Add files from ibiblio as of 2025-03-03 19:21:21HEADmain

3 files changed, 8789 insertions, 418 deletions

diff --git a/44490-0.txt b/44490-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15742b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/44490-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8786 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44490 ***
+
+Every attempt has been made to replicate the original as printed. No
+attempt has been made to correct or normalize the spelling or
+anglicization of non-English words. Some typographical errors have been
+corrected; a list follows the text. Some illustrations have been moved
+from mid-paragraph for ease of reading. (etext transcriber's note)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                NORTHERN
+                                 SPAIN
+
+                        _PAINTED AND DESCRIBED_
+
+                                   BY
+
+                           EDGAR T. A. WIGRAM
+
+                        [Illustration: colophon]
+
+                                 LONDON
+
+                          ADAM & CHARLES BLACK
+
+                                  1906
+
+     "There is, Sir, a good deal of Spain which has not been
+     perambulated. I would have you go thither."
+
+DR JOHNSON.
+
+
+     "And so you travel on foot?" said Leon. "How romantic! How
+     courageous!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     "Yes," returned the undergraduate, "it's rather nice than
+     otherwise, when once you're used to it; only it's devilish
+     difficult to get washed. I like the fresh air and these stars and
+     things."
+
+     "Aha!" said Leon, "Monsieur is an artist."
+
+     "Oh, nonsense!" cried the Englishman. "A fellow may admire the
+     stars and be anything he likes."
+
+R. L. STEVENSON.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: SEGÓVIA
+
+The Aqueduct.]
+
+TO
+
+W. A. W.
+
+
+
+SAEPE MECUM TEMPUS IN ULTIMUM
+DEDUCTO
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+It is ill gleaning for a necessitous author when Ford and Borrow have
+been before him in the field, and I may not attempt to justify the
+appearance of these pages by the pretence that I have any fresh story to
+tell. Yet, if my theme be old, it is at least still unhackneyed. The
+pioneers have done their work with unapproachable thoroughness, but the
+rank and file of the travelling public are following but slackly in
+their train.
+
+Year after year our horde of pleasure-seekers are marshalled by
+companies for the invasion of Europe: yet it would seem that there are
+but few in the total who have any real inkling of how to play the game.
+Some seem to migrate by instinct, and to make themselves miserable in
+the process. These ought to be restrained by their families, or
+compelled to hire substitutes in their stead. Others can indeed relish a
+flitting; but cannot find it in their hearts to divorce themselves from
+their dinner-table and their toilet-battery, their newspaper, their
+small-talk and their golf. To them all petty annoyances and
+inconveniences assume disproportionate dimensions, and they are well
+advised in checking their _razzias_ at San Sebástien, Pau, or Biarritz.
+But, to the elect, the very root of the pleasure of travel lies in the
+fact that their ordinary habits may be frankly laid aside. It is a mild
+method of "going _Fanti_" which rejoices their primitive instincts: and
+they will find both the land and the people just temperately primitive
+in Spain.
+
+Many of us have felt the fascination of Italy. But those who have "heard
+the East a-calling" tell us that her call is stronger still;--and Spain
+is the echo of the East. "Lofty and sour to them that love her not, but
+to those men that seek her sweet as summer." Even Italy, with all its
+charm, tastes flat to a Spanish enthusiast. He craves no other nor no
+better land.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It has been said of Spain, that none who have not been there are
+particularly desirous of going, and none who have been there once can
+refrain from going again. The author has not found himself exempt from
+this common fatality; and his notes and sketches, as embodied in this
+volume, are the fruit of four successive bicycle tours, undertaken
+sometimes alone, and sometimes in company with a kindred spirit. Of
+their shortcomings he believes that no one can be so conscious as
+himself. But in the hope that they may prove of interest to sympathisers
+he ventures to expose them to the public gaze.
+
+
+
+
+NOTE
+
+
+ALL Spanish names ending in vowels are pronounced with the stress on the
+penultimate; and those ending in consonants with the stress on the final
+syllable. Any exception is indicated by an accent.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+THE NORTH COAST OF CASTILE                                             1
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+COVADONGA AND EASTERN ASTÚRIAS                                        24
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS TO LEON                                          43
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE PILGRIM ROAD                                                      64
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE CIRCUIT OF GALÍCIA                                                89
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+WESTERN ASTÚRIAS                                                     113
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+BENAVENTE, ZAMORA, AND TORO                                          132
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SALAMANCA                                                            152
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+BÉJAR, ÁVILA, AND ESCORIAL                                           171
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+TOLEDO                                                               192
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A RAID INTO ESTREMADURA                                              215
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+SEGÓVIA                                                              237
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+BÚRGOS                                                               256
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+ACROSS NAVARRE                                                       278
+
+INDEX                                                                301
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+1. Segóvia. The Aqueduct                                   _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                             FACING PAGE
+
+2. Castro Urdiáles. The Bilbao Coastline                               6
+
+3. Castro Urdiáles. The Harbour                                       10
+
+4. Santoña                                                            12
+
+5. San Vicente de la Barquera                                         20
+
+6. The Deva Gorge. La Hérmida                                         22
+
+7. The Deva Gorge. Urdon                                              26
+
+8. Cángas de Onís. The Bridge over the Sella                          32
+
+9. The Sella Valley. Below Arrióndas                                  38
+
+10. Pasana. An Asturian Mountain Village                              40
+
+11. Llánes. The Harbour                                               42
+
+12. Leon. An Old Palace Doorway                                       50
+
+13. Leon. From the Pajáres Road                                       58
+
+14. Leon. Church of San Isidoro                                       60
+
+15. Leon. The Market Place, and Casa del Ayuntamiento                 62
+
+16. Astorga. From the South-east                                      68
+
+17. The Vierzo. From Ponferrada, looking towards
+    the Pass of Piedrafita                                            72
+
+18. Lugo. The Santiago Gate                                           78
+
+19. Lugo. Fuente de San Vicente                                       80
+
+20. Santiago de Compostela. From the Lugo Road                        82
+
+21. Santiago de Compostela. The Cathedral from the North-east         86
+
+22. Orense. The Bridge over the Miño                                  92
+
+23. Tuy and Valencia. The Frontier Towns on the Miño                  96
+
+24. Vigo Bay. The Inner Harbour, looking out towards the Sea         100
+
+25. Nuestra Señora de la Esclavitud                                  104
+
+26. Betánzos. A Colonnaded Calle                                     108
+
+27. The Masma Valley. Near Mondoñedo                                 110
+
+28. Rivadeo. An Approach to the Harbour                              114
+
+29. The Návia Valley                                                 116
+
+30. Cudillero. The Harbour                                           120
+
+31. Oviedo. A Street near the Cathedral                              124
+
+32. In the Pass of Pajáres. Near Pola de Gordon                      130
+
+33. Benavente. From above the Bridge of Castro Gonzalo               134
+
+34. Zamora. From the banks of the Duero                              140
+
+35. Zamora. Church of Sta Maria de la Horta                          144
+
+36. A Spanish Patio                                                  148
+
+37. Toro. From the banks of the Duero                                150
+
+38. Salamanca. Arcades in the Plaza de la Verdura                    156
+
+39. Salamanca. Church of San Martin                                  160
+
+40. Salamanca. From the left bank of the Tormes                      164
+
+41. Salamanca. The Puerta del Rio, with the Cathedral Tower          168
+
+42. Béjar. An Approach to the Town                                   174
+
+43. Béjar. A Corner in the Market-place                              176
+
+44. Ávila. From the North-west                                       180
+
+45. Ávila. A Posada Patio                                            184
+
+46. Escorial. From the East                                          188
+
+47. Toledo. Bridge of Alcántara, from the Illescas Road              194
+
+48. Toledo. The Bridge of Alcántara                                  198
+
+49. Toledo. Puerta del Sol                                           200
+
+50. Toledo. Calle del Comércio, with the Cathedral Tower             204
+
+51. Toledo. The Gorge of the Tagus                                   208
+
+52. Talavera de la Reina. From the banks of the Tagus                212
+
+53. Plaséncia. Puente San Lazaro                                     216
+
+54. Plaséncia. The Town Walls and Cathedral                          218
+
+55. Cáceres. Within the old Town Walls                               222
+
+56. Cáceres. Calle de la Cuesta de Aldana                            226
+
+57. Mérida. "Los Milagros," the ruins of the Great Aqueduct          228
+
+58. Alcántara                                                        232
+
+59. Segóvia. Church of San Miguel                                    238
+
+60. Segóvia. Arco San Estéban                                        244
+
+61. Segóvia. The Alcázar                                             248
+
+62. Segóvia. Arco Santiago                                           252
+
+63. Segóvia. Church of San Estéban                                   254
+
+64. Búrgos. Arco San Martin                                          260
+
+65. Dueñas                                                           264
+
+66. Búrgos. Hospital del Rey                                         266
+
+67. Búrgos. Arco Sta Maria                                           268
+
+68. Búrgos. Patio of the Casa de Miranda                             272
+
+69. Búrgos. From the East                                            276
+
+70. The Gorge of Pancorvo                                            282
+
+71. La Rioja Alavesa. Looking Northwards across the Ebro             284
+
+72. Miranda del Ebro. A Corner in the Town                           288
+
+73. Pamplona. From the Road to the Frontier                          290
+
+74. Olite. The Castle                                                292
+
+75. Pamplona. A Patio near the Cathedral                             296
+
+_Map at end of Volume._
+
+     _The design of the Cover is adapted from the façade of the Casa de
+     las Conchas (House of the Shells) at Salamanca._
+
+     _The device on the Title Page is taken from a wrought-iron knocker
+     of the Cathedral at Toledo._
+
+_The illustrations in this volume have been engraved and printed
+in England by Messrs Carl Hentschel, Ltd._
+
+
+
+
+NORTHERN SPAIN
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE NORTH COAST OF CASTILE
+
+
+DEAR E.,--Can you manage to get off some time in May and go bicycling
+with me in Norway? Blank's have offered me a passage to Bergen.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+DEAR W.,--I can manage your date, but don't quite feel drawn to your
+country. Norway is all mountains, and I want a little archæology. I had
+been thinking of Provence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+DEAR E.,--No objection to Provence. Blank's will give us a passage in
+one of their colliers to Bilbao, and we can ride in across the Pyrenees.
+You must allow me some mountains.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+DEAR W.,--It's awfully good of Blank's. But once at Bilbao, why not
+stick to Spain? Toledo is no further than Toulouse, and Cantabria as
+mountainous as the Pyrenees.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+DEAR E.,--Very good! Spain first; and Provence second string if
+necessary. There's a boat sailing about May 20th.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The casting vote was indisputably the collier's; but our plans were not
+quite so inconsequent as this conclusion might lead one to infer. Some
+nebulous notion of a Spanish expedition had been miraging itself before
+our eyes for several seasons previously; and it is the nature of such
+nebulous notions to materialise accidentally at the last. Hitherto we
+had been awed by the drawbacks; for Spain had been pictured to us as
+positively alive with bugbears. Travelling was difficult--nay, even
+dangerous; the people were Anglophobists, the country a desert, and the
+cities dens of pestilence. The roads were unridable, and the heat
+unbearable. We should be eaten of fleas, and choked with garlic; and to
+crown all our other tribulations, we should have to learn a new and
+unknown tongue. The knight who plunged into the lake of pitch had hardly
+a more inviting prospect; and the fairy palaces beneath it did not
+yield him an ampler reward. Provence still waits unvisited; neither have
+we now any immediate intention of going there. We still keep going to
+Spain.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The owners said she would sail on Thursday; but Wednesday brought down
+the captain in a highly energetic condition, and confident of catching
+the midnight tide. We had to make a bolt for the docks by the last train
+of the evening, and groped our way to the _Amadeo_ through a haze of
+coal dust, only to be met by the intelligence that the captain had gone
+home to bed! There was nothing for it but to camp in the cabin, where
+night was made constantly hideous by the coal roaring into the
+after-hold: and next morning found us out in the middle of the dock,
+sitting on our tail with our bows pointing to heaven. The coal for the
+fore-hold had failed us, and a luckier rival had ousted us from our
+berth at the staithes. The morning was occupied in resolving a general
+tangle; for every ship in the basin seemed to fall foul of all the
+others in turn. Soon a second tide was lost. And when we regained the
+staithes there came another break in our procession of coal trucks.
