of breaks, so that it close, heavy, and uninteresting. If
the pur- pose of putting it forth in this guise is to render it available as a hand- book, that purpose ought to have been carried out in its arrangement, which is quite too desultory. It is pleasantly enough written, though common-place, but the author seems to have been unable to realise the • fact that Spain is a Catholic country, and to have existed in a state of chronic 'surprise that Protestant ideas were not prevalent and reduced to 'practice. That people should regard the buildings in which they worship with "reverential awe," he attributes to the control of the priests, having apparently no conception of the Catholic dogma of the Real Presence of --cied in every church, and its indication by the lamp of the sanctuary ; and he accords unlimited credence to sundry stories of the doings of the "Holy Inquisition," long after the destruction of its power in Spain. -We suspect that Mr. Stone made his Protestantism rather too conspicu- 011; and that some of his fellow-tourists, gifted with an undisciplined -sense of humour, amused themselves at his expense. When he escapes from the influence of his bite noire, he is very candid and observant, and writes in a concise and agreeable style, about the cities, and the -people, and the objects of art, rising to enthusiasm as he discourses of -the Giralda at Seville, the Alhambra, and the Old. He has evidently been a conscientious traveller, and he means to be a conscientious writer ; but his 'prejudioes 'pervert his observation, and warp his judgment ; they are, however, so plain that they are harmless, and do not decrease the usefulness of the book as a guide to what to see and how to see it. Mr. Stone reports most favourably of the Cook's Tourist system.
Previous page
