Perhaps It Would Have Been Impossible To Have Chosen A Situation
More Adapted For Studying At My Ease Gibraltar And Its Inhabitants,
Than That Which I Found Myself Occupying About Ten O'clock On The
Following Morning.
Seated on a small bench just opposite the bar,
close by the door, in the passage of the hostelry
At which I had
taken up my temporary abode, I enjoyed a view of the square of the
exchange and all that was going on there, and by merely raising my
eyes, could gaze at my leisure on the stupendous hill which towers
above the town to an altitude of some thousand feet. I could
likewise observe every person who entered or left the house, which
is one of great resort, being situated in the most-frequented place
of the principal thoroughfare of the town. My eyes were busy and
so were my ears. Close beside me stood my excellent friend
Griffiths, the jolly hosteler, of whom I take the present
opportunity of saying a few words, though I dare say he has been
frequently described before, and by far better pens. Let those who
know him not figure to themselves a man of about fifty, at least
six feet in height, and weighing some eighteen stone, an
exceedingly florid countenance and good features, eyes full of
quickness and shrewdness, but at the same time beaming with good
nature. He wears white pantaloons, white frock, and white hat, and
is, indeed, all white, with the exception of his polished
Wellingtons and rubicund face. He carries a whip beneath his arm,
which adds wonderfully to the knowingness of his appearance, which
is rather more that of a gentleman who keeps an inn on the
Newmarket road, "purely for the love of travellers, and the money
which they carry about them," than of a native of the rock.
Nevertheless, he will tell you himself that he is a rock lizard;
and you will scarcely doubt it when, besides his English, which is
broad and vernacular, you hear him speak Spanish, ay, and Genoese
too, when necessary, and it is no child's play to speak the latter,
which I myself could never master. He is a good judge of horse-
flesh, and occasionally sells a "bit of a blood," or a Barbary
steed to a young hand, though he has no objection to do business
with an old one; for there is not a thin, crouching, liver-faced
lynx-eyed Jew of Fez capable of outwitting him in a bargain: or
cheating him out of one single pound of the fifty thousand sterling
which he possesses; and yet ever bear in mind that he is a good-
natured fellow to those who are disposed to behave honourably to
him, and know likewise that he will lend you money, if you are a
gentleman, and are in need of it; but depend upon it, if he refuse
you, there is something not altogether right about you, for
Griffiths knows HIS WORLD, and is not to be made a fool of.
There was a prodigious quantity of porter consumed in my presence
during the short hour that I sat on the bench of that hostelry of
the rock. The passage before the bar was frequently filled with
officers, who lounged in for a refreshment which the sultry heat of
the weather rendered necessary, or at least inviting; whilst not a
few came galloping up to the door on small Barbary horses, which
are to be found in great abundance at Gibraltar. All seemed to be
on the best terms with the host, with whom they occasionally
discussed the merits of particular steeds, and whose jokes they
invariably received with unbounded approbation. There was much in
the demeanour and appearance of these young men, for the greater
part were quite young, which was highly interesting and agreeable.
Indeed, I believe it may be said of English officers in general,
that in personal appearance, and in polished manners, they bear the
palm from those of the same class over the world. True it is, that
the officers of the royal guard of Russia, especially of the three
noble regiments styled the Priberjensky, Simeonsky, and Finlansky
polks might fearlessly enter into competition in almost all points
with the flower of the British army; but it must be remembered,
that those regiments are officered by the choicest specimens of the
Sclavonian nobility, young men selected expressly for the splendour
of their persons, and for the superiority of their mental
endowments; whilst, probably, amongst all the fair-haired Angle-
Saxons youths whom I now saw gathered near me, there was not a
single one of noble ancestry, nor of proud and haughty name; and
certainly, so far from having been selected to flatter the pride
and add to the pomp of a despot, they had been taken
indiscriminately from a mass of ardent aspirants for military
glory, and sent on their country's service to a remote and
unhealthy colony. Nevertheless, they were such as their country
might be proud of, for gallant boys they looked, with courage on
their brows, beauty and health on their cheeks, and intelligence in
their hazel eyes.
Who is he who now stops before the door without entering, and
addresses a question to my host, who advances with a respectful
salute? He is no common man, or his appearance belies him
strangely. His dress is simple enough; a Spanish hat, with a
peaked crown and broad shadowy brim - the veritable sombrero - jean
pantaloons and blue hussar jacket; - but how well that dress becomes
one of the most noble-looking figures I ever beheld. I gazed upon
him with strange respect and admiration as he stood benignantly
smiling and joking in good Spanish with an impudent rock rascal,
who held in his hand a huge bogamante, or coarse carrion lobster,
which he would fain have persuaded him to purchase. He was almost
gigantically tall, towering nearly three inches above the burly
host himself, yet athletically symmetrical, and straight as the
pine tree of Dovrefeld.
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