THE REVEREND W. ROBERTSON'S VISIT TO THE PENINSULA.

Ma. Ronsarsom, a clergyman of the Scottish Kirk, was induced to visit Gibraltar in the summer of 1841, at "the instance of the Colonial Committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland," in reference to the appointment of a Presbyterian chaplain for the troops. In his way thither, he called at Vigo, Lisbon, Cadiz; and varied his sojourn at the Rock by trips to Seville, Tangier, Mahiga, and Granada. Of the adventures and impressions of his summer and autumn excursion he kept a journal, which he has here given to the public, with some historical reminiscences, that were probably written when he determined on publication.

This tour is not so much traversed as France, Italy, and the Rhine; but, excepting Tangier, it has not much freshness. The interest of the book, which is considerable, arises from the character of the author, that well adapts him to impart attraction even to often-described scenes. In the first place, he is an old traveller ; which enables him to judge by comparison, experience in travel having the same advantages as extensive knowledge in literature. He appears to have possessed in youth great vigour of body and mind, with strong animal spirits, that are now sobered, not subdued; and sometimes his enthusiasm breaks out upon subjects of war. and national glory, sounding oddly from a divine. Scholarship has given him a command of language; the habit of preaching has conduced to fluency; and these things, coupled with a native cast of mind, have imparted force and vivacity to his style. The descriptions, too, possess critical truth. There conies a time in every one's life when reason rises superior to fancy or external impressions ; things arc analyzed as well as seen; what they want is noted as well as what they have, and the conclusion is formed without regard to the colours of youthful enthusiasm or the notions of the million. Mr. Robertson has reached this state of judgment ; and he possesses its usual concomitant— the power of clearly presenting the facts on which his conclusion is grounded ; so that we not only have a juster vie* of the origins!, but we get a more vivid idea of it, than in the vague accounts of Wis.. criininating praise.. At the same time, there is nothing carping or depreciatory about this traveller. He praises liberally and blames judiciously. It is possible, however, that the hot time of his excursion may have given a less pleasing appearance to Spanish landscape than it wears in spring.

Some novelty is imparted to the work by the author's position as a clergyman. At all places his professional character naturally directed his line of observation ; and during his sojourn at Gibraltar he gave much attention to the garrison, and made an effort to open a controversy with the Jews, but his attempt failed. It is true that there are many religious reflections of a sermonizing kind, scarcely well-placed in a book of secular travels ; but they are brief, and powerfully written. This remark also applies to some other passages,—as the history of Gibraltar; which takes a rapid review of the fortunes of this remarkable rock, describing the celebrated siege, when the fortress was defended by Elliott, with a zest and vigour that smack of the church-militant. Mr. Robertson is such a connoisseur in war that one might fancy he must have had an inkling for the army in his youth; and his taste in gastronomy and wines is evidently good.

Leaving these matters and mere landscapes, we shall confine our extracts to the people Mr. Robertson fell in with.

SPANISH CHARACTER AND LAWLESSNESS.

In all parts of Spain which I have visited, I have been Struck with astonishment at observing the small quantity of the simplest food which is sufficient for the peasant's support. In Catalonia and Arragon in the North, in Andalusia and Granada in the South, he is the same tall, robust, and masculine fellow, bold and manly in his bearing, with a free and independent step and a proud and intrepid eye. The inhabitant of towns may crouch, for aught that I know to the contrary, under the despotic tyranny of their dwarfish and emasculated aristocracy; but the Spanish mountaineer is as free as the winds of heaven, and with his long carabine slung to his saddle, and his deadly knife in his girdle, lie values no man a smile and dreads no man's frown. He is a lawless rascal, no doubt, and has got a wolfish taste for human blood. But whose fault is that? In a lawless land, a brave man is forced to be lawless in self-defence. Spain, as far as I know, has never been a land of law, and the poor man has never had any protection from the oppression of the rich, except from his own strong arm and fearless heart; and, -however dreadful it may appear to the native of England, where the law is supreme and justice equal-handed to high and low, in such a country as Spain it is no mean check on the caprice of power for the powerful to know that they have to deal with men who will unscrupulously repay insult or injury with the bullet or the knife. Such a state of things necessarily leads to the virtual recognition of the law of the strongest.— " The good old law, the simple plan,

Let him take that has the power, And let him keep that can."

