ll as do Spanish forests
or Welsh mountains. True romancer as he is, he is not dependent on
conventionally picturesque externals for arresting attention; since he
will discover the stuff of adventure wherever his steps may lead him.
The streets of Bagdad in the "golden prime" of Haroun Alraschid are no
more mysterious, more enthralling, than the well-known thoroughfares of
modern London. No ancient sorceress of Eastern story can touch his
imagination more deeply than can an old gypsy woman. A skirmish with a
publisher is fully as exciting as a tilt in a medieval tourney; while the
stories told him by a rural landlord promise as much relish as any of the
tales recounted by Oriental barbers and one-eyed Calenders.

Thus it is that while the pervasive egotism of the man bewitches us, we
yield readily to the spell of his splendid garrulity. It is of no great
moment that he should take an occasional drink to quench his thirst when
passing along the London streets. But he will continue to make even
these little details interesting. Did he think fit to recount a sneeze,
or to discourse upon the occasion on which he brushed his hair, he would
none the less, I think, have held the reader's attention.

Here is the episode of a chance drink; it is a drink and nothing more;
but it is not meant to be skipped, and does not deserve to be overlooked.

"Notwithstanding the excellence of the London pavement, I began,
about nine o'clock, to feel myself thoroughly tired; painfully and
slowly did I drag my feet along. I also felt very much in want of
some refreshment, and I remembered that since breakfast I had taken
nothing. I was in the Strand, and glancing about I perceived that I
was close by an hotel which bore over the door the somewhat
remarkable name of 'Holy Lands.' Without a moment's hesitation I
entered a well-lighted passage, and turning to the left I found
myself in a well-lighted coffee-room, with a well-dressed and
frizzled waiter before me. 'Bring me some claret,' said I, for I was
rather faint than hungry, and I felt ashamed to give a humble order
to so well-dressed an individual. The waiter looked at me for a
moment, then making a low bow he bustled off, and I sat myself down
in the box nearest to the window. Presently the waiter returned,
bearing beneath his left arm a long bottle, and between the fingers
of his right hand two purple glasses; pla