The Press. — London, England, 1853-08-20 00:00:00

- 878 having foregone high duties upon light grounds or from personal resentments, and contains a triumphant vindication from that charge. His Grace defines the powers and rights of the commissioners as laid down, not by legal phraseology, but as a moral obligation. They had to administer a system with nominally " full control over the books to be used." This meant that no book should be introduced without their sanction ; but it did not mean that the list of admirable works once formally adopted should be changed and retrenched at the pleasure of any meeting of the board. Such a conclusion was never contemplated by any of the Ministers who supported the sys tem ; of the Parliaments who voted supplies for it; or of the patrons who established schools under it. When such were their duties and powers, the recent act of the board assumes a very serious complexion : It is plain ,that to depart from the system in this point, and to introduce an innovation never contemplated by any one when the grants were moved for and voted, would le to divert the public money from the purpose for which it was granted. And it is also a gross injustice to wards the many hundred patrons of schools who were in vited and induced to place them under the board, on the strength of an implied promise fully understood by all par ties, and acted on for twenty-one years, but which it is now proposed to violate. -•- - Viewing their proceeding in this strong light, it was a mere logical consequence for the arch bishop to determine upon immediate resigna tion. If he had waited even for the final de termination of the Government, he felt that he would be " placed in a false position " and held responsible " for proceedings which he be lieved to be utterly unjustifiable." Las Alforjas. By George John Cayley. Lon don : Bentley. _ _ IT depends upon the inclination of the reader whether ho will highly enjoy or lightly dispa rage the contents of these saddle-bags. If his appetite is for statistics and general informa tion ho will find " Las Alfoijas " unpretend ingly empty. If, on the other hand, he is wil ling to be amused with a piquant narrative of iiersonal vicissitudes he will esteem Mr. Cayley one of the best companions in the world. No one can tell a good story with a gayer son cluslance and at the same time with less flip pancy. No modern traveller that we call to mind on the instant has a better skill in con veying to you, without apparent artifice or ela boration, a vivid impression of the men and things ho encounters. Though the book verges upon the novel or romance, we accept its ex aggerations, and oven its professed flaws, with little difficulty, RO natural do they appear to us. We have a prudent remembnence of Mr. Cay ley's revolver, and therefore we are reluctant to come to too abrupt a conclusion as to some of the more serious narratives he intersperses. We can say, however, that his Spanish ramble is, in more senses than one, congruous to the scenery of "Don Quixote " and " Gil Bias ;" and further, that it serves as a liveliest supple ,rent to the lively and superlative handbook of our friend Ford. The pleasantry of the book is happily asso ciated with a certain fair lady for whom it pro fesses to have been composed, in the form of letters to England. An accepted lover in de licate health, Mr. Cayley goes out to winter at Seville, and thence proceeds, accompanied by a friend who joined him there, to ride about on ponies, in native costume, among the lions of the Peninsula, as an itinerant portrait painter. This mode of travelling was natu rally adapted to supply the companions with a ,see mi of adventures which Mr. Cayley's aspi rations, as we have already hinted, eke out, with delitoriptions of what did not but what ought ,to brae liefallen them. It is his habit to trap the unsuspecting reader with a variety of circumstantial details which he afterwards explodes by a sob,erer statement of what actu ally did occur ; and much of the charm of the book arises frxnn the uncertainty whether or not you are being unceremoniously trotted auto one of these rail de sari from w:hich you will have to return to the highway of literal tact. Here is a story of this dubious character, which, %while it is exciting, may serve for illustration. It occurs shortly after the travellers had left _ Passing, in discussion, the dark•green golden-dotted orange-groves and spiry cypresses which encircle the city, THE PRESS. we came to a little bridge with a great hole broken through its arch, and, strange to say, workmen mending it. Then, fording the Cluadaira below the dam of a picturesque will, we reached, after a mile or two, the edge of the dehesa, or wilderness. Here we picketed our ponies—that is to say, we drove an iron spike into the ground; and to that spike there is a ring, and through that ring there is a cord— which cord, being tied at about seven yards length round the ponv's neck, allows him to graze with much more fresh air and liberty to sweeten his vegetable diet than ever the prisoner of Chilton had. Not satisfied with this, however, my little black beast must needs break away, and, pulling up his spike, scamper back towards Seville, whose spires and towers still appeared in the distance. The other pony followed his example, and we ran after