are also, somehow, inferior to those of similar classes in Britain, is evident from the fact that Swiss watchmakers emigrate to England for the sake of better wages than they can realize at home; and that some thousands of unskilled labourers leave Switzerland annually to better their condition in foreign lands, is, I believe, a fact which admits of no kind of controversy. Let us, then, conclude with this impartial consideration, that if our working population have grievances to complain of (and I allow these grievances are neither few nor light,) they at the same time enjoy a scope and outlet for enterprise and skill, a means of enrichment and advancement, which no people in Continental Europe can at all boast of. Switzerland, as has been

said, is the paradise of the working-man. It might with equal justice be added, that a similar paradise can be realised in the home of every man who is willing to forego personal indulgences, and make his domestic hearth the principal scene of his pleasures, the sanctuary in which his affections are enshrined.

ART. VI.-Narrative of a Yacht-Voyage in the Mediterranean during the Years 1840, 1841. 2 vols. Murray.

LADY GROSVENOR tells us that "a tossing ship and a rolling sea" are not the most favourable accompaniments for journal-keeping. Nevertheless, she has made out a very agreeable narrative in these unpretending volumes, and written just such a book as an English countess in the nineteenth century should indite,-discursive, liberaltoned, informing and tasteful. The work is inscribed to the Right Honourable Thomas Grenville, and the following terms convey a good idea of its character and intention :-" I must remind you, that not having stayed anywhere long enough to make observations of much research and consequent value, my only hope can be to give you a few hours' amusement, without attempting to add a volume to your library. You have been a cordial partaker in the many joys, and the few, though deeps sorrows, of my life; and it is a pleasure to me to offer this account of a very amusing portion of it, to one who, where he is best known, is most honoured and beloved."

In this smooth and frank style does her ladyship uniformly express herself, there being with the utmost high-breeding in the form of the expressions a sparkling spirit, together with a sound sense that indicate a healthy, rightly-constituted, and well-cultured mind. And these qualities are manifested not less in her notices of antiquity and of classical subjects, than in her observations relative to modern times and existing circumstances.

A book of the present sort affords but few points for criticism, beyond the general terms we have just been employing; and therefore in giving a notice of the last work of the class which we can take up this month,-tours and journals having already occupied their due share in our pages,-it only remains that we mention one

or two particulars with regard to the occasion and the scope of the publication.

Well, then, the Earl of Grosvenor, his Countess, and four children, attended by a maid and a man-servant, were the passengers in the yacht, the crew and the officers constituting a suitable addition to the number.

The voyage of the Dolphin extended to a variety of places in the Mediterranean, and on its shores,-Portugal, Spain, Tangier, Turkey, Greece, the Grecian Islands, Malta, Sicily, &c.; touching at many ports, and sometimes remaining long enough to take a journey inland, in order to visit and examine scenes and objects celebrated in history; and this both by land and by water, as the means of conveyance happened to serve. Lisbon and Cadiz were the points at which the Dolphin first anchored, and these, like the other places described, and particulars introduced, are sketched with rapidity and ease. Some of the journeys were performed not without great toil and fatigue, nor without exposure to danger, such as besets the traveller in Calabria, owing to the lawless habits of the inhabitants. For example, a trip from Malaga over the mountains to Granada, is one of risk on the account mentioned. Highly tragical tales are told of undertakings of this kind, as the following story related by a Mr. Annesley will show; the event described having occurred in the October of 1839.

An Englishman had for some time resided in Barcelona, who taught English, and gave lessons to my children; he was associated with a Frenchman, who also instructed several families; and these two lived together in a house with a Swiss jeweller; they had no servant, and none but these three occupied the mansion. The jeweller suddenly disappeared; he was nowhere to be found, and no trace remained of him, and there was no appeal to the police, as they never take any trouble in such cases. One morning the Englishman came to my house, and begged to see me. I found him hardly able to speak; and what he did say was so incoherent, I fancied he had either been drinking, or had lost his senses. He stated that what he had to impart was so dreadful, he could not bring himself to relate it. However, by degrees, he became more intelligible, and after a great many small details, I collected that in the room he occupied with the Frenchman there was a small closet, with an opening in it to admit light from the room near the ceiling. The night before, as he was sitting alone, he fancied he perceived a disagreeable smell in that part of the room; he tried to open the door of the closet, but found it locked; he then climbed upon a chair, and with a candle looked in at the little opening, and, to his horror, saw a corpse in fragments on the floor; part of a leg in one place, an arm in another, and a large sledge-hammer lying by them; he nearly dropped with horror; and at that moment (it was just twelve o'clock) he heard the knock of the Frenchman at the door. As they were alone in the house, he had no resource but to appear as calm and easy as if he had seen nothing. When he let him in, he remarked that he was late that night, as he had to begin

