Front Matter

The Escurial.

Preface

If the word Romance  necessarily implies fiction, it is inappropriately used in the title page of this volume. But if it may also imply that which is strange and wonderful, though true, then it is appropriately used. It has become a common remark that truth is stranger than fiction. To give a minute narrative of all the important events in Spanish history would occupy folio volumes. The writer has endeavored to glean, from the many centuries which have passed away, those well-authenticated incidents which, in his judgment, would prove most interesting and instructive to American readers. He is not aware that there is any statement in these pages which will be called in question by any well-instructed student of History. The writer cherishes the hope that this volume may aid in luring the eager readers of our land from the present engrossing devotion to fiction, to the far more instructive and not less romantic incidents of real history. Should these pages prove, in that respect, a success, the work may be followed by others giving the history of the birth, the struggles, the career, of other great kingdoms of the globe.

John S.C. Abbott

Fair Haven, Conn. Sep, 1869