Sketches Atoheel in Fin de Siecle Iberia. By Mr. and
Mrs, Workman. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—Whether Mr. and Mrs. Work- man have proved that for good riders a bicycle tour is the pleasantest way in which to see Spain must remain a little doubtful. It is of course much the easiest method of getting off beaten tourist tracks, but there are many riders who would not enjoy riding from forty-six to seventy-seven miles a day with between 12 lb. and 20 lb. of luggage on their machines, over roads which are obviously often beyond abuse. All the same the present writer must acknowledge that had he leisure, he would be quite ready to start to-morrow and follow in the wheel tracks of the authors of this book. The interest of the scenery and roads, the charm of the old towns, the beauty of the cathedral music, and of Abe famous picture galleries of Seville and Madrid, would be enough to compensate for all disadvantages. And perhaps it would be as well to visit Spain before all the Roman and Moorish remains have perished, some apparently of neglect, others, like the sixteenth-century leaning-tower at Saragossa, pulled down "because the people were tired of seeing it stand there." The same indifference, which, however, seems to obtain principally in the North, must have dictated the singular treatment of the bones of the Cid when Mr. and Mrs. Workman visited them. A "rusty-looking boy" with a bunch of keys banged open the door of the chapel in the Town Hall at Burgos where the relics are kept. Finally catching sight of the plain brown casket in which they are deposited, the boy cried, " Here they are," and proceeded to try to force open the casket, trying one by one every key in his bunch. At last the attempt had to be abandoned and another visit paid, when the real custodian appeared and the bones were duly exhibited, The book contains a great many photographs, several of the authors and their bicycles, to one of which the Court of the Lions furnishes a background.
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