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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bible in Spain, by George Borrow
+(#1 in our series by George Borrow)
+
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+Title: The Bible in Spain
+
+Author: George Borrow
+
+Release Date: January, 1996  [EBook #415]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on December 15, 1995]
+[Most recently updated: April 25, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BIBLE IN SPAIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1908 Cassell and Company edition by David
+Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk.
+
+
+
+
+THE BIBLE IN SPAIN--GEORGE BORROW
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE
+
+
+
+It is very seldom that the preface of a work is read; indeed, of
+late years, most books have been sent into the world without any.
+I deem it, however, advisable to write a preface, and to this I
+humbly call the attention of the courteous reader, as its perusal
+will not a little tend to the proper understanding and appreciation
+of these volumes.
+
+The work now offered to the public, and which is styled The Bible
+in Spain, consists of a narrative of what occurred to me during a
+residence in that country, to which I was sent by the Bible
+Society, as its agent for the purpose of printing and circulating
+the Scriptures.  It comprehends, however, certain journeys and
+adventures in Portugal, and leaves me at last in "the land of the
+Corahai," to which region, after having undergone considerable
+buffeting in Spain, I found it expedient to retire for a season.
+
+It is very probable that had I visited Spain from mere curiosity,
+or with a view of passing a year or two agreeably, I should never
+have attempted to give any detailed account of my proceedings, or
+of what I heard and saw.  I am no tourist, no writer of books of
+travels; but I went there on a somewhat remarkable errand, which
+necessarily led me into strange situations and positions, involved
+me in difficulties and perplexities, and brought me into contact
+with people of all descriptions and grades; so that, upon the
+whole, I flatter myself that a narrative of such a pilgrimage may
+not be wholly uninteresting to the public, more especially as the
+subject is not trite; for though various books have been published
+about Spain, I believe that the present is the only one in
+existence which treats of missionary labour in that country.
+
+Many things, it is true, will be found in the following volume
+which have little connexion with religion or religious enterprise;
+I offer, however, no apology for introducing them.  I was, as I may
+say, from first to last adrift in Spain, the land of old renown,
+the land of wonder and mystery, with better opportunities of
+becoming acquainted with its strange secrets and peculiarities than
+perhaps ever yet were afforded to any individual, certainly to a
+foreigner; and if in many instances I have introduced scenes and
+characters perhaps unprecedented in a work of this description, I
+have only to observe, that, during my sojourn in Spain, I was so
+unavoidably mixed up with such, that I could scarcely have given a
+faithful narrative of what befell me had I not brought them forward
+in the manner which I have done.
+
+It is worthy of remark that, called suddenly and unexpectedly "to
+undertake the adventure of Spain," I was not altogether unprepared
+for such an enterprise.  In the daydreams of my boyhood, Spain
+always bore a considerable share, and I took a particular interest
+in her, without any presentiment that I should at a future time be
+called upon to take a part, however humble, in her strange dramas;
+which interest, at a very early period, led me to acquire her noble
+language, and to make myself acquainted with her literature
+(scarcely worthy of the language), her history and traditions; so
+that when I entered Spain for the first time I felt more at home
+than I should otherwise have done.
+
+In Spain I passed five years, which, if not the most eventful,
+were, I have no hesitation in saying, the most happy years of my
+existence.  Of Spain, at the present time, now that the daydream
+has vanished, never, alas! to return, I entertain the warmest
+admiration:  she is the most magnificent country in the world,
+probably the most fertile, and certainly with the finest climate.
+Whether her children are worthy of their mother, is another
+question, which I shall not attempt to answer; but content myself
+with observing, that, amongst much that is lamentable and
+reprehensible, I have found much that is noble and to be admired;
+much stern heroic virtue; much savage and horrible crime; of low
+vulgar vice very little, at least amongst the great body of the
+Spanish nation, with which my mission lay; for it will be as well
+here to observe, that I advance no claim to an intimate
+acquaintance with the Spanish nobility, from whom I kept as remote
+as circumstances would permit me; en revanche, however, I have had
+the honour to live on familiar terms with the peasants, shepherds,
+and muleteers of Spain, whose bread and bacalao I have eaten; who
+always treated me with kindness and courtesy, and to whom I have
+not unfrequently been indebted for shelter and protection.
+
+
+"The generous bearing of Francisco Gonzales, and the high deeds of
+Ruy Diaz the Cid, are still sung amongst the fastnesses of the
+Sierra Morena." {0}
+
+
+I believe that no stronger argument can be brought forward in proof
+of the natural vigour and resources of Spain, and the sterling
+character of her population, than the fact that, at the present
+day, she is still a powerful and unexhausted country, and her
+children still, to a certain extent, a high-minded and great
+people.  Yes, notwithstanding the misrule of the brutal and sensual
+Austrian, the doting Bourbon, and, above all, the spiritual tyranny
+of the court of Rome, Spain can still maintain her own, fight her
+own combat, and Spaniards are not yet fanatic slaves and crouching
+beggars.  This is saying much, very much:  she has undergone far
+more than Naples had ever to bear, and yet the fate of Naples has
+not been hers.  There is still valour in Astruria; generosity in
+Aragon; probity in Old Castile; and the peasant women of La Mancha
+can still afford to place a silver fork and a snowy napkin beside
+the plate of their guest.  Yes, in spite of Austrian, Bourbon, and
+Rome, there is still a wide gulf between Spain and Naples.
+
+Strange as it may sound, Spain is not a fanatic country.  I know
+something about her, and declare that she is not, nor has ever
+been; Spain never changes.  It is true that, for nearly two
+centuries, she was the she-butcher, La Verduga, of malignant Rome;
+the chosen instrument for carrying into effect the atrocious
+projects of that power; yet fanaticism was not the spring which
+impelled her to the work of butchery; another feeling, in her the
+predominant one, was worked upon--her fatal pride.  It was by
+humouring her pride that she was induced to waste her precious
+blood and treasure in the Low Country wars, to launch the Armada,
+and to many other equally insane actions.  Love of Rome had ever
+slight influence over her policy; but flattered by the title of
+Gonfaloniera of the Vicar of Jesus, and eager to prove herself not
+unworthy of the same, she shut her eyes and rushed upon her own
+destruction with the cry of "Charge, Spain."
+
+But the arms of Spain became powerless abroad, and she retired
+within herself.  She ceased to be the tool of the vengeance and
+cruelty of Rome.  She was not cast aside, however.  No! though she
+could no longer wield the sword with success against the Lutherans,
+she might still be turned to some account.  She had still gold and
+silver, and she was still the land of the vine and olive.  Ceasing
+to be the butcher, she became the banker of Rome; and the poor
+Spaniards, who always esteem it a privilege to pay another person's
+reckoning, were for a long time happy in being permitted to
+minister to the grasping cupidity of Rome, who during the last
+century, probably extracted from Spain more treasure than from all
+the rest of Christendom.
+
+But wars came into the land.  Napoleon and his fierce Franks
+invaded Spain; plunder and devastation ensued, the effects of which
+will probably be felt for ages.  Spain could no longer pay pence to
+Peter so freely as of yore, and from that period she became
+contemptible in the eyes of Rome, who has no respect for a nation,
+save so far as it can minister to her cruelty or avarice.  The
+Spaniard was still willing to pay, as far as his means would allow,
+but he was soon given to understand that he was a degraded being,--
+a barbarian; nay, a beggar.  Now, you may draw the last cuarto from
+a Spaniard, provided you will concede to him the title of cavalier,
+and rich man, for the old leaven still works as powerfully as in
+the time of the first Philip; but you must never hint that he is
+poor, or that his blood is inferior to your own.  And the old
+peasant, on being informed in what slight estimation he was held,
+replied, "If I am a beast, a barbarian, and a beggar withal, I am
+sorry for it; but as there is no remedy, I shall spend these four
+bushels of barley, which I had reserved to alleviate the misery of
+the holy father, in procuring bull spectacles, and other convenient
+diversions, for the queen my wife, and the young princes my
+children.  Beggar! carajo!  The water of my village is better than
+the wine of Rome."
+
+I see that in a late pastoral letter directed to the Spaniards, the
+father of Rome complains bitterly of the treatment which he has
+received in Spain at the hands of naughty men.  "My cathedrals are
+let down," he says, "my priests are insulted, and the revenues of
+my bishops are curtailed."  He consoles himself, however, with the
+idea that this is the effect of the malice of a few, and that the
+generality of the nation love him, especially the peasantry, the
+innocent peasantry, who shed tears when they think of the
+sufferings of their pope and their religion.  Undeceive yourself,
+Batuschca, undeceive yourself!  Spain was ready to fight for you so
+long as she could increase her own glory by doing so; but she took
+no pleasure in losing battle after battle on your account.  She had
+no objection to pay money into your coffers in the shape of alms,
+expecting, however, that the same would be received with the
+gratitude and humility which becomes those who accept charity.
+Finding, however, that you were neither humble nor grateful;
+suspecting, moreover, that you held Austria in higher esteem than
+herself, even as a banker, she shrugged up her shoulders, and
+uttered a sentence somewhat similar to that which I have already
+put into the mouth of one of her children, "These four bushels of
+barley," etc.
+
+It is truly surprising what little interest the great body of the
+Spanish nation took in the late struggle, and yet it has been
+called, by some who ought to know better, a war of religion and
+principle.  It was generally supposed that Biscay was the
+stronghold of Carlism, and that the inhabitants were fanatically
+attached to their religion, which they apprehended was in danger.
+The truth is, that the Basques cared nothing for Carlos or Rome,
+and merely took up arms to defend certain rights and privileges of
+their own.  For the dwarfish brother of Ferdinand they always
+exhibited supreme contempt, which his character, a compound of
+imbecility, cowardice, and cruelty, well merited.  If they made use
+of his name, it was merely as a cri de guerre.  Much the same may
+be said with respect to his Spanish partisans, at least those who
+appeared in the field for him.  These, however, were of a widely
+different character from the Basques, who were brave soldiers and
+honest men.  The Spanish armies of Don Carlos were composed
+entirely of thieves and assassins, chiefly Valencians and
+Manchegans, who, marshalled under two cut-throats, Cabrera and
+Palillos, took advantage of the distracted state of the country to
+plunder and massacre the honest part of the community.  With
+respect to the Queen Regent Christina, of whom the less said the
+better, the reins of government fell into her hands on the decease
+of her husband, and with them the command of the soldiery.  The
+respectable part of the Spanish nation, and more especially the
+honourable and toilworn peasantry, loathed and execrated both
+factions.  Oft when I was sharing at nightfall the frugal fare of
+the villager of Old or New Castile, on hearing the distant shot of
+the Christino soldier or Carlist bandit, he would invoke curses on
+the heads of the two pretenders, not forgetting the holy father and
+the goddess of Rome, Maria Santissima.  Then, with the tiger energy
+of the Spaniard when roused, he would start up and exclaim:
+"Vamos, Don Jorge, to the plain, to the plain!  I wish to enlist
+with you, and to learn the law of the English.  To the plain,
+therefore, to the plain to-morrow, to circulate the gospel of
+Ingalaterra."
+
+Amongst the peasantry of Spain I found my sturdiest supporters:
+and yet the holy father supposes that the Spanish labourers are
+friends and lovers of his.  Undeceive yourself, Batuschca!
+
+But to return to the present work:  it is devoted to an account of
+what befell me in Spain whilst engaged in distributing the
+Scripture.  With respect to my poor labours, I wish here to
+observe, that I accomplished but very little, and that I lay claim
+to no brilliant successes and triumphs; indeed I was sent into
+Spain more to explore the country, and to ascertain how far the
+minds of the people were prepared to receive the truths of
+Christianity, than for any other object; I obtained, however,
+through the assistance of kind friends, permission from the Spanish
+government to print an edition of the sacred volume at Madrid,
+which I subsequently circulated in that capital and in the
+provinces.
+
+During my sojourn in Spain, there were others who wrought good
+service in the Gospel cause, and of whose efforts it were unjust to
+be silent in a work of this description.  Base is the heart which
+would refuse merit its meed, and, however insignificant may be the
+value of any eulogium which can flow from a pen like mine, I cannot
+refrain from mentioning with respect and esteem a few names
+connected with Gospel enterprise.  A zealous Irish gentleman, of
+the name of Graydon, exerted himself with indefatigable diligence
+in diffusing the light of Scripture in the province of Catalonia,
+and along the southern shores of Spain; whilst two missionaries
+from Gibraltar, Messrs. Rule and Lyon, during one entire year,
+preached Evangelic truth in a Church at Cadiz.  So much success
+attended the efforts of these two last brave disciples of the
+immortal Wesley, that there is every reason for supposing that, had
+they not been silenced and eventually banished from the country by
+the pseudo-liberal faction of the Moderados, not only Cadiz, but
+the greater part of Andalusia, would by this time have confessed
+the pure doctrines of the Gospel, and have discarded for ever the
+last relics of popish superstition.
+
+More immediately connected with the Bible Society and myself, I am
+most happy to take this opportunity of speaking of Luis de Usoz y
+Rio, the scion of an ancient and honourable family of Old Castile,
+my coadjutor whilst editing the Spanish New Testament at Madrid.
+Throughout my residence in Spain, I experienced every mark of
+friendship from this gentleman, who, during the periods of my
+absence in the provinces, and my numerous and long journeys,
+cheerfully supplied my place at Madrid, and exerted himself to the
+utmost in forwarding the views of the Bible Society, influenced by
+no other motive than a hope that its efforts would eventually
+contribute to the peace, happiness, and civilisation of his native
+land.
+
+In conclusion, I beg leave to state that I am fully aware of the
+various faults and inaccuracies of the present work.  It is founded
+on certain journals which I kept during my stay in Spain, and
+numerous letters written to my friends in England, which they had
+subsequently the kindness to restore:  the greater part, however,
+consisting of descriptions of scenery, sketches of character, etc.,
+has been supplied from memory.  In various instances I have omitted
+the names of places, which I have either forgotten, or of whose
+orthography I am uncertain.  The work, as it at present exists, was
+written in a solitary hamlet in a remote part of England, where I
+had neither books to consult, nor friends of whose opinion or
+advice I could occasionally avail myself, and under all the
+disadvantages which arise from enfeebled health; I have, however,
+on a recent occasion, experienced too much of the lenity and
+generosity of the public, both of Britain and America, to shrink
+from again exposing myself to its gaze, and trust that, if in the
+present volumes it finds but little to admire, it will give me
+credit for good spirit, and for setting down nought in malice.
+
+
+Nov. 26, 1842.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+
+Man Overboard--The Tagus--Foreign Languages--Gesticulation--Streets
+of Lisbon--The Aqueduct--Bible tolerated in Portugal--Cintra--Don
+Sebastian--John de Castro--Conversation with a Priest--Colhares--
+Mafra--Its Palace--The Schoolmaster--The Portuguese--Their
+Ignorance of Scripture--Rural Priesthood--The Alemtejo.
+
+On the morning of the tenth of November, 1835, I found myself off
+the coast of Galicia, whose lofty mountains, gilded by the rising
+sun, presented a magnificent appearance.  I was bound for Lisbon;
+we passed Cape Finisterre, and standing farther out to sea,
+speedily lost sight of land.  On the morning of the eleventh the
+sea was very rough, and a remarkable circumstance occurred.  I was
+on the forecastle, discoursing with two of the sailors:  one of
+them, who had but just left his hammock, said, "I have had a
+strange dream, which I do not much like, for," continued he,
+pointing up to the mast, "I dreamt that I fell into the sea from
+the cross-trees."  He was heard to say this by several of the crew
+besides myself.  A moment after, the captain of the vessel
+perceiving that the squall was increasing, ordered the topsails to
+be taken in, whereupon this man with several others instantly ran
+aloft; the yard was in the act of being hauled down, when a sudden
+gust of wind whirled it round with violence, and a man was struck
+down from the cross-trees into the sea, which was working like
+yeast below.  In a short time he emerged; I saw his head on the
+crest of a billow, and instantly recognised in the unfortunate man
+the sailor who a few moments before had related his dream.  I shall
+never forget the look of agony he cast whilst the steamer hurried
+past him.  The alarm was given, and everything was in confusion; it
+was two minutes at least before the vessel was stopped, by which
+time the man was a considerable way astern; I still, however, kept
+my eye upon him, and could see that he was struggling gallantly
+with the waves.  A boat was at length lowered, but the rudder was
+unfortunately not at hand, and only two oars could be procured,
+with which the men could make but little progress in so rough a
+sea.  They did their best, however, and had arrived within ten
+yards of the man, who still struggled for his life, when I lost
+sight of him, and the men on their return said that they saw him
+below the water, at glimpses, sinking deeper and deeper, his arms
+stretched out and his body apparently stiff, but that they found it
+impossible to save him; presently after, the sea, as if satisfied
+with the prey which it had acquired, became comparatively calm.
+The poor fellow who perished in this singular manner was a fine
+young man of twenty-seven, the only son of a widowed mother; he was
+the best sailor on board, and was beloved by all who were
+acquainted with him.  This event occurred on the eleventh of
+November, 1835; the vessel was the London Merchant steamship.
+Truly wonderful are the ways of Providence!
+
+That same night we entered the Tagus, and dropped anchor before the
+old tower of Belem; early the next morning we weighed, and,
+proceeding onward about a league, we again anchored at a short
+distance from the Caesodre, or principal quay of Lisbon.  Here we
+lay for some hours beside the enormous black hulk of the Rainha
+Nao, a man-of-war, which in old times so captivated the eye of
+Nelson, that he would fain have procured it for his native country.
+She was, long subsequently, the admiral's ship of the Miguelite
+squadron, and had been captured by the gallant Napier about three
+years previous to the time of which I am speaking.
+
+The Rainha Nao is said to have caused him more trouble than all the
+other vessels of the enemy; and some assert that, had the others
+defended themselves with half the fury which the old vixen queen
+displayed, the result of the battle which decided the fate of
+Portugal would have been widely different.
+
+I found disembarkation at Lisbon to be a matter of considerable
+vexation; the custom-house officers were exceedingly uncivil, and
+examined every article of my little baggage with most provocating
+minuteness.
+
+My first impression on landing in the Peninsula was by no means a
+favourable one; and I had scarcely pressed the soil one hour before
+I heartily wished myself back in Russia, a country which I had
+quitted about one month previous, and where I had left cherished
+friends and warm affections.
+
+After having submitted to much ill-usage and robbery at the custom-
+house, I proceeded in quest of a lodging, and at last found one,
+but dirty and expensive.  The next day I hired a servant, a
+Portuguese, it being my invariable custom on arriving in a country
+to avail myself of the services of a native; chiefly with the view
+of perfecting myself in the language; and being already acquainted
+with most of the principal languages and dialects of the east and
+the west, I am soon able to make myself quite intelligible to the
+inhabitants.  In about a fortnight I found myself conversing in
+Portuguese with considerable fluency.
+
+Those who wish to make themselves understood by a foreigner in his
+own language, should speak with much noise and vociferation,
+opening their mouths wide.  Is it surprising that the English are,
+in general, the worst linguists in the world, seeing that they
+pursue a system diametrically opposite?  For example, when they
+attempt to speak Spanish, the most sonorous tongue in existence,
+they scarcely open their lips, and putting their hands in their
+pockets, fumble lazily, instead of applying them to the
+indispensable office of gesticulation.  Well may the poor Spaniards
+exclaim, THESE ENGLISH TALK SO CRABBEDLY, THAT SATAN HIMSELF WOULD
+NOT BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THEM.
+
+Lisbon is a huge ruinous city, still exhibiting in almost every
+direction the vestiges of that terrific visitation of God, the
+earthquake which shattered it some eighty years ago.  It stands on
+seven hills, the loftiest of which is occupied by the castle of
+Saint George, which is the boldest and most prominent object to the
+eye, whilst surveying the city from the Tagus.  The most frequented
+and busy parts of the city are those comprised within the valley to
+the north of this elevation.
+
+Here you find the Plaza of the Inquisition, the principal square in
+Lisbon, from which run parallel towards the river three or four
+streets, amongst which are those of the gold and silver, so
+designated from being inhabited by smiths cunning in the working of
+those metals; they are upon the whole very magnificent; the houses
+are huge and as high as castles; immense pillars defend the
+causeway at intervals, producing, however, rather a cumbrous
+effect.  These streets are quite level, and are well paved, in
+which respect they differ from all the others in Lisbon.  The most
+singular street, however, of all is that of the Alemcrin, or
+Rosemary, which debouches on the Caesodre.  It is very precipitous,
+and is occupied on either side by the palaces of the principal
+Portuguese nobility, massive and frowning, but grand and
+picturesque, edifices, with here and there a hanging garden,
+overlooking the streets at a great height.
+
+With all its ruin and desolation, Lisbon is unquestionably the most
+remarkable city in the Peninsula, and, perhaps, in the south of
+Europe.  It is not my intention to enter into minute details
+concerning it; I shall content myself with remarking, that it is
+quite as much deserving the attention of the artist as even Rome
+itself.  True it is that though it abounds with churches it has no
+gigantic cathedral, like St. Peter's, to attract the eye and fill
+it with wonder, yet I boldly say that there is no monument of man's
+labour and skill, pertaining either to ancient or modern Rome, for
+whatever purpose designed, which can rival the water-works of
+Lisbon; I mean the stupendous aqueduct whose principal arches cross
+the valley to the north-east of Lisbon, and which discharges its
+little runnel of cool and delicious water into the rocky cistern
+within that beautiful edifice called the Mother of the Waters, from
+whence all Lisbon is supplied with the crystal lymph, though the
+source is seven leagues distant.  Let travellers devote one entire
+morning to inspecting the Arcos and the Mai das Agoas, after which
+they may repair to the English church and cemetery, Pere-la-chaise
+in miniature, where, if they be of England, they may well be
+excused if they kiss the cold tomb, as I did, of the author of
+Amelia, the most singular genius which their island ever produced,
+whose works it has long been the fashion to abuse in public and to
+read in secret.  In the same cemetery rest the mortal remains of
+Doddridge, another English author of a different stamp, but justly
+admired and esteemed.  I had not intended, on disembarking, to
+remain long in Lisbon, nor indeed in Portugal; my destination was
+Spain, whither I shortly proposed to direct my steps, it being the
+intention of the Bible Society to attempt to commence operations in
+that country, the object of which should be the distribution of the
+Word of God, for Spain had hitherto been a region barred against
+the admission of the Bible; not so Portugal, where, since the
+revolution, the Bible had been permitted both to be introduced and
+circulated.  Little, however, had been accomplished; therefore,
+finding myself in the country, I determined, if possible, to effect
+something in the way of distribution, but first of all to make
+myself acquainted as to how far the people were disposed to receive
+the Bible, and whether the state of education in general would
+permit them to turn it to much account.  I had plenty of Bibles and
+Testaments at my disposal, but could the people read them, or would
+they?  A friend of the Society to whom I was recommended was absent
+from Lisbon at the period of my arrival; this I regretted, as he
+could have afforded me several useful hints.  In order, however,
+that no time might be lost, I determined not to wait for his
+arrival, but at once proceed to gather the best information I could
+upon those points to which I have already alluded.  I determined to
+commence my researches at some slight distance from Lisbon, being
+well aware of the erroneous ideas that I must form of the
+Portuguese in general, should I judge of their character and
+opinions from what I saw and heard in a city so much subjected to
+foreign intercourse.
+
+My first excursion was to Cintra.  If there be any place in the
+world entitled to the appellation of an enchanted region, it is
+surely Cintra; Tivoli is a beautiful and picturesque place, but it
+quickly fades from the mind of those who have seen the Portuguese
+Paradise.  When speaking of Cintra, it must not for a moment be
+supposed that nothing more is meant than the little town or city;
+by Cintra must be understood the entire region, town, palace,
+quintas, forests, crags, Moorish ruin, which suddenly burst on the
+view on rounding the side of a bleak, savage, and sterile-looking
+mountain.  Nothing is more sullen and uninviting than the south-
+western aspect of the stony wall which, on the side of Lisbon,
+seems to shield Cintra from the eye of the world, but the other
+side is a mingled scene of fairy beauty, artificial elegance,
+savage grandeur, domes, turrets, enormous trees, flowers and
+waterfalls, such as is met with nowhere else beneath the sun.  Oh!
+there are strange and wonderful objects at Cintra, and strange and
+wonderful recollections attached to them.  The ruin on that lofty
+peak, and which covers part of the side of that precipitous steep,
+was once the principal stronghold of the Lusitanian Moors, and
+thither, long after they had disappeared, at a particular moon of
+every year, were wont to repair wild santons of Maugrabie, to pray
+at the tomb of a famous Sidi, who slumbers amongst the rocks.  That
+grey palace witnessed the assemblage of the last cortes held by the
+boy king Sebastian, ere he departed on his romantic expedition
+against the Moors, who so well avenged their insulted faith and
+country at Alcazarquibir, and in that low shady quinta, embowered
+amongst those tall alcornoques, once dwelt John de Castro, the
+strange old viceroy of Goa, who pawned the hairs of his dead son's
+beard to raise money to repair the ruined wall of a fortress
+threatened by the heathen of Ind; those crumbling stones which
+stand before the portal, deeply graven, not with "runes," but
+things equally dark, Sanscrit rhymes from the Vedas, were brought
+by him from Goa, the most brilliant scene of his glory, before
+Portugal had become a base kingdom; and down that dingle, on an
+abrupt rocky promontory, stand the ruined halls of the English
+Millionaire, who there nursed the wayward fancies of a mind as
+wild, rich, and variegated as the scenes around.  Yes, wonderful
+are the objects which meet the eye at Cintra, and wonderful are the
+recollections attached to them.
+
+The town of Cintra contains about eight hundred inhabitants.  The
+morning subsequent to my arrival, as I was about to ascend the
+mountain for the purpose of examining the Moorish ruins, I observed
+a person advancing towards me whom I judged by his dress to be an
+ecclesiastic; he was in fact one of the three priests of the place.
+I instantly accosted him, and had no reason to regret doing so; I
+found him affable and communicative.
+
+After praising the beauty of the surrounding scenery, I made some
+inquiry as to the state of education amongst the people under his
+care.  He answered, that he was sorry to say that they were in a
+state of great ignorance, very few of the common people being able
+either to read or write; that with respect to schools, there was
+but one in the place, where four or five children were taught the
+alphabet, but that even this was at present closed; he informed me,
+however, that there was a school at Colhares, about a league
+distant.  Amongst other things, he said that nothing more surprised
+him than to see Englishmen, the most learned and intelligent people
+in the world, visiting a place like Cintra, where there was no
+literature, science, nor anything of utility (coisa que presta).  I
+suspect that there was some covert satire in the last speech of the
+worthy priest; I was, however, Jesuit enough to appear to receive
+it as a high compliment, and, taking off my hat, departed with an
+infinity of bows.
+
+That same day I visited Colhares, a romantic village on the side of
+the mountain of Cintra, to the north-west.  Seeing some peasants
+collected round a smithy, I inquired about the school, whereupon
+one of the men instantly conducted me thither.  I went upstairs
+into a small apartment, where I found the master with about a dozen
+pupils standing in a row; I saw but one stool in the room, and to
+that, after having embraced me, he conducted me with great
+civility.  After some discourse, he showed me the books which he
+used for the instruction of the children; they were spelling books,
+much of the same kind as those used in the village schools in
+England.  Upon my asking him whether it was his practice to place
+the Scriptures in the hands of the children, he informed me that
+long before they had acquired sufficient intelligence to understand
+them they were removed by their parents, in order that they might
+assist in the labours of the field, and that the parents in general
+were by no means solicitous that their children should learn
+anything, as they considered the time occupied in learning as so
+much squandered away.  He said, that though the schools were
+nominally supported by the government, it was rarely that the
+schoolmasters could obtain their salaries, on which account many
+had of late resigned their employments.  He told me that he had a
+copy of the New Testament in his possession, which I desired to
+see, but on examining it I discovered that it was only the epistles
+by Pereira, with copious notes.  I asked him whether he considered
+that there was harm in reading the Scriptures without notes:  he
+replied that there was certainly no harm in it, but that simple
+people, without the help of notes, could derive but little benefit
+from Scripture, as the greatest part would be unintelligible to
+them; whereupon I shook hands with him, and on departing said that
+there was no part of Scripture so difficult to understand as those
+very notes which were intended to elucidate it, and that it would
+never have been written if not calculated of itself to illume the
+minds of all classes of mankind.
+
+In a day or two I made an excursion to Mafra, distant about three
+leagues from Cintra; the principal part of the way lay over steep
+hills, somewhat dangerous for horses; however, I reached the place
+in safety.
+
+Mafra is a large village in the neighbourhood of an immense
+building, intended to serve as a convent and palace, and which is
+built somewhat after the fashion of the Escurial.  In this edifice
+exists the finest library in Portugal, containing books on all
+sciences and in all languages, and well suited to the size and
+grandeur of the edifice which contains it.  There were no monks,
+however, to take care of it, as in former times; they had been
+driven forth, some to beg their bread, some to serve under the
+banners of Don Carlos, in Spain, and many, as I was informed, to
+prowl about as banditti.  I found the place abandoned to two or
+three menials, and exhibiting an aspect of solitude and desolation
+truly appalling.  Whilst I was viewing the cloisters, a fine
+intelligent-looking lad came up and asked (I suppose in the hope of
+obtaining a trifle) whether I would permit him to show me the
+village church, which he informed me was well worth seeing; I said
+no, but added, that it he would show me the village school I should
+feel much obliged to him.  He looked at me with astonishment, and
+assured me that there was nothing to be seen at the school, which
+did not contain more than half a dozen boys, and that he himself
+was one of the number.  On my telling him, however, that he should
+show me no other place, he at length unwillingly attended me.  On
+the way I learned from him that the schoolmaster was one of the
+friars who had lately been expelled from the convent, that he was a
+very learned man, and spoke French and Greek.  We passed a stone
+cross, and the boy bent his head and crossed himself with much
+devotion.  I mention this circumstance, as it was the first
+instance of the kind which I had observed amongst the Portuguese
+since my arrival.  When near the house where the schoolmaster
+resided, he pointed it out to me, and then hid himself behind a
+wall, where he awaited my return.
+
+On stepping over the threshold I was confronted by a short stout
+man, between sixty and seventy years of age, dressed in a blue
+jerkin and grey trousers, without shirt or waistcoat; he looked at
+me sternly, and enquired in the French language what was my
+pleasure.  I apologised for intruding upon him, and stated that,
+being informed he occupied the situation of schoolmaster, I had
+come to pay my respects to him and to beg permission to ask a few
+questions respecting the seminary.  He answered that whoever told
+me he was a schoolmaster lied, for that he was a friar of the
+convent and nothing else.  "It is not then true," said I, "that all
+the convents have been broken up and the monks dismissed?"  "Yes,
+yes," said he with a sigh, "it is true; it is but too true."  He
+then was silent for a minute, and his better nature overcoming his
+angry feelings, he produced a snuff-box and offered it to me.  The
+snuff-box is the olive-branch of the Portuguese, and he who wishes
+to be on good terms with them must never refuse to dip his finger
+and thumb into it when offered.  I took therefore a huge pinch,
+though I detest the dust, and we were soon on the best possible
+terms.  He was eager to obtain news, especially from Lisbon and
+Spain.  I told him that the officers of the troops at Lisbon had,
+the day before I left that place, gone in a body to the queen and
+insisted upon her either receiving their swords or dismissing her
+ministers; whereupon he rubbed his hands and said that he was sure
+matters would not remain tranquil at Lisbon.  On my saying,
+however, that I thought the affairs of Don Carlos were on the
+decline (this was shortly after the death of Zumalacarregui), he
+frowned, and cried that it could not possibly be, for that God was
+too just to suffer it.  I felt for the poor man who had been driven
+out of his home in the noble convent close by, and from a state of
+affluence and comfort reduced in his old age to indigence and
+misery, for his present dwelling scarcely seemed to contain an
+article of furniture.  I tried twice or thrice to induce him to
+converse about the school, but he either avoided the subject or
+said shortly that he knew nothing about it.  On my leaving him, the
+boy came from his hiding-place and rejoined me; he said that he had
+hidden himself through fear of his master's knowing that he had
+brought me to him, for that he was unwilling that any stranger
+should know that he was a schoolmaster.
+
+I asked the boy whether he or his parents were acquainted with the
+Scripture and ever read it; he did not, however, seem to understand
+me.  I must here observe that the boy was fifteen years of age,
+that he was in many respects very intelligent, and had some
+knowledge of the Latin language; nevertheless he knew not the
+Scripture even by name, and I have no doubt, from what I
+subsequently observed, that at least two-thirds of his countrymen
+are on that important point no wiser than himself.  At the doors of
+village inns, at the hearths of the rustics, in the fields where
+they labour, at the stone fountains by the wayside where they water
+their cattle, I have questioned the lower class of the children of
+Portugal about the Scripture, the Bible, the Old and New Testament,
+and in no one instance have they known what I was alluding to, or
+could return me a rational answer, though on all other matters
+their replies were sensible enough; indeed, nothing surprised me
+more than the free and unembarrassed manner in which the Portuguese
+peasantry sustain a conversation, and the purity of the language in
+which they express their thoughts, and yet few of them can read or
+write; whereas the peasantry of England, whose education is in
+general much superior, are in their conversation coarse and dull
+almost to brutality, and absurdly ungrammatical in their language,
+though the English tongue is upon the whole more simple in its
+structure than the Portuguese.
+
+On my return to Lisbon I found our friend -, who received me very
+kindly.  The next ten days were exceedingly rainy, which prevented
+me from making any excursions into the country:  during this time I
+saw our friend frequently, and had long conversations with him
+concerning the best means of distributing the gospel.  He thought
+we could do no better for the present than put part of our stock
+into the hands of the booksellers of Lisbon, and at the same time
+employ colporteurs to hawk the books about the streets, receiving a
+certain profit off every copy they sold.  This plan was agreed upon
+and forthwith put in practice, and with some success.  I had
+thought of sending colporteurs into the neighbouring villages, but
+to this our friend objected.  He thought the attempt dangerous, as
+it was very possible that the rural priesthood, who still possessed
+much influence in their own districts, and who were for the most
+part decided enemies to the spread of the gospel, might cause the
+men employed to be assassinated or ill-treated.
+
+I determined, however, ere leaving Portugal, to establish depots of
+Bibles in one or two of the provincial towns.  I wished to visit
+the Alemtejo, which I had heard was a very benighted region.  The
+Alemtejo means the province beyond the Tagus.  This province is not
+beautiful and picturesque, like most other parts of Portugal:
+there are few hills and mountains, the greater part consists of
+heaths broken by knolls, and gloomy dingles, and forests of stunted
+pine; these places are infested with banditti.  The principal city
+is Evora, one of the most ancient in Portugal, and formerly the
+seat of a branch of the Inquisition, yet more cruel and baneful
+than the terrible one of Lisbon.  Evora lies about sixty miles from
+Lisbon, and to Evora I determined on going with twenty Testaments
+and two Bibles.  How I fared there will presently be seen.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+
+Boatmen of the Tagus--Dangers of the Stream--Aldea Gallega--The
+Hostelry--Robbers--Sabocha--Adventure of a Muleteer--Estalagem de
+Ladroes--Don Geronimo--Vendas Novas--Royal Residence--Swine of the
+Alemtejo--Monto Moro--Swayne Vonved--Singular Goatherd--Children of
+the Fields--Infidels and Sadducees.
+
+On the afternoon of the sixth of December I set out for Evora,
+accompanied by my servant.  I had been informed that the tide would
+serve for the regular passage-boats, or felouks, as they are
+called, at about four o'clock, but on reaching the side of the
+Tagus opposite to Aldea Gallega, between which place and Lisbon the
+boats ply, I found that the tide would not permit them to start
+before eight o'clock.  Had I waited for them I should have probably
+landed at Aldea Gallega about midnight, and I felt little
+inclination to make my entree in the Alemtejo at that hour;
+therefore, as I saw small boats which can push off at any time
+lying near in abundance, I determined upon hiring one of them for
+the passage, though the expense would be thus considerably
+increased.  I soon agreed with a wild-looking lad, who told me that
+he was in part owner of one of the boats, to take me over.  I was
+not aware of the danger in crossing the Tagus at its broadest part,
+which is opposite Aldea Gallega, at any time, but especially at
+close of day in the winter season, or I should certainly not have
+ventured.  The lad and his comrade, a miserable looking object,
+whose only clothing, notwithstanding the season, was a tattered
+jerkin and trousers, rowed until we had advanced about half a mile
+from the land; they then set up a large sail, and the lad, who
+seemed to direct everything and to be the principal, took the helm
+and steered.  The evening was now setting in; the sun was not far
+from its bourne in the horizon, the air was very cold, the wind was
+rising, and the waves of the noble Tagus began to be crested with
+foam.  I told the boy that it was scarcely possible for the boat to
+carry so much sail without upsetting, upon which he laughed, and
+began to gabble in a most incoherent manner.  He had the most harsh
+and rapid articulation that has ever come under my observation in
+any human being; it was the scream of the hyena blended with the
+bark of the terrier, though it was by no means an index of his
+disposition, which I soon found to be light, merry, and anything
+but malevolent, for when I, in order to show him that I cared
+little about him, began to hum "Eu que sou Contrabandista," he
+laughed heartily and said, clapping me on the shoulder, that he
+would not drown us if he could help it.  The other poor fellow
+seemed by no means averse to go to the bottom; he sat at the fore
+part of the boat looking the image of famine, and only smiled when
+the waters broke over the weather side and soaked his scanty
+habiliments.  In a little time I had made up my mind that our last
+hour was come; the wind was getting higher, the short dangerous
+waves were more foamy, the boat was frequently on its beam, and the
+water came over the lee side in torrents; but still the wild lad at
+the helm held on laughing and chattering, and occasionally yelling
+out part of the Miguelite air, "Quando el Rey chegou" the singing
+of which in Lisbon is imprisonment.
+
+The stream was against us, but the wind was in our favour, and we
+sprang along at a wonderful rate, and I saw that our only chance of
+escape was in speedily passing the farther bank of the Tagus where
+the bight or bay at the extremity of which stands Aldea Gallega
+commences, for we should not then have to battle with the waves of
+the stream, which the adverse wind lashed into fury.  It was the
+will of the Almighty to permit us speedily to gain this shelter,
+but not before the boat was nearly filled with water, and we were
+all wet to the skin.  At about seven o'clock in the evening we
+reached Aldea Gallega, shivering with cold and in a most deplorable
+plight.
+
+Aldea Gallega, or the Galician Village (for the two words are
+Spanish, and have that signification), it a place containing, I
+should think, about four thousand inhabitants.  It was pitchy dark
+when we landed, but rockets soon began to fly about in all
+directions, illuming the air far and wide.  As we passed along the
+dirty unpaved street which leads to the Largo, or square in which
+the inn is situated, a horrible uproar of drums and voices assailed
+our ears.  On inquiring the cause of all this bustle, I was
+informed that it was the eve of the Conception of the Virgin.
+
+As it was not the custom of the people at the inn to furnish
+provisions for the guests, I wandered about in search of food; and
+at last seeing some soldiers eating and drinking in a species of
+wine-house, I went in and asked the people to let me have some
+supper, and in a short time they furnished me with a tolerable
+meal, for which, however, they charged three crowns.
+
+Having engaged with a person for mules to carry us to Evora, which
+were to be ready at five next morning, I soon retired to bed, my
+servant sleeping in the same apartment, which was the only one in
+the house vacant.  I closed not my eyes during the whole night.
+Beneath us was a stable, in which some almocreves, or carriers,
+slept with their mules; at our back, in the yard, was a pigsty.
+How could I sleep?  The hogs grunted, the mules screamed, and the
+almocreves snored most horribly.  I heard the village clock strike
+the hours until midnight, and from midnight till four in the
+morning, when I sprang up and began to dress, and despatched my
+servant to hasten the man with the mules, for I was heartily tired
+of the place and wanted to leave it.  An old man, bony and hale,
+accompanied by a barefooted lad, brought the beasts, which were
+tolerably good.  He was the proprietor of them, and intended, with
+the lad, who was his nephew, to accompany us to Evora.
+
+When we started, the moon was shining brightly, and the morning was
+piercingly cold.  We soon entered on a sandy hollow way, emerging
+from which we passed by a strange-looking and large edifice,
+standing on a high bleak sand-hill on our left.  We were speedily
+overtaken by five or six men on horseback, riding at a rapid pace,
+each with a long gun slung at his saddle, the muzzle depending
+about two feet below the horse's belly.  I inquired of the old man
+what was the reason of this warlike array.  He answered, that the
+roads were very bad (meaning that they abounded with robbers), and
+that they went armed in this manner for their defence; they soon
+turned off to the right towards Palmella.
+
+We reached a sandy plain studded with stunted pine; the road was
+little more than a footpath, and as we proceeded, the trees
+thickened and became a wood, which extended for two leagues, with
+clear spaces at intervals, in which herds of cattle and sheep were
+feeding; the bells attached to their necks were ringing lowly and
+monotonously.  The sun was just beginning to show itself; but the
+morning was misty and dreary, which, together with the aspect of
+desolation which the country exhibited, had an unfavourable effect
+on my spirits.  I got down and walked, entering into conversation
+with the old man.  He seemed to have but one theme, "the robbers,"
+and the atrocities they were in the habit of practising in the very
+spots we were passing.  The tales he told were truly horrible, and
+to avoid them I mounted again, and rode on considerably in front.
+
+In about an hour and a half we emerged from the forest, and entered
+upon a savage, wild, broken ground, covered with mato, or
+brushwood.  The mules stopped to drink at a shallow pool, and on
+looking to the right I saw a ruined wall.  This, the guide informed
+me, was the remains of Vendas Velhas, or the Old Inn, formerly the
+haunt of the celebrated robber Sabocha.  This Sabocha, it seems,
+had, some sixteen years ago, a band of about forty ruffians at his
+command, who infested these wilds, and supported themselves by
+plunder.  For a considerable time Sabocha pursued his atrocious
+trade unsuspected, and many an unfortunate traveller was murdered
+in the dead of night at the solitary inn by the wood-side, which he
+kept; indeed, a more fit situation for plunder and murder I never
+saw.  The gang were in the habit of watering their horses at the
+pool, and perhaps of washing therein their hands stained with the
+blood of their victims; the lieutenant of the troop was the brother
+of Sabocha, a fellow of great strength and ferocity, particularly
+famous for the skill he possessed in darting a long knife, with
+which he was in the habit of transfixing his opponents.  Sabocha's
+connection with the gang at length became known, and he fled, with
+the greater part of his associates, across the Tagus to the
+northern provinces.  Himself and his brothers eventually lost their
+lives on the road to Coimbra, in an engagement with the military.
+His house was razed by order of the government.
+
+The ruins are still frequently visited by banditti, who eat and
+drink amidst them, and look out for prey, as the place commands a
+view of the road.  The old man assured me, that about two months
+previous, on returning to Aldea Gallega with his mules from
+accompanying some travellers, he had been knocked down, stripped
+naked, and all his money taken from him, by a fellow whom he
+believed came from this murderers' nest.  He said that he was an
+exceedingly powerful young man, with immense moustaches and
+whiskers, and was armed with an espingarda, or musket.  About ten
+days subsequently he saw the robber at Vendas Novas, where we
+should pass the night.  The fellow on recognising him took him
+aside, and, with horrid imprecations, threatened that he should
+never be permitted to return home if he attempted to discover him;
+he therefore held his peace, as there was little to be gained and
+everything to be risked in apprehending him, as he would have been
+speedily set at liberty for want of evidence to criminate him, and
+then he would not have failed to have had his revenge, or would
+have been anticipated therein by his comrades.
+
+I dismounted and went up to the place, and saw the vestiges of a
+fire and a broken bottle.  The sons of plunder had been there very
+lately.  I left a New Testament and some tracts amongst the ruins,
+and hastened away.
+
+The sun had dispelled the mists and was beaming very hot; we rode
+on for about an hour, when I heard the neighing of a horse in our
+rear, and our guide said there was a party of horsemen behind; our
+mules were good, and they did not overtake us for at least twenty
+minutes.  The headmost rider was a gentleman in a fashionable
+travelling dress; a little way behind were an officer, two
+soldiers, and a boy in livery.  I heard the principal horseman, on
+overtaking my servant, inquiring who I was, and whether French or
+English.  He was told I was an English gentleman, travelling.  He
+then asked whether I understood Portuguese; the man said I
+understood it, but he believed that I spoke French and Italian
+better.  The gentleman then spurred on his horse and accosted me,
+not in Portuguese, nor in French or Italian, but in the purest
+English that I ever heard spoken by a foreigner; it had, indeed,
+nothing of foreign accent or pronunciation in it; and had I not
+known, by the countenance of the speaker, that he was no
+Englishman, (for there is a peculiarity in the countenance, as
+everybody knows, which, though it cannot be described, is sure to
+betray the Englishman), I should have concluded that I was in
+company with a countryman.  We continued discoursing until we
+arrived at Pegoens.
+
+Pegoens consists of about two or three houses and an inn; there is
+likewise a species of barrack, where half a dozen soldiers are
+stationed.  In the whole of Portugal there is no place of worse
+reputation, and the inn is nick-named Estalagem de Ladroes, or the
+hostelry of thieves; for it is there that the banditti of the
+wilderness, which extends around it on every side for leagues, are
+in the habit of coming and spending the money, the fruits of their
+criminal daring; there they dance and sing, eat fricasseed rabbits
+and olives, and drink the muddy but strong wine of the Alemtejo.
+An enormous fire, fed by the trunk of a cork tree, was blazing in a
+niche on the left hand on entering the spacious kitchen.  Close by
+it, seething, were several large jars, which emitted no
+disagreeable odour, and reminded me that I had not broken my fast,
+although it was now nearly one o'clock, and I had ridden five
+leagues.  Several wild-looking men, who if they were not banditti
+might easily be mistaken for such, were seated on logs about the
+fire.  I asked them some unimportant questions, to which they
+replied with readiness and civility, and one of them, who said he
+could read, accepted a tract which I offered him.
+
+My new friend, who had been bespeaking dinner, or rather breakfast,
+now, with great civility, invited me to partake of it, and at the
+same time introduced me to the officer who accompanied him, and who
+was his brother, and also spoke English, though not so well as
+himself.  I found I had become acquainted with Don Geronimo Joze
+D'Azveto, secretary to the government at Evora; his brother
+belonged to a regiment of hussars, whose headquarters were at
+Evora, but which had outlying parties along the road,--for example,
+the place where we were stopping.
+
+Rabbits at Pegoens seem to be a standard article of food, being
+produced in abundance on the moors around.  We had one fried, the
+gravy of which was delicious, and afterwards a roasted one, which
+was brought up on a dish entire; the hostess, having first washed
+her hands, proceeded to tear the animal to pieces, which having
+accomplished, she poured over the fragments a sweet sauce.  I ate
+heartily of both dishes, particularly of the last; owing, perhaps,
+to the novel and curious manner in which it was served up.
+Excellent figs, from the Algarves, and apples concluded our repast,
+which we ate in a little side room with a mud floor, which sent
+such a piercing chill into my system, as prevented me from deriving
+that pleasure from my fare and my agreeable companions that I
+should have otherwise experienced.
+
+Don Geronimo had been educated in England, in which country he
+passed his boyhood, which in a certain degree accounted for his
+proficiency in the English language, the idiom and pronunciation of
+which can only be acquired by residing in the country at that
+period of one's life.  He had also fled thither shortly after the
+usurpation of the throne of Portugal by Don Miguel, and from thence
+had departed to the Brazils, where he had devoted himself to the
+service of Don Pedro, and had followed him in the expedition which
+terminated in the downfall of the usurper and the establishment of
+the constitutional government in Portugal.  Our conversation rolled
+chiefly on literary and political subjects, and my acquaintance
+with the writings of the most celebrated authors of Portugal was
+hailed with surprise and delight; for nothing is more gratifying to
+a Portuguese than to observe a foreigner taking an interest in the
+literature of his nation, of which, in many respects, he is justly
+proud.
+
+At about two o'clock we were once more in the saddle, and pursued
+our way in company through a country exactly resembling that which
+we had previously been traversing, rugged and broken, with here and
+there a clump of pines.  The afternoon was exceedingly fine, and
+the bright rays of the sun relieved the desolation of the scene.
+Having advanced about two leagues, we caught sight of a large
+edifice towering majestically in the distance, which I learnt was a
+royal palace standing at the farther extremity of Vendas Novas, the
+village in which we were to pass the night; it was considerably
+more than a league from us, yet, seen through the clear transparent
+atmosphere of Portugal it appeared much nearer.
+
+Before reaching it we passed by a stone cross, on the pedestal of
+which was an inscription commemorating a horrible murder of a
+native of Lisbon, which had occurred on that spot; it looked
+ancient, and was covered with moss, and the greater part of the
+inscription was illegible, at least it was to me, who could not
+bestow much time on its deciphering.  Having arrived at Vendas
+Novas, and bespoken supper, my new friend and myself strolled forth
+to view the palace; it was built by the late king of Portugal, and
+presents little that is remarkable in its exterior; it is a long
+edifice with wings, and is only two stories high, though it can be
+seen afar off, from being situated on elevated ground; it has
+fifteen windows in the upper, and twelve in the lower story, with a
+paltry-looking door, something like that of a barn, to which you
+ascend by one single step; the interior corresponds with the
+exterior, offering nothing which can gratify curiosity, if we
+except the kitchens, which are indeed magnificent, and so large
+that food enough might be cooked in them, at one time, to serve as
+a repast for all the inhabitants of the Alemtejo.
+
+I passed the night with great comfort in a clean bed, remote from
+all those noises so rife in a Portuguese inn, and the next morning
+at six we again set out on our journey, which we hoped to terminate
+before sunset, as Evora is but ten leagues from Vendas Novas.  The
+preceding morning had been cold, but the present one was far
+colder, so much so, that just before sunrise I could no longer
+support it on horseback, and therefore dismounting, ran and walked
+until we reached a few houses at the termination of these desolate
+moors.  It was in one of these houses that the commissioners of Don
+Pedro and Miguel met, and it was there agreed that the latter
+should resign the crown in favour of Donna Maria, for Evora was the
+last stronghold of the usurper, and the moors of the Alemtejo the
+last area of the combats which so long agitated unhappy Portugal.
+I therefore gazed on the miserable huts with considerable interest,
+and did not fail to scatter in the neighbourhood several of the
+precious little tracts with which, together with a small quantity
+of Testaments, my carpet bag was provided.
+
+The country began to improve; the savage heaths were left behind,
+and we saw hills and dales, cork trees, and azinheiras, on the last
+of which trees grows that kind of sweet acorn called bolotas, which
+is pleasant as a chestnut, and which supplies in winter the
+principal food on which the numerous swine of the Alemtejo subsist.
+Gallant swine they are, with short legs and portly bodies of a
+black or dark red colour; and for the excellence of their flesh I
+can vouch, having frequently luxuriated upon it in the course of my
+wanderings in this province; the lombo, or loin, when broiled on
+the live embers, is delicious, especially when eaten with olives.
+
+We were now in sight of Monte Moro, which, as the name denotes, was
+once a fortress of the Moors; it is a high steep hill, on the
+summit and sides of which are ruined walls and towers; at its
+western side is a deep ravine or valley, through which a small
+stream rushes, traversed by a stone bridge; farther down there is a
+ford, over which we passed and ascended to the town, which,
+commencing near the northern base, passes over the lower ridge
+towards the north-east.  The town is exceedingly picturesque, and
+many of the houses are very ancient, and built in the Moorish
+fashion.  I wished much to examine the relics of Moorish sway on
+the upper part of the mountain, but time pressed, and the short
+period of our stay at this place did not permit me to gratify my
+inclination.
+
+Monte Moro is the head of a range of hills which cross this part of
+the Alemtejo, and from hence they fork east and south-east, towards
+the former of which directions lies the direct road to Elvas,
+Badajos, and Madrid; and towards the latter that to Evora.  A
+beautiful mountain, covered to the top with cork trees, is the
+third of the chain which skirts the way in the direction of Elvas.
+It is called Monte Almo; a brook brawls at its base, and as I
+passed it the sun was shining gloriously on the green herbage on
+which flocks of goats were feeding, with their bells ringing
+merrily, so that the tout ensemble resembled a fairy scene; and
+that nothing might be wanted to complete the picture, I here met a
+man, a goatherd, beneath an azinheira, whose appearance recalled to
+my mind the Brute Carle, mentioned in the Danish ballad of Swayne
+Vonved:-
+
+
+"A wild swine on his shoulders he kept,
+And upon his bosom a black bear slept;
+And about his fingers with hair o'erhung,
+The squirrel sported and weasel clung."
+
+
+Upon the shoulder of the goatherd was a beast, which he told me was
+a lontra, or otter, which he had lately caught in the neighbouring
+brook; it had a string round its neck which was attached to his
+arm.  At his left side was a bag, from the top of which peered the
+heads of two or three singular-looking animals, and at his right
+was squatted the sullen cub of a wolf, which he was endeavouring to
+tame; his whole appearance was to the last degree savage and wild.
+After a little conversation such as those who meet on the road
+frequently hold, I asked him if he could read, but he made me no
+answer.  I then inquired if he knew anything of God or Jesus
+Christ; he looked me fixedly in the face for a moment, and then
+turned his countenance towards the sun, which was beginning to sink
+in the west, nodded to it, and then again looked fixedly upon me.
+I believe that I understood the mute reply; which probably was,
+that it was God who made that glorious light which illumes and
+gladdens all creation; and gratified with that belief, I left him
+and hastened after my companions, who were by this time a
+considerable way in advance.
+
+I have always found in the disposition of the children of the
+fields a more determined tendency to religion and piety than
+amongst the inhabitants of towns and cities, and the reason is
+obvious, they are less acquainted with the works of man's hands
+than with those of God; their occupations, too, which are simple,
+and requiring less of ingenuity and skill than those which engage
+the attention of the other portion of their fellow-creatures, are
+less favourable to the engendering of self-conceit and sufficiency
+so utterly at variance with that lowliness of spirit which
+constitutes the best foundation of piety.  The sneerers and
+scoffers at religion do not spring from amongst the simple children
+of nature, but are the excrescences of overwrought refinement, and
+though their baneful influence has indeed penetrated to the country
+and corrupted man there, the source and fountainhead was amongst
+crowded houses, where nature is scarcely known.  I am not one of
+those who look for perfection amongst the rural population of any
+country; perfection is not to be found amongst the children of the
+fall, wherever their abodes may happen to be; but, until the heart
+discredits the existence of a God, there is still hope for the soul
+of the possessor, however stained with crime he may be, for even
+Simon the magician was converted; but when the heart is once
+steeled with infidelity, infidelity confirmed by carnal wisdom, an
+exuberance of the grace of God is required to melt it, which is
+seldom manifested; for we read in the blessed book that the
+Pharisee and the wizard became receptacles of grace, but where is
+there mention made of the conversion of the sneering Sadducee, and
+is the modern infidel aught but a Sadducee of later date?
+
+It was dark night before we reached Evora, and having taken leave
+of my friends, who kindly requested me to consider their house my
+home, I and my servant went to the Largo de San Francisco, in which
+the muleteer informed me was the best hostelry of the town.  We
+rode into the kitchen, at the extreme end of which was the stable,
+as is customary in Portugal.  The house was kept by an aged gypsy-
+like female and her daughter, a fine blooming girl about eighteen
+years of age.  The house was large; in the upper storey was a very
+long room, like a granary, which extended nearly the whole length
+of the house; the farther part was partitioned off and formed a
+chamber tolerably comfortable but very cold, and the floor was of
+tiles, as was also that of the large room in which the muleteers
+were accustomed to sleep on the furniture of the mules.  After
+supper I went to bed, and having offered up my devotions to Him who
+had protected me through a dangerous journey, I slept soundly till
+the morning.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+
+Shopkeeper at Evora--Spanish Contrabandistas--Lion and Unicorn--The
+Fountain--Trust in the Almighty--Distribution of Tracts--Library at
+Evora--Manuscript--The Bible as a Guide--The Infamous Mary--The Man
+of Palmella--The Charm--The Monkish System--Sunday--Volney--An
+Auto-Da-Fe--Men from Spain--Reading of a Tract--New Arrival--The
+Herb Rosemary.
+
+Evora is a small city, walled, but not regularly fortified, and
+could not sustain a siege of a day.  It has five gates; before that
+to the south-west is the principal promenade of its inhabitants:
+the fair on St. John's day is likewise held there; the houses are
+in general very ancient, and many of them unoccupied.  It contains
+about five thousand inhabitants, though twice that number would be
+by no means disproportionate to its size.  The two principal
+edifices are the See, or cathedral, and the convent of San
+Francisco, in the square before the latter of which was situated
+the posada where I had taken up my abode.  A large barrack for
+cavalry stands on the right-hand side, on entering the south-west
+gate.  To the south-east, at the distance of six leagues, is to be
+seen a blue chain of hills, the highest of which is called Serra
+Dorso; it is picturesquely beautiful, and contains within its
+recesses wolves and wild boars in numbers.  About a league and a
+half on the other side of this hill is Estremos.
+
+I passed the day succeeding my arrival principally in examining the
+town and its environs, and, as I strolled about, entering into
+conversation with various people that I met; several of these were
+of the middle class, shopkeepers and professional men; they were
+all Constitutionalists, or pretended to be so, but had very little
+to say except a few commonplace remarks on the way of living of the
+friars, their hypocrisy and laziness.  I endeavoured to obtain some
+information respecting the state of instruction in the place, and
+from their answers was led to believe that it must be at the lowest
+ebb, for it seemed that there was neither book-shop nor school.
+When I spoke of religion, they exhibited the utmost apathy for the
+subject, and making their bows left me as soon as possible.
+
+Having a letter of introduction to a person who kept a shop in the
+market-place, I went thither and delivered it to him as he stood
+behind his counter.  In the course of conversation, I found that he
+had been much persecuted whilst the old system was in its vigour,
+and that he entertained a hearty aversion for it.  I told him that
+the ignorance of the people in religious matters had served to
+nurse that system, and that the surest way to prevent its return
+was to enlighten their minds:  I added that I had brought a small
+stock of Bibles and Testaments to Evora, which I wished to leave
+for sale in the hands of some respectable merchant, and that it he
+were anxious to help to lay the axe to the root of superstition and
+tyranny, he could not do so more effectually than by undertaking
+the charge of these books.  He declared his willingness to do so,
+and I went away determined to entrust to him half of my stock.  I
+returned to the hostelry, and sat down on a log of wood on the
+hearth within the immense chimney in the common apartment; two
+surly looking men were on their knees on the stones; before them
+was a large heap of pieces of old iron, brass, and copper; they
+were assorting it, and stowing it away in various bags.  They were
+Spanish contrabandistas of the lowest class, and earned a miserable
+livelihood by smuggling such rubbish from Portugal into Spain.  Not
+a word proceeded from their lips, and when I addressed them in
+their native language, they returned no other answer than a kind of
+growl.  They looked as dirty and rusty as the iron in which they
+trafficked; their four miserable donkeys were in the stable in the
+rear.
+
+The woman of the house and her daughter were exceedingly civil to
+me, and coming near crouched down, asking various questions about
+England.  A man dressed somewhat like an English sailor, who sat on
+the other side of the hearth confronting me, said, "I hate the
+English, for they are not baptized, and have not the law," meaning
+the law of God.  I laughed, and told him that according to the law
+of England, no one who was unbaptized could be buried in
+consecrated ground; whereupon he said, "Then you are stricter than
+we."  He then said, "What is meant by the lion and the unicorn
+which I saw the other day on the coat of arms over the door of the
+English consul at St. Ubes?"  I said they were the arms of England!
+"Yes," he replied, "but what do they represent?"  I said I did not
+know.  "Then," said he, "you do not know the secrets of your own
+house."  I said, "Suppose I were to tell you that they represent
+the Lion of Bethlehem, and the horned monster of the flaming pit in
+combat, as to which should obtain the mastery in England, what
+would you say?"  He replied, "I should say that you gave a fair
+answer."  This man and myself became great friends; he came from
+Palmella, not far from St. Ubes; he had several mules and horses
+with him, and dealt in corn and barley.  I again walked out and
+roamed in the environs of the town.
+
+About half a mile from the southern wall is a stone fountain, where
+the muleteers and other people who visit the town are accustomed to
+water their horses.  I sat down by it, and there I remained about
+two hours, entering into conversation with every one who halted at
+the fountain; and I will here observe, that during the time of my
+sojourn at Evora, I repeated my visit every day, and remained there
+the same time; and by following this plan, I believe that I spoke
+to at least two hundred of the children of Portugal upon matters
+relating to their eternal welfare.  I found that very few of those
+whom I addressed had received any species of literary education,
+none of them had seen the Bible, and not more than half a dozen had
+the slightest inkling of what the holy book consisted.  I found
+that most of them were bigoted Papists and Miguelites at heart.  I
+therefore, when they told me they were Christians, denied the
+possibility of their being so, as they were ignorant of Christ and
+His commandments, and placed their hope of salvation on outward
+forms and superstitious observances, which were the invention of
+Satan, who wished to keep them in darkness that at last they might
+stumble into the pit which he had dug for them.  I said repeatedly
+that the Pope, whom they revered, was an arch deceiver, and the
+head minister of Satan here on earth, and that the monks and
+friars, whose absence they so deplored, and to whom they had been
+accustomed to confess themselves, were his subordinate agents.
+When called upon for proofs, I invariably cited the ignorance of my
+auditors respecting the Scriptures, and said that if their
+spiritual guides had been really ministers of Christ, they would
+not have permitted their flocks to remain unacquainted with His
+Word.
+
+Since this occurred, I have been frequently surprised that I
+experienced no insult and ill-treatment from the people, whose
+superstitions I was thus attacking; but I really experienced none,
+and am inclined to believe that the utter fearlessness which I
+displayed, trusting in the Protection of the Almighty, may have
+been the cause.  When threatened by danger, the best policy is to
+fix your eye steadily upon it, and it will in general vanish like
+the morning mist before the sun; whereas, if you quail before it,
+it is sure to become more imminent.  I have fervent hope that the
+words of my mouth sank deep into the hearts of some of my auditors,
+as I observed many of them depart musing and pensive.  I
+occasionally distributed tracts amongst them; for although they
+themselves were unable to turn them to much account, I thought that
+by their means they might become of service at some future time,
+and fall into the hands of others, to whom they might be of eternal
+interest.  Many a book which is abandoned to the waters is wafted
+to some remote shore, and there proves a blessing and a comfort to
+millions, who are ignorant from whence it came.
+
+The next day, which was Friday, I called at the house of my friend
+Don Geronimo Azveto.  I did not find him there, but was directed to
+the see, or episcopal palace, in an apartment of which I found him,
+writing, with another gentleman, to whom he introduced me; it was
+the governor of Evora, who welcomed me with every mark of kindness
+and affability.  After some discourse, we went out together to
+examine an ancient edifice, which was reported to have served, in
+bygone times, as a temple to Diana.  Part of it was evidently of
+Roman architecture, for there was no mistaking the beautiful light
+pillars which supported a dome, under which the sacrifices to the
+most captivating and poetical divinity of the heathen theocracy had
+probably been made; but the original space between the pillars had
+been filled up with rubbish of a modern date, and the rest of the
+building was apparently of the architecture of the latter end of
+the Middle Ages.  It was situated at one end of the building which
+had once been the seat of the Inquisition, and had served, before
+the erection of the present see, as the residence of the bishop.
+
+Within the see, where the governor now resides, is a superb
+library, occupying an immense vaulted room, like the aisle of a
+cathedral, and in a side apartment is a collection of paintings by
+Portuguese artists, chiefly portraits, amongst which is that of Don
+Sebastian.  I sincerely hope it did not do him justice, for it
+represents him in the shape of an awkward lad of about eighteen,
+with a bloated booby face with staring eyes, and a ruff round a
+short apoplectic neck.
+
+I was shown several beautifully illuminated missals and other
+manuscripts; but the one which most arrested my attention, I
+scarcely need say why, was that which bore the following title:-
+
+
+"Forma sive ordinatio Capelli illustrissimi et xianissimi principis
+Henvici Sexti Regis Anglie et Francie am dm Hibernie descripta
+serenissio principi Alfonso Regi Portugalie illustri per humilem
+servitorem sm Willm. Sav. Decanu capelle supradicte."
+
+
+It seemed a voice from the olden times of my dear native land!
+This library and picture gallery had been formed by one of the
+latter bishops, a person of much learning and piety.
+
+In the evening I dined with Don Geronimo and his brother; the
+latter soon left us to attend to his military duties.  My friend
+and myself had now much conversation of considerable interest; he
+lamented the deplorable state of ignorance in which his countrymen
+existed at present.  He said that his friend the governor and
+himself were endeavouring to establish a school in the vicinity,
+and that they had made application to the government for the use of
+an empty convent, called the Espinheiro, or thorn tree, at about a
+league's distance, and that they had little doubt of their request
+being complied with.  I had before told him who I was, and after
+expressing joy at the plan which he had in contemplation, I now
+urged him in the most pressing manner to use all his influence to
+make the knowledge of the Scripture the basis of the education
+which the children were to receive, and added, that half the Bibles
+and Testaments which I had brought with me to Evora were heartily
+at his service; he instantly gave me his hand, said he accepted my
+offer with the greatest pleasure, and would do all in his power to
+forward my views, which were in many respects his own.  I now told
+him that I did not come to Portugal with the view of propagating
+the dogmas of any particular sect, but with the hope of introducing
+the Bible, which is the well-head of all that is useful and
+conducive to the happiness of society,--that I cared not what
+people called themselves, provided they followed the Bible as a
+guide; for that where the Scriptures were read, neither priestcraft
+nor tyranny could long exist, and instanced the case of my own
+country, the cause of whose freedom and prosperity was the Bible,
+and that only, as the last persecutor of this book, the bloody and
+infamous Mary, was the last tyrant who had sat on the throne of
+England.  We did not part till the night was considerably advanced,
+and the next morning I sent him the books, in the firm and
+confident hope that a bright and glorious morning was about to rise
+over the night which had so long cast its dreary shadows over the
+regions of the Alemtejo.
+
+The day after this interesting event, which was Saturday, I had
+more conversation with the man from Palmella.  I asked him if in
+his journeys he had never been attacked by robbers; he answered no,
+for that he generally travelled in company with others.  "However,"
+said he, "were I alone I should have little fear, for I am well
+protected."  I said that I supposed he carried arms with him.  "No
+other arms than this," said he, pulling out one of those long
+desperate looking knives, of English manufacture, with which every
+Portuguese peasant is usually furnished.  This knife serves for
+many purposes, and I should consider it a far more efficient weapon
+than a dagger.  "But," said he, "I do not place much confidence in
+the knife."  I then inquired in what rested his hope of protection.
+"In this," said he:  and unbuttoning his waistcoat, he showed me a
+small bag, attached to his neck by a silken string.  "In this bag
+is an oracam, or prayer, written by a person of power, and as long
+as I carry it about with me, no ill can befall me."  Curiosity is
+the leading feature of my character, and I instantly said, with
+eagerness, that I should feel great pleasure in being permitted to
+read the prayer.  "Well," he replied, "you are my friend, and I
+would do for you what I would for few others, I will show it you."
+He then asked for my penknife, and having unripped the bag, took
+out a large piece of paper closely folded up.  I hurried to my
+apartment and commenced the examination of it.  It was scrawled
+over in a very illegible hand, and was moreover much stained with
+perspiration, so that I had considerable difficulty in making
+myself master of its contents, but I at last accomplished the
+following literal translation of the charm, which was written in
+bad Portuguese, but which struck me at the time as being one of the
+most remarkable compositions that had ever come to my knowledge.
+
+
+THE CHARM
+
+
+"Just Judge and divine Son of the Virgin Maria, who wast born in
+Bethlehem, a Nazarene, and wast crucified in the midst of all
+Jewry, I beseech thee, O Lord, by thy sixth day, that the body of
+me be not caught, nor put to death by the hands of justice at all;
+peace be with you, the peace of Christ, may I receive peace, may
+you receive peace, said God to his disciples.  If the accursed
+justice should distrust me, or have its eyes on me, in order to
+take me or to rob me, may its eyes not see me, may its mouth not
+speak to me, may it have ears which may not hear me, may it have
+hands which may not seize me, may it have feet which may not
+overtake me; for may I be armed with the arms of St. George,
+covered with the cloak of Abraham, and shipped in the ark of Noah,
+so that it can neither see me, nor hear me, nor draw the blood from
+my body.  I also adjure thee, O Lord, by those three blessed
+crosses, by those three blessed chalices, by those three blessed
+clergymen, by those three consecrated hosts, that thou give me that
+sweet company which thou gavest to the Virgin Maria, from the gates
+of Bethlehem to the portals of Jerusalem, that I may go and come
+with pleasure and joy with Jesus Christ, the Son of the Virgin
+Maria, the prolific yet nevertheless the eternal virgin."
+
+
+The woman of the house and her daughter had similar bags attached
+to their necks, containing charms, which, they said, prevented the
+witches having power to harm them.  The belief in witchcraft is
+very prevalent amongst the peasantry of the Alemtejo, and I believe
+of other provinces of Portugal.  This is one of the relies of the
+monkish system, the aim of which, in all countries where it has
+existed, seems to have been to beset the minds of the people, that
+they might be more easily misled.  All these charms were
+fabrications of the monks, who had sold them to their infatuated
+confessants.  The monks of the Greek and Syrian churches likewise
+deal in this ware, which they know to be poison, but which they
+would rather vend than the wholesome balm of the gospel, because it
+brings them a large price, and fosters the delusion which enables
+them to live a life of luxury.
+
+The Sunday morning was fine, and the plain before the church of the
+convent of San Francisco was crowded with people hastening to or
+returning from the mass.  After having performed my morning
+devotion, and breakfasted, I went down to the kitchen; the girl
+Geronima was seated by the fire.  I inquired if she had heard mass?
+She replied in the negative, and that she did not intend to hear
+it.  Upon my inquiring her motive for absenting herself, she
+replied, that since the friars had been expelled from their
+churches and convents she had ceased to attend mass, or to confess
+herself; for that the government priests had no spiritual power,
+and consequently she never troubled them.  She said the friars were
+holy men and charitable; for that every morning those of the
+convent over the way fed forty poor persons with the relics of the
+meals of the preceding day, but that now these people were allowed
+to starve.  I replied, that the friars, who lived on the fat of the
+land, could well afford to bestow a few bones upon their poor, and
+that their doing so was merely a part of their policy, by which
+they hoped to secure to themselves friends in time of need.  The
+girl then observed, that as it was Sunday, I should perhaps like to
+see some books, and without waiting for a reply she produced them.
+They consisted principally of popular stories, with lives and
+miracles of saints, but amongst them was a translation of Volney's
+Ruins of Empires.  I expressed a wish to know how she became
+possessed of this book.  She said that a young man, a great
+Constitutionalist, had given it to her some months previous, and
+had pressed her much to read it, for that it was one of the best
+books in the world.  I replied, that the author of it was an
+emissary of Satan, and an enemy of Jesus Christ and the souls of
+mankind; that it was written with the sole aim of bringing all
+religion into contempt, and that it inculcated the doctrine that
+there was no future state, nor reward for the righteous nor
+punishment for the wicked.  She made no reply, but going into
+another room, returned with her apron full of dry sticks and
+brushwood, all which she piled upon the fire, and produced a bright
+blaze.  She then took the book from my hand and placed it upon the
+flaming pile; then sitting down, took her rosary out of her pocket
+and told her beads till the volume was consumed.  This was an auto
+da fe in the best sense of the word.
+
+On the Monday and Tuesday I paid my usual visits to the fountain,
+and likewise rode about the neighbourhood on a mule, for the
+purpose of circulating tracts.  I dropped a great many in the
+favourite walks of the people of Evora, as I felt rather dubious of
+their accepting them had I proffered them with my own hand,
+whereas, should they be observed lying on the ground, I thought
+that curiosity might cause them to be picked up and examined.  I
+likewise, on the Tuesday evening, paid a farewell visit to my
+friend Azveto, as it was my intention to leave Evora on the
+Thursday following and return to Lisbon; in which view I had
+engaged a calash of a man who informed me that he had served as a
+soldier in the grande armee of Napoleon, and been present in the
+Russian campaign.  He looked the very image of a drunkard.  His
+face was covered with carbuncles, and his breath impregnated with
+the fumes of strong waters.  He wished much to converse with me in
+French, in the speaking of which language it seemed he prided
+himself, but I refused, and told him to speak the language of the
+country, or I would hold no discourse with him.
+
+Wednesday was stormy, with occasional rain.  On coming down, I
+found that my friend from Palmella had departed:  but several
+contrabandistas had arrived from Spain.  They were mostly fine
+fellows, and unlike the two I had seen the preceding week, who were
+of much lower degree, were chatty and communicative; they spoke
+their native language, and no other, and seemed to hold the
+Portuguese in great contempt.  The magnificent tones of the Spanish
+sounded to great advantage amidst the shrill squeaking dialect of
+Portugal.  I was soon in deep conversation with them, and was much
+pleased to find that all of them could read.  I presented the
+eldest, a man of about fifty years of age, with a tract in Spanish.
+He examined it for some time with great attention; he then rose
+from his seat, and going into the middle of the apartment, began
+reading it aloud, slowly and emphatically; his companions gathered
+around him, and every now and then expressed their approbation of
+what they heard.  The reader occasionally called upon me to explain
+passages which, as they referred to particular texts of Scripture,
+he did not exactly understand, for not one of the party had ever
+seen either the Old or New Testament.
+
+He continued reading for upwards of an hour, until he had finished
+the tract; and, at its conclusion, the whole party were clamorous
+for similar ones, with which I was happy to be able to supply them.
+
+Most of these men spoke of priestcraft and the monkish system with
+the utmost abhorrence, and said that they should prefer death to
+submitting again to the yoke which had formerly galled their necks.
+I questioned them very particularly respecting the opinion of their
+neighbours and acquaintances on this point, and they assured me
+that in their part of the Spanish frontier all were of the same
+mind, and that they cared as little for the Pope and his monks as
+they did for Don Carlos; for the latter was a dwarf (chicotito) and
+a tyrant, and the others were plunderers and robbers.  I told them
+they must beware of confounding religion with priestcraft, and that
+in their abhorrence of the latter they must not forget that there
+is a God and a Christ to whom they must look for salvation, and
+whose word it was incumbent upon them to study on every occasion;
+whereupon they all expressed a devout belief in Christ and the
+Virgin.
+
+These men, though in many respects more enlightened than the
+surrounding peasantry, were in others as much in the dark; they
+believed in witchcraft and in the efficacy of particular charms.
+The night was very stormy, and at about nine we heard a galloping
+towards the door, and then a loud knocking; it was opened, and in
+rushed a wild-looking man mounted on a donkey; he wore a ragged
+jacket of sheepskin, called in Spanish zamarra, with breeches of
+the same as far down as his knees; his legs were bare.  Around his
+sombrero, or shadowy hat, was tied a large quantity of the herb
+which in English is called rosemary, in Spanish romero, and in the
+rustic language of Portugal, alecrim; which last is a word of
+Scandinavian origin (ellegren), signifying the elfin plant, and was
+probably carried into the south by the Vandals.  The man seemed
+frantic with terror, and said that the witches had been pursuing
+him and hovering over his head for the last two leagues.  He came
+from the Spanish frontier with meal and other articles; he said
+that his wife was following him and would soon arrive, and in about
+a quarter of an hour she made her appearance, dripping with rain,
+and also mounted on a donkey.
+
+I asked my friends the contrabandistas why he wore the rosemary in
+his hat; whereupon they told me that it was good against witches
+and the mischances on the road.  I had no time to argue against
+this superstition, for, as the chaise was to be ready at five the
+next morning, I wished to make the most of the short time which I
+could devote to sleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+
+Vexatious Delays--Drunken Driver--The Murdered Mule--The
+Lamentation--Adventure on the Heath--Fear of Darkness--Portuguese
+Fidalgo--The Escort--Return to Lisbon.
+
+I rose at four, and after having taken some refreshment, I
+descended and found the strange man and his wife sleeping in the
+chimney corner by the fire, which was still burning; they soon
+awoke and began preparing their breakfast, which consisted of salt
+sardinhas, broiled upon the embers.  In the meantime the woman sang
+snatches of the beautiful hymn, very common in Spain, which
+commences thus:-
+
+
+"Once of old upon a mountain, shepherds overcome with sleep,
+Near to Bethlem's holy tower, kept at dead of night their sheep;
+Round about the trunk they nodded of a huge ignited oak,
+Whence the crackling flame ascending bright and clear the darkness
+broke."
+
+
+On hearing that I was about to depart, she said, "You shall have
+some of my husband's rosemary, which will keep you from danger, and
+prevent any misfortune occurring."  I was foolish enough to permit
+her to put some of it in my hat; and the man having by this time
+arrived with his mules, I bade farewell to my friendly hostesses,
+and entered the chaise with my servant.
+
+I remarked at the time, that the mules which drew us were the
+finest I had ever seen; the largest could be little short of
+sixteen hands high; and the fellow told me in his bad French that
+he loved them better than his wife and children.  We turned round
+the corner of the convent and proceeded down the street which leads
+to the south-western gate.  The driver now stopped before the door
+of a large house, and having alighted, said that it was yet very
+early, and that he was afraid to venture forth, as it was very
+probable we should be robbed, and himself murdered, as the robbers
+who resided in the town would be apprehensive of his discovering
+them, but that the family who lived in this house were going to
+Lisbon, and would depart in about a quarter of an hour, when we
+might avail ourselves of an escort of soldiers which they would
+take with them, and in their company we should run no danger.  I
+told him I had no fear, and commanded him to drive on; but he said
+he would not, and left us in the street.  We waited an hour, when
+two carriages came to the door of the house, but it seems the
+family were not yet ready, whereupon the coachman likewise got down
+and went away.  At the expiration of about half an hour the family
+came out, and when their luggage had been arranged they called for
+the coachman, but he was nowhere to be found.  Search was made for
+him, but ineffectually, and an hour more was spent before another
+driver could be procured; but the escort had not yet made its
+appearance, and it was not before a servant had been twice
+despatched to the barracks that it arrived.  At last everything was
+ready, and they drove off.
+
+All this time I had seen nothing of our own coachman, and I fully
+expected that he had abandoned us altogether.  In a few minutes I
+saw him staggering up the street in a state of intoxication,
+attempting to sing the Marseillois hymn.  I said nothing to him,
+but sat observing him.  He stood for some time staring at the mules
+and talking incoherent nonsense in French.  At last he said, "I am
+not so drunk but I can ride," and proceeded to lead his mules
+towards the gate.  When out of the town he made several ineffectual
+attempts to mount the smallest mule which bore the saddle; he at
+length succeeded, and instantly commenced spurring at a furious
+rate down the road.  We arrived at a place where a narrow rocky
+path branched off, by taking which we should avoid a considerable
+circuit round the city wall, which otherwise it would be necessary
+to make before we could reach the road to Lisbon, which lay at the
+north-east; he now said, "I shall take this path, for by so doing
+we shall overtake the family in a minute"; so into the path we
+went; it was scarcely wide enough to admit the carriage, and
+exceedingly steep and broken; we proceeded; ascending and
+descending, the wheels cracked, and the motion was so violent that
+we were in danger of being cast out as from a sling.  I saw that if
+we remained in the carriage it must be broken in pieces, as our
+weight must insure its destruction.  I called to him in Portuguese
+to stop, but he flogged and spurred the beasts the more.  My man
+now entreated me for God's sake to speak to him in French, for, if
+anything would pacify him, that would.  I did so, and entreated him
+to let us dismount and walk, till we had cleared this dangerous
+way.  The result justified Antonio's anticipation.  He instantly
+stopped and said, "Sir, you are master, you have only to command
+and I shall obey."  We dismounted and walked on till we reached the
+great road, when we once more seated ourselves.
+
+The family were about a quarter of a mile in advance, and we were
+no sooner reseated, than he lashed the mules into full gallop for
+the purpose of overtaking it; his cloak had fallen from his
+shoulder, and, in endeavouring to readjust it, he dropped the
+string from his hand by which he guided the large mule, it became
+entangled in the legs of the poor animal, which fell heavily on its
+neck, it struggled for a moment, and then lay stretched across the
+way, the shafts over its body.  I was pitched forward into the
+dirt, and the drunken driver fell upon the murdered mule.
+
+I was in a great rage, and cried, "You drunken renegade, who are
+ashamed to speak the language of your own country, you have broken
+the staff of your existence, and may now starve."  "Paciencia,"
+said he, and began kicking the head of the mule, in order to make
+it rise; but I pushed him down, and taking his knife, which had
+fallen from his pocket, cut the bands by which it was attached to
+the carriage, but life had fled, and the film of death had begun to
+cover its eyes.
+
+The fellow, in the recklessness of intoxication, seemed at first
+disposed to make light of his loss, saying, "The mule is dead, it
+was God's will that she should die, what more can be said?
+Paciencia."  Meanwhile, I despatched Antonio to the town for the
+purpose of hiring mules, and, having taken my baggage from the
+chaise, waited on the roadside until he should arrive.
+
+The fumes of the liquor began now to depart from the fellow's
+brain; he clasped his hands and exclaimed, "Blessed Virgin, what is
+to become of me?  How am I to support myself?  Where am I to get
+another mule!  For my mule, my best mule is dead, she fell upon the
+road, and died of a sudden!  I have been in France, and in other
+countries, and have seen beasts of all kinds, but such a mule as
+that I have never seen; but she is dead--my mule is dead--she fell
+upon the road and died of a sudden!"  He continued in this strain
+for a considerable time, and the burden of his lamentation was
+always, "My mule is dead, she fell upon the road, and died of a
+sudden."  At length he took the collar from the creature's neck,
+and put it upon the other, which with some difficulty he placed in
+the shafts.
+
+A beautiful boy of about thirteen now came from the direction of
+the town, running along the road with the velocity of a hare:  he
+stopped before the dead mule and burst into tears:  it was the
+man's son, who had heard of the accident from Antonio.  This was
+too much for the poor fellow:  he ran up to the boy, and said,
+"Don't cry, our bread is gone, but it is God's will; the mule is
+dead!"  He then flung himself on the ground, uttering fearful
+cries.  "I could have borne my loss," said he, "but when I saw my
+child cry, I became a fool."  I gave him two or three crowns, and
+added some words of comfort; assuring him I had no doubt that, if
+he abandoned drink, the Almighty God would take compassion on him
+and repair his loss.  At length he became more composed, and
+placing my baggage in the chaise, we returned to the town, where I
+found two excellent riding mules awaiting my arrival at the inn.  I
+did not see the Spanish woman, or I should have told her of the
+little efficacy of rosemary in this instance.
+
+I have known several drunkards amongst the Portuguese, but, without
+one exception, they have been individuals who, having travelled
+abroad, like this fellow, have returned with a contempt for their
+own country, and polluted with the worst vices of the lands which
+they have visited.
+
+I would strongly advise any of my countrymen who may chance to read
+these lines, that, if their fate lead them into Spain or Portugal,
+they avoid hiring as domestics, or being connected with,
+individuals of the lower classes who speak any other language than
+their own, as the probability is that they are heartless thieves
+and drunkards.  These gentry are invariably saying all they can in
+dispraise of their native land; and it is my opinion, grounded upon
+experience, that an individual who is capable of such baseness
+would not hesitate at the perpetration of any villainy, for next to
+the love of God, the love of country is the best preventive of
+crime.  He who is proud of his country, will be particularly
+cautious not to do anything which is calculated to disgrace it.
+
+We now journeyed towards Lisbon, and reached Monte Moro about two
+o'clock.  After taking such refreshment as the place afforded, we
+pursued our way till we were within a quarter of a league of the
+huts which stand on the edge of the savage wilderness we had before
+crossed.  Here we were overtaken by a horseman; he was a powerful,
+middle-sized man, and was mounted on a noble Spanish horse.  He had
+a broad, slouching sombrero on his head, and wore a jerkin of blue
+cloth, with large bosses of silver for buttons, and clasps of the
+same metal; he had breeches of yellow leather, and immense
+jackboots:  at his saddle was slung a formidable gun.  He inquired
+if I intended to pass the night at Vendas Novas, and on my replying
+in the affirmative, he said that he would avail himself of our
+company.  He now looked towards the sun, whose disk was rapidly
+sinking beneath the horizon, and entreated us to spur on and make
+the most of its light, for that the moor was a horrible place in
+the dusk.  He placed himself at our head, and we trotted briskly
+on, the boy or muleteer who attended us running behind without
+exhibiting the slightest symptom of fatigue.
+
+We entered upon the moor, and had advanced about a mile when dark
+night fell around us; we were in a wild path, with high brushwood
+on either side, when the rider said that he could not confront the
+darkness, and begged me to ride on before, and he would follow
+after:  I could hear him trembling.  I asked the reason of his
+terror, and he replied that at one time darkness was the same thing
+to him as day, but that of late years he dreaded it, especially in
+wild places.  I complied with his request, but I was ignorant of
+the way, and as I could scarcely see my hand, was continually going
+wrong.  This made the man impatient, and he again placed himself at
+our head.  We proceeded so for a considerable way, when he again
+stopped, and said that the power of the darkness was too much for
+him.  His horse seemed to be infected with the same panic, for it
+shook in every limb.  I now told him to call on the name of the
+Lord Jesus, who was able to turn the darkness into light, but he
+gave a terrible shout, and, brandishing his gun aloft, discharged
+it in the air.  His horse sprang forward at full speed, and my
+mule, which was one of the swiftest of its kind, took fright and
+followed at the heels of the charger.  Antonio and the boy were
+left behind.  On we flew like a whirlwind, the hoofs of the animals
+illuming the path with the sparks of fire they struck from the
+stones.  I knew not whither we were going, but the dumb creatures
+were acquainted with the way, and soon brought us to Vendas Novas,
+where we were rejoined by our companions.
+
+I thought this man was a coward, but I did him injustice, for
+during the day he was as brave as a lion, and feared no one.  About
+five years since, he had overcome two robbers who had attacked him
+on the moors, and, after tying their hands behind them, had
+delivered them up to justice; but at night the rustling of a leaf
+filled him with terror.  I have known similar instances of the kind
+in persons of otherwise extraordinary resolution.  For myself, I
+confess I am not a person of extraordinary resolution, but the
+dangers of the night daunt me no more than those of midday.  The
+man in question was a farmer from Evora, and a person of
+considerable wealth.
+
+I found the inn at Vendas Novas thronged with people, and had some
+difficulty in obtaining accommodation and refreshment.  It was
+occupied by the family of a certain Fidalgo, from Estremoz; he was
+on the way to Lisbon, conveying a large sum of money, as was said--
+probably the rents of his estates.  He had with him a body guard of
+four-and-twenty of his dependants, each armed with a rifle; they
+consisted of his swineherds, shepherds, cowherds, and hunters, and
+were commanded by two youths, his son and nephew, the latter of
+whom was in regimentals; nevertheless, notwithstanding the number
+of his troop, it appeared that the Fidalgo laboured under
+considerable apprehension of being despoiled upon the waste which
+lay between Vendas Novas and Pegoens, as he had just requested a
+guard of four soldiers from the officer who commanded a detachment
+stationed here:  there were many females in his company, who, I was
+told, were his illegitimate daughters--for he bore an infamous
+moral character, and was represented to me as a staunch friend of
+Don Miguel.  It was not long before he came up to me and my new
+acquaintance, as we sat by the kitchen fire:  he was a tall man of
+about sixty, but stooped much.  His countenance was by no means
+pleasing:  he had a long hooked nose, small twinkling cunning eyes,
+and, what I liked worst of all, a continual sneering smile, which I
+firmly believe to be the index of a treacherous and malignant
+heart.  He addressed me in Spanish, which, as he resided not far
+from the frontier, he spoke with fluency, but contrary to my usual
+practice, I was reserved and silent.
+
+On the following morning I rose at seven, and found that the party
+from Estremoz had started several hours previously.  I breakfasted
+with my acquaintance of the preceding night, and we set out to
+accomplish what remained of our journey.  The sun had now arisen;
+and all his fears had left him--he breathed defiance against all
+the robbers of the Alemtejo.  When we had advanced about a league,
+the boy who attended us said he saw heads of men amongst the
+brushwood.  Our cavalier instantly seized his gun, and causing his
+horse to make two or three lofty bounds, held it in one hand, the
+muzzle pointed in the direction indicated, but the heads did not
+again make their appearance, and it was probably but a false alarm.
+
+We resumed our way, and the conversation turned, as might be
+expected, upon robbers.  My companion, who seemed to be acquainted
+with every inch of ground over which we passed, had a legend to
+tell of every dingle and every pine-clump.  We reached a slight
+eminence, on the top of which grew three stately pines:  about half
+a league farther on was another similar one:  these two eminences
+commanded a view of the road from Pegoens and Vendas Novas, so that
+all people going and coming could be descried, whilst yet at a
+distance.  My friend told me that these heights were favourite
+stations of robbers.  Some two years since, a band of six mounted
+banditti remained there three days, and plundered whomsoever
+approached from either quarter:  their horses, saddled and bridled,
+stood picqueted at the foot of the trees, and two scouts, one for
+each eminence, continually sat in the topmost branches and gave
+notice of the approach of travellers:  when at a proper distance
+the robbers below sprang upon their horses, and putting them to
+full gallop, made at their prey, shouting Rendete, Picaro! Rendete,
+Picaro! (Surrender, scoundrel, surrender!)  We, however, passed
+unmolested, and, about a quarter of a mile before we reached
+Pegoens, overtook the family of the Fidalgo.
+
+Had they been conveying the wealth of Ind through the deserts of
+Arabia, they could not have travelled with more precaution.  The
+nephew, with drawn sabre, rode in front; pistols at his holsters,
+and the usual Spanish gun slung at his saddle.  Behind him tramped
+six men in a rank, with muskets shouldered, and each of them wore
+at his girdle a hatchet, which was probably intended to cleave the
+thieves to the brisket should they venture to come to close
+quarters.  There were six vehicles, two of them calashes, in which
+latter rode the Fidalgo and his daughters; the others were covered
+carts, and seemed to be filled with household furniture; each of
+these vehicles had an armed rustic on either side; and the son, a
+lad about sixteen, brought up the rear with a squad equal to that
+of his cousin in the van.  The soldiers, who by good fortune were
+light horse, and admirably mounted, were galloping about in all
+directions, for the purpose of driving the enemy from cover, should
+they happen to be lurking in the neighbourhood.
+
+I could not help thinking as I passed by, that this martial array
+was very injudicious, for though it was calculated to awe
+plunderers, it was likewise calculated to allure them, as it seemed
+to hint that immense wealth was passing through their territories.
+I do not know how the soldiers and rustics would have behaved in
+case of an attack; but am inclined to believe that if three such
+men as Richard Turpin had suddenly galloped forth from behind one
+of the bush-covered knolls, neither the numbers nor resistance
+opposed to them would have prevented them from bearing away the
+contents of the strong box jingling in their saddlebags.
+
+From this moment nothing worthy of relating occurred till our
+arrival at Aldea Gallega, where we passed the night, and next
+morning at three o'clock embarked in the passage-boat for Lisbon,
+where we arrived at eight--and thus terminates my first wandering
+in the Alemtejo.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+
+The College--The Rector--Shibboleth--National Prejudices--Youthful
+Sports--Jews of Lisbon--Bad Faith--Crime and Superstition--Strange
+Proposal.
+
+One afternoon Antonio said to me, "It has struck me, Senhor, that
+your worship would like to see the college of the English--."  "By
+all means," I replied, "pray conduct me thither."  So he led me
+through various streets until we stopped before the gate of a large
+building in one of the most elevated situations in Lisbon; upon our
+ringing, a kind of porter presently made his appearance, and
+demanded our business.  Antonio explained it to him.  He hesitated
+for a moment; but presently, bidding us enter, conducted us to a
+large gloomy-looking stone hall, where, begging us to be seated, he
+left us.  We were soon joined by a venerable personage, seemingly
+about seventy, in a kind of flowing robe or surplice, with a
+collegiate cap upon his head.  Notwithstanding his age there was a
+ruddy tinge upon his features, which were perfectly English.
+Coming slowly up he addressed me in the English tongue, requesting
+to know how he could serve me.  I informed him that I was an
+English traveller, and should be happy to be permitted to inspect
+the college, provided it were customary to show it to strangers.
+He informed me that there could be no objection to accede to my
+request, but that I came at rather an unfortunate moment, it being
+the hour of refection.  I apologised, and was preparing to retire,
+but he begged me to remain, as, in a few minutes, the refection
+would be over, when the principals of the college would do
+themselves the pleasure of waiting on me.
+
+We sat down on the stone bench, when he commenced surveying me
+attentively for some time, and then cast his eyes on Antonio.
+"Whom have we here?" said he to the latter; "surely your features
+are not unknown to me."  "Probably not, your reverence," replied
+Antonio, getting up and bowing most profoundly.  "I lived in the
+family of the Countess -, at Cintra, when your venerability was her
+spiritual guide."  "True, true," said the old gentleman, sighing,
+"I remember you now.  Ah, Antonio, things are strangely changed
+since then.  A new government--a new system--a new religion, I may
+say."  Then looking again at me, he demanded whither I was
+journeying?  "I am going to Spain," said I, "and have stopped at
+Lisbon by the way."  "Spain, Spain!" said the old man; "surely you
+have chosen a strange time to visit Spain; there is much
+bloodshedding in Spain at present, and violent wars and tumults."
+"I consider the cause of Don Carlos as already crushed," I replied;
+"he has lost the only general capable of leading his armies to
+Madrid.  Zumalacarregui, his Cid, has fallen."  "Do not flatter
+yourself; I beg your pardon, but do not think, young man, that the
+Lord will permit the powers of darkness to triumph so easily; the
+cause of Don Carlos is not lost; its success did not depend on the
+life of a frail worm like him whom you have mentioned."  We
+continued in discourse some little time, when he arose, saying that
+by this time he believed the refection was concluded.
+
+He had scarcely left me five minutes when three individuals entered
+the stone hall, and advanced slowly towards me;--the principals of
+the college, said I to myself! and so indeed they were.  The first
+of these gentlemen, and to whom the other two appeared to pay
+considerable deference, was a thin spare person, somewhat above the
+middle height; his complexion was very pale, his features emaciated
+but fine, his eyes dark and sparkling; he might be about fifty--the
+other two were men in the prime of life.  One was of rather low
+stature; his features were dark, and wore that pinched and
+mortified expression so frequently to be observed in the
+countenance of the English -:  the other was a bluff, ruddy, and
+rather good-looking young man; all three were dressed alike in the
+usual college cap and silk gown.  Coming up, the eldest of the
+three took me by the hand and thus addressed me in clear silvery
+tones:-
+
+"Welcome, Sir, to our poor house; we are always happy to see in it
+a countryman from our beloved native land; it will afford us
+extreme satisfaction to show you over it; it is true that
+satisfaction is considerably diminished by the reflection that it
+possesses nothing worthy of the attention of a traveller; there is
+nothing curious pertaining to it save perhaps its economy, and that
+as we walk about we will explain to you.  Permit us, first of all,
+to introduce ourselves to you; I am rector of this poor English
+house of refuge; this gentleman is our professor of humanity, and
+this (pointing to the ruddy personage) is our professor of polite
+learning, Hebrew, and Syriac."
+
+Myself.--I humbly salute you all; excuse me if I inquire who was
+the venerable gentleman who put himself to the inconvenience of
+staying with me whilst I was awaiting your leisure.
+
+Rector.--O! a most admirable personage, our almoner, our chaplain;
+he came into this country before any of us were born, and here he
+has continued ever since.  Now let us ascend that we may show you
+our poor house:  but how is this, my dear Sir, how is it that I see
+you standing uncovered in our cold damp hall?
+
+Myself.--I can easily explain that to you; it is a custom which has
+become quite natural to me.  I am just arrived from Russia, where I
+have spent some years.  A Russian invariably takes off his hat
+whenever he enters beneath a roof, whether it pertain to hut, shop,
+or palace.  To omit doing so would be considered as a mark of
+brutality and barbarism, and for the following reason:  in every
+apartment of a Russian house there is a small picture of the Virgin
+stuck up in a corner, just below the ceiling--the hat is taken off
+out of respect to her.
+
+Quick glances of intelligence were exchanged by the three
+gentlemen.  I had stumbled upon their shibboleth, and proclaimed
+myself an Ephraimite, and not of Gilead.  I have no doubt that up
+to that moment they had considered me as one of themselves--a
+member, and perhaps a priest, of their own ancient, grand, and
+imposing religion, for such it is, I must confess--an error into
+which it was natural that they should fall.  What motives could a
+Protestant have for intruding upon their privacy?  What interest
+could he take in inspecting the economy of their establishment?  So
+far, however, from relaxing in their attention after this
+discovery, their politeness visibly increased, though, perhaps, a
+scrutinizing observer might have detected a shade of less
+cordiality in their manner.
+
+Rector.--Beneath the ceiling in every apartment?  I think I
+understood you so.  How delightful--how truly interesting; a
+picture of the BLESSED Virgin beneath the ceiling in every
+apartment of a Russian house!  Truly, this intelligence is as
+unexpected as it is delightful.  I shall from this moment entertain
+a much higher opinion of the Russians than hitherto--most truly an
+example worthy of imitation.  I wish sincerely that it was our own
+practice to place an IMAGE of the BLESSED Virgin beneath the
+ceiling in every corner of our houses.  What say you, our professor
+of humanity?  What say you to the information so obligingly
+communicated to us by this excellent gentleman?
+
+Humanity Professor.--It is, indeed, most delightful, most cheering,
+I may say; but I confess that I was not altogether unprepared for
+it.  The adoration of the Blessed Virgin is becoming every day more
+extended in countries where it has hitherto been unknown or
+forgotten.  Dr. W-, when he passed through Lisbon, gave me some
+most interesting details with respect to the labours of the
+propaganda in India.  Even England, our own beloved country. . . .
+
+
+My obliging friends showed me all over their "poor house," it
+certainly did not appear a very rich one; it was spacious, and
+rather dilapidated.  The library was small, and possessed nothing
+remarkable; the view, however, from the roof, over the greater part
+of Lisbon and the Tagus, was very grand and noble; but I did not
+visit this place in the hope of seeing busts, or books, or fine
+prospects,--I visited this strange old house to converse with its
+inmates, for my favourite, I might say, my only study, is man.  I
+found these gentlemen much what I had anticipated, for this was not
+the first time that I had visited an English--establishment in a
+foreign land.  They were full of amiability and courtesy to their
+heretic countryman, and though the advancement of their religion
+was with them an object of paramount importance, I soon found that,
+with ludicrous inconsistency, they cherished, to a wonderful
+degree, national prejudices almost extinct in the mother land, even
+to the disparagement of those of their own darling faith.  I spoke
+of the English -, of their high respectability, and of the loyalty
+which they had uniformly displayed to their sovereign, though of a
+different religion, and by whom they had been not unfrequently
+subjected to much oppression and injustice.
+
+Rector.--My dear Sir, I am rejoiced to hear you; I see that you are
+well acquainted with the great body of those of our faith in
+England.  They are as you have well described them, a most
+respectable and loyal body; from loyalty, indeed, they never
+swerved, and though they have been accused of plots and
+conspiracies, it is now well known that such had no real existence,
+but were merely calumnies invented by their religious enemies.
+During the civil wars the English--cheerfully shed their blood and
+squandered their fortunes in the cause of the unfortunate martyr,
+notwithstanding that he never favoured them, and invariably looked
+upon them with suspicion.  At present the English--are the most
+devoted subjects to our gracious sovereign.  I should be happy if I
+could say as much for our Irish brethren; but their conduct has
+been--oh! detestable.  Yet what can you expect?  The true--blush
+for them.  A certain person is a disgrace to the church of which he
+pretends to be a servant.  Where does he find in our canons
+sanction for his proceedings, his undutiful expressions towards one
+who is his sovereign by divine right, and who can do no wrong?  And
+above all, where does he find authority for inflaming the passions
+of a vile mob against a nation intended by nature and by position
+to command them?
+
+Myself.--I believe there is an Irish college in this city?
+
+Rector.--I believe there is; but it does not flourish, there are
+few or no pupils.  Oh!
+
+I looked through a window, at a great height, and saw about twenty
+or thirty fine lads sporting in a court below.  "This is as it
+should be," said I; "those boys will not make worse priests from a
+little early devotion to trap-ball and cudgel playing.  I dislike a
+staid, serious, puritanic education, as I firmly believe that it
+encourages vice and hypocrisy."
+
+We then went into the Rector's room, where, above a crucifix, was
+hanging a small portrait.
+
+Myself.--That was a great and portentous man, honest withal.  I
+believe the body of which he was the founder, and which has been so
+much decried, has effected infinitely more good than it has caused
+harm.
+
+Rector.--What do I hear?  You an Englishman, and a Protestant, and
+yet an admirer of Ignatius Loyola?
+
+Myself.--I will say nothing with respect to the doctrine of the
+Jesuits, for, as you have observed, I am a Protestant:  but I am
+ready to assert that there are no people in the world better
+qualified, upon the whole, to be intrusted with the education of
+youth.  Their moral system and discipline are truly admirable.
+Their pupils, in after life, are seldom vicious and licentious
+characters, and are in general men of learning, science, and
+possessed of every elegant accomplishment.  I execrate the conduct
+of the liberals of Madrid in murdering last year the helpless
+fathers, by whose care and instruction two of the finest minds of
+Spain have been evolved--the two ornaments of the liberal cause and
+modern literature of Spain, for such are Toreno and Martinez de la
+Rosa. . . .
+
+Gathered in small clusters about the pillars at the lower
+extremities of the gold and silver streets in Lisbon, may be
+observed, about noon in every day, certain strange looking men,
+whose appearance is neither Portuguese nor European.  Their dress
+generally consists of a red cap, with a blue silken tassel at the
+top of it, a blue tunic girded at the waist with a red sash, and
+wide linen pantaloons or trousers.  He who passes by these groups
+generally hears them conversing in broken Spanish or Portuguese,
+and occasionally in a harsh guttural language, which the oriental
+traveller knows to be the Arabic, or a dialect thereof.  These
+people are the Jews of Lisbon.  Into the midst of one of these
+groups I one day introduced myself, and pronounced a beraka, or
+blessing.  I have lived in different parts of the world, much
+amongst the Hebrew race, and am well acquainted with their ways and
+phraseology.  I was rather anxious to become acquainted with the
+state of the Portuguese Jews, and I had now an opportunity.  "The
+man is a powerful rabbi," said a voice in Arabic; "it behoves us to
+treat him kindly."  They welcomed me.  I favoured their mistake,
+and in a few days I knew all that related to them and their traffic
+in Lisbon.
+
+I found them a vile, infamous rabble, about two hundred in number.
+With a few exceptions, they consist of escapados from the Barbary
+shore, from Tetuan, from Tangier, but principally from Mogadore;
+fellows who have fled to a foreign land from the punishment due to
+their misdeeds.  Their manner of life in Lisbon is worthy of such a
+goodly assemblage of amis reunis.  The generality of them pretend
+to work in gold and silver, and keep small peddling shops; they,
+however, principally depend for their livelihood on an extensive
+traffic in stolen goods which they carry on.  It is said that there
+is honour amongst thieves, but this is certainly not the case with
+the Jews of Lisbon, for they are so greedy and avaricious, that
+they are constantly quarrelling about their ill-gotten gain, the
+result being that they frequently ruin each other.  Their mutual
+jealousy is truly extraordinary.  If one, by cheating and roguery,
+gains a cruzado in the presence of another, the latter instantly
+says I cry halves, and if the first refuse he is instantly
+threatened with an information.  The manner in which they cheat
+each other has, with all its infamy, occasionally something
+extremely droll and ludicrous.  I was one day in the shop of a
+Swiri, or Jew of Mogadore, when a Jew from Gibraltar entered, with
+a Portuguese female, who held in her hand a mantle, richly
+embroidered with gold.
+
+Gibraltar Jew (speaking in broken Arabic).--Good-day, O Swiri; God
+has favoured me this day; here is a bargain by which we shall both
+gain.  I have bought this mantle of the woman almost for nothing,
+for it is stolen; but I am poor, as you know, I have not a cruzado;
+pay her therefore the price, that we may then forthwith sell the
+mantle and divide the gain.
+
+Swiri.--Willingly, brother of Gibraltar; I will pay the woman for
+the mantle; it does not appear a bad one.
+
+Thereupon he flung two cruzados to the woman, who forthwith left
+the shop.
+
+Gibraltar Jew.--Thanks, brother Swirl, this is very kind of you;
+now let us go and sell the mantle, the gold alone is well worth a
+moidore; but I am poor and have nothing to eat, give me, therefore,
+the half of that sum and keep the mantle; I shall be content.
+
+Swiri.--May Allah blot out your name, you thief.  What mean you by
+asking me for money?  I bought the mantle of the woman and paid for
+it.  I know nothing of you.  Go out of my doors, dog of a Nazarene,
+if not I will pay you with a kick.
+
+The dispute was referred to one of the sabios, or priests; but the
+sabio, who was also from Mogadore, at once took the part of the
+Swiri, and decided that the other should have nothing.  Whereupon
+the Gibraltar Jew cursed the sabio, his father, mother, and all his
+family.  The sabio replied, "I put you in ndui," a kind of
+purgatory or hell.  "I put you in seven nduis," retorted the
+incensed Jew, over whom, however, superstitious fear speedily
+prevailed; he faltered, became pale, and dropping his voice,
+retreated, trembling in every limb.
+
+The Jews have two synagogues in Lisbon, both are small; one is,
+however, tolerably well furnished, it has its reading desk, and in
+the middle there is a rather handsome chandelier; the other is
+little better than a sty, filthy to a degree, without ornament of
+any kind.  The congregation of this last are thieves to a man; no
+Jew of the slightest respectability ever enters it.
+
+How well do superstition and crime go hand in hand.  These wretched
+beings break the eternal commandments of their Maker without
+scruple; but they will not partake of the beast of the uncloven
+foot, and the fish which has no scales.  They pay no regard to the
+denunciations of holy prophets against the children of sin, but
+they quake at the sound of a dark cabalistic word, pronounced by
+one perhaps their equal, or superior, in villainy, as if God would
+delegate the exercise of his power to the workers of iniquity.
+
+I was one day sauntering on the Caesodre, when a Jew, with whom I
+had previously exchanged a word or two, came up and addressed me.
+
+Jew.--The blessing of God upon you, brother; I know you to be a
+wise and powerful man, and I have conceived much regard for you; it
+is on that account that I wish to put you in the way of gaining
+much money.  Come with me, and I will conduct you to a place where
+there are forty chests of tea.  It is a sereka (a robbery), and the
+thieves are willing to dispose of it for a trifle, for there is
+search being made, and they are in much fear.  I can raise one half
+of what they demand, do you supply the other, we will then divide
+it, each shall go his own way and dispose of his portion.
+
+Myself.--Wherefore, O son of Arbat, do you propose this to me, who
+am a stranger?  Surely you are mad.  Have you not your own people
+about you whom you know, and in whom you can confide?
+
+Jew.--It is because I know our people here that I do not confide in
+them; we are in the galoot of sin.  Were I to confide in my
+brethren there would be a dispute, and perhaps they would rob me,
+and few of them have any money.  Were I to apply to the sabio he
+might consent, but when I ask for my portion he would put me in
+ndui!  You I do not fear; you are good and would do me no harm,
+unless I attempted to deceive you, and that I dare not do, for I
+know you are powerful.  Come with me, master, for I wish to gain
+something, that I may return to Arbat, where I have children . . .
+
+Such are Jews in Lisbon.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+
+Cold of Portugal--Extortion prevented--Sensation of Loneliness--The
+Dog--The Convent--Enchanting Landscape--Moorish Fortresses--Prayer
+for the Sick.
+
+About a fortnight after my return from Evora, having made the
+necessary preparations, I set out on my journey for Badajoz, from
+which town I intended to take the diligence to Madrid.  Badajoz
+lies about a hundred miles distant from Lisbon, and is the
+principal frontier town of Spain in the direction of the Alemtejo.
+To reach this place, it was necessary to retravel the road as far
+as Monte More, which I had already passed in my excursion to Evora;
+I had therefore very little pleasure to anticipate from novelty of
+scenery.  Moreover, in this journey I should be a solitary
+traveller, with no other companion than the muleteer, as it was my
+intention to take my servant no farther than Aldea Gallega, for
+which place I started at four in the afternoon.  Warned by former
+experience, I did not now embark in a small boat, but in one of the
+regular passage felouks, in which we reached Aldea Gallega, after a
+voyage of six hours; for the boat was heavy, there was no wind to
+propel it, and the crew were obliged to ply their huge oars the
+whole way.  In a word, this passage was the reverse of the first,--
+safe in every respect,--but so sluggish and tiresome, that I a
+hundred times wished myself again under the guidance of the wild
+lad, galloping before the hurricane over the foaming billows.  From
+eight till ten the cold was truly terrible, and though I was
+closely wrapped in an excellent fur "shoob," with which I had
+braved the frosts of Russian winters, I shivered in every limb, and
+was far more rejoiced when I again set my foot on the Alemtejo,
+than when I landed for the first time, after having escaped the
+horrors of the tempest.
+
+I took up my quarters for the night at a house to which my friend
+who feared the darkness had introduced me on my return from Evora,
+and where, though I paid mercilessly dear for everything, the
+accommodation was superior to that of the common inn in the square.
+My first care now was to inquire for mules to convey myself and
+baggage to Elvas, from whence there are but three short leagues to
+the Spanish town of Badajoz.  The people of the house informed me
+that they had an excellent pair at my disposal, but when I inquired
+the price, they were not ashamed to demand four moidores.  I
+offered them three, which was too much, but which, however, they
+did not accept, for knowing me to be an Englishman, they thought
+they had an excellent opportunity to practise imposition, not
+imagining that a person so rich as an Englishman MUST be, would go
+out in a cold night for the sake of obtaining a reasonable bargain.
+They were, however, much mistaken, as I told them that rather than
+encourage them in their knavery, I should be content to return to
+Lisbon; whereupon they dropped their demand to three and a half,
+but I made them no answer, and going out with Antonio, proceeded to
+the house of the old man who had accompanied us to Evora.  We
+knocked a considerable time, for he was in bed; at length he arose
+and admitted us, but on hearing our object, he said that his mules
+were again gone to Evora, under the charge of the boy, for the
+purpose of transporting some articles of merchandise.  He, however,
+recommended us to a person in the neighbourhood who kept mules for
+hire, and there Antonio engaged two fine beasts for two moidores
+and a half.  I say he engaged them, for I stood aloof and spoke
+not, and the proprietor, who exhibited them, and who stood half-
+dressed, with a lamp in his hand and shivering with cold, was not
+aware that they were intended for a foreigner till the agreement
+was made, and he had received a part of the sum in earnest.  I
+returned to the inn well pleased, and having taken some refreshment
+went to rest, paying little attention to the people, who glanced
+daggers at me from their small Jewish eyes.
+
+At five the next morning the mules were at the door; a lad of some
+nineteen or twenty years of age attended them; he was short but
+exceedingly strong built, and possessed the largest head which I
+ever beheld upon mortal shoulders; neck he had none, at least I
+could discern nothing which could be entitled to that name.  His
+features were hideously ugly, and upon addressing him I discovered
+that he was an idiot.  Such was my intended companion in a journey
+of nearly a hundred miles, which would occupy four days, and which
+lay over the most savage and ill noted track in the whole kingdom.
+I took leave of my servant almost with tears, for he had always
+served me with the greatest fidelity, and had exhibited an
+assiduity and a wish to please which afforded me the utmost
+satisfaction.
+
+We started, my uncouth guide sitting tailor-fashion on the sumpter
+mule upon the baggage.  The moon had just gone down, and the
+morning was pitchy dark, and, as usual, piercingly cold.  He soon
+entered the dismal wood, which I had already traversed, and through
+which we wended our way for some time, slowly and mournfully.  Not
+a sound was to be heard save the trampling of the animals, not a
+breath of air moved the leafless branches, no animal stirred in the
+thickets, no bird, not even the owl, flew over our heads, all
+seemed desolate and dead, and during my many and far wanderings, I
+never experienced a greater sensation of loneliness, and a greater
+desire for conversation and an exchange of ideas than then.  To
+speak to the idiot was useless, for though competent to show the
+road, with which he was well acquainted, he had no other answer
+than an uncouth laugh to any question put to him.  Thus situated,
+like many other persons when human comfort is not at hand, I turned
+my heart to God, and began to commune with Him, the result of which
+was that my mind soon became quieted and comforted.
+
+We passed on our way uninterrupted; no thieves showed themselves,
+nor indeed did we see a single individual until we arrived at
+Pegoens, and from thence to Vendas Novas our fortune was the same.
+I was welcomed with great kindness by the people of the hostelry of
+the latter place, who were well acquainted with me on account of my
+having twice passed the night under their roof.  The name of the
+keeper of this is, or was, Joze Dias Azido, and unlike the
+generality of those of the same profession as himself in Portugal,
+he is an honest man, and a stranger and foreigner who takes up his
+quarters at his inn, may rest assured that he will not be most
+unmercifully pillaged and cheated when the hour of reckoning shall
+arrive, as he will not be charged a single re more than a native
+Portuguese on a similar occasion.  I paid at this place exactly one
+half of the sum which was demanded from me at Arroyolos, where I
+passed the ensuing night, and where the accommodation was in every
+respect inferior.
+
+At twelve next day we arrived at Monte More, and, as I was not
+pressed for time, I determined upon viewing the ruins which cover
+the top and middle part of the stately hill which towers above the
+town.  Having ordered some refreshment at the inn where we
+dismounted, I ascended till I arrived at a large wall or rampart,
+which, at a certain altitude embraces the whole hill.  I crossed a
+rude bridge of stones, which bestrides a small hollow or trench;
+and passing by a large tower, entered through a portal into the
+enclosed part of the hill.  On the left hand stood a church, in
+good preservation, and still devoted to the purposes of religion,
+but which I could not enter, as the door was locked, and I saw no
+one at hand to open it.
+
+I soon found that my curiosity had led me to a most extraordinary
+place, which quite beggars the scanty powers of description with
+which I am gifted.  I stumbled on amongst ruined walls, and at one
+time found I was treading over vaults, as I suddenly started back
+from a yawning orifice into which my next step, as I strolled
+musing along, would have precipitated me.  I proceeded for a
+considerable way by the eastern wall, till I heard a tremendous
+bark, and presently an immense dog, such as those which guard the
+flocks in the neighbourhood against the wolves, came bounding to
+attack me "with eyes that glowed and fangs that grinned."  Had I
+retreated, or had recourse to any other mode of defence than that
+which I invariably practise under such circumstances, he would
+probably have worried me; but I stooped till my chin nearly touched
+my knee, and looked him full in the eyes, and as John Leyden says,
+in the noblest ballad which the Land of Heather has produced:-
+
+
+"The hound he yowled and back he fled,
+As struck with fairy charm."
+
+
+It is a fact known to many people, and I believe it has been
+frequently stated, that no large and fierce dog or animal of any
+kind, with the exception of the bull, which shuts its eyes and
+rushes blindly forward, will venture to attack an individual who
+confronts it with a firm and motionless countenance.  I say large
+and fierce, for it is much easier to repel a bloodhound or bear of
+Finland in this manner than a dunghill cur or a terrier, against
+which a stick or a stone is a much more certain defence.  This will
+astonish no one who considers that the calm reproving glance of
+reason, which allays the excesses of the mighty and courageous in
+our own species, has seldom any other effect than to add to the
+insolence of the feeble and foolish, who become placid as doves
+upon the infliction of chastisements, which if attempted to be
+applied to the former would only serve to render them more
+terrible, and like gunpowder cast on a flame, cause them in mad
+desperation to scatter destruction around them.
+
+The barking of the dog brought out from a kind of alley an elderly
+man, whom I supposed to be his master, and of whom I made some
+inquiries respecting the place.  The man was civil, and informed me
+that he served as a soldier in the British army, under the "great
+lord," during the Peninsular war.  He said that there was a convent
+of nuns a little farther on, which he would show me, and thereupon
+led the way to the south-east part of the wall, where stood a large
+dilapidated edifice.
+
+We entered a dark stone apartment, at one corner of which was a
+kind of window occupied by a turning table, at which articles were
+received into the convent or delivered out.  He rang the bell, and,
+without saying a word, retired, leaving me rather perplexed; but
+presently I heard, though the speaker was invisible, a soft
+feminine voice demanding who I was, and what I wanted.  I replied
+that I was an Englishman travelling into Spain, and that passing
+through Monte Moro I had ascended the hill for the purpose of
+seeing the ruins.  The voice then said, "I suppose you are a
+military man going to fight against the king, like the rest of your
+countrymen."  "No," said I, "I am not a military man, but a
+Christian, and I go not to shed blood but to endeavour to introduce
+the gospel of Christ into a country where it is not known;"
+whereupon there was a stifled titter, I then inquired if there were
+any copies of the Holy Scriptures in the convent, but the friendly
+voice could give me no information on that point, and I scarcely
+believe that its possessor understood the purport of my question.
+It informed me, that the office of lady abbess of the house was an
+annual one, and that every year there was a fresh superior; on my
+inquiring whether the nuns did not frequently find the time
+exceedingly heavy on their hands, it stated that, when they had
+nothing better to do, they employed themselves in making
+cheesecakes, which were disposed of in the neighbourhood.  I
+thanked the voice for its communications, and walked away.  Whilst
+proceeding under the wall of the house towards the south-west, I
+heard a fresh and louder tittering above my head, and looking up,
+saw three or four windows crowded with dusky faces, and black
+waving hair; these belonged to the nuns, anxious to obtain a view
+of the stranger.  After kissing my hand repeatedly, I moved on, and
+soon arrived at the south-west end of this mountain of curiosities.
+There I found the remains of a large building, which seemed to have
+been originally erected in the shape of a cross.  A tower at its
+eastern entrance was still entire; the western side was quite in
+ruins, and stood on the verge of the hill overlooking the valley,
+at the bottom of which ran the stream I have spoken of on a former
+occasion.
+
+The day was intensely hot, notwithstanding the coldness of the
+preceding nights; and the brilliant sun of Portugal now illumined a
+landscape of entrancing beauty.  Groves of cork trees covered the
+farther side of the valley and the distant acclivities, exhibiting
+here and there charming vistas, where various flocks of cattle were
+feeding; the soft murmur of the stream, which was at intervals
+chafed and broken by huge stones, ascended to my ears and filled my
+mind with delicious feelings.  I sat down on the broken wall and
+remained gazing, and listening, and shedding tears of rapture; for,
+of all the pleasures which a bountiful God permitteth his children
+to enjoy, none are so dear to some hearts as the music of forests,
+and streams, and the view of the beauties of his glorious creation.
+An hour elapsed, and I still maintained my seat on the wall; the
+past scenes of my life flitting before my eyes in airy and
+fantastic array, through which every now and then peeped trees and
+hills and other patches of the real landscape which I was
+confronting; the sun burnt my visage, but I heeded it not; and I
+believe that I should have remained till night, buried in these
+reveries, which, I confess, only served to enervate the mind, and
+steal many a minute which might be most profitably employed, had
+not the report of the gun of a fowler in the valley, which awakened
+the echoes of the woods, hills, and ruins, caused me to start on my
+feet, and remember that I had to proceed three leagues before I
+could reach the hostelry where I intended to pass the night.
+
+I bent my steps to the inn, passing along a kind of rampart:
+shortly before I reached the portal, which I have already
+mentioned, I observed a kind of vault on my right hand, scooped out
+of the side of the hill; its roof was supported by three pillars,
+though part of it had given way towards the farther end, so that
+the light was admitted through a chasm in the top.  It might have
+been intended for a chapel, a dungeon, or a cemetery, but I should
+rather think for the latter; one thing I am certain of, that it was
+not the work of Moorish hands, and indeed throughout my wanderings
+in this place I saw nothing which reminded me of that most singular
+people.  The hill on which the ruins stand was doubtless originally
+a strong fortress of the Moors, who, upon their first irruption
+into the peninsula, seized and fortified most of the lofty and
+naturally strong positions, but they had probably lost it at an
+early period, so that the broken walls and edifices, which at
+present cover the hill, are probably remains of the labours of the
+Christians after the place had been rescued from the hands of the
+terrible enemies of their faith.  Monte Moro will perhaps recall
+Cintra to the mind of the traveller, as it exhibits a distant
+resemblance to that place; nevertheless, there is something in
+Cintra wild and savage, to which Monte Moro has no pretension; its
+scathed and gigantic crags are piled upon each other in a manner
+which seems to menace headlong destruction to whatever is in the
+neighbourhood; and the ruins which still cling to those crags seem
+more like eagles' nests than the remains of the habitations even of
+Moors; whereas those of Monte Moro stand comparatively at their
+ease on the broad back of a hill, which, though stately and
+commanding, has no crags nor precipices, and which can be ascended
+on every side without much difficulty:  yet I was much gratified by
+my visit, and I shall wander far indeed before I forget the voice
+in the dilapidated convent, the ruined walls amongst which I
+strayed, and the rampart where, sunk in dreamy rapture, I sat
+during a bright sunny hour at Monte Moro.
+
+I returned to the inn, where I refreshed myself with tea and very
+sweet and delicious cheesecakes, the handiwork of the nuns in the
+convent above.  Observing gloom and unhappiness on the countenances
+of the people of the house, I inquired the reason of the hostess,
+who sat almost motionless, on the hearth by the fire; whereupon she
+informed me that her husband was deadly sick with a disorder which,
+from her description, I supposed to be a species of cholera; she
+added, that the surgeon who attended him entertained no hopes of
+his recovery.  I replied that it was quite in the power of God to
+restore her husband in a few hours from the verge of the grave to
+health and vigour, and that it was her duty to pray to that
+Omnipotent Being with all fervency.  I added, that if she did not
+know how to pray upon such an occasion, I was ready to pray for
+her, provided she would join in the spirit of the supplication.  I
+then offered up a short prayer in Portuguese, in which I entreated
+the Lord to remove, if he thought proper, the burden of affliction
+under which the family was labouring.
+
+The woman listened attentively, with her hands devoutly clasped,
+until the prayer was finished, and then gazed at me seemingly with
+astonishment, but uttered no word by which I could gather that she
+was pleased or displeased with what I had said.  I now bade the
+family farewell, and having mounted my mule, set forward to
+Arroyolos.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+
+The Druids' Stone--The Young Spaniard--Ruffianly Soldiers--Evils of
+War--Estremoz--The Brawl--Ruined Watch Tower--Glimpse of Spain--Old
+Times and New.
+
+After proceeding about a league and a half, a blast came booming
+from the north, rolling before it immense clouds of dust; happily
+it did not blow in our faces, or it would have been difficult to
+proceed, so great was its violence.  We had left the road in order
+to take advantage of one of those short cuts, which, though
+possible for a horse or a mule, are far too rough to permit any
+species of carriage to travel along them.  We were in the midst of
+sands, brushwood, and huge pieces of rock, which thickly studded
+the ground.  These are the stones which form the sierras of Spain
+and Portugal; those singular mountains which rise in naked
+horridness, like the ribs of some mighty carcass from which the
+flesh has been torn.  Many of these stones, or rocks, grew out of
+the earth, and many lay on its surface unattached, perhaps wrested
+from their bed by the waters of the deluge.  Whilst toiling along
+these wild wastes, I observed, a little way to my left, a pile of
+stones of rather a singular appearance, and rode up to it.  It was
+a druidical altar, and the most perfect and beautiful one of the
+kind which I had ever seen.  It was circular, and consisted of
+stones immensely large and heavy at the bottom, which towards the
+top became thinner and thinner, having been fashioned by the hand
+of art to something of the shape of scollop shells.  These were
+surmounted by a very large flat stone, which slanted down towards
+the south, where was a door.  Three or four individuals might have
+taken shelter within the interior, in which was growing a small
+thorn tree.
+
+I gazed with reverence and awe upon the pile where the first
+colonies of Europe offered their worship to the unknown God.  The
+temples of the mighty and skilful Roman, comparatively of modern
+date, have crumbled to dust in its neighbourhood.  The churches of
+the Arian Goth, his successor in power, have sunk beneath the
+earth, and are not to be found; and the mosques of the Moor, the
+conqueror of the Goth, where and what are they?  Upon the rock,
+masses of hoary and vanishing ruin.  Not so the Druids' stone;
+there it stands on the hill of winds, as strong and as freshly new
+as the day, perhaps thirty centuries back, when it was first
+raised, by means which are a mystery.  Earthquakes have heaved it,
+but its copestone has not fallen; rain floods have deluged it, but
+failed to sweep it from its station; the burning sun has flashed
+upon it, but neither split nor crumbled it; and time, stern old
+time, has rubbed it with his iron tooth, and with what effect let
+those who view it declare.  There it stands, and he who wishes to
+study the literature, the learning, and the history of the ancient
+Celt and Cymbrian, may gaze on its broad covering, and glean from
+that blank stone the whole known amount.  The Roman has left behind
+him his deathless writings, his history, and his songs; the Goth
+his liturgy, his traditions, and the germs of noble institutions;
+the Moor his chivalry, his discoveries in medicine, and the
+foundations of modern commerce; and where is the memorial of the
+Druidic races?  Yonder:  that pile of eternal stone!
+
+We arrived at Arroyolos about seven at night.  I took possession of
+a large two-bedded room, and, as I was preparing to sit down to
+supper, the hostess came to inquire whether I had any objection to
+receive a young Spaniard for the night.  She said he had just
+arrived with a train of muleteers, and that she had no other room
+in which she could lodge him.  I replied that I was willing, and in
+about half an hour he made his appearance, having first supped with
+his companions.  He was a very gentlemanly, good-looking lad of
+seventeen.  He addressed me in his native language, and, finding
+that I understood him, he commenced talking with astonishing
+volubility.  In the space of five minutes he informed me that,
+having a desire to see the world, he had run away from his friends,
+who were people of opulence at Madrid, and that he did not intend
+to return until he had travelled through various countries.  I told
+him that if what he said was true, he had done a very wicked and
+foolish action; wicked, because he must have overwhelmed those with
+grief whom he was bound to honour and love, and foolish, inasmuch
+as he was going to expose himself to inconceivable miseries and
+hardships, which would shortly cause him to rue the step he had
+taken; that he would be only welcome in foreign countries so long
+as he had money to spend, and when he had none, he would be
+repulsed as a vagabond, and would perhaps be allowed to perish of
+hunger.  He replied that he had a considerable sum of money with
+him, no less than a hundred dollars, which would last him a long
+time, and that when it was spent he should perhaps be able to
+obtain more.  "Your hundred dollars," said I, "will scarcely last
+you three months in the country in which you are, even if it be not
+stolen from you; and you may as well hope to gather money on the
+tops of the mountains as expect to procure more by honourable
+means."  But he had not yet sufficiently drank of the cup of
+experience to attend much to what I said, and I soon after changed
+the subject.  About five next morning he came to my bedside to take
+leave, as his muleteers were preparing to depart.  I gave him the
+usual Spanish valediction (Vaya usted con Dios), and saw no more of
+him.
+
+At nine, after having paid a most exorbitant sum for slight
+accommodation, I started from Arroyolos, which is a town or large
+village situated on very elevated ground, and discernible afar off.
+It can boast of the remains of a large ancient and seemingly
+Moorish castle, which stands on a hill on the left as you take the
+road to Estremoz.
+
+About a mile from Arroyolos I overtook a train of carts escorted by
+a number of Portuguese soldiers, conveying stores and ammunition
+into Spain.  Six or seven of these soldiers marched a considerable
+way in front; they were villainous looking ruffians upon whose
+livid and ghastly countenances were written murder, and all the
+other crimes which the decalogue forbids.  As I passed by, one of
+them, with a harsh, croaking voice, commenced cursing all
+foreigners.  "There," said he, "is this Frenchman riding on
+horseback" (I was on a mule), "with a man" (the idiot) "to take
+care of him, and all because he is rich; whilst I, who am a poor
+soldier, am obliged to tramp on foot.  I could find it in my heart
+to shoot him dead, for in what respect is he better than I?  But he
+is a foreigner, and the devil helps foreigners and hates the
+Portuguese."  He continued shouting his remarks until I got about
+forty yards in advance, when I commenced laughing; but it would
+have been more prudent in me to have held my peace, for the next
+moment, with bang--bang, two bullets, well aimed, came whizzing
+past my ears.  A small river lay just before me, though the bridge
+was a considerable way on my left.  I spurred my animal through it,
+closely followed by my terrified guide, and commenced galloping
+along a sandy plain on the other side, and so escaped with my life.
+
+These fellows, with the look of banditti, were in no respect
+better; and the traveller who should meet them in a solitary place
+would have little reason to bless his good fortune.  One of the
+carriers (all of whom were Spaniards from the neighbourhood of
+Badajoz, and had been despatched into Portugal for the purpose of
+conveying the stores), whom I afterwards met in the aforesaid town,
+informed me that the whole party were equally bad, and that he and
+his companions had been plundered by them of various articles, and
+threatened with death if they attempted to complain.  How frightful
+to figure to oneself an army of such beings in a foreign land, sent
+thither either to invade or defend; and yet Spain, at the time I am
+writing this, is looking forward to armed assistance from Portugal.
+May the Lord in his mercy grant that the soldiers who proceed to
+her assistance may be of a different stamp:  and yet, from the lax
+state of discipline which exists in the Portuguese army, in
+comparison with that of England and France, I am afraid that the
+inoffensive population of the disturbed provinces will say that
+wolves have been summoned to chase away foxes from the sheepfold.
+O! may I live to see the day when soldiery will no longer be
+tolerated in any civilized, or at least Christian, country!
+
+I pursued my route to Estremoz, passing by Monte Moro Novo, which
+is a tall dusky hill, surmounted by an ancient edifice, probably
+Moorish.  The country was dreary and deserted, but offering here
+and there a valley studded with cork trees and azinheiras.  After
+midday the wind, which during the night and morning had much
+abated, again blew with such violence as nearly to deprive me of my
+senses, though it was still in our rear.
+
+I was heartily glad when, on ascending a rising ground, at about
+four o'clock, I saw Estremoz on its hill at something less than a
+league's distance.  Here the view became wildly interesting; the
+sun was sinking in the midst of red and stormy clouds, and its rays
+were reflected on the dun walls of the lofty town to which we were
+wending.  Nor far distant to the south-west rose Serra Dorso, which
+I had seen from Evora, and which is the most beautiful mountain in
+the Alemtejo.  My idiot guide turned his uncouth visage towards it,
+and becoming suddenly inspired, opened his mouth for the first time
+during the day, I might almost say since we had left Aldea Gallega,
+and began to tell me what rare hunting was to be obtained in that
+mountain.  He likewise described with great minuteness a wonderful
+dog, which was kept in the neighbourhood for the purpose of
+catching the wolves and wild boars, and for which the proprietor
+had refused twenty moidores.
+
+At length we reached Estremoz, and took up our quarters at the
+principal inn, which looks upon a large plain or market-place
+occupying the centre of the town, and which is so extensive that I
+should think ten thousand soldiers at least might perform their
+evolutions there with case.
+
+The cold was far too terrible to permit me to remain in the chamber
+to which I had been conducted; I therefore went down to a kind of
+kitchen on one side of the arched passage, which led under the
+house to the yard and stables.  A tremendous withering blast poured
+through this passage, like the water through the flush of a mill.
+A large cork tree was blazing in the kitchen beneath a spacious
+chimney; and around it were gathered a noisy crew of peasants and
+farmers from the neighbourhood, and three or four Spanish smugglers
+from the frontier.  I with difficulty obtained a place amongst
+them, as a Portuguese or a Spaniard will seldom make way for a
+stranger, till called upon or pushed aside, but prefers gazing upon
+him with an expression which seems to say, I know what you want,
+but I prefer remaining where I am.
+
+I now first began to observe an alteration in the language spoken;
+it had become less sibilant, and more guttural; and, when
+addressing each other, the speakers used the Spanish title of
+courtesy usted, or your worthiness, instead of the Portuguese high
+flowing vossem se, or your lordship.  This is the result of
+constant communication with the natives of Spain, who never
+condescend to speak Portuguese, even when in Portugal, but persist
+in the use of their own beautiful language, which, perhaps, at some
+future period, the Portuguese will generally adopt.  This would
+greatly facilitate the union of the two countries, hitherto kept
+asunder by the natural waywardness of mankind.
+
+I had not been seated long before the blazing pile, when a fellow,
+mounted on a fine spirited horse, dashed from the stables through
+the passage into the kitchen, where he commenced displaying his
+horsemanship, by causing the animal to wheel about with the
+velocity of a millstone, to the great danger of everybody in the
+apartment.  He then galloped out upon the plain, and after half an
+hour's absence returned, and having placed his horse once more in
+the stable, came and seated himself next to me, to whom he
+commenced talking in a gibberish of which I understood very little,
+but which he intended for French.  He was half intoxicated, and
+soon became three parts so, by swallowing glass after glass of
+aguardiente.  Finding that I made him no answer, he directed his
+discourse to one of the contrabandistas, to whom he talked in bad
+Spanish.  The latter either did not or would not understand him;
+but at last, losing patience, called him a drunkard, and told him
+to hold his tongue.  The fellow, enraged at this contempt, flung
+the glass out of which he was drinking at the Spaniard's head, who
+sprang up like a tiger, and unsheathing instantly a snick and snee
+knife, made an upward cut at the fellow's cheek, and would have
+infallibly laid it open, had I not pulled his arm down just in time
+to prevent worse effects than a scratch above the lower jawbone,
+which, however, drew blood.
+
+The smuggler's companions interfered, and with much difficulty led
+him off to a small apartment in the rear of the house, where they
+slept, and kept the furniture of their mules.  The drunkard then
+commenced singing, or rather yelling, the Marseillois hymn; and
+after having annoyed every one for nearly an hour, was persuaded to
+mount his horse and depart, accompanied by one of his neighbours.
+He was a pig merchant of the vicinity, but had formerly been a
+trooper in the army of Napoleon, where, I suppose, like the drunken
+coachman of Evora, he had picked up his French and his habits of
+intoxication.
+
+From Estremoz to Elvas the distance is six leagues.  I started at
+nine next morning; the first part of the way lay through an
+enclosed country, but we soon emerged upon wild bleak downs, over
+which the wind, which still pursued us, howled most mournfully.  We
+met no one on the route; and the scene was desolate in the extreme;
+the heaven was of a dark grey, through which no glimpse of the sun
+was to be perceived.  Before us, at a great distance, on an
+elevated ground, rose a tower--the only object which broke the
+monotony of the waste.  In about two hours from the time when we
+first discovered it, we reached a fountain, at the foot of the hill
+on which it stood; the water, which gushed into a long stone
+trough, was beautifully clear and transparent, and we stopped here
+to water the animals.
