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diff --git a/16485.txt b/16485.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd3461b --- /dev/null +++ b/16485.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4776 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Year's Journey through France and Part of +Spain, 1777, by Philip Thicknesse + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, 1777 + Volume 1 (of 2) + +Author: Philip Thicknesse + +Release Date: August 8, 2005 [EBook #16485] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE *** + + + + +Produced by From images generously made available by gallica +(Bibliotheque nationale de France) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr., Robert Connal, Chuck Greif and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + +A + +YEAR'S JOURNEY + +THROUGH + +FRANCE, + +AND + +PART OF SPAIN. + + +BY + +PHILIP THICKNESSE. + + +VOLUME I + + +DUBLIN +Printed by J. Williams, (No. 21.) Skinner-Row. +M,DCC,LXXVII. + + + ++----------------------------------------------------------+ +| | +| Transcriber's Note: The long-s has been modernized to s. | +| | ++----------------------------------------------------------+ + + + +A + +JOURNEY, &c. + + * * * * * + + + + + +LETTER I + +CALAIS, June 20th, 1775 + +DEAR SIR, + +As you are kind enough to say, that those letters which I wrote from +this kingdom, nine or ten years ago, were of some use to you, in the +little tour you made through France soon after, and as they have been +considered in some degree to be so to many other persons, (since their +publication) who were unacquainted with the manners and customs of the +French nation, I shall endeavour to bring together, in this second +correspondence with you, not only some of the former hints I gave you, +but such other remarks as a longer acquaintance with the country, and a +more extensive tour, may furnish me with; but before I proceed any +further, let me remind you, of one great fault I was then guilty of; for +though your partiality to me might induce you to overlook it, the public +did not, I mean that of writing when my temper was disturbed, either by +cross incidents I met with upon the road, or disagreeable news which +often followed me from my own country into this. I need not tell a man +of your discernment, in what a different light all objects, whether +animate, or inanimate, appear to those, whose temper is disturbed, +either by ill health, ill treatment, or, what is perhaps more prevalent +than either, the chagrin he may feel at not being rated in the +estimation of others, according to that value he puts upon himself. +Could Dr. Smollett rise from the dead, and sit down in perfect health, +and good temper, and read his travels through France and Italy, he +would probably find most of his anger turned upon himself. But, poor +man! he was ill; and meeting with, what every stranger must expect to +meet at most French inns, want of cleanliness, imposition, and +incivility; he was so much disturbed by those incidents, that to say no +more of the writings of an ingenious and deceased author, his travels +into France, and Italy, are the least entertaining, in my humble +opinion, of all his works. Indeed I have observed that most travellers +fall into one extreme, or the other, and either are all panegyric or all +censure; in which case, all they say cannot be just; for, as all nations +are governed by men, and the bulk of men of all nations live by artifice +of one kind or other, the few men who pass among them, without any +sinister views, cannot avoid feeling, and but few from complaining of +the ill treatment they meet with; not considering one of Swift's shrewd +remarks; _I never_ said he, _knew a man who could not bear the +misfortunes of another perfectly like a Christian_. + +Remember therefore, when I tell you how ill I have been treated either +by _Lords_ or _Aubergists_, or how dirtily served by either, it is to +prepare myself and you too, to be content with neighbours' fare. + +When a man writes remarks upon the manners and customs of other nations, +he should endeavour to wean himself from all partiality for his own; and +I need not tell you that I am in _full possession_ of that single +qualification, which I hope will make you some amends for my defects in +all the others; for it is certainly unjust, uncandid, and illiberal, to +pronounce a custom or fashion absurd, because it does not coincide with +our ideas of propriety. A Turk who travelled into England, would, upon +his return to Constantinople, tell his countrymen, that at Canterbury; +(bring out of _opium_,) his host did not know even what he demanded; +and that it was with some difficulty he found out, that there were shops +in the town where _opium_ was sold, and even then, it was with greater, +he could prevail upon the vender of it to let him have above half an +ounce: if he were questioned, why all these precautions? he would tell +them, laughingly, that Englishmen believe _opium_ to be a deadly poison, +and those people suspected that he either meant to kill himself, or to +poison another man with it. + +A French gentleman, who travelled some years since into Spain, had +letters of recommendation to a Spanish Bishop, who received him with +every mark of politeness, and treated him with much hospitality: soon +after he retired to his bedchamber, a priest entered it,[A] holding a +vessel in his hand, which was covered with a clean napkin; he said +something; but the Frenchman understanding but little Spanish, +intimated by signs his thanks, and desired him to put it down, +believing, that his friend, the Bishop, had sent him a plate of +sweetmeats, fruit, iced cream, or some kind of refreshment to eat before +he went to bed, or to refresh his exhausted spirits in the night; but +his astonishment was great indeed, when he found the priest put the +present under the side of the bed; and more so, when he perceived that +it was only a _pot de chambre_;--for, says the Frenchman, "in Spain, +they do not use the _chaise percee_!" The Frenchman is surprized at the +Spaniard, for not using so convenient a vehicle; the Englishman is +equally surprized, that the Frenchman does;--the Frenchman is always +attentive to his own person, and scarce ever appears but clean and well +dressed; while his house and private apartments are perhaps covered with +litter and dirt, and in the utmost confusion;--the Englishman, on the +other hand, often neglects his external dress; but his house is always +exquisitely clean, and every thing in it kept in the nicest order; and +who shall say, which of the two judge the best for their own ease and +happiness? I am sure the Frenchman will not give up his powdered hair, +and laced coat, for a clean house; nor do I believe those fineries would +sit quietly upon the back of an Englishman, in a dirty one. In short, my +dear sir, we must take the world, and the things in it, as they are; it +is a dirty world, but like France, has a vast number of good things in +it, and such as I meet with, in this my third tour, which shall be a +long one, if I am not _stopped_ by the way, you shall have such an +account of as I am able to convey to you: I will not attempt to _top the +traveller_ upon you, nor raise monuments of wonder, where none are to be +seen; there is real matter enough to be found upon this great continent, +to amuse a man who travels slowly over it, to see what is to be seen, +and who wishes not to be seen himself. My style of travelling is such, +that I can never be disturbed in mind for want of respect, but rather be +surprised when I meet with even common civility. And, after all, what +does it signify, whether Monsieur _ou Tel_ travels in a laced coat _et +tres bien mis_, attended by half a dozen servants, or, as Pope says, + + "will run + The Lord knows whither in a chaise and one." + + + I am, your's &c. + +[A] The Bishops in Spain are attended and waited upon by inferior +clergy. + + + + +LETTER II. + +June 25th, 1766. + + +Before I leave Calais, let me remind you, that an English guinea is +worth more than a _Louis d'or_; and observe, that the first question _my +friend Mons. Dessein_, at the _Hotel D'Angleterre_ will put to you, +(after he has made his bow, and given you a side look, as a cock does at +a barley-corn) is, whether you have any guineas to change? because he +gets by each guinea, full weight, ten _Sols_. By this hint, you will +conclude, he will not, upon your return, ask you for your French Gold; +but in this too you will be mistaken, for he finds an advantage in that +also; he will, not indeed give you guineas, but, in lieu thereof, he has +always a large quantity of _Birmingham Shillings_, to truck with you for +your _Louis d'ors_. I am afraid, when Lord North took into +consideration the state of the gold coin, he did not know, that the +better state it is put into in England, is the surest means of +transporting it into France, and other countries; and that scarce a +single guinea which travellers carry with them to France, (and many +hundred go every week) ever returns to England: Beside this, the +quantity of gold carried over to the ports of _Dunkirk_, _Boulogne_, and +_Calais_, by the Smugglers, who always pay ready money, is incredible; +but as money, and matters of that kind, are what I have but _little +concern in_, I will not enlarge upon a subject no way interesting to me, +and shall only observe, that my landlord, _Mons. Dessein_, who was +behind-hand with the world ten years ago, is now become one of the +richest men in _Calais_, has built a little Theatre in his garden, and +has united the profitable business of a Banker, to that of a Publican; +and by studying the _Gout_ of the English nation, and changing their +gold into French currency, has made, they say, a _Demi Plumb_. + +Notwithstanding the contiguity of _Calais_ to England, and the great +quantity of poultry, vegetables, game, &c. which are bought up every +market-day, and conveyed to your coast, I am inclined to believe, there +are not many parts of France where a man, who has but little money, can +make it go further than in this town; nor is there any town in England, +where the fishery is conducted with so much industry. + +Yesterday I visited my unfortunate daughter, at the convent at +_Ardres_;--but why do I say unfortunate? She is unfortunate only, in the +eyes of the world, not in her own; nor indeed in mine, because she +assured me she is happy. I left her here, you know, ten years ago, by +way of education, and learning the language; but the small-pox, which +seized her soon after, made such havock on a face, rather favoured by +nature, that she desired to hide it from the world, and spend her life +in that retirement, which I had chosen only to qualify her _for_ the +world. I left her a child; I found her a sensible woman; full of +affection and duty; and her mangled and seamed face, so softened by an +easy mind, and a good conscience, that she appeared in my partial eyes, +rather an agreeable than a plain woman; but she did not omit to signify +to me, that what others considered her misfortune, she considered (as it +was not her fault) a happy circumstance; "if my face is plain (said she) +my heart is light, and I am sure it will make as good a figure in the +earth, as the fairest, and most beautiful." My only concern is, that I +find the _Prieure_ of this convent, either for want of more knowledge, +or more money, or both, had received, as parlour boarders, some English +ladies of very suspicious characters. As the conversation of such women +might interrupt, and disturb that peace and tranquillity of mind, in +which I found my daughter, I told the _Prieure_ my sentiments on that +subject, not only with freedom, but with some degree of severity; and +endeavoured to convince her, how very unwarrantably, if not +irreligiously she acted. An abandoned, or vicious woman, may paint the +pleasures of this world in such gaudy colours, to a poor innocent Nun, +so as to induce her to forget, or become less attentive to the +professions she has made to the next. + +It was near this town, you know, that the famous interview passed +between Henry the Eighth, and _Francis_ the First, in the year 1520; and +though it lasted twenty-eight days, and was an event which produced at +that time so many amusements to all present, and so much conversation +throughout Europe, the inhabitants of this, town, or Calais, seem to +know little of it, but that one of the bastions at _Ardres_ is called +the Bastion of the Two Kings.--There still remains, however, in the +front of one of the houses in _Calais_, upon an ornamented stone, cut in +old letter, + + =God Save the King=; + +And I suppose that stone was put, where it now remains, by some loyal +subject, before the King arrived, as it is in a street which leads from +the gate (now stopped up) which Henry passed through. + + + + +LETTER III. + + +In a very few days I shall leave this town, and having procured letters +of recommendation from some men of fashion, now in England, to their +friends in _Spain_, I am determined to traverse this, and make a little +tour into that kingdom; so you may expect something more from me, than +merely such remarks as may be useful to you on any future tour you make +in France; I mean to conduct you at least over the _Pyrenean_ hills to +_Barcelona_; for, though I have been two or three times before in Spain, +it was early in life, and when my mind was more employed in observing +the _customs_ and _manors_ of the birds, and beasts of the field, than +of their lords and masters, and made too, on the other side of that +kingdom. Having seen as much of Paris as I desired, some years ago, I +intend to pass through the provinces of _Artois_, _Champaigne_, +_Bourgogne_, and so on to _Lyons_; by which route you will perceive, I +shall leave the capital of this kingdom many leagues on my right hand, +and see some considerable towns, and taste now and then of the most +delicious wines, on the spots which produce them; beside this, I have a +great desire to see the remains of a Roman subterranean town, lately +discovered in _Champaigne_, which perhaps may gratify my curiosity in +some degree, and thereby lessen that desire I have: long had of visiting +_Herculaneum_, an _under-ground_ town you know, I always said I would +visit, if a certain person happened to be put _under-ground_ before me; +but the CAUSE, and the event, in all human affairs, are not to be +fathomed by men; for though the event happened, the _cause_ frustrated +my design; and I must cross the _Pyranean_ not the _Alpian_ hills. But +lest I forget it, let me tell you, that as my travelling must be upon +the frugal plan, I have sold my four-wheel post-chaise, to _Mons. +Dessein_, for twenty-two guineas, and bought a French _cabriolet_, for +ten, and likewise a very handsome English coach-horse, (a little touched +in the wind indeed) for seven. This equipage I have fitted up with every +convenience I can contrive, to carry me, my wife, two daughters, and all +my _other_ baggage; you will conclude therefore, _light_ as the latter +may be, we are _bien charge_; but as we move slowly, not above seven +leagues a day, I shall have the more leisure to look about me, and to +consider what sort of remarks may prove most worthy of communicating +from time to time to you. I shall be glad to leave this town, though it +is in one respect, something like your's,[B] everyday producing many +_strange faces_, and some very agreeable acquaintance. The arrival of +the packet-boats from Dover constitutes the principal amusement of this +town. + +[B] BATH. + +The greater part of the English _transports_ who come over, do not +proceed much further than to see the tobacco plantations near _St. +Omer_'s; nor is their return home less entertaining than their arrival, +as many of them are people of such _quick parts_, that they acquire, in +a week's tour to _Dunkirk_, _Bologne_, and _St. Omer_'s, the _language_, +dress and manners of the country. You must not, however, expect to hear +again from me, till I am further _a-field_. But lest I forget to mention +it in a future letter, let me refresh your memory, as to your conduct at +Dover, at Sea, and at _Calais_. In the first of these three disagreeable +places, (and the first is the worst) you will soon be applied to by one +of the Captains of the packets, or bye-boats, and if you hire the boat +to yourself, he will demand five guineas; if you treat with another, it +is all one, because they are all, except one, partners and equally +interested; and therefore will abate nothing. Captain Watson is the +only one who _swims upon his own bottom_; and as he is a good seaman, +and has a clean, convenient, nay an elegant vessel, I would rather turn +the scale in his favour, because I am, as you will be, an enemy to all +associations which have a tendency to imposition upon the public, and +oppression to such who will not join in the general confederacy; yet I +must, in justice to the Captains of the confederate party, acknowledge, +that their vessels are all good; _well found_; and that they are civil, +decent-behaved men. As it is natural for them to endeavour to make the +most of each _trip_, they will, if they can, foist a few passengers upon +you, even after you have taken the vessel to your own use only. If you +are alone, this intrusion is not agreeable, but if you have ladies with +you, never submit to it; if they introduce men, who appear like +gentlemen upon your vessel, you cannot avoid treating them as such; if +women, you cannot avoid them treating them with more attention than may +be convenient, because they _are_ women; but were it only in +consideration of the sea-sickness and its _consequences_, can any thing +be more disagreeable than to admit people to _pot_ and _porringer_ with +you, in a small close cabin, with whom you would neither eat, drink, or +converse, in any other place? but these are not the only reasons; every +gentleman going to France should avoid making new acquaintance, at +Dover, at Sea, or at _Calais_: many _adventurers_ are always passing, +and many honest men are often led into grievous and dangerous situations +by such inconsiderate connections; nay, the best, and wisest men, are +the most liable to be off their guard, and therefore you will excuse my +pointing it out to you. + +I could indeed relate some alarming consequences, nay, some fatal ones, +which have befallen men of honour and character in this country, from +such unguarded connections; and such as they would not have been drawn +into, on the other side of the "_invidious Streight_." When an +Englishman leaves his own country, and is got no further from it than to +this town, he looks back upon it with an eye of partial affection; no +wonder then, if he feels more disposed to be kind to a countryman and a +stranger he may meet in this.--I do not think it would be difficult to +point out, what degree of intimacy would arise between two men who knew +but little of each other, according to the part of the world they were +to meet in.--I remember the time, when I only knew your person, and +coveted your acquaintance; at that time we lived in the same town, knew +each other's general character, but passed without speaking, or even the +compliment of the hat; yet had we met in London, we should certainly +have taken some civil notice of each other: had the interview been at +York, it is five to one but it would have produced a conversation: at +Edinburgh, or Dublin, we should have dined, or gone to the play +together: but if we had met at Barbadoes, I should have been invited to +spend a month at your PENN, and experienced many of those marks of +hospitality, friendship, and generosity, I have found from the Creoles +in general. When you get upon the French coast, the packet brings to, +and is soon boarded by a French boat, to carry the passengers on shore; +this passage is much longer than it appears to be, is always +disagreeable, and sometimes dangerous; and the landing, if the water be +very low, intolerable: in this case, never mind the advice of the +Captain; his advice is, and must be regulated by his _own_ and his +owner's interest, more than your convenience; therefore stay on board +till there is water enough to sail up to the town, and be landed by a +plank laid from the packet to the shore, and do not suffer any body to +persuade you to go into a boat, or to be put on shore, by any other +method, tho' the _packet-men_ and the _Frenchmen_ unite to persuade you +so to do, because they are mutually benefited by putting you to more +expence, and the latter are entertained with seeing your cloaths +dirted, or the ladies _frighted_. If most of the packet-boats are in +_Calais_ harbour, your Captain will use every argument in his power to +persuade you to go on shore, in the French boat, because he will, in +that case, return directly to Dover, and thereby save eight-and-twenty +shillings port duty. When we came over, I prevailed upon a large company +to stay on board till there was water enough to sail into the harbour: +it is not in the power of the Captain to deceive you as to that matter, +because there is a red flag hoisted gradually higher and higher, as the +water flows into the harbour, at a little fort which stands upon +_stilts_ near the entrance of it. When you are got on shore, go directly +to _Dessein_'s; and be in no trouble about your baggage, horses, or +coach; the former will be all carried, by men appointed for that +purpose, safely to the Custom-house, and the latter wheeled up to your +_Hotel_, where you will sit down more quietly, and be entertained more +decently, than at Dover. + + + + +LETTER IV. + +RHEIMS, in Champagne. + + +Little or nothing occurred to me worth remarking to you on my journey +hither, but that the province of _Artois_ is a fine corn country, and +that the French farmers seem to understand that business perfectly well. +I was surprised to find, near _St. Omer_'s, large plantations of +tobacco, which had all the vigour and healthy appearance of that which I +have seen grow in _poor_ America. On my way here, (like the countryman +in London, in gazing about) I missed my road; but a civil, and, in +appearance, a substantial farmer, conducted us half a league over the +fields, and marked out the course to get into it again, without +returning directly back, a circumstance I much hate, though perhaps it +might have been the shorter way. However, before I gained the high road, +I stumbled upon a private one, which led us into a little village +pleasantly situated, and inhabited by none other but the poorest +peasants; whose tattered habits, wretched houses, and smiling +countenances, convinced me, that chearfulness and contentment shake +hands oftener under thatched than painted roofs. We found one of these +villagers as ready to boil our tea-kettle, provide butter, milk, &c. as +we were for our breakfasts; and during the preparation of it, I believe +every man, woman, and child of the hamlet, was come down to _look at +us_; for beside that wonderful curiosity common to this whole nation, +the inhabitants of this village had never before seen an Englishman; +they had heard indeed often of the country, they said, and that it was +_un pays tres riche_. There was such a general delight in the faces of +every age, and so much civility, I was going to say politeness, shewn +to us, that I caught a temporary chearfulness in this village, which I +had not felt for some months before, and which I intend to carry with +me. I therefore took out my guittar, and played till I set the whole +assembly in motion; and some, in spite of their wooden shoes, and others +without any, danced in a manner not to be seen among our English +peasants. They had "shoes like a sauce-boat," but no "steeple-clock'd +hose." While we breakfasted, one of the villagers fed my horse with some +fresh-mowed hay, and it was with some difficulty I could prevail upon +him to be paid for it, because the trifle I offered was much more than +his _Court of Conscience_ informed him it was worth. I could moralize +here a little; but I will only ask you, in which state think you man is +best; the untaught man, in that of nature, or the man whose mind is +enlarged by education and a knowledge of the world? The behaviour of +the inhabitants of this little hamlet had a very forcible effect upon +me; because it brought me back to my earlier days, and reminded me of +the reception I met with in America by what we now call the _Savage_ +Indians; yet I have been received in the same courteous manner in a +little hamlet, unarmed, and without any other protection but by the law +of nature, by those _savages_;--indeed it was before the _Savages of +Europe_ had instructed them in the art of war, or Mr. Whitfield had +preached _methodism_ among them. Therefore, I only tell you what they +_were_ in 1735, not what they _are at present_. When I visited them, +they walked in the flowery paths of Nature; now, I fear, they tread the +polluted roads of blood. Perhaps of all the uncivilized nations under +the sun, the native Indians of America _were_ the most humane; I have +seen an hundred instances of their humanity and integrity;--when a white +man was under the lash of the executioner, at _Savannah in Georgia_, +for using an Indian woman ill, I saw _Torno Chaci_, their King, run in +between the offender and the corrector, saying, "_whip me, not +him_;"--the King was the complainant, indeed, but the man deserved a +much severer chastisement. This was a _Savage King_. Christian Kings too +often care not who is whipt, so they escape the smart. + + + + +LETTER V. + +RHEIMS. + + +We arrived at this city before the bustle which the coronation of +_Louis_ the 16th occasioned was quite over; I am sorry I did not see it, +because I now find it worth seeing; but I staid at _Calais_ on purpose +to avoid it; for having paid two guineas to see the coronation of George +the Third, I determined never more to be put to any extraordinary +expence on the score of _crowned heads_. However, my curiosity has been +well gratified in hearing it talked over, and over again, and in reading +_Marmontell_'s letter to a friend upon that subject; but I will not +repeat what he, or others have said upon the occasion, because you have, +no doubt, seen in the English papers a tolerably good one; only that the +Queen was so overcome with the repeated shouts and plaudits of her new +subjects, that she was obliged to retire. The fine Gothic cathedral, in +which the ceremony was performed, is indeed a church worthy of such a +solemnity; the portal is the finest I ever beheld; the windows are +painted in the very best manner; nor is there any thing within the +church but what should be there. I need not tell you that this is the +province which produces the most delicious wine in the world; but I will +assure you, that I should have drank it with more pleasure, had you been +here to have partook of it. In the cellars of one wine-merchant, I was +conducted through long passages more like streets than caves; on each +side of which, bottled _Champaigne_ was piled up some feet higher than +my head, and at least twelve deep. I bought two bottles to taste, of +that which the merchant assured me was each of the best sort he had, and +for which I paid him six livres: if he sells all he had in bottles at +that time, and at the same price, I shall not exceed the bounds of truth +if I say, I saw ten thousand pounds worth of bottled _Champaigne_ in +his cellars. Neither of the bottles, however, contained wine so good as +I often drank in England; but perhaps we are deceived, and find it more +palatable by having sugar in it; for I suspect that most of the +_Champaigne_ which is bottled for the use of English consumption, is so +prepared. That you may know however, for the future, whether Champaigne +or any other wine is so adulterated, I will give you an infallible +method to prove:--fill a small long-necked bottle with the wine you +would prove, and invert the neck of it into a tumbler of clear water; if +the wine be genuine, it will all remain in the bottle; if adulterated, +with sugar, honey, or any other sweet substance, the sweets will all +pass into the tumbler of water, and leave the genuine wine behind. The +difference between still _Champaigne_, and that which is _mousser_, is +owing to nothing more than the time of the year in which it is bottled. + +I found in this town an English gentleman, from whom we received many +civilities, and who made us acquainted with a French gentleman and lady, +whose partiality to the English nation is so great, that their +neighbours call their house "THE ENGLISH HOTEL." The partiality of such +a family is a very flattering, as well as a very pleasing circumstance, +to those who are so happy to be known to them, because they are not only +the first people in the town, but the _best_; and in point of talents, +inferior to none, perhaps, in the kingdom. I must not, after saying so +much, omit to tell you, it is _Monsieur & Madame de Jardin_, of whom I +speak; they live in the GRANDE PLACE, _vis-a-vis_ the statue of the +King; and if ever you come to Rheims, be assured you will find it a GOOD +PLACE. _Madame de Jardin_ is not only one of the highest-bred women in +France, but one of the first in point of letters, and that is saying a +great deal, for France abounds more with women of that turn than +England. Mrs. Macaulay, Mrs. Carter, Miss Aikin, and Mrs. Montague, are +the only four ladies I can recollect in England who are celebrated for +their literary genius; in France, I could find you a score or two. To +give you some idea of the regard and affection _Mons. de Jardin_ has for +his wife,--for French husbands, now and then, love their wives as well +as we Englishmen do,--I send you a line I found in his study, wrote +under his lady's miniature picture: + + "Chaque instant a mes yeux la rend + Plus estimable." + +This town stands in a vast plain, is of great extent, and enclosed +within high walls, and a deep ditch. The public walks are of great +extent, nobly planted, and the finest in the whole kingdom. It is, +indeed, a large and opulent city, and abounds not only with the best +wine, but every thing that is good; and every thing is plenty, and +consequently cheap. The fruit market, in particular, is superior to +every thing of the kind I ever beheld; but I will not tantalize you by +saying any more upon that subject. Adieu! + +_P.S._ The Antiquarian will find amusement in this town. There are some +Roman remains worthy of notice; but such as require the information of +the inhabitant to be seen. + + + + +LETTER VI. + +DIJON. + + +You will laugh, perhaps, when I tell you, I could hardly refrain from +tears when I took leave of the _De Jardin_ family at _Rheims_,--but so +it was. Good-breeding, and attention, have so much the appearance of +friendship, that they may, and often do, deceive the most discerning +men;--no wonder, then, if I was unhappy in leaving a town, where I am +sure I met with the first, and had some reason to believe I should have +found the latter, had we staid to cultivate it. _Bourgogne_ is, however, +a much finer province than Champaigne; and this town is delightfully +situated; that it is a cheap province, you will not doubt, even to +English travellers, when I tell you, that I had a good supper for four +persons, three decent beds, good hay, and plenty of corn, for my horse, +at an inn upon this road, and was charged only four livres ten sols! +not quite four shillings. Nor was it owing to any mistake; for I lay the +following night at just such another inn, and was charged just the same +price for nearly the same entertainment. They were carriers' inns, +indeed, but I know not whether they were not, upon the whole, better, +and cleaner too, than some of the town _auberges_. I need not therefore +tell you, I was straggled a little out of _le Route Anglois_, when I +found such a _bon Marche_. + +Dijon is pleasantly situated, well built, and the country round about it +is as beautiful as nature could well make it. The shady walks round the +whole town are very pleasing, and command a view of the adjacent +country. The excellence of the wine of this province, you are better +acquainted with than I am; though I must confess, I have drank better +burgundy in England than I have yet tasted here: but I am not surprized +at that; for at Madeira I could not get wine that was even tolerable. + +I found here, two genteel English gentlemen, Mess. Plowden and Smyth, +from whom we received many marks of attention and politeness.