exclaimed--

"One weary soul, though cobbler he by trade,
Comes here to seek a pardon for his sin;
Most holy father, ere the daylight fade,
Oh, let me in!

"From sunny Spain, where runs the Arlanzon,
To thee, oh, father, come I now to crave
That thou wilt raise Don Pedro Torrezon
From restless grave,

"And to his widow him restore again.
This done, dismiss me to my home in peace,
To be thy servant as a priest in Spain,
And faith increase."

To which the Pope replied--

"We smelt thee from afar, oh, son of Spain;
We know thy errand, and we grant thy prayer.
Where onions shed their perfume, son, remain,
Thy presence spare.

"Yes, spare us all thy Spanish odours strong;
Return unto thy country, Sancho--go;
And as a blessing on thy journey long,
Stoop, kiss our toe."

And when Sancho got back to Burgos he was met by Don Pedro de Torrezon,
who, half in anger and half in sorrow, exclaimed--

"Good Sancho, I would spend eternity
Surrounded by the pains of purgat'ry,
Than be restored unto this mortal life,
Where purgat'ry is but the name for wife."

BARBARA, THE GRAZIER'S WIFE.

When Spain was fortunately in possession of the enlightened Moors a
spirit of chivalry pervaded all classes, which degenerated after the
departure of Boabdil from Granada.

The Moorish blood permeated the veins of the majority of the Spaniards;
but a religious despotism completely subdued the minds of all, and
Spain, under the yoke of the Jesuits, became a land more famed for its
_autos da fe_ than for its progress in the fine arts and sciences,
which, to a very great extent, were ignored.

Some there were, however, in whom the blood of the Moors was stronger
than the faith in their new religion, which, however good in the
abstract, was most pernicious in its consequences.

It has been the abuse, not the use, of the Christian religion which has
made of the Spaniard what his conqueror, the Moor, would have most
loathed.

In the province of Galliza is situated the village of Porrinho, lying in
a beautiful valley, and surrounded by meadow-land and fields of maize.

Here lived the merry grazier, Sebastian de las Cabras, famous for his
encounters with wolves, but looked down upon by his neighbours because
it was k