At the close of the performance I withdrew, and was
lounging with a party of men in the passage, when, _en passant_, the
lady turned round and called me, and I had the honour of attending her
to the admiral's mansion. I have an invitation on my return to Cadiz,
which I shall accept if I repass through the country on my return from
Asia."
To these adventures, or rather glimpses of adventures, which he met
with in his hasty passage through Spain, he adverted, I recollect,
briefly, in the early part of his "Memoranda;" and it was the younger,
I think, of his fair hostesses at Seville, whom he there described
himself as making earnest love to, with the help of a dictionary.
"For some time," he said, "I went on prosperously both as a linguist
and a lover,[123] till at length, the lady took a fancy to a ring
which I wore, and set her heart on my giving it to her, as a pledge of
my sincerity. This, however, could not be;--anything but the ring, I
declared, was at her service, and much more than its value,--but the
ring itself I had made a vow never to give away." The young Spaniard
grew angry as the contention went on, and it was not long before the
lover became angry also; till, at length, the affair ended by their
separating unsuccessful on both sides. "Soon after this," said he, "I
sailed for Malta, and there parted with both my heart and ring."
In the letter from Gibraltar, just cited, he adds--"I am going over to
Africa to-morrow; it is only six miles from this fortress.
Pages:
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269