--Here, I +imagined I should be able to bear seeing the execution of a man, whose +crimes merited, I thought, the severest punishment. He was broke upon +the wheel; so it is called; but the wheel is what the body is fixed upon +to be exposed on the high road after the execution. This man's body, +however, was burnt. The miserable wretch (a young strong man) was +brought in the evening, by a faint torch light, to a chapel near the +place of execution, where he might have continued in prayer till +midnight; but after one hour spent there, he walked to, and mounted the +scaffold, accompanied by his confessor, who with great earnestness +continually presented to him, and bade him kiss, the crucifix he +carried in his hand. When the prisoner came upon the scaffold, he very +willingly laid himself upon his back, and extended his arms and legs +over a cross, that was laid flat and fixed fast upon the scaffold for +that purpose, and to which he was securely tied by the executioner and +his mother, who assisted her son in this horrid business. Part of the +cross was cut away, in eight places, so as to leave a hollow vacancy +where the blows were to be given, which are, between the shoulder and +elbow, elbow and wrist, thigh and knee, and knee and ancle. When the man +was securely tied down, the end of a rope which was round his neck, with +a running noose, was brought through a hole in and under the scaffold; +this was to give the _Coup de Grace_, after breaking: a _Coup_ which +relieved him, and all the agitated spectators, from an infinite degree +of misery, except only, the executioner and his mother, for they both +seemed to enjoy the deadly office. When the blows were given, which +were made with a heavy piece of iron, in the form of a butcher's +cleaver without an edge, the bones of the arms and legs were broke in +eight places; at each blow, the sufferer called out, O God! without +saying another word, or even uttering a groan. During all this time, the +Confessor called upon him continually to kiss the cross, and to remember +Christ, his Redeemer. Indeed, there was infinite address, as well as +piety, in the conduct of the Confessor; for he would not permit this +miserable wretch to have one moment's reflection about his bodily +sufferings, while a matter of so much more importance was depending; but +even those eight blows seemed nothing to two dreadful after-claps, for +the executioner then untied the body, turned his back upwards, and gave +him two blows on the small of the back with the same iron weapon; and +yet even that did not put an end to the life and sufferings of the +malefactor! for the finishing stroke was, after all this, done by the +halter, and then the body was thrown into a great fire, and consumed to +ashes. There were two or three executions soon after, but of a more +moderate kind. Yet I hope I need not tell you, that I shall never attend +another; and would feign have made my escape from this, but it was +impossible.--Here, too, I saw upwards of fourscore criminals linked +together, by one long chain, and so they were to continue till they +arrived in the galleys at _Marseilles_. Now I am sure you will be, as I +was, astonished to think, an old woman, the mother of the executioner, +should willingly assist in a business of so horrid a nature; and I dare +say, you will be equally astonished that the magistrates of the city +permitted it. Decency, and regard to the sex, alone, one would think, +should have put a stop to a practice so repugnant to both; and yet +perhaps, not one person in the town considered it in that light. Indeed, +no other person would have assisted, and the executioner must have done +all the business himself, if his mother had not been one of that part +of the _fair sex_, which Addison pleasantly mentions, "_as rakers of +cinders_;" for the executioner could not have found a single person to +have given him any assistance. There was a guard of the _Marechaussee_, +to prevent the prisoners' escape; but none that would have lifted up a +little finger towards forwarding the execution; the office is hereditary +and infamous, and the officer is shut out of all society. His +perquisites, however, were considerable; near ten pounds, I think, for +this single execution; and he had a great deal more business coming on. +I would not have given myself the pain of relating, nor you the reading, +the particulars of this horrid affair, but to observe, that it is such +examples as these, that render travelling in France, in general, secure. +I say, in general; for there are, nevertheless, murders committed very +frequently upon the high roads in France; and were those murders to be +made known by news-papers, as ours are in England, perhaps it would +greatly intimidate travellers of their own, as well as other nations. +But as the murdered, and murderers, are generally foot-travellers, +though the dead body is found, the murderer is escaped; and as nobody +knows either party, nobody troubles themselves about it. All over +France, you meet with an infinite number of people travelling on foot, +much better dressed than you find, in general, the stagecoach gentry in +England. Most of these foot-travellers are young expensive tradesmen, +and artists, who have paid their debts by a light pair of heels; when +their money is exhausted, the stronger falls upon the weaker, knocks out +his brains, and furnishes himself with a little money; and these murders +are never scarce heard of above a league from the place where they are +committed; for which reason, you never meet a foot-traveller in France, +without arms, of one kind or other, and carried for one _purpose_, or +the _other_. Gentlemen, however, who travel only in the day-time, and +who are armed, have but little danger to apprehend; yet it is necessary +to be upon their guard when they pass through great woods, and to keep +in the _middle_ of the road, so as not to be too suddenly surprized; +because a _convenient_ opportunity may induce two or three _honest_ +travellers to embrace a favourable occasion of replenishing their +purses; and as they always murder those whom they attack, if they can, +those who are attacked should never submit, but defend themselves to the +utmost of their power. Though the woods are dangerous, there are, in my +opinion, plains which are much more so; a high hill which commands an +extensive plain, from which there is a view of the road some miles, both +ways, is a place where a robber has nothing to fear but from those whom +he attacks; and he is morally certain of making his escape one way or +the other: but in a wood, he may be as suddenly surprized, as he is in a +situation to surprize others; for this reason, I have been more on my +guard when I have seen people approach me on an extensive plain, than +when I have passed through deep woods; nor would I ever let any of those +people come too near my chaise; I always shewed them the _utmost +distance_, and made them return the compliment, by bidding them, if they +offered to come out of their line, to keep off: this said in a +peremptory manner, and with a stern look, is never taken ill by honest +men, and has a forcible effect upon rascals, for they immediately +conclude you think yourself superior to them, and then they will think +so too: whatever comes unexpected, is apt to dismay; whole armies have +been seized with a panic from the most trifling artifice of the opposite +general, and such as, by a minute's reflection, would have produced a +contrary effect: the King's troops gave way at Falkirk; the reason was, +they were dismayed at seeing the rebels (_I beg pardon_) come down +_pell mell_ to attack them with their broad swords! it was a new way of +fighting, and, they weakly thought, an invincible one; but had General +Cope previously rode through the ranks, and apprised the troops with the +manner of their fighting, and assured them how feeble the effect of such +weapons would be upon men armed with musket and bayonet, which is +exactly the truth, not a man would have retired; yet, _trim-tram_, they +all ran, and the General, it is said, gave the earliest notice of his +own defeat! But I should have observed, above, that the laws of France +being different, in different provinces, have the contrary effect in the +southern parts, to what they were intended. The _Seigneur_ on whose land +a murdered body is found, is obliged to pay the expence of bringing the +criminal to justice. Some of these lordships are very small; and the +prosecuting a murderer to punishment, would cost the lord of the manor +more than his whole year's income; it becomes his interest, therefore, +to hide the dead body, rather than pursue the living villain; and, as +whoever has property, be it ever so small, has peasants about him who +will be glad to obtain his favour, he is sure that when any of these +peasants see a murdered body, they will give him the earliest notice, +and the same night the body is for ever hid, and no enquiry is made +after the offender. I saw hang on the road side, a family of nine, a +man, his wife, and seven children, who had lived many years by murder +and robberies; and I am persuaded that road murders are very common in +France; yet people of any condition may nevertheless, travel through +France with great safety, and always obtain a guard of the +_Marechaussee_, through woods or forests, or where they apprehend there +is any danger. + +_P.S._ The following method of buying and selling the wine of this +province, may be useful to you. + +To have good Burgundy, that is, wine _de la premiere tete_, as they term +it, you must buy it from 400 to 700 livres. There are wines still +dearer, up to 1000 or 1200 livres; but it is allowed, that beyond 700 +livres, the quality is not in proportion to the price; and that it is in +great measure a matter of fancy. + +The carriage of a queue of wine from Dijon to Dunkirk, or to any +frontier town near England, costs an hundred livres, something more than +four sols a bottle; but if sent in the bottle, the carriage will be just +double. The price of the bottles, hampers, package, &c. will again +increase the expence to six sols a bottle more; so that wine which at +first cost 600 livres, or 25 sols a bottle, will, when delivered at +Dunkirk, be worth 29 sols a bottle, if bought in cask; if in bottles, 39 +sols.--Now add to this the freight, duties, &c. to London; and as many +pounds sterling as all these expences amount to upon a queue of wine, +just so many French sols must be charged to the price of every bottle. +The reduction of French sols to English sterling money is very plain, +and of course the price of the best burgundy delivered in London, easily +calculated. + +If the wine be sent in casks, it is adviseable to choose rather a +stronger wine, because it will mellow, and form itself in the carriage. +It should be double casked, to prevent as much as possible, the frauds +of the carriers. This operation will cost six or eight livres per piece; +but the great and principal object is, whom to trust to buy the best; +and convey it safely. I doubt, it must not pass through the hands of +Mons. C----, if he deals in wine as he does in drapery, and bills of +exchange. + + + + +LETTER VII. + +LYONS. + + +Upon our arrival at _Chalons_, I was much disappointed; as I intended to +have embarked on the _Soane_, and have slipped down here in the _coche +d'eau_, and thereby have saved my horse the fatigue of dragging us +hither: but I could only spare him that of drawing my heaviest baggage. +The _coche d'eau_ is too small to take horses and _cabriolets_ on board +at _Chalons_; but at _Lyons_, they will take horses, and coaches, or +houses, and churches, if they could be put on board, to descend the +Rhone, to _Pont St. Esprit_, or _Avignon_. So after we have taken a +fortnight's rest here, I intend rolling down with the rapid current, +which the united force of those two mighty rivers renders, as I am +assured, a short, easy, and delightful passage. + +Nothing can be more beautiful than the country we passed through from +_Chalons_ hither. When we got within a few leagues of this great city, +we found every mountain, hill, and dale, so covered with _chateaux_, +country houses, farms, &c. that they appeared like towns, villages, and +hamlets. Nothing can be a stronger proof of the great wealth of the +citizens of _Lyons_, than that they can afford to build such houses, +many of which are more like palaces, than the country retreat of +_bourgeois_. The prospect from the highest part of the road, a league or +two from Lyons, is so extensive, so picturesque, and so enchantingly +beautiful, that, impatient as I was to enter into the town, I could not +refrain stopping at a little shabby wine-house, and drinking coffee +under their mulberry-trees, to enjoy the warm day, the cooling breeze, +and the noble prospects which every way surrounded us. + +The town of _Lyons_, too, which stands nearly in the center of Europe, +has every advantage for trade, which men in trade can desire. The +_Soane_ runs through the centre of it, and is covered with barges and +boats, loaded with hay, wood, corn, and an infinite variety of goods +from all parts of the kingdom; while the _Rhone_, on the other side, is +still more serviceable; for it not only supplies the town with all the +above necessaries of life, but conveys its various manufactures down to +the ports of the _Mediterranean_ sea expeditiously, and at little +expence. The small boats, which ply upon the Soane as ours do upon the +Thames, are flat bottomed, and very meanly built; they have, however, a +tilt to shelter them from the heat, and to preserve the complexion, or +hide the _blushes_ of your female _Patronne_:--yes, my dear Sir, +Female!--for they are all conducted by females; many of whom are young, +handsome, and neatly dressed. I have, more than once, been disposed to +blush, when I saw a pretty woman sitting just opposite me, labouring in +an action which I thought would have been more becoming myself. I asked +one of these female _sculls_, how she got her bread in the winter? Oh, +Sir, said she giving me a very significant look, such a one as you can +better conceive, than I convey, _dans l'hiver J'ai un autre talent_. And +I assure you I was glad she did not exercise _both her talents_ at the +same time of the year; yet I could not refrain from giving her a double +fee, for a single fare, as I thought there was something due to her +_winter_ as well as summer abilities. + +But I must not let my little _Bateliere's_ talents prevent me, while I +think of it, telling you, that I did visit, and stay some days at the +Roman town lately discovered in Champaigne, which I mentioned to you in +a former letter: it stood upon a mountain, now called the _Chatelet_, +the foot of which is watered by a good river, and its sides with _good +wine_. _Monsieur Grignon_, whose house stands very near it, and who has +there an iron manufacture, first discovered the remains of this ancient +town; his men, in digging for iron ore, found wrought gold, beside other +things, which convinced _Mons. Grignon_ (who is a man of genius) that it +was necessary to inform the King with what they had discovered; in +consequence of which, his Majesty ordered the foundations to be laid +open; and I had the satisfaction of seeing in _Mons. Grignon_'s cabinet +an infinite number of Roman utensils, such as weights, measures, kitchen +furniture, vases, busts, locks, swords, inscriptions, pottery ware, +statues, &c. which afforded me, and would you, a great deal of pleasure, +as well as information. _Mons. Grignon_ the elder, was gone to Paris; a +circumstance which gave me great concern to hear before I went to his +house, but which was soon removed by the politeness, and hospitable +manner I was received by his son: yet, my only recommendation to either, +was my being a stranger; and being a stranger is, in general, a good +recommendation to a Frenchman, for, upon all such occasions, they are +never shy, or backward in communicating what they know, or of gratifying +the curiosity of an inquisitive traveller; their houses, cabinets, and +gardens, are always open; and they seem rather to think they receive, +than grant a favour, to those who visit them. How many fine gardens, +valuable cabinets, and curiosities, have we in England, so shut up, that +the difficulty of access renders them as unentertaining to the public, +as they are to the sordid and selfish possessors! I am thoroughly +satisfied that the town I am speaking of was destroyed by fire, and not, +as has been imagined, by any convulsion of the earth, as I found, among +a hundred other strong proofs of it, an infinite number of pieces of +melted glass, lead, &c. But though I examined the cellars of eight +hundred Roman citizens, the selfish rogues had not left a single bottle +of wine.--I longed to taste the _old Falernian_ wine, of seventeen +hundred years. + +I write from time to time to you; but not without often thinking it is a +great presumption in me to suppose I can either entertain or instruct +you; but I proceed, upon your commands, and the authority of Lord Bacon, +who says, he is surprised to find men make diaries in sea voyages, where +nothing is to be seen but sky and sea, and for the most part omit it in +land travels, where so much is to be observed; as if chance were better +to be registered than observation. When you are tired of my register, +remember, I can _take_ as well as _give a hint_. + + + + +LETTER VIII. + +PORT ST. ESPRIT. + + +After a voyage of one whole, and one half day, without sail or oar, we +arrived here from Lyons. The weather was just such as we could wish and +such as did not drive us out of the seat of my _cabriolet_ into the +cabbin, which was full of priests, monks, friars, milleners, &c. a +motley crew! who were very noisy, and what they thought, I dare say, +very good company; the deck, indeed, afforded better and purer air; +three officers, and a priest; but it was not till late the first day +before they took any civil notice of us; and if a Frenchman shews any +backwardness of that sort, an Englishman, I think, had better _hold up_; +this rule I always religiously observe. When the night came on, we +landed in as much disorder as the troops were embarked at _St. Cas_, +and lodged in a miserable _auberge_. It was therefore no mortification +to be called forth for embarkation before day-light. The bad night's +lodging was, however, amply made up to us, by the beautiful and +picturesque objects and variety which every minute produced. For the +banks of this mighty river are not only charged on both sides with a +great number of towns, villages, castles, _chateaux_, and farm-houses; +but the ragged and broken mountains above, and fertile vales between and +beneath, altogether exhibit a mixture of delight and astonishment, which +cannot be described, unless I had Gainsborough's elegant pencil, instead +of my own clumsy pen. Upon comparing notes, we found that the officers, +(and no men understand the _etiquette_ of travelling better than they +do,) had not fared much better than we had; one of them therefore +proposed, that we should all sup together that night at _Pont +St.-Esprit_, where, he assured us, there was one of the best cooks in +France, and he would undertake to regulate the supper at a reasonable +price. This was the first time we had eat with other company, though it +is the general practice in the southern parts of France. Upon entering +the house, where this _Maitre Cuisinier_ and prime minister of the +kitchen presided, I began to conceive but an indifferent opinion of the +Major's judgment; the house, the kitchen, the cook, were, in appearance, +all against it; yet, in spite of all, I never sat down to so good a +supper; and should be sorry to sit often at table, where such a one was +set before me. I will not--nay, I cannot tell you what we had; but you +will be surprised to know what we paid,--what think you of three livres +each? when I assure you, such a supper, if it were to be procured in +London, could not be provided for a guinea a head! and we were only +seven who sat down to it. + +I must not omit to tell you, that all the second day's voyage we heard +much talk of the danger there would be in passing the Bridge of _Pont +St. Esprit_; and that many horses and men landed some miles before we +arrived there, choosing rather to walk or ride in the hot sun, than swim +through _so much danger_. Yet the truth is, there was none; and, I +believe, seldom is any. The _Patron_ of the barge, indeed, made a great +noise, and affected to shew how much skill was necessary to guide it +through the main arch, for I think the bridge consists of thirty; yet +the current itself must carry every thing through that approaches it, +and he must have skill, indeed, who could avoid it. There was not in the +least degree any fall; but yet, it passed through with such violence, +that we run half a league in a minute; and very soon after landed at the +town of Pont. St. Esprit, which has nothing in it very remarkable, but +this long bridge, the good cook, and the first olive tree we had seen. + +This is Lower _Languedoc_, you know, and the province in which ten +thousand pounds were lately distributed by the sagacious Chancellor of +England, among an hundred French peasants; and though I was _weak +enough_ to think it _my property_, I am not wicked enough to envy them +their good fortune. If the decision made one man wretched; it made the +hearts of many glad; and I should be pleased to drink a bottle of wine +with any of my fortunate cousins, and will if I can find them out; for +they are my cousins; and I would shake an honest cousin by the hand tho' +he were in wooden shoes, with more pleasure than I would the honest +Chancellor, who put them _so unexpectedly_ upon a better footing. I +think, by the _laws_ of England, no money is to be transported into +other kingdoms; by the JUSTICE of it, it may, and is;--if so, law and +justice are still at variance; which puts me in mind of what a great +man once said upon reading the confirmation of a decree in the House of +Lords, from an Irish appeal:--"It is (said he) so very absurd, +inconsistent, and intricate, that, in truth, I am afraid it is really +made according to law." + + + + +LETTER IX. + +NISMES. + + +On our way here we eat an humble meal; which was, nevertheless, a most +grateful _repas_, for it was under the principal arch of the _Pont du +Gard_. It will be needless to say more to you of this noble monument of +antiquity, than that the modern addition to it has not only made it more +durable, but more useful: in its original state, it conveyed only horse +and man, over the River _Gordon_, (perhaps _Gardon_) and water, to the +city of _Nismes_. By the modern addition, it now conveys every thing +over it, but water; as well as an high idea of Roman magnificence; for +beside the immense expence of erecting a bridge of a triple range of +arches, over a river, and thereby uniting the upper arches to the +mountains on each side, the source from whence the water was conveyed, +is six leagues distant from _Nismes_. The bridge is twenty-four _toises_ +high, and above an hundred and thirty-three in length, and was _my sole +property_ for near three hours; for during that time, I saw neither man +nor beast come near it; every thing was so still and quiet, except the +murmuring stream which runs gently under two or three of the arches, +that I could almost have persuaded myself, from the silence, and rude +scenes which every way presented themselves, that all the world were as +dead as the men who erected it. That side of the bridge where none of +the modern additions appear, is nobly fillagreed by the hand of time; +and the other side is equally pleasing, by being a well executed support +to a building which, without its aid, would in a few ages more have +fallen into ruins. + +I was astonished to find so fine a building standing in so pleasant a +spot, and which offers so many invitations to make it the abode of some +hermit, quite destitute of such an inhabitant; but it did not afford +even a beggar, to tell the strange stories which the common people +relate; tho' it could not fail of being a very lucrative post, were it +only from the bounty of strangers, who visit it out of curiosity; but a +Frenchman, whether monk, or mumper, has no idea of a life of solitude: +yet I am sure, were it in England, there are many of our, _first-rate +beggars_, who would lay down a large sum for a money of _such a walk_. +If a moiety of sweeping the kennel from the Mews-gate to the Irish +coffee-house opposite to it, could fetch a good price, and I was a +witness once that it did, to an unfortunate beggar-woman, who was +obliged by sickness to part with half of it; what might not a beggar +expect, who had the _sweeping_ of the _Pont du Gard_; or a monk, who +erected a confessional box near it for the benefit of _himself_, and the +fouls of poor travellers? + +After examining every part of the bridge, above and below, I could not +find the least traces of any ancient inscription, except three initial +letters, C, P, A; but I found cut in _demi relief_ very extraordinary +kind of _priapus_, or rather group of them; the country people, for it +is much effaced, imagine it to be dogs in pursuit of a hare; but if I +may be permitted to _imagine_ too perhaps, indeed, with no better +judgment, might not the kind of representations be emblematical of the +populousness, of the country? though more probably the wanton fancies of +the master mason, or his journeymen; for they are too diminutive pieces +of work to bear any proportion to the whole, and are therefore +blemishes, not ornaments, even allowing that in those ages such kind of +works were not considered in the light they would be in these days of +more delicacy and refinement. + + + + +LETTER X. + +NISMES. + + +I have now been here some time, and have employed most of it, in +visiting daily the _Maison Carree_, the _Amphitheatre_, the Temple of +_Diana_, and other Roman remains, which this town abounds with above all +others in France, and which is all the town affords worthy of notice, +(for it is but a very indifferent one.) The greater part of the +inhabitants are Protestants, who meet publicly between two rocks, at a +little distance from the city, every Sunday, sometimes not less than +eighteen thousand, where their pastors, openly and audibly, perform +divine service, according to the rites of the reformed church: Such is +the difference between the mild government of _Louis_ the 16th, and that +which was practised in the reign of his great grandfather. But reason +and philosophy have made more rapid strides in France, within these few +years, than the arts and sciences. It is, however, a great and mighty +kingdom, blest with every convenience and comfort in life, as well as +many luxuries, beside good wine; and good wine, drank in moderation (and +_here_ nobody drinks it otherwise) is not only an excellent cordial to +the nerves, but I am persuaded it contributes to long life, and good +health. Here, where wine and _eau de vie_ is so plenty, and so cheap +too, you seldom meet a drunken peasant, and never see a gentleman +(_except he be a stranger_) in that shameful situation. + +Perhaps there is not, on any part of the Continent, a city or town which +has been so frequently sacked by foreign invaders, nor so deeply stained +with human blood, by civil and religious wars, as this: every street and +ancient building within its walls still exhibit many strong marks of the +excesses committed by the hands of domestic as well as foreign +barbarians, except only the Temple now called, and so called from its +form, the _Maison Carree_, which has stood near eighteen hundred years, +without receiving any other injuries than the injuries of time; and time +has given it rather the face of age, than that of ruins, for it still +stands firm and upright; and though not quite perfect in every part, yet +it preserves all its due proportions, and enough of its original and +lesser beauties, to astonish and delight every beholder, and that too in +a very particular manner. It is said, and I have felt the truth of it in +part, that there does not exist, at this day, any building, ancient or +modern, which conveys so secret a pleasure, not only to the +_connoisseur_, but to the clown also, whenever, or how often soever they +approach it. The proportions and beauties of the whole building are so +intimately united, that they may be compared to good breeding in men; it +is what every body perceives, and is captivated with, but what few can +define. That it has an irresistible beauty which delights men of sense, +and which _charms_ the eyes of the vulgar, I think must be admitted; for +no other possible reason can be assigned why this building alone, +standing in the very centre of a city, wherein every excess which +religious fury could inspire, or barbarous manners could suggest, has +stood so many ages the only uninsulted monument of antiquity, either +within or without the walls; especially, as a very few men might, with +very little labour, soon tumble it into a heap of rubbish. + +The _Amphitheatre_ has a thousand marks of violences committed upon it, +by fire, sledges, battering rams, &c. which its great solidity and +strength alone resisted. + +The _Temple of Diana_ is so nearly destroyed, that, in an age or two +more no vestige of it will remain; but the _Maison Carree_ is still so +perfect and beautiful, that when _Cardinal Alberoni_ first saw it, he +said it wanted only _une boete d'or pour le defendre des injures de +l'air_; and it certainly has received no other, than such as rain, and +wind, and heat, and cold, have made upon it; and those are rather marks +of dignity, than deformity. What reason else, then, can be assigned for +its preservation to this day; but that the savage and the saint have +been equally awed by its superlative beauty. + +Having said thus much of the perfections of this edifice, I must however +confess, it is not, nor ever was, perfect, for it has some original +blemishes, but such as escape the observation of most men, who have not +time to examine the parts separately, and with a critical eye. There +are, for example, thirty modillions on the cornice, on one side and +thirty-two on the other; there are sixty-two on the west side, and only +fifty-four on the east; with some other little faults which its aged +beauty justifies my omitting; for they are such perhaps as, if removed, +would not add any thing to the general proportions of the whole. No-body +objected to the moles on Lady Coventry's face; those specks were too +trifling, where the _tout ensemble_ was so perfect. + +_Cardinal Richlieu_, I am assured, had several consultations with +builders of eminence, and architects of genius, to consider whether it +was practicable to remove all the parts of this edifice, and re-erect it +at _Versailles_: and, I have no doubt, but Lewis the 14th might have +raised this monument to his fame there, for half the money he expended +in murdering and driving out of that province sixty thousand of his +faithful and ingenious subjects, merely on the score of Religion; an +act, which is now equally abhorred by Catholics, as well as Protestants. +But, Lord Chesterfield justly observes, that there is no brute so +fierce, no criminal so guilty, as the creature called a Sovereign, +whether King, Sultan, or Sophy; who thinks himself, either by divine or +human right, vested with absolute power of destroying his +fellow-creatures. + +_Louis_ the XIth of France caused the Duke of _Nemours_, a descendant +of King _Clovis_, to be executed at Paris, and placed his children +under the scaffold, that the blood of their father might run upon their +heads; in which bloody condition they were returned to the Bastile, and +there shut up in iron cages: and a King of SIAM, having lost his +daughter, and fancying she was poisoned, put most of his court, young +and old, to death, by the most exquisite torture; by this horrid act of +cruelty, near two thousand of the principal courtiers suffered the most +dreadful deaths; the great Mandarins, their wives, and children, being +all scorched with fire, and mangled with knives, before they were +admitted to his last favour,--that of being thrown to the elephants. + +But to have done with sad subjects.