+
+Having dismounted, I left the guide, and proceeded to ascend the
+hill on which the tower stood.  Though the ascent was very gentle I
+did not accomplish it without difficulty; the ground was covered
+with sharp stones, which, in two or three instances, cut through my
+boots and wounded my feet; and the distance was much greater than I
+had expected.  I at last arrived at the ruin, for such it was.  I
+found it had been one of those watch towers or small fortresses
+called in Portuguese atalaias; it was square, and surrounded by a
+wall, broken down in many places.  The tower itself had no door,
+the lower part being of solid stone work; but on one side were
+crevices at intervals between the stones, for the purpose of
+placing the feet, and up this rude staircase I climbed to a small
+apartment, about five feet square, from which the top had fallen.
+It commanded an extensive view from all sides, and had evidently
+been built for the accommodation of those whose business it was to
+keep watch on the frontier, and at the appearance of an enemy to
+alarm the country by signals--probably by a fire.  Resolute men
+might have defended themselves in this little fastness against many
+assailants, who must have been completely exposed to their arrows
+or musketry in the ascent.
+
+Being about to leave the place, I heard a strange cry behind a part
+of the wall which I had not visited, and hastening thither, I found
+a miserable object in rags, seated upon a stone.  It was a maniac--
+a man about thirty years of age, and I believe deaf and dumb; there
+he sat, gibbering and mowing, and distorting his wild features into
+various dreadful appearances.  There wanted nothing but this object
+to render the scene complete; banditti amongst such melancholy
+desolation would have been by no means so much in keeping.  But the
+maniac, on his stone, in the rear of the wind-beaten ruin,
+overlooking the blasted heath, above which scowled the leaden
+heaven, presented such a picture of gloom and misery as I believe
+neither painter nor poet ever conceived in the saddest of their
+musings.  This is not the first instance in which it has been my
+lot to verify the wisdom of the saying, that truth is sometimes
+wilder than fiction.
+
+I remounted my mule, and proceeded till, on the top of another
+hill, my guide suddenly exclaimed, "there is Elvas."  I looked in
+the direction in which he pointed, and beheld a town perched on the
+top of a lofty hill.  On the other side of a deep valley towards
+the left rose another hill, much higher, on the top of which is the
+celebrated fort of Elvas, believed to be the strongest place in
+Portugal.  Through the opening between the fort and the town, but
+in the background and far in Spain, I discerned the misty sides and
+cloudy head of a stately mountain, which I afterwards learned was
+Albuquerque, one of the loftiest of Estremadura.
+
+We now got into a cultivated country, and following the road, which
+wound amongst hedgerows, we arrived at a place where the ground
+began gradually to shelve down.  Here, on the right, was the
+commencement of an aqueduct by means of which the town on the
+opposite hill was supplied; it was at this point scarcely two feet
+in altitude, but, as we descended, it became higher and higher, and
+its proportions more colossal.  Near the bottom of the valley it
+took a turn to the left, bestriding the road with one of its
+arches.  I looked up, after passing under it; the water must have
+been flowing near a hundred feet above my head, and I was filled
+with wonder at the immensity of the structure which conveyed it.
+There was, however, one feature which was no slight drawback to its
+pretensions to grandeur and magnificence; the water was supported
+not by gigantic single arches, like those of the aqueduct of
+Lisbon, which stalk over the valley like legs of Titans, but by
+three layers of arches, which, like three distinct aqueducts, rise
+above each other.  The expense and labour necessary for the
+erection of such a structure must have been enormous; and, when we
+reflect with what comparative ease modern art would confer the same
+advantage, we cannot help congratulating ourselves that we live in
+times when it is not necessary to exhaust the wealth of a province
+to supply a town on a hill with one of the first necessaries of
+existence.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+
+Elvas--Extraordinary Longevity--The English Nation--Portuguese
+Ingratitude--Illiberality--Fortifications--Spanish Beggar--Badajoz-
+-The Custom House.
+
+Arrived at the gate of Elvas, an officer came out of a kind of
+guard house, and, having asked me some questions, despatched a
+soldier with me to the police office, that my passport might be
+viseed, as upon the frontier they are much more particular with
+respect to passports than in other parts.  This matter having been
+settled, I entered an hostelry near the same gate, which had been
+recommended to me by my host at Vendas Novas, and which was kept by
+a person of the name of Joze Rosado.  It was the best in the town,
+though, for convenience and accommodation, inferior to a hedge
+alehouse in England.  The cold still pursued me, and I was glad to
+take refuge in an inner kitchen, which, when the door was not open,
+was only lighted by a fire burning somewhat dimly on the hearth.
+An elderly female sat beside it in her chair, telling her beads:
+there was something singular and extraordinary in her look, as well
+as I could discern by the imperfect light of the apartment.  I put
+a few unimportant questions to her, to which she replied, but
+seemed to be afflicted to a slight degree with deafness.  Her hair
+was becoming grey, and I said that I believed she was older than
+myself, but that I was confident she had less snow on her head.
+
+"How old may you be, cavalier?" said she, giving me that title
+which in Spain is generally used when an extraordinary degree of
+respect is wished to be exhibited.  I answered that I was near
+thirty.  "Then," said she, "you were right in supposing that I am
+older than yourself; I am older than your mother, or your mother's
+mother:  it is more than a hundred years since I was a girl, and
+sported with the daughters of the town on the hillside."  "In that
+case," said I, "you doubtless remember the earthquake."  "Yes," she
+replied, "if there is any occurrence in my life that I remember, it
+is that:  I was in the church of Elvas at the moment, hearing the
+mass of the king, and the priest fell on the ground, and let fall
+the Host from his hands.  I shall never forget how the earth shook;
+it made us all sick; and the houses and walls reeled like
+drunkards.  Since that happened I have seen fourscore years pass by
+me, yet I was older then than you are now."
+
+I looked with wonder at this surprising female, and could scarcely
+believe her words.  I was, however, assured that she was in fact
+upwards of a hundred and ten years of age, and was considered the
+oldest person in Portugal.  She still retained the use of her
+faculties in as full a degree as the generality of people who have
+scarcely attained the half of her age.  She was related to the
+people of the house.
+
+As the night advanced, several persons entered for the purpose of
+enjoying the comfort of the fire and for the sake of conversation,
+for the house was a kind of news room, where the principal speaker
+was the host, a man of some shrewdness and experience, who had
+served as a soldier in the British army.  Amongst others was the
+officer who commanded at the gate.  After a few observations, this
+gentleman, who was a good-looking young man of five-and-twenty,
+began to burst forth in violent declamation against the English
+nation and government, who, he said, had at all times proved
+themselves selfish and deceitful, but that their present conduct in
+respect to Spain was particularly infamous, for though it was in
+their power to put an end to the war at once, by sending a large
+army thither, they preferred sending a handful of troops, in order
+that the war might be prolonged, for no other reason than that it
+was of advantage to them.  Having paid him an ironical compliment
+for his politeness and urbanity, I asked whether he reckoned
+amongst the selfish actions of the English government and nation,
+their having expended hundreds of millions of pounds sterling, and
+an ocean of precious blood, in fighting the battles of Spain and
+Portugal against Napoleon.  "Surely," said I, "the fort of Elvas
+above our heads, and still more the castle of Badajoz over the
+water, speak volumes respecting English selfishness, and must,
+every time you view them, confirm you in the opinion which you have
+just expressed.  And then, with respect to the present combat in
+Spain, the gratitude which that country evinced to England after
+the French, by means of English armies, had been expelled,--
+gratitude evinced by discouraging the trade of England on all
+occasions, and by offering up masses in thanksgiving when the
+English heretics quitted the Spanish shores,--ought now to induce
+England to exhaust and ruin herself, for the sake of hunting Don
+Carlos out of his mountains.  In deference to your superior
+judgment," continued I to the officer, "I will endeavour to believe
+that it would be for the advantage of England were the war
+prolonged for an indefinite period; nevertheless, you would do me a
+particular favour by explaining by what process in chemistry blood
+shed in Spain will find its way into the English treasury in the
+shape of gold."
+
+As he was not ready with his answer, I took up a plate of fruit
+which stood on the table beside me, and said, "What do you call
+these fruits?"  "Pomegranates and bolotas," he replied.  "Right,"
+said I, "a home-bred Englishman could not have given me that
+answer; yet he is as much acquainted with pomegranates and bolotas
+as your lordship is with the line of conduct which it is incumbent
+upon England to pursue in her foreign and domestic policy."
+
+This answer of mine, I confess, was not that of a Christian, and
+proved to me how much of the leaven of the ancient man still
+pervaded me; yet I must be permitted to add, that I believe no
+other provocation would have elicited from me a reply so full of
+angry feeling:  but I could not command myself when I heard my own
+glorious land traduced in this unmerited manner.  By whom?  A
+Portuguese!  A native of a country which has been twice liberated
+from horrid and detestable thraldom by the hands of Englishmen.
+But for Wellington and his heroes, Portugal would have been French
+at this day; but for Napier and his mariners, Miguel would now be
+lording it in Lisbon.  To return, however, to the officer; every
+one laughed at him, and he presently went away.
+
+The next day I became acquainted with a respectable tradesman of
+the name of Almeida, a man of talent, though rather rough in his
+manners.  He expressed great abhorrence of the papal system, which
+had so long spread a darkness like that of death over his
+unfortunate country, and I had no sooner informed him that I had
+brought with me a certain quantity of Testaments, which it was my
+intention to leave for sale at Elvas, than he expressed a great
+desire to undertake the charge, and said that he would do the
+utmost in his power to procure a sale for them amongst his numerous
+customers.  Upon showing him a copy, I remarked, your name is upon
+the title page; the Portuguese version of the Holy Scriptures,
+circulated by the Bible Society, having been executed by a
+Protestant of the name of Almeida, and first published in the year
+1712; whereupon he smiled, and observed that he esteemed it an
+honour to be connected in name at least with such a man.  He
+scoffed at the idea of receiving any remuneration, and assured me
+that the feeling of being permitted to co-operate in so holy and
+useful a cause as the circulation of the Scriptures was quite a
+sufficient reward.
+
+After having accomplished this matter, I proceeded to survey the
+environs of the place, and strolled up the hill to the fort on the
+north side of the town.  The lower part of the hill is planted with
+azinheiras, which give it a picturesque appearance, and at the
+bottom is a small brook, which I crossed by means of stepping
+stones.  Arrived at the gate of the fort, I was stopped by the
+sentry, who, however, civilly told me, that if I sent in my name to
+the commanding officer he would make no objection to my visiting
+the interior.  I accordingly sent in my card by a soldier who was
+lounging about, and, sitting down on a stone, waited his return.
+He presently appeared, and inquired whether I was an Englishman; to
+which, having replied in the affirmative, he said, "In that case,
+sir, you cannot enter; indeed, it is not the custom to permit any
+foreigners to visit the fort."  I answered that it was perfectly
+indifferent to me whether I visited it or not; and, having taken a
+survey of Badajoz from the eastern side of the hill, descended by
+the way I came.
+
+This is one of the beneficial results of protecting a nation and
+squandering blood and treasure in its defence.  The English, who
+have never been at war with Portugal, who have fought for its
+independence on land and sea, and always with success, who have
+forced themselves by a treaty of commerce to drink its coarse and
+filthy wines, which no other nation cares to taste, are the most
+unpopular people who visit Portugal.  The French have ravaged the
+country with fire and sword, and shed the blood of its sons like
+water; the French buy not its fruits and loathe its wines, yet
+there is no bad spirit in Portugal towards the French.  The reason
+of this is no mystery; it is the nature not of the Portuguese only,
+but of corrupt and unregenerate man, to dislike his benefactors,
+who, by conferring benefits upon him, mortify in the most generous
+manner his miserable vanity.
+
+There is no country in which the English are so popular as in
+France; but, though the French have been frequently roughly handled
+by the English, and have seen their capital occupied by an English
+army, they have never been subjected to the supposed ignominy of
+receiving assistance from them.
+
+The fortifications of Elvas are models of their kind, and, at the
+first view, it would seem that the town, if well garrisoned, might
+bid defiance to any hostile power; but it has its weak point:  the
+western side is commanded by a hill, at the distance of half a
+mile, from which an experienced general would cannonade it, and
+probably with success.  It is the last town in this part of
+Portugal, the distance to the Spanish frontier being barely two
+leagues.  It was evidently built as a rival to Badajoz, upon which
+it looks down from its height across a sandy plain and over the
+sullen waters of the Guadiana; but, though a strong town, it can
+scarcely be called a defence to the frontier, which is open on all
+sides, so that there would not be the slightest necessity for an
+invading army to approach within a dozen leagues of its walls,
+should it be disposed to avoid them.  Its fortifications are so
+extensive that ten thousand men at least would be required to man
+them, who, in the event of an invasion, might be far better
+employed in meeting the enemy in the open field.  The French,
+during their occupation of Portugal, kept a small force in this
+place, who, at the approach of the British, retreated to the fort,
+where they shortly after capitulated.
+
+Having nothing farther to detain me at Elvas, I proceeded to cross
+the frontier into Spain.  My idiot guide was on his way back to
+Aldea Gallega; and, on the fifth of January, I mounted a sorry mule
+without bridle or stirrups, which I guided by a species of halter,
+and followed by a lad who was to attend me on another, I spurred
+down the hill of Elvas to the plain, eager to arrive in old
+chivalrous romantic Spain.  But I soon found that I had no need to
+quicken the beast which bore me, for though covered with sores,
+wall-eyed, and with a kind of halt in its gait, it cantered along
+like the wind.
+
+In little more than half an hour we arrived at a brook, whose
+waters ran vigorously between steep banks.  A man who was standing
+on the side directed me to the ford in the squeaking dialect of
+Portugal; but whilst I was yet splashing through the water, a voice
+from the other bank hailed me, in the magnificent language of
+Spain, in this guise:  "O Senor Caballero, que me de usted una
+limosna por amor de Dios, una limosnita para que io me compre un
+traguillo de vino tinto"  (Charity, Sir Cavalier, for the love of
+God, bestow an alms upon me, that I may purchase a mouthful of red
+wine).  In a moment I was on Spanish ground, as the brook, which is
+called Acaia, is the boundary here of the two kingdoms, and having
+flung the beggar a small piece of silver, I cried in ecstasy
+"Santiago y cierra Espana!" and scoured on my way with more speed
+than before, paying, as Gil Blas says, little heed to the torrent
+of blessings which the mendicant poured forth in my rear:  yet
+never was charity more unwisely bestowed, for I was subsequently
+informed that the fellow was a confirmed drunkard, who took his
+station every morning at the ford, where he remained the whole day
+for the purpose of extorting money from the passengers, which he
+regularly spent every night in the wine-shops of Badajoz.  To those
+who gave him money he returned blessings, and to those who refused,
+curses; being equally skilled and fluent in the use of either.
+
+Badajoz was now in view, at the distance of little more than half a
+league.  We soon took a turn to the left, towards a bridge of many
+arches across the Guadiana, which, though so famed in song and
+ballad, is a very unpicturesque stream, shallow and sluggish,
+though tolerably wide; its banks were white with linen which the
+washer-women had spread out to dry in the sun, which was shining
+brightly; I heard their singing at a great distance, and the theme
+seemed to be the praises of the river where they were toiling, for
+as I approached, I could distinguish Guadiana, Guadiana, which
+reverberated far and wide, pronounced by the clear and strong
+voices of many a dark-checked maid and matron.  I thought there was
+some analogy between their employment and my own:  I was about to
+tan my northern complexion by exposing myself to the hot sun of
+Spain, in the humble hope of being able to cleanse some of the foul
+stains of Popery from the minds of its children, with whom I had
+little acquaintance, whilst they were bronzing themselves on the
+banks of the river in order to make white the garments of
+strangers:  the words of an eastern poet returned forcibly to my
+mind.
+
+
+"I'll weary myself each night and each day,
+To aid my unfortunate brothers;
+As the laundress tans her own face in the ray,
+To cleanse the garments of others."
+
+
+Having crossed the bridge, we arrived at the northern gate, when
+out rushed from a species of sentry box a fellow wearing on his
+head a high-peaked Andalusian hat, with his figure wrapped up in
+one of those immense cloaks so well known to those who have
+travelled in Spain, and which none but a Spaniard can wear in a
+becoming manner:  without saying a word, he laid hold of the halter
+of the mule, and began to lead it through the gate up a dirty
+street, crowded with long-cloaked people like himself.  I asked him
+what he meant, but he deigned not to return an answer, the boy,
+however, who waited upon me said that it was one of the gate-
+keepers, and that he was conducting us to the Custom House or
+Alfandega, where the baggage would be examined.  Having arrived
+there, the fellow, who still maintained a dogged silence, began to
+pull the trunks off the sumpter mule, and commenced uncording them.
+I was about to give him a severe reproof for his brutality, but
+before I could open my mouth a stout elderly personage appeared at
+the door, who I soon found was the principal officer.  He looked at
+me for a moment and then asked me, in the English language, if I
+was an Englishman.  On my replying in the affirmative, he demanded
+of the fellow how he dared to have the insolence to touch the
+baggage, without orders, and sternly bade him cord up the trunks
+again and place them on the mule, which he performed without
+uttering a word.  The gentleman then asked what the trunks
+contained:  I answered clothes and linen; when he begged pardon for
+the insolence of the subordinate, and informed him that I was at
+liberty to proceed where I thought proper.  I thanked him for his
+exceeding politeness, and, under guidance of the boy, made the best
+of my way to the Inn of the Three Nations, to which I had been
+recommended at Elvas.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+
+Badajoz--Antonio the Gypsy--Antonio's Proposal--The Proposal
+Accepted--Gypsy Breakfast--Departure from Badajoz--The Gypsy
+Donkey--Merida--The Ruined Wall--The Crone--The Land of the Moor--
+The Black Men--Life in the Desert--The Supper.
+
+I was now at Badajoz in Spain, a country which for the next four
+years was destined to be the scene of my labour:  but I will not
+anticipate.  The neighbourhood of Badajoz did not prepossess me
+much in favour of the country which I had just entered; it consists
+chiefly of brown moors, which bear little but a species of
+brushwood, called in Spanish carrasco; blue mountains are however
+seen towering up in the far distance, which relieve the scene from
+the monotony which would otherwise pervade it.
+
+It was at this town of Badajoz, the capital of Estremadura, that I
+first fell in with those singular people, the Zincali, Gitanos, or
+Spanish gypsies.  It was here I met with the wild Paco, the man
+with the withered arm, who wielded the cachas (shears) with his
+left hand; his shrewd wife, Antonia, skilled in hokkano baro, or
+the great trick; the fierce gypsy, Antonio Lopez, their father-in-
+law; and many other almost equally singular individuals of the
+Errate, or gypsy blood.  It was here that I first preached the
+gospel to the gypsy people, and commenced that translation of the
+New Testament in the Spanish gypsy tongue, a portion of which I
+subsequently printed at Madrid.
+
+After a stay of three weeks at Badajoz, I prepared to depart for
+Madrid:  late one afternoon, as I was arranging my scanty baggage,
+the gypsy Antonio entered my apartment, dressed in his zamarra and
+high-peaked Andalusian hat.
+
+Antonio.--Good evening, brother; they tell me that on the
+callicaste (day after to-morrow) you intend to set out for
+Madrilati.
+
+Myself.--Such is my intention; I can stay here no longer.
+
+Antonio.--The way is far to Madrilati:  there are, moreover, wars
+in the land and many chories (thieves) walk about; are you not
+afraid to journey?
+
+Myself.--I have no fears; every man must accomplish his destiny:
+what befalls my body or soul was written in a gabicote (book) a
+thousand years before the foundation of the world.
+
+Antonio.--I have no fears myself, brother; the dark night is the
+same to me as the fair day, and the wild carrascal as the market-
+place or the chardy (fair); I have got the bar lachi in my bosom,
+the precious stone to which sticks the needle.
+
+Myself.--You mean the loadstone, I suppose.  Do you believe that a
+lifeless stone can preserve you from the dangers which occasionally
+threaten your life?
+
+Antonio.--Brother, I am fifty years old, and you see me standing
+before you in life and strength; how could that be unless the bar
+lachi had power?  I have been soldier and contrabandista, and I
+have likewise slain and robbed the Busne.  The bullets of the
+Gabine (French) and of the jara canallis (revenue officers) have
+hissed about my ears without injuring me, for I carried the bar
+lachi.  I have twenty times done that which by Busnee law should
+have brought me to the filimicha (gallows), yet my neck has never
+yet been squeezed by the cold garrote.  Brother, I trust in the bar
+lachi, like the Calore of old:  were I in the midst of the gulph of
+Bombardo (Lyons), without a plank to float upon, I should feel no
+fear; for if I carried the precious stone, it would bring me safe
+to shore:  the bar lachi has power, brother.
+
+Myself.--I shall not dispute the matter with you, more especially
+as I am about to depart from Badajoz:  I must speedily bid you
+farewell, and we shall see each other no more.
+
+Antonio.--Brother, do you know what brings me hither?
+
+Myself.--I cannot tell, unless it be to wish me a happy journey:  I
+am not gypsy enough to interpret the thoughts of other people.
+
+Antonio.--All last night I lay awake, thinking of the affairs of
+Egypt; and when I arose in the morning I took the bar lachi from my
+bosom, and scraping it with a knife, swallowed some of the dust in
+aguardiente, as I am in the habit of doing when I have made up my
+mind; and I said to myself, I am wanted on the frontiers of
+Castumba (Castile) on a certain matter.  The strange Caloro is
+about to proceed to Madrilati; the journey is long, and he may fall
+into evil hands, peradventure into those of his own blood; for let
+me tell you, brother, the Cales are leaving their towns and
+villages, and forming themselves into troops to plunder the Busne,
+for there is now but little law in the land, and now or never is
+the time for the Calore to become once more what they were in
+former times; so I said, the strange Caloro may fall into the hands
+of his own blood and be ill-treated by them, which were shame:  I
+will therefore go with him through the Chim del Manro (Estremadura)
+as far as the frontiers of Castumba, and upon the frontiers of
+Castumba I will leave the London Caloro to find his own way to
+Madrilati, for there is less danger in Castumba than in the Chim
+del Manro, and I will then betake me to the affairs of Egypt which
+call me from hence.
+
+Myself.--This is a very hopeful plan of yours, my friend; and in
+what manner do you propose that we shall travel?
+
+Antonio.--I will tell you, brother; I have a gras in the stall,
+even the one which I purchased at Olivencas, as I told you on a
+former occasion; it is good and fleet, and cost me, who am a gypsy,
+fifty chule (dollars); upon that gras you shall ride.  As for
+myself, I will journey upon the macho.
+
+Myself.--Before I answer you, I shall wish you to inform me what
+business it is which renders your presence necessary in Castumba;
+your son-in-law, Paco, told me that it was no longer the custom of
+the gypsies to wander.
+
+Antonio.--It is an affair of Egypt, brother, and I shall not
+acquaint you with it; peradventure it relates to a horse or an ass,
+or peradventure it relates to a mule or a macho; it does not relate
+to yourself, therefore I advise you not to inquire about it--Dosta
+(enough).  With respect to my offer, you are free to decline it;
+there is a drungruje (royal road) between here and Madrilati, and
+you can travel it in the birdoche (stage-coach) or with the dromale
+(muleteers); but I tell you, as a brother, that there are chories
+upon the drun, and some of them are of the Errate.
+
+Certainly few people in my situation would have accepted the offer
+of this singular gypsy.  It was not, however, without its
+allurements for me; I was fond of adventure, and what more ready
+means of gratifying my love of it than by putting myself under the
+hands of such a guide.  There are many who would have been afraid
+of treachery, but I had no fears on this point, as I did not
+believe that the fellow harboured the slightest ill intention
+towards me; I saw that he was fully convinced that I was one of the
+Errate, and his affection for his own race, and his hatred for the
+Busne, were his strongest characteristics.  I wished, moreover, to
+lay hold of every opportunity of making myself acquainted with the
+ways of the Spanish gypsies, and an excellent one here presented
+itself on my first entrance into Spain.  In a word, I determined to
+accompany the gypsy.  "I will go with you," I exclaimed; "as for my
+baggage, I will despatch it to Madrid by the birdoche."  "Do so,
+brother," he replied, "and the gras will go lighter.  Baggage,
+indeed!--what need of baggage have you?  How the Busne on the road
+would laugh if they saw two Cales with baggage behind them."
+
+During my stay at Badajoz, I had but little intercourse with the
+Spaniards, my time being chiefly devoted to the gypsies, with whom,
+from long intercourse with various sections of their race in
+different parts of the world, I felt myself much more at home than
+with the silent, reserved men of Spain, with whom a foreigner might
+mingle for half a century without having half a dozen words
+addressed to him, unless he himself made the first advances to
+intimacy, which, after all, might be rejected with a shrug and a no
+intendo; for, among the many deeply rooted prejudices of these
+people, is the strange idea that no foreigner can speak their
+language; an idea to which they will still cling though they hear
+him conversing with perfect ease; for in that case the utmost that
+they will concede to his attainments is, Habla quatro palabras y
+nada mas (he can speak four words, and no more).
+
+Early one morning, before sunrise, I found myself at the house of
+Antonio; it was a small mean building, situated in a dirty street.
+The morning was quite dark; the street, however, was partially
+illumined by a heap of lighted straw, round which two or three men
+were busily engaged, apparently holding an object over the flames.
+Presently the gypsy's door opened, and Antonio made his appearance;
+and, casting his eye in the direction of the light, exclaimed, "The
+swine have killed their brother; would that every Busno was served
+as yonder hog is.  Come in, brother, and we will eat the heart of
+that hog."  I scarcely understood his words, but, following him, he
+led me into a low room in which was a brasero, or small pan full of
+lighted charcoal; beside it was a rude table, spread with a coarse
+linen cloth, upon which was bread and a large pipkin full of a mess
+which emitted no disagreeable savour.  "The heart of the balichow
+is in that puchera," said Antonio; "eat, brother."  We both sat
+down and ate, Antonio voraciously.  When we had concluded he
+arose:- "Have you got your li?" he demanded.  "Here it is," said I,
+showing him my passport.  "Good," said he, "you may want it; I want
+none, my passport is the bar lachi.  Now for a glass of repani, and
+then for the road."
+
+We left the room, the door of which he locked, hiding the key
+beneath a loose brick in a corner of the passage.  "Go into the
+street, brother, whilst I fetch the caballerias from the stable."
+I obeyed him.  The sun had not yet risen, and the air was
+piercingly cold; the grey light, however, of dawn enabled me to
+distinguish objects with tolerable accuracy; I soon heard the
+clattering of the animals' feet, and Antonio presently stepped
+forth leading the horse by the bridle; the macho followed behind.
+I looked at the horse and shrugged my shoulders:  as far as I could
+scan it, it appeared the most uncouth animal I had ever beheld.  It
+was of a spectral white, short in the body, but with remarkably
+long legs.  I observed that it was particularly high in the cruz or
+withers.  "You are looking at the grasti," said Antonio; "it is
+eighteen years old, but it is the very best in the Chim del Manro;
+I have long had my eye upon it; I bought it for my own use for the
+affairs of Egypt.  Mount, brother, mount and let us leave the
+foros--the gate is about being opened."
+
+He locked the door, and deposited the key in his faja.  In less
+than a quarter of an hour we had left the town behind us.  "This
+does not appear to be a very good horse," said I to Antonio, as we
+proceeded over the plain.  "It is with difficulty that I can make
+him move."
+
+"He is the swiftest horse in the Chim del Manro, brother," said
+Antonio; "at the gallop and at the speedy trot there is no one to
+match him; but he is eighteen years old, and his joints are stiff,
+especially of a morning; but let him once become heated and the
+genio del viejo (spirit of the old man) comes upon him and there is
+no holding him in with bit or bridle.  I bought that horse for the
+affairs of Egypt, brother."
+
+About noon we arrived at a small village in the neighbourhood of a
+high lumpy hill.  "There is no Calo house in this place," said
+Antonio; "we will therefore go to the posada of the Busne, and
+refresh ourselves, man and beast."  We entered the kitchen and sat
+down at the boards, calling for wine and bread.  There were two
+ill-looking fellows in the kitchen, smoking cigars; I said
+something to Antonio in the Calo language.
+
+"What is that I hear?" said one of the fellows, who was
+distinguished by an immense pair of moustaches.  "What is that I
+hear? is it in Calo that you are speaking before me, and I a Chalan
+and national?  Accursed gypsy, how dare you enter this posada and
+speak before me in that speech?  Is it not forbidden by the law of
+the land in which we are, even as it is forbidden for a gypsy to
+enter the mercado?  I tell you what, friend, if I hear another word
+of Calo come from your mouth, I will cudgel your bones and send you
+flying over the house-tops with a kick of my foot."
+
+"You would do right," said his companion; "the insolence of these
+gypsies is no longer to be borne.  When I am at Merida or Badajoz I
+go to the mercado, and there in a corner stand the accursed gypsies
+jabbering to each other in a speech which I understand not.  'Gypsy
+gentleman,' say I to one of them, 'what will you have for that
+donkey?'  'I will have ten dollars for it, Caballero nacional,'
+says the gypsy; 'it is the best donkey in all Spain.'  'I should
+like to see its paces,' say I.  'That you shall, most valorous!'
+says the gypsy, and jumping upon its back, he puts it to its paces,
+first of all whispering something into its ears in Calo, and truly
+the paces of the donkey are most wonderful, such as I have never
+seen before.  'I think it will just suit me,' and after looking at
+it awhile, I take out the money and pay for it.  'I shall go to my
+house,' says the gypsy; and off he runs.  'I shall go to my
+village,' say I, and I mount the donkey.  'Vamonos,' say I, but the
+donkey won't move.  I give him a switch, but I don't get on the
+better for that.  'How is this?' say I, and I fall to spurring him.
+What happens then, brother?  The wizard no sooner feels the prick
+than he bucks down, and flings me over his head into the mire.  I
+get up and look about me; there stands the donkey staring at me,
+and there stand the whole gypsy canaille squinting at me with their
+filmy eyes.  'Where is the scamp who has sold me this piece of
+furniture?' I shout.  'He is gone to Granada, Valorous,' says one.
+'He is gone to see his kindred among the Moors,' says another.  'I
+just saw him running over the field, in the direction of -, with
+the devil close behind him,' says a third.  In a word, I am
+tricked.  I wish to dispose of the donkey; no one, however, will
+buy him; he is a Calo donkey, and every person avoids him.  At last
+the gypsies offer thirty rials for him; and after much chaffering I
+am glad to get rid of him at two dollars.  It is all a trick,
+however; he returns to his master, and the brotherhood share the
+spoil amongst them.  All which villainy would be prevented, in my
+opinion, were the Calo language not spoken; for what but the word
+of Calo could have induced the donkey to behave in such an
+unaccountable manner?"
+
+Both seemed perfectly satisfied with the justness of this
+conclusion, and continued smoking till their cigars were burnt to
+stumps, when they arose, twitched their whiskers, looked at us with
+fierce disdain, and dashing the tobacco-ends to the ground, strode
+out of the apartment.
+
+"Those people seem no friends to the gypsies," said I to Antonio,
+when the two bullies had departed, "nor to the Calo language
+either."
+
+"May evil glanders seize their nostrils," said Antonio; "they have
+been jonjabadoed by our people.  However, brother, you did wrong to
+speak to me in Calo, in a posada like this; it is a forbidden
+language; for, as I have often told you, the king has destroyed the
+law of the Cales.  Let us away, brother, or those juntunes
+(sneaking scoundrels) may set the justicia upon us."
+
+Towards evening we drew near to a large town or village.  "That is
+Merida," said Antonio, "formerly, as the Busne say, a mighty city
+of the Corahai.  We shall stay here to-night, and perhaps for a day
+or two, for I have some business of Egypt to transact in this
+place.  Now, brother, step aside with the horse, and wait for me
+beneath yonder wall.  I must go before and see in what condition
+matters stand."
+
+I dismounted from the horse, and sat down on a stone beneath the
+ruined wall to which Antonio had motioned me; the sun went down,
+and the air was exceedingly keen; I drew close around me an old
+tattered gypsy cloak with which my companion had provided me, and
+being somewhat fatigued, fell into a doze which lasted for nearly
+an hour.
+
+"Is your worship the London Caloro?" said a strange voice close
+beside me.
+
+I started and beheld the face of a woman peering under my hat.
+Notwithstanding the dusk, I could see that the features were
+hideously ugly and almost black; they belonged, in fact, to a gypsy
+crone, at least seventy years of age, leaning upon a staff.
+
+"Is your worship the London Caloro?" repeated she.
+
+"I am he whom you seek," said I; "where is Antonio?"
+
+"Curelando, curelando, baribustres curelos terela," {1} said the
+crone:  "come with me, Caloro of my garlochin, come with me to my
+little ker, he will be there anon."
+
+I followed the crone, who led the way into the town, which was
+ruinous and seemingly half deserted; we went up the street, from
+which she turned into a narrow and dark lane, and presently opened
+the gate of a large dilapidated house; "Come in," said she.
+
+"And the gras?" I demanded.
+
+"Bring the gras in too, my chabo, bring the gras in too; there is
+room for the gras in my little stable."  We entered a large court,
+across which we proceeded till we came to a wide doorway.  "Go in,
+my child of Egypt," said the hag; "go in, that is my little
+stable."
+
+"The place is as dark as pitch," said I, "and may be a well for
+what I know; bring a light or I will not enter."
+
+"Give me the solabarri (bridle)," said the hag, "and I will lead
+your horse in, my chabo of Egypt, yes, and tether him to my little
+manger."  She led the horse through the doorway, and I heard her
+busy in the darkness; presently the horse shook himself:  "Grasti
+terelamos," said the hag, who now made her appearance with the
+bridle in her hand; "the horse has shaken himself, he is not harmed
+by his day's journey; now let us go in, my Caloro, into my little
+room."
+
+We entered the house and found ourselves in a vast room, which
+would have been quite dark but for a faint glow which appeared at
+the farther end; it proceeded from a brasero, beside which were
+squatted two dusky figures.
+
+"These are Callees," said the hag; "one is my daughter and the
+other is her chabi; sit down, my London Caloro, and let us hear you
+speak."
+
+I looked about for a chair, but could see none; at a short
+distance, however, I perceived the end of a broken pillar lying on
+the floor; this I rolled to the brasero and sat down upon it.
+
+"This is a fine house, mother of the gypsies," said I to the hag,
+willing to gratify the desire she had expressed of hearing me
+speak; "a fine house is this of yours, rather cold and damp,
+though; it appears large enough to be a barrack for hundunares."
+
+"Plenty of houses in this foros, plenty of houses in Merida, my
+London Caloro, some of them just as they were left by the
+Corahanoes; ah, a fine people are the Corahanoes; I often wish
+myself in their chim once more."
+
+"How is this, mother," said I, "have you been in the land of the
+Moors?"
+
+"Twice have I been in their country, my Caloro,--twice have I been
+in the land of the Corahai; the first time is more than fifty years
+ago, I was then with the Sese (Spaniards), for my husband was a
+soldier of the Crallis of Spain, and Oran at that time belonged to
+Spain."
+
+"You were not then with the real Moors," said I, "but only with the
+Spaniards who occupied part of their country."
+
+"I have been with the real Moors, my London Caloro.  Who knows more
+of the real Moors than myself?  About forty years ago I was with my
+ro in Ceuta, for he was still a soldier of the king, and he said to
+me one day, 'I am tired of this place where there is no bread and
+less water, I will escape and turn Corahano; this night I will kill
+my sergeant and flee to the camp of the Moor.'  'Do so,' said I,
+'my chabo, and as soon as may be I will follow you and become a
+Corahani.'  That same night he killed his sergeant, who five years
+before had called him Calo and cursed him, then running to the wall
+he dropped from it, and amidst many shots he escaped to the land of
+the Corahai, as for myself, I remained in the presidio of Ceuta as
+a suttler, selling wine and repani to the soldiers.  Two years
+passed by and I neither saw nor heard from my ro; one day there
+came a strange man to my cachimani (wine-shop), he was dressed like
+a Corahano, and yet he did not look like one, he looked like more a
+callardo (black), and yet he was not a callardo either, though he
+was almost black, and as I looked upon him I thought he looked
+something like the Errate, and he said to me, 'Zincali; chachipe!'
+and then he whispered to me in queer language, which I could
+scarcely understand, 'Your ro is waiting, come with me, my little
+sister, and I will take you unto him.'  'Where is he?' said I, and
+he pointed to the west, to the land of the Corahai, and said, 'He
+is yonder away; come with me, little sister, the ro is waiting.'
+For a moment I was afraid, but I bethought me of my husband and I
+wished to be amongst the Corahai; so I took the little parne
+(money) I had, and locking up the cachimani went with the strange
+man; the sentinel challenged us at the gate, but I gave him repani
+(brandy) and he let us pass; in a moment we were in the land of the
+Corahai.  About a league from the town beneath a hill we found four
+people, men and women, all very black like the strange man, and we
+joined ourselves with them and they all saluted me and called me
+little sister.  That was all I understood of their discourse, which
+was very crabbed; and they took away my dress and gave me other
+clothes, and I looked like a Corahani, and away we marched for many
+days amidst deserts and small villages, and more than once it
+seemed to me that I was amongst the Errate, for their ways were the
+same:  the men would hokkawar (cheat) with mules and asses, and the
+women told baji, and after many days we came before a large town,
+and the black man said, 'Go in there, little sister, and there you
+will find your ro;' and I went to the gate, and an armed Corahano
+stood within the gate, and I looked in his face, and lo! it was my
+ro.
+
+"O what a strange town it was that I found myself in, full of
+people who had once been Candore (Christians) but had renegaded and
+become Corahai.  There were Sese and Lalore (Portuguese), and men
+of other nations, and amongst them were some of the Errate from my
+own country; all were now soldiers of the Crallis of the Corahai
+and followed him to his wars; and in that town I remained with my
+ro a long time, occasionally going out with him to the wars, and I
+often asked him about the black men who had brought me thither, and
+he told me that he had had dealings with them, and that he believed
+them to be of the Errate.  Well, brother, to be short, my ro was
+killed in the wars, before a town to which the king of the Corahai
+laid siege, and I became a piuli (widow), and I returned to the
+village of the renegades, as it was called, and supported myself as
+well as I could; and one day as I was sitting weeping, the black
+man, whom I had never seen since the day he brought me to my ro,
+again stood before me, and he said, 'Come with me, little sister,
+come with me, the ro is at hand'; and I went with him, and beyond
+the gate in the desert was the same party of black men and women
+which I had seen before.  'Where is my ro?' said I.  'Here he is,
+little sister,' said the black man, 'here he is; from this day I am
+the ro and you the romi; come, let us go, for there is business to
+be done.'
+
+"And I went with him, and he was my ro, and we lived amongst the
+deserts, and hokkawar'd and choried and told baji; and I said to
+myself, this is good, sure I am amongst the Errate in a better chim
+than my own; and I often said that they were of the Errate, and
+then they would laugh and say that it might be so, and that they
+were not Corahai, but they could give no account of themselves.
+
+"Well, things went on in this way for years, and I had three chai
+by the black man, two of them died, but the youngest, who is the
+Calli who sits by the brasero, was spared; so we roamed about and
+choried and told baji; and it came to pass that once in the winter
+time our company attempted to pass a wide and deep river, of which
+there are many in the Chim del Corahai, and the boat overset with
+the rapidity of the current and all our people were drowned, all
+but myself and my chabi, whom I bore in my bosom.  I had now no
+friends amongst the Corahai, and I wandered about the despoblados
+howling and lamenting till I became half lili (mad), and in this
+manner I found my way to the coast, where I made friends with the
+captain of a ship and returned to this land of Spain.  And now I am
+here, I often wish myself back again amongst the Corahai."
+
+Here she commenced laughing loud and long, and when she had ceased,
+her daughter and grandchild took up the laugh, which they continued
+so long that I concluded they were all lunatics.
+
+Hour succeeded hour, and still we sat crouching over the brasero,
+from which, by this time, all warmth had departed; the glow had
+long since disappeared, and only a few dying sparks were to be
+distinguished.  The room or hall was now involved in utter
+darkness; the women were motionless and still; I shivered and began
+to feel uneasy.  "Will Antonio be here to-night?" at length I
+demanded.
+
+"No tenga usted cuidao, my London Caloro," said the Gypsy mother,
+in an unearthly tone; "Pepindorio {2} has been here some time."
+
+I was about to rise from my seat and attempt to escape from the
+house, when I felt a hand laid upon my shoulder, and in a moment I
+heard the voice of Antonio.
+
+"Be not afraid, 'tis I, brother; we will have a light anon, and
+then supper."
+
+The supper was rude enough, consisting of bread, cheese, and
+olives.  Antonio, however, produced a leathern bottle of excellent
+wine; we despatched these viands by the light of an earthen lamp
+which was placed upon the floor.
+
+"Now," said Antonio to the youngest female, "bring me the pajandi,
+and I will sing a gachapla."
+
+The girl brought the guitar, which, with some difficulty, the Gypsy
+tuned, and then strumming it vigorously, he sang:
+
+
+"I stole a plump and bonny fowl,
+   But ere I well had dined,
+The master came with scowl and growl,
+   And me would captive bind.
+
+"My hat and mantle off I threw,
+   And scour'd across the lea,
+Then cried the beng {3} with loud halloo,
+   Where does the Gypsy flee?"
+
+
+He continued playing and singing for a considerable time, the two
+younger females dancing in the meanwhile with unwearied diligence,
+whilst the aged mother occasionally snapped her fingers or beat
+time on the ground with her stick.  At last Antonio suddenly laid
+down the instrument:-
+
+"I see the London Caloro is weary; enough, enough, to-morrow more
+thereof--we will now to the charipe (bed)."
+
+"With all my heart," said I; "where are we to sleep?"
+
+"In the stable," said he, "in the manger; however cold the stable
+may be we shall be warm enough in the bufa."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+
+The Gypsy's Granddaughter--Proposed Marriage--The Algnazil--The
+Assault--Speedy Trot--Arrival at Trujillo--Night and Rain--The
+Forest--The Bivouac--Mount and Away!--Jaraicejo--The National--The
+Cavalier Balmerson--Among the Thicket--Serious Discourse--What is
+Truth?--Unexpected Intelligence.
+
+We remained three days at the Gypsies' house, Antonio departing
+early every morning, on his mule, and returning late at night.  The
+house was large and ruinous, the only habitable part of it, with
+the exception of the stable, being the hall, where we had supped,
+and there the Gypsy females slept at night, on some mats and
+mattresses in a corner.
+
+"A strange house is this," said I to Antonio, one morning as he was
+on the point of saddling his mule and departing, as I supposed, on
+the affairs of Egypt; "a strange house and strange people; that
+Gypsy grandmother has all the appearance of a sowanee (sorceress)."
+
+"All the appearance of one!" said Antonio; "and is she not really
+one?  She knows more crabbed things and crabbed words than all the
+Errate betwixt here and Catalonia.  She has been amongst the wild
+Moors, and can make more drows, poisons, and philtres than any one
+alive.  She once made a kind of paste, and persuaded me to taste,
+and shortly after I had done so my soul departed from my body, and
+wandered through horrid forests and mountains, amidst monsters and
+duendes, during one entire night.  She learned many things amidst
+the Corahai which I should be glad to know."
+
+"Have you been long acquainted with her?" said I; "you appear to be
+quite at home in this house."
+
+"Acquainted with her!" said Antonio.  "Did not my own brother marry
+the black Calli, her daughter, who bore him the chabi, sixteen
+years ago, just before he was hanged by the Busne?"
+
+In the afternoon I was seated with the Gypsy mother in the hall,
+the two Callees were absent telling fortunes about the town and
+neighbourhood, which was their principal occupation.  "Are you
+married, my London Caloro?" said the old woman to me.  "Are you a
+ro?"
+
+Myself.--Wherefore do you ask, O Dai de los Cales?
+
+Gypsy Mother.--It is high time that the lacha of the chabi were
+taken from her, and that she had a ro.  You can do no better than
+take her for romi, my London Caloro.
+
+Myself.--I am a stranger in this land, O mother of the Gypsies, and
+scarcely know how to provide for myself, much less for a romi.
+
+Gypsy Mother.--She wants no one to provide for her, my London
+Caloro, she can at any time provide for herself and her ro.  She
+can hokkawar, tell baji, and there are few to equal her at stealing
+a pastesas.  Were she once at Madrilati, where they tell me you are
+going, she would make much treasure; therefore take her thither,
+for in this foros she is nahi (lost), as it were, for there is
+nothing to be gained; but in the foros baro it would be another
+matter; she would go dressed in lachipi and sonacai (silk and
+gold), whilst you would ride about on your black-tailed gra; and
+when you had got much treasure, you might return hither and live
+like a Crallis, and all the Errate of the Chim del Manro should bow
+down their heads to you.  What, say you, my London Caloro, what say
+you to my plan?
+
+Myself.--Your plan is a plausible one, mother, or at least some
+people would think so; but I am, as you are aware, of another chim,
+and have no inclination to pass my life in this country.
+
+Gypsy Mother.--Then return to your own country, my Caloro, the
+chabi can cross the pani.  Would she not do business in London with
+the rest of the Calore?  Or why not go to the land of the Corahai?
+In which case I would accompany you; I and my daughter, the mother
+of the chabi.
+
+Myself.--And what should we do in the land of the Corahai?  It is a
+poor and wild country, I believe.
+
+Gypsy Mother.--The London Caloro asks me what we could do in the
+land of the Corahai!  Aromali!  I almost think that I am speaking
+to a lilipendi (simpleton).  Are there not horses to chore?  Yes, I
+trow there are, and better ones than in this land, and asses and
+mules.  In the land of the Corahai you must hokkawar and chore even
+as you must here, or in your own country, or else you are no
+Caloro.  Can you not join yourselves with the black people who live
+in the despoblados?  Yes, surely; and glad they would be to have
+among them the Errate from Spain and London.  I am seventy years of
+age, but I wish not to die in this chim, but yonder, far away,
+where both my roms are sleeping.  Take the chabi, therefore, and go
+to Madrilati to win the parne, and when you have got it, return,
+and we will give a banquet to all the Busne in Merida, and in their
+food I will mix drow, and they shall eat and burst like poisoned
+sheep. . . . And when they have eaten we will leave them, and away
+to the land of the Moor, my London Caloro.
+
+During the whole time that I remained at Merida I stirred not once
+from the house; following the advice of Antonio, who informed me
+that it would not be convenient.  My time lay rather heavily on my
+hands, my only source of amusement consisting in the conversation
+of the women, and in that of Antonio when he made his appearance at
+night.  In these tertulias the grandmother was the principal
+spokeswoman, and astonished my ears with wonderful tales of the
+Land of the Moors, prison escapes, thievish feats, and one or two
+poisoning adventures, in which she had been engaged, as she
+informed me, in her early youth.
+
+There was occasionally something very wild in her gestures and
+demeanour; more than once I observed her, in the midst of much
+declamation, to stop short, stare in vacancy, and thrust out her
+palms as if endeavouring to push away some invisible substance; she
+goggled frightfully with her eyes, and once sank back in
+convulsions, of which her children took no farther notice than
+observing that she was only lili, and would soon come to herself.
+
+Late in the afternoon of the third day, as the three women and
+myself sat conversing as usual over the brasero, a shabby looking
+fellow in an old rusty cloak walked into the room:  he came
+straight up to the place where we were sitting, produced a paper
+cigar, which he lighted at a coal, and taking a whiff or two,
+looked at me:  "Carracho," said he, "who is this companion?"
+
+I saw at once that the fellow was no Gypsy:  the women said
+nothing, but I could hear the grandmother growling to herself,
+something after the manner of an old grimalkin when disturbed.
+
+"Carracho," reiterated the fellow, "how came this companion here?"
+
+"No le penela chi min chaboro," said the black Callee to me, in an
+undertone; "sin un balicho de los chineles {4};" then looking up to
+the interrogator she said aloud, "he is one of our people from
+Portugal, come on the smuggling lay, and to see his poor sisters
+here."
+
+"Then let him give me some tobacco," said the fellow, "I suppose he
+has brought some with him."
+
+"He has no tobacco," said the black Callee, "he has nothing but old
+iron.  This cigar is the only tobacco there is in the house; take
+it, smoke it, and go away!"
+
+Thereupon she produced a cigar from out her shoe, which she
+presented to the alguazil.
+
+"This will not do," said the fellow, taking the cigar, "I must have
+something better; it is now three months since I received anything
+from you; the last present was a handkerchief, which was good for
+nothing; therefore hand me over something worth taking, or I will
+carry you all to the Carcel."
+
+"The Busno will take us to prison," said the black Callee, "ha! ha!
+ha!"
+
+"The Chinel will take us to prison," giggled the young girl "he!
+he! he!"
+
+"The Bengui will carry us all to the estaripel," grunted the Gypsy
+grandmother, "ho! ho! ho!"
+
+The three females arose and walked slowly round the fellow, fixing
+their eyes steadfastly on his face; he appeared frightened, and
+evidently wished to get away.  Suddenly the two youngest seized his
+hands, and whilst he struggled to release himself, the old woman
+exclaimed:  "You want tobacco, hijo--you come to the Gypsy house to
+frighten the Callees and the strange Caloro out of their plako--
+truly, hijo, we have none for you, and right sorry I am; we have,
+however, plenty of the dust a su servicio."
+
+Here, thrusting her hand into her pocket, she discharged a handful
+of some kind of dust or snuff into the fellow's eyes; he stamped
+and roared, but was for some time held fast by the two Callees; he
+extricated himself, however, and attempted to unsheath a knife
+which he bore at his girdle; but the two younger females flung
+themselves upon him like furies, while the old woman increased his
+disorder by thrusting her stick into his face; he was soon glad to
+give up the contest, and retreated, leaving behind him his hat and
+cloak, which the chabi gathered up and flung after him into the
+street.
+
+"This is a bad business," said I, "the fellow will of course bring
+the rest of the justicia upon us, and we shall all be cast into the
+estaripel."
+
+"Ca!" said the black Callee, biting her thumb nail, "he has more
+reason to fear us than we him, we could bring him to the filimicha;
+we have, moreover, friends in this town, plenty, plenty."
+
+"Yes," mumbled the grandmother, "the daughters of the baji have
+friends, my London Caloro, friends among the Busnees, baributre,
+baribu (plenty, plenty)."
+
+Nothing farther of any account occurred in the Gypsy house; the
+next day, Antonio and myself were again in the saddle, we travelled
+at least thirteen leagues before we reached the Venta, where we
+passed the night; we rose early in the morning, my guide informing
+me that we had a long day's journey to make.  "Where are we bound
+to?"  I demanded.  "To Trujillo," he replied.
+
+When the sun arose, which it did gloomily and amidst threatening
+rain-clouds, we found ourselves in the neighbourhood of a range of
+mountains which lay on our left, and which, Antonio informed me,
+were called the Sierra of San Selvan; our route, however, lay over
+wide plains, scantily clothed with brushwood, with here and there a
+melancholy village, with its old and dilapidated church.
+Throughout the greater part of the day, a drizzling rain was
+falling, which turned the dust of the roads into mud and mire,
+considerably impeding our progress.  Towards evening we reached a
+moor, a wild place enough, strewn with enormous stones and rocks.
+Before us, at some distance, rose a strange conical hill, rough and
+shaggy, which appeared to be neither more nor less than an immense
+assemblage of the same kind of rocks which lay upon the moor.  The
+rain had now ceased, but a strong wind rose and howled at our
+backs.  Throughout the journey, I had experienced considerable
+difficulty in keeping up with the mule of Antonio; the walk of the
+horse was slow, and I could discover no vestige of the spirit which
+the Gypsy had assured me lurked within him.  We were now upon a
+tolerably clear spot of the moor:  "I am about to see," I said,
+"whether this horse has any of the quality which you have
+described."  "Do so," said Antonio, and spurred his beast onward,
+speedily leaving me far behind.  I jerked the horse with the bit,
+endeavouring to arouse his dormant spirit, whereupon he stopped,
+reared, and refused to proceed.  "Hold the bridle loose and touch
+him with your whip," shouted Antonio from before.  I obeyed, and
+forthwith the animal set off at a trot, which gradually increased
+in swiftness till it became a downright furious speedy trot; his
+limbs were now thoroughly lithy, and he brandished his fore legs in
+a manner perfectly wondrous; the mule of Antonio, which was a
+spirited animal of excellent paces, would fain have competed with
+him, but was passed in a twinkling.  This tremendous trot endured
+for about a mile, when the animal, becoming yet more heated, broke
+suddenly into a gallop.  Hurrah! no hare ever ran so wildly or
+blindly; it was, literally, ventre a terre; and I had considerable
+difficulty in keeping him clear of rocks, against which he would
+have rushed in his savage fury, and dashed himself and rider to
+atoms.
+
+This race brought me to the foot of the hill, where I waited till
+the Gypsy rejoined me:  we left the hill, which seemed quite
+inaccessible, on our right, passing through a small and wretched
+village.  The sun went down, and dark night presently came upon us;
+we proceeded on, however, for nearly three hours, until we heard
+the barking of dogs, and perceived a light or two in the distance.
+"That is Trujillo," said Antonio, who had not spoken for a long
+time.  "I am glad of it," I replied; "I am thoroughly tired; I
+shall sleep soundly in Trujillo."  "That is as it may be," said the
+Gypsy, and spurred his mule to a brisker pace.  We soon entered the
+town, which appeared dark and gloomy enough; I followed close
+behind the Gypsy, who led the way I knew not whither, through
+dismal streets and dark places, where cats were squalling.  "Here
+is the house," said he at last, dismounting before a low mean hut;
+he knocked, no answer was returned;--he knocked again, but still
+there was no reply; he shook the door and essayed to open it, but
+it appeared firmly locked and bolted.  "Caramba!" said he, "they
+are out--I feared it might be so.  Now what are we to do?"
+
+"There can be no difficulty," said I, "with respect to what we have
+to do; if your friends are gone out, it is easy enough to go to a
+posada."
+
+"You know not what you say," replied the Gypsy, "I dare not go to
+the mesuna, nor enter any house in Trujillo save this, and this is
+shut; well, there is no remedy, we must move on, and, between
+ourselves, the sooner we leave this place the better; my own
+planoro (brother) was garroted at Trujillo."
+
+He lighted a cigar, by means of a steel and yesca, sprang on his
+mule, and proceeded through streets and lanes equally dismal as
+those which we had already traversed till we again found ourselves
+out of the, town.
+
+I confess I did not much like this decision of the Gypsy; I felt
+very slight inclination to leave the town behind and to venture
+into unknown places in the dark night:  amidst rain and mist, for
+the wind had now dropped, and the rain began again to fall briskly.
+I was, moreover, much fatigued, and wished for nothing better than
+to deposit myself in some comfortable manger, where I might sink to
+sleep, lulled by the pleasant sound of horses and mules despatching
+their provender.  I had, however, put myself under the direction of
+the Gypsy, and I was too old a traveller to quarrel with my guide
+under the present circumstances.  I therefore followed close at his
+crupper; our only light being the glow emitted from the Gypsy's
+cigar; at last he flung it from his mouth into a puddle, and we
+were then in darkness.
+
+We proceeded in this manner for a long time; the Gypsy was silent;
+I myself was equally so; the rain descended more and more.  I
+sometimes thought I heard doleful noises, something like the
+hooting of owls.  "This is a strange night to be wandering abroad
+in," I at length said to Antonio.
+
+"It is, brother," said he, "but I would sooner be abroad in such a
+night, and in such places, than in the estaripel of Trujillo."
+
+We wandered at least a league farther, and appeared now to be near
+a wood, for I could occasionally distinguish the trunks of immense
+trees.  Suddenly Antonio stopped his mule; "Look, brother," said
+he, "to the left, and tell me if you do not see a light; your eyes
+are sharper than mine."  I did as he commanded me.  At first I
+could see nothing, but moving a little farther on I plainly saw a
+large light at some distance, seemingly amongst the trees.  "Yonder
+cannot be a lamp or candle," said I; "it is more like the blaze of
+a fire."  "Very likely," said Antonio.  "There are no queres
+(houses) in this place; it is doubtless a fire made by durotunes
+(shepherds); let us go and join them, for, as you say, it is
+doleful work wandering about at night amidst rain and mire."
+
+We dismounted and entered what I now saw was a forest, leading the
+animals cautiously amongst the trees and brushwood.  In about five
+minutes we reached a small open space, at the farther side of
+which, at the foot of a large cork tree, a fire was burning, and by
+it stood or sat two or three figures; they had heard our approach,
+and one of them now exclaimed Quien Vive?  "I know that voice,"
+said Antonio, and leaving the horse with me, rapidly advanced
+towards the fire:  presently I heard an Ola! and a laugh, and soon
+the voice of Antonio summoned me to advance.  On reaching the fire
+I found two dark lads, and a still darker woman of about forty; the
+latter seated on what appeared to be horse or mule furniture.  I
+likewise saw a horse and two donkeys tethered to the neighbouring
+trees.  It was in fact a Gypsy bivouac. . . . "Come forward,
+brother, and show yourself," said Antonio to me; "you are amongst
+friends; these are of the Errate, the very people whom I expected
+to find at Trujillo, and in whose house we should have slept."
+
+"And what," said I, "could have induced them to leave their house
+in Trujillo and come into this dark forest in the midst of wind and
+rain, to pass the night?"
+
+"They come on business of Egypt, brother, doubtless," replied
+Antonio; "and that business is none of ours, Calla boca!  It is
+lucky we have found them here, else we should have had no supper,
+and our horses no corn."
+
+"My ro is prisoner at the village yonder," said the woman, pointing
+with her hand in a particular direction; "he is prisoner yonder for
+choring a mailla (stealing a donkey); we are come to see what we
+can do in his behalf; and where can we lodge better than in this
+forest, where there is nothing to pay?  It is not the first time, I
+trow, that Calore have slept at the root of a tree."
+
+One of the striplings now gave us barley for our animals in a large
+bag, into which we successively introduced their heads, allowing
+the famished creatures to regale themselves till we conceived that
+they had satisfied their hunger.  There was a puchero simmering at
+the fire, half full of bacon, garbanzos, and other provisions; this
+was emptied into a large wooden platter, and out of this Antonio
+and myself supped; the other Gypsies refused to join us, giving us
+to understand that they had eaten before our arrival; they all,
+however, did justice to the leathern bottle of Antonio, which,
+before his departure from Merida, he had the precaution to fill.
+
+I was by this time completely overcome with fatigue and sleep.
+Antonio flung me an immense horse-cloth, of which he bore more than
+one beneath the huge cushion on which he rode; in this I wrapped
+myself, and placing my head upon a bundle, and my feet as near as
+possible to the fire, I lay down.
+
+Antonio and the other Gypsies remained seated by the fire
+conversing.  I listened for a moment to what they said, but I did
+not perfectly understand it, and what I did understand by no means
+interested me:  the rain still drizzled, but I heeded it not, and
+was soon asleep.
+
+The sun was just appearing as I awoke.  I made several efforts
+before I could rise from the ground; my limbs were quite stiff, and
+my hair was covered with rime; for the rain had ceased and a rather
+severe frost set in.  I looked around me, but could see neither
+Antonio nor the Gypsies; the animals of the latter had likewise
+disappeared, so had the horse which I had hitherto rode; the mule,
+however, of Antonio still remained fastened to the tree! this
+latter circumstance quieted some apprehensions which were beginning
+to arise in my mind.  "They are gone on some business of Egypt," I
+said to myself, "and will return anon."  I gathered together the
+embers of the fire, and heaping upon them sticks and branches, soon
+succeeded in calling forth a blaze, beside which I placed the
+puchero, with what remained of the provision of last night.  I
+waited for a considerable time in expectation of the return of my
+companions, but as they did not appear, I sat down and breakfasted.
+Before I had well finished I heard the noise of a horse approaching
+rapidly, and presently Antonio made his appearance amongst the
+trees, with some agitation in his countenance.  He sprang from the
+horse, and instantly proceeded to untie the mule.  "Mount, brother,
+mount!" said he, pointing to the horse; "I went with the Callee and
+her chabes to the village where the ro is in trouble; the
+chinobaro, however, seized them at once with their cattle, and
+would have laid hands also on me, but I set spurs to the grasti,
+gave him the bridle, and was soon far away.  Mount, brother, mount,
+or we shall have the whole rustic canaille upon us in a twinkling."
+
+I did as he commanded:  we were presently in the road which we had
+left the night before.  Along this we hurried at a great rate, the
+horse displaying his best speedy trot; whilst the mule, with its
+ears pricked up, galloped gallantly at his side.  "What place is
+that on the hill yonder?" said I to Antonio, at the expiration of
+an hour, as we prepared to descend a deep valley.
+
+"That is Jaraicejo," said Antonio; "a bad place it is and a bad
+place it has ever been for the Calo people."
+
+"If it is such a bad place," said I, "I hope we shall not have to
+pass through it."
+
+"We must pass through it," said Antonio, "for more reasons than
+one:  first, forasmuch is the road lies through Jaraicejo; and
+second, forasmuch as it will be necessary to purchase provisions
+there, both for ourselves and horses.  On the other side of
+Jaraicejo there is a wild desert, a despoblado, where we shall find
+nothing."
+
+We crossed the valley, and ascended the hill, and as we drew near
+to the town the Gypsy said, "Brother, we had best pass through that
+town singly.  I will go in advance; follow slowly, and when there
+purchase bread and barley; you have nothing to fear.  I will await
+you on the despoblado."
+
+Without waiting for my answer he hastened forward, and was speedily
+out of sight.
+
+I followed slowly behind, and entered the gate of the town; an old
+dilapidated place, consisting of little more than one street.
+Along this street I was advancing, when a man with a dirty foraging
+cap on his head, and holding a gun in his hand, came running up to
+me:  "Who are you?" said he, in rather rough accents, "from whence
+do you come?"
+
+"From Badajoz and Trujillo," I replied; "why do you ask?"
+
+"I am one of the national guard," said the man, "and am placed here
+to inspect strangers; I am told that a Gypsy fellow just now rode
+through the town; it is well for him that I had stepped into my
+house.  Do you come in his company?"
+
+"Do I look a person," said I, "likely to keep company with
+Gypsies?"
+
+The national measured me from top to toe, and then looked me full
+in the face with an expression which seemed to say, "likely
+enough."  In fact, my appearance was by no means calculated to
+prepossess people in my favour.  Upon my head I wore an old
+Andalusian hat, which, from its condition, appeared to have been
+trodden under foot; a rusty cloak, which had perhaps served half a
+dozen generations, enwrapped my body.  My nether garments were by
+no means of the finest description; and as far as could be seen
+were covered with mud, with which my face was likewise plentifully
+bespattered, and upon my chin was a beard of a week's growth.
+
+"Have you a passport?" at length demanded the national.
+
+I remembered having read that the best way to win a Spaniard's
+heart is to treat him with ceremonious civility.  I therefore
+dismounted, and taking off my hat, made a low bow to the
+constitutional soldier, saying, "Senor nacional, you must know that
+I am an English gentleman, travelling in this country for my
+pleasure; I bear a passport, which, on inspecting, you will find to
+be perfectly regular; it was given me by the great Lord Palmerston,
+minister of England, whom you of course have heard of here; at the
+bottom you will see his own handwriting; look at it and rejoice;
+perhaps you will never have another opportunity.  As I put
+unbounded confidence in the honour of every gentleman, I leave the
+passport in your hands whilst I repair to the posada to refresh
+myself.  When you have inspected it, you will perhaps oblige me so
+far as to bring it to me.  Cavalier, I kiss your hands."
+
+I then made him another low bow, which he returned with one still
+lower, and leaving him now staring at the passport and now looking
+at myself, I went into a posada, to which I was directed by a
+beggar whom I met.
+
+I fed the horse, and procured some bread and barley, as the Gypsy
+had directed me; I likewise purchased three fine partridges of a
+fowler, who was drinking wine in the posada.  He was satisfied with
+the price I gave him, and offered to treat me with a copita, to
+which I made no objection.  As we sat discoursing at the table, the
+national entered with the passport in his hand, and sat down by us.
+
+National.--Caballero!  I return you your passport, it is quite in
+form; I rejoice much to have made your acquaintance; I have no
+doubt that you can give me some information respecting the present
+war.
+
+Myself.--I shall be very happy to afford so polite and honourable a
+gentleman any information in my power.
+
+National.--What is England doing,--is she about to afford any
+assistance to this country?  If she pleased she could put down the
+war in three months.
+
+Myself.--Be under no apprehension, Senor nacional; the war will be
+put down, don't doubt.  You have heard of the English legion, which
+my Lord Palmerston has sent over?  Leave the matter in their hands,
+and you will soon see the result.
+
+National.--It appears to me that this Caballero Balmerson must be a
+very honest man.
+
+Myself.--There can be no doubt of it.
+
+National.--I have heard that he is a great general.
+
+Myself.--There can be no doubt of it.  In some things neither
+Napoleon nor the sawyer {5} would stand a chance with him for a
+moment.  Es mucho hombre.
+
+National.--I am glad to hear it.  Does he intend to head the legion
+himself?
+
+Myself.--I believe not; but he has sent over, to head the fighting
+men, a friend of his, who is thought to be nearly as much versed in
+military matters as himself.
+
+National.--I am rejoiced to hear it.  I see that the war will soon
+be over.  Caballero, I thank you for your politeness, and for the
+information which you have afforded me.  I hope you will have a
+pleasant journey.  I confess that I am surprised to see a gentleman
+of your country travelling alone, and in this manner, through such
+regions as these.  The roads are at present very bad; there have of
+late been many accidents, and more than two deaths in this
+neighbourhood.  The despoblado out yonder has a particularly evil
+name; be on your guard, Caballero.  I am sorry that Gypsy was
+permitted to pass; should you meet him and not like his looks,
+shoot him at once, stab him, or ride him down.  He is a well known
+thief, contrabandista, and murderer, and has committed more
+assassinations than he has fingers on his hands.  Caballero, if you
+please, we will allow you a guard to the other side of the pass.
+You do not wish it?  Then, farewell.  Stay, before I go I should
+wish to see once more the signature of the Caballero Balmerson.
+
+I showed him the signature, which he looked upon with profound
+reverence, uncovering his head for a moment; we then embraced and
+parted.
+
+I mounted the horse and rode from the town, at first proceeding
+very slowly; I had no sooner, however, reached the moor, than I put
+the animal to his speedy trot, and proceeded at a tremendous rate
+for some time, expecting every moment to overtake the Gypsy.  I,
+however, saw nothing of him, nor did I meet with a single human
+being.  The road along which I sped was narrow and sandy, winding
+amidst thickets of broom and brushwood, with which the despoblado
+was overgrown, and which in some places were as high as a man's
+head.  Across the moor, in the direction in which I was proceeding,
+rose a lofty eminence, naked and bare.  The moor extended for at
+least three leagues; I had nearly crossed it, and reached the foot
+of the ascent.  I was becoming very uneasy, conceiving that I might
+have passed the Gypsy amongst the thickets, when I suddenly heard
+his well known Ola! and his black savage head and staring eyes
+suddenly appeared from amidst a clump of broom.
+
+"You have tarried long, brother," said he; "I almost thought you
+had played me false."
+
+He bade me dismount, and then proceeded to lead the horse behind
+the thicket, where I found the route picqueted to the ground.  I
+gave him the barley and provisions, and then proceeded to relate to
+him my adventure with the national.
+
+"I would I had him here," said the Gypsy, on hearing the epithets
+which the former had lavished upon him.  "I would I had him here,
+then should my chulee and his carlo become better acquainted."
+
+"And what are you doing here yourself," I demanded, "in this wild
+place, amidst these thickets?"
+
+"I am expecting a messenger down yon pass," said the Gypsy; "and
+till that messenger arrive I can neither go forward nor return.  It
+is on business of Egypt, brother, that I am here."
+
+As he invariably used this last expression when he wished to evade
+my inquiries, I held my peace, and said no more; the animals were
+fed, and we proceeded to make a frugal repast on bread and wine.
+
+"Why do you not cook the game which I brought?" I demanded; "in
+this place there is plenty of materials for a fire."
+
+"The smoke might discover us, brother," said Antonio, "I am
+desirous of lying escondido in this place until the arrival of the
+messenger."
+
+It was now considerably past noon; the gypsy lay behind the
+thicket, raising himself up occasionally and looking anxiously
+towards the hill which lay over against us; at last, with an
+exclamation of disappointment and impatience, he flung himself on
+the ground, where he lay a considerable time, apparently
+ruminating; at last he lifted up his head and looked me in the
+face.
+
+Antonio.--Brother, I cannot imagine what business brought you to
+this country.
+
+Myself.--Perhaps the same which brings you to this moor--business
+of Egypt.
+
+Antonio.--Not so, brother; you speak the language of Egypt, it is
+true, but your ways and words are neither those of the Cales nor of
+the Busne.
+
+Myself.--Did you not hear me speak in the foros about God and
+Tebleque?  It was to declare his glory to the Cales and Gentiles
+that I came to the land of Spain.
+
+Antonio.--And who sent you on this errand?
+
+Myself.--You would scarcely understand me were I to inform you.
+Know, however, that there are many in foreign lands who lament the
+darkness which envelops Spain, and the scenes of cruelty, robbery,
+and murder which deform it.
+
+Antonio.--Are they Calore or Busne?
+
+Myself.--What matters it?  Both Calore and Busne are sons of the
+same God.
+
+Antonio.--You lie, brother, they are not of one father nor of one
+Errate.  You speak of robbery, cruelty, and murder.  There are too
+many Busne, brother; if there were no Busne there would be neither
+robbery nor murder.  The Calore neither rob nor murder each other,
+the Busno do; nor are they cruel to their animals, their law
+forbids them.  When I was a child I was beating a burra, but my
+father stopped my hand, and chided me.  "Hurt not the animal," said
+he; "for within it is the soul of your own sister!"
+
+Myself.--And do you believe in this wild doctrine, O Antonio?
+
+Antonio.--Sometimes I do, sometimes I do not.  There are some who
+believe in nothing; not even that they live!  Long since, I knew an
+old Caloro, he was old, very old, upwards of a hundred years,--and
+I once heard him say, that all we thought we saw was a lie; that
+there was no world, no men nor women, no horses nor mules, no olive
+trees.  But whither are we straying?  I asked what induced you to
+come to this country--you tell me the glory of God and Tebleque.
+Disparate! tell that to the Busne.  You have good reasons for
+coming, no doubt, else you would not be here.  Some say you are a
+spy of the Londone, perhaps you are; I care not.  Rise, brother,
+and tell me whether any one is coming down the pass."
+
+"I see a distant object," I replied; "like a speck on the side of
+the hill."
+
+The Gypsy started up, and we both fixed our eyes on the object:
+the distance was so great that it was at first with difficulty that
+we could distinguish whether it moved or not.  A quarter of an
+hour, however, dispelled all doubts, for within this time it had
+nearly reached the bottom of the hill, and we could descry a figure
+seated on an animal of some kind.
+
+"It is a woman," said I, at length, "mounted on a grey donkey."
+
+"Then it is my messenger," said Antonio, "for it can be no other."
+
+The woman and the donkey were now upon the plain, and for some time
+were concealed from us by the copse and brushwood which intervened.
+They were not long, however, in making their appearance at the
+distance of about a hundred yards.  The donkey was a beautiful
+creature of a silver grey, and came frisking along, swinging her
+tail, and moving her feet so quick that they scarcely seemed to
+touch the ground.  The animal no sooner perceived us than she
+stopped short, turned round, and attempted to escape by the way she
+had come; her rider, however, detained her, whereupon the donkey
+kicked violently, and would probably have flung the former, had she
+not sprung nimbly to the ground.  The form of the woman was
+entirely concealed by the large wrapping man's cloak which she
+wore.  I ran to assist her, when she turned her face full upon me,
+and I instantly recognized the sharp clever features of Antonia,
+whom I had seen at Badajoz, the daughter of my guide.  She said
+nothing to me, but advancing to her father, addressed something to
+him in a low voice, which I did not hear.  He started back, and
+vociferated "All!"  "Yes," said she in a louder tone, probably
+repeating the words which I had not caught before, "All are
+captured."
+
+The Gypsy remained for some time like one astounded and, unwilling
+to listen to their discourse, which I imagined might relate to
+business of Egypt, I walked away amidst the thickets.  I was absent
+for some time, but could occasionally hear passionate expressions
+and oaths.  In about half an hour I returned; they had left the
+road, but I found then behind the broom clump, where the animals
+stood.  Both were seated on the ground; the features of the Gypsy
+were peculiarly dark and grim; he held his unsheathed knife in his
+hand, which he would occasionally plunge into the earth,
+exclaiming, "All! All!"
+
+"Brother," said he at last, "I can go no farther with you; the
+business which carried me to Castumba is settled; you must now
+travel by yourself and trust to your baji (fortune)."
+
+"I trust in Undevel," I replied, "who wrote my fortune long ago.
+But how am I to journey?  I have no horse, for you doubtless want
+your own."
+
+The Gypsy appeared to reflect:  "I want the horse, it is true,
+brother," he said, "and likewise the macho; but you shall not go en
+pindre (on foot); you shall purchase the burra of Antonia, which I
+presented her when I sent her upon this expedition."
+
+"The burra," I replied, "appears both savage and vicious."
+
+"She is both, brother, and on that account I bought her; a savage
+and vicious beast has generally four excellent legs.  You are a
+Calo, brother, and can manage her; you shall therefore purchase the
+savage burra, giving my daugher Antonia a baria of gold.  If you
+think fit, you can sell the beast at Talavera or Madrid, for
+Estremenian bestis are highly considered in Castumba."
+
+In less than an hour I was on the other side of the pass, mounted
+on the savage burra.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+
+The Pass of Mirabete--Wolves and Shepherds--Female Subtlety--Death
+by Wolves--The Mystery Solved--The Mountains--The Dark Hour--The
+Traveller of the Night--Abarbenel--Hoarded Treasure--Force of Gold-
+-The Archbishop--Arrival at Madrid
+
+I proceeded down the pass of Mirabete, occasionally ruminating on
+the matter which had brought me to Spain, and occasionally admiring
+one of the finest prospects in the world; before me outstretched
+lay immense plains, bounded in the distance by huge mountains,
+whilst at the foot of the hill which I was now descending, rolled
+the Tagus, in a deep narrow stream, between lofty banks; the whole
+was gilded by the rays of the setting sun; for the day, though cold
+and wintry, was bright and clear.  In about an hour I reached the
+river at a place where stood the remains of what had once been a
+magnificent bridge, which had, however, been blown up in the
+Peninsular war and never since repaired.
+
+I crossed the river in a ferry-boat; the passage was rather
+difficult, the current very rapid and swollen, owing to the latter
+rains.
+
+"Am I in New Castile?" I demanded of the ferryman, on reaching the
+further bank.  "The raya is many leagues from hence," replied the
+ferryman; "you seem a stranger.  Whence do you come?"  "From
+England," I replied, and without waiting for an answer, I sprang on
+the burra, and proceeded on my way.  The burra plied her feet most
+nimbly, and, shortly after nightfall, brought me to a village at
+about two leagues' distance from the river's bank.
+
+I sat down in the venta where I put up; there was a huge fire,
+consisting of the greater part of the trunk of an olive tree; the
+company was rather miscellaneous:  a hunter with his escopeta; a
+brace of shepherds with immense dogs, of that species for which
+Estremadura is celebrated; a broken soldier, just returned from the
+wars; and a beggar, who, after demanding charity for the seven
+wounds of Maria Santissima, took a seat amidst us, and made himself
+quite comfortable.  The hostess was an active bustling woman, and
+busied herself in cooking my supper, which consisted of the game
+which I had purchased at Jaraicejo, and which, on my taking leave
+of the Gypsy, he had counselled me to take with me.  In the
+meantime, I sat by the fire listening to the conversation of the
+company.
+
+"I would I were a wolf," said one of the shepherds; "or, indeed,
+anything rather than what I am.  A pretty life is this of ours, out
+in the campo, among the carascales, suffering heat and cold for a
+peseta a day.  I would I were a wolf; he fares better and is more
+respected than the wretch of a shepherd."
+
+"But he frequently fares scurvily," said I; "the shepherd and dogs
+fall upon him, and then he pays for his temerity with the loss of
+his head."
+
+"That is not often the case, senor traveller," said the shepherd;
+"he watches his opportunity, and seldom runs into harm's way.  And
+as to attacking him, it is no very pleasant task; he has both teeth
+and claws, and dog or man, who has once felt them, likes not to
+venture a second time within his reach.  These dogs of mine will
+seize a bear singly with considerable alacrity, though he is a most
+powerful animal, but I have seen them run howling away from a wolf,
+even though there were two or three of us at hand to encourage
+them."
+
+"A dangerous person is the wolf," said the other shepherd, "and
+cunning as dangerous; who knows more than he?  He knows the
+vulnerable point of every animal; see, for example, how he flies at
+the neck of a bullock, tearing open the veins with his grim teeth
+and claws.  But does he attack a horse in this manner?  I trow
+not."
+
+"Not he," said the other shepherd, "he is too good a judge; but he
+fastens on the haunches, and hamstrings him in a moment.  O the
+fear of the horse when he comes near the dwelling of the wolf.  My
+master was the other day riding in the despoblado, above the pass,
+on his fine Andalusian steed, which had cost him five hundred
+dollars; suddenly the horse stopped, and sweated and trembled like
+a woman in the act of fainting; my master could not conceive the
+reason, but presently he heard a squealing and growling in the
+bushes, whereupon he fired off his gun and scared the wolves, who
+scampered away; but he tells me, that the horse has not yet
+recovered from his fright."
+
+"Yet the mares know, occasionally, how to balk him," replied his
+companion; "there is great craft and malice in mares, as there is
+in all females; see them feeding in the campo with their young cria
+about them; presently the alarm is given that the wolf is drawing
+near; they start wildly and run about for a moment, but it is only
+for a moment--amain they gather together, forming themselves into a
+circle, in the centre of which they place the foals.  Onward comes
+the wolf, hoping to make his dinner on horse-flesh; he is mistaken,
+however, the mares have balked him, and are as cunning as himself:
+not a tail is to be seen--not a hinder quarter--but there stands
+the whole troop, their fronts towards him ready to receive him, and
+as he runs around them barking and howling, they rise successively
+on their hind legs, ready to stamp him to the earth, should he
+attempt to hurt their cria or themselves."
+
+"Worse than the he-wolf," said the soldier, "is the female, for as
+the senor pastor has well observed, there is more malice in women
+than in males:  to see one of these she-demons with a troop of the
+males at her heels is truly surprising:  where she turns, they
+turn, and what she does that do they; for they appear bewitched,
+and have no power but to imitate her actions.  I was once
+travelling with a comrade over the hills of Galicia, when we heard
+a howl.  'Those are wolves,' said my companion, 'let us get out of
+the way;' so we stepped from the path and ascended the side of the
+hill a little way, to a terrace, where grew vines, after the manner
+of Galicia:  presently appeared a large grey she-wolf, deshonesta,
+snapping and growling at a troop of demons, who followed close
+behind, their tails uplifted, and their eyes like fire-brands.
+What do you think the perverse brute did?  Instead of keeping to
+the path, she turned in the very direction in which we were; there
+was now no remedy, so we stood still.  I was the first upon the
+terrace, and by me she passed so close that I felt her hair brush
+against my legs; she, however, took no notice of me, but pushed on,
+neither looking to the right nor left, and all the other wolves
+trotted by me without offering the slightest injury or even so much
+as looking at me.  Would that I could say as much for my poor
+companion, who stood farther on, and was, I believe, less in the
+demon's way than I was; she had nearly passed him, when suddenly
+she turned half round and snapped at him.  I shall never forget
+what followed:  in a moment a dozen wolves were upon him, tearing
+him limb from limb, with howlings like nothing in this world; in a
+few moments he was devoured; nothing remained but a skull and a few
+bones; and then they passed on in the same manner as they came.
+Good reason had I to be grateful that my lady wolf took less notice
+of me than my poor comrade."
+
+Listening to this and similar conversation, I fell into a doze
+before the fire, in which I continued for a considerable time, but
+was at length aroused by a voice exclaiming in a loud tone, "All
+are captured!"  These were the exact words which, when spoken by
+his daughter, confounded the Gypsy upon the moor.  I looked around
+me, the company consisted of the same individuals to whose
+conversation I had been listening before I sank into slumber; but
+the beggar was now the spokesman, and he was haranguing with
+considerable vehemence.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Caballero," said I, "but I did not hear the
+commencement of your discourse.  Who are those who have been
+captured?"
+
+"A band of accursed Gitanos, Caballero," replied the beggar,
+returning the title of courtesy, which I had bestowed upon him.
+"During more than a fortnight they have infested the roads on the
+frontier of Castile, and many have been the gentleman travellers
+like yourself whom they have robbed and murdered.  It would seem
+that the Gypsy canaille must needs take advantage of these
+troublous times, and form themselves into a faction.  It is said
+that the fellows of whom I am speaking expected many more of their
+brethren to join them, which is likely enough, for all Gypsies are
+thieves:  but praised be God, they have been put down before they
+became too formidable.  I saw them myself conveyed to the prison at
+-.  Thanks be to God.  Todos estan presos."
+
+"The mystery is now solved," said I to myself, and proceeded to
+despatch my supper, which was now ready.
+
+The next day's journey brought me to a considerable town, the name
+of which I have forgotten.  It is the first in New Castile, in this
+direction.  I passed the night as usual in the manger of the
+stable, close beside the Caballeria; for, as I travelled upon a
+donkey, I deemed it incumbent upon me to be satisfied with a couch
+in keeping with my manner of journeying, being averse, by any
+squeamish and over delicate airs, to generate a suspicion amongst
+the people with whom I mingled that I was aught higher than what my
+equipage and outward appearance might lead them to believe.  Rising
+before daylight, I again proceeded on my way, hoping ere night to
+be able to reach Talavera, which I was informed was ten leagues
+distant.  The way lay entirely over an unbroken level, for the most
+part covered with olive trees.  On the left, however, at the
+distance of a few leagues, rose the mighty mountains which I have
+already mentioned.  They run eastward in a seemingly interminable
+range, parallel with the route which I was pursuing; their tops and
+sides were covered with dazzling snow, and the blasts which came
+sweeping from them across the wide and melancholy plains were of
+bitter keenness.
+
+"What mountains are those?" I inquired of a barber-surgeon, who,
+mounted like myself on a grey burra, joined me about noon, and
+proceeded in my company for several leagues.  "They have many
+names, Caballero," replied the barber; "according to the names of
+the neighbouring places so they are called.  Yon portion of them is
+styled the Serrania of Plasencia; and opposite to Madrid they are
+termed the Mountains of Guadarama, from a river of that name, which
+descends from them; they run a vast way, Caballero, and separate
+the two kingdoms, for on the other side is Old Castile.  They are
+mighty mountains, and though they generate much cold, I take
+pleasure in looking at them, which is not to be wondered at, seeing
+that I was born amongst them, though at present, for my sins, I
+live in a village of the plain.  Caballero, there is not another
+such range in Spain; they have their secrets too--their mysteries--
+strange tales are told of those hills, and of what they contain in
+their deep recesses, for they are a broad chain, and you may wander
+days and days amongst them without coming to any termino.  Many
+have lost themselves on those hills, and have never again been
+heard of.  Strange things are told of them:  it is said that in
+certain places there are deep pools and lakes, in which dwell
+monsters, huge serpents as long as a pine tree, and horses of the
+flood, which sometimes come out and commit mighty damage.  One
+thing is certain, that yonder, far away to the west, in the heart
+of those hills, there is a wonderful valley, so narrow that only at
+midday is the face of the sun to be descried from it.  That valley
+lay undiscovered and unknown for thousands of years; no person
+dreamed of its existence, but at last, a long time ago, certain
+hunters entered it by chance, and then what do you think they
+found, Caballero?  They found a small nation or tribe of unknown
+people, speaking an unknown language, who, perhaps, had lived there
+since the creation of the world, without intercourse with the rest
+of their fellow creatures, and without knowing that other beings
+besides themselves existed!  Caballero, did you never hear of the
+valley of the Batuecas?  Many books have been written about that
+valley and those people.  Caballero, I am proud of yonder hills;
+and were I independent, and without wife or children, I would
+purchase a burra like that of your own, which I see is an excellent
+one, and far superior to mine, and travel amongst them till I knew
+all their mysteries, and had seen all the wondrous things which
+they contain."
+
+Throughout the day I pressed the burra forward, only stopping once
+in order to feed the animal; but, notwithstanding that she played
+her part very well, night came on, and I was still about two
+leagues from Talavera.  As the sun went down, the cold became
+intense; I drew the old Gypsy cloak, which I still wore, closer
+around me, but I found it quite inadequate to protect me from the
+inclemency of the atmosphere.  The road, which lay over a plain,
+was not very distinctly traced, and became in the dusk rather
+difficult to find, more especially as cross roads leading to
+different places were of frequent occurrence.  I, however,
+proceeded in the best manner I could, and when I became dubious as
+to the course which I should take, I invariably allowed the animal
+on which I was mounted to decide.  At length the moon shone out
+faintly, when suddenly by its beams I beheld a figure moving before
+me at a slight distance.  I quickened the pace of the burra, and
+was soon close at its side.  It went on, neither altering its pace
+nor looking round for a moment.  It was the figure of a man, the
+tallest and bulkiest that I had hitherto seen in Spain, dressed in
+a manner strange and singular for the country.  On his head was a
+hat with a low crown and broad brim, very much resembling that of
+an English waggoner; about his body was a long loose tunic or slop,
+seemingly of coarse ticken, open in front, so as to allow the
+interior garments to be occasionally seen; these appeared to
+consist of a jerkin and short velveteen pantaloons.  I have said
+that the brim of the hat was broad, but broad as it was, it was
+insufficient to cover an immense bush of coal-black hair, which,
+thick and curly, projected on either side; over the left shoulder
+was flung a kind of satchel, and in the right hand was held a long
+staff or pole.
+
+There was something peculiarly strange about the figure, but what
+struck me the most was the tranquillity with which it moved along,
+taking no heed of me, though of course aware of my proximity, but
+looking straight forward along the road, save when it occasionally
+raised a huge face and large eyes towards the moon, which was now
+shining forth in the eastern quarter.
+
+"A cold night," said I at last.  "Is this the way to Talavera?"
+
+"It is the way to Talavera, and the night is cold."
+
+"I am going to Talavera," said I, "as I suppose you are yourself."
+
+"I am going thither, so are you, Bueno."
+
+The tones of the voice which delivered these words were in their
+way quite as strange and singular as the figure to which the voice
+belonged; they were not exactly the tones of a Spanish voice, and
+yet there was something in them that could hardly be foreign; the
+pronunciation also was correct; and the language, though singular,
+faultless.  But I was most struck with the manner in which the last
+word, bueno, was spoken.  I had heard something like it before, but
+where or when I could by no means remember.  A pause now ensued;
+the figure stalking on as before with the most perfect
+indifference, and seemingly with no disposition either to seek or
+avoid conversation.
+
+"Are you not afraid," said I at last, "to travel these roads in the
+dark?  It is said that there are robbers abroad."
+
+"Are you not rather afraid," replied the figure, "to travel these
+roads in the dark?--you who are ignorant of the country, who are a
+foreigner, an Englishman!"
+
+"How is it that you know me to be an Englishman?" demanded I, much
+surprised.
+
+"That is no difficult matter," replied the figure; "the sound of
+your voice was enough to tell me that."
+
+"You speak of voices," said I; "suppose the tone of your own voice
+were to tell me who you are?"
+
+"That it will not do," replied my companion; "you know nothing
+about me--you can know nothing about me."
+
+"Be not sure of that, my friend; I am acquainted with many things
+of which you have little idea."
+
+"Por exemplo," said the figure.
+
+"For example," said I; "you speak two languages."
+
+The figure moved on, seemed to consider a moment, and then said
+slowly bueno.
+
+"You have two names," I continued; "one for the house and the other
+for the street; both are good, but the one by which you are called
+at home is the one which you like best."
+
+The man walked on about ten paces, in the same manner as he had
+previously done; all of a sudden he turned, and taking the bridle
+of the burra gently in his hand, stopped her.  I had now a full
+view of his face and figure, and those huge features and Herculean
+form still occasionally revisit me in my dreams.  I see him
+standing in the moonshine, staring me in the face with his deep
+calm eyes.  At last he said:
+
+"Are you then one of us?"
+
+* * * *
+
+It was late at night when we arrived at Talavera.  We went to a
+large gloomy house, which my companion informed me was the
+principal posada of the town.  We entered the kitchen, at the
+extremity of which a large fire was blazing.  "Pepita," said my
+companion to a handsome girl, who advanced smiling towards us; "a
+brasero and a private apartment; this cavalier is a friend of mine,
+and we shall sup together."  We were shown to an apartment in which
+were two alcoves containing beds.  After supper, which consisted of
+the very best, by the order of my companion, we sat over the
+brasero and commenced talking.
+
+Myself.--Of course you have conversed with Englishmen before, else
+you could not have recognized me by the tone of my voice.
+
+Abarbenel.--I was a young lad when the war of the Independence
+broke out, and there came to the village in which our family lived
+an English officer in order to teach discipline to the new levies.
+He was quartered in my father's house, where he conceived a great
+affection for me.  On his departure, with the consent of my father,
+I attended him through the Castiles, partly as companion, partly as
+domestic.  I was with him nearly a year, when he was suddenly
+summoned to return to his own country.  He would fain have taken me
+with him, but to that my father would by no means consent.  It is
+now five-and-twenty years since I last saw an Englishman; but you
+have seen how I recognized you even in the dark night.
+
+Myself.--And what kind of life do you pursue, and by what means do
+you obtain support?
+
+Abarbenel.--I experience no difficulty.  I live much in the same
+way as I believe my forefathers lived; certainly as my father did,
+for his course has been mine.  At his death I took possession of
+the herencia, for I was his only child.  It was not requisite that
+I should follow any business, for my wealth was great; yet, to
+avoid remark, I followed that of my father, who was a longanizero.
+I have occasionally dealt in wool:  but lazily, lazily--as I had no
+stimulus for exertion.  I was, however, successful in many
+instances, strangely so; much more than many others who toiled day
+and night, and whose whole soul was in the trade.
+
+Myself.--Have you any children?  Are you married?
+
+Abarbenel.--I have no children though I am married.  I have a wife
+and an amiga, or I should rather say two wives, for I am wedded to
+both.  I however call one my amiga, for appearance sake, for I wish
+to live in quiet, and am unwilling to offend the prejudices of the
+surrounding people.
+
+Myself.--You say you are wealthy.  In what does your wealth
+consist?
+
+Abarbenel.--In gold and silver, and stones of price; for I have
+inherited all the hoards of my forefathers.  The greater part is
+buried under ground; indeed, I have never examined the tenth part
+of it.  I have coins of silver and gold older than the times of
+Ferdinand the Accursed and Jezebel; I have also large sums employed
+in usury.  We keep ourselves close, however, and pretend to be
+poor, miserably so; but on certain occasions, at our festivals,
+when our gates are barred, and our savage dogs are let loose in the
+court, we eat our food off services such as the Queen of Spain
+cannot boast of, and wash our feet in ewers of silver, fashioned
+and wrought before the Americas were discovered, though our
+garments are at all times coarse, and our food for the most part of
+the plainest description.
+
+Myself.--Are there more of you than yourself and your two wives?
+
+Abarbenel.--There are my two servants, who are likewise of us; the
+one is a youth, and is about to leave, being betrothed to one at
+some distance; the other is old; he is now upon the road, following
+me with a mule and car.
+
+Myself.--And whither are you bound at present?
+
+Abarbenel.--To Toledo, where I ply my trade occasionally of
+longanizero.  I love to wander about, though I seldom stray far
+from home.  Since I left the Englishman my feet have never once
+stepped beyond the bounds of New Castile.  I love to visit Toledo,
+and to think of the times which have long since departed; I should
+establish myself there, were there not so many accursed ones, who
+look upon me with an evil eye.
+
+Myself.--Are you known for what you are?  Do the authorities molest
+you?
+
+Abarbenel.--People of course suspect me to be what I am; but as I
+conform outwardly in most respects to their ways, they do not
+interfere with me.  True it is that sometimes, when I enter the
+church to hear the mass, they glare at me over the left shoulder,
+as much as to say--"What do you here?"  And sometimes they cross
+themselves as I pass by; but as they go no further, I do not
+trouble myself on that account.  With respect to the authorities,
+they are not bad friends of mine.  Many of the higher class have
+borrowed money from me on usury, so that I have them to a certain
+extent in my power, and as for the low alguazils and corchetes,
+they would do any thing to oblige me in consideration of a few
+dollars, which I occasionally give them; so that matters upon the
+whole go on remarkably well.  Of old, indeed, it was far otherwise;
+yet, I know not how it was, though other families suffered much,
+ours always enjoyed a tolerable share of tranquillity.  The truth
+is, that our family has always known how to guide itself
+wonderfully.  I may say there is much of the wisdom of the snake
+amongst us.  We have always possessed friends; and with respect to
+enemies, it is by no means safe to meddle with us; for it is a rule
+of our house never to forgive an injury, and to spare neither
+trouble nor expense in bringing ruin and destruction upon the heads
+of our evil doers.
+
+Myself.--Do the priests interfere with you?
+
+Abarbenel.--They let me alone, especially in our own neighbourhood.
+Shortly after the death of my father, one hot-headed individual
+endeavoured to do me an evil turn, but I soon requited him, causing
+him to be imprisoned on a charge of blasphemy, and in prison he
+remained a long time, till he went mad and died.
+
+Myself.--Have you a head in Spain, in whom is rested the chief
+authority?
+
+Abarbenel.--Not exactly.  There are, however, certain holy families
+who enjoy much consideration; my own is one of these--the chiefest,
+I may say.  My grandsire was a particularly holy man; and I have
+heard my father say, that one night an archbishop came to his house
+secretly, merely to have the satisfaction of kissing his head.
+
+Myself.--How can that be; what reverence could an archbishop
+entertain for one like yourself or your grandsire?
+
+Abarbenel.--More than you imagine.  He was one of us, at least his
+father was, and he could never forget what he had learned with
+reverence in his infancy.  He said he had tried to forget it, but
+he could not; that the ruah was continually upon him, and that even
+from his childhood he had borne its terrors with a troubled mind,
+till at last he could bear himself no longer; so he went to my
+grandsire, with whom he remained one whole night; he then returned
+to his diocese, where he shortly afterwards died, in much renown
+for sanctity.
+
+Myself.--What you say surprises me.  Have you reason to suppose
+that many of you are to be found amongst the priesthood?
+
+Abarbenel.--Not to suppose, but to know it.  There are many such as
+I amongst the priesthood, and not amongst the inferior priesthood
+either; some of the most learned and famed of them in Spain have
+been of us, or of our blood at least, and many of them at this day
+think as I do.  There is one particular festival of the year at
+which four dignified ecclesiastics are sure to visit me; and then,
+when all is made close and secure, and the fitting ceremonies have
+been gone through, they sit down upon the floor and curse.
+
+Myself.--Are you numerous in the large towns?
+
+Abarbenel.--By no means; our places of abode are seldom the large
+towns; we prefer the villages, and rarely enter the large towns but
+on business.  Indeed we are not a numerous people, and there are
+few provinces of Spain which contain more than twenty families.
+None of us are poor, and those among us who serve, do so more from
+choice than necessity, for by serving each other we acquire
+different trades.  Not unfrequently the time of service is that of
+courtship also, and the servants eventually marry the daughters of
+the house.
+
+We continued in discourse the greater part of the night; the next
+morning I prepared to depart.  My companion, however, advised me to
+remain where I was for that day.  "And if you respect my counsel,"
+said he, "you will not proceed farther in this manner.  To-night
+the diligence will arrive from Estremadura, on its way to Madrid.
+Deposit yourself therein; it is the safest and most speedy mode of
+travelling.  As for your animal, I will myself purchase her.  My
+servant is here, and has informed me that she will be of service to
+us.  Let us, therefore, pass the day together in communion, like
+brothers, and then proceed on our separate journeys."  We did pass
+the day together; and when the diligence arrived I deposited myself
+within, and on the morning of the second day arrived at Madrid.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+
+Lodging at Madrid--My Hostess--British Ambassador--Mendizabal--
+Baltasar--Duties of a National--Young Blood--The Execution--
+Population of Madrid--The Higher Orders--The Lower Classes--The
+Bull-fighter--The Crabbed Gitano.
+
+It was the commencement of February when I reached Madrid.  After
+staying a few days at a posada, I removed to a lodging which I
+engaged at No. 3, in the Calle de la Zarza, a dark dirty street,
+which, however, was close to the Puerta del Sol, the most central
+point of Madrid, into which four or five of the principal streets
+debouche, and which is, at all times of the year, the great place
+of assemblage for the idlers of the capital, poor or rich.
+
+It was rather a singular house in which I had taken up my abode.  I
+occupied the front part of the first floor; my apartments consisted
+of an immense parlour, and a small chamber on one side in which I
+slept; the parlour, notwithstanding its size, contained very little
+furniture:  a few chairs, a table, and a species of sofa,
+constituted the whole.  It was very cold and airy, owing to the
+draughts which poured in from three large windows, and from sundry
+doors.  The mistress of the house, attended by her two daughters,
+ushered me in.  "Did you ever see a more magnificent apartment?"
+demanded the former; "is it not fit for a king's son?  Last winter
+it was occupied by the great General Espartero."
+
+The hostess was an exceedingly fat woman, a native of Valladolid,
+in Old Castile.  "Have you any other family," I demanded, "besides
+these daughters?"  "Two sons," she replied; "one of them an officer
+in the army, father of this urchin," pointing to a wicked but
+clever looking boy of about twelve, who at that moment bounded into
+the room; "the other is the most celebrated national in Madrid:  he
+is a tailor by trade, and his name is Baltasar.  He has much
+influence with the other nationals, on account of the liberality of
+his opinions, and a word from him is sufficient to bring them all
+out armed and furious to the Puerta del Sol.  He is, however, at
+present confined to his bed, for he is very dissipated and fond of
+the company of bull-fighters and people still worse."
+
+As my principal motive for visiting the Spanish capital was the
+hope of obtaining permission from the government to print the New
+Testament in the Castilian language, for circulation in Spain, I
+lost no time, upon my arrival, in taking what I considered to be
+the necessary steps.
+
+I was an entire stranger at Madrid, and bore no letters of
+introduction to any persons of influence, who might have assisted
+me in this undertaking, so that, notwithstanding I entertained a
+hope of success, relying on the assistance of the Almighty, this
+hope was not at all times very vivid, but was frequently overcast
+with the clouds of despondency.
+
+Mendizabal was at this time prime minister of Spain, and was
+considered as a man of almost unbounded power, in whose hands were
+placed the destinies of the country.  I therefore considered that
+if I could by any means induce him to favour my views, I should
+have no reason to fear interruption from other quarters, and I
+determined upon applying to him.
+
+Before talking this step, however, I deemed it advisable to wait
+upon Mr. Villiers, the British ambassador at Madrid; and with the
+freedom permitted to a British subject, to ask his advice in this
+affair.  I was received with great kindness, and enjoyed a
+conversation with him on various subjects before I introduced the
+matter which I had most at heart.  He said that if I wished for an
+interview with Mendizabal, he would endeavour to procure me one,
+but, at the same time, told me frankly that he could not hope that
+any good would arise from it, as he knew him to be violently
+prejudiced against the British and Foreign Bible Society, and was
+far more likely to discountenance than encourage any efforts which
+they might be disposed to make for introducing the Gospel into
+Spain.  I, however, remained resolute in my desire to make the
+trial, and before I left him, obtained a letter of introduction to
+Mendizabal.
+
+Early one morning I repaired to the palace, in a wing of which was
+the office of the Prime Minister; it was bitterly cold, and the
+Guadarama, of which there is a noble view from the palace-plain,
+was covered with snow.  For at least three hours I remained
+shivering with cold in an ante-room, with several other aspirants
+for an interview with the man of power.  At last his private
+secretary made his appearance, and after putting various questions
+to the others, addressed himself to me, asking who I was and what I
+wanted.  I told him that I was an Englishman, and the bearer of a
+letter from the British Minister.  "If you have no objection, I
+will myself deliver it to His Excellency," said he; whereupon I
+handed it to him and he withdrew.  Several individuals were
+admitted before me; at last, however, my own turn came, and I was
+ushered into the presence of Mendizabal.
+
+He stood behind a table covered with papers, on which his eyes were
+intently fixed.  He took not the slightest notice when I entered,
+and I had leisure enough to survey him:  he was a huge athletic
+man, somewhat taller than myself, who measure six feet two without
+my shoes; his complexion was florid, his features fine and regular,
+his nose quite aquiline, and his teeth splendidly white:  though
+scarcely fifty years of age, his hair was remarkably grey; he was
+dressed in a rich morning gown, with a gold chain round his neck,
+and morocco slippers on his feet.
+
+His secretary, a fine intellectual looking man, who, as I was
+subsequently informed, had acquired a name both in English and
+Spanish literature, stood at one end of the table with papers in
+his hands.
+
+After I had been standing about a quarter of an hour, Mendizabal
+suddenly lifted up a pair of sharp eyes, and fixed them upon me
+with a peculiarly scrutinizing glance.
+
+"I have seen a glance very similar to that amongst the Beni
+Israel," thought I to myself. . . .
+
+
+My interview with him lasted nearly an hour.  Some singular
+discourse passed between us:  I found him, as I had been informed,
+a bitter enemy to the Bible Society, of which he spoke in terms of
+hatred and contempt, and by no means a friend to the Christian
+religion, which I could easily account for.  I was not discouraged,
+however, and pressed upon him the matter which brought me thither,
+and was eventually so far successful, as to obtain a promise, that
+at the expiration of a few months, when he hoped the country would
+be in a more tranquil state, I should be allowed to print the
+Scriptures.
+
+As I was going away he said, "Yours is not the first application I
+have had; ever since I have held the reins of government I have
+been pestered in this manner, by English calling themselves
+Evangelical Christians, who have of late come flocking over into
+Spain.  Only last week a hunchbacked fellow found his way into my
+cabinet whilst I was engaged in important business, and told me
+that Christ was coming. . . . And now you have made your
+appearance, and almost persuaded me to embroil myself yet more with
+the priesthood, as if they did not abhor me enough already.  What a
+strange infatuation is this which drives you over lands and waters
+with Bibles in your hands.  My good sir, it is not Bibles we want,
+but rather guns and gunpowder, to put the rebels down with, and
+above all, money, that we may pay the troops; whenever you come
+with these three things you shall have a hearty welcome, if not, we
+really can dispense with your visits, however great the honour."
+
+Myself.--There will be no end to the troubles of this afflicted
+country until the gospel have free circulation.
+
+Mendizabal.--I expected that answer, for I have not lived thirteen
+years in England without forming some acquaintance with the
+phraseology of you good folks.  Now, now, pray go; you see how
+engaged I am.  Come again whenever you please, but let it not be
+within the next three months.
+
+"Don Jorge," said my hostess, coming into my apartment one morning,
+whilst I sat at breakfast with my feet upon the brasero, "here is
+my son Baltasarito, the national; he has risen from his bed, and
+hearing that there is an Englishman in the house, he has begged me
+to introduce him, for he loves Englishmen on account of the
+liberality of their opinions; there he is, what do you think of
+him?"
+
+I did not state to his mother what I thought; it appeared to me,
+however, that she was quite right calling him Baltasarito, which is
+the diminutive of Baltasar, forasmuch as that ancient and sonorous
+name had certainly never been bestowed on a more diminutive
+personage:  he might measure about five feet one inch, though he
+was rather corpulent for his height; his face looked yellow and
+sickly, he had, however, a kind of fanfaronading air, and his eyes,
+which were of dark brown, were both sharp and brilliant.  His
+dress, or rather his undress, was somewhat shabby:  he had a
+foraging cap on his head, and in lieu of a morning gown, he wore a
+sentinel's old great coat.
+
+"I am glad to make your acquaintance, senor nacional," said I to
+him, after his mother had departed, and Baltasar had taken his
+seat, and of course lighted a paper cigar at the brasero.  "I am
+glad to have made your acquaintance, more especially as your lady
+mother has informed me that you have great influence with the
+nationals.  I am a stranger in Spain, and may want a friend;
+fortune has been kind to me in procuring me one who is a member of
+so powerful a body."
+
+Baltasar.--Yes, I have a great deal to say with the other
+nationals; there is none in Madrid better known than Baltasar, or
+more dreaded by the Carlists.  You say you may stand in need of a
+friend; there is no fear of my failing you in any emergency.  Both
+myself and any of the other nationals will be proud to go out with
+you as padrinos, should you have any affair of honour on your
+hands.  But why do you not become one of us?  We would gladly
+receive you into our body.
+
+Myself.--Is the duty of a national particularly hard?
+
+Baltasar.--By no means; we have to do duty about once every fifteen
+days, and then there is occasionally a review, which does not last
+long.  No! the duties of a national are by no means onerous, and
+the privileges are great.  I have seen three of my brother
+nationals walk up and down the Prado of a Sunday, with sticks in
+their hands, cudgelling all the suspicious characters, and it is
+our common practice to scour the streets at night, and then if we
+meet any person who is obnoxious to us, we fall upon him, and with
+a knife or a bayonet generally leave him wallowing in his blood on
+the pavement:  no one but a national would be permitted to do that.
+
+Myself.--Of course none but persons of liberal opinions are to be
+found amongst the nationals?
+
+Baltasar.--Would it were so!  There are some amongst us, Don Jorge,
+who are no better than they should be; they are few, however, and
+for the most part well known.  Theirs is no pleasant life, for when
+they mount guard with the rest they are scouted, and not
+unfrequently cudgelled.  The law compels all of a certain age
+either to serve in the army or to become national soldiers on which
+account some of these Godos are to be found amongst us.
+
+Myself.--Are there many in Madrid of the Carlist opinion?
+
+Baltasar.--Not among the young people; the greater part of the
+Madrilenian Carlists capable of bearing arms departed long ago to
+join the ranks of the factious in the Basque provinces.  Those who
+remain are for the most part grey-beards and priests, good for
+nothing but to assemble in private coffee-houses, and to prate
+treason together.  Let them prate, Don Jorge; let them prate; the
+destinies of Spain do not depend on the wishes of ojalateros and
+pasteleros, but on the hands of stout gallant nationals like myself
+and friends, Don Jorge.
+
+Myself.--I am sorry to learn from your lady mother, that you are
+strangely dissipated.
+
+Baltasar.--Ho, ho, Don Jorge, she has told you that, has she; what
+would you have, Don Jorge?  I am young, and young blood will have
+its course.  I am called Baltasar the gay by all the other
+nationals, and it is on account of my gaiety and the liberality of
+my opinions that I am so popular among them.  When I mount guard I
+invariably carry my guitar with me, and then there is sure to be a
+function at the guard-house.  We send for wine, Don Jorge, and the
+nationals become wild, Don Jorge, dancing and drinking through the
+night, whilst Baltasarito strums the guitar and sings them songs of
+Germania:
+
+
+"Una romi sin pachi
+Le peno a su chindomar," &c., &c.
+
+
+That is Gitano, Don Jorge; I learnt it from the toreros of
+Andalusia, who all speak Gitano, and are mostly of Gypsy blood.  I
+learnt it from them; they are all friends of mine, Montes Sevilla
+and Poquito Pan.  I never miss a function of bulls, Don Jorge.
+Baltasar is sure to be there with his amiga.  Don Jorge, there are
+no bull-functions in the winter, or I would carry you to one, but
+happily to-morrow there is an execution, a funcion de la horca; and
+there we will go, Don Jorge.
+
+We did go to see this execution, which I shall long remember.  The
+criminals were two young men, brothers; they suffered for a most
+atrocious murder, having in the dead of night broke open the house
+of an aged man, whom they put to death, and whose property they
+stole.  Criminals in Spain are not hanged as they are in England,
+or guillotined as in France, but strangled upon a wooden stage.
+They sit down on a kind of chair with a post behind, to which is
+affixed an iron collar with a screw; this iron collar is made to
+clasp the neck of the prisoner, and on a certain signal it is drawn
+tighter and tighter by means of the screw, until life becomes
+extinct.  After we had waited amongst the assembled multitude a
+considerable time, the first of the culprits appeared; he was
+mounted on an ass, without saddle or stirrups, his legs being
+allowed to dangle nearly to the ground.  He was dressed in yellow
+sulphur-coloured robes, with a high-peaked conical red hat on his
+head, which was shaven.  Between his hands he held a parchment, on
+which was written something, I believe the confession of faith.
+Two priests led the animal by the bridle; two others walked on
+either side, chanting litanies, amongst which I distinguished the
+words of heavenly peace and tranquillity, for the culprit had been
+reconciled to the church, had confessed and received absolution,
+and had been promised admission to heaven.  He did not exhibit the
+least symptom of fear, but dismounted from the animal and was led,
+not supported, up the scaffold, where he was placed on the chair,
+and the fatal collar put round his neck.  One of the priests then
+in a loud voice commenced saying the Belief, and the culprit
+repeated the words after him.  On a sudden, the executioner, who
+stood behind, commenced turning the screw, which was of prodigious
+force, and the wretched man--was almost instantly a corpse; but, as
+the screw went round, the priest began to shout, "pax et
+misericordia et tranquillitas," and still as he shouted, his voice
+became louder and louder, till the lofty walls of Madrid rang with
+it:  then stooping down, he placed his mouth close to the culprit's
+ear, still shouting, just as if he would pursue the spirit through
+its course to eternity, cheering it on its way.  The effect was
+tremendous.  I myself was so excited that I involuntarily shouted
+"misericordia," and so did many others.  God was not thought of;
+Christ was not thought of; only the priest was thought of, for he
+seemed at that moment to be the first being in existence, and to
+have the power of opening and shutting the gates of heaven or of
+hell, just as he should think proper.  A striking instance of the
+successful working of the Popish system, whose grand aim has ever
+been to keep people's minds as far as possible from God, and to
+centre their hopes and fears in the priesthood.  The execution of
+the second culprit was precisely similar; he ascended the scaffold
+a few minutes after his brother had breathed his last.
+
+I have visited most of the principal capitals of the world, but
+upon the whole none has ever so interested me as this city of
+Madrid, in which I now found myself.  I will not dwell upon its
+streets, its edifices, its public squares, its fountains, though
+some of these are remarkable enough:  but Petersburg has finer
+streets, Paris and Edinburgh more stately edifices, London far
+nobler squares, whilst Shiraz can boast of more costly fountains,
+though not cooler waters.  But the population!  Within a mud wall,
+scarcely one league and a half in circuit, are contained two
+hundred thousand human beings, certainly forming the most
+extraordinary vital mass to be found in the entire world; and be it
+always remembered that this mass is strictly Spanish.  The
+population of Constantinople is extraordinary enough, but to form
+it twenty nations have contributed; Greeks, Armenians, Persians,
+Poles, Jews, the latter, by the by, of Spanish origin, and speaking
+amongst themselves the old Spanish language; but the huge
+population of Madrid, with the exception of a sprinkling of
+foreigners, chiefly French tailors, glove-makers and peruquiers, is
+strictly Spanish, though a considerable portion are not natives of
+the place.  Here are no colonies of Germans, as at Saint
+Petersburg; no English factories, as at Lisbon; no multitudes of
+insolent Yankees lounging through the streets as at the Havannah,
+with an air which seems to say, the land is our own whenever we
+choose to take it; but a population which, however strange and
+wild, and composed of various elements, is Spanish, and will remain
+so as long as the city itself shall exist.  Hail, ye aguadores of
+Asturia! who, in your dress of coarse duffel and leathern skull-
+caps, are seen seated in hundreds by the fountain sides, upon your
+empty water-casks, or staggering with them filled to the topmost
+stories of lofty houses.  Hail, ye caleseros of Valencia! who,
+lolling lazily against your vehicles, rasp tobacco for your paper
+cigars whilst waiting for a fare.  Hail to you, beggars of La
+Mancha! men and women, who, wrapped in coarse blankets, demand
+charity indifferently at the gate of the palace or the prison.
+Hail to you, valets from the mountains, mayordomos and secretaries
+from Biscay and Guipuscoa, toreros from Andalusia, riposteros from
+Galicia, shopkeepers from Catalonia!  Hail to ye, Castilians,
+Estremenians and Aragonese, of whatever calling!  And lastly,
+genuine sons of the capital, rabble of Madrid, ye twenty thousand
+manolos, whose terrible knifes, on the second morning of May,
+worked such grim havoc amongst the legions of Murat!
+
+And the higher orders--the ladies and gentlemen, the cavaliers and
+senoras; shall I pass them by in silence?  The truth is I have
+little to say about them; I mingled but little in their society,
+and what I saw of them by no means tended to exalt them in my
+imagination.  I am not one of those who, wherever they go, make it
+a constant practice to disparage the higher orders, and to exalt
+the populace at their expense.  There are many capitals in which
+the high aristocracy, the lords and ladies, the sons and daughters
+of nobility, constitute the most remarkable and the most
+interesting part of the population.  This is the case at Vienna,
+and more especially at London.  Who can rival the English
+aristocrat in lofty stature, in dignified bearing, in strength of
+hand, and valour of heart?  Who rides a nobler horse?  Who has a
+firmer seat?  And who more lovely than his wife, or sister, or
+daughter?  But with respect to the Spanish aristocracy, the ladies
+and gentlemen, the cavaliers and senoras, I believe the less that
+is said of them on the points to which I have just alluded the
+better.  I confess, however, that I know little about them; they
+have, perhaps, their admirers, and to the pens of such I leave
+their panegyric.  Le Sage has described them as they were nearly
+two centuries ago.  His description is anything but captivating,
+and I do not think that they have improved since the period of the
+sketches of the immortal Frenchman.  I would sooner talk of the
+lower class, not only of Madrid but of all Spain.  The Spaniard of
+the lower class has much more interest for me, whether manolo,
+labourer, or muleteer.  He is not a common being; he is an
+extraordinary man.  He has not, it is true, the amiability and
+generosity of the Russian mujik, who will give his only rouble
+rather than the stranger shall want; nor his placid courage, which
+renders him insensible to fear, and at the command of his Tsar,
+sends him singing to certain death. {6}  There is more hardness and
+less self-devotion in the disposition of the Spaniard; he
+possesses, however, a spirit of proud independence, which it is
+impossible but to admire.  He is ignorant, of course; but it is
+singular that I have invariably found amongst the low and slightly
+educated classes far more liberality of sentiment than amongst the
+upper.  It has long been the fashion to talk of the bigotry of the
+Spaniards, and their mean jealousy of foreigners.  This is true to
+a certain extent:  but it chiefly holds good with respect to the
+upper classes.  If foreign valour or talent has never received its
+proper meed in Spain, the great body of the Spaniards are certainly
+not in fault.  I have heard Wellington calumniated in this proud
+scene of his triumphs, but never by the old soldiers of Aragon and
+the Asturias, who assisted to vanquish the French at Salamanca and
+the Pyrenees.  I have heard the manner of riding of an English
+jockey criticized, but it was by the idiotic heir of Medina Celi,
+and not by a picador of the Madrilenian bull ring.
+
+Apropos of bull-fighters:- Shortly after my arrival, I one day
+entered a low tavern in a neighbourhood notorious for robbery and
+murder, and in which for the last two hours I had been wandering on
+a voyage of discovery.  I was fatigued, and required refreshment.
+I found the place thronged with people, who had all the appearance
+of ruffians.  I saluted them, upon which they made way for me to
+the bar, taking off their sombreros with great ceremony.  I emptied
+a glass of val de penas, and was about to pay for it and depart,
+when a horrible looking fellow, dressed in a buff jerkin, leather
+breeches, and jackboots, which came half way up his thighs, and
+having on his head a white hat, the rims of which were at least a
+yard and a half in circumference, pushed through the crowd, and
+confronting me, roared:-
+
+"Otra copita! vamos Inglesito:  Otra copita!"
+
+"Thank you, my good sir, you are very kind, you appear to know me,
+but I have not the honour of knowing you."
+
+"Not know me!" replied the being.  "I am Sevilla, the torero.  I
+know you well; you are the friend of Baltasarito, the national, who
+is a friend of mine, and a very good subject."
+
+Then turning to the company, he said in a sonorous tone, laying a
+strong emphasis on the last syllable of every word, according to
+the custom of the gente rufianesca throughout Spain:
+
+"Cavaliers, and strong men, this cavalier is the friend of a friend
+of mine.  Es mucho hombre.  There is none like him in Spain.  He
+speaks the crabbed Gitano though he is an Inglesito."
+
+"We do not believe it," replied several grave voices.  "It is not
+possible."
+
+"It is not possible, say you?  I tell you it is.  Come forward,
+Balseiro, you who have been in prison all your life, and are always
+boasting that you can speak the crabbed Gitano, though I say you
+know nothing of it--come forward and speak to his worship in the
+crabbed Gitano."
+
+A low, slight, but active figure stepped forward.  He was in his
+shirt sleeves, and wore a montero cap; his features were handsome,
+but they were those of a demon.
+
+He spoke a few words in the broken Gypsy slang of the prison,
+inquiring of me whether I had ever been in the condemned cell, and
+whether I knew what a Gitana {7} was?
+
+"Vamos Inglesito," shouted Sevilla in a voice of thunder; "answer
+the monro in the crabbed Gitano."
+
+I answered the robber, for such he was, and one, too, whose name
+will live for many a year in the ruffian histories of Madrid; I
+answered him in a speech of some length, in the dialect of the
+Estremenian Gypsies.
+
+"I believe it is the crabbed Gitano," muttered Balseiro.  "It is
+either that or English, for I understand not a word of it."
+
+"Did I not say to you," cried the bull-fighter, "that you knew
+nothing of the crabbed Gitano?  But this Inglesito does.  I
+understood all he said.  Vaya, there is none like him for the
+crabbed Gitano.  He is a good ginete, too; next to myself, there is
+none like him, only he rides with stirrup leathers too short.
+Inglesito, if you have need of money, I will lend you my purse.
+All I have is at your service, and that is not a little; I have
+just gained four thousand chules by the lottery.  Courage,
+Englishman!  Another cup.  I will pay all.  I, Sevilla!"
+
+And he clapped his hand repeatedly on his breast, reiterating "I,
+Sevilla!  I--"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+
+Intrigues at Court--Quesada and Galiano--Dissolution of the Cortes-
+-The Secretary--Aragonese Pertinacity--The Council of Trent--The
+Asturian--The Three Thieves--Benedict Mol--The Men of Lucerne--The
+Treasure
+
+Mendizabal had told me to call upon him again at the end of three
+months, giving me hopes that he would not then oppose himself to
+the publication of the New Testament; before, however, the three
+months had elapsed, he had fallen into disgrace, and had ceased to
+be prime minister.
+
+An intrigue had been formed against him, at the head of which were
+two quondam friends of his, and fellow-townsmen, Gaditanians,
+Isturitz and Alcala Galiano; both of them had been egregious
+liberals in their day, and indeed principal members of those cortes
+which, on the Angouleme invasion, had hurried Ferdinand from Madrid
+to Cadiz, and kept him prisoner there until that impregnable town
+thought proper to surrender, and both of them had been subsequently
+refugees in England, where they had spent a considerable number of
+years.
+
+These gentlemen, however, finding themselves about this time
+exceedingly poor, and not seeing any immediate prospect of
+advantage from supporting Mendizabal; considering themselves,
+moreover, quite as good men as he, and as capable of governing
+Spain in the present emergency; determined to secede from the party
+of their friend, whom they had hitherto supported, and to set up
+for themselves.
+
+They therefore formed an opposition to Mendizabal in the cortes;
+the members of this opposition assumed the name of moderados, in
+contradistinction to Mendizabal and his followers, who were ultra
+liberals.  The moderados were encouraged by the Queen Regent
+Christina, who aimed at a little more power than the liberals were
+disposed to allow her, and who had a personal dislike to the
+minister.  They were likewise encouraged by Cordova, who at that
+time commanded the army, and was displeased with Mendizabal,
+inasmuch as the latter did not supply the pecuniary demands of the
+general with sufficient alacrity, though it is said that the
+greater part of what was sent for the payment of the troops was not
+devoted to that purpose, but, was invested in the French funds in
+the name and for the use and behoof of the said Cordova.
+
+It is, however, by no means my intention to write an account of the
+political events which were passing around me at this period;
+suffice it to say, that Mendizabal finding himself thwarted in all
+his projects by the regent and the general, the former of whom
+would adopt no measure which he recommended, whilst the latter
+remained inactive and refused to engage the enemy, which by this
+time had recovered from the check caused by the death of
+Zumalacarregui, and was making considerable progress, resigned and
+left the field for the time open to his adversaries, though he
+possessed an immense majority in the cortes, and had the voice of
+the nation, at least the liberal part of it, in his favour.
+
+Thereupon, Isturitz became head of the cabinet, Galiano minister of
+marine, and a certain Duke of Rivas minister of the interior.
+These were the heads of the moderado government, but as they were
+by no means popular at Madrid, and feared the nationals, they
+associated with themselves one who hated the latter body and feared
+nothing, a man of the name of Quesada, a very stupid individual,
+but a great fighter, who, at one period of his life, had commanded
+a legion or body of men called the Army of the Faith, whose
+exploits both on the French and Spanish side of the Pyrenees are
+too well known to require recapitulation.  This person was made
+captain general of Madrid.
+
+By far the most clever member of this government was Galiano, whose
+acquaintance I had formed shortly after my arrival.  He was a man
+of considerable literature, and particularly well versed in that of
+his own country.  He was, moreover, a fluent, elegant, and forcible
+speaker, and was to the moderado party within the cortes what
+Quesada was without, namely, their horses and chariots.  Why he was
+made minister of marine is difficult to say, as Spain did not
+possess any; perhaps, however, from his knowledge of the English
+language, which he spoke and wrote nearly as well as his own
+tongue, having indeed during his sojourn in England chiefly
+supported himself by writing for reviews and journals, an
+honourable occupation, but to which few foreign exiles in England
+would be qualified to devote themselves.
+
+He was a very small and irritable man, and a bitter enemy to every
+person who stood in the way of his advancement.  He hated
+Mendizabal with undisguised rancour, and never spoke of him but in
+terms of unmeasured contempt.  "I am afraid that I shall have some
+difficulty in inducing Mendizabal to give me permission to print
+the Testament," said I to him one day.  "Mendizabal is a jackass,"
+replied Galiano.  "Caligula made his horse consul, which I suppose
+induced Lord--to send over this huge burro of the Stock Exchange to
+be our minister."
+
+It would be very ungrateful on my part were I not to confess my
+great obligations to Galiano, who assisted me to the utmost of his
+power in the business which had brought me to Spain.  Shortly after
+the ministry was formed, I went to him and said, "that now or never
+was the time to mike an effort in my behalf."  "I will do so," said
+he, in a waspish tone; for he always spoke waspishly whether to
+friend or foe; "but you must have patience for a few days, we are
+very much occupied at present.  We have been outvoted in the
+cortes, and this afternoon we intend to dissolve them.  It is
+believed that the rascals will refuse to depart, but Quesada will
+stand at the door ready to turn them out, should they prove
+refractory.  Come along, and you will perhaps see a funcion."
+
+After an hour's debate, the cortes were dissolved without it being
+necessary to call in the aid of the redoubtable Quesada, and
+Galiano forthwith gave me a letter to his colleague the Duke of
+Rivas, in whose department he told me was vested the power either
+of giving or refusing the permission to print the book in question.
+The duke was a very handsome young man, of about thirty, an
+Andalusian by birth, like his two colleagues.  He had published
+several works, tragedies, I believe, and enjoyed a certain kind of
+literary reputation.  He received me with the greatest affability;
+and having heard what I had to say, he replied with a most
+captivating bow, and a genuine Andalusian grimace:  "Go to my
+secretary; go to my secretary--el hara por usted el gusio."  So I
+went to the secretary, whose name was Oliban, an Aragonese, who was
+not handsome, and whose manners were neither elegant nor affable.
+"You want permission to print the Testament?"  "I do," said I.
+"And you have come to His Excellency about it," continued Oliban.
+"Very true," I replied.  "I suppose you intend to print it without
+notes."  "Yes."  "Then His Excellency cannot give you permission,"
+said the Aragonese secretary:  "it was determined by the Council of
+Trent that no part of the Scripture should be printed in any
+Christian country without the notes of the church."  "How many
+years was that ago?" I demanded.  "I do not know how many years ago
+it was," said Oliban; "but such was the decree of the Council of
+Trent."  "Is Spain at present governed according to the decrees of
+the Council of Trent?" I inquired.  "In some points she is,"
+answered the Aragonese, "and this is one.  But tell me who are you?
+Are you known to the British minister?"  "O yes, and he takes a
+great interest in the matter."  "Does he?" said Oliban; "that
+indeed alters the case:  if you can show me that His Excellency
+takes in interest in this business, I certainly shall not oppose
+myself to it."
+
+The British minister performed all I could wish, and much more than
+I could expect; he had an interview with the Duke of Rivas, with
+whom he had much discourse upon my affair:  the duke was all smiles
+and courtesy.  He moreover wrote a private letter to the duke,
+which he advised me to present when I next paid him a visit, and,
+to crown all, he wrote a letter directed to myself, in which he did
+me the honour to say that he had a regard for me, and that nothing
+would afford him greater pleasure than to hear that I had obtained
+the permission which I was seeking.  So I went to the duke, and
+delivered the letter.  He was ten times more kind and affable than
+before:  he read the letter, smiled most sweetly, and then, as if
+seized with sudden enthusiasm, he extended his arms in a manner
+almost theatrical, exclaiming, "Al secretario, el hara por usted el
+gusto."  Away I hurried to the secretary, who received me with all
+the coolness of an icicle:  I related to him the words of his
+principal, and then put into his hand the letter of the British
+minister to myself.  The secretary read it very deliberately, and
+then said that it was evident His Excellency did take an interest
+in the matter.  He then asked me my name, and taking a sheet of
+paper, sat down as if for the purpose of writing the permission.  I
+was in ecstasy--all of a sudden, however, he stopped, lifted up his
+head, seemed to consider a moment, and then putting his pen behind
+his ear, he said, "Amongst the decrees of the Council of Trent is
+one to the effect" . . . .
+
+
+"Oh dear!" said I.
+
+"A singular person is this Oliban," said I to Galiano; "you cannot
+imagine what trouble he gives me:  he is continually talking about
+the Council of Trent."
+
+"I wish he was in the Trent up to the middle," said Galiano, who,
+as I have observed already, spoke excellent English; "I wish he was
+there for talking such nonsense.  However," said he, "we must not
+offend Oliban, he is one of us, and has done us much service; he
+is, moreover, a very clever man, but he is an Aragonese, and when
+one of that nation once gets an idea into his head, it is the most
+difficult thing in the world to dislodge it; however, we will go to
+him; he is an old friend of mine, and I have no doubt but that we
+shall be able to make him listen to reason."  So the next day I
+called upon Galiano, at his marine or admiralty office (what shall
+I call it?), and from thence we proceeded to the bureau of the
+interior, a magnificent edifice, which had formerly been the casa
+of the Inquisition, where we had an interview with Oliban, whom
+Galiano took aside to the window, and there held with him a long
+conversation, which, as they spoke in whispers, and the room was
+immensely large, I did not hear.  At length Galiano came to me and
+said, "There is some difficulty with respect to this business of
+yours, but I have told Oliban that you are a friend of mine, and he
+says that that is sufficient; remain with him now, and he will do
+anything to oblige you; your affair is settled--farewell";
+whereupon he departed and I remained with Oliban, who proceeded
+forthwith to write something, which having concluded, he took out a
+box of cigars, and having lighted one and offered me another, which
+I declined as I do not smoke, he placed his feet against the table,
+and thus proceeded to address me, speaking in the French language.
+
+"It is with great pleasure that I see you in this capital, and, I
+may say, upon this business.  I consider it a disgrace to Spain
+that there is no edition of the Gospel in circulation, at least
+such a one as would be within the reach of all classes of society,
+the highest or poorest; one unencumbered with notes and
+commentaries, human devices, swelling it to an unwieldy bulk.  I
+have no doubt that such an edition as you propose to print, would
+have a most beneficial influence on the minds of the people, who,
+between ourselves, know nothing of pure religion; how should they?
+seeing that the Gospel has always been sedulously kept from them,
+just as if civilization could exist where the light of the Gospel
+beameth not.  The moral regeneration of Spain depends upon the free
+circulation of the Scriptures; to which alone England, your own
+happy country, is indebted for its high state of civilization, and
+the unmatched prosperity which it at present enjoys; all this I
+admit, in fact, reason compels me to do so, but--"
+
+"Now for it," thought I.
+
+"But"--and then he began to talk once more of the wearisome Council
+of Trent, and I found that his writing in the paper, the offer of
+the cigar, and the long and prosy harangue were--what shall I call
+it?--mere [Greek text].
+
+By this time the spring was far advanced, the sides though not the
+tops of the Guadarama hills had long since lost their snows; the
+trees of the Prado had donned their full foliage, and all the
+Campina in the neighbourhood of Madrid smiled and was happy:  the
+summer heats had not commenced, and the weather was truly
+delicious.
+
+Towards the west, at the foot of the hill on which stands Madrid,
+is a canal running parallel with the Manzanares for some leagues,
+from which it is separated by pleasant and fertile meadows.  The
+banks of this canal, which was begun by Carlos Tercero, and has
+never been completed, are planted with beautiful trees, and form
+the most delightful walk in the neighbourhood of the capital.  Here
+I would loiter for hours looking at the shoals of gold and silver
+fish which basked on the surface of the green sunny waters, or
+listening, not to the warbling of birds--for Spain is not the land
+of feathered choristers--but to the prattle of the narangero or man
+who sold oranges and water by a little deserted watch tower just
+opposite the wooden bridge that crosses the canal, which situation
+he had chosen as favourable for his trade, and there had placed his
+stall.  He was an Asturian by birth, about fifty years of age, and
+about five feet high.  As I purchased freely of his fruit, he soon
+conceived a great friendship for me, and told me his history; it
+contained, however, nothing very remarkable, the leading incident
+being an adventure which had befallen him amidst the mountains of
+Granada, where, falling into the hands of certain Gypsies, they
+stripped him naked, and then dismissed him with a sound cudgelling.
+"I have wandered throughout Spain," said he, "and I have come to
+the conclusion that there are but two places worth living in,
+Malaga and Madrid.  At Malaga everything is very cheap, and there
+is such an abundance of fish, that I have frequently seen them
+piled in heaps on the sea-shore:  and as for Madrid, money is
+always stirring at the Corte, and I never go supperless to bed; my
+only care is to sell my oranges, and my only hope that when I die I
+shall be buried yonder."
+
+And he pointed across the Manzanares, where, on the declivity of a
+gentle hill, at about a league's distance, shone brightly in the
+sunshine the white walls of the Campo Santo, or common burying
+ground of Madrid.
+
+He was a fellow of infinite drollery, and, though he could scarcely
+read or write, by no means ignorant of the ways of the world; his
+knowledge of individuals was curious and extensive, few people
+passing his stall with whose names, character, and history he was
+not acquainted.  "Those two gentry," said he, pointing to a
+magnificently dressed cavalier and lady, who had dismounted from a
+carriage, and arm in arm were coming across the wooden bridge,
+followed by two attendants; "those gentry are the Infante Francisco
+Paulo, and his wife the Neapolitana, sister of our Christina; he is
+a very good subject, but as for his wife--vaya--the veriest scold
+in Madrid; she can say carrajo with the most ill-conditioned
+carrier of La Mancha, giving the true emphasis and genuine
+pronunciation.  Don't take off your hat to her, amigo--she has
+neither formality nor politeness--I once saluted her, and she took
+no more notice of me than if I had not been what I am, an Asturian
+and a gentleman, of better blood than herself.  Good day, Senor Don
+Francisco.  Que tal (how goes it)? very fine weather this--vaya su
+merced con Dios.  Those three fellows who just stopped to drink
+water are great thieves, true sons of the prison; I am always civil
+to them, for it would not do to be on ill terms; they pay me or
+not, just as they think proper.  I have been in some trouble on
+their account:  about a year ago they robbed a man a little farther
+on beyond the second bridge.  By the way, I counsel you, brother,
+not to go there, as I believe you often do--it is a dangerous
+place.  They robbed a gentleman and ill-treated him, but his
+brother, who was an escribano, was soon upon their trail, and had
+them arrested; but he wanted someone to identify them, and it
+chanced that they had stopped to drink water at my stall, just as
+they did now.  This the escribano heard of, and forthwith had me
+away to the prison to confront me with them.  I knew them well
+enough, but I had learnt in my travels when to close my eyes and
+when to open them; so I told the escribano that I could not say
+that I had ever seen them before.  He was in a great rage and
+threatened to imprison me; I told him he might and that I cared
+not.  Vaya, I was not going to expose myself to the resentment of
+those three and to that of their friends; I live too near the Hay
+Market for that.  Good day, my young masters.--Murcian oranges, as
+you see; the genuine dragon's blood.  Water sweet and cold.  Those
+two boys are the children of Gabiria, comptroller of the queen's
+household, and the richest man in Madrid; they are nice boys, and
+buy much fruit.  It is said their father loves them more than all
+his possessions.  The old woman who is lying beneath yon tree is
+the Tia Lucilla; she has committed murders, and as she owes me
+money, I hope one day to see her executed.  This man was of the
+Walloon guard;--Senor Don Benito Mol, how do you do?"
+
+This last named personage instantly engrossed my attention; he was
+a bulky old man, somewhat above the middle height, with white hair
+and ruddy features; his eyes were large and blue, and whenever he
+fixed them on any one's countenance, were full of an expression of
+great eagerness, as if he were expecting the communication of some
+important tidings.  He was dressed commonly enough, in a jacket and
+trousers of coarse cloth of a russet colour, on his head was an
+immense sombrero, the brim of which had been much cut and
+mutilated, so as in some places to resemble the jags or denticles
+of a saw.  He returned the salutation of the orange-man, and bowing
+to me, forthwith produced two scented wash-balls which he offered
+for sale in a rough dissonant jargon, intended for Spanish, but
+which seemed more like the Valencian or Catalan.
