the subject, and his answer only tended to
increase my curiosity. He said that nobody knew what nation the
mysterious 'Unknown' belonged to, nor what were his motives for
travelling. In his passport he went by the name of ----, and as
a British subject, but in consequence of a suspicion being
entertained that he was a Russian spy, the police kept a sharp
look-out over him. Spy or no spy, I found him a very agreeable
companion; and it was agreed that on the following day we
should visit together the ruins of Italica.

_May 5._--After breakfast, the 'Unknown' and myself, mounting
our horses, proceeded on our expedition to the ruins of
Italica. Crossing the river, and proceeding through the
populous suburb of Triano, already mentioned, we went over the
same extensive plain that I had traversed in going to San
Lucar, but keeping a little more to the right a short ride
brought us in sight of the Convent of San Isidrio, surrounded
by tall cypress and waving date-trees. This once richly-endowed
religious establishment is, together with the small
neighbouring village of Santi Ponci, I believe, the property of
the Duke of Medina Coeli, at whose expense the excavations are
now carried on at the latter place, which is the ancient site
of the Roman Italica.

We sat down on a fragment of the walls, and sadly recalling the
splendour of those times of yore, contrasted with the
desolation around us, the 'Unknown' began to feel the vein of
poetry creeping through his inward soul, and gave vent to it by
reciting, with great emphasis and effect, and to the
astonishment of the wondering peasant, who must have thought
him 'loco,' the following well-known and beautiful lines:--

'Cypress and ivy, weed and wallflower, grown,
Matted and massed together, hillocks heap'd
On what were chambers, arch crush'd, column strown
In fragments, choked up vaults, and frescoes steep'd
In subterranean damps, where the owl peep'd,
Deeming it midnight; Temples, baths, or halls--
Pronounce who can: for all that Learning reap'd
From her research hath been, that these are walls.'

I had been too much taken up with the scene, the verses, and
the strange being who was repeating them with so much feeling,
to notice the approach of one who now formed the fourth person