--It was not till the year 1758 that +it was certainly known at what time, or for what purpose, the _Maison +Carree_ was erected; but fortunately, the same town which produced the +building so many ages ago, produced in the latter end of the last, a +Gentleman, of whom it may be justly said, he left no stone unturned to +come at the truth. This is _Mons. Seguier_, whose long life has been +employed in collecting a cabinet of Roman antiquities, and natural +curiosities, and whose penetrating genius alone could have discovered, +by the means he did, an inscription, of which not a single letter has +been seen for many ages; but this _habile observateur_, perceiving a +great number of irregular holes upon the frontal and frize of this +edifice, concluded that they were the cramp-holes which had formerly +held an inscription, and which, according to the practice of the +Romans, were often composed of single letters of bronze. _Mons. Seguier_ +therefore erected scaffolding, and took off on paper the distances and +situation of the several holes, and after nicely examining the +disposition of them, and being assisted by a few faint traces of some of +the letters, which had been impressed on the stones, brought forth, to +the full satisfaction of every body, the original inscription, which +was laid before _l'Academie des Inscriptions & de Belles Lettres de +Paris_ of which he is a member, and from whom he received their public +thanks; having unanimously agreed that there was not a doubt remained +but that he had produced the true reading: which is as follows: + + + +-------------------------------------------------+ + | TAUROBOLIO MATRIS DEUM MAGNAE IDAEAE | + | QUOD FACTUM EST EX IMPERIO | + | MATRIS IDAEAE DEUM | + | PRO SALUTE IMPERATORIS CAESARIS | + | TITI AELII | + | ADRIANI ANTONINI AUGUSTI PII PATRIS PATRIAE | + | LIBERORUMQUE EJUS | + | ET STATUS COLONIAE LUGDUNENSIS | + | LUCIUS AEMILIUS CARPUS SEXTUMVIS | + | AUGUSTALIS ITEM DENDROPHORUS | + | | + | VIRES EXCEPIT ET A VATICANO | + | TRANSTULIT ARAMET BUCRANIUM | + | SUO IMPENDIO CONSECRAVIT | + | SACERDOTE | + | QUINTO SAMMIO SECUNDO AB QUINDECEMVIRIS | + | OCCABO ET CORONA EXORNATO | + | CUI SANCTISSIMUS ORDO LUGDUNENSIS | + | PERPETUITATEM SACERDOTIS DECREVIT | + | APPIO ANNIA ATILIO BRADUA TITO | + | CLODIO VIBIO VARO CONSULIBUS | + | LOCUS DATUS DECRETO DECURIONUM. | + +-------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +The _Maison Carree_ is not however, quite square, being something more +in length than breadth; it is eighty-two feet long and thirty-seven and +a half high, exclusive of the square socle on which it stands, and which +is, at this time, six feet above the surface; it is divided into two +parts, one enclosed, the other open; the facade is adorned with six +fluted pillars of the Corinthian order, and the cornice and front are +decorated with all the beauties of architecture. The frize is quite +plain, and without any of those bas-reliefs or ornaments which are on +the sides, where the foliage of the olive leaf is exquisitely finished. +On each side over the door, which opens into the enclosed part, two +large stones, like the but-ends of joists, project about three feet, and +these stones are pierced through with two large mortices, six inches +long, and three wide; they are a striking blemish, and must therefore +have been fixed, for some very necessary purpose--for what, I will not +risque my opinion; it is enough to have mentioned them to you. As to the +inside, little need be said; but, that, being now consecrated to the +service of GOD, and the use of the order of _Augustines_, it is filled +up with altars, _ex votos_, statues, &c. but such as we may reasonably +conclude, have not, exclusive of a religious consideration, all those +beauties which were once placed within a Temple, the outward structure +of which was so highly finished. + +Truth and concern compel me to conclude this account of the _Maison +Carree_, in lamenting, that the inhabitants of Nismes (who are in +general a very respectable body of people) suffer this noble edifice to +be defiled by every species of filth that poverty and neglect can +occasion. The approach to it is through an old ragged kind of barn door: +it is surrounded with mean houses, and disgraced on every side with +filth, and the _offerings_ of the nearest inhabitants. I know not any +part of London but what would be a better situation for it, than where +it now stands: I will not except even Rag-fair, nor Hockly in the Hole. + + + + +LETTER XI. + +NISMES. + + +The state in which that once-superb edifice, the Temple of Diana, now +appears; with concern, I perceived that there remains only enough to +give the spectator an idea of its former beauty; for though the roof has +been broken down, and every part of it so wantonly abused yet enough +remains, within, and without, to bear testimony that it was built, not +only by the greatest architect, but enriched also by the hands of other +great artists: indeed, the mason's work alone is, at this day, +wonderful; for the stones with which it is built, and which are very +large, are so truly worked, and artfully laid, without either cement or +mortar, that many of the joints are scarce visible; nor is it possible +to put the point of a penknife between those which are most open. This +Temple too is, like the _Maison Carree_, shut up by an old barn-door: a +man, however, attends to open it; where, upon entering, you will find a +striking picture of the folly of all human grandeur; for the area is +covered with broken statues, busts, urns, vases, cornices, frizes, +inscriptions, and various fragments of exquisite workmanship, lying in +the utmost disorder, one upon another, like the stript dead in a field +of battle. Here, the ghost of Shakespeare appeared before my eyes, +holding in his hand a label, on which was engraven those words you have +so often read in his works, and now see upon his monument. + +I have often wondered, that some man of taste and fortune in England, +where so much attention is paid to gardening, never converted one spot +to an _Il Penseroso_, and another to _L'Allegro_. If a thing of that +kind was to be done, what would not a man of such a turn give for an +_Il Penseroso_, as this Temple now is?--where sweet melancholy sits, +with a look + + "That's fastened to the ground, + A tongue chain'd up, without a sound." + +The modern fountain of _Nismes_ or rather the Roman fountain recovered, +and re-built, falls just before this Temple; and the noble and extensive +walks, which surround this pure and plentiful stream, are indeed very +magnificent: what then must it have been in the days of the Romans, when +the Temple, the fountain, the statues, vases, &c. stood perfect, and in +their proper order? Though this building has been called the Temple of +Diana, by a tradition immemorial, yet it may be much doubted, whether it +was so. The Temples erected, you know, to the daughter of Jupiter, were +all of the Ionic order, and this is a mixture of the Corinthian, and +Composit. Is it not, therefore, more probable, from the number of niches +in it to contain statues, that it was, in fact, a Pantheon? Directly +opposite to the entrance door, are three great tabernacles; on that of +the middle stood the principal altar; and on the side walls were twelve +niches, six on the right-hand are still perfect. The building is eleven +_toises_ five feet long, and six _toises_ wide, and was thrown into its +present ruinous state during the civil wars of Henry the Third; and yet, +in spite of the modern statues, and gaudy ornaments, which the +inhabitants have bestrewed to decorate their matchless fountain, the +Temple of Diana is still the greatest ornament it has to boast of. + + + + +LETTER XII. + +MONTPELLIER. + + +Never was a traveller more disappointed than I was upon entering into +this renowned city; a city, the name of which my ears have been familiar +to, ever since I first heard of disease or medicine. I expected to find +it filled with palaces; and to perceive the superiority of the soft air +it is so celebrated for, above all other places; instead of which, I was +accompanied for many miles before I entered it with thousands of +Moschettos, which, in spite of all the hostilities we committed upon +them, made our faces, hands and legs, as bad in appearance as persons +just recovering from a plentiful crop of the small-pox, and infinitely +more miserable. Bad as these flies are in the West-Indies, I suffered +more in a few days from them at, and near Montpellier, than I did for +some years in Jamaica. + +However fine and salubrious the air of this town might have been +formerly, it is far otherwise now; and it may be naturally accounted +for; the sea has retired from the coast, and has left three leagues of +marshy ground between it and the town, where the hot sun, and stagnated +waters, breed not only flies, but distempers also; beside this, there +is, and ever was, something very peculiar in the air of the town itself: +it is the only town in France where verdigris is made in any great +quantity; and this, I am inclined to think, is not a very favourable +circumstance; where the air is so disposed to cankerise, and corrode +copper, it cannot be so pure, as where none can be produced; but here, +every cave and wine-cellar is filled with sheets of copper, from which +such quantities of verdigris are daily collected, that it is one of the +principal branches of their trade. The streets are very narrow, and +very dirty; and though there are many good houses, a fine theatre, and a +great number of public edifices beside churches, it makes altogether but +an indifferent figure. + +Without the walls of the town, indeed, there stands a noble equestrian +statue of Louis the XIVth, surrounded with spacious walks, and adorned +with a beautiful fountain. Their walks command a view of the +Mediterranean Sea in front, and the Alps and Pyrenees on the right and +left. The water too is conducted to a most beautiful _Temple d' Eau_ +over a triple range of arches, in the manner of the _Pont du Gard_, from +a very considerable distance. The modern arches over which it runs, are +indeed, a great and mighty piece of work; for they are so very large, +extended so far, and are so numerous, that I could find no person to +inform me of their exact number; however, I speak within the bounds of +truth, I hope, when I say there are many hundred; and that it is a work +which the Romans might have been proud of, and must therefore convey an +high idea of the riches and mightiness of a kingdom, wherein one +province alone could bear, and be willing too to bear, so great an +expence, and raise so useful, as well as beautiful a monument; for +beside the immense expence of this triple range of arches, the source +from whence the water is conveyed is, I think, three leagues distant +from the town, by which means every quarter of it is plentifully +supplied with fountains which always run, and which in hot climates are +equally pleasing, refreshing, and useful. + +The town abounds with apothecaries' shops, and I met a great many +physical faces; so that if the air is not good, I conclude the physic +is, and therefore laid out two _sols_ for a pennyworth of ointment of +_marsh-mallows_ which alleviated a little the extreme misery we all were +in, during our stay at this celebrated city. If, however, it still has +a reputation for the cure of a _particular disorder_, perhaps that may +arise from the impurity of the air,--and that the air which is so prone +to engender verdigris, may wage war with other subtile poisons; yet, as +I found some of my countrymen there, who had taken a longer trial of the +air, and more of the physic, than I had occasion for, who neither +admired one, nor found benefit from the other, I will not recommend +_Montpellier_ as having any peculiar excellencies within its walls, but +good wine, and some good actors. It is a dear town, even to the natives, +and a very imposing one to strangers; and therefore I shall soon leave +it, and proceed southward. + +Perhaps you will expect me to say something of the _Sweets_ which this +town is so famed for: there are indeed some sweet shops of that sort; +and they are _bien places_. At these shops they have ladies' silk +pockets, sachels for their shifts, letter cases, and a multitude of +things of that kind, quilted and _larded_ with something, which does +indeed give them a most pleasing and lasting perfume. At these shops +too, beside excellent lavender water, essence of bergamot, &c. they sell +_eau de jasmin de pourri, de cedre, de girofle, sans pareille, de mille +fleurs, de zephir, de oiellet, de sultan_ and a hundred other sorts; but +the _essence of bergamot_ is above all, as a single drop is sufficient +to perfume a handkerchief; and so it ought to be, for it is very dear. + + + + +LETTER XIII. + +CETTE. + + +I was very impatient till I had drove my horse from the British to the +Mediterranean coast, and looked upon a sea from _that land_ which I had +often, with longing eyes, viewed _from the sea_, in the year 1745, when +I was on board the Russel, with Admiral Medley. I have now compleatly +crossed this mighty kingdom and great continent, and it was for that +reason I visited _Cette_. This pretty little sea-port, though it is out +of my way to _Barcelona_, yet it proves to be in _the way_ for my poor +horse; as I found here a Spanish bark, upon which I put part of my +baggage. I was obliged to have it, however, opened and examined at the +Custom-house; and as the officer found in it a bass viol, two guittars, +a fiddle, and some other musical instruments, he very naturally +concluded I was a musician, and very kindly intimated to me his +apprehensions, that I should meet with but very little _encouragement in +Spain_: as I had not any better reason to assign for going there, but to +fiddle, I did not undeceive this good-natured man till the next morning, +when I owned, I was not sufficiently _cunning_ in the art of music to +get my bread by it; and that I had unfortunately been bred to a worse +profession, that of arms; and if I got time enough to _Barcelona_ to +enter a volunteer in the _Walloon_ guards, and go to _Algiers_, perhaps +I might get from his Catholic Majesty, by my services, more than I could +acquire from his Britannic--something to live upon in my old age: but I +had no better encouragement from this Frenchman as an adventurer in +arms, than in music; he assured me, that Spain was a _vilain pays_, and +that France was the only country in the world for a _voyageur_. But as I +found that France was the only country he had _voyaged_ in, and then +never above twenty leagues from that spot, I thanked him for his advice, +and determined to proceed; for though it is fifteen miles from +_Montpellier_, we are not got out of the latitude of the _Moschettos_. + +On the road here, we met an infinite number of carts and horses, loaded +with ripe grapes; the gatherers generally held some large bunches (for +they were the large red grape) in their hands, to present to travellers; +and we had some from people, who would not even stay to receive a +trifling acknowledgment for their generosity and politeness. + +Nothing could be more beautiful than the prospects which every way +surrounded us, when we came within three or four miles of this town; +both sides of the road were covered with thyme and lavender shrubs, +which perfumed the air; the sea breeze, and the hot sun, made both +agreeable; and the day was so clear and fine, that the snow upon the +_Alps_ made them appear as if they were only ten leagues from us; and I +could have been persuaded that we were within a few hours drive of the +_Pyrenees_; yet the nearest of them was at least a hundred miles +distant. + +The great Canal of _Languedoc_ has a communication with this town, where +covered boats, neatly fitted up for passengers, are continually passing +up and down that wonderful and artificial navigation. It is a convenient +port to ship wine at; but the people have the reputation of playing +tricks with it, before and after it is put on board; and this opinion is +a great baulk to the trade it is so happily situated to carry on, and of +great benefit to the free port of _Nice_. + + + + +LETTER XIV. + +PERPIGNAN. + + +DEAR SIR, + +Before I leave this kingdom, and enter into that of Spain, let me +trouble you with a letter on a subject which, though no ways +interesting to yourself, may be very much so _to a young Gentleman of +your acquaintance_ at Oxford, for whose happiness I, as well as you, am +a little anxious. It is to apprize you, and to warn him, when he +travels, to avoid the _gins and man-traps_ fixed all over this country; +traps, which a thorough knowledge of Latin and Greek, combined even +with father and mother's wit, will not be sufficient to preserve him +from, unless he is first shewn the manner in which they are set. These +traps are not made to catch the legs, but to ruin the fortunes and +break the hearts of those who unfortunately step into them. Their baits +are artful, designing, wicked men, and profligate, abandoned, and +prostitute women. Paris abounds with them, as well as Lyons, and all +the great towns between London and Rome; and are principally set to +catch the young Englishman of fortune from the age of eighteen to five +and twenty; and what is worse, an honest, sensible, generous young man, +is always in most danger of setting his foot into them. You suspect +already, that these traps are made only of paper, and ivory, and that +cards and dice are the destructive engines I mean. Do you know that +there are a set of men and women, in _Paris_ and _Lyons_, who live +elegantly by lying in wait and by catching every _bird of +passage_?--but particularly the English _gold-finch_. I have seen and +heard of such wicked artifices of these people, and the fatal +consequences to the unfortunate young men they have ensnared, that I +really think I could never enjoy a single hour of contentment, if I +had a large fortune, while a son of mine was making what is called the +tour of Europe. The minute one of these young men arrive, either at +_Paris_ or _Lyons_, some _laquais de place_, who is paid for it, gives +the earliest notice to one of the confederacy, and he is instantly +way-laid by a French _Marquis_, or an English _Chevalier d'Industrie_, +who, with a most insinuating address, makes him believe, he is no +sooner arrived at _Paris_ than he has found a sincere friend. The +_Chevalier_ shews him what is most worthy of notice in _Paris_, attends +him to _Versailles_ and _Marly_, cautions him against being acquainted +with the honest part of the French nation, and introduces him to the +knaves only of his own and this country; carries him to see French +Ladies of the _first distinction_, (and such who certainly _live in +that style_) and makes the young man giddy with joy. But alas! it is +but a short-lived one!--he is invited; to sup with the _Countess_; and +is entertained not only voluptuously, but they play after supper, and +he wins too. What can be more delightful to a young man, in a strange +country, than to be flattered by the French, courted by the English, +entertained by _the Countess_, and cheered with success?--Nay, he +flatters himself, from the particular _attention_ the _Countess_ shews +him, above all other men admitted to her toilet, that she has even some +_tendre_ for his person:--just at this _critical moment_, a _Toyman +arrives_, to shew _Madame la Comtesse_ a new fashioned trinket; she +likes it, but has not money enough in her pocket to pay for it:--here +is a fine opportunity to make Madame la Comtesse a present;--and why +should not he?--the price is not above four or five guineas more than +his last night's winnings;--he offers it; and, with _great difficulty_ +and much persuasion, she accepts it; but is quite _ashamed_ to think of +the trouble he has given himself:--but, says she, you Englishmen are so +charming,--so generous,--and so--so--and looks so sweet upon him, that +while her tongue faulters, _egad_ he ventures to cover her confusion by +a kiss;--when, instead of giving him the two broad sides of her cheek, +she is so _off her guard_, and so overcome, as to present him +_unawares_, with a pretty handsome dash of red pomatum from her lovely +pouting lips,--and insists upon it that he sups with her, _tete a +tete_, that very evening,--when all this happiness is compleated. In a +few nights after, he is invited to meet the _Countess_, and to sup with +_Monsieur le Marquis_, or _Monsieur le Chevalier Anglais_; he is +feasted with high meat, and inflamed with delicious wines;--they play +after supper, and he is stript of all his money, and gives--drafts upon +his Banker for all his credit. He visits the Countess the next day; she +receives him with a civil coolness,--is very sorry, she says,--and +wished much last night for a favourable opportunity to give him a hint, +not to play after he had lost the first thousand, as she perceived luck +ran hard against him:--she is extremely mortified;--but; as a friend, +advises him to go to _Lyons_, or some provincial town, where he may +study the language with more success, than in the hurry and noise of so +great a city as _Paris_, and apply for further credit. His _new +friends_ visit him no more; and he determines to take the Countess's +advice, and go on to _Lyons_, as he has heard the South of France is +much cheaper, and there he may see what he can do, by leaving Paris, +and an application to his friends in England. But at _Lyons_ too, some +artful knave, of one nation or the other, accosts him, who has had +notice of his _Paris_ misfortunes;--he pities him;--and, rather than +see a countryman, or a gentleman of fashion and character in distress, +he would lend him fifty or a hundred pounds. When this is done, every +art is used to debauch his principles; he is initiated into a gang of +genteel sharpers, and bullied, by the fear of a gaol, to connive at, or +to become a party in their iniquitous society. His good name gives a +sanction for a while to their suspected reputations; and, by means of +an hundred pounds so lent to this honest young man, some thousands are +won from the _birds of passage_, who are continually passing thro' that +city to the more southern parts of _France_, or to _Italy_, _Geneva_, +or _Turin_. + +This is not an imaginary picture; it is a picture I have seen, nay, I +have seen the traps set, and the game caught; nor were those who set the +snares quite sure that they might not put a stop to my peregrination, +for they _risqued a supper at me_, and let me win a few guineas at the +little play which began before they sat down to table. Indeed, my dear +Sir, were I to give you the particulars of some of those unhappy young +men, who have been ruined in fortune and constitution too, at _Paris_ +and _Lyons_, you would be struck with pity on one side, and horror and +detestation on the other; nor would ever risque such a _finished part_ +of your son's education. Tell my Oxonian friend, from me, when he +travels, never to let either Lords or Ladies, even of his own country, +nor _Marquises_, _Counts_, or _Chevaliers_, of this, ever draw him into +play; but to remember that shrewd hint of Lord Chesterfield's to his +son;--"When you play with men (says his Lordship) know with _whom_ you +play; when with women, _for what_ you play."--But let me add, that the +only SURE WAY, is never to play at all. + +At one of these towns I found a man, whose family I respected, and for +whom I had a personal regard; he loaded me with civilities, nay, made me +presents, before I had the most distant suspicions _how_ he became in a +situation to enable him so to do. He made every profession of love and +regard to me; and I verily believed him sincere; because I knew he had +been obliged by a part of my family; but when I found a coach, a +country-house, a good table, a wife, and servants, were all supported by +the _chance_ of a gaming-table, I withdrew myself from all connections +with him; for, I fear, he who lives to play, may _play_ to _live_. + +Upon the whole, I think it is next to an impossibility for a young man +of fortune to pass a year or two in _Paris_, the southern parts of +France, Italy, &c. without running a great risque of being beggared by +sharpers, or seduced by artful women; unless he has with him a tutor, +who is made wise by years, and a frequent acquaintance with the customs +and manners of the country: an honest, learned Clergyman tutor, is of +less use to a young man in that situation, than a trusty _Valet de +Chambre_. A travelling tutor must know men; and, what is more difficult +to know, he must know women also, before he is qualified to guard +against the innumerable snares that are always making to entangle +strangers of fortune. + +It is certainly true, that the nearer we approach to the sun, the more +we become familiar with vices of every kind. In the _South of France_, +and _Italy_, sins of the blackest dye, and many of the most unnatural +kind, are not only committed with impunity, but boasted of with +audacity; and, as one proof of the corruption of the people, of a +thousand I could tell you, I must tell you, that seeing at _Lyons_ a +shop in which a great variety of pictures were hung for sale, I walked +in, and after examining them, and asking a few questions; but none that +had the least tendency to want of decorum, the master of the shop turned +to his wife, (a very pretty woman, and dressed even to a _plumed_ +head)--shew _Monsieur_ the little miniature, said he; she then opened a +drawer and took out a book, (I think it was her mass-book) and brought +me a picture, so indecent, that I defy the most debauched imagination +to conceive any thing more so; yet she gave it me with a seeming decent +face, and only observed that it was _bien fait_. After examining it with +more attention than I should, had I received it from the hands of her +husband, I returned it to her prayer-book, made my bow, and was +retiring; but the husband called to me, and said, he had a magazine hard +by, where there was a very large collection of pictures of great value, +and that his wife would attend me. My curiosity was heightened in more +respects than _one_: I therefore accepted the offer, and was conducted +up two pair of stairs in a house not far off, where I found a long suite +of rooms, in which were a large number of pictures, and some, I believe, +of great value. But I was a little surprised on entering into the +furthermost apartment, as that had in it an elegant _chintz_ bed, the +curtains of which were festooned, and the foliages held up by the +paintings of two naked women, as large as life, and as indecent as +nakedness could be painted; they were painted, and well painted too, on +boards, and cut out in human shape; that at first I did not know whether +I saw the shadow or the substance; however, as this room was covered +with pictures, I began to examine them also, with the fair attendant at +my elbow; but in the whole collection I do not remember there was one +picture which would not have brought a blush in the face of an English +Lady, even of the most easy virtue. Yet, all this while, when I asked +the price of the several parts and pieces, she answered me with a +gravity of countenance, as if she attended me to sell her goods like +other shopkeepers, and in the way of business; however, before I left +the room, I could not, I thought, do less than ask her--her own price. +She told me, she was worth nothing; and immediately invited me to take a +peep through a convex glass at a picture which was laid under, on the +table, for that purpose:--it was a picture of so wicked a tendency, that +the painter ought to have been put upon a pillory, and the exhibitor in +the stocks. The Lady observed to me again, that it was well painted; +but, on the contrary, the only merit it had, was, being quite otherwise, +I therefore told her, that the subject and idea only was good; the +execution bad. + +Just at this time, several French Gentlemen came in to look at the +pictures, and my surprise became infinitely greater than ever; they +talked with her about the several pieces, without betraying the least +degree of surprise at the subjects, or the woman who shewed them; nor +did they seem to think it was a matter of any to me; and I verily +believe the woman was so totally a stranger to sentiment or decency, +that she considered herself employed in the ordinary way of shopkeepers, +that of shewing and selling her goods: as her shop was almost opposite +to the General Post-office, where I went every day for my letters, I +frequently saw women of fashion at this shop; whether they visited the +magazine, or not, I cannot say, but I think there is no doubt but they +might borrow the _mass-book_ I mentioned above. + +I shall leave you to make your own comments upon this subject; and then +I am sure you will tremble for the fatal consequences which your son, or +any young man, may, nay must be led into, in a country where Vice is +painted with all her bewitching colours, in the fore-ground of the +picture; and where Virtue, if there be any, is thrown so far behind in +the back shade, that it is ten to one but it escapes the notice of a +youthful examiner. + +I cannot help adding another instance of the profligacy of this town. +Lord P---- being invited by a French Gentleman to spend a day at his +_Chateau_, in this country, took occasion to tell his Lordship, that in +order to render the day as agreeable as possible to his company, he had +provided some young people of _both sexes_ to attend, and desired to +know his Lordship's _gout_. The young Nobleman concealed his surprise, +and told his _generous_ host, that he was not fashionable enough to walk +out of the paths of nature. The same question was then put to the other +company, in the order of their rank; and the last, an _humble +Frenchman_, replied, it was to him _egal l'un, et l'autre_, just as it +proved most convenient. This is not a traveller's story; it is a fact; +and I dare say the Nobleman, who was of the party, will give it the +sanction of his name, though I cannot with any degree of propriety. + + + +LETTER IV. + +JONQUIRE. + + +I have now crossed the _Pyrenees_, and write this from the first village +in Spain. These mountains are of such an enormous height, as well as +extent, that they seem as if they were formed even by nature to divide +nations. Nor is there any other pass by land into this kingdom but over +them; for they extend upwards of thirty leagues from the _Mediterranean_ +Sea, near _Perpignan_ in _Rousillon_ to the city of _Pompelina_ in +_Navarre_; I should have said, extend _into_ the _Mediterranean_ Sea, +for there the extremity projects its lofty head, like a noble fortress +of nature, into the ocean, far beyond the low lands on either side. +Indeed the extensive plains on both side these lofty mountains (so +unusual in the Southern parts of Europe) would almost make one suspect, +that nature herself had been exhausted in raising such an immense pile, +which, as if it were the back-bone of an huge animal, was made to hold, +and bind together, all the parts of the western world. There are, I +think, nine passes over these hills into _Spain_, two or three of which +are very commodious, and wonderfully _picturesque_: others are dreadful, +and often dangerous; the two best are at the extremities; that which I +have just passed, and the other near _Bayonne_; the former is not only +very safe, except just after very heavy and long-continued rains, but in +the highest degree pleasing, astonishing, and wonderfully romantic, as +well as beautiful. + +At _Boulon_, the last village in France, twelve long leagues from +_Perpignan_, and seemingly under the foot of the _Pyrenees_, we crossed +a river, for the first time, which must be forded three or four times +more, before you begin to ascend the hills; but if the river can be +safely crossed at _Boulon_, there can be no difficulty afterwards, as +there alone the stream is most rapid, and the channel deepest. At this +town there are always a set of fellows ready to offer their service, who +ford the river, and support the carriage; nor is it an easy matter to +prevent them, when no such assistance is necessary; and I was obliged to +handle my pistols, to make them _unhandle_ my wheels; as it is more than +probable they would have overset us in shallow water, to gain an +opportunity of shewing their _politeness_ in picking us up again. The +stream, indeed, was very rapid; and I was rather provoked by the +rudeness of the people, to pass through it without assistance, than +convinced there needed none. + +Having crossed the river four or five times more, and passed between +rocks, and broken land, through a very uncultivated and romantic vale, +we began to ascend the _Pyrenees_ upon a noble road, indeed! hewn upon +the sides of those adamantine hills, of a considerable width, and an +easy ascent, quite up to the high _Fortress of Bellegarde_, which stands +upon the pinnacle of the highest hill, and which commands this renowned +pass. + +You will easier conceive than I can describe the many rude and various +scenes which mountains so high, so rocky, so steep, so divided, and, I +may add too, so fertile, exhibit to the traveler's eyes. The constant +water-falls from the melted snow above, the gullies and breaches made by +water-torrents during great rains, the rivulets in the vale below, the +verdure on their banks, the herds of goats, the humble, but picturesque +habitations of the goat-herds, the hot sun shining upon the _snow-capt_ +hills above, and the steep precipices below, all crowd together so +strongly upon the imagination, that they intoxicate the passenger with +delight. + +The French nation in no instance shew their greatness more than in the +durable and noble manner they build and make their high-roads; here, +the expence was not only cutting the hard mountain, and raising a fine +road on their sides, but building arches of an immense height from +mountain to mountain, and over breaks and water-falls, with great +solidity, and excellent workmanship. + +The invalide guard at this fortress take upon themselves, very +improperly, and I am sure very unwarrantably, to examine strangers who +pass, with an impertinent curiosity; for they must admit all who come +with a proper _passa-porte_ into _Spain_, and durst not admit any +without it. On my arrival at the Guard-house, they seized my horse's +head, and called for my _passa-porte_, in terms very unlike the usual +politeness of French guards; and while my pass was carried into a little +office, hard by, to be registered, those who remained on the side of my +chaise took occasion to ask me of what country I was: I desired to +refer them to my _passa-porte_, (where I knew no information of that +kind was given,) as it was a question I could not very well answer; but +upon being further urged, I at length told them, I was an +_Hottentot_.