sentations, that I should not have mentioned this circumstance, in particular, had not my attention been arrested by some beads on the neck of one of the shepherds, which looked like pearls, but which I thought, of course, could not be so, from their extraordinary size; I found, however, that I was mistaken. I had hardly supposed it possible that such enormous pearls existed; and, wishing to ascertain their value, I guessed them at ten thousand pounds: the Marquess, I understood, had given more for them: the necklace consisted of twenty-one pearls, the centre one being in the shape of, and as large as, a pigeon's egg, and the others large in proportion, but round and decreasing in size, gradually, towards each end.
In the evening I went to a tertulla at Señor Castro's[1]: his little daughter played and sung prettily; but her piano, which, by the bye, seemed to be greatly prized,
- ↑ The gentleman who so hospitably received the American Consul.
