me that a friend of his, of the
name of J---, would call upon me, provided he thought I should not
consider his doing so an intrusion. "Let him come by all means," said I;
"I shall never look upon a visit from a friend of yours in the light of
an intrusion."

In a few days came his friend, a fine tall athletic man of about forty.
"You are no Welshman," said I, as I looked at him.

"No," said he, "I am a native of Lincolnshire, but I have resided in
Llangollen for thirteen years."

"In what capacity?" said I.

"In the wine-trade," said he.

"Instead of coming to Llangollen," said I, "and entering into the
wine-trade, you should have gone to London, and enlisted into the Life
Guards."

"Well," said he, with a smile, "I had once or twice thought of doing so.
However, fate brought me to Llangollen, and I am not sorry that she did,
for I have done very well here."

I soon found out that he was a well-read and indeed highly accomplished
man. Like his friend R---, Mr J--- asked me a great many questions about
Spain. By degrees we got on the subject of Spanish literature. I said
that the literature of Spain was a first-rate literature, but that it was
not very extensive. He asked me whether I did not think that Lope de
Vega was much overrated.

"Not a bit," said I; "Lope de Vega was one of the greatest geniuses that
ever lived. He was not only a great dramatist and lyric poet, but a
prose writer of marvellous ability, as he proved by several admirable
tales, amongst which is the best ghost story in the world."

Another remarkable person whom I got acquainted with about this time was
A---, the innkeeper, who lived a little way down the road, of whom John
Jones had spoken so highly, saying, amongst other things, that he was the
clebberest man in Llangollen. One day as I was looking in at his gate,
he came forth, took off his hat, and asked me to do him the honour to
come in and look at his grounds. I complied, and as he showed me about
he told me his history in nearly the following words:--

"I am a Devonian by birth. For many years I served a travelling
gentleman, whom I accompanied in all his wanderings. I have been five
times across the Alps, and in every capital of Europe. My master at
length dying left me in his will something handsome, whereupon I
determined to be a servant no longer, but married, and came to
Llangollen, which I had visited long before with my master, and had been
much pleased with.