+"Oh! the little cargo boats that clear with _every_ tide!"
+
+We flung ashore in despair. But a more hopeful sight saluted us when we
+returned. The _Amadeo_ lay out by the dock gates, long and low, with her
+main deck but eighteen inches above the water. At last she was fully
+laden; and we sailed on the Friday morn.
+
+So long as we remained in Tyne Dock we had not judged ourselves
+conspicuously dirty; but we showed as a crying scandal when out in the
+clean blue sea. The mate even bewailed the calm weather. If we "took it
+green" once we should be clean immediately. But such heroic methods of
+labour-saving we very contentedly excused. Meanwhile we made leisurely
+progress, for the _Amadeo_ was no greyhound. "She never yet caught
+anything with steam in her" according to her despondent engineer.
+Saturday's sun set behind Dover--the great cliffs looming darkly over
+us, and the town lights showing like pin-holes pricked through the
+blackness to the glowing sky beyond. Sunday showed us the grim teeth of
+the Caskets; and the weird natural dolmens of Ushant were passed the
+following day. But Providence still continued to temper the wind to that
+very shorn lamb the _Amadeo_, and the dreaded Bay was as smooth as a
+sheet of rippled glass.
+
+About Wednesday evening the captain began to wax very bitter concerning
+Spanish lighthouses, and we went below better satisfied that deep water
+should last us till dawn! But the first rays of light showed us a long
+line of blue peaks high on the horizon to the southward, and within an
+hour our voyage was over. "In we came--and time enough--'cross Bilbao
+bar."
+
+It was from the sea that I had my first view of Genoa and the Italian
+Riviera, and the seaward approach to Bilbao deserves no meaner
+comparison than this. The romantic hills reared themselves from the
+water's edge, unwinding their veils at the touch of the early sunshine;
+and the sparkling villages clinging to the cliffs round the shell-shaped
+harbour of Portugalete made a picture which might have been borrowed
+from Lugano or Lucerne. A tumult of tossing peaks was piled in disorder
+to the eastward, above the smoke of the iron furnaces in the winding
+valley of the Nervion; and far away to the westward, ridge upon ridge
+fell sloping down into the blue waters of the Atlantic; sometimes
+breaking off so sheer at the finish that the ore ships could actually
+moor alongside to load. The beauty of the Spanish coast is a favourite
+theme of visitors to San Sebástien, but they know not a tithe of the
+truth which they are so eager to proclaim. The whole Atlantic littoral
+from the Bidassoa to the Miño is teeming with equal attractions, and the
+immediate vicinity of Bilbao is a stretch which is second to none.
+
+Neither were our first impressions of the people less favourable than
+those of the country. And that though they were formed in the Custom
+House, which is scarcely a promising beat. These hospitable officials
+were if anything over-considerate; for we were only anxious to pay and
+have done with it, while they were all intent on excusing us, if they
+could find any justification under the code. At last, however, we were
+allowed to purchase our freedom; fled to our machines amid a haze of
+reciprocal compliments; and a few minutes later were drifting along the
+road to the westward, with no more care for the morrow than flotsam on
+uncharted seas.
+
+[Illustration: CASTRO URDIÁLES
+
+The Bilbao Coastline.]
+
+The busy industries of Bilbao have unfortunately gone some way towards
+marring its lovely situation. Its valley is choked with smoky factories;
+and its mountains are one vast red scar from base to summit, the
+entire face having been flayed away for ironstone, and ladled out into
+the ore ships along the aërial railways to feed the blast furnaces of
+Sheffield and Middlesborough. Our uglier trades seem to take malicious
+delight in ruining the prettiest landscapes. But their dominion is but
+for a season, and the land will enjoy its Sabbaths in the end. We only
+scratch Nature skin-deep, and her wealds will devour our black
+countries. "After a thousand years," say the Spaniards, "the river
+returns to his bed."
+
+Beyond the blight of the quarries, the scenery is of the type of our own
+Welsh highlands--steep, rocky ridges and gullies, thickly clothed with
+bracken and scrub oak. Even the railway has a most charming ramble,
+hunting its own tail up and down the long, steep, corkscrew gradients of
+the inland valleys. But the road clambers along the deeply fissured
+coast line, and no free agent will elect to follow the rail. Our first
+stage, however, was but a short one, for it was evening when we quitted
+Bilbao. Castro Urdiales gaped for us with its cavernous little _calle_,
+and we dived in to seek quarters for the night.
+
+Surely a town so close to Bilbao might have been expected to be inured
+to visitors! Yet our modest progress through the streets of Castro
+created as great a sensation as though we had been "Corsica" Boswell in
+his costume of scarlet and gold. The children formed up in procession
+behind us. Their elders turned out to take stock of us from the
+balconies. And a voluble old pilot (whose knowledge of English was about
+equal to our Spanish) came bustling out of a café to conduct us to the
+primitive little inn.
+
+It is a fortunate thing that a traveller's needs can be guessed without
+much vocabulary; for our first task was to order our supper, and
+mistakes may be serious when you have to eat the result. The enterprise,
+however, is not so hazardous as one imagines. Like Sancho Panza, you may
+ask for what you will;--but what you get is "the pair of cow heels
+dressed with chick peas, onions and bacon which are just now done to a
+turn." After all, we did not fare badly; mine hostess was a damsel of
+resources, and our old pilot prompted us vigorously from the rear. It
+was he who suggested the "lamp-post"--a threat at which we jibbed
+somewhat visibly. But the girl plunged promptly into the kitchen behind
+her and returned displaying the "lamp-post"--which was a lobster. As to
+the three weird courses which followed him, our conclusions were not
+equally positive. They appeared in cryptic disguises;--_carne_, "meat"
+which defied identification. There is no declaration of origin in most
+of the dishes of Spain. Yet the traveller need not be nervous. He can
+generally trust Maritornes. Let him eat what is set before him, asking
+no questions for conscience sake.
+
+One might travel a long way along any coast line before finding a
+prettier haven than Castro Urdiales. The nucleus of the town, with the
+church and castle, is perched upon a rocky promontory, whose cliffs drop
+sheer into the deep water, and whose outlying pinnacles have been linked
+up to the mainland by irregular arches so as to form natural wharves. A
+little harbour for fishing-craft nestles under the cliff to the
+eastward; looking back along the coast to Bilbao, and the bold conical
+hill with the watch-tower (reminiscent of Barbary pirates), which guards
+the entrance to the harbour of Portugalete. Yet all this fair exterior
+hides a hideous secret, and at last we surprised it unaware.
+
+We were well acquainted with sardines in England, and it had not escaped
+our cognisance that sardines were commonly bereft of heads. Had it ever
+occurred to us that all those heads were somewhere? Well, the dreadful
+truth must be acknowledged; they were here. Yes, here at Castro
+Urdiales--a mountain of gibbous eyes and a smell to poison the
+heavens--awaiting the kindly wave which would eventually garner them in
+from the ledge upon which they were stewing, and deliver them over to
+the "lamp-posts" in the crevices of the rock below.
+
+Castro Urdiales is a city of ambitions. It is keeping pace with the era,
+and in 1901 its most antiquated alley had been already dignified by the
+title of "Twentieth Century Street." Since then it has developed a
+ponderous steel bridge in the harbour, and thrown out a massive concrete
+break-water from the end of the modest jetty. But its progress is not to
+be deprecated where it does not interfere with its beauty; and now a
+comfortable _Fonda_ has supplanted the humble _Venta_ which was our
+first lodging on Spanish soil.
+
+[Illustration: CASTRO URDIÁLES
+
+The Harbour.]
+
+Our road next day still followed the mountainous coast line, and we
+descended at noon upon the roofs of Laredo, a delightful little town,
+climbing up the steep hillside above its tiny anchorage, and facing the
+great mass of Santoña, the "Gibraltar of the North." This imposing
+fortress lies across the mouth of an immense land-locked lagoon,
+and in size, shape, and situation is almost a replica of the famous
+Rock. It has no such strategical value, but is probably equally
+impregnable; for it was the only northern city where the French flag was
+still waving at the close of that "War of Liberation" which we style the
+Peninsular War.
+
+At Laredo we dined, and as Spanish meals are the subject of much
+needless apprehension, perhaps we may pause to say a word in their
+defence before proceeding further upon our way. We begin with _Desayuno_
+or _petit déjeuner_, and here, in a genuinely Spanish _ménage_,
+chocolate will generally take the place of the Frenchman's _café au
+lait_. It is served in tiny cups, very hot and very thick. It is really
+a substitute for butter, and you eat it by dipping your bread in it,
+washing it down with a glass of cold water, which you are expected to
+"sugar to taste." The peasants, however, eschew this fashion as
+new-fangled, and content themselves with a draught of wine or a
+thimbleful of "the craythur." This is not recommended by the faculty,
+but travellers have sometimes to be content.
+
+[Illustration: SANTONA]
+
+Dinner, or _Comida_, is served about mid-day; the nominal time varies,
+but it is always half an hour late. In many districts, however, this
+title is transferred to the supper, and then the luncheon is known as
+_Almuerzo_--_Déjeuner_. It is a very substantial banquet of some
+half-dozen courses, inaugurated (in strictly classical fashion) by an
+egg. Next comes a dish of haricot beans, or chick peas, or rice
+garnished with _pimientos_, closely pursued by another containing boiled
+meat, bacon, and sausages, all which you may tackle separately or
+simultaneously, according to your greatness of soul. Then comes a
+stew--the celebrated _Olla Podrida_; and then (to the great astonishment
+of the stranger) the belated fish. Fish seems to have methods of
+penetrating to all spots which are accessible by railway. Hake is the
+general stand-by, but in the mountains you get most excellent little
+trout. The solid portion of the meal is concluded by a "biftek" and
+salad, but there is still an appendix in case you are not satisfied yet.
+On Sundays, in superior _Fondas_ you will get caramel pudding, and
+always and everywhere cheese, accompanied by a sort of quince jelly
+known as _membrillo_, a very excellent institution indeed. Finally
+(again classically) comes the fruit; but this is usually rather
+inferior, considering how very cheap and excellent it is in the markets
+outside. Wine is, of course, supplied _ad lib._ to every diner, and
+water in porous earthenware bottles which evaporation keeps deliciously
+cool. Olives are eaten steadily at all intervals; and if you have long
+to wait between courses, you fill up the intervals with cigarettes! The
+evening meal--_cena_--is generally very similar to the mid-day, except
+that soup takes the place of the egg.
+
+The cooking is by no means deserving of all the strictures that have
+been showered upon it; for most nations know how to cook their own
+dishes, and only come seriously to grief when they try to imitate
+French. The dreaded garlic is used but sparingly; oil is a much more
+dominating feature. But then oil has a double debt to pay, because
+Spaniards make no butter. At all events the food is plentiful, and "St
+Bernard's sauce" will cover a multitude of deficiencies; for appetite is
+a blessing that is seldom lacking to the traveller in Spain!
+
+After dinner, the Café. And a Spanish café is a most noteworthy
+assemblage. It is comparatively empty in the evenings, for the
+Spaniard's homing instincts are much more strongly developed than the
+Frenchman's, and he seldom quits his house and his family circle after
+dark. But in the early afternoon it is thronged to repletion with all
+sorts and conditions of customers, from the general in command of the
+garrison to the ragged vine-dresser and muleteer. Here they sit through
+the long, sultry hours of siesta-tide in a roomful of shuttered
+twilight, chattering like a mill-wheel in flood-time, sipping their
+coffee and aniseed brandy,[1] and steadily consuming cigarettes. It
+often seems mild dissipation for such very truculent-looking
+desperadoes. Fancy an English navvy regaling his carnal appetites on
+black coffee and dominoes! Not but that dominoes (as played in a Spanish
+café) is an exciting, even an athletic, pastime. It entails alarming
+vociferation; and every piece that you play must be slammed down on the
+marble table top with all the force at your command. The domino volleys
+echo through the café like musketry on a field-day on Salisbury Plain,
+and if you feel at all dubious as to your direction when you chance to
+be seeking that edifice, you may readily succeed in locating it by
+listening in the street for the din.
