CONTENTS
A CHRONICLE OF WOLFERT’S ROOST.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE KNICKERBOCKER.
A CHRONICLE OF WOLFERT’S ROOST.
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE ALHAMBRA.
THE ADELANTADO OF THE SEVEN CITIES.
DESULTORY THOUGHTS ON CRITICISM.
LEGEND OF DON MUNIO SANCHO DE HINOJOSA.
CONSPIRACY OF THE COCKED HATS.
PELAYO AND THE MERCHANT’S DAUGHTER.
LEGEND OF THE ENGULPHED CONVENT.
Sir: I have observed that as a man advances in life, he is subject to a kind of plethora of the mind, doubtless occasioned by the vast accumulation of wisdom and experience upon the brain. Hence he is apt to become narrative and admonitory, that is to say, fond of telling long stories, and of doling out advice, to the small profit and great annoyance of his friends. As I have a great horror of becoming the oracle, or, more technically speaking, the “bore,” of the domestic circle, and would much rather bestow my wisdom and tediousness upon the world at large, I have always sought to ease off this surcharge of the intellect by means of my pen, and hence have inflicted divers gossiping volumes upon the patience of the public. I am tired, however, of writing volumes; they do not afford exactly the relief I require; there is too much preparation, arrangement, and parade, in this set form of coming before the public. I am growing too indolent and unambitious