ssly drawn of wounds and
dangers in a field of battle. She now leaned her arm fondly on his
shoulder, and her eye glistened as it rested on the manuscript of the
poor literary dragoon. Lady Lillycraft buried herself in a deep,
well-cushioned elbow-chair. Her dogs were nestled on soft mats at her
feet; and the gallant general took his station in an armchair, at her
side, and toyed with her elegantly ornamented work-bag. The rest of
the circle being all equally well accommodated, the captain began his
story; a copy of which I have procured for the benefit of the reader.

THE STUDENT OF SALAMANCA.

What a life do I lead with my master; nothing but blowing of
bellowes, beating of spirits, and scraping of croslets! It is a
very secret science, for none almost can understand the language
of it. Sublimation, almigation, calcination, rubification,
albification, and fermentation; with as many termes unpossible to
be uttered as the arte to be compassed.

--LILLY'S _Gallathea_.

Once upon a time, in the ancient city of Granada, there sojourned a
young man of the name of Antonio de Castros. He wore the garb of a
student of Salamanca, and was pursuing a course of reading in the
library of the university; and, at intervals of leisure, indulging his
curiosity by examining those remains of Moorish magnificence for which
Granada is renowned.

Whilst occupied in his studies, he frequently noticed an old man of a
singular appearance, who was likewise a visitor to the library. He was
lean and withered, though apparently more from study than from age.
His eyes, though bright and visionary, were sunk in his head, and
thrown into shade by overhanging eyebrows. His dress was always the
same: a black doublet; a short black cloak, very rusty and threadbare;
a small ruff and a large overshadowing hat.

His appetite for knowledge seemed insatiable. He would pass whole days
in the library, absorbed in study, consulting a multiplicity of
authors, as though he were pursuing some interesting subject through
all its ramifications; so that, in general, when evening came, he was
almost buried among books and manuscripts.

The curiosity of Antonio was excited, and he inquired of the
attendants concerning the stranger. No one could give him any
information, excepting that he had been for some time past a casual
frequenter of the library; that his reading lay chiefly among works
treating of the occult sciences, and that he was