to winter quarters. This change of habitation, together with mats laid over the brick-floors, thicker and warmer than those used in summer, is all the provision against cold, which is made in this country. A flat and open brass pan, of about two feet diameter, raised a few inches from the ground by a round wooden frame, on which, those who sit near it, may rest their feet, is used to burn a sort of charcoal made of brush-wood, which the natives call cisco. The fumes of the charcoal are injurious to the health; but such, is the effect of habit, that the natives are seldom aware of any inconvenience arising from the choking smell of their brasiers.

The precautions against heat, however, are numerous. About the latter end of May the whole population move down stairs. A thick awning, which draws and undraws by means of ropes and pullies, is stretched over the central square, on a level with the roof of the house. The window-shutters are nearly closed from morning till sun-set, admitting just light enough to see one another, provided the eyes have not lately been exposed to the glare of the streets. The floors are washed every morning, that the evaporation of the water imbibed by the bricks, may abate the heat of the air. A very light mat, made of a delicate sort of rush, and dyed with a variety of colours, is used instead of a carpet. The Pátio, or square, is ornamented with flower-pots, especially round a jet d'eau, which, in most houses, occupies its centre. During the hot season the ladies sit and receive their friends in the Patio. The street-doors are generally open; but invariably so from sunset till eleven or twelve in the night. Three or four very large glass lamps are hung in a line from the street-door to the opposite end of the Pátio: and, as in most houses, those who meet at night for a Tertulia, are visible from the streets, the town presents a very pretty and animated scene till near midnight. The poorer class of people, to avoid the intolerable heat of their habitations, pass a great part of the night in conversation at their doors; while persons of all descriptions are moving about till late, either to see their friends, or to enjoy the cool air in the public walks.

This gay scene vanishes, however, on the approach of winter. The people retreat to the upper floors, the ill-lighted streets are deserted at the close of day, and they become so dangerous from robbers, that few but the young and adventurous retire home from the Tertulia without being attended by a servant, sometimes bearing a lighted torch. The free access to every house, which prevails in summer, is now checked by the caution of the inhabitants. The entrance to the houses lies through a passage with two doors, one to the street, and another called the middle-door (for there is another at the top of the stairs) which opens into the Pátio. This passage is called Zaguan-a pure Arabic word, which means, I believe, a porch. The middle-door is generally shut in the daytime; the outer one is never closed but at night. Whoever wants

to be admitted must knock at the middle door, and be prepared to answer a question, which, as it presents one of those little peculiarities which you are so fond of hearing, I shall not consider as unworthy of a place in my narrative.

The knock at the door, which, by-the-by, must be single, and by no means loud---in fact, a tradesman's knock in London-is answered with a Who is there? To this question the stranger replies, "Peaceful people:" Gente de paz-and the door is opened without further enquiries. Peasants and beggars call out at the door, Hail spotless Mary! Ave Maria purisima. The answer, in that case, is given from within in the words Sin pecado concebida: conceived without sin. This custom is a remnant of the fierce controversy, which existed, about three hundred years ago, between the Franciscan and the Dominican friars, whether the Virgin Mary had or not been subject to the penal consequences of original sin. The Dominicans were not willing to grant any exemption; while the Franciscans contended for the propriety of such a privilege. The Spaniards, and especially the Sevillians, with their characteristic gallantry, stood for the honour of our Lady, and embraced the latter opinion so warmly, that they turned the watchword of their party into the form of address, which is still so prevalent in Andalusia. During the heat of the dispute, and before the Dominicans had been silenced by the authority of the Pope, the people of Seville began to assemble at various churches, and sallying forth with an emblematical picture of the sinless Mary, set upon a sort of standard surmounted by a cross, they paraded the city in different directions, singing a hymn to the immaculate conception, and repeating aloud their beads or rosary. These processions have continued to our times, and they constitute one of the nightly nuisances of this place. Though confined at present to the lower classes, they assume that characteristic importance and overbearing spirit, which attaches to the most insignificant religious associations in this country. Wherever one of these shabby processions presents itself to the public, it takes up the street from side to side, stopping the passengers, and expecting them to stand uncovered in all kinds of weather, till the standard is gone by. These awkward and heavy banners are called, at Seville, Sinpecados, that is, sinless, from the theological opinion in whose support they were raised.

The Spanish government, under Charles III., shewed the most ludicrous eagerness to have the sinless purity of the Virgin Mary added by the Pope to the articles of the Roman Catholic faith. The court of Rome, however, with the cautious spirit, which has at all times guided its spiritual politics, endeavoured to keep clear from a stretch of authority, which, even some of their own divines would be ready to question; but splitting, as it were, the difference with theological precision, the censures of the church were

levelled against such as should have the boldness to assert that the Virgin Mary had derived any taint from "her great ancestor;" and, having personified the immaculate conception, it was declared, that the Spanish dominions in Europe and America were under the protecting influence of that mysterious event. This declaration diffused universal joy over the whole nation. It was celebrated with public rejoicings on both sides of the Atlantic. The king instituted an order under the emblem of the immaculate conception-a woman dressed in white and blue; and a law was enacted, requiring a declaration, upon oath, of a firm belief in the immaculate conception, from every individual, previous to his taking any degree at the universities, or being admitted into any of the corporations, civil and religious, which abound in Spain. This oath is administered even to mechanics upon their being made free of a Guild.

Here, however, I must break off, for fear of making this packet too large for the confidential conveyance, which alone I could trust without great risk of finishing my task in one of the cells of the Holy Inquisition. I will not fail, however, to resume my subject as soon as circumstances will permit me. Yours, &c. LEUCADIO DOBLADO.