+
+Upon my asking him who he was, the following conversation ensued
+between us:
+
+"I am a Swiss of Lucerne, Benedict Mol by name, once a soldier in
+the Walloon guard, and now a soap-boiler, at your service."
+
+"You speak the language of Spain very imperfectly," said I; "how
+long have you been in the country?"
+
+"Forty-five years," replied Benedict; "but when the guard was
+broken up, I went to Minorca, where I lost the Spanish language
+without acquiring the Catalan."
+
+"You have been a soldier of the king of Spain," said I; "how did
+you like the service?"
+
+"Not so well, but that I should have been glad to leave it forty
+years ago; the pay was bad, and the treatment worse.  I will now
+speak Swiss to you, for, if I am not much mistaken, you are a
+German man, and understand the speech of Lucerne; I should soon
+have deserted from the service of Spain, as I did from that of the
+Pope, whose soldier I was in my early youth before I came here; but
+I had married a woman of Minorca, by whom I had two children; it
+was this that detained me in those parts so long; before, however,
+I left Minorca, my wife died, and as for my children, one went
+east, the other west, and I know not what became of them; I intend
+shortly to return to Lucerne, and live there like a duke."
+
+"Have you, then, realized a large capital in Spain?" said I,
+glancing at his hat and the rest of his apparel.
+
+"Not a cuart, not a cuart; these two wash-balls are all that I
+possess."
+
+"Perhaps you are the son of good parents, and have lands and money
+in your own country wherewith to support yourself."
+
+"Not a heller, not a heller; my father was hangman of Lucerne, and
+when he died, his body was seized to pay his debts."
+
+"Then doubtless," said I, "you intend to ply your trade of soap-
+boiling at Lucerne; you are quite right, my friend, I know of no
+occupation more honourable or useful."
+
+"I have no thoughts of plying my trade at Lucerne," replied Bennet;
+"and now, as I see you are a German man, Lieber Herr, and as I like
+your countenance and your manner of speaking, I will tell you in
+confidence that I know very little of my trade, and have already
+been turned out of several fabriques as an evil workman; the two
+wash-balls that I carry in my pocket are not of my own making.  In
+kurtzen, I know little more of soap-boiling than I do of tailoring,
+horse-farriery, or shoe-making, all of which I have practised."
+
+"Then I know not how you can hope to live like a hertzog in your
+native canton, unless you expect that the men of Lucerne, in
+consideration of your services to the Pope and to the king of
+Spain, will maintain you in splendour at the public expense."
+
+"Lieber Herr," said Benedict, "the men of Lucerne are by no means
+fond of maintaining the soldiers of the Pope and the king of Spain
+at their own expense; many of the guard who have returned thither
+beg their bread in the streets, but when I go, it shall be in a
+coach drawn by six mules, with a treasure, a mighty schatz which
+lies in the church of Saint James of Compostella, in Galicia."
+
+"I hope you do not intend to rob the church," said I; "if you do,
+however, I believe you will be disappointed.  Mendizabal and the
+liberals have been beforehand with you.  I am informed that at
+present no other treasure is to be found in the cathedrals of Spain
+than a few paltry ornaments and plated utensils."
+
+"My good German Herr," said Benedict, "it is no church schatz, and
+no person living, save myself, knows of its existence:  nearly
+thirty years ago, amongst the sick soldiers who were brought to
+Madrid, was one of my comrades of the Walloon Guard, who had
+accompanied the French to Portugal; he was very sick and shortly
+died.  Before, however, he breathed his last, he sent for me, and
+upon his deathbed told me that himself and two other soldiers, both
+of whom had since been killed, had buried in a certain church at
+Compostella a great booty which they had made in Portugal:  it
+consisted of gold moidores and of a packet of huge diamonds from
+the Brazils; the whole was contained in a large copper kettle.  I
+listened with greedy ears, and from that moment, I may say, I have
+known no rest, neither by day nor night, thinking of the schatz.
+It is very easy to find, for the dying man was so exact in his
+description of the place where it lies, that were I once at
+Compostella, I should have no difficulty in putting my hand upon
+it; several times I have been on the point of setting out on the
+journey, but something has always happened to stop me.  When my
+wife died, I left Minorca with a determination to go to Saint
+James, but on reaching Madrid, I fell into the hands of a Basque
+woman, who persuaded me to live with her, which I have done for
+several years; she is a great hax, {8} and says that if I desert
+her she will breathe a spell which shall cling to me for ever.  Dem
+Got sey dank,--she is now in the hospital, and daily expected to
+die.  This is my history, Lieber Herr."
+
+I have been the more careful in relating the above conversation, as
+I shall have frequent occasion to mention the Swiss in the course
+of these journals; his subsequent adventures were highly
+extraordinary, and the closing one caused a great sensation in
+Spain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+
+State of Spain--Isturitz--Revolution of the Granja--The
+Disturbance--Signs of Mischief--Newspaper Reporters--Quesada's
+Onslaught--The Closing Scene--Flight of the Moderados--The Coffee
+Bowl.
+
+In the meantime the affairs of the moderados did not proceed in a
+very satisfactory manner; they were unpopular at Madrid, and still
+more so in the other large towns of Spain, in most of which juntas
+had been formed, which, taking the local administration into their
+own hands, declared themselves independent of the queen and her
+ministers, and refused to pay taxes; so that the government was
+within a short time reduced to great straits for money; the army
+was unpaid, and the war languished; I mean on the part of the
+Christinos, for the Carlists were pushing it on with considerable
+vigour; parties of their guerillas scouring the country in all
+directions, whilst a large division, under the celebrated Gomez,
+was making the entire circuit of Spain.  To crown the whole, an
+insurrection was daily expected at Madrid, to prevent which the
+nationals were disarmed, which measure tended greatly to increase
+their hatred against the moderado government, and especially
+against Quesada, with whom it was supposed to have originated.
+
+With respect to my own matters, I lost no opportunity of pushing
+forward my application; the Aragonese secretary, however, still
+harped upon the Council of Trent, and succeeded in baffling all my
+efforts.  He appeared to have inoculated his principal with his own
+ideas upon the subject, for the duke, when he beheld me at his
+levees, took no farther notice of me than by a contemptuous glance;
+and once, when I stepped up for the purpose of addressing him,
+disappeared through a side door, and I never saw him again, for I
+was disgusted with the treatment which I had received, and forebore
+paying any more visits at the Casa de la Inquisicion.  Poor Galiano
+still proved himself my unshaken friend, but candidly informed me
+that there was no hope of my succeeding in the above quarter.  "The
+duke," said he, "says that your request cannot be granted; and the
+other day, when I myself mentioned it in the council, began to talk
+of the decision of Trent, and spoke of yourself as a plaguy
+pestilent fellow; whereupon I answered him with some acrimony, and
+there ensued a bit of a function between us, at which Isturitz
+laughed heartily.  By the by," continued he, "what need have you of
+a regular permission, which it does not appear that any one has
+authority to grant.  The best thing that you can do under all
+circumstances is to commit the work to the press, with an
+understanding that you shall not be interfered with when you
+attempt to distribute it. I strongly advise you to see Isturitz
+himself upon the matter.  I will prepare him for the interview, and
+will answer that he receives you civilly."
+
+In fact, a few days afterwards, I had an interview with Isturitz at
+the palace, and for the sake of brevity I shall content myself with
+saying that I found him perfectly well disposed to favour my views.
+"I have lived long in England," said he; "the Bible is free there,
+and I see no reason why it should not be free in Spain also.  I am
+not prepared to say that England is indebted for her prosperity to
+the knowledge which all her children, more or less, possess of the
+sacred writings; but of one thing I am sure, namely, that the Bible
+has done no harm in that country, nor do I believe that it will
+effect any in Spain; print it, therefore, by all means, and
+circulate it as extensively as possible."  I retired, highly
+satisfied with my interview, having obtained, if not a written
+permission to print the sacred volume, what, under all
+circumstances, I considered as almost equivalent, an understanding
+that my biblical pursuits would be tolerated in Spain; and I had
+fervent hope that whatever was the fate of the present ministry, no
+future one, particularly a liberal one, would venture to interfere
+with me, more especially as the English ambassador was my friend,
+and was privy to all the steps I had taken throughout the whole
+affair.
+
+Two or three things connected with the above interview with
+Isturitz struck me as being highly remarkable.  First of all, the
+extreme facility with which I obtained admission to the presence of
+the prime minister of Spain.  I had not to wait, or indeed to send
+in my name, but was introduced at once by the door-keeper.
+Secondly, the air of loneliness which pervaded the place, so unlike
+the bustle, noise, and activity which I observed when I waited on
+Mendizabal.  In this instance, there were no eager candidates for
+an interview with the great man; indeed, I did not behold a single
+individual, with the exception of Isturitz and the official.  But
+that which made the most profound impression upon me, was the
+manner of the minister himself, who, when I entered, sat upon a
+sofa, with his arms folded, and his eyes directed to the ground.
+When he spoke there was extreme depression in the tones of his
+voice, his dark features wore an air of melancholy, and he
+exhibited all the appearance of a person meditating to escape from
+the miseries of this life by the most desperate of all acts--
+suicide.
+
+And a few days showed that he had, indeed, cause for much
+melancholy meditation:  in less than a week occurred the revolution
+of the Granja, as it is called.  The Granja, or Grange, is a royal
+country seat, situated amongst pine forests, on the other side of
+the Guadarama hills, about twelve leagues distant from Madrid.  To
+this place the queen regent Christina had retired, in order to be
+aloof from the discontent of the capital, and to enjoy rural air
+and amusements in this celebrated retreat, a monument of the taste
+and magnificence of the first Bourbon who ascended the throne of
+Spain.  She was not, however, permitted to remain long in
+tranquillity; her own guards were disaffected, and more inclined to
+the principles of the constitution of 1823 than to those of
+absolute monarchy, which the moderados were attempting to revive
+again in the government of Spain.  Early one morning, a party of
+these soldiers, headed by a certain Sergeant Garcia, entered her
+apartment, and proposed that she should subscribe her hand to this
+constitution, and swear solemnly to abide by it.  Christina,
+however, who was a woman of considerable spirit, refused to comply
+with this proposal, and ordered them to withdraw.  A scene of
+violence and tumult ensued, but the regent still continuing firm,
+the soldiers at length led her down to one of the courts of the
+palace, where stood her well-known paramour, Munos, bound and
+blindfolded.  "Swear to the constitution, you she-rogue,"
+vociferated the swarthy sergeant.  "Never!" said the spirited
+daughter of the Neapolitan Bourbons.  "Then your cortejo shall
+die!" replied the sergeant.  "Ho! ho! my lads; get ready your arms,
+and send four bullets through the fellow's brain."  Munos was
+forthwith led to the wall, and compelled to kneel down, the
+soldiers levelled their muskets and another moment would have
+consigned the unfortunate wight to eternity, when Christina,
+forgetting everything but the feelings of her woman's heart,
+suddenly started forward with a shriek, exclaiming:  "Hold, hold!
+I sign, I sign!"
+
+The day after this event I entered the Puerta del Sol at about
+noon.  There is always a crowd there about this hour, but it is
+generally a very quiet motionless crowd, consisting of listless
+idlers calmly smoking their cigars, or listening to or retailing
+the--in general--very dull news of the capital; but on the day of
+which I am speaking the mass was no longer inert.  There was much
+gesticulation and vociferation, and several people were running
+about shouting, "Viva la constitucion!"--a cry which, a few days
+previously, would have been visited on the utterer with death, the
+city having for some weeks past been subjected to the rigour of
+martial law.  I occasionally heard the words, "La Granja!  La
+Granja!"  Which words were sure to be succeeded by the shout of
+"Viva la constitucion!"  Opposite the Casa de Postas were drawn up
+in a line about a dozen mounted dragoons, some of whom were
+continually waving their caps in the air and joining the common
+cry, in which they were encouraged by their commander, a handsome
+young officer, who flourished his sword, and more than once cried
+out with great glee, "Long live the constitutional queen!  Long
+live the constitution!"
+
+The crowd was rapidly increasing, and several nationals made their
+appearance in their uniforms, but without their arms, of which they
+had been deprived, as I have already stated.  "What has become of
+the moderado government?" said I to Baltasar, whom I suddenly
+observed amongst the crowd, dressed as when I had first seen him,
+in his old regimental great coat and foraging cap; "have the
+ministers been deposed and others put in their place?"
+
+"Not yet, Don Jorge," said the little soldier-tailor; "not yet; the
+scoundrels still hold out, relying on the brute bull Quesada and a
+few infantry, who still continue true to them; but there is no
+fear, Don Jorge; the queen is ours, thanks to the courage of my
+friend Garcia, and if the brute bull should make his appearance--
+ho! ho! Don Jorge, you shall see something--I am prepared for him,
+ho! ho!" and thereupon he half opened his great coat, and showed me
+a small gun, which he bore beneath it in a sling, and then moving
+away with a wink and a nod, disappeared amongst the crowd.
+
+Presently I perceived a small body of soldiers advancing up the
+Calle Mayor, or principal street which runs from the Puerta del Sol
+in the direction of the palace; they might be about twenty in
+number, and an officer marched at their head with a drawn sword;
+the men appeared to have been collected in a hurry, many of them
+being in fatigue dress, with foraging caps on their heads.  On they
+came, slowly marching; neither their officer nor themselves paying
+the slightest attention to the cries of the crowd which thronged
+about them, shouting "Long live the constitution!" save and except
+by an occasional surly side glance:  on they marched with
+contracted brows and set teeth, till they came in front of the
+cavalry, where they halted and drew up in a rank.
+
+"Those men mean mischief," said I to my friend D-, of the Morning
+Chronicle, who at this moment joined me; "and depend upon it, that
+if they are ordered they will commence firing, caring nothing whom
+they hit,--but what can those cavalry fellows behind them mean, who
+are evidently of the other opinion by their shouting, why don't
+they charge at once this handful of foot people and overturn them?
+Once down, the crowd would wrest from them their muskets in a
+moment.  You are a liberal, which I am not; why do you not go to
+that silly young man who commands the horse and give him a word of
+counsel in time?"
+
+D--turned upon me his broad red good-humoured English countenance,
+with a peculiarly arch look, as much as to say--(whatever you think
+most applicable, gentle reader), then taking me by the arm, "Let us
+get," said he, "out of this crowd and mount to some window, where I
+can write down what is about to take place, for I agree with you
+that mischief is meant."  Just opposite the post office was a large
+house, in the topmost story of which we beheld a paper displayed,
+importing that apartments were to let; whereupon we instantly
+ascended the common stair, and having agreed with the mistress of
+the etage for the use of the front room for the day, we bolted the
+door, and the reporter, producing his pocket-book and pencil,
+prepared to take notes of the coming events, which were already
+casting their shadow before.
+
+What most extraordinary men are these reporters of newspapers in
+general, I mean English newspapers; surely if there be any class of
+individuals who are entitled to the appellation of cosmopolites, it
+is these; who pursue their avocation in all countries
+indifferently, and accommodate themselves at will to the manners of
+all classes of society:  their fluency of style as writers is only
+surpassed by their facility of language in conversation, and their
+attainments in classical and polite literature only by their
+profound knowledge of the world, acquired by an early introduction
+into its bustling scenes.  The activity, energy, and courage which
+they occasionally display in the pursuit of information are truly
+remarkable.  I saw them during the three days at Paris, mingled
+with canaille and gamins behind the barriers, whilst the mitraille
+was flying in all directions, and the desperate cuirassiers were
+dashing their fierce horses against these seemingly feeble
+bulwarks.  There stood they, dotting down their observations in
+their pocket-books as unconcernedly as if reporting the proceedings
+of a reform meeting in Covent Garden or Finsbury Square; whilst in
+Spain, several of them accompanied the Carlist and Christino
+guerillas in some of their most desperate raids and expeditions,
+exposing themselves to the danger of hostile bullets, the
+inclemency of winter, and the fierce heat of the summer sun.
+
+We had scarcely been five minutes at the window, when we suddenly
+heard the clattering of horses' feet hastening down the street
+called the Calle de Carretas.  The house in which we had stationed
+ourselves was, as I have already observed, just opposite to the
+post office, at the left of which this street debouches from the
+north into the Puerta del Sol:  as the sounds became louder and
+louder, the cries of the crowd below diminished, and a species of
+panic seemed to have fallen upon all:  once or twice, however, I
+could distinguish the words Quesada! Quesada!  The foot soldiers
+stood calm and motionless, but I observed that the cavalry, with
+the young officer who commanded them, displayed both confusion and
+fear, exchanging with each other some hurried words; all of a
+sudden that part of the crowd which stood near the mouth of the
+Calle de Carretas fell back in great disorder, leaving a
+considerable space unoccupied, and the next moment Quesada, in
+complete general's uniform, and mounted on a bright bay thorough
+bred English horse, with a drawn sword in his hand, dashed at full
+gallop into the area, in much the same manner as I have seen a
+Manchegan bull rush into the amphitheatre when the gates of his pen
+are suddenly flung open.
+
+He was closely followed by two mounted officers, and at a short
+distance by as many dragoons.  In almost less time than is
+sufficient to relate it, several individuals in the crowd were
+knocked down and lay sprawling upon the ground, beneath the horses
+of Quesada and his two friends, for as to the dragoons, they halted
+as soon as they had entered the Puerta del Sol.  It was a fine
+sight to see three men, by dint of valour and good horsemanship,
+strike terror into at least as many thousands:  I saw Quesada spur
+his horse repeatedly into the dense masses of the crowd, and then
+extricate himself in the most masterly manner.  The rabble were
+completely awed and gave way, retiring by the Calle del Comercio
+and the street of Alcala.  All at once, Quesada singled out two
+nationals, who were attempting to escape, and setting spurs to his
+horse, turned them in a moment, and drove them in another
+direction, striking them in a contemptuous manner with the flat of
+his sabre.  He was crying out, "Long live the absolute queen!"
+when, just beneath me, amidst a portion of the crowd which had
+still maintained its ground, perhaps from not having the means of
+escaping, I saw a small gun glitter for a moment, then there was a
+sharp report, and a bullet had nearly sent Quesada to his long
+account, passing so near to the countenance of the general as to
+graze his hat.  I had an indistinct view for a moment of a well-
+known foraging cap just about the spot from whence the gun had been
+discharged, then there was a rush of the crowd, and the shooter,
+whoever he was, escaped discovery amidst the confusion which arose.
+
+As for Quesada, he seemed to treat the danger from which he had
+escaped with the utmost contempt.  He glared about him fiercely for
+a moment, then leaving the two nationals, who sneaked away like
+whipped hounds, he went up to the young officer who commanded the
+cavalry, and who had been active in raising the cry of the
+constitution, and to him he addressed a few words with an air of
+stern menace; the youth evidently quailed before him, and probably
+in obedience to his orders, resigned the command of the party, and
+rode slowly away with a discomfited air; whereupon Quesada
+dismounted and walked slowly backwards and forwards before the Casa
+de Postas with a mien which seemed to bid defiance to mankind.
+
+This was the glorious day of Quesada's existence, his glorious and
+last day.  I call it the day of his glory, for he certainly never
+before appeared under such brilliant circumstances, and he never
+lived to see another sun set.  No action of any conqueror or hero
+on record is to be compared with this closing scene of the life of
+Quesada, for who, by his single desperate courage and impetuosity,
+ever before stopped a revolution in full course?  Quesada did:  he
+stopped the revolution at Madrid for one entire day, and brought
+back the uproarious and hostile mob of a huge city to perfect order
+and quiet.  His burst into the Puerta del Sol was the most
+tremendous and successful piece of daring ever witnessed.  I
+admired so much the spirit of the "brute bull" that I frequently,
+during his wild onset, shouted "Viva Quesada!" for I wished him
+well.  Not that I am of any political party or system.  No, no!  I
+have lived too long with Rommany Chals and Petulengres {9} to be of
+any politics save Gypsy politics; and it is well known that, during
+elections, the children of Roma side with both parties so long as
+the event is doubtful, promising success to each; and then when the
+fight is done, and the battle won, invariably range themselves in
+the ranks of the victorious.  But I repeat that I wished well to
+Quesada, witnessing, as I did, his stout heart and good
+horsemanship.  Tranquillity was restored to Madrid throughout the
+remainder of the day; the handful of infantry bivouacked in the
+Puerta del Sol.  No more cries of long live the constitution were
+heard; and the revolution in the capital seemed to have been
+effectually put down.  It is probable, indeed, that had the chiefs
+of the moderado party but continued true to themselves for forty-
+eight hours longer, their cause would have triumphed, and the
+revolutionary soldiers at the Granja would have been glad to
+restore the Queen Regent to liberty, and to have come to terms, as
+it was well known that several regiments, who still continued
+loyal, were marching upon Madrid.  The moderados, however, were not
+true to themselves; that very night their hearts failed them, and
+they fled in various directions.  Isturitz and Galiano to France;
+and the Duke of Rivas to Gibraltar:  the panic of his colleagues
+even infected Quesada, who, disguised as a civilian, took to
+flight.  He was not, however, so successful as the rest, but was
+recognised at a village about three leagues from Madrid, and cast
+into prison by some friends of the constitution.  Intelligence of
+his capture was instantly transmitted to the capital, and a vast
+mob of the nationals, some on foot, some on horseback, and others
+in cabriolets, instantly set out.  "The nationals are coming," said
+a paisano to Quesada.  "Then," said he, "I am lost," and forthwith
+prepared himself for death.
+
+There is a celebrated coffee-house in the Calle d'Alcala at Madrid,
+capable of holding several hundred individuals.  On the evening of
+the day in question, I was seated there, sipping a cup of the brown
+beverage, when I heard a prodigious noise and clamour in the
+street; it proceeded from the nationals, who were returning from
+their expedition.  In a few minutes I saw a body of them enter the
+coffee-house marching arm in arm, two by two, stamping on the
+ground with their feet in a kind of measure, and repeating in loud
+chorus as they walked round the spacious apartment, the following
+grisly stanza:-
+
+
+"Que es lo que abaja
+Por aquel cerro?
+Ta ra ra ra ra.
+Son los huesos de Quesada,
+Que los trae un perro -
+Ta ra ra ra ra." {10}
+
+
+"What down the hill comes hurrying there? -
+With a hey, with a ho, a sword, and a gun!
+Quesada's bones, which a hound doth bear. -
+Hurrah, brave brothers!--the work is done."
+
+A huge bowl of coffee was then called for, which was placed upon a
+table, around which gathered the national soldiers:  there was
+silence for a moment, which was interrupted by a voice roaring out,
+"el panuelo!"  A blue kerchief was forthwith produced, which
+appeared to contain a substance of some kind; it was untied, and a
+gory hand and three or four dissevered fingers made their
+appearance, and with these the contents of the bowl were stirred
+up.  "Cups! cups!" cried the nationals.
+
+"Ho, ho, Don Jorge," cried Baltasarito, coming up to me with a cup
+of coffee, "pray do me the favour to drink upon this glorious
+occasion.  This is a pleasant day for Spain, and for the gallant
+nationals of Madrid.  I have seen many a bull funcion, but none
+which has given me so much pleasure as this.  Yesterday the brute
+had it all his own way, but to-day the toreros have prevailed, as
+you see, Don Jorge.  Pray drink; for I must now run home to fetch
+my pajandi to play my brethren a tune, and sing a copla.  What
+shall it be?  Something in Gitano?
+
+
+"Una noche sinava en tucue."
+
+
+You shake your head, Don Jorge.  Ha, ha; I am young, and youth is
+the time for pleasure; well, well, out of compliment to you, who
+are an Englishman and a monro, it shall not be that, but something
+liberal, something patriotic, the Hymn of Riego--Hasta despues, Don
+Jorge!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+
+The Steamer--Cape Finisterre--The Storm--Arrival at Cadiz--The New
+Testament--Seville--Italica--The Amphitheatre--The Prisoners--The
+Encounter--Baron Taylor--The Street and Desert.
+
+At the commencement of November, I again found myself on the salt
+water, on my way to Spain.  I had returned to England shortly after
+the events which have been narrated in the last chapter, for the
+purpose of consulting with my friends, and for planning the opening
+of a biblical campaign in Spain.  It was now determined by us to
+print the New Testament, with as little delay as possible, at
+Madrid; and I was to be entrusted with the somewhat arduous task of
+its distribution.  My stay in England was very short, for time was
+precious, and I was eager to return to the field of action.
+
+I embarked in the Thames, on board the M- steamer.  We had a most
+unpleasant passage to Falmouth; the ship was crowded with
+passengers, most of them poor consumptive individuals, and other
+invalids fleeing from the cold blasts of England's winter to the
+sunny shores of Portugal and Madeira.  In a more uncomfortable
+vessel, especially steam ship, it has never been my fate to make a
+voyage.  The berths were small and insupportably close, and of
+these wretched holes mine was amongst the worst, the rest having
+been bespoken before I arrived on board; so that to avoid the
+suffocation which seemed to threaten me should I enter it, I lay
+upon the floor of one of the cabins throughout the voyage.  We
+remained at Falmouth twenty-four hours, taking in coal, and
+repairing the engine, which had sustained considerable damage.
+
+On Monday, the seventh, we again started, and made for the Bay of
+Biscay.  The sea was high and the wind strong and contrary;
+nevertheless, on the morning of the fourth day, we were in sight of
+the rocky coast to the north of Cape Finisterre.  I must here
+observe, that this was the first voyage that the captain who
+commanded the vessel had ever made on board of her, and that he
+knew little or nothing of the coast towards which we were bearing.
+He was a person picked up in a hurry, the former captain having
+resigned his command on the ground that the ship was not seaworthy,
+and that the engines were frequently unserviceable.  I was not
+acquainted with these circumstances at the time, or perhaps I
+should have felt more alarmed than I did, when I saw the vessel
+approaching nearer and nearer the shore, till at last we were only
+a few hundred yards distant.  As it was, however, I felt very much
+surprised; for having passed it twice before, both times in steam
+vessels, and having seen with what care the captains endeavoured to
+maintain a wide offing, I could not conceive the reason of our
+being now so near this dangerous region.  The wind was blowing hard
+towards the shore, if that can be called a shore which consists of
+steep abrupt precipices, on which the surf was breaking with the
+noise of thunder, tossing up clouds of spray and foam to the height
+of a cathedral.  We coasted slowly along, rounding several tall
+forelands, some of them piled up by the hand of nature in the most
+fantastic shapes.  About nightfall Cape Finisterre was not far
+ahead,--a bluff, brown, granite mountain, whose frowning head may
+be seen far away by those who traverse the ocean.  The stream which
+poured round its breast was terrific, and though our engines plied
+with all their force, we made little or no way.
+
+By about eight o'clock at night the wind had increased to a
+hurricane, the thunder rolled frightfully, and the only light which
+we had to guide us on our way was the red forked lightning, which
+burst at times from the bosom of the big black clouds which lowered
+over our heads.  We were exerting ourselves to the utmost to
+weather the cape, which we could descry by the lightning on our
+lee, its brow being frequently brilliantly lighted up by the
+flashes which quivered around it, when suddenly, with a great
+crash, the engine broke, and the paddles, on which depended our
+lives, ceased to play.
+
+I will not attempt to depict the scene of horror and confusion
+which ensued; it may be imagined, but never described.  The
+captain, to give him his due, displayed the utmost coolness and
+intrepidity; he and the whole crew made the greatest exertions to
+repair the engine, and when they found their labour in vain,
+endeavoured, by hoisting the sails, and by practising all possible
+manoeuvres, to preserve the ship from impending destruction; but
+all was of no avail, we were hard on a lee shore, to which the
+howling tempest was impelling us.  About this time I was standing
+near the helm, and I asked the steersman if there was any hope of
+saving the vessel, or our lives.  He replied, "Sir, it is a bad
+affair, no boat could live for a minute in this sea, and in less
+than an hour the ship will have her broadside on Finisterre, where
+the strongest man-of-war ever built must go to shivers instantly--
+none of us will see the morning."  The captain, likewise, informed
+the other passengers in the cabin to the same effect, telling them
+to prepare themselves; and having done so, he ordered the door to
+be fastened, and none to be permitted to come on deck.  I, however,
+kept my station, though almost drowned with water, immense waves
+continually breaking over our windward side and flooding the ship.
+The water casks broke from their lashings, and one of them struck
+me down, and crushed the foot of the unfortunate man at the helm,
+whose place was instantly taken by the captain.  We were now close
+to the rocks, when a horrid convulsion of the elements took place.
+The lightning enveloped us as with a mantle, the thunders were
+louder than the roar of a million cannon, the dregs of the ocean
+seemed to be cast up, and in the midst of all this turmoil, the
+wind, without the slightest intimation, VEERED RIGHT ABOUT, and
+pushed us from the horrible coast faster than it had previously
+driven us towards it.
+
+The oldest sailors on board acknowledged that they had never
+witnessed so providential an escape.  I said, from the bottom of my
+heart, "Our Father--hallowed be thy name."
+
+The next day we were near foundering, for the sea was exceedingly
+high, and our vessel, which was not intended for sailing, laboured
+terribly, and leaked much.  The pumps were continually working.
+She likewise took fire, but the flames were extinguished.  In the
+evening the steam-engine was partially repaired, and we reached
+Lisbon on the thirteenth, where in a few days we completed our
+repairs.
+
+I found my excellent friend W- in good health.  During my absence
+he had been doing everything in his power to further the sale of
+the sacred volume in Portuguese:  his zeal and devotedness were
+quite admirable.  The distracted state of the country, however,
+during the last six months, had sadly impeded his efforts.  The
+minds of the people had been so engrossed with politics, that they
+found scarcely any time to think of the welfare of their souls.
+The political history of Portugal had of late afforded a striking
+parallel to that of the neighbouring country.  In both a struggle
+for supremacy had arisen between the court and the democratic
+party; in both the latter had triumphed, whilst two distinguished
+individuals had fallen a sacrifice to the popular fury--Freire in
+Portugal, and Quesada in Spain.  The news which reached me at
+Lisbon from the latter country was rather startling.  The hordes of
+Gomez were ravaging Andalusia, which I was about to visit on my way
+to Madrid; Cordova had been sacked and abandoned after a three
+days' occupation by the Carlists.  I was told that if I persisted
+in my attempt to enter Spain in the direction which I proposed, I
+should probably fall into their hands at Seville.  I had, however,
+no fears, and had full confidence that the Lord would open the path
+before me to Madrid.
+
+The vessel being repaired, we again embarked, and in two days
+arrived in safety at Cadiz.  I found great confusion reigning
+there; numerous bands of the factious were reported to be hovering
+in the neighbourhood.  An attack was not deemed improbable, and the
+place had just been declared in a state of siege.  I took up my
+abode at the French hotel in the Calle de la Niveria, and was
+allotted a species of cockloft, or garret, to sleep in, for the
+house was filled with guests, being a place of much resort, on
+account of the excellent table d'hote which is kept there.  I
+dressed myself and walked about the town.  I entered several
+coffee-houses:  the din of tongues in all was deafening.  In one no
+less than six orators were haranguing at the same time on the state
+of the country, and the probability of an intervention on the part
+of England and France.  As I was listening to one of them, he
+suddenly called upon me for my opinion, as I was a foreigner, and
+seemingly just arrived.  I replied that I could not venture to
+guess what steps the two governments would pursue under the present
+circumstances, but thought that it would be as well if the
+Spaniards would exert themselves more and call less on Jupiter.  As
+I did not wish to engage in any political conversation, I instantly
+quitted the house, and sought those parts of the town where the
+lower classes principally reside.
+
+I entered into discourse with several individuals, but found them
+very ignorant; none could read or write, and their ideas respecting
+religion were anything but satisfactory,--most professing a perfect
+indifference.  I afterwards went into a bookseller's shop and made
+inquiries respecting the demand for literature, which, he informed
+me, was small.  I produced a London edition of the New Testament in
+Spanish, and asked the bookseller whether he thought a book of that
+description would sell in Cadiz.  He said that both the type and
+paper were exceedingly beautiful, but that it was a work not sought
+after, and very little known.  I did not pursue my inquiries in
+other shops, for I reflected that I was not likely to receive a
+very favourable opinion from booksellers respecting a publication
+in which they had no interest.  I had, moreover, but two or three
+copies of the New Testament with me, and could not have supplied
+them had they even given me an order.
+
+Early on the twenty-fourth, I embarked for Seville in the small
+Spanish steamer the Betis:  the morning was wet, and the aspect of
+nature was enveloped in a dense mist, which prevented my observing
+surrounding objects.  After proceeding about six leagues, we
+reached the north-eastern extremity of the Bay of Cadiz, and passed
+by Saint Lucar, an ancient town near to the spot where the
+Guadalquivir disembogues itself.  The mist suddenly disappeared,
+and the sun of Spain burst forth in full brilliancy, enlivening all
+around, and particularly myself, who had till then been lying on
+the deck in a dull melancholy stupor.  We entered the mouth of "The
+Great River," for that is the English translation of Oued al Kiber,
+as the Moors designated the ancient Betis.  We came to anchor for a
+few minutes at a little village called Bonanca, at the extremity of
+the first reach of the river, where we received several passengers,
+and again proceeded.  There is not much in the appearance of the
+Guadalquivir to interest the traveller:  the banks are low and
+destitute of trees, the adjacent country is flat, and only in the
+distance is seen a range of tall blue sierras.  The water is turbid
+and muddy, and in colour closely resembling the contents of a duck-
+pool; the average width of the stream is from a hundred and fifty
+to two hundred yards, but it is impossible to move along this river
+without remembering that it has borne the Roman, the Vandal, and
+the Arab, and has been the witness of deeds which have resounded
+through the world and been the themes of immortal songs.  I
+repeated Latin verses and fragments of old Spanish ballads till we
+reached Seville, at about nine o'clock of a lovely moonlight night.
+
+Seville contains ninety thousand inhabitants, and is situated on
+the eastern bank of the Guadalquivir, about eighteen leagues from
+its mouth; it is surrounded with high Moorish walls, in a good
+state of preservation, and built of such durable materials that it
+is probable they will for many centuries still bid defiance to the
+encroachments of time.  The most remarkable edifices are the
+cathedral and Alcazar, or palace of the Moorish kings; the tower of
+the former, called La Giralda, belongs to the period of the Moors,
+and formed part of the grand mosque of Seville:  it is computed to
+be one hundred ells in height, and is ascended not by stairs or
+ladders but by a vaulted pathway, in the manner of an inclined
+plane:  this path is by no means steep, so that a cavalier might
+ride up to the top, a feat which Ferdinand the Seventh is said to
+have accomplished.  The view from the summit is very extensive, and
+on a fine clear day the mountain ridge, called the Sierra de Ronda,
+may be discovered, though upwards of twenty leagues distant.  The
+cathedral itself is a noble Gothic structure, reputed the finest of
+the kind in Spain.  In the chapels allotted to the various saints
+are some of the most magnificent paintings which Spanish art has
+produced; indeed the Cathedral of Seville is at the present time
+far more rich in splendid paintings than at any former period;
+possessing many very recently removed from some of the suppressed
+convents, particularly from the Capuchin and San Francisco.
+
+No one should visit Seville without paying particular attention to
+the Alcazar, that splendid specimen of Moorish architecture.  It
+contains many magnificent halls, particularly that of the
+ambassadors, so called, which is in every respect more magnificent
+than the one of the same name within the Alhambra of Granada.  This
+palace was a favourite residence of Peter the Cruel, who carefully
+repaired it without altering its Moorish character and appearance.
+It probably remains in much the same state as at the time of his
+death.
+
+On the right side of the river is a large suburb, called Triana,
+communicating with Seville by means of a bridge of boats; for there
+is no permanent bridge across the Guadalquivir, owing to the
+violent inundations to which it is subject.  This suburb is
+inhabited by the dregs of the populace, and abounds with Gitanos or
+Gypsies.  About a league and a half to the north-west stands the
+village of Santo Ponce:  at the foot and on the side of some
+elevated ground higher up are to be seen vestiges of ruined walls
+and edifices, which once formed part of Italica, the birth-place of
+Silius Italicus and Trajan, from which latter personage Triana
+derives its name.
+
+One fine morning I walked thither, and having ascended the hill, I
+directed my course northward.  I soon reached what had once been
+bagnios, and a little farther on, in a kind of valley between two
+gentle declivities, the amphitheatre.  This latter object is by far
+the most considerable relic of ancient Italica; it is oval in its
+form, with two gateways fronting the east and west.
+
+On all sides are to be seen the time-worn broken granite benches,
+from whence myriads of human beings once gazed down on the area
+below, where the gladiator shouted, and the lion and the leopard
+yelled:  all around, beneath these flights of benches, are vaulted
+excavations from whence the combatants, part human part bestial,
+darted forth by their several doors. I spent many hours in this
+singular place, forcing my way through the wild fennel and
+brushwood into the caverns, now the haunts of adders and other
+reptiles, whose hissings I heard.  Having sated my curiosity, I
+left the ruins, and returning by another way, reached a place where
+lay the carcass of a horse half devoured; upon it, with lustrous
+eyes, stood an enormous vulture, who, as I approached, slowly
+soared aloft till he alighted on the eastern gate of the
+amphitheatre, from whence he uttered a hoarse cry, as if in anger
+that I had disturbed him from his feast of carrion.
+
+Gomez had not hitherto paid a visit to Seville:  when I arrived he
+was said to be in the neighbourhood of Ronda.  The city was under
+watch and ward:  several gates had been blocked up with masonry,
+trenches dug, and redoubts erected, but I am convinced that the
+place would not have held out six hours against a resolute attack.
+Gomez had proved himself to be a most extraordinary man, and with
+his small army of Aragonese and Basques had, within the last four
+months, made the tour of Spain.  He had very frequently been hemmed
+in by forces three times the number of his own, in places whence
+escape appeared impossible, but he had always battled his enemies,
+whom he seemed to laugh at.  The most absurd accounts of victories
+gained over him were continually issuing from the press at Seville;
+amongst others, it was stated that his army had been utterly
+defeated, himself killed, and that twelve hundred prisoners were on
+their way to Saville.  I saw these prisoners:  instead of twelve
+hundred desperadoes, they consisted of about twenty poor lame
+ragged wretches, many of them boys from fourteen to sixteen years
+of age.  They were evidently camp followers, who, unable to keep up
+with the army, had been picked up straggling in the plains and
+amongst the hills.
+
+It subsequently appeared that no battle had occurred, and that the
+death of Gomez was a fiction.  The grand defect of Gomez consisted
+in not knowing how to take advantage of circumstances:  after
+defeating Lopez, he might have marched to Madrid and proclaimed Don
+Carlos there, and after sacking Cordova he might have captured
+Seville.
+
+There were several booksellers' shops at Seville, in two of which I
+found copies of the New Testament in Spanish, which had been
+obtained from Gibraltar about two years before, since which time
+six copies had been sold in one shop and four in the other.  The
+person who generally accompanied me in my walks about the town and
+the neighbourhood, was an elderly Genoese, who officiated as a kind
+of valet de place in the Posada del Turco, where I had taken up my
+residence.  On learning from me that it was my intention to bring
+out an edition of the New Testament at Madrid, he observed that
+copies of the work might be extensively circulated in Andalusia.
+"I have been accustomed to bookselling," he continued, "and at one
+time possessed a small shop of my own in this place.  Once having
+occasion to go to Gibraltar, I procured several copies of the
+Scriptures; some, it is true, were seized by the officers of the
+customs, but the rest I sold at a high price, and with considerable
+profit to myself."
+
+I had returned from a walk in the country, on a glorious sunshiny
+morning of the Andalusian winter, and was directing my steps
+towards my lodging:  as I was passing by the portal of a large
+gloomy house near the gate of Xeres, two individuals dressed in
+zamarras emerged from the archway, and were about to cross my path,
+when one, looking in my face, suddenly started back, exclaiming in
+the purest and most melodious French:  "What do I see?  If my eyes
+do not deceive me--it is himself.  Yes, the very same as I saw him
+first at Bayonne; then long subsequently beneath the brick wall at
+Novogorod; then beside the Bosphorus; and last at--at--Oh, my
+respectable and cherished friend, where was it that I had last the
+felicity of seeing your well-remembered and most remarkable
+physiognomy?"
+
+Myself.--It was in the south of Ireland, if I mistake not.  Was it
+not there that I introduced you to the sorcerer who tamed the
+savage horses by a single whisper into their ear?  But tell me what
+brings you to Spain and Andalusia, the last place where I should
+have expected to find you?
+
+Baron Taylor.--And wherefore, my most respectable B-?  Is not Spain
+the land of the arts; and is not Andalusia of all Spain that
+portion which has produced the noblest monuments of artistic
+excellence and inspiration?  Surely you know enough of me to be
+aware that the arts are my passion; that I am incapable of
+imagining a more exalted enjoyment than to gaze in adoration on a
+noble picture.  O come with me! for you too have a soul capable of
+appreciating what is lovely and exalted; a soul delicate and
+sensitive.  Come with me, and I will show you a Murillo, such as -.
+But first allow me to introduce you to your compatriot.  My dear
+Monsieur W., turning to his companion (an English gentleman from
+whom and from his family I subsequently experienced unbounded
+kindness and hospitality on various occasions, and at different
+periods at Seville), allow me to introduce to you my most cherished
+and respectable friend, one who is better acquainted with Gypsy
+ways than the Chef des Bohemiens a Triana, one who is an expert
+whisperer and horse-sorcerer, and who, to his honour I say it, can
+wield hammer and tongs, and handle a horse-shoe with the best of
+the smiths amongst the Alpujarras of Granada.
+
+In the course of my travels I have formed various friendships and
+acquaintances, but no one has more interested me than Baron Taylor,
+and there is no one for whom I entertain a greater esteem and
+regard.  To personal and mental accomplishments of the highest
+order he unites a kindness of heart rarely to be met with, and
+which is continually inducing him to seek for opportunities of
+doing good to his fellow creatures, and of contributing to their
+happiness; perhaps no person in existence has seen more of the
+world and life in its various phases than himself.  His manners are
+naturally to the highest degree courtly, yet he nevertheless
+possesses a disposition so pliable that he finds no difficulty in
+accommodating himself to all kinds of company, in consequence of
+which he is a universal favourite.  There is a mystery about him,
+which, wherever he goes, serves not a little to increase the
+sensation naturally created by his appearance and manner.  Who he
+is, no one pretends to assert with downright positiveness:  it is
+whispered, however, that he is a scion of royalty; and who can gaze
+for a moment upon that most graceful figure, that most intelligent
+but singularly moulded countenance, and those large and expressive
+eyes, without feeling as equally convinced that he is of no common
+lineage, as that he is no common man.  Though possessed of talents
+and eloquence which would speedily have enabled him to attain to an
+illustrious position in the state, he has hitherto, and perhaps
+wisely, contented himself with comparative obscurity, chiefly
+devoting himself to the study of the arts and of literature, of
+both of which he is a most bounteous patron.
+
+He has, notwithstanding, been employed by the illustrious house to
+which he is said to be related in more than one delicate and
+important mission, both in the East and the West, in which his
+efforts have uniformly been crowned with complete success.  He was
+now collecting masterpieces of the Spanish school of painting,
+which were destined to adorn the saloons of the Tuileries.
+
+He has visited most portions of the earth, and it is remarkable
+enough that we are continually encountering each other in strange
+places and under singular circumstances.  Whenever he descries me,
+whether in the street or the desert, the brilliant hall or amongst
+Bedouin haimas, at Novogorod or Stambul, he flings up his arms and
+exclaims, "O ciel!  I have again the felicity of seeing my
+cherished and most respectable B-."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+
+Departure for Cordova--Carmona--German Colonies--Language--The
+Sluggish Horse--Nocturnal Welcome--Carlist Landlord--Good Advice--
+Gomez--The Old Genoese--The Two Opinions.
+
+After a sojourn of about fourteen days at Seville, I departed for
+Cordova.  The diligence had for some time past ceased running,
+owing to the disturbed state of the province.  I had therefore no
+resource but to proceed thither on horseback.  I hired a couple of
+horses, and engaged the old Genoese, of whom I have already had
+occasion to speak, to attend me as far as Cordova, and to bring
+them back.  Notwithstanding we were now in the depths of winter,
+the weather was beautiful, the days sunny and brilliant, though the
+nights were rather keen.  We passed by the little town of Alcala,
+celebrated for the ruins of an immense Moorish castle, which stand
+on a rocky hill, overhanging a picturesque river.  The first night
+we slept at Carmona, another Moorish town, distant about seven
+leagues from Seville.  Early in the morning we again mounted and
+departed.  Perhaps in the whole of Spain there is scarcely a finer
+Moorish monument of antiquity than the eastern side of this town of
+Carmona, which occupies the brow of a lofty hill, and frowns over
+an extensive vega or plain, which extends for leagues unplanted and
+uncultivated, producing nothing but brushwood and carasco.  Here
+rise tall and dusky walls, with square towers at short distances,
+of so massive a structure that they would seem to bid defiance
+alike to the tooth of time and the hand of man.  This town, in the
+time of the Moors, was considered the key to Seville, and did not
+submit to the Christian arms till after a long and desperate siege:
+the capture of Seville followed speedily after.  The vega upon
+which we now entered forms a part of the grand despoblado or desert
+of Andalusia, once a smiling garden, but which became what it now
+is on the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, when it was drained
+almost entirely of its population.  The towns and villages from
+hence to the Sierra Morena, which divides Andalusia from La Mancha,
+are few and far between, and even of these several date from the
+middle of the last century, when an attempt was made by a Spanish
+minister to people this wilderness with the children of a foreign
+land.
+
+At about midday we arrived at a place called Moncloa, which
+consisted of a venta, and a desolate-looking edifice which had
+something of the appearance of a chateau:  a solitary palm tree
+raised its head over the outer wall.  We entered the venta, tied
+our horses to the manger, and having ordered barley for them, we
+sat down before a large fire, which burned in the middle of the
+venta.  The host and hostess also came and sat down beside us.
+"They are evil people," said the old Genoese to me in Italian, "and
+this is an evil house; it is a harbouring place for thieves, and
+murders have been committed here, if all tales be true."  I looked
+at these two people attentively; they were both young, the man
+apparently about twenty-five years of age.  He was a short thick-
+made churl, evidently of prodigious strength; his features were
+rather handsome, but with a gloomy expression, and his eyes were
+full of sullen fire.  His wife somewhat resembled him, but had a
+countenance more open and better tempered; but what struck me as
+most singular in connexion with these people, was the colour of
+their hair and complexion; the latter was fair and ruddy, and the
+former of a bright auburn, both in striking contrast to the black
+hair and swarthy visages which in general distinguish the natives
+of this province.  "Are you an Andalusian?" said I to the hostess.
+"I should almost conclude you to be a German."
+
+Hostess.--And your worship would not be very wrong.  It is true
+that I am a Spaniard, being born in Spain, but it is equally true
+that I am of German blood, for my grandparents came from Germany,
+even like those of this gentleman, my lord and husband.
+
+Myself.--And what chance brought your grandparents into this
+country?
+
+Hostess.--Did your worship never hear of the German colonies?
+There are many of them in these parts.  In old times the land was
+nearly deserted, and it was very dangerous for travellers to
+journey along the waste, owing to the robbers.  So along time ago,
+nearly a hundred years, as I am told, some potent lord sent
+messengers to Germany, to tell the people there what a goodly land
+there was in these parts uncultivated for want of hands, and to
+promise every labourer who would consent to come and till it, a
+house and a yoke of oxen, with food and provision for one year.
+And in consequence of this invitation a great many poor families
+left the German land and came hither, and settled down in certain
+towns and villages which had been prepared for them, which places
+were called German colonies, and this name they still retain.
+
+Myself.--And how many of these colonies may there be?
+
+Hostess.--There are several, both on this side of Cordova and the
+other.  The nearest is Luisiana, about two leagues from hence, from
+which place both my husband and myself come; the next is Carlota,
+which is some ten leagues distant, and these are the only colonies
+of our people which I have seen; but there are others farther on,
+and some, as I have heard say, in the very heart of the Sierra
+Morena.
+
+Myself.--And do the colonists still retain the language of their
+forefathers?
+
+Hostess.--We speak Spanish, or rather Andalusian, and no other
+language.  A few, indeed, amongst the very old people, retain a few
+words of German, which they acquired from their fathers, who were
+born in the other country:  but the last person amongst the
+colonists who could understand a conversation in German, was the
+aunt of my mother, who came over when a girl.  When I was a child I
+remember her conversing with a foreign traveller, a countryman of
+hers, in a language which I was told was German, and they
+understood each other, though the old woman confessed that she had
+lost many words:  she has now been dead several years.
+
+Myself.--Of what religion are the colonists?
+
+Hostess.--They are Christians, like the Spaniards, and so were
+their fathers before them.  Indeed, I have heard that they came
+from a part of Germany where the Christian religion is as much
+practised as in Spain itself.
+
+Myself.--The Germans are the most honest people in the world:
+being their legitimate descendants you have of course no thieves
+amongst you.
+
+The hostess glanced at me for a moment, then looked at her husband
+and smiled:  the latter, who had hitherto been smoking without
+uttering a word, though with a peculiarly surly and dissatisfied
+countenance, now flung the remainder of his cigar amongst the
+embers, then springing up he muttered "Disparate!" and
+"Conversacion!" and went abroad.
+
+"You touched them in the sore place, Signor," said the Genoese,
+after we had left Moncloa some way behind us.  "Were they honest
+people they would not keep that venta; and as for the colonists, I
+know not what kind of people they might be when they first came
+over, but at present their ways are not a bit better than those of
+the Andalusians, but rather worse, if there is any difference at
+all."
+
+A short time before sunset of the third day after our departure
+from Seville, we found ourselves at the Cuesta del Espinal, or hill
+of the thorn tree, at about two leagues from Cordova;--we could
+just descry the walls of the city, upon which the last beams of the
+descending luminary were resting.  As the neighbourhood in which we
+were was, according to the account of my guide, generally infested
+with robbers, we used our best endeavours to reach the town before
+the night should have entirely closed in.  We did not succeed,
+however, and before we had proceeded half the distance, pitchy
+darkness overtook us.  Throughout the journey we had been
+considerably delayed by the badness of our horses, especially that
+of my attendant, which appeared to pay no regard to whip or spur;
+his rider also was no horseman, it being thirty years, as he at
+length confessed to me, since he last mounted in a saddle.  Horses
+soon become aware of the powers of their riders, and the brute in
+question was disposed to take great advantage of the fears and
+weakness of the old man.  There is a remedy, however, for most
+things in this world.  I became so wearied at last at the snail's
+pace at which we were proceeding, that I fastened the bridle of the
+sluggish horse to the crupper of mine, then sparing neither spur
+nor cudgel, I soon forced my own horse into a kind of trot, which
+compelled the other to make some use of his legs.  He twice
+attempted to fling himself down, to the great terror of his aged
+rider, who frequently entreated me to stop and permit him to
+dismount.  I, however, took no notice of what he said, but
+continued spurring and cudgelling with unabated activity, and with
+such success, that in less than half an hour we saw lights close
+before us, and presently came to a river and a bridge, which
+crossing, we found ourselves at the gate of Cordova, without having
+broken either our horses' knees or our own necks.
+
+We passed through the entire length of the town ere we reached the
+posada; the streets were dark and almost entirely deserted.  The
+posada was a large building, the windows of which were well fenced
+with rejas, or iron grating:  no light gleamed from them, and the
+silence of death not only seemed to pervade the house, but the
+street in which it was situated.  We knocked for a long time at the
+gate without receiving any answer; we then raised our voices and
+shouted.  At last some one from within inquired what we wanted.
+"Open the door and you will see," we replied.  "I shall do no such
+thing," answered the individual from within, "until I know who you
+are."  "We are travellers," said I, "from Seville."  "Travellers,
+are you," said the voice; "why did you not tell me so before?  I am
+not porter at this house to keep out travellers.  Jesus Maria knows
+we have not so many of them that we need repulse any.  Enter,
+cavalier, and welcome, you and your company."
+
+He opened the gate and admitted us into a spacious courtyard, and
+then forthwith again secured the gate with various bolts and bars.
+"Are you afraid that the Carlists should pay you a visit," I
+demanded, "that you take so much precaution?"  "It is not the
+Carlists we are afraid of," replied the porter; "they have been
+here already, and did us no damage whatever.  It is certain
+scoundrels of this town that we are afraid of, who have a spite
+against the master of the house, and would murder both him and his
+family, could they but find an opportunity."
+
+I was about to inquire the cause of this enmity, when a thick bulky
+man, bearing a light in his hand, came running down a stone
+staircase, which led into the interior of the building.  Two or
+three females, also bearing lights, followed him.  He stopped on
+the lowest stair.  "Whom have we here?" he exclaimed; then
+advancing the lamp which he bore, the light fell full upon my face.
+"Ola!" he exclaimed; "Is it you?  Only think," said he, turning to
+the female who stood next him, a dark-featured person, stout as
+himself, and about his own age, which might border upon fifty;
+"Only think, my dear, that at the very moment we were wishing for a
+guest an Englishman should be standing before our doors; for I
+should know an Englishman at a mile's distance, even in the dark.
+Juanito," cried he to the porter, "open not the gate any more to-
+night, whoever may ask for admission.  Should the nationals come to
+make any disturbance, tell them that the son of Belington
+(Wellington) is in the house ready to attack them sword in hand
+unless they retire; and should other travellers arrive, which is
+not likely, inasmuch as we have seen none for a month past, say
+that we have no room, all our apartments being occupied by an
+English gentleman and his company."
+
+I soon found that my friend the posadero was a most egregious
+Carlist.  Before I had finished supper--during which both himself
+and all his family were present, surrounding the little table at
+which I sat, and observing my every motion, particularly the manner
+in which I handled my knife and fork and conveyed the food to my
+mouth--he commenced talking politics:  "I am of no particular
+opinion, Don Jorge," said he, for he had inquired my name in order
+that he might address me in a suitable manner; "I am of no
+particular opinion, and I hold neither for King Carlos nor for the
+Chica Isabel:  nevertheless, I lead the life of a dog in this
+accursed Christino town, which I would have left long ago, had it
+not been the place of my birth, and did I but know whither to
+betake myself.  Ever since the troubles have commenced, I have been
+afraid to stir into the street, for no sooner do the canaille of
+the town see me turning round a corner, than they forthwith
+exclaim, 'Halloo, the Carlist!' and then there is a run and a rush,
+and stones and cudgels are in great requisition:  so that unless I
+can escape home, which is no easy matter, seeing that I weigh
+eighteen stone, my life is poured out in the street, which is
+neither decent nor convenient, as I think you will acknowledge, Don
+Jorge!  You see that young man," he continued, pointing to a tall
+swarthy youth who stood behind my chair, officiating as waiter; "he
+is my fourth son, is married, and does not live in the house, but
+about a hundred yards down the street.  He was summoned in a hurry
+to wait upon your worship, as is his duty:  know, however, that he
+has come at the peril of his life:  before he leaves this house he
+must peep into the street to see if the coast is clear, and then he
+must run like a partridge to his own door.  Carlists! why should
+they call my family and myself Carlists?  It is true that my eldest
+son was a friar, and when the convents were suppressed betook
+himself to the royal ranks, in which he has been fighting upwards
+of three years; could I help that?  Nor was it my fault, I trow,
+that my second son enlisted the other day with Gomez and the
+royalists when they entered Cordova.  God prosper him, I say; but I
+did not bid him go!  So far from being a Carlist, it was I who
+persuaded this very lad who is present to remain here, though he
+would fain have gone with his brother, for he is a brave lad and a
+true Christian.  Stay at home, said I, for what can I do without
+you?  Who is to wait upon the guests when it pleases God to send
+them.  Stay at home, at least till your brother, my third son,
+comes back, for, to my shame be it spoken, Don Jorge, I have a son
+a soldier and a sergeant in the Christino armies, sorely against
+his own inclination, poor fellow, for he likes not the military
+life, and I have been soliciting his discharge for years; indeed, I
+have counselled him to maim himself, in order that he might procure
+his liberty forthwith; so I said to this lad, Stay at home, my
+child, till your brother comes to take your place and prevent our
+bread being eaten by strangers, who would perhaps sell me and
+betray me; so my son staid at home as you see, Don Jorge, at my
+request, and yet they call me a Carlist?"
+
+"Gomez and his bands have lately been in Cordova," said I; "of
+course you were present at all that occurred:  how did they comport
+themselves?"
+
+"Bravely well," replied the innkeeper, "bravely well, and I wish
+they were here still.  I hold with neither side, as I told you
+before, Don Jorge, but I confess I never felt greater pleasure in
+my life than when they entered the gate; and then to see the dogs
+of nationals flying through the streets to save their lives--that
+was a sight, Don Jorge--those who met me then at the corner forgot
+to shout 'Halloo, Carlista!' and I heard not a word about
+cudgelling; some jumped from the wall and ran no one knows where,
+whilst the rest retired to the house of the Inquisition, which they
+had fortified, and there they shut themselves up.  Now you must
+know, Don Jorge, that all the Carlist chiefs lodged at my house,
+Gomez, Cabrera, and the Sawyer; and it chanced that I was talking
+to my Lord Gomez in this very room in which we are now, when in
+came Cabrera in a mighty fury--he is a small man, Don Jorge, but he
+is as active as a wild cat and as fierce.  'The canaille,' said he,
+'in the Casa of the Inquisition refuse to surrender; give but the
+order, General, and I will scale the walls with my men and put them
+all to the sword'; but Gomez said, 'No, we must not spill blood if
+we can avoid it; order a few muskets to be fired at them, that will
+be sufficient!'  And so it proved, Don Jorge, for after a few
+discharges their hearts failed them, and they surrendered at
+discretion:  whereupon their arms were taken from them and they
+were permitted to return to their own houses; but as soon as ever
+the Carlists departed, these fellows became as bold as ever, and it
+is now once more, 'Halloo, Carlista!' when they see me turning the
+corner, and it is for fear of them that my son must run like a
+partridge to his own home, now that he has done waiting on your
+worship, lest they meet him in the street and kill him with their
+knives!"
+
+"You tell me that you were acquainted with Gomez:  what kind of man
+might he be?"
+
+"A middle-sized man," replied the innkeeper; "grave and dark.  But
+the most remarkable personage in appearance of them all was the
+Sawyer:  he is a kind of giant, so tall, that when he entered the
+doorway he invariably struck his head against the lintel.  The one
+I liked least of all was one Palillos, who is a gloomy savage
+ruffian whom I knew when he was a postillion.  Many is the time
+that he has been at my house of old; he is now captain of the
+Manchegan thieves, for though he calls himself a royalist, he is
+neither more nor less than a thief:  it is a disgrace to the cause
+that such as he should be permitted to mix with honourable and
+brave men; I hate that fellow, Don Jorge:  it is owing to him that
+I have so few customers.  Travellers are, at present, afraid to
+pass through La Mancha, lest they fall into his hands.  I wish he
+were hanged, Don Jorge, and whether by Christinos or Royalists, I
+care not."
+
+"You recognized me at once for an Englishman," said I, "do many of
+my countrymen visit Cordova?"
+
+"Toma!" said the landlord, "they are my best customers; I have had
+Englishmen in this house of all grades, from the son of Belington
+to a young medico, who cured my daughter, the chica here, of the
+ear-ache.  How should I not know an Englishman?  There were two
+with Gomez, serving as volunteers.  Vaya que gente; what noble
+horses they rode, and how they scattered their gold about; they
+brought with them a Portuguese, who was much of a gentleman but
+very poor; it was said that he was one of Don Miguel's people, and
+that these Englishmen supported him for the love they bore to
+royalty; he was continually singing
+
+
+'El Rey chegou--El Rey chegou,
+E en Belem desembarcou!' {11}
+
+
+Those were merry days, Don Jorge.  By the by, I forgot to ask your
+worship of what opinion you are?"
+
+The next morning, whilst I was dressing, the old Genoese entered my
+room:  "Signore," said he, "I am come to bid you farewell.  I am
+about to return to Seville forthwith with the horses."
+
+"Wherefore in such a hurry," I replied; "assuredly you had better
+tarry till to-morrow; both the animals and yourself require rest;
+repose yourselves to-day and I will defray the expense."
+
+"Thank you, Signore, but we will depart forthwith, for there is no
+tarrying in this house."
+
+"What is the matter with the house?" I inquired.
+
+"I find no fault with the house," replied the Genoese, "it is the
+people who keep it of whom I complain.  About an hour since, I went
+down to get my breakfast, and there, in the kitchen, I found the
+master and all his family:  well, I sat down and called for
+chocolate, which they brought me, but ere I could dispatch it, the
+master fell to talking politics.  He commenced by telling me that
+he held with neither side, but he is as rank a Carlist as Carlos
+Quinto:  for no sooner did he find that I was of the other opinion,
+than he glared at me like a wild beast.  You must know, Signore,
+that in the time of the old constitution I kept a coffee-house at
+Seville, which was frequented by all the principal liberals, and
+was, indeed, the cause of my ruin:  for as I admired their
+opinions, I gave my customers whatever credit they required, both
+with regard to coffee and liqueurs, so that by the time the
+constitution was put down and despotism re-established, I had
+trusted them with all I had.  It is possible that many of them
+would have paid me, for I believe they harboured no evil intention;
+but the persecution came, the liberals took to flight, and, as was
+natural enough, thought more of providing for their own safety than
+of paying me for my coffee and liqueurs; nevertheless, I am a
+friend to their system, and never hesitate to say so.  So the
+landlord, as I told your worship before, when he found that I was
+of this opinion, glared at me like a wild beast:  'Get out of my
+house,' said he, 'for I will have no spies here,' and thereupon he
+spoke disrespectfully of the young Queen Isabel and of Christina,
+who, notwithstanding she is a Neapolitan, I consider as my
+countrywoman.  Hearing this, your worship, I confess that I lost my
+temper and returned the compliment, by saying that Carlos was a
+knave and the Princess of Beira no better than she should be.  I
+then prepared to swallow the chocolate, but ere I could bring it to
+my lips, the woman of the house, who is a still ranker Carlist than
+her husband, if that be possible, coming up to me struck the cup
+into the air as high as the ceiling, exclaiming, 'Begone, dog of a
+negro, you shall taste nothing more in my house; may you be hanged
+even as a swine is hanged.'  So your worship sees that it is
+impossible for me to remain here any longer.  I forgot to say that
+the knave of a landlord told me that you had confessed yourself to
+be of the same politics as himself, or he would not have harboured
+you."
+
+"My good man," said I, "I am invariably of the politics of the
+people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep, at
+least I never say anything which can lead them to suspect the
+contrary; by pursuing which system I have more than once escaped a
+bloody pillow, and having the wine I drank spiced with sublimate."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+
+Cordova--Moors of Barbary--The English--An Old Priest--The Roman
+Breviary--The Dovecote--The Holy Office--Judaism--Desecration of
+Dovecotes--The Innkeeper's Proposal.
+
+Little can be said with respect to the town of Cordova, which is a
+mean dark gloomy place, full of narrow streets and alleys, without
+squares or public buildings worthy of attention, save and except
+its far-famed cathedral; its situation, however, is beautiful and
+picturesque.  Before it runs the Guadalquivir, which, though in
+this part shallow and full of sandbanks, is still a delightful
+stream; whilst behind it rise the steep sides of the Sierra Morena,
+planted up to the top with olive groves.  The town or city is
+surrounded on all sides by lofty Moorish walls, which may measure
+about three quarters of a league in circumference; unlike Seville,
+and most other towns in Spain, it has no suburbs.
+
+I have said that Cordova has no remarkable edifices, save its
+cathedral; yet this is perhaps the most extraordinary place of
+worship in the world.  It was originally, as is well known, a
+mosque, built in the brightest days of Arabian dominion in Spain;
+in shape it was quadrangular, with a low roof, supported by an
+infinity of small and delicately rounded marble pillars, many of
+which still remain, and present at first sight the appearance of a
+marble grove; the greater part, however, were removed when the
+Christians, after the expulsion of the Moslems, essayed to convert
+the mosque into a cathedral, which they effected in part by the
+erection of a dome, and by clearing an open space for a choir.  As
+it at present exists, the temple appears to belong partly to
+Mahomet, and partly to the Nazarene; and though this jumbling
+together of massive Gothic architecture with the light and delicate
+style of the Arabians produces an effect somewhat bizarre, it still
+remains a magnificent and glorious edifice, and well calculated to
+excite feelings of awe and veneration within the bosoms of those
+who enter it.
+
+The Moors of Barbary seem to care but little for the exploits of
+their ancestors:  their minds are centred in the things of the
+present day, and only so far as those things regard themselves
+individually.  Disinterested enthusiasm, that truly distinguishing
+mark of a noble mind, and admiration for what is great, good, and
+grand, they appear to be totally incapable of feeling.  It is
+astonishing with what indifference they stray amongst the relics of
+ancient Moorish grandeur in Spain.  No feelings of exultation seem
+to be excited by the proof of what the Moor once was, nor of regret
+at the consciousness of what he now is.  More interesting to them
+are their perfumes, their papouches, their dates, and their silks
+of Fez and Maraks, to dispose of which they visit Andalusia; and
+yet the generality of these men are far from being ignorant, and
+have both heard and read of what was passing in Spain in the old
+time.  I was once conversing with a Moor at Madrid, with whom I was
+very intimate, about the Alhambra of Granada, which he had visited.
+"Did you not weep," said I, "when you passed through the courts,
+and thought of the, Abencerrages?"  "No," said he, "I did not weep;
+wherefore should I weep?"  "And why did you visit the Alhambra?" I
+demanded.  "I visited it," he replied, "because being at Granada on
+my own affairs, one of your countrymen requested me to accompany
+him thither, that I might explain some of the inscriptions.  I
+should certainly not have gone of my own accord, for the hill on
+which it stands is steep."  And yet this man could compose verses,
+and was by no means a contemptible poet.  Once at Cordova, whilst I
+was in the cathedral, three Moors entered it, and proceeded slowly
+across its floor in the direction of a gate, which stood at the
+opposite side; they took no farther notice of what was around them
+than by slightly glancing once or twice at the pillars, one of them
+exclaiming, "Huaije del Mselmeen, huaije del Mselmeen" (things of
+the Moors, things of the Moors); and showed no other respect for
+the place where Abderrahman the Magnificent prostrated himself of
+old, than facing about on arriving at the farther door and making
+their egress backwards; yet these men were hajis and talebs, men
+likewise of much gold and silver, men who had read, who had
+travelled, who had seen Mecca, and the great city of Negroland.
+
+I remained in Cordova much longer than I had originally intended,
+owing to the accounts which I was continually hearing of the unsafe
+state of the roads to Madrid.  I soon ransacked every nook and
+cranny of this ancient town, formed various acquaintances amongst
+the populace, which is my general practice on arriving at a strange
+place.  I more than once ascended the side of the Sierra Morena, in
+which excursions I was accompanied by the son of my host,--the tall
+lad of whom I have already spoken.  The people of the house, who
+had imbibed the idea that I was of the same way of thinking as
+themselves, were exceedingly courteous; it is true, that in return
+I was compelled to listen to a vast deal of Carlism, in other
+words, high treason against the ruling powers in Spain, to which,
+however, I submitted with patience.  "Don Jorgito," said the
+landlord to me one day, "I love the English; they are my best
+customers.  It is a pity that there is not greater union between
+Spain and England, and that more English do not visit us.  Why
+should there not be a marriage?  The king will speedily be at
+Madrid.  Why should there not be bodas between the son of Don
+Carlos and the heiress of England?"
+
+"It would certainly tend to bring a considerable number of English
+to Spain," said I, "and it would not be the first time that the son
+of a Carlos has married a Princess of England."
+
+The host mused for a moment, and then exclaimed, "Carracho, Don
+Jorgito, if this marriage could be brought about, both the king and
+myself should have cause to fling our caps in the air."
+
+The house or posada in which I had taken up my abode was
+exceedingly spacious, containing an infinity of apartments, both
+large and small, the greater part of which were, however,
+unfurnished.  The chamber in which I was lodged stood at the end of
+an immensely long corridor, of the kind so admirably described in
+the wondrous tale of Udolfo.  For a day or two after my arrival I
+believed myself to be the only lodger in the house.  One morning,
+however, I beheld a strange-looking old man seated in the corridor,
+by one of the windows, reading intently in a small thick volume.
+He was clad in garments of coarse blue cloth, and wore a loose
+spencer over a waistcoat adorned with various rows of small buttons
+of mother of pearl; he had spectacles upon his nose.  I could
+perceive, notwithstanding he was seated, that his stature bordered
+upon the gigantic.  "Who is that person?" said I to the landlord,
+whom I presently met; "is he also a guest of yours?"  "Not exactly,
+Don Jorge de mi alma," replied he, "I can scarcely call him a
+guest, inasmuch as I gain nothing by him, though he is staying at
+my house.  You must know, Don Jorge, that he is one of two priests
+who officiate at a large village at some slight distance from this
+place.  So it came to pass, that when the soldiers of Gomez entered
+the village, his reverence went to meet them, dressed in full
+canonicals, with a book in his hand, and he, at their bidding,
+proclaimed Carlos Quinto in the market-place.  The other priest,
+however, was a desperate liberal, a downright negro, and upon him
+the royalists laid their hands, and were proceeding to hang him.
+His reverence, however, interfered, and obtained mercy for his
+colleague, on condition that he should cry Viva Carlos Quinto!
+which the latter did in order to save his life.  Well; no sooner
+had the royalists departed from these parts than the black priest
+mounts his mule, comes to Cordova, and informs against his
+reverence, notwithstanding that he had saved his life.  So his
+reverence was seized and brought hither to Cordova, and would
+assuredly have been thrown into the common prison as a Carlist, had
+I not stepped forward and offered to be surety that he should not
+quit the place, but should come forward at any time to answer
+whatever charge might be brought against him; and he is now in my
+house, though guest I cannot call him, for he is not of the
+slightest advantage to me, as his very food is daily brought from
+the country, and that consists only of a few eggs and a little milk
+and bread.  As for his money, I have never seen the colour of it,
+notwithstanding they tell me that he has buenas pesetas.  However,
+he is a holy man, is continually reading and praying and is,
+moreover, of the right opinion.  I therefore keep him in my house,
+and would be bail for him were he twenty times more of a skinflint
+than he seems to be."
+
+The next day, as I was again passing through the corridor, I
+observed the old man in the same place, and saluted him.  He
+returned my salutation with much courtesy, and closing the book,
+placed it upon his knee as if willing to enter into conversation.
+After exchanging a word or two, I took up the book for the purpose
+of inspecting it.
+
+"You will hardly derive much instruction from that book, Don
+Jorge," said the old man; "you cannot understand it, for it is not
+written in English."
+
+"Nor in Spanish," I replied.  "But with respect to understanding
+the book, I cannot see what difficulty there can be in a thing so
+simple; it is only the Roman breviary written in the Latin tongue."
+
+"Do the English understand Latin?" exclaimed he.  "Vaya!  Who would
+have thought that it was possible for Lutherans to understand the
+language of the church?  Vaya! the longer one lives the more one
+learns."
+
+"How old may your reverence be?" I inquired.
+
+"I am eighty years, Don Jorge; eighty years, and somewhat more."
+
+Such was the first conversation which passed between his reverence
+and myself.  He soon conceived no inconsiderable liking for me, and
+favoured me with no little of his company.  Unlike our friend the
+landlord, I found him by no means inclined to talk politics, which
+the more surprised me, knowing, as I did, the decided and hazardous
+part which he had taken on the late Carlist irruption into the
+neighbourhood.  He took, however, great delight in discoursing on
+ecclesiastical subjects and the writings of the fathers.
+
+"I have got a small library at home, Don Jorge, which consists of
+all the volumes of the fathers which I have been able to pick up,
+and I find the perusal of them a source of great amusement and
+comfort.  Should these dark days pass by, Don Jorge, and you should
+be in these parts, I hope you will look in upon me, and I will show
+you my little library of the fathers, and likewise my dovecote,
+where I rear numerous broods of pigeons, which are also a source of
+much solace and at the same time of profit."
+
+"I suppose by your dovecote," said I, "you mean your parish, and by
+rearing broods of pigeons, you allude to the care you take of the
+souls of your people, instilling therein the fear of God, and
+obedience to his revealed law, which occupation must of course
+afford you much solace and spiritual profit."
+
+"I was not speaking metaphorically, Don Jorge," replied my
+companion; "and by rearing doves, I mean neither more nor less than
+that I supply the market of Cordova with pigeons, and occasionally
+that of Seville; for my birds are very celebrated, and plumper or
+fatter flesh than theirs I believe cannot be found in the whole
+kingdom.  Should you come into my village, you will doubtless taste
+them, Don Jorge, at the venta where you will put up, for I suffer
+no dovecotes but my own within my district.  With respect to the
+souls of my parishioners, I trust I do my duty--I trust I do, as
+far as in my power lies.  I always took great pleasure in these
+spiritual matters, and it was on that account that I attached
+myself to the Santa Casa of Cordova, the duties of which I assisted
+to perform for a long period."
+
+"Your reverence has been an inquisitor?" I exclaimed, somewhat
+startled.
+
+"From my thirtieth year until the time of the suppression of the
+holy office in these afflicted kingdoms."
+
+"You both surprise and delight me," I exclaimed.  "Nothing could
+have afforded me greater pleasure than to find myself conversing
+with a father formerly attached to the holy house of Cordova."
+
+The old man looked at me steadfastly; "I understand you, Don Jorge.
+I have long seen that you are one of us.  You are a learned and
+holy man; and though you think fit to call yourself a Lutheran and
+an Englishman, I have dived into your real condition.  No Lutheran
+would take the interest in church matters which you do, and with
+respect to your being an Englishman, none of that nation can speak
+Castilian, much less Latin.  I believe you to be one of us--a
+missionary priest, and I am especially confirmed in that idea by
+your frequent conversations and interviews with the Gitanos; you
+appear to be labouring among them.  Be, however, on your guard, Don
+Jorge, trust not to Egyptian faith; they are evil penitents, whom I
+like not.  I would not advise you to trust them."
+
+"I do not intend," I replied; "especially with money.  But to
+return to more important matters: --of what crimes did this holy
+house of Cordova take cognizance?"
+
+"You are of course aware of the matters on which the holy office
+exercises its functions.  I need scarcely mention sorcery, Judaism,
+and certain carnal misdemeanours."
+
+"With respect to sorcery," said I, "what is your opinion of it?  Is
+there in reality such a crime?"
+
+"Que se io {12}?" said the old man, shrugging up his shoulders.
+"How should I know?  The church has power, Don Jorge, or at least
+it had power, to punish for anything, real or unreal; and as it was
+necessary to punish in order to prove that it had the power of
+punishing, of what consequence whether it punished for sorcery or
+any other crime."
+
+"Did many cases of sorcery occur within your own sphere of
+knowledge?"
+
+"One or two, Don Jorge; they were by no means frequent.  The last
+that I remember was a case which occurred in a convent at Seville:
+a certain nun was in the habit of flying through the windows and
+about the garden over the tops of the orange trees; declarations of
+various witnesses were taken, and the process was arranged with
+much formality; the fact, I believe, was satisfactorily proved:  of
+one thing I am certain, that the nun was punished."
+
+"Were you troubled with much Judaism in these parts?"
+
+"Wooh!  Nothing gave so much trouble to the Santa Casa as this same
+Judaism.  Its shoots and ramifications are numerous, not only in
+these parts, but in all Spain; and it is singular enough, that even
+among the priesthood, instances of Judaism of both kinds were
+continually coming to our knowledge, which it was of course our
+duty to punish."
+
+"Is there more than one species of Judaism?" I demanded.
+
+"I have always arranged Judaism under two heads," said the old man,
+"the black and the white:  by the black, I mean the observance of
+the law of Moses in preference to the precepts of the church; then
+there is the white Judaism, which includes all kinds of heresy,
+such as Lutheranism, freemasonry, and the like."
+
+"I can easily conceive," said I, "that many of the priesthood
+favoured the principles of the reformation, and that the minds of
+not a few had been led astray by the deceitful lights of modern
+philosophy, but it is almost inconceivable to me that there should
+be Jews amongst the priesthood who follow in secret the rites and
+observances of the old law, though I confess that I have been
+assured of the fact ere now."
+
+"Plenty of Judaism amongst the priesthood, whether of the black or
+white species; no lack of it, I assure you, Don Jorge; I remember
+once searching the house of an ecclesiastic who was accused of the
+black Judaism, and after much investigation, we discovered beneath
+the floor a wooden chest, in which was a small shrine of silver,
+inclosing three books in black hogskin, which, on being opened,
+were found to be books of Jewish devotion, written in Hebrew
+characters, and of great antiquity; and on being questioned, the
+culprit made no secret of his guilt, but rather gloried in it,
+saying that there was no God but one, and denouncing the adoration
+of Maria Santissima as rank idolatry."
+
+"And between ourselves, what is your own opinion of the adoration
+of this same Maria Santissima?"
+
+"What is my opinion!  Que se io?" said the old man, shrugging up
+his shoulders still higher than on the former occasion; "but I will
+tell you; I think, on consideration, that it is quite right and
+proper; why not?  Let any one pay a visit to my church, and look at
+her as she stands there, tan bonita, tan guapita--so well dressed
+and so genteel--with such pretty colours, such red and white, and
+he would scarcely ask me why Maria Santissima should not be adored.
+Moreover, Don Jorgito mio, this is a church matter and forms an
+important part of the church system."
+
+"And now, with respect to carnal misdemeanours.  Did you take much
+cognizance of them?"
+
+"Amongst the laity, not much; we, however, kept a vigilant eye upon
+our own body, but, upon the whole, were rather tolerant in these
+matters, knowing that the infirmities of human nature are very
+great indeed:  we rarely punished, save in cases where the glory of
+the church and loyalty to Maria Santissima made punishment
+absolutely imperative."
+
+"And what cases might those be?" I demanded.
+
+"I allude to the desecration of dovecotes, Don Jorge, and the
+introduction therein of strange flesh, for purposes neither seemly
+nor convenient."
+
+"Your reverence will excuse me for not yet perfectly
+understanding."
+
+"I mean, Don Jorge, certain acts of flagitiousness practised by the
+clergy in lone and remote palomares (dovecotes) in olive grounds
+and gardens; actions denounced, I believe, by the holy Pablo in his
+first letter to Pope Sixtus. {13}  You understand me now, Don
+Jorge, for you are learned in church matters."
+
+"I think I understand you," I replied.
+
+After remaining several days more at Cordova, I determined to
+proceed on my journey to Madrid, though the roads were still said
+to be highly insecure.  I, however, saw but little utility in
+tarrying and awaiting a more tranquil state of affairs, which might
+never arrive.  I therefore consulted with the landlord respecting
+the best means of making the journey.  "Don Jorgito," he replied,
+"I think I can tell you.  You say you are anxious to depart, and I
+never wish to keep guests in my house longer than is agreeable to
+them; to do so, would not become a Christian innkeeper:  I leave
+such conduct to Moors, Christinos, and Negroes.  I will further you
+on your journey, Don Jorge:  I have a plan in my head, which I had
+resolved to propose to you before you questioned me.  There is my
+wife's brother, who has two horses which he occasionally lets out
+for hire; you shall hire them, Don Jorge, and he himself shall
+attend you to take care of you, and to comfort you, and to talk to
+you, and you shall pay him forty dollars for the journey.
+Moreover, as there are thieves upon the route, and malos sujetos,
+such as Palillos and his family, you shall make an engagement and a
+covenant, Don Jorge, that provided you are robbed and stripped on
+the route, and the horses of my wife's brother are taken from him
+by the thieves, you shall, on arriving at Madrid, make good any
+losses to which my wife's brother may be subject in following you.
+This is my plan, Don Jorge, which no doubt will meet with your
+worship's approbation, as it is devised solely for your benefit,
+and not with any view of lucre or interest either to me or mine.
+You will find my wife's brother pleasant company on the route:  he
+is a very respectable man, and one of the right opinion, and has
+likewise travelled much; for between ourselves, Don Jorge, he is
+something of a Contrabandista and frequently smuggles diamonds and
+precious stones from Portugal, which he disposes of sometimes in
+Cordova and sometimes at Madrid.  He is acquainted with all the
+short cuts, all the atajos, Don Jorge, and is much respected in all
+the ventas and posadas on the way; so now give me your hand upon
+the bargain, and I will forthwith repair to my wife's brother to
+tell him to get ready to set out with your worship the day after
+to-morrow."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+
+Departure from Cordova--The Contrabandista--Jewish Cunning--Arrival
+at Madrid.
+
+One fine morning, I departed from Cordova, in company with the
+Contrabandista; the latter was mounted on a handsome animal,
+something between a horse and a pony, which he called a jaca, of
+that breed for which Cordova is celebrated.  It was of a bright bay
+colour, with a star in its forehead, with strong but elegant limbs,
+and a long black tail, which swept the ground.  The other animal,
+which was destined to carry me to Madrid, was not quite so
+prepossessing in its appearance:  in more than one respect it
+closely resembled a hog, particularly in the curving of its back,
+the shortness of its neck, and the manner in which it kept its head
+nearly in contact with the ground:  it had also the tail of a hog,
+and meandered over the ground much like one.  Its coat more
+resembled coarse bristles than hair, and with respect to size, I
+have seen many a Westphalian hog quite as tall.  I was not
+altogether satisfied with the idea of exhibiting myself on the back
+of this most extraordinary quadruped, and looked wistfully on the
+respectable animal on which my guide had thought proper to place
+himself; he interpreted my glances, and gave me to understand that
+as he was destined to carry the baggage, he was entitled to the
+best horse; a plea too well grounded on reason for me to make any
+objection to it.
+
+I found the Contrabandista by no means such pleasant company on the
+road as I had been led to suppose he would prove from the
+representation of my host of Cordova.  Throughout the day he sat
+sullen and silent, and rarely replied to my questions, save by a
+monosyllable; at night, however, after having eaten well and drank
+proportionably at my expense, he would occasionally become more
+sociable and communicative.  "I have given up smuggling," said he,
+on one of these occasions, "owing to a trick which was played upon
+me the last time that I was at Lisbon:  a Jew whom I had been long
+acquainted with palmed upon me a false brilliant for a real stone.
+He effected it in the most extraordinary manner, for I am not such
+a novice as not to know a true diamond when I see one; but the Jew
+appears to have had two, with which he played most adroitly,
+keeping the valuable one for which I bargained, and substituting
+therefor another which, though an excellent imitation, was not
+worth four dollars.  I did not discover the trick until I was
+across the border, and upon my hurrying back, the culprit was not
+to be found; his priest, however, told me that he was just dead and
+buried, which was of course false, as I saw him laughing in the
+corners of his eyes.  I renounced the contraband trade from that
+moment."
+
+It is not my intention to describe minutely the various incidents
+of this journey.  Leaving at our right the mountains of Jaen, we
+passed through Andujar and Bailen, and on the third day reached
+Carolina, a small but beautiful town on the skirts of the Sierra
+Morena, inhabited by the descendants of German colonists.  Two
+leagues from this place, we entered the defile of Despena Perros,
+which, even in quiet times, has an evil name, on account of the
+robberies which are continually being perpetrated within its
+recesses, but at the period of which I am speaking, it was said to
+be swarming with banditti.  We of course expected to be robbed,
+perhaps stripped and otherwise ill-treated; but Providence here
+manifested itself.  It appeared that, the day before our arrival,
+the banditti of the pass had committed a dreadful robbery and
+murder, by which they gained forty thousand rials.  This booty
+probably contented them for a time; certain it is that we were not
+interrupted:  we did not even see a single individual in the pass,
+though we occasionally heard whistles and loud cries.  We entered
+La Mancha, where I expected to fall into the hands of Palillos and
+Orejita.  Providence again showed itself.  It had been delicious
+weather, suddenly the Lord breathed forth a frozen blast, the
+severity of which was almost intolerable; no human beings but
+ourselves ventured forth.  We traversed snow-covered plains, and
+passed through villages and towns to all appearance deserted.  The
+robbers kept close in their caves and hovels, but the cold nearly
+killed us.  We reached Aranjuez late on Christmas Day, and I got
+into the house of an Englishman, where I swallowed nearly a pint of
+brandy; it affected me no more than warm water.
+
+On the following day we arrived at Madrid, where we had the good
+fortune to find everything tranquil and quiet.  The Contrabandista
+continued with me for two days, at the end of which time he
+returned to Cordova upon the uncouth animal on which I had ridden
+throughout the journey.  I had myself purchased the jaca, whose
+capabilities I had seen on the route, and which I imagined might
+prove useful in future journeys.  The Contrabandista was so
+satisfied with the price which I gave him for his beast, and the
+general treatment which he had experienced at my hands during the
+time of his attendance upon me, that he would fain have persuaded
+me to retain him as a servant, assuring me that, in the event of my
+compliance, he would forget his wife and children and follow me
+through the world.  I declined, however, to accede to his request,
+though I was in need of a domestic; I therefore sent him back to
+Cordova, where, as I subsequently learned, he died suddenly, about
+a week after his return.
+
+The manner of his death was singular:  one day he took out his
+purse, and, after counting his money, said to his wife, "I have
+made ninety-five dollars by this journey with the Englishman and by
+the sale of the jaca; this I could easily double by one successful
+venture in the smuggling lay.  To-morrow I will depart for Lisbon
+to buy diamonds.  I wonder if the beast requires to be shod?"  He
+then started up and made for the door, with the intention of going
+to the stable; ere, however, his foot had crossed the threshold, he
+fell dead on the floor.  Such is the course of the world.  Well
+said the wise king:  Let no one boast of the morrow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+
+Arrival at Madrid--Maria Diaz--Printing of the Testament--My
+Project--Andalusian Steed--Servant Wanted--An Application--Antonio
+Buchini--General Cordova--Principles of Honour.
+
+On my arrival at Madrid I did not repair to my former lodgings in
+the Calle de la Zarza, but took others in the Calle de Santiago, in
+the vicinity of the palace.  The name of the hostess (for there
+was, properly speaking, no host) was Maria Diaz, of whom I shall
+take the present opportunity of saying something in particular.
+
+She was a woman of about thirty-five years of age, rather good-
+looking, and with a physiognomy every lineament of which bespoke
+intelligence of no common order.  Her eyes were keen and
+penetrating, though occasionally clouded with a somewhat melancholy
+expression.  There was a particular calmness and quiet in her
+general demeanour, beneath which, however, slumbered a firmness of
+spirit and an energy of action which were instantly displayed
+whenever necessary.  A Spaniard and, of course, a Catholic, she was
+possessed of a spirit of toleration and liberality which would have
+done honour to individuals much her superior in station.  In this
+woman, during the remainder of my sojourn in Spain, I found a firm
+and constant friend, and occasionally a most discreet adviser:  she
+entered into all my plans, I will not say with enthusiasm, which,
+indeed, formed no part of her character, but with cordiality and
+sincerity, forwarding them to the utmost of her ability.  She never
+shrank from me in the hour of danger and persecution, but stood my
+friend, notwithstanding the many inducements which were held out to
+her by my enemies to desert or betray me.  Her motives were of the
+noblest kind, friendship and a proper feeling of the duties of
+hospitality; no prospect, no hope of self-interest, however remote,
+influenced this admirable woman in her conduct towards me.  Honour
+to Maria Diaz, the quiet, dauntless, clever Castilian female.  I
+were an ingrate not to speak well of her, for richly has she
+deserved an eulogy in the humble pages of The Bible in Spain.
+
+She was a native of Villa Seca, a hamlet of New Castile, situated
+in what is called the Sagra, at about three leagues' distance from
+Toledo:  her father was an architect of some celebrity,
+particularly skilled in erecting bridges.  At a very early age she
+married a respectable yeoman of Villa Seca, Lopez by name, by whom
+she had three sons.  On the death of her father, which occurred
+about five years previous to the time of which I am speaking, she
+removed to Madrid, partly for the purpose of educating her
+children, and partly in the hope of obtaining from the government a
+considerable sum of money for which it stood indebted to her
+father, at the time of his decease, for various useful and
+ornamental works, principally in the neighbourhood of Aranjuez.
+The justness of her claim was at once acknowledged; but, alas! no
+money was forthcoming, the royal treasury being empty.  Her hopes
+of earthly happiness were now concentrated in her children.  The
+two youngest were still of a very tender age; but the eldest, Juan
+Jose Lopez, a lad of about sixteen, was bidding fair to realize the
+warmest hopes of his affectionate mother; he had devoted himself to
+the arts, in which he made such progress that he had already become
+the favourite pupil of his celebrated namesake Lopez, the best
+painter of modern Spain.  Such was Maria Diaz, who, according to a
+custom formerly universal in Spain, and still very prevalent,
+retained the name of her maidenhood though married.  Such was Maria
+Diaz and her family.
+
+One of my first cares was to wait on Mr. Villiers, who received me
+with his usual kindness.  I asked him whether he considered that I
+might venture to commence printing the Scriptures without any more
+applications to government.  His reply was satisfactory:  "You
+obtained the permission of the government of Isturitz," said he,
+"which was a much less liberal one than the present.  I am a
+witness to the promise made to you by the former ministers, which I
+consider sufficient.  You had best commence and complete the work
+as soon as possible, without any fresh application; and should any
+one attempt to interrupt you, you have only to come to me, whom you
+may command at any time."  So I went away with a light heart, and
+forthwith made preparation for the execution of the object which
+had brought me to Spain.
+
+I shall not enter here into unnecessary details, which could
+possess but little interest for the reader; suffice it to say that,
+within three months from this time, an edition of the New
+Testament, consisting of five thousand copies, was published at
+Madrid.  The work was printed at the establishment of Mr. Borrego,
+a well-known writer on political economy, and proprietor and editor
+of an influential newspaper called El Espanol.  To this gentleman I
+had been recommended by Isturitz himself, on the day of my
+interview with him.  That unfortunate minister had, indeed, the
+highest esteem for Borrego, and had intended raising him to the
+station of minister of finance, when the revolution of the Granja
+occurring, of course rendered abortive this project, with perhaps
+many others of a similar kind which he might have formed.
+
+The Spanish version of the New Testament which was thus published,
+had been made many years before by a certain Padre Filipe Scio,
+confessor of Ferdinand the Seventh, and had even been printed, but
+so encumbered by notes and commentaries as to be unfitted for
+general circulation, for which, indeed, it was never intended.  In
+the present edition, the notes were of course omitted, and the
+inspired word, and that alone, offered to the public.  It was
+brought out in a handsome octavo volume, and presented, upon the
+whole, a rather favourable specimen of Spanish typography.
+
+The mere printing, however, of the New Testament at Madrid could be
+attended with no utility whatever, unless measures, and energetic
+ones, were taken for the circulation of the sacred volume.
+
+In the case of the New Testament, it would not do to follow the
+usual plan of publication in Spain, namely, to entrust the work to
+the booksellers of the capital, and rest content with the sale
+which they and their agents in the provincial towns might be able
+to obtain for it, in the common routine of business; the result
+generally being, the circulation of a few dozen copies in the
+course of the year; as the demand for literature of every kind in
+Spain was miserably small.
+
+The Christians of England had already made considerable sacrifices
+in the hope of disseminating the word of God largely amongst the
+Spaniards, and it was now necessary to spare no exertion to prevent
+that hope becoming abortive.  Before the book was ready, I had
+begun to make preparations for putting a plan into execution, which
+had occupied my thoughts occasionally during my former visit to
+Spain, and which I had never subsequently abandoned.  I had mused
+on it when off Cape Finisterre in the tempest; in the cut-throat
+passes of the Morena; and on the plains of La Mancha, as I jogged
+along a little way ahead of the Contrabandista.
+
+I had determined, after depositing a certain number of copies in
+the shops of the booksellers of Madrid, to ride forth, Testament in
+hand, and endeavour to circulate the word of God amongst the
+Spaniards, not only of the towns but of the villages; amongst the
+children not only of the plains but of the hills and mountains.  I
+intended to visit Old Castile, and to traverse the whole of Galicia
+and the Asturias,--to establish Scripture depots in the principal
+towns, and to visit the people in secret and secluded spots,--to
+talk to them of Christ, to explain to them the nature of his book,
+and to place that book in the hands of those whom I should deem
+capable of deriving benefit from it.  I was aware that such a
+journey would be attended with considerable danger, and very
+possibly the fate of St. Stephen might overtake me; but does the
+man deserve the name of a follower of Christ who would shrink from
+danger of any kind in the cause of Him whom he calls his Master?
+"He who loses his life for my sake, shall find it," are words which
+the Lord himself uttered.  These words were fraught with
+consolation to me, as they doubtless are to every one engaged in
+propagating the gospel in sincerity of heart, in savage and
+barbarian lands.
+
+I now purchased another horse; for these animals, at the time of
+which I am speaking, were exceedingly cheap.  A royal requisition
+was about to be issued for five thousand, the consequence being,
+that an immense number were for sale, for, by virtue of this
+requisition, the horses of any person not a foreigner could be
+seized for the benefit of the service.  It was probable that, when
+the number was made up, the price of horses would be treble what it
+then was, which consideration induced me to purchase this animal
+before I exactly wanted him.  He was a black Andalusian stallion of
+great power and strength, and capable of performing a journey of a
+hundred leagues in a week's time, but he was unbroke, savage, and
+furious.  A cargo of Bibles, however, which I hoped occasionally to
+put on his back, would, I had no doubt, thoroughly tame him,
+especially when labouring up the flinty hills of the north of
+Spain.  I wished to have purchased a mule, but, though I offered
+thirty pounds for a sorry one, I could not obtain her; whereas the
+cost of both the horses, tall powerful stately animals, scarcely
+amounted to that sum.
+
+The state of the surrounding country at this time was not very
+favourable for venturing forth:  Cabrera was within nine leagues of
+Madrid, with an army nearly ten thousand strong; he had beaten
+several small detachments of the queen's troops, and had ravaged La
+Mancha with fire and sword, burning several towns; bands of
+affrighted fugitives were arriving every hour, bringing tidings of
+woe and disaster, and I was only surprised that the enemy did not
+appear, and by taking Madrid, which was almost at his mercy, put an
+end to the war at once.  But the truth is, that the Carlist
+generals did not wish the war to cease, for as long as the country
+was involved in bloodshed and anarchy, they could plunder and
+exercise that lawless authority so dear to men of fierce and brutal
+passions.  Cabrera, moreover, was a dastardly wretch, whose limited
+mind was incapable of harbouring a single conception approaching to
+grandeur; whose heroic deeds were confined to cutting down
+defenceless men, and to forcing and disembowelling unhappy women;
+and yet I have seen this wretched fellow termed by French journals
+(Carlist of course) the young, the heroic general.  Infamy on the
+cowardly assassin!  The shabbiest corporal of Napoleon would have
+laughed at his generalship, and half a battalion of Austrian
+grenadiers would have driven him and his rabble army headlong into
+the Ebro.
+
+I now made preparations for my journey into the north.  I was
+already provided with horses well calculated to support the
+fatigues of the road and the burdens which I might deem necessary
+to impose upon them.  One thing, however, was still lacking,
+indispensable to a person about to engage on an expedition of this
+description; I mean a servant to attend me.  Perhaps there is no
+place in the world where servants more abound than at Madrid, or at
+least fellows eager to proffer their services in the expectation of
+receiving food and wages, though, with respect to the actual
+service which they are capable of performing, not much can be said;
+but I was in want of a servant of no common description, a shrewd
+active fellow, of whose advice, in cases of emergency, I could
+occasionally avail myself; courageous withal, for it certainly
+required some degree of courage to follow a master bent on
+exploring the greater part of Spain, and who intended to travel,
+not under the protection of muleteers and carmen, but on his own
+cabalgaduras.  Such a servant, perhaps, I might have sought for
+years without finding; chance, however, brought one to my hand at
+the very time I wanted him, without it being necessary for me to
+make any laborious perquisitions.  I was one day mentioning the
+subject to Mr. Borrego, at whose establishment I had printed the
+New Testament, and inquiring whether he thought that such an
+individual was to be found in Madrid, adding that I was
+particularly anxious to obtain a servant who, besides Spanish,
+could speak some other language, that occasionally we might
+discourse without being understood by those who might overhear us.
+"The very description of person," he replied, "that you appear to
+be in need of, quitted me about half an hour ago, and, it is
+singular enough, came to me in the hope that I might be able to
+recommend him to a master.  He has been twice in my service:  for
+his talent and courage I will answer; and I believe him to be
+trustworthy, at least to masters who may chime in with his humour,
+for I must inform you that he is a most extraordinary fellow, full
+of strange likes and antipathies, which he will gratify at any
+expense, either to himself or others.  Perhaps he will attach
+himself to you, in which case you will find him highly valuable;
+for if he please he can turn his hand to any thing, and is not only
+acquainted with two but half a dozen languages."
+
+"Is he a Spaniard?" I inquired.
+
+"I will send him to you to-morrow," said Borrego, "you will best
+learn from his own mouth who and what he is."
+
+The next day, as I had just sat down to my "sopa," my hostess
+informed me that a man wished to speak to me.  "Admit him," said I,
+and he almost instantly made his appearance.  He was dressed
+respectably in the French fashion, and had rather a juvenile look,
+though I subsequently learned that he was considerably above forty.
+He was somewhat above the middle stature, and might have been
+called well made, had it not been for his meagreness, which was
+rather remarkable.  His arms were long and bony, and his whole form
+conveyed an idea of great activity united with no slight degree of
+strength:  his hair was wiry, but of jetty blackness; his forehead
+low; his eyes small and grey, expressive of much subtlety and no
+less malice, strangely relieved by a strong dash of humour; the
+nose was handsome, but the mouth was immensely wide, and his under
+jaw projected considerably.  A more singular physiognomy I had
+never seen, and I continued staring at him for some time in
+silence.  "Who are you?" I at last demanded.
+
+"Domestic in search of a master," answered the man in good French,
+but in a strange accent.  "I come recommended to you, my Lor, by
+Monsieur B."
+
+Myself.--Of what nation may you be?  Are you French or Spanish?
+
+Man.--God forbid that I should be either, mi Lor, j'ai l'honneur
+d'etre de la nation Grecque, my name is Antonio Buchini, native of
+Pera the Belle near to Constantinople.
+
+Myself.--And what brought you to Spain?
+
+Buchini.--Mi Lor, je vais vous raconter mon histoire du
+commencement jusqu'ici: --my father was a native of Sceira in
+Greece, from whence at an early age he repaired to Pera, where he
+served as janitor in the hotels of various ambassadors, by whom he
+was much respected for his fidelity.  Amongst others of these
+gentlemen, he served him of your own nation:  this occurred at the
+time that there was war between England and the Porte. {14}
+Monsieur the Ambassador had to escape for his life, leaving the
+greater part of his valuables to the care of my father, who
+concealed them at his own great risk, and when the dispute was
+settled, restored them to Monsieur, even to the most inconsiderable
+trinket.  I mention this circumstance to show you that I am of a
+family which cherishes principles of honour, and in which
+confidence may be placed.  My father married a daughter of Pera, et
+moi je suis l'unique fruit de ce mariage.  Of my mother I know
+nothing, as she died shortly after my birth.  A family of wealthy
+Jews took pity on my forlorn condition and offered to bring me up,
+to which my father gladly consented; and with them I continued
+several years, until I was a beau garcon; they were very fond of
+me, and at last offered to adopt me, and at their death to bequeath
+me all they had, on condition of my becoming a Jew.  Mais la
+circoncision n'etoit guere a mon gout; especially that of the Jews,
+for I am a Greek, am proud, and have principles of honour.  I
+quitted them, therefore, saying that if ever I allowed myself to be
+converted, it should be to the faith of the Turks, for they are
+men, are proud, and have principles of honour like myself.  I then
+returned to my father, who procured me various situations, none of
+which were to my liking, until I was placed in the house of
+Monsieur Zea.
+
+Myself.--You mean, I suppose, Zea Bermudez, who chanced to be at
+Constantinople.
+
+Buchini.--Just so, mi Lor, and with him I continued during his
+stay.  He put great confidence in me, more especially as I spoke
+the pure Spanish language, which I acquired amongst the Jews, who,
+as I have heard Monsieur Zea say, speak it better than the present
+natives of Spain.
+
+I shall not follow the Greek step by step throughout his history,
+which was rather lengthy:  suffice it to say, that he was brought
+by Zea Bermudez from Constantinople to Spain, where he continued in
+his service for many years, and from whose house he was expelled
+for marrying a Guipuscoan damsel, who was fille de chambre to
+Madame Zea; since which time it appeared that he had served an
+infinity of masters; sometimes as valet, sometimes as cook, but
+generally in the last capacity.  He confessed, however, that he had
+seldom continued more than three days in the same service, on
+account of the disputes which were sure to arise in the house
+almost immediately after his admission, and for which he could
+assign no other reason than his being a Greek, and having
+principles of honour.  Amongst other persons whom he had served was
+General Cordova, who he said was a bad paymaster, and was in the
+habit of maltreating his domestics.  "But he found his match in
+me," said Antonio, "for I was prepared for him; and once, when he
+drew his sword against me, I pulled out a pistol and pointed it in
+his face.  He grew pale as death, and from that hour treated me
+with all kinds of condescension.  It was only pretence, however,
+for the affair rankled in his mind; he had determined upon revenge,
+and on being appointed to the command of the army, he was
+particularly anxious that I should attend him to the camp.  Mais je
+lui ris au nez, made the sign of the cortamanga--asked for my
+wages, and left him; and well it was that I did so, for the very
+domestic whom he took with him he caused to be shot upon a charge
+of mutiny."
+
+"I am afraid," said I, "that you are of a turbulent disposition,
+and that the disputes to which you have alluded are solely to be
+attributed to the badness of your temper."
+
+"What would you have, Monsieur?  Moi je suis Grec, je suis fier et
+j'ai des principes d'honneur.  I expect to be treated with a
+certain consideration, though I confess that my temper is none of
+the best, and that at times I am tempted to quarrel with the pots
+and pans in the kitchen.  I think, upon the whole, that it will be
+for your advantage to engage me, and I promise you to be on my
+guard.  There is one thing that pleases me relating to you, you are
+unmarried.  Now, I would rather serve a young unmarried man for
+love and friendship, than a Benedict for fifty dollars per month.
+Madame is sure to hate me, and so is her waiting woman; and more
+particularly the latter, because I am a married man.  I see that mi
+Lor is willing to engage me."
+
+"But you say you are a married man," I replied; "how can you desert
+your wife, for I am about to leave Madrid, and to travel into the
+remote and mountainous parts of Spain."
+
+"My wife will receive the moiety of my wages, while I am absent, mi
+Lor, and therefore will have no reason to complain of being
+deserted.  Complain! did I say; my wife is at present too well
+instructed to complain.  She never speaks nor sits in my presence
+unless I give her permission.  Am I not a Greek, and do I not know
+how to govern my own house?  Engage me, mi Lor, I am a man of many
+capacities:  a discreet valet, an excellent cook, a good groom and
+light rider; in a word, I am [Greek text].  What would you more?"
+
+I asked him his terms, which were extravagant, notwithstanding his
+principes d'honneur.  I found, however, that he was willing to take
+one half.
+
+I had no sooner engaged him, than seizing the tureen of soup, which
+had by this time become quite cold, he placed it on the top of his
+forefinger, or rather on the nail thereof, causing it to make
+various circumvolutions over his head, to my great astonishment,
+without spilling a drop, then springing with it to the door, he
+vanished, and in another moment made his appearance with the
+puchera, which, after a similar bound and flourish, he deposited on
+the table; then suffering his hands to sink before him, he put one
+over the other and stood at his ease with half-shut eyes, for all
+the world as if he had been in my service twenty years.
+
+And in this manner Antonio Buchini entered upon his duties.  Many
+was the wild spot to which he subsequently accompanied me; many the
+wild adventure of which he was the sharer.  His behaviour was
+frequently in the highest degree extraordinary, but he served me
+courageously and faithfully:  such a valet, take him for all in
+all,
+
+
+"His like I ne'er expect to see again."
+
+
+Kosko bakh Anton.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+
+Illness--Nocturnal Visit--A Master Mind--The Whisper--Salamanca--
+Irish Hospitality--Spanish Soldiers--The Scriptures advertised.
+
+But I am anxious to enter upon the narrative of my journey, and
+shall therefore abstain from relating to my readers a great many
+circumstances which occurred previously to my leaving Madrid on
+this expedition.  About the middle of May I had got everything in
+readiness, and I bade farewell to my friends.  Salamanca was the
+first place which I intended to visit.
+
+Some days previous to my departure I was very much indisposed,
+owing to the state of the weather, for violent and biting winds had
+long prevailed.  I had been attacked with a severe cold, which
+terminated in a disagreeable cough, which the many remedies I
+successively tried seemed unable to subdue.  I had made
+preparations for departing on a particular day, but, owing to the
+state of my health, I was apprehensive that I should be compelled
+to defer my journey for a time.  The last day of my stay in Madrid,
+finding myself scarcely able to stand, I was fain to submit to a
+somewhat desperate experiment, and by the advice of the barber-
+surgeon who visited me, I determined to be bled.  Late on the night
+of that same day he took from me sixteen ounces of blood, and
+having received his fee left me, wishing me a pleasant journey, and
+assuring me, upon his reputation, that by noon the next day I
+should be perfectly recovered.
+
+A few minutes after his departure, whilst I was sitting alone,
+meditating on the journey which I was about to undertake, and on
+the ricketty state of my health, I heard a loud knock at the street
+door of the house, on the third floor of which I was lodged.  In
+another minute Mr. S- of the British Embassy entered my apartment.
+After a little conversation, he informed me that Mr. Villiers had
+desired him to wait upon me to communicate a resolution which he
+had come to.  Being apprehensive that, alone and unassisted, I
+should experience great difficulty in propagating the gospel of God
+to any considerable extent in Spain, he was bent upon exerting to
+the utmost his own credit and influence to further my views, which
+he himself considered, if carried into proper effect, extremely
+well calculated to operate beneficially on the political and moral
+state of the country.  To this end it was his intention to purchase
+a very considerable number of copies of the New Testament, and to
+dispatch them forthwith to the various British consuls established
+in different parts of Spain, with strict and positive orders to
+employ all the means which their official situation should afford
+them to circulate the books in question and to assure their being
+noticed.  They were, moreover, to be charged to afford me, whenever
+I should appear in their respective districts, all the protection,
+encouragement, and assistance which I should stand in need of.
+
+I was of course much rejoiced on receiving this information, for
+though I had long been aware that Mr. Villiers was at all times
+willing to assist me, he having frequently given me sufficient
+proof, I could never expect that he would come forward in so noble,
+and, to say the least of it, considering his high diplomatic
+situation, so bold and decided a manner.  I believe that this was
+the first instance of a British ambassador having made the cause of
+the Bible Society a national one, or indeed of having favoured it
+directly or indirectly.  What renders the case of Mr. Villiers more
+remarkable is, that on my first arrival at Madrid I found him by no
+means well disposed towards the Society.  The Holy Spirit had
+probably illumined his mind on this point.  I hoped that by his
+means our institution would shortly possess many agents in Spain,
+who, with far more power and better opportunities than I myself
+could ever expect to possess, would scatter abroad the seed of the
+gospel, and make of a barren and thirsty wilderness a green and
+smiling corn-field.
+
+A word or two about the gentleman who paid me this nocturnal visit.
+Though he has probably long since forgotten the humble circulator
+of the Bible in Spain, I still bear in mind numerous acts of
+kindness which I experienced at his hands.  Endowed with an
+intellect of the highest order, master of the lore of all Europe,
+profoundly versed in the ancient tongues, and speaking most of the
+modern dialects with remarkable facility,--possessed, moreover, of
+a thorough knowledge of mankind,--he brought with him into the
+diplomatic career advantages such as few, even the most highly
+gifted, can boast of.  During his sojourn in Spain he performed
+many eminent services for the government which employed him;
+services which, I believe, it had sufficient discernment to see,
+and gratitude to reward.  He had to encounter, however, the full
+brunt of the low and stupid malignity of the party who, shortly
+after the time of which I am speaking, usurped the management of
+the affairs of Spain.  This party, whose foolish manoeuvres he was
+continually discomfiting, feared and hated him as its evil genius,
+taking every opportunity of showering on his head calumnies the
+most improbable and absurd.  Amongst other things, he was accused
+of having acted as an agent to the English government in the affair
+of the Granja, bringing about that revolution by bribing the
+mutinous soldiers, and more particularly the notorious Sergeant
+Garcia.  Such an accusation will of course merely extract a smile
+from those who are at all acquainted with the English character,
+and the general line of conduct pursued by the English government.
+It was a charge, however, universally believed in Spain, and was
+even preferred in print by a certain journal, the official organ of
+the silly Duke of Frias, one of the many prime ministers of the
+moderado party who followed each other in rapid succession towards
+the latter period of the Carlist and Christino struggle.  But when
+did a calumnious report ever fall to the ground in Spain by the
+weight of its own absurdity?  Unhappy land, not until the pure
+light of the Gospel has illumined thee wilt thou learn that the
+greatest of all gifts is charity.
+
+The next day verified the prediction of the Spanish surgeon; I had
+to a considerable degree lost my cough and fever, though, owing to
+the loss of blood, I was somewhat feeble.  Precisely at twelve
+o'clock the horses were led forth before the door of my lodging in
+the Calle de Santiago, and I prepared to mount:  but my black
+entero of Andalusia would not permit me to approach his side, and
+whenever I made the attempt, commenced wheeling round with great
+rapidity.
+
+"C'est un mauvais signe, mon maitre," said Antonio, who, dressed in
+a green jerkin, a Montero cap, booted and spurred, stood ready to
+attend me, holding by the bridle the horse which I had purchased
+from the contrabandista.  "It is a bad sign, and in my country they
+would defer the journey till to-morrow."
+
+"Are there whisperers in your country?" I demanded; and taking the
+horse by the mane, I performed the ceremony after the most approved
+fashion:  the animal stood still, and I mounted the saddle,
+exclaiming -
+
+
+"The Rommany Chal to his horse did cry,
+As he placed the bit in his horse's jaw;
+Kosko gry! Rommany gry!
+Muk man kistur tute knaw."
+
+
+We then rode forth from Madrid by the gate of San Vincente,
+directing our course to the lofty mountains which separate Old from
+New Castile.  That night we rested at Guadarama, a large village at
+their foot, distant from Madrid about seven leagues.  Rising early
+on the following morning, we ascended the pass and entered into Old
+Castile.
+
+After crossing the mountains, the route to Salamanca lies almost
+entirely over sandy and arid plains, interspersed here and there
+with thin and scanty groves of pine.  No adventure worth relating
+occurred during this journey.  We sold a few Testaments in the
+villages through which we passed, more especially at Penaranda.
+About noon of the third day, on reaching the brow of a hillock, we
+saw a huge dome before us, upon which the fierce rays of the sun
+striking, produced the appearance of burnished gold.  It belonged
+to the cathedral of Salamanca, and we flattered ourselves that we
+were already at our journey's end; we were deceived, however, being
+still four leagues distant from the town, whose churches and
+convents, towering up in gigantic masses, can be distinguished at
+an immense distance, flattering the traveller with an idea of
+propinquity which does not in reality exist.  It was not till long
+after nightfall that we arrived at the city gate, which we found
+closed and guarded, in apprehension of a Carlist attack; and having
+obtained admission with some difficulty, we led our horses along
+dark, silent, and deserted streets, till we found an individual who
+directed us to a large, gloomy, and comfortless posada, that of the
+Bull, which we, however, subsequently found was the best which the
+town afforded.
+
+A melancholy town is Salamanca; the days of its collegiate glory
+are long since past by, never more to return:  a circumstance,
+however, which is little to be regretted; for what benefit did the
+world ever derive from scholastic philosophy?  And for that alone
+was Salamanca ever famous.  Its halls are now almost silent, and
+grass is growing in its courts, which were once daily thronged by
+at least eight thousand students; a number to which, at the present
+day, the entire population of the city does not amount.  Yet, with
+all its melancholy, what an interesting, nay, what a magnificent
+place is Salamanca!  How glorious are its churches, how stupendous
+are its deserted convents, and with what sublime but sullen
+grandeur do its huge and crumbling walls, which crown the
+precipitous bank of the Tormes, look down upon the lovely river and
+its venerable bridge.
+
+What a pity that, of the many rivers in Spain, scarcely one is
+navigable.  The beautiful but shallow Tormes, instead of proving a
+source of blessing and wealth to this part of Castile, is of no
+further utility than to turn the wheels of various small water
+mills, standing upon weirs of stone, which at certain distances
+traverse the river.
+
+My sojourn at Salamanca was rendered particularly pleasant by the
+kind attentions and continual acts of hospitality which I
+experienced from the inmates of the Irish College, to the rector of
+which I bore a letter of recommendation from my kind and excellent
+friend Mr. O'Shea, the celebrated banker of Madrid.  It will be
+long before I forget these Irish, more especially their head, Dr.
+Gartland, a genuine scion of the good Hibernian tree, an
+accomplished scholar, and a courteous and high-minded gentleman.
+Though fully aware who I was, he held out the hand of friendship to
+the wandering heretic missionary, although by so doing he exposed
+himself to the rancorous remarks of the narrow-minded native
+clergy, who, in their ugly shovel hats and long cloaks, glared at
+me askance as I passed by their whispering groups beneath the
+piazzas of the Plaza.  But when did the fear of consequences cause
+an Irishman to shrink from the exercise of the duties of
+hospitality?  However attached to his religion--and who is so
+attached to the Romish creed as the Irishman?--I am convinced that
+not all the authority of the Pope or the Cardinals would induce him
+to close his doors on Luther himself, were that respectable
+personage at present alive and in need of food and refuge.
+
+Honour to Ireland and her "hundred thousand welcomes!"  Her fields
+have long been the greenest in the world; her daughters the
+fairest; her sons the bravest and most eloquent.  May they never
+cease to be so.
+
+The posada where I had put up was a good specimen of the old
+Spanish inn, being much the same as those described in the time of
+Philip the Third or Fourth.  The rooms were many and large, floored
+with either brick or stone, generally with an alcove at the end, in
+which stood a wretched flock bed.  Behind the house was a court,
+and in the rear of this a stable, full of horses, ponies, mules,
+machos, and donkeys, for there was no lack of guests, who, however,
+for the most part slept in the stable with their caballerias, being
+either arrieros or small peddling merchants who travelled the
+country with coarse cloth or linen.  Opposite to my room in the
+corridor lodged a wounded officer, who had just arrived from San
+Sebastian on a galled broken-kneed pony; he was an Estrimenian, and
+was returning to his own village to be cured.  He was attended by
+three broken soldiers, lame or maimed, and unfit for service:  they
+told me that they were of the same village as his worship, and on
+that account he permitted them to travel with him.  They slept
+amongst the litter, and throughout the day lounged about the house
+smoking paper cigars.  I never saw them eating, though they
+frequently went to a dark cool corner, where stood a bota or kind
+of water pitcher, which they held about six inches from their black
+filmy lips, permitting the liquid to trickle down their throats.
+They said they had no pay, and were quite destitute of money, that
+su merced the officer occasionally gave them a piece of bread, but
+that he himself was poor and had only a few dollars.  Brave guests
+for an inn, thought I; yet, to the honour of Spain be it spoken, it
+is one of the few countries in Europe where poverty is never
+insulted nor looked upon with contempt.  Even at an inn, the poor
+man is never spurned from the door, and if not harboured, is at
+least dismissed with fair words, and consigned to the mercies of
+God and his mother.  This is as it should be.  I laugh at the
+bigotry and prejudices of Spain; I abhor the cruelty and ferocity
+which have cast a stain of eternal infamy on her history; but I
+will say for the Spaniards, that in their social intercourse no
+people in the world exhibit a juster feeling of what is due to the
+dignity of human nature, or better understand the behaviour which
+it behoves a man to adopt towards his fellow beings.  I have said
+that it is one of the few countries in Europe where poverty is not
+treated with contempt, and I may add, where the wealthy are not
+blindly idolized.  In Spain the very beggar does not feel himself a
+degraded being, for he kisses no one's feet, and knows not what it
+is to be cuffed or spitten upon; and in Spain the duke or the
+marquis can scarcely entertain a very overweening opinion of his
+own consequence, as he finds no one, with perhaps the exception of
+his French valet, to fawn upon or flatter him.
+
+During my stay at Salamanca, I took measures that the word of God
+might become generally known in this celebrated city.  The
+principal bookseller of the town, Blanco, a man of great wealth and
+respectability, consented to become my agent here, and I in
+consequence deposited in his shop a certain number of New
+Testaments.  He was the proprietor of a small printing press, where
+the official bulletin of the place was published.  For this
+bulletin I prepared an advertisement of the work, in which, amongst
+other things, I said that the New Testament was the only guide to
+salvation; I also spoke of the Bible Society, and the great
+pecuniary sacrifices which it was making with the view of
+proclaiming Christ crucified, and of making his doctrine known.
+This step will perhaps be considered by some as too bold, but I was
+not aware that I could take any more calculated to arouse the
+attention of the people--a considerable point.  I also ordered
+numbers of the same advertisement to be struck off in the shape of
+bills, which I caused to be stuck up in various parts of the town.
+I had great hope that by means of these a considerable number of
+New Testaments would be sold.  I intended to repeat this experiment
+in Valladolid, Leon, St. Jago, and all the principal towns which I
+visited, and to distribute them likewise as I rode along:  the
+children of Spain would thus be brought to know that such a work as
+the New Testament is in existence, a fact of which not five in one
+hundred were then aware, notwithstanding their so frequently-
+repeated boasts of their Catholicity and Christianity.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+
+Departure from Salamanca--Reception at Pitiegua--The Dilemma--
+Sudden Inspiration--The Good Presbyter--Combat of Quadrupeds--Irish
+Christians--Plains of Spain--The Catalans--The Fatal Pool--
+Valladolid--Circulation of the Scriptures--Philippine Missions--
+English College--A Conversation--The Gaoleress.
+
+On Saturday, the tenth of June, I left Salamanca for Valladolid.
+As the village where we intended to rest was only five leagues
+distant, we did not sally forth till midday was past.  There was a
+haze in the heavens which overcast the sun, nearly hiding his
+countenance from our view.  My friend, Mr. Patrick Cantwell, of the
+Irish College, was kind enough to ride with me part of the way.  He
+was mounted on a most sorry-looking hired mule, which, I expected
+would be unable to keep pace with the spirited horses of myself and
+man, for he seemed to be twin brother of the mule of Gil Perez, on
+which his nephew made his celebrated journey from Oviedo to
+Penaflor.  I was, however, very much mistaken.  The creature on
+being mounted instantly set off at that rapid walk which I have so
+often admired in Spanish mules, and which no horse can emulate.
+Our more stately animals were speedily left in the rear, and we
+were continually obliged to break into a trot to follow the
+singular quadruped, who, ever and anon, would lift his head high in
+the air, curl up his lip, and show his yellow teeth, as if he were
+laughing at us, as perhaps he was.  It chanced that none of us was
+well acquainted with the road; indeed, I could see nothing which
+was fairly entitled to that appellation.  The way from Salamanca to
+Valladolid is amongst a medley of bridle-paths and drift-ways,
+where discrimination is very difficult.  It was not long before we
+were bewildered, and travelled over more ground than was strictly
+necessary.  However, as men and women frequently passed on donkeys
+and little ponies, we were not too proud to be set right by them,
+and by dint of diligent inquiry we at length arrived at Pitiegua,
+four leagues from Salamanca, a small village, containing about
+fifty families, consisting of mud huts, and situated in the midst
+of dusty plains, where corn was growing in abundance.  We asked for
+the house of the cura, an old man whom I had seen the day before at
+the Irish College, and who, on being informed that I was about to
+depart for Valladolid, had exacted from me a promise that I would
+not pass through his village without paying him a visit and
+partaking of his hospitality.
+
+A woman directed us to a cottage somewhat superior in appearance to
+those contiguous.  It had a small portico, which, if I remember
+well, was overgrown with a vine.  We knocked loud and long at the
+door, but received no answer; the voice of man was silent, and not
+even a dog barked.  The truth was, that the old curate was taking
+his siesta, and so were his whole family, which consisted of one
+ancient female and a cat.  The good man was at last disturbed by
+our noise and vociferation, for we were hungry, and consequently
+impatient.  Leaping from his couch, he came running to the door in
+great hurry and confusion, and perceiving us, he made many
+apologies for being asleep at a period when, he said, he ought to
+have been on the lookout for his invited guest.  He embraced me
+very affectionately and conducted me into his parlour, an apartment
+of tolerable size, hung round with shelves, which were crowded with
+books.  At one end there was a kind of table or desk covered with
+black leather, with a large easy chair, into which he pushed me, as
+I, with the true eagerness of a bibliomaniac, was about to inspect
+his shelves; saying, with considerable vehemence, that there was
+nothing there worthy of the attention of an Englishman, for that
+his whole stock consisted of breviaries and dry Catholic treatises
+on divinity.
+
+His care now was to furnish us with refreshments.  In a twinkling,
+with the assistance of his old attendant, he placed on the table
+several plates of cakes and confectionery, and a number of large
+uncouth glass bottles, which I thought bore a strong resemblance to
+those of Schiedam, and indeed they were the very same.  "There,"
+said he, rubbing his hands; "I thank God that it is in my power to
+treat you in a way which will be agreeable to you.  In those
+bottles there is Hollands thirty years old"; and producing two
+large tumblers, he continued, "fill, my friends, and drink, drink
+it every drop if you please, for it is of little use to myself, who
+seldom drink aught but water.  I know that you islanders love it,
+and cannot live without it; therefore, since it does you good, I am
+only sorry that there is no more."
+
+Observing that we contented ourselves with merely tasting it, he
+looked at us with astonishment, and inquired the reason of our not
+drinking.  We told him that we seldom drank ardent spirits; and I
+added, that as for myself, I seldom tasted even wine, but like
+himself, was content with the use of water.  He appeared somewhat
+incredulous, but told us to do exactly what we pleased, and to ask
+for what was agreeable to us.  We told him that we had not dined,
+and should be glad of some substantial refreshment.  "I am afraid,"
+said he, "that I have nothing in the house which will suit you;
+however, we will go and see."
+
+Thereupon he led us through a small yard at the back part of his
+house, which might have been called a garden, or orchard, if it had
+displayed either trees or flowers; but it produced nothing but
+grass, which was growing in luxuriance.  At one end was a large
+pigeon-house, which we all entered:  "for," said the curate, "if we
+could find some nice delicate pigeons they would afford you an
+excellent dinner."  We were, however, disappointed; for after
+rummaging the nests, we only found very young ones, unfitted for
+our purpose.  The good man became very melancholy, and said he had
+some misgivings that we should have to depart dinnerless.  Leaving
+the pigeon-house, he conducted us to a place where there were
+several skeps of bees, round which multitudes of the busy insects
+were hovering, filling the air with their music.  "Next to my
+fellow creatures," said he, "there is nothing which I love so
+dearly as these bees; it is one of my delights to sit watching
+them, and listening to their murmur."  We next went to several
+unfurnished rooms, fronting the yard, in one of which were hanging
+several flitches of bacon, beneath which he stopped, and looking
+up, gazed intently upon them.  We told him that if he had nothing
+better to offer, we should be very glad to eat some slices of this
+bacon, especially if some eggs were added.  "To tell the truth,"
+said he, "I have nothing better, and if you can content yourselves
+with such fare I shall be very happy; as for eggs you can have as
+many as you wish, and perfectly fresh, for my hens lay every day."
+
+So, after every thing was prepared and arranged to our
+satisfaction, we sat down to dine on the bacon and eggs, in a small
+room, not the one to which he had ushered us at first, but on the
+other side of the doorway.  The good curate, though he ate nothing,
+having taken his meal long before, sat at the head of the table,
+and the repast was enlivened by his chat.  "There, my friends,"
+said he, "where you are now seated, once sat Wellington and
+Crawford, after they had beat the French at Arapiles, and rescued
+us from the thraldom of those wicked people.  I never respected my
+house so much as I have done since they honoured it with their
+presence.  They were heroes, and one was a demigod."  He then burst
+into a most eloquent panegyric of El Gran Lord, as he termed him,
+which I should be very happy to translate, were my pen capable of
+rendering into English the robust thundering sentences of his
+powerful Castilian.  I had till then considered him a plain
+uninformed old man, almost simple, and as incapable of much emotion
+as a tortoise within its shell; but he had become at once inspired:
+his eyes were replete with a bright fire, and every muscle of his
+face was quivering.  The little silk skull-cap which he wore,
+according to the custom of the Catholic clergy, moved up and down
+with his agitation, and I soon saw that I was in the presence of
+one of those remarkable men who so frequently spring up in the
+bosom of the Romish church, and who to a child-like simplicity
+unite immense energy and power of mind,--equally adapted to guide a
+scanty flock of ignorant rustics in some obscure village in Italy
+or Spain, as to convert millions of heathens on the shores of
+Japan, China, and Paraguay.
+
+He was a thin spare man, of about sixty-five, and was dressed in a
+black cloak of very coarse materials, nor were his other garments
+of superior quality.  This plainness, however, in the appearance of
+his outward man was by no means the result of poverty; quite the
+contrary.  The benefice was a very plentiful one, and placed at his
+disposal annually a sum of at least eight hundred dollars, of which
+the eighth part was more than sufficient to defray the expenses of
+his house and himself; the rest was devoted entirely to the purest
+acts of charity.  He fed the hungry wanderer, and dispatched him
+singing on his way, with meat in his wallet and a peseta in his
+purse, and his parishioners, when in need of money, had only to
+repair to his study and were sure of an immediate supply.  He was,
+indeed, the banker of the village, and what he lent he neither
+expected nor wished to be returned.  Though under the necessity of
+making frequent journeys to Salamanca, he kept no mule, but
+contented himself with an ass, borrowed from the neighbouring
+miller.  "I once kept a mule," said he, "but some years since it
+was removed without my permission by a traveller whom I had housed
+for the night:  for in that alcove I keep two clean beds for the
+use of the wayfaring, and I shall be very much pleased if yourself
+and friend will occupy them, and tarry with me till the morning."
+
+But I was eager to continue my journey, and my friend was no less
+anxious to return to Salamanca.  Upon taking leave of the
+hospitable curate, I presented him with a copy of the New
+Testament.  He received it without uttering a single word, and
+placed it on one of the shelves of his study; but I observed him
+nodding significantly to the Irish student, perhaps as much as to
+say, "Your friend loses no opportunity of propagating his book";
+for he was well aware who I was.  I shall not speedily forget the
+truly good presbyter, Anthonio Garcia de Aguilar, Cura of Pitiegua.
+
+We reached Pedroso shortly before nightfall.  It was a small
+village containing about thirty houses, and intersected by a
+rivulet, or as it is called a regata.  On its banks women and
+maidens were washing their linen and singing couplets; the church
+stood lone and solitary on the farther side.  We inquired for the
+posada, and were shown a cottage differing nothing from the rest in
+general appearance.  We called at the door in vain, as it is not
+the custom of Castile for the people of these halting places to go
+out to welcome their visitors:  at last we dismounted and entered
+the house, demanding of a sullen-looking woman where we were to
+place the horses.  She said there was a stable within the house,
+but we could not put the animals there as it contained malos machos
+(savage mules) belonging to two travellers who would certainly
+fight with our horses, and then there would be a funcion, which
+would tear the house down.  She then pointed to an outhouse across
+the way, saying that we could stable them there.  We entered this
+place, which we found full of filth and swine, with a door without
+a lock.  I thought of the fate of the cura's mule, and was
+unwilling to trust the horses in such a place, abandoning them to
+the mercy of any robber in the neighbourhood.  I therefore entered
+the house, and said resolutely, that I was determined to place them
+in the stable.  Two men were squatted on the ground, with an
+immense bowl of stewed hare before them, on which they were
+supping; these were the travelling merchants, the masters of the
+mutes.  I passed on to the stable, one of the men saying softly,
+"Yes, yes, go in and see what will befall."  I had no sooner
+entered the stable than I heard a horrid discordant cry, something
+between a bray and a yell, and the largest of the machos, tearing
+his head from the manger to which he was fastened, his eyes
+shooting flames, and breathing a whirlwind from his nostrils, flung
+himself on my stallion.  The horse, as savage as himself, reared on
+his hind legs, and after the fashion of an English pugilist, repaid
+the other with a pat on the forehead, which nearly felled him.  A
+combat instantly ensued, and I thought that the words of the sullen
+woman would be verified by the house being torn to pieces.  It
+ended by my seizing the mute by the halter, at the risk of my
+limbs, and hanging upon him with all my weight, whilst Antonio,
+with much difficulty, removed the horse.  The man who had been
+standing at the entrance now came forward, saying, "This would not
+have happened if you had taken good advice."  Upon my stating to
+him the unreasonableness of expecting that I would risk horses in a
+place where they would probably be stolen before the morning, he
+replied, "True, true, you have perhaps done right."  He then
+refastened his macho, adding for additional security a piece of
+whipcord, which he said rendered escape impossible.
+
+After supper I roamed about the village.  I addressed two or three
+labourers whom I found standing at their doors; they appeared,
+however, exceedingly reserved, and with a gruff "buenas noches"
+turned into their houses without inviting me to enter.  I at last
+found my way to the church porch, where I continued some time in
+meditation.  At last I bethought myself of retiring to rest; before
+departing, however, I took out and affixed to the porch of the
+church an advertisement to the effect that the New Testament was to
+be purchased at Salamanca.  On returning to the house, I found the
+two travelling merchants enjoying profound slumber on various
+mantas or mule-cloths stretched on the floor.  "You are a French
+merchant, I suppose, Caballero," said a man, who it seemed was the
+master of the house, and whom I had not before seen.  "You are a
+French merchant, I suppose, and are on the way to the fair of
+Medina."  "I am neither Frenchman nor merchant," I replied, "and
+though I purpose passing through Medina, it is not with the view of
+attending the fair."  "Then you are one of the Irish Christians
+from Salamanca, Caballero," said the man; "I hear you come from
+that town."  "Why do you call them Irish Christians?" I replied.
+"Are there pagans in their country?"  "We call them Christians,"
+said the man, "to distinguish them from the Irish English, who are
+worse than pagans, who are Jews and heretics."  I made no answer,
+but passed on to the room which had been prepared for me, and from
+which, the door being ajar, I heard the following conversation
+passing between the innkeeper and his wife:-
+
+Innkeeper.--Muger, it appears to me that we have evil guests in the
+house.
+
+Wife.--You mean the last comers, the Caballero and his servant.
+Yes, I never saw worse countenances in my life.
+
+Innkeeper.--I do not like the servant, and still less the master.
+He has neither formality nor politeness:  he tells me that he is
+not French, and when I spoke to him of the Irish Christians, he did
+not seem to belong to them.  I more than suspect that he is a
+heretic or a Jew at least.
+
+Wife.--Perhaps they are both.  Maria Santissima! what shall we do
+to purify the house when they are gone?
+
+Innkeeper.--O, as for that matter, we must of course charge it in
+the cuenta.
+
+I slept soundly, and rather late in the morning arose and
+breakfasted, and paid the bill, in which, by its extravagance, I
+found the purification had not been forgotten.  The travelling
+merchants had departed at daybreak.  We now led forth the horses,
+and mounted; there were several people at the door staring at us.
+"What is the meaning of this?" said I to Antonio.
+
+"It is whispered that we are no Christians," said Antonio; "they
+have come to cross themselves at our departure."
+
+In effect, the moment that we rode forward a dozen hands at least
+were busied in this evil-averting ceremony.  Antonio instantly
+turned and crossed himself in the Greek fashion,--much more complex
+and difficult than the Catholic.
+
+"Mirad que Santiguo! que Santiguo de los demonios!" {15} exclaimed
+many voices, whilst for fear of consequences we hastened away.
+
+The day was exceedingly hot, and we wended our way slowly along the
+plains of Old Castile.  With all that pertains to Spain, vastness
+and sublimity are associated:  grand are its mountains, and no less
+grand are its plains, which seem of boundless extent, but which are
+not tame unbroken flats, like the steppes of Russia.  Rough and
+uneven ground is continually occurring:  here a deep ravine and
+gully worn by the wintry torrent; yonder an eminence not
+unfrequently craggy and savage, at whose top appears the lone
+solitary village.  There is little that is blithesome and cheerful,
+but much that is melancholy.  A few solitary rustics are
+occasionally seen toiling in the fields--fields without limit or
+boundary, where the green oak, the elm or the ash are unknown;
+where only the sad and desolate pine displays its pyramid-like
+form, and where no grass is to be found.  And who are the
+travellers of these districts?  For the most part arrieros, with
+their long trains of mules hung with monotonous tinkling bells.
+Behold them with their brown faces, brown dresses, and broad
+slouched hats;--the arrieros, the true lords of the roads of Spain,
+and to whom more respect is paid in these dusty ways than to dukes
+and condes;--the arrieros, sullen, proud, and rarely courteous,
+whose deep voices may be sometimes heard at the distance of a mile,
+either cheering the sluggish animals, or shortening the dreary way
+with savage and dissonant songs.
+
+Late in the afternoon, we reached Medina del Campo, formerly one of
+the principal cities of Spain, though at present an inconsiderable
+place.  Immense ruins surround it in every direction, attesting the
+former grandeur of this "city of the plain."  The great square or
+market-place is a remarkable spot, surrounded by a heavy massive
+piazza, over which rise black buildings of great antiquity.  We
+found the town crowded with people awaiting the fair, which was to
+be held in a day or two.  We experienced some difficulty in
+obtaining admission into the posada, which was chiefly occupied by
+Catalans from Valladolid.  These people not only brought with them
+their merchandise but their wives and children.  Some of them
+appeared to be people of the worst description:  there was one in
+particular, a burly savage-looking fellow, of about forty, whose
+conduct was atrocious; he sat with his wife, or perhaps concubine,
+at the door of a room which opened upon the court:  he was
+continually venting horrible and obscene oaths, both in Spanish and
+Catalan.  The woman was remarkably handsome, but robust and
+seemingly as savage as himself; her conversation likewise was as
+frightful as his own.  Both seemed to be under the influence of an
+incomprehensible fury.  At last, upon some observation from the
+woman, he started up, and drawing a long knife from his girdle,
+stabbed at her naked bosom; she, however, interposed the palm of
+her hand, which was much cut.  He stood for a moment viewing the
+blood trickling upon the ground, whilst she held up her wounded
+hand, then with an astounding oath he hurried up the court to the
+Plaza.  I went up to the woman and said, "What is the cause of
+this?  I hope the ruffian has not seriously injured you."  She
+turned her countenance upon me with the glance of a demon, and at
+last with a sneer of contempt exclaimed, "Carals, que es eso?