giving his lessons early the next morning, which was Monday; the other answered, "Oh, it does not happen often, never mind;" and they went to bed. Their two beds were so close that they were only separated by a little division at the head. The man said that the agony in which he passed the night was indescribable, as, in addition to the original horror of finding the dead body, he dreaded that the Frenchman would suspect his being aware of it, and murder him also; and there was no escape from the house, nor means to call for help. In this dreadful state he remained till morning, when the Frenchman going out to give his lessons, the other rushed straight to my house to apprise me of what had happened. I was much puzzled what to do, as the police, I knew, would give very little assistance. However, after taking down his statement shortly in writing, I applied there. They said they could have nothing to do with it; and as the supposed criminal was French, I must go to the French consul. All they would do was to give me a little humped-backed man, to assist in catching the murderer. I went to the French consul; and after conferring with him we proceeded together, with our humped-backed companion, to the house where the Englishman lived. We went up stairs, and found the Frenchman at his door. We told him there was a little matter to be settled with the police, on which he answered-" Ah oui! pour la contrebande, n'est-ce pas ?" (he had a good deal to do with the contrabandista concerns), and rushed to a table, pulled open a drawer, from whence we saw him extract a pair of pistols, which proved to be loaded; he, however, seemed to lose his head and be quite bewildered, saying, "Il s'agit de ces pistolets, n'est-ce pas ? ils sont Français, et de la contrebande." He then put his hand farther into the drawer, and was dragging out a sword, when my colleague and I sprang upon and seized him. The hump-backed man then said it was not that we wanted, but that we must have him open the door of the closet; he turned deadly pale, and drawing himself up with a peculiar emphasis and theatrical air, exclaimed, "Très volontiers, monsieur." He then instantly rushed to the open window, and from the balcony dashed himself to the ground; it was a fourth story, and he died in twelve hours after. He would make no confession; but frequently repeated, in a sort of delirium, "Il est coupé en petits morceaux. The investigation of the mutilated corpse, which proved to be that of the jeweller, was dreadful. Under the coat of the Frenchman was found, close to his side, a small hatchet and an enormous knife, with which he must have hacked and hewed the dead body, to carry portions of it from the house when he went out, as the only way in which he could dispose of it. It was supposed he had killed the man with the sledge-hammer which was found in the closet. None of the jeweller's property was ever found or

heard of.

Barcelona has recently been the subject of considerable notoriety, and may therefore be selected by us for a theme in our citations from the present volumes; the sketch affording a very different account from that which the newspapers have for several weeks been lately supplying.

In the evening we retired to the General's garden, and by a long alameda to the walls. There was great excitement in this part of the town, created by immense flocks of turkeys, which were promenading about on some waste ground, each flock directed and occasionally thrashed by six or seven peasants, (the number being proportioned to the size of the flock), who, surrounded by crowds of people, were admonishing their charge with long canes. The streets and walks were quite full, the population of Barcelona being immense. To-morrow all would be let loose, as it is the "fair of turkeys," every individual considering it a positive duty to have one of these birds for Christmas-day, an occasion on which it is said all Barcelona goes wild. The poor people, who have no means of roasting them at home, send them to the bakers; so that sometimes these latter have six or seven thousand turkeys to dress. We made the circuit of the walls, and found their strength very great. The fortifications which surround the town are admirably constructed they are flanked on the eastern side by the low but formidable works of the citadel, and on the western by the towering ramparts of the fortress of Monjuich. We returned by the Rambla and the rampart over the sea, under one end of which is a prison; and on the esplanade above, the troops were assembled, and the band playing; crowds of people extended all the way down the mole. The great walk on the walls, reaching the whole length of the harbour, was, as well as the mole, constructed by the Marquis de la Mina, who died in 1768.

Seville furnishes another sort of notices.