+
+But the heat of the day is now passing, and the traveller must answer
+the call. His road is at least more level than hitherto; for the coast
+hills westward of Laredo are gradually losing their mountainous
+character, and over their heads to the southward we begin to catch
+glimpses of the great rock walls of the Cantabrian Sierras, which grow
+ever higher and grander as we near the Asturian march. The environs of
+Santander are again disfigured by quarrying; and the soil, where
+disturbed, is of a deep red ferruginous hue. Truly "a land whose stones
+are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass"; though "rivers
+and fountains of water" are not quite so common as we might desire.
+Santander itself, however, we will avoid altogether. Like Bilbao, it is
+quite a modern city; and the direct road through the mountain glens
+behind it brings us down to the sea again at Torrelavega by a very much
+pleasanter line.
+
+Meanwhile we pursued our career to an intermittent orchestral
+accompaniment--a tune in two keys, like M'Alpin's drone and small pipes,
+but far more powerful and piercing than the most brazen-lunged piper
+could blow. Occasionally we met the musician. He is only an ordinary
+ox-cart--a pair of wheels, a pole, and a plank or two, actuated by a
+pair of sleepy kine.
+
+In Galicia the yoke is fastened round the necks of the oxen; but more
+generally it is bound with thongs to their horns and finished off with a
+bonnet of goat-skin, or in Asturias with a fleecy busby of most imposing
+size. The wheels have often only a single spoke, or sometimes three
+arranged in the form of the letter H. Altogether it is probably the
+simplest, slowest, and most vociferous affair on wheels.
+
+For the amount of lamentation that can be extracted from one dry axle is
+a thing that is scarcely credible even when it is heard. The natives
+encourage it. They have one theory that it pleases the oxen, and another
+(far more probable) that it scares the Fiend. But at any rate it has no
+apparent effect upon the Spanish teamster, who lounges along in front
+waving his goad like a drum-major's baton; or sleeps--yes, sleeps--on
+the summit of his yelling load. Verily the man who first invented sleep
+must have been a waggoner! This evening, as we were crossing the ridge
+between two parallel valleys, our ears were saluted by the unmistakable
+long-drawn scream of an impatient locomotive. Our map showed no railway,
+however; and we were just beginning to plume ourselves on an important
+geographical discovery, when we caught sight of a single ox-cart--200
+feet below and half a mile away! The hill sloped away straight and
+smooth before us, and we fled! We felt no shame at the time; yet perhaps
+it was rather faint-hearted to shirk the chance of a personal interview
+with the most musical axle in the world.
+
+But the bicyclist has one grievance in Spain which is not so easily
+avoided as ox-carts, and it is about the end of the second day that the
+iron of it begins to enter his soul. Thenceforward for ever he cherishes
+a deadly and undying rancour against the Spanish dogs. We had been
+partly prepared for the infliction beforehand. The captain had mentioned
+them, and had talked of ammonia pistols; but we spurned the suggestion
+with humane horror. We knew quite well that all foreign dogs were
+brutes, but we were confident in our own benignity and scornful of
+"methods of barbarism." And in these noble sentiments we persisted--for
+about a day and a half. Next morning we were awakened out of our beauty
+sleep by the yellings of some miserable cur in the _Fonda
+patio_;--"Hurrah! there's a dog getting hurt," was our simultaneous
+comment; and ere we recrossed the frontier we had registered a grim
+resolve that next time we would bring revolvers, and strew our path
+with carcases from Fuenterrabia to Cadiz. So much for the deterioration
+of moral fibre under the strain of Spanish dog.
+
+Well, we are not the first (nor the last) whose amiability has been
+ruined by "dogs barking at us as we pass by"; and when every brute in
+the countryside, from the toy mongrel to the wolf-hound as big as an
+ass-colt, dances yelling and snapping at your heels for half a mile
+together, it is not entirely surprising that patience should wear thin.
+Of course there are stones. The Guadarrama district in particular
+produces a beautiful white quartzose,--hard and heavy, with many sharp
+angles,--an excellent article to throw at a dog. But what is a pocketful
+among so many? Besides, you often miss them, and never hurt them enough.
+Truly I could feel no sure confidence in anything short of a loaded
+revolver. But only a very even-tempered man could trust himself with
+that _ultima ratio_ within reach of his fingers; and I cherish a rooted
+objection to "going heeled" in a civilised land. Perhaps a lion-tamer's
+whip with a loaded butt and a bullet at the end of the lash may prove
+effective enough to compromise upon.
+
+Meanwhile there is some silver lining to the cloud. There are already
+some convertites among the dogs of Spain. The majority pour themselves
+upon the cyclist, clamorous and open-mouthed, like the demons in
+Malebolge; but a remnant clap their tails between their legs and make a
+bee-line for the horizon. We humbly hope that our own modest assiduity
+will have effected a small but perceptible increase in the latter class.
+
+Beyond Torrelavega there is again a parting of roadways. One passes
+along the coast by Santillana, the birthplace of Gil Blas; and the other
+through Cabezon, threading the mountain glens. They reunite at San
+Vicente de la Barquera, another minor seaport of Cantabria, less
+progressive than Castro, but quite as attractive after its style. The
+town lies at the extremity of a tongue of land between two wide
+estuaries. It is the meeting-place of the two long bridges which cross
+them, and its precipitous acropolis and arcaded market-place afford
+endless studies to the lover of the picturesque.
+
+San Vicente had got a hideous secret of its own as well as Castro, only
+at San Vicente it was hardly a secret--in fact, they were rather booming
+it as a show. An old sunken coasting vessel had recently been recovered
+and beached in the estuary, and its hold was positively teeming with
+lobsters, like Sir Thomas Ingoldsby's pockets with eels. Truly it was a
+gruesome sight; and a novelist in search of an appropriate ending for a
+really desperate villain could hardly do better than have him pincered
+to death in that crawly inferno by the black clanking monsters which
+inhabited it!
+
+The Cantabrian Sierras, already sufficiently majestic, now reach their
+culmination in the acknowledged monarchs of the range--the Picos de
+Europa, the landmark of all the old navigators who once steered their
+Mexican argosies into Gijon or Santander. This vast mass of snow-crowned
+peaks forms a most imposing spectacle. They are great "cloud
+compellers," and are seldom entirely clear. But they are sometimes seen
+unveiled in the calm of the early morning, an apparently impassable
+barrier filling half the horizon towards the south.
+
+[Illustration: SAN VICENTE DE LA BARQUERA]
+
+Yet the road which we have taken to guide us aims right at the very
+heart of them, and at the little village of Unquera it bears up square
+to the left. A copious sea-green river (officially known as the Tina
+Mayor, but invariably styled the Deva by the inhabitants) comes hurrying
+down at this point from the mountains, and charges the great ridge of
+limestone which edges the coast-line like a natural sea-wall. We look in
+vain for the outlet: the barrier seems absolutely unbroken. But a
+stream that has pierced the Picos recks little of minor obstacles, and
+the waves are booming to welcome it but half a mile beyond.
+
+Turning our backs on the sea, we enter a noble valley, walled in by
+crags of Alpine grandeur, and populated by families of Imperial eagles
+swinging to and fro their eyries, high amid the cornices of rock; but
+the pastures at the foot of the steeps are everywhere level and placid,
+and from Unquera up to Abándames can scarcely be called an ascent.
+
+There is a waters-meet just above Abándames, and the traveller as he
+approaches it begins to experience considerable misgivings concerning
+the future of his road. If it will but condescend to follow the valley,
+there seems just a chance that it may emerge as a staircase; but when it
+bears resolutely to the left to knock its head against the precipices of
+the Picos, he resignedly concludes that now there's nothing for it but a
+lift. A deep notch in the crags lets out the river, and here the road
+slips in. There seems every prospect that it will be promptly confronted
+by a precipice and a waterfall; but beyond the first notch is a second,
+and beyond the second a third. At every turn the passage grows narrower
+and deeper, and the way is never clear before us for more than a few
+score yards. Yet the unhoped-for outlet is invariably forthcoming, and
+at last we cease to marvel at the unfailing surprise. It is the great
+cañon of the Deva, one of the finest passes in the world.
+
+It is but a few miles since we quitted sea level, and we have risen but
+little on the way. Yet the cliffs that edge the roadway make but one
+leap of it to the clouds, and their tops are streaked with snow. Here
+rises a staircase of gigantic terraces; here a fringe of crooked
+fingers, black and jagged against the sky; here a range of sheer bluff
+bastions, like the _cubos_[2] of a titanic wall; and from time to time
+the glittering crest of some remoter peak peers over their shoulders
+into the depths of the gulf below. The mountain limestone is as hard as
+granite, and has shed but few screes or boulders to obstruct the passage
+of the stream, and the road squeezes itself along whichever bank happens
+to be widest at the moment, crossing and recrossing as occasion
+requires. At one point a magnificent osprey, looking twice as large as
+life, came sailing slowly down the chasm, and passed but a few feet
+above our heads, regally indifferent to the presence of trespassers in
+his domain. But apart from him the passage was practically
+solitary--mile after mile of the same stupendous scenery, till our necks
+ached from craning up the precipices, and our minds seemed oppressed
+with a sort of hopelessness of escape.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEVA GORGE
+
+La Hérmida.]
+
+At the hamlet of la Hermida the valley makes a momentary attempt to
+widen; but this little ebullition is promptly squashed in the grip of
+the mountains, and the great beetling cliffs once more shoulder in upon
+the defile. The effects seemed finer than ever, for the clouds of a
+gathering tempest were tearing themselves to ribbons among the jagged
+_aiguilles_, and their streamers were pierced and illuminated by the
+level rays of the setting sun. Not till we had burrowed our way for some
+fifteen miles through the roots of the mountains did we escape at last
+into the upland vale of Liebana; and looking back on the snow-wreathed
+fangs behind us, wondered (like Ali Baba before his cavern) what had
+become of the crevice from which we had just emerged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+COVADONGA AND EASTERN ASTURIAS
+
+
+Far be it from me to disparage Vizcaya or Galicia, but the prize "for
+the fairest" must be awarded to Asturias. No other province in
+Spain--few even in Italy--can show such wealth of natural beauty; and it
+is the district around the Picos de Europa that is the crowning glory of
+the whole.
+
+The stranger pays his homage to its scenery, but for the Spaniard it has
+a more sentimental appeal. This great mountain citadel is his Isle of
+Athelney, the last refuge of the little band of stalwarts who never
+bowed the knee to the dominion of Mahound. Here the first gleam of
+victory broke the long darkness of disaster; and seven years after the
+downfall of Roderic, Pelayo began the redemption of Spain. It still
+remains a place of pilgrimage; for Our Lady herself fought from Heaven
+against the infidel upon that momentous day. Her miraculous image, in
+its extravagant tinsel nimbus and stiff brocaded gown, holds its state
+over the High Altar in the _Colegiata_,[3] and its picture adorns the
+walls of half the cottages in Asturias. Decidedly no tour would be
+complete without a visit to Covadonga.
+
+I had lingered sketching in the rocky labyrinth of the Deva till the
+failing light would no longer serve my turn. Darkness would be upon me
+ere I could emerge from its recesses; but I had not been caught unaware,
+for the gully can boast an occasional _venta_, and I had resolved to
+trust the resources of the little inn at Urdon.
+
+Urdon consists of a single house, and that, to be strictly accurate, is
+only half a house, for it abuts straight upon the vertical face of the
+precipice, and the naked rock is its inner wall. If anything disturbed
+that rock (quoth mine hostess airily, as she handed me my candlestick),
+Urdon would become an omelet. And perhaps that fate is in store for it
+eventually, for the rocks do drop an occasional sugar-plum into the
+valley at their feet.