+Cannot a Catalan gentleman be conversing with his lady upon their
+own private affairs without being interrupted by you?"  She then
+bound up her hand with a handkerchief, and going into the room
+brought a small table to the door, on which she placed several
+things as if for the evening's repast, and then sat down on a
+stool:  presently returned the Catalan, and without a word took his
+seat on the threshold; then, as if nothing had occurred, the
+extraordinary couple commenced eating and drinking, interlarding
+their meal with oaths and jests.
+
+We spent the night at Medina, and departing early next morning,
+passed through much the same country as the day before, until about
+noon we reached a small venta, distant half a league from the
+Duero; here we reposed ourselves during the heat of the day, and
+then remounting, crossed the river by a handsome stone bridge, and
+directed our course to Valladolid.  The banks of the Duero in this
+place have much beauty:  they abound with trees and brushwood,
+amongst which, as we passed along, various birds were singing
+melodiously.  A delicious coolness proceeded from the water, which
+in some parts brawled over stones or rippled fleetly over white
+sand, and in others glided softly over blue pools of considerable
+depth.  By the side of one of these last, sat a woman of about
+thirty, neatly dressed as a peasant; she was gazing upon the water
+into which she occasionally flung flowers and twigs of trees.  I
+stopped for a moment to ask a question; she, however, neither
+looked up nor answered, but continued gazing at the water as if
+lost to consciousness of all beside.  "Who is that woman?" said I
+to a shepherd, whom I met the moment after.  "She is mad, la
+pobrecita," said he; "she lost her child about a month ago in that
+pool, and she has been mad ever since; they are going to send her
+to Valladolid, to the Casa de los Locos.  There are many who perish
+every year in the eddies of the Duero; it is a bad river; vaya
+usted con la Virgen, Caballero."  So I rode on through the pinares,
+or thin scanty pine forests, which skirt the way to Valladolid in
+this direction.
+
+Valladolid is seated in the midst of an immense valley, or rather
+hollow which seems to have been scooped by some mighty convulsion
+out of the plain ground of Castile.  The eminences which appear in
+the neighbourhood are not properly high grounds, but are rather the
+sides of this hollow.  They are jagged and precipitous, and exhibit
+a strange and uncouth appearance.  Volcanic force seems at some
+distant period to have been busy in these districts.  Valladolid
+abounds with convents, at present deserted, which afford some of
+the finest specimens of architecture in Spain.  The principal
+church, though rather ancient, is unfinished:  it was intended to
+be a building of vast size, but the means of the founders were
+insufficient to carry out their plan:  it is built of rough
+granite.  Valladolid is a manufacturing town, but the commerce is
+chiefly in the hands of the Catalans, of whom there is a colony of
+nearly three hundred established here.  It possesses a beautiful
+alameda, or public walk, through which flows the river Escurva.
+The population is said to amount to sixty thousand souls.
+
+We put up at the Posada de las Diligencias, a very magnificent
+edifice:  this posada, however, we were glad to quit on the second
+day after our arrival, the accommodation being of the most wretched
+description, and the incivility of the people great; the master of
+the house, an immense tall fellow, with huge moustaches and an
+assumed military air, being far too high a cavalier to attend to
+the wants of his guests, with whom, it is true, he did not appear
+to be overburdened, as I saw no one but Antonio and myself.  He was
+a leading man amongst the national guards of Valladolid, and
+delighted in parading about the city on a clumsy steed, which he
+kept in a subterranean stable.
+
+Our next quarters were at the Trojan Horse, an ancient posada, kept
+by a native of the Basque provinces, who at least was not above his
+business.  We found everything in confusion at Valladolid, a visit
+from the factious being speedily expected.  All the gates were
+blockaded, and various forts had been built to cover the approaches
+to the city.  Shortly after our departure the Carlists actually did
+arrive, under the command of the Biscayan chief, Zariategui.  They
+experienced no opposition; the staunchest nationals retiring to the
+principal fort, which they, however, speedily surrendered, not a
+gun being fired throughout the affair.  As for my friend the hero
+of the inn, on the first rumour of the approach of the enemy, he
+mounted his horse and rode off, and was never subsequently heard
+of.  On our return to Valladolid, we found the inn in other and
+better hands, those of a Frenchman from Bayonne, from whom we
+received as much civility as we had experienced rudeness from his
+predecessor.
+
+In a few days I formed the acquaintance of the bookseller of the
+place, a kind-hearted simple man, who willingly undertook the
+charge of vending the Testaments which I brought.
+
+I found literature of every description at the lowest ebb at
+Valladolid.  My newly-acquired friend merely carried on bookselling
+in connexion with other business; it being, as he assured me, in
+itself quite insufficient to afford him a livelihood.  During the
+week, however, that I continued in this city, a considerable number
+of copies were disposed of, and a fair prospect opened that many
+more would be demanded.  To call attention to my books, I had
+recourse to the same plan which I had adopted at Salamanca, the
+affixing of advertisements to the walls.  Before leaving the city,
+I gave orders that these should be renewed every week; from
+pursuing which course I expected that much manifold good would
+accrue, as the people would have continual opportunities of
+learning that a book which contains the living word was in
+existence, and within their reach, which might induce them to
+secure it and consult it even unto salvation.
+
+In Valladolid I found both an English and Scotch College.  From my
+obliging friends, the Irish at Salamanca, I bore a letter of
+introduction to the rector of the latter.  I found this college an
+old gloomy edifice, situated in a retired street.  The rector was
+dressed in the habiliments of a Spanish ecclesiastic, a character
+which he was evidently ambitious of assuming.  There was something
+dry and cold in his manner, and nothing of that generous warmth and
+eager hospitality which had so captivated me in the fine Irish
+rector of Salamanca; he was, however, civil and polite, and offered
+to show me the curiosities of the place.  He evidently knew who I
+was, and on that account was, perhaps, more reserved than he
+otherwise would have been:  not a word passed between us on
+religious matters, which we seemed to avoid by common consent.
+Under the auspices of this gentleman, I visited the college of the
+Philippine Missions, which stands beyond the gate of the city,
+where I was introduced to the superior, a fine old man of seventy,
+very stout, in the habiliments of a friar.  There was an air of
+placid benignity on his countenance which highly interested me:
+his words were few and simple, and he seemed to have bid adieu to
+all worldly passions.  One little weakness was, however, still
+clinging to him.
+
+Myself.--This is a noble edifice in which you dwell, Father; I
+should think it would contain at least two hundred students.
+
+Rector.--More, my son; it is intended for more hundreds than it now
+contains single individuals.
+
+Myself.--I observe that some rude attempts have been made to
+fortify it; the walls are pierced with loopholes in every
+direction.
+
+Rector.--The nationals of Valladolid visited us a few days ago, and
+committed much useless damage; they were rather rude, and
+threatened me with their clubs:  poor men, poor men.
+
+Myself.--I suppose that even these missions, which are certainly
+intended for a noble end, experience the sad effects of the present
+convulsed state of Spain?
+
+Rector.--But too true:  we at present receive no assistance from
+the government, and are left to the Lord and ourselves.
+
+Myself.--How many aspirants for the mission are you at present
+instructing?
+
+Rector.--Not one, my son; not one.  They are all fled.  The flock
+is scattered and the shepherd left alone.
+
+Myself.--Your reverence has doubtless taken an active part in the
+mission abroad?
+
+Rector.--I was forty years in the Philippines, my son, forty years
+amongst the Indians.  Ah me! how I love those Indians of the
+Philippines.
+
+Myself.--Can your reverence discourse in the language of the
+Indians?
+
+Rector.--No, my son.  We teach the Indians Castilian.  There is no
+better language, I believe.  We teach them Castilian, and the
+adoration of the Virgin.  What more need they know?
+
+Myself.--And what did your reverence think of the Philippines as a
+country?
+
+Rector.--I was forty years in the Philippines, but I know little of
+the country.  I do not like the country.  I love the Indians.  The
+country is not very bad; it is, however, not worth Castile.
+
+Myself.--Is your reverence a Castilian?
+
+Rector.--I am an OLD Castilian, my son.
+
+From the house of the Philippine Missions my friend conducted me to
+the English college; this establishment seemed in every respect to
+be on a more magnificent scale than its Scottish sister.  In the
+latter there were few pupils, scarcely six or seven, I believe,
+whilst in the English seminary I was informed that between thirty
+and forty were receiving their education.  It is a beautiful
+building, with a small but splendid church, and a handsome library.
+The situation is light and airy:  it stands by itself in an
+unfrequented part of the city, and, with genuine English
+exclusiveness, is surrounded by a high wall, which encloses a
+delicious garden.  This is by far the most remarkable establishment
+of the kind in the Peninsula, and I believe the most prosperous.
+From the cursory view which I enjoyed of its interior, I of course
+cannot be expected to know much of its economy.  I could not,
+however, fall to be struck with the order, neatness, and system
+which pervaded it.  There was, however, an air of severe monastic
+discipline, though I am far from asserting that such actually
+existed.  We were attended throughout by the sub-rector, the
+principal being absent.  Of all the curiosities of this college,
+the most remarkable is the picture gallery, which contains neither
+more nor less than the portraits of a variety of scholars of this
+house who eventually suffered martyrdom in England, in the exercise
+of their vocation in the angry times of the Sixth Edward and fierce
+Elizabeth.  Yes, in this very house were many of those pale smiling
+half-foreign priests educated, who, like stealthy grimalkins,
+traversed green England in all directions; crept into old halls
+beneath umbrageous rookeries, fanning the dying embers of Popery,
+with no other hope nor perhaps wish than to perish disembowelled by
+the bloody hands of the executioner, amongst the yells of a rabble
+as bigoted as themselves:  priests like Bedingfield and Garnet, and
+many others who have left a name in English story.  Doubtless many
+a history, only the more wonderful for being true, could be wrought
+out of the archives of the English Popish seminary at Valladolid.
+
+There was no lack of guests at the Trojan Horse, where we had taken
+up our abode at Valladolid.  Amongst others who arrived during my
+sojourn was a robust buxom dame, exceedingly well dressed in black
+silk, with a costly mantilla.  She was accompanied by a very
+handsome, but sullen and malicious-looking urchin of about fifteen,
+who appeared to be her son.  She came from Toro, a place about a
+day's journey from Valladolid, and celebrated for its wine.  One
+night, as we were seated in the court of the inn enjoying the
+fresco, the following conversation ensued between us.
+
+Lady.--Vaya, vaya, what a tiresome place is Valladolid!  How
+different from Toro.
+
+Myself.--I should have thought that it is at least as agreeable as
+Toro, which is not a third part so large.
+
+Lady.--As agreeable as Toro!  Vaya, vaya!  Were you ever in the
+prison of Toro, Sir Cavalier?
+
+Myself.--I have never had that honour; the prison is generally the
+last place which I think of visiting.
+
+Lady.--See the difference of tastes:  I have been to see the prison
+of Valladolid, and it seems as tiresome as the town.
+
+Myself.--Of course, if grief and tediousness exist anywhere, you
+will find them in the prison.
+
+Lady.--Not in that of Toro.
+
+Myself.--What does that of Toro possess to distinguish it from all
+others?
+
+Lady.--What does it possess?  Vaya!  Am I not the carcelera?  Is
+not my husband the alcayde?  Is not that son of mine a child of the
+prison?
+
+Myself.--I beg your pardon, I was not aware of that circumstance;
+it of course makes much difference.
+
+Lady.--I believe you.  I am a daughter of that prison, my father
+was alcayde, and my son might hope to be so, were he not a fool.
+
+Myself.--His countenance then belies him strangely:  I should be
+loth to purchase that youngster for a fool.
+
+Gaoleress.--You would have a fine bargain if you did; he has more
+picardias than any Calabozero in Toro.  What I mean is, that he
+does not take to the prison as he ought to do, considering what his
+fathers were before him.  He has too much pride--too many fancies;
+and he has at length persuaded me to bring him to Valladolid, where
+I have arranged with a merchant who lives in the Plaza to take him
+on trial.  I wish he may not find his way to the prison:  if he do,
+he will find that being a prisoner is a very different thing from
+being a son of the prison.
+
+Myself.--As there is so much merriment at Toro, you of course
+attend to the comfort of your prisoners.
+
+Gaoleress.--Yes, we are very kind to them; I mean to those who are
+caballeros; but as for those with vermin and miseria, what can we
+do?  It is a merry prison that of Toro; we allow as much wine to
+enter as the prisoners can purchase and pay duty for.  This of
+Valladolid is not half so gay:  there is no prison like Toro.  I
+learned there to play on the guitar.  An Andalusian cavalier taught
+me to touch the guitar and to sing a la Gitana.  Poor fellow, he
+was my first novio.  Juanito, bring me the guitar, that I may play
+this gentleman a tune of Andalusia.
+
+The carcelera had a fine voice, and touched the favourite
+instrument of the Spaniards in a truly masterly manner.  I remained
+listening to her performance for nearly an hour, when I retired to
+my apartment and my repose.  I believe that she continued playing
+and singing during the greater part of the night, for as I
+occasionally awoke I could still hear her; and, even in my
+slumbers, the strings were ringing in my ears.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+
+Duenas--Children of Egypt--Jockeyism--The Baggage Pony--The Fall--
+Palencia--Carlist Priests--The Lookout--Priestly Sincerity--Leon--
+Antonio alarmed--Heat and Dust.
+
+After a sojourn of about ten days at Valladolid, we directed our
+course towards Leon.  We arrived about noon at Duenas, a town at
+the distance of six short leagues from Valladolid.  It is in every
+respect a singular place:  it stands on a rising ground, and
+directly above it towers a steep conical mountain of calcareous
+earth, crowned by a ruined castle.  Around Duenas are seen a
+multitude of caves scooped in the high banks and secured with
+strong doors.  These are cellars, in which is deposited the wine,
+of which abundance is grown in the neighbourhood, and which is
+chiefly sold to the Navarrese and the mountaineers of Santander,
+who arrive in cars drawn by oxen, and convey it away in large
+quantities.  We put up at a mean posada in the suburb for the
+purpose of refreshing our horses.  Several cavalry soldiers were
+quartered there, who instantly came forth, and began, with the eyes
+of connoisseurs, to inspect my Andalusian entero.  "A capital horse
+that would be for our troop," said the corporal; "what a chest he
+has.  By what right do you travel with that horse, Senor, when so
+many are wanted for the Queen's service?  He belongs to the
+requiso."  "I travel with him by right of purchase, and being an
+Englishman," I replied.  "Oh, your worship is an Englishman,"
+answered the corporal; "that, indeed, alters the matter; the
+English in Spain are allowed to do what they please with their own,
+which is more than the Spaniards are.  Cavalier, I have seen your
+countrymen in the Basque provinces; Vaya, what riders! what horses!
+They do not fight badly either.  But their chief skill is in
+riding:  I have seen them dash over barrancos to get at the
+factious, who thought themselves quite secure, and then they would
+fall upon them on a sudden and kill them to a man.  In truth, your
+worship, this is a fine horse, I must look at his teeth."
+
+I looked at the corporal--his nose and eyes were in the horse's
+mouth:  the rest of the party, who might amount to six or seven,
+were not less busily engaged.  One was examining his forefeet,
+another his hind; one fellow was pulling at his tail with all his
+might, while another pinched the windpipe, for the purpose of
+discovering whether the animal was at all touched there.  At last
+perceiving that the corporal was about to remove the saddle that he
+might examine the back of the animal, I exclaimed:-
+
+"Stay, ye chabes of Egypt, ye forget that ye are hundunares, and
+are no longer paruguing grastes in the chardy."
+
+The corporal at these words turned his face full upon me, and so
+did all the rest.  Yes, sure enough, there were the countenances of
+Egypt, and the fixed filmy stare of eye.  We continued looking at
+each other for a minute at least, when the corporal, a villainous-
+looking fellow, at last said, in the richest gypsy whine
+imaginable, "the erray know us, the poor Calore!  And he an
+Englishman!  Bullati!  I should not have thought that there was
+e'er a Busno would know us in these parts, where Gitanos are never
+seen.  Yes, your worship is right; we are all here of the blood of
+the Calore; we are from Melegrana (Granada), your worship; they
+took us from thence and sent us to the wars.  Your worship is
+right, the sight of that horse made us believe we were at home
+again in the mercado of Granada; he is a countryman of ours, a real
+Andalou.  Por dios, your worship, sell us that horse; we are poor
+Calore, but we can buy him."
+
+"You forget that you are soldiers," said I.  "How should you buy my
+horse?"
+
+"We are soldiers, your worship," said the corporal, "but we are
+still Calore; we buy and sell bestis; the captain of our troop is
+in league with us.  We have been to the wars, but not to fight; we
+left that to the Busne.  We have kept together, and like true
+Calore, have stood back to back.  We have made money in the wars,
+your worship.  No tenga usted cuidao (be under no apprehension).
+We can buy your horse."
+
+Here he pulled out a purse, which contained at least ten ounces of
+gold.
+
+"If I were willing to sell," I replied, "what would you give me for
+that horse?"
+
+"Then your worship wishes to sell your horse--that alters the
+matter.  We will give ten dollars for your worship's horse.  He is
+good for nothing."
+
+"How is this?" said I.  "You this moment told me he was a fine
+horse--an Andalusian, and a countryman of yours."
+
+"No, Senor! we did not say that he was an Andalou.  We said he was
+an Estremou, and the worst of his kind.  He is eighteen years old,
+your worship, short-winded and galled."
+
+"I do not wish to sell my horse," said I; "quite the contrary; I
+had rather buy than sell."
+
+"Your worship does not wish to sell your horse," said the Gypsy.
+"Stay, your worship, we will give sixty dollars for your worship's
+horse."
+
+"I would not sell him for two hundred and sixty.  Meclis! Meclis!
+say no more.  I know your Gypsy tricks.  I will have no dealings
+with you."
+
+"Did I not hear your worship say that you wished to buy a horse?"
+said the Gypsy.
+
+"I do not want to buy a horse," said I; "if I need any thing, it is
+a pony to carry our baggage; but it is getting late.  Antonio, pay
+the reckoning."
+
+"Stay, your worship, do not be in a hurry," said the Gypsy:  "I
+have got the very pony which will suit you."
+
+Without waiting for my answer, he hurried into the stable, from
+whence he presently returned, leading an animal by a halter.  It
+was a pony of about thirteen hands high, of a dark red colour; it
+was very much galled all over, the marks of ropes and thongs being
+visible on its hide.  The figure, however, was good, and there was
+an extraordinary brightness in its eye.
+
+"There, your worship," said the Gypsy; "there is the best pony in
+all Spain."
+
+"What do you mean by showing me this wretched creature?" said I.
+
+"This wretched creature," said the Gypsy, "is a better horse than
+your Andalou!"
+
+"Perhaps you would not exchange," said I, smiling.
+
+"Senor, what I say is, that he shall run with your Andalou, and
+beat him!"
+
+"He looks feeble," said I; "his work is well nigh done."
+
+"Feeble as he is, Senor, you could not manage him; no, nor any
+Englishman in Spain."
+
+I looked at the creature again, and was still more struck with its
+figure.  I was in need of a pony to relieve occasionally the horse
+of Antonio in carrying the baggage which we had brought from
+Madrid, and though the condition of this was wretched, I thought
+that by kind treatment I might possibly soon bring him round.
+
+"May I mount this animal?" I demanded.
+
+"He is a baggage pony, Senor, and is ill to mount.  He will suffer
+none but myself to mount him, who am his master.  When he once
+commences running, nothing will stop him but the sea.  He springs
+over hills and mountains, and leaves them behind in a moment.  If
+you will mount him, Senor, suffer me to fetch a bridle, for you can
+never hold him in with the halter."
+
+"This is nonsense," said I.  "You pretend that he is spirited in
+order to enhance the price.  I tell you his work is done."
+
+I took the halter in my hand and mounted.  I was no sooner on his
+back than the creature, who had before stood stone still, without
+displaying the slightest inclination to move, and who in fact gave
+no farther indication of existence than occasionally rolling his
+eyes and pricking up an ear, sprang forward like a racehorse, at a
+most desperate gallop.  I had expected that he might kick or fling
+himself down on the ground, in order to get rid of his burden, but
+for this escapade I was quite unprepared.  I had no difficulty,
+however, in keeping on his back, having been accustomed from my
+childhood to ride without a saddle.  To stop him, however, baffled
+all my endeavours, and I almost began to pay credit to the words of
+the Gypsy, who had said that he would run on until he reached the
+sea.  I had, however, a strong arm, and I tugged at the halter
+until I compelled him to turn slightly his neck, which from its
+stiffness might almost have been of wood; he, however, did not
+abate his speed for a moment.  On the left side of the road down
+which he was dashing was a deep trench, just where the road took a
+turn towards the right, and over this he sprang in a sideward
+direction; the halter broke with the effort, the pony shot forward
+like an arrow, whilst I fell back into the dust.
+
+"Senor!" said the Gypsy, coming up with the most serious
+countenance in the world, "I told you not to mount that animal
+unless well bridled and bitted.  He is a baggage pony, and will
+suffer none to mount his back, with the exception of myself who
+feed him."  (Here he whistled, and the animal, who was scurring
+over the field, and occasionally kicking up his heels, instantly
+returned with a gentle neigh.)  "Now, your worship, see how gentle
+he is.  He is a capital baggage pony, and will carry all you have
+over the hills of Galicia."
+
+"What do you ask for him?" said I.
+
+"Senor, as your worship is an Englishman, and a good ginete, and,
+moreover, understands the ways of the Calore, and their tricks and
+their language also, I will sell him to you a bargain.  I will take
+two hundred and sixty dollars for him and no less."
+
+"That is a large sum," said I.
+
+"No, Senor, not at all, considering that he is a baggage pony, and
+belongs to the troop, and is not mine to sell."
+
+Two hours' ride brought us to Palencia, a fine old town,
+beautifully situated on the Carrion, and famous for its trade in
+wool.  We put up at the best posada which the place afforded, and I
+forthwith proceeded to visit one of the principal merchants of the
+town, to whom I was recommended by my banker in Madrid.  I was
+told, however, that he was taking his siesta.  "Then I had better
+take my own," said I, and returned to the posada.  In the evening I
+went again, when I saw him.  He was a short bulky man about thirty,
+and received me at first with some degree of bluntness; his manner,
+however, presently became more kind, and at last he scarcely
+appeared to know how to show me sufficient civility.  His brother
+had just arrived from Santander, and to him he introduced me.  This
+last was a highly-intelligent person, and had passed many years of
+his life in England.  They both insisted upon showing me the town,
+and, indeed, led me all over it, and about the neighbourhood.  I
+particularly admired the cathedral, a light, elegant, but ancient
+Gothic edifice.  Whilst we walked about the aisles, the evening
+sun, pouring its mellow rays through the arched windows, illumined
+some beautiful paintings of Murillo, with which the sacred edifice
+is adorned.  From the church my friends conducted me to a fulling
+mill in the neighbourhood, by a picturesque walk.  There was no
+lack either of trees or water, and I remarked, that the environs of
+Palencia were amongst the most pleasant places that I had ever
+seen.
+
+Tired at last with rambling, we repaired to a coffee-house, where
+they regaled me with chocolate and sweet-meats.  Such was their
+hospitality; and of hospitality of this simple and agreeable kind
+there is much in Spain.
+
+On the next day we pursued our journey, a dreary one, for the most
+part, over bleak and barren plains, interspersed with silent and
+cheerless towns and villages, which stood at the distance of two or
+three leagues from each other.  About midday we obtained a dim and
+distant view of an immense range of mountains, which are in fact
+those which bound Castile on the north.  The day, however, became
+dim and obscure, and we speedily lost sight of them.  A hollow wind
+now arose and blew over these desolate plains with violence,
+wafting clouds of dust into our faces; the rays of the sun were
+few, and those red and angry.  I was tired of my journey, and when
+about four we reached -, a large village, half way between Palencia
+and Leon, I declared my intention of stopping for the night.  I
+scarcely ever saw a more desolate place than this same town or
+village of -.  The houses were for the most part large, but the
+walls were of mud, like those of barns.  We saw no person in the
+long winding street to direct us to the venta, or posada, till at
+last, at the farther end of the place, we descried two black
+figures standing at a door, of whom, on making inquiry, we learned
+that the door at which they stood was that of the house we were in
+quest of.  There was something strange in the appearance of these
+two beings, who seemed the genii of the place.  One was a small
+slim man, about fifty, with sharp, ill-natured features.  He was
+dressed in coarse black worsted stockings, black breeches, and an
+ample black coat with long trailing skirts.  I should at once have
+taken him for an ecclesiastic, but for his hat, which had nothing
+clerical about it, being a pinched diminutive beaver.  His
+companion was of low stature, and a much younger man.  He was
+dressed in similar fashion, save that he wore a dark blue cloak.
+Both carried walking sticks in their hands, and kept hovering about
+the door, now within and now without, occasionally looking up the
+road, as if they expected some one.
+
+"Trust me, mon maitre," said Antonio to me, in French, "those two
+fellows are Carlist priests, and are awaiting the arrival of the
+Pretender.  Les imbeciles!"
+
+We conducted our horses to the stable, to which we were shown by
+the woman of the house.  "Who are those men?" said I to her.
+
+"The eldest is head curate to our pueblo," said she; "the other is
+brother to my husband.  Pobrecito! he was a friar in our convent
+before it was shut up and the brethren driven forth."
+
+We returned to the door.  "I suppose, gentlemen," said the curate,
+"that you are Catalans.  Do you bring any news from that kingdom?"
+
+"Why do you suppose we are Catalans?" I demanded.
+
+"Because I heard you this moment conversing in that language."
+
+"I bring no news from Catalonia," said I.  "I believe, however,
+that the greater part of that principality is in the hands of the
+Carlists."
+
+"Ahem, brother Pedro!  This gentleman says that the greater part of
+Catalonia is in the hands of the royalists.  Pray, sir, where may
+Don Carlos be at present with his army?"
+
+"He may be coming down the road this moment," said I, "for what I
+know;" and, stepping out, I looked up the way.
+
+The two figures were at my side in a moment; Antonio followed, and
+we all four looked intently up the road.
+
+"Do you see anything?" said I at last to Antonio.
+
+"Non, mon maitre."
+
+"Do you see anything, sir?" said I to the curate.
+
+"I see nothing," said the curate, stretching out his neck.
+
+"I see nothing," said Pedro, the ex-friar; "I see nothing but the
+dust, which is becoming every moment more blinding."
+
+"I shall go in, then," said I.  "Indeed, it is scarcely prudent to
+be standing here looking out for the Pretender:  should the
+nationals of the town hear of it, they might perhaps shoot us."
+
+"Ahem," said the curate, following me; "there are no nationals in
+this place:  I would fain see what inhabitant would dare become a
+national.  When the inhabitants of this place were ordered to take
+up arms as nationals, they refused to a man, and on that account we
+had to pay a mulet; therefore, friend, you may speak out if you
+have anything to communicate; we are all of your opinion here."
+
+"I am of no opinion at all," said I, "save that I want my supper.
+I am neither for Rey nor Roque.  You say that I am a Catalan, and
+you know that Catalans think only of their own affairs."
+
+In the evening I strolled by myself about the village, which I
+found still more forlorn and melancholy than it at first appeared;
+perhaps, however, it had been a place of consequence in its time.
+In one corner of it I found the ruins of a large clumsy castle,
+chiefly built of flint stones:  into these ruins I attempted to
+penetrate, but the entrance was secured by a gate.  From the castle
+I found my way to the convent, a sad desolate place, formerly the
+residence of mendicant brothers of the order of St. Francis.  I was
+about to return to the inn, when I heard a loud buzz of voices,
+and, following the sound, presently reached a kind of meadow,
+where, upon a small knoll, sat a priest in full canonicals, reading
+in a loud voice a newspaper, while around him, either erect or
+seated on the grass, were assembled about fifty vecinos, for the
+most part dressed in long cloaks, amongst whom I discovered my two
+friends the curate and friar.  A fine knot of Carlist quid-nuncs,
+said I to myself, and turned away to another part of the meadow,
+where the cattle of the village were grazing.  The curate, on
+observing me, detached himself instantly from the group, and
+followed.  "I am told you want a pony," said he; "there now is mine
+feeding amongst those horses, the best in all the kingdom of Leon."
+He then began with all the volubility of a chalan to descant on the
+points of the animal.  Presently the friar joined us, who,
+observing his opportunity, pulled me by the sleeve and whispered,
+"Have nothing to do with the curate, master, he is the greatest
+thief in the neighbourhood; if you want a pony, my brother has a
+much better, which he will dispose of cheaper."  "I shall wait till
+I arrive at Leon," I exclaimed, and walked away, musing on priestly
+friendship and sincerity.
+
+From--to Leon, a distance of eight leagues, the country rapidly
+improved:  we passed over several small streams, and occasionally
+found ourselves amongst meadows in which grass was growing in the
+richest luxuriance.  The sun shone out brightly, and I hailed his
+re-appearance with joy, though the heat of his beams was
+oppressive.  On arriving within two leagues of Leon, we passed
+numerous cars and waggons, and bands of people with horses and
+mules, all hastening to the celebrated fair which is held in the
+city on St. John's or Mid-summer day, and which took place within
+three days after our arrival.  This fair, though principally
+intended for the sale of horses, is frequented by merchants from
+many parts of Spain, who attend with goods of various kinds, and
+amongst them I remarked many of the Catalans whom I had previously
+seen at Medina and Valladolid.
+
+There is nothing remarkable in Leon, which is an old gloomy town,
+with the exception of its cathedral, in many respects a counterpart
+of the church of Palencia, exhibiting the same light and elegant
+architecture, but, unlike its beautiful sister, unadorned with
+splendid paintings.  The situation of Leon is highly pleasant, in
+the midst of a blooming country, abounding with trees, and watered
+by many streams, which have their source in the mighty mountains in
+the neighbourhood.  It is, however, by no means a healthy place,
+especially in summer, when the heats raise noxious exhalations from
+the waters, generating many kinds of disorders, especially fevers.
+
+I had scarcely been at Leon three days when I was seized with a
+fever, against which I thought the strength even of my constitution
+would have yielded, for it wore me almost to a skeleton, and when
+it departed, at the end of about a week, left me in such a
+deplorable state of weakness that I was scarcely able to make the
+slightest exertion.  I had, however, previously persuaded a
+bookseller to undertake the charge of vending the Testaments, and
+had published my advertisements as usual, though without very
+sanguine hope of success, as Leon is a place where the inhabitants,
+with very few exceptions, are furious Carlists, and ignorant and
+blinded followers of the old papal church.  It is, moreover, a
+bishop's see, which was once enjoyed by the prime counsellor of Don
+Carlos, whose fierce and bigoted spirit still seems to pervade the
+place.  Scarcely had the advertisements appeared, when the clergy
+were in motion.  They went from house to house, banning and
+cursing, and denouncing misery to whomsoever should either purchase
+or read "the accursed books," which had been sent into the country
+by heretics for the purpose of perverting the innocent minds of the
+population.  They did more; they commenced a process against the
+bookseller in the ecclesiastical court.  Fortunately this court is
+not at present in the possession of much authority; and the
+bookseller, a bold and determined man, set them at defiance, and
+went so far as to affix an advertisement to the gate of the very
+cathedral.  Notwithstanding the cry raised against the book,
+several copies were sold at Leon:  two were purchased by ex-friars,
+and the same number by parochial priests from neighbouring
+villages.  I believe the whole number disposed of during my stay
+amounted to fifteen; so that my visit to this dark corner was not
+altogether in vain, as the seed of the gospel has been sown, though
+sparingly.  But the palpable darkness which envelops Leon is truly
+lamentable, and the ignorance of the people is so great, that
+printed charms and incantations against Satan and his host, and
+against every kind of misfortune, are publicly sold in the shops,
+and are in great demand.  Such are the results of Popery, a
+delusion which, more than any other, has tended to debase and
+brutalize the human mind.
+
+I had scarcely risen from my bed where the fever had cast me, when
+I found that Antonio had become alarmed.  He informed me that he
+had seen several soldiers in the uniform of Don Carlos lurking at
+the door of the posada, and that they had been making inquiries
+concerning me.
+
+It was indeed a singular fact connected with Leon, that upwards of
+fifty of these fellows, who had on various accounts left the ranks
+of the Pretender, were walking about the streets dressed in his
+livery, and with all the confidence which the certainty of
+protection from the local authorities could afford them should any
+one be disposed to interrupt them.
+
+I learned moreover from Antonio, that the person in whose house we
+were living was a notorious "alcahuete," or spy to the robbers in
+the neighbourhood, and that unless we took our departure speedily
+and unexpectedly, we should to a certainty be plundered on the
+road.  I did not pay much attention to these hints, but my desire
+to quit Leon was great, as I was convinced that as long as I
+continued there I should be unable to regain my health and vigour.
+
+Accordingly, at three in the morning, we departed for Galicia.  We
+had scarcely proceeded half a league when we were overtaken by a
+thunder-storm of tremendous violence.  We were at that time in the
+midst of a wood which extends to some distance in the direction in
+which we were going.  The trees were bowed almost to the ground by
+the wind or torn up by the roots, whilst the earth was ploughed up
+by the lightning, which burst all around and nearly blinded us.
+The spirited Andalusian on which I rode became furious, and bounded
+into the air as if possessed.  Owing to my state of weakness, I had
+the greatest difficulty in maintaining my seat, and avoiding a fall
+which might have been fatal.  A tremendous discharge of rain
+followed the storm, which swelled the brooks and streams and
+flooded the surrounding country, causing much damage amongst the
+corn.  After riding about five leagues, we began to enter the
+mountainous district which surrounds Astorga:  the heat now became
+almost suffocating; swarms of flies began to make their appearance,
+and settling down upon the horses, stung them almost to madness,
+whilst the road was very flinty and trying.  It was with great
+difficulty that we reached Astorga, covered with mud and dust, our
+tongues cleaving to our palates with thirst.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+
+Astorga--The Inn--The Maragatos--The Habits of the Maragatos--The
+Statue.
+
+We went to a posada in the suburbs, the only one, indeed, which the
+place afforded.  The courtyard was full of arrieros and carriers,
+brawling loudly; the master of the house was fighting with two of
+his customers, and universal confusion reigned around.  As I
+dismounted I received the contents of a wineglass in my face, of
+which greeting, as it was probably intended for another, I took no
+notice.  Antonio, however, was not so patient, for on being struck
+with a cudgel, he instantly returned the salute with his whip,
+scarifying the countenance of a carman.  In my endeavours to
+separate these two antagonists, my horse broke loose, and rushing
+amongst the promiscuous crowd, overturned several individuals and
+committed no little damage.  It was a long time before peace was
+restored:  at last we were shown to a tolerably decent chamber.  We
+had, however, no sooner taken possession of it, than the waggon
+from Madrid arrived on its way to Coruna, filled with dusty
+travellers, consisting of women, children, invalid officers and the
+like.  We were now forthwith dislodged, and our baggage flung into
+the yard.  On our complaining of this treatment, we were told that
+we were two vagabonds whom nobody knew; who had come without an
+arriero, and had already set the whole house in confusion.  As a
+great favour, however, we were at length permitted to take up our
+abode in a ruinous building down the yard, adjoining the stable,
+and filled with rats and vermin.  Here there was an old bed with a
+tester, and with this wretched accommodation we were glad to
+content ourselves, for I could proceed no farther, and was burnt
+with fever.  The heat of the place was intolerable, and I sat on
+the staircase with my head between my hands, gasping for breath:
+soon appeared Antonio with vinegar and water, which I drank and
+felt relieved.
+
+We continued in this suburb three days, during the greatest part of
+which time I was stretched on the tester bed.  I once or twice
+contrived to make my way into the town, but found no bookseller,
+nor any person willing to undertake the charge of disposing of my
+Testaments.  The people were brutal, stupid, and uncivil, and I
+returned to my tester bed fatigued and dispirited.  Here I lay
+listening from time to time to the sweet chimes which rang from the
+clock of the old cathedral.  The master of the house never came
+near me, nor indeed, once inquired about me.  Beneath the care of
+Antonio, however, I speedily waxed stronger.  "Mon maitre," said he
+to me one evening, "I see you are better; let us quit this bad town
+and worse posada to-morrow morning.  Allons, mon maitre!  Il est
+temps de nous mettre en chemin pour Lugo et Galice."
+
+Before proceeding, however, to narrate what befell us in this
+journey to Lugo and Galicia, it will perhaps not be amiss to say a
+few words concerning Astorga and its vicinity.  It is a walled
+town, containing about five or six thousand inhabitants, with a
+cathedral and college, which last is, however, at present deserted.
+It is situated on the confines, and may be called the capital of a
+tract of land called the country of the Maragatos, which occupies
+about three square leagues, and has for its north-western boundary
+a mountain called Telleno, the loftiest of a chain of hills which
+have their origin near the mouth of the river Minho, and are
+connected with the immense range which constitutes the frontier of
+the Asturias and Guipuscoa.
+
+The land is ungrateful and barren, and niggardly repays the toil of
+the cultivator, being for the most part rocky, with a slight
+sprinkling of red brick earth.
+
+The Maragatos are perhaps the most singular caste to be found
+amongst the chequered population of Spain.  They have their own
+peculiar customs and dress, and never intermarry with the
+Spaniards.  Their name is a clue to their origin, as it signifies,
+"Moorish Goths," and at the present day their garb differs but
+little from that of the Moors of Barbary, as it consists of a long
+tight jacket, secured at the waist by a broad girdle, loose short
+trousers which terminate at the knee, and boots and gaiters.  Their
+heads are shaven, a slight fringe of hair being only left at the
+lower part.  If they wore the turban or barret, they could scarcely
+be distinguished from the Moors in dress, but in lieu thereof they
+wear the sombrero, or broad slouching hat of Spain.  There can be
+little doubt that they are a remnant of those Goths who sided with
+the Moors on their invasion of Spain, and who adopted their
+religion, customs, and manner of dress, which, with the exception
+of the first, are still to a considerable degree retained by them.
+It is, however, evident that their blood has at no time mingled
+with that of the wild children of the desert, for scarcely amongst
+the hills of Norway would you find figures and faces more
+essentially Gothic than those of the Maragatos.  They are strong
+athletic men, but loutish and heavy, and their features, though for
+the most part well formed, are vacant and devoid of expression.
+They are slow and plain of speech, and those eloquent and
+imaginative sallies so common in the conversation of other
+Spaniards, seldom or never escape them; they have, moreover, a
+coarse thick pronunciation, and when you hear them speak, you
+almost imagine that it is some German or English peasant attempting
+to express himself in the language of the Peninsula.  They are
+constitutionally phlegmatic, and it is very difficult to arouse
+their anger; but they are dangerous and desperate when once
+incensed; and a person who knew them well, told me that he would
+rather face ten Valencians, people infamous for their ferocity and
+blood-thirstiness, than confront one angry Maragato, sluggish and
+stupid though he be on other occasions.
+
+The men scarcely ever occupy themselves in husbandry, which they
+abandon to the women, who plough the flinty fields and gather in
+the scanty harvests.  Their husbands and sons are far differently
+employed:  for they are a nation of arrieros or carriers, and
+almost esteem it a disgrace to follow any other profession.  On
+every road of Spain, particularly those north of the mountains
+which divide the two Castiles, may be seen gangs of fives and sixes
+of these people lolling or sleeping beneath the broiling sun, on
+gigantic and heavily laden mutes and mules.  In a word, almost the
+entire commerce of nearly one half of Spain passes through the
+hands of the Maragatos, whose fidelity to their trust is such, that
+no one accustomed to employ them would hesitate to confide to them
+the transport of a ton of treasure from the sea of Biscay to
+Madrid; knowing well that it would not be their fault were it not
+delivered safe and undiminished, even of a grain, and that bold
+must be the thieves who would seek to wrest it from the far feared
+Maragatos, who would cling to it whilst they could stand, and would
+cover it with their bodies when they fell in the act of loading or
+discharging their long carbines.
+
+But they are far from being disinterested, and if they are the most
+trustworthy of all the arrieros of Spain, they in general demand
+for the transport of articles a sum at least double to what others
+of the trade would esteem a reasonable recompense:  by this means
+they accumulate large sums of money, notwithstanding that they
+indulge themselves in far superior fare to that which contents in
+general the parsimonious Spaniard;--another argument in favour of
+their pure Gothic descent; for the Maragatos, like true men of the
+north, delight in swilling liquors and battening upon gross and
+luscious meats, which help to swell out their tall and goodly
+figures.  Many of them have died possessed of considerable riches,
+part of which they have not unfrequently bequeathed to the erection
+or embellishment of religious houses.
+
+On the east end of the cathedral of Astorga, which towers over the
+lofty and precipitous wall, a colossal figure of lead may be seen
+on the roof.  It is the statue of a Maragato carrier who endowed
+the cathedral with a large sum.  He is in his national dress, but
+his head is averted from the lands of his fathers, and whilst he
+waves in his hand a species of flag, he seems to be summoning his
+race from their unfruitful region to other climes, where a richer
+field is open to their industry and enterprise.
+
+I spoke to several of these men respecting the all-important
+subject of religion; but I found "their hearts gross, and their
+ears dull of hearing, and their eyes closed."  There was one in
+particular to whom I showed the New Testament, and whom I addressed
+for a considerable time.  He listened or seemed to listen
+patiently, taking occasionally copious draughts from an immense jug
+of whitish wine which stood between his knees.  After I had
+concluded he said, "To-morrow I set out for Lugo, whither, I am
+told, yourself are going.  If you wish to send your chest, I have
+no objection to take it at so much (naming an extravagant price).
+As for what you have told me, I understand little of it, and
+believe not a word of it; but in respect to the books which you
+have shown me, I will take three or four.  I shall not read them,
+it is true, but I have no doubt that I can sell them at a higher
+price than you demand."
+
+So much for the Maragatos.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+
+Departure from Astorga--The Venta--The By-path--Narrow Escape--The
+Cup of Water--Sun and Shade--Bembibre--Convent of the Rocks--
+Sunset--Cacabelos--Midnight Adventure--Villafrancs.
+
+It was four o'clock of a beautiful morning when we sallied from
+Astorga, or rather from its suburbs, in which we had been lodged:
+we directed our course to the north, in the direction of Galicia.
+Leaving the mountain Telleno on our left, we passed along the
+eastern skirts of the land of the Maragatos, over broken uneven
+ground, enlivened here and there by small green valleys and runnels
+of water.  Several of the Maragatan women, mounted on donkeys,
+passed us on their way to Astorga, whither they were carrying
+vegetables.  We saw others in the fields handling their rude
+ploughs, drawn by lean oxen.  We likewise passed through a small
+village, in which we, however, saw no living soul.  Near this
+village we entered the high road which leads direct from Madrid to
+Coruna, and at last, having travelled near four leagues, we came to
+a species of pass, formed on our left by a huge lumpish hill (one
+of those which descend from the great mountain Telleno), and on our
+right by one of much less altitude.  In the middle of this pass,
+which was of considerable breadth, a noble view opened itself to
+us.  Before us, at the distance of about a league and a half, rose
+the mighty frontier chain, of which I have spoken before; its blue
+sides and broken and picturesque peaks still wearing a thin veil of
+the morning mist, which the fierce rays of the sun were fast
+dispelling.  It seemed an enormous barrier, threatening to oppose
+our farther progress, and it reminded me of the fables respecting
+the children of Magog, who are said to reside in remotest Tartary,
+behind a gigantic wall of rocks, which can only be passed by a gate
+of steel a thousand cubits in height.
+
+We shortly after arrived at Manzanal, a village consisting of
+wretched huts, and exhibiting every sign of poverty and misery.  It
+was now time to refresh ourselves and horses, and we accordingly
+put up at a venta, the last habitation in the village, where,
+though we found barley for the animals, we had much difficulty in
+procuring anything for ourselves.  I was at length fortunate enough
+to obtain a large jug of milk, for there were plenty of cows in the
+neighbourhood, feeding in a picturesque valley which we had passed
+by, where was abundance of grass, and trees, and a rivulet broken
+by tiny cascades.  The jug might contain about half a gallon, but I
+emptied it in a few minutes, for the thirst of fever was still
+burning within me, though I was destitute of appetite.  The venta
+had something the appearance of a German baiting-house.  It
+consisted of an immense stable, from which was partitioned a kind
+of kitchen and a place where the family slept.  The master, a
+robust young man, lolled on a large solid stone bench, which stood
+within the door.  He was very inquisitive respecting news, but I
+could afford him none; whereupon he became communicative, and gave
+me the history of his life, the sum of which was, that he had been
+a courier in the Basque provinces, but about a year since had been
+dispatched to this village, where he kept the post-house.  He was
+an enthusiastic liberal, and spoke in bitter terms of the
+surrounding population, who, he said, were all Carlists and friends
+of the friars.  I paid little attention to his discourse, for I was
+looking at a Maragato lad of about fourteen, who served in the
+house as a kind of ostler.  I asked the master if we were still in
+the land of the Maragatos; but he told me that we had left it
+behind nearly a league, and that the lad was an orphan and was
+serving until he could rake up a sufficient capital to become an
+arriero.  I addressed several questions to the boy, but the urchin
+looked sullenly in my face, and either answered by monosyllables or
+was doggedly silent.  I asked him if he could read.  "Yes," said
+he, "as much as that brute of yours who is tearing down the
+manger."
+
+Quitting Manzanal, we continued our course.  We soon arrived at the
+verge of a deep valley amongst mountains, not those of the chain
+which we had seen before us, and which we now left to the right,
+but those of the Telleno range, just before they unite with that
+chain.  Round the sides of this valley, which exhibited something
+of the appearance of a horse-shoe, wound the road in a circuitous
+manner; just before us, however, and diverging from the road, lay a
+footpath which seemed, by a gradual descent, to lead across the
+valley, and to rejoin the road on the other side, at the distance
+of about a furlong; and into this we struck in order to avoid the
+circuit.
+
+We had not gone far before we met two Galicians, on their way to
+cut the harvests of Castile.  One of them shouted, "Cavalier, turn
+back:  in a moment you will be amongst precipices, where your
+horses will break their necks, for we ourselves could scarcely
+climb them on foot."  The other cried, "Cavalier, proceed, but be
+careful, and your horses, if sure-footed, will run no great danger:
+my comrade is a fool."  A violent dispute instantly ensued between
+the two mountaineers, each supporting his opinion with loud oaths
+and curses; but without stopping to see the result, I passed on,
+but the path was now filled with stones and huge slaty rocks, on
+which my horse was continually slipping.  I likewise heard the
+sound of water in a deep gorge, which I had hitherto not perceived,
+and I soon saw that it would be worse than madness to proceed.  I
+turned my horse, and was hastening to regain the path which I had
+left, when Antonio, my faithful Greek, pointed out to me a meadow
+by which, he said, we might regain the high road much lower down
+than if we returned on our steps.  The meadow was brilliant with
+short green grass, and in the middle there was a small rivulet of
+water.  I spurred my horse on, expecting to be in the high road in
+a moment; the horse, however, snorted and stared wildly, and was
+evidently unwilling to cross the seemingly inviting spot.  I
+thought that the scent of a wolf, or some other wild animal might
+have disturbed him, but was soon undeceived by his sinking up to
+the knees in a bog.  The animal uttered a shrill sharp neigh, and
+exhibited every sign of the greatest terror, making at the same
+time great efforts to extricate himself, and plunging forward, but
+every moment sinking deeper.  At last he arrived where a small vein
+of rock showed itself:  on this he placed his fore feet, and with
+one tremendous exertion freed himself, from the deceitful soil,
+springing over the rivulet and alighting on comparatively firm
+ground, where he stood panting, his heaving sides covered with a
+foamy sweat.  Antonio, who had observed the whole scene, afraid to
+venture forward, returned by the path by which we came, and shortly
+afterwards rejoined me.  This adventure brought to my recollection
+the meadow with its footpath which tempted Christian from the
+straight road to heaven, and finally conducted him to the dominions
+of the giant Despair.
+
+We now began to descend the valley by a broad and excellent
+carretera or carriage road, which was cut out of the steep side of
+the mountain on our right.  On our left was the gorge, down which
+tumbled the runnel of water which I have before mentioned.  The
+road was tortuous, and at every turn the scene became more
+picturesque.  The gorge gradually widened, and the brook at its
+bottom, fed by a multitude of springs, increased in volume and in
+sound, but it was soon far beneath us, pursuing its headlong course
+till it reached level ground, where it flowed in the midst of a
+beautiful but confined prairie.  There was something sylvan and
+savage in the mountains on the farther side, clad from foot to
+pinnacle with trees, so closely growing that the eye was unable to
+obtain a glimpse of the hill sides, which were uneven with ravines
+and gulleys, the haunts of the wolf, the wild boar, and the corso,
+or mountain-stag; the latter of which, as I was informed by a
+peasant who was driving a car of oxen, frequently descended to feed
+in the prairie, and were there shot for the sake of their skins,
+for their flesh, being strong and disagreeable, is held in no
+account.
+
+But notwithstanding the wildness of these regions, the handiworks
+of man were visible.  The sides of the gorge, though precipitous,
+were yellow with little fields of barley, and we saw a hamlet and
+church down in the prairie below, whilst merry songs ascended to
+our ears from where the mowers were toiling with their scythes,
+cutting the luxuriant and abundant grass.  I could scarcely believe
+that I was in Spain, in general so brown, so arid and cheerless,
+and I almost fancied myself in Greece, in that land of ancient
+glory, whose mountain and forest scenery Theocritus has so well
+described.
+
+At the bottom of the valley we entered a small village, washed by
+the brook, which had now swelled almost to a stream.  A more
+romantic situation I had never witnessed.  It was surrounded, and
+almost overhung by mountains, and embowered in trees of various
+kinds; waters sounded, nightingales sang, and the cuckoo's full
+note boomed from the distant branches, but the village was
+miserable.  The huts were built of slate stones, of which the
+neighbouring hills seemed to be principally composed, and roofed
+with the same, but not in the neat tidy manner of English houses,
+for the slates were of all sizes, and seemed to be flung on in
+confusion.  We were spent with heat and thirst, and sitting down on
+a stone bench, I entreated a woman to give me a little water.  The
+woman said she would, but added that she expected to be paid for
+it.  Antonio, on hearing this, became highly incensed, and speaking
+Greek, Turkish, and Spanish, invoked the vengeance of the Panhagia
+on the heartless woman, saying, "If I were to offer a Mahometan
+gold for a draught of water he would dash it in my face; and you
+are a Catholic, with the stream running at your door."  I told him
+to be silent, and giving the woman two cuartos, repeated my
+request, whereupon she took a pitcher, and going to the stream
+filled it with water.  It tasted muddy and disagreeable, but it
+drowned the fever which was devouring me.
+
+We again remounted and proceeded on our way, which, for a
+considerable distance, lay along the margin of the stream, which
+now fell in small cataracts, now brawled over stones, and at other
+times ran dark and silent through deep pools overhung with tall
+willows,--pools which seemed to abound with the finny tribe, for
+large trout frequently sprang from the water, catching the
+brilliant fly which skimmed along its deceitful surface.  The scene
+was delightful.  The sun was rolling high in the firmament, casting
+from its orb of fire the most glorious rays, so that the atmosphere
+was flickering with their splendour, but their fierceness was
+either warded off by the shadow of the trees or rendered innocuous
+by the refreshing coolness which rose from the waters, or by the
+gentle breezes which murmured at intervals over the meadows,
+"fanning the cheek or raising the hair" of the wanderer.  The hills
+gradually receded, till at last we entered a plain where tall grass
+was waving, and mighty chestnut trees, in full blossom, spread out
+their giant and umbrageous boughs.  Beneath many stood cars, the
+tired oxen prostrate on the ground, the crossbar of the poll which
+they support pressing heavily on their heads, whilst their drivers
+were either employed in cooking, or were enjoying a delicious
+siesta in the grass and shade.  I went up to one of the largest of
+these groups and demanded of the individuals whether they were in
+need of the Testament of Jesus Christ.  They stared at one another,
+and then at me, till at last a young man, who was dangling a long
+gun in his hands as he reclined, demanded of me what it was, at the
+same time inquiring whether I was a Catalan, "for you speak
+hoarse," said he, "and are tall and fair like that family."  I sat
+down amongst them and said that I was no Catalan, but that I came
+from a spot in the Western Sea, many leagues distant, to sell that
+book at half the price it cost; and that their souls' welfare
+depended on their being acquainted with it.  I then explained to
+them the nature of the New Testament, and read to them the parable
+of the Sower.  They stared at each other again, but said that they
+were poor, and could not buy books.  I rose, mounted, and was going
+away, saying to them:  "Peace bide with you."  Whereupon the young
+man with the gun rose, and saying, "Caspita! this is odd," snatched
+the book from my hand and gave me the price I had demanded.
+
+Perhaps the whole world might be searched in vain for a spot whose
+natural charms could rival those of this plain or valley of
+Bembibre, as it is called, with its wall of mighty mountains, its
+spreading chestnut trees, and its groves of oaks and willows, which
+clothe the banks of its stream, a tributary to the Minho.  True it
+is, that when I passed through it, the candle of heaven was blazing
+in full splendour, and everything lighted by its rays looked gay,
+glad, and blessed.  Whether it would have filled me with the same
+feelings of admiration if viewed beneath another sky, I will not
+pretend to determine; but it certainly possesses advantages which
+at no time could fail to delight, for it exhibits all the peaceful
+beauties of an English landscape blended with something wild and
+grand, and I thought within myself that he must be a restless
+dissatisfied man, who, born amongst those scenes, would wish to
+quit them.  At the time I would have desired no better fate than
+that of a shepherd on the prairies, or a hunter in the hills of
+Bembibre.
+
+Three hours passed away and we were in another situation.  We had
+halted and refreshed ourselves and horses at Bembibre, a village of
+mud and slate, and which possessed little to attract attention:  we
+were now ascending, for the road was over one of the extreme ledges
+of those frontier hills which I have before so often mentioned; but
+the aspect of heaven had blackened, clouds were rolling rapidly
+from the west over the mountains, and a cold wind was moaning
+dismally.  "There is a storm travelling through the air," said a
+peasant, whom we overtook, mounted on a wretched mule; "and the
+Asturians had better be on the lookout, for it is speeding in their
+direction."  He had scarce spoken, when a light, so vivid and
+dazzling that it seemed as if the whole lustre of the fiery element
+were concentrated in it, broke around us, filling the whole
+atmosphere, and covering rock, tree and mountain with a glare not
+to be described.  The mule of the peasant tumbled prostrate, while
+the horse I rode reared himself perpendicularly, and turning round,
+dashed down the hill at headlong speed, which for some time it was
+impossible to cheek.  The lightning was followed by a peal almost
+as terrible, but distant, for it sounded hollow and deep; the
+hills, however, caught up its voice, seemingly repeating it from
+summit to summit, till it was lost in interminable space.  Other
+flashes and peals succeeded, but slight in comparison, and a few
+drops of rain descended.  The body of the tempest seemed to be over
+another region.  "A hundred families are weeping where that bolt
+fell," said the peasant when I rejoined him, "for its blaze has
+blinded my mule at six leagues' distance."  He was leading the
+animal by the bridle, as its sight was evidently affected.  "Were
+the friars still in their nest above there," he continued, "I
+should say that this was their doing, for they are the cause of all
+the miseries of the land."
+
+I raised my eyes in the direction in which he pointed.  Half way up
+the mountain, over whose foot we were wending, jutted forth a black
+frightful crag, which at an immense altitude overhung the road, and
+seemed to threaten destruction.  It resembled one of those ledges
+of the rocky mountains in the picture of the Deluge, up to which
+the terrified fugitives have scrambled from the eager pursuit of
+the savage and tremendous billows, and from whence they gaze down
+in horror, whilst above them rise still higher and giddier heights,
+to which they seem unable to climb.  Built on the very edge of this
+crag, stood an edifice, seemingly devoted to the purposes of
+religion, as I could discern the spire of a church rearing itself
+high over wall and roof.  "That is the house of the Virgin of the
+Rocks," said the peasant, "and it was lately full of friars, but
+they have been thrust out, and the only inmates now are owls and
+ravens."  I replied, that their life in such a bleak exposed abode
+could not have been very enviable, as in winter they must have
+incurred great risk of perishing with cold.  "By no means," said
+he; "they had the best of wood for their braseros and chimneys, and
+the best of wine to warm them at their meals, which were not the
+most sparing.  Moreover, they had another convent down in the vale
+yonder, to which they could retire at their pleasure."  On my
+asking him the reason of his antipathy to the friars, he replied,
+that he had been their vassal, and that they had deprived him every
+year of the flower of what he possessed.  Discoursing in this
+manner, we reached a village just below the convent, where he left
+me, having first pointed out to me a house of stone, with an image
+over the door, which, he said, once also belonged to the canalla
+(rabble) above.
+
+The sun was setting fast, and eager to reach Villafranca, where I
+had determined on resting, and which was still distant three
+leagues and a half, I made no halt at this place.  The road was now
+down a rapid and crooked descent, which terminated in a valley, at
+the bottom of which was a long and narrow bridge; beneath it rolled
+a river, descending from a wide pass between two mountains, for the
+chain was here cleft, probably by some convulsion of nature.  I
+looked up the pass, and on the hills on both sides.  Far above, on
+my right, but standing forth bold and clear, and catching the last
+rays of the sun, was the Convent of the Precipices, whilst directly
+over against it, on the farther side of the valley, rose the
+perpendicular side of the rival hill, which, to a considerable
+extent intercepting the light, flung its black shadow over the
+upper end of the pass, involving it in mysterious darkness.
+Emerging from the centre of this gloom, with thundering sound,
+dashed a river, white with foam, and bearing along with it huge
+stones and branches of trees, for it was the wild Sil hurrying to
+the ocean from its cradle in the heart of the Asturian hills, and
+probably swollen by the recent rains.
+
+Hours again passed away.  It was now night, and we were in the
+midst of woodlands, feeling our way, for the darkness was so great
+that I could scarcely see the length of a yard before my horse's
+head.  The animal seemed uneasy, and would frequently stop short,
+prick up his ears, and utter a low mournful whine.  Flashes of
+sheet lightning frequently illumined the black sky, and flung a
+momentary glare over our path.  No sound interrupted the stillness
+of the night, except the slow tramp of the horses' hoofs, and
+occasionally the croaking of frogs from some pool or morass.  I now
+bethought me that I was in Spain, the chosen land of the two
+fiends, assassination and plunder, and how easily two tired and
+unarmed wanderers might become their victims.
+
+We at last cleared the woodlands, and after proceeding a short
+distance, the horse gave a joyous neigh, and broke into a smart
+trot.  A barking of dogs speedily reached my ears, and we seemed to
+be approaching some town or village.  In effect we were close to
+Cacabelos, a town about five miles distant from Villafranca.
+
+It was near eleven at night, and I reflected that it would be far
+more expedient to tarry in this place till the morning than to
+attempt at present to reach Villafranca, exposing ourselves to all
+the horrors of darkness in a lonely and unknown road.  My mind was
+soon made up on this point; but I reckoned without my host, for at
+the first posada which I attempted to enter, I was told that we
+could not be accommodated, and still less our horses, as the stable
+was full of water.  At the second, and there were but two, I was
+answered from the window by a gruff voice, nearly in the words of
+the Scripture:  "Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my
+children are with me in bed; I cannot arise to let you in."
+Indeed, we had no particular desire to enter, as it appeared a
+wretched hovel, though the poor horses pawed piteously against the
+door, and seemed to crave admittance.
+
+We had now no choice but to resume our doleful way to Villafranca,
+which, we were told, was a short league distant, though it proved a
+league and a half.  We found it no easy matter to quit the town,
+for we were bewildered amongst its labyrinths, and could not find
+the outlet.  A lad about eighteen was, however, persuaded, by the
+promise of a peseta, to guide us:  whereupon he led us by many
+turnings to a bridge, which he told us to cross, and to follow the
+road, which was that of Villafranca; he then, having received his
+fee, hastened from us.
+
+We followed his directions, not, however, without a suspicion that
+he might be deceiving us.  The night had settled darker down upon
+us, so that it was impossible to distinguish any object, however
+nigh.  The lightning had become more faint and rare.  We heard the
+rustling of trees, and occasionally the barking of dogs, which last
+sound, however, soon ceased, and we were in the midst of night and
+silence.  My horse, either from weariness, or the badness of the
+road, frequently stumbled; whereupon I dismounted, and leading him
+by the bridle, soon left Antonio far in the rear.
+
+I had proceeded in this manner a considerable way, when a
+circumstance occurred of a character well suited to the time and
+place.
+
+I was again amidst trees and bushes, when the horse stopping short,
+nearly pulled me back.  I know not how it was, but fear suddenly
+came over me, which, though in darkness and in solitude, I had not
+felt before.  I was about to urge the animal forward, when I heard
+a noise at my right hand, and listened attentively.  It seemed to
+be that of a person or persons forcing their way through branches
+and brushwood.  It soon ceased, and I heard feet on the road.  It
+was the short staggering kind of tread of people carrying a very
+heavy substance, nearly too much for their strength, and I thought
+I heard the hurried breathing of men over-fatigued.  There was a
+short pause, during which I conceived they were resting in the
+middle of the road; then the stamping recommenced, until it reached
+the other side, when I again heard a similar rustling amidst
+branches; it continued for some time and died gradually away.
+
+I continued my road, musing on what had just occurred, and forming
+conjectures as to the cause.  The lightning resumed its flashing,
+and I saw that I was approaching tall black mountains.
+
+This nocturnal journey endured so long that I almost lost all hope
+of reaching the town, and had closed my eyes in a doze, though I
+still trudged on mechanically, leading the horse.  Suddenly a voice
+at a slight distance before me roared out, "Quien vive?" for I had
+at last found my way to Villafranca.  It proceeded from the sentry
+in the suburb, one of those singular half soldiers half guerillas,
+called Miguelets, who are in general employed by the Spanish
+government to clear the roads of robbers.  I gave the usual answer,
+"Espana," and went up to the place where he stood.  After a little
+conversation, I sat down on a stone, awaiting the arrival of
+Antonio, who was long in making his appearance.  On his arrival, I
+asked if any one had passed him on the road, but he replied that he
+had seen nothing.  The night, or rather the morning, was still very
+dark, though a small corner of the moon was occasionally visible.
+On our inquiring the way to the gate, the Miguelet directed us down
+a street to the left, which we followed.  The street was steep, we
+could see no gate, and our progress was soon stopped by houses and
+wall.  We knocked at the gates of two or three of these houses (in
+the upper stories of which lights were burning), for the purpose of
+being set right, but we were either disregarded or not heard.  A
+horrid squalling of cats, from the tops of the houses and dark
+corners, saluted our ears, and I thought of the night arrival of
+Don Quixote and his squire at Toboso, and their vain search amongst
+the deserted streets for the palace of Dulcinea.  At length we saw
+light and heard voices in a cottage at the other side of a kind of
+ditch.  Leading the horses over, we called at the door, which was
+opened by an aged man, who appeared by his dress to be a baker, as
+indeed he proved, which accounted for his being up at so late an
+hour.  On begging him to show us the way into the town, he led us
+up a very narrow alley at the end of his cottage, saying that he
+would likewise conduct us to the posada.
+
+The alley led directly to what appeared to be the market-place, at
+a corner house of which our guide stopped and knocked.  After a
+long pause an upper window was opened, and a female voice demanded
+who we were.  The old man replied, that two travellers had arrived
+who were in need of lodging.  "I cannot be disturbed at this time
+of night," said the woman; "they will be wanting supper, and there
+is nothing in the house; they must go elsewhere."  She was going to
+shut the window, but I cried that we wanted no supper, but merely
+resting place for ourselves and horses--that we had come that day
+from Astorga, and were dying with fatigue.  "Who is that speaking?"
+cried the woman.  "Surely that is the voice of Gil, the German
+clock-maker from Pontevedra.  Welcome, old companion; you are come
+at the right time, for my own is out of order.  I am sorry I have
+kept you waiting, but I will admit you in a moment."
+
+The window was slammed to, presently a light shone through the
+crevices of the door, a key turned in the lock, and we were
+admitted.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+
+Villafranca--The Pass--Gallegan Simplicity--The Frontier Guard--The
+Horse-shoe--Gallegan Peculiarities--A Word on Language--The
+Courier--Wretched Cabins--Host and Guests--Andalusians.
+
+"Ave Maria," said the woman; "whom have we here?  This is not Gil
+the clock-maker."  "Whether it be Gil or Juan," said I, "we are in
+need of your hospitality, and can pay for it."  Our first care was
+to stable the horses, who were much exhausted.  We then went in
+search of some accommodation for ourselves.  The house was large
+and commodious, and having tasted a little water, I stretched
+myself on the floor of one of the rooms on some mattresses which
+the woman produced, and in less than a minute was sound asleep.
+
+The sun was shining bright when I awoke.  I walked forth into the
+market-place, which was crowded with people, I looked up, and could
+see the peaks of tall black mountains peeping over the tops of the
+houses.  The town lay in a deep hollow, and appeared to be
+surrounded by hills on almost every side.  "Quel pays barbare!"
+said Antonio, who now joined me; "the farther we go, my master, the
+wilder everything looks.  I am half afraid to venture into Galicia;
+they tell me that to get to it we must clamber up those hills:  the
+horses will founder."  Leaving the market-place I ascended the wall
+of the town, and endeavoured to discover the gate by which we
+should have entered the preceding night; but I was not more
+successful in the bright sunshine than in the darkness.  The town
+in the direction of Astorga appeared to be hermetically sealed.
+
+I was eager to enter Galicia, and finding that the horses were to a
+certain extent recovered from the fatigue of the journey of the
+preceding day, we again mounted and proceeded on our way.  Crossing
+a bridge, we presently found ourselves in a deep gorge amongst the
+mountains, down which rushed an impetuous rivulet, overhung by the
+high road which leads into Galicia.  We were in the far-famed pass
+of Fuencebadon.
+
+It is impossible to describe this pass or the circumjacent region,
+which contains some of the most extraordinary scenery in all Spain;
+a feeble and imperfect outline is all that I can hope to effect.
+The traveller who ascends it follows for nearly a league the course
+of the torrent, whose banks are in some places precipitous, and in
+others slope down to the waters, and are covered with lofty trees,
+oaks, poplars, and chestnuts.  Small villages are at first
+continually seen, with low walls, and roofs formed of immense
+slates, the eaves nearly touching the ground; these hamlets,
+however, gradually become less frequent as the path grows more
+steep and narrow, until they finally cease at a short distance
+before the spot is attained where the rivulet is abandoned, and is
+no more seen, though its tributaries may yet be heard in many a
+gully, or descried in tiny rills dashing down the steeps.
+Everything here is wild, strange, and beautiful:  the hill up which
+winds the path towers above on the right, whilst on the farther
+side of a profound ravine rises an immense mountain, to whose
+extreme altitudes the eye is scarcely able to attain; but the most
+singular feature of this pass are the hanging fields or meadows
+which cover its sides.  In these, as I passed, the grass was
+growing luxuriantly, and in many the mowers were plying their
+scythes, though it seemed scarcely possible that their feet could
+find support on ground so precipitous:  above and below were drift-
+ways, so small as to seem threads along the mountain side.  A car,
+drawn by oxen, is creeping round yon airy eminence; the nearer
+wheel is actually hanging over the horrid descent; giddiness seizes
+the brain, and the eye is rapidly withdrawn.  A cloud intervenes,
+and when again you turn to watch their progress, the objects of
+your anxiety have disappeared.  Still more narrow becomes the path
+along which you yourself are toiling, and its turns more frequent.
+You have already come a distance of two leagues, and still one-
+third of the ascent remains unsurmounted.  You are not yet in
+Galicia; and you still hear Castilian, coarse and unpolished, it is
+true, spoken in the miserable cabins placed in the sequestered
+nooks which you pass by in your route.
+
+Shortly before we reached the summit of the pass thick mists began
+to envelop the tops of the hills, and a drizzling rain descended.
+"These mists," said Antonio, "are what the Gallegans call bretima;
+and it is said there is never any lack of them in their country."
+"Have you ever visited the country before?" I demanded.  "Non, mon
+maitre; but I have frequently lived in houses where the domestics
+were in part Gallegans, on which account I know not a little of
+their ways, and even something of their language."  "Is the opinion
+which you have formed of them at all in their favour?" I inquired.
+"By no means, mon maitre; the men in general seem clownish and
+simple, yet they are capable of deceiving the most clever filou of
+Paris; and as for the women, it is impossible to live in the same
+house with them, more especially if they are Camareras, and wait
+upon the Senora; they are continually breeding dissensions and
+disputes in the house, and telling tales of the other domestics.  I
+have already lost two or three excellent situations in Madrid,
+solely owing to these Gallegan chambermaids.  We have now come to
+the frontier, mon maitre, for such I conceive this village to be."
+
+We entered the village, which stood on the summit of the mountain,
+and as our horses and ourselves were by this time much fatigued, we
+looked round for a place in which to obtain refreshment.  Close by
+the gate stood a building which, from the circumstance of a mule or
+two and a wretched pony standing before it, we concluded was the
+posada, as in effect it proved to be.  We entered:  several
+soldiers were lolling on heaps of coarse hay, with which the place,
+which much resembled a stable, was half filled.  All were
+exceedingly ill-looking fellows, and very dirty.  They were
+conversing with each other in a strange-sounding dialect, which I
+supposed to be Gallegan.  Scarcely did they perceive us when two or
+three of them, starting from their couch, ran up to Antonio, whom
+they welcomed with much affection, calling him companheiro.  "How
+came you to know these men?" I demanded in French.  "Ces messieurs
+sont presque tous de ma connoissance," he replied, "et, entre nous,
+ce sont des veritables vauriens; they are almost all robbers and
+assassins.  That fellow, with one eye, who is the corporal, escaped
+a little time ago from Madrid, more than suspected of being
+concerned in an affair of poisoning; but he is safe enough here in
+his own country, and is placed to guard the frontier, as you see;
+but we must treat them civilly, mon maitre; we must give them wine,
+or they will be offended.  I know them, mon maitre--I know them.
+Here, hostess, bring an azumbre of wine."
+
+Whilst Antonio was engaged in treating his friends, I led the
+horses to the stable; this was through the house, inn, or whatever
+it might be called.  The stable was a wretched shed, in which the
+horses sank to their fetlocks in mud and puddle.  On inquiring for
+barley, I was told that I was now in Galicia, where barley was not
+used for provender, and was very rare.  I was offered in lieu of it
+Indian corn, which, however, the horses ate without hesitation.
+There was no straw to be had; coarse hay, half green, being the
+substitute.  By trampling about in the mud of the stable my horse
+soon lost a shoe, for which I searched in vain.  "Is there a
+blacksmith in the village?" I demanded of a shock-headed fellow who
+officiated as ostler.
+
+Ostler.--Si, Senhor; but I suppose you have brought horse-shoes
+with you, or that large beast of yours cannot be shod in this
+village.
+
+Myself.--What do you mean?  Is the blacksmith unequal to his trade?
+Cannot he put on a horse-shoe?
+
+Ostler.--Si, Senhor; he can put on a horse-shoe if you give it him;
+but there are no horse-shoes in Galicia, at least in these parts.
+
+Myself.--Is it not customary then to shoe the horses in Galicia?
+
+Ostler.--Senhor, there are no horses in Galicia, there are only
+ponies; and those who bring horses to Galicia, and none but madmen
+ever do, must bring shoes to fit them; only shoes of ponies are to
+be found here.
+
+Myself.--What do you mean by saying that only madmen bring horses
+to Galicia?
+
+Ostler.--Senhor, no horse can stand the food of Galicia and the
+mountains of Galicia long, without falling sick; and then if he
+does not die at once, he will cost you in farriers more than he is
+worth; besides, a horse is of no use here, and cannot perform
+amongst the broken ground the tenth part of the service which a
+little pony mare can.  By the by, Senhor, I perceive that yours is
+an entire horse; now out of twenty ponies that you see on the roads
+of Galicia, nineteen are mares; the males are sent down into
+Castile to be sold.  Senhor, your horse will become heated on our
+roads, and will catch the bad glanders, for which there is no
+remedy.  Senhor, a man must be mad to bring any horse to Galicia,
+but twice mad to bring an entero, as you have done.
+
+"A strange country this of Galicia," said I, and went to consult
+with Antonio.
+
+It appeared that the information of the ostler was literally true
+with regard to the horse-shoe; at least the blacksmith of the
+village, to whom we conducted the animal, confessed his inability
+to shoe him, having none that would fit his hoof:  he said it was
+very probable that we should be obliged to lead the animal to Lugo,
+which, being a cavalry station, we might perhaps find there what we
+wanted.  He added, however, that the greatest part of the cavalry
+soldiers were mounted on the ponies of the country, the mortality
+amongst the horses brought from the level ground into Galicia being
+frightful.  Lugo was ten leagues distant:  there seemed, however,
+to be no remedy at hand but patience, and, having refreshed
+ourselves, we proceeded, leading our horses by the bridle.
+
+We were now on level ground, being upon the very top of one of the
+highest mountains in Galicia.  This level continued for about a
+league, when we began to descend.  Before we had crossed the plain,
+which was overgrown with furze and brushwood, we came suddenly upon
+half a dozen fellows armed with muskets and wearing a tattered
+uniform.  We at first supposed them to be banditti:  they were,
+however, only a party of soldiers who had been detached from the
+station we had just quitted to escort one of the provincial posts
+or couriers.  They were clamorous for cigars, but offered us no
+farther incivility.  Having no cigars to bestow, I gave them in
+lieu thereof a small piece of silver.  Two of the worst looking
+were very eager to be permitted to escort us to Nogales, the
+village where we proposed to spend the night.  "By no means permit
+them, mon maitre," said Antonio, "they are two famous assassins of
+my acquaintance; I have known them at Madrid:  in the first ravine
+they will shoot and plunder us."  I therefore civilly declined
+their offer and departed.  "You seem to be acquainted with all the
+cut-throats in Galicia," said I to Antonio, as we descended the
+hill.
+
+"With respect to those two fellows," he replied, "I knew them when
+I lived as cook in the family of General Q-, who is a Gallegan:
+they were sworn friends of the repostero.  All the Gallegans in
+Madrid know each other, whether high or low makes no difference;
+there, at least, they are all good friends, and assist each other
+on all imaginable occasions; and if there be a Gallegan domestic in
+a house, the kitchen is sure to be filled with his countrymen, as
+the cook frequently knows to his cost, for they generally contrive
+to eat up any little perquisites which he may have reserved for
+himself and family."
+
+Somewhat less than half way down the mountain we reached a small
+village.  On observing a blacksmith's shop, we stopped, in the
+faint hope of finding a shoe for the horse, who, for want of one,
+was rapidly becoming lame.  To our great joy we found that the
+smith was in possession of one single horse-shoe, which some time
+previously he had found upon the way.  This, after undergoing much
+hammering and alteration, was pronounced by the Gallegan vulcan to
+be capable of serving in lieu of a better; whereupon we again
+mounted, and slowly continued our descent.
+
+Shortly ere sunset we arrived at Nogales, a hamlet situate in a
+narrow valley at the foot of the mountain, in traversing which we
+had spent the day.  Nothing could be more picturesque than the
+appearance of this spot:  steep hills, thickly clad with groves and
+forests of chestnuts, surrounded it on every side; the village
+itself was almost embowered in trees, and close beside it ran a
+purling brook.  Here we found a tolerably large and commodious
+posada.
+
+I was languid and fatigued, but felt little desire to sleep.
+Antonio cooked our supper, or rather his own, for I had no
+appetite.  I sat by the door, gazing on the wood-covered heights
+above me, or on the waters of the rivulet, occasionally listening
+to the people who lounged about the house, conversing in the
+country dialect.  What a strange tongue is the Gallegan, with its
+half singing half whining accent, and with its confused jumble of
+words from many languages, but chiefly from the Spanish and
+Portuguese.  "Can you understand this conversation?" I demanded of
+Antonio, who had by this time rejoined me.  "I cannot, mon maitre,"
+he replied; "I have acquired at various times a great many words
+amongst the Gallegan domestics in the kitchens where I have
+officiated as cook, but am quite unable to understand any long
+conversation.  I have heard the Gallegans say that in no two
+villages is it spoken in one and the same manner, and that very
+frequently they do not understand each other.  The worst of this
+language is, that everybody on first hearing it thinks that nothing
+is more easy than to understand it, as words are continually
+occurring which he has heard before:  but these merely serve to
+bewilder and puzzle him, causing him to misunderstand everything
+that is said; whereas, if he were totally ignorant of the tongue,
+he would occasionally give a shrewd guess at what was meant, as I
+myself frequently do when I hear Basque spoken, though the only
+word which I know of that language is jaunguicoa."
+
+As the night closed in I retired to bed, where I remained four or
+five hours, restless and tossing about; the fever of Leon still
+clinging to my system.  It was considerably past midnight when,
+just as I was sinking into a slumber, I was aroused by a confused
+noise in the village, and the glare of lights through the lattice
+of the window of the room where I lay; presently entered Antonio,
+half dressed.  "Mon maitre," said he, "the grand post from Madrid
+to Coruna has just arrived in the village, attended by a
+considerable escort, and an immense number of travellers.  The road
+they say, between here and Lugo, is infested with robbers and
+Carlists, who are committing all kinds of atrocities; let us,
+therefore, avail ourselves of the opportunity, and by midday to-
+morrow we shall find ourselves safe in Lugo."  On hearing these
+words, I instantly sprang out of bed and dressed myself, telling
+Antonio to prepare the horses with all speed.
+
+We were soon mounted and in the street, amidst a confused throng of
+men and quadrupeds.  The light of a couple of flambeaux, which were
+borne before the courier, shone on the arms of several soldiers,
+seemingly drawn up on either side of the road; the darkness,
+however, prevented me from distinguishing objects very clearly.
+The courier himself was mounted on a little shaggy pony; before and
+behind him were two immense portmanteaux, or leather sacks, the
+ends of which nearly touched the ground.  For about a quarter of an
+hour there was much hubbub, shouting, and trampling, at the end of
+which period the order was given to proceed.  Scarcely had we left
+the village when the flambeaux were extinguished, and we were left
+in almost total darkness; for some time we were amongst woods and
+trees, as was evident from the rustling of leaves on every side.
+My horse was very uneasy and neighed fearfully, occasionally
+raising himself bolt upright.  "If your horse is not more quiet,
+cavalier, we shall be obliged to shoot him," said a voice in an
+Andalusian accent; "he disturbs the whole cavalcade."  "That would
+be a pity, sergeant," I replied, "for he is a Cordovese by the four
+sides; he is not used to the ways of this barbarous country."  "Oh,
+he is a Cordovese," said the voice, "vaya, I did not know that; I
+am from Cordova myself.  Pobrecito! let me pat him--yes, I know by
+his coat that he is my countryman--shoot him, indeed! vaya, I would
+fain see the Gallegan devil who would dare to harm him.  Barbarous
+country, io lo creo:  neither oil nor olives, bread nor barley.
+You have been at Cordova.  Vaya; oblige me, cavalier, by taking
+this cigar."
+
+In this manner we proceeded for several hours, up hill and down
+dale, but generally at a very slow pace. The soldiers who escorted
+us from time to time sang patriotic songs, breathing love and
+attachment to the young Queen Isabel, and detestation of the grim
+tyrant Carlos.  One of the stanzas which reached my ears, ran
+something in the following style:-
+
+
+"Don Carlos is a hoary churl,
+Of cruel heart and cold;
+But Isabel's a harmless girl,
+Of only six years old."
+
+
+At last the day began to break, and I found myself amidst a train
+of two or three hundred people, some on foot, but the greater part
+mounted, either on mules or the pony mares:  I could not
+distinguish a single horse except my own and Antonio's.  A few
+soldiers were thinly scattered along the road.  The country was
+hilly, but less mountainous and picturesque than the one which we
+had traversed the preceding day; it was for the most part
+partitioned into small fields, which were planted with maize.  At
+the distance of every two or three leagues we changed our escort,
+at some village where was stationed a detachment.  The villages
+were mostly an assemblage of wretched cabins; the roofs were
+thatched, dank, and moist, and not unfrequently covered with rank
+vegetation.  There were dunghills before the doors, and no lack of
+pools and puddles.  Immense swine were stalking about, intermingled
+with naked children.  The interior of the cabins corresponded with
+their external appearance:  they were filled with filth and misery.
+
+We reached Lugo about two hours past noon:  during the last two or
+three leagues, I became so overpowered with weariness, the result
+of want of sleep and my late illness, that I was continually dozing
+in my saddle, so that I took but little notice of what was passing.
+We put up at a large posada without the wall of the town, built
+upon a steep bank, and commanding an extensive view of the country
+towards the east.  Shortly after our arrival, the rain began to
+descend in torrents, and continued without intermission during the
+next two days, which was, however, to me but a slight source of
+regret, as I passed the entire time in bed, and I may almost say in
+slumber.  On the evening of the third day I arose.
+
+There was much bustle in the house, caused by the arrival of a
+family from Coruna; they came in a large jaunting car, escorted by
+four carabineers.  The family was rather numerous, consisting of a
+father, son, and eleven daughters, the eldest of whom might be
+about eighteen.  A shabby-looking fellow, dressed in a jerkin and
+wearing a high-crowned hat, attended as domestic.  They arrived
+very wet and shivering, and all seemed very disconsolate,
+especially the father, who was a well-looking middle-aged man.
+"Can we be accommodated?" he demanded in a gentle voice of the man
+of the house; "can we be accommodated in this fonda?"
+
+"Certainly, your worship," replied the other; "our house is large.
+How many apartments does your worship require for your family?"
+
+"One will be sufficient," replied the stranger.
+
+The host, who was a gouty personage and leaned upon a stick, looked
+for a moment at the traveller, then at every member of his family,
+not forgetting the domestic, and, without any farther comment than
+a slight shrug, led the way to the door of an apartment containing
+two or three flock beds, and which on my arrival I had objected to
+as being small, dark, and incommodious; this he flung open, and
+demanded whether it would serve.
+
+"It is rather small," replied the gentleman; "I think, however,
+that it will do."
+
+"I am glad of it," replied the host.  "Shall we make any
+preparations for the supper of your worship and family?"
+
+"No, I thank you," replied the stranger, "my own domestic will
+prepare the slight refreshment we are in need of."
+
+The key was delivered to the domestic, and the whole family
+ensconced themselves in their apartment:  before, however, this was
+effected, the escort were dismissed, the principal carabineer being
+presented with a peseta.  The man stood surveying the gratuity for
+about half a minute, as it glittered in the palm of his hand; then
+with an abrupt Vamos! he turned upon his heel, and without a word
+of salutation to any person, departed with the men under his
+command.
+
+"Who can these strangers be?" said I to the host, as we sat
+together in a large corridor open on one side, and which occupied
+the entire front of the house.
+
+"I know not," he replied, "but by their escort I suppose they are
+people holding some official situation.  They are not of this
+province, however, and I more than suspect them to be Andalusians."
+
+In a few minutes the door of the apartment occupied by the
+strangers was opened, and the domestic appeared bearing a cruse in
+his hand.  "Pray, Senor Patron," demanded he, "where can I buy some
+oil?"
+
+"There is oil in the house," replied the host, "if you want to
+purchase any; but if, as is probable, you suppose that we shall
+gain a cuarto by selling it, you will find some over the way.  It
+is as I suspected," continued the host, when the man had departed
+on his errand, "they are Andalusians, and are about to make what
+they call gaspacho, on which they will all sup.  Oh, the meanness
+of these Andalusians! they are come here to suck the vitals of
+Galicia, and yet envy the poor innkeeper the gain of a cuarto in
+the oil which they require for their gaspacho.  I tell you one
+thing, master, when that fellow returns, and demands bread and
+garlic to mix with the oil, I will tell him there is none in the
+house:  as he has bought the oil abroad, so he may the bread and
+garlic; aye, and the water too for that matter."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+
+Lugo--The Baths--A Family History--Miguelets--The Three Heads--A
+Farrier--English Squadron--Sale of Testaments--Coruna--The
+Recognition--Luigi Piozzi--The Speculation--A Blank Prospect--John
+Moore.
+
+At Lugo I found a wealthy bookseller, to whom I brought a letter of
+recommendation from Madrid.  He willingly undertook the sale of my
+books.  The Lord deigned to favour my feeble exertions in his cause
+at Lugo.  I brought thither thirty Testaments, all of which were
+disposed of in one day; the bishop of the place, for Lugo is an
+episcopal see, purchasing two copies for himself, whilst several
+priests and ex-friars, instead of following the example of their
+brethren at Leon, by persecuting the work, spoke well of it and
+recommended its perusal.  I was much grieved that my stock of these
+holy books was exhausted, there being a great demand; and had I
+been able to supply them, quadruple the quantity might have been
+sold during the few days that I continued at Lugo.
+
+Lugo contains about six thousand inhabitants.  It is situated on
+lofty ground, and is defended by ancient walls.  It possesses no
+very remarkable edifice, and the cathedral church itself is a small
+mean building.  In the centre of the town is the principal square,
+a light cheerful place, not surrounded by those heavy cumbrous
+buildings with which the Spaniards both in ancient and modern times
+have encircled their plazas.  It is singular enough that Lugo, at
+present a place of very little importance, should at one period
+have been the capital of Spain:  yet such it was in the time of the
+Romans, who, as they were a people not much guided by caprice, had
+doubtless very excellent reasons for the preference which they gave
+to the locality.
+
+There are many Roman remains in the vicinity of this place, the
+most remarkable of which are the ruins of the ancient medicinal
+baths, which stand on the southern side of the river Minho, which
+creeps through the valley beneath the town.  The Minho in this
+place is a dark and sullen stream, with high, precipitous, and
+thickly wooded banks.
+
+One evening I visited the baths, accompanied by my friend the
+bookseller.  They had been built over warm springs which flow into
+the river.  Notwithstanding their ruinous condition, they were
+crowded with sick, hoping to derive benefit from the waters, which
+are still famed for their sanative power.  These patients exhibited
+a strange spectacle as, wrapped in flannel gowns much resembling
+shrouds, they lay immersed in the tepid waters amongst disjointed
+stones, and overhung with steam and reek.
+
+Three or four days after my arrival I was seated in the corridor
+which, as I have already observed, occupied the entire front of the
+house.  The sky was unclouded, and the sun shone most gloriously,
+enlivening every object around.  Presently the door of the
+apartment in which the strangers were lodged opened, and forth
+walked the whole family, with the exception of the father, who, I
+presumed, was absent on business.  The shabby domestic brought up
+the rear, and on leaving the apartment, carefully locked the door,
+and secured the key in his pocket.  The one son and the eleven
+daughters were all dressed remarkably well:  the boy something
+after the English fashion, in jacket and trousers, the young ladies
+in spotless white:  they were, upon the whole, a very good-looking
+family, with dark eyes and olive complexions, but the eldest
+daughter was remarkably handsome.  They arranged themselves upon
+the benches of the corridor, the shabby domestic sitting down
+amongst them without any ceremony whatever.  They continued for
+some time in silence, gazing with disconsolate looks upon the
+houses of the suburb and the dark walls of the town, until the
+eldest daughter, or senorita as she was called, broke silence with
+an "Ay Dios mio!"
+
+Domestic.--Ay Dios mio! we have found our way to a pretty country.
+
+Myself.--I really can see nothing so very bad in the country, which
+is by nature the richest in all Spain, and the most abundant.  True
+it is that the generality of the inhabitants are wretchedly poor,
+but they themselves are to blame, and not the country.
+
+Domestic.--Cavalier, the country is a horrible one, say nothing to
+the contrary.  We are all frightened, the young ladies, the young
+gentleman, and myself; even his worship is frightened, and says
+that we are come to this country for our sins.  It rains every day,
+and this is almost the first time that we have seen the sun since
+our arrival, it rains continually, and one cannot step out without
+being up to the ankles in fango; and then, again, there is not a
+house to be found.
+
+Myself.--I scarcely understand you.  There appears to be no lack of
+houses in this neighbourhood.
+
+Domestic.--Excuse me, sir.  His worship hired yesterday a house,
+for which he engaged to pay fourteen pence daily; but when the
+senorita saw it, she wept, and said it was no house, but a hog-sty,
+so his worship paid one day's rent and renounced his bargain.
+Fourteen pence a day! why, in our country, we can have a palace for
+that money.
+
+Myself.--From what country do you come?
+
+Domestic.--Cavalier, you appear to be a decent gentleman, and I
+will tell you our history.  We are from Andalusia, and his worship
+was last year receiver-general for Granada:  his salary was
+fourteen thousand rials, with which we contrived to live very
+commodiously--attending the bull funcions regularly, or if there
+were no bulls, we went to see the novillos, and now and then to the
+opera.  In a word, sir, we had our diversions and felt at our ease;
+so much so, that his worship was actually thinking of purchasing a
+pony for the young gentleman, who is fourteen, and must learn to
+ride now or never.  Cavalier, the ministry was changed, and the new
+corners, who were no friends to his worship, deprived him of his
+situation.  Cavalier, they removed us from that blessed country of
+Granada, where our salary was fourteen thousand rials, and sent us
+to Galicia, to this fatal town of Lugo, where his worship is
+compelled to serve for ten thousand, which is quite insufficient to
+maintain us in our former comforts.  Good-bye, I trow, to bull
+funcions, and novillos, and the opera.  Good-bye to the hope of a
+horse for the young gentleman.  Cavalier, I grow desperate:  hold
+your tongue, for God's sake! for I can talk no more."
+
+On hearing this history I no longer wondered that the receiver-
+general was eager to save a cuarto in the purchase of the oil for
+the gaspacho of himself and family of eleven daughters, one son,
+and a domestic.
+
+We staid one week at Lugo, and then directed our steps to Coruna,
+about twelve leagues distant.  We arose before daybreak in order to
+avail ourselves of the escort of the general post, in whose company
+we travelled upwards of six leagues.  There was much talk of
+robbers, and flying parties of the factious, on which account our
+escort was considerable.  At the distance of five or six leagues
+from Lugo, our guard, in lieu of regular soldiers, consisted of a
+body of about fifty Miguelets.  They had all the appearance of
+banditti, but a finer body of ferocious fellows I never saw.  They
+were all men in the prime of life, mostly of tall stature, and of
+Herculean brawn and limbs.  They wore huge whiskers, and walked
+with a fanfaronading air, as if they courted danger, and despised
+it.  In every respect they stood in contrast to the soldiers who
+had hitherto escorted us, who were mere feeble boys from sixteen to
+eighteen years of age, and possessed of neither energy nor
+activity.  The proper dress of the Miguelet, if it resembles
+anything military, is something akin to that anciently used by the
+English marines.  They wear a peculiar kind of hat, and generally
+leggings, or gaiters, and their arms are the gun and bayonet.  The
+colour of their dress is mostly dark brown.  They observe little or
+no discipline whether on a march or in the field of action.  They
+are excellent irregular troops, and when on actual service are
+particularly useful as skirmishers.  Their proper duty, however, is
+to officiate as a species of police, and to clear the roads of
+robbers, for which duty they are in one respect admirably
+calculated, having been generally robbers themselves at one period
+of their lives.  Why these people are called Miguelets it is not
+easy to say, but it is probable that they have derived this
+appellation from the name of their original leader.  I regret that
+the paucity of my own information will not allow me to enter into
+farther particulars with respect to this corps, concerning which I
+have little doubt that many remarkable things might be said.
+
+Becoming weary of the slow travelling of the post, I determined to
+brave all risk, and to push forward.  In this, however, I was
+guilty of no slight imprudence, as by so doing I was near falling
+into the hands of robbers.  Two fellows suddenly confronted me with
+presented carbines, which they probably intended to discharge into
+my body, but they took fright at the noise of Antonio's horse, who
+was following a little way behind.  The affair occurred at the
+bridge of Castellanos, a spot notorious for robbery and murder, and
+well adapted for both, for it stands at the bottom of a deep dell
+surrounded by wild desolate hills.  Only a quarter of an hour
+previous I had passed three ghastly heads stuck on poles standing
+by the wayside; they were those of a captain of banditti and two of
+his accomplices, who had been seized and executed about two months
+before.  Their principal haunt was the vicinity of the bridge, and
+it was their practice to cast the bodies of the murdered into the
+deep black water which runs rapidly beneath.  Those three heads
+will always live in my remembrance, particularly that of the
+captain, which stood on a higher pole than the other two:  the long
+hair was waving in the wind, and the blackened, distorted features
+were grinning in the sun.  The fellows whom I met wore the relics
+of the band.
+
+We arrived at Betanzos late in the afternoon.  This town stands on
+a creek at some distance from the sea, and about three leagues from
+Coruna.  It is surrounded on three sides by lofty hills.  The
+weather during the greater part of the day had been dull and
+lowering, and we found the atmosphere of Betanzos insupportably
+close and heavy.  Sour and disagreeable odours assailed our
+olfactory organs from all sides.  The streets were filthy--so were
+the houses, and especially the posada.  We entered the stable; it
+was strewed with rotten sea-weeds and other rubbish, in which pigs
+were wallowing; huge and loathsome flies were buzzing around.
+"What a pest-house!" I exclaimed.  But we could find no other
+stable, and were therefore obliged to tether the unhappy animals to
+the filthy mangers.  The only provender that could be obtained was
+Indian corn.  At nightfall I led them to drink at a small river
+which passes through Betanzos.  My entero swallowed the water
+greedily; but as we returned towards the inn, I observed that he
+was sad, and that his head drooped.  He had scarcely reached the
+stall, when a deep hoarse cough assailed him.  I remembered the
+words of the ostler in the mountains, "the man must be mad who
+brings a horse to Galicia, and doubly so he who brings an entero."
+During the greater part of the day the animal had been much heated,
+walking amidst a throng of at least a hundred pony mares.  He now
+began to shiver violently.  I procured a quart of anise brandy,
+with which, assisted by Antonio, I rubbed his body for nearly an
+hour, till his coat was covered with a white foam; but his cough
+increased perceptibly, his eyes were becoming fixed, and his
+members rigid.  "There is no remedy but bleeding," said I.  "Run
+for a farrier."  The farrier came.  "You must bleed the horse," I
+shouted; "take from him an azumbre of blood."  The farrier looked
+at the animal, and made for the door.  "Where are you going?" I
+demanded.  "Home," he replied.  "But we want you here."  "I know
+you do," was his answer; "and on that account I am going."  "But
+you must bleed the horse, or he will die."  "I know he will," said
+the farrier, "but I will not bleed him."  "Why?" I demanded.  "I
+will not bleed him, but under one condition."  "What is that?"
+"What is it!--that you pay me an ounce of gold."  "Run for the red
+morocco case," said I to Antonio.  It was brought; I took out a
+large fleam, and with the assistance of a stone, drove it into the
+principal artery horse's leg.  The blood at first refused to flow;
+with much rubbing, it began to trickle, and then to stream; it
+continued so for half an hour.  "The horse is fainting, mon
+maitre," said Antonio.  "Hold him up," said I, "and in another ten
+minutes we will stop the vein."
+
+I closed the vein, and whilst doing so I looked up into the
+farrier's face, arching my eyebrows.
+
+"Carracho! what an evil wizard," muttered the farrier, as he walked
+away.  "If I had my knife here I would stick him."  We bled the
+horse again, during the night, which second bleeding I believe
+saved him.  Towards morning he began to eat his food.
+
+The next day we departed for Coruna, leading our horses by the
+bridle:  the day was magnificent, and our walk delightful.  We
+passed along beneath tall umbrageous trees, which skirted the road
+from Betanzos to within a short distance of Coruna.  Nothing could
+be more smiling and cheerful than the appearance of the country
+around.  Vines were growing in abundance in the vicinity of the
+villages through which we passed, whilst millions of maize plants
+upreared their tall stalks and displayed their broad green leaves
+in the fields.  After walking about three hours, we obtained a view
+of the bay of Coruna, in which, even at the distance of a league,
+we could distinguish three or four immense ships riding at anchor.
+"Can these vessels belong to Spain?"  I demanded of myself.  In the
+very next village, however, we were informed that the preceding
+evening an English squadron had arrived, for what reason nobody
+could say.  "However," continued our informant, "they have
+doubtless some design upon Galicia.  These foreigners are the ruin
+of Spain."
+
+We put up in what is called the Calle Real, in an excellent fonda,
+or posada, kept by a short, thick, comical-looking person, a
+Genoese by birth.  He was married to a tall, ugly, but good-
+tempered Basque woman, by whom he had been blessed with a son and
+daughter.  His wife, however, had it seems of late summoned all her
+female relations from Guipuscoa, who now filled the house to the
+number of nine, officiating as chambermaids, cooks, and scullions:
+they were all very ugly, but good-natured, and of immense
+volubility of tongue.  Throughout the whole day the house resounded
+with their excellent Basque and very bad Castilian.  The Genoese,
+on the contrary, spoke little, for which he might have assigned a
+good reason; he had lived thirty years in Spain, and had forgotten
+his own language without acquiring Spanish, which he spoke very
+imperfectly.
+
+We found Coruna full of bustle and life, owing to the arrival of
+the English squadron.  On the following day, however, it departed,
+being bound for the Mediterranean on a short cruise, whereupon
+matters instantly returned to their usual course.
+
+I had a depot of five hundred Testaments at Coruna, from which it
+was my intention to supply the principal towns of Galicia.
+Immediately on my arrival I published advertisements, according to
+my usual practice, and the book obtained a tolerable sale--seven or
+eight copies per day on the average.  Some people, perhaps, on
+perusing these details, will be tempted to exclaim, "These are
+small matters, and scarcely worthy of being mentioned."  But let
+such bethink them, that till within a few months previous to the
+time of which I am speaking, the very existence of the gospel was
+almost unknown in Spain, and that it must necessarily be a
+difficult task to induce a people like the Spaniards, who read very
+little, to purchase a work like the New Testament, which, though of
+paramount importance to the soul, affords but slight prospect of
+amusement to the frivolous and carnally minded.  I hoped that the
+present was the dawning of better and more enlightened times, and
+rejoiced in the idea that Testaments, though but few in number,
+were being sold in unfortunate benighted Spain, from Madrid to the
+furthermost parts of Galicia, a distance of nearly four hundred
+miles.
+
+Coruna stands on a peninsula, having on one side the sea, and on
+the other the celebrated bay, generally called the Groyne.  It is
+divided into the old and new town, the latter of which was at one
+time probably a mere suburb.  The old town is a desolate ruinous
+place, separated from the new by a wide moat.  The modern town is a
+much more agreeable spot, and contains one magnificent street, the
+Calle Real, where the principal merchants reside.  One singular
+feature of this street is, that it is laid entirely with flags of
+marble, along which troop ponies and cars as if it were a common
+pavement.
+
+It is a saying amongst the inhabitants of Coruna, that in their
+town there is a street so clean, that puchera may be eaten off it
+without the slightest inconvenience.  This may certainly be the
+fact after one of those rains which so frequently drench Galicia,
+when the appearance of the pavement of the street is particularly
+brilliant.  Coruna was at one time a place of considerable
+commerce, the greater part of which has latterly departed to
+Santander, a town which stands a considerable distance down the Bay
+of Biscay.
+
+"Are you going to Saint James, Giorgio?  If so, you will perhaps
+convey a message to my poor countryman," said a voice to me one
+morning in broken English, as I was standing at the door of my
+posada, in the royal street of Coruna.
+
+I looked round and perceived a man standing near me at the door of
+a shop contiguous to the inn.  He appeared to be about sixty-five,
+with a pale face and remarkably red nose.  He was dressed in a
+loose green great coat, in his mouth was a long clay pipe, in his
+hand a long painted stick.
+
+"Who are you, and who is your countryman?" I demanded; "I do not
+know you."
+
+"I know you, however," replied the man; "you purchased the first
+knife that I ever sold in the market-place of N-."
+
+Myself.--Ah, I remember you now, Luigi Piozzi; and well do I
+remember also, how, when a boy, twenty years ago, I used to repair
+to your stall, and listen to you and your countrymen discoursing in
+Milanese.
+
+Luigi.--Ah, those were happy times to me.  Oh, how they rushed back
+on my remembrance when I saw you ride up to the door of the posada.
+I instantly went in, closed my shop, lay down upon my bed and wept.
+
+Myself.--I see no reason why you should so much regret those times.
+I knew you formerly in England as an itinerant pedlar, and
+occasionally as master of a stall in the market-place of a country
+town.  I now find you in a seaport of Spain, the proprietor,
+seemingly, of a considerable shop.  I cannot see why you should
+regret the difference.
+
+Luigi (dashing his pipe on the ground).--Regret the difference!  Do
+you know one thing?  England is the heaven of the Piedmontese and
+Milanese, and especially those of Como.  We never lie down to rest
+but we dream of it, whether we are in our own country or in a
+foreign land, as I am now.  Regret the difference, Giorgio!  Do I
+hear such words from your lips, and you an Englishman?  I would
+rather be the poorest tramper on the roads of England, than lord of
+all within ten leagues of the shore of the lake of Como, and much
+the same say all my countrymen who have visited England, wherever
+they now be.  Regret the difference!  I have ten letters, from as
+many countrymen in America, who say they are rich and thriving, and
+principal men and merchants; but every night, when their heads are
+reposing on their pillows, their souls auslandra, hurrying away to
+England, and its green lanes and farm-yards.  And there they are
+with their boxes on the ground, displaying their looking-glasses
+and other goods to the honest rustics and their dames and their
+daughters, and selling away and chaffering and laughing just as of
+old.  And there they are again at nightfall in the hedge alehouses,
+eating their toasted cheese and their bread, and drinking the
+Suffolk ale, and listening to the roaring song and merry jest of
+the labourers.  Now, if they regret England so who are in America,
+which they own to be a happy country, and good for those of
+Piedmont and of Como, how much more must I regret it, when, after
+the lapse of so many years, I find myself in Spain, in this
+frightful town of Coruna, driving a ruinous trade, and where months
+pass by without my seeing a single English face, or hearing a word
+of the blessed English tongue.
+
+Myself.--With such a predilection for England, what could have
+induced you to leave it and come to Spain?
+
+Luigi.--I will tell you:  about sixteen years ago a universal
+desire seized our people in England to become something more than
+they had hitherto been, pedlars and trampers; they wished,
+moreover, for mankind are never satisfied, to see other countries:
+so the greater part forsook England.  Where formerly there had been
+ten, at present scarcely lingers one.  Almost all went to America,
+which, as I told you before, is a happy country, and specially good
+for us men of Como.  Well, all my comrades and relations passed
+over the sea to the West.  I, too, was bent on travelling; but
+whither?  Instead of going towards the West with the rest, to a
+country where they have all thriven, I must needs come by myself to
+this land of Spain; a country in which no foreigner settles without
+dying of a broken heart sooner or later.  I had an idea in my head
+that I could make a fortune at once, by bringing a cargo of common
+English goods, like those which I had been in the habit of selling
+amongst the villagers of England.  So I freighted half a ship with
+such goods, for I had been successful in England in my little
+speculations, and I arrived at Coruna.  Here at once my vexations
+began:  disappointment followed disappointment.  It was with the
+utmost difficulty that I could obtain permission to land my goods,
+and this only at a considerable sacrifice in bribes and the like;
+and when I had established myself here, I found that the place was
+one of no trade, and that my goods went off very slowly, and
+scarcely at prime cost.  I wished to remove to another place, but
+was informed that, in that case, I must leave my goods behind,
+unless I offered fresh bribes, which would have ruined me; and in
+this way I have gone on for fourteen years, selling scarcely enough
+to pay for my shop and to support myself.  And so I shall doubtless
+continue till I die, or my goods are exhausted.  In an evil day I
+left England and came to Spain.
+
+Myself.--Did you not say that you had a countryman at St. James?
+
+Luigi.--Yes, a poor honest fellow, who, like myself, by some
+strange chance found his way to Galicia.  I sometimes contrive to
+send him a few goods, which he sells at St. James at a greater
+profit than I can here.  He is a happy fellow, for he has never
+been in England, and knows not the difference between the two
+countries.  Oh, the green English hedgerows! and the alehouses!
+and, what is much more, the fair dealing and security.  I have
+travelled all over England and never met with ill usage, except
+once down in the north amongst the Papists, upon my telling them to
+leave all their mummeries and go to the parish church as I did, and
+as all my countrymen in England did; for know one thing, Signor
+Giorgio, not one of us who have lived in England, whether
+Piedmontese or men of Como, but wished well to the Protestant
+religion, if he had not actually become a member of it.
+
+Myself.--What do you propose to do at present, Luigi?  What are
+your prospects?
+
+Luigi.--My prospects are a blank, Giorgio; my prospects are a
+blank.  I propose nothing but to die in Coruna, perhaps in the
+hospital, if they will admit me.  Years ago I thought of fleeing,
+even if I left all behind me, and either returning to England, or
+betaking myself to America; but it is too late now, Giorgio, it is
+too late.  When I first lost all hope, I took to drinking, to which
+I was never before inclined, and I am now what I suppose you see.
+
+"There is hope in the Gospel," said I, "even for you.  I will send
+you one."
+
+There is a small battery of the old town which fronts the east, and
+whose wall is washed by the waters of the bay.  It is a sweet spot,
+and the prospect which opens from it is extensive.  The battery
+itself may be about eighty yards square; some young trees are
+springing up about it, and it is rather a favourite resort of the
+people of Coruna.
+
+In the centre of this battery stands the tomb of Moore, built by
+the chivalrous French, in commemoration of the fall of their heroic
+antagonist.  It is oblong and surmounted by a slab, and on either
+side bears one of the simple and sublime epitaphs for which our
+rivals are celebrated, and which stand in such powerful contrast
+with the bloated and bombastic inscriptions which deform the walls
+of Westminster Abbey:
+
+
+"JOHN MOORE,
+LEADER OF THE ENGLISH ARMIES,
+SLAIN IN BATTLE,
+1809."
+
+
+The tomb itself is of marble, and around it is a quadrangular wall,
+breast high, of rough Gallegan granite; close to each corner rises
+from the earth the breech of an immense brass cannon, intended to
+keep the wall compact and close.  These outer erections are,
+however, not the work of the French, but of the English government.
+
+Yes, there lies the hero, almost within sight of the glorious hill
+where he turned upon his pursuers like a lion at bay and terminated
+his career.  Many acquire immortality without seeking it, and die
+before its first ray has gilded their name; of these was Moore.
+The harassed general, flying through Castile with his dispirited
+troops before a fierce and terrible enemy, little dreamed that he
+was on the point of attaining that for which many a better,
+greater, though certainly not braver man, had sighed in vain.  His
+very misfortunes were the means which secured him immortal fame;
+his disastrous route, bloody death, and finally his tomb on a
+foreign strand, far from kin and friends.  There is scarcely a
+Spaniard but has heard of this tomb, and speaks of it with a
+strange kind of awe.  Immense treasures are said to have been
+buried with the heretic general, though for what purpose no one
+pretends to guess.  The demons of the clouds, if we may trust the
+Gallegans, followed the English in their flight, and assailed them
+with water-spouts as they toiled up the steep winding paths of
+Fuencebadon; whilst legends the most wild are related of the manner
+in which the stout soldier fell.  Yes, even in Spain, immortality
+has already crowned the head of Moore;--Spain, the land of
+oblivion, where the Guadalete {16} flows.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+
+Compostella--Rey Romero--The Treasure-seeker--Hopeful Project--The
+Church of Refuge--Hidden Riches--The Canon--Spirit of Localism--The
+Leper--Bones of St. James.
+
+At the commencement of August, I found myself at St. James of
+Compostella.  To this place I travelled from Coruna with the
+courier or weekly post, who was escorted by a strong party of
+soldiers, in consequence of the distracted state of the country,
+which was overrun with banditti.  From Coruna to St. James, the
+distance is but ten leagues; the journey, however, endured for a
+day and a half.  It was a pleasant one, through a most beautiful
+country, with a rich variety of hill and dale; the road was in many
+places shaded with various kinds of trees clad in most luxuriant
+foliage.  Hundreds of travellers, both on foot and on horseback,
+availed themselves of the security which the escort afforded:  the
+dread of banditti was strong.  During the journey two or three
+alarms were given; we, however, reached Saint James without having
+been attacked.
+
+Saint James stands on a pleasant level amidst mountains:  the most
+extraordinary of these is a conical hill, called the Pico Sacro, or
+Sacred Peak, connected with which are many wonderful legends.  A
+beautiful old town is Saint James, containing about twenty thousand
+inhabitants.  Time has been when, with the single exception of
+Rome, it was the most celebrated resort of pilgrims in the world;
+its cathedral being said to contain the bones of Saint James the
+elder, the child of the thunder, who, according to the legend of
+the Romish church, first preached the Gospel in Spain.  Its glory,
+however, as a place of pilgrimage is rapidly passing away.
+
+The cathedral, though a work of various periods, and exhibiting
+various styles of architecture, is a majestic venerable pile, in
+every respect calculated to excite awe and admiration; indeed, it
+is almost impossible to walk its long dusky aisles, and hear the
+solemn music and the noble chanting, and inhale the incense of the
+mighty censers, which are at times swung so high by machinery as to
+smite the vaulted roof, whilst gigantic tapers glitter here and
+there amongst the gloom, from the shrine of many a saint, before
+which the worshippers are kneeling, breathing forth their prayers
+and petitions for help, love, and mercy, and entertain a doubt that
+we are treading the floor of a house where God delighteth to dwell.
+Yet the Lord is distant from that house; he hears not, he sees not,
+or if he do, it is with anger.  What availeth that solemn music,
+that noble chanting, that incense of sweet savour?  What availeth
+kneeling before that grand altar of silver, surmounted by that
+figure with its silver hat and breast-plate, the emblem of one who,
+though an apostle and confessor, was at best an unprofitable
+servant?  What availeth hoping for remission of sin by trusting in
+the merits of one who possessed none, or by paying homage to others
+who were born and nurtured in sin, and who alone, by the exercise
+of a lively faith granted from above, could hope to preserve
+themselves from the wrath of the Almighty?
+
+Rise from your knees, ye children of Compostella, or if ye bend,
+let it be to the Almighty alone, and no longer on the eve of your
+patron's day address him in the following strain, however sublime
+it may sound:
+
+
+"Thou shield of that faith which in Spain we revere,
+Thou scourge of each foeman who dares to draw near;
+Whom the Son of that God who the elements tames,
+Called child of the thunder, immortal Saint James!
+
+"From the blessed asylum of glory intense,
+Upon us thy sovereign influence dispense;
+And list to the praises our gratitude aims
+To offer up worthily, mighty Saint James.
+
+"To thee fervent thanks Spain shall ever outpour;
+In thy name though she glory, she glories yet more
+In thy thrice-hallowed corse, which the sanctuary claims
+Of high Compostella, O, blessed Saint James.
+
+"When heathen impiety, loathsome and dread,
+With a chaos of darkness our Spain overspread,
+Thou wast the first light which dispell'd with its flames
+The hell-born obscurity, glorious Saint James!
+
+"And when terrible wars had nigh wasted our force,
+All bright 'midst the battle we saw thee on horse,
+Fierce scattering the hosts, whom their fury proclaims
+To be warriors of Islam, victorious Saint James.
+
+"Beneath thy direction, stretch'd prone at thy feet,
+With hearts low and humble, this day we intreat
+Thou wilt strengthen the hope which enlivens our frames,
+The hope of thy favour and presence, Saint James.
+
+"Then praise to the Son and the Father above,
+And to that Holy Spirit which springs from their love;
+To that bright emanation whose vividness shames
+The sun's burst of splendour, and praise to Saint James."
+
+
+At Saint James I met with a kind and cordial coadjutor in my
+biblical labours in the bookseller of the place, Rey Romero, a man
+of about sixty.  This excellent individual, who was both wealthy
+and respected, took up the matter with an enthusiasm which
+doubtless emanated from on high, losing no opportunity of
+recommending my book to those who entered his shop, which was in
+the Azabacheria, and was a very splendid and commodious
+establishment.  In many instances, when the peasants of the
+neighbourhood came with an intention of purchasing some of the
+foolish popular story-books of Spain, he persuaded them to carry
+home Testaments instead, assuring them that the sacred volume was a
+better, more instructive, and even far more entertaining book than
+those they came in quest of.  He speedily conceived a great fancy
+for me, and regularly came to visit me every evening at my posada,
+and accompanied me in my walks about the town and the environs.  He
+was a man of considerable information, and though of much
+simplicity, possessed a kind of good-natured humour which was
+frequently highly diverting.
+
+I was walking late one night alone in the Alameda of Saint James,
+considering in what direction I should next bend my course, for I
+had been already ten days in this place; the moon was shining
+gloriously, and illumined every object around to a considerable
+distance.  The Alameda was quite deserted; everybody, with the
+exception of myself, having for some time retired.  I sat down on a
+bench and continued my reflections, which were suddenly interrupted
+by a heavy stumping sound.  Turning my eyes in the direction from
+which it proceeded, I perceived what at first appeared a shapeless
+bulk slowly advancing:  nearer and nearer it drew, and I could now
+distinguish the outline of a man dressed in coarse brown garments,
+a kind of Andalusian hat, and using as a staff the long peeled
+branch of a tree.  He had now arrived opposite the bench where I
+was seated, when, stopping, he took off his hat and demanded
+charity in uncouth tones and in a strange jargon, which had some
+resemblance to the Catalan.  The moon shone on grey locks and on a
+ruddy weather-beaten countenance which I at once recognized:
+"Benedict Mol," said I, "is it possible that I see you at
+Compostella?"
+
+"Och, mein Gott, es ist der Herr!" replied Benedict.  "Och, what
+good fortune, that the Herr is the first person I meet at
+Compostella."
+
+Myself.--I can scarcely believe my eyes.  Do you mean to say that
+you have just arrived at this place?
+
+Benedict.--Ow yes, I am this moment arrived.  I have walked all the
+long way from Madrid.
+
+Myself.--What motive could possibly bring you such a distance?
+
+Benedict.--Ow, I am come for the schatz--the treasure.  I told you
+at Madrid that I was coming; and now I have met you here, I have no
+doubt that I shall find it, the schatz.
+
+Myself.--In what manner did you support yourself by the way?
+
+Benedict.--Ow, I begged, I bettled, and so contrived to pick up
+some cuartos; and when I reached Toro, I worked at my trade of
+soap-making for a time, till the people said I knew nothing about
+it, and drove me out of the town.  So I went on and begged and
+bettled till I arrived at Orense, which is in this country of
+Galicia.  Ow, I do not like this country of Galicia at all.
+
+Myself.--Why not?
+
+Benedict.--Why! because here they all beg and bettle, and have
+scarce anything for themselves, much less for me whom they know to
+be a foreign man.  O the misery of Galicia.  When I arrive at night
+at one of their pigsties, which they call posadas, and ask for
+bread to eat in the name of God, and straw to lie down in, they
+curse me, and say there is neither bread nor straw in Galicia; and
+sure enough, since I have been here I have seen neither, only
+something that they call broa, and a kind of reedy rubbish with
+which they litter the horses:  all my bones are sore since I
+entered Galicia.
+
+Myself.--And yet you have come to this country, which you call so
+miserable, in search of treasure?
+
+Benedict.--Ow yaw, but the schatz is buried; it is not above
+ground; there is no money above ground in Galicia.  I must dig it
+up; and when I have dug it up I will purchase a coach with six
+mules, and ride out of Galicia to Lucerne; and if the Herr pleases
+to go with me, he shall be welcome to go with me and the schatz.
+
+Myself.--I am afraid that you have come on a desperate errand.
+What do you propose to do?  Have you any money?
+
+Benedict.--Not a cuart; but I do not care now I have arrived at
+Saint James.  The schatz is nigh; and I have, moreover, seen you,
+which is a good sign; it tells me that the schatz is still here.  I
+shall go to the best posada in the place, and live like a duke till
+I have an opportunity of digging up the schatz, when I will pay all
+scores.
+
+"Do nothing of the kind," I replied; "find out some place in which
+to sleep, and endeavour to seek some employment.  In the mean time,
+here is a trifle with which to support yourself; but as for the
+treasure which you have come to seek, I believe it only exists in
+your own imagination."  I gave him a dollar and departed.
+
+I have never enjoyed more charming walks than in the neighbourhood
+of Saint James.  In these I was almost invariably accompanied by my
+friend the good old bookseller.  The streams are numerous, and
+along their wooded banks we were in the habit of straying and
+enjoying the delicious summer evenings of this part of Spain.
+Religion generally formed the topic of our conversation, but we not
+unfrequently talked of the foreign lands which I had visited, and
+at other times of matters which related particularly to my
+companion.  "We booksellers of Spain," said he, "are all liberals;
+we are no friends to the monkish system.  How indeed should we be
+friends to it?  It fosters darkness, whilst we live by
+disseminating light.  We love our profession, and have all more or
+less suffered for it; many of us, in the times of terror, were
+hanged for selling an innocent translation from the French or
+English.  Shortly after the Constitution was put down by Angouleme
+and the French bayonets, I was obliged to flee from Saint James and
+take refuge in the wildest part of Galicia, near Corcuvion.  Had I
+not possessed good friends, I should not have been alive now; as it
+was, it cost me a considerable sum of money to arrange matters.
+Whilst I was away, my shop was in charge of the ecclesiastical
+officers.  They frequently told my wife that I ought to be burnt
+for the books which I had sold.  Thanks be to God, those times are
+past, and I hope they will never return."
+
+Once, as we were walking through the streets of Saint James, he
+stopped before a church and looked at it attentively.  As there was
+nothing remarkable in the appearance of this edifice, I asked him
+what motive he had for taking such notice of it.  "In the days of
+the friars," said he, "this church was one of refuge, to which if
+the worst criminals escaped, they were safe.  All were protected
+there save the negros, as they called us liberals."  "Even
+murderers, I suppose?" said I.  "Murderers!" he answered, "far
+worse criminals than they.  By the by, I have heard that you
+English entertain the utmost abhorrence of murder.  Do you in
+reality consider it a crime of very great magnitude?"  "How should
+we not," I replied; "for every other crime some reparation can be
+made; but if we take away life, we take away all.  A ray of hope
+with respect to this world may occasionally enliven the bosom of
+any other criminal, but how can the murderer hope?"  "The friars
+were of another way of thinking," replied the old man; "they always
+looked upon murder as a friolera; but not so the crime of marrying
+your first cousin without dispensation, for which, if we believe
+them, there is scarcely any atonement either in this world or the
+next."
+
+Two or three days after this, as we were seated in my apartment in
+the posada, engaged in conversation, the door was opened by
+Antonio, who, with a smile on his countenance, said that there was
+a foreign GENTLEMAN below, who desired to speak with me.  "Show him
+up," I replied; whereupon almost instantly appeared Benedict Mol.
+
+"This is a most extraordinary person," said I to the bookseller.
+"You Galicians, in general, leave your country in quest of money;
+he, on the contrary, is come hither to find some."
+
+Rey Romero.--And he is right.  Galicia is by nature the richest
+province in Spain, but the inhabitants are very stupid, and know
+not how to turn the blessings which surround them to any account;
+but as a proof of what may be made out of Galicia, see how rich the
+Catalans become who have settled down here and formed
+establishments.  There are riches all around us, upon the earth and
+in the earth.
+
+Benedict.--Ow yaw, in the earth, that is what I say.  There is much
+more treasure below the earth than above it.
+
+Myself.--Since I last saw you, have you discovered the place in
+which you say the treasure is deposited?
+
+Benedict.--O yes, I know all about it now.  It is buried 'neath the
+sacristy in the church of San Roque.
+
+Myself.--How have you been able to make that discovery?
+
+Benedict.--I will tell you:  the day after my arrival I walked
+about all the city in quest of the church, but could find none
+which at all answered to the signs which my comrade who died in the
+hospital gave me.  I entered several, and looked about, but all in
+vain; I could not find the place which I had in my mind's eye.  At
+last the people with whom I lodge, and to whom I told my business,
+advised me to send for a meiga.
+
+Myself.--A meiga!  What is that?
+
+Benedict.--Ow! a haxweib, a witch; the Gallegos call them so in
+their jargon, of which I can scarcely understand a word.  So I
+consented, and they sent for the meiga.  Och! what a weib is that
+meiga!  I never saw such a woman; she is as large as myself, and
+has a face as round and red as the sun.  She asked me a great many
+questions in her Gallegan, and when I had told her all she wanted
+to know, she pulled out a pack of cards and laid them on the table
+in a particular manner, and then she said that the treasure was in
+the church of San Roque; and sure enough, when I went to that
+church, it answered in every respect to the signs of my comrade who
+died in the hospital.  O she is a powerful hax, that meiga; she is
+well known in the neighbourhood, and has done much harm to the
+cattle.  I gave her half the dollar I had from you for her trouble.
+
+Myself.--Then you acted like a simpleton; she has grossly deceived
+you.  But even suppose that the treasure is really deposited in the
+church you mention, it is not probable that you will be permitted
+to remove the floor of the sacristy to search for it.
+
+Benedict.--Ow, the matter is already well advanced.  Yesterday I
+went to one of the canons to confess myself and to receive
+absolution and benediction; not that I regard these things much,
+but I thought this would be the best means of broaching the matter,
+so I confessed myself, and then I spoke of my travels to the canon,
+and at last I told him of the treasure, and proposed that if he
+assisted me we should share it between us.  Ow, I wish you had seen
+him; he entered at once into the affair, and said that it might
+turn out a very profitable speculation:  and he shook me by the
+hand, and said that I was an honest Swiss and a good Catholic.  And
+I then proposed that he should take me into his house and keep me
+there till we had an opportunity of digging up the treasure
+together.  This he refused to do.
+
+Rey Romero.--Of that I have no doubt:  trust one of our canons for
+not committing himself so far until he sees very good reason.
+These tales of treasure are at present rather too stale:  we have
+heard of them ever since the time of the Moors.
+
+Benedict.--He advised me to go to the Captain General and obtain
+permission to make excavations, in which case he promised to assist
+me to the utmost of his power.
+
+Thereupon the Swiss departed, and I neither saw nor heard anything
+farther of him during the time that I continued at Saint James.
+
+The bookseller was never weary of showing me about his native town,
+of which he was enthusiastically fond.  Indeed, I have never seen
+the spirit of localism, which is so prevalent throughout Spain,
+more strong than at Saint James.  If their town did but flourish,
+the Santiagians seemed to care but little if all others in Galicia
+perished.  Their antipathy to the town of Coruna was unbounded, and
+this feeling had of late been not a little increased from the
+circumstance that the seat of the provincial government had been
+removed from Saint James to Coruna.  Whether this change was
+advisable or not, it is not for me, who am a foreigner, to say; my
+private opinion, however, is by no means favourable to the
+alteration.  Saint James is one of the most central towns in
+Galicia, with large and populous communities on every side of it,
+whereas Coruna stands in a corner, at a considerable distance from
+the rest.  "It is a pity that the vecinos of Coruna cannot contrive
+to steal away from us our cathedral, even as they have done our
+government," said a Santiagian; "then, indeed, they would be able
+to cut some figure.  As it is, they have not a church fit to say
+mass in."  "A great pity, too, that they cannot remove our
+hospital," would another exclaim; "as it is, they are obliged to
+send us their sick, poor wretches.  I always think that the sick of
+Coruna have more ill-favoured countenances than those from other
+places; but what good can come from Coruna?"
+
+Accompanied by the bookseller, I visited this hospital, in which,
+however, I did not remain long; the wretchedness and uncleanliness
+which I observed speedily driving me away.  Saint James, indeed, is
+the grand lazar-house for all the rest of Galicia, which accounts
+for the prodigious number of horrible objects to be seen in its
+streets, who have for the most part arrived in the hope of
+procuring medical assistance, which, from what I could learn, is
+very scantily and inefficiently administered.  Amongst these
+unhappy wretches I occasionally observed the terrible leper, and
+instantly fled from him with a "God help thee," as if I had been a
+Jew of old.  Galicia is the only province of Spain where cases of
+leprosy are still frequent; a convincing proof this, that the
+disease is the result of foul feeding, and an inattention to
+cleanliness, as the Gallegans, with regard to the comforts of life
+and civilized habits, are confessedly far behind all the other
+natives of Spain.
+
+"Besides a general hospital we have likewise a leper-house," said
+the bookseller.  "Shall I show it you?  We have everything at Saint
+James.  There is nothing lacking; the very leper finds an inn
+here."  "I have no objection to your showing me the house," I
+replied, "but it must be at a distance, for enter it I will not."
+Thereupon he conducted me down the road which leads towards Padron
+and Vigo, and pointing to two or three huts, exclaimed "That is our
+leper-house."  "It appears a miserable place," I replied:  "what
+accommodation may there be for the patients, and who attends to
+their wants?"  "They are left to themselves," answered the
+bookseller, "and probably sometimes perish from neglect:  the place
+at one time was endowed and had rents which were appropriated to
+its support, but even these have been sequestered during the late
+troubles.  At present, the least unclean of the lepers generally
+takes his station by the road side, and begs for the rest.  See
+there he is now."
+
+And sure enough the leper in his shining scales, and half naked,
+was seated beneath a ruined wall.  We dropped money into the hat of
+the unhappy being, and passed on.
+
+"A bad disorder that," said my friend.  "I confess that I, who have
+seen so many of them, am by no means fond of the company of lepers.
+Indeed, I wish that they would never enter my shop, as they
+occasionally do to beg.  Nothing is more infectious, as I have
+heard, than leprosy:  there is one very virulent species, however,
+which is particularly dreaded here, the elephantine:  those who die
+of it should, according to law, be burnt, and their ashes scattered
+to the winds:  for if the body of such a leper be interred in the
+field of the dead, the disorder is forthwith communicated to all
+the corses even below the earth.  Such, at least, is our idea in
+these parts.  Lawsuits are at present pending from the circumstance
+of elephantides having been buried with the other dead.  Sad is
+leprosy in all its forms, but most so when elephantine."
+
+"Talking of corses," said I, "do you believe that the bones of St.
+James are veritably interred at Compostella?"
+
+"What can I say," replied the old man; "you know as much of the
+matter as myself.  Beneath the high altar is a large stone slab or
+lid, which is said to cover the mouth of a profound well, at the
+bottom of which it is believed that the bones of the saint are
+interred; though why they should be placed at the bottom of a well,
+is a mystery which I cannot fathom.  One of the officers of the
+church told me that at one time he and another kept watch in the
+church during the night, one of the chapels having shortly before
+been broken open and a sacrilege committed.  At the dead of night,
+finding the time hang heavy on their hands, they took a crowbar and
+removed the slab and looked down into the abyss below; it was dark
+as the grave; whereupon they affixed a weight to the end of a long
+rope and lowered it down.  At a very great depth it seemed to
+strike against something dull and solid like lead:  they supposed
+it might be a coffin; perhaps it was, but whose is the question."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+
+Skippers of Padron--Caldas de los Reyes--Pontevedra--The Notary
+Public--Insane Barber--An Introduction--Gallegan Language--
+Afternoon Ride--Vigo--The Stranger--Jews of the Desert--Bay of
+Vigo--Sudden Interruption--The Governor.
+
+After a stay of about a fortnight at Saint James, we again mounted
+our horses and proceeded in the direction of Vigo.  As we did not
+leave Saint James till late in the afternoon, we travelled that day
+no farther than Padron, a distance of only three leagues.  This
+place is a small port, situate at the extremity of a firth which
+communicates with the sea.  It is called for brevity's sake,
+Padron, but its proper appellation is Villa del Padron, or the town
+of the patron saint; it having been, according to the legend, the
+principal residence of Saint James during his stay in Galicia.  By
+the Romans it was termed Iria Flavia.  It is a flourishing little
+town, and carries on rather an extensive commerce, some of its tiny
+barks occasionally finding their way across the Bay of Biscay, and
+even so far as the Thames and London.
+
+There is a curious anecdote connected with the skippers of Padron,
+which can scarcely be considered as out of place here, as it
+relates to the circulation of the Scriptures.  I was one day in the
+shop of my friend the bookseller at Saint James, when a stout good-
+humoured-looking priest entered.  He took up one of my Testaments,
+and forthwith burst into a violent fit of laughter.  "What is the
+matter?" demanded the bookseller.  "The sight of this book reminds
+me of a circumstance":  replied the other, "about twenty years ago,
+when the English first took it into their heads to be very zealous
+in converting us Spaniards to their own way of thinking, they
+distributed a great number of books of this kind amongst the
+Spaniards who chanced to be in London; some of them fell into the
+hands of certain skippers of Padron, and these good folks, on their
+return to Galicia, were observed to have become on a sudden
+exceedingly opinionated and fond of dispute.  It was scarcely
+possible to make an assertion in their hearing without receiving a
+flat contradiction, especially when religious subjects were brought
+on the carpet.  'It is false,' they would say; 'Saint Paul, in such
+a chapter and in such a verse, says exactly the contrary.'  'What
+can you know concerning what Saint Paul or any other saint has
+written?' the priests would ask them.  'Much more than you think,'
+they replied; 'we are no longer to be kept in darkness and
+ignorance respecting these matters:' and then they would produce
+their books and read paragraphs, making such comments that every
+person was scandalized; they cared nothing about the Pope, and even
+spoke with irreverence of the bones of Saint James.  However, the
+matter was soon bruited about, and a commission was dispatched from
+our see to collect the books and burn them.  This was effected, and
+the skippers were either punished or reprimanded, since which I
+have heard nothing more of them.  I could not forbear laughing when
+I saw these books; they instantly brought to my mind the skippers
+of Padron and their religious disputations."
+
+Our next day's journey brought us to Pontevedra.  As there was no
+talk of robbers in these parts, we travelled without any escort and
+alone.  The road was beautiful and picturesque, though somewhat
+solitary, especially after we had left behind us the small town of
+Caldas.  There is more than one place of this name in Spain; the
+one of which I am speaking is distinguished from the rest by being
+called Caldas de los Reyes, or the warm baths of the kings.  It
+will not be amiss to observe that the Spanish Caldas is synonymous
+with the Moorish Alhama, a word of frequent occurrence both in
+Spanish and African topography.  Caldas seemed by no means
+undeserving of its name:  it stands on a confluence of springs, and
+the place when we arrived was crowded with people who had come to
+enjoy the benefit of the waters.  In the course of my travels I
+have observed that wherever warm springs are found, vestiges of
+volcanoes are sure to be nigh; the smooth black precipice, the
+divided mountain, or huge rocks standing by themselves on the plain
+or on the hill side, as if Titans had been playing at bowls.  This
+last feature occurs near Caldas de los Reyes, the side of the
+mountain which overhangs it in the direction of the south being
+covered with immense granite stones, apparently at some ancient
+period eructed from the bowels of the earth.  From Caldas to
+Pontevedra the route was hilly and fatiguing, the heat was intense,
+and those clouds of flies, which constitute one of the pests of
+Galicia, annoyed our horses to such a degree that we were obliged
+to cut down branches from the trees to protect their heads and
+necks from the tormenting stings of these bloodthirsty insects.
+Whilst travelling in Galicia at this period of the year on
+horseback, it is always advisable to carry a fine net for the
+protection of the animal, a sure and commodious means of defence,
+which appears, however, to be utterly unknown in Galicia, where,
+perhaps, it is more wanted than in any other part of the world.
+
+Pontevedra, upon the whole, is certainly entitled to the
+appellation of a magnificent town, some of its public edifices,
+especially the convents, being such as are nowhere to be found but
+in Spain and Italy.  It is surrounded by a wall of hewn stone, and
+stands at the end of a creek into which the river Levroz
+disembogues.  It is said to have been founded by a colony of
+Greeks, whose captain was no less a personage than Teucer the
+Telemonian.  It was in former times a place of considerable
+commerce; and near its port are to be seen the ruins of a farol, or
+lighthouse, said to be of great antiquity.  The port, however, is
+at a considerable distance from the town, and is shallow and
+incommodious.  The whole country in the neighbourhood of Pontevedra
+is inconceivably delicious, abounding with fruits of every
+description, especially grapes, which in the proper season are seen
+hanging from the "parras" in luscious luxuriance.  An old
+Andalusian author has said that it produces as many oranges and
+citron trees as the neighbourhood of Cordova.  Its oranges are,
+however, by no means good, and cannot compete with those of
+Andalusia.  The Pontevedrians boast that their land produces two
+crops every year, and that whilst they are gathering in one they
+may be seen ploughing and sowing another.  They may well be proud
+of their country, which is certainly a highly favoured spot.
+
+The town itself is in a state of great decay, and notwithstanding
+the magnificence of its public edifices, we found more than the
+usual amount of Galician filth and misery.  The posada was one of
+the most wretched description, and to mend the matter, the hostess
+was a most intolerable scold and shrew.  Antonio having found fault
+with the quality of some provision which she produced, she cursed
+him most immoderately in the country language, which was the only
+one she spoke, and threatened, if he attempted to breed any
+disturbance in her house, to turn the horses, himself, and his
+master forthwith out of doors.  Socrates himself, however, could
+not have conducted himself on this occasion with greater
+forbearance than Antonio, who shrugged his shoulders, muttered
+something in Greek, and then was silent.
+
+"Where does the notary public live?" I demanded.  Now the notary
+public vended books, and to this personage I was recommended by my
+friend at Saint James.  A boy conducted me to the house of Senor
+Garcia, for such was his name.  I found him a brisk, active,
+talkative little man of forty.  He undertook with great alacrity
+the sale of my Testaments, and in a twinkling sold two to a client
+who was waiting in the office, and appeared to be from the country.
+He was an enthusiastic patriot, but of course in a local sense, for
+he cared for no other country than Pontevedra.
+
+"Those fellows of Vigo," said he, "say their town is a better one
+than ours, and that it is more deserving to be the capital of this
+part of Galicia.  Did you ever hear such folly?  I tell you what,
+friend, I should not care if Vigo were burnt, and all the fools and
+rascals within it.  Would you ever think of comparing Vigo with
+Pontevedra?"
+
+"I don't know," I replied; "I have never been at Vigo, but I have
+heard say that the bay of Vigo is the finest in the world."
+
+"Bay! my good sir.  Bay! yes, the rascals have a bay, and it is
+that bay of theirs which has robbed us all our commerce.  But what
+needs the capital of a district with a bay?  It is public edifices
+that it wants, where the provincial deputies can meet to transact
+their business; now, so far from there being a commodious public
+edifice, there is not a decent house in all Vigo.  Bay! yes, they
+have a bay, but have they water fit to drink?  Have they a
+fountain?  Yes, they have, and the water is so brackish that it
+would burst the stomach of a horse.  I hope, my dear sir, that you
+have not come all this distance to take the part of such a gang of
+pirates as those of Vigo."
+
+"I am not come to take their part," I replied; "indeed, I was not
+aware that they wanted my assistance in this dispute.  I am merely
+carrying to them the New Testament, of which they evidently stand
+in much need, if they are such knaves and scoundrels as you
+represent them."
