Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

1842-1844.]

A NOW BRAE LITTLE BOOK.

175

V.
THERE is a little volume, of 377 pages, 12mo, which may
occasionally be picked up in those shops in which they deal
in rare books. It is entitled "A Winter in Madeira, and a
Summer in Spain and Florence." It was written by my
father some time after his return from this second journey to
Europe, and contains a narrative of one of the most interesting
and happy years of his life. Agreeably written, and illustrated by a few woodcuts, rather coarsely executed, from some of
my own pencil sketches, it gives an account of our voyage
from New York to Madeira, of the heavy gale encountered
on the way, of our passage through the Azores, and of our arrival, on the 11th of November, at the exquisitely beautiful
island which was to form our winter home. Guided by that
little volume, the reader may pass from scene to scene amid
the superb mountains and dizzy ravines, and become familiar
with the manners and customs of the simple and industrious
peasantry of that dependency of the Portuguese crown. If he
have a taste for them he may revel in statistics concerning
climate and productions, commerce and trade, agriculture, government, and religion. He will see us in our pleasant apartments near the Carreira, under the charge of our merry Portuguese landlord, Gambaro Baxixa. IHe may read the exploits
of Don Miguel, and sigh over the romance of Robert Machin
and Anne D'Arfet. It was a winter's idyl, a grateful time of
rest and refreshment, in one of the most delicious climates in
the world, where an invalid is hardly ever kept in-doors by
rain, where the sun is rarely too warm for open-air exercise,
and where a light overcoat suffices for the coolest day; where
one can go only on horseback or on foot, and where each path