them. I will leave the whole party running while I tell you why we stopped on the marg in of the dehesa. If you had ever been a load little boy run away from school, which 1 ant ex• ceedingly glad you never were, you would know that the first thing one does on emerging from one's immediate troubles, or the world at large, is to stop and think. We had broken loose from the trammels of society dis guised in a strange garb—with ponies to carry us wher ever we chose, and were about to realise the romance of many dreams. We had, besides, to load our pistols (for we were full of ideas of the dangers of the road), to arrange our saddles, and cloaks, and mantas, which, in the hurry of setting off, had been badly organised; we also intended to take a sketch of the last appearance of Seville. Tn Spain, the preface to everything is a cigarillo, a little squib of tobacco rolled in thin paper, which it takes a man of average talent six months to learn to make. We had just accomplished this delicate operation, and were about to light, when the ponies ran away, and we after them. We had not gone far, though far enough to ace clearly that they could go much faster than we could follow, when the thought of our innocent and helpless alfotjas left a prey to any ravening marauder who might cross the wilder. ness brought us up short. H— went back to guard the baggage, and I followed the ponies, expecting I should have to go hack all the way to the livery-stable in the Calls del Viscaino. At the picturesque mill I heard they had recrossed the Onadaim at full gallop, and I trudged along beneath the sultry sun of February, in much despondence and perspi ration, till I happened to think of the broken bridge, where the workmen must have stopped them. So it turned out, for soon after I was met by two of them lead ing the truants. They had got their saddles turned round, and each had trampled off one of his stirrups. Having tried in vain riding the one to lead the other, I led them Lack, and arriving hot and breathless within half a mile alma encampment, I was startled by the report of a pistol in that direction, Approaching cautiously, I could see nothing of H—, and the terrible idea flashed across my mind that robbers had found him alone guarding the baggage, and had shot him. Then it occurred to me that when they found the two alfoijas they would presume he had a companion (who might institute a search unless also disposed of), and were therefore perhaps lying in wait among the low brushwood to shoot me also, es soon as I should come within range. I therefore approached by as open ground as possible, that they might not get too easy a shot at me; and, when I came as near as I thought safe, I shouted his name. After an anxions moment or two an answer was returned in well-known accents which relieved me from my appre hensions. Still the shot was to be accounted for. Has your imagination prepared you for something dread ful? Mime had—oomelhing like what follows. I approached the spot, and found H— sitting among the cloaks and luggage, smoking, but I saw in an instant by the expression of his face, and the nervona twitch of his lips, which made the cigar end shake, that something serious had happened. " I have been and done it, and there he lies, poor fellow; but it was his own fault." " Good heavens !" I exclaimed, as, turning where he pointed, I saw at about seven yards distance the foot. of a man sticking out of a plot of brnahwood. "Good heavens ! is he deal?—what is the meaning of all this?— what has happened ?—and here is another saddle !—and what is that grey horse ?" " I will tell you, but in the meanwhile we had better pack our beasts and be off as quick as we can. I was sitting here about a quarter of nn hour ago, when this man came riding across the dehesa, and, seeing me, turned this way. I had loaded my long pistols, and bad one of them ready cocked in my hand, under a fold of the cloak I was lying on. After askinr , me a good many impudent questions, which I answered with as much patience as I could—he said at last, " Ah ! I see you are a foreigner, probably on a long journey. Es regular sine firers ilium (it is to be supposed you have money). That is what I am come for, with your permission. I am Pedro Paredes, for that which your worship may please to command—a notable bandit, at whose name the civil guards tremble.' Saying this, he unslung his escopet from the hinder peak of his saddle, and dismounted to take a steadier shot in case of nee d. "Instead of getting up, I pulled the saddle-bags and cloaks into a heap, and, lying on my stomach, resented the muzzle of my pistol over the battery. Now then, you impudent rascal; I said, ' lay down your gun and go away, or I'll shoot you before you can coax your rusty old piece to go oft And I shoal.) advise you never again to try your hand on Englishmen with English pistols ! " He hesitated and turned pale, and was stepping back, when I said, ' If you move without leaving your gun, I fire. Here, - I have the advantage—at a distance, you " No English dog shall make a jest of the Andaluz, he said, a sudden fury flushing his face. He presented his gun as quickly as he could, and we both tired at the same moment, but my pistol had been on his heart during the discussion, and through his heart it went— but I had a nearish ehcape—look