us; the splendid result of the toil, travel,
genius, and learning of one man, and that man an Englishman. The above
is no overstrained panegyric; we refer our readers to the work itself,
and then fearlessly abandon the matter to their decision. We have here
all Spain before us; mountain, plain, and river, _poblado y
desploblado_--the well known and the mysterious--Barcelona and Batuecas.

Amidst all the delight and wonder which we have felt, we confess that we
have been troubled by an impertinent thought of which we could not divest
ourselves. We could not help thinking that the author, generous enough
as he has been to the public, has been rather unjust to himself--by
publishing the result of his labours under the present title. A
Hand-book is a Hand-book after all, a very useful thing, but still--The
fact is that we live in an age of humbug, in which every thing to obtain
much note and reputation must depend less upon its own intrinsic merits
than on the name it bears. The present work is about one of the best
books ever written upon Spain; but we are afraid that it will never be
estimated at its proper value; for after all a Hand-book is a Hand-book.
Permit us, your Ladyship, to introduce to you the learned, talented, and
imaginative author of the--shocking! Her Ladyship would faint, and would
never again admit ourselves and our friends to her _soirees_. What a
pity that this delightful book does not bear a more romantic sounding
title--'Wanderings in Spain,' for example; or yet better, 'The Wonders of
the Peninsula.'

But are we not ourselves doing our author injustice? Aye surely; the man
who could write a book of the character of the one which we have at
present under notice, is above all such paltry considerations, so we may
keep our pity for ourselves. If it please him to cast his book upon the
waters in the present shape, what have we to do but to be grateful?--we
forgot for a moment with what description of man we have to do. This is
no vain empty coxcomb; he cannot but be aware that he has accomplished a
great task; but such paltry considerations as those to which we have
alluded above are not for him but for writers of a widely different stamp
with whom we have nothing to do.

WHAT TO OBSERVE IN SPAIN.

Before we proceed to point out the objects best worth seeing in the
Peninsula, many of which are to be seen there only, it may be as well to
mention what is _not_ to be seen: there is no su