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which is scarcely to be obtained in the researches of a life. One science bears so closely on every other, that without a knowledge of all there can be no complete acquaintance with any.

My object is simply to give a slight sketch of the various hunting-grounds over which I have ranged in search of bric-à-brac—a very agreeable pursuit-which has caused me untiring interest and delight; and thus, by offering the slight practical experience I have gained during foreign travel, I may cause amusement, if not instruction, to the many thousands who have similar tastes, when they visit the spots where I have so frequently wandered.

MADRID,

May, 1875.

H. BYNG HALL.

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THE

BRIC-A-BRAC HUNTER.

CHAPTER I.

ON BRIC-A-BRAC IN GENERAL.

"Southey was right when he told his brother, that if he would use his eyes on his travels, and in his own natural language describe truthfully all that he saw, he would be enabled to entertain the most educated reader, and charm the least."

Na useful little work entitled Les Eccentricités

IN

de la Langue française, I find the word "Bricà-brac" or or "Bric-a-bracquer" explained thus:"revendeur de meubles et d'objets d'art." The celebrated Monsieur Pons, a remarkable collector of days lang syne-a romance of whose life has been so ably imagined and written by Balzac-continually uses the words bric-à-brac and bric-àbracquer; the latter simply implying a collector, or one passionately devoted to works of art.

In plain English, the amiable and numerous

B

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