at the rim of my hat." Sure enough, there was a round hole in the broad up. turned brim of the CaJanie'. " Thank God you are no worse, but what are we to do? " _ - . "We had better leave him as he is ; he has fallen with the gun clutched in his hand. If we don't disturb him, and they find him after a day or two, with money in his pocket, and all those silver buttons on his clothes they will think he has destroyed himself; I have unsaddled his horse, and turned him loose. He will probably stray away, and not attract immediate attention ; we must throw the saddle and bridle into another bush. There now—we had better put earth between us, as they say." I could easily perceive that he was deeply shocked, though the excitement gave a sort of painful levity to his manner. Before mounting, I went to look at the corpse, the first I had ever seen of one who had died a violent death. He had staggered backwards and fallen flat on his back, his arms and legs stretched out—one hand grasped the barrel of his escopet, and the other a bunch of slender pahafts stems, whose fan-like heads, rustling to the almost imper ceptible breeze, seemed as if the dead hand stirred them. I bent aside a bush of rosemary which shadowed the face. One eyelid was propped up by a rosemary sprig, and th eye beneath still glared upwards with a glazed and stupefied look of fierceness and terror. In bending the bush back to look into his face, I had stirred the sprig, and at first it seemed that lie was alive. However, letting go the twigs in my horror, I saw how it was. He was a tine, handsomish man, of about twenty-two or three, with marked and striking features, denoting, how ever, more strength of passion than intellect. The healthy sunburnt browns of his swarthy face were turned to ghastly yellows on the bloodless and ashy skin. The bright-coloured facings and glittering silver tags and brooches of his dress, too, added a painful contrast of holi day splendour to the faded hues of death. The subsequent encounter with the bandit's sweetheart, whose portrait the author takes, and afterwards carries away in the confusion occasioned by the recognition of her dead lover, is admirably recounted. As the tourists proceed they meet with other incidents scarcely less exciting. In the mountains of Granada they fall in with a Cambridge friend, who is travelling with his young bride disguised as his younger brother. Coming out of Malaga, they successfully experiment in the Robin Hood style upon a certain beggar whom they suspect of having no real title to his vocation. And later on their journey they so improve in audacity as to rob, either meta phorically or really, the author only knows which, a couple of Cambridge acquaintances of the lecture-room, whom they consider they have compensated by contributing an incident to their book. Here is a specimen of the diffi culties to be encountered in order to obtain your letters in the Peninsula : - Coming down by the Post-office—[this is at Granada; — (which is in the same street with our Fonda de la Amist ad and in the direct way between it and the Alhambra), we, found the postmaster sorting the letters ; and, inquiring with a palpitathigheart if there was a letter for my name, I was told it 111114 " regular que no" (probably there was not ), but, that the list would be out in a few minutes. When that portentous document was watered up it proved a blank as far as I was concerned; but knowing that, as many things in Spain are very inefficiently done with much pomp and circumstance, the names on the list bear often but n very vague resemblance to the real address on the letters, 1 lingered pensively studying the column of " cartes estnuijeras" till I fixed upon " No. 3sl, Don Orr !pan Estrin," which I asked to look at. I had but slight hopes, and the official seemed to hesi• tate in giving it me, having so suddenly changed my name. But I suppose he judged by my exclamation of delight on seeing your handwriting that 1 was the rightful owner, for he allowed me to purchase it (at about twice its weight in silver) and carry it away in triumph. In transcribing the address he had begun boldly with the first Christian name George, which he had translated Gregorio--passing over the intermediate writing as works of supererogation he had taken the Esquire—slight/ymoditied—for the patro nymic. However, I got my letter. - - - its Cuenca, with environs, which had been commended to the authors by the united tes timony of Ford, Sterling, and Gayangos, ap pear to have interested them most of Spanish cities. Ronda they were disappointed with, having come upon it from the wrong direction, and have here an account to settle with the author of the Handbook. After Madrid they finished with Segovia,Valladolid, and Victoria, selling their ponies at Irun under the following discount gements : We went out to get our passport/4 r %Nell. so as to be ready to set off to-morrow morning by the Bayonne diligence. As we were discoursing with one of the officers of police before the door of the bureau, and advertising our ponies by telling the price they would probably have to go at if they were not rescued by some more worthy bidder, we were joined by a blustering corporal. " He had beard of our case, (anti° 1 and it was a shame to take advantage of the hurry of travellers, to get valuable