+
+Urdon looks up a bend of the river, and faces southerly; yet for six
+months in the year no ray of direct sunshine falls upon that little red
+roof. It is only from near the zenith that the sun can peer into so
+deep a well. The traveller plumps upon it suddenly round an abrupt
+corner, and "here," thinks he, "is the most secluded nook in all the
+habitable globe." Yet Urdon is the hub of the universe to Tresviso--its
+inn, its post-office, its commercial emporium, the one link that unites
+it with the balance of mankind. The pathway to Tresviso struggles up the
+tiny gully which debouches upon the main gorge at Urdon; but Tresviso
+itself lies high above the cloud wreaths, a good hard three-hours climb.
+The Tresvisans aver that there is another village, Sontres, some hours
+above them. Perhaps there is something above Sontres;--but this
+imagination boggles at.
+
+The little shop was thronged with a company of Tresvisan women. They had
+been to the market at Potes to sell their cheeses,--a sort of
+gorgonzola, and excellent feeding for a zoophagist,--and had paused at
+the stair-foot of their Nephelococcygia to wipe something off the slate
+before returning home. Sturdy active figures, clad in patched and
+weather-stained garments which had once been bright-coloured, they
+formed a striking group which would have attracted attention anywhere.
+Their features were hard yet not ill-favoured, and their skins as
+brown as mahogany; but there was not a grey hair nor a wrinkle among
+them all. Perhaps they were younger than they looked, but they are a
+long-lived race in the mountains; and even their octogenarians are
+capable of running errands to Urdon.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEVA GORGE
+
+Urdon.]
+
+"'Try not the path,' the old man said." And the path in question was
+steep and narrow and stony, wriggling up along the brink of the torrent
+and the brow of the precipice; the little party had done some nine
+hours' journeying already, and the shades of night had fallen. Yet for
+them and their beasts it was but the fag end of their regular Monday
+tramp, and they made naught of it. Evidently when the "blue-eyed youth"
+flourishes off with his banner a-climbing the Picos, the maiden of
+Tresviso is not likely to be vastly impressed. She takes that walk with
+her grandfather on Sunday afternoons.
+
+The inn at Urdon may be small, but at least it is commendably early.
+They sped their parting guest with the twilight, and I was well clear of
+the gorge before I caught my first glimpse of the sun. The mists had not
+yet bestirred themselves to gather on the sides of the mountains; and
+the whole line of peaks stood out sharp and clear as I crossed the
+bridge at Abándames and headed westward up the left bank of the Cares,
+which joins the Deva at the waters-meet below the gorge.
+
+Just beyond the gash that marks the exit of the Deva, a prominent peak,
+like a small cousin of the Matterhorn, stands out boldly into the centre
+of the valley. The river circles round from behind it, and the road once
+more plunges in among the roots of the hills.
+
+But that the Deva cliffs still towered overwhelmingly in the memory, one
+would have declared it impossible for any ravine to be finer than this.
+Indeed, in many respects the Cares is complementary of its rival. Its
+rocks may be less terrific, but its slopes are more generously wooded,
+and its pale sea-green waters seem of ampler volume than the
+sister-stream. The river boils along beside the road in a deep, rocky
+trench--a series of rapids and pot-holes--a dangerous river for a swim;
+and every turn that it takes opens some new and wonderful vista--huge
+buttresses of precipitous limestone, and shaggy floods of pinewood
+pouring out of the gaps between.
+
+The Cares gorge is hardly so long as the Deva's; but it ekes out its
+interest in an appendix which is not much inferior to the text. The road
+begins to heave itself slowly upward along the face of the mountain
+towards the saddle at the head of the valley; and every foot that it
+rises seems to magnify the grandeur of the opposing heights. Now at last
+the upper slopes of the Picos surge into sight above their terraced
+pedestal; and far away into the distance behind us ridge after ridge in
+endless series radiates out from the great central chaos which towers
+close and high across the vale. This final view from the culminating
+point of the roadway is one of the most striking of all.
+
+In Spain it seems never permissible to travel entirely for pleasure. The
+gossips provide you a business if you have none ready to hand. In the
+Rioja district you are branded as a wine-bibber. In the Asturias you are
+promptly consigned to the mines. Such was my fate at Carreño, the little
+hamlet which sits astride the watershed. An aged crone was squatting on
+the hearth in the _Venta_, performing the functions of a meat-jack over
+the smouldering embers of the fire. She unhesitatingly diagnosed my
+profession, and at once began to reel off the local directory--Don
+Jorge, and Don Juan, and Don Jaime and his wife and family--all English
+mining engineers in the various villages around. Everybody seems to know
+everybody else in Asturias and to speak of them familiarly by their
+Christian names. But this latter custom is practically universal in the
+Peninsula; and I have surprised myself figuring as Don Edgar on the
+strength of a second day's stay.
+
+However, rather to "mine aunt's" bewilderment, I did not linger at
+Carreño. The descent to Cángas lay before me, and I was soon speeding on
+the way. This valley is of a less daring type of beauty than that which
+debouches at Abándames. It is wider, shallower, and shadier, and moulded
+in gentler curves. The Picos are still upon the left, but they are now
+growing more distant; and the most prominent feature is the parallel
+range upon the right, between them and the sea; a fine bold line of
+hills some four thousand feet high known as the Sierra de Cuera.
+
+Presently I became conscious of an ox-cart. It was grinding along the
+road in front of me. I overhauled it rapidly, and was close up when it
+arrived at the turn. But when the road straightened, behold! it was
+entirely empty; and a second glance showed the cart-wheels peeping over
+the margin, and the driver gathering himself together out of the bushes
+beyond. The oxen, maddened by flies, had made a dash for a pool at the
+roadside, and the whole equipage had incontinently turned turtle.
+
+The accident was entirely the fault of the beasts, and one would not
+have been surprised if the man had been angry. But this rough-looking
+fellow took his mishap with admirable equanimity, and thanked me most
+impressively for my help in righting his cart. "_Gracias a Dios_ that I
+was thrown clear!" said he, crossing himself, as I approached him. And
+he even spared some sympathy for his oxen, "Ah! but they annoy them
+greatly--the flies." The Spanish peasant is not usually of a surly
+temper, and even a double back somersault may leave his manners in
+working trim. Once before it had been my lot to witness a similar
+accident in England, where the driver, just extricated from beneath his
+vehicle, was indignantly demanding his hat. The incident was not without
+humour, and was gratifying to a student of Dickens; but it struck me
+that "_Gracias a Dios_" was distinctly a happier phrase.
+
+Cángas de Onis, the little town which was the goal of my day's journey,
+boasts that it was once the capital of Spain. And so it was--in the
+sense that Caerleon was of England--for here Pelayo first established
+his modest court when all the rest of the Peninsula was Mahommedan. The
+days of its greatness, however, are too remote to have left much trace.
+It still retains its lovely situation; but a few rude monastic fragments
+are the only relics left by its early kings. It boasts, however, one
+striking monument (more modern than Pelayo), in the grand old mediæval
+bridge; one of those lofty gable-shaped structures that are so typical
+of Southern countries, and perhaps, next to Orense, the finest example
+of its kind in Spain. Like most of its class, it is now little used, for
+the modern bridge is but a few yards distant. And, indeed, none of them
+could ever have accommodated wheel traffic, for they are steep and
+narrow, and frequently innocent of parapets. Bar archery, one can well
+believe that Diego Garcia de Paredes with his two-handed sword might
+have held such a pass against a host; though (in justice to that doughty
+warrior's modesty, so highly commended by the curate) I believe his
+autobiography never states that he actually did.
+
+[Illustration: CÁNGAS DE ONIS
+
+The Bridge over the Sella.]
+
+A most attractive-looking road leads up the Sella valley, inviting the
+traveller to adventure himself for Sahagun; and the view frames itself
+delightfully into the great arch of the bridge. It was obviously
+impossible to do it justice on a sketching block, and exceedingly
+probable that one would get sunstroke in the attempt; but there was no
+deferring to the promptings of prudence, and the clouds charitably came
+to my rescue before I was quite melted away. The natives at first
+watched me in horror from a distance; but they crowded in around me as
+soon as the sun retired, and began to volunteer information concerning
+the annals of the dale. "One morning in '85," said an old peasant,
+tapping the roadway impressively with his cudgel, "the water was over
+here!" _Car-r-ramba_, my brother! But that must have been an anxious day
+for Cángas de Onis! A twenty-five-foot spate must have wrought pretty
+havoc in the valley! It was no mere vaulting ambition that induced the
+old architects to build their bridge so high!
+
+Covadonga itself lies at the head of a little lateral valley some seven
+miles above Cángas de Onis. The spot is a veritable _cul-de-sac_. The
+steep wooded slopes are battlemented with a fringe of _aiguilles_, and
+over their tops one catches an occasional glimpse of the pathless Pikes
+beyond, their steel-grey summits streaked with wreaths of snow. A huge
+semi-detached rock stands out boldly in the centre of this natural
+auditorium, and the valley curling around its foot finishes in a hook
+against the isthmus which connects it to the hillside. Upon its summit
+is the Church of Our Lady of Covadonga, with its attendant buildings,
+and behind it, at the end of the hook, is a broad beetling precipice,
+coving itself out over its own base--the famous "Cave," sacred for ever
+in the legendary annals of Spain.
+
+Here it was that Pelayo and his dauntless 300 made their stand against
+the 300,000 who had been sent against them by the Moor; and sallying out
+smote them with very great slaughter, in so much that 126,000 were left
+dead upon the field and about half as many more killed in the course of
+the pursuit! Truly we deal with gorgeous round figures in these early
+battles against the infidel! But why should the Spanish chroniclers have
+modestly stopped short at 188,000? A full quarter of a million is their
+standard casualty list.
+
+It is a pity that the legend should have got so fantastically attired in
+buckram, for the facts upon which it is founded are indubitably
+historical, and, stripped of extravagances, they reveal a gallant
+episode enough.
+
+The Moorish invasion of the Peninsula seemed at the moment invincible,
+and the first rush of conquest had carried them even to Gijon. But the
+northern provinces were as yet rather overrun than subjugated; and many
+bands of broken men had taken refuge in the mountains, where they were
+carrying on a _guerilla_ warfare according to the immemorial habit of
+Spain. One of the most formidable of these bands was captained by
+Pelayo, whose stronghold was the rock of Covadonga, an ideal natural
+citadel for a bandit chief. Him it was resolved to suppress; and a
+"punitive column"--shall we say ten thousand strong?--was despatched
+from Gijon under command of Alxaman for that purpose. What force Pelayo
+had at his disposal it is impossible to guess; certainly more than three
+hundred, yet far too few to admit of encountering his foe in the open
+field. Cornered at last with his back to the wall at the head of the
+Covadonga valley, he drew his followers together into his rocky eyrie
+and prepared to fight to the death. The nucleus of his force would no
+doubt have been posted upon the rock itself and the neck by which it is
+approached; others would be scattered along the hillside, lest the foe
+should endeavour to crown the heights and deliver the attack from above.
+This last, indeed, was the only move to be dreaded. Against a _coup de
+main_ the position was practically impregnable. Yet the attempt was
+made. Some of the Moors would perhaps have pushed straight ahead to
+storm the neck from the valley; but the main column circled around the
+base of the rock to take the position in reverse. It was upon these that
+the great destruction fell. Their ranks were disordered by the steep and
+broken ground, their flanks exposed to the great rock batteries which
+the Asturians had prepared upon the slopes above, and a well-timed sally
+by the party in ambush in the cave completed their discomfiture. From
+such a rout there was no possibility of rally. The whole army, deeply
+committed in the intricate recesses of the mountains, was overwhelmed in
+irremediable disaster; and on the little _Campo del Rey_ at the foot of
+the crag, all cumbered with the bodies of the infidels, the enthusiastic
+victors saluted their chieftain with the title of King.
+
+The victory was indeed even more decisive than its magnitude appeared to
+warrant. The destruction of Alxaman rendered it impossible for Munuza to
+maintain himself at Gijon, and the forces of Pelayo, rapidly increasing
+with the prestige of success, overwhelmed his army also in the Pass of
+Pajáres as he was attempting to regain Leon. The Moors made no further
+attempt to establish themselves beyond the mountains. Their Emirs were
+intent upon the invasion of Aquitania; and the civil wars which
+succeeded their great defeat at Tours allowed ample time for the
+consolidation of the infant kingdom of Asturias, until it finally grew
+strong enough to cope with them upon equal terms.
