Thus, wherever he goes, his natural good spirits prevail over everything. Washington Irving, in his diary, speaks of Longfellow at Madrid as having "arrived safely and cheerily, having met with no robbers." Mrs. Alexander Everett, wife of the American minister at Madrid, writes back to America, "His countenance is itself a letter of recommendation." He went into good Spanish society and also danced in the streets on village holidays. At the Alhambra, he saw the refinement of beauty within the halls, and the clusters of gypsy caves in the hillside opposite. After eight months of Spain he went on to Italy, where he remained until December, and passed to Germany with the new year. He sums up his knowledge of the languages at this point by saying, "With the French and Spanish languages I am familiarly conversant so as to speak them correctly and write them with as much ease and fluency as I do the English. The Portuguese I read without difficulty. And with regard to my proficiency in the Italian, I have only to say that all at the hotel where I lodge took me for an Italian, until I told them I was an American." He settled down to his studies in Germany, his father having written, with foresight then unusual, "I consider the German language and literature much more important than the Italian." He did not, however, have any sense of actual transplantation, as is the case with some young students, for although he writes to his sister (March 28, 1829), "My poetic career is finished. Since I left America I have hardly put two lines together," yet he sends to Carey & Lea, the Philadelphia publishers, to propose a series of sketches and tales of New England life. These sketches, as given in his note-book, are as follows:-- "1. New England Scenery: description of Sebago Pond; rafting logs; tavern scene; a tale connected with the 'Images.' "2. A New England Village: country squire; the parson; the little deacon; the farm-house kitchen. "3. Husking Frolic: song and tales; fellow who plays the fife for the dance; tale of the Quoddy Indians; description of Sacobezon, their chief. "5. Thanksgiving Day: its merry-making, and tales (also of the Indians). "7. Description of the White Mountains: tale of the Bloody Hand. "10. Reception of Lafayette in a country village. "13. Down East: the missionary of Acadie."{12}