+
+"Represent them, my dear sir.  Does not the matter speak for
+itself?  Do they not say that their town is better than ours, more
+fit to be the capital of a district, que disparate! que briboneria!
+(what folly! what rascality!)"
+
+"Is there a bookseller's shop at Vigo?" I inquired.
+
+"There was one," he replied, "kept by an insane barber.  I am glad,
+for your sake, that it is broken up, and the fellow vanished; he
+would have played you one of two tricks; he would either have cut
+your throat with his razor, under pretence of shaving you, or have
+taken your books and never have accounted to you for the proceeds.
+Bay! I never could see what right such an owl's nest as Vigo has to
+a bay."
+
+No person could exhibit greater kindness to another, than did the
+notary public to myself, as soon as I had convinced him that I had
+no intention of siding with the men of Vigo against Pontevedra.  It
+was now six o'clock in the evening, and he forthwith conducted me
+to a confectioner's shop, where he treated me with an iced cream
+and a small cup of chocolate.  From hence we walked about the city,
+the notary showing the various edifices, especially, the Convent of
+the Jesuits:  "See that front," said he, "what do you think of it?"
+
+I expressed to him the admiration which I really felt, and by so
+doing entirely won the good notary's heart:  "I suppose there is
+nothing like that at Vigo?" said I.  He looked at me for a moment,
+winked, gave a short triumphant chuckle, and then proceeded on his
+way, walking at a tremendous rate.  The Senor Garcia was dressed in
+all respects as an English notary might be:  he wore a white hat,
+brown frock coat, drab breeches buttoned at the knees, white
+stockings, and well blacked shoes.  But I never saw an English
+notary walk so fast:  it could scarcely be called walking:  it
+seemed more like a succession of galvanic leaps and bounds.  I
+found it impossible to keep up with him:  "Where are you conducting
+me?" I at last demanded, quite breathless.
+
+"To the house of the cleverest man in Spain," he replied, "to whom
+I intend to introduce you; for you must not think that Pontevedra
+has nothing to boast of but its splendid edifices and its beautiful
+country; it produces more illustrious minds than any other town in
+Spain.  Did you ever hear of the grand Tamerlane?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said I, "but he did not come from Pontevedra or its
+neighbourhood:  he came from the steppes of Tartary, near the river
+Oxus."
+
+"I know he did," replied the notary, "but what I mean to say is,
+that when Enrique the Third wanted an ambassador to send to that
+African, the only man he could find suited to the enterprise was a
+knight of Pontevedra, Don--by name.  Let the men of Vigo contradict
+that fact if they can."
+
+We entered a large portal and ascended a splendid staircase, at the
+top of which the notary knocked at a small door:  "Who is the
+gentleman to whom you are about to introduce me?" demanded I.
+
+"It is the advocate -," replied Garcia; "he is the cleverest man in
+Spain, and understands all languages and sciences."
+
+We were admitted by a respectable-looking female, to all appearance
+a housekeeper, who, on being questioned, informed us that the
+Advocate was at home, and forthwith conducted us to an immense
+room, or rather library, the walls being covered with books, except
+in two or three places, where hung some fine pictures of the
+ancient Spanish school.  There was a rich mellow light in the
+apartment, streaming through a window of stained glass, which
+looked to the west.  Behind the table sat the Advocate, on whom I
+looked with no little interest:  his forehead was high and
+wrinkled, and there was much gravity on his features, which were
+quite Spanish.  He was dressed in a long robe, and might be about
+sixty; he sat reading behind a large table, and on our entrance
+half raised himself and bowed slightly.
+
+The notary public saluted him most profoundly, and, in an under
+voice, hoped that he might be permitted to introduce a friend of
+his, an English gentleman, who was travelling through Galicia.
+
+"I am very glad to see him," said the Advocate, "but I hope he
+speaks Castilian, else we can have but little communication; for,
+although I can read both French and Latin, I cannot speak them."
+
+"He speaks, sir, almost as good Spanish," said the notary, "as a
+native of Pontevedra."
+
+"The natives of Pontevedra," I replied, "appear to be better versed
+in Gallegan than in Castilian, for the greater part of the
+conversation which I hear in the streets is carried on in the
+former dialect."
+
+"The last gentleman which my friend Garcia introduced to me," said
+the Advocate, "was a Portuguese, who spoke little or no Spanish.
+It is said that the Gallegan and Portuguese are very similar, but
+when we attempted to converse in the two languages, we found it
+impossible.  I understood little of what he said, whilst my
+Gallegan was quite unintelligible to him.  Can you understand our
+country dialect?" he continued.
+
+"Very little of it," I replied; "which I believe chiefly proceeds
+from the peculiar accent and uncouth enunciation of the Gallegans,
+for their language is certainly almost entirely composed of Spanish
+and Portuguese words."
+
+"So you are an Englishman," said the Advocate.  "Your countrymen
+have committed much damage in times past in these regions, if we
+may trust our histories."
+
+"Yes," said I, "they sank your galleons and burnt your finest men-
+of-war in Vigo Bay, and, under old Cobham, levied a contribution of
+forty thousand pounds sterling on this very town of Pontevedra."
+
+"Any foreign power," interrupted the notary public, "has a clear
+right to attack Vigo, but I cannot conceive what plea your
+countrymen could urge for distressing Pontevedra, which is a
+respectable town, and could never have offended them."
+
+"Senor Cavalier," said the Advocate, "I will show you my library.
+Here is a curious work, a collection of poems, written mostly in
+Gallegan, by the curate of Fruime.  He is our national poet, and we
+are very proud of him."
+
+We stopped upwards of an hour with the Advocate, whose
+conversation, if it did not convince me that he was the cleverest
+man in Spain, was, upon the whole, highly interesting, and who
+certainly possessed an extensive store of general information,
+though he was by no means the profound philologist which the notary
+had represented him to be.
+
+When I was about to depart from Pontevedra in the afternoon of the
+next day, the Senor Garcia stood by the side of my horse, and
+having embraced me, thrust a small pamphlet into my hand:  "This
+book," said he, "contains a description of Pontevedra.  Wherever
+you go, speak well of Pontevedra." I nodded.  "Stay," said he, "my
+dear friend, I have heard of your society, and will do my best to
+further its views.  I am quite disinterested, but if at any future
+time you should have an opportunity of speaking in print of Senor
+Garcia, the notary public of Pontevedra,--you understand me,--I
+wish you would do so."
+
+"I will," said I.
+
+It was a pleasant afternoon's ride from Pontevedra to Vigo, the
+distance being only four leagues.  As we approached the latter
+town, the country became exceedingly mountainous, though scarcely
+anything could exceed the beauty of the surrounding scenery.  The
+sides of the hills were for the most part clothed with luxuriant
+forests, even to the very summits, though occasionally a flinty and
+naked peak would present itself, rising to the clouds.  As the
+evening came on, the route along which we advanced became very
+gloomy, the hills and forests enwrapping it in deep shade.  It
+appeared, however, to be well frequented:  numerous cars were
+creaking along it, and both horsemen and pedestrians were
+continually passing us.  The villages were frequent.  Vines,
+supported on parras, were growing, if possible, in still greater
+abundance than in the neighbourhood of Pontevedra.  Life and
+activity seemed to pervade everything.  The hum of insects, the
+cheerful bark of dogs, the rude songs of Galicia, were blended
+together in pleasant symphony.  So delicious was my ride, that I
+almost regretted when we entered the gate of Vigo.
+
+The town occupies the lower part of a lofty hill, which, as it
+ascends, becomes extremely steep and precipitous, and the top of
+which is crowned with a strong fort or castle.  It is a small
+compact place, surrounded with low walls, the streets are narrow,
+steep, and winding, and in the middle of the town is a small
+square.
+
+There is rather an extensive faubourg extending along the shore of
+the bay.  We found an excellent posada, kept by a man and woman
+from the Basque provinces, who were both civil and intelligent.
+The town seemed to be crowded, and resounded with noise and
+merriment.  The people were making a wretched attempt at an
+illumination, in consequence of some victory lately gained, or
+pretended to have been gained, over the forces of the Pretender.
+Military uniforms were glancing about in every direction.  To
+increase the bustle, a troop of Portuguese players had lately
+arrived from Oporto, and their first representation was to take
+place this evening.  "Is the play to be performed in Spanish?" I
+demanded.  "No," was the reply; "and on that account every person
+is so eager to go; which would not be the case if it were in a
+language which they could understand."
+
+On the morning of the next day I was seated at breakfast in a large
+apartment which looked out upon the Plaza Mayor, or great square of
+the good town of Vigo.  The sun was shining very brilliantly, and
+all around looked lively and gay.  Presently a stranger entered,
+and bowing profoundly, stationed himself at the window, where he
+remained a considerable time in silence.  He was a man of very
+remarkable appearance, of about thirty-five.  His features were of
+perfect symmetry, and I may almost say, of perfect beauty.  His
+hair was the darkest I had ever seen, glossy and shining; his eyes
+large, black, and melancholy; but that which most struck me was his
+complexion.  It might be called olive, it is true, but it was a
+livid olive.  He was dressed in the very first style of French
+fashion.  Around his neck was a massive gold chain, while upon his
+fingers were large rings, in one of which was set a magnificent
+ruby.  Who can that man be? thought I;--Spaniard or Portuguese,
+perhaps a Creole.  I asked him an indifferent question in Spanish,
+to which he forthwith replied in that language, but his accent
+convinced me that he was neither Spaniard nor Portuguese.
+
+"I presume I am speaking to an Englishman, sir?" said he, in as
+good English as it was possible for one not an Englishman to speak.
+
+Myself.--You know me to be an Englishman; but I should find some
+difficulty in guessing to what country you belong.
+
+Stranger.--May I take a seat?
+
+Myself.--A singular question.  Have you not as much right to sit in
+the public apartment of an inn as myself?
+
+Stranger.--I am not certain of that.  The people here are not in
+general very gratified at seeing me seated by their side.
+
+Myself.--Perhaps owing to your political opinions, or to some crime
+which it may have been your misfortune to commit?
+
+Stranger.--I have no political opinions, and I am not aware that I
+ever committed any particular crime,--I am hated for my country and
+my religion.
+
+Myself.--Perhaps I am speaking to a Protestant, like myself?
+
+Stranger.--I am no Protestant.  If I were, they would be cautious
+here of showing their dislike, for I should then have a government
+and a consul to protect me.  I am a Jew--a Barbary Jew, a subject
+of Abderrahman.
+
+Myself.--If that be the case, you can scarcely complain of being
+looked upon with dislike in this country, since in Barbary the Jews
+are slaves.
+
+Stranger.--In most parts, I grant you, but not where I was born,
+which was far up the country, near the deserts.  There the Jews are
+free, and are feared, and are as valiant men as the Moslems
+themselves; as able to tame the steed, or to fire the gun.  The
+Jews of our tribe are not slaves, and I like not to be treated as a
+slave either by Christian or Moor.
+
+Myself.--Your history must be a curious one, I would fain hear it.
+
+Stranger.--My history I shall tell to no one.  I have travelled
+much, I have been in commerce and have thriven.  I am at present
+established in Portugal, but I love not the people of Catholic
+countries, and least of all these of Spain.  I have lately
+experienced the most shameful injustice in the Aduana of this town,
+and when I complained, they laughed at me and called me Jew.
+Wherever he turns, the Jew is reviled, save in your country, and on
+that account my blood always warms when I see an Englishman.  You
+are a stranger here.  Can I do aught for you?  You may command me.
+
+Myself.--I thank you heartily, but I am in need of no assistance.
+
+Stranger.--Have you any bills, I will accept them if you have?
+
+Myself.--I have no need of assistance; but you may do me a favour
+by accepting of a book.
+
+Stranger.--I will receive it with thanks.  I know what it is.  What
+a singular people?  The same dress, the same look, the same book.
+Pelham gave me one in Egypt.  Farewell!  Your Jesus was a good man,
+perhaps a prophet; but . . . farewell!
+
+Well may the people of Pontevedra envy the natives of Vigo their
+bay, with which, in many respects, none other in the world can
+compare.  On every side it is defended by steep and sublime hills,
+save on the part of the west, where is the outlet to the Atlantic;
+but in the midst of this outlet, up towers a huge rocky wall, or
+island, which breaks the swell, and prevents the billows of the
+western sea from pouring through in full violence.  On either side
+of this island is a passage, so broad, that navies might pass
+through at all times in safety.  The bay itself is oblong, running
+far into the land, and so capacious, that a thousand sail of the
+line might ride in it uncrowded.  The waters are dark, still, and
+deep, without quicksands or shallows, so that the proudest man-of-
+war might lie within a stone's throw of the town ramparts without
+any fear of injuring her keel.
+
+Of many a strange event, and of many a mighty preparation has this
+bay been the scene.  It was here that the bulky dragons of the
+grand armada were mustered, and it was from hence that, fraught
+with the pomp, power, and terror of old Spain, the monster fleet,
+spreading its enormous sails to the wind, and bent on the ruin of
+the Lutheran isle, proudly steered;--that fleet, to build and man
+which half the forests of Galicia had been felled, and all the
+mariners impressed from the thousand bays and creeks of the stern
+Cantabrian shore.  It was here that the united flags of Holland and
+England triumphed over the pride of Spain and France; when the
+burning timbers of exploded war-ships soared above the tops of the
+Gallegan hills, and blazing galleons sank with their treasure
+chests whilst drifting in the direction of Sampayo.  It was on the
+shores of this bay that the English guards first emptied Spanish
+bodegas, whilst the bombs of Cobham were crushing the roofs of the
+castle of Castro, and the vecinos of Pontevedra buried their
+doubloons in cellars, and flying posts were conveying to Lugo and
+Orensee the news of the heretic invasion and the disaster of Vigo.
+All these events occurred to my mind as I stood far up the hill, at
+a short distance from the fort, surveying the bay.
+
+"What are you doing there, Cavalier?" roared several voices.
+"Stay, Carracho! if you attempt to run we will shoot you!"  I
+looked round and saw three or four fellows in dirty uniforms, to
+all appearance soldiers, just above me, on a winding path, which
+led up the hill.  Their muskets were pointed at me.  "What am I
+doing?  Nothing, as you see," said I, "save looking at the bay; and
+as for running, this is by no means ground for a course."  "You are
+our prisoner," said they, "and you must come with us to the fort."
+"I was just thinking of going there," I replied, "before you thus
+kindly invited me.  The fort is the very spot I was desirous of
+seeing."  I thereupon climbed up to the place where they stood,
+when they instantly surrounded me, and with this escort I was
+marched into the fort, which might have been a strong place in its
+time, but was now rather ruinous.  "You are suspected of being a
+spy," said the corporal, who walked in front.  "Indeed," said I.
+"Yes," replied the corporal, "and several spies have lately been
+taken and shot."
+
+Upon one of the parapets of the fort stood a young man, dressed as
+a subaltern officer, and to this personage I was introduced.  "We
+have been watching you this half hour," said he, "as you were
+taking observations."  "Then you gave yourselves much useless
+trouble," said I.  "I am an Englishman, and was merely looking at
+the bay.  Have the kindness now to show me the fort." . . .
+
+After some conversation, he said, "I wish to be civil to people of
+your nation, you may therefore consider yourself at liberty."  I
+bowed, made my exit, and proceeded down the hill.  Just before I
+entered the town, however, the corporal, who had followed me
+unperceived, tapped me on the shoulder.  "You must go with me to
+the governor," said he.  "With all my heart," I replied.  The
+governor was shaving, when we were shown up to him.  He was in his
+shirt sleeves, and held a razor in his hand.  He looked very ill-
+natured, which was perhaps owing to his being thus interrupted in
+his toilet.  He asked me two or three questions, and on learning
+that I had a passport, and was the bearer of a letter to the
+English consul, he told me that I was at liberty to depart.  So I
+bowed to the governor of the town, as I had done to the governor of
+the fort, and making my exit proceeded to my inn.
+
+At Vigo I accomplished but little in the way of distribution, and
+after a sojourn of a few days, I returned in the direction of Saint
+James.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+
+Arrival at Padron--Projected Enterprise--The Alquilador--Breach of
+Promise--An Odd Companion--A Plain Story--Rugged Paths--The
+Desertion--The Pony--A Dialogue--Unpleasant Situation--The Estadea-
+-Benighted--The Hut--The Traveller's Pillow.
+
+I arrived at Padron late in the evening, on my return from
+Pontevedra and Vigo.  It was my intention at this place to send my
+servant and horses forward to Santiago, and to hire a guide to Cape
+Finisterra.  It would be difficult to assign any plausible reason
+for the ardent desire which I entertained to visit this place; but
+I remembered that last year I had escaped almost by a miracle from
+shipwreck and death on the rocky sides of this extreme point of the
+Old World, and I thought that to convey the Gospel to a place so
+wild and remote, might perhaps be considered an acceptable
+pilgrimage in the eyes of my Maker.  True it is that but one copy
+remained of those which I had brought with me on this last journey,
+but this reflection, far from discouraging me in my projected
+enterprise, produced the contrary effect, as I called to mind that
+ever since the Lord revealed himself to man, it has seemed good to
+him to accomplish the greatest ends by apparently the most
+insufficient means; and I reflected that this one copy might serve
+as an instrument of more good than the four thousand nine hundred
+and ninety-nine copies of the edition of Madrid.
+
+I was aware that my own horses were quite incompetent to reach
+Finisterra, as the roads or paths lie through stony ravines, and
+over rough and shaggy hills, and therefore determined to leave them
+behind with Antonio, whom I was unwilling to expose to the fatigues
+of such a journey.  I lost no time in sending for an alquilador, or
+person who lets out horses, and informing him of my intention.  He
+said he had an excellent mountain pony at my disposal, and that he
+himself would accompany me, but at the same time observed, that it
+was a terrible journey for man and horse, and that he expected to
+be paid accordingly.  I consented to give him what he demanded, but
+on the express condition that he would perform his promise of
+attending me himself, as I was unwilling to trust myself four or
+five days amongst the hills with any low fellow of the town whom he
+might select, and who it was very possible might play me some evil
+turn.  He replied by the term invariably used by the Spaniards when
+they see doubt or distrust exhibited.  "No tenga usted cuidao," I
+will go myself.  Having thus arranged the matter perfectly
+satisfactorily, as I thought, I partook of a slight supper, and
+shortly afterwards retired to repose.
+
+I had requested the alquilador to call me the next morning at three
+o'clock; he however did not make his appearance till five, having,
+I suppose, overslept himself, which was indeed my own case.  I
+arose in a hurry, dressed, put a few things in a bag, not
+forgetting the Testament which I had resolved to present to the
+inhabitants of Finisterra.  I then sallied forth and saw my friend
+the alquilador, who was holding by the bridle the pony or jaco
+which was destined to carry me in my expedition.  It was a
+beautiful little animal, apparently strong and full of life,
+without one single white hair in its whole body, which was black as
+the plumage of the crow.
+
+Behind it stood a strange-looking figure of the biped species, to
+whom, however, at the moment, I paid little attention, but of whom
+I shall have plenty to say in the sequel.
+
+Having asked the horse-lender whether he was ready to proceed, and
+being answered in the affirmative, I bade adieu to Antonio, and
+putting the pony in motion, we hastened out of the town, taking at
+first the road which leads towards Santiago.  Observing that the
+figure which I have previously alluded to was following close at
+our heels, I asked the alquilador who it was, and the reason of its
+following us; to which he replied that it was a servant of his, who
+would proceed a little way with us and then return.  So on we went
+at a rapid rate, till we were within a quarter of a mile of the
+Convent of the Esclavitud, a little beyond which he had informed me
+that we should have to turn off from the high road; but here he
+suddenly stopped short, and in a moment we were all at a
+standstill.  I questioned the guide as to the reason of this, but
+received no answer.  The fellow's eyes were directed to the ground,
+and he seemed to be counting with the most intense solicitude the
+prints of the hoofs of the oxen, mules, and horses in the dust of
+the road.  I repeated my demand in a louder voice; when, after a
+considerable pause, he somewhat elevated his eyes, without however
+looking me in the face, and said that he believed that I
+entertained the idea that he himself was to guide me to Finisterra,
+which if I did, he was very sorry for, the thing being quite
+impossible, as he was perfectly ignorant of the way, and, moreover,
+incapable of performing such a journey over rough and difficult
+ground, as he was no longer the man he had been, and over and above
+all that, he was engaged that day to accompany a gentleman to
+Pontevedra, who was at that moment expecting him.  "But," continued
+he, "as I am always desirous of behaving like a caballero to
+everybody, I have taken measures to prevent your being
+disappointed.  This person," pointing to the figure, "I have
+engaged to accompany you.  He is a most trustworthy person, and is
+well acquainted with the route to Finisterra, having been thither
+several times with this very jaco on which you are mounted.  He
+will, besides, be an agreeable companion to you on the way, as he
+speaks French and English very well, and has been all over the
+world."  The fellow ceased speaking at last; and I was so struck
+with his craft, impudence, and villainy, that some time elapsed
+before I could find an answer.  I then reproached him in the
+bitterest terms for his breach of promise, and said that I was much
+tempted to return to the town instantly, complain of him to the
+alcalde, and have him punished at any expense.  To which he
+replied, "Sir Cavalier, by so doing you will be nothing nearer
+Finisterra, to which you seem so eager to get.  Take my advice,
+spur on the jaco, for you see it is getting late, and it is twelve
+long leagues from hence to Corcuvion, where you must pass the
+night; and from thence to Finisterra is no trifle.  As for the man,
+no tenga usted cuidao, he is the best guide in all Galicia, speaks
+English and French, and will bear you pleasant company."
+
+By this time I had reflected that by returning to Padron I should
+indeed be only wasting time, and that by endeavouring to have the
+fellow punished, no benefit would accrue to me; moreover, as he
+seemed to be a scoundrel in every sense of the word, I might as
+well proceed in the company of any person as in his.  I therefore
+signified my intention of proceeding, and told him to go back in
+the Lord's name, and repent of his sins.  But having gained one
+point, he thought he had best attempt another; so placing himself
+about a yard before the jaco, he said that the price which I had
+agreed to pay him for the loan of his horse (which by the by was
+the full sum he had demanded) was by no means sufficient, and that
+before I proceeded I must promise him two dollars more, adding that
+he was either drunk or mad when he had made such a bargain.  I was
+now thoroughly incensed, and without a moment's reflection, spurred
+the jaco, which flung him down in the dust, and passed over him.
+Looking back at the distance of a hundred yards, I saw him standing
+in the same place, his hat on the ground, gazing after us, and
+crossing himself most devoutly.  His servant, or whatever he was,
+far from offering any assistance to his principal, no sooner saw
+the jaco in motion than he ran on by its side, without word or
+comment, farther than striking himself lustily on the thigh with
+his right palm.  We soon passed the Esclavitud, and presently
+afterwards turned to the left into a stony broken path leading to
+fields of maze.  We passed by several farm-houses, and at last
+arrived at a dingle, the sides of which were plentifully overgrown
+with dwarf oaks, and which slanted down to a small dark river
+shaded with trees, which we crossed by a rude bridge.  By this time
+I had had sufficient time to scan my odd companion from head to
+foot.  His utmost height, had he made the most of himself, might
+perhaps have amounted to five feet one inch; but he seemed somewhat
+inclined to stoop.  Nature had gifted him with an immense head and
+placed it clean upon his shoulders, for amongst the items of his
+composition it did not appear that a neck had been included.  Arms
+long and brawny swung at his sides, and the whole of his frame was
+as strong built and powerful as a wrestler's; his body was
+supported by a pair of short but very nimble legs.  His face was
+very long, and would have borne some slight resemblance to a human
+countenance, had the nose been more visible, for its place seemed
+to have been entirely occupied by a wry mouth and large staring
+eyes.  His dress consisted of three articles:  an old and tattered
+hat of the Portuguese kind, broad at the crown and narrow at the
+eaves, something which appeared to be a shirt, and dirty canvas
+trousers.  Willing to enter into conversation with him, and
+remembering that the alquilador had informed me that he spoke
+languages, I asked him, in English, if he had always acted in the
+capacity of guide?  Whereupon he turned his eyes with a singular
+expression upon my face, gave a loud laugh, a long leap, and
+clapped his hands thrice above his head.  Perceiving that he did
+not understand me, I repeated my demand in French, and was again
+answered by the laugh, leap, and clapping.  At last he said in
+broken Spanish, "Master mine, speak Spanish in God's name, and I
+can understand you, and still better if you speak Gallegan, but I
+can promise no more.  I heard what the alquilador told you, but he
+is the greatest embustero in the whole land, and deceived you then
+as he did when he promised to accompany you.  I serve him for my
+sins; but it was an evil hour when I left the deep sea and turned
+guide."  He then informed me that he was a native of Padron, and a
+mariner by profession, having spent the greater part of his life in
+the Spanish navy, in which service he had visited Cuba and many
+parts of the Spanish Americas, adding, "when my master told you
+that I should bear you pleasant company by the way, it was the only
+word of truth that has come from his mouth for a month; and long
+before you reach Finisterra you will have rejoiced that the
+servant, and not the master, went with you:  he is dull and heavy,
+but I am what you see."  He then gave two or three first-rate
+summersets, again laughed loudly, and clapped his hands.  "You
+would scarcely think," he continued, "that I drove that little pony
+yesterday heavily laden all the way from Coruna.  We arrived at
+Padron at two o'clock this morning; but we are nevertheless both
+willing and able to undertake a fresh journey.  No tenga usted
+cuidao, as my master said, no one ever complains of that pony or of
+me."  In this kind of discourse we proceeded a considerable way
+through a very picturesque country, until we reached a beautiful
+village at the skirt of a mountain.  "This village," said my guide,
+"is called Los Angeles, because its church was built long since by
+the angels; they placed a beam of gold beneath it, which they
+brought down from heaven, and which was once a rafter of God's own
+house.  It runs all the way under the ground from hence to the
+cathedral of Compostella."
+
+Passing through the village, which he likewise informed me
+possessed baths, and was much visited by the people of Santiago, we
+shaped our course to the north-west, and by so doing doubled a
+mountain which rose majestically over our heads, its top crowned
+with bare and broken rocks, whilst on our right, on the other side
+of a spacious valley, was a high range, connected with the
+mountains to the northward of Saint James.  On the summit of this
+range rose high embattled towers, which my guide informed me were
+those of Altamira, an ancient and ruined castle, formerly the
+principal residence in this province of the counts of that name.
+Turning now due west, we were soon at the bottom of a steep and
+rugged pass, which led to more elevated regions.  The ascent cost
+us nearly half an hour, and the difficulties of the ground were
+such, that I more than once congratulated myself on having left my
+own horses behind, and being mounted on the gallant little pony
+which, accustomed to such paths, scrambled bravely forward, and
+eventually brought us in safety to the top of the ascent.
+
+Here we entered a Gallegan cabin, or choza, for the purpose of
+refreshing the animal and ourselves.  The quadruped ate some maize,
+whilst we two bipeds regaled ourselves on some broa and
+aguardiente, which a woman whom we found in the hut placed before
+us.  I walked out for a few minutes to observe the aspect of the
+country, and on my return found my guide fast asleep on the bench
+where I had left him.  He sat bolt upright, his back supported
+against the wall, and his legs pendulous, within three inches of
+the ground, being too short to reach it.  I remained gazing upon
+him for at least five minutes, whilst he enjoyed slumbers seemingly
+as quiet and profound as those of death itself.  His face brought
+powerfully to my mind some of those uncouth visages of saints and
+abbots which are occasionally seen in the niches of the walls of
+ruined convents.  There was not the slightest gleam of vitality in
+his countenance, which for colour and rigidity might have been of
+stone, and which was as rude and battered as one of the stone heads
+at Icolmkill, which have braved the winds of twelve hundred years.
+I continued gazing on his face till I became almost alarmed,
+concluding that life might have departed from its harassed and
+fatigued tenement.  On my shaking him rather roughly by the
+shoulder he slowly awoke, opening his eyes with a stare and then
+closing them again.  For a few moments he was evidently unconscious
+of where he was.  On my shouting to him, however, and inquiring
+whether he intended to sleep all day instead of conducting me to
+Finisterra, he dropped upon his legs, snatched up his hat, which
+lay on the table, and instantly ran out of the door, exclaiming,
+"Yes, yes, I remember--follow me, captain, and I will lead you to
+Finisterra in no time."  I looked after him, and perceived that he
+was hurrying at a considerable pace in the direction in which we
+had hitherto been proceeding.  "Stop," said I, "stop! will you
+leave me here with the pony?  Stop, we have not paid the reckoning.
+Stop!"  He, however, never turned his head for a moment, and in
+less than a minute was out of sight.  The pony, which was tied to a
+crib at one end of the cabin, began now to neigh terrifically, to
+plunge, and to erect its tail and mane in a most singular manner.
+It tore and strained at the halter till I was apprehensive that
+strangulation would ensue.  "Woman," I exclaimed, "where are you,
+and what is the meaning of all this?"  But the hostess had likewise
+disappeared, and though I ran about the choza, shouting myself
+hoarse, no answer was returned.  The pony still continued to scream
+and to strain at the halter more violently than ever.  "Am I beset
+with lunatics?" I cried, and flinging down a peseta on the table,
+unloosed the halter, and attempted to introduce the bit into the
+mouth of the animal.  This, however, I found impossible to effect.
+Released from the halter, the pony made at once for the door, in
+spite of all the efforts which I could make to detain it.  "If you
+abandon me," said I, "I am in a pretty situation; but there is a
+remedy for everything!" with which words I sprang into the saddle,
+and in a moment more the creature was bearing me at a rapid gallop
+in the direction, as I supposed, of Finisterra.  My position,
+however diverting to the reader, was rather critical to myself.  I
+was on the back of a spirited animal, over which I had no control,
+dashing along a dangerous and unknown path.  I could not discover
+the slightest vestige of my guide, nor did I pass anyone from whom
+I could derive any information.  Indeed, the speed of the animal
+was so great, that even in the event of my meeting or overtaking a
+passenger, I could scarcely have hoped to exchange a word with him.
+"Is the pony trained to this work?" said I mentally.  "Is he
+carrying me to some den of banditti, where my throat will be cut,
+or does he follow his master by instinct?"  Both of these
+suspicions I however soon abandoned; the pony's speed relaxed, he
+appeared to have lost the road.  He looked about uneasily:  at
+last, coming to a sandy spot, he put his nostrils to the ground,
+and then suddenly flung himself down, and wallowed in true pony
+fashion.  I was not hurt, and instantly made use of this
+opportunity to slip the bit into his mouth, which previously had
+been dangling beneath his neck; I then remounted in quest of the
+road.
+
+This I soon found, and continued my way for a considerable time.
+The path lay over a moor, patched heath and furze, and here and
+there strewn with large stones, or rather rocks.  The sun had risen
+high in the firmament, and burned fiercely.  I passed several
+people, men and women, who gazed at me with surprise, wondering,
+probably, what a person of my appearance could be about without a
+guide in so strange a place.  I inquired of two females whom I met
+whether they had seen my guide; but they either did not or would
+not understand me, and exchanging a few words with each other, in
+one of the hundred dialects of the Gallegan, passed on.  Having
+crossed the moor, I came rather abruptly upon a convent,
+overhanging a deep ravine, at the bottom of which brawled a rapid
+stream.
+
+It was a beautiful and picturesque spot:  the sides of the ravine
+were thickly clothed with wood, and on the other side a tall, black
+hill uplifted itself.  The edifice was large, and apparently
+deserted.  Passing by it, I presently reached a small village, as
+deserted, to all appearance, as the convent, for I saw not a single
+individual, nor so much as a dog to welcome me with his bark.  I
+proceeded, however, until I reached a fountain, the waters of which
+gushed from a stone pillar into a trough.  Seated upon this last,
+his arms folded, and his eyes fixed upon the neighbouring mountain,
+I beheld a figure which still frequently recurs to my thoughts,
+especially when asleep and oppressed by the nightmare.  This figure
+was my runaway guide.
+
+Myself.--Good day to you, my gentleman.  The weather is hot, and
+yonder water appears delicious.  I am almost tempted to dismount
+and regale myself with a slight draught.
+
+Guide.--Your worship can do no better.  The day is, as you say,
+hot; you can do no better than drink a little of this water.  I
+have myself just drunk.  I would not, however, advise you to give
+that pony any, it appears heated and blown.
+
+Myself.--It may well be so.  I have been galloping at least two
+leagues in pursuit of a fellow who engaged to guide me to
+Finisterra, but who deserted me in a most singular manner, so much
+so, that I almost believe him to be a thief, and no true man.  You
+do not happen to have seen him?
+
+Guide.--What kind of a man might he be?
+
+Myself.--A short, thick fellow, very much like yourself, with a
+hump upon his back, and, excuse me, of a very ill-favoured
+countenance.
+
+Guide.--Ha, ha!  I know him.  He ran with me to this fountain,
+where he has just left me.  That man, Sir Cavalier, is no thief.
+If he is any thing at all, he is a Nuveiro,--a fellow who rides
+upon the clouds, and is occasionally whisked away by a gust of
+wind.  Should you ever travel with that man again, never allow him
+more than one glass of anise at a time, or he will infallibly mount
+into the clouds and leave you, and then he will ride and run till
+he comes to a water brook, or knocks his head against a fountain--
+then one draught, and he is himself again.  So you are going to
+Finisterra, Sir Cavalier.  Now it is singular enough, that a
+cavalier much of your appearance engaged me to conduct him there
+this morning.  I however lost him on the way.  So it appears to me
+our best plan to travel together until you find your own guide and
+I find my own master.
+
+It might be about two o'clock in the afternoon, that we reached a
+long and ruinous bridge, seemingly of great antiquity, and which,
+as I was informed by my guide, was called the bridge of Don Alonzo.
+It crossed a species of creek, or rather frith, for the sea was at
+no considerable distance, and the small town of Noyo lay at our
+right.  "When we have crossed that bridge, captain," said my guide,
+"we shall be in an unknown country, for I have never been farther
+than Noyo, and as for Finisterra, so far from having been there, I
+never heard of such a place; and though I have inquired of two or
+three people since we have been upon this expedition, they know as
+little about it as I do.  Taking all things, however, into
+consideration, it appears to me that the best thing we can do is to
+push forward to Corcuvion, which is five mad leagues from hence,
+and which we may perhaps reach ere nightfall, if we can find the
+way or get any one to direct us; for, as I told you before, I know
+nothing about it."  "To fine hands have I confided myself," said I:
+"however, we had best, as you say, push forward to Corcuvion,
+where, peradventure, we may hear something of Finisterra, and find
+a guide to conduct us."  Whereupon, with a hop, skip, and a jump,
+he again set forward at a rapid pace, stopping occasionally at a
+choza, for the purpose, I suppose, of making inquiries, though I
+understood scarcely anything of the jargon in which he addressed
+the people, and in which they answered him.
+
+We were soon in an extremely wild and hilly country, scrambling up
+and down ravines, wading brooks, and scratching our hands and faces
+with brambles, on which grew a plentiful crop of wild mulberries,
+to gather some of which we occasionally made a stop.  Owing to the
+roughness of the way we made no great progress.  The pony followed
+close at the back of the guide, so near, indeed, that its nose
+almost touched his shoulder.  The country grew wilder and wilder,
+and since we had passed a water mill, we had lost all trace of
+human habitation.  The mill stood at the bottom of a valley shaded
+by large trees, and its wheels were turning with a dismal and
+monotonous noise.  "Do you think we shall reach Corcuvion to-
+night?" said I to the guide, as we emerged from this valley to a
+savage moor, which appeared of almost boundless extent.
+
+Guide.--I do not, I do not.  We shall in no manner reach Corcuvion
+to-night, and I by no means like the appearance of this moor.  The
+sun is rapidly sinking, and then, if there come on a haze, we shall
+meet the Estadea.
+
+Myself.--What do you mean by the Estadea?
+
+Guide.--What do I mean by the Estadea?  My master asks me what I
+mean by the Estadinha. {17}  I have met the Estadinha but once, and
+it was upon a moor something like this.  I was in company with
+several women, and a thick haze came on, and suddenly a thousand
+lights shone above our heads in the haze, and there was a wild cry,
+and the women fell to the ground screaming Estadea!  Estadea! and I
+myself fell to the ground crying out Estadinha!  The Estadea are
+the spirits of the dead which ride upon the haze, bearing candles
+in their hands.  I tell you frankly, my master, that if we meet the
+assembly of the souls, I shall leave you at once, and then I shall
+run and run till I drown myself in the sea, somewhere about Muros.
+We shall not reach Corcuvion this night; my only hope is that we
+may find some choza upon these moors, where we may hide our heads
+from the Estadinha.
+
+The night overtook us ere we had traversed the moor; there was,
+however, no haze, to the great joy of my guide, and a corner of the
+moon partially illumined our steps.  Our situation, however, was
+dreary enough:  we were upon the wildest heath of the wildest
+province of Spain, ignorant of our way, and directing our course we
+scarcely knew whither, for my guide repeatedly declared to me, that
+he did not believe that such a place as Finisterra existed, or if
+it did exist, it was some bleak mountain pointed out in a map.
+When I reflected on the character of this guide, I derived but
+little comfort or encouragement:  he was at best evidently half
+witted, and was by his own confession occasionally seized with
+paroxysms which differed from madness in no essential respect; his
+wild escapade in the morning of nearly three leagues, without any
+apparent cause, and lastly his superstitious and frantic fears of
+meeting the souls of the dead upon this heath, in which event he
+intended, as he himself said, to desert me and make for the sea,
+operated rather powerfully upon my nerves.  I likewise considered
+that it was quite possible that we might be in the route neither of
+Finisterra nor Corcuvion, and I therefore determined to enter the
+first cabin at which we should arrive, in preference to running the
+risk of breaking our necks by tumbling down some pit or precipice.
+No cabin, however, appeared in sight:  the moor seemed
+interminable, and we wandered on until the moon disappeared, and we
+were left in almost total darkness.
+
+At length we arrived at the foot of a steep ascent, up which a
+rough and broken pathway appeared to lead.
+
+"Can this be our way?" said I to the guide.
+
+"There appears to be no other for us, captain," replied the man;
+"let us ascend it by all means, and when we are it the top, if the
+sea be in the neighbourhood we shall see it."
+
+I then dismounted, for to ride up such a pass in such darkness
+would have been madness.  We clambered up in a line, first the
+guide, next the pony, with his nose as usual on his master's
+shoulder, of whom he seemed passionately fond, and I bringing up
+the rear, with my left hand grasping the animal's tail.  We had
+many a stumble, and more than one fall:  once, indeed, we were all
+rolling down the side of the hill together.  In about twenty
+minutes we reached the summit, and looked around us, but no sea was
+visible:  a black moor, indistinctly seen, seemed to spread on
+every side.
+
+"We shall have to take up our quarters here till morning," said I.
+
+Suddenly my guide seized me by the hand:  "There is lume, Senhor,"
+said he, "there is lume."  I looked in the direction in which he
+pointed, and, after straining my eyes for some time, imagined that
+I perceived, far below and at some distance, a faint glow.  "That
+is lume," shouted the guide, "and it proceeds from the chimney of a
+choza."
+
+On descending the eminence, we roamed about for a considerable
+time, until we at last found ourselves in the midst of about six or
+eight black huts.  "Knock at the door of one of these," said I to
+the guide, "and inquire of the people whether they can shelter us
+for the night."  He did so, and a man presently made his
+appearance, bearing in his hand a lighted firebrand.
+
+"Can you shelter a Cavalheiro from the night and the Estadea?" said
+my guide.
+
+"From both, I thank God," said the man, who was an athletic figure,
+without shoes and stockings, and who, upon the whole, put me much
+in mind of a Munster peasant from the bogs.  "Pray enter,
+gentlemen, we can accommodate you both and your cavalgadura
+besides."
+
+We entered the choza, which consisted of three compartments; in the
+first we found straw, in the second cattle and ponies, and in the
+third the family, consisting of the father and mother of the man
+who admitted us, and his wife and children.
+
+"You are a Catalan, sir Cavalier, and are going to your countryman
+at Corcuvion," said the man in tolerable Spanish.  "Ah, you are
+brave people, you Catalans, and fine establishments you have on the
+Gallegan shores; pity that you take all the money out of the
+country."
+
+Now, under all circumstances, I had not the slightest objection to
+pass for a Catalan; and I rather rejoiced that these wild people
+should suppose that I had powerful friends and countrymen in the
+neighbourhood who were, perhaps, expecting me.  I therefore
+favoured their mistake, and began with a harsh Catalan accent to
+talk of the fish of Galicia, and the high duties on salt.  The eye
+of my guide was upon me for an instant, with a singular expression,
+half serious, half droll; he however said nothing, but slapped his
+thigh as usual, and with a spring nearly touched the roof of the
+cabin with his grotesque head.  Upon inquiry, I discovered that we
+were still two long leagues distant from Corcuvion, and that the
+road lay over moor and hill, and was hard to find.  Our host now
+demanded whether we were hungry, and upon being answered in the
+affirmative, produced about a dozen eggs and some bacon.  Whilst
+our supper was cooking, a long conversation ensued between my guide
+and the family, but as it was carried on in Gallegan, I tried in
+vain to understand it.  I believe, however, that it principally
+related to witches and witchcraft, as the Estadea was frequently
+mentioned.  After supper I demanded where I could rest:  whereupon
+the host pointed to a trap-door in the roof, saying that above
+there was a loft where I could sleep by myself, and have clean
+straw.  For curiosity's sake, I asked whether there was such a
+thing as a bed in the cabin.
+
+"No," replied the man; "nor nearer than Corcuvion.  I never entered
+one in my life, nor any one of my family:  we sleep around the
+hearth, or among the straw with the cattle."
+
+I was too old a traveller to complain, but forthwith ascended by a
+ladder into a species of loft, tolerably large and nearly empty,
+where I placed my cloak beneath my head, and lay down on the
+boards, which I preferred to the straw, for more reasons than one.
+I heard the people below talking in Gallegan for a considerable
+time, and could see the gleams of the fire through the interstices
+of the floor.  The voices, however, gradually died away, the fire
+sank low and could no longer be distinguished.  I dozed, started,
+dozed again, and dropped finally into a profound sleep, from which
+I was only roused by the crowing of the second cock.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+
+Autumnal Morning--The World's End--Corcuvion--Duyo--The Cape--A
+Whale--The Outer Bay--The Arrest--The Fisher-Magistrate--Calros
+Rey--Hard of Belief--Where is your Passport?--The Beach--A Mighty
+Liberal--The Handmaid--The Grand Baintham--Eccentric Book--
+Hospitality.
+
+It was a beautiful autumnal morning when we left the choza and
+pursued our way to Corcuvion.  I satisfied our host by presenting
+him with a couple of pesetas, and he requested as a favour, that if
+on our return we passed that way, and were overtaken by the night,
+we would again take up our abode beneath his roof.  This I
+promised, at the same time determining to do my best to guard
+against the contingency; as sleeping in the loft of a Gallegan hut,
+though preferable to passing the night on a moor or mountain, is
+anything but desirable.
+
+So we again started at a rapid pace along rough bridle-ways and
+footpaths, amidst furze and brushwood.  In about an hour we
+obtained a view of the sea, and directed by a lad, whom we found on
+the moor employed in tending a few miserable sheep, we bent our
+course to the north-west, and at length reached the brow of an
+eminence, where we stopped for some time to survey the prospect
+which opened before us.
+
+It was not without reason that the Latins gave the name of
+Finnisterrae to this district.  We had arrived exactly at such a
+place as in my boyhood I had pictured to myself as the termination
+of the world, beyond which there was a wild sea, or abyss, or
+chaos.  I now saw far before me an immense ocean, and below me a
+long and irregular line of lofty and precipitous coast.  Certainly
+in the whole world there is no bolder coast than the Gallegan
+shore, from the debouchement of the Minho to Cape Finisterra.  It
+consists of a granite wall of savage mountains, for the most part
+serrated at the top, and occasionally broken, where bays and firths
+like those of Vigo and Pontevedra intervene, running deep into the
+land.  These bays and firths are invariably of an immense depth,
+and sufficiently capacious to shelter the navies of the proudest
+maritime nations.
+
+There is an air of stern and savage grandeur in everything around,
+which strongly captivates the imagination.  This savage coast is
+the first glimpse of Spain which the voyager from the north
+catches, or he who has ploughed his way across the wide Atlantic:
+and well does it seem to realize all his visions of this strange
+land.  "Yes," he exclaims, "this is indeed Spain--stern flinty
+Spain--land emblematic of those spirits to which she has given
+birth.  From what land but that before me could have proceeded
+those portentous beings, who astounded the Old World and filled the
+New with horror and blood:  Alba and Philip, Cortez and Pizarro:
+stern colossal spectres looming through the gloom of bygone years,
+like yonder granite mountains through the haze, upon the eye of the
+mariner.  Yes, yonder is indeed Spain; flinty, indomitable Spain;
+land emblematic of its sons!"
+
+As for myself, when I viewed that wide ocean and its savage shore,
+I cried, "Such is the grave, and such are its terrific sides; those
+moors and wilds, over which I have passed, are the rough and dreary
+journey of life.  Cheered with hope, we struggle along through all
+the difficulties of moor, bog, and mountain, to arrive at--what?
+The grave and its dreary sides.  Oh, may hope not desert us in the
+last hour:  hope in the Redeemer and in God!"
+
+We descended from the eminence, and again lost sight of the sea
+amidst ravines and dingles, amongst which patches of pine were
+occasionally seen.  Continuing to descend, we at last came, not to
+the sea, but to the extremity of a long narrow firth, where stood a
+village or hamlet; whilst at a small distance, on the Western side
+of the firth, appeared one considerably larger, which was indeed
+almost entitled to the appellation of town.  This last was
+Corcuvion; the first, if I forget not, was called Ria de Silla.  We
+hastened on to Corcuvion, where I bade my guide make inquiries
+respecting Finisterra.  He entered the door of a wine-house, from
+which proceeded much noise and vociferation, and presently
+returned, informing me that the village of Finisterra was distant
+about a league and a half.  A man, evidently in a state of
+intoxication, followed him to the door:  "Are you bound for
+Finisterra, Cavalheiros?" he shouted.
+
+"Yes, my friend," I replied, "we are going thither."
+
+"Then you are going amongst a flock of drunkards (fato de
+barrachos)," he answered.  "Take care that they do not play you a
+trick."
+
+We passed on, and striking across a sandy peninsula at the back of
+the town, soon reached the shore of an immense bay, the north-
+westernmost end of which was formed by the far-famed cape of
+Finisterra, which we now saw before us stretching far into the sea.
+
+Along a beach of dazzling white sand, we advanced towards the cape,
+the bourne of our journey.  The sun was shining brightly, and every
+object was illumined by his beams.  The sea lay before us like a
+vast mirror, and the waves which broke upon the shore were so tiny
+as scarcely to produce a murmur.  On we sped along the deep winding
+bay, overhung by gigantic hills and mountains.  Strange
+recollections began to throng upon my mind.  It was upon this beach
+that, according to the tradition of all ancient Christendom, Saint
+James, the patron saint of Spain, preached the Gospel to the
+heathen Spaniards.  Upon this beach had once stood an immense
+commercial city, the proudest in all Spain.  This now desolate bay
+had once resounded with the voices of myriads, when the keels and
+commerce of all the then known world were wafted to Duyo.
+
+"What is the name of this village?" said I to a woman, as we passed
+by five or six ruinous houses at the bend of the bay, ere we
+entered upon the peninsula of Finisterra.
+
+"This is no village," said the Gallegan, "this is no village, Sir
+Cavalier, this is a city, this is Duyo."
+
+So much for the glory of the world!  These huts were all that the
+roaring sea and the tooth of time had left of Duyo, the great city!
+Onward now to Finisterra.
+
+It was midday when we reached the village of Finisterra, consisting
+of about one hundred houses, and built on the southern side of the
+peninsula, just before it rises into the huge bluff head which is
+called the Cape.  We sought in vain for an inn or venta, where we
+might stable our beast; at one moment we thought that we had found
+one, and had even tied the animal to the manger.  Upon our going
+out, however, he was instantly untied and driven forth into the
+street.  The few people whom we saw appeared to gaze upon us in a
+singular manner.  We, however, took little notice of these
+circumstances, and proceeded along the straggling street until we
+found shelter in the house of a Castilian shopkeeper, whom some
+chance had brought to this corner of Galicia,--this end of the
+world.  Our first care was to feed the animal, who now began to
+exhibit considerable symptoms of fatigue.  We then requested some
+refreshment for ourselves; and in about an hour a tolerably savoury
+fish, weighing about three pounds, and fresh from the bay, was
+prepared for us by an old woman who appeared to officiate as
+housekeeper.  Having finished our meal, I and my uncouth companion
+went forth and prepared to ascend the mountain.
+
+We stopped to examine a small dismantled fort or battery facing the
+bay; and whilst engaged in this examination, it more than once
+occurred to me that we were ourselves the objects of scrutiny and
+investigation:  indeed I caught a glimpse of more than one
+countenance peering upon us through the holes and chasms of the
+walls.  We now commenced ascending Finisterra; and making numerous
+and long detours, we wound our way up its flinty sides.  The sun
+had reached the top of heaven, whence he showered upon us
+perpendicularly his brightest and fiercest rays.  My boots were
+torn, my feet cut, and the perspiration streamed from my brow.  To
+my guide, however, the ascent appeared to be neither toilsome nor
+difficult.  The heat of the day for him had no terrors, no moisture
+was wrung from his tanned countenance; he drew not one short
+breath; and hopped upon the stones and rocks with all the provoking
+agility of a mountain goat.  Before we had accomplished one half of
+the ascent, I felt myself quite exhausted.  I reeled and staggered.
+"Cheer up, master mine, be of good cheer, and have no care," said
+the guide.  "Yonder I see a wall of stones; lie down beneath it in
+the shade."  He put his long and strong arm round my waist, and
+though his stature compared with mine was that of a dwarf, he
+supported me, as if I had been a child, to a rude wall which seemed
+to traverse the greatest part of the hill, and served probably as a
+kind of boundary.  It was difficult to find a shady spot:  at last
+he perceived a small chasm, perhaps scooped by some shepherd as a
+couch, in which to enjoy his siesta.  In this he laid me gently
+down, and taking off his enormous hat, commenced farming me with
+great assiduity.  By degrees I revived, and after having rested for
+a considerable time, I again attempted the ascent, which, with the
+assistance of my guide, I at length accomplished.
+
+We were now standing at a great altitude between two bays:  the
+wilderness of waters before us.  Of all the ten thousand barks
+which annually plough those seas in sight of that old cape, not one
+was to be descried.  It was a blue shiny waste, broken by no object
+save the black head of a spermaceti whale, which would occasionally
+show itself at the top, casting up thin jets of brine.  The
+principal bay, that of Finisterra, as far as the entrance, was
+beautifully variegated by an immense shoal of sardinhas, on whose
+extreme skirts the monster was probably feasting.  From the
+northern side of the cape we looked down upon a smaller bay, the
+shore of which was overhung by rocks of various and grotesque
+shapes; this is called the outer bay, or, in the language of the
+country, Praia do mar de fora:  a fearful place in seasons of wind
+and tempest, when the long swell of the Atlantic pouring in, is
+broken into surf and foam by the sunken rocks with which it
+abounds.  Even in the calmest day there is a rumbling and a hollow
+roar in that bay which fill the heart with uneasy sensations.
+
+On all sides there was grandeur and sublimity.  After gazing from
+the summit of the Cape for nearly an hour we descended.
+
+On reaching the house where we had taken up our temporary
+habitation, we perceived that the portal was occupied by several
+men, some of whom were reclining on the floor drinking wine out of
+small earthen pans, which are much used in this part of Galicia.
+With a civil salutation I passed on, and ascended the staircase to
+the room in which we had taken our repast.  Here there was a rude
+and dirty bed, on which I flung myself, exhausted with fatigue.  I
+determined to take a little repose, and in the evening to call the
+people of the place together, to read a few chapters of the
+Scripture, and then to address them with a little Christian
+exhortation.  I was soon asleep, but my slumbers were by no means
+tranquil.  I thought I was surrounded with difficulties of various
+kinds amongst rocks and ravines, vainly endeavouring to extricate
+myself; uncouth visages showed themselves amidst the trees and in
+the hollows, thrusting out cloven tongues and uttering angry cries.
+I looked around for my guide, but could not find him; methought,
+however, that I heard his voice down a deep dingle.  He appeared to
+be talking of me.  How long I might have continued in these wild
+dreams I know not.  I was suddenly, however, seized roughly by the
+shoulder and nearly dragged from the bed.  I looked up in
+amazement, and by the light of the descending sun I beheld hanging
+over me a wild and uncouth figure; it was that of an elderly man,
+built as strong as a giant, with much beard and whiskers, and huge
+bushy eyebrows, dressed in the habiliments of a fisherman; in his
+hand was a rusty musket.
+
+Myself.--Who are you and what do you want?
+
+Figure.--Who I am matters but little.  Get up and follow me; it is
+you I want.
+
+Myself.--By what authority do you thus presume to interfere with
+me?
+
+Figure.--By the authority of the justicia of Finisterra.  Follow me
+peaceably, Calros, or it will be the worse for you.
+
+"Calros," said I, "what does the person mean?"  I thought it,
+however, most prudent to obey his command, and followed him down
+the staircase.  The shop and the portal were now thronged with the
+inhabitants of Finisterra, men, women, and children; the latter for
+the most part in a state of nudity, and with bodies wet and
+dripping, having been probably summoned in haste from their gambols
+in the brine.  Through this crowd the figure whom I have attempted
+to describe pushed his way with an air of authority.
+
+On arriving in the street, he laid his heavy hand upon my arm, not
+roughly however.  "It is Calros! it is Calros!" said a hundred
+voices; "he has come to Finisterra at last, and the justicia have
+now got hold of him."  Wondering what all this could mean, I
+attended my strange conductor down the street.  As we proceeded,
+the crowd increased every moment, following and vociferating.  Even
+the sick were brought to the door to obtain a view of what was
+going forward and a glance at the redoubtable Calros.  I was
+particularly struck by the eagerness displayed by one man, a
+cripple, who, in spite of the entreaties of his wife, mixed with
+the crowd, and having lost his crutch, hopped forward on one leg,
+exclaiming,--"Carracho! tambien voy yo!"
+
+We at last reached a house of rather larger size than the rest; my
+guide having led me into a long low room, placed me in the middle
+of the floor, and then hurrying to the door, he endeavoured to
+repulse the crowd who strove to enter with us.  This he effected,
+though not without considerable difficulty, being once or twice
+compelled to have recourse to the butt of his musket, to drive back
+unauthorized intruders.  I now looked round the room.  It was
+rather scantily furnished:  I could see nothing but some tubs and
+barrels, the mast of a boat, and a sail or two.  Seated upon the
+tubs were three or four men coarsely dressed, like fishermen or
+shipwrights.  The principal personage was a surly ill-tempered-
+looking fellow of about thirty-five, whom eventually I discovered
+to be the alcalde of Finisterra, and lord of the house in which we
+now were.  In a corner I caught a glimpse of my guide, who was
+evidently in durance, two stout fishermen standing before him, one
+with a musket and the other with a boat-hook.  After I had looked
+about me for a minute, the alcalde, giving his whiskers a twist,
+thus addressed me:-
+
+"Who are you, where is your passport, and what brings you to
+Finisterra?"
+
+Myself.--I am an Englishman.  Here is my passport, and I came to
+see Finisterra.
+
+This reply seemed to discomfit them for a moment.  They looked at
+each other, then at my passport.  At length the alcalde, striking
+it with his finger, bellowed forth:
+
+"This is no Spanish passport; it appears to be written in French."
+
+Myself.--I have already told you that I am a foreigner.  I of
+course carry a foreign passport.
+
+Alcalde.--Then you mean to assert that you are not Calros Rey.
+
+Myself.--I never heard before of such a king, nor indeed of such a
+name.
+
+Alcalde.--Hark to the fellow:  he has the audacity to say that he
+has never heard of Calros the pretender, who calls himself king.
+
+Myself.--If you mean by Calros, the pretender Don Carlos, all I can
+reply is, that you can scarcely be serious.  You might as well
+assert that yonder poor fellow, my guide, whom I see you have made
+prisoner, is his nephew, the infante Don Sebastian.
+
+Alcalde.--See, you have betrayed yourself; that is the very person
+we suppose him to be.
+
+Myself.--It is true that they are both hunchbacks.  But how can I
+be like Don Carlos?  I have nothing the appearance of a Spaniard,
+and am nearly a foot taller than the pretender.
+
+Alcalde.--That makes no difference; you of course carry many
+waistcoats about you, by means of which you disguise yourself, and
+appear tall or low according to your pleasure.
+
+This last was so conclusive an argument that I had of course
+nothing to reply to it.  The alcalde looked around him in triumph,
+as if he had made some notable discovery.  "Yes, it is Calros; it
+is Calros," said the crowd at the door.  "It will be as well to
+have these men shot instantly," continued the alcalde; "if they are
+not the two pretenders, they are at any rate two of the factious."
+
+"I am by no means certain that they are either one or the other,"
+said a gruff voice.
+
+The justicia of Finisterra turned their eyes in the direction from
+which these words proceeded, and so did I.  Our glances rested upon
+the figure who held watch at the door.  He had planted the barrel
+of his musket on the floor, and was now leaning his chin against
+the butt.
+
+"I am by no means certain that they are either one or the other,"
+repeated he, advancing forward.  "I have been examining this man,"
+pointing to myself, "and listening whilst he spoke, and it appears
+to me that after all he may prove an Englishman; he has their very
+look and voice.  Who knows the English better than Antonio de la
+Trava, and who has a better right?  Has he not sailed in their
+ships; has he not eaten their biscuit; and did he not stand by
+Nelson when he was shot dead?"
+
+Here the alcalde became violently incensed.  "He is no more an
+Englishman than yourself," he exclaimed; "if he were an Englishman
+would he have come in this manner, skulking across the land?  Not
+so I trow.  He would have come in a ship, recommended to some of
+us, or to the Catalans.  He would have come to trade, to buy; but
+nobody knows him in Finisterra, nor does he know anybody:  and the
+first thing, moreover, that he does when he reaches this place is
+to inspect the fort, and to ascend the mountain where, no doubt, he
+has been marking out a camp.  What brings him to Finisterra if he
+is neither Calros nor a bribon of a faccioso?"
+
+I felt that there was a good deal of justice in some of these
+remarks, and I was aware, for the first time, that I had, indeed,
+committed a great imprudence in coming to this wild place, and
+among these barbarous people, without being able to assign any
+motive which could appear at all valid in their eyes.  I
+endeavoured to convince the alcalde that I had come across the
+country for the purpose of making myself acquainted with the many
+remarkable objects which it contained, and of obtaining information
+respecting the character and condition of the inhabitants.  He
+could understand no such motives.  "What did you ascend the
+mountain for?"  "To see prospects."  "Disparate! I have lived at
+Finisterra forty years and never ascended that mountain.  I would
+not do it in a day like this for two ounces of gold.  You went to
+take altitudes, and to mark out a camp."  I had, however, a staunch
+friend in old Antonio, who insisted, from his knowledge of the
+English, that all I had said might very possibly be true.  "The
+English," said he, "have more money than they know what to do with,
+and on that account they wander all over the world, paying dearly
+for what no other people care a groat for."  He then proceeded,
+notwithstanding the frowns of the alcalde, to examine me in the
+English language.  His own entire knowledge of this tongue was
+confined to two words--knife and fork, which words I rendered into
+Spanish by their equivalents, and was forthwith pronounced an
+Englishman by the old fellow, who, brandishing his musket,
+exclaimed:-
+
+"This man is not Calros; he is what he declares himself to be, an
+Englishman, and whosoever seeks to injure him, shall have to do
+with Antonio de la Trava el valiente de Finisterra."  No person
+sought to impugn this verdict, and it was at length determined that
+I should be sent to Corcuvion, to be examined by the alcalde mayor
+of the district.  "But," said the alcalde of Finisterra, "what is
+to be done with the other fellow?  He at least is no Englishman.
+Bring him forward, and let us hear what he has to say for himself.
+Now, fellow, who are you, and what is your master?"
+
+Guide.--I am Sebastianillo, a poor broken mariner of Padron, and my
+master for the present is the gentleman whom you see, the most
+valiant and wealthy of all the English.  He has two ships at Vigo
+laden with riches.  I told you so when you first seized me up there
+in our posada.
+
+Alcalde.--Where is your passport?
+
+Guide.--I have no passport.  Who would think of bringing a passport
+to such a place as this, where I don't suppose there are two
+individuals who can read?  I have no passport; my master's passport
+of course includes me.
+
+Alcalde.--It does not.  And since you have no passport, and have
+confessed that your name is Sebastian, you shall be shot.  Antonio
+de la Trava, do you and the musketeers lead this Sebastianillo
+forth, and shoot him before the door.
+
+Antonio de la Trava.--With much pleasure, Senor Alcalde, since you
+order it.  With respect to this fellow, I shall not trouble myself
+to interfere.  He at least is no Englishman.  He has more the look
+of a wizard or nuveiro; one of those devils who raise storms and
+sink launches.  Moreover, he says he is from Padron, and those of
+that place are all thieves and drunkards.  They once played me a
+trick, and I would gladly be at the shooting of the whole pueblo.
+
+I now interfered, and said that if they shot the guide they must
+shoot me too; expatiating at the same time on the cruelty and
+barbarity of taking away the life of a poor unfortunate fellow who,
+as might be seen at the first glance, was only half witted; adding,
+moreover, that if any person was guilty in this case it was myself,
+as the other could only be considered in the light of a servant
+acting under my orders.
+
+"The safest plan after all," said the alcalde, "appears to be, to
+send you both prisoners to Corcuvion, where the head alcalde can
+dispose of you as he thinks proper.  You must, however, pay for
+your escort; for it is not to be supposed that the housekeepers of
+Finisterra have nothing else to do than to ramble about the country
+with every chance fellow who finds his way to this town."  "As for
+that matter," said Antonio, "I will take charge of them both.  I am
+the valiente of Finisterra, and fear no two men living.  Moreover,
+I am sure that the captain here will make it worth my while, else
+he is no Englishman.  Therefore let us be quick and set out for
+Corcuvion at once, as it is getting late.  First of all, however,
+captain, I must search you and your baggage.  You have no arms, of
+course?  But it is best to make all sure."
+
+Long ere it was dark I found myself again on the pony, in company
+with my guide, wending our way along the beach in the direction of
+Corcuvion.  Antonio de la Trava tramped heavily on before, his
+musket on his shoulder.
+
+Myself.--Are you not afraid, Antonio, to be thus alone with two
+prisoners, one of whom is on horseback?  If we were to try, I think
+we could overpower you.
+
+Antonio de la Trava.--I am the valiente do Finisterra, and I fear
+no odds.
+
+Myself.--Why do you call yourself the valiente of Finisterra?
+
+Antonio de la Trava.--The whole district call me so.  When the
+French came to Finisterra, and demolished the fort, three perished
+by my hand.  I stood on the mountain, up where I saw you scrambling
+to-day.  I continued firing at the enemy, until three detached
+themselves in pursuit of me.  The fools! two perished amongst the
+rocks by the fire of this musket, and as for the third, I beat his
+head to pieces with the stock.  It is on that account that they
+call me the valiente of Finisterra.
+
+Myself.--How came you to serve with the English fleet?  I think I
+heard you say that you were present when Nelson fell.
+
+Antonio de la Trava.--I was captured by your countrymen, captain;
+and as I had been a sailor from my childhood, they were glad of my
+services.  I was nine months with them, and assisted at Trafalgar.
+I saw the English admiral die.  You have something of his face, and
+your voice, when you spoke, sounded in my ears like his own.  I
+love the English, and on that account I saved you.  Think not that
+I would toil along these sands with you if you were one of my own
+countrymen.  Here we are at Duyo, captain.  Shall we refresh?
+
+We did refresh, or rather Antonio de la Trava refreshed, swallowing
+pan after pan of wine, with a thirst which seemed unquenchable.
+"That man was a greater wizard than myself," whispered Sebastian,
+my guide, "who told us that the drunkards of Finisterra would play
+us a trick."  At length the old hero of the Cape slowly rose,
+saying, that we must hasten on to Corcuvion, or the night would
+overtake us by the way.
+
+"What kind of person is the alcalde to whom you are conducting me?"
+said I.
+
+"Oh, very different from him of Finisterra," replied Antonio.
+"This is a young Senorito, lately arrived from Madrid.  He is not
+even a Gallegan.  He is a mighty liberal, and it is owing chiefly
+to his orders that we have lately been so much on the alert.  It is
+said that the Carlists are meditating a descent on these parts of
+Galicia.  Let them only come to Finisterra, we are liberals there
+to a man, and the old valiente is ready to play the same part as in
+the time of the French.  But, as I was telling you before, the
+alcalde to whom I am conducting you is a young man, and very
+learned, and if he thinks proper, he can speak English to you, even
+better than myself, notwithstanding I was a friend of Nelson, and
+fought by his side at Trafalgar."
+
+It was dark night before we reached Corcuvion.  Antonio again
+stopped to refresh at a wine-shop, after which he conducted us to
+the house of the alcalde.  His steps were by this time not
+particularly steady, and on arriving at the gate of the house, he
+stumbled over the threshold and fell.  He got up with an oath, and
+instantly commenced thundering at the door with the stock of his
+musket.  "Who is it?" at length demanded a soft female voice in
+Gallegan.  "The valiente of Finisterra," replied Antonio; whereupon
+the gate was unlocked, and we beheld before us a very pretty female
+with a candle in her hand.  "What brings you here so late,
+Antonio?" she inquired.  "I bring two prisoners, mi pulida,"
+replied Antonio.  "Ave Maria!" she exclaimed, "I hope they will do
+no harm."  "I will answer for one," replied the old man; "but, as
+for the other, he is a nuveiro, and has sunk more ships than all
+his brethren in Galicia.  But be not afraid, my beauty," he
+continued, as the female made the sign of the cross:  "first lock
+the gate, and then show me the way to the alcalde.  I have much to
+tell him."  The gate was locked, and bidding us stay below in the
+courtyard, Antonio followed the young woman up a stone stair,
+whilst we remained in darkness below.
+
+After the lapse of about a quarter of an hour we again saw the
+candle gleam upon the staircase, and the young female appeared.
+Coming up to me, she advanced the candle to my features, on which
+she gazed very intently.  After a long scrutiny she went to my
+guide, and having surveyed him still more fixedly, she turned to
+me, and said, in her best Spanish, "Senhor Cavalier, I congratulate
+you on your servant.  He is the best-looking mozo in all Galicia.
+Vaya! if he had but a coat to his back, and did not go barefoot, I
+would accept him at once as a novio; but I have unfortunately made
+a vow never to marry a poor man, but only one who has got a heavy
+purse and can buy me fine clothes.  So you are a Carlist, I
+suppose?  Vaya! I do not like you the worse for that.  But, being
+so, how went you to Finisterra, where they are all Christinos and
+negros?  Why did you not go to my village?  None would have meddled
+with you there.  Those of my village are of a different stamp to
+the drunkards of Finisterra.  Those of my village never interfere
+with honest people.  Vaya! how I hate that drunkard of Finisterra
+who brought you, he is so old and ugly; were it not for the love
+which I bear to the Senhor Alcalde, I would at once unlock the gate
+and bid you go forth, you and your servant, the buen mozo."
+
+Antonio now descended.  "Follow me," said he; "his worship the
+alcalde will be ready to receive you in a moment."  Sebastian and
+myself followed him upstairs to a room where, seated behind a
+table, we beheld a young man of low stature but handsome features
+and very fashionably dressed.  He appeared to be inditing a letter,
+which, when he had concluded, he delivered to a secretary to be
+transcribed.  He then looked at me for a moment fixedly, and the
+following conversation ensued between us:-
+
+Alcalde.--I see that you are an Englishman, and my friend Antonio
+here informs me that you have been arrested at Finisterra.
+
+Myself.--He tells you true; and but for him I believe that I should
+have fallen by the hands of those savage fishermen.
+
+Alcalde.--The inhabitants of Finisterra are brave, and are all
+liberals.  Allow me to look at your passport?  Yes, all in form.
+Truly it was very ridiculous that they should have arrested you as
+a Carlist.
+
+Myself.--Not only as a Carlist, but as Don Carlos himself.
+
+Alcalde.--Oh! most ridiculous; mistake a countryman of the grand
+Baintham for such a Goth!
+
+Myself.--Excuse me, Sir, you speak of the grand somebody.
+
+Alcalde.--The grand Baintham.  He who has invented laws for all the
+world.  I hope shortly to see them adopted in this unhappy country
+of ours.
+
+Myself.--Oh! you mean Jeremy Bentham.  Yes! a very remarkable man
+in his way.
+
+Alcalde.--In his way!  In all ways.  The most universal genius
+which the world ever produced:- a Solon, a Plato, and a Lope de
+Vega.
+
+Myself.--I have never read his writings.  I have no doubt that he
+was a Solon; and as you say, a Plato.  I should scarcely have
+thought, however, that he could be ranked as a poet with Lope de
+Vega.
+
+Alcalde.--How surprising!  I see, indeed, that you know nothing of
+his writings, though an Englishman.  Now, here am I, a simple
+alcalde of Galicia, yet I possess all the writings of Baintham on
+that shelf, and I study them day and night.
+
+Myself.--You doubtless, Sir, possess the English Language.
+
+Alcalde.--I do.  I mean that part of it which is contained in the
+writings of Baintham.  I am most truly glad to see a countryman of
+his in these Gothic wildernesses.  I understand and appreciate your
+motives for visiting them:  excuse the incivility and rudeness
+which you have experienced.  But we will endeavour to make you
+reparation.  You are this moment free:  but it is late; I must find
+you a lodging for the night.  I know one close by which will just
+suit you.  Let us repair thither this moment.  Stay, I think I see
+a book in your hand.
+
+Myself.--The New Testament.
+
+Alcalde.--What book is that?
+
+Myself.--A portion of the sacred writings, the Bible.
+
+Alcalde.--Why do you carry such a book with you?
+
+Myself.--One of my principal motives in visiting Finisterra was to
+carry this book to that wild place.
+
+Alcalde.--Ha, ha! how very singular.  Yes, I remember.  I have
+heard that the English highly prize this eccentric book.  How very
+singular that the countrymen of the grand Baintham should set any
+value upon that old monkish book.
+
+It was now late at night, and my new friend attended me to the
+lodging which he had destined for me, and which was at the house of
+a respectable old female, where I found a clean and comfortable
+room.  On the way I slipped a gratuity into the hand of Antonio,
+and on my arrival, formally, and in the presence of the alcalde,
+presented him with the Testament, which I requested he would carry
+back to Finisterra, and keep in remembrance of the Englishman in
+whose behalf he had so effectually interposed.
+
+Antonio.--I will do so, your worship; and when the winds blow from
+the north-west, preventing our launches from putting to sea, I will
+read your present.  Farewell, my captain, and when you next come to
+Finisterra I hope it will be in a valiant English bark, with plenty
+of contrabando on board, and not across the country on a pony, in
+company with nuveiros and men of Padron.
+
+Presently arrived the handmaid of the alcalde with a basket, which
+she took into the kitchen, where she prepared an excellent supper
+for her master's friend.  On its being served up the alcalde bade
+me farewell, having first demanded whether he could in any way
+forward my plans.
+
+"I return to Saint James to-morrow," I replied, "and I sincerely
+hope that some occasion will occur which will enable me to acquaint
+the world with the hospitality which I have experienced from so
+accomplished a scholar as the Alcalde of Corcuvion."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+
+Coruna--Crossing the Bay--Ferrol--The Dockyard--Where are we now?--
+Greek Ambassador--Lantern-light--The Ravine--Viveiro--Evening--
+Marsh and Quagmire--Fair Words and Fair Money--The Leathern Girth--
+Eyes of Lynx--The Knavish Guide.
+
+From Corcuvion I returned to Saint James and Coruna, and now began
+to make preparation for directing my course to the Asturias.  In
+the first place I parted with my Andalusian horse, which I
+considered unfit for the long and mountainous journey I was about
+to undertake; his constitution having become much debilitated from
+his Gallegan travels.  Owing to horses being exceedingly scarce at
+Coruna, I had no difficulty in disposing of him at a far higher
+price than he originally cost me.  A young and wealthy merchant of
+Coruna, who was a national guardsman, became enamoured of his
+glossy skin and long mane and tail.  For my own part, I was glad to
+part with him for more reasons than one; he was both vicious and
+savage, and was continually getting me into scrapes in the stables
+of the posadas where we slept or baited.  An old Castilian peasant,
+whose pony he had maltreated, once said to me, "Sir Cavalier, if
+you have any love or respect for yourself, get rid I beseech you of
+that beast, who is capable of proving the ruin of a kingdom."  So I
+left him behind at Coruna, where I subsequently learned that he
+became glandered and died.  Peace to his memory!
+
+From Coruna I crossed the bay to Ferrol, whilst Antonio with our
+remaining horse followed by land, a rather toilsome and circuitous
+journey, although the distance by water is scarcely three leagues.
+I was very sea-sick during the passage, and lay almost senseless at
+the bottom of the small launch in which I had embarked, and which
+was crowded with people.  The wind was adverse, and the water
+rough.  We could make no sail, but were impelled along by the oars
+of five or six stout mariners, who sang all the while Gallegan
+ditties.  Suddenly the sea appeared to have become quite smooth,
+and my sickness at once deserted me.  I rose upon my feet and
+looked around.  We were in one of the strangest places imaginable.
+A long and narrow passage overhung on either side by a stupendous
+barrier of black and threatening rocks.  The line of the coast was
+here divided by a natural cleft, yet so straight and regular that
+it seemed not the work of chance but design.  The water was dark
+and sullen, and of immense depth.  This passage, which is about a
+mile in length, is the entrance to a broad basin, at whose farther
+extremity stands the town of Ferrol.
+
+Sadness came upon me as soon as I entered this place.  Grass was
+growing in the streets, and misery and distress stared me in the
+face on every side.  Ferrol is the grand naval arsenal of Spain,
+and has shared in the ruin of the once splendid Spanish navy:  it
+is no longer thronged with those thousand shipwrights who prepared
+for sea the tremendous three-deckers and long frigates, the greater
+part of which were destroyed at Trafalgar.  Only a few ill-paid and
+half-starved workmen still linger about, scarcely sufficient to
+repair any guarda costa which may put in dismantled by the fire of
+some English smuggling schooner from Gibraltar.  Half the
+inhabitants of Ferrol beg their bread; and amongst these, as it is
+said, are not unfrequently found retired naval officers, many of
+them maimed or otherwise wounded, who are left to pine in
+indigence; their pensions or salaries having been allowed to run
+three or four years in arrear, owing to the exigencies of the
+times.  A crowd of importunate beggars followed me to the posada,
+and even attempted to penetrate to the apartment to which I was
+conducted.  "Who are you?" said I to a woman who flung herself at
+my feet, and who bore in her countenance evident marks of former
+gentility.  "A widow, sir," she replied, in very good French; "a
+widow of a brave officer, once admiral of this port."  The misery
+and degradation of modern Spain are nowhere so strikingly
+manifested as at Ferrol.
+
+Yet even here there is still much to admire.  Notwithstanding its
+present state of desolation, it contains some good streets, and
+abounds with handsome houses.  The alameda is planted with nearly a
+thousand elms, of which almost all are magnificent trees, and the
+poor Ferrolese, with the genuine spirit of localism so prevalent in
+Spain, boast that their town contains a better public walk than
+Madrid, of whose prado, when they compare the two, they speak in
+terms of unmitigated contempt.  At one end of this alameda stands
+the church, the only one in Ferrol.  To this church I repaired the
+day after my arrival, which was Sunday.  I found it quite
+insufficient to contain the number of worshippers who, chiefly from
+the country, not only crowded the interior, but, bare-headed, were
+upon their knees before the door to a considerable distance down
+the walk.
+
+Parallel with the alameda extends the wall of the naval arsenal and
+dock.  I spent several hours in walking about these places, to
+visit which it is necessary to procure a written permission from
+the captain-general of Ferrol.  They filled me with astonishment.
+I have seen the royal dockyards of Russia and England, but for
+grandeur of design and costliness of execution, they cannot for a
+moment compare with these wonderful monuments of the bygone naval
+pomp of Spain.  I shall not attempt to describe them, but content
+myself with observing, that the oblong basin, which is surrounded
+with a granite mole, is capacious enough to permit a hundred first-
+rates to lie conveniently in ordinary:  but instead of such a
+force, I saw only a sixty-gun frigate and two brigs lying in this
+basin, and to this inconsiderable number of vessels is the present
+war marine of Spain reduced.
+
+I waited for the arrival of Antonio two or three days at Ferrol,
+and still he came not:  late one evening, however, as I was looking
+down the street, I perceived him advancing, leading our only horse
+by the bridle.  He informed me that, at about three leagues from
+Coruna, the heat of the weather and the flies had so distressed the
+animal that it had fallen down in a kind of fit, from which it had
+been only relieved by copious bleeding, on which account he had
+been compelled to halt for a day upon the road.  The horse was
+evidently in a very feeble state; and had a strange rattling in its
+throat, which alarmed me it first.  I however administered some
+remedies, and in a few days deemed him sufficiently recovered to
+proceed.
+
+We accordingly started from Ferrol; having first hired a pony for
+myself, and a guide who was to attend us as far as Rivadeo, twenty
+leagues from Ferrol, and on the confines of the Asturias.  The day
+at first was fine, but ere we reached Novales, a distance of three
+leagues, the sky became overcast, and a mist descended, accompanied
+by a drizzling rain.  The country through which we passed was very
+picturesque.  At about two in the afternoon we could descry through
+the mist the small fishing town of Santa Marta on our left, with
+its beautiful bay.  Travelling along the summit of a line of hills,
+we presently entered a chestnut forest, which appeared to be
+without limit:  the rain still descended, and kept up a ceaseless
+pattering among the broad green leaves.  "This is the commencement
+of the autumnal rains," said the guide.  "Many is the wetting that
+you will get, my masters, before you reach Oviedo."  "Have you ever
+been as far as Oviedo?" I demanded.  "No," he replied, "and once
+only to Rivadeo, the place to which I am now conducting you, and I
+tell you frankly that we shall soon be in wildernesses where the
+way is hard to find, especially at night, and amidst rain and
+waters.  I wish I were fairly back to Ferrol, for I like not this
+route, which is the worst in Galicia, in more respects than one;
+but where my master's pony goes, there must I go too; such is the
+life of us guides."  I shrugged my shoulders at this intelligence,
+which was by no means cheering, but made no answer.  At length,
+about nightfall, we emerged from the forest, and presently
+descended into a deep valley at the foot of lofty hills.
+
+"Where are we now?" I demanded of the guide, as we crossed a rude
+bridge at the bottom of the valley, down which a rivulet swollen by
+the rain foamed and roared.  "In the valley of Coisa doiro," he
+replied; "and it is my advice that we stay here for the night, and
+do not venture among those hills, through which lies the path to
+Viveiro; for as soon as we get there, adios!  I shall be
+bewildered, which will prove the destruction of us all."  "Is there
+a village nigh?"  "Yes, the village is right before us, and we
+shall be there in a moment."  We soon reached the village, which
+stood amongst some tall trees at the entrance of a pass which led
+up amongst the hills.  Antonio dismounted and entered two or three
+of the cabins, but presently came to me, saying, "We cannot stay
+here, mon maitre, without being devoured by vermin; we had better
+be amongst the hills than in this place; there is neither fire nor
+light in these cabins, and the rain is streaming through the
+roofs."  The guide, however, refused to proceed:  "I could scarcely
+find my way amongst those hills by daylight," he cried, surlily,
+"much less at night, midst storm and bretima."  We procured some
+wine and maize bread from one of the cottages.  Whilst we were
+partaking of these, Antonio said, "Mon maitre, the best thing we
+can do in our present situation, is to hire some fellow of this
+village to conduct us through the hills to Viveiro.  There are no
+beds in this place, and if we lie down in the litter in our damp
+clothes we shall catch a tertian of Galicia.  Our present guide is
+of no service, we must therefore find another to do his duty."
+Without waiting for a reply, he flung down the crust of broa which
+he was munching and disappeared.  I subsequently learned that he
+went to the cottage of the alcalde, and demanded, in the Queen's
+name, a guide for the Greek ambassador, who was benighted on his
+way to the Asturias.  In about ten minutes I again saw him,
+attended by the local functionary, who, to my surprise, made me a
+profound bow, and stood bare-headed in the rain.  "His excellency,"
+shouted Antonio, "is in need of a guide to Viveiro.  People of our
+description are not compelled to pay for any service which they may
+require; however, as his excellency has bowels of compassion, he is
+willing to give three pesetas to any competent person who will
+accompany him to Viveiro, and as much bread and wine as he can eat
+and drink on his arrival."  "His excellency shall be served," said
+the alcalde; "however, as the way is long and the path is bad, and
+there is much bretima amongst the hills, it appears to me that,
+besides the bread and wine, his excellency can do no less than
+offer four pesetas to the guide who may be willing to accompany him
+to Viveiro; and I know no one better than my own son-in-law,
+Juanito."  "Content, senor alcalde," I replied; "produce the guide,
+and the extra peseta shall be forthcoming in due season."
+
+Soon appeared Juanito with a lantern in his hand.  We instantly set
+forward.  The two guides began conversing in Gallegan.  "Mon
+maitre," said Antonio, "this new scoundrel is asking the old one
+what he thinks we have got in our portmanteaus."  Then, without
+awaiting my answer, he shouted, "Pistols, ye barbarians!  Pistols,
+as ye shall learn to your cost, if you do not cease speaking in
+that gibberish and converse in Castilian."  The Gallegans were
+silent, and presently the first guide dropped behind, whilst the
+other with the lantern moved before.  "Keep in the rear," said
+Antonio to the former, "and at a distance:  know one thing
+moreover, that I can see behind as well as before.  Mon maitre,"
+said he to me, "I don't suppose these fellows will attempt to do us
+any harm, more especially as they do not know each other; it is
+well, however, to separate them, for this is a time and place which
+might tempt any one to commit robbery and murder too."
+
+The rain still continued to fall uninterruptedly, the path was
+rugged and precipitous, and the night was so dark that we could
+only see indistinctly the hills which surrounded us.  Once or twice
+our guide seemed to have lost his way:  he stopped, muttered to
+himself, raised his lantern on high, and would then walk slowly and
+hesitatingly forward.  In this manner we proceeded for three or
+four hours, when I asked the guide how far we were from Viveiro.
+"I do not know exactly where we are, your worship," he replied,
+"though I believe we are in the route.  We can scarcely, however,
+be less than two mad leagues from Viveiro."  "Then we shall not
+arrive there before morning," interrupted Antonio, "for a mad
+league of Galicia means at least two of Castile; and perhaps we are
+doomed never to arrive there, if the way thither leads down this
+precipice."  As he spoke, the guide seemed to descend into the
+bowels of the earth.  "Stop," said I, "where are you going?"  "To
+Viveiro, Senhor," replied the fellow; "this is the way to Viveiro,
+there is no other; I now know where we are."  The light of the
+lantern shone upon the dark red features of the guide, who had
+turned round to reply, as he stood some yards down the side of a
+dingle or ravine overgrown with thick trees, beneath whose leafy
+branches a frightfully steep path descended.  I dismounted from the
+pony, and delivering the bridle to the other guide, said, "Here is
+your master's horse, if you please you may load him down that
+abyss, but as for myself I wash my hands of the matter."  The
+fellow, without a word of reply, vaulted into the saddle, and with
+a vamos, Perico! to the pony, impelled the creature to the descent.
+"Come, Senhor," said he with the lantern, "there is no time to be
+lost, my light will be presently extinguished, and this is the
+worst bit in the whole road."  I thought it very probable that he
+was about to lead us to some den of cut-throats, where we might be
+sacrificed; but taking courage, I seized our own horse by the
+bridle, and followed the fellow down the ravine amidst rocks and
+brambles.  The descent lasted nearly ten minutes, and ere we had
+entirely accomplished it, the light in the lantern went out, and we
+remained in nearly total darkness.
+
+Encouraged, however, by the guide, who assured us there was no
+danger, we at length reached the bottom of the ravine; here we
+encountered a rill of water, through which we were compelled to
+wade as high as the knee.  In the midst of the water I looked up
+and caught a glimpse of the heavens through the branches of the
+trees, which all around clothed the shelving sides of the ravine
+and completely embowered the channel of the stream:  to a place
+more strange and replete with gloom and horror no benighted
+traveller ever found his way.  After a short pause we commenced
+scaling the opposite bank, which we did not find so steep as the
+other, and a few minutes' exertion brought us to the top.
+
+Shortly afterwards the rain abated, and the moon arising cast a dim
+light through the watery mists; the way had become less
+precipitous, and in about two hours we descended to the shore of an
+extensive creek, along which we proceeded till we reached a spot
+where many boats and barges lay with their keels upward upon the
+sand.  Presently we beheld before us the walls of Viveiro, upon
+which the moon was shedding its sickly lustre.  We entered by a
+lofty and seemingly ruinous archway, and the guide conducted us at
+once to the posada.
+
+Every person in Viveiro appeared to be buried in profound slumber;
+not so much as a dog saluted us with his bark.  After much knocking
+we were admitted into the posada, a large and dilapidated edifice.
+We had scarcely housed ourselves and horses when the rain began to
+fall with yet more violence than before, attended with much thunder
+and lightning.  Antonio and I, exhausted with fatigue, betook
+ourselves to flock beds in a ruinous chamber, into which the rain
+penetrated through many a cranny, whilst the guides ate bread and
+drank wine till the morning.
+
+When I arose I was gladdened by the sight of a fine day.  Antonio
+forthwith prepared a savoury breakfast of stewed fowl, of which we
+stood in much need after the ten league journey of the preceding
+day over the ways which I have attempted to describe.  I then
+walked out to view the town, which consists of little more than one
+long street, on the side of a steep mountain thickly clad with
+forests and fruit trees.  At about ten we continued our journey,
+accompanied by our first guide, the other having returned to Coisa
+doiro some hours previously.
+
+Our route throughout this day was almost constantly within sight of
+the shores of the Cantabrian sea, whose windings we followed.  The
+country was barren, and in many parts covered with huge stones:
+cultivated spots, however, were to be seen, where vines were
+growing.  We met with but few human habitations.  We however
+journeyed on cheerfully, for the sun was once more shining in full
+brightness, gilding the wild moors, and shining upon the waters of
+the distant sea, which lay in unruffled calmness.
+
+At evening fall we were in the neighbourhood of the shore, with a
+range of wood-covered hills on our right.  Our guide led us towards
+a creek bordered by a marsh, but he soon stopped and declared that
+he did not know whither he was conducting us.
+
+"Mon maitre," said Antonio, "let us be our own guides; it is, as
+you see, of no use to depend upon this fellow, whose whole science
+consists in leading people into quagmires."
+
+We therefore turned aside and proceeded along the marsh for a
+considerable distance, till we reached a narrow path which led us
+into a thick wood, where we soon became completely bewildered.  On
+a sudden, after wandering about a considerable time, we heard the
+noise of water, and presently the clack of a wheel.  Following the
+sound, we arrived at a low stone mill, built over a brook; here we
+stopped and shouted, but no answer was returned.  "The place is
+deserted," said Antonio; "here, however, is a path, which, if we
+follow it, will doubtless lead us to some human habitation."  So we
+went along the path, which, in about ten minutes, brought us to the
+door of a cabin, in which we saw lights.  Antonio dismounted and
+opened the door:  "Is there any one here who can conduct us to
+Rivadeo?" he demanded.
+
+"Senhor," answered a voice, "Rivadeo is more than five leagues from
+here, and, moreover, there is a river to cross!"
+
+"Then to the next village," continued Antonio.
+
+"I am a vecino of the next village, which is on the way to
+Rivadeo," said another voice, "and I will lead you thither, if you
+will give me fair words, and, what is better, fair money."
+
+A man now came forth, holding in his hand a large stick.  He strode
+sturdily before us, and in less than half an hour led us out of the
+wood.  In another half hour he brought us to a group of cabins
+situated near the sea; he pointed to one of these, and having
+received a peseta, bade us farewell.
+
+The people of the cottage willingly consented to receive us for the
+night:  it was much more cleanly and commodious than the wretched
+huts of the Gallegan peasantry in general.  The ground floor
+consisted of a keeping room and stable, whilst above was a long
+loft, in which were some neat and comfortable flock beds.  I
+observed several masts and sails of boats.  The family consisted of
+two brothers with their wives and families; one was a fisherman,
+but the other, who appeared to be the principal person, informed me
+that he had resided for many years in service at Madrid, and having
+amassed a small sum, he had at length returned to his native
+village, where he had purchased some land which he farmed.  All the
+family used the Castilian language in their common discourse, and
+on inquiry I learned that the Gallegan was not much spoken in that
+neighbourhood.  I have forgotten the name of this village, which is
+situated on the estuary of the Foz, which rolls down from
+Mondonedo.  In the morning we crossed this estuary in a large boat
+with our horses, and about noon arrived at Rivadeo.
+
+"Now, your worship," said the guide who had accompanied us from
+Ferrol, "I have brought you as far as I bargained, and a hard
+journey it has been; I therefore hope you will suffer Perico and
+myself to remain here to-night at your expense, and to-morrow we
+will go back; at present we are both sorely tired."
+
+"I never mounted a better pony than Perico," said I, "and never met
+with a worse guide than yourself.  You appear to be perfectly
+ignorant of the country, and have done nothing but bring us into
+difficulties.  You may, however, stay here for the night, as you
+say you are tired, and to-morrow you may return to Ferrol, where I
+counsel you to adopt some other trade."  This was said at the door
+of the posada of Rivadeo.
+
+"Shall I lead the horses to a stable?" said the fellow.
+
+"As you please," said I.
+
+Antonio looked after him for a moment, as he was leading the
+animals away, and then shaking his head followed slowly after.  In
+about a quarter of an hour he returned, laden with the furniture of
+our own horse, and with a smile upon his countenance:  "Mon
+maitre," said he, "I have throughout the journey had a bad opinion
+of this fellow, and now I have detected him:  his motive in
+requesting permission to stay, was a desire to purloin something
+from us.  He was very officious in the stable about our horse, and
+I now miss the new leathern girth which secured the saddle, and
+which I observed him looking at frequently on the road.  He has by
+this time doubtless hid it somewhere; we are quite secure of him,
+however, for he has not yet received the hire for the pony, nor the
+gratuity for himself."
+
+The guide returned just as he had concluded speaking.  Dishonesty
+is always suspicious.  The fellow cast a glance upon us, and
+probably beholding in our countenances something which he did not
+like, he suddenly said, "Give me the horse-hire and my own propina,
+for Perico and I wish to be off instantly."
+
+"How is this?" said I; "I thought you and Perico were both
+fatigued, and wished to rest here for the night; you have soon
+recovered from your weariness."
+
+"I have thought over the matter," said the fellow, "and my master
+will be angry if I loiter here:  pay us, therefore, and let us go."
+
+"Certainly," said I, "if you wish it.  Is the horse furniture all
+right?"
+
+"Quite so," said he; "I delivered it all to your servant."
+
+"It is all here," said Antonio, "with the exception of the leathern
+girth."
+
+"I have not got it," said the guide.
+
+"Of course not," said I.  "Let us proceed to the stable, we shall
+perhaps find it there."
+
+To the stable we went, which we searched through:  no girth,
+however, was forthcoming.  "He has got it buckled round his middle
+beneath his pantaloons, mon maitre," said Antonio, whose eyes were
+moving about like those of a lynx; "I saw the protuberance as he
+stooped down.  However, let us take no notice:  he is here
+surrounded by his countrymen, who, if we were to seize him, might
+perhaps take his part.  As I said before, he is in our power, as we
+have not paid him."
+
+The fellow now began to talk in Gallegan to the by-standers
+(several persons having collected), wishing the Denho to take him
+if he knew anything of the missing property.  Nobody, however,
+seemed inclined to take his part; and those who listened, only
+shrugged their shoulders.  We returned to the portal of the posada,
+the fellow following us, clamouring for the horse-hire and propina.
+We made him no answer, and at length he went away, threatening to
+apply to the justicia; in about ten minutes, however, he came
+running back with the girth in his hand:  "I have just found it,"
+said he, "in the street:  your servant dropped it."
+
+I took the leather and proceeded very deliberately to count out the
+sum to which the horse-hire amounted, and having delivered it to
+him in the presence of witnesses, I said, "During the whole journey
+you have been of no service to us whatever; nevertheless, you have
+fared like ourselves, and have had all you could desire to eat and
+drink.  I intended, on your leaving us, to present you, moreover,
+with a propina of two dollars; but since, notwithstanding our kind
+treatment, you endeavoured to pillage us, I will not give you a
+cuarto:  go, therefore, about your business."
+
+All the audience expressed their satisfaction at this sentence, and
+told him that he had been rightly served, and that he was a
+disgrace to Galicia.  Two or three women crossed themselves, and
+asked him if he was not afraid that the Denho, whom he had invoked,
+would take him away.  At last, a respectable-looking man said to
+him:  "Are you not ashamed to have attempted to rob two innocent
+strangers?"
+
+"Strangers!" roared the fellow, who was by this time foaming with
+rage; "Innocent strangers, carracho! they know more of Spain and
+Galicia too than the whole of us.  Oh, Denho, that servant is no
+man but a wizard, a nuveiro.--Where is Perico?"
+
+He mounted Perico, and proceeded forthwith to another posada.  The
+tale, however, of his dishonesty had gone before him, and no person
+would house him; whereupon he returned on his steps, and seeing me
+looking out of the window of the house, he gave a savage shout, and
+shaking his fist at me, galloped out of the town, the people
+pursuing him with hootings and revilings.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+
+Martin of Rivadeo--The Factious Mare--Asturians--Luarca--The Seven
+Bellotas--Hermits--The Asturian's Tale--Strange Guests--The Big
+Servant--Batuschca
+
+"What may your business be?" said I to a short, thick, merry-faced
+fellow in a velveteen jerkin and canvas pantaloons, who made his
+way into my apartment, in the dusk of the evening.
+
+"I am Martin of Rivadeo, your worship," replied the man, "an
+alquilador by profession; I am told that you want a horse for your
+journey into the Asturias to-morrow, and of course a guide:  now,
+if that be the case, I counsel you to hire myself and mare."
+
+"I am become tired of guides," I replied; "so much so that I was
+thinking of purchasing a pony, and proceeding without any guide at
+all.  The last which we had was an infamous character."
+
+"So I have been told, your worship, and it was well for the bribon
+that I was not in Rivadeo when the affair to which you allude
+occurred.  But he was gone with the pony Perico before I came back,
+or I would have bled the fellow to a certainty with my knife.  He
+is a disgrace to the profession, which is one of the most
+honourable and ancient in the world.  Perico himself must have been
+ashamed of him, for Perico, though a pony, is a gentleman, one of
+many capacities, and well known upon the roads.  He is only
+inferior to my mare."
+
+"Are you well acquainted with the road to Oviedo?" I demanded.
+
+"I am not, your worship; that is, no farther than Luarca, which is
+the first day's journey.  I do not wish to deceive you, therefore
+let me go with you no farther than that place; though perhaps I
+might serve for the whole journey, for though I am unacquainted
+with the country, I have a tongue in my head, and nimble feet to
+run and ask questions.  I will, however, answer for myself no
+farther than Luarca, where you can please yourselves.  Your being
+strangers is what makes me wish to accompany you, for I like the
+conversation of strangers, from whom I am sure to gain information
+both entertaining and profitable.  I wish, moreover, to convince
+you that we guides of Galicia are not all thieves, which I am sure
+you will not suppose if you only permit me to accompany you as far
+as Luarca."
+
+I was so much struck with the fellow's good humour and frankness,
+and more especially by the originality of character displayed in
+almost every sentence which he uttered, that I readily engaged him
+to guide us to Luarca; whereupon he left me, promising to be ready
+with his mare at eight next morning.
+
+Rivadeo is one of the principal seaports of Galicia, and is
+admirably situated for commerce, on a deep firth, into which the
+river Mirando debouches.  It contains many magnificent buildings,
+and an extensive square or plaza, which is planted with trees.  I
+observed several vessels in the harbour; and the population, which
+is rather numerous, exhibited none of those marks of misery and
+dejection which I had lately observed among the Ferrolese.
+
+On the morrow Martin of Rivadeo made his appearance at the
+appointed hour with his mare.  It was a lean haggard animal, not
+much larger than a pony; it had good points, however, and was very
+clean in its hinder legs, and Martin insisted that it was the best
+animal of its kind in all Spain.  "It is a factious mare," said he,
+"and I believe an Alavese.  When the Carlists came here it fell
+lame, and they left it behind, and I purchased it for a dollar.  It
+is not lame now, however, as you shall soon see."
+
+We had now reached the firth which divides Galicia from the
+Asturias.  A kind of barge was lying about two yards from the side
+of the quay, waiting to take us over.  Towards this Martin led his
+mare, and giving an encouraging shout, the creature without any
+hesitation sprang over the intervening space into the barge.  "I
+told you she was a facciosa," said Martin; "none but a factious
+animal would have taken such a leap."
+
+We all embarked in the barge and crossed over the firth, which is
+in this place nearly a mile broad, to Castro Pol, the first town in
+the Asturias.  I now mounted the factious mare, whilst Antonio
+followed on my own horse.  Martin led the way, exchanging jests
+with every person whom he met on the road, and occasionally
+enlivening the way with an extemporaneous song.
+
+We were now in the Asturias, and about noon we reached Navias, a
+small fishing town, situate on a ria or firth; in the neighbourhood
+are ragged mountains, called the Sierra de Buron, which stand in
+the shape of a semi-circle.  We saw a small vessel in the harbour,
+which we subsequently learned was from the Basque provinces, come
+for a cargo of cider or sagadua, the beverage so dearly loved by
+the Basques.  As we passed along the narrow street, Antonio was
+hailed with an "Ola" from a species of shop in which three men,
+apparently shoemakers, were seated.  He stopped for some time to
+converse with them, and when he joined us at the posada where we
+halted, I asked him who they were:  "Mon maitre," said he, "ce sont
+des messieurs de ma connoissance.  I have been fellow servant at
+different times with all three; and I tell you beforehand, that we
+shall scarcely pass through a village in this country where I shall
+not find an acquaintance.  All the Asturians, at some period of
+their lives, make a journey to Madrid, where, if they can obtain a
+situation, they remain until they have scraped up sufficient to
+turn to advantage in their own country; and as I have served in all
+the great houses in Madrid, I am acquainted with the greatest part
+of them.  I have nothing to say against the Asturians, save that
+they are close and penurious whilst at service; but they are not
+thieves, neither at home nor abroad, and though we must have our
+wits about us in their country, I have heard we may travel from one
+end of it to the other without the slightest fear of being either
+robbed or ill treated, which is not the case in Galicia, where we
+were always in danger of having our throats cut."
+
+Leaving Navias, we proceeded through a wild desolate country, till
+we reached the pass of Baralla, which lies up the side of a huge
+wall of rocks, which at a distance appear of a light green colour,
+though perfectly bare of herbage or plants of any description.
+
+"This pass," said Martin of Rivadeo, "bears a very evil reputation,
+and I should not like to travel it after sunset.  It is not
+infested by robbers, but by things much worse, the duendes of two
+friars of Saint Francis.  It is said that in the old time, long
+before the convents were suppressed, two friars of the order of
+Saint Francis left their convent to beg; it chanced that they were
+very successful, but as they were returning at nightfall, by this
+pass, they had a quarrel about what they had collected, each
+insisting that he had done his duty better than the other; at last,
+from high words they fell to abuse, and from abuse to blows.  What
+do you think these demons of friars did?  They took off their
+cloaks, and at the end of each they made a knot, in which they
+placed a large stone, and with these they thrashed and belaboured
+each other till both fell dead.  Master, I know not which are the
+worst plagues, friars, curates, or sparrows:
+
+
+"May the Lord God preserve us from evil birds three:
+From all friars and curates and sparrows that be;
+For the sparrows eat up all the corn that we sow,
+The friars drink down all the wine that we grow,
+Whilst the curates have all the fair dames at their nod:
+From these three evil curses preserve us, Lord God."
+
+
+In about two hours from this time we reached Luarca, the situation
+of which is most singular.  It stands in a deep hollow, whose sides
+are so precipitous that it is impossible to descry the town until
+you stand just above it.  At the northern extremity of this hollow
+is a small harbour, the sea entering it by a narrow cleft.  We
+found a large and comfortable posada, and by the advice of Martin,
+made inquiry for a fresh guide and horse; we were informed,
+however, that all the horses of the place were absent, and that if
+we waited for their return, we must tarry for two days.  "I had a
+presentiment," said Martin, "when we entered Luarca, that we were
+not doomed to part at present.  You must now hire my mare and me as
+far as Giyon, from whence there is a conveyance to Oviedo.  To tell
+you the truth, I am by no means sorry that the guides are absent,
+for I am pleased with your company, as I make no doubt you are with
+mine.  I will now go and write a letter to my wife at Rivadeo,
+informing her that she must not expect to see me back for several
+days."  He then went out of the room singing the following stanza:
+
+
+"A handless man a letter did write,
+A dumb dictated it word for word:
+The person who read it had lost his sight,
+And deaf was he who listened and heard."
+
+
+Early the next morning we emerged from the hollow of Luarca; about
+an hour's riding brought us to Caneiro, a deep and romantic valley
+of rocks, shaded by tall chestnut trees.  Through the midst of this
+valley rushes a rapid stream, which we crossed in a boat.  "There
+is not such a stream for trout in all the Asturias," said the
+ferryman; "look down into the waters and observe the large stones
+over which it flows; now in the proper season and in fine weather,
+you cannot see those stones for the multitude of fish which cover
+them."
+
+Leaving the valley behind us, we entered into a wild and dreary
+country, stony and mountainous.  The day was dull and gloomy, and
+all around looked sad and melancholy.  "Are we in the way for Giyon
+and Oviedo?" demanded Martin of an ancient female, who stood at the
+door of a cottage.
+
+"For Giyon and Oviedo!" replied the crone; "many is the weary step
+you will have to make before you reach Giyon and Oviedo.  You must
+first of all crack the bellotas:  you are just below them."
+
+"What does she mean by cracking the bellotas?" demanded I of Martin
+of Rivadeo.
+
+"Did your worship never hear of the seven bellotas?" replied our
+guide.  "I can scarcely tell you what they are, as I have never
+seen them; I believe they are seven hills which we have to cross,
+and are called bellotas from some resemblance to acorns which it is
+fancied they bear.  I have often heard of these acorns, and am not
+sorry that I have now an opportunity of seeing them, though it is
+said that they are rather hard things for horses to digest."
+
+The Asturian mountains in this part rise to a considerable
+altitude.  They consist for the most part of dark granite, covered
+here and there with a thin layer of earth.  They approach very near
+to the sea, to which they slope down in broken ridges, between
+which are deep and precipitous defiles, each with its rivulet, the
+tribute of the hills to the salt flood.  The road traverses these
+defiles.  There are seven of them, which are called, in the
+language of the country, Las siete bellotas.  Of all these, the
+most terrible is the midmost, down which rolls an impetuous
+torrent.  At the upper end of it rises a precipitous wall of rock,
+black as soot, to the height of several hundred yards; its top, as
+we passed, was enveloped with a veil of bretima.  From this gorge
+branch off, on either side, small dingles or glens, some of them so
+overgrown with trees and copse-wood, that the eye is unable to
+penetrate the obscurity beyond a few yards.
+
+"Fine places would some of these dingles prove for hermitages,"
+said I to Martin of Rivadeo.  "Holy men might lead a happy life
+there on roots and water, and pass many years absorbed in heavenly
+contemplation, without ever being disturbed by the noise and
+turmoil of the world."
+
+"True, your worship," replied Martin; "and perhaps on that very
+account there are no hermitages in the barrancos of the seven
+bellotas.  Our hermits had little inclination for roots and water,
+and had no kind of objection to be occasionally disturbed in their
+meditations.  Vaya! I never yet saw a hermitage that was not hard
+by some rich town or village, or was not a regular resort for all
+the idle people in the neighbourhood.  Hermits are not fond of
+living in dingles, amongst wolves and foxes; for how in that case
+could they dispose of their poultry?  A hermit of my acquaintance
+left, when he died, a fortune of seven hundred dollars to his
+niece, the greatest part of which he scraped up by fattening
+turkeys."
+
+At the top of this bellota we found a wretched venta, where we
+refreshed ourselves, and then continued our journey.  Late in the
+afternoon we cleared the last of these difficult passes.  The wind
+began now to rise, bearing on its wings a drizzling rain.  We
+passed by Soto Luino, and shaping our course through a wild but
+picturesque country, we found ourselves about nightfall at the foot
+of a steep hill, up which led a narrow bridle-way, amidst a grove
+of lofty trees.  Long before we had reached the top it had become
+quite dark, and the rain had increased considerably.  We stumbled
+along in the obscurity, leading our horses, which were occasionally
+down on their knees, owing to the slipperiness of the path.  At
+last we accomplished the ascent in safety, and pushing briskly
+forward, we found ourselves, in about half an hour, at the entrance
+of Muros, a large village situated just on the declivity of the
+farther side of the hill.
+
+A blazing fire in the posada soon dried our wet garments, and in
+some degree recompensed us for the fatigues which we had undergone
+in scrambling up the bellotas.  A rather singular place was this
+same posada of Muros.  It was a large rambling house, with a
+spacious kitchen, or common room, on the ground floor.  Above
+stairs was a large dining-apartment, with an immense oak table, and
+furnished with cumbrous leathern chairs with high backs, apparently
+three centuries old at least.  Communicating with this apartment
+was a wooden gallery, open to the air, which led to a small
+chamber, in which I was destined to sleep, and which contained an
+old-fashioned tester-bed with curtains.  It was just one of those
+inns which romance writers are so fond of introducing in their
+descriptions, especially when the scene of adventure lies in Spain.
+The host was a talkative Asturian.
+
+The wind still howled, and the rain descended in torrents.  I sat
+before the fire in a very drowsy state, from which I was presently
+aroused by the conversation of the host.  "Senor," said he, "it is
+now three years since I beheld foreigners in my house.  I remember
+it was about this time of the year, and just such a night as this,
+that two men on horseback arrived here.  What was singular, they
+came without any guide.  Two more strange-looking individuals I
+never yet beheld with eye-sight.  I shall never forget them.  The
+one was as tall as a giant, with much tawny moustache, like the
+coat of a badger, growing about his mouth.  He had a huge ruddy
+face, and looked dull and stupid, as he no doubt was, for when I
+spoke to him, he did not seem to understand, and answered in a
+jabber, valgame Dios! so wild and strange, that I remained staring
+at him with mouth and eyes open.  The other was neither tall nor
+red-faced, nor had he hair about his mouth, and, indeed, he had
+very little upon his head.  He was very diminutive, and looked like
+a jorobado (hunchback); but, valgame Dios! such eyes, like wild
+cats', so sharp and full of malice.  He spoke as good Spanish as I
+myself do, and yet he was no Spaniard.  A Spaniard never looked
+like that man.  He was dressed in a zamarra, with much silver and
+embroidery, and wore an Andalusian hat, and I soon found that he
+was master, and that the other was servant.
+
+"Valgame Dios! what an evil disposition had that same foreign
+jorobado, and yet he had much grace, much humour, and said
+occasionally to me such comical things, that I was fit to die of
+laughter.  So he sat down to supper in the room above, and I may as
+well tell you here, that he slept in the same chamber where your
+worship will sleep to-night, and his servant waited behind his
+chair.  Well, I had curiosity, so I sat myself down at the table
+too, without asking leave.  Why should I?  I was in my own house,
+and an Asturian is fit company for a king, and is often of better
+blood.  Oh, what a strange supper was that.  If the servant made
+the slightest mistake in helping him, up would start the jorobado,
+jump upon his chair, and seizing the big giant by the hair, would
+cuff him on both sides of the face, till I was afraid his teeth
+would have fallen out.  The giant, however, did not seem to care
+about it much.  He was used to it, I suppose.  Valgame Dios! if he
+had been a Spaniard, he would not have submitted to it so
+patiently.  But what surprised me most was, that after beating his
+servant, the master would sit down, and the next moment would begin
+conversing and laughing with him as if nothing had happened, and
+the giant also would laugh and converse with his master, for all
+the world as if he had not been beaten.
+
+"You may well suppose, Senor, that I understood nothing of their
+discourse, for it was all in that strange unchristian tongue in
+which the giant answered me when I spoke to him; the sound of it is
+still ringing in my ears.  It was nothing like other languages.
+Not like Bascuen, not like the language in which your worship
+speaks to my namesake Signor Antonio here.  Valgame Dios!  I can
+compare it to nothing but the sound a person makes when he rinses
+his mouth with water.  There is one word which I think I still
+remember, for it was continually proceeding from the giant's lips,
+but his master never used it.
+
+"But the strangest part of the story is yet to be told.  The supper
+was ended, and the night was rather advanced, the rain still beat
+against the windows, even as it does at this moment.  Suddenly the
+jorobado pulled out his watch.  Valgame Dios! such a watch!  I will
+tell you one thing, Senor, that I could purchase all the Asturias,
+and Muros besides, with the brilliants which shone about the sides
+of that same watch:  the room wanted no lamp, I trow, so great was
+the splendour which they cast.  So the jorobado looked at his
+watch, and then said to me, I shall go to rest.  He then took the
+lamp and went through the gallery to his room, followed by his big
+servant.  Well, Senor, I cleared away the things, and then waited
+below for the servant, for whom I had prepared a comfortable bed,
+close by my own.  Senor, I waited patiently for an hour, till at
+last my patience was exhausted, and I ascended to the supper
+apartment, and passed through the gallery till I came to the door
+of the strange guest.  Senor, what do you think I saw at the door?"
+
+"How should I know?" I replied.  "His riding boots perhaps."
+
+"No, Senor, I did not see his riding boots; but, stretched on the
+floor with his head against the door, so that it was impossible to
+open it without disturbing him, lay the big servant fast asleep,
+his immense legs reaching nearly the whole length of the gallery.
+I crossed myself, as well I might, for the wind was howling even as
+it is now, and the rain was rushing down into the gallery in
+torrents; yet there lay the big servant fast asleep, without any
+covering, without any pillow, not even a log, stretched out before
+his master's door.
+
+"Senor, I got little rest that night, for I said to myself, I have
+evil wizards in my house, folks who are not human.  Once or twice I
+went up and peeped into the gallery, but there still lay the big
+servant fast asleep, so I crossed myself and returned to my bed
+again."
+
+"Well," said I, "and what occurred next day?"
+
+"Nothing particular occurred next day:  the jorobado came down and
+said comical things to me in good Spanish, and the big servant came
+down, but whatever he said, and he did not say much, I understood
+not, for it was in that disastrous jabber.  They stayed with me
+throughout the day till after supper-time, and then the jorobado
+gave me a gold ounce, and mounting their horses, they both departed
+as strangely as they had come, in the dark night, I know not
+whither."
+
+"Is that all?" I demanded.
+
+"No, Senor, it is not all; for I was right in supposing them evil
+brujos:  the very next day an express arrived and a great search
+was made after them, and I was arrested for having harboured them.
+This occurred just after the present wars had commenced.  It was
+said they were spies and emissaries of I don't know what nation,
+and that they had been in all parts of the Asturias, holding
+conferences with some of the disaffected.  They escaped, however,
+and were never heard of more, though the animals which they rode
+were found without their riders, wandering amongst the hills; they
+were common ponies, and were of no value.  As for the brujos, it is
+believed that they embarked in some small vessel which was lying
+concealed in one of the rias of the coast."
+
+Myself.--What was the word which you continually heard proceeding
+from the lips of the big servant, and which you think you can
+remember?
+
+Host.--Senor, it is now three years since I heard it, and at times
+I can remember it and at others not; sometimes I have started up in
+my sleep repeating it.  Stay, Senor, I have it now at the point of
+my tongue:  it was Patusca.
+
+Myself.--Batuschca, you mean; the men were Russians.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+
+Oviedo--The Ten Gentlemen--The Swiss again--Modest Request--The
+Robbers--Episcopal Benevolence--The Cathedral--Portrait of Feijoo.
+
+I must now take a considerable stride in my journey, no less than
+from Muros to Oviedo, contenting myself with observing, that we
+proceeded from Muros to Velez, and from thence to Giyon, where our
+guide Martin bade us farewell, and returned with his mare to
+Rivadeo.  The honest fellow did not part without many expressions
+of regret, indeed he even expressed a desire that I should take him
+and his mare into my service; "for," said he, "I have a great
+desire to run through all Spain, and even the world; and I am sure
+I shall never have a better opportunity than by attaching myself to
+your worship's skirts."  On my reminding him, however, of his wife
+and family, for he had both, he said, "True, true, I had forgotten
+them:  happy the guide whose only wife and family are a mare and
+foal."
+
+Oviedo is about three leagues from Giyon.  Antonio rode the horse,
+whilst I proceeded thither in a kind of diligence which runs daily
+between the two towns.  The road is good, but mountainous.  I
+arrived safely at the capital of the Asturias, although at a rather
+unpropitious season, for the din of war was at the gate, and there
+was the cry of the captains and the shouting.  Castile, at the time
+of which I am writing, was in the hands of the Carlists, who had
+captured and plundered Valladolid in much the same manner as they
+had Segovia some time before.  They were every day expected to
+march on Oviedo, in which case they might perhaps have experienced
+some resistance, a considerable body of troops being stationed
+there, who had erected some redoubts, and strongly fortified
+several of the convents, especially that of Santa Clara de la Vega.
+All minds were in a state of feverish anxiety and suspense, more
+especially as no intelligence arrived from Madrid, which by the
+last accounts was said to be occupied by the bands of Cabrera and
+Palillos.
+
+So it came to pass that one night I found myself in the ancient
+town of Oviedo, in a very large, scantily-furnished, and remote
+room in an ancient posada, formerly a palace of the counts of Santa
+Cruz.  It was past ten, and the rain was descending in torrents.  I
+was writing, but suddenly ceased on hearing numerous footsteps
+ascending the creaking stairs which led to my apartment.  The door
+was flung open, and in walked nine men of tall stature, marshalled
+by a little hunchbacked personage.  They were all muffled in the
+long cloaks of Spain, but I instantly knew by their demeanour that
+they were caballeros, or gentlemen.  They placed themselves in a
+rank before the table where I was sitting.  Suddenly and
+simultaneously they all flung back their cloaks, and I perceived
+that every one bore a book in his hand; a book which I knew full
+well.  After a pause, which I was unable to break, for I sat lost
+in astonishment, and almost conceived myself to be visited by
+apparitions, the hunchback, advancing somewhat before the rest,
+said in soft silvery tones, "Senor Cavalier, was it you who brought
+this book to the Asturias?"  I now supposed that they were the
+civil authorities of the place come to take me into custody, and,
+rising from my seat, I exclaimed, "It certainly was I, and it is my
+glory to have done so; the book is the New Testament of God:  I
+wish it was in my power to bring a million."  "I heartily wish so
+too," said the little personage with a sigh.  "Be under no
+apprehension, Sir Cavalier, these gentlemen are my friends; we have
+just purchased these books in the shop where you placed them for
+sale, and have taken the liberty of calling upon you, in order to
+return you our thanks for the treasure you have brought us.  I hope
+you can furnish us with the Old Testament also."  I replied that I
+was sorry to inform him that at present it was entirely out of my
+power to comply with his wish, as I had no Old Testaments in my
+possession, but did not despair of procuring some speedily from
+England.  He then asked me a great many questions concerning my
+biblical travels in Spain, and my success, and the views
+entertained by the Society, with respect to Spain, adding that he
+hoped we should pay particular attention to the Asturias, which he
+assured me was the best ground in the Peninsula for our labour.
+After about half an hour's conversation, he suddenly said, in the
+English language, "Good night, Sir," wrapped his cloak around him,
+and walked out as he had come.  His companions, who had hitherto
+not uttered a word, all repeated "Good night, Sir," and, adjusting
+their cloaks, followed him.
+
+In order to explain this strange scene, I must state that in the
+morning I had visited the petty bookseller of the place, Longoria,
+and having arranged preliminaries with him, I sent him in the
+evening a package of forty Testaments, all I possessed, with some
+advertisements.  At the time he assured me that, though he was
+willing to undertake the sale, there was, nevertheless, not a
+prospect of success, as a whole month had elapsed since he had sold
+a book of any description, on account of the uncertainty of the
+times, and the poverty which pervaded the land; I therefore felt
+much dispirited.  This incident, however, admonished me not to be
+cast down when things look gloomiest, as the hand of the Lord is
+generally then most busy; that men may learn to perceive, that
+whatever good is accomplished is not their work but his.
+
+Two or three days after this adventure, I was once more seated in
+my large scantily-furnished room; it was about ten, of a dark
+melancholy morning, and the autumnal rain was again falling.  I had
+just breakfasted, and was about to sit down to my journal, when the
+door was flung open and in bounded Antonio.
+
+"Mon maitre," said he, quite breathless, "who do you think has
+arrived?"
+
+"The pretender, I suppose," said I, in some trepidation; "if so, we
+are prisoners."
+
+"Bah, bah!" said Antonio, "it is not the pretender, but one worth
+twenty of him; it is the Swiss of Saint James."
+
+"Benedict Mol, the Swiss!" said I, "What! has he found the
+treasure?  But how did he come?  How is he dressed?"
+
+"Mon maitre," said Antonio, "he came on foot if we may judge by his
+shoes, through which his toes are sticking; and as for his dress,
+he is in most villainous apparel."
+
+"There must be some mystery in this," said I; "where is he at
+present?"
+
+"Below, mon maitre," replied Antonio; "he came in quest of us.  But
+I no sooner saw him, than I hurried away to let you know."
+
+In a few minutes Benedict Mol found his way up stairs; he was, as
+Antonio had remarked, in most villainous apparel, and nearly
+barefooted; his old Andalusian hat was dripping with rain.
+
+"Och, lieber herr," said Benedict, "how rejoiced I am to see you
+again.  Oh, the sight of your countenance almost repays me for all
+the miseries I have undergone since I parted with you at Saint
+James."
+
+Myself.--I can scarcely believe that I really see you here at
+Oviedo.  What motive can have induced you to come to such an out-
+of-the-way place from such an immense distance?
+
+Benedict.--Lieber herr, I will sit down and tell you all that has
+befallen me.  Some few days after I saw you last, the canonigo
+persuaded me to go to the captain-general to apply for permission
+to disinter the schatz, and also to crave assistance.  So I saw the
+captain-general, who at first received me very kindly, asked me
+several questions, and told me to come again.  So I continued
+visiting him till he would see me no longer, and do what I might I
+could not obtain a glance of him.  The canon now became impatient,
+more especially as he had given me a few pesetas out of the
+charities of the church.  He frequently called me a bribon and
+impostor.  At last, one morning I went to him, and said that I had
+proposed to return to Madrid, in order to lay the matter before the
+government, and requested that he would give me a certificate to
+the effect that I had performed a pilgrimage to Saint James, which
+I imagined would be of assistance to me upon the way, as it would
+enable me to beg with some colour of authority.  He no sooner heard
+this request, than, without saying a word or allowing me a moment
+to put myself on my defence, he sprang upon me like a tiger,
+grasping my throat so hard that I thought he would have strangled
+me.  I am a Swiss, however, and a man of Lucerne, and when I had
+recovered myself a little, I had no difficulty in flinging him off;
+I then threatened him with my staff and went away.  He followed me
+to the gate with the most horrid curses, saying that if I presumed
+to return again, he would have me thrown at once into prison as a
+thief and a heretic.  So I went in quest of yourself, lieber herr,
+but they told me that you were departed for Coruna; I then set out
+for Coruna after you.
+
+Myself.--And what befell you on the road?
+
+Benedict.--I will tell you:  about half-way between Saint James and
+Coruna, as I was walking along, thinking of the schatz, I heard a
+loud galloping, and looking around me I saw two men on horseback
+coming across the field with the swiftness of the wind, and making
+directly for me.  Lieber Gott, said I, these are thieves, these are
+factious; and so they were.  They came up to me in a moment and
+bade me stand, so I flung down my staff, took off my hat and
+saluted them.  "Good day, caballeros," said I to them.  "Good day,
+countryman," said they to me, and then we stood staring at each
+other for more than a minute.  Lieber himmel, I never saw such
+robbers; so finely dressed, so well armed, and mounted so bravely
+on two fiery little hakkas, that looked as if they could have taken
+wing and flown up into the clouds!  So we continued staring at each
+other, till at last one asked me who I was, whence I came, and
+where I was going.  "Gentlemen," said I, "I am a Swiss, I have been
+to Saint James to perform a religious vow, and am now returning to
+my own country."  I said not a word about the treasure, for I was
+afraid that they would have shot me at once, conceiving that I
+carried part of it about me.  "Have you any money?" they demanded.
+"Gentlemen," I replied, "you see how I travel on foot, with my
+shoes torn to pieces; I should not do so if I had money.  I will
+not deceive you, however, I have a peseta and a few cuartos," and
+thereupon I took out what I had and offered it to them.  "Fellow,"
+said they, "we are caballeros of Galicia, and do not take pesetas,
+much less cuartos.  Of what opinion are you?  Are you for the
+queen?"  "No, gentlemen," said I, "I am not for the queen, but, at
+the same time, allow me to tell you that I am not for the king
+either; I know nothing about the matter; I am a Swiss, and fight
+neither for nor against anybody unless I am paid."  This made them
+laugh, and then they questioned me about Saint James, and the
+troops there, and the captain-general; and not to disoblige them, I
+told them all I knew and much more.  Then one of them, who looked
+the fiercest and most determined, took his trombone in his hand,
+and pointing it at me, said, "Had you been a Spaniard, we would
+have blown your head to shivers, for we should have thought you a
+spy, but we see you are a foreigner, and believe what you have
+said; take, therefore, this peseta and go your way, but beware that
+you tell nobody any thing about us, for if you do, carracho!"  He
+then discharged his trombone just over my head, so that for a
+moment I thought myself shot, and then with an awful shout, they
+both galloped away, their horses leaping over the barrancos, as if
+possessed with many devils.
+
+Myself.--And what happened to you on your arrival at Coruna?
+
+Benedict.--When I arrived at Coruna, I inquired after yourself,
+lieber herr, and they informed me that, only the day before my
+arrival, you had departed for Oviedo:  and when I heard that, my
+heart died within me, for I was now at the far end of Galicia,
+without a friend to help me.  For a day or two I knew not what to
+do; at last I determined to make for the frontier of France,
+passing through Oviedo in the way, where I hoped to see you and ask
+counsel of you.  So I begged and bettled among the Germans of
+Coruna.  I, however, got very little from them, only a few cuarts,
+less than the thieves had given me on the road from Saint James,
+and with these I departed for the Asturias by the way of Mondonedo.
+Och, what a town is that, full of canons, priests, and pfaffen, all
+of them more Carlist than Carlos himself.
+
+One day I went to the bishop's palace and spoke to him, telling him
+I was a pilgrim from Saint James, and requesting assistance.  He
+told me, however, that he could not relieve me, and as for my being
+a pilgrim from Saint James, he was glad of it, and hoped that it
+would be of service to my soul.  So I left Mondonedo, and got
+amongst the wild mountains, begging and betting at the door of
+every choza that I passed, telling all I saw that I was a pilgrim
+from Saint James, and showing my passport in proof that I had been
+there.  Lieber herr, no person gave me a cuart, nor even a piece of
+broa, and both Gallegans and Asturians laughed at Saint James, and
+told me that his name was no longer a passport in Spain.  I should
+have starved if I had not sometimes plucked an ear or two out of
+the maize fields; I likewise gathered grapes from the parras and
+berries from the brambles, and in this manner I subsisted till I
+arrived at the bellotas, where I slaughtered a stray kid which I
+met, and devoured part of the flesh raw, so great was my hunger.
+It made me, however, very ill, and for two days I lay in a barranco
+half dead and unable to help myself; it was a mercy that I was not
+devoured by the wolves.  I then struck across the country for
+Oviedo:  how I reached it I do not know; I was like one walking in
+a dream.  Last night I slept in an empty hog-sty about two leagues
+from here, and ere I left it, I fell down on my knees and prayed to
+God that I might find you, lieber herr, for you were my last hope.
+
+Myself.--And what do you propose to do at present?
+
+Benedict.--What can I say, lieber herr?  I know not what to do.  I
+will be guided in everything by your counsel.
+
+Myself.--I shall remain at Oviedo a few days longer, during which
+time you can lodge at this posada, and endeavour to recover from
+the fatigue of your disastrous journeys; perhaps before I depart,
+we may hit on some plan to extricate you from your present
+difficulties.
+
+Oviedo contains about fifteen thousand inhabitants.  It is
+picturesquely situated between two mountains, Morcin and Naranco;
+the former is very high and rugged, and during the greater part of
+the year is covered with snow; the sides of the latter are
+cultivated and planted with vines.  The principal ornament of the
+town is the cathedral, the tower of which is exceedingly lofty, and
+is perhaps one of the purest specimens of Gothic architecture at
+present in existence.  The interior of the cathedral is neat and
+appropriate, but simple and unadorned.  I observed but one picture,
+the Conversion of Saint Paul.  One of the chapels is a cemetery, in
+which rest the bones of eleven Gothic kings; to whose souls be
+peace.
+
+I bore a letter of recommendation from Coruna to a merchant of
+Oviedo.  This person received me very courteously, and generally
+devoted some portion of every day to showing me the remarkable
+things of Oviedo.
+
+One morning he thus addressed me:  "You have doubtless heard of
+Feijoo, the celebrated philosophic monk of the order of Saint
+Benedict, whose writings have so much tended to remove the popular
+fallacies and superstitions so long cherished in Spain; he is
+buried in one of our convents, where he passed a considerable
+portion of his life.  Come with me and I will show you his
+portrait.  Carlos Tercero, our great king, sent his own painter
+from Madrid to execute it.  It is now in the possession of a friend
+of mine, Don Ramon Valdez, an advocate."
+
+Thereupon he led me to the house of Don Ramon Valdez, who very
+politely exhibited the portrait of Feijoo.  It was circular in
+shape, about a foot in diameter, and was surrounded by a little
+brass frame, something like the rim of a barber's basin.  The
+countenance was large and massive but fine, the eyebrows knit, the
+eyes sharp and penetrating, nose aquiline.  On the head was a
+silken skull-cap; the collar of the coat or vest was just
+perceptible.  The painting was decidedly good, and struck me as
+being one of the very best specimens of modern Spanish art which I
+had hitherto seen.
+
+A day or two after this I said to Benedict Mol, "to-morrow I start
+from hence for Santander.  It is therefore high time that you
+decide upon some course, whether to return to Madrid or to make the
+best of your way to France, and from thence proceed to your own
+country."
+
+"Lieber herr," said Benedict, "I will follow you to Santander by
+short journeys, for I am unable to make long ones amongst these
+hills; and when I am there, peradventure I may find some means of
+passing into France.  It is a great comfort, in my horrible
+journeys, to think that I am travelling over the ground which
+yourself have trodden, and to hope that I am proceeding to rejoin
+you once more.  This hope kept me alive in the bellotas, and
+without it I should never have reached Oviedo.  I will quit Spain
+as soon as possible, and betake me to Lucerne, though it is a hard
+thing to leave the schatz behind me in the land of the Gallegans."
+
+Thereupon I presented him with a few dollars.
+
+"A strange man is this Benedict," said Antonio to me next morning,
+as, accompanied by a guide, we sallied forth from Oviedo; "a
+strange man, mon maitre, is this same Benedict.  A strange life has
+he led, and a strange death he will die,--it is written on his
+countenance.  That he will leave Spain I do not believe, or if he
+leave it, it will be only to return, for he is bewitched about this
+treasure.  Last night he sent for a sorciere, whom he consulted in
+my presence; and she told him that he was doomed to possess it, but
+that first of all he must cross water.  She cautioned him likewise
+against an enemy, which he supposes must be the canon of Saint
+James.  I have often heard people speak of the avidity of the Swiss
+for money, and here is a proof of it.  I would not undergo what
+Benedict has suffered in these last journeys of his, to possess all
+the treasures in Spain."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+
+
+Departure from Oviedo--Villa Viciosa--The Young Man of the Inn--
+Antonio's Tale--The General and his Family--Woful Tidings--To-
+morrow we Die--San Vincente--Santander--An Harangue--Flinter the
+Irishman.
+
+So we left Oviedo and directed our course towards Santander.  The
+man who accompanied us as guide, and from whom I hired the pony on
+which I rode, had been recommended to me by my friend the merchant
+of Oviedo.  He proved, however, a lazy indolent fellow; he was
+generally loitering two or three hundred yards in our rear, and
+instead of enlivening the way with song and tale, like our late
+guide, Martin of Rivadeo, he scarcely ever opened his lips, save to
+tell us not to go so fast, or that I should burst his pony if I
+spurred him so.  He was thievish withal, and though he had engaged
+to make the journey seco, that is, to defray the charges of himself
+and beast, he contrived throughout to keep both at our expense.
+When journeying in Spain, it is invariably the cheapest plan to
+agree to maintain the guide and his horse or mule, for by so doing
+the hire is diminished at least one third, and the bills upon the
+road are seldom increased:  whereas, in the other case, he pockets
+the difference, and yet goes shot free, and at the expense of the
+traveller, through the connivance of the innkeepers, who have a
+kind of fellow feeling with the guides.
+
+Late in the afternoon we reached Villa Viciosa, a small dirty town,
+at the distance of eight leagues from Oviedo:  it stands beside a
+creek which communicates with the Bay of Biscay.  It is sometimes
+called La Capital de las Avellanas, or the capital of the Filberts,
+from the immense quantity of this fruit which is grown in the
+neighbourhood; and the greatest part of which is exported to
+England.  As we drew nigh we overtook numerous cars laden with
+avellanas proceeding in the direction of the town.  I was informed
+that several small English vessels were lying in the harbour.
+Singular as it may seem, however, notwithstanding we were in the
+capital of the Avellanas, it was with the utmost difficulty that I
+procured a scanty handful for my dessert, and of these more than
+one half were decayed.  The people of the house informed me that
+the nuts were intended for exportation, and that they never dreamt
+either of partaking of them themselves or of offering them to their
+guests.
+
+At an early hour on the following day we reached Colunga, a
+beautiful village on a rising ground, thickly planted with chestnut
+trees.  It is celebrated, at least in the Asturias, as being the
+birth-place of Arguelles, the father of the Spanish constitution.
+
+As we dismounted at the door of the posada, where we intended to
+refresh ourselves, a person who was leaning out of an upper window
+uttered an exclamation and disappeared.  We were yet at the door,
+when the same individual came running forth and cast himself on the
+neck of Antonio.  He was a good-looking young man, apparently about
+five and twenty, genteelly dressed, with a Montero cap on his head.
+Antonio looked at him for a moment, and then with a Ah, Monsieur,
+est ce bien vous? shook him affectionately by the hand.  The
+stranger then motioned him to follow him, and they forthwith
+proceeded to the room above.
+
+Wondering what this could mean, I sat down to my morning repast.
+Nearly an hour elapsed, and still Antonio did not make his
+appearance; through the boards, however, which composed the ceiling
+of the kitchen where I sat, I could hear the voices of himself and
+his acquaintance, and thought that I could occasionally distinguish
+the sound of broken sobs and groans; at last there was a long
+pause.  I became impatient, and was about to summon Antonio, when
+he made his appearance, but unaccompanied by the stranger.  "What,
+in the name of all that is singular," I demanded, "have you been
+about?  Who is that man?"  "Mon maitre," said Antonio, "c'est un
+monsieur de ma connoissance.  With your permission I will now take
+a mouthful, and as we journey along I will tell you all that I know
+of him."
+
+"Monsieur," said Antonio, as we rode out of Colunga, "you are
+anxious to know the history of the gentleman whom you saw embrace
+me at the inn.  Know, mon maitre, that these Carlist and Christino
+wars have been the cause of much misery and misfortune in this
+country, but a being so thoroughly unfortunate as that poor young
+gentleman of the inn, I do not believe is to be found in Spain, and
+his misfortunes proceed entirely from the spirit of party and
+faction which for some time past has been so prevalent.
+
+"Mon maitre, as I have often told you, I have lived in many houses
+and served many masters, and it chanced that about ten years ago I
+served the father of this gentleman, who was then a mere boy.  It
+was a very high family, for monsieur the father was a general in
+the army, and a man of large possessions.  The family consisted of
+the general, his lady, and two sons; the youngest of whom is the
+person you have just seen, the other was several years older.
+Pardieu! I felt myself very comfortable in that house, and every
+individual of the family had all kind of complaisance for me.  It
+is singular enough, that though I have been turned out of so many
+families, I was never turned out of that; and though I left it
+thrice, it was of my own free will.  I became dissatisfied with the
+other servants or with the dog or the cat.  The last time I left
+was on account of the quail which was hung out of the window of
+madame, and which waked me in the morning with its call.  Eh bien,
+mon maitre, things went on in this way during the three years that
+I continued in the family, out and in; at the end of which time it
+was determined that the young gentleman should travel, and it was
+proposed that I should attend him as valet; this I wished very much
+to do.  However, par malheur, I was at this time very much
+dissatisfied with madame his mother about the quail, and I insisted
+that before I accompanied him the bird should be slaughtered for
+the kitchen.  To this madame would by no means consent; and even
+the young gentleman, who had always taken my part on other
+occasions, said that I was unreasonable:  so I left the house in a
+huff, and never entered it again.
+
+"Eh bien, mon maitre, the young gentleman went upon his travels,
+and continued abroad several years; and from the time of his
+departure until we met him at Colunga, I have not set eyes upon,
+nor indeed heard of him.  I have heard enough, however, of his
+family; of monsieur the father, of madame, and of the brother, who
+was an officer of cavalry.  A short time before the troubles, I
+mean before the death of Ferdinand, monsieur the father was
+appointed captain-general of Coruna.  Now monsieur, though a good
+master, was rather a proud man, and fond of discipline and all that
+kind of thing, and of obedience.  He was, moreover, no friend to
+the populace, to the canaille, and he had a particular aversion to
+the nationals.  So when Ferdinand died, it was whispered about at
+Coruna, that the general was no liberal, and that he was a better
+friend to Carlos than to Christina.  Eh bien, it chanced that there
+was a grand fete, or festival at Coruna, on the water; and the
+nationals were there, and the soldiers.  And I know not how it
+befell, but there was an emeute, and the nationals laid hands on
+monsieur the general, and tying a rope round his neck, flung him
+overboard from the barge in which he was, and then dragged him
+astern about the harbour until he was drowned.  They then went to
+his house and pillaged it, and so ill-treated madame, who at that
+time happened to be enceinte, that in a few hours she expired.