+
+Covadonga has always been sacred to Asturians, but of late some attempt
+has been made to excite a more national cult. The new memorial church is
+one symptom of this ambition, but it is to be hoped the design will
+never develop sufficiently to mar the quiet retirement of this solitary
+glen. The church itself is a graceful little building enough, but
+contains nothing of antiquarian interest except the miraculous image
+before alluded to; and I regret to say that the feature which sticks
+most resolutely in my memory is an engraved bronze plate over the
+western door, of which the following is a literal translation:--"Out of
+respect for the House of God, and the Principles of Hygiene, you are
+requested not to enter in wooden shoes, nor to expectorate in this
+Sacred Edifice."
+
+At Arriondas, a little below Cángas de Onis, the Sella receives a strong
+reinforcement from the Pilona; and thence to the sea it is a fine
+copious river--broad swift shallows alternating with deep calm pools in
+the very best salmon-stream style. It has the repute of being an
+excellent fishing river, as, indeed, its appearance would warrant. Yet I
+fear it gets but scurvily treated; for the local piscatorial methods
+cannot strictly be classified as "Sport." Once upon a time, saith
+tradition, there came a "little Englishman" to Arriondas, and sallied
+forth to inveigle the _truchas_ with fragments of feather and wool. "And
+he caught some! Yes, he actually did! He even tried to induce us to do
+likewise. But we of Arriondas know better. We go angling with shot-guns
+and bombs."
+
+It seems characteristic of Asturian rivers that they should keep
+persistently running into mountains instead of away from them, and the
+Sella below Arriondas is no exception to the rule. The stormy hills of
+the Sierra de Cuera throng tumultuously across its pathway and appear to
+prohibit all egress. But the river slips like an eel through the tangle,
+and its agile windings map out a passage for the road. No one looking
+downstream at the view which I sketched from the banks of it would
+imagine that the sea was within six miles of him and the river tidal up
+to his feet. But at least those six miles through the glens are
+picturesque enough for a dozen; and they reach no unworthy conclusion
+when they finish at Rivadesella on the little hill-girt harbour where
+the Sella meets the sea.
+
+[Illustration: THE SELLA VALLEY
+
+Below Arrióndas.]
+
+All roads are charming in Cantabria: but where there are two to select
+from, it is generally best to bear inland in preference to following the
+coast. This is rather a cruel observation in connection with so pretty a
+ride as that from Rivadesella to Unquera; but nothing short of the
+Corniche road should pit itself against the route from Cángas to
+Abándames.
+
+If the coast-line could be adequately seen, there might be more doubt
+about the verdict: for the bold black limestone cliffs which front the
+Biscay rollers would supply as fine a spectacle as anyone need desire.
+But it is only here and there that the road allows us a peep at some
+sandy beach ensconced between its jagged breakwaters, or some more
+distant prospect of cliff and headland where the coast trends forward
+beyond the general line. For the greater part of the way the view is
+entirely one-sided--the high, steep slopes of the Sierra de Cuera, and
+the idyllic villages nestling in the meadows at their feet. How
+Goldsmith would have rejoiced in this series of sweet Auburns, with
+their rustic shrines and _Pergolas_, their skittle-alleys, and their
+little _Alamedas_![4] How he would have loved to haunt the road at
+eventide where the village athletes scatter the ninepins with their
+great wooden discus, and the maidens dance together under the shadow of
+the trees! The Corydon and Phyllis of the Eclogues still survive in
+these odd corners of the globe.
+
+The little town of Llanes cannot boast nearly so good a harbour as that
+of Rivadesella. It is but a creek in the coast-line through which a
+mountain burn makes its exit to the sea. The town is, however, larger
+and busier, and full of quaint balconied houses overhanging the harbour
+and the stream. Half a dozen fishing boats were unloading their catch
+upon the quay in the evening. Some rigged with short masts and long
+cross yards carrying square sails; others with two tall spars carrying
+lateen sails. The latter are the larger in size and more picturesque in
+appearance, but both types are common along the whole Atlantic coast.
+They carry large crews, and beside their sails they have sweeps for use
+in calm weather. When these are being worked the spars are lowered
+into a crutch above the heads of the crew.
+
+[Illustration: PASANA
+
+An Asturian Mountain Village.]
+
+Their catch consisted principally of the ubiquitous hake which forms
+such a persistent feature in Spanish bills of fare; but there were also
+a few squid, which at first I regarded as wastage, but which proved to
+have practical value in the _Fonda_ at _Comida_ time. They were served
+up complete, beak and all, with their tentacles drawn up inside
+themselves, and looking exactly like boiled parsnips. I tackled one on
+principle, having a well-broken palate, and being ambitious to do in
+Rome as the Romans: but it tasted of nothing in particular so far as I
+was able to make out. They are better stewed, however; and in this guise
+a gastronomical companion has pronounced them rather a delicacy; so
+perhaps they are yet destined to obtain recognition at Prince's and the
+_Maison Chevet_.
+
+There is a mail-coach which works the road between Llanes and San
+Vicente de la Barquera--one of those miraculous rattle-traps wherein no
+sane person would dream of risking his neck if he were at home. They ply
+in all districts whither the railway has not yet penetrated; but an
+extensive nodding acquaintance among the tribe has introduced me to few
+crazier specimens than this. The fact that its hind wheels are
+considerably larger than the front gives a vague resemblance to a
+kangaroo; and as it whoops along bounding and lurching behind its five
+disjointed mules, it always seems just on the point of resolving into
+its ultimate sparables like the deacon's one-horse shay. At our first
+meeting I watched it out of sight with some anxiety; but it was still
+holding together three years later, and so, no doubt, it is doing still.
+Nevertheless its days are numbered. A light railway is being constructed
+along the coast to link up the two dead ends at Cabezon and Arriondas,
+and soon the visitor to the Picos will be able to reach Unquera by
+train.
+
+This last stage has completed our circle and brought us again to the
+Deva. Our late-travelled road to Abándames turns off from the end of the
+wooden bridge, and again guides us through the gorges into the secluded
+vale of Liebana, sheltering behind its Alpine shield. At nightfall we
+crept into Potes like a couple of mice from the mountains, and baited at
+the little balconied _Fonda_, the first stage on the road to the
+south.
+
+[Illustration: LLÁNES
+
+The Harbour.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS TO LEON
+
+
+We had penetrated the loftiest mountains in Cantabria without any ascent
+worth mentioning. Consequently it was somewhat disconcerting to discover
+that the Pass was still to win.
+
+This preliminary canter had merely admitted us into a great cup, the bed
+of an ancient lake. We had entered it through the outlet, but must leave
+it over the lip. Within its mountain pale the whole internal area of
+Castile and Leon consists of a lofty tableland, two thousand feet and
+upwards above the coast-line. It is vain to sue entry on the level:
+there can be no dispensation from the climb.
+
+Potes itself lies just above the mouth of the great Gorge, and the
+precipices of the Picos dominate it as the Wetterhorn dominates
+Grindelwald. The deep, narrow vale of Liebana comes winding down upon it
+from the southward, its slopes gay with mountain flowers, and shaggy
+with beech and chestnut, and dotted here and there with quaint little
+red-roofed villages overhanging the brawling stream. But ever across the
+exit the great rock wall frowns gloomy and impassive, its base in the
+warm green valley and its battlements in the snow.
+
+We in our sanguine ignorance had fancied ourselves upon the watershed,
+and thought that some two hours' collar-work would have earned us a
+spell of downhill. But the mountains were still thronging round us at
+the village of Valdeprado; and an old neat-herd, driving his cows to the
+pastures, unfeelingly assured us that the pass was two leagues[5]
+further on. We tried to hope that he was mistaken; but the Castilian
+peasant knows his roads well, and is annoyingly accurate in his
+estimates of distance. It is seldom indeed that he errs on the merciful
+side. Now the road began to ascend in real earnest, climbing coil on
+coil up the shoulders of the mountain, and marking its course far ahead
+at yet loftier altitudes by faint zigzags traced among the trees. A
+couple of easy-going ox-waggons had lost heart at the very first corner.
+Their drivers and cattle were all placidly slumbering, and the whole
+caravan had stuck fast in the middle of the road. It seemed a pity to
+disturb so much unanimity; and quite an hour later, looking down from
+the loftier terraces, we could still distinguish their figures in the
+same position as before. At last we emerged upon a bare and rocky
+saddle, just brushed by the drifting clouds--a pass by courtesy, for it
+was almost as high as the peaks, and the snow-wreaths lay unmelted in
+the shady spots by the road. A great craggy postern shot us out from the
+ridge into the head of an upland valley; and beneath hotter skies,
+through a more sunburnt country, we sped towards the plateau of Castile.
+
+The descent on the southern side of the _Puerto_ is nothing like so
+formidable as upon the northern; and the mountains, shorn of half their
+elevation by the altitude to which we have risen, look much less
+imposing than on the seaward side. They eventually come to an end with
+startling suddenness a mile or so beyond the village of Cervera; and
+from their feet to the southward the great treeless level sweeps away
+unbroken--an almost uncanny contrast to the tossing wilderness behind.
+
+We had counted upon finding a road of some kind towards Leon from
+Cervera, but the inhabitants evidently needed none and declined to
+encourage the idea. A railroad, yes;--the train would start at one
+o'clock to-morrow. But the only road went southward. If we followed that
+we might possibly find a way round. At all events it was a good road,
+sagging steadily down over the moors and marshes, shaded here and there
+by rustling poplar avenues, and musical with philharmonic frogs. It
+delivered us safely at nightfall in the little village of Buenavista, a
+collection of forlorn mud cabins, dumped disconsolately in the tawny
+plain.
+
+The _Fondas_ in the larger towns are generally very tolerable, and even
+the humbler hostels in Cantabria are presentable after their kind. But
+the little _Posadas_ and _Paradors_ of the villages in the interior are
+much more primitive institutions, and these are the lot of the traveller
+who ventures to take to the road. I should imagine that they have not
+changed one tittle since the day when Don Quixote, and the Curate, and
+the Barber, and the beautiful Dorothea, and the tattered Cardenio,
+foregathered with Don Ferdinand and Dona Lucinda at the _Venta de
+Cárdenas_ in the Sierra Morena; and one wonders much how the whole of
+that illustrious company were able to find accommodation under its roof.
+Externally it suggests an abandoned cowshed, and the wayfarer
+introduced to one for the first time will apply for quarters with
+something bordering on despair. The gateway admits us into a barn-like
+entrance-hall, disordered and unpaved. One of the four rooms opening out
+of it is the stable, and the mules stroll sociably through the family
+circle in the course of their passage to and fro. Another is the
+kitchen, with the hearth in the middle of the floor,[6] and the ceiling
+funnelled to an aperture in the apex, through which the log-reek escapes
+as best it can. A third (the smallest) is the guestroom, and the fourth
+one would call a lumberroom, if any of the others could be called
+anything else. The bedrooms are mere attics, reached by a crazy
+staircase, and the chinks in the floor communicate freely with the rooms
+(or stables) below. The furniture is of the scantiest, and the food of
+Spartan simplicity; and the family poultry cackle about between our legs
+picking up the crumbs which fall from the table. But at least the dishes
+are clean and the sheets obviously washed this very evening; and a
+wayworn philosopher can brook a good number of hardships so long as he
+is not compelled to wear them next his skin.
+
+The villagers were dancing before the door at the moment of our arrival,
+but the ball was at once interrupted to interview such extraordinary
+guests. "They came round about us like bees," wrote poor Sir E. Verney
+in 1623, "touching one thing and handling another, and did not leave us
+till we were abed!" Of course they did! But Sir Edmund was a little
+particular; and we suspect old James Howell had some reason for his
+strictures anent the stand-offishness of the members of Prince Charles'
+suite. Our catechising was conducted by the hostess and her daughter:
+What were our names? Whence were we? Whither did we go? They surveyed
+the bicycles with gasps of "_Madre mia!_" and I am sure their fingers
+itched to explore the inside of our packs. Were we married? No? The
+English married very little! And this depressing reflection cost them a
+sad little shake of the head. It grew rather wearying at last, but
+discourtesy was nowise intended. A stranger in these forgotten villages
+is as rare as a blue moon.
