Family records of the Bruces and the Cumyns

370 JAMES BRUCE OF KINNAIRD.
after the great earthquake. On the 15th November he left Lisbon for Madrid.
During this journey the remains of Oriental palaces, and the tales of chivalry
ascribed to the Moorish wars, produced in his mind a great desire to examine
the treasures of Arabic literature buried in the Escurial. To accomplish this
he obtained an introduction to Don Ricardo Wall, then minister to his Catholic
majesty, but of British extraction, and sincerely anxious to promote the in-
terests of Spain. Being well aware of the acquisition a man of Mr Bruce's
talents would be, he used every art to induce him to enter into his master's
service ; but these temptations, though exceedingly flattering, were declined,
and Mr Wall's assistance was only requested to obtain access to the library of
the Escurial. But this, it appears, was impossible. The Spaniards, with a
jealousy peculiarly their own, conceal their records and history from all prying
eyes. With great facility for acquiring languages, and for observing and
delineating all he saw, he travelled through the greater part of France and
Germany, and, along with a party of English gentlemen in the Dutch service,
arrived in time to witness the battle of Crevelt, fought between the British and
the French on the 23d June 1758, and the impression it made on his mind
prompted him to return home and seek a more adventurous career. On reach-
ing Rotterdam he received letters announcing his father's death, which obliged
him immediately to sail for England ; and for some time his private affairs, both
in England and Scotland, retarded his designs, although they produced no sus-
pension of his studies. With an intention of acquiring the Eastern languages,
he had collected in Holland most of the books published by the Dutch and
Italians on Oriental literature, and to examine, in the works of Ludolf, the
Ethiopic or Geez — a circumstance which perhaps determined him to explore
the sources of the Nile.
We have observed that in passing through Portugal and Spain in 1757,
he had spent a few days at Ferrol, in Gallicia, a harbour where the Spaniards
generally station a part of their navy. Here he was brought into contact with
several persons, from whom he received much information concerning the
dockyards, to which he was surprised to find that models of the latest and most
approved British ships of war had lately been secretly conveyed. He also
procured a plan of the harbour and works of Ferrol, not with any immediate
view of using it, but from general curiosity, and feeling himself justified in so
doing by the disingenuous conduct of the Spaniards with regard to the British
shipping. A report now became prevalent that the Court of Spain was about
to declare war with Britain, and the discourtesy with which Lord Howe was
received when driven into Ferrol by stress of weather seemed to countenance
it. In the end of the year 1760 it occurred to him that the observations he