+
+"I tell you what, mon maitre, when I heard of the misfortune of
+madame and the general, you would scarcely believe it, but I
+actually shed tears, and was sorry that I had parted with them in
+unkindness on account of that pernicious quail.
+
+"Eh bien, mon maitre, nous poursuivrons notre histoire.  The eldest
+son, as I told you before, was a cavalry officer and a man of
+resolution, and when he heard of the death of his father and
+mother, he vowed revenge.  Poor fellow! but what does he do but
+desert, with two or three discontented spirits of his troop, and
+going to the frontier of Galicia, he raised a small faction, and
+proclaimed Don Carlos.  For some little time he did considerable
+damage to the liberals, burning and destroying their possessions,
+and putting to death several nationals that fell into his hands.
+However, this did not last long, his faction was soon dispersed,
+and he himself taken and hanged, and his head stuck on a pole.
+
+"Nous sommes deja presque au bout.  When we arrived at the inn, the
+young man took me above, as you saw, and there for some time he
+could do nothing but weep and sob.  His story is soon told:- he
+returned from his travels, and the first intelligence which awaited
+him on his arrival in Spain was, that his father was drowned, his
+mother dead, and his brother hanged, and, moreover, all the
+possessions of his family confiscated.  This was not all:  wherever
+he went, he found himself considered in the light of a factious and
+discontented person, and was frequently assailed by the nationals
+with blows of sabres and cudgels.  He applied to his relations, and
+some of these, who were of the Carlist persuasion, advised him to
+betake himself to the army of Don Carlos, and the Pretender
+himself, who was a friend of his father, and remembered the
+services of his brother, offered to give him a command in his army.
+But, mon maitre, as I told you before, he was a pacific young
+gentleman, and as mild as a lamb, and hated the idea of shedding
+blood.  He was, moreover, not of the Carlist opinion, for during
+his studies he had read books written a long time ago by countrymen
+of mine, all about republics and liberties, and the rights of man,
+so that he was much more inclined to the liberal than the Carlist
+system; he therefore declined the offer of Don Carlos, whereupon
+all his relations deserted him, whilst the liberals hunted him from
+one place to another like a wild beast.  At last, he sold some
+little property which still remained to him, and with the proceeds
+he came to this remote place of Colunga, where no one knew him, and
+where he has been residing for several months, in a most melancholy
+manner, with no other amusement than that which he derives from a
+book or two, or occasionally hunting a leveret with his spaniel.
+
+"He asked me for counsel, but I had none to give him, and could
+only weep with him.  At last he said, 'Dear Antonio, I see there is
+no remedy.  You say your master is below, beg him, I pray, to stay
+till to-morrow, and we will send for the maidens of the
+neighbourhood, and for a violin and a bagpipe, and we will dance
+and cast away care for a moment.'  And then he said something in
+old Greek, which I scarcely understood, but which I think was
+equivalent to, 'Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we
+die!'
+
+"Eh bien, mon maitre, I told him that you were a serious gentleman
+who never took any amusement, and that you were in a hurry.
+Whereupon he wept again, and embraced me and bade me farewell.  And
+now, mon maitre, I have told you the history of the young man of
+the inn."
+
+We slept at Ribida de Sela, and the next day, at noon, arrived at
+Llanes.  Our route lay between the coast and an immense range of
+mountains, which rose up like huge ramparts at about a league's
+distance from the sea.  The ground over which we passed was
+tolerably level, and seemingly well cultivated.  There was no lack
+of vines and trees, whilst at short intervals rose the cortijos of
+the proprietors,--square stone buildings surrounded with an outer
+wall.  Llanes is an old town, formerly of considerable strength.
+In its neighbourhood is the convent of San Cilorio, one of the
+largest monastic edifices in all Spain.  It is now deserted, and
+stands lone and desolate upon one of the peninsulas of the
+Cantabrian shore.  Leaving Llanes, we soon entered one of the most
+dreary and barren regions imaginable, a region of rock and stone,
+where neither grass nor trees were to be seen.  Night overtook us
+in these places.  We wandered on, however, until we reached a small
+village, termed Santo Colombo.  Here we passed the night, in the
+house of a carabineer of the revenue, a tall athletic figure who
+met us at the gate armed with a gun.  He was a Castilian, and with
+all that ceremonious formality and grave politeness for which his
+countrymen were at one time so celebrated.  He chid his wife for
+conversing with her handmaid about the concerns of the house before
+us.  "Barbara," said he, "this is not conversation calculated to
+interest the strange cavaliers; hold your peace, or go aside with
+the muchacha."  In the morning he refused any remuneration for his
+hospitality.  "I am a caballero," said he, "even as yourselves.  It
+is not my custom to admit people into my house for the sake of
+lucre.  I received you because you were benighted and the posada
+distant."
+
+Rising early in the morning, we pursued our way through a country
+equally stony and dreary as that which we had entered upon the
+preceding day.  In about four hours we reached San Vincente, a
+large dilapidated town, chiefly inhabited by miserable fishermen.
+It retains, however, many remarkable relics of former magnificence:
+the bridge, which bestrides the broad and deep firth, on which
+stands the town, has no less than thirty-two arches, and is built
+of grey granite.  It is very ancient, and in some part in so
+ruinous a condition as to be dangerous.
+
+Leaving San Vincente behind us, we travelled for some leagues on
+the sea-shore, crossing occasionally a narrow inlet or firth.  The
+country at last began to improve, and in the neighbourhood of
+Santillana was both beautiful and fertile.  About a league before
+we reached the country of Gil Blas, we passed through an extensive
+wood, in which were rocks and precipices; it was exactly such a
+place as that in which the cave of Rolando was situated, as
+described in the novel.  This wood has an evil name, and our guide
+informed us that robberies were occasionally committed in it.  No
+adventure, however, befell us, and we reached Santillana at about
+six in the evening.
+
+We did not enter the town, but halted at a large venta or posada at
+the entrance, before which stood an immense ash tree.  We had
+scarcely housed ourselves when a tremendous storm of rain and wind
+commenced, accompanied with thunder and lightning, which continued
+without much interruption for several hours, and the effects of
+which were visible in our journey of the following day, the streams
+over which we passed being much swollen, and several trees lying
+uptorn by the wayside.  Santillana contains four thousand
+inhabitants, and is six short leagues' distance from Santander,
+where we arrived early the next day.
+
+Nothing could exhibit a stronger contrast to the desolate tracts
+and the half ruined towns through which we had lately passed, than
+the bustle and activity of Santander, which, though it stands on
+the confines of the Basque provinces, the stronghold of the
+Pretender, is almost the only city in Spain which has not suffered
+by the Carlist wars.  Till the close of the last century it was
+little better than an obscure fishing town, but it has of late
+years almost entirely engrossed the commerce of the Spanish
+transatlantic possessions, especially of the Havannah.  The
+consequence of which has been, that whilst Santander has rapidly
+increased in wealth and magnificence, both Coruna and Cadiz have
+been as rapidly hastening to decay.  At present it possesses a
+noble quay, on which stands a line of stately edifices, far
+exceeding in splendour the palaces of the aristocracy at Madrid.
+These are built in the French style, and are chiefly occupied by
+the merchants.  The population of Santander is estimated at sixty
+thousand souls.
+
+On the day of my arrival I dined at the table d'hote of the
+principal inn, kept by a Genoese.  The company was very
+miscellaneous, French, Germans, and Spaniards, all speaking in
+their respective languages, whilst at the ends of the table,
+confronting each other, sat two Catalan merchants, one of whom
+weighed nearly twenty stone, grunting across the board in their
+harsh dialect.  Long, however, before dinner was concluded, the
+conversation was entirely engrossed and the attention of all
+present directed to an individual who sat on one side of the bulky
+Catalan.  He was a thin man of about the middle height, with a
+remarkably red face, and something in his eyes which, if not a
+squint, bore a striking resemblance to it.  He was dressed in a
+blue military frock, and seemed to take much more pleasure in
+haranguing than in the fare which was set before him.  He spoke
+perfectly good Spanish, yet his voice betrayed something of a
+foreign accent.  For a long time he descanted with immense
+volubility on war and all its circumstances, freely criticising the
+conduct of the generals, both Carlists and Christinos, in the
+present struggle, till at last he exclaimed, "Had I but twenty
+thousand men allowed me by the government, I would bring the war to
+a conclusion in six months."
+
+"Pardon me, Sir," said a Spaniard who sat at the table, "the
+curiosity which induces me to request the favour of your
+distinguished name."
+
+"I am Flinter," replied the individual in the military frock, "a
+name which is in the mouth of every man, woman, and child in Spain.
+I am Flinter the Irishman, just escaped from the Basque provinces
+and the claws of Don Carlos.  On the decease of Ferdinand I
+declared for Isabella, esteeming it the duty of every good cavalier
+and Irishman in the Spanish service to do so.  You have all heard
+of my exploits, and permit me to tell you they would have been yet
+more glorious had not jealousy been at work and cramped my means.
+Two years ago I was despatched to Estremadura, to organize the
+militias.  The bands of Gomez and Cabrera entered the province and
+spread devastation around.  They found me, however, at my post; and
+had I been properly seconded by those under my command, the two
+rebels would never have returned to their master to boast of their
+success.  I stood behind my intrenchments.  A man advanced and
+summoned us to surrender.  'Who are you?' I demanded.  'I am
+Cabrera,' he replied; 'and I am Flinter,' I retorted, flourishing
+my sabre; 'retire to your battalions or you will forthwith die the
+death.'  He was awed and did as I commanded.  In an hour we
+surrendered.  I was led a prisoner to the Basque provinces; and the
+Carlists rejoiced in the capture they had made, for the name of
+Flinter had long sounded amongst the Carlist ranks.  I was flung
+into a loathsome dungeon, where I remained twenty months.  I was
+cold; I was naked; but I did not on that account despond, my spirit
+was too indomitable for such weakness.  My keeper at last pitied my
+misfortunes.  He said that 'it grieved him to see so valiant a man
+perish in inglorious confinement.'  We laid a plan to escape
+together; disguises were provided, and we made the attempt.  We
+passed unobserved till we arrived at the Carlist lines above
+Bilbao; there we were stopped.  My presence of mind, however, did
+not desert me.  I was disguised as a carman, as a Catalan, and the
+coolness of my answers deceived my interrogators.  We were
+permitted to pass, and soon were safe within the walls of Bilbao.
+There was an illumination that night in the town, for the lion had
+burst his toils, Flinter had escaped, and was once more returned to
+re-animate a drooping cause.  I have just arrived at Santander on
+my way to Madrid, where I intend to ask of the government a
+command, with twenty thousand men."
+
+Poor Flinter! a braver heart and a move gasconading mouth were
+surely never united in the same body.  He proceeded to Madrid, and
+through the influence of the British ambassador, who was his
+friend, he obtained the command of a small division, with which he
+contrived to surprise and defeat, in the neighbourhood of Toledo, a
+body of the Carlists, commanded by Orejita, whose numbers more than
+trebled his own.  In reward for this exploit he was persecuted by
+the government, which, at that time, was the moderado or juste
+milieu, with the most relentless animosity; the prime minister,
+Ofalia, supporting with all his influence numerous and ridiculous
+accusations of plunder and robbery brought against the too-
+successful general by the Carlist canons of Toledo.  He was
+likewise charged with a dereliction of duty, in having permitted,
+after the battle of Valdepenas, which he likewise won in the most
+gallant manner, the Carlist force to take possession of the mines
+of Almaden, although the government, who were bent on his ruin, had
+done all in their power to prevent him from following up his
+successes by denying him the slightest supplies and reinforcements.
+The fruits of victory thus wrested from him, his hopes blighted, a
+morbid melancholy seized upon the Irishman; he resigned his
+command, and in less than ten months from the period when I saw him
+at Santander, afforded his dastardly and malignant enemies a
+triumph which satisfied even them, by cutting his own throat with a
+razor.
+
+Ardent spirits of foreign climes, who hope to distinguish
+yourselves in the service of Spain, and to earn honours and
+rewards, remember the fate of Columbus, and of another as brave and
+as ardent--Flinter!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+
+
+Departure from Santander--The Night Alarm--The Black Pass.
+
+I had ordered two hundred Testaments to be sent to Santander from
+Madrid:  I found, however, to my great sorrow, that they had not
+arrived, and I supposed that they had either been seized on the way
+by the Carlists, or that my letter had miscarried.  I then thought
+of applying to England for a supply, but I abandoned the idea for
+two reasons.  In the first place, I should have to remain idly
+loitering, at least a month, before I could receive them, at a
+place where every article was excessively dear; and, secondly, I
+was very unwell, and unable to procure medical advice at Santander.
+Ever since I left Coruna, I had been afflicted with a terrible
+dysentery, and latterly with an ophthalmia, the result of the other
+malady.  I therefore determined on returning to Madrid.  To effect
+this, however, seemed no very easy task.  Parties of the army of
+Don Carlos, which, in a partial degree, had been routed in Castile,
+were hovering about the country through which I should have to
+pass, more especially in that part called "The Mountains," so that
+all communication had ceased between Santander and the southern
+districts.  Nevertheless, I determined to trust as usual in the
+Almighty and to risk the danger.  I purchased, therefore, a small
+horse, and sallied forth with Antonio.
+
+Before departing, however, I entered into conference with the
+booksellers as to what they should do in the event of my finding an
+opportunity of sending them a stock of Testaments from Madrid; and,
+having arranged matters to my satisfaction, I committed myself to
+Providence.  I will not dwell long on this journey of three hundred
+miles.  We were in the midst of the fire, yet, strange to say,
+escaped without a hair of our heads being singed.  Robberies,
+murders, and all kinds of atrocities were perpetrated before,
+behind, and on both sides of us, but not so much as a dog barked at
+us, though in one instance a plan had been laid to intercept us.
+About four leagues from Santander, whilst we were baiting our
+horses at a village hostelry, I saw a fellow run off after having
+held a whispering conversation with a boy who was dealing out
+barley to us.  I instantly inquired of the latter what the man had
+said to him, but only obtained an evasive answer.  It appeared
+afterwards that the conversation was about ourselves.  Two or three
+leagues farther there was an inn and village where we had proposed
+staying, and indeed had expressed our intention of doing so; but on
+arriving there, finding that the sun was still far from its bourne,
+I determined to proceed farther, expecting to meet with a resting-
+place at the distance of a league; though I was mistaken, as we
+found none until we reached Montaneda, nine leagues and a half from
+Santander, where was stationed a small detachment of soldiers.  At
+the dead of night we were aroused from our sleep by a cry that the
+factious were not far off.  A messenger had arrived from the
+alcalde of the village where we had previously intended staying,
+who stated that a party of Carlists had just surprised that place,
+and were searching for an English spy, whom they supposed to be at
+the inn.  The officer commanding the soldiers upon hearing this,
+not deeming his own situation a safe one, instantly drew off his
+men, falling back on a stronger party stationed in a fortified
+village near at hand.  As for ourselves, we saddled our horses and
+continued our way in the dark.  Had the Carlists succeeded in
+apprehending me, I should instantly have been shot, and my body
+cast on the rocks to feed the vultures and wolves.  But "it was not
+so written," said Antonio, who, like many of his countrymen, was a
+fatalist.  The next night we had another singular escape:  we had
+arrived near the entrance of a horrible pass called "El puerto de
+la puente de las tablas," or the pass of the bridge of planks,
+which wound through a black and frightful mountain, on the farther
+side of which was the town of Onas, where we meant to tarry for the
+night.  The sun had set about a quarter of an hour.  Suddenly a
+man, with his face covered with blood, rushed out of the pass.
+"Turn back, sir," he said, "in the name of God; there are murderers
+in that pass; they have just robbed me of my mule and all I
+possess, and I have hardly escaped with life from their hands."  I
+scarcely know why, but I made him no answer and proceeded; indeed I
+was so weary and unwell that I cared not what became of me.  We
+entered; the rocks rose perpendicularly, right and left, entirely
+intercepting the scanty twilight, so that the darkness of the
+grave, or rather the blackness of the valley of the shadow of death
+reigned around us, and we knew not where we went, but trusted to
+the instinct of the horses, who moved on with their heads close to
+the ground.  The only sound which we heard was the plash of a
+stream, which tumbled down the pass.  I expected every moment to
+feel a knife at my throat, but "IT WAS NOT SO WRITTEN."  We
+threaded the pass without meeting a human being, and within three
+quarters of an hour after the time we entered it, we found
+ourselves within the posada of the town of Onas, which was filled
+with troops and armed peasants expecting an attack from the grand
+Carlist army, which was near at hand.
+
+Well, we reached Burgos in safety; we reached Valladolid in safety;
+we passed the Guadarama in safety; and were at length safely housed
+in Madrid.  People said we had been very lucky; Antonio said, "It
+was so written"; but I say, Glory be to the Lord for his mercies
+vouchsafed to us.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+
+
+State of Affairs at Madrid--The New Ministry--Pope of Rome--The
+Bookseller of Toledo--Sword Blades--Houses of Toledo--The Forlorn
+Gypsy--Proceedings at Madrid--Another Servant.
+
+During my journey in the northern provinces of Spain, which
+occupied a considerable portion of the year 1837, I had
+accomplished but a slight portion of what I proposed to myself to
+effect in the outset.  Insignificant are the results of man's
+labours compared with the swelling ideas of his presumption;
+something, however, had been effected by the journey, which I had
+just concluded.  The New Testament of Christ was now enjoying a
+quiet sale in the principal towns of the north, and I had secured
+the friendly interest and co-operation of the booksellers of those
+parts, particularly of him the most considerable of them all, old
+Rey of Compostella.  I had, moreover, disposed of a considerable
+number of Testaments with my own hands, to private individuals,
+entirely of the lower class, namely, muleteers, carmen,
+contrabandistas, etc., so that upon the whole I had abundant cause
+for gratitude and thanksgiving.
+
+I did not find our affairs in a very prosperous state at Madrid,
+few copies having been sold in the booksellers' shops, yet what
+could be rationally expected during these latter times?  Don
+Carlos, with a large army, had been at the gates; plunder and
+massacre had been expected; so that people were too much occupied
+in forming plans to secure their lives and property, to give much
+attention to reading of any description.
+
+The enemy, however, had now retired to his strongholds in Alava and
+Guipuscoa.  I hoped that brighter days were dawning, and that the
+work, under my own superintendence, would, with God's blessing,
+prosper in the capital of Spain.  How far the result corresponded
+with my expectations will be seen in the sequel.  During my absence
+in the north, a total change of ministers had occurred.  The
+liberal party had been ousted from the cabinet, and in their place
+had entered individuals attached to the moderado or court party:
+unfortunately, however, for my prospects, they consisted of persons
+with whom I had no acquaintance whatever, and with whom my former
+friends, Galiano and Isturitz, had little or no influence.  These
+gentlemen were now regularly laid on the shelf, and their political
+career appeared to be terminated for ever.
+
+From the present ministry I could expect but little; they consisted
+of men, the greater part of whom had been either courtiers or
+employes of the deceased King Ferdinand, who were friends to
+absolutism, and by no means inclined to do or to favour anything
+calculated to give offence to the court of Rome, which they were
+anxious to conciliate, hoping that eventually it might be induced
+to recognize the young queen, not as the constitutional but as the
+absolute Queen Isabella the Second.
+
+Such was the party which continued in power throughout the
+remainder of my sojourn in Spain, and which persecuted me less from
+rancour and malice than from policy.  It was not until the
+conclusion of the war of the succession that it lost the
+ascendancy, when it sank to the ground with its patroness the
+queen-mother, before the dictatorship of Espartero.
+
+The first step which I took after my return to Madrid, towards
+circulating the Scriptures, was a very bold one.  It was neither
+more nor less than the establishment of a shop for the sale of
+Testaments.  This shop was situated in the Calle del Principe, a
+respectable and well-frequented street in the neighbourhood of the
+Square of Cervantes.  I furnished it handsomely with glass cases
+and chandeliers, and procured an acute Gallegan of the name of Pepe
+Calzado, to superintend the business, who gave me weekly a faithful
+account of the copies sold.
+
+"How strangely times alter," said I, the second day subsequent to
+the opening of my establishment, as I stood on the opposite side of
+the street, leaning against the wall with folded arms, surveying my
+shop, on the windows of which were painted in large yellow
+characters, Despacho de la Sociedad Biblica y Estrangera; "how
+strangely times alter; here have I been during the last eight
+months running about old Popish Spain, distributing Testaments, as
+agent of what the Papists call an heretical society, and have
+neither been stoned nor burnt; and here am I now in the capital,
+doing that which one would think were enough to cause all the dead
+inquisitors and officials buried within the circuit of the walls to
+rise from their graves and cry abomination; and yet no one
+interferes with me.  Pope of Rome!  Pope of Rome! look to thyself.
+That shop may be closed; but oh! what a sign of the times, that it
+has been permitted to exist for one day.  It appears to me, my
+Father, that the days of your sway are numbered in Spain; that you
+will not be permitted much longer to plunder her, to scoff at her,
+and to scourge her with scorpions, as in bygone periods.  See I not
+the hand on the wall?  See I not in yonder letters a 'Mene, mene,
+Tekel, Upharsin'?  Look to thyself, Batuschca."
+
+And I remained for two hours, leaning against the wall, staring at
+the shop.
+
+A short time after the establishment of the despacho at Madrid, I
+once more mounted the saddle, and, attended by Antonio, rode over
+to Toledo, for the purpose of circulating the Scriptures, sending
+beforehand by a muleteer a cargo of one hundred Testaments.  I
+instantly addressed myself to the principal bookseller of the
+place, whom from the circumstance of his living in a town so
+abounding with canons, priests, and ex-friars as Toledo, I expected
+to find a Carlist, or a servile at least.  I was never more
+mistaken in my life; on entering the shop, which was very large and
+commodious, I beheld a stout athletic man, dressed in a kind of
+cavalry uniform, with a helmet on his head, and an immense sabre in
+his hand:  this was the bookseller himself, who I soon found was an
+officer in the national cavalry.  Upon learning who I was, he shook
+me heartily by the hand, and said that nothing would give him
+greater pleasure than taking charge of the books, which he would
+endeavour to circulate to the utmost of his ability.
+
+"Will not your doing so bring you into odium with the clergy?"
+
+"Ca!" said he; "who cares?  I am rich, and so was my father before
+me.  I do not depend on them, they cannot hate me more than they do
+already, for I make no secret of my opinions.  I have just returned
+from an expedition," said he; "my brother nationals and myself
+have, for the last three days, been occupied in hunting down the
+factious and thieves of the neighbourhood; we have killed three and
+brought in several prisoners.  Who cares for the cowardly priests?
+I am a liberal, Don Jorge, and a friend of your countryman,
+Flinter.  Many is the Carlist guerilla-curate and robber-friar whom
+I have assisted him to catch.  I am rejoiced to hear that he has
+just been appointed captain-general of Toledo; there will be fine
+doings here when he arrives, Don Jorge.  We will make the clergy
+shake between us, I assure you."
+
+Toledo was formerly the capital of Spain.  Its population at
+present is barely fifteen thousand souls, though, in the time of
+the Romans, and also during the Middle Ages, it is said to have
+amounted to between two and three hundred thousand.  It is situated
+about twelve leagues (forty miles) westward of Madrid, and is built
+upon a steep rocky hill, round which flows the Tagus, on all sides
+but the north.  It still possesses a great many remarkable
+edifices, notwithstanding that it has long since fallen into decay.
+Its cathedral is the most magnificent of Spain, and is the see of
+the primate.  In the tower of this cathedral is the famous bell of
+Toledo, the largest in the world with the exception of the monster
+bell of Moscow, which I have also seen.  It weighs 1,543 arrobes,
+or 37,032 pounds.  It has, however, a disagreeable sound, owing to
+a cleft in its side.  Toledo could once boast the finest pictures
+in Spain, but many were stolen or destroyed by the French during
+the Peninsular war, and still more have lately been removed by
+order of the government.  Perhaps the most remarkable one still
+remains; I allude to that which represents the burial of the Count
+of Orgaz, the masterpiece of Domenico, the Greek, a most
+extraordinary genius, some of whose productions possess merit of a
+very high order.  The picture in question is in the little parish
+church of San Tome, at the bottom of the aisle, on the left side of
+the altar.  Could it be purchased, I should say it would be cheap
+at five thousand pounds.
+
+Amongst the many remarkable things which meet the eye of the
+curious observer at Toledo, is the manufactory of arms, where are
+wrought the swords, spears, and other weapons intended for the
+army, with the exception of fire-arms, which mostly come from
+abroad.
+
+In old times, as is well known, the sword-blades of Toledo were
+held in great estimation, and were transmitted as merchandise
+throughout Christendom.  The present manufactory, or fabrica, as it
+is called, is a handsome modern edifice, situated without the wall
+of the city, on a plain contiguous to the river, with which it
+communicates by a small canal.  It is said that the water and the
+sand of the Tagus are essential for the proper tempering of the
+swords.  I asked some of the principal workmen whether, at the
+present day, they could manufacture weapons of equal value to those
+of former days, and whether the secret had been lost.
+
+"Ca!" said they, "the swords of Toledo were never so good as those
+which we are daily making.  It is ridiculous enough to see
+strangers coming here to purchase old swords, the greater part of
+which are mere rubbish, and never made at Toledo, yet for such they
+will give a large price, whilst they would grudge two dollars for
+this jewel, which was made but yesterday"; thereupon putting into
+my hand a middle-sized rapier.  "Your worship," said they, "seems
+to have a strong arm, prove its temper against the stone wall;--
+thrust boldly and fear not."
+
+I HAVE a strong arm and dashed the point with my utmost force
+against the solid granite:  my arm was numbed to the shoulder from
+the violence of the concussion, and continued so for nearly a week,
+but the sword appeared not to be at all blunted, or to have
+suffered in any respect.
+
+"A better sword than that," said an ancient workman, a native of
+Old Castile, "never transfixed Moor out yonder on the sagra."
+
+During my stay at Toledo, I lodged at the Posada de los Caballeros,
+which signifies the inn of the gentlemen, which name, in some
+respects, is certainly well deserved, for there are many palaces
+far less magnificent than this inn of Toledo.  By magnificence it
+must not be supposed, however, that I allude to costliness of
+furniture, or any kind of luxury which pervaded the culinary
+department.  The rooms were as empty as those of Spanish inns
+generally are, and the fare, though good in its kind, was plain and
+homely; but I have seldom seen a more imposing edifice.  It was of
+immense size, consisting of several stories, and was built
+something in the Moorish taste, with a quadrangular court in the
+centre, beneath which was an immense algibe or tank, serving as a
+reservoir for rain-water.  All the houses in Toledo are supplied
+with tanks of this description, into which the waters in the rainy
+season flow from the roofs through pipes.  No other water is used
+for drinking; that of the Tagus, not being considered salubrious,
+is only used for purposes of cleanliness, being conveyed up the
+steep narrow streets on donkeys in large stone jars.  The city,
+standing on a rocky mountain, has no wells.  As for the rain-water,
+it deposits a sediment in the tank, and becomes very sweet and
+potable:  these tanks are cleaned out:  twice every year.  During
+the summer, at which time the heat in this part of Spain is
+intense, the families spend the greater part of the day in the
+courts, which are overhung with a linen awning, the heat of the
+atmosphere being tempered by the coolness arising from the tank
+below, which answers the same purpose as the fountain in the
+southern provinces of Spain.
+
+I spent about a week at Toledo, during which time several copies of
+the Testament were disposed of in the shop of my friend the
+bookseller.  Several priests took it up from the mostrador on which
+it lay, examined it, but made no remarks; none of them purchased
+it.  My friend showed me through his house, almost every apartment
+of which was lined from roof to floor with books, many of which
+were highly valuable.  He told me that he possessed the best
+collection in Spain of the ancient literature of the country.  He
+was, however, less proud of his library than his stud; finding that
+I had some acquaintance with horses, his liking for me and also his
+respect considerably increased.  "All I have," said he, "is at your
+service; I see you are a man after my own heart.  When you are
+disposed to ride out upon the sagra, you have only to apply to my
+groom, who will forthwith saddle you my famed Cordovese entero; I
+purchased him from the stables at Aranjuez, when the royal stud was
+broken up.  There is but one other man to whom I would lend him,
+and that man is Flinter."
+
+At Toledo I met with a forlorn Gypsy woman and her son, a lad of
+about fourteen years of age; she was not a native of the place, but
+had come from La Mancha, her husband having been cast into the
+prison of Toledo on a charge of mule-stealing:  the crime had been
+proved against him, and in a few days he was to depart for Malaga,
+with the chain of galley slaves.  He was quite destitute of money,
+and his wife was now in Toledo, earning a few cuartos by telling
+fortunes about the streets, to support him in prison.  She told me
+that it was her intention to follow him to Malaga, where she hoped
+to be able to effect his escape.  What an instance of conjugal
+affection; and yet the affection here was all on one side, as is
+too frequently the case.  Her husband was a worthless scoundrel,
+who had previously abandoned her and betaken himself to Madrid,
+where he had long lived in concubinage with the notorious she-thug
+Aurora, at whose instigation he had committed the robbery for which
+he was now held in durance.  "Should your husband escape from
+Malaga, in what direction will he fly?" I demanded.
+
+"To the chim of the Corahai, my son; to the land of the Moors, to
+be a soldier of the Moorish king."
+
+"And what will become of yourself?"  I inquired; "think you that he
+will take you with him?"
+
+"He will leave me on the shore, my son, and as soon as he has
+crossed the black pawnee, he will forget me and never think of me
+more."
+
+"And knowing his ingratitude, why should you give yourself so much
+trouble about him?"
+
+"Am I not his romi, my son, and am I not bound by the law of the
+Cales to assist him to the last?  Should he return from the land of
+the Corahai at the end of a hundred years, and should find me
+alive, and should say, I am hungry, little wife, go forth and steal
+or tell bahi, I must do it, for he is the rom and I the romi."
+
+On my return to Madrid, I found the despacho still open:  various
+Testaments had been sold, though the number was by no means
+considerable:  the work had to labour under great disadvantage,
+from the ignorance of the people at large with respect to its tenor
+and contents.  It was no wonder, then, that little interest was
+felt respecting it.  To call, however, public attention to the
+despacho, I printed three thousand advertisements on paper, yellow,
+blue, and crimson, with which I almost covered the sides of the
+streets, and besides this, inserted an account of it in all the
+journals and periodicals; the consequence was, that in a short time
+almost every person in Madrid was aware of its existence.  Such
+exertions in London or Paris would probably have ensured the sale
+of the entire edition of the New Testament within a few days.  In
+Madrid, however, the result was not quite so flattering; for after
+the establishment had been open an entire month, the copies
+disposed of barely amounted to one hundred.
+
+These proceedings of mine did not fail to cause a great sensation:
+the priests and their partisans were teeming with malice and fury,
+which, for some time, however, they thought proper to exhibit only
+in words; it being their opinion that I was favoured by the
+ambassador and by the British government; but there was no attempt,
+however atrocious, that might not be expected from their malignity;
+and were it right and seemly for me, the most insignificant of
+worms, to make such a comparison, I might say, like Paul at
+Ephesus, I was fighting with wild beasts.
+
+On the last day of the year 1837, my servant Antonio thus addressed
+me:  "Mon maitre, it is necessary that I leave you for a time.
+Ever since we have returned from our journeys, I have become
+unsettled and dissatisfied with the house, the furniture, and with
+Donna Marequita.  I have therefore engaged myself as cook in the
+house of the Count of -, where I am to receive four dollars per
+month less than what your worship gives me.  I am fond of change,
+though it be for the worse.  Adieu, mon maitre, may you be as well
+served as you deserve; should you chance, however, to have any
+pressing need de mes soins, send for me without hesitation, and I
+will at once give my new master warning, if I am still with him,
+and come to you."
+
+Thus was I deprived for a time of the services of Antonio.  I
+continued for a few days without a domestic, at the end of which
+time I hired a certain Cantabrian or Basque, a native of the
+village of Hernani, in Guipuscoa, who was strongly recommended to
+me.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+
+
+Euscarra--Basque not Irish--Sanskrit and Tartar Dialects--A Vowel
+Language--Popular Poetry--The Basques--Their Persons--Basque Women.
+
+I now entered upon the year 1838, perhaps the most eventful of all
+those which I passed in Spain.  The despacho still continued open,
+with a somewhat increasing sale.  Having at this time little of
+particular moment with which to occupy myself, I committed to the
+press two works, which for some time past had been in the course of
+preparation.  These were the Gospel of St. Luke in the Spanish
+Gypsy and the Euscarra languages.
+
+With respect to the Gypsy Gospel I have little to say, having
+already spoken of it in a former work (The Zincali):  it was
+translated by myself, together with the greater part of the New
+Testament, during my long intercourse with the Spanish Gypsies.
+Concerning the Luke in Euscarra, however, it will be as well to be
+more particular, and to avail myself of the present opportunity to
+say a few words concerning the language in which it was written,
+and the people for whom it was intended.
+
+The Euscarra, then, is the proper term for a certain speech or
+language, supposed to have been at one time prevalent throughout
+Spain, but which is at present confined to certain districts, both
+on the French and Spanish side of the Pyrenees, which are laved by
+the waters of the Cantabrian Gulf or Bay of Biscay.  This language
+is commonly known as the Basque or Biscayan, which words are mere
+modifications of the word Euscarra, the consonant B having been
+prefixed for the sake of euphony.  Much that is vague, erroneous,
+and hypothetical, has been said and written concerning this tongue.
+The Basques assert that it was not only the original language of
+Spain, but also of the world, and that from it all other languages
+are derived; but the Basques are a very ignorant people, and know
+nothing of the philosophy of language.  Very little importance,
+therefore, need be attached to any opinion of theirs on such a
+subject.  A few amongst them, however, who affect some degree of
+learning, contend, that it is neither more nor less than a dialect
+of the Phoenician, and, that the Basques are the descendants of a
+Phoenician colony, established at the foot of the Pyrenees at a
+very remote period.  Of this theory, or rather conjecture, as it is
+unsubstantiated by the slightest proof, it is needless to take
+further notice than to observe that, provided the Phoenician
+language, as many of the TRULY LEARNED have supposed and almost
+proved, was a dialect of the Hebrew, or closely allied to it, it
+were as unreasonable to suppose that the Basque is derived from it,
+as that the Kamschatdale and Cherokee are dialects of the Greek or
+Latin.
+
+There is, however, another opinion with respect to the Basque which
+deserves more especial notice, from the circumstance of its being
+extensively entertained amongst the literati of various countries
+of Europe, more especially England.  I allude to the Celtic origin
+of this tongue, and its close connexion with the most cultivated of
+all the Celtic dialects, the Irish.  People who pretend to be well
+conversant with the subject, have even gone so far as to assert,
+that so little difference exists between the Basque and Irish
+tongues, that individuals of the two nations, when they meet
+together, find no difficulty in understanding each other, with no
+other means of communication than their respective languages; in a
+word, that there is scarcely a greater difference between the two
+than between the French and the Spanish Basque.  Such similarity,
+however, though so strongly insisted upon, by no means exists in
+fact, and perhaps in the whole of Europe it would be difficult to
+discover two languages which exhibit fewer points of mutual
+resemblance than the Basque and Irish.
+
+The Irish, like most other European languages, is a dialect of the
+Sanskrit, a REMOTE one, as may well be supposed.  The corner of the
+western world in which it is still preserved being, of all
+countries in Europe, the most distant from the proper home of the
+parent tongue.  It is still, however, a dialect of that venerable
+and most original speech, not so closely resembling it, it is true,
+as the English, Danish, and those which belong to what is called
+the Gothic family, and far less than those of the Sclavonian; for,
+the nearer we approach to the East, in equal degree the
+assimilation of languages to this parent stock becomes more clear
+and distinct; but still a dialect, agreeing with the Sanskrit in
+structure, in the arrangement of words, and in many instances in
+the words themselves, which, however modified, may still be
+recognized as Sanskrit.  But what is the Basque, and to what family
+does it properly pertain?
+
+To two great Asiatic languages, all the dialects spoken at present
+in Europe may be traced.  These two, if not now spoken, still exist
+in books, and are, moreover, the languages of two of the principal
+religions of the East.  I allude to the Tibetian and Sanskrit--the
+sacred languages of the followers of Buddh and Bramah.  These
+tongues, though they possess many words in common, which is easily
+to be accounted for by their close proximity, are properly
+distinct, being widely different in structure.  In what this
+difference consists, I have neither time nor inclination to state;
+suffice it to say that the Celtic, Gothic, and Sclavonian dialects
+in Europe belong to the Sanskrit family, even as in the East the
+Persian, and to a less degree the Arabic, Hebrew, etc.; whilst to
+the Tibetian or Tartar family in Asia pertain the Mandchou and
+Mongolian, the Calmuc and the Turkish of the Caspian Sea; and in
+Europe, the Hungarian and the Basque PARTIALLY.
+
+Indeed this latter language is a strange anomaly, so that upon the
+whole it is less difficult to say what it is not, than what it is.
+It abounds with Sanskrit words to such a degree that its surface
+seems strewn with them.  Yet would it be wrong to term it a
+Sanskrit dialect, for in the collocation of these words the Tartar
+form is most decidedly observable.  A considerable proportion of
+Tartar words is likewise to be found in this language, though
+perhaps not in equal number to the terms derived from the Sanskrit.
+Of these Tartar etymons I shall at present content myself with
+citing one, though, if necessary, it were easy to adduce hundreds.
+This word is Jauna, or as it is pronounced, Khauna, a word in
+constant use amongst the Basques, and which is the Khan of the
+Mongols and Mandchous, and of the same signification--Lord.
+
+Having closely examined the subject in all its various bearings,
+and having weighed what is to be said on one side against what is
+to be advanced on the other, I am inclined to rank the Basque
+rather amongst the Tartar than the Sanskrit dialects.  Whoever
+should have an opportunity of comparing the enunciation of the
+Basques and Tartars would, from that alone, even if he understood
+them not, come to the conclusion that their respective languages
+were formed on the same principles.  In both occur periods
+seemingly interminable, during which the voice gradually ascends to
+a climax, and then gradually sinks down.
+
+I have spoken of the surprising number of Sanskrit words contained
+in the Basque language, specimens of some of which will be found
+below.  It is remarkable enough, that in the greater part of the
+derivatives from the Sanskrit the Basque has dropped the initial
+consonant, so that the word commences with a vowel.  The Basque,
+indeed, may be said to be almost a vowel language; the number of
+consonants employed being comparatively few:  perhaps eight words
+out of ten commence and terminate with a vowel, owing to which it
+is a language to the highest degree soft and melodious, far
+excelling in this respect any other language in Europe, not even
+excepting the Italian.
+
+Here follow a few specimens of Basque words with the Sanskrit roots
+in juxtaposition:-
+
+
+BASQUE.     SANSKRIT.
+Ardoa       Sandhana       Wine.
+Arratsa     Ratri          Night.
+Beguia      Akshi          Eye.
+Choria      Chiria         Bird.
+Chacurra    Cucura         Dog.
+Erreguina   Rani           Queen.
+Icusi       Iksha          To see.
+Iru         Treya          Three.
+Jan (Khan)  Khana          To eat.
+Uria        Puri           City.
+Urruti      Dura           Far.
+
+
+Such is the tongue in which I brought out Saint Luke's Gospel at
+Madrid.  The translation I procured originally from a Basque
+physician of the name of Oteiza.  Previous to being sent to the
+press, the version had lain nearly two years in my possession,
+during which time, and particularly during my travels, I lost no
+opportunity of submitting it to the inspection of those who were
+considered competent scholars in the Euscarra.  It did not entirely
+please me; but it was in vain to seek for a better translation.
+
+In my early youth I had obtained a slight acquaintance with the
+Euscarra, as it exists in books.  This acquaintance I considerably
+increased during my stay in Spain; and by occasionally mingling
+with Basques, was enabled to understand the spoken language to a
+certain extent, and even to speak it, but always with considerable
+hesitation; for to speak Basque, even tolerably, it is necessary to
+have lived in the country from a very early period.  So great are
+the difficulties attending it, and so strange are its
+peculiarities, that it is very rare to find a foreigner possessed
+of any considerable skill in the oral language, and the Spaniards
+consider the obstacles so formidable that they have a proverb to
+the effect that Satan once lived seven years in Biscay, and then
+departed, finding himself unable either to understand or to make
+himself understood.
+
+There are few inducements to the study of this language.  In the
+first place, the acquisition of it is by no means necessary even to
+those who reside in the countries where it is spoken; the Spanish
+being generally understood throughout the Basque provinces
+pertaining to Spain, and the French in those pertaining to France.
+
+In the second place, neither dialect is in possession of any
+peculiar literature capable of repaying the toil of the student.
+There are various books extant both in French and Spanish Basque,
+but these consist entirely of Popish devotion, and are for the most
+part translations.
+
+It will, perhaps, here be asked whether the Basques do not possess
+popular poetry, like most other nations, however small and
+inconsiderable.  They have certainly no lack of songs, ballads, and
+stanzas, but of a character by no means entitled to the appellation
+of poetry.  I have noted down from recitation a considerable
+portion of what they call their poetry, but the only tolerable
+specimen of verse which I ever discovered amongst them was the
+following stanza, which, after all, is not entitled to very high
+praise:-
+
+
+"Ichasoa urac aundi,
+Estu ondoric agueri -
+Pasaco ninsaqueni andic
+Maitea icustea gatic."
+
+
+i.e. "The waters of the sea are vast, and their bottom cannot be
+seen:  but over them I will pass, that I may behold my love."
+
+The Basques are a singing rather than a poetical people.
+Notwithstanding the facility with which their tongue lends itself
+to the composition of verse, they have never produced among them a
+poet with the slightest pretensions to reputation; but their voices
+are singularly sweet, and they are known to excel in musical
+composition.  It is the opinion of a certain author, the Abbe
+D'Ilharce, who has written about them, that they derived the name
+Cantabri, by which they were known to the Romans, from Khantor-ber,
+signifying sweet singers.  They possess much music of their own,
+some of which is said to be exceedingly ancient.  Of this music
+specimens were published at Donostian (San Sebastian) in the year
+1826, edited by a certain Juan Ignacio Iztueta.  These consist of
+wild and thrilling marches, to the sound of which it is believed
+that the ancient Basques were in the habit of descending from their
+mountains to combat with the Romans, and subsequently with the
+Moors.  Whilst listening to them it is easy to suppose oneself in
+the close vicinity of some desperate encounter.  We seem to hear
+the charge of cavalry on the sounding plain, the clash of swords,
+and the rushing of men down the gorges of hills.  This music is
+accompanied with words, but such words!  Nothing can be imagined
+more stupid, commonplace, and uninteresting.  So far from being
+martial, they relate to everyday incidents and appear to have no
+connexion whatever with the music.  They are evidently of modern
+date.
+
+In person the Basques are of the middle size, and are active and
+athletic.  They are in general of fair complexions and handsome
+features, and in appearance bear no slight resemblance to certain
+Tartar tribes of the Caucasus.  Their bravery is unquestionable,
+and they are considered as the best soldiery belonging to the
+Spanish crown:  a fact highly corroborative of the supposition that
+they are of Tartar origin, the Tartars being of all races the most
+warlike, and amongst whom the most remarkable conquerors have been
+produced.  They are faithful and honest, and capable of much
+disinterested attachment; kind and hospitable to strangers; all of
+which points are far from being at variance with the Tartan
+character.  But they are somewhat dull, and their capacities are by
+no means of a high order, and in these respects they again resemble
+the Tartars.
+
+No people on earth are prouder than the Basques, but theirs is a
+kind of republican pride.  They have no nobility amongst them, and
+no one will acknowledge a superior.  The poorest carman is as proud
+as the governor of Tolosa.  "He is more powerful than I," he will
+say, "but I am of as good blood; perhaps hereafter I may become a
+governor myself."  They abhor servitude, at least out of their own
+country; and though circumstances frequently oblige them to seek
+masters, it is very rare to find them filling the places of common
+domestics; they are stewards, secretaries, accountants, etc.  True
+it is, that it was my own fortune to obtain a Basque domestic; but
+then he always treated me more as an equal than a master, would sit
+down in my presence, give me his advice unasked, and enter into
+conversation with me at all times and occasions.  Did I check him!
+Certainly not!  For in that case he would have left me, and a more
+faithful creature I never knew.  His fate was a mournful one, as
+will appear in the sequel.
+
+I have said that the Basques abhor servitude, and are rarely to be
+found serving as domestics amongst the Spaniards.  I allude,
+however, merely to the males.  The females, on the contrary, have
+no objection whatever to enter houses as servants.  Women, indeed,
+amongst the Basques are not looked upon with all the esteem which
+they deserve, and are considered as fitted for little else than to
+perform menial offices, even as in the East, where they are viewed
+in the light of servants and slaves.  The Basque females differ
+widely in character from the men; they are quick and vivacious, and
+have in general much more talent.  They are famous for their skill
+as cooks, and in most respectable houses of Madrid a Biscayan
+female may be found in the kitchen, queen supreme of the culinary
+department.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+
+
+The Prohibition--Gospel Persecuted--Charge of Sorcery--Ofalia.
+
+About the middle of January a swoop was made upon me by my enemies,
+in the shape of a peremptory prohibition from the political
+governor of Madrid to sell any more New Testaments.  This measure
+by no means took me by surprise, as I had for some time previously
+been expecting something of the kind, on account of the political
+sentiments of the ministers then in power.  I forthwith paid a
+visit to Sir George Villiers, informing him of what had occurred.
+He promised to do all he could to cause the prohibition to be
+withdrawn.  Unfortunately at this time he had not much influence,
+having opposed with all his might the entrance of the moderado
+ministry to power, and the nomination of Ofalia to the presidency
+of the cabinet.  I, however, never lost confidence in the Almighty,
+in whose cause I was engaged.
+
+Matters were going on very well before this check.  The demand for
+Testaments was becoming considerable, so much so, that the clergy
+were alarmed, and this step was the consequence.  But they had
+previously recourse to another, well worthy of them, they attempted
+to act upon my fears.  One of the ruffians of Madrid, called
+Manolos, came up to me one night, in a dark street, and told me
+that unless I discontinued selling my "Jewish books," I should have
+a knife "nailed in my heart"; but I told him to go home, say his
+prayers, and tell his employers that I pitied them; whereupon he
+turned away with an oath.  A few days after, I received an order to
+send two copies of the Testament to the office of the political
+governor, with which I complied, and in less than twenty-four hours
+an alguazil arrived at the shop with a notice prohibiting the
+further sale of the work.
+
+One circumstance rejoiced me.  Singular as it may appear, the
+authorities took no measures to cause my little despacho to be
+closed, and I received no prohibition respecting the sale of any
+work but the New Testament, and as the Gospel of Saint Luke, in
+Romany and Basque, would within a short time be ready for delivery,
+I hoped to carry on matters in a small way till better times should
+arrive.
+
+I was advised to erase from the shop windows the words "Despacho of
+the British and Foreign Bible Society."  This, however, I refused
+to do.  Those words had tended very much to call attention, which
+was my grand object.  Had I attempted to conduct things in an
+underhand manner, I should, at the time of which I am speaking,
+scarcely have sold thirty copies in Madrid, instead of nearly three
+hundred.  People who know me not, may be disposed to call me rash;
+but I am far from being so, as I never adopt a venturous course
+when any other is open to me.  I am not, however, a person to be
+terrified by any danger, when I see that braving it is the only way
+to achieve an object.
+
+The booksellers were unwilling to sell my work; I was compelled to
+establish a shop of my own.  Every shop in Madrid has a name.  What
+name could I give it but the true one?  I was not ashamed of my
+cause or my colours.  I hoisted them, and fought beneath them not
+without success.
+
+The priestly party in Madrid, in the meantime, spared no effort to
+vilify me.  They started a publication called The Friend of the
+Christian Religion, in which a stupid but furious attack upon me
+appeared, which I, however, treated with the contempt it deserved.
+But not satisfied with this, they endeavoured to incite the
+populace against me, by telling them that I was a sorcerer, and a
+companion of Gypsies and witches, and their agents even called me
+so in the streets.  That I was an associate of Gypsies and fortune-
+tellers I do not deny.  Why should I be ashamed of their company
+when my Master mingled with publicans and thieves?  Many of the
+Gypsy race came frequently to visit me; received instruction, and
+heard parts of the Gospel read to them in their own language, and
+when they were hungry and faint, I gave them to eat and drink.
+This might be deemed sorcery in Spain, but I am not without hope
+that it will be otherwise estimated in England, and had I perished
+at this period, I think there are some who would have been disposed
+to acknowledge that I had not lived altogether in vain (always as
+an instrument of the "Most Highest"), having been permitted to turn
+one of the most valuable books of God into the speech of the most
+degraded of his creatures.
+
+In the meantime I endeavoured to enter into negotiations with the
+ministry, for the purpose of obtaining permission to sell the New
+Testament in Madrid, and the nullification of the prohibition.  I
+experienced, however, great opposition, which I was unable to
+surmount.  Several of the ultra-popish bishops, then resident in
+Madrid, had denounced the Bible, the Bible Society, and myself.
+Nevertheless, notwithstanding their powerful and united efforts,
+they were unable to effect their principal object, namely, my
+expulsion from Madrid and Spain.  The Count Ofalia, notwithstanding
+he had permitted himself to be made the instrument, to a certain
+extent, of these people, would not consent to be pushed to such a
+length.  Throughout this affair, I cannot find words sufficiently
+strong to do justice to the zeal and interest which Sir George
+Villiers displayed in the cause of the Testament.  He had various
+interviews with Ofalia on the subject, and in these he expressed to
+him his sense of the injustice and tyranny which had been practised
+in this instance towards his countryman.
+
+Ofalia had been moved by these remonstrances, and more than once
+promised to do all in his power to oblige Sir George; but then the
+bishops again beset him, and playing upon his political if not
+religious fears, prevented him from acting a just, honest, and
+honourable part.  At the desire of Sir George Villiers, I drew up a
+brief account of the Bible Society, and an exposition of its views,
+especially in respect to Spain, which he presented with his own
+hands to the Count.  I shall not trouble the reader by inserting
+this memorial, but content myself with observing, that I made no
+attempts to flatter and cajole, but expressed myself honestly and
+frankly, as a Christian ought.  Ofalia, on reading it, said, "What
+a pity that this is a Protestant society, and that all its members
+are not Catholics."
+
+A few days subsequently, to my great astonishment, he sent a
+message to me by a friend, requesting that I would send him a copy
+of my Gypsy Gospel.  I may as well here state, that the fame of
+this work, though not yet published, had already spread like
+wildfire through Madrid, and every person was passionately eager to
+possess a copy; indeed, several grandees of Spain sent messages
+with similar requests, all of which I however denied.  I instantly
+resolved to take advantage of this overture on the part of Count
+Ofalia, and to call on him myself.  I therefore caused a copy of
+the Gospel to be handsomely bound, and proceeding to the palace,
+was instantly admitted to him.  He was a dusky, diminutive person,
+between fifty and sixty years of age, with false hair and teeth,
+but exceedingly gentlemanly manners.  He received me with great
+affability, and thanked me for my present; but on my proceeding to
+speak of the New Testament, he told me that the subject was
+surrounded with difficulties, and that the great body of the clergy
+had taken up the matter against me; he conjured me, however, to be
+patient and peaceable, in which case he said he would endeavour to
+devise some plan to satisfy me.  Amongst other things, he observed
+that the bishops hated a sectarian more than an Atheist.  Whereupon
+I replied, that, like the Pharisees of old, they cared more for the
+gold of the temple than the temple itself.  Throughout the whole of
+our interview he evidently laboured under great fear, and was
+continually looking behind and around him, seemingly in dread of
+being overheard, which brought to my mind an expression of a friend
+of mine, that if there be any truth in metempsychosis, the soul of
+Count Ofalia must have originally belonged to a mouse.  We parted
+in kindness, and I went away, wondering by what strange chance this
+poor man had become prime minister of a country like Spain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+
+
+The Two Gospels--The Alguazil--The Warrant--The Good Maria--The
+Arrest--Sent to Prison--Reflections--The Reception--The Prison
+Room--Redress Demanded.
+
+At length the Gospel of Saint Luke in the Gypsy language was in a
+state of readiness.  I therefore deposited a certain number of
+copies in the despacho, and announced them for sale.  The Basque,
+which was by this time also printed, was likewise advertised.  For
+this last work there was little demand.  Not so, however, for the
+Gypsy Luke, of which I could have easily disposed of the whole
+edition in less than a fortnight.  Long, however, before this
+period had expired, the clergy were up in arms.  "Sorcery!" said
+one bishop.  "There is more in this than we can dive into,"
+exclaimed a second.  "He will convert all Spain by means of the
+Gypsy language," cried a third.  And then came the usual chorus on
+such occasions, of Que infamia!  Que picardia!  At last, having
+consulted together, away they hurried to their tool the corregidor,
+or, according to the modern term, the gefe politico of Madrid.  I
+have forgotten the name of this worthy, of whom I had myself no
+personal knowledge whatever.  Judging from his actions, however,
+and from common report, I should say that he was a stupid wrong-
+headed creature, savage withal--a melange of borrico, mule, and
+wolf.  Having an inveterate antipathy to all foreigners, he lent a
+willing ear to the complaint of my accusers, and forthwith gave
+orders to make a seizure of all the copies of the Gypsy Gospel
+which could be found in the despacho.  The consequence was, that a
+numerous body of alguazils directed their steps to the Calle del
+principe; some thirty copies of the book in question were pounced
+upon, and about the same number of Saint Luke in Basque.  With this
+spoil these satellites returned in triumph to the gefatura
+politica, where they divided the copies of the Gypsy volume amongst
+themselves, selling subsequently the greater number at a large
+price, the book being in the greatest demand, and thus becoming
+unintentionally agents of an heretical society.  But every one must
+live by his trade, say these people, and they lose no opportunity
+of making their words good, by disposing to the best advantage of
+any booty which falls into their hands.  As no person cared about
+the Basque Gospel, it was safely stowed away, with other
+unmarketable captures, in the warehouses of the office.
+
+The Gypsy Gospels had now been seized, at least as many as were
+exposed for sale in the despacho.  The corregidor and his friends,
+however, were of opinion that many more might be obtained by means
+of a little management.  Fellows, therefore, hangers-on of the
+police office, were daily dispatched to the shop in all kinds of
+disguises, inquiring, with great seeming anxiety, for "Gypsy
+books," and offering high prices for copies.  They, however,
+returned to their employers empty-handed.  My Gallegan was on his
+guard, informing all who made inquiries, that books of no
+description would be sold at the establishment for the present.
+Which was in truth the case, as I had given him particular orders
+to sell no more under any pretence whatever.
+
+I got no credit, however, for my frank dealing.  The corregidor and
+his confederates could not persuade themselves but that by some
+means mysterious and unknown to them, I was daily selling hundreds
+of these Gypsy books, which were to revolutionize the country, and
+annihilate the power of the Father of Rome.  A plan was therefore
+resolved upon, by means of which they hoped to have an opportunity
+of placing me in a position which would incapacitate me for some
+time from taking any active measures to circulate the Scriptures,
+either in Gypsy or in any other language.
+
+It was on the morning of the first of May, if I forget not, that an
+unknown individual made his appearance in my apartment as I was
+seated at breakfast; he was a mean-looking fellow, about the middle
+stature, with a countenance on which knave was written in legible
+characters.  The hostess ushered him in, and then withdrew.  I did
+not like the appearance of my visitor, but assuming some degree of
+courtesy, I requested him to sit down, and demanded his business.
+"I come from his excellency the political chief of Madrid," he
+replied, "and my business is to inform you that his excellency is
+perfectly aware of your proceedings, and is at any time able to
+prove that you are still disposing of in secret those evil books
+which you have been forbidden to sell."  "Is he so," I replied;
+"pray let him do so forthwith, but what need of giving me
+information?"  "Perhaps," continued the fellow, "you think his
+worship has no witnesses; know, however, that he has many, and
+respectable ones too."  "Doubtless," I replied, "and from the
+respectability of your own appearance, you are perhaps one of them.
+But you are occupying my time unprofitably; begone, therefore, and
+tell whoever sent you, that I have by no means a high opinion of
+his wisdom."  "I shall go when I please," retorted the fellow; "do
+you know to whom you are speaking?  Are you aware that if I think
+fit I can search your apartment, yes, even below your bed?  What
+have we here," he continued; and commenced with his stick poking a
+heap of papers which lay upon a chair; "what have we here; are
+these also papers of the Gypsies?"  I instantly determined upon
+submitting no longer to this behaviour, and taking the fellow by
+the arm, led him out of the apartment, and then still holding him,
+conducted him downstairs from the third floor in which I lived,
+into the street, looking him steadfastly in the face the whole
+while.
+
+The fellow had left his sombrero on the table, which I dispatched
+to him by the landlady, who delivered it into his hand as he stood
+in the street staring with distended eyes at the balcony of my
+apartment.
+
+"A trampa has been laid for you, Don Jorge," said Maria Diaz, when
+she had reascended from the street; "that corchete came here with
+no other intention than to have a dispute with you; out of every
+word you have said he will make a long history, as is the custom
+with these people:  indeed he said, as I handed him his hat, that
+ere twenty-four hours were over, you should see the inside of the
+prison of Madrid."
+
+In effect, during the course of the morning, I was told that a
+warrant had been issued for my apprehension.  The prospect of
+incarceration, however, did not fill me with much dismay; an
+adventurous life and inveterate habits of wandering having long
+familiarized me to situations of every kind, so much so as to feel
+myself quite as comfortable in a prison as in the gilded chamber of
+palaces; indeed more so, as in the former place I can always add to
+my store of useful information, whereas in the latter, ennui
+frequently assails me.  I had, moreover, been thinking for some
+time past of paying a visit to the prison, partly in the hope of
+being able to say a few words of Christian instruction to the
+criminals, and partly with the view of making certain
+investigations in the robber language of Spain, a subject about
+which I had long felt much curiosity; indeed, I had already made
+application for admittance into the Carcel de la Corte, but had
+found the matter surrounded with difficulties, as my friend Ofalia
+would have said.  I rather rejoiced then in the opportunity which
+was now about to present itself of entering the prison, not in the
+character of a visitor for an hour, but as a martyr, and as one
+suffering in the holy cause of religion.  I was determined,
+however, to disappoint my enemies for that day at least, and to
+render null the threat of the alguazil, that I should be imprisoned
+within twenty-four hours.  I therefore took up my abode for the
+rest of the day in a celebrated French tavern in the Calle del
+Caballero de Gracia, which, as it was one of the most fashionable
+and public places in Madrid, I naturally concluded was one of the
+last where the corregidor would think of seeking me.
+
+About ten at night, Maria Diaz, to whom I had communicated the
+place of my retreat, arrived with her son, Juan Lopez.  "O senor,"
+said she on seeing me, "they are already in quest of you; the
+alcalde of the barrio, with a large comitiva of alguazils and such
+like people, have just been at our house with a warrant for your
+imprisonment from the corregidor.  They searched the whole house,
+and were much disappointed at not finding you.  Wo is me, what will
+they do when they catch you?"  "Be under no apprehensions, good
+Maria," said I; "you forget that I am an Englishman, and so it
+seems does the corregidor.  Whenever he catches me, depend upon it
+he will be glad enough to let me go.  For the present, however, we
+will permit him to follow his own course, for the spirit of folly
+seems to have seized him."
+
+I slept at the tavern, and in the forenoon of the following day
+repaired to the embassy, where I had an interview with Sir George,
+to whom I related every circumstance of the affair.  He said that
+he could scarcely believe that the corregidor entertained any
+serious intentions of imprisoning me:  in the first place, because
+I had committed no offence; and in the second, because I was not
+under the jurisdiction of that functionary, but under that of the
+captain-general, who was alone empowered to decide upon matters
+which relate to foreigners, and before whom I must be brought in
+the presence of the consul of my nation.  "However," said he,
+"there is no knowing to what length these jacks in office may go.
+I therefore advise you, if you are under any apprehension, to
+remain as my guest at the embassy for a few days, for here you will
+be quite safe."  I assured him that I was under no apprehension
+whatever, having long been accustomed to adventures of this kind.
+From the apartment of Sir George, I proceeded to that of the first
+secretary of embassy, Mr. Southern, with whom I entered into
+conversation.  I had scarcely been there a minute when my servant
+Francisco rushed in, much out of breath, and in violent agitation,
+exclaiming in Basque, "Niri jauna (master mine), the alguaziloac
+and the corchetoac, and all the other lapurrac (thieves) are again
+at the house.  They seem half mad, and not being able to find you,
+are searching your papers, thinking, I suppose, that you are hid
+among them."  Mr. Southern here interrupting him, inquired of me
+what all this meant.  Whereupon I told him, saying at the same
+time, that it was my intention to proceed at once to my lodgings.
+"But perhaps these fellows will arrest you," said Mr. S., "before
+we can interfere."  "I must take my chance as to that," I replied,
+and presently afterwards departed.
+
+Ere, however, I had reached the middle of the street of Alcala, two
+fellows came up to me, and telling me that I was their prisoner,
+commanded me to follow them to the office of the corregidor.  They
+were in fact alguazils, who, suspecting that I might enter or come
+out of the embassy, had stationed themselves in the neighbourhood.
+I instantly turned round to Francisco, and told him in Basque to
+return to the embassy and to relate there to the secretary what had
+just occurred.  The poor fellow set off like lightning, turning
+half round, however, to shake his fist, and to vent a Basque
+execration at the two lapurrac, as he called the alguazils.
+
+They conducted me to the gefatura or office of the corregidor,
+where they ushered me into a large room, and motioned me to sit
+down on a wooden bench.  They then stationed themselves on each
+side of me:  there were at least twenty people in the apartment
+beside ourselves, evidently from their appearance officials of the
+establishment.  They were all well dressed, for the most part in
+the French fashion, in round hats, coats, and pantaloons, and yet
+they looked what in reality they were, Spanish alguazils, spies,
+and informers, and Gil Blas, could he have waked from his sleep of
+two centuries, would, notwithstanding the change of fashion, have
+had no difficulty in recognizing them.  They glanced at me as they
+stood lounging about the room; they gathered themselves together in
+a circle and began conversing in whispers.  I heard one of them
+say, "he understands the seven Gypsy jargons."  Then presently
+another, evidently from his language an Andalusian, said, "Es muy
+diestro (he is very skilful), and can ride a horse and dart a knife
+full as well as if he came from my own country."  Thereupon they
+all turned round and regarded me with a species of interest,
+evidently mingled with respect, which most assuredly they would not
+have exhibited had they conceived that I was merely an honest man
+bearing witness in a righteous cause.
+
+I waited patiently on the bench at least one hour, expecting every
+moment to be summoned before my lord the corregidor.  I suppose,
+however, that I was not deemed worthy of being permitted to see so
+exalted a personage, for at the end of that time, an elderly man,
+one however evidently of the alguazil genus, came into the room and
+advanced directly towards me.  "Stand up," said he.  I obeyed.
+"What is your name?" he demanded.  I told him.  "Then," he replied,
+exhibiting a paper which he held in his hand, "Senor, it is the
+will of his excellency the corregidor that you be forthwith sent to
+prison."
+
+He looked at me steadfastly as he spoke, perhaps expecting that I
+should sink into the earth at the formidable name of prison; I
+however only smiled.  He then delivered the paper, which I suppose
+was the warrant for my committal, into the hand of one of my two
+captors, and obeying a sign which they made, I followed them.
+
+I subsequently learned that the secretary of legation, Mr.
+Southern, had been dispatched by Sir George, as soon as the latter
+had obtained information of my arrest, and had been waiting at the
+office during the greater part of the time that I was there.  He
+had demanded an audience of the corregidor, in which he had
+intended to have remonstrated with him, and pointed out to him the
+danger to which he was subjecting himself by the rash step which he
+was taking.  The sullen functionary, however, had refused to see
+him, thinking, perhaps, that to listen to reason would be a
+dereliction of dignity:  by this conduct, however, he most
+effectually served me, as no person, after such a specimen of
+uncalled-for insolence, felt disposed to question the violence and
+injustice which had been practised towards me.
+
+The alguazils conducted me across the Plaza Mayor to the Carcel de
+la Corte, or prison of the court, as it is called.  Whilst going
+across the square, I remembered that this was the place where, in
+"the good old times," the Inquisition of Spain was in the habit of
+holding its solemn Autos da fe, and I cast my eye to the balcony of
+the city hall, where at the most solemn of them all, the last of
+the Austrian line in Spain sat, and after some thirty heretics, of
+both sexes, had been burnt by fours and by fives, wiped his face,
+perspiring with heat, and black with smoke, and calmly inquired,
+"No hay mas?" for which exemplary proof of patience he was much
+applauded by his priests and confessors, who subsequently poisoned
+him.  "And here am I," thought I, "who have done more to wound
+Popery, than all the poor Christian martyrs that ever suffered in
+this accursed square, merely sent to prison, from which I am sure
+to be liberated in a few days, with credit and applause.  Pope of
+Rome! I believe you to be as malicious as ever, but you are sadly
+deficient in power.  You are become paralytic, Batuschca, and your
+club has degenerated to a crutch."
+
+We arrived at the prison, which stands in a narrow street not far
+from the great square.  We entered a dusky passage, at the end of
+which was a wicket door.  My conductors knocked, a fierce visage
+peered through the wicket; there was an exchange of words, and in a
+few moments I found myself within the prison of Madrid, in a kind
+of corridor which overlooked at a considerable altitude what
+appeared to be a court, from which arose a hubbub of voices, and
+occasionally wild shouts and cries.  Within the corridor which
+served as a kind of office, were several people; one of them sat
+behind a desk, and to him the alguazils went up, and after
+discoursing with him some time in low tones, delivered the warrant
+into his hands.  He perused it with attention, then rising he
+advanced to me.  What a figure!  He was about forty years of age,
+and his height might have amounted to some six feet two inches, had
+he not been curved much after the fashion of the letter S.  No
+weazel ever appeared lanker, and he looked as if a breath of air
+would have been sufficient to blow him away; his face might
+certainly have been called handsome, had it not been for its
+extraordinary and portentous meagreness; his nose was like an
+eagle's bill, his teeth white as ivory, his eyes black (Oh how
+black!) and fraught with a strange expression, his skin was dark,
+and the hair of his head like the plumage of the raven.  A deep
+quiet smile dwelt continually on his features; but with all the
+quiet it was a cruel smile, such a one as would have graced the
+countenance of a Nero.  "Mais en revanche personne n'etoit plus
+honnete."  "Caballero," said he, "allow me to introduce myself to
+you as the alcayde of this prison.  I perceive by this paper that I
+am to have the honour of your company for a time, a short time
+doubtless, beneath this roof; I hope you will banish every
+apprehension from your mind.  I am charged to treat you with all
+the respect which is due to the illustrious nation to which you
+belong, and which a cavalier of such exalted category as yourself
+is entitled to expect.  A needless charge, it is true, as I should
+only have been too happy of my own accord to have afforded you
+every comfort and attention.  Caballero, you will rather consider
+yourself here as a guest than a prisoner; you will be permitted to
+roam over every part of this house whenever you think proper.  You
+will find matters here not altogether below the attention of a
+philosophic mind!  Pray, issue whatever commands you may think fit
+to the turnkeys and officials, even as if they were your own
+servants.  I will now have the honour of conducting you to your
+apartment--the only one at present unoccupied.  We invariably
+reserve it for cavaliers of distinction.  I am happy to say that my
+orders are again in consonance with my inclination.  No charge
+whatever will be made for it to you, though the daily hire of it is
+not unfrequently an ounce of gold.  I entreat you, therefore, to
+follow me, cavalier, who am at all times and seasons the most
+obedient and devoted of your servants."  Here he took off his hat
+and bowed profoundly.
+
+Such was the speech of the alcayde of the prison of Madrid; a
+speech delivered in pure sonorous Castilian, with calmness,
+gravity, and almost with dignity; a speech which would have done
+honour to a gentleman of high birth, to Monsieur Basompierre, of
+the Old Bastile, receiving an Italian prince, or the high constable
+of the Tower an English duke attainted of high treason.  Now, who
+in the name of wonder was this alcayde?
+
+One of the greatest rascals in all Spain.  A fellow who had more
+than once by his grasping cupidity, and by his curtailment of the
+miserable rations of the prisoners, caused an insurrection in the
+court below only to be repressed by bloodshed, and by summoning
+military aid; a fellow of low birth, who, only five years previous,
+had been DRUMMER to a band of royalist volunteers!
+
+But Spain is the land of extraordinary characters.
+
+I followed the alcayde to the end of the corridor, where was a
+massive grated door, on each side of which sat a grim fellow of a
+turnkey.  The door was opened, and turning to the right we
+proceeded down another corridor, in which were many people walking
+about, whom I subsequently discovered to be prisoners like myself,
+but for political offences.  At the end of this corridor, which
+extended the whole length of the patio, we turned into another, and
+the first apartment in this was the one destined for myself.  It
+was large and lofty, but totally destitute of every species of
+furniture, with the exception of a huge wooden pitcher, intended to
+hold my daily allowance of water.  "Caballero," said the alcayde,
+"the apartment is without furniture, as you see.  It is already the
+third hour of the tarde, I therefore advise you to lose no time in
+sending to your lodgings for a bed and whatever you may stand in
+need of, the llavero here shall do your bidding.  Caballero, adieu
+till I see you again."
+
+I followed his advice, and writing a note in pencil to Maria Diaz,
+I dispatched it by the llavero, and then sitting down on the wooden
+pitcher, I fell into a reverie, which continued for a considerable
+time.
+
+Night arrived, and so did Maria Diaz, attended by two porters and
+Francisco, all loaded with furniture.  A lamp was lighted, charcoal
+was kindled in the brasero, and the prison gloom was to a certain
+degree dispelled.
+
+I now left my seat on the pitcher, and sitting down on a chair,
+proceeded to dispatch some wine and viands, which my good hostess
+had not forgotten to bring with her.  Suddenly Mr. Southern
+entered.  He laughed heartily at finding me engaged in the manner I
+have described.  "B-," said he, "you are the man to get through the
+world, for you appear to take all things coolly, and as matters of
+course.  That, however, which most surprises me with respect to you
+is, your having so many friends; here you are in prison, surrounded
+by people ministering to your comforts.  Your very servant is your
+friend, instead of being your worst enemy, as is usually the case.
+That Basque of yours is a noble fellow.  I shall never forget how
+he spoke for you, when he came running to the embassy to inform us
+of your arrest.  He interested both Sir George and myself in the
+highest degree:  should you ever wish to part with him, I hope you
+will give me the refusal of his services.  But now to other
+matters."  He then informed me that Sir George had already sent in
+an official note to Ofalia, demanding redress for such a wanton
+outrage on the person of a British subject.  "You must remain in
+prison," said he, "to-night, but depend upon it that to-morrow, if
+you are disposed, you may quit in triumph."  "I am by no means
+disposed for any such thing," I replied.  "They have put me in
+prison for their pleasure, and I intend to remain here for my own."
+"If the confinement is not irksome to you," said Mr. Southern, "I
+think, indeed, it will be your wisest plan; the government have
+committed themselves sadly with regard to you; and, to speak
+plainly, we are by no means sorry for it.  They have on more than
+one occasion treated ourselves very cavalierly, and we have now, if
+you continue firm, an excellent opportunity of humbling their
+insolence.  I will instantly acquaint Sir George with your
+determination, and you shall hear from us early on the morrow."  He
+then bade me farewell; and flinging myself on my bed, I was soon
+asleep in the prison of Madrid.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+
+
+Ofalia--The Juez--Carcel do la Corte--Sunday in Prison--Robber
+Dress--Father and Son--Characteristic Behaviour--The Frenchman--
+Prison Allowance--Valley of the Shadow--Pure Castilian--Balseiro--
+The Cave--Robber Glory.
+
+Ofalia quickly perceived that the imprisonment of a British subject
+in a manner so illegal as that which had attended my own, was
+likely to be followed by rather serious consequences.  Whether he
+himself had at all encouraged the corregidor in his behaviour
+towards me, it is impossible to say; the probability is that he had
+not:  the latter, however, was an officer of his own appointing,
+for whose actions himself and the government were to a certain
+extent responsible.  Sir George had already made a very strong
+remonstrance upon the subject, and had even gone so far as to state
+in an official note that he should desist from all farther
+communication with the Spanish government until full and ample
+reparation had been afforded me for the violence to which I had
+been subjected.  Ofalia's reply was, that immediate measures should
+be taken for my liberation, and that it would be my own fault if I
+remained in prison.  He forthwith ordered a juez de la primera
+instancia, a kind of solicitor-general, to wait upon me, who was
+instructed to hear my account of the affair, and then to dismiss me
+with an admonition to be cautious for the future.  My friends of
+the embassy, however, had advised me how to act in such a case.
+Accordingly, when the juez on the second night of my imprisonment
+made his appearance at the prison, and summoned me before him, I
+went, but on his proceeding to question me, I absolutely refused to
+answer.  "I deny your right to put any questions to me," said I; "I
+entertain, however, no feelings of disrespect to the government or
+to yourself, Caballero Juez; but I have been illegally imprisoned.
+So accomplished a jurist as yourself cannot fail to be aware that,
+according to the laws of Spain, I, as a foreigner, could not be
+committed to prison for the offence with which I had been charged,
+without previously being conducted before the captain-general of
+this royal city, whose duty it is to protect foreigners, and see
+that the laws of hospitality are not violated in their persons."
+
+Juez.--Come, come, Don Jorge, I see what you are aiming at; but
+listen to reason:  I will not now speak to you as a juez but as a
+friend who wishes you well, and who entertains a profound reverence
+for the British nation.  This is a foolish affair altogether; I
+will not deny that the political chief acted somewhat hastily on
+the information of a person not perhaps altogether worthy of
+credit.  No great damage, however, has been done to you, and to a
+man of the world like yourself, a little adventure of this kind is
+rather calculated to afford amusement than anything else.  Now be
+advised, forget what has happened; you know that it is the part and
+duty of a Christian to forgive; so, Don Jorge, I advise you to
+leave this place forthwith.  I dare say you are getting tired of
+it.  You are this moment free to depart; repair at once to your
+lodgings, where, I promise you, that no one shall be permitted to
+interrupt you for the future.  It is getting late, and the prison
+doors will speedily be closed for the night.  Vamos, Don Jorge, a
+la casa, a la posada!
+
+Myself.--"But Paul said unto them, they have beaten us openly
+uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do
+they thrust us out privily?  Nay, verily:  but let them come
+themselves and fetch us out."
+
+I then bowed to the juez, who shrugged his shoulders and took
+snuff.  On leaving the apartment I turned to the alcayde, who stood
+at the door:  "Take notice," said I, "that I will not quit this
+prison till I have received full satisfaction for being sent hither
+uncondemned.  You may expel me if you please, but any attempt to do
+so shall be resisted with all the bodily strength of which I am
+possessed."
+
+"Your worship is right," said the alcayde with a bow, but in a low
+voice.
+
+Sir George, on hearing of this affair, sent me a letter in which he
+highly commanded my resolution not to leave the prison for the
+present, at the same time begging me to let him know if there were
+anything that he could send me from the embassy to render my
+situation more tolerable.
+
+I will now leave for the present my own immediate affairs, and
+proceed to give some account of the prison of Madrid and its
+inmates.
+
+The Carcel de la Corte, where I now was, though the principal
+prison of Madrid, is one which certainly in no respect does credit
+to the capital of Spain.  Whether it was originally intended for
+the purpose to which it is at present applied, I have no
+opportunity of knowing.  The chances, however, are, that it was
+not; indeed it was not till of late years that the practice of
+building edifices expressly intended and suited for the
+incarceration of culprits came at all into vogue.  Castles,
+convents, and deserted palaces, have in all countries, at different
+times, been converted into prisons, which practice still holds good
+upon the greater part of the continent, and more particularly in
+Spain and Italy, which accounts, to a certain extent, for the
+insecurity of the prisons, and the misery, want of cleanliness, and
+unhealthiness which in general pervade them.
+
+I shall not attempt to enter into a particular description of the
+prison of Madrid, indeed it would be quite impossible to describe
+so irregular and rambling an edifice.  Its principal features
+consisted of two courts, the one behind the other, intended for the
+great body of the prisoners to take air and recreation in.  Three
+large vaulted dungeons or calabozos occupied three sides of this
+court, immediately below the corridors of which I have already
+spoken.  These dungeons were roomy enough to contain respectively
+from one hundred to one hundred and fifty prisoners, who were at
+night secured therein with lock and bar, but during the day were
+permitted to roam about the courts as they thought fit.  The second
+court was considerably larger than the first, though it contained
+but two dungeons, horribly filthy and disgusting places; this
+second court being used for the reception of the lower grades of
+thieves.  Of the two dungeons one was, if possible, yet more
+horrible than the other; it was called the gallineria, or chicken
+coop, and within it every night were pent up the young fry of the
+prison, wretched boys from seven to fifteen years of age, the
+greater part almost in a state of nudity.  The common bed of all
+the inmates of these dungeons was the ground, between which and
+their bodies nothing intervened, save occasionally a manta or
+horse-cloth, or perhaps a small mattress; this latter luxury was,
+however, of exceedingly rare occurrence.
+
+Besides the calabozos connected with the courts, were other
+dungeons in various parts of the prison; some of them quite dark,
+intended for the reception of those whom it might be deemed
+expedient to treat with peculiar severity.  There was likewise a
+ward set apart for females.  Connected with the principal corridor
+were many small apartments, where resided prisoners confined for
+debt or for political offences.  And, lastly, there was a small
+capilla or chapel, in which prisoners cast for death passed the
+last three days of their existence in company of their ghostly
+advisers.
+
+I shall not soon forget my first Sunday in prison.  Sunday is the
+gala day of the prison, at least of that of Madrid, and whatever
+robber finery is to be found within it, is sure to be exhibited on
+that day of holiness.  There is not a set of people in the world
+more vain than robbers in general, more fond of cutting a figure
+whenever they have an opportunity, and of attracting the eyes of
+their fellow creatures by the gallantry of their appearance.  The
+famous Sheppard of olden times delighted in sporting a suit of
+Genoese velvet, and when he appeared in public generally wore a
+silver-hilted sword at his side; whilst Vaux and Hayward, heroes of
+a later day, were the best dressed men on the pave of London.  Many
+of the Italian bandits go splendidly decorated, and the very Gypsy
+robber has a feeling for the charms of dress; the cap alone of the
+Haram Pasha, or leader of the cannibal Gypsy band which infested
+Hungary towards the conclusion of the last century, was adorned
+with gold and jewels to the value of four thousand guilders.
+Observe, ye vain and frivolous, how vanity and crime harmonize.
+The Spanish robbers are as fond of this species of display as their
+brethren of other lands, and, whether in prison or out of it, are
+never so happy as when, decked out in a profusion of white linen,
+they can loll in the sun, or walk jauntily up and down.
+
+Snow-white linen, indeed, constitutes the principal feature in the
+robber foppery of Spain.  Neither coat nor jacket is worn over the
+shirt, the sleeves of which are wide and flowing, only a waistcoat
+of green or blue silk, with an abundance of silver buttons, which
+are intended more for show than use, as the vest is seldom
+buttoned.  Then there are wide trousers, something after the
+Turkish fashion; around the waist is a crimson faja or girdle, and
+about the head is tied a gaudily coloured handkerchief from the
+loom of Barcelona; light pumps and silk stockings complete the
+robber's array.  This dress is picturesque enough, and well adapted
+to the fine sunshiny weather of the Peninsula; there is a dash of
+effeminacy about it, however, hardly in keeping with the robber's
+desperate trade.  It must not, however, be supposed that it is
+every robber who can indulge in all this luxury; there are various
+grades of thieves, some poor enough, with scarcely a rag to cover
+them.  Perhaps in the crowded prison of Madrid, there were not more
+than twenty who exhibited the dress which I have attempted to
+describe above; these were jente de reputacion, tip-top thieves,
+mostly young fellows, who, though they had no money of their own,
+were supported in prison by their majas and amigas, females of a
+certain class, who form friendships with robbers, and whose glory
+and delight it is to administer to the vanity of these fellows with
+the wages of their own shame and abasement.  These females supplied
+their cortejos with the snowy linen, washed, perhaps, by their own
+hands in the waters of the Manzanares, for the display of the
+Sunday, when they would themselves make their appearance dressed a
+la maja, and from the corridors would gaze with admiring eyes upon
+the robbers vapouring about in the court below.
+
+Amongst those of the snowy linen who most particularly attracted my
+attention, were a father and son; the former was a tall athletic
+figure of about thirty, by profession a housebreaker, and
+celebrated throughout Madrid for the peculiar dexterity which he
+exhibited in his calling.  He was now in prison for a rather
+atrocious murder committed in the dead of night, in a house at
+Caramanchel, in which his only accomplice was his son, a child
+under seven years of age.  "The apple," as the Danes say, "had not
+fallen far from the tree"; the imp was in every respect the
+counterpart of the father, though in miniature.  He, too, wore the
+robber shirt sleeves, the robber waistcoat with the silver buttons,
+the robber kerchief round his brow, and, ridiculous enough, a long
+Manchegan knife in the crimson faja.  He was evidently the pride of
+the ruffian father, who took all imaginable care of this chick of
+the gallows, would dandle him on his knee, and would occasionally
+take the cigar from his own moustached lips and insert it in the
+urchin's mouth.  The boy was the pet of the court, for the father
+was one of the valientes of the prison, and those who feared his
+prowess, and wished to pay their court to him, were always fondling
+the child.  What an enigma is this world of ours!  How dark and
+mysterious are the sources of what is called crime and virtue!  If
+that infant wretch become eventually a murderer like his father, is
+he to blame?  Fondled by robbers, already dressed as a robber, born
+of a robber, whose own history was perhaps similar.  Is it right?
+
+O, man, man, seek not to dive into the mystery of moral good and
+evil; confess thyself a worm, cast thyself on the earth, and murmur
+with thy lips in the dust, Jesus, Jesus!
+
+What most surprised me with respect to the prisoners, was their
+good behaviour; I call it good when all things are taken into
+consideration, and when I compare it with that of the general class
+of prisoners in foreign lands.  They had their occasional bursts of
+wild gaiety, their occasional quarrels, which they were in the
+habit of settling in a corner of the inferior court with their long
+knives; the result not unfrequently being death, or a dreadful gash
+in the face or the abdomen; but, upon the whole, their conduct was
+infinitely superior to what might have been expected from the
+inmates of such a place.  Yet this was not the result of coercion,
+or any particular care which was exercised over them; for perhaps
+in no part of the world are prisoners so left to themselves and so
+utterly neglected as in Spain:  the authorities having no farther
+anxiety about them, than to prevent their escape; not the slightest
+attention being paid to their moral conduct and not a thought
+bestowed upon their health, comfort or mental improvement, whilst
+within the walls.  Yet in this prison of Madrid, and I may say in
+Spanish prisons in general, for I have been an inmate of more than
+one, the ears of the visitor are never shocked with horrid
+blasphemy and obscenity, as in those of some other countries, and
+more particularly in civilized France; nor are his eyes outraged
+and himself insulted, as he would assuredly be, were he to look
+down upon the courts from the galleries of the Bicetre.  And yet in
+this prison of Madrid were some of the most desperate characters in
+Spain:  ruffians who had committed acts of cruelly and atrocity
+sufficient to make the flesh shudder.  But gravity and sedateness
+are the leading characteristics of the Spaniards, and the very
+robber, except in those moments when he is engaged in his
+occupation, and then no one is more sanguinary, pitiless, and
+wolfishly eager for booty, is a being who can be courteous and
+affable, and who takes pleasure in conducting himself with sobriety
+and decorum.
+
+Happily, perhaps, for me, that my acquaintance with the ruffians of
+Spain commenced and ended in the towns about which I wandered, and
+in the prisons into which I was cast for the Gospel's sake, and
+that, notwithstanding my long and frequent journeys, I never came
+in contact with them on the road or in the despoblado.
+
+The most ill-conditioned being in the prison was a Frenchman,
+though probably the most remarkable.  He was about sixty years of
+age, of the middle stature, but thin and meagre, like most of his
+countrymen; he had a villainously-formed head, according to all the
+rules of craniology, and his features were full of evil expression.
+He wore no hat, and his clothes, though in appearance nearly new,
+were of the coarsest description.  He generally kept aloof from the
+rest, and would stand for hours together leaning against the walls
+with his arms folded, glaring sullenly on what was passing before
+him.  He was not one of the professed valientes, for his age
+prevented his assuming so distinguished a character, and yet all
+the rest appeared to hold him in a certain awe:  perhaps they
+feared his tongue, which he occasionally exerted in pouring forth
+withering curses on those who incurred his displeasure.  He spoke
+perfectly good Spanish, and to my great surprise excellent Basque,
+in which he was in the habit of conversing with Francisco, who,
+lolling from the window of my apartment, would exchange jests and
+witticisms with the prisoners in the court below, with whom he was
+a great favourite.
+
+One day when I was in the patio, to which I had free admission
+whenever I pleased, by permission of the alcayde, I went up to the
+Frenchman, who stood in his usual posture, leaning against the
+wall, and offered him a cigar.  I do not smoke myself, but it will
+never do to mix among the lower classes of Spain unless you have a
+cigar to present occasionally.  The man glared at me ferociously
+for a moment, and appeared to be on the point of refusing my offer
+with perhaps a hideous execration.  I repeated it, however,
+pressing my hand against my heart, whereupon suddenly the grim
+features relaxed, and with a genuine French grimace, and a low bow,
+he accepted the cigar, exclaiming, "Ah, Monsieur, pardon, mais
+c'est faire trop d'honneur a un pauvre diable comme moi."
+
+"Not at all," said I, "we are both fellow prisoners in a foreign
+land, and being so we ought to countenance each other.  I hope that
+whenever I have need of your co-operation in this prison you will
+afford it me."
+
+"Ah, Monsieur," exclaimed the Frenchman in rapture, "vous avez bien
+raison; il faut que les eirangers se donnent la main dans ce . . .
+pays de barbares.  Tenez," he added, in a whisper, "if you have any
+plan for escaping, and require my assistance, I have an arm and a
+knife at your service:  you may trust me, and that is more than you
+could any of these sacres gens ici," glancing fiercely round at his
+fellow prisoners.
+
+"You appear to be no friend to Spain and the Spaniards," said I.
+"I conclude that you have experienced injustice at their hands.
+For what have they immured you in this place?"
+
+"Pour rien du tout, c'est a dire pour une bagatelle; but what can
+you expect from such animals?  For what are you imprisoned?  Did I
+not hear say for Gypsyism and sorcery?"
+
+"Perhaps you are here for your opinions?"
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu, non; je ne suis pas homme a semblable betise.  I
+have no opinions.  Je faisois . . . mais ce n'importe; je me trouve
+ici, ou je creve de faim."
+
+"I am sorry to see a brave man in such a distressed condition,"
+said I; "have you nothing to subsist upon beyond the prison
+allowance?  Have you no friends?"
+
+"Friends in this country, you mock me; here one has no friends,
+unless one buy them.  I am bursting with hunger; since I have been
+here I have sold the clothes off my back, that I might eat, for the
+prison allowance will not support nature, and of half of that we
+are robbed by the Batu, as they call the barbarian of a governor.
+Les haillons which now cover me were given by two or three devotees
+who sometimes visit here.  I would sell them if they would fetch
+aught.  I have not a sou, and for want of a few crowns I shall be
+garroted within a month unless I can escape, though, as I told you
+before, I have done nothing, a mere bagatelle; but the worst crimes
+in Spain are poverty and misery."
+
+"I have heard you speak Basque, are you from French Biscay?"
+
+"I am from Bordeaux, Monsieur; but I have lived much on the Landes
+and in Biscay, travaillant a mon metier.  I see by your look that
+you wish to know my history.  I shall not tell it you.  It contains
+nothing that is remarkable.  See, I have smoked out your cigar; you
+may give me another, and add a dollar if you please, nous sommes
+creves ici de faim.  I would not say as much to a Spaniard, but I
+have a respect for your countrymen; I know much of them; I have met
+them at Maida and the other place." {18}
+
+"Nothing remarkable in his history!"  Why, or I greatly err, one
+chapter of his life, had it been written, would have unfolded more
+of the wild and wonderful than fifty volumes of what are in general
+called adventures and hairbreadth escapes by land and sea.  A
+soldier! what a tale could that man have told of marches and
+retreats, of battles lost and won, towns sacked, convents
+plundered; perhaps he had seen the flames of Moscow ascending to
+the clouds, and had "tried his strength with nature in the wintry
+desert," pelted by the snow-storm, and bitten by the tremendous
+cold of Russia:  and what could he mean by plying his trade in
+Biscay and the Landes, but that he had been a robber in those wild
+regions, of which the latter is more infamous for brigandage and
+crime than any other part of the French territory.  Nothing
+remarkable in his history! then what history in the world contains
+aught that is remarkable?
+
+I gave him the cigar and dollar:  he received them, and then once
+more folding his arms, leaned back against the wall and appeared to
+sink gradually into one of his reveries.  I looked him in the face
+and spoke to him, but he did not seem either to hear or see me.
+His mind was perhaps wandering in that dreadful valley of the
+shadow, into which the children of earth, whilst living,
+occasionally find their way; that dreadful region where there is no
+water, where hope dwelleth not, where nothing lives but the undying
+worm.  This valley is the facsimile of hell, and he who has entered
+it, has experienced here on earth for a time what the spirits of
+the condemned are doomed to suffer through ages without end.
+
+He was executed about a month from this time.  The bagatelle for
+which he was confined was robbery and murder by the following
+strange device.  In concert with two others, he hired a large house
+in an unfrequented part of the town, to which place he would order
+tradesmen to convey valuable articles, which were to be paid for on
+delivery; those who attended paid for their credulity with the loss
+of their lives and property.  Two or three had fallen into the
+snare.  I wished much to have had some private conversation with
+this desperate man, and in consequence begged of the alcayde to
+allow him to dine with me in my own apartment; whereupon Monsieur
+Basompierre, for so I will take the liberty of calling the
+governor, his real name having escaped my memory, took off his hat,
+and, with his usual smile and bow, replied in purest Castilian,
+"English Cavalier, and I hope I may add friend, pardon me, that it
+is quite out of my power to gratify your request, founded, I have
+no doubt, on the most admirable sentiments of philosophy.  Any of
+the other gentlemen beneath my care shall, at any time you desire
+it, be permitted to wait upon you in your apartment.  I will even
+go so far as to cause their irons, if irons they wear, to be
+knocked off in order that they may partake of your refection with
+that comfort which is seemly and convenient:  but to the gentleman
+in question I must object; he is the most evil disposed of the
+whole of this family, and would most assuredly breed a funcion
+either in your apartment or in the corridor, by an attempt to
+escape.  Cavalier, me pesa, but I cannot accede to your request.
+But with respect to any other gentleman, I shall be most happy,
+even Balseiro, who, though strange things are told of him, still
+knows how to comport himself, and in whose behaviour there is
+something both of formality and politeness, shall this day share
+your hospitality if you desire it, Cavalier."
+
+Of Balseiro I have already had occasion to speak in the former part
+of this narrative.  He was now confined in an upper story of the
+prison, in a strong room, with several other malefactors.  He had
+been found guilty of aiding and assisting one Pepe Candelas, a
+thief of no inconsiderable renown, in a desperate robbery
+perpetrated in open daylight upon no less a personage than the
+queen's milliner, a Frenchwoman, whom they bound in her own shop,
+from which they took goods and money to the amount of five or six
+thousand dollars.  Candelas had already expiated his crime on the
+scaffold, but Balseiro, who was said to be by far the worst ruffian
+of the two, had by dint of money, an ally which his comrade did not
+possess, contrived to save his own life; the punishment of death,
+to which he was originally sentenced, having been commuted to
+twenty years' hard labour in the presidio of Malaga.  I visited
+this worthy and conversed with him for some time through the wicket
+of the dungeon.  He recognized me, and reminded me of the victory
+which I had once obtained over him, in the trial of our respective
+skill in the crabbed Gitano, at which Sevilla the bull-fighter was
+umpire.
+
+Upon my telling him that I was sorry to see him in such a
+situation, he replied that it was an affair of no manner of
+consequence, as within six weeks he should be conducted to the
+presidio, from which, with the assistance of a few ounces
+distributed among the guards, he could at any time escape.  "But
+whither would you flee?" I demanded.  "Can I not flee to the land
+of the Moors," replied Balseiro, "or to the English in the camp of
+Gibraltar; or, if I prefer it, cannot I return to this foro (city),
+and live as I have hitherto done, choring the gachos (robbing the
+natives); what is to hinder me?  Madrid is large, and Balseiro has
+plenty of friends, especially among the lumias (women)," he added
+with a smile.  I spoke to him of his ill-fated accomplice Candelas;
+whereupon his face assumed a horrible expression.  "I hope he is in
+torment," exclaimed the robber.  The friendship of the unrighteous
+is never of long duration; the two worthies had it seems quarrelled
+in prison; Candelas having accused the other of bad faith and an
+undue appropriation to his own use of the corpus delicti in various
+robberies which they had committed in company.
+
+I cannot refrain from relating the subsequent history of this
+Balseiro.  Shortly after my own liberation, too impatient to wait
+until the presidio should afford him a chance of regaining his
+liberty, he in company with some other convicts broke through the
+roof of the prison and escaped.  He instantly resumed his former
+habits, committing several daring robberies, both within and
+without the walls of Madrid.  I now come to his last, I may call it
+his master crime, a singular piece of atrocious villainy.
+Dissatisfied with the proceeds of street robbery and house-
+breaking, he determined upon a bold stroke, by which he hoped to
+acquire money sufficient to support him in some foreign land in
+luxury and splendour.
+
+There was a certain comptroller of the queen's household, by name
+Gabiria, a Basque by birth, and a man of immense possessions:  this
+individual had two sons, handsome boys, between twelve and fourteen
+years of age, whom I had frequently seen, and indeed conversed
+with, in my walks on the bank of the Manzanares, which was their
+favourite promenade.  These children, at the time of which I am
+speaking, were receiving their education at a certain seminary in
+Madrid.  Balseiro, being well acquainted with the father's
+affection for his children, determined to make it subservient to
+his own rapacity.  He formed a plan which was neither more nor less
+than to steal the children, and not to restore them to their parent
+until he had received an enormous ransom.  This plan was partly
+carried into execution:  two associates of Balseiro well dressed
+drove up to the door of the seminary, where the children were, and,
+by means of a forged letter, purporting to be written by the
+father, induced the schoolmaster to permit the boys to accompany
+them for a country jaunt, as they pretended.  About five leagues
+from Madrid, Balseiro had a cave in a wild unfrequented spot
+between the Escurial and a village called Torre Lodones:  to this
+cave the children were conducted, where they remained in durance
+under the custody of the two accomplices; Balseiro in the meantime
+remaining in Madrid for the purpose of conducting negotiations with
+the father.  The father, however, was a man of considerable energy,
+and instead of acceding to the terms of the ruffian, communicated
+in a letter, instantly took the most vigorous measures for the
+recovery of his children.  Horse and foot were sent out to scour
+the country, and in less than a week the children were found near
+the cave, having been abandoned by their keepers, who had taken
+fright on hearing of the decided measures which had been resorted
+to; they were, however, speedily arrested and identified by the
+boys as their ravishers.  Balseiro perceiving that Madrid was
+becoming too hot to hold him, attempted to escape, but whether to
+the camp of Gibraltar or to the land of the Moor, I know not; he
+was recognized, however, at a village in the neighbourhood of
+Madrid, and being apprehended, was forthwith conducted to the
+capital, where he shortly after terminated his existence on the
+scaffold, with his two associates; Gabiria and his children being
+present at the ghastly scene, which they surveyed from a chariot at
+their ease.
+
+Such was the end of Balseiro, of whom I should certainly not have
+said so much, but for the affair of the crabbed Gitano.  Poor
+wretch! he acquired that species of immortality which is the object
+of the aspirations of many a Spanish thief, whilst vapouring about
+in the patio, dressed in the snowy linen; the rape of the children
+of Gabiria made him at once the pet of the fraternity.  A
+celebrated robber, with whom I was subsequently imprisoned at
+Seville, spoke his eulogy in the following manner. -
+
+"Balseiro was a very good subject, and an honest man.  He was the
+head of our family, Don Jorge; we shall never see his like again;
+pity that he did not sack the parne (money), and escape to the camp
+of the Moor, Don Jorge."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+
+
+Maria Diaz--Priestly Vituperation--Antonio's Visit--Antonio at
+Service--A Scene--Benedict Mol--Wandering in Spain--The Four
+Evangiles.
+
+"Well," said I to Maria Diaz on the third morning after my
+imprisonment, "what do the people of Madrid say to this affair of
+mine?"
+
+"I do not know what the people of Madrid in general say about it,
+probably they do not take much interest in it; indeed,
+imprisonments at the present time are such common matters that
+people seem to be quite indifferent to them; the priests, however,
+are in no slight commotion, and confess that they have committed an
+imprudent thing in causing you to be arrested by their friend the
+corregidor of Madrid."
+
+"How is that?" I inquired.  "Are they afraid that their friend will
+be punished?"
+
+"Not so, Senor," replied Maria; "slight grief indeed would it cause
+them, however great the trouble in which he had involved himself on
+their account; for this description of people have no affection,
+and would not care if all their friends were hanged, provided they
+themselves escaped.  But they say that they have acted imprudently
+in sending you to prison, inasmuch as by so doing they have given
+you an opportunity of carrying a plan of yours into execution.
+'This fellow is a bribon,' say they, 'and has commenced tampering
+with the prisoners; they have taught him their language, which he
+already speaks as well as if he were a son of the prison.  As soon
+as he comes out he will publish a thieves' gospel, which will still
+be a more dangerous affair than the Gypsy one, for the Gypsies are
+few, but the thieves! woe is us; we shall all be Lutheranized.
+What infamy, what rascality!  It was a trick of his own.  He was
+always eager to get into prison, and now in evil hour we have sent
+him there, el bribonazo; there will be no safety for Spain until he
+is hanged; he ought to be sent to the four hells, where at his
+leisure he might translate his fatal gospels into the language of
+the demons.' "
+
+"I but said three words to the alcayde of the prison," said I,
+"relative to the jargon used by the children of the prison."
+
+"Three words!  Don Jorge; and what may not be made out of three
+words?  You have lived amongst us to little purpose if you think we
+require more than three words to build a system with:  those three
+words about the thieves and their tongue were quite sufficient to
+cause it to be reported throughout Madrid that you had tampered
+with the thieves, had learnt their language, and had written a book
+which was to overturn Spain, open to the English the gates of
+Cadiz, give Mendizabal all the church plate and jewels, and to Don
+Martin Luther the archiepiscopal palace of Toledo."
+
+Late in the afternoon of a rather gloomy day, as I was sitting in
+the apartment which the alcayde had allotted me, I heard a rap at
+the door.  "Who is that?" I exclaimed.  "C'est moi, mon maitre,"
+cried a well-known voice, and presently in walked Antonio Buchini,
+dressed in the same style as when I first introduced him to the
+reader, namely, in a handsome but rather faded French surtout, vest
+and pantaloons, with a diminutive hat in one hand, and holding in
+the other a long and slender cane.
+
+"Bon jour, mon maitre," said the Greek; then glancing around the
+apartment, he continued, "I am glad to find you so well lodged.  If
+I remember right, mon maitre, we have slept in worse places during
+our wanderings in Galicia and Castile."
+
+"You are quite right, Antonio," I replied; "I am very comfortable.
+Well, this is kind of you to visit your ancient master, more
+especially now he is in the toils; I hope, however, that by so
+doing you will not offend your present employer.  His dinner hour
+must be at hand; why are not you in the kitchen?"
+
+"Of what employer are you speaking, mon maitre?" demanded Antonio.
+
+"Of whom should I speak but Count -, to serve whom you abandoned
+me, being tempted by an offer of a monthly salary less by four
+dollars than that which I was giving you."
+
+"Your worship brings an affair to my remembrance which I had long
+since forgotten.  I have at present no other master than yourself,
+Monsieur Georges, for I shall always consider you as my master,
+though I may not enjoy the felicity of waiting upon you."
+
+"You have left the Count, then," said I, "after remaining three
+days in the house, according to your usual practice."
+
+"Not three hours, mon maitre," replied Antonio; "but I will tell
+you the circumstances.  Soon after I left you I repaired to the
+house of Monsieur le Comte; I entered the kitchen, and looked about
+me.  I cannot say that I had much reason to be dissatisfied with
+what I saw; the kitchen was large and commodious, and every thing
+appeared neat and in its proper place, and the domestics civil and
+courteous; yet I know not how it was, the idea at once rushed into
+my mind that the house was by no means suited to me, and that I was
+not destined to stay there long; so hanging my haversac upon a
+nail, and sitting down on the dresser, I commenced singing a Greek
+song, as I am in the habit of doing when dissatisfied.  The
+domestics came about me asking questions; I made them no answer,
+however, and continued singing till the hour for preparing the
+dinner drew nigh, when I suddenly sprang on the floor and was not
+long in thrusting them all out of the kitchen, telling them that
+they had no business there at such a season; I then at once entered
+upon my functions.  I exerted myself, mon maitre, I exerted myself,
+and was preparing a repast which would have done me honour; there
+was, indeed, some company expected that day, and I therefore
+determined to show my employer that nothing was beyond the capacity
+of his Greek cook.  Eh bien, mon maitre, all was going on
+remarkably well, and I felt almost reconciled to my new situation,
+when who should rush into the kitchen but le fils de la maison, my
+young master, an ugly urchin of thirteen years or thereabouts; he
+bore in his hand a manchet of bread, which, after prying about for
+a moment, he proceeded to dip in the pan where some delicate
+woodcocks were in the course of preparation.  You know, mon maitre,
+how sensitive I am on certain points, for I am no Spaniard but a
+Greek, and have principles of honour.  Without a moment's
+hesitation I took my young master by the shoulders, and hurrying
+him to the door, dismissed him in the manner which he deserved;
+squalling loudly, he hurried away to the upper part of the house.
+I continued my labours, but ere three minutes had elapsed, I heard
+a dreadful confusion above stairs, on faisoit une horrible
+tintamarre, and I could occasionally distinguish oaths and
+execrations:  presently doors were flung open, and there was an
+awful rushing downstairs, a gallopade.  It was my lord the count,
+his lady, and my young master, followed by a regular bevy of women
+and filles de chambre.  Far in advance of all, however, was my lord
+with a drawn sword in his hand, shouting, 'Where is the wretch who
+has dishonoured my son, where is he?  He shall die forthwith.'  I
+know not how it was, mon maitre, but I just then chanced to spill a
+large bowl of garbanzos, which were intended for the puchera of the
+following day.  They were uncooked, and were as hard as marbles;
+these I dashed upon the floor, and the greater part of them fell
+just about the doorway.  Eh bien, mon maitre, in another moment in
+bounded the count, his eyes sparkling like coals, and, as I have
+already said, with a rapier in his hand.  'Tenez, gueux enrage,' he
+screamed, making a desperate lunge at me, but ere the words were
+out of his mouth, his foot slipping on the pease, he fell forward
+with great violence at his full length, and his weapon flew out of
+his hand, comme une fleche.  You should have heard the outcry which
+ensued--there was a terrible confusion:  the count lay upon the
+floor to all appearance stunned; I took no notice, however,
+continuing busily employed.  They at last raised him up, and
+assisted him till he came to himself, though very pale and much
+shaken.  He asked for his sword:  all eyes were now turned upon me,
+and I saw that a general attack was meditated.  Suddenly I took a
+large caserolle from the fire in which various eggs were frying;
+this I held out at arm's length peering at it along my arm as if I
+were curiously inspecting it; my right foot advanced and the other
+thrown back as far as possible.  All stood still, imagining,
+doubtless, that I was about to perform some grand operation, and so
+I was; for suddenly the sinister leg advancing, with one rapid coup
+de pied, I sent the caserolle and its contents flying over my head,
+so that they struck the wall far behind me.  This was to let them
+know that I had broken my staff and had shaken the dust off my
+feet; so casting upon the count the peculiar glance of the Sceirote
+cooks when they feel themselves insulted, and extending my mouth on
+either side nearly as far as the ears, I took down my haversac and
+departed, singing as I went the song of the ancient Demos, who,
+when dying, asked for his supper, and water wherewith to lave his
+hands:
+
+
+[Greek verse]
+
+
+And in this manner, mon maitre, I left the house of the Count of--
+."
+
+Myself.--And a fine account you have given of yourself; by your own
+confession, your behaviour was most atrocious.  Were it not for the
+many marks of courage and fidelity which you have exhibited in my
+service, I would from this moment hold no farther communication
+with you.
+
+Antonio.--Mais qu' est ce que vous voudriez, mon maitre?  Am I not
+a Greek, full of honour and sensibility?  Would you have the cooks
+of Sceira and Stambul submit to be insulted here in Spain by the
+sons of counts rushing into the temple with manchets of bread.
+Non, non, mon maitre, you are too noble to require that, and what
+is more, TOO JUST.  But we will talk of other things.  Mon maitre,
+I came not alone; there is one now waiting in the corridor anxious
+to speak to you.
+
+Myself.--Who is it?
+
+Antonio.--One whom you have met, mon maitre, in various and strange
+places.
+
+Myself.--But who is it?
+
+Antonio.--One who will come to a strange end, FOR SO IT IS WRITTEN.
+The most extraordinary of all the Swiss, he of Saint James,--Der
+schatz graber.
+
+Myself.--Not Benedict Mol?
+
+"Yaw, mein lieber herr," said Benedict, pushing open the door which
+stood ajar; "it is myself.  I met Herr Anton in the street, and
+hearing that you were in this place, I came with him to visit you."
+
+Myself.--And in the name of all that is singular, how is it that I
+see you in Madrid again?  I thought that by this time you were
+returned to your own country.
+
+Benedict.--Fear not, lieber herr, I shall return thither in good
+time; but not on foot, but with mules and coach.  The schatz is
+still yonder, waiting to be dug up, and now I have better hope than
+ever:  plenty of friends, plenty of money.  See you not how I am
+dressed, lieber herr?
+
+And verily his habiliments were of a much more respectable
+appearance than any which he had sported on former occasions.  His
+coat and pantaloons, which were of light green, were nearly new.
+On his head he still wore an Andalusian hat, but the present one
+was neither old nor shabby, but fresh and glossy, and of immense
+altitude of cone:  whilst in his hand, instead of the ragged staff
+which I had observed at Saint James and Oviedo, he now carried a
+huge bamboo rattan, surmounted by the grim head of either a bear or
+lion, curiously cut out of pewter.
+
+"You have all the appearance of a treasure seeker returned from a
+successful expedition," I exclaimed.
+
+"Or rather," interrupted Antonio, "of one who has ceased to trade
+on his own bottom, and now goes seeking treasures at the cost and
+expense of others."
+
+I questioned the Swiss minutely concerning his adventures since I
+last saw him, when I left him at Oviedo to pursue my route to
+Santander.  From his answers I gathered that he had followed me to
+the latter place; he was, however, a long time in performing the
+journey, being weak from hunger and privation.  At Santander he
+could hear no tidings of me, and by this time the trifle which he
+had received from me was completely exhausted.  He now thought of
+making his way into France, but was afraid to venture through the
+disturbed provinces, lest he should fall into the hands of the
+Carlists, who he conceived might shoot him as a spy.  No one
+relieving him at Santander, he departed and begged his way till he
+found himself in some part of Aragon, but where he scarcely knew.
+"My misery was so great," said Bennet, "that I nearly lost my
+senses.  Oh, the horror of wandering about the savage hills and
+wide plains of Spain, without money and without hope!  Sometimes I
+became desperate, when I found myself amongst rocks and barrancos,
+perhaps after having tasted no food from sunrise to sunset, and
+then I would raise my staff towards the sky and shake it, crying,
+lieber herr Gott, ach lieber herr Gott, you must help me now or
+never; if you tarry, I am lost; you must help me now, now!  And
+once when I was raving in this manner, methought I heard a voice,
+nay I am sure I heard it, sounding from the hollow of a rock, clear
+and strong; and it cried, 'Der schatz, der schatz, it is not yet
+dug up; to Madrid, to Madrid.  The way to the schatz is through
+Madrid.'  And then the thought of the schatz once more rushed into
+my mind, and I reflected how happy I might be, could I but dig up
+the schatz.  No more begging, then, no more wandering amidst horrid
+mountains and deserts; so I brandished my staff, and my body and my
+limbs became full of new and surprising strength, and I strode
+forward, and was not long before I reached the high road; and then
+I begged and bettled as I best could, until I reached Madrid."
+
+"And what has befallen you since you reached Madrid?" I inquired.
+"Did you find the treasure in the streets?"
+
+On a sudden Bennet became reserved and taciturn, which the more
+surprised me, as, up to the present moment, he had at all times
+been remarkably communicative with respect to his affairs and
+prospects.  From what I could learn from his broken hints and
+innuendoes, it appeared that, since his arrival at Madrid, he had
+fallen into the hands of certain people who had treated him with
+kindness, and provided him with both money and clothes; not from
+disinterested motives, however, but having an eye to the treasure.
+"They expect great things from me," said the Swiss; "and perhaps,
+after all, it would have been more profitable to have dug up the
+treasure without their assistance, always provided that were
+possible."  Who his new friends were, he either knew not or would
+not tell me, save that they were people in power.  He said
+something about Queen Christina and an oath which he had taken in
+the presence of a bishop on the crucifix and "the four Evangiles."
+I thought that his head was turned, and forbore questioning.  Just
+before taking his departure, he observed "Lieber herr, pardon me
+for not being quite frank towards you, to whom I owe so much, but I
+dare not; I am not now my own man.  It is, moreover, an evil thing
+at all times to say a word about treasure before you have secured
+it.  There was once a man in my own country, who dug deep into the
+earth until he arrived at a copper vessel which contained a schatz.
+Seizing it by the handle, he merely exclaimed in his transport, 'I
+have it'; that was enough, however:  down sank the kettle, though
+the handle remained in his grasp.  That was all he ever got for his
+trouble and digging.  Farewell, lieber herr, I shall speedily be
+sent back to Saint James to dig up the schatz; but I will visit you
+ere I go--farewell."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+
+
+
+Liberation from Prison--The Apology--Human Nature--The Greek's
+Return--Church of Rome--Light of Scripture--Archbishop of Toledo--
+An Interview--Stones of Price--A Resolution--The Foreign Language--
+Benedict's Farewell--Treasure Hunt at Compostella--Truth and
+Fiction.
+
+I remained about three weeks in the prison of Madrid, and then left
+it.  If I had possessed any pride, or harboured any rancour against
+the party who had consigned me to durance, the manner in which I
+was restored to liberty would no doubt have been highly gratifying
+to those evil passions; the government having acknowledged, by a
+document transmitted to Sir George, that I had been incarcerated on
+insufficient grounds, and that no stigma attached itself to me from
+the imprisonment I had undergone; at the same time agreeing to
+defray all the expenses to which I had been subjected throughout
+the progress of this affair.
+
+It moreover expressed its willingness to dismiss the individual
+owing to whose information I had been first arrested, namely, the
+corchete or police officer who had visited me in my apartments in
+the Calle de Santiago, and behaved himself in the manner which I
+have described in a former chapter.  I declined, however, to avail
+myself of this condescension of the government, more especially as
+I was informed that the individual in question had a wife and
+family, who, if he were disgraced, would be at once reduced to
+want.  I moreover considered that, in what he had done and said, he
+had probably only obeyed some private orders which he had received;
+I therefore freely forgave him, and if he does not retain his
+situation at the present moment, it is certainly no fault of mine.
+
+I likewise refused to accept any compensation for my expenses,
+which were considerable.  It is probable that many persons in my
+situation would have acted very differently in this respect, and I
+am far from saying that herein I acted discreetly or laudably; but
+I was averse to receive money from people such as those of which
+the Spanish government was composed, people whom I confess I
+heartily despised, and I was unwilling to afford them an
+opportunity of saying that after they had imprisoned an Englishman
+unjustly, and without a cause, he condescended to receive money at
+their hands.  In a word, I confess my own weakness; I was willing
+that they should continue my debtors, and have little doubt that
+they had not the slightest objection to remain so; they kept their
+money, and probably laughed in their sleeves at my want of common
+sense.
+
+The heaviest loss which resulted from my confinement, and for which
+no indemnification could be either offered or received, was in the
+death of my affectionate and faithful Basque Francisco, who having
+attended me during the whole time of my imprisonment, caught the
+pestilential typhus or gaol fever, which was then raging in the
+Carcel de la Corte, of which he expired within a few days
+subsequent to my liberation.  His death occurred late one evening;
+the next morning as I was lying in bed ruminating on my loss, and
+wondering of what nation my next servant would be, I heard a noise
+which seemed to be that of a person employed vigorously in cleaning
+boots or shoes, and at intervals a strange discordant voice singing
+snatches of a song in some unknown language:  wondering who it
+could be, I rang the bell.
+
+"Did you ring, mon maitre," said Antonio, appearing at the door
+with one of his arms deeply buried in a boot.
+
+"I certainly did ring," said I, "but I scarcely expected that you
+would have answered the summons."
+
+"Mais pourquoi non, mon maitre?" cried Antonio.  "Who should serve
+you now but myself?  N'est pas que le sieur Francois est mort?  And
+did I not say, as soon as I heard of his departure, I shall return
+to my functions chez mon maitre, Monsieur Georges?"
+
+"I suppose you had no other employment, and on that account you
+came."
+
+"Au contraire, mon maitre," replied the Greek, "I had just engaged
+myself at the house of the Duke of Frias, from whom I was to
+receive ten dollars per month more than I shall accept from your
+worship; but on hearing that you were without a domestic, I
+forthwith told the Duke, though it was late at night, that he would
+not suit me, and here I am."
+
+"I shall not receive you in this manner," said I; "return to the
+Duke, apologize for your behaviour, request your dismission in a
+regular way; and then if his grace is willing to part with you, as
+will most probably be the case, I shall be happy to avail myself of
+your services."
+
+It is reasonable to expect that after having been subjected to an
+imprisonment which my enemies themselves admitted to be unjust, I
+should in future experience more liberal treatment at their hands
+than that which they had hitherto adopted towards me.  The sole
+object of my ambition at this time was to procure toleration for
+the sale of the Gospel in this unhappy and distracted kingdom, and
+to have attained this end I would not only have consented to twenty
+such imprisonments in succession, as that which I had undergone,
+but would gladly have sacrificed life itself.  I soon perceived,
+however, that I was likely to gain nothing by my incarceration; on
+the contrary, I had become an object of personal dislike to the
+government since the termination of this affair, which it was
+probable I had never been before; their pride and vanity were
+humbled by the concessions which they had been obliged to make in
+order to avoid a rupture with England.  This dislike they were now
+determined to gratify, by thwarting my views as much as possible.
+I had an interview with Ofalia on the subject uppermost in my mind:
+I found him morose and snappish.  "It will be for your interest to
+be still," said he; "beware! you have already thrown the whole
+corte into confusion; beware, I repeat; another time you may not
+escape so easily."  "Perhaps not," I replied, "and perhaps I do not
+wish it; it is a pleasant thing to be persecuted for the Gospel's
+sake.  I now take the liberty of inquiring whether, if I attempt to
+circulate the word of God, I am to be interrupted."  "Of course,"
+exclaimed Ofalia; "the church forbids such circulation."  "I shall
+make the attempt, however," I exclaimed.  "Do you mean what you
+say?" demanded Ofalia, arching his eyebrows and elongating his
+mouth.  "Yes," I continued, "I shall make the attempt in every
+village in Spain to which I can penetrate."
+
+Throughout my residence in Spain the clergy were the party from
+which I experienced the strongest opposition; and it was at their
+instigation that the government originally adopted those measures
+which prevented any extensive circulation of the sacred volume
+through the land.  I shall not detain the course of my narrative
+with reflections as to the state of a church, which, though it
+pretends to be founded on Scripture, would yet keep the light of
+Scripture from all mankind, if possible.  But Rome is fully aware
+that she is not a Christian church, and having no desire to become
+so, she acts prudently in keeping from the eyes of her followers
+the page which would reveal to them the truths of Christianity.
+Her agents and minions throughout Spain exerted themselves to the
+utmost to render my humble labours abortive, and to vilify the work
+which I was attempting to disseminate.  All the ignorant and
+fanatical clergy (the great majority) were opposed to it, and all
+those who were anxious to keep on good terms with the court of Rome
+were loud in their cry against it.  There was, however, one section
+of the clergy, a small one, it is true, rather favourably disposed
+towards the circulation of the Gospel though by no means inclined
+to make any particular sacrifice for the accomplishment of such an
+end:  these were such as professed liberalism, which is supposed to
+mean a disposition to adopt any reform both in civil and church
+matters, which may be deemed conducive to the weal of the country.
+Not a few amongst the Spanish clergy were supporters of this
+principle, or at least declared themselves so, some doubtless for
+their own advancement, hoping to turn the spirit of the times to
+their own personal profit; others, it is to be hoped, from
+conviction, and a pure love of the principle itself.  Amongst these
+were to be found, at the time of which I am speaking, several
+bishops.  It is worthy of remark, however, that of all these not
+one but owed his office, not to the Pope, who disowned them one and
+all, but to the Queen Regent, the professed head of liberalism
+throughout all Spain.  It is not, therefore, surprising that men
+thus circumstanced should feel rather disposed than not to
+countenance any measure or scheme at all calculated to favour the
+advancement of liberalism; and surely such an one was a circulation
+of the Scriptures.  I derived but little assistance from their good
+will, however, supposing that they entertained some, as they never
+took any decided stand nor lifted up their voices in a bold and
+positive manner, denouncing the conduct of those who would withhold
+the light of Scripture from the world.  At one time I hoped by
+their instrumentality to accomplish much in Spain in the Gospel
+cause; but I was soon undeceived, and became convinced that
+reliance on what they would effect, was like placing the hand on a
+staff of reed which will only lacerate the flesh.  More than once
+some of them sent messages to me, expressive of their esteem, and
+assuring me how much the cause of the Gospel was dear to their
+hearts.  I even received an intimation that a visit from me would
+be agreeable to the Archbishop of Toledo, the Primate of Spain.
+
+Of this personage I can say but little, his early history being
+entirely unknown to me.  At the death of Ferdinand, I believe, he
+was Bishop of Mallorca, a small insignificant see, of very scanty
+revenues, which perhaps he had no objection to exchange for one
+more wealthy; it is probable, however, that had he proved a devoted
+servant of the Pope, and consequently a supporter of legitimacy, he
+would have continued to the day of his death to fill the episcopal
+chair of Mallorca; but he was said to be a liberal, and the Queen
+Regent thought fit to bestow upon him the dignity of Archbishop of
+Toledo, by which he became the head of the Spanish church.  The
+Pope, it is true, had refused to ratify the nomination, on which
+account all good Catholics were still bound to consider him as
+Bishop of Mallorca, and not as Primate of Spain.  He however
+received the revenues belonging to the see, which, though only a
+shadow of what they originally were, were still considerable, and
+lived in the primate's palace at Madrid, so that if he were not
+archbishop de jure, he was what many people would have considered
+much better, archbishop de facto.
+
+Hearing that this personage was a personal friend of Ofalia, who
+was said to entertain a very high regard for him, I determined upon
+paying him a visit, and accordingly one morning betook myself to
+the palace in which he resided.  I experienced no difficulty in
+obtaining an interview, being forthwith conducted to his presence
+by a common kind of footman, an Asturian, I believe, whom I found
+seated on a stone bench in the entrance hall.  When I was
+introduced the Archbishop was alone, seated behind a table in a
+large apartment, a kind of drawing-room; he was plainly dressed, in
+a black cassock and silken cap; on his finger, however, glittered a
+superb amethyst, the lustre of which was truly dazzling.  He rose
+for a moment as I advanced, and motioned me to a chair with his
+hand.  He might be about sixty years of age; his figure was very
+tall, but he stooped considerably, evidently from feebleness, and
+the pallid hue of ill health overspread his emaciated features.
+When he had reseated himself, he dropped his head, and appeared to
+be looking on the table before him.
+
+"I suppose your lordship knows who I am?" said I, at last breaking
+silence.
+
+The Archbishop bent his head towards the right shoulder, in a
+somewhat equivocal manner, but said nothing.
+
+"I am he whom the Manolos of Madrid call Don Jorgito el Ingles; I
+am just come out of prison, whither I was sent for circulating my
+Lord's Gospel in this kingdom of Spain?"
+
+The Archbishop made the same equivocal motion with his head, but
+still said nothing.
+
+"I was informed that your lordship was desirous of seeing me, and
+on that account I have paid you this visit."
+
+"I did not send for you," said the Archbishop, suddenly raising his
+head with a startled look.
+
+"Perhaps not:  I was, however, given to understand that my presence
+would be agreeable; but as that does not seem to be the case, I
+will leave."
+
+"Since you are come, I am very glad to see you."
+
+"I am very glad to hear it," said I, reseating myself; "and since I
+am here, we may as well talk of an all-important matter, the
+circulation of the Scripture.  Does your lordship see any way by
+which an end so desirable might be brought about?"
+
+"No," said the Archbishop faintly.
+
+"Does not your lordship think that a knowledge of the Scripture
+would work inestimable benefit in these realms?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Is it probable that the government may be induced to consent to
+the circulation?"
+
+"How should I know?" and the Archbishop looked me in the face.
+
+I looked in the face of the Archbishop; there was an expression of
+helplessness in it, which almost amounted to dotage.  "Dear me,"
+thought I, "whom have I come to on an errand like mine?  Poor man,
+you are not fitted to play the part of Martin Luther, and least of
+all in Spain.  I wonder why your friends selected you to be
+Archbishop of Toledo; they thought perhaps that you would do
+neither good nor harm, and made choice of you, as they sometimes do
+primates in my own country, for your incapacity.  You do not seem
+very happy in your present situation; no very easy stall this of
+yours.  You were more comfortable, I trow, when you were the poor
+Bishop of Mallorca; could enjoy your puchera then without fear that
+the salt would turn out sublimate.  No fear then of being smothered
+in your bed.  A siesta is a pleasant thing when one is not subject
+to be disturbed by 'the sudden fear.'  I wonder whether they have
+poisoned you already," I continued, half aloud, as I kept my eyes
+fixed on his countenance, which methought was becoming ghastly.
+
+"Did you speak, Don Jorge?" demanded the Archbishop.
+
+"That is a fine brilliant on your lordship's hand," said I.
+
+"You are fond of brilliants, Don Jorge," said the Archbishop, his
+features brightening up; "vaya! so am I; they are pretty things.
+Do you understand them?"
+
+"I do," said I, "and I never saw a finer brilliant than your own,
+one excepted; it belonged to an acquaintance of mine, a Tartar
+Khan.  He did not bear it on his finger, however; it stood in the
+frontlet of his horse, where it shone like a star.  He called it
+Daoud Scharr, which, being interpreted, meaneth light of war."
+
+"Vaya!" said the Archbishop, "how very extraordinary; I am glad you
+are fond of brilliants, Don Jorge.  Speaking of horses, reminds me
+that I have frequently seen you on horseback.  Vaya! how you ride;
+it is dangerous to be in your way."
+
+"Is your lordship fond of equestrian exercise?"
+
+"By no means, Don Jorge; I do not like horses; it is not the
+practice of the church to ride on horseback.  We prefer mules:
+they are the quieter animals; I fear horses, they kick so
+violently."
+
+"The kick of a horse is death," said I, "if it touches a vital
+part.  I am not, however, of your lordship's opinion with respect
+to mules:  a good ginete may retain his seat on a horse however
+vicious, but a mule--vaya! when a false mule tira por detras, I do
+not believe that the Father of the Church himself could keep the
+saddle a moment, however sharp his bit."
+
+As I was going away, I said, "And with respect to the Gospel, your
+lordship; what am I to understand?"
+
+"No se," said the Archbishop, again bending his head towards the
+right shoulder, whilst his features resumed their former vacant
+expression.  And thus terminated my interview with the Archbishop
+of Toledo.
+
+"It appears to me," said I to Maria Diaz, on returning home; "it
+appears to me, Marequita mia, that if the Gospel in Spain is to
+wait for toleration until these liberal bishops and archbishops
+come forward boldly in its behalf, it will have to tarry a
+considerable time."
+
+"I am much of your worship's opinion," answered Maria; "a fine
+thing, truly, it would be to wait till they exerted themselves in
+its behalf.  Ca! the idea makes me smile:  was your worship ever
+innocent enough to suppose that they cared one tittle about the
+Gospel or its cause?  Vaya! they are true priests, and had only
+self-interest in view in their advances to you.  The Holy Father
+disowns them, and they would now fain, by awaking his fears and
+jealousy, bring him to some terms; but let him once acknowledge
+them and see whether they would admit you to their palaces or hold
+any intercourse with you:  'Forth with the fellow,' they would say;
+'vaya! is he not a Lutheran?  Is he not an enemy to the Church?  A
+la horca, a la horca!'  I know this family better than you do, Don
+Jorge."
+
+"It is useless tarrying," said I; "nothing, however, can be done in
+Madrid.  I cannot sell the work at the despacho, and I have just
+received intelligence that all the copies exposed for sale in the
+libraries in the different parts of Spain which I visited, have
+been sequestrated by order of the government.  My resolution is
+taken:  I shall mount my horses, which are neighing in the stable,
+and betake myself to the villages and plains of dusty Spain.  Al
+campo, al campo:  'Ride forth because of the word of righteousness,
+and thy right hand shall show thee terrible things.'  I will ride
+forth, Maria."
+
+"Your worship can do no better; and allow me here to tell you, that
+for every single book you might sell in a despacho in the city, you
+may dispose of one hundred amongst the villages, always provided
+you offer them cheap:  for in the country money is rather scant.
+Vaya! should I not know? am I not a villager myself, a villana from
+the Sagra?  Ride forth, therefore; your horses are neighing in the
+stall, as your worship says, and you might almost have added that
+the Senor Antonio is neighing in the house.  He says he has nothing
+to do, on which account he is once more dissatisfied and unsettled.
+He finds fault with everything, but more particularly with myself.
+This morning I saluted him, and he made me no reply, but twisted
+his mouth in a manner very uncommon in this land of Spain."
+
+"A thought strikes me," said I; "you have mentioned the Sagra; why
+should not I commence my labours amongst the villages of that
+district?"
+
+"Your worship can do no better," replied Maria; "the harvest is
+just over there, and you will find the people comparatively
+unemployed, with leisure to attend and listen to you; and if you
+follow my advice, you will establish yourself at Villa Seca, in the
+house of my fathers, where at present lives my lord and husband.
+Go, therefore, to Villa Seca in the first place, and from thence
+you can sally forth with the Senor Antonio upon your excursions.
+Peradventure, my husband will accompany you; and if so, you will
+find him highly useful.  The people of Villa Seca are civil and
+courteous, your worship; when they address a foreigner they speak
+to him at the top of their voice and in Gallegan."
+
+"In Gallegan!" I exclaimed.
+
+"They all understand a few words of Gallegan, which they have
+acquired from the mountaineers, who occasionally assist them in
+cutting the harvest, and as Gallegan is the only foreign language
+they know, they deem it but polite to address a foreigner in that
+tongue.  Vaya! it is not a bad village, that of Villa Seca, nor are
+the people; the only ill-conditioned person living there is his
+reverence the curate."
+
+I was not long in making preparations for my enterprise.  A
+considerable stock of Testaments were sent forward by an arriero, I
+myself followed the next day.  Before my departure, however, I
+received a Benedict Mol.
+
+"I am come to bid you farewell, lieber herr; I return to
+Compostella."
+
+"On what errand?"
+
+"To dig up the schatz, lieber herr.  For what else should I go?
+For what have I lived until now, but that I may dig up the schatz
+in the end?"
+
+"You might have lived for something better," I exclaimed.  "I wish
+you success, however.  But on what grounds do you hope?  Have you
+obtained permission to dig?  Surely you remember your former trials
+in Galicia?"
+
+"I have not forgotten them, lieber herr, nor the journey to Oviedo,
+nor 'the seven acorns,' nor the fight with death in the barranco.
+But I must accomplish my destiny.  I go now to Galicia, as is
+becoming a Swiss, at the expense of the government, with coach and
+mule, I mean in the galera.  I am to have all the help I require,
+so that I can dig down to the earth's centre if I think fit.  I--
+but I must not tell your worship, for I am sworn on 'the four
+Evangiles' not to tell."
+
+"Well, Benedict, I have nothing to say, save that I hope you will
+succeed in your digging."
+
+"Thank you, lieber herr, thank you; and now farewell.  Succeed!  I
+shall succeed!"  Here he stopped short, started, and looking upon
+me with an expression of countenance almost wild, he exclaimed:
+"Heiliger Gott!  I forgot one thing.  Suppose I should not find the
+treasure after all."
+
+"Very rationally said; pity, though, that you did not think of that
+contingency till now.  I tell you, my friend, that you have engaged
+in a most desperate undertaking.  It is true that you may find a
+treasure.  The chances are, however, a hundred to one that you do
+not, and in that event, what will be your situation?  You will be
+looked upon as an impostor, and the consequences may be horrible to
+you.  Remember where you are, and amongst whom you are.  The
+Spaniards are a credulous people, but let them once suspect that
+they have been imposed upon, and above all laughed at, and their
+thirst for vengeance knows no limit.  Think not that your innocence
+will avail you.  That you are no impostor I feel convinced; but
+they would never believe it.  It is not too late.  Return your fine
+clothes and magic rattan to those from whom you had them.  Put on
+your old garments, grasp your ragged staff, and come with me to the
+Sagra, to assist in circulating the illustrious Gospel amongst the
+rustics on the Tagus' bank."
+
+Benedict mused for a moment, then shaking his head, he cried, "No,
+no, I must accomplish my destiny.  The schatz is not yet dug up.
+So said the voice in the barranco.  To-morrow to Compostella.  I
+shall find it--the schatz--it is still there--it MUST be there."
+
+He went, and I never saw him more.  What I heard, however, was
+extraordinary enough.  It appeared that the government had listened
+to his tale, and had been so struck with Bennet's exaggerated
+description of the buried treasure, that they imagined that, by a
+little trouble and outlay, gold and diamonds might be dug up at
+Saint James sufficient to enrich themselves and to pay off the
+national debt of Spain.  The Swiss returned to Compostella "like a
+duke," to use his own words.  The affair, which had at first been
+kept a profound secret, was speedily divulged.  It was, indeed,
+resolved that the investigation, which involved consequences of so
+much importance, should take place in a manner the most public and
+imposing.  A solemn festival was drawing nigh, and it was deemed
+expedient that the search should take place on that day.  The day
+arrived.  All the bells in Compostella pealed.  The whole populace
+thronged from their houses, a thousand troops were drawn up in the
+square, the expectation of all was wound up to the highest pitch.
+A procession directed its course to the church of San Roque; at its
+head was the captain-general and the Swiss, brandishing in his hand
+the magic rattan, close behind walked the meiga, the Gallegan
+witch-wife, by whom the treasure-seeker had been originally guided
+in the search; numerous masons brought up the rear, bearing
+implements to break up the ground.  The procession enters the
+church, they pass through it in solemn march, they find themselves
+in a vaulted passage.  The Swiss looks around.  "Dig here," said he
+suddenly.  "Yes, dig here," said the meiga.  The masons labour, the
+floor is broken up,--a horrible and fetid odour arises. . . .
+
+Enough; no treasure was found, and my warning to the unfortunate
+Swiss turned out but too prophetic.  He was forthwith seized and
+flung into the horrid prison of Saint James, amidst the execrations
+of thousands, who would have gladly torn him limb from limb.
+
+The affair did not terminate here.  The political opponents of the
+government did not allow so favourable an opportunity to escape for
+launching the shafts of ridicule.  The Moderados were taunted in
+the cortes for their avarice and credulity, whilst the liberal
+press wafted on its wings through Spain the story of the treasure-
+hunt at Saint James.
+
+"After all, it was a trampa of Don Jorge's," said one of my
+enemies.  "That fellow is at the bottom of half the picardias which
+happen in Spain."
+
+Eager to learn the fate of the Swiss, I wrote to my old friend Rey
+Romero, at Compostella.  In his answer he states:  "I saw the Swiss
+in prison, to which place he sent for me, craving my assistance,
+for the sake of the friendship which I bore to you.  But how could
+I help him?  He was speedily after removed from Saint James, I know
+not whither.  It is said that he disappeared on the road."
+
+Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.  Where in the whole cycle
+of romance shall we find anything more wild, grotesque, and sad,
+than the easily-authenticated history of Benedict Mol, the
+treasure-digger of Saint James?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII
+
+
+
+Villa Seca--Moorish House--The Puchera--The Rustic Council--Polite
+Ceremonial--The Flower of Spain--The Bridge of Azeca--The Ruined
+Castle--Taking the Field--Demand for the Word--The Old Peasant--The
+Curate and Blacksmith--Cheapness of the Scriptures.
+
+It was one of the most fiercely hot days in which I ever braved the
+sun, when I arrived at Villa Seca.  The heat in the shade must have
+amounted at least to one hundred degrees, and the entire atmosphere
+seemed to consist of flickering flame.  At a place called Leganez,
+six leagues from Madrid, and about half way to Toledo, we diverged
+from the highway, bending our course seemingly towards the south-
+east.  We rode over what are called plains in Spain, but which, in
+any other part of the world, would be called undulating and broken
+ground.  The crops of corn and barley had already disappeared.  The
+last vestiges discoverable being here and there a few sheaves,
+which the labourers were occupied in removing to their garners in
+the villages.  The country could scarcely be called beautiful,
+being perfectly naked, exhibiting neither trees nor verdure.  It
+was not, however, without its pretensions to grandeur and
+magnificence, like every part of Spain.  The most prominent objects
+were two huge calcareous hills or rather one cleft in twain, which
+towered up on high; the summit of the nearest being surmounted by
+the ruins of an ancient castle, that of Villaluenga.  About an hour
+past noon we reached Villa Seca.
+
+We found it a large village, containing about seven hundred
+inhabitants, and surrounded by a mud wall.  A plaza, or market-
+place, stood in the midst, one side of which is occupied by what is
+called a palace, a clumsy quadrangular building of two stories,
+belonging to some noble family, the lords of the neighbouring soil.
+It was deserted, however, being only occupied by a kind of steward,
+who stored up in its chambers the grain which he received as rent
+from the tenants and villanos who farmed the surrounding district.