+
+Spain is socially the most democratic of countries; but it is an
+aristocratic democracy; and we must not forget that fact because our
+interlocutor happens to be wearing rags. He and his may have been as
+poor as church mice for generations;--that is his misfortune. But he is
+as good a gentleman as the king, and, as like as not, fully entitled to
+all the proud quarterings that are graven up over his door. "I'm an old
+Christian," quoth that powerful thinker, the Governor designate of
+Barataria, "a high and dry old Christian, and that's good enough for a
+lord." The Castilian peasant regards you as an equal, and expects to be
+so treated in return: and I have no doubt that a modern Sancho, if he
+found himself in the society of a duchess, would be fully as
+unembarrassed as the great original himself. In many points--even in
+physiognomical features--he has much in common with that other "foinest
+pisantry" the Irish; and it is worth noting that the original Milesians
+are traditionally reputed to have come from Spain.
+
+Individually he is "a very fine fellow." The verdict is the Duke of
+Wellington's. And probably no one in history knew their failings better
+than he. Spain is no "dying nationality," though her day be still rather
+"_Mañana_." It is idle to deny a future to so robust and prolific a
+race.
+
+The traveller need not look to fare sumptuously in a _Posada_. If he
+does not carry his own food with him he must take what comes. Mine host
+does not profess to find accommodation for man, only for beast; and
+anything he does for the beast's owner is regarded as a work of
+supererogation. We cannot lodge with the peasantry without sharing some
+few of their holiday hardships; and there can be no doubt that in many
+districts they are miserably poor. "There is no milk in the place," said
+mine hostess to me on one occasion, in answer to a request for that
+commonest of luxuries:--"this village is in _la ultima miseria_!" Yet
+even there they seemed cheerful and contented; and the common taunt of
+idleness certainly did not apply to them. Spanish townsfolk are by no
+means early risers: but the villages are stirring at cock-crow and the
+labourers out in the fields with the first rays of the sun.
+
+[Illustration: LEON
+
+An Old Palace Doorway.]
+
+This last is no inconsiderable advantage in a country which gets hot by
+eight o'clock in the morning; and the great red disk was but half clear
+of the horizon when we bade farewell to Buenavista, and began our long
+ride to Leon. Washing arrangements had no share in our _Posada's_
+economy, so this mysterious British ritual was celebrated at
+Saldaña, on the banks of the Carrion; and being here favoured with a
+branch road which made a cast to the westward, we resumed our journey
+across the level in the direction of Sahagun.
+
+Strictly speaking this is one of those levels which slope upwards and
+downwards a good deal; for the streams coming down from the mountains
+have cut themselves good deep valleys, though they seldom supply any
+water except on special occasions during the autumn rains. In the dips
+are trees and greenery, but the general impression is that of a bleak
+red ploughland interspersed with wide stretches of heath. Here and
+there, marooned at haphazard, are the casual villages, with their
+umber-coloured mud walls and red-tiled roofs, rich blotches of colour
+against the blue of the distant hills. And the desolate aspect of the
+country is enhanced by the dearth of inhabitants. There is scarcely a
+labourer in the fallows, scarcely a traveller on the road.
+
+No! the little squared stones that we keep passing so regularly do not
+record the kilometres--only the ordinary roadside murders incidental to
+an ancient highway. Upon each is graven the simple fact of the
+tragedy:--_Aqui murió_,[7] with the name and date,--no more. They are
+generally said to have been erected as a trespass offering by the
+remorseful murderer: and their persistent recurrence cannot be said to
+make for gaiety;--a large group is even depressing at a specially
+desolate spot.
+
+Of course we endeavour to solace ourselves with the reflection that
+there is at least one similar monument in England; and we note with
+gratification that very few are of recent date. But then that does not
+prove that the murders are now less frequent, only that the murderers
+have less remorse. Yet, after all, the traveller may take courage; his
+position is not quite desperate, however unpromising it may look. Many
+of these untimely deaths were the result of ordinary accidents--storm or
+sunstroke, falls from horses ("a grave that is always open"), or
+drowning in the flooded streams. Sometimes a private vendetta may have
+reached its _dénouement_ in a chance roadside meeting; but genuine
+highway murders form a very small proportion of the whole. The roads in
+Spain are as safe as those in England. And though I have been warned
+that "there are men in this village who would not hesitate to cut your
+throat for a dollar," yet the country folk generally (as one of
+themselves bore me witness) are _gente muy regular_, "a very law-abiding
+folk." The only really reliable method of getting murdered upon a
+Spanish highway nowadays is to quarrel with the Arm of the Law!
+
+See,--out of one of the dips in the road before us rise the figures of
+two horsemen;--big men, well mounted, in white puggarees and smart blue
+uniforms, with sabre at saddle and carbine on thigh;--the Civil Guard of
+Spain. _Vayan Vs con Dios, Caballeros!_ Spain owes you a debt that is
+not to be readily computed. Those who have delivered her from her long
+tyranny of lawlessness deserve a niche beside the old knightly orders of
+Calatrava and Alcántara, who kept the border in the days of raiding
+Moors.
+
+Don Bernardo de Castel Blazo distrusted those who kept company with
+_Alguazils_; but it is a highly desirable privilege to be friends with
+the Civil Guard. _En passant_ it may be mentioned that it is imprudent
+to be otherwise, for they are authorised to shoot at sight, and are
+reputed seldom to miss. But this vexatious habit is one which they
+seldom indulge in, and so long as you keep the right side of them they
+are very good fellows indeed. Should our misguided rulers ever signalise
+their ineptitude by the disbandment of the Royal Irish Constabulary, we
+shall lose the one body in Europe which is altogether comparable to the
+_Guardia Civil_.
+
+Readers of Borrow may perhaps recall his description of a forlorn and
+melancholy township halfway between Paléncia and Leon, a hotbed of
+Carlism, which he discreetly alludes to as ----. But it seems somewhat
+superfluous reticence to throw such a very thin veil of anonymity over a
+name which is obviously Sahagun. Once the great Romanesque Monastery,
+whose massive square tower forms such an imposing landmark, was first in
+wealth and dignity in all the kingdom of Leon. But now it is but the
+wreck of its former greatness; and the crazy mud hovels and hummocky
+streets which surround it form an abomination of dilapidation that it
+would not be easy to match even in Spain. What a fit scene for
+disillusion it must have presented to Moore and his army as they here
+turned their backs upon victory and commenced their disastrous retreat!
+The soldiers were all spoiling for a battle, and the 15th Hussars had
+brilliantly opened the scoring. But just as they savoured their
+appetiser they were dragged off, disappointed and morose. No wonder they
+sulked! How were they to know the true cause of their retirement? They
+were thinking only of Soult at Saldaña; it was their General who had
+been watching for the rush of Napoleon from Madrid.
+
+There is still a Carlist at Sahagun, because we saw him. The
+inhabitants, recognising us as strangers, naturally assumed that we
+should be interested in seeing their Carlist, and he was accordingly
+fetched and paraded, much as a man who had been "out" in the '45 might
+have been shown to Dr Johnson in the Hebrides. He was a white-haired and
+mild-mannered old gentleman,--a greatly sobered edition of the dashing
+young _guerillero_ who had ranged the mountains of Biscay in 1875. And
+though he evidently enjoyed his repute as a fire-eater, I doubt whether
+he really considered that the game had been quite worth the candle after
+all.
+
+The Carlists of to-day seem much in the same position as the Jacobites
+of the reign of George III. They may defiantly show you "King Carlos'"
+portrait upon their parlour wall, or even exhibit it for sale in their
+shop windows. But all this enthusiasm is rather sentimental than active;
+and in their heart of hearts they must feel with Redgauntlet that a
+cause so much tolerated is lost.
+
+Meanwhile the road to Leon did not seem nearer realisation at Sahagun
+than at Cervera. There was only a "dead road," they told us, and this we
+should scarcely have recognised had we not been introduced. The "dead
+road" proved a sort of consensus of cart tracks, straying vaguely across
+the moorland with a general trend towards the west. It had died in a
+most dissipated fashion all asprawl among the boulders and heather: and
+as each of us soon grew fully absorbed in negotiating his own wheel rut,
+we frequently found ourselves drifting poles asunder, and had to regain
+connection by cross-country sprints. The water-courses were ineffably
+stony, and, of course, there were no bridges. We had good cause to
+congratulate ourselves on the absence of rain in the mountains, for had
+the streams been in spate we should have had no resource but to follow
+the example of the expectant rustic, and wait for them to run down. The
+occasional walled sheepfolds, and the spiked collars of the dogs which
+guarded them, hinted broadly at the inroads of wolves in winter-time;
+and our only way-fellows, a party of gypsies, savage-looking and
+half-naked, with tangled elf locks and skins of negro blackness, formed
+a group that to outward appearance seemed scarcely more amenable than
+the wolves. Fortunately, however, there was small chance of missing our
+direction. We could not stray many miles to our right without coming
+upon the railway, nor to the left without striking the high-road from
+Mayorga. The one thing needed was to keep our right shoulders to the
+mountains; and eventually we emerged sure enough at Mansilla de las
+Mulas, where, after twenty miles cross-country, our wilderness came to
+an end.
+
+Mansilla lies upon the banks of the Esla, and the mules were grazing
+under the ancient ramparts along the margin of the stream. A pretty
+picture it made as we crossed the old bridge in the twilight and entered
+the long colonnade of poplars that leads towards the city of Leon. The
+poplar pollen carpeted the road before us as thick and white as
+newly-fallen snow, and the whirl of our wheels flung it up on either
+side in little wavelets, as the foam is flung up by the bows of a racing
+eight. The effect was quite poetical, but we could not linger to
+rhapsodise, for the causeway had been broken by floods in several
+places, and unless we made use of the daylight we should be breaking our
+necks in the pits. It does not seem to occur to the authorities that
+there is any risk in delaying repairs for a year or so. And perhaps we
+have no right to grumble, for at least we got safe to our goal.
+
+Leon is a city for which I have acquired a growing affection with each
+successive visit, a grave old Gothic capital, all filled with memories
+of the past. It was founded originally by the Romans to control the
+Cantabrian passes; and the massive walls which surround it still bear
+witness to the solidity of their work. Unfortunately they are much
+masked by the surrounding houses; but they are of most imposing
+dimensions, about twenty feet in thickness, and strengthened by huge
+_Cubos_ or solid semicircular bastions, spaced at very frequent
+intervals, some two and a half diameters apart.
+
+The city is best viewed from the Pajares road to the northward, but as
+it is situated on the level it does not show very conspicuously from
+without. Its most prominent object is the delightfully elegant
+cathedral; obviously French by inspiration, and of extraordinary
+lightness of construction, more like a lantern of stained glass than a
+monument of stone. It is step-sister to Beauvais and Amiens; and, on the
+whole, it need not fear comparison. But the Spanish builders were not
+quite at home in dealing with the unfamiliar style. One problem
+evidently routed them, and they have left it still crying for an answer.
+How on earth was it possible to reconcile the steep French gables with
+the low-pitched Spanish roof?
+
+[Illustration: LEON
+
+From the Pajáres Road.]
+
+The cathedral has been recently restored (not before it was necessary,
+according to Street's description); but this difficult work has been
+admirably executed, though the newness of the stone still renders it
+rather conspicuous to the eye. The interior is gorgeous with carving and
+tapestry; and a word may be spared for the Gotho-Renaissance cloisters,
+and for the great western portals with the Last Judgment graven over the
+doors. Some of the details of the latter are not without suspicion of
+humour. A monarch, walking delicately like Agag towards the gates of
+Paradise, is remorselessly barred by St Peter, and directed to the
+opposite road. One blessed spirit has been set to play the organ--and
+another has been deputed to blow it! Truly "one star differeth from
+another star in glory"; but an eternity of organ-blowing must rank low
+in the scale of bliss!
