A Scamper through Spain and Tangier. By Margaret Thomas. (Hutchinson
and Co.)—Miss Margaret Thomas, with a lady com- panion, seems to have scampered through Spain, from St. Jean de Luz to Tangier, without much inconvenience or hardship. She used her opportunities well, and describes, not without some originality, the impression the Spanish cathedrals, the Moorish remains, and the Spanish people themselves made on her. She is enthusiastic about the colouring—the brilliancy of which under the fierce Spanish sun is so forcible—and possesses a true appreciation of the great glory of Spain and her remains of Gothic art. We really get a vivid idea of the Spain of to-day,—its whitewashed towns, its idle, semi-barbarous people in their gorgeous dresses, and the feeling of a past that in some manner still lingers and pervades the land of beggars and priests. She was disappointed in Seville, the grievous subsidence of part of the exquisite cathedral having just taken place ; still, she hardly seems to have quite realised its beauty, or to have done it justice. She has much to say about Tangier and the Moors. The book is illustrated by a few capital reproductions from drawings of her own, showing that her pencil is more powerful than her pen. Indeed, she skips from one topic to another with an occasional suddenness that spoils an otherwise well-written itinerary.
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