--"_Otentot_--_Otentot_--pray what king governs that +country?" said one of them. No king governs the _Hottentots_ replied I. +"What then, is your country without a king?" said another, with +astonishment! No; not absolutely so, neither; for the _Hottentots_ have +a king; but he always keeps a number of ambitious and crafty men about +his Court, who govern him; and those men, who are generally knaves, feed +the people with guts, and entrails of beasts, give the king now and then +a little bit of the main body, and divide the rest among themselves, +their friends, their favourites, and sycophants. But I soon found, these +were questions leading to a more important one; and that was, what +_countryman_ my horse was;--for, suspecting him to be an _Englishman_, +they would perhaps, if I had been weak enough to have owned it, have +made me pay a considerable duty for his admission into _Spain_; though I +believe it cannot legally be done or levied upon any horse, French, or +English, (to use an act of parliament phrase) but such "as are not +actually in harness, nor drawing in a carriage." + +The Spaniards too have done their duty, as to the descent of the +_Pyrenees_ from _Bellegarde_, but no further; from thence to this +village, is about the same distance that _Boulon_ is from the foot of +the mountains on the other side; but though this road is quite destitute +of art it is adorned highly by nature. + +But, before I left _Bellegarde_, I should have told you, that near that +Fortress the arms of France and Spain, cut on stone pillars, are placed +_vis-a-vis_ on each side of the road; a spot where some times an affair +of _honour_ is decided by two men, who engage in personal combat; each +standing in a different kingdom; and where, if one falls, the other need +not run; for, by the Family Compact, it is agreed, not to give up +deserters or murderers. + +The road is not less romantic on the Spanish, than on the French side of +the _Pyrenees_; the face of the country is more beautiful, and the faces +of all things, animate and inanimate, are quite different; and one would +be apt to think, that instead of having passed a few hills, one had +passed over a large ocean: the hogs, for instance, which are all white +on the French side, are all black on this. + +We arrived here upon a Sunday, when the inhabitants had on their best +apparel: but instead of high head-dresses, false curls, plumes of +feathers, and a quantity of powder, the women had their black hair +combed tight from their foreheads and temples, and tied behind, in +either red, blue, or black nets, something like the caul of a peruke, +from which hang large tassels down to the middle of their back; the +men's hair was done up in nets in the same manner, but not so gaudy. + +Before we arrived here, I overtook a girl with a load of fresh hay upon +her head, whom (_at the request of my horse_) I entreated to spare me a +little, but, till she had called back her brother, who had another load +of the same kind, would not treat with me; they soon agreed, however, +that my request was reasonable; and so was their demand; and there, +under the shade of a noble grove of large cork-trees, we and our horse +eat a most luxurious meal: appetite was the sauce; and the wild scenes, +and stupendous rocks, which every way surrounded our _salle a manger_, +were our dessert. + +And that you may not be alarmed about this mighty matter, (as it is by +many thought) of parting from _France to Spain_, by the way of +_Perpignan_, it may not be amiss to say, that I left the last town about +seven o'clock in the morning, in a heavy French _cabriolet_, drawn by +one strong English horse, charged with four persons, and much baggage; +yet we arrived here about three o'clock the same day; where at our +supper, we had a specimen of Spanish cookery, as well as Spanish beds, +bills, and custom-house officers: to the latter, a small donative is +better bestowed, than the trouble of unpacking all your baggage, and +much better relished by them: as to the host, he was neither rude, nor +over civil; the cookery more savoury than clean; the window frames +without glass, the rooms without chimneys. The demand for such +entertainment is rather dearer than in France. + +Before I left _Perpignan_, I found it necessary to exchange some French +gold for Spanish, and to be well informed of the two kingdoms. There +were many people willing to change my money; though but few, indeed, who +would give the full value. Formerly, you know, the _Pyrenees_ were +charged with gold, from whence the Phoenicians fetched great quantities +every year. In the time of the Romans, much of the _Pyrenean_ gold was +sent to Rome; and a King of Portugal, so lately as the year 1512, had a +crown and sceptre made of the gold washed from those hills into the +_Tagus_; their treasures were known, you may remember, even to Ovid. + + "Quod suo Tagus amne vehit fluit + Ignibus aurum." + +But as I did not expect to find a gold mine on my passage into Spain, I +thought it best to carry a little with me, and leave nothing to chance; +and I should have been content to have found, by the help of my gun, the +bird vulgarly called the _Gelinotte des Pyrenees_; it has a curved bill +like a hawk, and two long feathers in the tail; but though I saw a great +number of different birds, I was not fortunate enough to find the +_Ganga_, for that is the true name of a bird, so beautiful in feather, +and of so delicate a flavour, that it is even mentioned by Aristotle, +and is a native of these hills. + +P.S. I forgot to tell you, that the day we left _Cette_ we stopped, +according to custom, to eat our cold dinner, in an olive grove; from +whence we had a noble view of the Mediterranean Sea, and a most +delightfully situated _Chateau_, standing upon the banks of a salt-water +lake, at least twenty miles in circumference, "clear as the expanse of +heaven;" and that while we were preparing to spread our napkin, a +gentleman of genteel appearance came out from a neighbouring vineyard, +and asked us if any accident had happened, and desired, if we wanted +any thing, that we would command him, or whatever his house afforded, +pointing to the _Chateau_, which had so attracted our notice: we told +him, our business was to eat our little repast, with his leave, under, +what we presumed, was his shade also, and invited him to partake with +us. He had already captivated us by his polite attention, and by his +agreeable conversation: we lamented that we had not better pretensions +to have visited his lovely habitation. We found he was well acquainted +with many English persons of fashion, who have occasionally resided at +Montpellier; and I am sure, his being a winter inhabitant of that city, +must be one of the most favourable circumstances the town affords. These +little attentions to strangers, are never omitted by the well-bred part +of the French nation. I could not refill asking the name of a gentleman, +to whom I felt myself so much obliged, nor avoid telling him my own, +and what had passed at the town of _Cette_, relative to the musical +instruments, as one of the largest was still with us.--He seemed +astonished, that I preferred the long and dangerous journey by land, as +he thought it, to _Barcelona_, when I might, he said, have run down to +it over a smooth sea, in the same bark I had put my baggage on board. + + + + +LETTER XVI. + +GIRONE. + + +From _Jonquere_ to _Figuere_ (about four hours journey, so they reckon +in Spain) the road is intolerable, and the country beautiful; over which +the traveller may, as nature has done, repose himself upon a flowery +bed, indeed; for nature surely could not do more for the pleasure and +profit of man, than she has done from _Jonquere_ to _Girone_. The town +of _Figuere_ is, properly speaking, the first town in Spain; for +_Jonquere_ is rather a hamlet; but _Figuere_ has a decent, comfortable +appearance, abounds with merchants and tradesmen, and at a little +distance from it stands the strongest citadel in Spain; indeed it is the +frontier town of the kingdom. The quietness of the people, and seeming +tranquility of all ranks and orders of men in Spain, is very remarkable +to a person who has just left a kingdom in every respect so different. +Strangers as we were, and as we must be known to be, we passed +unnoticed; and when we stopped near a cottage to eat our hedge dinner, +neither man, woman, or child came near us, till I asked for water, and +then they brought with it, unasked, dried grapes, and chesnuts, but +instantly retired. I was charmed with the Arcadian inhabitants, and +visited the inside of their cabin; but its situation upon a little +_tump_, on the bank of a brook, shaded by ever-green oaks, and large +spreading fig-trees, was all it had to boast of; it had nothing within +but straw beds, Indian corn, dried grapes, figs, &c. + +From _Figuere_ to _Girone_, which is a good day's journey, the country +is enclosed, and the hedgerows, corn fields, &c. had in many places the +appearance of the finest parts of England, only warmed by a hotter sun, +and adorned with woods and trees of other species; instead of the +hawthorn, I found the orange and the pomegranate, the myrtle and the +cypress; in short, all nature seemed to rejoice here, but man alone. + +From many parts of this road we had a view of the _Mediterranean_ Sea, +and the Golfe _de Royas_, a fine bay, over which the heads of the +_Pyrenees_ hang; and on the banks of which there seemed to be, not only +villages, but large towns; the situations of which appeared so +enchanting, that I could hardly resist the temptation of visiting +them;--and now wonder why I did not; but at that time, I suppose I did +not recollect I had nothing else to do. + +We entered this town rather too late, and were followed to our inn by an +armed soldier, who demanded, in harsh terms, my attendance upon the +Governor; I enquired whether it was customary for a Gentleman, just off +a journey, to be so called upon, and was assured it was not; that my +_passa-porte_ was sufficient. I therefore gave that to my conductor, and +desired him to take it, and return it, which he did, in about half an +hour; but required to be paid for his trouble--a request I declined +understanding. + +This is a fortified city, well built, but every house has the appearance +of a convent. I went into the market, where fruit, flesh, and +vegetables, were to be sold in abundance; but instead of that noise +which French and English markets abound with, a general silence and +gravity reigned throughout; which, can hardly be thought possible, where +so many buyers and sellers were collected together. I bought a basket of +figs, but the vender of them spoke to me as softly as if we had been +engaged in a conspiracy, but she did not attempt to impose; I dare say, +she asked me no more than she would have demanded of a Spaniard. The +manners of people are certainly infectious; my spirits sunk in this +town; and I wanted nothing but the language, and a long cloak, to make +me a compleat Spaniard. Our inn was the Golden Fountain; and, +considering it was in Spain, not a bad one. If the town, however, was +gloomy, the country round about it exhibited all the beauties nature can +boast of. + +In climates, says some writer, where the earth seems to be the pride and +masterpiece of nature, rags, and dirt, ghastly countenances, and misery +under every form, are oftener met with, than in those countries less +favoured by nature; and the forlorn and wretched condition of the people +in general seemed to belie and disgrace their native soil. Certain it +is, that the natives of the southern parts of Europe have neither the +beauty, the strength, nor comeliness of men born in more northern +climates. I have seen in the South of France, in Spain, and Portugal, +the aged especially of both sexes, who hardly appeared human! nor do +you see, in general, even among the youthful, much more beauty than that +which youth alone must give; for youth itself is beauty. Whoever +compares the natives of Switzerland, England, Ireland, and Scotland, +with those of Spain, Portugal, or other Southern climates, will find, +that men born among cold, bleak mountains, are infinitely superior to +those of the finest climates under the sun. Perhaps, however, this +difference may arise more from the want of Liberty than the power of +climate. Oh Liberty! sweet Liberty! without thee life cannot be enjoyed! +Thou parent of comfort, whose children bless thee, though they dwell +among the barren rocks, or the most surly regions of the earth! Thou +blessest, in spite of nature; and in spite of nature, tyranny brings +curses. + + + + +LETTER. XVII. + +MARTORY. + + +After we left _Girone_ we passed thro' a fine country, but not equal to +that which is between _Jonquire_ and that town; we lay the first night +at a _veritiable_ Spanish _posada_; it was a single house, called the +_Grenade_. We arrived there early in the afternoon; and though the +inside of the house was but so-so, every thing without was charming, and +our host and his two daughters gave us the best they had, treated us +with civility enough; and gave us good advice in the prosecution of our +journey to Barcelona; for about four leagues from this house, we found +two roads to that city, one on the side of the Mediterranean Sea, the +other inland. He advised us to take the former, which exactly tallied +with my inclination, for wherever the sea-coast affords a road in hot +climates, that must be the pleasantest; and I was very impatient till we +got here. + +After we had left the high inland road, we had about three leagues to +the sea side, and the village on its margin where we were to lie; this +road was through a very wild, uncultivated country, over-run with +underwood and tall firs. We saw but few houses and met with fewer +people. When we came near the sea, the country, however, improved upon +us; and the farms, churches, convents, and beacons, upon the high lands, +rendered the prospects every way pleasing. We crossed a shallow river +several times, adorned on both sides with an infinite quantity of tall +beeches, on one of which trees (boy like) I cut my name, too high for +_other boys_, without a ladder, to cut me _out_ again. At length we +arrived at the village, and at a _posada_, than which nothing could be +more dreadful, after the day-light was gone; for beside the rudest +mistress, and the dirtiest servants that can be conceived, there lay a +poor Frenchman dying in the next room to us; nay, I may almost say, in +the same room with us, for it could hardly be called a door which parted +us. This poor man, who had not a shilling in his pocket, had lain twenty +days ill in that house; but was attended by the priests of the town with +as much assiduity as if he had been a man of fashion: he had been often +exhorted by them, it seems, to confess, but had refused. The night we +came, he feared would be his last, and he determined to make his +confession; I was in the room when he signified his desire so to do; and +all the people were dismissed by the parish priest. I returned to my +room, and could now and then hear what the priest said: but the sick +man's voice was too low: his crimes however, I fear, were of an high +nature, for we heard the priest say, with a voice of impatience and +seeming horror, _Adonde--adonde--adonde_?--Where--where--where? + +You may imagine, a bad supper, lighted by stinking oil, burning in an +iron lamp hung against the side of a wall, (for there were no candles to +be had) and while the sick man was receiving the last sacrament, would +have been little relished had it been good; that our dirty straw beds +were no very comfortable retreat; and that day-light the next morning +was what we most wanted and wished for. Indeed, I never spent a more +miserable night; but it was amply made up to us by this day's journey to +_Martory_, for we coasted it along the sea, which sometimes washed the +wheels of my chaise At others, we crossed over high head-lands, which +afforded such extensive views over both elements, as abundantly overpaid +us for the sufferings of the preceding evening. The roads, indeed, over +these head-lands were bad enough, in some places dangerous; but between +walking and riding, with a steady horse, we got on very well. + +On this coast, we found a village at every league, inhabited by rich +fishermen, and wealthy ship-builders, and found all these artificers +busy enough in their professions; in some places, there were an hundred +men dragging in, by bodily strength, the _Saine_; at others, still more +surprising, ships of two hundred tons were building on the dry land, +where no tide rises to launch them! These villages are built close to +the sea; nothing intervenes between their houses and the ocean but their +little gardens, in which, under the shade of their orange, lemon, and +vine trees, which were loaded with fruit, sat the wives and daughters of +the fishermen, making black silk lace. Though I call them villages, and +though they are in reality so, yet the houses were such, in general, as +would make a good figure even in a fine city; for they were all well +built, and many adorned on the outside with no contemptible paintings. + +The town, indeed, from which I write, is situated in the same manner, +but is a little city, and affords a _posada_, (I speak by comparison, +remember) comfortable enough; and the sea a fish, they call the red +fish, than which nothing can be more delicious; I may venture almost to +call it the sea woodcock, for it is eaten altogether in the same manner. +We fared better than my poor horse, for not a grain of oats or barley +did this city afford; nor has he tasted, or have I seen, a morsel of hay +since I parted from my little _Dona_, near the foot of the _Pyrenees_. +Tomorrow we have seven hours to _Barcelona_; I can see the high cape +under which it stands, and from under which, you shall soon hear again +from me. + + + + +LETTER XVIII. + +BARCELONA. + + +Upon our arrival at this town, we were obliged to wait at the outward +gate above half an hour, no person being admitted to enter from twelve +till one, tho' all the world may go out; that hour being allotted for +the guards, &c. to eat their dinner. As I had no letter to any person in +this city, but to the French Consul, I had previously wrote to a Mr. +Ford, a merchant at Barcelona, with whom I had formerly travelled from +London to Bath, to beg the favour of him to provide lodgings for me; I +therefore enquired for Mr. Ford's house, and found myself conducted to +that of a Mr. Curtoys; Mr. Ford, unfortunately for me, was dead; but the +same house and business is carried on by Messrs. Adams and Curtoys, who +had received and opened my letter. After this family had a little +_reconnoitred_ mine, Mr. Curtoys came down, and with much civility, and +an hospitable countenance, told me his dinner was upon the table, and in +very pressing terms desired that we would partake of it. We found here a +large family, consisting of his wife, a motherly good-looking woman; +Mrs. Adams, her daughter by a former husband, a jolly dame; and several +children. Mrs. Adams spoke fluently the Catalan, French, English, and +Spanish tongues; all which were necessary at a table where there were +people who understood but one only of each language. Mr. Curtoys pressed +us to dine with him a few days after, a favour which I, only, accepted; +when he told me, he was nominated, but not absolutely fixed in his +Consulship of this city; that he had obtained it by the favour of Lord +Rochford, who had spent some days at his house, on his way to Madrid, +when his Lordship was Ambassador to this Court; and before I went from +him, he desired I and my family would dine with him at his country-house +the next day: instead of which, I waited upon him in the morning, and +told him, that I had formerly received civilities from his friend, Lord +Rochford, and believed him once to have been mine; but that, +unfortunately, I found now it was much otherwise; and observed, that +perhaps his politeness to me might injure him with his Lordship; and +that I thought it right to say so much, that he might be guided by his +own judgment, and not follow the bent of his inclination, if he thought +it might be prejudicial to his interest; and by the way of a little +return for the hospitable manner in which he had received and +entertained me, and my family, I took out an hundred and twenty-five +pound in Banknotes, and desired him to send them to England; adding, +that I had about thirty pounds in my pocket, which I hoped would be +sufficient for my expences, till he had an account of their safe +arrival. But instead of his wonted chearful countenance, I was +_contunded_ with an affected air of the man of business; my bank notes +were shined against the window, turned and twisted about, as if the +utmost use they could be of were to light the Consul's pipe after +supper. I asked him whether he had any doubts of their authenticity; and +shewed him a letter to confirm my being the person I said I was, written +to me but a short time before, from his friend Lord Rochford, from whom +he too had just received a letter: he then observed; that a burnt child +dreads the fire; that their House had suffered; that a Moor had lately +passed thro' France, who had put off a great number of false Bank notes, +and that I might indiscreetly have taken some of them; but assuring him +that I had received all mine from the hands of Messrs. Hoare, and that I +would not call upon him for the money till he had received advice of +their being good, I took my leave, and left my notes. + +But as there was a possibility, nay, a probability, that Mr. Curtoys +might not have very early advice from England, or might not give it to +me if he had, (for all his hospitality of countenance and civility was +departed) I thought it was necessary to secure a retreat; for I should +have informed you, that I found at his table a Mr. Wombwell, whose uncle +I had lived in great intimacy with many years before at Gibraltar, and +who left this man (now a Spanish merchant) all his fortune. Indeed, I +should have said, that Mr. Wombwell had visited me, and even had asked +me to dine with him; and as he appeared infinitely superior both in +understanding, address, and knowledge of the world to good Mr. Curtoys, +I went to him, with that confidence which a good note, and a good cause, +gives to every man. I told him the Consul's fears, and my own, lest I +might want money before Mr. Curtoys was ready to supply me; in which +case, and which only, I asked Mr. Wombwell if he would change me a +twenty pound Bank note, and shewed him one which I then took out of my +pocket; but Mr. Wombwell too examined my notes, with all the attention +of a cautious tradesman, and put on all that imperiousness which riches, +and the haughty Spanish manners to an humble suitor, could suggest. I +tell you, my dear Sir, what passed between us, more out of pity than +resentment towards him; he said I will recollect it as nearly as I can, +"that if you are Mr. Thicknesse, you must have lived a great deal in the +world; it is therefore unfortunate, you are not acquainted with Sir +Thomas Gascoyne, a gentleman of fashion, well known in England, and now +in the same auberge with you." I confessed that I had seen, and +conversed with Sir Thomas Gascoyne there, and that it was very true, he +was to me, and I to him, utter strangers; but I observed, that Sir +Thomas had been ten years upon his travels, and that I had lived +fourteen years in retirement before he set out, and therefore that was +but a weak circumstance of my being an impostor; I observed too, that +impostors travelled singly, not with a wife and children; and that +though I by no means wished to force his money out of his pocket, I +coveted much to remove all suspicions of my being an adventurer, for +many obvious reasons. This reply opened a glimpse of generosity, though +sullied with arrogance and pride. "I should be sorry (said he) to see a +countryman, who is an honest man, in want of money; and therefore, as I +think it is probable you are Mr. Thicknesse, I will, when you want your +note changed, change it;" adding, however, that "he thanked God! if he +lost the money, he could afford it." I then told him, he had put it in +my power to convince him I was Mr. Thicknesse, by declining, as I did, +the boon he offered me; I declined it, indeed, with an honest +indignation, because I am sure he did not doubt my being Mr. Thicknesse, +and that _he_, not _I_, was the REAL PRETENDER. I had before told him, +that I had some letters in my pocket written by a Spanish Gentleman of +fashion, whose hand-writing must be well known in that town;--but to +this he observed, that there was not a Moor in Spain who could not write +Spanish;--he further remarked, that if I was Mr. Thicknesse, I had, in a +publication of my travels, spoke of Sir John Lambert, a Parisian Banker, +in very unhandsome terms, and, for aught he knew, I might take the same +liberty with his name, in future. I acknowledged that his charge was +very true, and that his suggestion might be so; that I should always +speak and publish such truths as I thought proper, either for the +information of others, or the satisfaction of myself. Mr. Wombwell, +however, acknowledged, that Mr. Curtoys, to whom I shewed Lord +Rochford's letter to me, ought to have been quite satisfied whether I +was, or was not an impostor; but I still left him under real or +pretended doubts, with a resolution to live upon bread and water, or the +bounty of a taylor, my honest landlord; for, tho' a Spaniard, I am sure +he had that perception, and that humanity too, which Mess. Curtoys and +Wombwell have not, or artfully concealed from me: yet, in spite of all +the unkind behaviour of the latter, I could not help shewing him my +share of vanity too; I therefore sent him a letter, and enclosed therein +others written to me by the late Lord Holland, the Duke of Richmond, +Lord Oxford, and many other people of rank; and desired him to give me +credit, at least, for _that_ which he could lose nothing by--that of my +being, if I was an impostor, an ingenuous one. He sent the letters, +handsomely sealed up, back again, without any answer; and there +finished for ever, our correspondence, unless _he should renew it_. + +I am ashamed of saying so much about these men and myself, where I could +find much better subjects, and some, perhaps, of entertainment; but it +is necessary to shew how very proper it is for a stranger to take with +him letters of recommendation when he travels, not only to other +kingdoms, but to every city where he proposes to reside, even for a +short time; for, as Mr. Wombwell justly observed, when I have a letter +of recommendation from my friend, or correspondent, I can have no doubt +who the bearer is; and I had rather take that recommendation than Bank +notes.--I confess, that merchants cannot be too cautious and +circumspect; I can, and do forgive Mr. Curtoys, for reasons he shall +shew you under his own hand: but I have too good an opinion of Mr. +Wombwell's perception to so readily forget his shrewd reprisals; though +I must, I cannot refrain from telling you what a flattering thing he +said to me: I had shewn him a printed paper, signed _Junius_; said he, +"If you wrote this, you may be, for aught I know, really JUNIUS." I +assured him that I was not; for being in Spain, and out of the reach of +the inquisitorial court of Westminster-Hall, I would instantly avow it, +for fear I should die suddenly, and carry that secret, like _Mrs. +Faulkner_, to the grave with me. + + + + +LETTER XIX. + +BARCELONA. + + +You will, as I am, be tired of hearing so much about Messrs. Wombwell, +Curtoys, Adams, and Co.--but as there are some other persons here, which +my last letter must have put you in some pain about, I must renew the +subject. I had, you know, some letters of recommendation to the _Marquis +of Grimaldi_, which I had reserved to deliver into his Excellency's +hands at _Madrid_; but which I found necessary to send away by the post, +and to request the honour of his Excellency to write to some Spaniard of +fashion here, to shew me countenance, and to clear up my suspected +character. I accordingly wrote to the _Marquis_, and sent him my letters +of recommendation, but sixteen days was the soonest I could expect an +answer. I therefore, in the mean time, wrote myself to the _Intendant_ +of _Barcelona_, a man of sense, and high birth; I told him my name, and +that I had letters in my pocket from a Spanish Gentleman of fashion, +whom he knew, which would convince him who I was, and desired leave to +wait upon him. The Intendant fixed six o'clock the same evening. I was +received, and conducted into his apartment, for he was ill, by one of +his daughters; the only woman I had seen in Barcelona that had either +beauty or breeding;--this young Lady had both in a high degree. After +shewing my letters, and having conversed a little with the Intendant, a +Lady with a red face, and a nose as big as a brandy bottle, accosted me +in English: "Behold, Sir, (said she) your countrywoman." This was Madam +O'Reilly, wife to the Governor of _Monjuique_ Castle, and brother to the +Gentleman of that name, so well known, and so amply provided for, by the +late and present King of Spain. She was very civil, and seemed +sensible. Her husband, the Governor, soon after came in, and the whole +family smiled upon me. I then began to think I should escape both goal +and inquisition. Mrs. O'Reilly visited my family. Mr. O'Reilly borrowed +a house for me, and a charming one too; I say borrowed it, for no +Spaniard letts his house; I was only to make him some _recompense for +his politeness and generosity_. The Intendant even sent Gov. O'Reilly to +know why Mr. Curtoys had not presented me, on the court-day, to the +Captain-General. Mr. Consul Curtoys was obliged to give his reasons in +person; had they been true, they were good: the Intendant accepted them, +and said he would present me himself. Things seemed now to take a +favourable turn: Mr. Curtoys visited me on his way back from the +Intendant's; assured me he had told him that I was a man of character, +and an honest man; and that though he could not _see me_ as _Consul +Curtoys_, he should be glad to see me as _Merchant Curtoys_. On the +other hand, the _Marquis of Grimaldi_, with the politeness of a +minister, and the feelings of humanity, wrote me a very flattering +letter indeed, and sent it by a special _courier_, who came in four days +from _Madrid_. Now, thought I, a fig for your Wombwells, Curtoys, &c. +The first minister's favour, and the _shining countenance_ of Madam +O'Reilly, must carry me through every thing. But alas! it was quite +otherwise;--the _courier_ who brought my letter had directions to +deliver it into my own hands; but either by _his blunder_, or _Madam +O'Reilly's_, I did not get it till _nine hours_ after it arrived, and +then _from the hands_ of _Madam O'Reilly's_ servant. The contents of +this letter were soon known: the favour of the minister at _Madrid_ did +not shine upon me at the _Court of Barcelona_! I visited Madam O'Reilly, +who looked at me,--if I may use such a coarse expression,--"like God's +revenge against murder." I could not divine what I had done, or what +omitted to do. I could get no admittance at the Intendant's, neither. I +proposed going to _Montserrat_, and asked my _fair_ countrywoman for a +letter to one of the monks; but--_she knew nobody there, not she_:--Why +then, madam, said I, perhaps I had better go back to France:--Oh! but, +says she, perhaps the _Marquis of Grimaldi_ will not let you; adding, +that the laws of France and Spain were very different.--But, pray, +madam, said I, what have the laws of either kingdom to do with me, while +I violate none of them? I am a citizen of the world, and consequently +free in every country.--Now, Sir, to decypher all this, which I did by +the help of some _characters_ an honest Spaniard gave me:--Why, says he, +they say you are a _great Captain_; that you have had an attention shewn +you by the _Marquis of Grimaldi_, which none of the O'Reilly's ever +obtained; and they are afraid that you are come here to take the eldest +brother's post from him, and that you are to command the troops upon the +second expedition to _Algiers_; for every body is much dissatisfied +with his conduct on the first; adding, that the Spaniards do not love +him.