JONATHAN KENTUCKY'S JOURNAL.

WHILE the mania for visiting distant countries extends so widely, and we hear nothing but descriptions of foreign wonders, we may be tempted, from time to time, to give a few extracts from the Journal of Mr. Jonathan Kentucky, an American visitor to our own capital, who has favoured us with his correspondence; not because we think there is much novelty of remark, or profundity of observation, in what he records, but because it is always interesting to see how the habits, manners, and passing events, of our own country strike the imagination of a foreigner; and, if that foreigner be but endowed with a moderate portion of good sense, and will be content to set down only what appears to him to be really remarkable, the perusal can scarcely fail to afford us both amusement and instruction. We do not mean to say that this is always the case with Mr. Jonathan Kentucky; for he is often unnecessarily minute, and oftener still wearies us with long laudatory digressions upon American superiority, which have no sort of connexion with the subject under discussion, and which, however interesting on the other side of the Atlantic, we will spare our readers the task of perusing, and ourselves of exposing. Thus we are convinced Mr. Kentucky himself, when he has been some time longer amongst us, will thank us for suppressing the long and

laboured account of his first arrival in our metropolis, and the extravagant panegyric, which he indulges upon Philadelphia and the Delaware at the expense of the Thames and London. We have taken the liberty of exercising a similar discretion on other occasions; and indeed we should recommend to Mr. K. the same rule, which was, we believe, given to Robertson the historian, by Johnson; and that is, to read over the next portion of his journal before he sends it to us, and, whenever he comes to a passage that he thinks particularly fine, to strike it out. This will save him some disappointment, and us much trouble; for, as it is, we fear he will hardly recognise his own contributions in our mutilated edition of them. We will plunge at once in m dias res-into the twentieth page of his journal, and begin with his visit to the Bank of England.

1st Feb. 1821.-Visit to the Bank; under the auspices of Mr. T. How Mr. T., who belongs to that sect, which is in this country denominated evangelical, can reconcile contradictions, and serve at once both God and Mammon-for the Bank might well stand for the very temple of Mammon-is his concern and not mine. This monstrous establishment contains a thousand persons in constant employment under its roof; and in the late war it marshalled its forces, and established them as a regiment, under the name of The Bank Volunteers. There are no less than sixty signing clerks, at a salary of 3001. per annum to each. This enormous expense of 18,000l. a year, will, it is said, be saved by the new note, in which the signature is to be stamped by machinery. The whole process of printing the notes, &c. &c. is carried on within the walls of the Bank. Here, too, are all the separate offices, where the business, connected with the public funds, and the payment of the dividends, is transacted. Many of these are at once elegant and commodious, and the more modern do credit to the architectural talents of Mr. Soane. There is no plate of a higher amount than a thousand pounds-the largest printed note in circulation. All notes paid into the Bank are immediately cancelled, by tearing off the signature, and afterwards deposited and preserved for twenty years; as a matter of public accommodation, in case their aid should be required as evidence in any pecuniary transaction. The descent into the subterraneous receptacle, where long ranges of wooden boxes full of these ragged relics are piled up one upon another, reminded us of the catacombs at Paris; and here

Each in its narrow cell for ever laid,

The sons and daughters of corruption sleep!

As one of the curiosities of the place, we were shewn the thousand pound note, in which Lord Cochrane paid his fine, on the back of which he had written as follows:

"My health having suffered by long and close confinement, and my oppressors being resolved to deprive me of property or life, I submit to robbery to protect myself from murder, in the hope that I may yet live to bring the delinquents to justice." "COCHRANE."

In the bullion department, there was a profusion of gold ingots, and sixty-ounce pieces; which last were about the size of a large cake of Windsor soap, and almost tempted one to utter an exclamation against the obligations of the eighth commandment. Large heaps of Spanish dollars, in a bigger and baser coin, scarcely excited attention by the side of these golden treasures. Familiarity may, as in the case of grocers and figs, produce a similar indifference in the guardians of these vaults; but I should, at least, advise the directors to subject visitors to the dancing exercise, which Zadig records in his history of the election of King Rabussan's treasurer.

In the treasurer's office were piles of bags, containing a thousand sovereigns in each; and I was not aware before, how inconvenient it would be to carry such a sum about one's person. We next tasted of the punishment of Tantalus, by having a small bundle of notes put into our hands, amounting to nearly three millions, which we passed from one to another with the usual variety of intonation, of which the wondering exclamation of "Dear me!" admits.

The Bank also possesses a most extensive collection of coins, ancient and modern; and not the least curiosity of the place is a complete set of "The London Gazette," from the period of its first commencement, in the reign of Charles the Second, when, bythe-by, it was called "The Oxford Gazette," where the Court then was, on account of the plague being in London.

So much for the Bank of England, which it is difficult to quit without a word upon the bullion question, that has so long divided the political economists of this country. Mr. Cobbett tells his readers, he will be broiled alive if the Bank ever pays in cash; and he contends, that there will be an universal run to Threadneedlestreet, to change paper into gold, on the 1st of May. Here, perhaps, he is wrong. If people have now the power of buying gold in the market with Bank paper at the rate of 31. 17s. per ounce, which they might take to the Mint, and get converted into coin without any additional expense, and yet do not exercise this power, what reason is there to suppose that a greater anxiety will prevail to obtain the same end, by a more expensive process, after the 1st of May? I guess there is more foundation for another of his assertions; namely, that if cash payments are resumed, the interest of the debt must be reduced; but time will so soon solve this question, that it is unnecessary to dwell upon it longer at present.