+
+Scarcely less famous than the cathedral is the Collegiate Church of St
+Isidore; not the shepherd saint of Madrid, but the Doctor of Spain who
+compiled the Mozarabic ritual;[8] the "second Daniel" of Pope Gregory
+the Great. It is a queer patchwork edifice, but mostly of the eleventh
+century. The tower forms a bastion in the city rampart; and the little
+_Panteon_ Chapel beneath it is the burial-place of the early monarchs of
+Leon.
+
+Here in 1065 occurred the strange death scene of the founder, the
+warrior monarch Fernando I. of Leon and Castile. Smitten with sore
+disease while camping on the marches of Valencia, he had been borne back
+to make his dying confession before the altar of his metropolitan
+church. There he laid aside his crown and robes, and clad his wasted
+limbs in sack-cloth, and for a full day and night lay writhing in ashes
+on the pavement till his self-inflicted penance was at last ended by his
+death. We are assured that his original sickness really had been mortal
+from the first.
+
+[Illustration: LEON
+
+Church of San Isidoro.]
+
+Few capitals of Spain are without some memorial of Las Navas de Tolosa,
+the great victory won by Alfonso VIII. in 1212, which crippled the
+Spanish Moslems for offensive warfare, and paved the way for the
+conquest of Andalusia by Ferdinand III. Búrgos and Pamplona have the
+trophies of the fighting; but Leon has only a legend; and it is to
+_San Isidoro_ and King Fernando that they are indebted for having
+anything at all. For it came to pass on the eve of the battle that a
+sound was heard at midnight in the streets of the slumbering city. A
+sound as of the passage of a mighty army, the clang of armour and the
+tramp of horse and man. The priest who was keeping vigil at the shrine
+of St Isidore heard the phantom host halt before the portal and their
+thundering summons beat upon the door. "Who knocks?" he cried; and the
+ghostly captains answered him, "Ferdinand Gonzalez and Roderic of
+Bivar![9] And we are come to call King Fernando the Great, who lies
+buried in this holy temple, that he may rise and ride with us to deliver
+Spain!" The terrified monk fell fainting on the pavement, and when he
+revived the door stood open. The last great recruit had joined the
+colours, and the spirit host had passed upon their way.
+
+No doubt we may read in this legend the rebuke of the Church against the
+selfish policy of the Crown, for no soldier of Leon drew sword in that
+great battle for the deliverance of Christendom. Castile and Navarre and
+Aragon were the people that jeoparded their lives in the high places of
+the Morena. Nay, the Leonese monarch was even mean enough to seize the
+occasion for "rectifying his frontier" at the expense of his brother the
+Castilian. And this at a crisis when the very dead could rise from their
+graves and forget the feuds of their lifetime in the hour of national
+stress!
+
+The main streets of the city are overshadowed by several fine _Solares_,
+the mansions of the old _hidalgos_, and, beside all its churches and
+monasteries, the town boasts an attractive Guildhall. But perhaps its
+most interesting feature is supplied by the crowd that frequents them;
+for Leon is the metropolis of a big agricultural population, a grave and
+stalwart race attired in the most picturesque old-world costumes. The
+dresses of the women are perhaps somewhat lacking in brightness; for
+they have a taste for sombre shades, especially a mauve-coloured head
+kerchief which does not accord nearly so well with their olive
+complexions as the brilliant scarlets and yellows of the girls in
+Galicia and the south. But this quakerish tinge in the individual does
+not produce much effect in the aggregate, and they look bright enough in
+the busy market beneath their forest of umbrella-shaped booths.
+They are reputed to "wear _Carambas_ in their hair," but this we cannot
+corroborate. They kept them discreetly covered with the
+kerchief--perhaps from fear of the police. In any case it is to be hoped
+that the fashion will not spread indiscriminately. Imagine a German lady
+in a "_Donnerwetter_" _coiffure_!
+
+[Illustration: LEON
+
+The Market Place, and Casa del Ayuntamiento.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE PILGRIM ROAD
+
+
+"HE that is minded to go to _Santiago_ may fare thither in many ways
+both by sea and land";--and to continue in Sir John Mandeville's vein we
+might add "by the heavens also," for our old friend the Galaxy--Milk
+Street as it has been irreverently nicknamed--masquerades in Spain as
+the "Santiago road." The Holy Apostle himself stranded at El Padron
+(after a rapid passage from Joppa in three days and in a stone coffin);
+and the pious pilgrims of our own land were wont for the most part to
+take ship to Coruña. But the main pilgrim stream poured along the old
+Roman road through Leon and Astorga and the Vierzo passes; and perhaps
+when the fame of the shrine was at its height there was no other spot in
+Europe which drew so great a throng.
+
+Even to this day we may catch faint echoes of its ancient
+celebrity:--"Please to remember the grotto!" our school-children's
+August refrain. They do not know what they commemorate; but their date
+(by the Julian calendar) and their grotto and candle-ends and
+cockle-shells are all the prerogatives of St James.
+
+As we thread the long poplar avenues which radiate from the gates of
+Leon, and climb from its fertile valley on to the bald bleak moors, we
+might almost persuade ourselves that the days of pilgrimage are not over
+even yet. The road is thronged for miles with a steady procession of
+country-folk, trooping into the early market in the old Gothic
+capital--as picturesque a medley as ever delighted the student of
+costume. Market-women stride-legged between their donkey's panniers,
+like Dulcinea del Toboso when she was enchanted; bronzed and tattered
+countrymen with the sun glinting on their shouldered scythes; long teams
+of mules jingling in gaudy trappings; and lumbering ox-carts with their
+prodigious loads of chaff. Here and there we met substantial yeomen well
+horsed and muffled, with their womenkind a-pillion; and sometimes a
+broad-breeched _Maragato_ tramping along beside his loaded wain. The
+clear crisp light of the early morning revealed all the landscape in its
+brightest colours. To the southward the dun plain sweeps away unbroken
+till it is lost in illimitable distance; and the view to the northward
+is bounded by the long blue line of the Cantabrian mountains, peak
+beyond peak in endless range, like a string of chevrons on the horizon.
+No wonder the Spaniards call their mountain chains _Sierras_, "saws."
+
+The wide bed of the Orbigo river is crossed by a long uneven bridge; the
+scene of the famous "Pass of Honour," dear to the heart of Don Quixote
+and all the annalists of chivalry. In the year of the great Jubilee at
+Santiago in 1439 Don Suero Quinones, a valiant Leonese, made a vow to
+maintain that bridge for thirty days against all knights who refused to
+admit the pre-eminent beauty of his lady-love. In token whereof an iron
+collar was riveted round his neck, not to be removed till he had
+redeemed his vow. He was a knight of the military order of Santiago,
+hailing from what is now the convent of San Marcos.[10] But membership
+of the Spanish military orders was no impediment to love-making, or even
+to marriage (except in the case of widowers); so that Don Suero (a
+Paladin of his day, who was wont to fight Moors with his right arm bare
+like King Pentapolin of the Garamantas), was quite in order in paying
+these courtesies to the fair.
+
+Now there were many knights going to Santiago for the Jubilee, and Don
+Suero and his nine companions enjoyed an extremely busy time. Seven
+hundred and thirty combats did they accomplish during those thirty
+days--a daily working average of two and a half apiece. Don Suero,
+however, duly got rid of his collar, to his eternal honour and glory;
+and seeing that even Philip the Prudent had his story republished as a
+perpetual example, perhaps it is not surprising that poor Don Quixote
+should have taken the pamphlet _au pied de la lettre_.
+
+The bridge itself is long and narrow, with a pronounced kink in the
+middle, and if the tilts were actually run upon it, it is easy to
+understand the challenger's success. It needed but knowledge of the
+ground and a little judicious timing, and he could cut into his
+disordered opponent broadside as he rounded the bend. But doubtless this
+unworthy suggestion is a libel on the gallant Suero. His lists would
+have been fairly pitched in the open plain.
+
+When we crossed the venerable arches they were in the state described
+by Mr Chucks as "precarious and not at all permanent." The ox-carts
+preferred fording the river. But perhaps this has been "mitigated" by
+now.
+
+Another stage across the moorland brings us up under the massive
+ramparts of Astorga, standing "four square to all the winds that blow,"
+as it stood in the days of that Cæsar Augustus whose name it now so
+barbarously mis-spells.[11] "It is absurd to speak of Astorga as a
+fortress," wrote the impatient Duke; "it is merely a walled town." And a
+walled town it is, most emphatically; but the "merely" seems rather
+inadequate, for the walls of Astorga are a trifle of twenty-two feet
+thick. They are sadly battered indeed, and mercilessly plundered of
+their facing stones; yet their huge rugged nakedness, scowling
+truculently across the plain from the crest of their natural _glacis_,
+makes them a far more impressive spectacle than their house-encumbered
+rivals at Lugo and Leon. They have at all events stood two artillery
+sieges; for the citizens held them for two months against Junot in 1810,
+and the French for three against Castaños in 1812; yet the old Roman
+mason who built them might readily acknowledge them still.
+
+[Illustration: ASTORGA
+
+From the South-east.]
+
+My Santiago pilgrimage was not the first occasion of my visiting
+Astorga. I had called the previous year--and incidentally had left my
+heart there--but was not aware that my unobtrusive transit had sown any
+tender memories to sprout at my return. No sooner, however, had my nose
+inserted itself within the Fonda doorway than the señora swooped upon me
+out of the kitchen like a hospitable avalanche, and welcomed me back
+with as much fervour as if I had been a long-lost son. This pleasure at
+the sight of an old face is a very engaging feature in Spanish
+character. They are by no means forgetful to entertain strangers even at
+first sight; and often upon quitting a café I have found that my bill
+has been already paid by an unknown neighbour with whom I had exchanged
+a few commonplace remarks. Yet these earlier courtesies are formal; they
+are cordial to older acquaintances; and, like the Briton, they are
+reserved in their intimacies, and rather inclined to resent a too rapid
+advance.
+
+One worthy old gentleman indeed, a frequenter of the café at Astorga,
+proved more insistently amiable even than mine hostess herself. He would
+no longer have me as a guest, but wished to sign me on as a townsman;
+there was no need for me to go further, I might stay and be naturalised
+out of hand. He could even supply me with a wife, and would warrant her
+"very beautiful!" Had Faustina been the guerdon, I doubt whether my
+constancy could have endured!
+
+And Faustina: where meanwhile was Faustina? In vain had we come to
+Astorga if we might not have sight of its belle! I remembered her curled
+on the window settle, nursing her baby brother. Her raven tresses
+flooded her shoulders like a mantle, and her great dark eyes and Cupid's
+bow lips--the touchstones of Spanish beauty--were set off by the most
+piquant features and the clearest olive skin. Faustina was quite
+conscious of her attractions, and seemed by no means averse to
+challenging a little flirtation; but this time she was away "in the
+country," and the baby brother was as much aggrieved as ourselves. By
+now, belike, she is another's. Spanish maidens grow early to womanhood.
+Would that I could show future visitors how fair a sight they have
+missed!
+
+The broad brown moors which environ the city tilt themselves up toward
+the westward till they culminate at the Pass of Manzanal. Their interest
+is principally due to their unique population, for they are the
+recognised Reserve of the _Maragatos_, that strange self-centred tribe
+who were long such a puzzle to ethnologists, but who now seem definitely
+identified as direct descendants of the original Berbers who came over
+with Tarik and Musa twelve hundred years ago. Astorga is regarded as
+their centre, but they are now more readily met with in the neighbouring
+villages; and the little hamlet of Combarros produced quite a
+respectable crowd. They are carriers by caste: and their burly,
+big-framed men, in their wide Zouave breeches and scarlet waistcoats and
+garters, had already become familiar to us even on the remoter roads.
+But this was the only place where we caught a glimpse of the women, who
+were attired in short orange skirts and scarlet cross-overs, with their
+hair drawn tight back from their foreheads and knit into trim little
+buns. They wore, too, some striking jewelry in the shape of large
+filigree earrings. But in point of physique the ladies were scarcely a
+match for their lords.
