re at much expence to make or mend the high
ways, except just about the capital cities, they are dry or wet, rough
or smooth, steep or rugged, just as the weather or the soil happens to
favour or befoul them.--Now, here is a riddle for your son; I know he is
an adept, and will soon overtake me.

I'm rough, I'm smooth, I'm wet, I'm dry;
My station's low, my title's high;
The King my lawful master is;
I'm us'd by all, though only his:
My common freedom's so well known,
I am for that a proverb grown.

The roads in Spain are, like those in Ireland, very _narrow_, and the
leagues very long. When I complained to an Irish soldier of the length
of the miles, between Kinsale and Cork, he acknowledged the truth of my
observation; but archly added, that though they were _long_, they were
but _narrow_.--Three Spanish leagues make nearly twelve English miles;
and, consequently, seventeen Spanish leagues make nearly one degree.
The bad roads, steep mountains, rapid rivers, &c. occasion most of the
goods and merchandize, which are carried from one part of the kingdom to
the other, to be conveyed on mule-back, and each mule has generally a
driver; and as these drivers have their fixed stages from _posada_ to
_posada_, so must the gentlemen travellers also, because there are no
other accommodations on the roads but such houses; the stables therefore
at the _posadas_ are not only very large, but the best part of the
building, and is the lodging-room of man and beast; all the muleteers
sleep there, with their cloaths on, upon a bundle of straw: but while
your supper is preparing, the kitchen is crowded with a great number of
these dirty fellows, whose cloaths are full of vermin; it would be
impossible, therefore, for even a good cook to dress a dish with any
decency or cleanliness, were such a cook to be found; for, exclusive of
the numbers, there is generally a quarrel or two among them, and at all
times a noise, which is not only tiresome, but frequently alarming.
These people, however, often carry large sums of money, and tho' they
are dirty, they are not poor nor dishonest.--I was told in France, to
beware of the _Catalans_; yet I frequently left many loose things in and
about my chaise, where fifty people lay, and never lost any thing.

When I congratulated myself in a letter to my brother, upon finding in
Wales a Gentleman of the name of Cooke, whose company, conversation, and
acquaintance, were so perfec