In coming back we passed through a small open square, where the Murillo is buried; but nothing now remains to mark his grave. Formerly there was a small chapel, which was destroyed by the French. The house in which he died stands close by. The best shop in all Spain for the majo dresses (worn by the picadors and metadors at the bull-fights) is in a little street near the cathedral. There was one making for a matador at Madrid-the jacket of dark-brown cloth, richly embroidered with silver, and very handsome; the entire dress costs about forty or fifty pounds. Though this shop is so famous as to supply the matadors of Madrid, it is of so small a size as hardly to accommodate above two customers at once, and of the same calibre as all the other shops in Seville, which are little mean places, entirely open to the street, in the Moorish fashion; and the artificers of all kinds sit crosslegged on a board or slab of marble at their occupations,-another trace, by the way, of Moorish origin. Here also is made the formidable peasant's knife, the "navaja," with a catch to prevent its closing: a deadly weapon, used both in cutting their food and as a prompt resource in quarrels. The Spanish ladies are, by all accounts, wholly uneducated, and pass their time principally in eating and dressing, to both of which occupations they are deeply attached. They consider corpulency to be no disparagement to their beauty; and they sometimes take so much exercise as to walk the length of one of the very dirty streets, in evening-dress, with very tight black satin shoes, and armed with their constant accompaniment, the fan, which they handle with peculiar grace and skill. If they would eat less, and adhere to their national costume, nothing could be prettier or more graceful than their general appearance shrouded under the black mantilla.

The really English pastime of yachting, and the tasteful recreation it affords to our aristocracy, is necessarily not devoid of that variety and excitement which await those who "go down into the sea in ships." Our concluding extract details particulars of the class alluded to, exhibiting the narrator's heart and head to advantage.

We were awakened about two in the morning by a violent storm, the sea rolling furiously, every thing tumbling about, and heavy rain pattering on deck: this continued all night, much to the detriment of any repose. At four o'clock it was blowing a furious gale, with a tremendous cross sea, which frequently swept over our stern, and one sea struck the hapless dingy-our smallest boat, which was suspended on the stern davits-and carried it away in a moment, together with a large supply of fresh meat, placed in it as the larder for the voyage. At half-past seven, A.M., it was still dark, but I got up to see what was going on, and found the little passage to the cabins inundated with water; and Rap, the spaniel, who never was down the stairs before, crouching there, shivering and shaking with fright, dripping wet, and thoroughly miserable. Nothing could be more deplorable than the prospect of the interior. The glass was now falling fast, all our sails had been taken in, and none left set but the storm main-try-sail, and we had now no resource but to lie head to wind, which was increasing frightfully, with a tremendous sea occasionally breaking over the deck. The loss of our boat was but a trifle compared with all the horror and anxiety of the storm, which continued unmitigated: the weather so dark nothing could be seen a mile distant from the ship; and as there was not a gleam of sun for any observation to be taken, there was no certainty as to the direction in which we were carried, but it was calculated we were making stern-way at the rate of about a mile per hour, which proved afterwards to be right. Very few of us were able to get up to-day; the movements of the ship, which was all on one side, were so violent, it was almost impossible to stand; and so we remained all day in a state of anxiety, amounting, I may add, on my own part at least, to great fear. Uncertain as to the direction in which we were drifting, and aware that the low Columbretes islands, and indeed the whole coast of Spain, were on our lee, the increasing violence of the storm rendered the early approach of darkness, which came on soon after five o'clock, still more fearful. The nights, which are now pitch dark, seemed interminable. This afternoon a sea struck the fore-part of the ship, carried away the head-boards, and unshipped the lower lee-boom, which stove in the bottom of the gig. Thus one boat was gone, and another disabled; the barge only remained. About four P. M., the gale from the north-east appeared to cease suddenly, and in a moment there came a hurricane from the north-west, appearing like a black cloud, and sweeping like a whirlwind over the ship, with torrents of rain, the sea raging furiously, and running mountains high; and for twenty minutes that this continued, the masts and every thing else were expected to give way every instant. As it came from a different direction to the previous course of the wind and sea, the effect was, that the ship remained motionless, though quivering to its centre. Our captain, who had circumnavigated the globe, stated this hurricane to have been as violent as any that he had experienced in any part of it. In about