Revenge is henceforth no vice, but reciprocative justice; robbery no crime, but the due exercise of the right of the strongest; murder implies no guilty but is an unavoidable concomitant of the vindication of that right. 'Might is right, and right is might," is in fact a short and emphatic summary of the law which is in force over the greatest part of the globe. Mile, therefore, we bless Divine Providence for having cast our lot in a happier land, yet we ought not to condemn the Spa • niard, without recollecting the circumstances which have made him what he is.

THE MILITARY AT GIBRALTAR.

But not to you alone [the Highlanders) are ray warm acknowledgments du& My military thek comprehended many hundreds from other regiments; end have to thank their officers, though members of a sister church, for the same cordiality and kindness. To all r tender my most hearty thanks: and surely it is no small compliment for-a gospel minister to aver, that he can look back on the gay and lively mess, as well as on the quiet family circle, without the recollecfim of anything to regret or reprove. At your splendid and hospitable tables I Ray truly say, that I found the lightheartedness of youth devoid of indecorous levity, and the gayety of the soldier devoid of profanity; and I conceive it to be due to the Christian feeling of some among you, to the respect of others for the character of a clergyman, and to the gentlemanly feelings of all, to say, that during the time I frequented your society I am unconscious of a single word being uttered among you which could have brought a blush to the cheek of the most sensitive fee, or a word of rebuke from the lips of the most faithful and unoompromisin,g servant of God. May God be with you all, gallant soldiers

The trip to Tangier, though limited to the city and its immediate confines, is agreeable from the novelty of the subject, and from Mr. Robertson's superiority as a writer to most other tourists who have ventured to Barbary : he also exhibits a lenient and tolerant spirit towards the Mahometans ; giving what praise he may to their moral qualities, but enraptured with their appearance, dress, and bearing.

THE MOORISH ANIMAL.

The Moor, especially when somewhat advanced in life, is a magnificent Manlike creature. He is rather above the middle size, stout-bullt, large of limb, with great display of muscle; noble features approaching to the Roman, an ample brow, a dark eye, and (in jockey-phraseology) uncommonly fine action; lifts high, steps out well, and sets clown his foot with a firnmess of tread peculiar to himself. With turbaned head, his loins girt with a red sash, wide white trousers, and naked limbs, as he moves along with his free, unfettered stride, he presents a remarkable contrast to the close-buttoned European, with his artificial manner and confined garb. "That sewed-up race—that button'd nation,

Who, while they boast their laws so free, Leave not one limb at liberty ;

But live, with all their lordly speeches, The slaves of buttons and tight breeches."

The stalking peculiarity of the Moor is his lion-like appearance. Often have I stood and gazed with admiration on a group of these swarthy turbaned children of the sun, squatted cross-4gged, pipe in mouth, solemn and silent, under shelter of the parapet wall of the 's Bastion, and wondered at the singular resemblance which their grave countenance, strongly marked features, and air of savage dignity, gave them to the lord of the desert in repose. Place them under a palmtree beside the Diamond of the Desert, and Rubens would glory in the picture.

MOORISH GOOD-NATURE.

SOMS Of oar party were desirous to take a sketch of the mosque and its minaret; but were warned that any attempt of the kind would probably excite the people to great indignation, and perhaps to violence. This waning, however, only served to excite our curiosity : so, resolved to see if the people were so easily roused, we proceeded in a body to a spot where the best view of the building might he had; and the artists, producing their drawing-materials, set deliberately to work. A great crowd was speedily collected, but animated with any thing but iiidignation. They pressed eagerly round, anxious to get a glance at the drawings; and when they saw the figure of their minaret gradually transferred to the paper, they laughed aloud with joy; and when one of my friends introduced into his sketch some figures among the admiring crowd, thew delight knew no bounds. They are truly an unsophisticated simple people. On one occasion, while we were reclining on the beach, a number of the natives gathered round us to admire our outlandish dress and appearance. I soon found that I became an object of particular attention, obviously affording my savage admirers some singular source of amusement. First, one half-naked swarthy Moslem sat down beside me, looked and laughed, and laughed and looked again. This one beckoned to others, until I found myself the centre of an admiring throng of and laughing barbarians. It was not for some time that rdiscovered that I was indebted for this unusual tribute of merry admiration to the grotesque figure of a dog's head with white eyes, carved on the top of my ebony walking-stick.