--I told him, that might arise from his being a stranger; but I had +been well assured, and I firmly believed it, that he is a gallant, an +able, and a good officer; but, said I, that cannot be the reason of so +much shyness in the _Intendant_, even if it does raise any uneasiness in +the O'Reilly's family:--Yes, said he, it does; for the Captain-General +O'Reilly is married lately to one of the Intendant's daughters. So you +see here was another mine sprung under me; and I determined to set out +in a day or two for _Montserrat_. I had but one card more to play, and +that was to carry the open letter I had to the French Consul, and which, +I forgot to tell you, I had shewn to the acute, discerning, and +sagacious merchant Wombwell. It was written by _Madame de Maigny_, the +Lady of the _Chevalier de Maigny_, of the regiment _d'Artois_, one of +the Gentlemen with whom I had eat that voluptuous supper in company at +_Pont St. Esprit_; but, as Mr. Wombwell shrewdly observed, my name was +not even mentioned in that letter, it was the _bearer only_ who was +recommended; and how could that Lady, any more than Mr. Wombwell, tell, +but that I had murdered the first bearer, and robbed him of his +recommendatory letter, and dressed myself in his scarlet and gold-laced +coat, to practise the same wicked arts upon their lives and fortunes? + +Now, you will naturally wish to know how Sir Thomas Gascoyne, my +_vis-a-vis_ neighbour in the same _Hotel_, conducted himself. I had, +before all this fuss, eat, drank, and conversed with him: he is a +sensible, genteel, well-bred man; and there was with him Mr. Swinburne, +who was equally agreeable: no wonder, therefore, if I endeavoured to +cultivate an acquaintance with two such men, so much superior, in all +respects, to what the town afforded. Sir Thomas, however, became rather +reserved; perhaps not more so than good policy made necessary for a man +who was only just entering upon a grand tour through the whole kingdom, +from Barcelona to Cadiz, Madrid, &c. &c. I perceived this shyness, but +did not resent it, because I could not censure it. He had no suspicion +of me at first; and if he had afterwards, I could not tell what +circumstances might have been urged against me; and I considered, that +if a man of his fortune and figure could have been suspected, there was +much reason for him to join with others in suspecting me. + +The Moor, it seems, who had put off the counterfeit bank notes, had been +advertised in all the foreign papers; his person was particularly +described; and as application had been made to the Courts of France and +Spain, to stop the career of such a villain, the Governor of _Barcelona_ +had, upon Sir Thomas Gascoyne's first arrival, stopped him, and sent +for the Consul, verily believing he had got the offender. The Moor was +described as a short, plump, black man; and as Sir Thomas has black +eyes, and is rather _en bon point_, the plain, honest Governor had not +discernment enough to see that ease and good breeding in Sir Thomas, +which no Moor, however well he may imitate Bank notes, can counterfeit. +But as Sir Thomas had letters of credit upon Mr. Curtoys, which +ascertained his person and rank, this adventure became a laughable one +to him. It is, indeed, from his mouth I relate it, though, perhaps, not +with all the circumstances he told me.--Now, had my person tallied as +well as Sir Thomas's did with that of the itinerant Moor, I should +certainly have been in one of the round towers, which stick pretty thick +in the walls of the fortification of this town. + +You will tremble--I assure you, I do--when I think of another escape I +had; and I will tell you how:--The day after I left _Cette_, I came to +a spot where the roads divide; here I asked two men, which was mine to +_Narbonne_? one of them answered me in English; he was a shabby, but +genteel-looking young man, said he came from _Italy_, and was going to +_Barcelona_; that he had been defrauded of his money at _Venice_ by a +parcel of sharpers, and was going to _Spain_ to get a passage to +Holland, of which country he was a native; he was then in treaty, he +said, with the other man to sell him a pair of breeches, to furnish him +with money to carry him on; and as I had no servant at that time, he +earnestly intreated me to take him into my service: I would not do that, +you may be sure; but lest he might be an unfortunate man, like myself, I +told him, if he could contrive to lie at the inns I did, I would pay for +his bed and supper. He accepted an offer, I soon became very sorry I had +made; and when we arrived at _Perpignan_, I gave him a little money to +proceed, but absolutely forbad him either to walk near my chaise, or to +sleep at the same inns I did; for as I knew him not, he should not enter +into another kingdom as one in my _suite_; and I saw no more of him till +some days after my arrival at Barcelona, where he accosted me in a +better habit, and shewed me some real, or counterfeit gold he had got, +he said, of a friend who knew his father at Amsterdam. He was a bold, +daring fellow; and it was with some difficulty I could prevail upon him +not to walk _cheek by jole_ with me along the ramparts. + +Soon after this I was informed, that a fine-dressed, little black-eyed +man was arrived in a bark from Italy. This man proved to be, as Mr. +Curtoys informed me, the very Moor whom Sir Thomas Gascoyne was +suspected to be: he was apprehended, and committed to one of the round +towers. But what will you say, or what would have been my lot, had I +taken the other man into my service?--for the minute _my white man_, for +he was a _whitish_ Moor, saw the black one arrive, he decamped; they +were afraid of each other, and both wanted to escape; my man went off on +foot; the black man was apprehended, while he was in treaty with the +master of the same bark he came in, to carry him to some other sea-port. +Now had I come in with such a servant, and with my suspected Bank notes, +without letters of credit, or recommendation; had the Moor arrived, who +is the real culprit, and who had been connected with my man, what would +have become of his master, your unfortunate humble servant?--I doubt the +_abilities_ of his Britannic Majesty's Consul would not have been able +to have divided our degrees of _guilt_ properly; and that I should have +experienced but little charity on my straw bed, from the humanity of Mr. +Wombwell. However, I had still one card more to play to reinforce my +purse; it was one, I thought could not fail, and the money was nearer +home:--I had lent, while I was at Calais, thirty guineas to a French +officer, for no other reason but because he wanted it: I knew the man; +and as he promised to pay me in three months, and as that time was +expired, I applied to Mr. Harris, a Scotch merchant, at his house at +Barcelona, on whom the London Bankers of the same name give letters of +credit to travellers. I begged the favour of him to send the note to his +correspondents at Paris, and to procure the money for me, and when it +was paid, that he would give it to me at Barcelona; but Mr. Harris too, +begged to be excused: he started some difficulties, but at length did +give me a receipt for the note, and promised, reluctantly enough, to +send it. I began now to think that I should starve indeed. Every article +of life is high in Spain, and my purse was low. I therefore wrote to Mr. +Curtoys, to know if he had any tidings of the Bank bills; for I had +immediately wrote to Messrs. Hoare, to beg the favour of them to send +Mr. Curtoys the numbers of those which I received at their house; and +they very politely informed me, they had so done. Mr. Consul Curtoys +favoured me with the following answer: + +"Mr. Curtoys presents his compliments to Mr. Thicknesse; no ways doubts +the Bank bills _to be good_, from London this post under the 24th past, +they _accuse_ receipt thereof, &c. _Barcelona_, 12th of December, 1775." + +As Mr. Curtoys's correspondent had _accused receipt thereof_, I thought +I might too, and accordingly I went and desired my money. The cashier +was sick, they said, and I was desired to call again the next morning, +_when he would be much better_;--I did so, and received my money; and +shall set off immediately for _Montserrat_, singing, and saying what I +do not exactly agree to; but, being at Rome, I would do as they do +there: I therefore taught my children to repeat the following Spanish +proverb: + + "Barcelonaes Bueno, + Si la Bolsa fueno; + Sueno o no fueno; + Barcelonaes Bueno." + +I will not translate what, I am sure, you will understand the sense of +much better than you will think I experienced the truth. I hope, +however, to have done with my misfortunes; for I am going to visit a +spot inhabited by virtuous and retired men; a place, according to all +reports, cut out by nature for such who are able to sequester themselves +from all worldly concerns; and from such strangers as they are I am sure +I shall meet with more charity for they deal in nothing else than I met +with humanity or politeness at Barcelona. + +_P.S._ I should have told you, that before Sir Thomas Gascoyne left this +town, he sent a polite message, to desire to take leave of me and my +family: I therefore waited upon him; and as he proposed visiting +Gibraltar, I troubled him with a letter to my son, then on that duty; +and was sorry soon after to find that my son had left the garrison +before Sir Thomas could arrive at it. If you ask me how Sir Thomas +Gascoyne ventured to make so great a tour through a country so aukwardly +circumstanced for travellers in general, and strangers in particular, I +can only say, that when I saw him he had but just began his long +journey, and that he had every advantage which _religion_ and fortune +could give him. I had none: he travelled with two coaches, two sets of +horses, two saddle mules, and was protected by a train of servants. I +had religion, (but it was a bad one in that country) and only one +footman, who strictly maintained his character, for he always walked. +Indeed, it is the fashion of all Spanish gentlemen to be followed by +their servant on foot. I therefore travelled like a Spaniard; Sir +Thomas like an Englishman. The whole city of _Barcelona_ was in an +uproar the morning Sir Thomas's two coaches set off; and I heard, with +concern, that they both broke down before they got half way to +_Valencia_; but, with pleasure, by a polite letter soon after from Mr. +Swinburne, that they got so far in perfect health. + +I am, dear Sir, &c. + +_P.S._ Before I quit Barcelona, it will be but just to say, that it is a +good city, has a fine mole, and a noble citadel, beside _Monjuique_, a +strong fort, which stands on a high hill, and which commands the town as +well as the harbour. The town is very large and strongly fortified, +stands in a large plain, and is encompassed with a semi-circular range +of high hills, rather than mountains, which form _un coup-d'oeil_, +that is very pleasing, as not only the sides of the hills are adorned +with a great number of country houses, but the plain also affords a +great many, beside several little villages. The roads too near the town +are very good. As to the city itself, it is rather well built in +general, than abounding with any particular fine buildings. The +Inquisition has nothing to boast of now, either within or without, +having (fortunately for the public) lost a great part of its former +power: it, however, still keeps an awe upon all who live within its +verge. I never saw a town in which trade is carried on with more spirit +and industry; the indolent disposition of the Spaniards of _Castile_, +and other provinces, has not extended ever into this part of Spain. They +have here a very fine theatre; but those who perform upon the stage are +the refuse of the people, and are too bad to be called by the name of +actors. They have neither libraries nor pictures worthy of much notice, +though they boast of one or two paintings in their churches by natives +of the town, Francois _Guirro_, and John _Arnau_. In the custom-house +hangs a full-length of the present King, so execrable, that one would +wonder it was not put, with the painter, into the Inquisition, as a +libel on royalty and the arts. I am told, at _La Fete Dieu_ there are +some processions of the most ridiculous nature. The fertility of the +earth in and about the town is wonderful; the minute one crop is off the +earth, another is put in; no part of the year puts a stop to vegetation. +In the coldest weather, the market abounds with a great variety of the +choicest flowers; yet their sweets cannot over-power the intolerable +smell which salt fish, and stinking fish united, diffuse over all that +part of the city; and rich as the inhabitants are, you will see the +legs, wings, breasts, and entrails of fowls, in the market, cut up as +joints of meat are in other countries, to be sold separately: nor could +I find in this great city either oil, olives, or wine, that were +tolerable. I paid a guinea a day at the _Fontain d'Or_ for my table; +yet every thing was so dirty, that I always made my dinner from the +dessert; nor was there any other place but the stable of this dirty inn +to put up my horse, where I paid twelve livres a week for straw only; +and whoever lodges at this inn, must pay five shillings a day for their +dinner, whether they dine there or not. + +_Catalonia_ is undoubtedly the best cultivated, the richest, and most +industrious province, or principality, in Spain; and the King, who has +the SUN FOR HIS HAT, (for it always shines in some part of his +dominions) has nothing to boast of, equal to _Catalonia_. + +As I have almost as much abhorrence to the Moors, as even the Spaniards +themselves, (having visited that coast two or three times, many years +ago) you may be sure I was grieved to meet, every time I went out, so +many maimed and wounded officers and soldiers, who were not long +returned from the unsuccessful expedition to _Algiers_. There are no +troops in the world more steady than the Spaniards; it was not for want +of bravery they miscarried, but there was some sad mismanagement; and +had the Moors followed their blows, not a man of them would have +returned. My servant, (a French deserter) who was upon that expedition, +says, Gen. O'Reilly was the first who landed, and the last who +embarked;--but it is the HEAD, not the _arm_ of a commander in chief, +which is most wanted. The Moors at _le point du jour_, advanced upon +the Spaniards behind a formidable _masked and moving battery_ of +camels: the Spaniards, believing them, by a faint light, to be cavalry, +expended a great part of their strength, spirits, and ammunition, upon +those harmless animals; and it was not till _this curtain_ was removed +that the dreadful carnage began, in which they lost about nine thousand +men. There seems to have been some strange mismanagement; it seems +probable that there was no very good understanding between the marine +and the land officers. The fleet were many days before the town, and +then landed just where the Moors expected they would land. There is +nothing so difficult, so dangerous, nor so liable to miscarriage, as +the war of _invading_: our troops experienced it at _St. Cas_; and they +either have, or will experience it in America. The wild negroes in +Jamaica, to whom Gov. Trelawney wisely gave, what they contended for, +(LIBERTY) were not above fifteen hundred fit to bear arms. I was in +several skirmishes with them, and second in command under Mr. Adair's +brother, a valiant young man who died afterwards in the field, who made +peace with them; yet I will venture to affirm, that though five hundred +disciplined troops would have subdued them in an open country, the +united force of France and England could not have extirpated them from +their fast holds in the mountains. Did not a Baker battle and defeat +two Marshals of France in the Cevennes? And is it probable, that all +the fleets and armies of Great-Britain can conquer America?--England +may as well attempt moving that Continent on this side the Atlantic. + + + + +LETTER XX. + +MONTSERRAT. + + +I never left any place with more secret satisfaction than I did +_Barcelona_; exclusive of the entertainment I was prepared to expect, +by visiting this holy mountain; nor have I been disappointed; but on +the contrary, found it, in every respect, infinitely superior to the +various accounts I had heard of it;--to give a perfect description of +it is impossible;--to do that it would require some of those attributes +which the Divine Power by whose almighty handy it was raised, is +endowed with. It is called _Montserrat_, or _Mount-Scie_,[C] by the +_Catalonians_, words which signify a cut or _sawed mountain_; and so +called from its singular and extraordinary form; for it is so broken, +so divided, and so crowned with an infinite number of spiring cones, +or PINE heads, that it has the appearance, at distant view, to be the +work of man; but upon a nearer approach, to be evidently raised by HIM +alone, to whom nothing is impossible. It looks, indeed, like the first +rude sketch of GOD's work; but the design is great, and the execution +such, that it compels all men who approach it, to lift up their hands +and eyes to heaven, and to say,--Oh GOD!--HOW WONDERFUL ARE ALL THY +WORKS! + +[C] The arms of the Abbey are--A saw in the middle of a rock. + +It is no wonder then, that such a place should be fixed upon for the +residence of holy and devout men; for there is not surely upon the +habitable globe a spot so properly adapted for retirement and +contemplation; it has therefore, for many ages, been inhabited only by +monks and hermits, whose first vow is, never to forsake it;--a vow, +without being either a hermit or a monk, I could make, I think, without +repenting. + +If it be true, and some great man has said so, that "_whosoever +delighteth in solitude, is either a wild beast, or a God_;" the +inhabitants of this spot are certainly more than men; for no wild beast +dwells here. But it is the _place_, not the people, I mean at present to +speak of. It stands in a vast plain, seven leagues they call it, but it +is at least thirty miles from _Barcelona_, and nearly in the center of +the principality of _Catalonia_. The height of it is so very +considerable, that in one hour's slow travelling towards it, after we +left _Barcelona_, it shewed its pointed steeples, high over the lesser +mountains, and seemed so very near, that it would have been difficult to +have persuaded a person, not accustomed to such deceptions, in so clear +an atmosphere to believe, that we had much more than an hour's journey +to arrive at it; instead of which, we were all that day in getting to +_Martorel_, a small city, still three leagues distant from it, where we +lay at the Three Kings, a pretty good inn, kept by an insolent imposing +Italian. _Martorel_ stands upon the steep banks of the river +_Lobregate_, over which there is a modern bridge, of a prodigious +height, the piers of which rest on the opposite shore, against a Roman +triumphal arch of great solidity, and originally of great beauty. I +think I tell you the truth when I say, that I could perceive the +convent, and some of the hermitages, when I first saw the mountain, at +above twenty miles distance. From _Martorel_, however, they were as +visible as the mountain itself, to which the eye was directed, down the +river, the banks of which were adorned with trees, villages, houses, &c. +and the view terminated by this the most glorious monument in nature. +When I first saw the mountain, it had the appearance of an infinite +number of rocks cut into _conical_ forms, and built one upon another to +a prodigious height. Upon a nearer view, each cone appeared of itself a +mountain; and the _tout ensemble_ compose an enormous mass of the +_Lundus Helmonti_, or plumb-pudding stone, fourteen miles in +circumference, and what the Spaniards _call_ two leagues in height. As +it is like unto no other mountain, so it stands quite unconnected with +any, though not very distant from some very lofty ones. Near the base of +it, on the south side, are two villages, the largest of which is +_Montrosol_; but my eyes were attracted by two ancient towers, which +flood upon a hill near _Colbaton_, the smallest, and we drove to that, +where we found a little _posada_, and the people ready enough to furnish +us with mules and asses, for we were now become quite impatient to visit +the hallowed and celebrated convent, _De Neustra Senora_; a convent, to +which pilgrims resort from the furthest parts of Europe, some bearing, +by way of penance, heavy bars of iron on their backs, others cutting and +slashing their naked bodies with wire cords, or crawling to it on +all-fours, like the beasts of the field, to obtain forgiveness of their +sins, by the intercession of _our Lady of Montserrat_. + +When we had ascended a steep and rugged road, about one hour, and where +there was width enough, and the precipices not too alarming, to give our +eyes the utmost liberty, we had an earnest of what we were to expect +above, as well as the extensive view below; our impatience to see more +was encreased by what we had already seen; the majestic convent opened +to us a view of her venerable walls; some of the hermits' cells peeped +over the broken precipices still higher; while we, glutted with +astonishment, and made giddy with delight and amazement, looked up at +all with a reverential awe, towards that God who raised the +PILES, and the holy men who dwell among them.--Yes, Sir,--we +caught the holy flame; and I hope we came down better, if not wiser, +than we went up. After ascending full two hours and a half more, we +arrived on a flat part on the side, and about the middle of the +mountain, on which the convent is built; but even that flat was made so +by art, and at a prodigious expence. Here, however, was width enough to +look securely about us; and, good God! what an extensive field of earth, +air, and sea did it open! the ancient towers, which at first attracted +my notice near _Colbaton_, were dwindled into pig-sties upon a +_mounticule_. At length, and a great length it was, we arrived at the +gates of the _Sanctuary_; on each side of which, on high pedestals, +stand the enormous statues of two saints; and nearly opposite, on the +base of a rock, which leans in a frightful manner over the buildings, +and threatens destruction to all below, a great number of human sculls +are fixed in the form of a cross. Within the gate is a square cloister, +hung round with paintings of the miracles performed by the Holy Virgin, +with votive offerings, &c. It was Advent week, when none of the monks +quit their apartments, but one whose weekly duty it was to attend the +call of strangers; nor did the whole community afford but a single +member (_pere tendre_, a _Fleming_) who could speak French. It was _Pere +Pascal_, by whom we were shewn every mark of politeness and attention, +which a man of the world could give, but administered with all that +humility and meekness, so becoming a man who had renounced it. He put us +in possession of a good room, with good beds; and as it was near night, +and very cold, he ordered a brazier of red-hot embers into our +apartment; and having sent for the cook of the strangers' kitchen, (for +there are four public kitchens) and ordered him to obey our commands, he +retired to evening _vespers_; after which he made us a short visit, and +continued to do so, two or three times every day, while we staid. +Indeed, I began to fear we staid too long, and told him so; but he +assured me the apartment was ours for a month or two, if we pleased. +During our stay, he admitted me into his apartments, and filled my box +with delicious Spanish snuff, and shewed us every attention we would +wish, and much more than, as _unrecommended_ strangers, we could expect. +All the poor who come here are fed gratis for three days, and all the +sick received in the hospital. Sometimes, on particular festivals, seven +thousand arrive in one day; but people of condition pay a reasonable +price for what they eat. There was before our apartment a long covered +gallery; and tho' we were in a deep recess of the rocks, which projected +wide and high on our right and left, we had in front a most extensive +view of the _world below_, and the more distant Mediterranean Sea. It +was a moon-light night; and, in spite of the cold, it was impossible to +be shut out of the enchanting lights and shades which her silver beams +reflected on the rude rocks above, beneath, and on all sides of +us.--Every thing was as still as death, till the sonorous convent bell +warned the Monks to midnight prayer. At two o'clock, we heard some of +the tinkling bells of the hermits' cells above give notice, that they +too were going to their devotion at the appointed hour: after which I +retired to my bed; but my mind was too much awakened to permit me to +sleep; I was impatient for the return of day-light, that I might proceed +still higher; for, miser like, tho' my _coffers were too full_, I +coveted more; and accordingly, after breakfast, we eagerly set our feet +to the first _round_ of the _hermit's ladder_; it was a stone one +indeed, but stood in all places dreadfully steep, and in many almost +perpendicular. After mounting up a vast chasm in the rock, yet full of +trees and shrubs, about a thousand paces, fatigued in body, and +impatient for a safe resting place, we arrived at a small hole in the +rock, through which we were glad to crawl; and having got to the secure +side of it, prepared ourselves, by a little rest, to proceed further; +but not, I assure you, without some apprehensions, that if there was no +better road down, we must have become _hermits_. After a second +clamber, not quite so dreadful as the first, but much longer, we got +into some flowery and serpentine walks, which lead to two or three of +the nearest hermitages then visible, and not far off, one of which hung +over so horrible a precipice, that it was terrifyingly picturesque. We +were now, however, I thought, certainly in the garden of Eden! Certain I +am, Eden could not be more beautifully adorned; for God alone is the +gardener here also; and consequently, every thing prospered around us +which could gratify the eye, the nose and, the imagination. + + "Profuse the myrtle spread unfading boughs, + Expressive emblem of eternal vows." + +For the myrtle, the eglantine, the jessamin, and all the smaller kind of +aromatic shrubs and flowers, grew on all sides thick and spontaneously +about us; and our feet brushed forth the sweets of the lavender, +rosemary and thyme, till we arrived at the first, and peaceful +hermitage of _Saint Tiago_. We took possession of the holy inhabitants +little garden, and were charmed with the neatness, and humble +simplicity, which in every part characterised the possessor. His little +chapel, his fountain, his vine arbor, his stately cypress, and the walls +of his cell, embraced on all sides with ever-greens, and adorned with +flowers, rendered it, exclusive of its situation, wonderfully pleasing. +His door, however, was fast, and all within was silent; but upon +knocking, it was opened by the venerable inhabitant: he was cloathed in +a brown cloth habit, his beard was very long, his face pale, his manners +courteous; but he seemed rather too deeply engaged in the contemplation +of the things of the next world, to lose much of his time with _such +things_ as _us_. We therefore, after peeping into his apartments, took +his benediction, and he retired, leaving us all his worldly possessions, +but his straw bed, his books, and his beads. This hermitage is confined +between two pine heads, within very narrow bounds; but it is artfully +fixed, and commands at noon day a most enchanting prospect to the East +and to the North. Though it is upwards of two thousand three hundred +paces from the convent, yet it hangs so directly over it, that the rocks +convey not only the sound of the organ, and the voices of the monks +singing in the choir, but you may hear men in common conversation from +the piazza below. + +This is a long letter; but I know you would not willingly have left me +in the midst of danger, or before I was safe arrived at the first stage +towards heaven, and seen one humble host on GOD's high road. + +_P.S._ At two o'clock, after midnight, these people rise, say mass, and +continue the remainder of the night in prayer and contemplation. The +hermits tell you, it was upon high mountains that God chose to manifest +his will:--_fundamenta ejus in montibus sanctis_, say they;--they +consider these rocks as symbols of their penitence, and mortifications; +and their being so beautifully covered with fine flowers, odoriferous +and rare plants, as emblems of the virtue and innocence of the religious +inhabitants; or how else, say they, could such rocks produce +spontaneously flowers in a desart, which surpass all that art and nature +combined can do, in lower and more favourable soils? They may well think +so; for human reason cannot account for the manner by which such +enormous quantities of trees, fruits, and flowers are nourished, +seemingly without soil. But that which established a church and convent +on this mountain, was the story of a hermit who resided here many years; +this was _Juan Guerin_, who lived on this mountain alone, the austerity +of whose life was such, that the people below believed he subsisted +without eating or drinking. As some very extraordinary circumstances +attended this man's life, all which are universally believed here, it +may not be amiss to give you some account of him:--You must know, Sir, +then, that the devil envying the happiness of this good man equipped +himself in the habit of a hermit, and possessed himself of a cavern in +the same mountain, which still bears the name of the _Devil's Grot_; +after which he took occasion to throw himself in the way of poor +_Guerin_, to whom he expressed his surprize at seeing one of his own +order dwell in a place he thought an absolute desert; but thanked God, +for giving him so fortunate a meeting. Here the devil, and _Guerin_ +became very intimate, and conversed much together on spiritual matters; +and things went on well enough between them for a while, when another +devil chum to the first, possessed the body of a certain Princess, +daughter of a Count of _Barcelona_, who became thereby violently +tormented with horrible convulsions. She was taken to the church by her +afflicted father. The daemon who possessed her, and who, spoke for her, +said, that nothing could relieve her from her sufferings but the +prayers of a devout and pious hermit, named _Guerin_, who dwelt on +_Montserrat_. The father, therefore, immediately repaired to _Guerin_, +and besought his prayers and intercession for the recovery of his +daughter. It so happened (for so the devil would have it) that this +business could not be perfectly effected in less than nine days; and +that the Princess must be left that time alone with _Guerin_ in his +cave. Poor _Guerin_, conscious of his frail nature, opposed this measure +with all his might; but there was no resisting the argument and +influence of the devil, and she was accordingly left. Youth, beauty, a +cave, solitude, and virgin modesty, were too powerful not to overcome +even the chaste vows and pious intentions of poor _Guerin_. The devil +left the virgin, and possessed the saint. He consulted his false friend, +and told him how powerful this impure passion was become, and his +intentions of flying from the danger; but the devil advised him _to +return to his cell_, and pray to God to protect him from sin. _Guerin_ +took his council, returned and fell into the fatal snare. The devil then +persuaded him to kill the Princess, in order to conceal his guilt, and +to tell her father she had forsaken his abode while he was intent on +prayer. _Guerin_ did so; but became very miserable, and at length +determined to make a pilgrimage to Rome, to obtain a remission of his +complicated crimes. The Pope enjoined him to return to _Montserrat_, on +all fours, and to continue in that state, without once looking up to +heaven, for the space of seven years, or 'till a child of three months +old told him, his sins were forgiven: all which _Guerin_ chearfully +complied with, and accordingly crawled back to the defiled mountain. + +Soon after the expiration of the seven years Count _Vifroy_, the father +of the murdered Princess, was hunting on the mountain of _Montserrat_, +and passing near _Guerin's_ cave, the dogs entered, and the servant +seeing a hideous figure concluded they had found the wild beast they +were in pursuit of: they informed the Count of what they had seen, who +gave directions to secure the beast alive, which was accordingly done; +for he was so over-grown with hair, and so deformed in shape, that they +had no idea of the creature being human. He was therefore kept in the +Count's stable at _Barcelona_, and shewn to his visitors as a wonderful +and singular wild beast. During this time, while a company were +examining this extraordinary animal, a nurse with a young child in her +arms looked upon it, and the child after fixing his eyes stedfastly for +a few minutes on _Guerin_, said, "_Guerin, rise, thy sins are forgiven +thee_!"