period to have been busy in these districts.  Valladolid abounds with convents, at present deserted, which afford some of the finest specimens of architecture in Spain.  The principal church, though rather ancient, is unfinished:  it was intended to be a building of vast size, but the means of the founders were insufficient to carry out their plan:  it is built of rough granite.  Valladolid is a manufacturing town, but the commerce is chiefly in the hands of the Catalans, of whom there is a colony of nearly three hundred established here.  It possesses a beautiful alameda, or public walk, through which flows the river Escurva.  The population is said to amount to sixty thousand souls.

We put up at the Posada de las Diligencias, a very magnificent edifice:  this posada, however, we were glad to quit on the second day after our arrival, the accommodation being of the most wretched description, and the incivility of the people great; the master of the house, an immense tall fellow, with huge moustaches and an assumed military air, being far too high a cavalier to attend to the wants of his guests, with whom, it is true, he did not appear to be overburdened, as I saw no one but Antonio and myself.  He was a leading man amongst the national guards of Valladolid, and delighted in parading about the city on a clumsy steed, which he kept in a subterranean stable.

Our next quarters were at the Trojan Horse, an ancient posada, kept by a native of the Basque provinces, who at least was not above his business.  We found everything in confusion at Valladolid, a visit from the factious being speedily expected.  All the gates were blockaded, and various forts had been built to cover the approaches to the city.  Shortly after our departure the Carlists actually did arrive, under the command of the Biscayan chief, Zariategui.  They experienced no opposition; the staunchest nationals retiring to the principal fort, which they, however, speedily surrendered, not a gun being fired throughout the affair.  As for my friend the hero of the inn, on the first rumour of the approach of the enemy, he mounted his horse and rode off, and was never subsequently heard of.  On our return to Valladolid, we found the inn in other and better hands, those of a Frenchman from Bayonne, from whom we received as much civility as we had experienced rudeness from his predecessor.

In a few days I formed the acquaintance of the bookseller of the place, a kind-hearted simple man, who willingly undertook the charge of vending the Testaments which I brought.

I found literature of every description at the lowest ebb at Valladolid.  My newly-acquired friend merely carried on bookselling in connexion with other business; it being, as he assured me, in itself quite insufficient to afford him a livelihood.  During the week, however, that I continued in this city, a considerable number of copies were disposed of, and a fair prospect opened that many more would be