giants, aud the sheep armies, suggests to him, that like other knight errants, he has supernatural enemies, and that the windmills and the sheep which he now sees, are the work of enchantment: but in the adventure, as it is called, of the fullinghammers, the knight has never been under any positive delusion; he has never asserted even, what the nature of the adventure is, in which he is about to be engaged. He and Sancho are in a thick wood on a dark night, and singular sounds are heard; and the knight, his head as usual running on adventures, fancies one to be at hand; but he gives no hint of what he expects it to be, nor ever once explains to Sancho the causes of the sounds they hear. If, contrary to the advice of Sancho, Don Quixote had spurred Rozinante amongst the fulling-hammers, first telling him that these sounds were occasioned by giants, or by any thing else upon which his fancy chanced to run, then there is no doubt that when morning dawned upon the discomfited knight, he would have told Sancho, and would have believed, that he had encountered giants or enchanters, and the fulling-hammers now before them were so by the power of enchantment; but after Don Quixote had remained quietly in the wood during the whole night, and when the day-light discovered the occasion of the sounds they had heard, it would never have done to have made the knight affirm that these had been giants or enchanters; for in this case, he had never been under any delusion, and had never acted upon any delusion. To your worship or myself caught in a thick wood, on a dark night, the sounds of the fulling-hammers would have appeared as singular as they did to Don Quixote and Sancho.'

I perceive friend,' said I, thou hast thought upon this to some purpose; and thy explanation has greatly assisted in clearing away my difficulty; and besides, as thou hast already told me, the exploits of the knight are not to be regarded as the sole purpose and interest of the book. Some

adventures are necessary to bring out the characters of the knight and his squire, and the ludicrous contrasts between them. The bravery of the one, and the cowardice of the other, are forcibly displayed while they rest in the dark wood; the knight sitting on his steed, desiring his squire to straighten the girth, that he may be prepared, and the squire fast embracing his master round the leg, fearful of moving an inch from his stirrup.'"

We must return to the Barber's story. The pilgrim whom the cura had sent to the Superior of the Carthusians with the relic, returns with a large sum as the price of it, which Lazaro contrives to appropriate chiefly to himself. Stealing up to his garret, and leaving his master asleep, he there begins to count over the amount, planning a thousand projects for extracting enjoyment from the sum, when suddenly the door is closed behind him, and the key turned in the lock. Here he is left till hunger wrings his stomach. At last the cura returns, but refuses to liberate the prisoner excepting upon certain conditions.

"Master,' said I,

"Listen to me, Lazaro,' said he. 'I'll starve thee to death, as sure as thy name is Lazaro; no one can ever hear of thee more; I'll have thee dried when thou 'rt dead, and sell thy carcass to the Carthusians as a relic; but if thou wilt push the pieces of money one by one below the door, and if, when I reckon them, I find that thou hast fairly accounted to me, thou shalt dine upon the most savoury stew that ever descended into thy stomach.

"The temptation was scarcely to be resisted, but I was in hopes of a better bargain, and answered nothing: the cura saw my hesitation, and took advantage of it. I heard him leave the door, and in a few minutes he returned.

"Now, Lazaro,' said he, 'I have brought thy dinner: here is beef, and pork, and a rich gravy, and garbanzos, and bread. I will make this agreement with thee: I will give thee of the stew in spoonfuls, underneath the door; and for each spoonful thou receivest, thou shalt shove me one piece:' at the same instant, I saw the spoon filled with steaming stew, pushed towards me.

"This first spoonful thou shalt have for nothing,' said Cirillo, but if thou would'st have a second, it must be paid for.' The temptation was not to be resisted; one scanty spoonful after another, descended into my stomach, while an equal number of pieces descended into the cura's pocket; and so outrageous was my appetite, and so excellent the stew, that I was soon eased of the greater part of my treasure."

The illustration by George Cruikshank, of the process of barter carried on between the cura and his man underneath the door, is like all his other efforts, exceedingly comic, and true to character at the same time.

The cura liberates Lazaro after he finds that the pieces of money had all been transferred from the inside to the outside of the door. The youth thinks it high time to pursue his fortunes elsewhere. He

soon obtains employment as a barber in a convent; for though the friars wore at times long beards, they were artificial appendages ; and therefore the under growth had to be kept in due subordination. In remuneration for the performance of his important duties, the barber was to be well fed, and also to have sufficient wages; but as this latter item in the bargain was to be laid out in the purchase of masses for the young man's soul, it seemed to him that it was taking, on the part of the friars, with one hand and giving with the other. However, trusting to his ingenuity he entered into office, and had reason to thank his stars afterwards for his fortune.