+
+The village stands at the distance of about a quarter of a league
+from the bank of the Tagus, which even here, in the heart of Spain,
+is a beautiful stream, not navigable, however, on account of the
+sandbanks, which in many places assume the appearance of small
+islands, and are covered with trees and brushwood.  The village
+derives its supply of water entirely from the river, having none of
+its own; such at least as is potable, the water of its wells being
+all brackish, on which account it is probably termed Villa Seca,
+which signifies "the dry hamlet."  The inhabitants are said to have
+been originally Moors; certain it is, that various customs are
+observable here highly favourable to such a supposition.  Amongst
+others, a very curious one; it is deemed infamous for a woman of
+Villa Seca to go across the market-place, or to be seen there,
+though they have no hesitation in showing themselves in the streets
+and lanes.  A deep-rooted hostility exists between the inhabitants
+of this place and those of a neighbouring village, called Vargas;
+they rarely speak when they meet, and never intermarry.  There is a
+vague tradition that the people of the latter place are old
+Christians, and it is highly probable that these neighbours were
+originally of widely different blood; those of Villa Seca being of
+particularly dark complexions, whilst the indwellers of Vargas are
+light and fair.  Thus the old feud between Moor and Christian is
+still kept up in the nineteenth century in Spain.
+
+Drenched in perspiration, which fell from our brows like rain, we
+arrived at the door of Juan Lopez, the husband of Maria Diaz.
+Having heard of our intention to pay him a visit, he was expecting
+us, and cordially welcomed us to his habitation, which, like a
+genuine Moorish house, consisted only of one story.  It was amply
+large, however, with a court and stable.  All the apartments were
+deliciously cool.  The floors were of brick or stone, and the
+narrow and trellised windows, which were without glass, scarcely
+permitted a ray of sun to penetrate into the interior.
+
+A puchera had been prepared in expectation of our arrival; the heat
+had not taken away my appetite, and it was not long before I did
+full justice to this the standard dish of Spain.  Whilst I ate,
+Lopez played upon the guitar, singing occasionally snatches of
+Andalusian songs.  He was a short, merry-faced, active fellow, whom
+I had frequently seen at Madrid, and was a good specimen of the
+Spanish labrador or yeoman.  Though far from possessing the ability
+and intellect of his wife, Maria Diaz, he was by no means deficient
+in shrewdness and understanding.  He was, moreover, honest and
+disinterested, and performed good service in the Gospel cause, as
+will presently appear.
+
+When the repast was concluded, Lopez thus addressed me:- "Senor Don
+Jorge, your arrival in our village has already caused a sensation,
+more especially as these are times of war and tumult, and every
+person is afraid of another, and we dwell here close on the
+confines of the factious country; for, as you well know, the
+greater part of La Mancha is in the hands of the Carlinos and
+thieves, parties of whom frequently show themselves on the other
+side of the river:  on which account the alcalde of this city, with
+the other grave and notable people thereof, are desirous of seeing
+your worship, and conversing with you, and of examining your
+passport."  "It is well," said I; "let us forthwith pay a visit to
+these worthy people."  Whereupon he conducted me across the plaza,
+to the house of the alcalde, where I found the rustic dignitary
+seated in the passage, enjoying the refreshing coolness of a
+draught of air which rushed through.  He was an elderly man, of
+about sixty, with nothing remarkable in his appearance or his
+features, which latter were placid and good-humoured.  There were
+several people with him, amongst whom was the surgeon of the place,
+a tall and immensely bulky man, an Alavese by birth, from the town
+of Vitoria.  There was also a red fiery-faced individual, with a
+nose very much turned on one side, who was the blacksmith of the
+village, and was called in general El Tuerto, from the circumstance
+of his having but one eye.  Making the assembly a low bow, I pulled
+out my passport, and thus addressed them:-
+
+"Grave men and cavaliers of this city of Villa Seca, as I am a
+stranger, of whom it is not possible that you should know anything,
+I have deemed it my duty to present myself before you, and to tell
+you who I am.  Know, then, that I am an Englishman of good blood
+and fathers, travelling in these countries for my own profit and
+diversion, and for that of other people also.  I have now found my
+way to Villa Seca, where I propose to stay some time, doing that
+which may be deemed convenient; sometimes riding across the plain,
+and sometimes bathing myself in the waters of the river, which are
+reported to be of advantage in times of heat, I therefore beg that,
+during my sojourn in this capital, I may enjoy such countenance and
+protection from its governors as they are in the habit of affording
+to those who are of quiet and well-ordered life, and are disposed
+to be buxom and obedient to the customs and laws of the republic."
+
+"He speaks well," said the alcalde, glancing around.
+
+"Yes, he speaks well," said the bulky Alavese; "there is no denying
+it."
+
+"I never heard any one speak better," cried the blacksmith,
+starting up from a stool on which he was seated.  "Vaya! he is a
+big man and a fair complexioned like myself.  I like him, and have
+a horse that will just suit him; one that is the flower of Spain,
+and is eight inches above the mark."
+
+I then, with another bow, presented my passport to the alcalde,
+who, with a gentle motion of his hand, appeared to decline taking
+it, at the same time saying, "It is not necessary."  "Oh, not at
+all," exclaimed the surgeon.  "The housekeepers of Villa Seca know
+how to comport themselves with formality," observed the blacksmith.
+"They would be very loth to harbour any suspicion against a
+cavalier so courteous and well spoken."  Knowing, however, that
+this refusal amounted to nothing, and that it merely formed part of
+a polite ceremonial, I proffered the passport a second time,
+whereupon it was instantly taken, and in a moment the eyes of all
+present were bent upon it with intense curiosity.  It was examined
+from top to bottom, and turned round repeatedly, and though it is
+not probable that an individual present understood a word of it, it
+being written in French, it gave nevertheless universal
+satisfaction; and when the alcalde, carefully folding it up,
+returned it to me, they all observed that they had never seen a
+better passport in their lives, or one which spake in higher terms
+of the bearer.
+
+Who was it said that "Cervantes sneered Spain's chivalry away?"  I
+know not; and the author of such a line scarcely deserves to be
+remembered.  How the rage for scribbling tempts people at the
+present day to write about lands and nations of which they know
+nothing, or worse than nothing.  Vaya!  It is not from having seen
+a bull-fight at Seville or Madrid, or having spent a handful of
+ounces at a posada in either of those places, kept perhaps by a
+Genoese or a Frenchman, that you are competent to write about such
+a people as the Spaniards, and to tell the world how they think,
+how they speak, and how they act!  Spain's chivalry sneered away!
+Why, there is every probability that the great body of the Spanish
+nation speak, think, and live precisely as their forefathers did
+six centuries ago.
+
+In the evening the blacksmith, or, as he would be called in
+Spanish, El Herrador, made his appearance at the door of Lopez on
+horseback.  "Vamos, Don Jorge," he shouted.  "Come with me, if your
+worship is disposed for a ride.  I am going to bathe my horse in
+the Tagus by the bridge of Azeca."  I instantly saddled my jaca
+Cordovesa, and joining him, we rode out of the village, directing
+our course across the plain towards the river.  "Did you ever see
+such a horse as this of mine, Don Jorge?" he demanded.  "Is he not
+a jewel--an alaja?" And in truth the horse was a noble and gallant
+creature, in height at least sixteen hands, broad-chested, but of
+clean and elegant limbs.  His neck was superbly arched, and his
+head towered on high like that of a swan.  In colour he was a
+bright chestnut, save his flowing mane and tail, which were almost
+black.  I expressed my admiration, whereupon the herrador, in high
+spirits, pressed his heels to the creature's sides, and flinging
+the bridle on its neck, speeded over the plain with prodigious
+swiftness, shouting the old Spanish cry, Cierra!  I attempted to
+keep up with him, but had not a chance.  "I call him the flower of
+Spain," said the herrador, rejoining me.  "Purchase him, Don Jorge,
+his price is but three thousand reals. {19}  I would not sell him
+for double that sum, but the Carlist thieves have their eyes upon
+him, and I am apprehensive that they will some day make a dash
+across the river and break into Villa Seca, all to get possession
+of my horse, 'The Flower of Spain.'"
+
+It may be as well to observe here, that within a month from this
+period, my friend the herrador, not being able to find a regular
+purchaser for his steed, entered into negotiations with the
+aforesaid thieves respecting him, and finally disposed of the
+animal to their leader, receiving not the three thousand reals he
+demanded, but an entire herd of horned cattle, probably driven from
+the plains of La Mancha.  For this transaction, which was neither
+more nor less than high treason, he was cast into the prison of
+Toledo, where, however, he did not continue long; for during a
+short visit to Villa Seca, which I made in the spring of the
+following year, I found him alcalde of that "republic."
+
+We arrived at the bridge of Azeca, which is about half a league
+from Villa Seca; close beside it is a large water-mill, standing
+upon a dam which crosses the river.  Dismounting from his steed,
+the herrador proceeded to divest it of the saddle, then causing it
+to enter the mill-pool, he led it by means of a cord to a
+particular spot, where the water reached half way up its neck, then
+fastening a cord to a post on the bank, he left the animal standing
+in the pool.  I thought I could do no better than follow his
+example, and accordingly procuring a rope from the mill, I led my
+own horse into the water.  "It will refresh their blood, Don
+Jorge," said the herrador; "let us leave them there for an hour,
+whilst we go and divert ourselves."
+
+Near the bridge, on the side of the river on which we were, was a
+kind of guard-house, where were three carbineers of the revenue,
+who collected the tolls of the bridge; we entered into conversation
+with them:  "Is not this a dangerous position of yours," said I to
+one of them, who was a Catalan; "close beside the factious country?
+Surely it would not be difficult for a body of the Carlinos or
+bandits to dash across the bridge and make prisoners of you all."
+
+"It would be easy enough at any moment, Cavalier," replied the
+Catalan; "we are, however, all in the hands of God, and he has
+preserved us hitherto, and perhaps still will.  True it is that one
+of our number, for there were four of us originally, fell the other
+day into the hands of the canaille:  he had wandered across the
+bridge amongst the thickets with his gun in search of a hare or
+rabbit, when three or four of them fell upon him and put him to
+death in a manner too horrible to relate.  But patience! every man
+who lives must die.  I shall not sleep the worse to-night because I
+may chance to be hacked by the knives of these malvados to-morrow.
+Cavalier, I am from Barcelona, and have seen there mariners of your
+nation; this is not so good a country as Barcelona.  Paciencia!
+Cavalier, if you will step into our house, I will give you a glass
+of water; we have some that is cool, for we dug a deep hole in the
+earth and buried there our pitcher; it is cool, as I told you, but
+the water of Castile is not like that of Catalonia."
+
+The moon had arisen when we mounted our horses to return to the
+village, and the rays of the beauteous luminary danced merrily on
+the rushing waters of the Tagus, silvered the plain over which we
+were passing, and bathed in a flood of brightness the bold sides of
+the calcareous hill of Villaluenga and the antique ruins which
+crowned its brow.  "Why is that place called the Castle of
+Villaluenga?" I demanded.
+
+"From a village of that name, which stands on the other side of the
+hill, Don Jorge," replied the herrador.  "Vaya! it is a strange
+place, that castle; some say it was built by the Moors in the old
+times, and some by the Christians when they first laid siege to
+Toledo.  It is not inhabited now, save by rabbits, which breed
+there in abundance amongst the long grass and broken stones, and by
+eagles and vultures, which build on the tops of the towers; I
+occasionally go there with my gun to shoot a rabbit.  On a fine day
+you may descry both Toledo and Madrid from its walls.  I cannot say
+I like the place, it is so dreary and melancholy.  The hill on
+which it stands is all of chalk, and is very difficult of ascent.
+I heard my grandame say that once, when she was a girl, a cloud of
+smoke burst from that hill, and that flames of fire were seen, just
+as if it contained a volcano, as perhaps it does, Don Jorge."
+
+The grand work of Scripture circulation soon commenced in the
+Sagra.  Notwithstanding the heat of the weather, I rode about in
+all directions.  It was well that heat agrees with my constitution,
+otherwise it would have been impossible to effect anything in this
+season, when the very arrieros frequently fall dead from their
+mules, smitten by sun-stroke.  I had an excellent assistant in
+Antonio, who, disregarding the heat like myself, and afraid of
+nothing, visited several villages with remarkable success.  "Mon
+maitre," said he, "I wish to show you that nothing is beyond my
+capacity."  But he who put the labours of us both to shame, was my
+host, Juan Lopez, whom it had pleased the Lord to render favourable
+to the cause.  "Don Jorge," said he, "io quiero engancharme con
+usted (I wish to enlist with you); I am a liberal, and a foe to
+superstition; I will take the field, and, if necessary, will follow
+you to the end of the world; Viva Ingalaterra; viva el Evangelio."
+Thus saying, he put a large bundle of Testaments into a satchel,
+and springing upon the crupper of his grey donkey, he cried "Arrhe
+burra," and hastened away.  I sat down to my journal.
+
+Ere I had finished writing, I heard the voice of the burra in the
+courtyard, and going out, I found my host returned.  He had
+disposed of his whole cargo of twenty Testaments at the village of
+Vargas, distant from Villa Seca about a league.  Eight poor harvest
+men, who were refreshing themselves at the door of a wine-house,
+purchased each a copy, whilst the village schoolmaster secured the
+rest for the little ones beneath his care, lamenting, at the same
+time, the great difficulty he had long experienced in obtaining
+religious books, owing to their scarcity and extravagant price.
+Many other persons were also anxious to purchase Testaments, but
+Lopez was unable to supply them:  at his departure, they requested
+him to return within a few days.
+
+I was aware that I was playing rather a daring game, and that it
+was very possible that, when I least expected it, I might be
+seized, tied to the tail of a mule, and dragged either to the
+prison of Toledo or Madrid.  Yet such a prospect did not discourage
+me in the least, but rather urged me to persevere; for at this
+time, without the slightest wish to gratify myself, I could say
+that I was eager to lay down my life for the cause, and whether a
+bandit's bullet, or the gaol fever brought my career to a close,
+was a matter of indifference to me; I was not then a stricken man:
+"Ride on because of the word of righteousness," was my cry.
+
+The news of the arrival of the book of life soon spread like
+wildfire through the villages of the Sagra of Toledo, and wherever
+my people and myself directed our course we found the inhabitants
+disposed to receive our merchandize; it was even called for where
+not exhibited.  One night as I was bathing myself and horse in the
+Tagus, a knot of people gathered on the bank, crying, "Come out of
+the water, Englishman, and give us books; we have got our money in
+our hands."  The poor creatures then held out their hands, filled
+with cuartos, a copper coin of the value of the farthing, but
+unfortunately I had no Testaments to give them.  Antonio, however,
+who was at a short distance, having exhibited one, it was instantly
+torn from his hands by the people, and a scuffle ensued to obtain
+possession of it.  It very frequently occurred, that the poor
+labourers in the neighbourhood, being eager to obtain Testaments,
+and having no money to offer us in exchange, brought various
+articles to our habitation as equivalents; for example, rabbits,
+fruit and barley, and I made a point never to disappoint them, as
+such articles were of utility either for our own consumption or
+that of the horses.
+
+In Villa Seca there was a school in which fifty-seven children were
+taught the first rudiments of education.  One morning the
+schoolmaster, a tall slim figure of about sixty, bearing on his
+head one of the peaked hats of Andalusia, and wrapped,
+notwithstanding the excessive heat of the weather, in a long cloak,
+made his appearance; and having seated himself, requested to be
+shown one of our books.  Having delivered it to him, he remained
+examining it for nearly half an hour, without uttering a word.  At
+last he laid it down with a sigh, and said that he should be very
+happy to purchase some of these books for his school, but from
+their appearance, especially from the quality of the paper and
+binding, he was apprehensive that to pay for them would exceed the
+means of the parents of his pupils, as they were almost destitute
+of money, being poor labourers.  He then commenced blaming the
+government, which he said established schools without affording the
+necessary books, adding that in his school there were but two books
+for the use of all his pupils, and these he confessed contained but
+little good.  I asked him what he considered the Testaments were
+worth?  He said, "Senor Cavalier, to speak frankly, I have in other
+times paid twelve reals for books inferior to yours in every
+respect, but I assure you that my poor pupils would be utterly
+unable to pay the half of that sum."  I replied, "I will sell you
+as many as you please for three reals each, I am acquainted with
+the poverty of the land, and my friends and myself, in affording
+the people the means of spiritual instruction have no wish to
+curtail their scanty bread."  He replied:  "Bendito sea Dios,"
+(blessed be God,) and could scarcely believe his ears.  He
+instantly purchased a dozen, expending, as he said, all the money
+he possessed, with the exception of a few cuartos.  The
+introduction of the word of God into the country schools of Spain
+is therefore begun, and I humbly hope that it will prove one of
+those events, which the Bible Society, after the lapse of years,
+will have most reason to remember with joy and gratitude to the
+Almighty.
+
+An old peasant is reading in the portico.  Eighty-four years have
+passed over his head, and he is almost entirely deaf; nevertheless
+he is reading aloud the second of Matthew:  three days since he
+bespoke a Testament, but not being able to raise the money, he has
+not redeemed it until the present moment.  He has just brought
+thirty farthings; as I survey the silvery hair which overshadows
+his sunburnt countenance, the words of the song occurred to me,
+"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to
+thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
+
+I experienced much grave kindness and simple hospitality from the
+good people of Villa Seca during my sojourn amongst them.  I had at
+this time so won their hearts by the "formality" of my behaviour
+and language, that I firmly believe they would have resisted to the
+knife any attempt which might have been made to arrest or otherwise
+maltreat me.  He who wishes to become acquainted with the genuine
+Spaniard, must seek him not in seaports and large towns, but in
+lone and remote villages, like those of the Sagra.  There he will
+find all that gravity of deportment and chivalry of disposition
+which Cervantes is said to have sneered away; and there he will
+hear, in everyday conversation, those grandiose expressions, which,
+when met with in the romances of chivalry, are scoffed at as
+ridiculous exaggerations.
+
+I had one enemy in the village--it was the curate.
+
+"The fellow is a heretic and a scoundrel," said he one day in the
+conclave.  "He never enters the church, and is poisoning the minds
+of the people with his Lutheran books.  Let him be bound and sent
+to Toledo, or turned out of the village at least."
+
+"I will have nothing of the kind," said the alcalde, who was said
+to be a Carlist.  "If he has his opinions, I have mine too.  He has
+conducted himself with politeness.  Why should I interfere with
+him?  He has been courteous to my daughter, and has presented her
+with a volume.  Que viva! and with respect to his being a Lutheran,
+I have heard say that amongst the Lutherans there are sons of as
+good fathers as here.  He appears to me a caballero.  He speaks
+well."
+
+"There is no denying it," said the surgeon.
+
+"Who speaks SO well?" shouted the herrador.  "And, who has more
+formality?  Vaya! did he not praise my horse, 'The Flower of
+Spain'?  Did he not say that in the whole of Ingalaterra there was
+not a better?  Did he not assure me, moreover, that if he were to
+remain in Spain he would purchase it, giving me my own price?  Turn
+him out, indeed!  Is he not of my own blood, is he not fair-
+complexioned?  Who shall turn him out when I, 'the one-eyed,' say
+no?"
+
+In connection with the circulation of the Scriptures I will now
+relate an anecdote not altogether divested of singularity.  I have
+already spoken of the water-mill by the bridge of Azeca.  I had
+formed acquaintance with the tenant of this mill, who was known in
+the neighbourhood by the name of Don Antero.  One day, taking me
+into a retired place, he asked me, to my great astonishment,
+whether I would sell him a thousand Testaments at the price at
+which I was disposing of them to the peasantry; saying, if I would
+consent he would pay me immediately.  In fact, he put his hand into
+his pocket, and pulled it out filled with gold ounces.  I asked him
+what was his reason for wishing to make so considerable a purchase.
+Whereupon he informed me that he had a relation in Toledo whom he
+wished to establish, and that he was of opinion that his best plan
+would be to hire him a shop there and furnish it with Testaments.
+I told him that he must think of nothing of the kind, as probably
+the books would be seized on the first attempt to introduce them
+into Toledo, as the priests and canons were much averse to their
+distribution.
+
+He was not disconcerted, however, and said his relation could
+travel, as I myself was doing, and dispose of them to the peasants
+with profit to himself.  I confess I was inclined at first to
+accept his offer, but at length declined it, as I did not wish to
+expose a poor man to the risk of losing money, goods, and perhaps
+liberty and life.  I was likewise averse to the books being offered
+to the peasantry at an advanced price, being aware that they could
+not afford it, and the books, by such an attempt, would lose a
+considerable part of that influence which they then enjoyed; for
+their cheapness struck the minds of the people, and they considered
+it almost as much in the light of a miracle as the Jews the manna
+which dropped from heaven at the time they were famishing, or the
+spring which suddenly gushed from the flinty rocks to assuage their
+thirst in the wilderness.
+
+At this time a peasant was continually passing and repassing
+between Villa Seca and Madrid, bringing us cargoes of Testaments on
+a burrico.  We continued our labours until the greater part of the
+villages of the Sagra were well supplied with books, more
+especially those of Vargas, Coveja, Mocejon, Villaluenga, Villa
+Seca, and Yungler.  Hearing at last that our proceedings were known
+at Toledo, and were causing considerable alarm, we returned to
+Madrid.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV
+
+
+
+Aranjuez--A Warning--A Night Adventure--A Fresh Expedition--
+Segovia--Abades--Factions Curas--Lopez in Prison--Rescue of Lopez.
+
+The success which had attended our efforts in the Sagra of Toledo
+speedily urged me on to a new enterprise.  I now determined to
+direct my course to La Mancha, and to distribute the word amongst
+the villages of that province.  Lopez, who had already performed
+such important services in the Sagra, had accompanied us to Madrid,
+and was eager to take part in this new expedition.  We determined
+in the first place to proceed to Aranjuez, where we hoped to obtain
+some information which might prove of utility in the further
+regulation of our movements; Aranjuez being but a slight distance
+from the frontier of La Mancha and the high road into that province
+passing directly through it.  We accordingly sallied forth from
+Madrid, selling from twenty to forty Testaments in every village
+which lay in our way, until we arrived at Aranjuez, to which place
+we had forwarded a large supply of books.
+
+A lovely spot is Aranjuez, though in desolation:  here the Tagus
+flows through a delicious valley, perhaps the most fertile in
+Spain; and here upsprang, in Spain's better days, a little city,
+with a small but beautiful palace shaded by enormous trees, where
+royalty delighted to forget its cares.  Here Ferdinand the Seventh
+spent his latter days, surrounded by lovely senoras and Andalusian
+bull-fighters:  but as the German Schiller has it in one of his
+tragedies:
+
+
+"The happy days in fair Aranjuez,
+Are past and gone."
+
+
+When the sensual king went to his dread account, royalty deserted
+it, and it soon fell into decay.  Intriguing counters no longer
+crowd its halls; its spacious circus, where Manchegan bulls once
+roared in rage and agony, is now closed, and the light tinkling of
+guitars is no longer heard amidst its groves and gardens.
+
+At Aranjuez I made a sojourn of three days, during which time
+Antonio, Lopez, and myself visited every house in the town.  We
+found a vast deal of poverty and ignorance amongst the inhabitants,
+and experienced some opposition:  nevertheless it pleased the
+Almighty to permit us to dispose of about eighty Testaments, which
+were purchased entirely by the very poor people; those in easier
+circumstances paying no attention to the word of God, but rather
+turning it to scoff and ridicule.
+
+One circumstance was very gratifying and cheering to me, namely,
+the ocular proof which I possessed that the books which I had
+disposed of were read, and with attention, by those to whom I sold
+them; and that many others participated in their benefit.  In the
+streets of Aranjuez, and beneath the mighty cedars and gigantic
+elms and plantains which compose its noble woods, I have frequently
+seen groups assembled listening to individuals who, with the New
+Testament in their hands, were reading aloud the comfortable words
+of salvation.
+
+It is probable that, had I remained a longer period at Aranjuez, I
+might have sold many more of these divine books, but I was eager to
+gain La Mancha and its sandy plains, and to conceal myself for a
+season amongst its solitary villages, for I was apprehensive that a
+storm was gathering around me; but when once through Ocana, the
+frontier town, I knew well that I should have nothing to fear from
+the Spanish authorities, as their power ceased there, the rest of
+La Mancha being almost entirely in the hands of the Carlists, and
+overrun by small parties of banditti, from whom, however, I trusted
+that the Lord would preserve me.  I therefore departed for Ocana,
+distant three leagues from Aranjuez.
+
+I started with Antonio at six in the evening, having early in the
+morning sent forward Lopez with between two and three hundred
+Testaments.  We left the high road, and proceeded by a shorter way
+through wild hills and over very broken and precipitous ground:
+being well mounted we found ourselves just after sunset opposite
+Ocana, which stands on a steep hill.  A deep valley lay between us
+and the town:  we descended, and came to a small bridge, which
+traverses a rivulet at the bottom of the valley, at a very small
+distance from a kind of suburb.  We crossed the bridge, and were
+passing by a deserted house on our left hand, when a man appeared
+from under the porch.
+
+What I am about to state will seem incomprehensible, but a singular
+history and a singular people are connected with it:  the man
+placed himself before my horse so as to bar the way, and said
+"Schophon," which, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies a rabbit.  I
+knew this word to be one of the Jewish countersigns, and asked the
+man if he had any thing to communicate?  He said, "You must not
+enter the town, for a net is prepared for you.  The corregidor of
+Toledo, on whom may all evil light, in order to give pleasure to
+the priests of Maria, in whose face I spit, has ordered all the
+alcaldes of these parts, and the escribanos and the corchetes to
+lay hands on you wherever they may find you, and to send you, and
+your books, and all that pertains to you to Toledo.  Your servant
+was seized this morning in the town above, as he was selling the
+writings in the streets, and they are now awaiting your arrival in
+the posada; but I knew you from the accounts of my brethren, and I
+have been waiting here four hours to give you warning in order that
+your horse may turn his tail to your enemies, and neigh in derision
+of them.  Fear nothing for your servant, for he is known to the
+alcalde, and will be set at liberty, but do you flee, and may God
+attend you."  Having said this, he hurried towards the town.
+
+I hesitated not a moment to take his advice, knowing full well
+that, as my books had been taken possession of, I could do no more
+in that quarter.  We turned back in the direction of Aranjuez, the
+horses, notwithstanding the nature of the ground, galloping at full
+speed; but our adventures were not over.  Midway, and about half a
+league from the village of Antigola, we saw close to us on our left
+hand three men on a low bank.  As far as the darkness would permit
+us to distinguish, they were naked, but each bore in his hand a
+long gun.  These were rateros, or the common assassins and robbers
+of the roads.  We halted and cried out, "Who goes there?"  They
+replied, "What's that to you? pass by."  Their drift was to fire at
+us from a position from which it would be impossible to miss.  We
+shouted, "If you do not instantly pass to the right side of the
+road, we will tread you down between the horses' hoofs."  They
+hesitated and then obeyed, for all assassins are dastards, and the
+least show of resolution daunts them.  As we galloped past, one
+cried, with an obscene oath, "Shall we fire?"  But another said,
+"No, no! there's danger."  We reached Aranjuez, where early next
+morning Lopez rejoined us, and we returned to Madrid.
+
+I am sorry to state that two hundred Testaments were seized at
+Ocana, from whence, after being sealed up, they were despatched to
+Toledo.  Lopez informed me, that in two hours he could have sold
+them all, the demand was so great.  As it was, twenty-seven were
+disposed of in less than ten minutes.
+
+"Ride on because of the word of righteousness."  Notwithstanding
+the check which we had experienced at Ocana, we were far from being
+discouraged, and forthwith prepared ourselves for another
+expedition.  As we returned from Aranjeuz to Madrid, my eyes had
+frequently glanced towards the mighty wall of mountains dividing
+the two Castiles, and I said to myself, "Would it not be well to
+cross those hills, and commence operations on the other side, even
+in Old Castile?  There I am unknown, and intelligence of my
+proceedings can scarcely have been transmitted thither.
+Peradventure the enemy is asleep, and before he has roused himself,
+I may have sown much of the precious seed amongst the villages of
+the Old Castilians.  To Castile, therefore, to Castile la Vieja!"
+Accordingly, on the day after my arrival, I despatched several
+cargoes of books to various places which I proposed to visit, and
+sent forward Lopez and his donkey, well laden, with directions to
+meet me on a particular day beneath a particular arch of the
+aqueduct of Segovia.  I likewise gave him orders to engage any
+persons willing to co-operate with us in the circulation of the
+Scriptures, and who might be likely to prove of utility in the
+enterprise.  A more useful assistant than Lopez in an expedition of
+this kind it was impossible to have.  He was not only well
+acquainted with the country, but had friends, and even connexions
+on the other side of the hills, in whose houses he assured me that
+we should at all times find a hearty welcome.  He departed in high
+spirits, exclaiming, "Be of good cheer, Don Jorge; before we return
+we will have disposed of every copy of your evangelic library.
+Down with the friars!  Down with superstition!  Viva Ingalaterra,
+viva el Evangelio!"
+
+In a few days I followed with Antonio.  We ascended the mountains
+by the pass called Pena Cerrada, which lies about three leagues to
+the eastward of that of Guadarama.  It is very unfrequented, the
+high road between the two Castiles passing through Guadarama.  It
+has, moreover, an evil name, being, according to common report,
+infested with banditti.  The sun was just setting when we reached
+the top of the hills, and entered a thick and gloomy pine forest,
+which entirely covers the mountains on the side of Old Castile.
+The descent soon became so rapid and precipitous, that we were fain
+to dismount from our horses and to drive them before us.  Into the
+woods we plunged deeper and deeper still; night-birds soon began to
+hoot and cry, and millions of crickets commenced their shrill
+chirping above, below, and around us.  Occasionally, amidst the
+trees at a distance, we could see blazes, as if from immense fires.
+"They are those of the charcoal-burners, mon maitre!" said Antonio;
+"we will not go near them, however, for they are savage people, and
+half bandits.  Many is the traveller whom they have robbed and
+murdered in these horrid wildernesses."
+
+It was blackest night when we arrived at the foot of the mountains;
+we were still, however, amidst woods and pine forests, which
+extended for leagues in every direction.  "We shall scarcely reach
+Segovia to-night, mon maitre," said Antonio.  And so indeed it
+proved, for we became bewildered, and at last arrived where two
+roads branched off in different directions, we took not the left
+hand road, which would have conducted us to Segovia, but turned to
+the right, in the direction of La Granja, where we arrived at
+midnight.
+
+We found the desolation of La Granja far greater than that of
+Aranjuez; both had suffered from the absence of royalty, but the
+former to a degree which was truly appalling.  Nine-tenths of the
+inhabitants had left this place, which, until the late military
+revolution, had been the favourite residence of Christina.  So
+great is the solitude of La Granja, that wild boars from the
+neighbouring forests, and especially from the beautiful pine-
+covered mountain which rises like a cone directly behind the
+palace, frequently find their way into the streets and squares, and
+whet their tusks against the pillars of the porticos.
+
+"Ride on because of the word of righteousness."  After a stay of
+twenty-four hours at La Granja, we proceeded to Segovia.  The day
+had arrived on which I had appointed to meet Lopez.  I repaired to
+the aqueduct, and sat down beneath the hundred and seventh arch,
+where I waited the greater part of the day, but he came not,
+whereupon I rose and went into the city.
+
+At Segovia I tarried two days in the house of a friend, still I
+could hear nothing of Lopez.  At last, by the greatest chance in
+the world, I heard from a peasant that there were men in the
+neighbourhood of Abades selling books.
+
+Abades is about three leagues distant from Segovia, and upon
+receiving this intelligence, I instantly departed for the former
+place, with three donkeys laden with Testaments.  I reached Abades
+at nightfall, and found Lopez, with two peasants whom he had
+engaged, in the house of the surgeon of the place, where I also
+took up my residence.  He had already disposed of a considerable
+number of Testaments in the neighbourhood, and had that day
+commenced selling at Abades itself; he had, however, been
+interrupted by two of the three curas of the village, who, with
+horrid curses denounced the work, threatening eternal condemnation
+to Lopez for selling it, and to any person who should purchase it;
+whereupon Lopez, terrified, forbore until I should arrive.  The
+third cura, however, exerted himself to the utmost to persuade the
+people to provide themselves with Testaments, telling them that his
+brethren were hypocrites and false guides, who, by keeping them in
+ignorance of the word and will of Christ, were leading them to the
+abyss.  Upon receiving this information, I instantly sallied forth
+to the market-place, and that same night succeeded in disposing of
+upwards of thirty Testaments.  The next morning the house was
+entered by the two factious curas, but upon my rising to confront
+them, they retreated, and I heard no more of them, except that they
+publicly cursed me in the church more than once, an event which, as
+no ill resulted from it, gave me little concern.
+
+I will not detail the events of the next week; suffice it to say
+that arranging my forces in the most advantageous way, I succeeded,
+by God's assistance, in disposing of from five to six hundred
+Testaments amongst the villages from one to seven leagues' distance
+from Abades.  At the expiration of that period I received
+information that my proceedings were known in Segovia, in which
+province Abades is situated, and that an order was about to be sent
+to the alcalde to seize all books in my possession.  Whereupon,
+notwithstanding that it was late in the evening, I decamped with
+all my people, and upwards of three hundred Testaments, having a
+few hours previously received a fresh supply from Madrid.  That
+night we passed in the fields, and next morning proceeded to
+Labajos, a village on the high road from Madrid to Valladolid.  In
+this place we offered no books for sale, but contented ourselves
+with supplying the neighbouring villages with the word of God:  we
+likewise sold it in the highways.
+
+We had not been at Labajos a week, during which time we were
+remarkably successful, when the Carlist chieftain, Balmaseda, at
+the head of his cavalry, made his desperate inroad into the
+southern part of Old Castile, dashing down like an avalanche from
+the pine-woods of Soria.  I was present at all the horrors which
+ensued,--the sack of Arrevalo, and the forcible entry into Martin
+Munoz.  Amidst these terrible scenes we continued our labours.
+Suddenly I lost Lopez for three days, and suffered dreadful anxiety
+on his account, imagining that he had been shot by the Carlists; at
+last I heard that he was in prison at Villallos, three leagues
+distant.  The steps which I took to rescue him will be found
+detailed in a communication, which I deemed it my duty to transmit
+to Lord William Hervey, who, in the absence of Sir George Villiers,
+now became Earl of Clarendon, fulfilled the duties of minister at
+Madrid:-
+
+
+    LABAJOS, PROVINCE OF SEGOVIA,
+    August 23, 1838.
+
+My Lord,--I beg leave to call your attention to the following
+facts.  On the 21st inst. I received information that a person in
+my employ, of the name of Juan Lopez, had been thrown into the
+prison of Villallos, in the province of Avila, by order of the cura
+of that place.  The crime with which he was charged was selling the
+New Testament.  I was at that time at Labajos, in the province of
+Segovia, and the division of the factious chieftain Balmaseda was
+in the immediate neighbourhood.  On the 22nd, I mounted my horse
+and rode to Villallos, a distance of three leagues.  On my arrival
+there, I found that Lopez had been removed from the prison to a
+private house.  An order had arrived from the corregidor of Avila,
+commanding that the person of Lopez should be set at liberty, and
+that the books which had been found in his possession should be
+alone detained.  Nevertheless, in direct opposition to this order,
+(a copy of which I herewith transmit,) the alcalde of Villallos, at
+the instigation of the cura, refused to permit the said Lopez to
+quit the place, either to proceed to Avila or in any other
+direction.  It had been hinted to Lopez that as the factious were
+expected, it was intended on their arrival to denounce him to them
+as a liberal, and to cause him to be sacrificed.  Taking these
+circumstances into consideration, I deemed it my duty as a
+Christian and a gentleman, to rescue my unfortunate servant from
+such lawless hands, and in consequence, defying opposition, I bore
+him off, though entirely unarmed, through a crowd of at least one
+hundred peasants.  On leaving the place I shouted, "Viva Isabel
+Segunda."
+
+As it is my belief that the cura of Villallos is a person capable
+of any infamy, I beg leave humbly to intreat your Lordship to cause
+a copy of the above narration to be forwarded to the Spanish
+government.--I have the honour to remain, My Lord, Your Lordship's
+most obedient,
+
+GEORGE BORROW.
+
+To the Right Honourable
+LORD WILLIAM HERVEY.
+
+
+After the rescue of Lopez we proceeded in the work of distribution.
+Suddenly, however, the symptoms of an approaching illness came over
+me, which compelled us to return in all haste to Madrid.  Arrived
+there, I was attacked by a fever which confined me to my bed for
+several weeks; occasional fits of delirium came over me, during one
+of which, I imagined myself in the market-place of Martin Munos,
+engaged in deadly struggle with the chieftain Balmaseda.
+
+The fever had scarcely departed, when a profound melancholy took
+possession of me, which entirely disqualified me for active
+exertion.  Change of scene and air was recommended; I therefore
+returned to England.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV
+
+
+
+Return to Spain--Seville--A Hoary Persecutor--Manchegan Prophetess-
+-Antonio's Dream.
+
+On the 31st of December, 1838, I again visited Spain for the third
+time.  After staying a day or two at Cadiz I repaired to Seville,
+from which place I proposed starting for Madrid with the mail post.
+Here I tarried about a fortnight, enjoying the delicious climate of
+this terrestrial Paradise, and the balmy breezes of the Andalusian
+winter, even as I had done two years previously.  Before leaving
+Seville, I visited the bookseller, my correspondent, who informed
+me that seventy-six copies of the hundred Testaments entrusted to
+his care had been placed in embargo by the government last summer,
+and that they were at the present time in the possession of the
+ecclesiastical governor, whereupon I determined to visit this
+functionary also, with the view of making inquiries concerning the
+property.
+
+He lived in a large house in the Pajaria, or straw-market.  He was
+a very old man, between seventy and eighty, and, like the
+generality of those who wear the sacerdotal habit in this city, was
+a fierce persecuting Papist.  I imagine that he scarcely believed
+his ears when his two grand-nephews, beautiful black-haired boys
+who were playing in the courtyard, ran to inform him that an
+Englishman was waiting to speak with him, as it is probable that I
+was the first heretic who ever ventured into his habitation.  I
+found him in a vaulted room, seated on a lofty chair, with two
+sinister-looking secretaries, also in sacerdotal habits, employed
+in writing at a table before him.  He brought powerfully to my mind
+the grim old inquisitor who persuaded Philip the Second to slay his
+own son as an enemy to the church.
+
+He rose as I entered, and gazed upon me with a countenance dark
+with suspicion and dissatisfaction.  He at last condescended to
+point me to a sofa, and I proceeded to state to him my business.
+He became much agitated when I mentioned the Testaments to him; but
+I no sooner spoke of the Bible Society and told him who I was, than
+he could contain himself no longer:  with a stammering tongue, and
+with eyes flashing fire like hot coals, he proceeded to rail
+against the society and myself, saying that the aims of the first
+were atrocious, and that, as to myself, he was surprised that,
+being once lodged in the prison of Madrid, I had ever been
+permitted to quit it; adding, that it was disgraceful in the
+government to allow a person of my character to roam about an
+innocent and peaceful country, corrupting the minds of the ignorant
+and unsuspicious.  Far from allowing myself to be disconcerted by
+his rude behaviour, I replied to him with all possible politeness,
+and assured him that in this instance he had no reason to alarm
+himself, as my sole motive in claiming the books in question, was
+to avail myself of an opportunity which at present presented
+itself, of sending them out of the country, which, indeed, I had
+been commanded to do by an official notice.  But nothing would
+soothe him, and he informed me that he should not deliver up the
+books on any condition, save by a positive order of the government.
+As the matter was by no means an affair of consequence, I thought
+it wise not to persist, and also prudent to take my leave before he
+requested me.  I was followed even down into the street by his
+niece and grand-nephews, who, during the whole of the conversation,
+had listened at the door of the apartment and heard every word.
+
+In passing through La Mancha, we staid for four hours at
+Manzanares, a large village.  I was standing in the market-place
+conversing with a curate, when a frightful ragged object presented
+itself; it was a girl about eighteen or nineteen, perfectly blind,
+a white film being spread over her huge staring eyes.  Her
+countenance was as yellow as that of a Mulatto.  I thought at first
+that she was a Gypsy, and addressing myself to her, inquired in
+Gitano if she were of that race; she understood me, but shaking her
+head, replied, that she was something better than a Gitana, and
+could speak something better than that jargon of witches; whereupon
+she commenced asking me several questions in exceedingly good
+Latin.  I was of course very much surprised, but summoning all my
+Latinity, I called her Manchegan Prophetess, and expressing my
+admiration for her learning, begged to be informed by what means
+she became possessed of it.  I must here observe that a crowd
+instantly gathered around us, who, though they understood not one
+word of our discourse, at every sentence of the girl shouted
+applause, proud in the possession of a prophetess who could answer
+the Englishman.
+
+She informed me that she was born blind, and that a Jesuit priest
+had taken compassion on her when she was a child, and had taught
+her the holy language, in order that the attention and hearts of
+Christians might be more easily turned towards her.  I soon
+discovered that he had taught her something more than Latin, for
+upon telling her that I was an Englishman, she said that she had
+always loved Britain, which was once the nursery of saints and
+sages, for example Bede and Alcuin, Columba and Thomas of
+Canterbury; but she added those times had gone by since the re-
+appearance of Semiramis (Elizabeth).  Her Latin was truly
+excellent, and when I, like a genuine Goth, spoke of Anglia and
+Terra Vandalica (Andalusia), she corrected me by saying, that in
+her language those places were called Britannia and Terra Betica.
+When we had finished our discourse, a gathering was made for the
+prophetess, the very poorest contributing something.
+
+After travelling four days and nights, we arrived at Madrid,
+without having experienced the slightest accident, though it is but
+just to observe, and always with gratitude to the Almighty, that
+the next mail was stopped.  A singular incident befell me
+immediately after my arrival; on entering the arch of the posada
+called La Reyna, where I intended to put up, I found myself
+encircled in a person's arms, and on turning round in amazement,
+beheld my Greek servant, Antonio.  He was haggard and ill-dressed,
+and his eyes seemed starting from their sockets.
+
+As soon as we were alone he informed that since my departure he had
+undergone great misery and destitution, having, during the whole
+period, been unable to find a master in need of his services, so
+that he was brought nearly to the verge of desperation; but that on
+the night immediately preceding my arrival he had a dream, in which
+he saw me, mounted on a black horse, ride up to the gate of the
+posada, and that on that account he had been waiting there during
+the greater part of the day.  I do not pretend to offer an opinion
+concerning this narrative, which is beyond the reach of my
+philosophy, and shall content myself with observing that only two
+individuals in Madrid were aware of my arrival in Spain.  I was
+very glad to receive him again into my service, as, notwithstanding
+his faults, he had in many instances proved of no slight assistance
+to me in my wanderings and biblical labours.
+
+I was soon settled in my former lodgings, when one my first cares
+was to pay a visit to Lord Clarendon.  Amongst other things, he
+informed me that he had received an official notice from the
+government, stating the seizure of the New Testaments at Ocana, the
+circumstances relating to which I have described on a former
+occasion, and informing him that unless steps were instantly taken
+to remove them from the country, they would be destroyed at Toledo,
+to which place they had been conveyed.  I replied that I should
+give myself no trouble about the matter; and that if the
+authorities of Toledo, civil or ecclesiastic, determined upon
+burning these books, my only hope was that they would commit them
+to the flames with all possible publicity, as by so doing they
+would but manifest their own hellish rancour and their hostility to
+the word of God.
+
+Being eager to resume my labours, I had no sooner arrived at Madrid
+than I wrote to Lopez at Villa Seca, for the purpose of learning
+whether he was inclined to co-operate in the work, as on former
+occasions.  In reply, he informed me that he was busily employed in
+his agricultural pursuits:  to supply his place, however, he sent
+over an elderly villager, Victoriano Lopez by name, a distant
+relation of his own.
+
+What is a missionary in the heart of Spain without a horse?  Which
+consideration induced me now to purchase an Arabian of high caste,
+which had been brought from Algiers by an officer of the French
+legion.  The name of this steed, the best I believe that ever
+issued from the desert, was Sidi Habismilk.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI
+
+
+
+Work of Distribution resumed--Adventure at Cobenna--Power of the
+Clergy--Rural Authorities--Fuente la Higuera--Victoriano's Mishap--
+Village Prison--The Rope--Antonio's Errand--Antonio at Mass.
+
+In my last chapter, I stated that, immediately after my arrival at
+Madrid, I proceeded to get everything in readiness for commencing
+operations in the neighbourhood; and I soon entered upon my labours
+in reality.  Considerable success attended my feeble efforts in the
+good cause, for which at present, after the lapse of some years, I
+still look back with gratitude to the Almighty.
+
+All the villages within the distance of four leagues to the east of
+Madrid, were visited in less than a fortnight, and Testaments to
+the number of nearly two hundred disposed of.  These villages for
+the most part are very small, some of them consisting of not more
+than a dozen houses, or I should rather say miserable cabins.  I
+left Antonio, my Greek, to superintend matters in Madrid, and
+proceeded with Victoriano, the peasant from Villa Seca, in the
+direction which I have already mentioned.  We, however, soon parted
+company, and pursued different routes.
+
+The first village at which I made an attempt was Cobenna, about
+three leagues from Madrid.  I was dressed in the fashion of the
+peasants in the neighbourhood of Segovia, in Old Castile; namely, I
+had on my head a species of leather helmet or montera, with a
+jacket and trousers of the same material.  I had the appearance of
+a person between sixty and seventy years of age, and drove before
+me a borrico with a sack of Testaments lying across its back.  On
+nearing the village, I met a genteel-looking young woman leading a
+little boy by the hand:  as I was about to pass her with the
+customary salutation of vaya usted con Dios, she stopped, and after
+looking at me for a moment, she said:  "Uncle (Tio), what is that
+you have got on your borrico?  Is it soap?"
+
+"Yes," I replied:  "it is soap to wash souls clean."
+
+She demanded what I meant; whereupon I told her that I carried
+cheap and godly books for sale.  On her requesting to see one, I
+produced a copy from my pocket and handed it to her.  She instantly
+commenced reading with a loud voice, and continued so for at least
+ten minutes, occasionally exclaiming:  "Que lectura tan bonita, que
+lectura tan linda!"  What beautiful, what charming readings!"  At
+last, on my informing her that I was in a hurry, and could not wait
+any longer, she said, "true, true," and asked me the price of the
+book:  I told her "but three reals," whereupon she said, that
+though what I asked was very little, it was more than she could
+afford to give, as there was little or no money in those parts.  I
+said I was sorry for it, but that I could not dispose of the books
+for less than I had demanded, and accordingly, resuming it, wished
+her farewell, and left her.  I had not, however, proceeded thirty
+yards, when the boy came running behind me, shouting, out of
+breath:  "Stop, uncle, the book, the book!"  Upon overtaking me, he
+delivered the three reals in copper, and seizing the Testament, ran
+back to her, who I suppose was his sister, flourishing the book
+over his head with great glee.
+
+On arriving at the village, I directed my steps to a house, around
+the door of which I saw several people gathered, chiefly women.  On
+my displaying my books, their curiosity was instantly aroused, and
+every person had speedily one in his hand, many reading aloud;
+however, after waiting nearly an hour, I had disposed of but one
+copy, all complaining bitterly of the distress of the times, and
+the almost total want of money, though, at the same time, they
+acknowledged that the books were wonderfully cheap, and appeared to
+be very good and Christian-like.  I was about to gather up my
+merchandise and depart, when on a sudden the curate of the place
+made his appearance.  After having examined the book for some time
+with considerable attention, he asked me the price of a copy, and
+upon my informing him that it was three reals, he replied that the
+binding was worth more, and that he was much afraid that I had
+stolen the books, and that it was perhaps his duty to send me to
+prison as a suspicious character; but added, that the books were
+good books, however they might be obtained, and concluded by
+purchasing two copies.  The poor people no sooner heard their
+curate recommend the volumes, than all were eager to secure one,
+and hurried here and there for the purpose of procuring money, so
+that between twenty and thirty copies were sold almost in an
+instant.  This adventure not only affords an instance of the power
+still possessed by the Spanish clergy over the minds of the people,
+but proves that such influence is not always exerted in a manner
+favourable to the maintenance of ignorance and superstition.
+
+In another village, on my showing a Testament to a woman, she said
+that she had a child at school for whom she would like to purchase
+one, but that she must first know whether the book was calculated
+to be of service to him.  She then went away, and presently
+returned with the schoolmaster, followed by all the children under
+his care; she then, showing the schoolmaster a book, inquired if it
+would answer for her son.  The schoolmaster called her a simpleton
+for asking such a question, and said that he knew the book well,
+and there was not its equal in the world (no hay otro en el mundo).
+He instantly purchased five copies for his pupils, regretting that
+he had no more money, "for if I had," said he, "I would buy the
+whole cargo."  Upon hearing this, the woman purchased four copies,
+namely, one for her living son, another for her deceased husband, a
+third for herself, and a fourth for her brother, whom she said she
+was expecting home that night from Madrid.
+
+In this manner we proceeded; not, however, with uniform success.
+In some villages the people were so poor and needy, that they had
+literally no money; even in these, however, we managed to dispose
+of a few copies in exchange for barley or refreshments.  On
+entering one very small hamlet, Victoriano was stopped by the
+curate, who, on learning what he carried, told him that unless he
+instantly departed, he would cause him to be imprisoned, and would
+write to Madrid in order to give information of what was going on.
+The excursion lasted about eight days.  Immediately after my
+return, I dispatched Victoriano to Caramanchal, a village at a
+short distance from Madrid, the only one towards the west which had
+not been visited last year.  He staid there about an hour, and
+disposed of twelve copies, and then returned, as he was exceedingly
+timid, and was afraid of being met by the thieves who swarm on that
+road in the evening.
+
+Shortly after these events, a circumstance occurred which will
+perhaps cause the English reader to smile, whilst, at the same
+time, it will not fail to prove interesting, as affording an
+example of the feeling prevalent in some of the lone villages of
+Spain with respect to innovation and all that savours thereof, and
+the strange acts which are sometimes committed by the real
+authorities and the priests, without the slightest fear of being
+called to account; for as they live quite apart {20} from the rest
+of the world, they know no people greater than themselves, and
+scarcely dream of a higher power than their own.
+
+I was about to make an excursion to Guadalajara, and the villages
+of Alcarria, about seven leagues distant from Madrid; indeed I
+merely awaited the return of Victoriano to sally forth; I having
+dispatched him in that direction with a few Testaments, as a kind
+of explorer, in order that, from his report as to the disposition
+manifested by the people for purchasing, I might form a tolerably
+accurate opinion as to the number of copies which it might be
+necessary to carry with me.  However, I heard nothing of him for a
+fortnight, at the end of which period a letter was brought to me by
+a peasant, dated from the prison of Fuente la Higuera, a village
+eight leagues from Madrid, in the Campina of Alcala:  this letter,
+written, by Victoriano, gave me to understand that he had been
+already eight days imprisoned, and that unless I could find some
+means to extricate him, there was every probability of his
+remaining in durance until he should perish with hunger, which he
+had no doubt would occur as soon as his money was exhausted.  From
+what I afterwards learned, it appeared that, after passing the town
+of Alcala, he had commenced distributing, and with considerable
+success.  His entire stock consisted of sixty-one Testaments,
+twenty-five of which he sold without the slightest difficulty or
+interruption in the single village of Arganza; the poor labourers
+showering blessings on his head for providing them with such good
+books at an easy price.
+
+Not more than eighteen of his books remained, when he turned off
+the high road towards Fuente la Higuera.  This place was already
+tolerably well known to him, he having visited it of old, when he
+travelled the country in the capacity of a vendor of cacharras or
+earthen pans.  He subsequently stated that he felt some misgiving
+whilst on the way, as the village had invariably borne a bad
+reputation.  On his arrival, after having put up his cavallejo or
+little pony at a posada, he proceeded to the alcalde for the
+purpose of asking permission to sell the books, which that
+dignitary immediately granted.  He now entered a house and sold a
+copy, and likewise a second.  Emboldened by success, he entered a
+third, which, it appeared, belonged to the barber-surgeon of the
+village.  This personage having just completed his dinner, was
+seated in an arm chair within his doorway, when Victoriano made his
+appearance.  He was a man about thirty-five, of a savage truculent
+countenance.  On Victoriano's offering him a Testament, he took it
+in his hand to examine it, but no sooner did his eyes glance over
+the title-page than he burst out into a loud laugh, exclaiming:-
+"Ha, ha, Don Jorge Borrow, the English heretic, we have encountered
+you at last.  Glory to the Virgin and the Saints!  We have long
+been expecting you here, and at length you are arrived."  He then
+inquired the price of the book, and on being told three reals, he
+flung down two, and rushed out of the house with the Testament in
+his hand.
+
+Victoriano now became alarmed, and determined upon leaving the
+place as soon as possible.  He therefore hurried back to the
+posada, and having paid for the barley which his pony had consumed,
+went into the stable, and placing the packsaddle on the animal's
+back, was about to lead it forth, when the alcalde of the village,
+the surgeon, and twelve other men, some of whom were armed with
+muskets, suddenly presented themselves.  They instantly made
+Victoriano prisoner, and after seizing the books and laying an
+embargo on the pony, proceeded amidst much abuse to drag the
+captive to what they denominated their prison, a low damp apartment
+with a little grated window, where they locked him up and left him.
+At the expiration of three quarters of an hour, they again
+appeared, and conducted him to the house of the curate, where they
+sat down in conclave; the curate, who was a man stone blind,
+presiding, whilst the sacristan officiated as secretary.  The
+surgeon having stated his accusation against the prisoner, namely,
+that he had detected him in the fact of selling a version of the
+Scriptures in the vulgar tongue, the curate proceeded to examine
+Victoriano, asking him his name and place of residence, to which he
+replied that his name was Victoriano Lopez, and that he was a
+native of Villa Seca, in the Sagra of Toledo.  The curate then
+demanded what religion he professed? and whether he was a
+Mohometan, or freemason? and received for answer that he was a
+Roman Catholic.  I must here state, that Victoriano, though
+sufficiently shrewd in his way, was a poor old labourer of sixty-
+four; and until that moment had never heard either of Mahometans or
+freemasons.  The curate becoming now incensed, called him a tunante
+or scoundrel, and added, you have sold your soul to a heretic; we
+have long been aware of your proceedings, and those of your master.
+You are the same Lopez, whom he last year rescued from the prison
+of Villallos, in the province of Avila; I sincerely hope that he
+will attempt to do the same thing here.  "Yes, yes," shouted the
+rest of the conclave, "let him but venture here, and we will shed
+his heart's blood on our stones."  In this manner they went on for
+nearly half an hour.  At last they broke up the meeting, and
+conducted Victoriano once more to his prison.
+
+During his confinement he lived tolerably well, being in possession
+of money.  His meals were sent him twice a day from the posada,
+where his pony remained in embargo.  Once or twice he asked
+permission of the alcalde, who visited him every night and morning
+with his armed guard, to purchase pen and paper, in order that he
+might write to Madrid; but this favour was peremptorily refused
+him, and all the inhabitants of the village were forbidden under
+terrible penalties to afford him the means of writing, or to convey
+any message from him beyond the precincts of the place, and two
+boys were stationed before the window of his cell for the purpose
+of watching everything which might be conveyed to him.
+
+It happened one day that Victoriano, being in need of a pillow,
+sent word to the people of the posada to send him his alforjas or
+saddlebags, which they did.  In these bags there chanced to be a
+kind of rope, or, as it is called in Spanish, soga, with which he
+was in the habit of fastening his satchel to the pony's back.  The
+urchins seeing an end of this rope, hanging from the alforjas,
+instantly ran to the alcalde to give him information.  Late at
+evening, the alcalde again visited the prisoner at the head of his
+twelve men as usual.  "Buenas noches," said the alcalde.  "Buenas
+noches tenga usted," replied Victoriano.  "For what purpose did you
+send for the soga this afternoon?" demanded the functionary.  "I
+sent for no soga," said the prisoner, "I sent for my alforjas to
+serve as a pillow, and it was sent in them by chance."  "You are a
+false malicious knave," retorted the alcalde; "you intend to hang
+yourself, and by so doing ruin us all, as your death would be laid
+at our door.  Give me the soga."  No greater insult can be offered
+to a Spaniard than to tax him with an intention of committing
+suicide.  Poor Victoriano flew into a violent rage, and after
+calling the alcalde several very uncivil names, he pulled the soga
+from his bags, flung it at his head, and told him to take it home
+and use it for his own neck.
+
+At length the people of the posada took pity on the prisoner,
+perceiving that he was very harshly treated for no crime at all;
+they therefore determined to afford him an opportunity of informing
+his friends of his situation, and accordingly sent him a pen and
+inkhorn, concealed in a loaf of bread, and a piece of writing
+paper, pretending that the latter was intended for cigars.  So
+Victoriano wrote the letter; but now ensued the difficulty of
+sending it to its destination, as no person in the village dare
+have carried it for any reward.  The good people, however,
+persuaded a disbanded soldier from another village, who chanced to
+be at Fuente la Higuera in quest of work, to charge himself with
+it, assuring him that I would pay him well for his trouble.  The
+man, watching his opportunity, received the letter from Victoriano
+at the window:  and it was he who, after travelling on foot all
+night, delivered it to me in safety at Madrid.
+
+I was now relieved from my anxiety, and had no fears for the
+result.  I instantly went to a friend who is in possession of large
+estates about Guadalajara, in which province Fuente la Higuera is
+situated, who furnished me with letters to the civil governor of
+Guadalajara and all the principal authorities; these I delivered to
+Antonio, whom, at his own request, I despatched on the errand of
+the prisoner's liberation.  He first directed his course to Fuente
+la Higuera, where, entering the alcalde's house, he boldly told him
+what he had come about.  The alcalde expecting that I was at hand,
+with an army of Englishmen, for the purpose of rescuing the
+prisoner, became greatly alarmed, and instantly despatched his wife
+to summon his twelve men; however, on Antonio's assuring him that
+there was no intention of having recourse to violence, he became
+more tranquil.  In a short time Antonio was summoned before the
+conclave and its blind sacerdotal president.  They at first
+attempted to frighten him by assuming a loud bullying tone, and
+talking of the necessity of killing all strangers, and especially
+the detested Don Jorge and his dependents.  Antonio, however, who
+was not a person apt to allow himself to be easily terrified,
+scoffed at their threats, and showing them his letters to the
+authorities of Guadalajara, said that he should proceed there on
+the morrow and denounce their lawless conduct, adding that he was a
+Turkish subject, and that should they dare to offer him the
+slightest incivility, he would write to the sublime Porte, in
+comparison with whom the best kings in the world were but worms,
+and who would not fail to avenge the wrongs of any of his children,
+however distant, in a manner too terrible to be mentioned.  He then
+returned to his posada.  The conclave now proceeded to deliberate
+amongst themselves, and at last determined to send their prisoner
+on the morrow to Guadalajara, and deliver him into the hands of the
+civil governor.
+
+Nevertheless, in order to keep up a semblance of authority, they
+that night placed two men armed at the door of the posada where
+Antonio was lodged, as if he himself were a prisoner.  These men,
+as often as the clock struck the hour, shouted "Ave Maria!  Death
+to the heretics."  Early in the morning the alcalde presented
+himself at the posada, but before entering he made an oration at
+the door to the people in the street, saying, amongst other things,
+"Brethren, these are the fellows who have come to rob us of our
+religion."  He then went into Antonio's apartment, and after
+saluting him with great politeness, said, that as a royal or high
+mass was about to be celebrated that morning, he had come to invite
+him to go to church with him.  Whereupon Antonio, though by no
+means a mass-goer, rose and accompanied him, and remained two
+hours, as he told me, on his knees on the cold stones, to his great
+discomfort; the eyes of the whole congregation being fixed upon him
+during the time.
+
+After mass and breakfast, he departed for Guadalajara, Victoriano
+having been already despatched under a guard.  On his arrival, he
+presented his letters to the individuals for whom they were
+intended.  The civil governor was convulsed with merriment on
+hearing Antonio's account of the adventure.  Victoriano was set at
+liberty, and the books were placed in embargo at Guadalajara; the
+governor stating, however, that though it was his duty to detain
+them at present, they should be sent to me whenever I chose to
+claim them; he moreover said that he would do his best to cause the
+authorities of Fuente la Higuera to be severely punished, as in the
+whole affair they had acted in the most cruel tyrannical manner,
+for which they had no authority.  Thus terminated this affair, one
+of those little accidents which chequer missionary life in Spain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII
+
+
+
+Termination of our Rural Labours--Alarm of the Clergy--A New
+Experiment--Success at Madrid--Goblin-Alguazil--Staff of Office--
+The Corregidor--An Explanation--The Pope in England--New Testament
+expounded--Works of Luther.
+
+We proceeded in our task of distributing the Scriptures with
+various success, until the middle of March, when I determined upon
+starting for Talavera, for the purpose of seeing what it was
+possible to accomplish in that town and the neighbourhood.  I
+accordingly bent my course in that direction, accompanied by
+Antonio and Victoriano.  On our way thither we stopped at Naval
+Carnero, a large village five leagues to the west of Madrid, where
+I remained three days, sending forth Victoriano to the circumjacent
+hamlets with small cargoes of Testaments.  Providence, however,
+which had hitherto so remarkably favoured us in these rural
+excursions, now withdrew from us its support, and brought them to a
+sudden termination; for in whatever place the sacred writings were
+offered for sale, they were forthwith seized by persons who
+appeared to be upon the watch; which events compelled me to alter
+my intention of proceeding to Talavera and to return forthwith to
+Madrid.
+
+I subsequently learned that our proceedings on the other side of
+Madrid having caused alarm amongst the heads of the clergy, they
+had made a formal complaint to the government, who immediately sent
+orders to all the alcaldes of the villages, great and small, in New
+Castile, to seize the New Testament wherever it might be exposed
+for sale; but at the same time enjoining them to be particularly
+careful not to detain or maltreat the person or persons who might
+be attempting to vend it.  An exact description of myself
+accompanied these orders, and the authorities both civil and
+military were exhorted to be on their guard against me and my arts
+and machinations; for, I as the document stated, was to-day in one
+place, and to-morrow at twenty leagues' distance.
+
+I was not much discouraged by this blow, which indeed did not come
+entirely unexpected.  I, however, determined to change the sphere
+of action, and not expose the sacred volume to seizure at every
+step which I should take to circulate it.  In my late attempts, I
+had directed my attention exclusively to the villages and small
+towns, in which it was quite easy for the government to frustrate
+my efforts by means of circulars to the local authorities, who
+would of course be on the alert, and whose vigilance it would be
+impossible to baffle as every novelty which occurs in a small place
+is forthwith bruited about.  But the case would be widely different
+amongst the crowds of the capital, where I could pursue my labours
+with comparative secrecy.  My present plan was to abandon the rural
+districts, and to offer the sacred volume at Madrid, from house to
+house, at the same low price as in the country.  This plan I
+forthwith put into execution.
+
+Having an extensive acquaintance amongst the lower orders, I
+selected eight intelligent individuals to co-operate with me,
+amongst whom were five women.  All these I supplied with
+Testaments, and then sent them forth to all the parishes in Madrid.
+The result of their efforts more than answered my expectations.  In
+less than fifteen days after my return from Naval Carnero, nearly
+six hundred copies of the life and words of Him of Nazareth had
+been sold in the streets and alleys of Madrid; a fact which I hope
+I may be permitted to mention with gladness and with decent triumph
+in the Lord.
+
+One of the richest streets is the Calle Montera, where reside the
+principal merchants and shopkeepers of Madrid.  It is, in fact, the
+street of commerce, in which respect, and in being a favourite
+promenade, it corresponds with the far-famed "Nefsky" of Saint
+Petersburg.  Every house in this street was supplied with its
+Testament, and the same might be said with respect to the Puerto
+del Sol.  Nay, in some instances, every individual in the house,
+man and child, man-servant and maid-servant, was furnished with a
+copy.  My Greek, Antonio, made wonderful exertions in this quarter;
+and it is but justice to say that, but for his instrumentality, on
+many occasions, I might have been by no means able to give so
+favourable an account of the spread of "the Bible in Spain."  There
+was a time when I was in the habit of saying "dark Madrid," an
+expression which, I thank God, I could now drop.  It were scarcely
+just to call a city, "dark," in which thirteen hundred Testaments
+at least were in circulation, and in daily use.
+
+It was now that I turned to account a supply of Bibles which I had
+received from Barcelona, in sheets, at the commencement of the
+preceding year.  The demand for the entire Scriptures was great;
+indeed far greater than I could answer, as the books were disposed
+of faster than they could be bound by the man whom I employed for
+that purpose.  Eight-and-twenty copies were bespoken and paid for
+before delivery.  Many of these Bibles found their way into the
+best houses in Madrid.  The Marquis of--had a large family, but
+every individual of it, old and young, was in possession of a
+Bible, and likewise a Testament, which, strange to say, were
+recommended by the chaplain of the house.  One of my most zealous
+agents in the propagation of the Bible was an ecclesiastic.  He
+never walked out without carrying one beneath his gown, which he
+offered to the first person he met whom he thought likely to
+purchase.  Another excellent assistant was an elderly gentleman of
+Navarre, enormously rich, who was continually purchasing copies on
+his own account, which he, as I was told, sent into his native
+province, for distribution amongst his friends and the poor.
+
+On a certain night I had retired to rest rather more early than
+usual, being slightly indisposed.  I soon fell asleep, and had
+continued so for some hours, when I was suddenly aroused by the
+opening of the door of the small apartment in which I lay.  I
+started up, and beheld Maria Diaz, with a lamp in her hand, enter
+the room.  I observed that her features, which were in general
+peculiarly calm and placid, wore a somewhat startled expression.
+"What is the hour, and what brings you here?" I demanded.
+
+"Senor," said she, closing the door, and coming up to the bedside.
+"It is close upon midnight; but a messenger belonging to the police
+has just entered the house and demanded to see you.  I told him
+that it was impossible, for that your worship was in bed.
+Whereupon he sneezed in my face, and said that he would see you if
+you were in your coffin.  He has all the look of a goblin, and has
+thrown me into a tremor.  I am far from being a timid person, as
+you are aware, Don Jorge; but I confess that I never cast my eyes
+on these wretches of the police, but my heart dies away within me!
+I know them but too well, and what they are capable of."
+
+"Pooh," said I, "be under no apprehension, let him come in, I fear
+him not, whether he be alguazil or hobgoblin.  Stand, however, at
+the doorway, that you may be a witness of what takes place, as it
+is more than probable that he comes at this unreasonable hour to
+create a disturbance, that he may have an opportunity of making an
+unfavourable report to his principals, like the fellow on the
+former occasion."
+
+The hostess left the apartment, and I heard her say a word or two
+to some one in the passage, whereupon there was a loud sneeze, and
+in a moment after a singular figure appeared at the doorway.  It
+was that of a very old man, with long white hair, which escaped
+from beneath the eaves of an exceedingly high-peaked hat.  He
+stooped considerably, and moved along with a shambling gait.  I
+could not see much of his face, which, as the landlady stood behind
+him with the lamp, was consequently in deep shadow.  I could
+observe, however, that his eyes sparkled like those of a ferret.
+He advanced to the foot of the bed, in which I was still lying,
+wondering what this strange visit could mean; and there he stood
+gazing at me for a minute, at least, without uttering a syllable.
+Suddenly, however, he protruded a spare skinny hand from the cloak
+in which it had hitherto been enveloped, and pointed with a short
+staff, tipped with metal, in the direction of my face, as it he
+were commencing an exorcism.  He appeared to be about to speak, but
+his words, if he intended any, were stifled in their birth by a
+sudden sternutation which escaped him, and which was so violent
+that the hostess started back, exclaiming, "Ave Maria purissima!"
+and nearly dropped the lamp in her alarm.
+
+"My good person," said I, "what do you mean by this foolish
+hobgoblinry?  If you have anything to communicate do so at once,
+and go about your business.  I am unwell, and you are depriving me
+of my repose."
+
+"By the virtue of this staff," said the old man, "and the authority
+which it gives me to do and say that which is convenient, I do
+command, order, and summon you to appear to-morrow, at the eleventh
+hour at the office of my lord the corregidor of this village of
+Madrid, in order that, standing before him humbly, and with
+befitting reverence, you may listen to whatever he may have to say,
+or if necessary, may yield yourself up to receive the castigation
+of any crimes which you may have committed, whether trivial or
+enormous.  Tenez, compere," he added, in most villainous French,
+"voila mon affaire; voila ce que je viens vous dire."
+
+Thereupon he glared at me for a moment, nodded his head twice, and
+replacing his staff beneath is cloak, shambled out of the room, and
+with a valedictory sneeze in the passage left the house.
+
+Precisely at eleven on the following day, I attended at the office
+of the corregidor.  He was not the individual whose anger I had
+incurred on a former occasion, and who had thought proper to
+imprison me, but another person, I believe a Catalan, whose name I
+have also forgotten.  Indeed, these civil employments were at this
+period given to-day and taken away to-morrow, so that the person
+who held one of them for a month might consider himself a
+functionary of long standing.  I was not kept waiting a moment, but
+as soon as I had announced myself, was forthwith ushered into the
+presence of the corregidor, a good-looking, portly, and well-
+dressed personage, seemingly about fifty.  He was writing at a desk
+when I entered, but almost immediately arose and came towards me.
+He looked me full in the face, and I, nothing abashed, kept my eyes
+fixed upon his.  He had, perhaps, expected a less independent
+bearing, and that I should have quaked and crouched before him; but
+now, conceiving himself bearded in his own den, his old Spanish
+leaven was forthwith stirred up.  He plucked his whiskers fiercely.
+"Escuchad," said he, casting upon me a ferocious glance, "I wish to
+ask you a question."
+
+"Before I answer any question of your excellency," said I, "I shall
+take the liberty of putting one myself.  What law or reason is
+there that I, a peaceable individual and a foreigner, should have
+my rest disturbed by duendes and hobgoblins sent at midnight to
+summon me to appear at public offices like a criminal?"
+
+"You do not speak the truth," shouted the corregidor; "the person
+sent to summon you was neither duende nor hobgoblin, but one of the
+most ancient and respectable officers of this casa, and so far from
+being dispatched at midnight, it wanted twenty-five minutes to that
+hour by my own watch when he left this office, and as your lodging
+is not distant, he must have arrived there at least ten minutes
+before midnight, so that you are by no means accurate, and are
+found wanting in regard to truth."
+
+"A distinction without a difference," I replied.  "For my own part,
+if I am to be disturbed in my sleep, it is of little consequence
+whether at midnight or ten minutes before that time; and with
+respect to your messenger, although he might not be a hobgoblin, he
+had all the appearance of one, and assuredly answered the purpose,
+by frightening the woman of the house almost into fits by his
+hideous grimaces and sneezing convulsions."
+
+Corregidor.--You are a--I know not what.  Do you know that I have
+the power to imprison you?
+
+Myself.--You have twenty alguazils at your beck and call, and have
+of course the power, and so had your predecessor, who nearly lost
+his situation by imprisoning me; but you know full well that you
+have not the right, as I am not under your jurisdiction, but that
+of the captain-general.  If I have obeyed your summons, it was
+simply because I had a curiosity to know what you wanted with me,
+and from no other motive whatever.  As for imprisoning me, I beg
+leave to assure you, that you have my full consent to do so; the
+most polite society in Madrid is to be found in the prison, and as
+I am at present compiling a vocabulary of the language of the
+Madrilenian thieves, I should have, in being imprisoned, an
+excellent opportunity of completing it.  There is much to be learnt
+even in the prison, for, as the Gypsies say, "The dog that trots
+about finds a bone."
+
+Corregidor.--Your words are not those of a Caballero.  Do you
+forget where you are, and in whose presence?  Is this a fitting
+place to talk of thieves and Gypsies in?
+
+Myself.--Really I know of no place more fitting, unless it be the
+prison.  But we are wasting time, and I am anxious to know for what
+I have been summoned; whether for crimes trivial or enormous, as
+the messenger said.
+
+It was a long time before I could obtain the required information
+from the incensed corregidor; at last, however, it came.  It
+appeared that a box of Testaments, which I had despatched to Naval
+Carnero, had been seized by the local authorities, and having been
+detained there for some time, was at last sent back to Madrid,
+intended as it now appeared, for the hands of the corregidor.  One
+day as it was lying at the waggon-office, Antonio chanced to enter
+on some business of his own and recognised the box, which he
+instantly claimed as my property, and having paid the carriage,
+removed it to my warehouse.  He had considered the matter as of so
+little importance, that he had not as yet mentioned it to me.  The
+poor corregidor, however, had no doubt that it was a deep-laid
+scheme to plunder and insult him.  And now, working himself up into
+almost a frenzy of excitement, he stamped on the ground,
+exclaiming, "Que picardia!  Que infamia!"
+
+The old system, thought I, of prejudging people and imputing to
+them motives and actions of which they never dreamed.  I then told
+him frankly that I was entirely ignorant of the circumstance by
+which he had felt himself aggrieved; but that if upon inquiry I
+found that the chest had actually been removed by my servant from
+the office to which it had been forwarded, I would cause it
+forthwith to be restored, although it was my own property.  "I have
+plenty more Testaments," said I, "and can afford to lose fifty or a
+hundred.  I am a man of peace, and wish not to have any dispute
+with the authorities for the sake of an old chest and a cargo of
+books, whose united value would scarcely amount to forty dollars."
+
+He looked at me for a moment, as if in doubt of my sincerity, then,
+again plucking his whiskers, he forthwith proceeded to attack me in
+another quarter:  "Pero que infamia, que picardia! to come into
+Spain for the purpose of overturning the religion of the country.
+What would you say if the Spaniards were to go to England and
+attempt to overturn the Lutheranism established there?"
+
+"They would be most heartily welcome," I replied; "more especially
+if they would attempt to do so by circulating the Bible, the book
+of Christians, even as the English are doing in Spain.  But your
+excellency is not perhaps aware that the Pope has a fair field and
+fair play in England, and is permitted to make as many converts
+from Lutheranism every day in the week as are disposed to go over
+to him.  He cannot boast, however, of much success; the people are
+too fond of light to embrace darkness, and would smile at the idea
+of exchanging their gospel privileges for the superstitious
+ceremonies and observances of the church of Rome."
+
+On my repeating my promise that the books and chest should be
+forthwith restored, the corregidor declared himself satisfied, and
+all of a sudden became excessively polite and condescending:  he
+even went so far as to say that he left it entirely with myself,
+whether to return the books or not; "and," continued he, "before
+you go, I wish to tell you that my private opinion is, that it is
+highly advisable in all countries to allow full and perfect
+tolerance in religious matters, and to permit every religious
+system to stand or fall according to its own merits."
+
+Such were the concluding words of the corregidor of Madrid, which,
+whether they expressed his private opinion or not, were certainly
+grounded on sense and reason.  I saluted him respectfully and
+retired, and forthwith performed my promise with regard to the
+books; and thus terminated this affair.
+
+It almost appeared to me at this time, that a religious reform was
+commencing in Spain; indeed, matters had of late come to my
+knowledge, which, had they been prophesied only a year before, I
+should have experienced much difficulty in believing.
+
+The reader will be surprised when I state that in two churches of
+Madrid the New Testament was regularly expounded every Sunday
+evening by the respective curates, to about twenty children who
+attended, and who were all provided with copies of the Society's
+edition of Madrid, 1837.  The churches which I allude to, were
+those of San Gines and Santo Cruz.  Now I humbly conceive that this
+fact alone is more than equivalent to all the expense which the
+Society had incurred in the efforts which it had been making to
+introduce the Gospel into Spain; but be this as it may, I am
+certain that it amply recompensed me for all the anxiety and
+unhappiness which I had undergone.  I now felt that whenever I
+should be compelled to discontinue my labours in the Peninsula, I
+should retire without the slightest murmur, my heart being filled
+with gratitude to the Lord for having permitted me, useless vessel
+as I was, to see at least some of the seed springing up, which
+during two years I had been casting on the stony ground of the
+interior of Spain.
+
+When I recollected the difficulties which had encompassed our path,
+I could sometimes hardly credit all that the Almighty had permitted
+us to accomplish within the last year.  A large edition of the New
+Testament had been almost entirely disposed of in the very centre
+of Spain, in spite of the opposition and the furious cry of the
+sanguinary priesthood and the edicts of a deceitful government, and
+a spirit of religious inquiry excited, which I had fervent hope
+would sooner or later lead to blessed and most important results.
+Till of late the name most abhorred and dreaded in these parts of
+Spain, was that of Martin Luther, who was in general considered as
+a species of demon, a cousin-german to Belial and Beelzebub, who,
+under the guise of a man, wrote and preached blasphemy against the
+Highest; yet, now strange to say, this once abominated personage
+was spoken of with no slight degree of respect.  People with Bibles
+in their hands not unfrequently visited me, inquiring with much
+earnestness, and with no slight degree of simplicity, for the
+writings of the great Doctor Martin, whom, indeed, some supposed to
+be still alive.
+
+It will be as well here to observe, that of all the names connected
+with the Reformation, that of Luther is the only one known in
+Spain; and let me add, that no controversial writings but his are
+likely to be esteemed as possessing the slightest weight or
+authority, however great their intrinsic merit may be.  The common
+description of tracts, written with the view of exposing the errors
+of popery, are therefore not calculated to prove of much benefit in
+Spain, though it is probable that much good might be accomplished
+by well-executed translations of judicious selections from the
+works of Luther.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII
+
+
+
+Projected Journey--A Scene of Blood--The Friar--Seville--Beauties
+of Seville--Orange Trees and Flowers--Murillo--The Guardian Angel--
+Dionysius--My Coadjutors--Demand for the Bible.
+
+By the middle of April I had sold as many Testaments as I thought
+Madrid would bear; I therefore called in my people, for I was
+afraid to overstock the market, and to bring the book into contempt
+by making it too common.  I had, indeed, by this time, barely a
+thousand copies remaining of the edition which I had printed two
+years previously; and with respect to Bibles, every copy was by
+this time disposed of, though there was still a great demand for
+them, which, of course, I was unable to satisfy.
+
+With the remaining copies of the Testament, I now determined to
+betake myself to Seville, where little had hitherto been effected
+in the way of circulation:  my preparations were soon made.  The
+roads were at this time in a highly dangerous state, on which
+account I thought to go along with a convoy, which was about to
+start for Andalusia.  Two days, however, before its departure,
+understanding that the number of people who likewise proposed to
+avail themselves of it was likely to be very great, and reflecting
+on the slowness of this way of travelling, and moreover the insults
+to which civilians were frequently subjected from the soldiers and
+petty officers, I determined to risk the journey with the mail.
+This resolutions I carried into effect.  Antonio, whom I had
+resolved to take with me, and my two horses, departed with the
+convoy, whilst in a few days I followed with the mail courier.  We
+travelled all the way without the slightest accident, my usual
+wonderful good fortune accompanying us.  I might well call it
+wonderful, for I was running into the den of the lion; the whole of
+La Mancha, with the exception of a few fortified places, being once
+more in the hands of Palillos and his banditti, who, whenever it
+pleased them, stopped the courier, burnt the vehicle and letters,
+murdered the paltry escort, and carried away any chance passenger
+to the mountains, where an enormous ransom was demanded, the
+alternative being four shots through the head, as the Spaniards
+say.
+
+The upper part of Andalusia was becoming rapidly nearly as bad as
+La Mancha.  The last time the mail had passed, it was attacked at
+the defile of La Rumblar by six mounted robbers; it was guarded by
+an escort of as many soldiers, but the former suddenly galloped
+from behind a solitary venda, and dashed the soldiers to the
+ground, who were taken quite by surprise, the hoofs of the robbers'
+horses making no noise on account of the sandy nature of the
+ground.  The soldiers were instantly disarmed and bound to olive
+trees, with the exception of two, who escaped amongst the rocks;
+they were then mocked and tormented by the robbers, or rather
+fiends, for nearly half an hour, when they were shot; the head of
+the corporal who commanded being blown to fragments with a
+blunderbuss.  The robbers then burned the coach, which they
+accomplished by igniting the letters by means of the tow with which
+they light their cigars.  The life of the courier was saved by one
+of them, who had formerly been his postillion; he was, however,
+robbed and stripped.  As we passed by the scene of the butchery,
+the poor fellow wept, and, though a Spaniard, cursed Spain and the
+Spaniards, saying that he intended shortly to pass over to the
+Moreria, to confess Mahomet, and to learn the law of the Moors, for
+that any country and religion were better than his own.  He pointed
+to the tree where the corporal had been tied; though much rain had
+fallen since, the ground around was still saturated with blood, and
+a dog was gnawing a piece of the unfortunate wretch's skull.  A
+friar travelled with us the whole way from Madrid to Seville; he
+was of the missionaries, and was going to the Philippine islands,
+to conquer (para conquistar), for such was his word, by which I
+suppose he meant preaching to the Indians.  During the whole
+journey he exhibited every symptom of the most abject fear, which
+operated upon him so that he became deadly sick, and we were
+obliged to stop twice in the road and lay him amongst the green
+corn.  He said that if he fell into the hands of the factious, he
+was a lost priest, for that they would first make him say mass, and
+then blow him up with gunpowder.  He had been professor of
+philosophy, as he told me, in one of the convents (I think it was
+San Thomas) of Madrid before their suppression, but appeared to be
+grossly ignorant of the Scriptures, which he confounded with the
+works of Virgil.
+
+We stopped at Manzanares as usual; it was Sunday morning, and the
+market-place was crowded with people.  I was recognised in a
+moment, and twenty pair of legs instantly hurried away in quest of
+the prophetess, who presently made her appearance in the house to
+which we had retired to breakfast.  After many greetings on both
+sides, she proceeded, in her Latin, to give me an account of all
+that had occurred in the village since I had last been there, and
+of the atrocities of the factious in the neighbourhood.  I asked
+her to breakfast, and introduced her to the friar, whom she
+addressed in this manner:  "Anne Domine Reverendissime facis adhuc
+sacrificium?"  But the friar did not understand her, and waxing
+angry, anathematized her for a witch, and bade her begone.  She
+was, however, not to be disconcerted, and commenced singing, in
+extemporary Castilian verse, the praises of friars and religious
+houses in general.  On departing I gave her a peseta, upon which
+she burst into tears, and intreated that I would write to her if I
+reached Seville in safety.
+
+We did arrive at Seville in safety, and I took leave of the friar,
+telling him that I hoped to meet him again at Philippi.  As it was
+my intention to remain at Seville for some months, I determined to
+hire a house, in which I conceived I could live with more privacy,
+and at the same time more economically than in a posada.  It was
+not long before I found one in every respect suited to me.  It was
+situated in the Plazuela de la Pila Seca, a retired part of the
+city, in the neighbourhood of the cathedral, and at a short
+distance from the gate of Xeres; and in this house, on the arrival
+of Antonio and the horses, which occurred within a few days, I took
+up my abode.
+
+I was now once more in beautiful Seville and had soon ample time
+and leisure to enjoy its delights and those of the surrounding
+country; unfortunately, at the time of my arrival, and indeed for
+the next ensuing fortnight, the heaven of Andalusia, in general so
+glorious, was overcast with black clouds, which discharged
+tremendous showers of rain, such as few of the Sevillians,
+according to their own account, had ever seen before.  This
+extraordinary weather had wrought no little damage in the
+neighbourhood, causing the Guadalquivir, which, during the rainy
+season, is a rapid and furious stream, to overflow its banks and to
+threaten an inundation.  It is true that intervals were occurring
+when the sun made his appearance from his cloudy tabernacle, and
+with his golden rays caused everything around to smile, enticing
+the butterfly forth from the bush, and the lizard from the hollow
+tree, and I invariably availed myself of these intervals to take a
+hasty promenade.
+
+O how pleasant it is, especially in springtide, to stray along the
+shores of the Guadalquivir.  Not far from the city, down the river,
+lies a grove called Las Delicias, or the Delights.  It consists of
+trees of various kinds, but more especially of poplars and elms,
+and is traversed by long shady walks.  This grove is the favourite
+promenade of the Sevillians, and there one occasionally sees
+assembled whatever the town produces of beauty or gallantry.  There
+wander the black-eyed Andalusian dames and damsels, clad in their
+graceful silken mantillas; and there gallops the Andalusian
+cavalier, on his long-tailed thick-maned steed of Moorish ancestry.
+As the sun is descending, it is enchanting to glance back from this
+place in the direction of the city; the prospect is inexpressibly
+beautiful.  Yonder in the distance, high and enormous, stands the
+Golden Tower, now used as a toll-house, but the principal bulwark
+of the city in the time of the Moors.  It stands on the shore of
+the river, like a giant keeping watch, and is the first edifice
+which attracts the eye of the voyager as he moves up the stream to
+Seville.  On the other side, opposite the tower, stands the noble
+Augustine convent, the ornament of the faubourg of Triana, whilst
+between the two edifices rolls the broad Guadalquivir, bearing on
+its bosom a flotilla of barks from Catalonia and Valencia.  Farther
+up is seen the bridge of boats which traverses the water.  The
+principal object of this prospect, however, is the Golden Tower,
+where the beams of the setting sun seem to be concentrated as in a
+focus, so that it appears built of pure gold, and probably from
+that circumstance received the name which it now bears.  Cold, cold
+must the heart be which can remain insensible to the beauties of
+this magic scene, to do justice to which the pencil of Claude
+himself were barely equal.  Often have I shed tears of rapture
+whilst I beheld it, and listened to the thrush and the nightingale
+piping forth their melodious songs in the woods, and inhaled the
+breeze laden with the perfume of the thousand orange gardens of
+Seville:
+
+
+"Kennst du das land wo die citronem bluhen?"
+
+
+The interior of Seville scarcely corresponds with the exterior:
+the streets are narrow, badly paved, and full of misery and
+beggary.  The houses are for the most part built in the Moorish
+fashion, with a quadrangular patio or court in the centre, where
+stands a marble fountain, constantly distilling limpid water.
+These courts, during the time of the summer heats, are covered over
+with a canvas awning, and beneath this the family sit during the
+greater part of the day.  In many, especially those belonging to
+the houses of the wealthy, are to be found shrubs, orange trees,
+and all kinds of flowers, and perhaps a small aviary, so that no
+situation can be conceived more delicious than to lie here in the
+shade, hearkening to the song of the birds and the voice of the
+fountain.
+
+Nothing is more calculated to interest the stranger as he wanders
+through Seville, than a view of these courts obtained from the
+streets, through the iron-grated door.  Oft have I stopped to
+observe them, and as often sighed that my fate did not permit me to
+reside in such an Eden for the remainder of my days.  On a former
+occasion, I have spoken of the cathedral of Seville, but only in a
+brief and cursory manner.  It is perhaps the most magnificent
+cathedral in all Spain, and though not so regular in its
+architecture as those of Toledo and Burgos, is far more worthy of
+admiration when considered as a whole.  It is utterly impossible to
+wander through the long aisles, and to raise one's eyes to the
+richly inlaid roof, supported by colossal pillars, without
+experiencing sensations of sacred awe, and deep astonishment.  It
+is true that the interior, like those of the generality of the
+Spanish cathedrals, is somewhat dark and gloomy; yet it loses
+nothing by this gloom, which, on the contrary, rather increases the
+solemnity of the effect.  Notre Dame of Paris is a noble building,
+yet to him who has seen the Spanish cathedrals, and particularly
+this of Seville, it almost appears trivial and mean, and more like
+a town-hall than a temple of the Eternal.  The Parisian cathedral
+is entirely destitute of that solemn darkness and gloomy pomp which
+so abound in the Sevillian, and is thus destitute of the principal
+requisite to a cathedral.
+
+In most of the chapels are to be found some of the very best
+pictures of the Spanish school; and in particular many of the
+masterpieces of Murillo, a native of Seville.  Of all the pictures
+of this extraordinary man, one of the least celebrated is that
+which has always wrought on me the most profound impression.  I
+allude to the Guardian Angel (Angel de la Guardia), a small picture
+which stands at the bottom of the church, and looks up the
+principal aisle.  The angel, holding a flaming sword in his right
+hand, is conducting the child.  This child is, in my opinion, the
+most wonderful of all the creations of Murillo; the form is that of
+an infant about five years of age, and the expression of the
+countenance is quite infantine, but the tread--it is the tread of a
+conqueror, of a God, of the Creator of the universe; and the
+earthly globe appears to tremble beneath its majesty.
+
+The service of the cathedral is in general well attended,
+especially when it is known that a sermon is to be preached.  All
+these sermons are extemporaneous; some of them are edifying and
+faithful to the Scriptures.  I have often listened to them with
+pleasure, though I was much surprised to remark, that when the
+preachers quoted from the Bible, their quotations were almost
+invariably taken from the apocryphal writings.  There is in general
+no lack of worshippers at the principal shrines--women for the most
+part--many of whom appear to be animated with the most fervent
+devotion.
+
+I had flattered myself, previous to my departure from Madrid, that
+I should experience but little difficulty in the circulation of the
+Gospel in Andalusia, at least for a time, as the field was new, and
+myself and the object of my mission less known and dreaded than in
+New Castile.  It appeared, however, that the government at Madrid
+had fulfilled its threat, transmitting orders throughout Spain for
+the seizure of my books wherever found.  The Testaments that
+arrived from Madrid were seized at the custom-house, to which place
+all goods on their arrival, even from the interior, are carried, in
+order that a duty be imposed upon them.  Through the management of
+Antonio, however, I procured one of the two chests, whilst the
+other was sent down to San Lucar, to be embarked for a foreign land
+as soon as I could make arrangements for that purpose.
+
+I did not permit myself to be discouraged by this slight
+contretemps, although I heartily regretted the loss of the books
+which had been seized, and which I could no longer hope to
+circulate in these parts, where they were so much wanted; but I
+consoled myself with the reflection, that I had still several
+hundred at my disposal, from the distribution of which, if it
+pleased the Lord, a blessed harvest might still proceed.
+
+I did not commence operations for some time, for I was in a strange
+place, and scarcely knew what course to pursue.  I had no one to
+assist me but poor Antonio, who was as ignorant of the place as
+myself.  Providence, however, soon sent me a coadjutor, in rather a
+singular manner.  I was standing in the courtyard of the Reyna
+Posada, where I occasionally dined, when a man, singularly dressed
+and gigantically tall, entered.  My curiosity was excited, and I
+inquired of the master of the house who he was.  He informed me
+that he was a foreigner, who had resided a considerable time in
+Seville, and he believed a Greek.  Upon hearing this, I instantly
+went up to the stranger, and accosted him in the Greek language, in
+which, though I speak it very ill, I can make myself understood.
+He replied in the same idiom, and, flattered by the interest which
+I, a foreigner, expressed for his nation, was not slow in
+communicating to me his history.  He told me that his name was
+Dionysius, that he was a native of Cephalonia, and had been
+educated for the church, which, not suiting his temper, he had
+abandoned, in order to follow the profession of the sea, for which
+he had an early inclination.  That after many adventures and
+changes of fortune, he found himself one morning on the coast of
+Spain, a shipwrecked mariner, and that, ashamed to return to his
+own country in poverty and distress, he had remained in the
+Peninsula, residing chiefly at Seville, where he now carried on a
+small trade in books.  He said that he was of the Greek religion,
+to which he professed strong attachment, and soon discovering that
+I was a Protestant, spoke with unbounded abhorrence of the papal
+system; nay of its followers in general, whom he called Latins, and
+whom he charged with the ruin of his own country, inasmuch as they
+sold it to the Turk.  It instantly struck me, that this individual
+would be an excellent assistant in the work which had brought me to
+Seville, namely, the propagation of the eternal Gospel, and
+accordingly, after some more conversation, in which he exhibited
+considerable learning, I explained myself to him.  He entered into
+my views with eagerness, and in the sequel I had no reason to
+regret my confidence, he having disposed of a considerable number
+of New Testaments, and even contrived to send a certain number of
+copies to two small towns at some distance from Seville.
+
+Another helper in the circulation of the Gospel I found in an aged
+professor of music, who, with much stiffness and ceremoniousness,
+united much that was excellent and admirable.  This venerable
+individual, only three days after I had made his acquaintance,
+brought me the price of six Testaments and a Gypsy Gospel, which he
+had sold under the heat of an Andalusian sun.  What was his motive?
+A Christian one truly.  He said that his unfortunate countrymen,
+who were then robbing and murdering each other, might probably be
+rendered better by the reading of the Gospel, but could never be
+injured.  Adding, that many a man had been reformed by the
+Scriptures, but that no one ever yet became a thief or assassin
+from its perusal.
+
+But my most extraordinary agent, was one whom I occasionally
+employed in circulating the Scriptures amongst the lower classes.
+I might have turned the services of this individual to far greater
+account had the quantity of books at my disposal been greater; but
+they were now diminishing rapidly, and as I had no hopes of a fresh
+supply, I was almost tempted to be niggard of the few which
+remained.  This agent was a Greek bricklayer, by name Johannes
+Chrysostom, who had been introduced to me by Dionysius.  He was a
+native of the Morea, but had been upwards of thirty-five years in
+Spain, so that he had almost entirely lost his native language.
+Nevertheless, his attachment to his own country was so strong that
+he considered whatever was not Greek as utterly barbarous and bad.
+Though entirely destitute of education, he had, by his strength of
+character, and by a kind of rude eloquence which he possessed,
+obtained such a mastery over the minds of the labouring classes of
+Seville, that they assented to almost everything he said,
+notwithstanding the shocks which their prejudices were continually
+receiving.  So that, although he was a foreigner, he could at any
+time have become the Massaniello of Seville.  A more honest
+creature I never saw, and I soon found that if I employed him,
+notwithstanding his eccentricities, I might entertain perfect
+confidence that his actions would be no disparagement to the book
+he vended.
+
+We were continually pressed for Bibles, which of course we could
+not supply.  Testaments were held in comparatively little esteem.
+I had by this time made the discovery of a fact which it would have
+been well had I been aware of three years before; but we live and
+learn.  I mean the inexpediency of printing Testaments, and
+Testaments alone, for Catholic countries.  The reason is plain:
+the Catholic, unused to Scripture reading, finds a thousand things
+which he cannot possibly understand in the New Testament, the
+foundation of which is the Old.  "Search the Scriptures, for they
+bear witness of me," may well be applied to this point.  It may be
+replied, that New Testaments separate are in great demand, and of
+infinite utility in England, but England, thanks be to the Lord, is
+not a papal country; and though an English labourer may read a
+Testament, and derive from it the most blessed fruit, it does not
+follow that a Spanish or Italian peasant will enjoy similar
+success, as he will find many dark things with which the other is
+well acquainted, and competent to understand, being versed in the
+Bible history from his childhood.  I confess, however, that in my
+summer campaign of the preceding year, I could not have
+accomplished with Bibles what Providence permitted me to effect
+with Testaments, the former being far too bulky for rural journeys.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX
+
+
+
+The Solitary House--The Dehesa--Johannes Chrysostom--Manuel--
+Bookselling at Seville--Dionysius and the Priests--Athens and Rome-
+-Proselytism--Seizure of Testaments--Departure from Seville.
+
+I have already stated, that I had hired an empty house in Seville,
+wherein I proposed to reside for some months.  It stood in a
+solitary situation, occupying one side of a small square.  It was
+built quite in the beautiful taste of Andalusia, with a court paved
+with small slabs of white and blue marble.  In the middle of this
+court was a fountain well supplied with the crystal lymph, the
+murmur of which, as it fell from its slender pillar into an
+octangular basin, might be heard in every apartment.  The house
+itself was large and spacious, consisting of two stories, and
+containing room sufficient for at least ten times the number of
+inmates which now occupied it.  I generally kept during the day in
+the lower apartments, on account of the refreshing coolness which
+pervaded them.  In one of these was an immense stone water-trough,
+ever overflowing with water from the fountain, in which I immersed
+myself every morning.  Such were the premises to which, after
+having provided myself with a few indispensable articles of
+furniture, I now retreated with Antonio and my two horses.
+
+I was fortunate in the possession of these quadrupeds, inasmuch as
+it afforded me an opportunity of enjoying to a greater extent the
+beauties of the surrounding country.  I know of few things in this
+life more delicious than a ride in the spring or summer season in
+the neighbourhood of Seville.  My favourite one was in the
+direction of Xerez, over the wide Dehesa, as it is called, which
+extends from Seville to the gates of the former town, a distance of
+nearly fifty miles, with scarcely a town or village intervening.
+The ground is irregular and broken, and is for the most part
+covered with that species of brushwood called carrasco, amongst
+which winds a bridle-path, by no means well defined, chiefly
+trodden by the arrieros, with their long train of mules and
+borricos.  It is here that the balmy air of beautiful Andalusia is
+to be inhaled in full perfection.  Aromatic herbs and flowers are
+growing in abundance, diffusing their perfume around.  Here dark
+and gloomy cares are dispelled as if by magic from the bosom, as
+the eyes wander over the prospect, lighted by unequalled sunshine,
+in which gaily-painted butterflies wanton, and green and golden
+Salamanquesas lie extended, enjoying the luxurious warmth, and
+occasionally startling the traveller, by springing up and making
+off with portentous speed to the nearest coverts, whence they stare
+upon him with their sharp and lustrous eyes.  I repeat, that it is
+impossible to continue melancholy in regions like these, and the
+ancient Greeks and Romans were right in making them the site of
+their Elysian fields.  Most beautiful they are even in their
+present desolation, for the hand of man has not cultivated them
+since the fatal era of the expulsion of the Moors, which drained
+Andalusia of at least two thirds of its population.
+
+Every evening it was my custom to ride along the Dedesa, until the
+topmost towers of Seville were no longer in sight.  I then turned
+about, and pressing my knees against the sides of Sidi Habismilk,
+my Arabian, the fleet creature, to whom spur or lash had never been
+applied, would set off in the direction of the town with the speed
+of a whirlwind, seeming in his headlong course to devour the ground
+of the waste, until he had left it behind, then dashing through the
+elm-covered road of the Delicias, his thundering hoofs were soon
+heard beneath the vaulted archway of the Puerta de Xerez, and in
+another moment he would stand stone still before the door of my
+solitary house in the little silent square of the Pila Seca.
+
+It is eight o'clock at night, I am returned from the Dehesa, and am
+standing on the sotea, or flat roof of my house, enjoying the cool
+breeze.  Johannes Chrysostom has just arrived from his labour.  I
+have not spoken to him, but I hear him below in the courtyard,
+detailing to Antonio the progress he has made in the last two days.
+He speaks barbarous Greek, plentifully interlarded with Spanish
+words; but I gather from his discourse, that he has already sold
+twelve Testaments among his fellow labourers.  I hear copper coin
+falling on the pavement, and Antonio, who is not of a very
+Christian temper, reproving him for not having brought the proceeds
+of the sale in silver.  He now asks for fifteen more, as he says
+the demand is becoming great, and that he shall have no difficulty
+in disposing of them in the course of the morrow, whilst pursuing
+his occupations.  Antonio goes to fetch them, and he now stands
+alone by the marble fountain, singing a wild song, which I believe
+to be a hymn of his beloved Greek church.  Behold one of the
+helpers which the Lord has sent me in my Gospel labours on the
+shores of the Guadalquivir.
+
+I lived in the greatest retirement during the whole time that I
+passed at Seville, spending the greater part of each day in study,
+or in that half-dreamy state of inactivity which is the natural
+effect of the influence of a warm climate.  There was little in the
+character of the people around to induce me to enter much into
+society.  The higher class of the Andalusians are probably upon the
+whole the most vain and foolish of human beings, with a taste for
+nothing but sensual amusements, foppery in dress, and ribald
+discourse.  Their insolence is only equalled by their meanness, and
+their prodigality by their avarice.  The lower classes are a shade
+or two better than their superiors in station:  little, it is true,
+can be said for the tone of their morality; they are overreaching,
+quarrelsome, and revengeful, but they are upon the whole more
+courteous, and certainly not more ignorant.
+
+The Andalusians are in general held in the lowest estimation by the
+rest of the Spaniards, even those in opulent circumstances finding
+some difficulty at Madrid in procuring admission into respectable
+society, where, if they find their way, they are invariably the
+objects of ridicule, from the absurd airs and grimaces in which
+they indulge,--their tendency to boasting and exaggeration, their
+curious accent, and the incorrect manner in which they speak and
+pronounce the Castilian language.
+
+In a word, the Andalusians, in all estimable traits of character,
+are as far below the other Spaniards as the country which they
+inhabit is superior in beauty and fertility to the other provinces
+of Spain.
+
+Yet let it not for a moment be supposed that I have any intention
+of asserting, that excellent and estimable individuals are not to
+be found amongst the Andalusians; it was amongst THEM that I myself
+discovered one, whom I have no hesitation in asserting to be the
+most extraordinary character that has ever come within my sphere of
+knowledge; but this was no scion of a noble or knightly house, "no
+wearer of soft clothing," no sleek highly-perfumed personage, none
+of the romanticos who walk in languishing attitudes about the
+streets of Seville, with long black hair hanging upon their
+shoulders in luxuriant curls; but one of those whom the proud and
+unfeeling style the dregs of the populace, a haggard, houseless,
+penniless man, in rags and tatters:  I allude to Manuel, the--what
+shall I call him?--seller of lottery tickets, driver of death
+carts, or poet laureate in Gypsy songs?  I wonder whether thou art
+still living, my friend Manuel; thou gentleman of Nature's forming-
+-honest, pure-minded, humble, yet dignified being!  Art thou still
+wandering through the courts of beautiful Safacoro, or on the banks
+of the Len Baro, thine eyes fixed in vacancy, and thy mind striving
+to recall some half-forgotten couplet of Luis Lobo; or art thou
+gone to thy long rest, out beyond the Xeres gate within the wall of
+the Campo Santo, to which in times of pest and sickness thou wast
+wont to carry so many, Gypsy and Gentile, in thy cart of the
+tinkling bell?  Oft in the reunions of the lettered and learned in
+this land of universal literature, when weary of the display of
+pedantry and egotism, have I recurred with yearning to our Gypsy
+recitations at the old house in the Pila Seca.  Oft, when sickened
+by the high-wrought professions of those who bear the cross in
+gilded chariots, have I thought on thee, thy calm faith, without
+pretence,--thy patience in poverty, and fortitude in affliction;
+and as oft, when thinking of my speedily approaching end, have I
+wished that I might meet thee once again, and that thy hands might
+help to bear me to "the dead man's acre" yonder on the sunny plain,
+O Manuel!
+
+My principal visitor was Dionysius, who seldom failed to make his
+appearance every forenoon:  the poor fellow came for sympathy and
+conversation.  It is difficult to imagine a situation more forlorn
+and isolated than that of this man,--a Greek at Seville, with
+scarcely a single acquaintance, and depending for subsistence on
+the miserable pittance to be derived from selling a few books, for
+the most part hawked about from door to door.  "What could have
+first induced you to commence bookselling in Seville?" said I to
+him, as he arrived one sultry day, heated and fatigued, with a
+small bundle of books secured together by a leather strap.
+
+Dionysius.--For want of a better employment, Kyrie, I have adopted
+this most unprofitable and despised one.  Oft have I regretted not
+having been bred up as a shoe-maker, or having learnt in my youth
+some other useful handicraft, for gladly would I follow it now.
+Such, at least, would procure me the respect of my fellow-creatures
+inasmuch as they needed me; but now all avoid me and look upon me
+with contempt; for what have I to offer in this place that any one
+cares about?  Books in Seville! where no one reads, or at least
+nothing but new romances, translated from the French, and
+obscenity.  Books!  Would I were a Gypsy and could trim donkeys,
+for then I were at least independent and were more respected than I
+am at present.
+
+Myself.--Of what kind of books does your stock in trade consist?
+
+Dionysius.--Of those not likely to suit the Seville market, Kyrie;
+books of sterling and intrinsic value; many of them in ancient
+Greek, which I picked up upon the dissolution of the convents, when
+the contents of the libraries were hurled into the courtyards, and
+there sold by the arrobe.  I thought at first that I was about to
+make a fortune, and in fact my books would be so in any other
+place; but here I have offered an Elzevir for half a dollar in
+vain.  I should starve were it not for the strangers who
+occasionally purchase of me.
+
+Myself.--Seville is a large cathedral city, abounding with priests
+and canons; surely one of these occasionally visit you to make
+purchases of classic works, and books connected with ecclesiastical
+literature.
+
+Dionysius.--If you think so, Kyrie, you know little respecting the
+ecclesiastics of Seville.  I am acquainted with many of them, and
+can assure you that a tribe of beings can scarcely be found with a
+more confirmed aversion to intellectual pursuits of every kind.
+Their reading is confined to newspapers, which they take up in the
+hope of seeing that their friend Don Carlos is at length reinstated
+at Madrid; but they prefer their chocolate and biscuits, and nap
+before dinner, to the wisdom of Plato and the eloquence of Tully.
+They occasionally visit me, but it is only to pass away a heavy
+hour in chattering nonsense.  Once on a time, three of them came,
+in the hope of making me a convert to their Latin superstition.
+"Signior Donatio," said they, (for so they called me,) "how is it
+that an unprejudiced person like yourself, a man really with some
+pretension to knowledge, can still cling to this absurd religion of
+yours?  Surely, after having resided so many years in a civilised
+country like this of Spain, it is high time to abandon your half-
+pagan form of worship, and to enter the bosom of the church; now
+pray be advised, and you shall be none the worse for it."  "Thank
+you, gentlemen," I replied, "for the interest you take in my
+welfare; I am always open to conviction; let us proceed to discuss
+the subject.  What are the points of my religion which do not meet
+your approbation?  You are of course well acquainted with all our
+dogmas and ceremonies."  "We know nothing about your religion,
+Signior Donatio, save that it is a very absurd one, and therefore
+it is incumbent upon you, as an unprejudiced and well-informed man,
+to renounce it."  "But, gentlemen, if you know nothing of my
+religion, why call it absurd?  Surely it is not the part of
+unprejudiced people to disparage that of which they are ignorant."
+"But, Signior Donatio, it is not the Catholic Apostolic Roman
+religion, is it?"  "It may be, gentlemen, for what you appear to
+know of it; for your information, however, I will tell you that it
+is not; it is the Greek Apostolic religion.  I do not call it
+catholic, for it is absurd to call that catholic which is not
+universally acknowledged."  "But, Signior Donatio, does not the
+matter speak for itself?  What can a set of ignorant Greek
+barbarians know about religion?  If they set aside the authority of
+Rome, whence should they derive any rational ideas of religion?
+whence should they get the gospel?"  "The Gospel, gentlemen?  Allow
+me to show you a book, here it is, what is your opinion of it?"
+"Signior Donatio, what does this mean?  What characters of the
+devil are these, are they Moorish?  Who is able to understand
+them?"  "I suppose your worships, being Roman priests, know
+something of Latin; if you inspect the title-page to the bottom,
+you will find, in the language of your own church, the Gospel of
+our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,' in the original Greek, of which
+your vulgate is merely a translation, and not a very correct one.
+With respect to the barbarism of Greece, it appears that you are
+not aware that Athens was a city, and a famed one, centuries before
+the first mud cabin of Rome was thatched, and the Gypsy vagabonds
+who first peopled it, had escaped from the hands of justice."
+"Signior Donatio, you are an ignorant heretic, and insolent withal,
+WHAT NONSENSE IS THIS! . . . ."  But I will not weary your ears,
+Kyrie, with all the absurdities which the poor Latin Papas poured
+into mine; the burden of their song being invariably, WHAT NONSENSE
+IS THIS! which was certainly applicable enough to what they
+themselves were saying.  Seeing, however, that I was more than
+their match in religious controversy, they fell foul of my country.
+"Spain is a better country than Greece," said one.  "You never
+tasted bread before you came to Spain," cried another.  "And little
+enough since," thought I.  "You never before saw such a city as
+Seville," said the third.  But then ensued the best part of the
+comedy:  my visitors chanced to be natives of three different
+places; one was of Seville, another of Utrera, and the third of
+Miguel Turra, a miserable village in La Mancha.  At the mention of
+Seville, the other two instantly began to sing the praises of their
+respective places of birth; this brought on comparisons, and a
+violent dispute was the consequence.  Much abuse passed between
+them, whilst I stood by, shrugged my shoulders, and said tipotas.
+{21}  At last, as they were leaving the house, I said, "Who would
+have thought, gentlemen, that the polemics of the Greek and Latin
+churches were so closely connected with the comparative merits of
+Seville, Utrera, and Miguel Turra?"
+
+Myself.--Is the spirit of proselytism very prevalent here?  Of what
+description of people do their converts generally consist?
+
+Dionysius.--I will tell you, Kyrie:  the generality of their
+converts consist of German or English Protestant adventurers, who
+come here to settle, and in course of time take to themselves wives
+from among the Spanish, prior to which it is necessary to become
+members of the Latin church.  A few are vagabond Jews, from
+Gibraltar or Tangier, who have fled for their crimes into Spain,
+and who renounce their faith to escape from starvation.  These
+gentry, however, it is necessary to pay, on which account the
+priests procure for them padrinos or godfathers; these generally
+consist of rich devotees over whom the priests have influence, and
+who esteem it a glory and a meritorious act to assist in bringing
+back lost souls to the church.  The neophyte allows himself to be
+convinced on the promise of a peseta a day, which is generally paid
+by the godfathers for the first year, but seldom for a longer
+period.  About forty years ago, however, they made a somewhat
+notable convert.  A civil war arose in Morocco, caused by the
+separate pretensions of two brothers to the throne.  One of these
+being worsted, fled over to Spain, imploring the protection of
+Charles the Fourth.  He soon became an object of particular
+attention to the priests, who were not slow in converting him, and
+induced Charles to settle upon him a pension of a dollar per day.
+He died some few years since in Seville, a despised vagabond.  He
+left behind him a son, who is at present a notary, and outwardly
+very devout, but a greater hypocrite and picaroon does not exist.
+I would you could see his face, Kyrie, it is that of Judas
+Iscariot.  I think you would say so, for you are a physiognomist.
+He lives next door to me, and notwithstanding his pretensions to
+religion, is permitted to remain in a state of great poverty.
+
+And now nothing farther for the present about Dionysius.
+
+About the middle of July our work was concluded at Seville, and for
+the very efficient reason, that I had no more Testaments to sell;
+somewhat more than two hundred having been circulated since my
+arrival.
+
+About ten days before the time of which I am speaking, I was
+visited by various alguazils, accompanied by a kind of headborough,
+who made a small seizure of Testaments and Gypsy Gospels, which
+happened to be lying about.  This visit was far from being
+disagreeable to me, as I considered it to be a very satisfactory
+proof of the effect of our exertions in Seville.  I cannot help
+here relating an anecdote--A day or two subsequent, having occasion
+to call at the house of the headborough respecting my passport, I
+found him lying on his bed, for it was the hour of siesta, reading
+intently one of the Testaments which he had taken away, all of
+which, if he had obeyed his orders, would have been deposited in
+the office of the civil governor.  So intently, indeed, was he
+engaged in reading, that he did not at first observe my entrance;
+when he did, however, he sprang up in great confusion, and locked
+the book up in his cabinet, whereupon I smiled, and told him to be
+under no alarm, as I was glad to see him so usefully employed.
+Recovering himself, he said that he had read the book nearly
+through, and that he had found no harm in it, but, on the contrary,
+everything to praise.  Adding, he believed that the clergy must be
+possessed with devils (endemoniados) to persecute it in the manner
+they did.
+
+It was Sunday when the seizure was made, and I happened to be
+reading the Liturgy.  One of the alguazils, when going away, made
+an observation respecting the very different manner in which the
+Protestants and Catholics keep the Sabbath; the former being in
+their own houses reading good books, and the latter abroad in the
+bull-ring, seeing the wild bulls tear out the gory bowels of the
+poor horses.  The bull amphitheatre at Seville is the finest in all
+Spain, and is invariably on a Sunday (the only day on which it is
+open) filled with applauding multitudes.
+
+I now made preparations for leaving Seville for a few months, my
+destination being the coast of Barbary.  Antonio, who did not wish
+to leave Spain, in which were his wife and children, returned to
+Madrid, rejoicing in a handsome gratuity with which I presented
+him.  As it was my intention to return to Seville, I left my house
+and horses in charge of a friend in whom I could confide, and
+departed.  The reasons which induced me to visit Barbary will be
+seen in the following chapters.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L
+
+
+
+Night on the Guadalquivir--Gospel Light--Bonanza--Strand of San
+Lucar--Andalusian Scenery--History of a Chest--Cosas de los
+Ingleses--The Two Gypsies--The Driver--The Red Nightcap--The Steam
+Boat--Christian Language.
+
+On the night of the 31st of July I departed from Seville upon my
+expendition, going on board one of the steamers which ply on the
+Guadalquivir between Seville and Cadiz.
+
+It was my intention to stop at San Lucar, for the purpose of
+recovering the chest of Testaments which had been placed in embargo
+there, until such time as they could be removed from the kingdom of
+Spain.  These Testaments I intended for distribution amongst the
+Christians whom I hoped to meet on the shores of Barbary.  San
+Lucar is about fifteen leagues distant from Seville, at the
+entrance of the bay of Cadiz, where the yellow waters of the
+Guadalquivir unite with the brine.  The steamer shot from the
+little quay, or wharf, at about half-past nine, and then arose a
+loud cry,--it was the voices of those on board and on shore wishing
+farewell to their friends.  Amongst the tumult I thought I could
+distinguish the accents of some friends of my own who had
+accompanied me to the bank, and I instantly raised my own voice
+louder than all.  The night was very dark, so much so, indeed, that
+as we passed along we could scarcely distinguish the trees which
+cover the eastern shore of the river until it takes its first turn.
+A calmazo had reigned during the day at Seville, by which is meant,
+exceedingly sultry weather, unenlivened by the slightest breeze.
+The night likewise was calm and sultry.  As I had frequently made
+the voyage of the Guadalquivir, ascending and descending this
+celebrated river, I felt nothing of that restlessness and curiosity
+which people experience in a strange place, whether in light or
+darkness, and being acquainted with none of the other passengers,
+who were talking on the deck, I thought my best plan would be to
+retire to the cabin and enjoy some rest, if possible.  The cabin
+was solitary and tolerably cool, all its windows on either side
+being open for the admission of air.  Flinging myself on one of the
+cushioned benches, I was soon asleep, in which state I continued
+for about two hours, when I was aroused by the curious biting of a
+thousand bugs, which compelled me to seek the deck, where, wrapping
+myself in my cloak, I again fell asleep.  It was near daybreak when
+I awoke; we were then about two leagues from San Lucar.  I arose
+and looked towards the east, watching the gradual progress of dawn,
+first the dull light, then the streak, then the tinge, then the
+bright flush, till at last the golden disk of that orb which giveth
+day emerged from the abyss of immensity, and in a moment the whole
+prospect was covered with brightness and glory.  The land smiled,
+the waters sparkled, the birds sang, and men arose from their
+resting places and rejoiced:  for it was day, and the sun was gone
+forth on the errand of its Creator, the diffusion of light and
+gladness, and the dispelling of darkness and sorrow.
+
+
+"Behold the morning sun
+Begins his glorious way;
+His beams through all the nations run,
+And life and light convey.
+
+"But where the Gospel comes,
+It spreads diviner light;
+It calls dead sinners from their tombs,
+And gives the blind their sight."
+
+
+We now stopped before Bonanza:  this is properly speaking the port
+of San Lucar, although it is half a league distant from the latter
+place.  It is called Bonanza on account of its good anchorage, and
+its being secured from the boisterous winds of the ocean; its
+literal meaning is "fair weather."  It consists of several large
+white buildings, principally government store-houses, and is
+inhabited by the coast-guard, dependents on the custom-house, and a
+few fishermen.  A boat came off to receive those passengers whose
+destination was San Lucar, and to bring on board about half a dozen
+who were bound for Cadiz:  I entered with the rest.  A young
+Spaniard of very diminutive stature addressed some questions to me
+in French as to what I thought of the scenery and climate of
+Andalusia.  I replied that I admired both, which evidently gave him
+great pleasure.  The boatman now came demanding two reals for
+conveying me on shore.  I had no small money, and offered him a
+dollar to change.  He said that it was impossible.  I asked him
+what was to be done; whereupon he replied uncivilly that he knew
+not, but could not lose time, and expected to be paid instantly.
+The young Spaniard, observing my embarrassment, took out two reals
+and paid the fellow.  I thanked him heartily for this act of
+civility, for which I felt really grateful; as there are few
+situations more unpleasant than to be in a crowd in want of change,
+whilst you are importuned by people for payment.  A loose character
+once told me that it was far preferable to be without money at all,
+as you then knew what course to take.  I subsequently met the young
+Spaniard at Cadiz, and repaid him with thanks.
+
+A few cabriolets were waiting near the wharf, in order to convey us
+to San Lucar.  I ascended one, and we proceeded slowly along the
+Playa or strand.  This place is famous in the ancient novels of
+Spain, of that class called Picaresque, or those devoted to the
+adventures of notorious scoundrels, the father of which, as also of
+all others of the same kind, in whatever language, is Lazarillo de
+Tormes.  Cervantes himself has immortalized this strand in the most
+amusing of his smaller tales, La Ilustre Fregona.  In a word, the
+strand of San Lucar in ancient times, if not in modern, was a
+rendezvous for ruffians, contrabandistas, and vagabonds of every,
+description, who nested there in wooden sheds, which have now
+vanished.  San Lucar itself was always noted for the thievish
+propensities of its inhabitants--the worst in all Andalusia.  The
+roguish innkeeper in Don Quixote perfected his education at San
+Lucar.  All these recollections crowded into my mind as we
+proceeded along the strand, which was beautifully gilded by the
+Andalusian sun.  We at last arrived nearly opposite to San Lucar,
+which stands at some distance from the water side.  Here a lively
+spectacle presented itself to us:  the shore was covered with a
+multitude of females either dressing or undressing themselves,
+while (I speak within bounds) hundreds were in the water sporting
+and playing; some were close by the beach, stretched at their full
+length on the sand and pebbles, allowing the little billows to dash
+over their heads and bosoms; whilst others were swimming boldly out
+into the firth.  There was a confused hubbub of female cries, thin
+shrieks and shrill laughter; couplets likewise were being sung, on
+what subject it is easy to guess, for we were in sunny Andalusia,
+and what can its black-eyed daughters think, speak, or sing of but
+amor, amor, which now sounded from the land and the waters.
+Farther on along the beach we perceived likewise a crowd of men
+bathing; we passed not by them, but turned to the left up an alley
+or avenue which leads to San Lucar, and which may be a quarter of a
+mile long.  The view from hence was truly magnificent; before us
+lay the town, occupying the side and top of a tolerably high hill,
+extending from east to west.  It appeared to be of considerable
+size, and I was subsequently informed that it contained at least
+twenty thousand inhabitants.  Several immense edifices and walls
+towered up in a style of grandeur, which can be but feebly
+described by words; but the principal object was an ancient castle
+towards the left.  The houses were all white, and would have shone
+brilliantly in the sun had it been higher, but at this early hour
+they lay comparatively in shade.  The tout ensemble was very
+Moorish and oriental, and indeed in ancient times San Lucar was a
+celebrated stronghold of the Moors, and next to Almeria, the most
+frequented of their commercial places in Spain.  Everything,
+indeed, in these parts of Andalusia, is perfectly oriental.  Behold
+the heavens, as cloudless and as brightly azure as those of Ind;
+the fiery sun which tans the fairest cheek in a moment, and which
+fills the air with flickering flame; and O, remark the scenery and
+the vegetable productions.  The alley up which we were moving was
+planted on each side with that remarkable tree or plant, for I know
+not which to call it, the giant aloe, which is called in Spanish,
+pita, and in Moorish, gursean.  It rises here to a height almost as
+magnificent as on the African shore.  Need I say that the stem,
+which springs up from the middle of the bush of green blades, which
+shoot out from the root on all sides, is as high as a palm-tree;
+and need I say, that those blades, which are of an immense
+thickness at the root, are at the tip sharper than the point of a
+spear, and would inflict a terrible wound on any animal which might
+inadvertently rush against them?
+
+One of the first houses at San Lucar was the posada at which we
+stopped.  It confronted, with some others, the avenue up which we
+had come.  As it was still early, I betook myself to rest for a few
+hours, at the end of which time I went out to visit Mr. Phillipi,
+the British vice-consul, who was already acquainted with me by
+name, as I had been recommended to him in a letter from a relation
+of his at Seville.  Mr. Phillipi was at home in his counting-house,
+and received me with much kindness and civility.  I told him the
+motive of my visit to San Lucar, and requested his assistance
+towards obtaining the books from the custom-house, in order to
+transport them out of the country, as I was very well acquainted
+with the difficulties which every one has to encounter in Spain,
+who has any business to transact with the government authorities.
+He assured me that he should be most happy to assist me, and
+accordingly despatched with me to the custom-house his head clerk,
+a person well known and much respected at San Lucar.
+
+It may be as well here at once to give the history of these books,
+which might otherwise tend to embarrass the narrative.  They
+consisted of a chest of Testaments in Spanish, and a small box of
+Saint Luke's Gospel in the Gitano or language of the Spanish
+Gypsies.  I obtained them from the custom-house at San Lucar, with
+a pass for that of Cadiz.  At Cadiz I was occupied two days, and
+also a person whom I employed, in going through all the
+formalities, and in procuring the necessary papers.  The expense
+was great, as money was demanded at every step I had to take,
+though I was simply complying in this instance with the orders of
+the Spanish government in removing prohibited books from Spain.
+The farce did not end until my arrival at Gibraltar, where I paid
+the Spanish consul a dollar for certifying on the back of the pass,
+which I had to return to Cadiz, that the books were arrived at the
+former place.  It is true that he never saw the books nor inquired
+about them, but he received the money, for which he alone seemed to
+be anxious.
+
+Whilst at the custom-house of San Lucar I was asked one or two
+questions respecting the books contained in the chests:  this
+afforded me some opportunity of speaking of the New Testaments and
+the Bible Society.  What I said excited attention, and presently
+all the officers and dependents of the house, great and small, were
+gathered around me, from the governor to the porter.  As it was
+necessary to open the boxes to inspect their contents, we all
+proceeded to the courtyard, where, holding a Testament in my hand,
+I recommended my discourse.  I scarcely know what I said; for I was
+much agitated, and hurried away by my feelings, when I bethought me
+of the manner in which the word of God was persecuted in this
+unhappy kingdom.  My words evidently made impression, and to my
+astonishment every person present pressed me for a copy.  I sold
+several within the walls of the custom-house.  The object, however,
+of most attention was the Gypsy Gospel, which was minutely examined
+amidst smiles and exclamations of surprise; an individual every now
+and then crying, "Cosas de los Ingleses."  A bystander asked me
+whether I could speak the Gitano language.  I replied that I could
+not only speak it, but write it, and instantly made a speech of
+about five minutes in the Gypsy tongue, which I had no sooner
+concluded than all clapped their hands and simultaneously shouted,
+"Cosas de Ingalaterra," "Cosas de los Ingleses."  I disposed of
+several copies of the Gypsy Gospel likewise, and having now settled
+the business which had brought me to the custom-house, I saluted my
+new friends and departed with my books.
+
+I now revisited Mr. Phillipi, who, upon learning that it was my
+intention to proceed to Cadiz next morning by the steamer, which
+would touch at Bonanza at four o'clock, despatched the chests and
+my little luggage to the latter place, where he likewise advised me
+to sleep, in order that I might be in readiness to embark at that
+early hour.  He then introduced me to his family, his wife an
+English woman, and his daughter an amiable and beautiful girl of
+about eighteen years of age, whom I had previously seen at Seville;
+three or four other ladies from Seville were likewise there on a
+visit, and for the purpose of sea-bathing.  After a few words in
+English between the lady of the house and myself, we all commenced
+chatting in Spanish, which seemed to be the only language
+understood or cared for by the rest of the company; indeed, who
+would be so unreasonable as to expect Spanish females to speak any
+language but their own, which, flexible and harmonious as it is,
+(far more so I think than any other,) seemed at times quite
+inadequate to express the wild sallies of their luxuriant
+imagination.  Two hours fled rapidly away in discourse, interrupted
+occasionally by music and song, when I bade farewell to this
+delightful society, and strolled out to view the town.
+
+It was now past noon, and the heat was exceedingly fierce:  I saw
+scarcely a living being in the streets, the stones of which burnt
+my feet through the soles of my boots.  I passed through the square
+of the Constitution, which presents nothing particular to the eye
+of the stranger, and ascended the hill to obtain a nearer view of
+the castle.  It is a strong heavy edifice of stone, with round
+towers, and, though deserted, appears to be still in a tolerable
+state of preservation.  I became tired of gazing, and was retracing
+my steps, when I was accosted by two Gypsies, who by some means had
+heard of my arrival.  We exchanged some words in Gitano, but they
+appeared to be very ignorant of the dialect, and utterly unable to
+maintain a conversation in it.  They were clamorous for a gabicote,
+or book in the Gypsy tongue.  I refused it them, saying that they
+could turn it to no profitable account; but finding that they could
+read, I promised them each a Testament in Spanish.  This offer,
+however, they refused with disdain, saying that they cared for
+nothing written in the language of the Busne or Gentiles.  They
+then persisted in their demand, to which I at last yielded, being
+unable to resist their importunity; whereupon they accompanied me
+to the inn, and received what they so ardently desired.
+
+In the evening I was visited by Mr. Phillipi, who informed me that
+he had ordered a cabriolet to call for me at the inn at eleven at
+night, for the purpose of conveying me to Bonanza, and that a
+person there who kept a small wine-house, and to whom the chests
+and other things had been forwarded, would receive me for the
+night, though it was probable that I should have to sleep on the
+floor.  We then walked to the beach, where there were a great
+number of bathers, all men.  Amongst them were some good swimmers;
+two, in particular, were out at a great distance in the firth of
+the Guadalquivir, I should say at least a mile; their heads could
+just be descried with the telescope.  I was told that they were
+friars.  I wondered at what period of their lives they had acquired
+their dexterity at natation.  I hoped it was not at a time when,
+according to their vows, they should have lived for prayer,
+fasting, and mortification alone.  Swimming is a noble exercise,
+but it certainly does not tend to mortify either the flesh or the
+spirit.  As it was becoming dusk, we returned to the town, when my
+friend bade me a kind farewell.  I then retired to my apartment,
+and passed some hours in meditation.
+
+It was night, ten o'clock;--eleven o'clock, and the cabriolet was
+at the door.  I got in, and we proceeded down the avenue and along
+the shore, which was quite deserted.  The waves sounded mournfully;
+everything seemed to have changed since the morning.  I even
+thought that the horse's feet sounded differently, as it trotted
+slowly over the moist firm sand.  The driver, however, was by no
+means mournful, nor inclined to be silent long:  he soon commenced
+asking me an infinity of questions as to whence I came and whither
+I was bound.  Having given him what answers I thought most proper,
+I, in return, asked him whether he was not afraid to drive along
+that beach, which had always borne so bad a character, at so
+unseasonable an hour.  Whereupon, he looked around him, and seeing
+no person, he raised a shout of derision, and said that a fellow
+with his whiskers feared not all the thieves that ever walked the
+playa, and that no dozen men in San Lucar dare to waylay any
+traveller whom they knew to be beneath his protection.  He was a
+good specimen of the Andalusian braggart.  We soon saw a light or
+two shining dimly before us; they proceeded from a few barks and
+small vessels stranded on the sand close below Bonanza:  amongst
+them I distinguished two or three dusky figures.  We were now at
+our journey's end, and stopped before the door of the place where I
+was to lodge for the night.  The driver, dismounting, knocked loud
+and long, until the door was opened by an exceedingly stout man of
+about sixty years of age; he held a dim light in his hand, and was
+dressed in a red nightcap and dirty striped shirt.  He admitted us,
+without a word, into a very large long room with a clay floor.  A
+species of counter stood on one side near the door; behind it stood
+a barrel or two, and against the wall, on shelves, many bottles of
+various sizes.  The smell of liquors and wine was very powerful.  I
+settled with the driver and gave him a gratuity, whereupon he asked
+me for something to drink to my safe journey.  I told him he could
+call for whatever he pleased; whereupon he demanded a glass of
+aguardiente, which the master of the house, who had stationed
+himself behind the counter, handed him without saying a word.  The
+fellow drank it off at once, but made a great many wry faces after
+having swallowed it, and, coughing, said that he made no doubt it
+was good liquor, as it burnt his throat terribly.  He then embraced
+me, went out, mounted his cabriolet, and drove off.
+
+The old man with the red nightcap now moved slowly to the door,
+which he bolted and otherwise secured; he then drew forward two
+benches, which he placed together, and pointed to them as if to
+intimate to me that there was my bed:  he then blew out the candle
+and retired deeper into the apartment, where I heard him lay
+himself down sighing and snorting.  There was now no farther light
+than what proceeded from a small earthen pan on the floor, filled
+with water and oil, on which floated a small piece of card with a
+lighted wick in the middle, which simple species of lamp is called
+"mariposa."  I now laid my carpet bag on the bench as a pillow, and
+flung myself down.  I should have been asleep instantly, but he of
+the red nightcap now commenced snoring awfully, which brought to my
+mind that I had not yet commended myself to my friend and Redeemer:
+I therefore prayed, and then sank to repose.
+
+I was awakened more than once during the night by cats, and I
+believe rats, leaping upon my body.  At the last of these
+interruptions I arose, and, approaching the mariposa, looked at my
+watch; it was half-past three o'clock.  I opened the door and
+looked out; whereupon some fishermen entered clamouring for their
+morning draught:  the old man was soon on his feet serving them.
+One of the men said to me that, if I was going by the steamer, I
+had better order my things to the wharf without delay, as he had
+heard the vessel coming down the river.  I dispatched my luggage,
+and then demanded of the red nightcap what I owed him.  He replied
+"One real."  These were the only two words which I heard proceed
+from his mouth:  he was certainly addicted to silence, and perhaps
+to philosophy, neither of which are much practised in Andalusia.  I
+now hurried to the wharf; the steamer was not yet arrived, but I
+heard its thunder up the river every moment becoming more distinct:
+there was mist and darkness upon the face of the waters, and I felt
+awe as I listened to the approach of the invisible monster booming
+through the stillness of the night.  It came at last in sight,
+plashed its way forward, stopped, and I was soon on board.  It was
+the Peninsula, the best boat on the Guadalquivir.
+
+What a wonderful production of art is a steamboat; and yet why
+should we call it wonderful, if we consider its history.  More than
+five hundred years have elapsed since the idea of making one first
+originated; but it was not until the close of the last century that
+the first, worthy of the name, made its appearance on a Scottish
+river.
+
+During this long period of time, acute minds and skilful hands were
+occasionally busied in attempting to remove those imperfections in
+the machinery, which alone prevented a vessel being made capable of
+propelling itself against wind and tide.  All these attempts were
+successively abandoned in despair, yet scarcely one was made which
+was perfectly fruitless; each inventor leaving behind him some
+monument of his labour, of which those who succeeded him took
+advantage, until at last a fortunate thought or two, and a few more
+perfect arrangements, were all that were wanting.  The time
+arrived, and now, at length, the very Atlantic is crossed by
+haughty steamers.  Much has been said of the utility of steam in
+spreading abroad civilization, and I think justly.  When the first
+steam vessels were seen on the Guadalquivir, about ten years ago,
+the Sevillians ran to the banks of the river, crying "sorcery,
+sorcery," which idea was not a little favoured by the speculation
+being an English one, and the boats, which were English built,
+being provided with English engineers, as, indeed, they still are;
+no Spaniard having been found capable of understanding the
+machinery.  They soon however, became accustomed to them, and the
+boats are in general crowded with passengers.  Fanatic and vain as
+the Sevillians still are, and bigoted as they remain to their own
+customs, they know that good, in one instance at least, can proceed
+from a foreign land, and that land a land of heretics; inveterate
+prejudice has been shaken, and we will hope that this is the dawn
+of their civilization.
+
+Whilst passing over the bay of Cadiz, I was reclining on one of the
+benches on the deck, when the captain walked by in company with
+another man; they stopped a short distance from me, and I heard the
+captain ask the other, in a low voice, how many languages he spoke;
+he replied "only one."  "That one," said the captain, "is of course
+the Christian"; by which name the Spaniards style their own
+language in contradistinction to all others.  "That fellow,"
+continued the captain, "who is lying on the deck, can speak
+Christian too, when it serves his purpose, but he speaks others,
+which are by no means Christian:  he can talk English, and I myself
+have heard him chatter in Gitano with the Gypsies of Triana; he is
+now going amongst the Moors, and when he arrives in their country,
+you will hear him, should he be there, converse as fluently in
+their gibberish as in Christiano, nay, better, for he is no
+Christian himself.  He has been several times on board my vessel
+already, but I do not like him, as I consider that he carries
+something about with him which is not good."
+
+This worthy person, on my coming aboard the boat, had shaken me by
+the hand and expressed his joy at seeing me again.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI
+
+
+
+Cadiz--The Fortifications--The Consul-General--Characteristic
+Anecdote--Catalan Steamer--Trafalgar--Alonzo Guzman--Gibil Muza--
+Orestes Frigate--The Hostile Lion--Works of the Creator--Lizard of
+the Rock--The Concourse--Queen of the Waters--Broken Prayer.
+
+Cadiz stands, as is well known, upon a long narrow neck of land
+stretching out into the ocean, from whose bosom the town appears to
+rise, the salt waters laving its walls on all sides save the east,
+where a sandy isthmus connects it with the coast of Spain.  The
+town, as it exists at the present day, is of modern construction,
+and very unlike any other town which is to be found in the
+Peninsula, being built with great regularity and symmetry.  The
+streets are numerous, and intersect each other, for the most part,
+at right angles.  They are very narrow in comparison to the height
+of the houses, so that they are almost impervious to the rays of
+the sun, except when at its midday altitude.  The principal street,
+however, is an exception, it being of some width.  This street, in
+which stands the Bolsa, or exchange, and which contains the houses
+of the chief merchants and nobility, is the grand resort of
+loungers as well as men of business during the early part of the
+day, and in that respect resembles the Puerta del Sol at Madrid.
+It is connected with the great square, which, though not of very
+considerable extent, has many pretensions to magnificence, it being
+surrounded with large imposing houses, and planted with fine trees,
+with marble seats below them for the accommodation of the public.
