CHARADES.

1.

WHEN darkness reigns, and north winds blow, And winter wraps the world in snow,

My first its friendly ray imparts,

To chase chill care, and cheer our hearts:
My next, by intricacies odd,

Secures the miser's golden god:

My whole, alas! while one it saves,
Sends many to untimely graves.

My first by learning's sons is greatly prized:
My second's reptile state provokes disdain;
My whole's a being by the fair despised,
Made by my first conceited, pert, and vain.

3.

Oft has my first with noble blood been dy'd:
As oft hath humbled my poor second's pride:
My whole's a title each dull bard may claim.
Who by a quaint enigma grasps at fame.

4.

My first we do whene'er we try
Good rules to keep in memory:
My next's a dwelling, Scripture says,
Where men repos'd in ancient days:
My whole (though rare on earth to find)
Denotes a calm unruffled mind.

5.

My first spreads destruction and murder around: My next in the playhouse and Bedlam is found: My whole makes the guilty with terror turn pale, When stern justice at length is found to prevail.

SPANISH HOSPITALITY.
Extracted from Mordaunt;

BY THE AUTHOR OF ZELEUCO AND EDWARD.

YOU

Vevay.

You will remember that our muleteer was a good deal surprised, and a little angry, at seeing Travers and me laughing in the middle of the storm.

He moved on rather sul

kily; but before we could arrive at the inn, where we intended to pass the night, we perceived a lone house in the midst of underwood, at the foot of a mountain, and at a considerable distance from the high road. The muleteer declared that it was impossible for his cattle to proceed to the inn during such a storm, and the best thing we could do was to take shelter, for the night, in that house.

As I had been told that all those frontiers were inhabited by gangs of smugglers, who are the most desperate fellows in Spain, and sometimes act as robbers, I was not very fond of the proposal; I mentioned this to Travers, who, shrugging his shoulders, said, "he would do as I pleased; but that it was better to be robbed than drowned.” Meanwhile a stout fellow, well mounted, rode by us towards the house: he had a gun on each side, slung in the manner in which a dragoon carries his carabine, and the man had under him a well-filled package of considerable bulk.

The muleteer asked him whether he might be permitted to shelter his mules from the storm. "Do you think that my house is inhabited by Moors?" said the man.

The muleteer drove directly up to the house, unharnessed his mules, put them into the stable, which seemed to be the first room of the mansion; for through it we passed to the kitchen, where we

found three men and two women, with a blind musician, sitting by the fire, strumming a guitar, which he accompanied by occasional stanzas through his nose. The company were so attentive to the music, that they took little notice of Travers of me, till the person we had seen on the road, and whom we found to be the master of the house, came in." Why do you stand apart, like intruders, ?" said he, in a loud and rather surly tone: "I invited you to my house, which you ought therefore to consider as your own.

We bowed, and approached nearer to the fire. In a short time supper was laid upon a long table in the same room. The landlord made Travers sit on one side of him, and me on the other: he pressed us to every dish on the table. The principal one consisted of pieces of mutton and kid, stewed with abundance of hog's lard, and strongly seasoned with garlic: there was also a large dish of sallad, swimming in rancid oil, called a gaspacho. All the company eat voraciously of both, except Travers and me. Neither our own appetite, though keen, nor the landlord's invitation, could overcome the repugnance excited by the flavour and appearance of those two dishes. To make amends, however, we eat abundantly of the bread, which was very good, and of oranges, of which abundance are to be found in every cottage. We would have drank more of the wine had it not been extremely strong and fiery.-Our landlord mistook the reason of our giving a preference to the bread, and frequently assured us that we were just as welcome to the highest-seasoned dish on the table as to that.

The supper being ended, the company wrapped themselves in their great cloaks, and laid them.. selves on the ground, except one man, who preferred the table, and another, who chose the stone bench next the fire.

I happened to say something to the muleteer con cerning our baggage; this was overheard by the landlord-"Senor," said he, bluntly, in my house it is my business that all your things be properly taken care of."

you are

He then desired Travers and me to follow him, which we did, into a room where there was a bed. "This is the only bed in the house," said he: "as you are strangers, it is for you Buenas

17

noches;' so saying he left the room.

"If this man, after all, should prove a knave, I shall be much surprised," said I, he the manners of an honest man."

66 so much has

"It is the business of knaves to make others believe that they are honest," rejoined Travers.

"This man has succeeded with me," said I. "Do you think he has succeeded with himself?" said Travers.

"I am persuaded he has," answered I.

"Then depend upon it he is an honest man," added Travers; "for though a man may deceive the rest of the world in that point, yet, were he as cunning as the devil, he cannot deceive himself.”

"Right, Tom," rejoined I, struck with his observation, " and thus a knave can never be secure, even in this life; for, in spite of all his circumspection to keep his wickedness concealed, there is always one person in the world acquainted with it; and it is wisely ordered, that when nobody else could, that single witness very often betrays him, and brings him to shame.'

I happened to step out of our bedchamber after this, and was highly pleased to find the storm entirely abated; but a good deal surprised, at the same time, that every person seemed fast asleep, though all the doors of the house, even that to the fields, were open.

When I returned, however, I thought proper to shut that of our bed-chamber, aud then lay down

in my clothes beside Travers, who was already stretched on the bed.

We were awaked early in the morning by the muleteer, who informed us that every thing was ready. After breakfasting on bread and wine, I went in search of our landlord, whom I found already mounted and accoutred, as he had been the day before, with his two guns-I asked him what was to pay.

He looked displeased, and said, "his house was not an inn."

"I thanked him for his hospitality;-but still," said I, " you will be so good as to give this to the maid who dressed our supper, and the man who assisted the muleteer, neither of whom I can find."

" I pay them their wages," said he, refusing the money, and directly riding off.

While I amuse myself, and endeavour to amuse you, my friend, with what I can recollect of the most striking occurrences of this journey, I do not pretend to give you a view of the general manners or character of the Spaniards: were I in other respects qualified for that, the short stay I made in the country would render me inadequate to such a task. The impression left on my mind, however, by what I observed during this journey, is, that the Spaniards are of an honest, hospitable, and generous nature, and capable of making as respectable a figure as any people in Europe, if ever their minds should be freed from that absurd and debasing superstition, which chills their energy, and tends to check every species of improvement-more than all the other circumstances to which their poverty and degeneracy have been imputed. This, however, is conjecture; but what you may rely on as fact is, that a Spanish smuggler, treated two English travellers as has been mentioned.

F