--_Guerin_ instantly rose, threw himself at the Count's feet, +confessed the crimes he had been guilty of, and desired to receive the +punishment due to them, from the hands of him whom he had so highly +injured; but the Count, perceiving that God had forgiven him, forgave +him also. + +I will not trouble you with all the particulars which attended this +miracle; it will be sufficient to say, that the Count and _Guerin_ went +to take up the body of the murdered Princess, for burial with her +ancestors; but, to their great astonishment found her there alive, +possessing the same youth and beauty she had been left with, and no +alteration of any kind, but a purple streak about her neck where the +cord had been twisted, and wherewith _Guerin_ had strangled her. The +father desired her to return to _Barcelona_; but she was enjoined by the +Holy Virgin, she said, to spend her days on that miraculous spot; and +accordingly a church and convent was built there, the latter inhabited +by Nuns, of which the Princess (who had risen from the dead) was the +Abbess. It was called the Abbey _des Pucelles_, of the order of _St. +Benoit_, and was founded in the year 801. But such a vast concourse of +people, of both sexes, resorted to it, from all parts of the world, that +at length it was thought prudent to remove the women to a convent at +_Barcelona_, and place a body of _Benedictine_ monks in their place. + +Strange as this story is, it is to be seen in the archives of this holy +house; and in the street called _Condal_, at _Barcelona_, may be seen in +the wall of the old palace of the Count's, an ancient figure, cut in +stone, which represents the nurse with the child in her arms, and a +strange figure, on his knees, at her feet, and that is Friar _Guerin_. + +Now, whether you will believe all this story, or not, I cannot take upon +me to say; but I will assure you, that when you visit this spot, it will +be necessary to _say you do_; or you would appear in their eyes a much +greater wonder than any thing which I have related, of the Devil, the +Friar, the Virgin, and the Count. + + + + +LETTER XXI. + + +The second hermitage, for I give them in the order they are usually +visited, is that of _St. Catharine_, situated in a deep and solitary +vale: it however commands a most extensive and pleasing prospect, at +noon-day, to the East and West. The buildings, garden, &c. are confined +within small limits, being fixed in a most picturesque and secure recess +under the foot of one of the high pines. Though this hermit's habitation +is the most retired and solitary abode of any, and far removed from the +_din_ of men, yet the courteous, affable, and sprightly inhabitant, +seems not to feel the loss of human society, though no man, I think, can +be a greater ornament to human nature. If he is not much accustomed to +hear the voice of men, he is amply recompensed by the notes of birds; +for it is their sanctuary as well as his; for no part of the mountain +is so well inhabited by the feathered race of beings as this delightful +spot. Perhaps indeed, they have sagacity enough to know that there is no +other so perfectly secure. Here the nightingale, the blackbird, the +linnet, and an infinite variety of little songsters greater strangers to +my eyes, than fearful of my hands, dwell in perfect security, and live +in the most friendly intimacy with their holy protector, and obedient to +his call; for, says the hermit, + + "Haste here, ye feather'd race of various song, + Bring all your pleasing melody along! + O come, ye tender, faithful, plaintive doves, + Perch on my hands, and sing your absent loves!"-- + +When instantly the whole _vocal band_ quit their sprays, and surround +the person of their daily benefactor, some settling upon his head, +others entangle their feet in his beard, and in the true sense of the +word, take his bread even out of his mouth; but it is freely given: +their confidence is so great, (for the holy father is their bondsman) +that the stranger too partakes of their familiarity and caresses. These +hermits are not allowed to keep within their walls either dog, cat, +bird, or any living thing, lest their attention should be withdrawn from +heavenly to earthly affections. I am sorry to arraign this good man; he +cannot be said to transgress the law, but he certainly _evades_ it; for +though his feathered band do not live within his walls, they are always +attendant upon his _court_; nor can any prince or princess on earth +boast of heads so _elegantly plumed_, as may be seen at the court of St. +_Catharine_; or of vassals who pay their tributes with half the +chearfulness they are given and received by the humble monarch of this +sequestered vale. If his meals are scanty, his dessert is served up with +a song, and he is hushed to sleep by the nightingale; and when we +consider, that he has but few days in the whole year which are inferior +to some of our best in the months of May and June, you may easily +conceive, that a man who breathes such pure air, who feeds on such light +food, whose blood circulates freely from moderate exercise, and whose +mind is never ruffled by worldly affairs, whose short sleeps are sweet +and refreshing, and who lives confident of finding in death a more +heavenly residence; lives a life to be envied, not pitied.--Turn but +your eyes one minute from this man's situation, to that of any monarch +or minister on earth, and say, on which side does the balance +turn?--While some princes may be embruing their hands in the blood of +their subjects, this man is offering up his prayers to God to preserve +all mankind:--While some ministers are sending forth fleets and armies +to wreak their own private vengeance on a brave and uncorrupted people, +this solitary man is feeding, from his own scanty allowance, the birds +of the air.--Conceive him, in his last hour, upon his straw bed, and see +with what composure and resignation he meets it!--Look in the face of +a dying king, or a plundering, and blood-thirsty minister,--what terrors +the sight of their velvet beds, adorned with crimson plumage, must bring +to their affrighted imagination!--In that awful hour, it will remind +them of the innocent blood they have spilt;--nay, they will perhaps +think, they were dyed with the blood of men scalped and massacred, to +support their vanity and ambition!--In short, dear Sir, while kings and +ministers are torn to pieces by a thirst after power and riches, and +disturbed by a thousand anxious cares, this poor hermit can have but +one, _i.e._ lest he should be removed (as the prior of the convent has a +power to do) to some other cell, for that is sometimes done, and very +properly. + +The youngest and most hardy constitutions are generally put into the +higher hermitages, or those to which the access is most difficult; for +the air is so fine, in the highest parts of the mountain, that they say +it often renders the respiration painful. Nothing therefore can be more +reasonable than, that as these good men grow older, and less able to +bear the fatigues and inconveniencies the highest abodes unavoidably +subject them to, should be removed to more convenient dwellings, and +that the younger and stouter men should succeed them. + +As the hermits never eat meat, I could not help observing to him, how +fortunate a circumstance it was for the safety of his little feathered +friends; and that there were no boys to disturb their young, nor any +sportsman to kill the parent.--God forbid, said he, that one of them +should fall, but by his hands who gave it life!--Give me your hand, said +I, and bless me!--I believe it did; _but it shortened my visit_:--so I +stept into the _grot_, and _stole_ a pound of chocolate upon his stone +table, and myself away. + +If there is a happy man upon this earth, I have seen that extraordinary +man, and here he dwells!--his features, his manners, all his looks and +actions, announce it;--yet he had not even a single _maravedi_ in his +pocket:--money is as useless to him, as to one of his black-birds. + +Within a gun-shot of this _remnant_ of _Eden_, are the remains of an +ancient hermitage, called _St. Pedro_. While I was there, my hermit +followed me; but I too _coveted retirement_. I had just bought a fine +fowling-piece at _Barcelona_; and when he came, I was availing myself of +the hallowed spot, to make _my vow_ never to use it. In truth, dear Sir, +there are some sorts of pleasures too powerful for the body to bear, as +well as some sort of pain: and here I was wrecked upon the wheel of +felicity; and could only say, like the poor criminal who suffered at +_Dijon_,--O God! O God! at every _coup_. + +I was sorry my host did not understand English, nor I Spanish enough, +to give him the sense of the lines written in poor _Shenstone_'s alcove. + + "O you that bathe in courtlye bliss, + "Or toyle in fortune's giddy spheare; + "Do not too rashly deeme amisse + "Of him that hides contented here. + +I forgot the other lines; but they conclude thus: + + "For faults there beene in busye life + From which these peaceful glennes are free." + + + + +LETTER XXII. + + +I know you will not like to leave _St. Catherine_'s harmonious cell so +soon;--nor should I, but that I intend to visit it again. I will +therefore conduct you to _St. Juan_, about four hundred paces distant +from it, on the east side of which, you look down a most horrid and +frightful precipice,--a precipice, so very tremendous, that I am +persuaded there are many people whose imagination would be so +intoxicated by looking at it, that they might be in danger of throwing +themselves over: I do not know whether you will understand my meaning by +saying so; but I have more than once been so bewildered with such +alarming _coup d'oeil_ on this mountain, that I began to doubt whether +my own powers were sufficient to protect me:--Horses, from sudden +fright, will often run into the fire; and man too, may be forced upon +his own destruction, to avoid those sensations of danger he has not been +accustomed to look upon. Perhaps I am talking non-sense; and you will +attribute what I say to lowness of spirits; on the contrary, I had those +feelings about me only during the time my eyes were employed upon such +frightful objects; for my spirits were enlivened by pure air, exercise, +and temperance:--nay, I remember to have been struck in the same manner, +when the grand explosion of the fireworks was played off, many years +ago, upon the conclusion of peace! The blast was so great, that it +appeared as if it were designed to take with it all earthly things; and +I felt almost forced by it, and summoned from my seat, and could hardly +refrain from jumping over a parapet wall which stood before me. The +building of this hermitage, however, is very secure; nothing can shake +or remove it, but that which must shake or remove the whole mountain. At +this cell, small as it is, King Philip the Third dined on the eleventh +of July 1599;--a circumstance, you may be sure, the inhabitant will +never forget, or omit to mention. It commands at noon-day a fine +prospect eastward, and is approached by a good stage of steps. Not far +from it, on the road side, is a little chapel called St. Michael, a +chapel as ancient as the monastery itself; and a little below is the +grotto, in which the image of the Virgin, now fixed in the high altar of +the church, was found. The entrance of this grotto is converted into a +chapel, where mass is said every day by one of the monks. All the +hermitages, even the smallest, have their little chapel, the ornaments +for saying mass, their water cistern, and most of them a little garden. +The building consists of one or two little chambers, a little refectory, +and a kitchen; but many of them have every convenience within and +without that a single man can wish or desire, except he should wish for +or desire _such things_ as he was obliged to renounce when he took +possession of it. + +From hence, by a road more wonderful than safe or pleasing, you are led +on a ridge of mountains to the lofty cell of _St. Onofre_. It stands in +a cleft in one of the pine heads, six and thirty feet (I was going to +say) above the earth; its appearance is indeed astonishing, for it seems +in a manner hanging in the air; the access to it is by a ladder of sixty +steps, extremely difficult to ascend, and even then you have a wooden +bridge to cross, fixed from rock to rock, under which is an aperture of +so terrifying an appearance, that I still think a person, not over +timid, may find it very difficult to pass over, if he looks under, +without losing in some degree that firmness which is necessary to his +own preservation. The best and safest way is, to look forward at the +building or object you are going to.--Fighting, and even courage, is +mechanical; a man may be taught it as readily as any other science; and +I would _pit_ the little timid hermit of _St. Onofre_ to a march, on +the margin of the precipices on this mountain, against the bravest +general we have in America. The man that would not wince at the whistle +of a cannon-ball over his head, may find his blood retire, and his +senses bewildered, at a dreadful precipice under his feet. _St. Onofre_ +possesses no more space than what is covered in by the tiling, nor any +prospect but to the South. The inhabitant of it says, he often sees the +islands of _Minorca_, _Mallorca_, and _Ivica_, and the kingdoms of +_Valencia_ and _Murcia_. The weather was extremely fine when I visited +it, but there was a distant haziness which prevented my seeing those +islands; indeed, my eyes were better employed and entertained in +examining objects more interesting, as well as more pleasing. Going from +this hermitage, you have a view of the vale of _St. Mary_, formerly +called la _Vallee Amere_, through which the river _Lobregate_ runs, and +which divides the bishoprick of Barcelona from that of _De Vic_. + +Lest you should think I am rather too tremendously descriptive of this +_upland_ journey, hear what a French traveller says, who visited this +mountain about twenty years ago. After examining every thing curious at +the convent, he says, "_Il ne me restoit plus rien a voir que +l'hermitage qui est renomme, il est dans la partie la plus elevee de la +montagne, & partage en treize habitations, pour autant d'hermites. Le +plaisir de le voir devoit me dedommager de la peine qu'il me falloit +prendre pour y monter, en grimpant pendant plus de heux heures. J'aurois +pre me servir de ma mule, mais il m'auroit fallu prendre un chemin ou +j'aurois mis le double du tems. Je m'armai donc de courage, & entre dans +une enceinte par une porte que l'on m'ouvrit avec peine au dehors du +monastere, je commencai a monter par des degres qui sembloient +perpendiculaires, tant ils etoient roides; & je fus oblige de +m'agraffer a des barres qui y font placees expres: ensuite, je me +trainai par-dessous de grosses pierres, qui sont comme des voutes +ruinees, dont les ouvertures sont le seul passage qu'il y ait pour +quiconque a la temerite de s'engager dans ces defiles; apres avoir +grimpe, environ mille pas, je trouvai un petit terrein uni ou je me +laissai tomber tout etendu afin de reprendre ma respiration qui +commencoit a me manquer_." And yet this was only the Frenchman's first +stage on his way to the first and nearest hermitage; and who I find +clambered up the very road we did, rather than take the longer route on +mule-back; and, for aught I know, a route still more dangerous, for +there are many places where the precipice is perpendicular on both sides +of a ridge, and where the road is too narrow even to turn the mule; so +he that sets out, must proceed. + +After ascending a ladder fixed in the same pine where _St. Onofre_ is +situated, at an hundred and fifty paces distant, is the fifth hermitage +of the penitent _Madalena_; it stands between two lofty pines, and on +some elevated rocks, and commands a beautiful view, towards noon-day, to +the East and West; and near to it, in a more elevated pine, stands its +chapel, from whence you look down (dreadful to behold) a rugged +precipice and steep hills, upon the convent at two miles distance where +are two roads, or rather passages, to this cell, both exceedingly +difficult; by one you mount up a ladder of at least an hundred steps; +the other is of stone steps, and pieces of timber to hold by; that the +hermit who dwells there says, the whistling of the wind in tempestuous +nights sounds like the roaring of baited bulls. + + + + +LETTER XXIII. + + +I must now lead you up to the highest part of the mountain; it is a long +way up, not less than three thousand five hundred paces from _St. +Madalena_, and over a very rugged and disagreeable road for the feet, +which leads, however, to the cell of _St. Geronimo_; from the two +turrets of which, an immense scene is opened, too much for the head of a +_low-lander_ to bear; for it not only takes in a view of a great part of +the mountain beneath, but of the kingdoms of _Arragon_, _Valencia_, the +Mediterranean Sea, and the islands; but as it were, one half of the +earth's orbit. The fatigue to clamber up to it is very great; but the +recompense is ample. This hermitage looks down upon a wood above a +league in circumference, in which formerly some hermits dwelt; but at +present it is stocked with cattle belonging to the convent, who have a +fountain of good water therein. Near this hermitage, in a place they +call _Poza_, the snow is preserved for the use of the _Religieux_. The +inhabitant either was not within, or would not be disturbed; so that +after feasting my eyes on all sides, my conductor led me on eastward to +the seventh hermitage, called _St. Antonio_, the father of the +Anchorites; it stands under one of the highest PINES, and the access to +it is so difficult and dangerous, that very few strangers visit it;--a +circumstance which whetted my curiosity; so, like the boy after a +bird's-nest, I _risqued it_, especially as I was pretty sure I should +_take the old bird sitting_. This hermit had formerly been in the +service; and though he had made great intercession to the Holy Virgin +and saints in heaven, as well as much interest with men on earth, he was +not, I think, quite happy in his exalted station; his turret is so +small, that it will not contain above two men; the view from it, to the +East and North, is very fine; but it looks down a most horrible and +dreadful precipice, above one hundred and eighty toises perpendicular, +and upon the river _Lobregate_. No man, but he whom custom has made +familiar to such a tremendous _eye-ball_, can behold this place but with +horror and amazement; and I was as glad to leave it, as I was pleased to +have seen it. At about a gun-shot distance from it rises the highest +pine-head of the mountain, called _Caval Hernot_, which is eighty toises +higher than any other _cone_, and three thousand three hundred paces +from the convent below. Keeping under the side of the same hill, and +along the base of the same pine-head, you are led to the hermitage of +_St. Salvador_, eight hundred paces from _St. Antonio_, which hermitage +has two chapels, one of which is hewn out of the heart of the PINE, and +consequently has a natural as well as a beautiful cupola; the access to +this cell is very difficult, for the crags project so much, that it is +necessary to clamber over them on all-four; the prospects are very fine +to the southward and eastward. The inhabitant was from home; but as +there was no fastening to his doors, I examined all his worldly goods, +and found that most of them were the work of his own ingenious hands. A +little distant from hence stands a wooden cross, at which the road +divides; one path leads to _St. Benito_, the other to the _Holy_ +Trinity. By the archives of the convent, it appears, that in the year +1272, _Francis Bertrando_ died at the hermitage of _St. Salvador_, after +having spent forty-five years in it, admired for his sanctity and holy +life, and that he was succeeded therein by _Francois Durando Mayol_, who +dwelt in it twenty-seven years. + +Descending from hence about six or seven hundred paces, you arrive at +the ninth hermitage, _St. Benito_; the situation is very pleasing, the +access easy, and the prospects divine. It was founded by an _Abbot_, +whose intentions were, that it should contain within a small distance, +four other cells, in memory of the five wounds made in the body of +Christ. This hermit has the privilege of making an annual entertainment +on a certain day, on which day all the other hermits meet there, and +receive the sacrament from the hands of the mountain vicar; and after +divine service, dine together. They meet also at this hermitage on the +day of each titular saint, to say mass, and commune with each other. + + + + +LETTER XXIV. + + +I cannot say a word to you on any other subject, till you have taken a +turn with me in the shrubberies and gardens of the glorious (so they +call it) hermitage of _St. Ana_. Coming from _St. Benito_, by a brook +which runs down the middle of the mountain, six hundred paces distant +from it, stands _St. Ana_, in a spacious situation, and much larger than +any other, and is nearly in the center of them all. The chapel here is +sufficiently large for the whole society to meet in, and accordingly +they do so on certain festivals and holidays, where they confess to +their mountain vicar, and receive the sacrament, This habitation is +nobly adorned with large trees; the ever-green oak, the cork, the +cypress, the spreading fig-tree, and a variety of others; yet it is +nevertheless dreadfully exposed to the fury of some particular winds; +and the buildings are sometimes greatly damaged, and the life of the +inhabitant endangered, by the boughs which are torn off and blown about +his dwelling. The foot-road from it to the monastery is only one +thousand three hundred paces, but it is very rugged and unsafe; the +mule-road is above four times as far: it was built in 1498, and is the +hermitage where all the pilgrims pay their ordinary devotion. + +Eight hundred and fifty paces distant, on the road which leads to the +hermitage of _St. Salvador_, stands, in a solitary and deep wood, the +hermitage of the _Holy Trinity_. Every part of the building is neat, and +the simplicity of the whole prepares you to expect the same simplicity +of manners from the man who dwells within it: and a venerable man he is; +but he seemed more disposed to converse with his neighbours, _Messrs. +Nature_, than with us. His trees, he knows, never flatter or affront +him; and after welcoming us more by his humble looks than civil words, +he retired to his long and shady walk; a walk, a full gun-shot in +length, and nothing in nature certainly can be more beautiful; it forms +a close arbour, though composed of large trees, and terminates in a view +of a vast range of pines, which are so regularly placed side by side, +and which, by the reflection of the sun on their yellow and well +burnished sides, have the appearance of the pipes of an organ a mile in +circumference. The Spaniards say that the mountain is a block of coarse +jasper, and these _organ pipes_, it must be confessed, seem to confirm +it; for they are so well polished by the hand of time, that were it not +too great a work for man, one would be apt to believe they had been cut +by an artist. + +Five hundred and sixty paces from the hermitage of the Holy Trinity, +stands _St. Cruz_; it is built under the foot of one of the smaller +pines; this is the nearest cell of any to the convent, and consequently +oftenest visited, being only six hundred and sixty steps from the bottom +of the mountain. + + + + +LETTER XXV. + + +I am now come to _St. Dimas_, the last, and most important, if not the +most beautiful of all the hermits' habitations. This hermitage is +surrounded on all sides by steep and dreadful precipices, some of which +lead the eyes straight down, even to the river _Lobregate_; it can be +entered only on the east side by a draw-bridge, which, when lifted up, +renders any access to it almost impossible. This hermitage was formerly +a strong castle, and possessed by a _banditti_, who frequently plundered +and ravaged the country in the day-time, and secured themselves from +punishment, by retiring to this fast hold by night. As it stands, or +rather hangs over the buildings and convent below, they would frequently +lower baskets by cords, and demand provisions, wine, or whatever +necessaries or luxuries the convent afforded; and if their demands were +not instantly complied with, they tumbled down rocks of an immense size, +which frequently damaged the buildings, and killed the people beneath: +indeed, it was always in their power to destroy the whole building, and +suffer none to live there; but that would have been depriving themselves +of one safe means of subsistence:--at length the monks, by the +assistance of good glasses, and a constant attention to the motion of +their troublesome _boarders_, having observed that the greater part were +gone out upon the _marauding_ party, persuaded seven or eight stout +farmers to believe, that heaven would reward them if they could scale +the horrid precipices, and by surprise seize the castle, and secure the +few who remained in it;--and these brave men accordingly got into it +unobserved, killed one of the men, and secured the others for a public +example. The castle was then demolished, and a hermitage called _St. +Dimas_, or the Good Thief, built upon the spot. The views from it are +very extensive and noble to the south and eastward. + +And now, Sir, having conducted you to make a short visit to each of +these wonderful, though little abodes, I must assure you, that a man +well versed in _author craft_ might write thirteen little volumes upon +subjects so very singular. But as no written account can give a perfect +idea of the particular beauties of any mountain, and more especially of +one so unlike all others, I shall quit nature, and conduct you to the +works of art, and treasures of value, which are within the walls of the +holy sanctuary below; only observing, what I omitted to mention, that +the great rains which have fallen since the creation of all things, down +the sides of this steep mount, have made round the whole base a +prodigious wide and deep trench, which has the appearance of a vast +river course drained of its water. In this deep trench lie an infinite +number of huge blocks of the mountain, which have from age to age caved +down from its side, and which renders the _tout au tour_ of the mountain +below full as extraordinary as the pointed pinnacles above: beside this, +there are many little recesses on the sides of the hill below, so +adorned by stately trees and natural fountains, that I know not which +part of the enchanted spot is most beautiful. I found in one of these +places a little garden, fenced in by the fallen rocks, a spring of so +clear and cool a water, and the whole so shaded by, oaks, so warmed by +the sun, and so superlatively romantic, that I was determined to find +out the owner of it, and have set about building a house or a hut to the +garden, and to have made it my abode; but, alas! upon enquiry, I found +the well was a holy one, and that the water, the purest and finest I +ever saw or tasted could only be used for holy purposes. And here let me +observe, that the generality of strangers who visit this mountain, come +prepared only to stay one day;--but it is not a day, nor a week, that +is sufficient to see half the smaller beauties which a mountain, so +great and wonderful of itself, affords on all sides, from the highest +pinacle above, to the foundation stones beneath. + +But I should have told you, that there are other roads to some of the +hermitages above, which, by twisting and turning from side to side, are +every week clambered up by a blind mule, who, being loaded with thirteen +baskets containing the provision for the hermits, goes up without any +conductor, and taking the hermitages in their proper order, goes as near +as he can to each, and waits till the hermit has taken his portion; and +proceeds till he has discharged his load, and his trust, and then +returns to his stable below. I did not see this animal on the road, but +I saw some of his _offerings there_, and you may rely upon the truth of +what I tell you. + +Before I quit the hermits, however, I must tell you, that the hardships +and fatigues which some of them voluntarily inflict upon themselves, are +almost incredible: they cannot, like the monks in _Russia_, sit in water +to their chins till they are froze up, but they undergo some penances +almost as severe. + + + + +LETTER XXVI. + + +_Pere Pascal_ having invited me to high mass, and to hear a Spanish +sermon preached by one of their best orators, we attended; and though I +did not understand the language sufficiently to know all I heard, I +understood enough to be entertained, if not edified. The decency of the +whole congregation too, was truly characteristic of their profession. +There sat just before us a number of lay-brothers, bare-headed, with +their eyes fixed the whole time upon the ground; and tho' they knew we +were strangers, and probably as singular in their eyes as they could be +in ours, I never perceived one of them, either at or after the service +was over, to look, or even glance an eye at us. The chapel, or church of +this convent, is a very noble building; and high over the great altar is +fixed the image of the Virgin, which was found eight hundred years ago +in a deep cave on the side of the mountain: they say the figure is the +work of St. Luke; if that be true, St. Luke was a better carver than a +painter, for this figure is the work of no contemptible artist; it is of +wood, and of a dark-brown it is of wood, and of a dark-brown or rather +black colour, about the size of a girl of twelve years of age; her +garments are very costly, and she had on a crown richly adorned with +_real_ jewels of great value; and I believe, except our Lady of +_Loretto_, the paraphernalia of her person is superior to all the saints +or crowned heads in Europe. She holds on her knees a little Jesus, of +the same complexion, and the work of the same artist. The high altar is +a most magnificent and costly structure, and there constantly burn +before it upwards of fourscore large silver lamps. The balustrades +before the altar were given by King Philip the Third, and cost seven +thousand crowns; and it cost fourteen thousand more to cut away the rock +to lay the foundation of this new church, the old one being so small, +and often so crowded by pilgrims and strangers, that many of the monks +lost their lives in it every year. The whole expence of building the new +one, exclusive of the inward ornaments, is computed at a million of +crowns; and the seats of the choir, six and thirty thousand livres. The +old church has nothing very remarkable in it but some good ancient +monuments, one of which is of _Bernard Villomarin_, Admiral of Naples; a +man (as the inscription says) illustrious in peace and war. There is +another of _Don John d'Arragon, Dux Lunae_, who died in 1528; he was +nephew to King Ferdinand. But the most singular inscription in this old +church is one engraven on a pillar, under which _St. Ignatius_ spent a +whole night in prayer before he took the resolution of renouncing the +world, which was in the year 1522. + +After mass was over, we were shewn into a chamber behind the high altar, +where a door opened to the recess, in which the Virgin is placed, and +where we were permitted, or rather required to kiss her hand. At the +same time, I perceived a great many pilgrims entering the apartments, +whose penitential faces plainly discovered the reverence and devotion +with which they approached her sacred presence. When we returned, we +were presented to the Prior; a lively, genteel man, of good address; +who, with _Pere Tendre_, the Frenchman, shewed us an infinite quantity +of jewels, vessels of gold and silver, garments, &c. which have been +presented by Kings, Queens, and Emperors, to the convent, for the +purpose of arraying this miraculous image. I begin to suspect that you +will think I am become half a Catholic;--indeed, I begin to think so +myself; and if ever I publicly renounce that faith which I now hold, it +shall be done in a pilgrimage to _Montserrat_; for I do not see why God, +who delights so much in variety, as all his mighty works testify; who +has not made two green leaves of the same tint,--may not, nay, ought +not to be worshipped by men of different nations, in variety of forms. I +see no absurdity in a set of men meeting as the Quakers do, and sitting +in silent contemplation, reflecting on the errors of their past life, +and resolving to amend in future. I think an honest, good Quaker, as +respectable a being as an Archbishop; and a monk, or a hermit, who think +they merit heaven by the sacrifice they make for it, will certainly +obtain it: and as I am persuaded the men of this society think so, I +highly honour and respect them: I am sure I feel myself much obliged to +them. They have a good library, but it is in great disorder; nor do I +believe they are men of much reading; indeed, they are so employed in +confessing the pilgrims and poor, that they cannot have much time for +study. + +I forgot to tell you, that at _Narbonne_ I had been accosted by a young +genteel couple, a male and female, who were upon a _pilgrimage_; they +were dressed rather neat than fine, and their garments were adorned with +cockle and other marine shells; such, indeed, all the poorer sort of +pilgrims are characterised with. They presented a tin box to me, with +much address, but said nothing, nor did I give them any thing; indeed, I +did not _then_ know, very well, for what purpose or use the charity they +claimed was to be applied. This young couple were among the strangers +who were now approaching the sacred image. I was very desirous of +knowing their story, who they were, and what sins people so young, and +who looked so good, had been guilty of, to think it necessary to come so +far for absolution. _Their sins on the road_, I could be at no loss to +guess at; and as they were such as people who love one another are very +apt to commit, I hope and believe, they will obtain forgiveness of +them.