Well may I bless the day that led me to the Franciscan convent; for had Providence otherwise disposed of me, I should have remained for ever ignorant of the adventures of the renowned Don Quixote de la Mancha nor should I otherwise have ever followed the calling of my ancestors in the village of Miguel Esteban.

"I observed that among all the reverend fathers, no one was so studious as the friar who had brought me to the convent. Not content with the hours that were set aside for devotional exercises, a book was never out of his hand. There was only one occasion upon which he ever intermitted his studies: and that was, when his chin was under my management; but one day so deeply engaged was he (as I then thought) with his devotions, that he placed the book upon his knee, and with downcast eyes continued to read whilst I performed my duties; and judge of my amzement, and I may even say affright, when jnst as I was putting the last polish upon his chin, the friar burst into the most immoderate fit of laughter that ever was heard within a convent walls; and so ungovernable was his mirth, that even the sight of his own blood appeared rather to increase than to diminish his risibility.

“In the name of God, Reverend Father,' said I, 'what has befallen thee?'

"Canst thou read ?' answered the friar, for if thou canst, 't will save me the trouble of telling thee the cause of my laughter.

646

Luckily, Sir,' said I, 'I am able to read; that accomplishment was taught me by a Domin——.'

No matter who taught thee,' interrupted the friar: read there, while I attend to the cure of this wound, which has not been occasioned through thy fault.'

"It was this moment that first opened up to me that treasure of knowledge and delight that is contained in the work of Cervantes: that moment will never be forgotten by me. The friar had intended to open the book at the page where he had been reading; but ready to drop down with laughing, he could only put the book into my hand. For my own part, I began at the beginning; half the friars went unshaved that day; and when my patron returned from the refectory, he found me still deeply engaged with his book.

"I perceive, Lazaro.' said he, that thou art worthy of my care,' and so much satisfied was he with some reflections I made upon what I had read, that he affectionately embraced me; and sitting down, explained to me the spirit and object of the book, and descanted upon its perfections

One observation I well remember. When I laugh,' said he, it is at the contrast between Don Quixote and his Squire, not at the adventures; these make me sad; for it is melancholy to see the noble-minded knight always the dupe of his own illusions."""

In this way does the Rambler and his guide discourse of every thing that may be supposed to come in their way, while treading the footsteps of Don Quixote. The plan of the work admits of every sort of discussion, and abounds with digressions and stories, all of them, however, bearing upon the main points, which are the exhibition of Spanish life and character, and the elucidation of the most celebrated of romances. Whoever sits down to read an account of the Don's wonderful adventures and exploits, should end with a perusal of these Rambles, which is sure to equip him for a renewed study of the same inimitable production; which renewal will in consequence of such preparation, be far more delightful than the first reading was felt to be. Mr. Inglis's name and his Rambles in La Mancha, will descend together, and be admired when the present generation is no more.

NOTICES.

ART. XIV.-First Report of the Metropolis Churches Fund, June 23, 1837. London: Clay.

THE Report states that, in the month of April, 1836, an address was put forth by the Lord Bishop of London, calling the attention of the friends of the church to the great and increasing want of church-room in the metropolis, and urging upon them the duty of making a combined and vigorous effort to supply it. It was at the same time proposed to raise a fund, sufficient to defray the expense of erecting at least fifty new churches or chapels in the metropolis; and this appeal has been most promptly and liberally responded to. It is stated that even before any specific proposals for the distribution of the fund were issued, spontaneous offers of subscriptions were sent in to the amount of upwards of 30,000/., and the amount of subscriptions up to 20th June instant, which is rather within twelve months since the establishment of the fund, is 117,423l. 2s. 6d. Much more, of course, requires to be contributed before the objects contemplated can be attained. But the general amount, and a sight of the individual subscriptions, show that on the part of very many of the midling classes in the metropolis as well as of the higher orders an earnest and strong attachment exists towards the establishment, as well as a sincere desire that the people at large may have access to religious instruction and privileges.

ART. XV. Considerations on the Vital Principle; with a Description of Mr. Crosse's Experiments. By JOHN MURRAY, F. S. A., &r. London: 1837.

CONSIDERABLE noise has been made regarding certain experiments pur