[Illustration] Tales of a Traveller By Washington Irving Contents PART FIRST—STRANGE STORIES BY A NERVOUS GENTLEMAN A HUNTING DINNER THE ADVENTURE OF MY UNCLE THE ADVENTURE OF MY AUNT THE BOLD DRAGOON THE ADVENTURE OF THE GERMAN STUDENT THE ADVENTURE OF THE MYSTERIOUS PICTURE THE ADVENTURE OF THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER THE STORY OF THE YOUNG ITALIAN PART SECOND—BUCKTHORNE AND HIS FRIENDS LITERARY LIFE A LITERARY DINNER THE CLUB OF QUEER FELLOWS THE POOR DEVIL AUTHOR BUCKTHORNE, OR THE YOUNG MAN OF GREAT EXPECTATIONS THE BOOBY SQUIRE THE STROLLING MANAGER PART THIRD—THE ITALIAN BANDITTI THE INN AT TERRACINA THE ADVENTURE OF THE LITTLE ANTIQUARY THE ADVENTURE OF THE POPKINS FAMILY THE PAINTER’S ADVENTURE THE STORY OF THE BANDIT CHIEFTAIN THE STORY OF THE YOUNG ROBBER PART FOURTH—THE MONEY DIGGERS HELL GATE KIDD THE PIRATE THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER WOLFERT WEBBER; OR, GOLDEN DREAMS THE ADVENTURE OF SAM, THE BLACK FISHERMAN PART FIRST STRANGE STORIES BY A NERVOUS GENTLEMAN I’ll tell you more; there was a fish taken, A monstrous fish, with, a sword by’s side, a long sword, A pike in’s neck, and a gun in’s nose, a huge gun, And letters of mart in’s mouth, from the Duke of Florence. _Cleanthes_. This is a monstrous lie. _Tony_. I do confess it. Do you think I’d tell you truths! —FLETCHER’S WIFE FOR A MONTH. [The following adventures were related to me by the same nervous gentleman who told me the romantic tale of THE STOUT GENTLEMAN, published in Bracebridge Hall. It is very singular, that although I expressly stated that story to have been told to me, and described the very person who told it, still it has been received as an adventure that happened to myself. Now, I protest I never met with any adventure of the kind. I should not have grieved at this, had it not been intimated by the author of Waverley, in an introduction to his romance of Peveril of the Peak, that he was himself the Stout Gentleman alluded to. I have ever since been importuned by letters and questions from gentlemen, and particularly from ladies without number, touching what I had seen of the great unknown. Now, all this is extremely tantalizing. It is like being congratulated on the high prize when one has drawn a blank; for I have just as great a desire as any one of the public to penetrate the mystery of that very singular personage, whose voice fills every corner of the world, without any one being able to tell from whence it comes. He who keeps up such a wonderful and whimsical incognito: whom nobody knows, and yet whom every body thinks he can swear to.