--They were either people of some condition, or very accomplished +_Chevaliers d'Industrie_; though I am most inclined to believe, they +were _brother and sister_, of some condition. + +After visiting the Holy Virgin, I paid my respects to the several monks +in their own apartments, under the conduct of _Pere Pascal_, and was +greatly entertained.--I found them excellently lodged; their apartments +had no finery, but every useful convenience; and several good +harpsichords, as well as good performers, beside an excellent organist. +The Prior, in particular, has so much address, of the polite world about +him, that he must have lived in it before he made a vow to retire from +it. + +I never saw a more striking instance of national influence than in the +person of _Pere Tendre_, the Frenchman!--In spite of his holy life, and +living among Spaniards of the utmost gravity of manners, I could have +known him at first sight to have been a Frenchman. I never saw, even +upon the _Boulevards_ at Paris, a more lively, animated, or chearful +face. + +Indeed, one must believe, that these men are as good as they appear to +be; for they have reason enough to believe, that every hour may be their +last, as there hangs over their whole building such a terrifying mass of +rock and pine heads, so split and divided, that it is difficult to +perceive by what powers they are sustained: many have given way, and +have no other support than the base they have made by slipping in part +down, among the smaller rocks and broken fragments. About an hundred +years ago, one vast block fell from above, and buried under it the +hospital, and all the sick and their attendants; and where it still +remains, a dreadful monument, and memento, to all who dwell near it!--I +should fear (God avert the day!) that the smallest degree of an +earthquake would bury all the convent, monks, and treasure, by one fatal +_coup_. + + + + +LETTER XXVII. + + +Before I bring forth the treasures of this hospitable convent, and the +jewels of _Neustra Senora_, it may be necessary to tell you, that they +could not be so liberal, were not others liberal to them; and that they +have permission to ask charity from every church, city, and town, in the +kingdoms of France and Spain, and have always lay-brothers out, +gathering money and other donations. They who feed all who come, must, +of course, be fed themselves; nor has any religious house in Europe +(_Loretto_ excepted) been more highly honoured by Emperors, Kings, +Popes, and Prelates, than this: nay, they have seemed to vie with each +other, in bestowing rich and costly garments, jewels of immense value, +and gold and silver of exquisite workmanship, to adorn the person of +_Neustra Senora_; as the following list, though not a quarter of her +_paraphernalia_, will evince: but before I particularize them, it may be +proper to mention, the solemn manner in which the Virgin was moved from +the old to the new church, by the hands of King Philip the Third, who +repaired thither for that purpose privately as possible, to prevent the +prodigious concourse of people who would have attended him had it been +generally known. He staid at the convent four days, in which time he +visited all the hermitages above, in one; but returned, greatly +fatigued, and not till ten o'clock at night. After resting himself the +next day, he heard mass, and being confessed, assisted at the solemnity +of translating the Virgin, in the following manner:--After all the +monks, hermits, and lay-brothers had heard mass, and been confessed, the +Virgin was brought down and placed upon the altar in the old church, and +with great ceremony, reverence, and awe, they cloathed her in a rich +gold mantle, the gift of the Duke of _Branzvick_, the sleeves of which +were so costly, that they were valued at eighteen thousand ducats. The +Abbots, Monks, hermits, &c. who were present, wore cloaks of rich gold +brocade, and in the procession sung the hymn _Te Deum Laudamus_; one of +whom bore a gold cross, of exquisite workmanship, which weighed fifty +marks, and which was set with costly jewels. The procession consisted of +forty-three lay-brothers, fifteen hermits, and sixty-two monks, all +bearing wax-tapers; then followed the young scholars, and a band of +music, as well as an infinite number of people who came from all parts +of the kingdom to attend the solemnity; for it was impossible to keep an +act of so extraordinary a nature very private. When the Virgin was +brought into the new church, she was placed on a tabernacle by four of +the most ancient monks; the King held also a large lighted taper, on +which his banner and arms were emblazoned, and being followed by the +nobles and cavaliers of his court, joined in the procession; and having +placed themselves in proper order in the great cloyster of the church, +the monks sung a hymn, addressed to the Virgin, accompanied by a noble +band of music: this being over, the King taking the Virgin in his arms, +placed her on the great altar; and having so done, took his wax taper, +and falling on his knees at her feet, offered up his prayers near a +quarter of an hour: this ceremony being over, the monks advanced to the +altar, and moved the Virgin into a recess in the middle of it, where she +now stands: after which, the Abbot, having given his pontifical +benediction, the King retired to repose himself for a quarter of an +hour, and then set off for _Martorell_, where he slept, and the next day +made his entry into _Barcelona_. + +Among an infinite number of costly materials which adorn this beautiful +church, is a most noble organ, which has near twelve hundred pipes. In +the _Custodium_ you are shewn three crowns for the head of the Infant +Jesus, two of which are of pure gold, the third of silver, gilt, and +richly adorned with diamonds; one of the gold crowns is set with two +hundred and thirty emeralds, and nineteen large brilliants; the other +has two hundred and thirty-eight diamonds, an hundred and thirty pearls, +and sixteen rubies; it cost eighteen thousand ducats. + +There are four crowns also for the head of the Virgin; two of plated +gold, richly set with diamonds, two of solid gold; one of which has two +thousand five hundred large emeralds in it, and is valued at fifty +thousand ducats; the fourth, and richest, is set with one thousand one +hundred and twenty-four diamonds, five of which number are valued at +five hundred ducats each; eighteen hundred large pearls, of equal size; +thirty-eight large emeralds, twenty-one zaphirs, and five rubies; and at +the top of this crown is a gold ship, adorned with diamonds of eighteen +thousand dollars value. The gold alone of these crowns weighs +twenty-five pounds, and, with the jewels and setting, upwards of fifty. +These crowns have been made at _Montserrat_, from the gold and separate +jewels presented to the convent from time to time by the crowned heads +and princes of Europe. There is also another small crown, given by the +Marquis de _Aytona_, set with sixty-six brilliants. + +The Infanta gave four silver candlesticks, which cost two thousand four +hundred ducats. + +Ann of Austria, daughter to Philip the third, gave a garment for the +Virgin, which cost a thousand ducats. + +There are thirty chalices of gilt plate, and one of solid gold, which +cost five thousand ducats. + +Prince Charles of Austria, with his consort Christiana of Brunswick, +visited _Montserrat_ in the year 1706, and having kissed the Virgin's +hand, left at her feet his gold-hilted sword, set with seventy-nine +large brilliants. This sword was given the Emperor by Anne, Queen of +England. + +In the church are six silver candlesticks, nine palms high, made to hold +wax flambeaux. There are diamonds and jewels, given by the Countess de +Aranda, Count Alba, Duchess of Medina, and forty other people of high +rank, from the different courts of Europe, to the value of more than an +hundred thousand ducats.--But were I to recite every particular from the +list of donations, which my friend, _Pere Pascal_, gave me, and which +now lies before me, with the names of the donors, they would fill a +volume instead of a letter. + + + + +LETTER XXVIII. + + +I know you will expect to hear something of the Ladies of Spain; but I +must confess I had very little acquaintance among them: when they appear +abroad in their coaches, they are dressed in the modern French fashion, +but not in the extreme; when they walk out, their head and shape is +always covered with a black or white veil, richly laced; and however +fine their gowns are, they must be covered with a very large black silk +petticoat; and thus holding the fan in one hand, and hanging their +_chapelets_ over the wrist of the other, they walk out, preceded by one +or two shabby-looking servants, called pages, who wear swords, and +always walk bare-headed. + +I have already told you, that the most beautiful, indeed the only +beautiful woman, I saw at _Barcelona_, was the Intendant's daughter; +and I assure you, her, black petticoat and white veil could not conceal +it; nor, indeed, is the dress an unbecoming one. Among the peasants, and +common females, you never see any thing like beauty, and, in general, +rather deformity of feature. No wonder then, where beauty is scarce, and +to be found only among women of condition, that those women are much +admired, and that they gain prodigious influence over the men.--In no +part of the world, therefore, are women more caressed and attended to, +than in Spain. Their deportment in public is grave and modest; yet they +are very much addicted to pleasure; nor is there scarce one among them +that cannot, nay, that will not dance the _Fandango_ in private, either +in the decent or indecent manner. I have seen it danced both ways, by a +pretty woman, than which nothing can be more _immodestly agreeable_; and +I was shewn a young Lady at _Barcelona_, who in the midst of this dance +ran out of the room, telling her partner, she could _stand it_ no +longer;--he ran after her, to be sure, and must be answerable for the +consequences. I find in the music of the _Fandango_, written under one +bar, _Salida_, which signifies _going out_; it is where the woman is to +part a little from her partner, and to move slowly by herself; and I +suppose it was at _that bar_ the lady was so overcome, as to determine +not to return. The words _Perra Salida_ should therefore be placed at +that bar, when the ladies dance it in the high _gout_. + +The men dress as they do in France and England, except only their long +cloak, which they do not care to give up. It is said that Frenchmen are +wiser than, from the levity of their behaviour, they seem to be; and I +fancy the Spaniards look wiser from their gravity of countenance, than +they really are; they are extremely reserved; and make no professions of +friendship till they feel it, and know the man, and then they are +friendly in the highest degree. + +I met with a German merchant at _Barcelona_, who told me he had dealt +for goods to the value of five thousand pounds a year with a Spaniard in +that town; and though he had been often at _Barcelona_ before, that he +had never invited him to dine or eat with him, till that day. + +The farrier who comes to shoe your horse has sometimes a sword by his +side; and the barber who shaves you crosses himself before he _crosses +your chin_. + +There is a particular part of the town where the ladies of easy virtue +live; and if a friend calls at the apartment of one of those females, +who happens to _be engaged_, one of her neighbours tells you, she is +_amancebados y casarse a mediacarta_; _i.e._ that she is +half-married.--If you meet a Spanish woman of any fashion, walking +alone without the town, you may join her, and enter into whatever _sort +of conversation_ you chuse, without offence; and if you pass one without +doing so, she will call you _ajacaos_, and contemn you: this is a custom +so established at Madrid, that if a footman meets a lady of quality +alone, he will enter into some indecent conversation with her; for which +reason, the ladies seldom walk but with their husbands, or a male friend +by their side, and a foot-boy before, and then no man durst speak, or +even look towards them, but with respect and awe:--a blow in Spain can +never be forgiven; the striker must die, either _privately_ or publicly. + +No people on earth are less given to excess in eating or drinking, than +the Spaniards; the _Olio_, or _Olla_, a kind of soup and _Bouilli_, is +all that is to be found at the table of some great men: the table of a +_Bourgeois_ of Paris is better served than many _grandees_ of Spain; +their chocolate, lemonade, iced water, fruits, &c. are their chief +luxuries; and the chocolate is, in some houses, a prodigious annual +expense, as it is offered to every body who comes in, and some of the +first houses in Madrid expend twenty thousand _livres_ a year in +chocolate, iced waters, &c. The grandees of Spain think it beneath their +dignity to look into accounts, and therefore leave the management of +their household expenses to servants, who often plunder and defraud them +of great sums of money. + +Unlike the French, the Spaniards (like the English) very properly look +upon able physicians and surgeons in a very respectable light:--Is it +not strange, that the French nation should trust their health and lives +in the hands of men, they are apt to think unworthy of their intimacy or +friendship?--Men, who must have had a liberal education, and who ought +not to be trusted in sickness, if their society was not to be coveted in +health. Perhaps the Spanish physicians, who of all others have the +least pretensions, are the most caressed. In fevers they encourage their +patients to eat, thinking it necessary, where the air is so subtile, to +put something into the body for the distemper to feed upon; they bleed +often, and in both arms, that the blood may be drawn forth _equally_; +the surgeons do not bleed, but a set of men called _sangerros_ perform +that office, and no other; the surgeons consider it dishonourable to +perform that operation. They seldom trepan; a surgeon who attempted to +perform it, would himself be perhaps in want of it. To all flesh wounds +they apply a powder called _coloradilla_, which certainly effects the +cure; it is made of myrrh, mastic, dragon's blood, bol ammoniac, +&c.--When persons of fashion are bled, their friends send them, as soon +as it is known, little presents to amuse them all that day; for which +reason, the women of easy virtue are often bled, that their lovers may +shew their attention, and be _bled too_.--The French disease is so +ignorantly treated, or so little regarded, that it is very general; they +consider a _gonorrhoea_ as health to the reins; and except a tertian +ague, all disorders are called the _calentura_, and treated alike, and I +fear very injudiciously; for there is not, I am told, in the whole +kingdom, any public academy for the instruction of young men, in physic, +surgery, or anatomy, except at Madrid. + +Notwithstanding the sobriety, temperance, and fine climate of Spain, the +Spaniards do not, in general, live to any great age; they put a +prodigious quantity of spice into every thing they eat; and though +sobriety and temperance are very commendable, there are countries where +eating and drinking are carried to a great excess, by men much more +virtuous than those, where temperance, perhaps, is their principal +virtue. + + + + +LETTER XXIX. + + +I forgot to tell you that, though I left the Convent, I had no desire to +leave the spot where I had met with so cordial a reception; nor a +mountain, every part of which afforded so many scenes of wonder and +delight. I therefore hired two rooms at a wretched _posada_, near the +two ancient towers below, and where I had left my horse, that I might +make my daily excursions on and about the mountain, as well as visit +those little solitary habitations above once more. My host, his wife, +and their son and daughter, looked rather cool upon us; they liked our +money better than our company; and though I made their young child some +little presents, it scarce afforded any return, but prevented rudeness, +perhaps. The boys of the village, though I distributed a little money +every day to the poor, frequently pelted me with stones, when they +gained the high ground of me; and I found it necessary, when I walked +out, to take my fuzee. I would have made a friend of the priest, if I +could have found him, but he never appeared!--It was a poor village, and +you may easily conceive our residence in such a little place, where no +stranger ever staid above an hour, occasioned much speculation. My +servant too (a French deserter) had neither the politeness nor the +address so common to his countrymen; but I knew I was _within a few +hours_ of honest _Pere Pascal_; and while the hog, mule, and ass of my +host continued well, I flattered myself I was not in much danger; had +either of those animals been ill, I should have taken my leave; for if a +suspicion had arose that an heretic was under their roof, they would +have been at no loss to account for the cause or the calamity which had, +or might befall them.--During my residence at this little _posada_, I +saw a gaudy-dressed, little, ugly old man, and a handsome young woman, +approach it; the man smiled in my face, which was the only smile I had +seen in the face of a stranger for a fortnight; he told me, what he need +not, that he was a Frenchman, and a noble Advocate of _Perpignan_; that +his name was _Anglois_, and that his ancestors were English; that he had +walked on foot, with his maid, from _Barcelona_, in order to pay his +devotions to the Holy Virgin of _Montserrat_, though he had his own +chaise and mules at _Barcelona_: he seemed much fatigued, so I gave him +some chocolate, for he was determined, he said, to get up to the convent +that night. During this interview, he embraced me several times, +professed a most affectionate regard for me and my whole family; and I +felt enough for him, to desire he would fix the day of his return, that +I might not be out upon my rambles, and that he would dine and spend the +evening with me; in which case, I would send him back to _Barcelona_ in +my _cabriolet_; all which he chearfully consented to; and having lent +him my _couteau de chasse_, as a more convenient weapon on ass-back than +his fine sword, we parted, reluctantly, for five days; that was the time +this _noble Advocate_ had allotted for making his peace with the Holy +Virgin;--I say, his peace with the Holy Virgin; for he was very +desirous of leaving _his_ virgin with us, as she was an excellent cook, +and a most faithful and trusty servant, both which he perceived we +wanted; yet in spite of his encomiums, there was nothing in the +behaviour of the girl that corresponded with such an amiable character: +she had, indeed a beautiful face, but strongly marked with something, +more like impudence than boldness, and more of that of a pragmatic +mistress than an humble servant; and therefore we did not accept, what I +was very certain, she would not have performed. I impatiently, however, +waited their return, and verily believed the old man had bought his +crimson velvet breeches and gold-laced waistcoat in honour of the +Virgin, and that his visit to her was a pious one.--He returned to his +time, and to a sad dinner indeed! but it was the best we could provide. +He had lost so much of that vivacity he went up with, that I began to +fear I had lost his friendship, or he the benediction of the Holy +Virgin. Indeed, I had lost it in some measure, but it was transferred +but a little way off; for he took the first favourable occasion to tell +my wife, no woman had ever before made so forcible an impression upon +him, and said a thousand other fine things, which I cannot repeat, +without losing the esteem I still have for my countryman; especially as +he did not propose staying only _one night_ with us, nay, that he would +depart the next morning _de bon matin_. During the evening, all his +former spirits returned, as well as his affection for me: he told me, he +suspected I wanted money, and if that was the case, those wants should +be removed; so taking out a large parcel of gold _duras_, he offered +them, and I am persuaded too, he would have lent or given them to me. I +arose early, to see that my man and chaise were got in good order, to +conduct so good a friend to _Barcelona_; but not hearing any thing of +_Monsieur Anglois_, I directed my servant to go into his chamber, to +enquire how he did;--my man returned, and said, that _Madame_ was awake, +but that _Monsieur_ still sleeps. Madame! what Madame? said I!--Is it +the young woman who came with him? I then found, what I had a little +suspected, that the mountain virgin was not the _only_ virgin to whom +_Monsieur Anglois_ made his vows. He soon after, however, came down, +drank chocolate with us, and making a thousand professions of inviolable +regard, he set off in my chaise for _Barcelona_; but I should have told +you, not till he had made me promise to visit him at _Perpignan_, where +he had not only a town, but country house, at my service.--All these +professions were made with so much openness, and seeming sincerity, +that I could not, nor did doubt it; and as I was determined then to +leave that unhospitable country, and return to France, I gave him my +_passa-porte_, to get it _refreshed_ by the Captain-General at +_Barcelona_, that I might return, and pass _by_ the walls only of a town +I can never think of but with some degree of pain, and should with +horror, but that I now know there is one man lives in it, and did +then,[D] who has lamented that he had not an opportunity to shew me +those acts of hospitality his nature and his situation often give him +occasion to exercise; but the _etiquette_ is, for the stranger to visit +first; and I found but little encouragement to visit a German Gentleman, +though married to an English Lady, after the hostile manners I had +experienced from my _friends_ and _countrymen_, Messrs. _Curtoys_, +_Wombwell_, &c. + +[D] Mr. THALDITZER. + + + + +LETTER XXX. + + +In the archives of _Montserrat_ they shew you a letter written to the +Abbe by King Philip the second, who begins, "venerable and devout +_Religieux_," and tells him, he approves of his zeal, of his building a +new church at _Montserrat_, charges him to continue his prayers for him, +and, to shew his zeal for that holy house, informs him, that the bearer +of his letter is _Etienne Jordan_, the most famous sculptor then in +Spain, who is to make the new altar-piece at the King's expence, and +they agreed to pay _Jordan_ ten thousand crowns for the design he laid +before them: the altar was made at _Valladolid_, and was brought to +_Montserrat_ on sixty-six waggons; and as Jordan did much more to the +work than he had engaged to perform, the King gave him four thousand +crowns over and above his agreement, and afterwards gave nine thousand +crowns more, to gild and add further ornaments to it. + +At the death of Philip the Second, his son, Philip, the Third, assisted +in person to remove the image of the Virgin from the old to the new +church; which I shall hereafter mention more fully. Before this noble +altar, in which the figure of the Virgin stands in a nitch about the +middle of it, are candlesticks of solid silver, each of which weighs +eighty pounds; they are a yard and a half high; and yet these are mere +trifles, when compared to the gold and jewels which are shewn +occasionally. + +The monks observe very religiously their statutes; nor is there a single +hour in the day that you find the church evacuated.--I always heard at +least two voices chanting the service, when the monks retire from the +church, which is not till seven o'clock at night; the pilgrims continue +there in prayer the greater part of the night. + +I should have told you, that beside the superior among the hermits, +there are two sorts of them, neither of which can possess a hermitage +till they have spent seven years in the monastery, and given proofs of +their holy disposition, by acts of obedience, humility, and +mortification; during, which they spend most of their time, night as +well as day, in the church, but they never sing or chant. After the +expiration of the seven years, the Abbot takes the advice of his +brethren, and if they think the probationer's manners and life entitle +him to a solitary life above, he is sent,--but not, perhaps, without +being enjoined to wait upon some old hermit, who is past doing the +necessary offices of life for himself.--Their habit, as I said before, +is brown, and they wear their long beards; but sometimes the hermits are +admitted into holy orders, and then they wear black, and shave their +beards: however, they are not actually fixed to the lonely habitations +at first, but generally take seven or eight months trial. Many of the +abbes, whose power, you may be sure, is very great, and who receive an +homage from the inferiors, very flattering, have, nevertheless, often +quitted their power for a retirement above. They observe religiously +their abstinence from all sorts of flesh; nor are they permitted to eat +but within their cells. When any of them are very ill, they are brought +down to the convent; and all buried in one chapel, called St. Joseph. + +The lay-brothers are about fourscore in number; they wear a brown habit, +and are shaved; their duty is to distribute bread, wine, and other +necessaries, to the poor and the pilgrims, and lodge them according to +their condition: and many of them are sent into remote parts of the +kingdom, as well as France and other Catholic countries, to collect +charity; while those who continue at home assist in getting in their +corn, and fetching provisions from the adjacent towns, for which +purposes they keep a great number, upwards of fifty mules.--These men +too have a superior among them, to whom they are all obedient. + +There are also a number of children and young students, educated at the +convent who are taken in at the age of seven or eight years, many of +whom are of noble families; they all sleep in one apartment, but +separate beds, where a lamp constantly burns, and their decent +deportment is wonderful. Dom Jean de Cardonne, admiral of the galleys, +who succoured Malta when it was besieged by the Turks, was bred at +_Montserrat_, and when he wrote to the Abbe, "Recommend me," he said, +"to the prayers of my little brethren." + +As I have already told you of the miracle of a murdered and violated +virgin coming to life, and of a child of three months old saying, +_Guerin, rise, thy sins are forgiven thee_; perhaps you will not like to +have further proofs of what miracles are wrought here, or I could give +you a long list, and unanswerable arguments to prove them. + +_Frere Benoit d'Arragon_ was a hermit on this mountain, whose sanctity +of life has made his name immortal in the hermitage of St. Croix. The +following sketch of his life is engraven. + + "Occidit hac sacra Frater Benedictus in sede, + Inclytus & sama, & religione sacer, + Hic sexaginta & septem castissimus annos, + Vixit in his saxis, te, Deus alme, peccans + Usque senex, senio mansit curvatus & annis + Corpus humo retulit, venerat unde prius + Ast anima exultans, clarum repetivit olympum, + Nunc sedet in summo glorificata throno." + +It appears, that Louis the Fourteenth, King of France, gave a certain +sum to this convent, to say mass and pray for the soul of his deceased +mother; the sum however was not large, being something under fifty +pounds; and the donation is recorded in the chapel of _St. Louis_, upon +a brass lamp. + +_P.S._ The time that this wonderful mountain became the habitation of a +religious community, may be pretty nearly ascertained by the following +singular epitaph, on a beautiful monument, still legible in the great +church of _Tarragona_. + + + "_Hic quiescit Corpus sanctae memoriae Domini Joannis filii Domini + Jacobi, Regis Arragonum, qui decimo septimo anno aetatis suae + factus Archiepiscopus Toletanus, sic dono scientiae infusus + Divinitus & gratia praedicationis floruit, quod nullus ejusdem + aetatis in hoc ei similis crederetur. Carnem suam jejuniis & + ciliciis macerans, in vigesimo octavo anno aetatis suae factus + Patriarcha Alexandrinus & Administrator Ecclesiae Tarraconensis + ordinato per eum, inter multa alia bona opera_ novo Monasterio + scalae Dei _Diacessis Tarraconensis, ut per ipsam scalam ad Coelum + ascenderet reddidit spiritum Creatori XIV. kalendas Septembris, + anno Domini MCCCXXXIV. anno vero aetatis suae XXXIII. pro quo Deus + tam in vita, quam post mortem ejusdem est multa miracula + operatus_." + + +This very young Bishop was the son of James the second, and his Queen +_Dona Blanca_; and that he was Prior of the monastery of Montserrat, +appears in their archives; for I find the names of several hermits of +this mountain, that came down to pay homage to him.--_Dederunt +obedientiam domino Joanni Patriarchae Alexandrino, & administratori +prioratus Montis Serrati_, &c.--It is therefore probable, that he was +the first Prior, and that the convent was built about the year 1300; but +that the mountain was inhabited by hermits, or men who retired from the +world many ages before, cannot be doubted. + + + + +LETTER XXXI. + + +DEAR SIR, + +I have had (since I mentioned the Spanish Ladies in a former letter) an +opportunity of seeing something more of them; what they may be at +_Madrid_, I cannot take upon me to say; but I am inclined to believe, +that notwithstanding what you have heard of Spanish beauty, you would +find nature has not been over liberal as to the persons of either sex in +Spain; and though tolerable good features upon a brown complexion, with +very black hair finely combed and pinned up with two or three gold +bodkins, may be very pleasing, as a _new object_, yet a great deficiency +would appear, were you to see the same women dressed in the high fashion +of England or France. England, for real and natural female beauty, +perhaps surpasses all the world; France, for dress, elegance, and ease. +The Spanish women are violent in their passions, and generally govern +every body under their roof; husbands who contend that point with them, +often finish their days in the middle of a street, or in a prison; on the +other hand, I am told, they are very liberal, compassionate, and +charitable. They have at _Barcelona_ a fine theatre, and tolerable good +music; but the actors of both sexes are execrable beyond all imagination: +their first woman, who they say is rich by means of one _talent or +other_, (for me, like my little Lyons water girl, has _two talents_) is +as contemptible in her person as in her theatrical abilities: it is no +wonder, indeed; for these people are often taken from some of those +gipsey troops, I mentioned in a former letter, and have, consequently, no +other qualifications for the stage but impudence instead of confidence, +and ignorance instead of a liberal education. Perhaps you will conclude, +that the theatre at _Madrid_ affords much better entertainment; on the +contrary, I am well assured it is in general much worse: a Gentleman who +understands the language perfectly, who went to _Madrid_ with no other +view but to gratify his curiosity, in seeing what was worthy of notice +there, went only once to the theatre, where the heat of the house, and +the wretchedness of the performance, were equally intolerable; nor are +the subjects very inviting to a stranger, as they often perform what they +call "_Autos Sacramentales_"--_sacramental representations_. The people +of fashion, in general, have no idea of serving their tables with +elegance, or eating delicately; but rather, in the stile of our +fore-fathers, without spoon or fork, they use their own fingers, and give +drink from the glass of others; foul their napkins and cloaths +exceedingly, and are served at table by servants who are dirty, and often +very offensive. I was admitted, by accident, to a Gentleman's house, of +large fortune, while they were at dinner; there were seven persons at a +round table, too small for five; two of the company were visitors; yet +neither their dinner was so good, nor their manner of eating it so +delicate, as may be seen in the kitchen of a London tradesman. The +dessert (in a country where fruit is so fine and so plenty) was only a +large dish of the seeds of _pomegranates_, which they eat with wine and +sugar. In truth, Sir, an Englishman who has been in the least accustomed +to eat at genteel tables, is, of all other men, least qualified to travel +into either kingdoms, and particularly into Spain; especially, if what +Swift says be true, that "a nice man is a man of dirty ideas,"--I know +not the reason, whether it proceeds from climate, or food, or from the +neglect of the poorer order of the people; but _head combing_ seems to be +a principal part of the day's business among the women in Spain; and it +is generally done rather publicly.