Bright days in sunny lands

Front matter

Class ____&^lo.

Book

Aha

Preface

HALIBURTON says, quaintly, that "the bee, though it finds every rose has a thorn, comes back loaded with honey from his rambles." With him, the Author believes in extracting all the honey possible out of the thorny roses of foreign bloom. Why not ? Why use only the eyes and not the imagination? Old and sober-minded Doctor Johnson laid down the principle that " the use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and, instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are." All true, but if one does not find things as he supposes them to be, what then ? The right spirit will take things as they are, and will love them for their own sake.

There are always thorns, if one looks for them, to be met v/ith in one's experiences in foreign lands, but also a vast amount of sweetness. Inconveniences one must expect; some unhandsome things also; but in place of discontent he should substitute enthusiasm and wholesome imagination. Then, what might otherwise prove a task becomes the most delightful of recreations. A calm mind, even temper, and plentiful bonhomie^ will always serve to enrich and vi PREFACE

ennoble the pursuit of knowledge in any direction or locality where it is sought.

It is needless to say to those who have read the Author's " Bright Days in Merrie England " that this work is intended to be a companion volume to that. It aims at nothing higher than to interest the reader in places which, with some exceptions, are a trifle out of the ordinary lines of tourist-travel. It is neither critic nor " guide," but describes in a plain way a few of those outdoor pictures made by Nature and by Man, which so delight with their glowing colors and charm by their historical associations.

Contents

I. BY THE PILLARS OF HERCULES

III. THE CITY OF SEVILLE .

IV. THE MOSQUE AT CORDOVA .