+There are few public edifices worthy of much attention:  the chief
+church, indeed, might be considered a fine monument of labour in
+some other countries, but in Spain, the land of noble and gigantic
+cathedrals, it can be styled nothing more than a decent place of
+worship; it is still in an unfinished state.  There is a public
+walk or alameda on the northern ramparts, which is generally
+thronged in summer evenings:  the green of its trees, when viewed
+from the bay, affords an agreeable relief to the eye, dazzled with
+the glare of the white buildings, for Cadiz is also a bright city.
+It was once the wealthiest place in all Spain, but its prosperity
+has of late years sadly diminished, and its inhabitants are
+continually lamenting its ruined trade; on which account many are
+daily abandoning it for Seville, where living at least is cheaper.
+There is still, however, much life and bustle in the streets, which
+are adorned with many splendid shops, several of which are in the
+style of Paris and London.  The present population is said to
+amount to eighty thousand souls.
+
+It is not without reason that Cadiz has been called a strong town:
+the fortifications on the land side, which were partly the work of
+the French during the sway of Napoleon, are perfectly admirable,
+and seem impregnable:  towards the sea it is defended as much by
+nature as by art, water and sunken rocks being no contemptible
+bulwarks.  The defences of the town, however, except the landward
+ones, afford melancholy proofs of Spanish apathy and neglect, even
+when allowance is made for the present peculiarly unhappy
+circumstances of the country.  Scarcely a gun, except a few
+dismounted ones, is to be seen on the fortifications, which are
+rapidly falling to decay, so that this insulated stronghold is at
+present almost at the mercy of any foreign nation which, upon any
+pretence, or none at all, should seek to tear it from the grasp of
+its present legitimate possessors, and convert it into a foreign
+colony.
+
+A few hours after my arrival, I waited upon Mr. B., the British
+consul-general at Cadiz.  His house, which is the corner one at the
+entrance of the alameda, commands a noble prospect of the bay, and
+is very large and magnificent.  I had of course long been
+acquainted with Mr. B. by reputation; I knew that for several years
+he had filled, with advantage to his native country and with honour
+to himself, the distinguished and highly responsible situation
+which he holds in Spain.  I knew, likewise, that he was a good and
+pious Christian, and, moreover, the firm and enlightened friend of
+the Bible Society.  Of all this I was aware, but I had never yet
+enjoyed the advantage of being personally acquainted with him.  I
+saw him now for the first time, and was much struck with his
+appearance.  He is a tall, athletic, finely built man, seemingly
+about forty-five or fifty; there is much dignity in his
+countenance, which is, however, softened by an expression of good
+humour truly engaging.  His manner is frank and affable in the
+extreme.  I am not going to enter into minute details of our
+interview, which was to me a very interesting one.  He knew already
+the leading parts of my history since my arrival in Spain, and made
+several comments upon it, which displayed his intimate knowledge of
+the situation of the country as regards ecclesiastical matters, and
+the state of opinion respecting religious innovation.
+
+I was pleased to find that his ideas in many points accorded with
+my own, and we were both decidedly of opinion that, notwithstanding
+the great persecution and outcry which had lately been raised
+against the Gospel, the battle was by no means lost, and that the
+holy cause might yet triumph in Spain, if zeal united with
+discretion and Christian humility were displayed by those called
+upon to uphold it.
+
+During the greater part of this and the following day, I was much
+occupied at the custom-house, endeavouring to obtain the documents
+necessary for the exportation of the Testaments.  On the afternoon
+of Saturday, I dined with Mr. B. and his family, an interesting
+group,--his lady, his beautiful daughters, and his son, a fine
+intelligent young man.  Early the next morning, a steamer, the
+Balear, was to quit Cadiz for Marseilles, touching on the way at
+Algeciras, Gibraltar, and various other ports of Spain.  I had
+engaged my passage on board her as far as Gibraltar, having nothing
+farther to detain me at Cadiz; my business with the custom-house
+having been brought at last to a termination, though I believe I
+should never have got through it but for the kind assistance of Mr.
+B.  I quitted this excellent man and my other charming friends at a
+late hour with regret.  I believe that I carried with me their very
+best wishes; and, in whatever part of the world I, a poor wanderer
+in the Gospel's cause, may chance to be, I shall not unfrequently
+offer up sincere prayers for their happiness and well-being.
+
+Before taking leave of Cadiz, I shall relate an anecdote of the
+British consul, characteristic of him and the happy manner in which
+he contrives to execute the most disagreeable duties of his
+situation.  I was in conversation with him in a parlour of his
+house, when we were interrupted by the entrance of two very
+unexpected visitors:  they were the captain of a Liverpool merchant
+vessel and one of the crew.  The latter was a rough sailor, a
+Welshman, who could only express himself in very imperfect English.
+They looked unutterable dislike and defiance at each other.  It
+appeared that the latter had refused to work, and insisted on
+leaving the ship, and his master had in consequence brought him
+before the consul, in order that, if he persisted, the consequences
+might be detailed to him, which would be the forfeiture of his
+wages and clothes.  This was done; but the fellow became more and
+more dogged, refusing ever to tread the same deck again with his
+captain, who, he said, had called him "Greek, lazy lubberly Greek,"
+which he would not bear.  The word Greek rankled in the sailor's
+mind, and stung him to the very core.  Mr. B., who seemed to be
+perfectly acquainted with the character of Welshmen in general, who
+are proverbially obstinate when opposition is offered to them, and
+who saw at once that the dispute had arisen on foolish and trivial
+grounds, now told the man, with a smile, that he would inform him
+of a way by which he might gain the weather-gage of every one of
+them, consul and captain and all, and secure his wages and clothes;
+which was by merely going on board a brig of war of her Majesty,
+which was then lying in the bay.  The fellow said he was aware of
+this, and intended to do so.  His grim features, however, instantly
+relaxed in some degree, and he looked more humanely upon his
+captain.  Mr. B. then, addressing himself to the latter, made some
+observations on the impropriety of using the word Greek to a
+British sailor; not forgetting, at the same time, to speak of the
+absolute necessity of obedience and discipline on board every ship.
+His words produced such an effect, that in a very little time the
+sailor held out his hand towards his captain, and expressed his
+willingness to go on board with him and perform his duty, adding,
+that the captain, upon the whole, was the best man in the world.
+So they departed mutually pleased; the consul making both of them
+promise to attend divine service at his house on the following day.
+
+Sunday morning came, and I was on board the steamer by six o'clock.
+As I ascended the side, the harsh sound of the Catalan dialect
+assailed my ears.  In fact, the vessel was Catalan built, and the
+captain and crew were of that nation; the greater part of the
+passengers already on board, or who subsequently arrived, appeared
+to be Catalans, and seemed to vie with each other in producing
+disagreeable sounds.  A burly merchant, however, with a red face,
+peaked chin, sharp eyes, and hooked nose, clearly bore off the
+palm; he conversed with astonishing eagerness on seemingly the most
+indifferent subjects, or rather on no subject at all; his voice
+would have sounded exactly like a coffee-mill but for a vile nasal
+twang:  he poured forth his Catalan incessantly till we arrived at
+Gibraltar.  Such people are never sea-sick, though they frequently
+produce or aggravate the malady in others.  We did not get under
+way until past eight o'clock, for we waited for the Governor of
+Algeciras, and started instantly on his coming on board.  He was a
+tall, thin, rigid figure of about seventy, with a long, grave,
+wrinkled countenance; in a word, the very image of an old Spanish
+grandee.  We stood out of the bay, rounding the lofty lighthouse,
+which stands on a ledge of rocks, and then bent our course to the
+south, in the direction of the straits.  It was a glorious morning,
+a blue sunny sky and blue sunny ocean; or, rather, as my friend
+Oehlenschlaeger has observed on a similar occasion, there appeared
+two skies and two suns, one above and one below.
+
+Our progress was rather slow, notwithstanding the fineness of the
+weather, probably owing to the tide being against us.  In about two
+hours we passed the Castle of Santa Petra, and at noon were in
+sight of Trafalgar.  The wind now freshened and was dead ahead; on
+which account we hugged closely to the coast, in order to avoid as
+much as possible the strong heavy sea which was pouring down from
+the Straits.  We passed within a very short distance of the Cape, a
+bold bluff foreland, but not of any considerable height.
+
+It is impossible for an Englishman to pass by this place--the scene
+of the most celebrated naval action on record--without emotion.
+Here it was that the united navies of France and Spain were
+annihilated by a far inferior force; but that force was British,
+and was directed by one of the most remarkable men of the age, and
+perhaps the greatest hero of any time.  Huge fragments of wreck
+still frequently emerge from the watery gulf whose billows chafe
+the rocky sides of Trafalgar:  they are relies of the enormous
+ships which were burnt and sunk on that terrible day, when the
+heroic champion of Britain concluded his work and died.  I never
+heard but one individual venture to say a word in disparagement of
+Nelson's glory:  it was a pert American, who observed, that the
+British admiral was much overrated.  "Can that individual be
+overrated," replied a stranger, "whose every thought was bent on
+his country's honour, who scarcely ever fought without leaving a
+piece of his body in the fray, and who, not to speak of minor
+triumphs, was victorious in two such actions as Aboukir and
+Trafalgar?"
+
+We were now soon in sight of the Moorish coast, Cape Spartel
+appearing dimly through mist and vapour on our right.  A regular
+Levanter had now come on, and the vessel pitched and tossed to a
+very considerable degree.  Most of the passengers were sea-sick;
+the governor, however, and myself held out manfully:  we sat on a
+bench together, and entered into conversation respecting the Moors
+and their country.  Torquemada himself could not have spoken of
+both with more abhorrence.  He informed me that he had been
+frequently in several of the principal Moorish towns of the coast,
+which he described as heaps of ruins:  the Moors themselves he
+called Caffres and wild beasts.  He observed that he had never been
+even at Tangier, where the people were most civilised, without
+experiencing some insult, so great was the abhorrence of the Moors
+to anything in the shape of a Christian.  He added, however, that
+they treated the English with comparative civility, and that they
+had a saying among them to the effect that Englishman and Mahometan
+were one and the same; he then looked particularly grave for a
+moment, and, crossing himself, was silent.  I guessed what was
+passing in his mind:
+
+
+"From heretic boors,
+And Turkish Moors,
+Star of the sea,
+Gentle Marie,
+Deliver me!"
+
+
+At about three we were passing Tarifa, so frequently mentioned in
+the history of the Moors and Christians.  Who has not heard of
+Alonzo Guzman the faithful, who allowed his only son to be
+crucified before the walls of the town rather than submit to the
+ignominy of delivering up the keys to the Moorish monarch, who,
+with a host which is said to have amounted to nearly half a million
+of men, had landed on the shores of Andalusia, and threatened to
+bring all Spain once more beneath the Moslem yoke?  Certainly if
+there be a land and a spot where the name of that good patriot is
+not sometimes mentioned and sung, that land, that spot is modern
+Spain and modern Tarifa.  I have heard the ballad of Alonzo Guzman
+chanted in Danish, by a hind in the wilds of Jutland; but once
+speaking of "the Faithful" to some inhabitants of Tarifa, they
+replied that they had never heard of Guzman the faithful of Tarifa,
+but were acquainted with Alonzo Guzman, "the one-eyed" (el tuerto),
+and that he was one of the most villainous arrieros on the Cadiz
+road.
+
+The voyage of these narrow seas can scarcely fail to be interesting
+to the most apathetic individual, from the nature of the scenery
+which presents itself to the eye on either side.  The coasts are
+exceedingly high and bold, especially that of Spain, which seems to
+overthrow the Moorish; but opposite to Tarifa, the African
+continent, rounding towards the south-west, assumes an air of
+sublimity and grandeur.  A hoary mountain is seen uplifting its
+summits above the clouds:  it is Mount Abyla, or as it is called in
+the Moorish tongue, Gibil Muza, or the hill of Muza, from the
+circumstance of its containing the sepulchre of a prophet of that
+name.  This is one of the two excrescences of nature on which the
+Old World bestowed the title of the Pillars of Hercules.  Its
+skirts and sides occupy the Moorish coast for many leagues in more
+than one direction, but the broad aspect of its steep and
+stupendous front is turned full towards that part of the European
+continent where Gibraltar lies like a huge monster stretching far
+into the brine.  Of the two hills or pillars, the most remarkable,
+when viewed from afar, is the African one, Gibil Muza.  It is the
+tallest and bulkiest, and is visible at a greater distance; but
+scan them both from near, and you feel that all your wonder is
+engrossed by the European column.  Gibil Muza is an immense
+shapeless mass, a wilderness of rocks, with here and there a few
+trees and shrubs nodding from the clefts of its precipices; it is
+uninhabited, save by wolves, wild swine, and chattering monkeys, on
+which last account it is called by the Spaniards, Montana de las
+Monas (the hill of the baboons); whilst, on the contrary,
+Gibraltar, not to speak of the strange city which covers part of
+it, a city inhabited by men of all nations and tongues, its
+batteries and excavations, all of them miracles of art, is the most
+singular-looking mountain in the world--a mountain which can
+neither be described by pen nor pencil, and at which the eye is
+never satiated with gazing.
+
+It was near sunset, and we were crossing the bay of Gibraltar.  We
+had stopped at Algeciras, on the Spanish side, for the purpose of
+landing the old governor and his suite, and delivering and
+receiving letters.
+
+Algeciras is an ancient Moorish town, as the name denotes, which is
+an Arabic word, and signifies "the place of the islands."  It is
+situated at the water's edge, with a lofty range of mountains in
+the rear.  It seemed a sad deserted place, as far as I could judge
+at the distance of half a mile.  In the harbour, however, lay a
+Spanish frigate and French war brig.  As we passed the former, some
+of the Spaniards on board our steamer became boastful at the
+expense of the English.  It appeared that, a few weeks before, an
+English vessel, suspected to be a contraband trader, was seen by
+this frigate hovering about a bay on the Andalusian coast, in
+company with an English frigate, the Orestes.  The Spaniard dogged
+them for some time, till one morning observing that the Orestes had
+disappeared, he hoisted English colours, and made a signal to the
+trader to bear down; the latter, deceived by the British ensign,
+and supposing that the Spaniard was the friendly Orestes, instantly
+drew near, was fired at and boarded, and proving in effect to be a
+contraband trader, she was carried into port and delivered over to
+the Spanish authorities.  In a few days the captain of the Orestes
+hearing of this, and incensed at the unwarrantable use made of the
+British flag, sent a boat on board the frigate demanding that the
+vessel should be instantly restored, as, if she was not, he would
+retake her by force; adding that he had forty cannons on board.
+The captain of the Spanish frigate returned for answer, that the
+trader was in the hands of the officers of the customs, and was no
+longer at his disposal; that the captain of the Orestes however,
+could do what he pleased, and that if he had forty guns, he himself
+had forty-four; whereupon the Orestes thought proper to bear away.
+Such at least was the Spanish account as related by the journals.
+Observing the Spaniards to be in great glee at the idea of one of
+their nation having frightened away the Englishman, I exclaimed,
+"Gentlemen, all of you who suppose that an English sea captain has
+been deterred from attacking a Spaniard, from an apprehension of a
+superior force of four guns, remember, if you please, the fate of
+the Santissima Trinidad, and be pleased also not to forget that we
+are almost within cannon's sound of Trafalgar."
+
+It was neat sunset, I repeat, and we were crossing the bay of
+Gibraltar.  I stood on the prow of the vessel, with my eyes
+intently fixed on the mountain fortress, which, though I had seen
+it several times before, filled my mind with admiration and
+interest.  Viewed from this situation, it certainly, if it
+resembles any animate object in nature, has something of the
+appearance of a terrible couchant lion, whose stupendous head
+menaces Spain.  Had I been dreaming, I should almost have concluded
+it to be the genius of Africa, in the shape of its most puissant
+monster, who had bounded over the sea from the clime of sand and
+sun, bent on the destruction of the rival continent, more
+especially as the hue of its stony sides, its crest and chine, is
+tawny even as that of the hide of the desert king.  A hostile lion
+has it almost invariably proved to Spain, at least since it first
+began to play a part in history, which was at the time when Tarik
+seized and fortified it.  It has for the most part been in the
+hands of foreigners:  first the swarthy and turbaned Moor possessed
+it, and it is now tenanted by a fair-haired race from a distant
+isle.  Though a part of Spain, it seems to disavow the connexion,
+and at the end of a long narrow sandy isthmus, almost level with
+the sea, raising its blasted and perpendicular brow to denounce the
+crimes which deform the history of that fair and majestic land.
+
+It was near sunset, I say it for the third time, and we were
+crossing the bay of Gibraltar.  Bay! it seemed no bay, but an
+inland sea, surrounded on all sides by enchanted barriers, so
+strange, so wonderful was the aspect of its coasts.  Before us lay
+the impregnable hill; on our right the African continent, with its
+grey Gibil Muza, and the crag of Ceuta, to which last a solitary
+bark seemed steering its way; behind us the town we had just
+quitted, with its mountain wall; on our left the coast of Spain.
+The surface of the water was unruffled by a wave, and as we rapidly
+glided on, the strange object which we were approaching became
+momentarily more distinct and visible.  There, at the base of the
+mountain, and covering a small portion of its side, lay the city,
+with its ramparts garnished with black guns pointing significantly
+at its moles and harbours; above, seemingly on every crag which
+could be made available for the purpose of defence or destruction,
+peered batteries, pale and sepulchral-looking, as if ominous of the
+fate which awaited any intrusive foe; whilst east and west towards
+Africa and Spain, on the extreme points, rose castles, towers, or
+atalaias which overcrowded the whole, and all the circumjacent
+region, whether land or sea.  Mighty and threatening appeared the
+fortifications, and doubtless, viewed in any other situation, would
+have alone occupied the mind and engrossed its wonder; but the
+hill, the wondrous hill, was everywhere about them, beneath them,
+or above them, overpowering their effect as a spectacle.  Who, when
+he beholds the enormous elephant, with his brandished trunk,
+dashing impetuously to the war, sees the castle which he bears, or
+fears the javelins of those whom he carries, however skilful and
+warlike they may be?  Never does God appear so great and powerful
+as when the works of his hands stand in contrast with the labours
+of man.  Survey the Escurial, it is a proud work, but wonder if you
+can when you see the mountain mocking it behind; survey that boast
+of Moorish kings, survey Granada from its plain, and wonder if you
+can, for you see the Alpujarra mocking it from behind.  O what are
+the works of man compared with those of the Lord?  Even as man is
+compared with his creator.  Man builds pyramids, and God builds
+pyramids:  the pyramids of man are heaps of shingles, tiny hillocks
+on a sandy plain; the pyramids of the Lord are Andes and Indian
+hills.  Man builds walls and so does his Master; but the walls of
+God are the black precipices of Gibraltar and Horneel, eternal,
+indestructible, and not to be scaled; whilst those of man can be
+climbed, can be broken by the wave or shattered by the lightning or
+the powder blast.  Would man display his power and grandeur to
+advantage, let him flee far from the hills; for the broad pennants
+of God, even his clouds, float upon the tops of the hills, and the
+majesty of God is most manifest among the hills.  Call Gibraltar
+the hill of Tarik or Hercules if you will, but gaze upon it for a
+moment and you will call it the hill of God.  Tarik and the old
+giant may have built upon it; but not all the dark race of whom
+Tarik was one, nor all the giants of old renown of whom the other
+was one, could have built up its crags or chiseled the enormous
+mass to its present shape.
+
+We dropped anchor not far from the mole.  As we expected every
+moment to hear the evening gun, after which no person is permitted
+to enter the town, I was in trepidation lest I should be obliged to
+pass the night on board the dirty Catalan steamer, which, as I had
+no occasion to proceed farther in her, I was in great haste to
+quit.  A boat now drew nigh, with two individuals at the stern, one
+of whom, standing up, demanded, in an authoritative voice, the name
+of the vessel, her destination and cargo.  Upon being answered,
+they came on board.  After some conversation with the captain, they
+were about to depart, when I inquired whether I could accompany
+them on shore.  The person I addressed was a tall young man, with a
+fustian frock coat.  He had a long face, long nose, and wide mouth,
+with large restless eyes.  There was a grin on his countenance
+which seemed permanent, and had it not been for his bronzed
+complexion, I should have declared him to be a cockney, and nothing
+else.  He was, however, no such thing, but what is called a rock
+lizard, that is, a person born at Gibraltar of English parents.
+Upon hearing my question, which was in Spanish, he grinned more
+than ever, and inquired, in a strange accent, whether I was a son
+of Gibraltar.  I replied that I had not that honour, but that I was
+a British subject.  Whereupon he said that he should make no
+difficulty in taking me ashore.  We entered the boat, which was
+rapidly rowed towards the land by four Genoese sailors.  My two
+companions chattered in their strange Spanish, he of the fustian
+occasionally turning his countenance full upon me, the last grin
+appearing ever more hideous than the preceding ones.  We soon
+reached the quay, where my name was noted down by a person who
+demanded my passport, and I was then permitted to advance.
+
+It was now dusk, and I lost no time in crossing the drawbridge and
+entering the long low archway which, passing under the rampart,
+communicates with the town.  Beneath this archway paced with
+measured tread, tall red-coated sentinels with shouldered guns.
+There was no stopping, no sauntering in these men.  There was no
+laughter, no exchange of light conversation with the passers by,
+but their bearing was that of British soldiers, conscious of the
+duties of their station.  What a difference between them and the
+listless loiterers who stand at guard at the gate of a Spanish
+garrisoned town.
+
+I now proceeded up the principal street, which runs with a gentle
+ascent along the base of the hill.  Accustomed for some months past
+to the melancholy silence of Seville, I was almost deafened by the
+noise and bustle which reigned around.  It was Sunday night, and of
+course no business was going on, but there were throngs of people
+passing up and down.  Here was a military guard proceeding along;
+here walked a group of officers, there a knot of soldiers stood
+talking and laughing.  The greater part of the civilians appeared
+to be Spaniards, but there was a large sprinkling of Jews in the
+dress of those of Barbary, and here and there a turbaned Moor.
+There were gangs of sailors likewise, Genoese, judging from the
+patois which they were speaking, though I occasionally
+distinguished the sound of "tou logou sas," by which I knew there
+were Greeks at hand, and twice or thrice caught a glimpse of the
+red cap and blue silken petticoats of the mariner from the Romaic
+isles.  On still I hurried, till I arrived at a well known
+hostelry, close by a kind of square, in which stands the little
+exchange of Gibraltar.  Into this I ran and demanded lodging,
+receiving a cheerful welcome from the genius of the place, who
+stood behind the bar, and whom I shall perhaps have occasion
+subsequently to describe.  All the lower rooms were filled with men
+of the rock, burly men in general, with swarthy complexions and
+English features, with white hats, white jean jerkins, and white
+jean pantaloons.  They were smoking pipes and cigars, and drinking
+porter, wine and various other fluids, and conversing in the rock
+Spanish, or rock English as the fit took them.  Dense was the smoke
+of tobacco, and great the din of voices, and I was glad to hasten
+up stairs to an unoccupied apartment, where I was served with some
+refreshment, of which I stood much in need.
+
+I was soon disturbed by the sound of martial music close below my
+windows.  I went down and stood at the door.  A military band was
+marshalled upon the little square before the exchange.  It was
+preparing to beat the retreat.  After the prelude, which was
+admirably executed, the tall leader gave a flourish with his stick,
+and strode forward up the street, followed by the whole company of
+noble looking fellows and a crowd of admiring listeners.  The
+cymbals clashed, the horns screamed, and the kettle-drum emitted
+its deep awful note, till the old rock echoed again, and the
+hanging terraces of the town rang with the stirring noise:
+
+
+"Dub-a-dub, dub-a-dub--thus go the drums,
+Tantara, tantara, the Englishman comes."
+
+
+O England! long, long may it be ere the sun of thy glory sink
+beneath the wave of darkness!  Though gloomy and portentous clouds
+are now gathering rapidly around thee, still, still may it please
+the Almighty to disperse them, and to grant thee a futurity longer
+in duration and still brighter in renown than thy past!  Or if thy
+doom be at hand, may that doom be a noble one, and worthy of her
+who has been styled the Old Queen of the waters!  May thou sink, if
+thou dost sink, amidst blood and flame, with a mighty noise,
+causing more than one nation to participate in thy downfall!  Of
+all fates, may it please the Lord to preserve thee from a
+disgraceful and a slow decay; becoming, ere extinct, a scorn and a
+mockery for those selfsame foes who now, though they envy and abhor
+thee, still fear thee, nay, even against their will, honour and
+respect thee.
+
+Arouse thee, whilst yet there is time, and prepare thee for the
+combat of life and death!  Cast from thee the foul scurf which now
+encrusts thy robust limbs, which deadens their force, and makes
+them heavy and powerless!  Cast from thee thy false philosophers,
+who would fain decry what, next to the love of God, has hitherto
+been deemed most sacred, the love of the mother land!  Cast from
+thee thy false patriots, who, under the. pretext of redressing the
+wrongs of the poor and weak, seek to promote internal discord, so
+that thou mayest become only terrible to thyself!  And remove from
+thee the false prophets, who have seen vanity and divined lies; who
+have daubed thy wall with untempered mortar, that it may fall; who
+see visions of peace where there is no peace; who have strengthened
+the hands of the wicked, and made the heart of the righteous sad.
+O, do this, and fear not the result, for either shall thy end be a
+majestic and an enviable one, or God shall perpetuate thy reign
+upon the waters, thou old Queen!
+
+The above was part of a broken prayer for my native land, which,
+after my usual thanksgiving, I breathed to the Almighty ere
+retiring to rest that Sunday night at Gibraltar.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII
+
+
+
+The Jolly Hosteler--Aspirants for Glory--A Portrait--Hamalos--
+Solomons--An Expedition--The Yeoman Soldier--The Excavations--The
+Pull by the Skirt--Judah and his Father--Judah's Pilgrimage--The
+Bushy Beard--The False Moors--Judah and the King's Son--Premature
+Old Age.
+
+Perhaps it would have been impossible to have chosen a situation
+more adapted for studying at my ease Gibraltar and its inhabitants,
+than that which I found myself occupying about ten o'clock on the
+following morning.  Seated on a small bench just opposite the bar,
+close by the door, in the passage of the hostelry at which I had
+taken up my temporary abode, I enjoyed a view of the square of the
+exchange and all that was going on there, and by merely raising my
+eyes, could gaze at my leisure on the stupendous hill which towers
+above the town to an altitude of some thousand feet.  I could
+likewise observe every person who entered or left the house, which
+is one of great resort, being situated in the most-frequented place
+of the principal thoroughfare of the town.  My eyes were busy and
+so were my ears.  Close beside me stood my excellent friend
+Griffiths, the jolly hosteler, of whom I take the present
+opportunity of saying a few words, though I dare say he has been
+frequently described before, and by far better pens.  Let those who
+know him not figure to themselves a man of about fifty, at least
+six feet in height, and weighing some eighteen stone, an
+exceedingly florid countenance and good features, eyes full of
+quickness and shrewdness, but at the same time beaming with good
+nature.  He wears white pantaloons, white frock, and white hat, and
+is, indeed, all white, with the exception of his polished
+Wellingtons and rubicund face.  He carries a whip beneath his arm,
+which adds wonderfully to the knowingness of his appearance, which
+is rather more that of a gentleman who keeps an inn on the
+Newmarket road, "purely for the love of travellers, and the money
+which they carry about them," than of a native of the rock.
+Nevertheless, he will tell you himself that he is a rock lizard;
+and you will scarcely doubt it when, besides his English, which is
+broad and vernacular, you hear him speak Spanish, ay, and Genoese
+too, when necessary, and it is no child's play to speak the latter,
+which I myself could never master.  He is a good judge of horse-
+flesh, and occasionally sells a "bit of a blood," or a Barbary
+steed to a young hand, though he has no objection to do business
+with an old one; for there is not a thin, crouching, liver-faced
+lynx-eyed Jew of Fez capable of outwitting him in a bargain:  or
+cheating him out of one single pound of the fifty thousand sterling
+which he possesses; and yet ever bear in mind that he is a good-
+natured fellow to those who are disposed to behave honourably to
+him, and know likewise that he will lend you money, if you are a
+gentleman, and are in need of it; but depend upon it, if he refuse
+you, there is something not altogether right about you, for
+Griffiths knows HIS WORLD, and is not to be made a fool of.
+
+There was a prodigious quantity of porter consumed in my presence
+during the short hour that I sat on the bench of that hostelry of
+the rock.  The passage before the bar was frequently filled with
+officers, who lounged in for a refreshment which the sultry heat of
+the weather rendered necessary, or at least inviting; whilst not a
+few came galloping up to the door on small Barbary horses, which
+are to be found in great abundance at Gibraltar.  All seemed to be
+on the best terms with the host, with whom they occasionally
+discussed the merits of particular steeds, and whose jokes they
+invariably received with unbounded approbation.  There was much in
+the demeanour and appearance of these young men, for the greater
+part were quite young, which was highly interesting and agreeable.
+Indeed, I believe it may be said of English officers in general,
+that in personal appearance, and in polished manners, they bear the
+palm from those of the same class over the world.  True it is, that
+the officers of the royal guard of Russia, especially of the three
+noble regiments styled the Priberjensky, Simeonsky, and Finlansky
+polks might fearlessly enter into competition in almost all points
+with the flower of the British army; but it must be remembered,
+that those regiments are officered by the choicest specimens of the
+Sclavonian nobility, young men selected expressly for the splendour
+of their persons, and for the superiority of their mental
+endowments; whilst, probably, amongst all the fair-haired Angle-
+Saxons youths whom I now saw gathered near me, there was not a
+single one of noble ancestry, nor of proud and haughty name; and
+certainly, so far from having been selected to flatter the pride
+and add to the pomp of a despot, they had been taken
+indiscriminately from a mass of ardent aspirants for military
+glory, and sent on their country's service to a remote and
+unhealthy colony.  Nevertheless, they were such as their country
+might be proud of, for gallant boys they looked, with courage on
+their brows, beauty and health on their cheeks, and intelligence in
+their hazel eyes.
+
+Who is he who now stops before the door without entering, and
+addresses a question to my host, who advances with a respectful
+salute?  He is no common man, or his appearance belies him
+strangely.  His dress is simple enough; a Spanish hat, with a
+peaked crown and broad shadowy brim--the veritable sombrero--jean
+pantaloons and blue hussar jacket;--but how well that dress becomes
+one of the most noble-looking figures I ever beheld.  I gazed upon
+him with strange respect and admiration as he stood benignantly
+smiling and joking in good Spanish with an impudent rock rascal,
+who held in his hand a huge bogamante, or coarse carrion lobster,
+which he would fain have persuaded him to purchase.  He was almost
+gigantically tall, towering nearly three inches above the burly
+host himself, yet athletically symmetrical, and straight as the
+pine tree of Dovrefeld.  He must have counted eleven lustres, which
+cast an air of mature dignity over a countenance which seemed to
+have been chiseled by some Grecian sculptor, and yet his hair was
+black as the plume of the Norwegian raven, and so was the moustache
+which curled above his well-formed lip.  In the garb of Greece, and
+in the camp before Troy, I should have taken him for Agamemnon.
+"Is that man a general?" said I to a short queer-looking personage,
+who sat by my side, intently studying a newspaper.  "That
+gentleman," he whispered in a lisping accent, "is, sir, the
+Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar."
+
+On either side outside the door, squatting on the ground, or
+leaning indolently against the walls, were some half dozen men of
+very singular appearance.  Their principal garment was a kind of
+blue gown, something resembling the blouse worn by the peasants of
+the north of France, but not so long; it was compressed around
+their waists by a leathern girdle, and depended about half way down
+their thighs.  Their legs were bare, so that I had an opportunity
+of observing the calves, which appeared unnaturally large.  Upon
+the head they wore small skull-caps of black wool.  I asked the
+most athletic of these men, a dark-visaged fellow of forty, who
+they were.  He answered, "hamalos."  This word I knew to be Arabic,
+in which tongue it signifies a porter; and, indeed, the next
+moment, I saw a similar fellow staggering across the square under
+an immense burden, almost sufficient to have broken the back of a
+camel.  On again addressing my swarthy friend, and enquiring whence
+he came, he replied, that he was born at Mogadore, in Barbary, but
+had passed the greatest part of his life at Gibraltar.  He added,
+that he was the "capitaz," or head man of the "hamalos" near the
+door.  I now addressed him in the Arabic of the East, though with
+scarcely the hope of being understood, more especially as he had
+been so long from his own country.  He however answered very
+pertinently, his lips quivering with eagerness, and his eyes
+sparkling with joy, though it was easy to perceive that the Arabic,
+or rather the Moorish, was not the language in which he was
+accustomed either to think or speak.  His companions all gathered
+round and listened with avidity, occasionally exclaiming, when
+anything was said which they approved of:  "Wakhud rajil shereef
+hada, min beled bel scharki."  (A holy man this from the kingdoms
+of the East.)  At last I produced the shekel, which I invariably
+carry about me as a pocket-piece, and asked the capitaz whether he
+had ever seen that money before.  He surveyed the censer and olive-
+branch for a considerable time, and evidently knew not what to make
+of it.  At length he fell to inspecting the characters round about
+it on both sides, and giving a cry, exclaimed to the other hamalos:
+"Brothers, brothers, these are the letters of Solomon.  This silver
+is blessed.  We must kiss this money."  He then put it upon his
+head, pressed it to his eyes, and finally kissed it with enthusiasm
+as did successively all his brethren.  Then regaining it, he
+returned it to me, with a low reverence.  Griffiths subsequently
+informed me, that the fellow refused to work during all the rest of
+the day, and did nothing but smile, laugh, and talk to himself.
+
+"Allow me to offer you a glass of bitters, sir," said the queer-
+looking personage before mentioned; he was a corpulent man, very
+short, and his legs particularly so.  His dress consisted of a
+greasy snuff-coloured coat, dirty white trousers, and dirtier
+stockings.  On his head he wore a rusty silk hat, the eaves of
+which had a tendency to turn up before and behind.  I had observed
+that, during my conversation with the hamalos, he had several times
+uplifted his eyes from the newspaper, and on the production of the
+shekel had grinned very significantly, and had inspected it when in
+the hand of the capitaz.  "Allow me to offer you a glass of
+bitters," said he; "I guessed you was one of our people before you
+spoke to the hamalos.  Sir, it does my heart good to see a
+gentleman of your appearance not above speaking to his poor
+brethren.  It is what I do myself not unfrequently, and I hope God
+will blot out my name, and that is Solomons, when I despise them.
+I do not pretend to much Arabic myself, yet I understood you
+tolerably well, and I liked your discourse much.  You must have a
+great deal of shillam eidri, nevertheless you startled me when you
+asked the hamalo if he ever read the Torah; of course you meant
+with the meforshim; poor as he is, I do not believe him becoresh
+enough to read the Torah without the commentators.  So help me,
+sir, I believe you to be a Salamancan Jew; I am told there are
+still some of the old families to be found there.  Ever at Tudela,
+sir? not very far from Salamanca, I believe; one of my own kindred
+once lived there:  a great traveller, sir, like yourself; went over
+all the world to look for the Jews,--went to the top of Sinai.
+Anything that I can do for you at Gibraltar, sir?  Any commission;
+will execute it as reasonably, and more expeditiously than any one
+else.  My name is Solomons.  I am tolerably well known at
+Gibraltar; yes, sir, and in the Crooked Friars, and, for that
+matter, in the Neuen Stein Steg, at Hamburgh; so help me, sir, I
+think I once saw your face at the fair at Bremen.  Speak German,
+sir? though of course you do.  Allow me, sir, to offer you a glass
+of bitters.  I wish, sir, they were mayim, hayim for your sake, I
+do indeed, sir, I wish they were living waters.  Now, sir, do give
+me your opinion as to this matter (lowering his voice and striking
+the newspaper).  Do you not think it is very hard that one Yudken
+should betray the other?  When I put my little secret beyad
+peluni,--you understand me, sir?--when I entrust my poor secret to
+the custody of an individual, and that individual a Jew, a Yudken,
+sir, I do not wish to be blown, indeed, I do not expect it.  In a
+word, what do you think of the GOLD DUST ROBBERY, and what will be
+done to those unfortunate people, who I see are convicted?"
+
+That same day I made enquiry respecting the means of transferring
+myself to Tangier, having no wish to prolong my stay at Gibraltar,
+where, though it is an exceedingly interesting place to an
+observant traveller, I had no particular business to detain me.  In
+the evening I was visited by a Jew, a native of Barbary, who
+informed me that he was secretary to the master of a small Genoese
+bark which plied between Tangier and Gibraltar.  Upon his assuring
+me that the vessel would infallibly start for the former place on
+the following evening, I agreed with him for my passage.  He said
+that as the wind was blowing from the Levant quarter, the voyage
+would be a speedy one.  Being desirous now of disposing to the most
+advantage of the short time which I expected to remain at
+Gibraltar, I determined upon visiting the excavations, which I had
+as yet never seen, on the following morning, and accordingly sent
+for and easily obtained the necessary permission.
+
+About six on Tuesday morning, I started on this expedition,
+attended by a very intelligent good-looking lad of the Jewish
+persuasion, one of two brothers who officiated at the inn in the
+capacity of valets de place.
+
+The morning was dim and hazy, yet sultry to a degree.  We ascended
+a precipitous street, and proceeding in an easterly direction, soon
+arrived in the vicinity of what is generally known by the name of
+the Moorish Castle, a large tower, but so battered by the cannon
+balls discharged against it in the famous siege, that it is at
+present little better than a ruin; hundreds of round holes are to
+be seen in its sides, in which, as it is said, the shot are still
+imbedded; here, at a species of hut, we were joined by an artillery
+sergeant, who was to be our guide.  After saluting us, he led the
+way to a huge rock, where he unlocked a gate at the entrance of a
+dark vaulted passage which passed under it, emerging from which
+passage we found ourselves in a steep path, or rather staircase,
+with walls on either side.
+
+We proceeded very leisurely, for hurry in such a situation would
+have been of little avail, as we should have lost our breath in a
+minute's time.  The soldier, perfectly well acquainted with the
+locality, stalked along with measured steps, his eyes turned to the
+ground.
+
+I looked fully as much at that man as at the strange place where we
+now were, and which was every moment becoming stranger.  He was a
+fine specimen of the yeoman turned soldier; indeed, the corps to
+which he belonged consists almost entirely of that class.  There he
+paces along, tall, strong, ruddy, and chestnut-haired, an
+Englishman every inch; behold him pacing along, sober, silent, and
+civil, a genuine English soldier.  I prize the sturdy Scot, I love
+the daring and impetuous Irishman; I admire all the various races
+which constitute the population of the British isles; yet I must
+say that, upon the whole, none are so well adapted to ply the
+soldier's hardy trade as the rural sons of old England, so strong,
+so cool, yet, at the same time, animated with so much hidden fire.
+Turn to the history of England and you will at once perceive of
+what such men are capable; even at Hastings, in the grey old time,
+under almost every disadvantage, weakened by a recent and terrible
+conflict, without discipline, comparatively speaking, and uncouthly
+armed, they all but vanquished the Norman chivalry.  Trace their
+deeds in France, which they twice subdued; and even follow them to
+Spain, where they twanged the yew and raised the battle-axe, and
+left behind them a name of glory at Inglis Mendi, a name that shall
+last till fire consumes the Cantabrian hills.  And, oh, in modern
+times, trace the deeds of these gallant men all over the world, and
+especially in France and Spain, and admire them, even as I did that
+sober, silent, soldier-like man who was showing me the wonders of a
+foreign mountain fortress, wrested by his countrymen from a
+powerful and proud nation more than a century before, and of which
+he was now a trusty and efficient guardian.
+
+We arrived close to the stupendous precipice, which rises abruptly
+above the isthmus called the neutral ground, staring gauntly and
+horridly at Spain, and immediately entered the excavations.  They
+consist of galleries scooped in the living rock at the distance of
+some twelve feet from the outside, behind which they run the whole
+breadth of the hill in this direction.  In these galleries, at
+short distances, are ragged yawning apertures, all formed by the
+hand of man, where stand the cannon upon neat slightly-raised
+pavements of small flint stones, each with its pyramid of bullets
+on one side, and on the other a box, in which is stowed the gear
+which the gunner requires in the exercise of his craft.  Everything
+was in its place, everything in the nicest English order,
+everything ready to scathe and overwhelm in a few moments the
+proudest and most numerous host which might appear marching in
+hostile array against this singular fortress on the land side.
+
+There is not much variety in these places, one cavern and one gun
+resembling the other.  As for the guns, they are not of large
+calibre, indeed, such are not needed here, where a pebble
+discharged from so great an altitude would be fraught with death.
+On descending a shaft, however, I observed, in one cave of special
+importance, two enormous carronades looking with peculiar
+wickedness and malignity down a shelving rock, which perhaps,
+although not without tremendous difficulty, might be scaled.  The
+mere wind of one of these huge guns would be sufficient to topple
+over a thousand men.  What sensations of dread and horror must be
+awakened in the breast of a foe when this hollow rock, in the day
+of siege, emits its flame, smoke, and thundering wind from a
+thousand yawning holes; horror not inferior to that felt by the
+peasant of the neighbourhood when Mongibello belches forth from all
+its orifices its sulphureous fires.
+
+Emerging from the excavations, we proceeded to view various
+batteries.  I asked the sergeant whether his companions and himself
+were dexterous at the use of the guns.  He replied that these
+cannons were to them what the fowling-piece is to the fowler, that
+they handled them as easily, and, he believed, pointed them with
+more precision, as they seldom or never missed an object within
+range of the shot.  This man never spoke until he was addressed,
+and then the answers which he gave were replete with good sense,
+and in general well worded.  After our excursion, which lasted at
+least two hours, I made him a small present, and took leave with a
+hearty shake of the hand.
+
+In the evening I prepared to go on board the vessel bound for
+Tangier, trusting in what the Jewish secretary had told me as to
+its sailing.  Meeting him, however, accidentally in the street, he
+informed me that it would not start until the following morning,
+advising me at the same time to be on board at an early hour.  I
+now roamed about the streets until night was beginning to set in,
+and becoming weary, I was just about to direct my steps to the inn,
+when I felt myself gently pulled by the skirt.  I was amidst a
+concourse of people who were gathered around some Irish soldiers
+who were disputing, and I paid no attention; but I was pulled again
+more forcibly than before, and I heard myself addressed in a
+language which I had half forgotten, and which I scarcely expected
+ever to hear again.  I looked round, and lo! a tall figure stood
+close to me and gazed in my face with anxious inquiring eyes.  On
+its head was the kauk or furred cap of Jerusalem; depending from
+its shoulders, and almost trailing on the ground, was a broad blue
+mantle, whilst kandrisa or Turkish trousers enveloped its nether
+limbs.  I gazed on the figure as wistfully as it gazed upon me.  At
+first the features appeared perfectly strange, and I was about to
+exclaim, I know you not, when one or two lineaments struck me, and
+I cried, though somewhat hesitatingly, "Surely this is Judah Lib."
+
+I was in a steamer in the Baltic in the year '34, if I mistake not.
+There was a drizzling rain and a high sea, when I observed a young
+man of about two and twenty leaning in a melancholy attitude
+against the side of the vessel.  By his countenance I knew him to
+be one of the Hebrew race, nevertheless there was something very
+singular in his appearance, something which is rarely found amongst
+that people, a certain air of nobleness which highly interested me.
+I approached him, and in a few minutes we were in earnest
+conversation.  He spoke Polish and Jewish German indiscriminately.
+The story which he related to me was highly extraordinary, yet I
+yielded implicit credit to all his words, which came from his mouth
+with an air of sincerity which precluded doubt; and, moreover, he
+could have no motive for deceiving me.  One idea, one object,
+engrossed him entirely:  "My father," said he, in language which
+strongly marked his race, "was a native of Galatia, a Jew of high
+caste, a learned man, for he knew Zohar, {22} and he was likewise
+skilled in medicine.  When I was a child of some eight years, he
+left Galatia, and taking his wife, who was my mother, and myself
+with him, he bent his way unto the East, even to Jerusalem; there
+he established himself as a merchant, for he was acquainted with
+trade and the arts of getting money.  He was much respected by the
+Rabbins of Jerusalem, for he was a Polish man, and he knew more
+Zohar and more secrets than the wisest of them.  He made frequent
+journeys, and was absent for weeks and for months, but he never
+exceeded six moons.  My father loved me, and he taught me part of
+what he knew in the moments of his leisure.  I assisted him in his
+trade, but he took me not with him in his journeys.  We had a shop
+at Jerusalem, even a shop of commerce, where we sold the goods of
+the Nazarene, and my mother and myself, and even a little sister
+who was born shortly after our arrival at Jerusalem, all assisted
+my father in his commerce.  At length it came to pass, that on a
+particular time he told us that he was going on a journey, and he
+embraced us and bade us farewell, and he departed, whilst we
+continued at Jerusalem attending to the business.  We awaited his
+return, but months passed, even six months, and he came not, and we
+wondered; and months passed, even other six passed, but still he
+came not, nor did we hear any tidings of him, and our hearts were
+filled with heaviness and sorrow.  But when years, even two years,
+were expired, I said to my mother, 'I will go and seek my father';
+and she said, 'Do so,' and she gave me her blessing, and I kissed
+my little sister, and I went forth as far as Egypt, and there I
+heard tidings of my father, for people told me he had been there,
+and they named the time, and they said that he had passed from
+thence to the land of the Turk; so I myself followed to the land of
+the Turk, even unto Constantinople.  And when I arrived there I
+again heard of my father, for he was well known amongst the Jews,
+and they told me the time of his being there, and they added that
+he had speculated and prospered, and departed from Constantinople,
+but whither he went they knew not.  So I reasoned within myself and
+said, perhaps he may have gone to the land of his fathers, even
+unto Galatia, to visit his kindred; so I determined to go there
+myself, and I went, and I found our kindred, and I made myself
+known to them, and they rejoiced to see me; but when I asked them
+for my father, they shook their heads and could give me no
+intelligence; and they would fain have had me tarry with them, but
+I would not, for the thought of my father was working strong within
+me, and I could not rest.  So I departed and went to another
+country, even unto Russia, and I went deep into that country, even
+as far as Kazan, and of all I met, whether Jew, or Russ, or Tartar,
+I inquired for my father; but no one knew him, nor had heard of
+him.  So I turned back and here thou seest me; and I now purpose
+going through all Germany and France, nay, through all the world,
+until I have received intelligence of my father, for I cannot rest
+until I know what is become of my father, for the thought of him
+burneth in my brain like fire, even like the fire of Jehinnim."
+
+Such was the individual whom I now saw again, after a lapse of five
+years, in the streets of Gibraltar, in the dusk of the evening.
+"Yes," he replied, "I am Judah, surnamed the Lib.  Thou didst not
+recognise me, but I knew thee at once.  I should have known thee
+amongst a million, and not a day has passed since I last saw thee,
+but I have thought on thee."  I was about to reply, but he pulled
+me out of the crowd and led me into a shop where, squatted on the
+floor, sat six or seven Jews cutting leather; he said something to
+them which I did not understand, whereupon they bowed their heads
+and followed their occupation, without taking any notice of us.  A
+singular figure had followed us to the door; it was a man dressed
+in exceedingly shabby European garments, which exhibited
+nevertheless the cut of a fashionable tailor.  He seemed about
+fifty; his face, which was very broad, was of a deep bronze colour;
+the features were rugged, but exceedingly manly, and,
+notwithstanding they were those of a Jew, exhibited no marks of
+cunning, but, on the contrary, much simplicity and good nature.
+His form was about the middle height, and tremendously athletic,
+the arms and back were literally those of a Hercules squeezed into
+a modern surtout; the lower part of his face was covered with a
+bushy beard, which depended half way down his breast.  This figure
+remained at the door, his eyes fixed upon myself and Judah.
+
+The first inquiry which I now addressed was "Have you heard of your
+father?"
+
+"I have," he replied.  "When we parted, I proceeded through many
+lands, and wherever I went I inquired of the people respecting my
+father, but still they shook their heads, until I arrived at the
+land of Tunis; and there I went to the head rabbi, and he told me
+that he knew my father well, and that he had been there, even at
+Tunis, and he named the time, and he said that from thence he
+departed for the land of Fez; and he spoke much of my father and of
+his learning, and he mentioned the Zohar, even that dark book which
+my father loved so well; and he spoke yet more of my father's
+wealth and his speculations, in all of which it seems he had
+thriven.  So I departed and I mounted a ship, and I went into the
+land of Barbary, even unto Fez, and when I arrived there I heard
+much intelligence of my father, but it was intelligence which
+perhaps was worse than ignorance.  For the Jews told me that my
+father had been there, and had speculated and had thriven, and that
+from thence he departed for Tafilaltz, which is the country of
+which the Emperor, even Muley Abderrahman, is a native; and there
+he was still prosperous, and his wealth in gold and silver was very
+great; and he wished to go to a not far distant town, and he
+engaged certain Moors, two in number, to accompany him and defend
+him and his treasures:  and the Moors were strong men, even
+makhasniah or soldiers; and they made a covenant with my father,
+and they gave him their right hands, and they swore to spill their
+blood rather than his should be shed.  And my father was encouraged
+and he waxed bold, and he departed with them, even with the two
+false Moors.  And when they arrived in the uninhabited place, they
+smote my father, and they prevailed against him, and they poured
+out his blood in the way, and they robbed him of all he had, of his
+silks and his merchandise, and of the gold and silver which he had
+made in his speculations, and they went to their own villages, and
+there they sat themselves down and bought lands and houses, and
+they rejoiced and they triumphed, and they made a merit of their
+deed, saying, 'We have killed an infidel, even an accursed Jew';
+and these things were notorious in Fez.  And when I heard these
+tidings my heart was sad, and I became like a child, and I wept;
+but the fire of Jehinnim burned no longer in my brain, for I now
+knew what was become of my father.  At last I took comfort and I
+reasoned with myself, saying, 'Would it not be wise to go unto the
+Moorish king and demand of him vengeance for my father's death, and
+that the spoilers be despoiled, and the treasure, even my father's
+treasure, be wrested from their hands and delivered up to me who am
+his son?'  And the king of the Moors was not at that time in Fez,
+but was absent in his wars; and I arose and followed him, even unto
+Arbat, which is a seaport, and when I arrived there, lo!  I found
+him not, but his son was there, and men said unto me that to speak
+unto the son was to speak unto the king, even Muley Abderrahman; so
+I went in unto the king's son, and I kneeled before him, and I
+lifted up my voice and I said unto him what I had to say, and he
+looked courteously upon me and said, 'Truly thy tale is a sorrowful
+one, and it maketh me sad; and what thou asketh, that will I grant,
+and thy father's death shall be avenged and the spoilers shall be
+despoiled; and I will write thee a letter with my own hand unto the
+Pasha, even the Pasha of Tafilaltz, and I will enjoin him to make
+inquiry into thy matter, and that letter thou shalt thyself carry
+and deliver unto him.'  And when I heard these words, my heart died
+within my bosom for very fear, and I replied, 'Not so, my lord; it
+is good that thou write a letter unto the Pasha, even unto the
+Pasha of Tafilaltz, but that letter will I not take, neither will I
+go to Tafilaltz, for no sooner should I arrive there, and my errand
+be known, than the Moors would arise and put me to death, either
+privily or publicly, for are not the murderers of my father Moors;
+and am I aught but a Jew, though I be a Polish man?'  And he looked
+benignantly, and he said, 'Truly, thou speakest wisely; I will
+write the letter, but thou shalt not take it, for I will send it by
+other hands; therefore set thy heart at rest, and doubt not that,
+if thy tale be true, thy father's death shall be avenged, and the
+treasure, or the value thereof, be recovered and given up to thee;
+tell me, therefore, where wilt thou abide till then?'  And I said
+unto him, 'My lord, I will go into the land of Suz and will tarry
+there.'  And he replied:  'Do so, and thou shalt hear speedily from
+me.'  So I arose and departed and went into the land of Suz, even
+unto Sweerah, which the Nazarenes call Mogadore; and waited with a
+troubled heart for intelligence from the son of the Moorish king,
+but no intelligence came, and never since that day have I heard
+from him, and it is now three years since I was in his presence.
+And I sat me down at Mogadore, and I married a wife, a daughter of
+our nation, and I wrote to my mother, even to Jerusalem, and she
+sent me money, and with that I entered into commerce, even as my
+father had done, and I speculated, and I was not successful in my
+speculations, and I speedily lost all I had.  And now I am come to
+Gibraltar to speculate on the account of another, a merchant of
+Mogadore, but I like not my occupation, he has deceived me; I am
+going back, when I shall again seek the presence of the Moorish
+king and demand that the treasure of my father be taken from the
+spoilers and delivered up to me, even to me his son."
+
+I listened with mute attention to the singular tale of this
+singular man, and when he had concluded I remained a considerable
+time without saying a word; at last he inquired what had brought me
+to Gibraltar.  I told him that I was merely a passer through on my
+way to Tangier, for which place I expected to sail the following
+morning.  Whereupon he observed, that in the course of a week or
+two he expected to be there also, when he hoped that we should
+meet, as he had much more to tell me.  "And peradventure," he
+added, "you can afford me counsel which will be profitable, for you
+are a person of experience, versed in the ways of many nations; and
+when I look in your countenance, heaven seems to open to me, for I
+think I see the countenance of a friend, even of a brother."  He
+then bade me farewell, and departed; the strange bearded man, who
+during our conversation had remained patiently waiting at the door,
+following him.  I remarked that there was less wildness in his look
+than on the former occasion, but at the same time, more melancholy,
+and his features were wrinkled like those of an aged man, though he
+had not yet passed the prime of youth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII
+
+
+
+Genoese Mariners--St. Michael's Cave--Midnight Abysses--Young
+American--A Slave Proprietor--The Fairy Man--Infidelity.
+
+Throughout the whole of that night it blew very hard, but as the
+wind was in the Levant quarter, I had no apprehension of being
+detained longer at Gibraltar on that account.  I went on board the
+vessel at an early hour, when I found the crew engaged in hauling
+the anchor close, and making other preparations for sailing.  They
+informed me that we should probably start in an hour.  That time
+however passed, and we still remained where we were, and the
+captain continued on shore.  We formed one of a small flotilla of
+Genoese barks, the crews of which seemed in their leisure moments
+to have no better means of amusing themselves than the exchange of
+abusive language; a furious fusillade of this kind presently
+commenced, in which the mate of our vessel particularly
+distinguished himself; he was a grey-haired Genoese of sixty.
+Though not able to speak their patois, I understood much of what
+was said; it was truly shocking, and as they shouted it forth,
+judging from their violent gestures and distorted features, you
+would have concluded them to be bitter enemies; they were, however,
+nothing of the kind, but excellent friends all the time, and indeed
+very good-humoured fellows at bottom.  Oh, the infirmities of human
+nature!  When will man learn to become truly Christian?
+
+I am upon the whole very fond of the Genoese; they have, it is
+true, much ribaldry and many vices, but they are a brave and
+chivalrous people, and have ever been so, and from them I have
+never experienced aught but kindness and hospitality.
+
+After the lapse of another two hours, the Jew secretary arrived and
+said something to the old mate, who grumbled much; then coming up
+to me, he took off his hat and informed me that we were not to
+start that day, saying at the same time that it was a shame to lose
+such a noble wind, which would carry us to Tangier in three hours.
+"Patience," said I, and went on shore.
+
+I now strolled towards Saint Michael's cave, in company with the
+Jewish lad whom I have before mentioned.
+
+The way thither does not lie in the same direction as that which
+leads to the excavations; these confront Spain, whilst the cave
+yawns in the face of Africa.  It lies nearly at the top of the
+mountain, several hundred yards above the sea.  We passed by the
+public walks, where there are noble trees, and also by many small
+houses, situated delightfully in gardens, and occupied by the
+officers of the garrison.  It is wrong to suppose Gibraltar a mere
+naked barren rock; it is not without its beautiful spots--spots
+such as these, looking cool and refreshing, with bright green
+foliage.  The path soon became very steep, and we left behind us
+the dwellings of man.  The gale of the preceding night had entirely
+ceased, and not a breath of air was stirring; the midday sun shone
+in all its fierce glory, and the crags up which we clambered were
+not unfrequently watered with the perspiration drops which rained
+from our temples:  at length we arrived at the cavern.
+
+The mouth is a yawning cleft in the side of the mountain, about
+twelve feet high and as many wide; within there is a very rapid
+precipitous descent for some fifty yards, where the cavern
+terminates in an abyss which leads to unknown depths.  The most
+remarkable object is a natural column, which rises up something
+like the trunk of an enormous oak, as if for the purpose of
+supporting the roof; it stands at a short distance from the
+entrance, and gives a certain air of wildness and singularity to
+that part of the cavern which is visible, which it would otherwise
+not possess.  The floor is exceedingly slippery, consisting of soil
+which the continual drippings from the roof have saturated, so that
+no slight precaution is necessary for him who treads it.  It is
+very dangerous to enter this place without a guide well acquainted
+with it, as, besides the black pit at the extremity, holes which
+have never been fathomed present themselves here and there, falling
+into which the adventurer would be dashed to pieces.  Whatever men
+may please to say of this cave, one thing it seems to tell to all
+who approach it, namely, that the hand of man has never been busy
+about it; there is many a cave of nature's forming, old as the
+earth on which we exist, which nevertheless exhibits indications
+that man has turned it to some account, and that it has been
+subjected more or less to his modifying power; not so this cave of
+Gibraltar, for, judging from its appearance, there is not the
+slightest reason for supposing that it ever served for aught else
+than a den for foul night birds, reptiles, and beasts of prey.  It
+has been stated by some to have been used in the days of paganism
+as a temple to the god Hercules, who, according to the ancient
+tradition, raised the singular mass of crags now called Gibraltar,
+and the mountain which confronts it on the African shores, as
+columns which should say to all succeeding times that he had been
+there, and had advanced no farther.  Sufficient to observe, that
+there is nothing within the cave which would authorize the adoption
+of such an opinion, not even a platform on which an altar could
+have stood, whilst a narrow path passes before it, leading to the
+summit of the mountain.  As I have myself never penetrated into its
+depths, I can of course not pretend to describe them.  Numerous
+have been the individuals who, instigated by curiosity, have
+ventured down to immense depths, hoping to discover an end, and
+indeed scarcely a week passes without similar attempts being made
+either by the officers or soldiers of the garrison, all of which
+have proved perfectly abortive.  No termination has ever been
+reached, nor any discoveries made to repay the labour and frightful
+danger incurred; precipice succeeds precipice, and abyss succeeds
+abyss, in apparently endless succession, with ledges at intervals,
+which afford the adventurers opportunities for resting themselves
+and affixing their rope-ladders for the purpose of descending yet
+farther.  What is, however, most mortifying and perplexing is to
+observe that these abysses are not only before, but behind you, and
+on every side; indeed, close within the entrance of the cave, on
+the right, there is a gulf almost equally dark and full as
+threatening as that which exists at the nether end, and perhaps
+contains within itself as many gulfs and horrid caverns branching
+off in all directions.  Indeed, from what I have heard, I have come
+to the opinion, that the whole hill of Gibraltar is honeycombed,
+and I have little doubt that, were it cleft asunder, its interior
+would be found full of such abysses of Erebus as those to which
+Saint Michael's cave conducts.  Many valuable lives are lost every
+year in these horrible places; and only a few weeks before my
+visit, two sergeants, brothers, had perished in the gulf on the
+right hand side of the cave, having, when at a great depth, slipped
+down a precipice.  The body of one of these adventurous men is even
+now rotting in the bowels of the mountain, preyed upon by its blind
+and noisome worms; that of his brother was extricated.  Immediately
+after this horrible accident, a gate was placed before the mouth of
+the cave, to prevent individuals, and especially the reckless
+soldiers, from indulging in their extravagant curiosity.  The lock,
+however, was speedily forced, and at the period of my arrival the
+gate swung idly upon its hinges.
+
+As I left the place, I thought that perhaps similar to this was the
+cave of Horeb, where dwelt Elijah, when he heard the still small
+voice, after the great and strong wind which rent the mountains and
+brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; the cave to the entrance
+of which he went out and stood with his face wrapped in his mantle,
+when he heard the voice say unto him, "What doest thou here,
+Elijah?" (1 Kings xix. 11-13.)
+
+And what am I doing here, I inquired of myself as, vexed at my
+detention, I descended into the town.
+
+That afternoon I dined in the company of a young American, a native
+of South Carolina.  I had frequently seen him before, as he had
+been staying for some time at the inn previous to my arrival at
+Gibraltar.  His appearance was remarkable:  he was low of stature,
+and exceedingly slightly made; his features were pale but very well
+formed; he had a magnificent head of crispy black hair, and as
+superb a pair of whiskers of the same colour as I ever beheld.  He
+wore a white hat, with broad brim and particularly shallow crown,
+and was dressed in a light yellow gingham frock striped with black,
+and ample trousers of calico, in a word, his appearance was
+altogether queer and singular.  On my return from my ramble to the
+cave, I found that he had himself just descended from the mountain,
+having since a very early hour been absent exploring its wonders.
+
+A man of the rock asked him how he liked the excavations.  "Liked
+them," said he; "you might just as well ask a person who has just
+seen the Niagara Falls how he liked them--like is not the word,
+mister."  The heat was suffocating, as it almost invariably is in
+the town of Gibraltar, where rarely a breath of air is to be felt,
+as it is sheltered from all winds.  This led another individual to
+inquire of him whether he did not think it exceedingly hot?  "Hot,
+sir," he replied, "not at all:  fine cotton gathering weather as a
+man could wish for.  We couldn't beat it in South Carolina, sir."
+"You live in South Carolina, sir--I hope, sir, you are not a slave
+proprietor," said the short fat Jewish personage in the snuff-
+coloured coat, who had offered me the bitters on a previous
+occasion; "it is a terrible thing to make slaves of poor people,
+simply because they happen to be black; don't you think so, sir?"
+"Think so, sir--no, sir, I don't think so--I glory in being a slave
+proprietor; have four hundred black niggers on my estate--own
+estate, sir, near Charleston--flog half a dozen of them before
+breakfast, merely for exercise.  Niggers only made to be flogged,
+sir:  try to escape sometimes; set the blood-hounds in their trail,
+catch them in a twinkling; used to hang themselves formerly:  the
+niggers thought that a sure way to return to their own country and
+get clear of me:  soon put a stop to that:  told them that if any
+more hanged themselves I'd hang myself too, follow close behind
+them, and flog them in their own country ten times worse than in
+mine.  What do you think of that, friend?"  It was easy to perceive
+that there was more of fun than malice in this eccentric little
+fellow, for his large grey eyes were sparkling with good humour
+whilst he poured out these wild things.  He was exceedingly free of
+his money; and a dirty Irish woman, a soldier's wife, having
+entered with a basketful of small boxes and trinkets, made of
+portions of the rock of Gibraltar, he purchased the greatest part
+of her ware, giving her for every article the price (by no means
+inconsiderable) which she demanded.  He had glanced at me several
+times, and at last I saw him stoop down and whisper something to
+the Jew, who replied in an undertone, though with considerable
+earnestness "O dear no, sir; perfectly mistaken, sir:  is no
+American, sir:- from Salamanca, sir; the gentleman is a Salamancan
+Spaniard."  The waiter at length informed us that he had laid the
+table, and that perhaps it would be agreeable to us to dine
+together:  we instantly assented.  I found my new acquaintance in
+many respects a most agreeable companion:  he soon told me his
+history.  He was a planter, and, from what he hinted, just come to
+his property.  He was part owner of a large vessel which traded
+between Charleston and Gibraltar, and the yellow fever having just
+broken out at the former place, he had determined to take a trip
+(his first) to Europe in this ship; having, as he said, already
+visited every state in the Union, and seen all that was to be seen
+there.  He described to me, in a very naive and original manner,
+his sensations on passing by Tarifa, which was the first walled
+town he had ever seen.  I related to him the history of that place,
+to which he listened with great attention.  He made divers attempts
+to learn from me who I was; all of which I evaded, though he seemed
+fully convinced that I was an American; and amongst other things
+asked me whether my father had not been American consul at Seville.
+What, however, most perplexed him was my understanding Moorish and
+Gaelic, which he had heard me speak respectively to the hamalos and
+the Irish woman, the latter of whom, as he said, had told him that
+I was a fairy man.  At last he introduced the subject of religion,
+and spoke with much contempt of revelation, avowing himself a
+deist; he was evidently very anxious to hear my opinion, but here
+again I evaded him, and contented myself with asking him, whether
+he had ever read the Bible.  He said he had not; but that he was
+well acquainted with the writings of Volney and Mirabeau.  I made
+no answer; whereupon he added, that it was by no means his habit to
+introduce such subjects, and that there were very few persons to
+whom he would speak so unreservedly, but that I had very much
+interested him, though our acquaintance had been short.  I replied,
+that he would scarcely have spoken at Boston in the manner that I
+had just heard him, and that it was easy to perceive that he was
+not a New Englander.  "I assure you," said he, "I should as little
+have thought of speaking so at Charleston, for if I held such
+conversation there, I should soon have had to speak to myself."
+
+Had I known less of deists than it has been my fortune to know, I
+should perhaps have endeavoured to convince this young man of the
+erroneousness of the ideas which he had adopted; but I was aware of
+all that he would have urged in reply, and as the believer has no
+carnal arguments to address to carnal reason upon this subject, I
+thought it best to avoid disputation, which I felt sure would lead
+to no profitable result.  Faith is the free gift of God, and I do
+not believe that ever yet was an infidel converted by means of
+after-dinner polemics.  This was the last evening of my sojourn in
+Gibraltar.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV
+
+
+
+Again on Board--The Strange Visage--The Hadji--Setting Sail--The
+Two Jews--American Vessel--Tangier--Adun Oulem--The Struggle--The
+Forbidden Thing.
+
+On Thursday, the 8th of August, I was again on board the Genoese
+bark, at as early an hour as on the previous morning.  After
+waiting, however, two or three hours without any preparation being
+made for departing, I was about to return to the shore once more,
+but the old Genoese mate advised me to stay, assuring me that he
+had no doubt of our sailing speedily, as all the cargo was on
+board, and we had nothing further to detain us.  I was reposing
+myself in the little cabin, when I heard a boat strike against the
+side of the vessel, and some people come on board.  Presently a
+face peered in at the opening, strange and wild.  I was half
+asleep, and at first imagined I was dreaming, for the face seemed
+more like that of a goat or an orge than of a human being; its long
+beard almost touching my face as I lay extended in a kind of berth.
+Starting up, however, I recognised the singular-looking Jew whom I
+had seen in the company of Judah Lib.  He recognised me also, and
+nodding, bent his huge features into a smile.  I arose and went
+upon deck, where I found him in company with another Jew, a young
+man in the dress of Barbary.  They had just arrived in the boat.  I
+asked my friend of the beard who he was, from whence he came, and
+where he was going?  He answered, in broken Portuguese, that he was
+returning from Lisbon, where he had been on business, to Mogadore,
+of which place he was a native.  He then looked me in the face and
+smiled, and taking out a book from his pocket, in Hebrew
+characters, fell to reading it; whereupon a Spanish sailor on board
+observed that with such a beard and book he must needs be a sabio,
+or sage.  His companion was from Mequinez, and spoke only Arabic.
+
+A large boat now drew nigh, the stern of which was filled with
+Moors; there might be about twelve, and the greater part evidently
+consisted of persons of distinction, as they were dressed in all
+the pomp and gallantry of the East, with snow-white turbans,
+jabadores of green silk or scarlet cloth, and bedeyas rich with
+gold galloon.  Some of them were exceedingly fine men, and two
+amongst them, youths, were strikingly handsome, and so far from
+exhibiting the dark swarthy countenance of Moors in general, their
+complexions were of a delicate red and white.  The principal
+personage, and to whom all the rest paid much deference, was a tall
+athletic man of about forty.  He wore a vest of white quilted
+cotton, and white kandrisa, whilst gracefully wound round his body,
+and swathing the upper part of his head, was the balk, or white
+flannel wrapping plaid always held in so much estimation by the
+Moors from the earliest period of their history.  His legs were
+bare and his feet only protected from the ground by yellow
+slippers.  He displayed no farther ornament than one large gold
+ear-ring, from which depended a pearl, evidently of great price.  A
+noble black beard, about a foot in length, touched his muscular
+breast.  His features were good, with the exception of the eyes,
+which were somewhat small; their expression, however, was, evil;
+their glances were sullen; and malignity and ill-nature were
+painted in every lineament of his countenance, which seemed never
+to have been brightened with a smile.  The Spanish sailor, of whom
+I have already had occasion to speak, informed me in a whisper,
+that he was a santuron, or big saint, and was so far back on his
+way from Mecca; adding, that he was a merchant of immense wealth.
+It soon appeared that the other Moors had merely attended him on
+board through friendly politeness, as they all successively came to
+bid him adieu, with the exception of two blacks, who were his
+attendants.  I observed that these blacks, when the Moors presented
+them their hands at departing, invariably made an effort to press
+them to their lips, which effort was as uniformly foiled, the Moors
+in every instance, by a speedy and graceful movement, drawing back
+their hand locked in that of the black, which they pressed against
+their own heart; as much as to say, "though a negro and a slave you
+are a Moslem, and being so, you art our brother--Allah knows no
+distinctions."  The boatman now went up to the hadji, demanding
+payment, stating, at the same time, that he had been on board three
+times on his account, conveying his luggage.  The sum which he
+demanded appeared exorbitant to the hadji, who, forgetting that he
+was a saint, and fresh from Mecca, fumed outrageously, and in
+broken Spanish called the boatman thief.  If there be any term of
+reproach which stings a Spaniard (and such was the boatman) more
+than another, it is that one; and the fellow no sooner heard it
+applied to himself, than with eyes sparkling with fury, he put his
+fist to the hadji's nose, and repaid the one opprobrious name by at
+least ten others equally bad or worse.  He would perhaps have
+proceeded to acts of violence had he not been pulled away by the
+other Moors, who led him aside, and I suppose either said or gave
+him something which pacified him, as he soon got into his boat, and
+returned with them on shore.  The captain now arrived with his
+Jewish secretary, and orders were given for setting sail.
+
+At a little past twelve we were steering out of the bay of
+Gibraltar; the wind was in the right quarter, but for some time we
+did not make much progress, lying almost becalmed beneath the lee
+of the hill; by degrees, however, our progress became brisker, and
+in about an hour we found ourselves careering smartly towards
+Tarifa.
+
+The Jew secretary stood at the helm, and indeed appeared to be the
+person who commanded the vessel, and who issued out all the
+necessary orders, which were executed under the superintendence of
+the old Genoese mate.  I now put some questions to the hadji, but
+he looked at me askance with his sullen eye, pouted with his lip,
+and remained silent; as much as to say, "Speak not to me, I am
+holier than thou."  I found his negroes, however, far more
+conversable.  One of them was old and ugly, the other about twenty,
+and as well looking as it is possible for a negro to be.  His
+colour was perfect ebony, his features exceedingly well formed and
+delicate, with the exception of the lips, which were too full.  The
+shape of his eyes was peculiar; they were rather oblong than round,
+like those of an Egyptian figure.  Their expression was thoughtful
+and meditative.  In every respect he differed from his companion,
+even in colour, (though both were negroes,) and was evidently a
+scion of some little known and superior race.  As he sat beneath
+the mast gazing at the sea, I thought he was misplaced, and that he
+would have appeared to more advantage amidst boundless sands, and
+beneath a date tree, and then he might have well represented a
+Jhin.  I asked him from whence he came, he replied that he was a
+native of Fez, but that he had never known his parents.  He had
+been brought up, he added, in the family of his present master,
+whom he had followed in the greater part of his travels, and with
+whom he had thrice visited Mecca.  I asked him if he liked being a
+slave?  Whereupon he replied, that he was a slave no longer, having
+been made free for some time past, on account of his faithful
+services, as had likewise his companion.  He would have told me
+much more, but the hadji called him away, and otherwise employed
+him, probably to prevent his being contaminated by me.
+
+Thus avoided by the Moslems, I betook myself to the Jews, whom I
+found nowise backward in cultivating an intimacy.  The sage of the
+beard told me his history, which in some respects reminded me of
+that of Judah Lib, as it seemed that, a year or two previous, he
+had quitted Mogadore in pursuit of his son, who had betaken himself
+to Portugal.  On the arrival, however, of the father at Lisbon, he
+discovered that the fugitive had, a few days before, shipped
+himself for the Brazils.  Unlike Judah in quest of his father, he
+now became weary, and discontinued the pursuit.  The younger Jew
+from Mequinez was exceedingly gay and lively as soon as he
+perceived that I was capable of understanding him, and made me
+smile by his humorous account of Christian life, as he had observed
+it at Gibraltar, where he had made a stay of about a month.  He
+then spoke of Mequinez, which, he said, was a Jennut, or Paradise,
+compared with which Gibraltar was a sty of hogs.  So great, so
+universal is the love of country.  I soon saw that both these
+people believed me to be of their own nation; indeed, the young
+one, who was much the most familiar, taxed me with being so, and
+spoke of the infamy of denying my own blood.  Shortly before our
+arrival off Tarifa, universal hunger seemed to prevail amongst us.
+The hadji and his negroes produced their store, and feasted on
+roast fowls, the Jews ate grapes and bread, myself bread and
+cheese, whilst the crew prepared a mess of anchovies.  Two of them
+speedily came, with a large portion, which they presented to me
+with the kindness of brothers:  I made no hesitation in accepting
+their present, and found the anchovies delicious.  As I sat between
+the Jews, I offered them some, but they turned away their heads
+with disgust, and cried haloof (hogsflesh).  They at the same time,
+however, shook me by the hand, and, uninvited, took a small portion
+of my bread.  I had a bottle of Cognac, which I had brought with me
+as a preventive to sea sickness, and I presented it to them; but
+this they also refused, exclaiming, Haram (it is forbidden).  I
+said nothing.
+
+We were now close to the lighthouse of Tarifa, and turning the head
+of the bark towards the west, we made directly for the coast of
+Africa.  The wind was now blowing very fresh, and as we had it
+almost in our poop, we sprang along at a tremendous rate, the huge
+lateen sails threatening every moment to drive us beneath the
+billows, which an adverse tide raised up against us.  Whilst
+scudding along in this manner, we passed close under the stern of a
+large vessel bearing American colours; she was tacking up the
+straits, and slowly winning her way against the impetuous Levanter.
+As we passed under her, I observed the poop crowded with people
+gazing at us; indeed, we must have offered a singular spectacle to
+those on board, who, like my young American friend at Gibraltar,
+were visiting the Old World for the first time.  At the helm stood
+the Jew; his whole figure enveloped in a gabardine, the cowl of
+which, raised above his head, gave him almost the appearance of a
+spectre in its shroud; whilst upon the deck, mixed with Europeans
+in various kinds of dresses, all of them picturesque with the
+exception of my own, trod the turbaned Moors, the haik of the hadji
+flapping loosely in the wind.  The view they obtained of us,
+however, could have been but momentary, as we bounded past them
+literally with the speed of a racehorses so that in about an hour's
+time we were not more than a mile's distance from the foreland on
+which stands the fortress Alminar, and which constitutes the
+boundary point of the bay of Tangier towards the east.  There the
+wind dropped and our progress was again slow.
+
+For a considerable time Tangier had appeared in sight.  Shortly
+after standing away from Tarifa, we had descried it in the far
+distance, when it showed like a white dove brooding on its nest.
+The sun was setting behind the town when we dropped anchor in its
+harbour, amidst half a dozen barks and felouks about the size of
+our own, the only vessels which we saw.  There stood Tangier before
+us, and a picturesque town it was, occupying the sides and top of
+two hills, one of which, bold and bluff, projects into the sea
+where the coast takes a sudden and abrupt turn.  Frowning and
+battlemented were its walls, either perched on the top of
+precipitous rocks, whose base was washed by the salt billows, or
+rising from the narrow strand which separates the hill from the
+ocean.
+
+Yonder are two or three tiers of batteries, displaying heavy guns
+which command the harbour; above them you see the terraces of the
+town rising in succession like steps for giants.  But all is white,
+perfectly white, so that the whole seems cut out of an immense
+chalk rock, though true it is that you behold here and there tall
+green trees springing up from amidst the whiteness:  perhaps they
+belong to Moorish gardens, and beneath them even now peradventure
+is reclining many a dark-eyed Leila, akin to the houries.  Right
+before you is a high tower or minaret, not white but curiously
+painted, which belongs to the principal mosque of Tangier; a black
+banner waves upon it, for it is the feast of Ashor.  A noble beach
+of white sand fringes the bay from the town to the foreland of
+Alminar.  To the east rise prodigious hills and mountains; they are
+Gibil Muza and his chain; and yon tall fellow is the peak of
+Tetuan; the grey mists of evening are enveloping their sides.  Such
+was Tangier, such its vicinity, as it appeared to me whilst gazing
+from the Genoese bark.
+
+A boat was now lowered from the vessel, in which the captain, who
+was charged with the mail from Gibraltar, the Jew secretary, and
+the hadji and his attendant negroes departed for the shore.  I
+would have gone with them, but I was told that I could not land
+that night, as ere my passport and bill of health could be
+examined, the gates would be closed; so I remained on board with
+the crew and the two Jews.  The former prepared their supper, which
+consisted simply of pickled tomatoes, the other provisions having
+been consumed.  The old Genoese brought me a portion, apologizing
+at the same time, for the plainness of the fare.  I accepted it
+with thanks, and told him that a million better men than myself had
+a worse super.  I never ate with more appetite.  As the night
+advanced, the Jews sang Hebrew hymns, and when they had concluded,
+demanded of me why I was silent, so I lifted up my voice and
+chanted Adun Oulem:-
+
+
+"Reigned the Universe's Master, ere were earthly things begun;
+When His mandate all created, Ruler was the name He won;
+And alone He'll rule tremendous when all things are past and gone,
+He no equal has, nor consort, He, the singular and lone,
+Has no end and no beginning; His the sceptre, might and throne.
+He's my God and living Saviour, rock to whom in need I run;
+He's my banner and my refuge, fount of weal when called upon;
+In His hand I place my spirit at nightfall and rise of sun,
+And therewith my body also; God's my God--I fear no one."
+
+
+Darkness had now fallen over land and sea; not a sound was heard
+save occasionally the distant barking of a dog from the shore, or
+some plaintive Genoese ditty, which arose from a neighbouring bark.
+The town seemed buried in silence and gloom, no light, not even
+that of a taper, could be descried.  Turning our eyes in the
+direction of Spain, however, we perceived a magnificent
+conflagration seemingly enveloping the side and head of one of the
+lofty mountains northward of Tarifa; the blaze was redly reflected
+in the waters of the strait; either the brushwood was burning or
+the Carboneros were plying their dusky toil.  The Jews now
+complained, of weariness, and the younger, uncording a small
+mattress, spread it on the deck and sought repose.  The sage
+descended into the cabin, but he had scarcely time to lie down ere
+the old mate, darting forward, dived in after him, and pulled him
+out by the heels, for it was very shallow, and the descent was
+effected by not more than two or three steps.  After accomplishing
+this, he called him many opprobrious names, and threatened him with
+his foot, as he lay sprawling on the deck.  "Think you," said he,
+"who are a dog and a Jew, and pay as a dog and a Jew; think you to
+sleep in the cabin?  Undeceive yourself, beast; that cabin shall be
+slept in by none to-night but this Christian Cavallero."  The sage
+made no reply, but arose from the deck and stroked his beard,
+whilst the old Genoese proceeded in his philippic.  Had the Jew
+been disposed, he could have strangled the insulter in a moment, or
+crushed him to death in his brawny arms, as I never remember to
+have seen a figure so powerful and muscular; but he was evidently
+slow to anger, and long-suffering; not a resentful word escaped
+him, and his features retained their usual expression of benignant
+placidity.
+
+I now assured the mate that I had not the slightest objection to
+the Jew's sharing the cabin with me, but rather wished it, as there
+was room for us both and for more.  "Excuse me, Sir Cavalier,"
+replied the Genoese, "but I swear to permit no such thing; you are
+young and do not know this canaille as I do, who have been backward
+and forward to this coast for twenty years; if the beast is cold,
+let him sleep below the hatches as I and the rest shall, but that
+cabin he shall not enter."  Observing that he was obstinate I
+retired, and in a few minutes was in a sound sleep which lasted
+till daybreak.  Twice or thrice, indeed, I thought that a struggle
+was taking place near me, but I was so overpowered with weariness,
+or "sleep drunken," as the Germans call it, that I was unable to
+arouse myself sufficiently to discover what was going on; the truth
+is, that three times during the night, the sage feeling himself
+uncomfortable in the open air by the side of his companion,
+penetrated into the cabin, and was as many times dragged out by his
+relentless old enemy, who, suspecting his intentions, kept his eye
+upon him throughout the night.
+
+About five I arose; the sun was shining brightly and gloriously
+upon town, bay, and mountain; the crew were already employed upon
+deck repairing a sail which had been shivered in the wind of the
+preceding day.  The Jews sat disconsolate on the poop; they
+complained much of the cold they had suffered in their exposed
+situation.  Over the left eye of the sage I observed a bloody cut,
+which he informed me he had received from the old Genoese after he
+had dragged him out of the cabin for the last time.  I now produced
+my bottle of Cognac, begging that the crew would partake of it as a
+slight return for their hospitality.  They thanked me, and the
+bottle went its round; it was last in the hands of the old mate,
+who, after looking for a moment at the sage, raised it to his
+mouth, where he kept it a considerable time longer than any of his
+companions, after which he returned it to me with a low bow.  The
+sage now inquired what the bottle contained:  I told him Cognac or
+aguardiente, whereupon with some eagerness he begged that I would
+allow him to take a draught.  "How is this?" said I; "yesterday you
+told me that it was a forbidden thing, an abomination."
+"Yesterday," said he, "I was not aware that it was brandy; I
+thought it wine, which assuredly is an abomination, and a forbidden
+thing."  "Is it forbidden in the Torah?" I inquired.  "Is it
+forbidden in the law of God?"  "I know not," said he, "but one
+thing I know, that the sages have forbidden it."  "Sages like
+yourself," cried I with warmth; "sages like yourself, with long
+beards and short understandings:  the use of both drinks is
+permitted, but more danger lurks in this bottle than in a tun of
+wine.  Well said my Lord the Nazarene, 'ye strain at a gnat, and
+swallow a camel'; but as you are cold and shivering, take the
+bottle and revive yourself with a small portion of its contents."
+He put it to his lips and found not a single drop.  The old Genoese
+grinned.
+
+"Bestia," said he, "I saw by your looks that you wished to drink of
+that bottle, and I said within me, even though I suffocate, yet
+will I not leave one drop of the aguardiente of the Christian
+Cavalier to be wasted on that Jew, on whose head may evil
+lightnings fall."
+
+"Now, Sir Cavalier," he continued, "you can go ashore; these two
+sailors shall row you to the Mole, and convey your baggage where
+you think proper; may the Virgin bless you wherever you go."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV
+
+
+
+The Mole--The Two Moors--Djmah of Tangier--House of God--British
+Consul--Curious Spectacle--The Moorish House--Joanna Correa--Ave
+Maria.
+
+So we rode to the Mole and landed.  This Mole consists at present
+of nothing more than an immense number of large loose stones, which
+run about five hundred yards into the bay; they are part of the
+ruins of a magnificent pier which the English, who were the last
+foreign nation which held Tangier, destroyed when they evacuated
+the place.  The Moors have never attempted to repair it; the surf
+at high water breaks over it with great fury.  I found it a
+difficult task to pick my way over the slippery stones, and should
+once or twice have fallen but for the kindness of the Genoese
+mariners.  At last we reached the beach, and were proceeding
+towards the gate of the town, when two persons, Moors, came up to
+us.  I almost started at sight of the first; he was a huge old
+barbarian with a white uncombed beard, dirty turban, haik, and
+trousers, naked legs, and immense splay feet, the heels of which
+stood out a couple of inches at least behind his rusty black
+slippers.
+
+"That is the captain of the port," said one of the Genoese; "pay
+him respect."  I accordingly doffed my hat and cried, "Sba alkheir
+a sidi" (Good-morning, my lord).  "Are you Englishmans?" shouted
+the old grisly giant.  "Englishmans, my lord," I replied, and,
+advancing, presented him my hand, which he nearly wrung off with
+his tremendous gripe.  The other Moor now addressed me in a jargon
+composed of English, Spanish, and Arabic.  A queer-looking
+personage was he also, but very different in most respects from his
+companion, being shorter by a head at least, and less complete by
+one eye, for the left orb of vision was closed, leaving him, as the
+Spaniards style it, tuerto; he, however, far outshone the other in
+cleanliness of turban, haik, and trousers.  From what he jabbered
+to me, I collected that he was the English consul's mahasni or
+soldier; that the consul, being aware of my arrival, had dispatched
+him to conduct me to his house.  He then motioned me to follow him,
+which I did, the old port captain attending us to the gate, when he
+turned aside into a building, which I judged to be a kind of
+custom-house from the bales and boxes of every description piled up
+before it.  We passed the gate and proceeded up a steep and winding
+ascent; on our left was a battery full of guns, pointing to the
+sea, and on our right a massive wall, seemingly in part cut out of
+the hill; a little higher up we arrived at an opening where stood
+the mosque which I have already mentioned.  As I gazed upon the
+tower I said to myself, "Surely we have here a younger sister of
+the Giralda of Seville."
+
+I know not whether the resemblance between the two edifices has
+been observed by any other individual; and perhaps there are those
+who would assert that no resemblance exists, especially if, in
+forming an opinion, they were much swayed by size and colour:  the
+hue of the Giralda is red, or rather vermilion, whilst that which
+predominates in the Djmah of Tangier is green, the bricks of which
+it is built being of that colour; though between them, at certain
+intervals, are placed others of a light red tinge, so that the
+tower is beautifully variegated.  With respect to size, standing
+beside the giant witch of Seville, the Tangerine Djmah would show
+like a ten-year sapling in the vicinity of the cedar of Lebanon,
+whose trunk the tempests of five hundred years have worn.  And yet
+I will assert that the towers in other respects are one and the
+same, and that the same mind and the same design are manifested in
+both; the same shape do they exhibit, and the same marks have they
+on their walls, even those mysterious arches graven on the
+superficies of the bricks, emblematic of I know not what.  The two
+structures may, without any violence, be said to stand in the same
+relation to each other as the ancient and modern Moors.  The
+Giralda is the world's wonder, and the old Moor was all but the
+world's conqueror.  The modern Moor is scarcely known, and who ever
+heard of the Tower of Tangier?  Yet examine it attentively, and you
+will find in that tower much, very much, to admire, and certainly,
+if opportunity enable you to consider the modern Moor as minutely,
+you will discover in him, and in his actions, amongst much that is
+wild, uncouth, and barbarous, not a little capable of amply
+rewarding laborious investigation.
+
+As we passed the mosque I stopped for a moment before the door, and
+looked in upon the interior:  I saw nothing but a quadrangular
+court paved with painted tiles and exposed to the sky; on all sides
+were arched piazzas, and in the middle was a fountain, at which
+several Moors were performing their ablutions.  I looked around for
+the abominable thing, and found it not; no scarlet strumpet with a
+crown of false gold sat nursing an ugly changeling in a niche.
+"Come here," said I, "papist, and take a lesson; here is a house of
+God, in externals at least, such as a house of God should be:  four
+walls, a fountain, and the eternal firmament above, which mirrors
+his glory.  Dost thou build such houses to the God who hast said,
+'Thou shalt make to thyself no graven image'?  Fool, thy walls are
+stuck with idols; thou callest a stone thy Father, and a piece of
+rotting wood the Queen of Heaven.  Fool, thou knowest not even the
+Ancient of Days, and the very Moor can instruct thee.  He at least
+knows the Ancient of Days who has said, 'Thou shalt have no other
+gods but me.'"
+
+And as I said these words, I heard a cry like the roaring of a
+lion, and an awful voice in the distance exclaim, "Kapul Udbagh"
+(there is no god but one).
+
+We now turned to the left through a passage which passed under the
+tower, and had scarcely proceeded a few steps, when I heard a
+prodigious hubbub of infantine voices:  I listened for a moment,
+and distinguished verses of the Koran; it was a school.  Another
+lesson for thee, papist.  Thou callest thyself a Christian, yet the
+book of Christ thou persecutest; thou huntest it even to the sea-
+shore, compelling it to seek refuge upon the billows of the sea.
+Fool, learn a lesson from the Moor, who teaches his child to repeat
+with its first accents the most important portions of the book of
+his law, and considers himself wise or foolish, according as he is
+versed in or ignorant of that book; whilst thou, blind slave,
+knowest not what the book of thy own law contains, nor wishest to
+know:  yet art thou not to be judged by thy own law?  Idolmonger,
+learn consistency from the Moor:  he says that he shall be judged
+after his own law, and therefore he prizes and gets by heart the
+entire book of his law.
+
+We were now at the consul's house, a large roomy habitation, built
+in the English style.  The soldier led me through a court into a
+large hall hung with the skins of all kinds of ferocious animals,
+from the kingly lion to the snarling jackal.  Here I was received
+by a Jew domestic, who conducted me at once to the consul, who was
+in his library.  He received me with the utmost frankness and
+genuine kindness, and informed me that, having received a letter
+from his excellent friend Mr. B., in which I was strongly
+recommended, he had already engaged me a lodging in the house of a
+Spanish woman, who was, however, a British subject, and with whom
+he believed that I should find myself as comfortable as it was
+possible to be in such a place as Tangier.  He then inquired if I
+had any particular motive for visiting the place, and I informed
+him without any hesitation that I came with the intention of
+distributing a certain number of copies of the New Testament in the
+Spanish language amongst the Christian residents of the place.  He
+smiled, and advised me to proceed with considerable caution, which
+I promised to do.  We then discoursed on other subjects, and it was
+not long before I perceived that I was in the company of a most
+accomplished scholar, especially in the Greek and Latin classics;
+he appeared likewise to be thoroughly acquainted with the Barbary
+empire and with the Moorish character.
+
+After half an hour's conversation, exceedingly agreeable and
+instructive to myself, I expressed a wish to proceed to my lodging:
+whereupon he rang the bell, and the same Jewish domestic entering
+who had introduced me, he said to him in the English language,
+"Take this gentleman to the house of Joanna Correa, the Mahonese
+widow, and enjoin her, in my name, to take care of him and attend
+to his comforts; by doing which she will confirm me in the good
+opinion which I at present entertain of her, and will increase my
+disposition to befriend her."
+
+So, attended by the Jew, I now bent my steps to the lodging
+prepared for me.  Having ascended the street in which the house of
+the consul was situated, we entered a small square which stands
+about half way up the hill.  This, my companion informed me, was
+the soc, or market-place.  A curious spectacle here presented
+itself.  All round the square were small wooden booths, which very
+much resembled large boxes turned on their sides, the lid being
+supported above by a string.  Before each of these boxes was a
+species of counter, or rather one long counter ran in front of the
+whole line, upon which were raisins, dates, and small barrels of
+sugar, soap, and butter, and various other articles.  Within each
+box, in front of the counter, and about three feet from the ground,
+sat a human being, with a blanket on its shoulders, a dirty turban
+on its head, and ragged trousers, which descended as far as the
+knee, though in some instances, I believe, these were entirely
+dispensed with.  In its hand it held a stick, to the end of which
+was affixed a bunch of palm leaves, which it waved incessantly as a
+fan, for the purpose of scaring from its goods the million flies
+which, engendered by the Barbary sun, endeavoured to settle upon
+them.  Behind it, and on either side, were piles of the same kind
+of goods.  Shrit hinai, shrit hinai, (buy here, buy here), was
+continually proceeding from its mouth.  Such are the grocers of
+Tangier, such their shops.
+
+In the middle of the soc, upon the stones, were pyramids of melons
+and sandias, (the water species), and also baskets filled with
+other kinds of fruit, exposed for sale, whilst round cakes of bread
+were lying here and there upon the stones, beside which sat on
+their hams the wildest-looking beings that the most extravagant
+imagination ever conceived, the head covered with an enormous straw
+hat, at least two yards in circumference, the eaves of which,
+flapping down, completely concealed the face, whilst the form was
+swathed in a blanket, from which occasionally were thrust skinny
+arms and fingers.  These were Moorish women, who were, I believe,
+in all instances, old and ugly, judging from the countenances of
+which I caught a glimpse as they lifted the eaves of their hats to
+gaze on me as I passed, or to curse me for stamping on their bread.
+The whole soc was full of peoples and there was abundance of
+bustle, screaming, and vociferation, and as the sun, though the
+hour was still early, was shining with the greatest brilliancy, I
+thought that I had scarcely ever witnessed a livelier scene.
+
+Crossing the soc we entered a narrow street with the same kind of
+box-shops on each side, some of which, however, were either
+unoccupied or not yet opened, the lid being closed.  We almost
+immediately turned to the left, up a street somewhat similar, and
+my guide presently entered the door of a low house, which stood at
+the corner of a little alley, and which he informed me was the
+abode of Joanna Correa.  We soon stood in the midst of this
+habitation.  I say the midst, as all the Moorish houses are built
+with a small court in the middle.  This one was not more than ten
+feet square.  It was open at the top, and around it on three sides
+were apartments; on the fourth a small staircase, which
+communicated with the upper story, half of which consisted of a
+terrace looking down into the court, over the low walls of which
+you enjoyed a prospect of the sea and a considerable part of the
+town.  The rest of the story was taken up by a long room, destined
+for myself, and which opened upon the terrace by a pair of folding-
+doors.  At either end of this apartment stood a bed, extending
+transversely from wall to wall, the canopy touching the ceiling.  A
+table and two or three chairs completed the furniture.
+
+I was so occupied in inspecting the house of Joanna Correa, that at
+first I paid little attention to that lady herself.  She now,
+however, came up upon the terrace where my guide and myself were
+standing.  She was a woman about five and forty, with regular
+features, which had once been handsome, but had received
+considerable injury from time, and perhaps more from trouble.  Two
+of her front teeth had disappeared, but she still had fine black
+hair.  As I looked upon her countenance, I said within myself, if
+there be truth in physiognomy, thou art good and gentle, O Joanna;
+and, indeed, the kindness I experienced from her during the six
+weeks which I spent beneath her roof would have made me a convert
+to that science had I doubted in it before.  I believe no warmer
+and more affectionate heart ever beat in human bosom than in that
+of Joanna Correa, the Mahonese widow, and it was indexed by
+features beaming with benevolence and good nature, though somewhat
+clouded with melancholy.
+
+She informed me that she had been married to a Genoese, the master
+of a felouk which passed between Gibraltar and Tangier, who had
+been dead about four years, leaving her with a family of four
+children, the eldest of which was a lad of thirteen; that she had
+experienced great difficulty in providing for her family and
+herself since the death of her husband, but that Providence had
+raised her up a few excellent friends, especially the British
+consul; that besides letting lodgings to such travellers as myself,
+she made bread which was in high esteem with the Moors, and that
+she was likewise in partnership in the sale of liquors with an old
+Genoese.  She added, that this last person lived below in one of
+the apartments; that he was a man of great ability and much
+learning, but that she believed he was occasionally somewhat
+touched here, pointing with her finger to her forehead, and she
+therefore hoped that I would not be offended at anything
+extraordinary in his language or behaviour.  She then left me, as
+she said, to give orders for my breakfast; whereupon the Jewish
+domestic, who had accompanied me from the consul, finding that I
+was established in the house, departed.
+
+I speedily sat down to breakfast in an apartment on the left side
+of the little wustuddur, the fare was excellent; tea, fried fish,
+eggs, and grapes, not forgetting the celebrated bread of Joanna
+Correa.  I was waited upon by a tall Jewish youth of about twenty
+years, who informed me that his name was Haim Ben Atar, that he was
+a native of Fez, from whence his parents brought him at a very
+early age to Tangier, where he had passed the greater part of his
+life principally in the service of Joanna Correa, waiting upon
+those who, like myself, lodged in the house.  I had completed my
+meal, and was seated in the little court, when I heard in the
+apartment opposite to that in which I had breakfasted several
+sighs, which were succeeded by as many groans, and then came "Ave
+Maria, gratia plena, ora pro me," and finally a croaking voice
+chanted:-
+
+
+"Gentem auferte perfidam
+Credentium de finibus,
+Ut Christo laudes debitas
+Persolvamus alacriter."
+
+
+"That is the old Genoese," whispered Haim Ben Atar, "praying to his
+God, which he always does with particular devotion when he happens
+to have gone to bed the preceding evening rather in liquor.  He has
+in his room a picture of Maria Buckra, before which he generally
+burns a taper, and on her account he will never permit me to enter
+his apartment.  He once caught me looking at her, and I thought he
+would have killed me, and since then he always keeps his chamber
+locked, and carries the key in his pocket when he goes out.  He
+hates both Jew and Moor, and says that he is now living amongst
+them for his sins."
+
+"They do not place tapers before pictures," said I, and strolled
+forth to see the wonders of the land.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI
+
+
+
+The Mahasni--Sin Samani--The Bazaar--Moorish Saints--See the
+Ayana!--The Prickly Fig--Jewish Graves--The Place of Carcases--The
+Stable Boy--Horses of the Moslem--Dar Dwag.
+
+I was standing in the market-place, a spectator of much the same
+scene as I have already described, when a Moor came up to me and
+attempted to utter a few words in Spanish.  He was a tall elderly
+man, with sharp but rather whimsical features, and might have been
+called good-looking, had he not been one-eyed, a very common
+deformity in this country.  His body was swathed in an immense
+haik.  Finding that I could understand Moorish, he instantly began
+talking with immense volubility, and I soon learned that he was a
+Mahasni.  He expatiated diffusely on the beauties of Tangier, of
+which he said he was a native, and at last exclaimed, "Come, my
+sultan, come, my lord, and I will show you many things which will
+gladden your eyes, and fill your heart with sunshine; it were a
+shame in me, who have the advantage of being a son of Tangier, to
+permit a stranger who comes from an island in the great sea, as you
+tell me you do, for the purpose of seeing this blessed land, to
+stand here in the soc with no one to guide him.  By Allah, it shall
+not be so.  Make room for my sultan, make room for my lord," he
+continued, pushing his way through a crowd of men and children who
+had gathered round us; "it is his highness' pleasure to go with me.
+This way, my lord, this way"; and he led the way up the hill,
+walking at a tremendous rate and talking still faster.  "This
+street," said he, "is the Siarrin, and its like is not to be found
+in Tangier; observe how broad it is, even half the breadth of the
+soc itself; here are the shops of the most considerable merchants,
+where are sold precious articles of all kinds.  Observe those two
+men, they are Algerines and good Moslems; they fled from Zair
+(Algiers) when the Nazarenes conquered it, not by force of
+fighting, not by valour, as you may well suppose, but by gold; the
+Nazarenes only conquer by gold.  The Moor is good, the Moor is
+strong, who so good and strong? but he fights not with gold, and
+therefore he lost Zair.
+
+"Observe you those men seated on the benches by those portals:
+they are Mahasniah, they are my brethren.  See their haiks how
+white, see their turbans how white.  O that you could see their
+swords in the day of war, for bright, bright are their swords.  Now
+they bear no swords.  Wherefore should they?  Is there not peace in
+the land?  See you him in the shop opposite?  That is the Pasha of
+Tangier, that is the Hamed Sin Samani, the under Pasha of Tangier;
+the elder Pasha, my lord, is away on a journey; may Allah send him
+a safe return.  Yes, that is Hamed; he sits in his hanutz as were
+he nought more than a merchant, yet life and death are in his
+hands.  There he dispenses justice, even as he dispenses the
+essence of the rose and cochineal, and powder of cannon and
+sulphur; and these two last he sells on the account of Abderrahman,
+my lord and sultan, for none can sell powder and the sulphur dust
+in his land but the sultan.  Should you wish to purchase atar del
+nuar, should you wish to purchase the essence of the rose, you must
+go to the hanutz of Sin Samani, for there only you will get it
+pure; you must receive it from no common Moor, but only from Hamed.
+May Allah bless Hamed.  The Mahasniah, my brethren, wait to do his
+orders, for wherever sits the Pasha, there is a hall of judgment.
+See, now we are opposite the bazaar; beneath yon gate is the court
+of the bazaar; what will you not find in that bazaar?  Silks from
+Fez you will find there; and if you wish for sibat, if you wish for
+slippers for your feet, you must seek them there, and there also
+are sold curious things from the towns of the Nazarenes.  Those
+large houses on our left are habitations of Nazarene consuls; you
+have seen many such in your own land, therefore why should you stay
+to look at them?  Do you not admire this street of the Siarrin?
+Whatever enters or goes out of Tangier by the land passes through
+this street.  Oh, the riches that pass through this street!  Behold
+those camels, what a long train; twenty, thirty, a whole cafila
+descending the street.  Wullah!  I know those camels, I know the
+driver.  Good day, O Sidi Hassim, in how many days from Fez?  And
+now we are arrived at the wall, and we must pass under this gate.
+This gate is called Bab del Faz; we are now in the Soc de Barra."
+
+The Soc de Barra is an open place beyond the upper wall of Tangier,
+on the side of the hill.  The ground is irregular and steep; there
+are, however, some tolerably level spots.  In this place, every
+Thursday and Sunday morning, a species of mart is held, on which
+account it is called Soc de Barra, or the outward market-place.
+Here and there, near the town ditch, are subterranean pits with
+small orifices, about the circumference of a chimney, which are
+generally covered with a large stone, or stuffed with straw.  These
+pits are granaries, in which wheat, barley, and other species of
+grain intended for sale are stored.  On one side are two or three
+rude huts, or rather sheds, beneath which keep watch the guardians
+of the corn.  It is very dangerous to pass over this hill at night,
+after the town gates are closed, as at that time numerous large and
+ferocious dogs are let loose, who would to a certainty pull down,
+and perhaps destroy, any stranger who should draw nigh.  Half way
+up the hill are seen four white walls, inclosing a spot about ten
+feet square, where rest the bones of Sidi Mokhfidh, a saint of
+celebrity, who died some fifteen years ago.  Here terminates the
+soc; the remainder of the hill is called El Kawar, or the place of
+graves, being the common burying ground of Tangier; the resting
+places of the dead are severally distinguished by a few stones
+arranged so as to form an oblong circle.  Near Mokhfidh sleeps Sidi
+Gali; but the principal saint of Tangier lies interred on the top
+of the hill, in the centre of a small plain.  A beautiful chapel or
+mosque, with vaulted roof, is erected there in his honour, which is
+in general adorned with banners of various dyes.  The name of this
+saint is Mohammed el Hadge, and his memory is held in the utmost
+veneration in Tangier and its vicinity.  His death occurred at the
+commencement of the present century.
+
+These details I either gathered at the time or on subsequent
+occasions.  On the north side of the soc, close by the town, is a
+wall with a gate.  "Come," said the old Mahasni, giving a flourish
+with his hand; "Come, and I will show you the garden of a Nazarene
+consul."  I followed him through the gate, and found myself in a
+spacious garden laid out in the European taste, and planted with
+lemon and pear trees, and various kinds of aromatic shrubs.  It
+was, however, evident that the owner chiefly prided himself on his
+flowers, of which there were numerous beds.  There was a handsome
+summerhouse, and art seemed to have exhausted itself in making the
+place complete.
+
+One thing was wanting, and its absence was strangely remarkable in
+a garden at this time of the year; scarcely a leaf was to be seen.
+The direst of all the plagues which devastated Egypt was now busy
+in this part of Africa--the locust was at work, and in no place
+more fiercely than in the particular spot where I was now standing.
+All around looked blasted.  The trees were brown and bald as in
+winter.  Nothing green save the fruits, especially the grapes, huge
+clusters of which were depending from the "parras"; for the locust
+touches not the fruit whilst a single leaf remains to be devoured.
+As we passed along the walks these horrible insects flew against us
+in every direction, and perished by hundreds beneath our feet.
+"See the ayanas," said the old Mahasni, "and hear them eating.
+Powerful is the ayana, more powerful than the sultan or the consul.
+Should the sultan send all his Mahasniah against the ayana, should
+he send me with them, the ayana would say, 'Ha! ha!'  Powerful is
+the ayana!  He fears not the consul.  A few weeks ago the consul
+said, 'I am stronger than the ayana, and I will extirpate him from
+the land.'  So he shouted through the city, 'O Tangerines! speed
+forth to fight the ayana,--destroy him in the egg; for know that
+whosoever shall bring me one pound weight of the eggs of the ayana,
+unto him will I give five reals of Spain; there shall be no ayanas
+this year.'  So all Tangier rushed forth to fight the ayana, and to
+collect the eggs which the ayana had laid to hatch beneath the sand
+on the sides of the hills, and in the roads, and in the plains.
+And my own child, who is seven years old, went forth to fight the
+ayana, and he alone collected eggs to the weight of five pounds,
+eggs which the ayana had placed beneath the sand, and he carried
+them to the consul, and the consul paid the price.  And hundreds
+carried eggs to the consul, more or less, and the consul paid them
+the price, and in less than three days the treasure chest of the
+consul was exhausted.  And then he cried, 'Desist, O Tangerines!
+perhaps we have destroyed the ayana, perhaps we have destroyed them
+all.'  Ha! ha!  Look around you, and beneath you, and above you,
+and tell me whether the consul has destroyed the ayana.  Oh,
+powerful is the ayana!  More powerful than the consul, more
+powerful than the sultan and all his armies."
+
+It will be as well to observe here, that within a week from this
+time all the locusts had disappeared, no one knew how, only a few
+stragglers remained.  But for this providential deliverance, the
+fields and gardens in the vicinity of Tangier would have been
+totally devastated.  These insects were of an immense size, and of
+a loathly aspect.
+
+We now passed over the see to the opposite side, where stand the
+huts of the guardians.  Here a species of lane presents itself,
+which descends to the sea-shore; it is deep and precipitous, and
+resembles a gully or ravine.  The banks on either side are covered
+with the tree which bears the prickly fig, called in Moorish,
+Kermous del Inde.  There is something wild and grotesque in the
+appearance of this tree or plant, for I know not which to call it.
+Its stem, though frequently of the thickness of a man's body, has
+no head, but divides itself, at a short distance from the ground,
+into many crooked branches, which shoot in all directions, and bear
+green and uncouth leaves, about half an inch in thickness, and
+which, if they resemble anything, present the appearance of the
+fore fins of a seal, and consist of multitudinous fibres.  The
+fruit, which somewhat resembles a pear, has a rough tegument
+covered with minute prickles, which instantly enter the hand which
+touches them, however slightly, and are very difficult to extract.
+I never remember to have seen vegetation in ranker luxuriance than
+that which these fig-trees exhibited, nor upon the whole a more
+singular spot.  "Follow me," said the Mahasni, "and I will show you
+something which you will like to see."  So he turned to the left,
+leading the way by a narrow path up the steep bank, till we reached
+the summit of a hillock, separated by a deep ditch from the wall of
+Tangier.  The ground was thickly covered with the trees already
+described, which spread their strange arms along the surface, and
+whose thick leaves crushed beneath our feet as we walked along.
+Amongst them I observed a large number of stone slabs lying
+horizontally; they were rudely scrawled over with odd characters,
+which I stooped down to inspect.  "Are you Talib enough to read
+those signs?" exclaimed the old Moor.  "They are letters of the
+accursed Jews; this is their mearrah, as they call it, and here
+they inter their dead.  Fools, they trust in Muza, when they might
+believe in Mohammed, and therefore their dead shall burn
+everlastingly in Jehinnim.  See, my sultan, how fat is the soil of
+this mearrah of the Jews; see what kermous grow here.  When I was a
+boy I often came to the mearrah of the Jews to eat kermous in the
+season of their ripeness.  The Moslem boys of Tangier love the
+kermous of the mearrah of the Jews; but the Jews will not gather
+them.  They say that the waters of the springs which nourish the
+roots of these trees, pass among the bodies of their dead, and for
+that reason it is an abomination to taste of these fruits.  Be this
+true, or be it not, one thing is certain, in whatever manner
+nourished, good are the kermous which grow in the mearrah of the
+Jews."
+
+We returned to the lane by the same path by which we had come:  as
+we were descending it he said, "Know, my sultan, that the name of
+the place where we now are, and which you say you like much, is Dar
+Sinah (the house of the trades).  You will ask me why it bears that
+name, as you see neither house nor man, neither Moslem, Nazarene,
+nor Jew, only our two selves; I will tell you, my sultan, for who
+can tell you better than myself?  Learn, I pray you, that Tangier
+was not always what it is now, nor did it occupy always the place
+which it does now.  It stood yonder (pointing to the east) on those
+hills above the shore, and ruins of houses are still to be seen
+there, and the spot is called Old Tangier.  So in the old time, as
+I have heard say, this Dar Sinah was a street, whether without or
+within the wall matters not, and there resided men of all trades;
+smiths of gold and silver, and iron, and tin, and artificers of all
+kinds:  you had only to go to the Dar Sinah if you wished for
+anything wrought, and there instantly you would find a master of
+the particular craft.  My sultan tells me he likes the look of Dar
+Sinah at the present day; truly I know not why, especially as the
+kermous are not yet in their ripeness nor fit to eat.  If he likes
+Dar Sinah now, how would my sultan have liked it in the olden time,
+when it was filled with gold and silver, and iron and tin, and was
+noisy with the hammers, and the masters and the cunning men?  We
+are now arrived at the Chali del Bahar (sea-shore).  Take care, my
+sultan, we tread upon bones."
+
+We had emerged from the Dar Sinah, and the sea-shore was before us;
+on a sudden we found ourselves amongst a multitude of bones of all
+kinds of animals, and seemingly of all dates; some being blanched
+with time and exposure to sun and wind, whilst to others the flesh
+still partly clung; whole carcases were here, horses, asses, and
+even the uncouth remains of a camel.  Gaunt dogs were busy here,
+growling, tearing, and gnawing; amongst whom, unintimidated,
+stalked the carrion vulture, fiercely battening and even disputing
+with the brutes the garbage; whilst the crow hovered overhead and
+croaked wistfully, or occasionally perched upon some upturned rib
+bone.  "See," said the Mahasni, "the kawar of the animals.  My
+sultan has seen the kawar of the Moslems and the mearrah of the
+Jews; and he sees here the kawar of the animals.  All the animals
+which die in Tangier by the hand of God, horse, dog, or camel, are
+brought to this spot, and here they putrefy or are devoured by the
+birds of the heaven or the wild creatures that prowl on the chali.
+Come, my sultan, it is not good to remain long in this place."
+
+We were preparing to leave the spot, when we heard a galloping down
+the Dar Sinah, and presently a horse and rider darted at full speed
+from the mouth of the lane and appeared upon the strand; the
+horseman, when he saw us, pulled up his steed with much difficulty,
+and joined us.  The horse was small but beautiful, a sorrel with
+long mane and tail; had he been hoodwinked he might perhaps have
+been mistaken for a Cordovese jaca; he was broad-chested, and
+rotund in his hind quarters, and possessed much of the plumpness
+and sleekness which distinguish that breed, but looking in his eyes
+you would have been undeceived in a moment; a wild savage fire
+darted from the restless orbs, and so far from exhibiting the
+docility of the other noble and loyal animal, he occasionally
+plunged desperately, and could scarcely be restrained by a strong
+curb and powerful arm from resuming his former headlong course.
+The rider was a youth, apparently about eighteen, dressed as a
+European, with a Montero cap on his head:  he was athletically
+built, but with lengthy limbs, his feet, for he rode without
+stirrups or saddle, reaching almost to the ground; his complexion
+was almost as dark as that of a Mulatto; his features very
+handsome, the eyes particularly so, but filled with an expression
+which was bold and bad; and there was a disgusting look of
+sensuality about the mouth.  He addressed a few words to the
+Mahasni, with whom he seemed to be well acquainted, inquiring who I
+was.  The old man answered, "O Jew, my sultan understands our
+speech, thou hadst better address thyself to him."  The lad then
+spoke to me in Arabic, but almost instantly dropping that language
+proceeded to discourse in tolerable French.  "I suppose you are
+French," said he with much familiarity, "shall you stay long in
+Tangier?"  Having received an answer, he proceeded, "as you are an
+Englishman, you are doubtless fond of horses, know, therefore,
+whenever you are disposed for a ride, I will accompany you, and
+procure you horses.  My name is Ephraim Fragey:  I am stable-boy to
+the Neapolitan consul, who prizes himself upon possessing the best
+horses in Tangier; you shall mount any you please.  Would you like
+to try this little aoud (stallion)?"  I thanked him, but declined
+his offer for the present, asking him at the same time how he had
+acquired the French language, and why he, a Jew, did not appear in
+the dress of his brethren?  "I am in the service of a consul," said
+he, "and my master obtained permission that I might dress myself in
+this manner; and as to speaking French, I have been to Marseilles
+and Naples, to which last place I conveyed horses, presents from
+the Sultan.  Besides French, I can speak Italian."  He then
+dismounted, and holding the horse firmly by the bridle with one
+hand, proceeded to undress himself, which having accomplished, he
+mounted the animal and rode into the water.  The skin of his body
+was much akin in colour to that of a frog or toad, but the frame
+was that of a young Titan.  The horse took to the water with great
+unwillingness, and at a small distance from the shore commenced
+struggling with his rider, whom he twice dashed from his back; the
+lad, however, clung to the bridle, and detained the animal.  All
+his efforts, however, being unavailing to ride him deeper in, he
+fell to washing him strenuously with his hands, then leading him
+out, he dressed himself and returned by the way he came.
+
+"Good are the horses of the Moslems," said my old friend, "where
+will you find such?  They will descend rocky mountains at full
+speed and neither trip nor fall, but you must be cautious with the
+horses of the Moslems, and treat them with kindness, for the horses
+of the Moslems are proud, and they like not being slaves.  When
+they are young and first mounted, jerk not their mouths with your
+bit, for be sure if you do they will kill you; sooner or later, you
+will perish beneath their feet.  Good are our horses; and good our
+riders, yea, very good are the Moslems at mounting the horse; who
+are like them?  I once saw a Frank rider compete with a Moslem on
+this beach, and at first the Frank rider had it all his own way,
+and he passed the Moslem, but the course was long, very long, and
+the horse of the Frank rider, which was a Frank also, panted; but
+the horse of the Moslem panted not, for he was a Moslem also, and
+the Moslem rider at last gave a cry and the horse sprang forward
+and he overtook the Frank horse, and then the Moslem rider stood up
+in his saddle.  How did he stand?  Truly he stood on his head, and
+these eyes saw him; he stood on his head in the saddle as he passed
+the Frank rider; and he cried ha! ha! as he passed the Frank rider;
+and the Moslem horse cried ha! ha! as he passed the Frank breed,
+and the Frank lost by a far distance.  Good are the Franks; good
+their horses; but better are the Moslems, and better the horses of
+the Moslems."
+
+We now directed our steps towards the town, but not by the path we
+came:  turning to the left under the hill of the mearrah, and along
+the strand, we soon came to a rudely paved way with a steep ascent,
+which wound beneath the wall of the town to a gate, before which,
+on one side, were various little pits like graves, filled with
+water or lime.  "This is Dar Dwag," said the Mahasni; "this is the
+house of the bark, and to this house are brought the hides; all
+those which are prepared for use in Tangier are brought to this
+house, and here they are cured with lime, and bran, and bark, and
+herbs.  And in this Dar Dwag there are one hundred and forty pits;
+I have counted them myself; and there were more which have now
+ceased to be, for the place is very ancient.  And these pits are
+hired not by one, nor by two, but by many people, and whosoever
+list can rent one of these pits and cure the hides which he may
+need; but the owner of all is one man, and his name is Cado
+Ableque.  And now my sultan has seen the house of the bark, and I
+will show him nothing more this day; for to-day is Youm al Jumal
+(Friday), and the gates will be presently shut whilst the Moslems
+perform their devotions.  So I will accompany my sultan to the
+guest house, and there I will leave him for the present."
+
+We accordingly passed through a gate, and ascending a street found
+ourselves before the mosque where I had stood in the morning; in
+another minute or two we were at the door of Joanna Correa.  I now
+offered my kind guide a piece of silver as a remuneration for his
+trouble, whereupon he drew himself up and said:-
+
+"The silver of my sultan I will not take, for I consider that I
+have done nothing to deserve it.  We have not yet visited all the
+wonderful things of this blessed town.  On a future day I will
+conduct my sultan to the castle of the governor, and to other
+places which my sultan will be glad to see; and when we have seen
+all we can, and my sultan is content with me, if at any time he see
+me in the soc of a morning, with my basket in my hand, and he see
+nothing in that basket, then is my sultan at liberty as a friend to
+put grapes in my basket, or bread in my basket, or fish or meat in
+my basket.  That will I not refuse of my sultan, when I shall have
+done more for him than I have now.  But the silver of my sultan
+will I not take now nor at any time."  He then waved his hand
+gently and departed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII
+
+
+
+Strange Trio--The Mulatto--The Peace-offering--Moors of Granada--
+Vive la Guadeloupo--The Moors--Pascual Fava--Blind Algerine--The
+Retreat.
+
+Three men were seated in the wustuddur of Joanna Correa, when I
+entered; singular-looking men they all were, though perhaps three
+were never gathered together more unlike to each other in all
+points.  The first on whom I cast my eye was a man about sixty,
+dressed in a grey kerseymere coat with short lappets, yellow
+waistcoat, and wide coarse canvas trousers; upon his head was a
+very broad dirty straw hat, and in his hand he held a thick cane
+with ivory handle; his eyes were bleared and squinting, his face
+rubicund, and his nose much carbuncled.  Beside him sat a good-
+looking black, who perhaps appeared more negro than he really was,
+from the circumstance of his being dressed in spotless white jean--
+jerkin, waistcoat, and pantaloons being all of that material:  his
+head gear consisted of a blue Montero cap.  His eyes sparkled like
+diamonds, and there was an indescribable expression of good humour
+and fun upon his countenance.  The third man was a Mulatto, and by
+far the most remarkable personage of the group:  he might be
+between thirty and forty; his body was very long, and though
+uncouthly put together, exhibited every mark of strength and
+vigour; it was cased in a ferioul of red wool, a kind of garment
+which descends below the hips.  His long muscular and hairy arms
+were naked from the elbow, where the sleeves of the ferioul
+terminate; his under limbs were short in comparison with his body
+and arms; his legs were bare, but he wore blue kandrisa as far as
+the knee; every features of his face was ugly, exceedingly and
+bitterly ugly, and one of his eyes was sightless, being covered
+with a white film.  By his side on the ground was a large barrel,
+seemingly a water-cask, which he occasionally seized with a finger
+and thumb, and waved over his head as if it had been a quart pot.
+Such was the trio who now occupied the wustuddur of Joanna Correa:
+and I had scarcely time to remark what I have just recorded, when
+that good lady entered from a back court with her handmaid Johar,
+or the pearl, an ugly fat Jewish girl with an immense mole on her
+cheek.
+
+"Que Dios remate tu nombre," exclaimed the Mulatto; "may Allah blot
+out your name, Joanna, and may he likewise blot out that of your
+maid Johar.  It is more than fifteen minutes that I have been
+seated here, after having poured out into the tinaja the water
+which I brought from the fountain, and during all that time I have
+waited in vain for one single word of civility from yourself or
+from Johar.  Usted no tiene modo, you have no manner with you, nor
+more has Johar.  This is the only house in Tangier where I am not
+received with fitting love and respect, and yet I have done more
+for you than for any other person.  Have I not filled your tinaja
+with water when other people have gone without a drop?  When even
+the consul and the interpreter of the consul had no water to slake
+their thirst, have you not had enough to wash your wustuddur?  And
+what is my return?  When I arrive in the heat of the day, I have
+not one kind word spoken to me, nor so much as a glass of makhiah
+offered to me; must I tell you all that I do for you, Joanna?
+Truly I must, for you have no manner with you.  Do I not come every
+morning just at the third hour; and do I not knock at your door;
+and do you not arise and let me in, and then do I not knead your
+bread in your presence, whilst you lie in bed, and because I knead
+it, is not yours the best bread in Tangier?  For am I not the
+strongest man in Tangier, and the most noble also?"  Here he
+brandished his barrel over his head, and his face looked almost
+demoniacal.  "Hear me, Joanna," he continued, "you know that I am
+the strongest man in Tangier, and I tell you again, for the
+thousandth time, that I am the most noble.  Who are the consuls?
+Who is the Pasha?  They are pashas and consuls now, but who were
+their fathers?  I know not, nor do they.  But do I not know who my
+fathers were?  Were they not Moors of Garnata (Granada), and is it
+not on that account that I am the strongest man in Tangier?  Yes, I
+am of the old Moors of Garnata, and my family has lived here, as is
+well known, since Garnata was lost to the Nazarenes, and now I am
+the only one of my family of the blood of the old Moors in all this
+land, and on that account I am of nobler blood than the sultan, for
+the sultan is not of the blood of the Moors of Garnata.  Do you
+laugh, Joanna?  Does your maid Johar laugh?  Am I not Hammin
+Widdir, el hombre mas valido de Tanger?  And is it not true that I
+am of the blood of the Moors of Garnata?  Deny it, and I will kill
+you both, you and your maid Johar."
+
+"You have been eating hashish and majoon, Hammin," said Joanna
+Correa, "and the Shaitan has entered into you, as he but too
+frequently does.  I have been busy, and so has Johar, or we should
+have spoken to you before; however, mai doorshee (it does not
+signify), I know how to pacify you now and at all times, will you
+take some gin-bitters, or a glass of common makhiah?"
+
+"May you burst, O Joanna," said the Mulatto, "and may Johar also
+burst; I mean, may you both live many years, and know neither pain
+nor sorrow.  I will take the gin-bitters, O Joanna, because they
+are stronger than the makhiah, which always appears to me like
+water; and I like not water, though I carry it.  Many thanks to
+you, Joanna, here is health to you, Joanna, and to this good
+company."
+
+She had handed him a large tumbler filled to the brim; he put it to
+his nostrils, snuffled in the flavour, and then applying it to his
+mouth, removed it not whilst one drop of the fluid remained.  His
+features gradually relaxed from their former angry expression, and
+looking particularly amiable at Joanna, he at last said:
+
+"I hope that within a little time, O Joanna, you will be persuaded
+that I am the strongest man in Tangier, and that I am sprung from
+the blood of the Moors of Garnata, as then you will no longer
+refuse to take me for a husband, you and your maid Johar, and to
+become Moors.  What a glory to you, after having been married to a
+Genoui, and given birth to Genouillos, to receive for a husband a
+Moor like me, and to bear him children of the blood of Garnata.
+What a glory too for Johar, how much better than to marry a vile
+Jew, even like Hayim Ben Atar, or your cook Sabia, both of whom I
+could strangle with two fingers, for am I not Hammin Widdir Moro de
+Garnata, el hombre mas valido be Tanger?"  He then shouldered his
+barrel and departed.
+
+"Is that Mulatto really what he pretends to be?" said I to Joanna;
+"is he a descendant of the Moors of Granada?"
+
+"He always talks about the Moors of Granada when he is mad with
+majoon or aguardiente," interrupted, in bad French, the old man
+whom I have before described, and in the same croaking voice which
+I had heard chanting in the morning.  "Nevertheless it may be true,
+and if he had not heard something of the kind from his parents, he
+would never have imagined such a thing, for he is too stupid.  As I
+said before, it is by no means impossible:  many of the families of
+Granada settled down here when their town was taken by the
+Christians, but the greater part went to Tunis.  When I was there,
+I lodged in the house of a Moor who called himself Zegri, and was
+always talking of Granada and the things which his forefathers had
+done there.  He would moreover sit for hours singing romances of
+which I understood not one word, praised be the mother of God, but
+which he said all related to his family; there were hundreds of
+that name in Tunis, therefore why should not this Hammin, this
+drunken water-carrier, be a Moor of Granada also?  He is ugly
+enough to be emperor of all the Moors.  O the accursed canaille, I
+have lived amongst them for my sins these eight years, at Oran and
+here.  Monsieur, do you not consider it to be a hard case for an
+old man like myself, who am a Christian, to live amongst a race who
+know not God, nor Christ, nor anything holy?"
+
+"What do you mean," said I, "by asserting that the Moors know not
+God?  There is no people in the world who entertain sublimer
+notions of the uncreated eternal God than the Moors, and no people
+have ever shown themselves more zealous for his honour and glory;
+their very zeal for the glory of God has been and is the chief
+obstacle to their becoming Christians.  They are afraid of
+compromising his dignity by supposing that he ever condescended to
+become man.  And with respect to Christ, their ideas even of him
+are much more just than those of the Papists, they say he is a
+mighty prophet, whilst, according to the others, he is either a
+piece of bread or a helpless infant.  In many points of religion
+the Moors are wrong, dreadfully wrong, but are the Papists less so?
+And one of their practices sets them immeasurably below the Moors
+in the eyes of any unprejudiced person:  they bow down to idols,
+Christian idols if you like, but idols still, things graven of wood
+and stone and brass, and from these things, which can neither hear,
+nor speak, nor feel, they ask and expect to obtain favours."
+
+"Vive la France, Vive la Guadeloupe," said the black, with a good
+French accent.  "In France and in Guadeloupe there is no
+superstition, and they pay as much regard to the Bible as to the
+Koran; I am now learning to read in order that I may understand the
+writings of Voltaire, who, as I am told, has proved that both the
+one and the other were written with the sole intention of deceiving
+mankind.  O vive la France! where will you find such an enlightened
+country as France; and where will you find such a plentiful country
+as France?  Only one in the world, and that is Guadeloupe.  Is it
+not so, Monsieur Pascual?  Were you ever at Marseilles?  Ah quel
+bon pays est celui-la pour les vivres, pour les petits poulets,
+pour les poulardes, pour les perdrix, pour les perdreaux, pour les
+alouettes, pour les becasses, pour les becassines, enfin, pour
+tout."
+
+"Pray, sir, are you a cook?" demanded I.
+
+"Monsieur, je le suis pour vous rendre service, mon nom c'est
+Gerard, et j'ai l'honneur d'etre chef de cuisine chez monsieur le
+consul Hollandois.  A present je prie permission de vous saluer; il
+faut que j'aille a la maison pour faire le diner de mon maitre."
+
+At four I went to dine with the British consul.  Two other English
+gentlemen were present, who had arrived at Tangier from Gibraltar
+about ten days previously for a short excursion, and were now
+detained longer than they wished by the Levant wind.  They had
+already visited the principal towns in Spain, and proposed spending
+the winter either at Cadiz or Seville.  One of them, Mr. -, struck
+me as being one of the most remarkable men I had ever conversed
+with; he travelled not for diversion nor instigated by curiosity,
+but merely with the hope of doing spiritual good, chiefly by
+conversation.  The consul soon asked me what I thought of the Moors
+and their country.  I told him that what I had hitherto seen of
+both highly pleased me.  He said that were I to live amongst them
+ten years, as he had done, he believed I should entertain a very
+different opinion; that no people in the world were more false and
+cruel; that their government was one of the vilest description,
+with which it was next to an impossibility for any foreign power to
+hold amicable relations, as it invariably acted with bad faith, and
+set at nought the most solemn treaties.  That British property and
+interests were every day subjected to ruin and spoliation, and
+British subjects exposed to unheard-of vexations, without the
+slightest hope of redress being afforded, save recourse was had to
+force, the only argument to which the Moors were accessible.  He
+added, that towards the end of the preceding year an atrocious
+murder had been perpetrated in Tangier:  a Genoese family of three
+individuals had perished, all of whom were British subjects, and
+entitled to the protection of the British flag.  The murderers were
+known, and the principal one was even now in prison for the fact,
+yet all attempts to bring him to condign punishment had hitherto
+proved abortive, as he was a Moor, and his victims Christians.
+Finally he cautioned me, not to take walks beyond the wall
+unaccompanied by a soldier, whom he offered to provide for me
+should I desire it, as otherwise I incurred great risk of being
+ill-treated by the Moors of the interior whom I might meet, or
+perhaps murdered, and he instanced the case of a British officer
+who not long since had been murdered on the beach for no other
+reason than being a Nazarene, and appearing in a Nazarene dress.
+He at length introduced the subject of the Gospel, and I was
+pleased to learn that, during his residence in Tangier, he had
+distributed a considerable quantity of Bibles amongst the natives
+in the Arabic language, and that many of the learned men, or
+Talibs, had read the holy volume with great interest, and that by
+this distribution, which, it is true, was effected with much
+caution, no angry or unpleasant feeling had been excited.  He
+finally asked whether I had come with the intention of circulating
+the Scripture amongst the Moors.
+
+I replied that I had no opportunity of doing so, as I had not one
+single copy either in the Arable language or character.  That the
+few Testaments which were in my possession were in the Spanish
+language, and were intended for circulation amongst the Christians
+of Tangier, to whom they might be serviceable, as they all
+understood the language.
+
+It was night, and I was seated in the wustuddur of Joanna Correa,
+in company with Pascual Fava the Genoese.  The old man's favourite
+subject of discourse appeared to be religion, and he professed
+unbounded love for the Saviour, and the deepest sense of gratitude
+for his miraculous atonement for the sins of mankind.  I should
+have listened to him with pleasure had he not smelt very strongly
+of liquor, and by certain incoherence of language and wildness of
+manner given indications of being in some degree the worse for it.
+Suddenly two figures appeared beneath the doorway; one was that of
+a bare-headed and bare-legged Moorish boy of about ten years of
+age, dressed in a gelaba; he guided by the hand an old man, whom I
+at once recognised as one of the Algerines, the good Moslems of
+whom the old Mahasni had spoken in terms of praise in the morning
+whilst we ascended the street of the Siarrin.  He was very short of
+stature and dirty in his dress; the lower part of his face was
+covered with a stubbly white beard; before his eyes he wore a large
+pair of spectacles, from which he evidently received but little
+benefit, as he required the assistance of the guide at every step.
+The two advanced a little way into the wustuddur and there stopped.
+Pascual Fava no sooner beheld them, than assuming a jovial air he
+started nimbly up, and leaning on his stick, for he had a bent leg,
+limped to a cupboard, out of which he took a bottle and poured out
+a glass of wine, singing in the broken kind of Spanish used by the
+Moors of the coast:
+
+
+"Argelino,
+Moro fino,
+No beber vino,
+Ni comer tocino."
+
+(Algerine,
+Moor so keen,
+No drink wine,
+No taste swine.)
+
+
+He then handed the wine to the old Moor, who drank it off, and
+then, led by the boy, made for the door without saying a word.
+
+"Hade mushe halal," (that is not lawful,) said I to him with a loud
+voice.
+
+"Cul shee halal," (everything is lawful,) said the old Moor,
+turning his sightless and spectacled eyes in the direction from
+which my voice reached him.  "Of everything which God has given, it
+is lawful for the children of God to partake."
+
+"Who is that old man?" said I to Pascual Fava, after the blind and
+the leader of the blind had departed.  "Who is he!" said Pascual;
+"who is he!  He is a merchant now, and keeps a shop in the Siarrin,
+but there was a time when no bloodier pirate sailed out of Algier.
+That old blind wretch has cut more throats than he has hairs in his
+beard.  Before the French took the place he was the rais or captain
+of a frigate, and many was the poor Sardinian vessel which fell
+into his hands.  After that affair he fled to Tangier, and it is
+said that he brought with him a great part of the booty which he
+had amassed in former times.  Many other Algerines came hither
+also, or to Tetuan, but he is the strangest guest of them all.  He
+keeps occasionally very extraordinary company for a Moor, and is
+rather over intimate with the Jews.  Well, that's no business of
+mine; only let him look to himself.  If the Moors should once
+suspect him, it were all over with him.  Moors and Jews, Jews and
+Moors!  Oh my poor sins, my poor sins, that brought me to live
+amongst them! -
+
+
+"'Ave Maris stella,
+Dei Mater alma,
+Atque semper virgo,
+Felix coeli porta!'"
+
+
+He was proceeding in this manner when I was startled by the sound
+of a musket.
+
+"That is the retreat," said Pascual Fava.  "It is fired every night
+in the soc at half-past eight, and it is the signal for suspending
+all business, and shutting up.  I am now going to close the doors,
+and whosoever knocks, I shall not admit them till I know their
+voice.  Since the murder of the poor Genoese last year, we have all
+been particularly cautious."
+
+Thus had passed Friday, the sacred day of the Moslems, and the
+first which I had spent in Tangier.  I observed that the Moors
+followed their occupations as if the day had nothing particular in
+it.  Between twelve and one, the hour of prayer in the mosque, the
+gates of the town were closed, and no one permitted either to enter
+or go out.  There is a tradition, current amongst them, that on
+this day, and at this hour, their eternal enemies, the Nazarenes,
+will arrive to take possession of their country; on which account
+they hold themselves prepared against a surprisal.
+
+
+
+Footnote:
+
+{0}  "Om Frands Gonzales, og Rodrik Cid.
+End siunges i Sierra Murene!"
+Kronike Riim.  By Severin Grundtvig.  Copenhagen, 1829.
+
+{1}  Doing business, doing business--he has much business to do.
+
+{2}  The Gypsy word for Antonio.
+
+{3}  Devil.
+
+{4}  "Say nothing to him, my lad, he is a hog of an alguazil."
+
+{5}  El Serrador, a Carlist partisan, who about this period was
+much talked of in Spain.
+
+{6}  At the last attack on Warsaw, when the loss of the Russians
+amounted to upwards of twenty thousand men, the soldiery mounted
+the breach, repeating in measured chant, one of their popular
+songs:  "Come, let us cut the cabbage," &c.
+
+{7}  Twelve ounces of bread, small pound, as given in the prison.
+
+{8}  Witch.  Ger.  Hexe.
+
+{9}  A compound of the modern Greek [Greek text], and the Sanskrit
+kara, the literal meaning being Lord of the horse-shoe (i.e.
+maker); it is one of the private cognominations of "The Smiths," an
+English Gypsy clan.
+
+{10}  Of these lines the following translation, in the style of the
+old English ballad, will, perhaps, not be unacceptable:-
+
+{11}  "The king arrived, the king arrived, and disembarked at
+Belem."--Miguelite song.
+
+{12}  "How should I know?"
+
+{13}  Qu. The Epistle to the Romans.
+
+{14}  This was possibly the period when Admiral Duckworth attempted
+to force the passage of the Dardanelles.
+
+{15}  "See the crossing! see what devilish crossing!"
+
+{16}  The ancient Lethe.
+
+{17}  Inha, when affixed to words, serves as a diminutive.  It is
+much in use amongst the Gallegans.
+
+{18}  Perhaps Waterloo.
+
+{19}  About thirty pounds.
+
+{20}  [Greek text], as Antonio said.
+
+{21}  Nothing at all.
+
+{22}  A Rabbinical book, very difficult to be understood, though
+written avowedly for the purpose of elucidating many points
+connected with the religious ceremonies of the Hebrews.
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BIBLE IN SPAIN ***
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