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{ From the Autobiography of Pel . Verjuice . )
My mind was occupied too completely by other thoughts , — thoughts and anxieties painfully earnest—to admit the melancholy of reflecting on the faded glory of Spain , and her diminution of importance among nations , as they are evinced by the almost deserted state of the harbour , the void and silent storehouses , and unused and weed-grown quays in the harbour o . San JTja ^ Lii , in ^ Puerto Rico , where almost the only signs of its once flourishing commerce were exhibited in a few small coasting
craft , and several vessels bearing the every-where-seen starred and striped banner of the United States of America . All else that was visible , bore marks of old grandeur in decay , —of effort supplanted by feebleness , —and massive strength , which seemed to have little but its own strength to guard . Nature w as as glorious and as beautiful as ever my imagination had fignred her , while I was reading of the early visits of Columbus , and of his followers , his bad successors , on this island : but the romance of its life had fled ; chivalric spirit had departed , though the remains of its villany were not all a dream ; and adventure was
paralysed . Instead of the olden spirit of enterprise , the city seemed to be the home of inertness—one grey and great temple
of lassitude . Except the few money-getting American merchants who sojourned there , the only lifefull creatures to be met with are the myriads of insects that swarm in every house , as I found , to my great discomfort , on my second visit ; not remaining sufficiently long on my first , to acquire a knowledge of their numbers and strength . Immediately on my arrival , I learnt that
Monsieur 13 . ( of whom I was in search ) was at Mayaguez , on the western side of the island : thither , then , I instantly resolved to go;—go I must . But how ? The road by land was described to me as beset with dangers and difficulties ; the communications by sea were incidental , and rarely occurred once in a fortnight , —
then only by a chance coasting vessel . Such a chance , however , did occur ; and , by a voyage not without adventure , I pursued my course , and arrived in the bay of Mayaguez ; but my object in seeking Monsieur B . was utterly defeated . I had thrown all my worldly affairs into inextricable disorder , —I had plunged
myself into ' worldly ruin , ' as it is called , in seeking that interview . At the period when the anxious toil of several years , through obstacles which it was deemed almost madness to encounter , had lifted me to that point of security and clearness of prospect which made attainment a matter of course , I was
dashed back farther from the goal than ever I was during my life ; but this was a trifle : I cared not a thought for all the defeat —all the damage , loss , and ruin : ' my agony was from other
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66 $
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DALLADA .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1834, page 666, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2637/page/62/
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