--The most lively, chearful, neat young +woman, I saw in Spain, lived in the same house I did at _Barcelona_; she +had a good complexion, and, what is very uncommon, rather light hair; +and though perfectly clean and neat in her apparel, yet I observed a +woman, not belonging to the house, attended every morning to comb this +girl's head, and I believe it was _necessary_ to be combed. I could not +very well ask the question; but I suspect that there are people by +profession called _headcombers_; every shop door almost furnishes you +with a specimen of that business; and if it is so common in _Barcelona_, +among a rich and industrious people, you may imagine, it is infinitely +more so among the slothful part of the inland cities and smaller +towns;--but this is not the only objection a stranger (and especially an +English Protestant) will find to Spain; the common people do not look +upon an Englishman as a Christian; and the life of a man, not a +Christian, is of no more importance in their eyes than the life of a dog: +it is not therefore safe for a protestant to trust himself far from the +maritime cities, as an hundred unforeseen incidents may arise, among +people so ignorant and superstitious, to render it very unsafe to a man +known to be a Protestant. If it be asked, how the Consuls, English +merchants, &c. escape?--I can give no other reason than what a Spaniard +gave me, when I put that question to him:--"Sir," said he, "we have men +here, (meaning Barcelona) who are Protestants all day, and Papists all +night; and we have a chapel where they go, into which no other people are +admitted." However, I was convinced, before I went into Spain this time, +from what I remembered formerly, that it was necessary to appear a good +Catholic; so that I always carried a little crucifix, or two, some beads, +and other _accidental_ marks of my faith; and where I staid any time, or, +indeed, where I slept upon the road, I took occasion to let some of those +_powerful protectors_ be seen, as it were, by chance;--it is very +necessary to avail one's self of such innocent frauds, in a country where +innocence itself may not be sufficient to shield you from the fury of +religious bigotry, where people think they are serving God, by destroying +men: The best method to save yourself, is by serving God in the same +manner they do, till you are out of their power. I really thought, that +Philosophy and Reason entered into Spain at the same gate that the +Jesuits were turned out of the kingdom; and, I suppose, some did; but it +must be many years before it is sufficiently diffused over the whole +nation, to render it a country like France; where men, who behave with +decency and decorum, may live, or pass through, without the least +apprehension or inconvenience on the score of religion; if they do not +meddle with politics or fortifications. + +That you may not imagine my suspicions of the danger of passing thro' +Spain are ill founded, I will relate what happened to two English +Gentlemen of fashion at _Marcia_ as I had it from the mouth of one of +them lately:--they had procured letters of recommendation from some +friends to the _Alguazile_, or chief magistrate of that town; and as +there were some unfavourable appearances at their first entering +_Marcia_, and more so at their _posada_, they thought it right to send +their letters directly to the _Alguazile_; who, instead of asking them +to his house, or visiting them, sent a servant to say he was ill, and +who was directed to invite them to go that night to the comedy: they +thought it right, however, to accept the invitation, extraordinary as it +was: the _Alguazile_'s servant conducted them to the theatre, and paid +(for he was directed so to do, he said) for their admittance; and having +conducted his strangers into the pit, he retired. The comedy was then +begun; but, nevertheless, the eyes of the whole house were turned upon +them, and their's, to their great astonishment, upon the _sick +Alguazile_ with his whole family. Those near whom they at first stood, +retired to some distance: they could not, he said, consider the manner +in which they were looked at, and retired from, but to arise from +disgust or dislike, more than from curiosity. This reception, and the +manner in which they had been sent there, deprived them of all the +amusement the house afforded; for though the performers had no great +excellence, there was, among the female part of the audience, more +beauty than they expected. Mr. B----, one of the Gentlemen, at length +discovered near him in the pit a man whom he knew to be an Irishman, and +in whole countenance he plainly perceived a desire to speak, but he +seemed with-held by prudence. At length, however, he was got near enough +to his countryman to hear him say, without appearing to address himself +to any body, "_Go hence! go hence_!" They did so; and the next morning, +tho' it was a fine town, which they wished to examine, and to spend some +time in, set off early for _Carthagena_, where they had some particular +friends, to whom they related the _Alguazile_'s very extraordinary +behaviour, as well as that of the company at the theatre. It was near +the time of the Carnival at _Carthagena_: the conduct of _Don Marco_ to +the two gentlemen strangers, became the subject of conversation, and +indeed of indignation, among the Spaniards of that civilized city; and +the _Alguazile_, who came to the Carnival there soon after, died by the +hands of an assassin; he was stabbed by a mask in the night. Now suppose +this man lost his life at _Carthagena_, for his ill behaviour to the two +strangers at _Marcia_, or for any other cause, it is very certain, if +natives are so liable to assassination, strangers are not more secure. + +P.S. To give you some idea of the address of the pulpit oratory in +Spain, about sixty or seventy years ago, (and it is not in general much +better at present) take the following specimen, which I assure you, is +strictly true:-- + +A preacher holding forth in the place called _Las_ Mancanas at Madrid, +after informing his auditors of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, +added,--and is it not strange, that we still continue to sin on, and +live without repentance? O Lord God! said he, why sufferest thou such +ungrateful and wretched sinners to live?--And instantly giving himself a +violent box on the ear, the whole assembly followed his example, and +four thousand _soufflets_ were given and received in the twinkling of an +eye.--The French Embassador, from whose _memoires_ I take this story, +was upon that instant bursting out in laughter at the pious ceremony, +had he not been checked by one of his friends, who happened to stand +near, and who assured him, that his rank and character would not have +saved him, had he been so indiscreet, for the enraged populace would +have cut him in a thousand pieces; whereupon he hid his face in his +handkerchief, and boxed his own ears more for the love of himself than +from gratitude to his Redeemer. + + + + +LETTER XXXII. + + +There are in Spain twelve councils of state, viz. of _War_, of +_Castile_, of the _Inquisition_, of the royal orders of _St. Iago_, of +_Arragon_, of the _Indies_, of the chamber of _Castile_, of the +_Croisade_, of the _State_, of _Italy_, of the _Finances and Treasure_, +and lastly, that (of no use) of _Flanders_. + +The council of _War_ is composed of experienced men of various orders, +who are thought capable of advising upon that subject, and not of any +determinate number. + +That of _Castile_ has a president and sixteen other members, beside a +secretary and inferior officers; it is the first of all the councils, +and takes cognizance of civil as well as criminal matters. The King +calls this council only OUR council, to mark its superiority to all +others. The president is a man of great authority, and is treated with +the utmost respect; nor does he ever visit any body. + +The council of the _Inquisition_, established by _Don Fernando_ in 1483, +has an inquisitor general for its president, who is always a _Grandee_ +of the first condition; he has six counsellors, who are called apostolic +inquisitors. This court, (the power of which has, fortunately for +mankind, been of late years greatly abridged) has a great number of +inferior officers, as well as _holy spies_, all over the kingdom, +particularly at _Seville_, _Toledo_, _Valladolid_, _Barcelona_, and +other places, where these horrid tribunals are fixed; each is governed +by three counsellors, who, however, are dependant on that of Madrid; and +to whom they are obliged every month to give a particular account of +what has passed through their hands. These men have not power to +imprison a priest, a religious, nor even a gentleman, without obtaining +the consent of the supreme court above; they meet at _Madrid_ twice +every day, and two of the King's council always attend at the afternoon +meeting. + +Of the council of the three royal orders of Spain; that of _Santiago_ is +the first; the other two are _Calatrava_ and _Alcantara_. It is composed +of a president, six counsellors, and other officers. + +The president of the council of _Arragon_ is called the vice chancellor; +who is assisted by nine counsellors, and inferior officers. This council +attend to the public state of the kingdom of _Arragon_, as well as to +the islands of _Majorca_, _Ivica_, &c. + +The council of the _Indies_ was established in 1511, for the +conservation and augmentation of the new kingdoms discovered by +_Columbus_ in South America, in 1492; and where the Spaniards have at +this time four thousand nine hundred leagues of land, including _Mexico_ +and _Peru_; land divided into many kingdoms and provinces, in which they +had built, in the year 1670, upwards of eight thousand churches, and +more than a thousand convents. They have there a patriarch, six +arch-bishops, and thirty-two bishops, and three tribunals of the +inquisition. This council is composed of a president, a grand +chancellor, and twelve counsellors, a treasurer, secretary, advocates, +agents, and an infinite number of inferior officers. They meet twice a +week, to regulate all the affairs, both by land and sea, relative to +that part of the King's dominions. + +The council of the _Croisade_ is composed of a president, who is called +the commissary general, and who has great privileges. The clergy are +obliged to pay something annually to it; and if any one finds a purse of +money in the streets, they are obliged to deliver it to the secretary of +this council. + +The council of _State_ is composed of men of the first birth and +understanding about the court. The King presides, and is assisted by +the archbishop of _Toledo_. This council is not confined to any certain +number; they meet three times a week, to deliberate on the most +important affairs of the kingdom. + +The council of _Italy_ attends to the affairs of _Naples_, _Sicily_, and +_Milan_; it is composed of a president, and six counsellors, three of +whom are Spaniards, one Neapolitan, one Italian, and one Sicilian; each +of which have their separate charge on the affairs of those countries. + +The council of _Finances and Treasure_ is composed of a president, who +is called _presidente de hazienda_, that is, superintendant of the +finances; eight counsellors, and a great number of other officers, +beside treasurers, controllers, &c, who have a great share of the most +important affairs of the nation to regulate; they hear causes, and are +not only entrusted with the treasures of the kingdom, but with +administration of justice to all the king's subjects. You may easily +judge what a number of officers compose this council, when I tell you, +that they have twenty-six treasurers. + +The council of _Flanders_ have now only the _name_; as the King of +England bears that of France.--The formal manner which men, high in +office or blood, observe in paying or receiving visits, is very +singular: the inquisitor-general, for instance, has several black lines +marked upon the floor of his anti-chamber, by which he limits the +civilities he is to shew to men, according to the rank or office they +bear: he has his _black_ marks for an embassador, an envoy, &c. When +people of condition at Madrid propose to make a visit, it is previously +announced by a page, to know the day and hour they can be received; and +this ceremony is often used on ordinary visits, as well as those of a +more public nature: the page too has his coach to carry him upon these +errands. I have seen the account of a visit made by the Cardinal of +_Arragon_ to the Admiral of _Castile_, the train of which filled the +whole street; he was carried by six servants in a magnificent chair, and +followed by his body coach drawn by eight mules, attended by his +gentlemen, pages, esquires, all mounted on horseback, and arrayed in a +most sumptuous manner. Every order of men assume an air of importance in +Spain. I have been assured, that when a shoemaker has been called upon +to make a pair of shoes, he would not undertake the work till he had +first enquired of _Dona_, his wife, whether there was any money in the +house? if she answered in the affirmative, he would not work. Even the +beggars do not give up this universal privilege, as the following +instance will evince:--A foreigner of fashion, who was reading in a +bookseller's shop in Madrid, was accosted by one of the town beggars, +who in an arrogant manner asked his charity, in terms which implied a +demand rather than a favour. The stranger made no reply, nor did he take +the least notice, but determined to continue reading, and dismiss the +insolent beggar by his silent contempt: this encreased the beggar's +hardiness; he told him, he might find time enough to read after he had +attended to his request, and what he had to say. But still the gentleman +read on, and disregarded his rudeness. At length, the beggar stept up to +him, and with an air of the utmost insolence, at the same time taking +him hold by the arm, added, What! neither charity, nor courtesy? By this +time, the stranger lost all patience, and was going to correct him for +his temerity:--Stop, Sir, (said the beggar, in a lower tone of voice) +hear me;--pardon, me, Sir; do you not know me? No, certainly; replied +the stranger, But, said he, you ought, for I was secretary to an embassy +in a certain capital, where we lived together in intimacy; and then told +him his name, and the particular misfortunes which had reduced him to +that condition; he expressed himself with art, address, and eloquence, +and succeeded in getting money from the gentleman, though he could not +convince him that he was his old acquaintance. + +There are in Spain an infinite number of such sort of beggars, who are +men of sense and letters, and so _au fait_ in the art, that they will +not be denied. The grand secret of the art of begging is in +perseverance; and all the _well-bred_ part of beggars do not despair, +though they have ten refusals. But the worst sort of beggars in Spain, +are the troops of male and female gipsies: these are the genuine breed, +and differ widely from all other human beings. In Spain I often met +troops of these people; and when that interview happens in roads very +distant from towns or dwellings, the interview is not very pleasing; for +they ask as if they knew they were not to be refused; and, I dare say, +often commit murders, when they can do it by surprize. Whenever I saw +any of these people at a distance, I walked with a gun in my hand, and +near to the side of my chaise, where there were pistols visible; and by +shewing them I was not afraid, or, at least, making them believe so, +they became afraid of us. They are extremely swarthy, with hair as black +as jet; and form a very picturesque scene under the shade of those rocks +and trees, where they spend their evenings; and live in a manner by no +means disagreeable, in a climate so suitable to that style, where bread, +water, and idleness is certainly preferable to better fare and hard +labour. It is owing to this universal idleness that the roads, the inns, +and every thing, but what is absolutely necessary, is neglected; yet, +bad as the roads are, they are better than the _posada_, or inns. _El +salir de la posada, es la mejor jornada_,--"_the best part of the +journey_, say the Spaniards, _is the getting_ _out of the posada_." For +as neither king nor people are at much expence to make or mend the high +ways, except just about the capital cities, they are dry or wet, rough +or smooth, steep or rugged, just as the weather or the soil happens to +favour or befoul them.--Now, here is a riddle for your son; I know he is +an adept, and will soon overtake me. + + I'm rough, I'm smooth, I'm wet, I'm dry; + My station's low, my title's high; + The King my lawful master is; + I'm us'd by all, though only his: + My common freedom's so well known, + I am for that a proverb grown. + +The roads in Spain are, like those in Ireland, very _narrow_, and the +leagues very long. When I complained to an Irish soldier of the length +of the miles, between Kinsale and Cork, he acknowledged the truth of my +observation; but archly added, that though they were _long_, they were +but _narrow_.--Three Spanish leagues make nearly twelve English miles; +and, consequently, seventeen Spanish leagues make nearly one degree. +The bad roads, steep mountains, rapid rivers, &c. occasion most of the +goods and merchandize, which are carried from one part of the kingdom to +the other, to be conveyed on mule-back, and each mule has generally a +driver; and as these drivers have their fixed stages from _posada_ to +_posada_, so must the gentlemen travellers also, because there are no +other accommodations on the roads but such houses; the stables therefore +at the _posadas_ are not only very large, but the best part of the +building, and is the lodging-room of man and beast; all the muleteers +sleep there, with their cloaths on, upon a bundle of straw: but while +your supper is preparing, the kitchen is crowded with a great number of +these dirty fellows, whose cloaths are full of vermin; it would be +impossible, therefore, for even a good cook to dress a dish with any +decency or cleanliness, were such a cook to be found; for, exclusive of +the numbers, there is generally a quarrel or two among them, and at all +times a noise, which is not only tiresome, but frequently alarming. +These people, however, often carry large sums of money, and tho' they +are dirty, they are not poor nor dishonest.--I was told in France, to +beware of the _Catalans_; yet I frequently left many loose things in and +about my chaise, where fifty people lay, and never lost any thing. + +When I congratulated myself in a letter to my brother, upon finding in +Wales a Gentleman of the name of Cooke, whose company, conversation, and +acquaintance, were so perfectly pleasing to me; my brother observed, +however, that my Welch _friend_ was not a _Welchman_, for, said he, +"there are no COOKS in Wales;"--but this observation may be with more +justice applied to Spain; for I think there are no COOKS in Spain; but +there are, what is better, a great number of honest, virtuous men: I +look upon the true, genuine Spaniards to be as respectable men as any +in Europe; and that, among the lower order of them there is more honour +and honesty than is to be found among more polished nations; and, I dare +say, there were an hundred Spaniards at _Barcelona_, had they been as +well informed about my identity as Messrs. Curtoys and Wombwell, that +would have changed my notes, or lent me money without. + +_P.S._ The tour through Spain and Portugal by UDAL ap RHYS, grandfather +to the now Mr. Price of Foxley in Herefordshire, abounds with more +falshoods than truths; indeed I have been told it was written, as many +modern travels are, over a pipe in a chimney corner: and I hope Mr. +Udal never was in Spain, as "_one fib is more excusable than a +thousand_." + + + + +LETTER XXXIII. + +NISMES. + + +_Monsr Anglois_ having sent me back my _passa-porte_, signed by _Don +Philipe Cabine_, the Captain-General of _Barcelona_, accompanied by a +very kind and friendly letter, I determined to quit the only place in +Spain which had afforded me pleasure, amusement, and delight. We +accordingly sat off the next day for _Martorel_, and went to the Three +Kings, where our Italian host, whose extortions I had complained of +before, received us with a face of the utmost disdain; and though he had +no company in his house, put us into much worse apartments than those we +had been in before. I ordered something for supper, and left it to him, +as he had given us a very good one before; but he was not only +determined to punish us in lodging, but in eating also, and sent only +four little mutton cutlets, so small, that they were not sufficient for +one, instead of four persons; we pretended, however, not to perceive his +insolence, that he might not enjoy our punishment; and the next day, as +I was desirous of looking about me a little, we removed to another +_posada_, where, about noon, a Canon of great ecclesiastical preferment +arrived, with a coach, six mules, and a large retinue, to dinner: the +Canon had no more the marks of a gentleman than a muleteer; and he had +with him two or three persons, of no better appearance. While his +dinner, a kind of _olla_, was preparing, I went into the kitchen, where +the smell of the rancid oil with which it was dressed, would have dined +two or three men of moderate or tender stomachs; nor had he any other +dish. There was behind his coach a great quantity of bedding, +bed-steads, &c. so you will perceive he travelled _comme il faut_. His +livery servants were numerous, and had on very short livery coats, with +large sleeves, and still shorter waists. After he had eat a dinner, +enough to poison a pack of hounds, he sat off in great pomp for +_Barcelona_, a city I passed the next day with infinite pleasure, +without entering its inhospitable gates; which I could not have done, +had not _Mons. Anglois_ saved me that mortification by getting my _passa +porte refreshed_. I confess, Sir, that while I passed under the +fortifications of that city, which the high road made necessary, I felt, +I knew not why, a terror about me, that my frame is in general a +stranger to; and rather risqued two hours' night travelling, bad and +dangerous as the roads were, than sleep within four leagues of it; so +that it was ten o'clock before we got to _Martereau_, a little city by +the sea side, where we had lodged on our way to _Barcelona_. The next +day, we proceeded on the same delightful sea coast we had before passed, +and through the same rich villages, on our way to _Girone_, _Figuiere_, +&c. and avoided that horrid _posada_ where the Frenchman died, by lying +at a worse house, but better people: but having bought a brace of +partridges, and some _red fish_ on the road, we fared sumptuously, +except in beds, which were straw mattrasses, very hard, and the room +full of wet Indian corn; but we were no sooner out of our _posada_, than +the climate and the beautiful country made ample amends for the town and +_posada_ grievances. + +It is contrary to the law of Spain to bring more than a certain quantity +of Spanish gold or silver out of the kingdom, and I had near an hundred +pounds in gold _duras_, about the size of our quarter guineas. I +endeavoured to change them at _Figuiere_, but I found some very artful, +I may say roguish, schemes laid, to defraud me, by a pretended +difficulty to get French money, and therefore determined to proceed with +it to _Jonquiere_, the last village, where it was not probable I could +find so much French money. I therefore had a very large French _queue_ +made up, within which the greater part of my Spanish gold was bound; and +as the weight _made_ me hold up my _tete d'or_, the custom-house +officers there, who remembered my entrance into Spain, found +half-a-crown put into their hands less trouble than examining my baggage +gratis; they accordingly _passed_ me on my way to _Bellegarde_, without +even opening it; and we found the road up to that fortress, though in +the month of December, full as good as when we had passed it in the +summer; and after descending on the French side, and crossing the river, +got to the little _auberge_ at _Boulon_, the same we had held too bad +when we went into Spain, even to eat our breakfast at; but upon our +return, worthy of a place of rest, and we accordingly staid there a +week: beds with curtains, rooms with chimnies, and paper windows, though +tattered and torn, were luxuries we had been unaccustomed to.--But I +must not omit to tell you, that on our road down on the French side of +the _Pyrenees_, two men, both armed with guns, rushed suddenly out of +the woods, and making towards us, asked, whether we wanted a guard? I +was walking, perhaps fortunately at that time, with my fuzee in my hand, +and my servant had a double barrelled pistol in his; and therefore +forbid them to approach us, and told them, we had nothing else to lose +but our lives, and that if they did not retire I should look upon them +as people who meant to plunder, rather than protect us: they accordingly +retired into the woods, and I began to believe they had no evil intent; +but finding an _Exempt_ of the _Marechaussee_ at _Boulon_, I told him +what had passed, and asked him whether his men attended upon that road, +in coloured cloaths, or any others were allotted, to protect or guard +travellers? He assured me there were no such people of any kind; that +his men always moved on horseback, in their proper character, and +suspected _our guard_ would have been very troublesome, had they found +us _off our guard_; but he did not offer, nor did I ask him, to send +after them, though he was a very civil, sensible man, who had been three +years on duty in _Corsica_; and, consequently, his company, for the week +I staid in such a poor town, was very agreeable. And as _Mons. Bernard_, +or some officer of the _Marechaussee_, is always in duty at this town, I +would advise those who enter into Spain, by that route, to procure a +couple of those men to escorte them up to _Bellegarde_--an attention +that no officer in France will refuse to shew, when it is not +incompatible with his duty. + +The rapid water at this town, which I had passed going into Spain, was +now lower than usual. Here too my horse, as well as his master, lived +truly _in clover_; and though our habitation was humble, a habitation at +the very foot of the _Pyrenees_ could not but be very beautiful; no part +of France is more so; it is indeed a beautiful and noble sight, to see +the hanging plantations of vines, olives, and mulberry-trees, warmed by +a hot sun on the sides of those mountains, the upper parts of which are +covered with a perpetual snow. But beautiful as all that part of the +country is, there was not a single gentleman's house in the environs. + +After a compleat week's refreshment, we proceeded to _Perpignan_ to +spend our Christmas, where we found the _Chevalier de Maigny_ and his +Lady, who had given us the letter of recommendation to the French Consul +at _Barcelona_; who shewed us those marks of civility and politeness, +French officers in general shew to strangers. There we staid a +fortnight; and _Mons. de Maigny_ got me a considerable profit, in +changing my Spanish gold for French. + +In this town, I found an unfortunate young Irishman; he had been there +three months, without a friend or a shilling in his pocket; and as he +was a man of education and good breeding, I could not so soon forget my +own situation at _Barcelona_, not to pity his: but what most induced me +to assist him a little, was, what he feared might have had a contrary +effect. When I asked him his name, he readily answered, "R--h; an +unfortunate name!" said he;--"but, as it is my name, I will _wear +it_."--He had a well-wisher in the town, a French watch-maker, to whom +he imparted the little kindness I had shewn him; and as it was not +enough to conduct him on foot to the north side of this kingdom, the +generous, but poor watch-maker, gave him as much as I had done, and he +sat off with a light heart, though a _thin pair of breeches_, for his +own country. He had been to visit a rich relation at Madrid; and, I +believe, did not meet with so cordial a reception there as he expected. + +At this town I drank, at a private gentleman's house, part of a bottle +of the wine made at a little village hard by, called _Rios Alto_; the +most delicious wine I ever tasted: but as the spot produces but a small +quantity, that which is really of the growth is very scarce, as well as +dear: it has the strength of full port, with a flavour superior to +burgundy. + +_Perpignan_ is the principal city of _Rosillein_; it is well fortified, +but the works are in a ruinous condition: the streets are narrow and +dirty, but the Governor's, and the botanic gardens are worthy of notice: +the climate is remarkably fine, and the air pure. The _Pyrenees_, which +are at least fifteen miles distant, appear to hang in a manner over the +town: to see so much snow, and feel so much sun, is very singular. Wood +is very scarce and dear in that town: I frequently saw mules and asses +loaded with rosemary and lavender bushes, to sell for firing. The +barbarous language of the common people of this province, is very +convenient, as they understand French, and can make themselves +understood thro' a great part of Spain: from which kingdom not a day +passes but mules and carriages arrive, except when the heavy rains or +snow obstruct the communication.--The mules and asses of Spain, and this +part of France, are not only very useful but valuable beasts: the only +way to get a valuable one of either sort from Spain, is, to fix upon the +beast, and promise a round sum to one of the religious mendicants to +smuggle it out of the kingdom, who covers the animal with bags, baskets, +and a variety of trumpery, as if he was going into France to collect +charity: and passes either by _not_ being suspected, or by being a +_Religieux_ if he is suspected. + +As we took exactly the same route from _Perpignan_ to this town as we +went, except leaving _Cette_ a few leagues on our left; I shall say +nothing of our return, but that we relished our reception at the French +inns, and the good cheer we found there, infinitely more than as we +went: and that we were benighted for some hours before we got into +_Montpellier_, and caught in the most dreadful storm of rain, thunder +and lightning I ever was exposed to. I was obliged for two hours to hold +my horse's bridle on one side, as my man did on the other, and feel with +sticks for the margin of the road, as it was elevated very high above +the marshy lands, and if the heel had slipped over on either side, it +must have overset the chaise into the lowlands: besides which, the +roaring of the water-streams was so great, that I very often thought we +were upon the margin of some river or high bridge: nor was my suffering +quite over even after I got into the city: I could not find my former +_auberge_, nor meet with any body to direct me: and the water-spouts +which fell into the middle of those narrow streets almost deluged +us.--My poor horse, too, found the steep streets, slippery pavement, and +tons of water which fell upon him, as much as he could well bear: but, +as the old song says, + + "Alas! by some degree of woe, + We every bliss obtain;" + +So we found a good fire and good cheer an ample recompence for our wet +jackets. It was so very dark, that though I led my horse by the head +above a league, I could but seldom see him: nor do I remember in my +whole life to have met with any difficulty which so agitated my +mind:--no: not even at the _bar of the House of Lords_, I did not dread +the danger so much, as the idea of tumbling my family over a precipice, +without the power to assist them; or, if they were _gone_, resolution +enough to _follow them_. + + +END _of the_ FIRST VOLUME. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Year's Journey through France and +Part of Spain, 1777, by Philip Thicknesse + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE *** + +***** This file should be named 16485.txt or 16485.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/8/16485/ + +Produced by From images generously made available by gallica +(Bibliotheque nationale de France) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr., Robert Connal, Chuck Greif and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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