f the event without tears; that in all the better
parts of the metropolis there was a sort of palsied feeling which seemed
to affect the whole current of active life; and that for several days
there prevailed in the streets a stillness like that of the Sabbath, but
without its repose. I opened the newspaper; it was still bordered with
broad mourning lines, and was filled with details concerning the deceased
Princess. Her coffin and the ceremonies at her funeral were described as
minutely as the order of her nuptials and her bridal dress had been, in
the same journal, scarce eighteen months before. "Man," says Sir Thomas
Brown, "is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave;
solemnising nativities and deaths with equal lustre, nor omitting
ceremonies of bravery in the infamy of his nature." These things led me
in spirit to the vault, and I thought of the memorable dead among whom
her mortal remains were now deposited. Possessed with such imaginations
I leaned back upon the sofa and closed my eyes.

Ere long I was awakened from that conscious state of slumber in which the
stream of fancy floweth as it listeth by the entrance of an elderly
personage of grave and dignified appearance. His countenance and manner
were remarkably benign, and announced a high degree of intellectual rank,
and he accosted me in a voice of uncommon sweetness, saying, "Montesinos,
a stranger from a distant country may intrude upon you without those
credentials which in other cases you have a right to require." "From
America!" I replied, rising to salute him. Some of the most gratifying
visits which I have ever received have been from that part of the world.
It gives me indeed more pleasure than I can express to welcome such
travellers as have sometimes found their way from New England to those
lakes and mountains; men who have not forgotten what they owe to their
ancient mother; whose principles, and talents, and attainments would
render them an ornament to any country, and might almost lead me to hope
that their republican constitution may be more permanent than all other
considerations would induce me either to suppose or wish.

"You judge of me," he made answer, "by my speech. I am, however, English
by birth, and come now from a more distant country than America, wherein
I have long been naturalised." Without explaining himself further, or
allowing me time to make the inquiry which would naturally have followed,
he ask