+
+The ascent of the pass upon the eastern side is comparatively gentle,
+and its height not very much above the general level of the moors; but
+towards the west the ground breaks away more sharply, and the hillside
+is scored with deep rocky gulches, which are a source of great
+perplexity to the descending road. It is a savage bit of country, and a
+fit scene for the thrilling adventure which is furnished to Gil Blas;
+for near Ponferrada was the cave of the redoubtable Captain Rolando, who
+interfered so masterfully with his intended scholastic career. Our hero
+was kidnapped at Cacabellos; he reached Astorga the night after his
+escape; and his distressed damsel, the unfortunate Doña Mencia, was
+waylaid upon this very road. The robbers must have found it a more
+profitable beat in those days than it would be at present, for then
+there was no road at Pajares, and even travellers from Oviedo had to
+come this way to the south.
+
+The Vierzo basin into which we are now descending is one of the most
+interesting districts in the mountains of Northern Spain. It is a great
+natural saucer some twenty-five miles in diameter, considerably below
+the level of the plateau of Leon, and completely surrounded by a ring of
+mountain peaks. Geologically it is the bed of a primeval lake, long
+since emptied of its waters through the gorges of the Sil; and its many
+ancient monastic establishments, the primitive character of its
+peasantry, and the wild and picturesque scenery in the surrounding
+mountains, render it an admirable hunting-ground for the vagrant
+pleasure-seeker. Mere birds of passage like ourselves could see but
+a tithe of its attractions. It should be explored with a guide and a
+pack mule, a rod and a gun. And sportsmen need never complain of the
+lack of sufficient variety:--the Nimrod whom we encountered was
+combining "partridges and bears!" The hills are rugged and precipitous,
+the birthplace of unnumbered rivulets, their flanks flooded chin deep
+with oceans of white heather, and their feet hidden in primeval forests
+wellnigh impenetrable to man.
+
+[Illustration: THE VIERZO
+
+From Ponferrada, looking towards the Pass of Piedrafita.]
+
+At our first view the country seemed hardly in holiday humour, for the
+sky was dark and lowering; and though the cloud effects were
+magnificent, the landscape beneath them looked eerie and morose. But,
+like all southern landscapes, it woke up wonderfully under the witchery
+of the sunshine, and donned its brightest colours next morning in honour
+of its patroness, Our Lady of the Oak-tree, whose festival was to be
+celebrated that day.
+
+Ponferrada, the centre and capital of the district, is a picturesque
+little township, situated on a steep bank over the river Sil. Its most
+prominent feature is an imposing castle once a preceptory of the Knights
+Templar; but this was the evening of the Vigil, and the townfolk were
+all thronging into the portals of the church. The vast, gloomy interior
+was lit only by two or three tapers, which scarcely served to make
+darkness visible; and at first we could discern nothing but the white
+snoods of the women, who were kneeling in companies about the great
+aisleless nave. But presently the spring blind over the Altar went up
+with a sudden snap, and disclosed _Nuestra Señora de la Encina_ herself,
+the little black wooden image which is the Palladium of the whole
+Vierzo, clad in white satin and tinsel, and set in a halo of
+incandescent lamps! This startling modern _finale_ gave a queer jar to
+the old-world solemnity of the preliminaries; and the chant which burst
+out at the signal scarcely helped to restore the effect. The men's
+voices in Spain are frequently powerful and impressive; but here they
+were relying entirely on their trebles, who are always terribly shrill
+and grating, even to the least musical ear.
+
+The great road which passes through Ponferrada on its way across the
+Vierzo has been the track followed by numberless armies from the days of
+Rome to our own; and to Englishmen it has a special interest as being
+the path of the ill-fated Moore. The second and more arduous stage of
+the famous retreat began at Astorga, where Napoleon abandoned the
+command of the French armies to Soult. Moore might very possibly have
+checked his pursuers on the great natural _glacis_ of Manzanal; but it
+was the aim of his strategy to entangle them as deeply as possible in
+the Galician mountains, and he did not wish to make a stand too soon.
+Accordingly the English army, with Soult hot upon their track, swept
+swiftly through the Vierzo. They got abominably drunk in the
+wine-cellars at Bembibre and Ponferrada. They had a sharp brush with the
+enemy's cavalry at the hamlet of Cacabellos. Then at Villafranca they
+were swallowed again by the mountains, and headed for Lugo by the long
+and labyrinthine pass.
+
+The road across the Pass of Piedrafita is a very different thing
+nowadays to what it was in the time of Moore; yet even now it would be
+no pleasant journey in January, with the snow-drifts blocking the narrow
+"prison vale." Gradually ascending the left bank of the river Valcarce,
+we passed through several picturesque but grimy villages romantically
+placed amid the rocky and wooded hills. The ascent became steeper and
+more tortuous as the road climbed up towards the saddle; and at last, on
+the very summit, we reached the "fixed stone" which is the boundary of
+Leon and Galicia, and entered the head of the Návia valley, which guided
+us down the long descent.
+
+The western portal of the Pass a little above Nogales is guarded by a
+solitary watch-tower, perched upon the point of an isolated boulder in
+the centre of the V-shaped vale. This outlet, however, does not get us
+clear of the mountains; for another lofty ridge rises immediately beyond
+it, and it was at this point that some of the most terrible scenes
+occurred in the course of Moore's retreat. Hundreds lay dying of cold,
+hunger, and exhaustion; and the army treasure-chests, containing 150,000
+dollars, were rolled down the hillside into the river gully, to save
+them from falling into the hands of the French. The closeness of the
+pursuit, however, was checked by Paget in a sharp action at the old
+Roman bridge of Constantino, which spans a rocky gorge half-way up the
+hill; and Moore was enabled to reach Lugo without much further loss.
+
+We spent the night at the mountain village of Becerrea, high up near the
+summit of the ridge--a night of the most brilliant moonlight, which
+showed up the distant mountains almost as clearly as the day. Next
+morning, however, found the village buried in clouds; and through these
+we laboriously groped our way, with the trained fog-craft of Londoners,
+till at last we succeeded in rising above them, and emerging on the
+summit of the ridge. The scene was such as seldom falls to the lot of a
+cyclist, for the vapour choked all the valleys beneath us, and the
+mountain peaks that reared themselves out of it showed like so many
+islands in a sea of cotton-wool. The gorse and bracken around us were
+silver with the webs of the gossamer spiders, and the moisture that
+still hung to the tree-twigs sparkled like jewels in the rising sun.
+Before us a great pale mist-bow was outlined upon a paler curtain; and
+it cost us some regret to desert so striking a spectacle and plunge
+again into the cold cloud-bath that awaited us on the other side.
+
+The series of parallel ridges which the road crosses upon its journey
+westward sink gradually lower and lower, till the environs of Lugo
+appear comparatively level. The valleys are green and well wooded with
+tall timber trees; and as the sun got the better of the clouds some
+hours before mid-day, we had good cause to remember them in a favourable
+light. Many of the wayside cottages were extremely pretty--irregular
+old stone shanties with shadowy eaves and balconies, and rude verandahs
+heavily draped with vines; and the distant prospect of plain and
+mountain forms a delightful background to the views.
+
+Lugo stands upon one of the minor ridges which help to compose what
+Galicia calls a plain; and the river Miño, broad and placid like the
+Thames at Richmond, flows far beneath it in a deep, well-wooded vale.
+Like many of the Galician mountain townships, Lugo is roofed with rough,
+grey slating, and this fact at the first glance gives it a curiously
+un-Spanish air; yet there is no town in all the Peninsula more
+thoroughly national in tone.
+
+The massive walls of the city are its greatest and most impressive
+feature. They are probably of genuine Roman workmanship, for they are
+built of square stones, instead of the random courses which were the
+fashion in mediæval days, and of such portentous thickness as only a
+Roman could conceive. At Astorga the walls are battered and incomplete:
+but at Lugo the facing is still practically intact; and one might drive
+a horse and trap round the top the full circuit of the town, without
+apprehending any particular difficulty if one met another horse and trap
+coming the other way.
+
+[Illustration: LUGO
+
+The Santiago Gate.]
+
+The cathedral is situated just inside the gate of Santiago. It is a
+thirteenth century building, but--like many other Galician
+churches--completely cased externally in late Renaissance days. Its
+three tall towers form a very conspicuous group from all quarters of the
+city; and it was a great grief of mind to my friends at the Santiago
+gateway that I had not included them all in my sketch. It was evidently
+a slight upon Lugo to insinuate that it had only one steeple. A
+Spaniard's idea of a "fine view" is invariably a panorama.
+
+But the true charm of Lugo consists in its squares and fountains and the
+picturesque Gallego peasantry eddying in the narrow streets. The
+fountains in particular are a perpetual delight to an artist, and it is
+in the last hour before dusk in the evening that they may really be seen
+at their best. Then the entire feminine population of the city sally
+forth to obtain their water supply,--a kaleidoscopic medley of colour,
+and a babel of chattering tongues. An unfortunate _alguazil_ is usually
+told off to keep order and preserve some kind of a _queue_. But no one
+thinks of taking the _alguazil_ seriously except himself, for the girls
+are all in the highest spirits, and regard the whole function as a sort
+of glorified game of Tom Tiddler's ground, with the _alguazil_ as a
+semi-official "he." The aim of every player is to slip in out of her
+turn. And directly she scores her first point, and the exasperated
+official rushes round to expel her, there is, of course, a gap left for
+number two. The sparkle and gaiety of the crowd is a standing reproach
+to us Northerners. It would be a very dour and drab-coloured assemblage
+if it had to be managed by us. Macaulay's artistic New Zealander will
+never make much of a picture out of the Hebes of Seven Dials filling
+their buckets in Trafalgar Square.
+
+The pitchers which are seen at the fountains would require a monograph
+all to themselves, for the designs are always strictly local, and in no
+two districts are they ever fashioned alike. The big peg-top-shaped jars
+of red earthenware are peculiar to Lugo itself. Vigo prefers them white,
+and shapes them like an exaggerated teapot, with no lid and a very
+rudimentary spout; their rude resemblance to a hen--(any relation, I
+wonder, to the "tappit hen" of Scotland?)--is an idea which is often
+exploited by a potter of artistic mind. The black oval keg shown in the
+sketch of Rivadeo is monopolised by western Asturias; Pajares boasts an
+elegant three-handled speciality; and the pitchers at Caceres are
+of "Forty Thieves" design. The little wooden buckets are less
+susceptible of variety, yet even of these there are several kinds. The
+commonest type (much wider at the base than at the top) are hooped with
+three metal bands about two and a half inches wide. In Asturias these
+hoops become very broad indeed, leaving only about half an inch of wood
+showing between; they are kept brightly polished, and make a very
+handsome show on a cottage dresser, but must be rather heavy on the
+head. At Pamplona the hoops are equally wide, but there are only two of
+them; and at Pontevedra we saw a queer jug-shaped bucket which we never
+encountered elsewhere.
+
+[Illustration: LUGO
+
+Fuente de San Vicente.]
+
+Next comes a great tribe of metal pitchers of various shapes and sizes,
+used by the inhabitants of Villafranca, Plaséncia, and Leon; and the
+very last ride I took on Spanish soil, in the neighbourhood of
+Santander, introduced me to a round-bellied, long-necked bottle of rough
+green glass, which opens a new vista of possibilities. Alas! that among
+all these delightful old vessels one should see so many outsiders in the
+shape of common cheap pails of galvanised and enamelled iron! One thinks
+with a shudder of the lean kine in the vision which eventually devoured
+all the rest.
+
+The three tall towers of Santiago de Compostela salute the traveller
+from afar off across the wild moors that flank the Lugo road. The city
+is deceitfully situated--for when we are once within it we imagine
+ourselves on an eminence; but, viewed from without, it is undeniably in
+a hole. Yet there is no lack of impressiveness in this first view of
+"the city of our solemnities." The early pilgrim used to prostrate
+himself at the sight of it, and many would finish the last stage of the
+journey upon their knees. Such thoroughgoing devotion is probably very
+rare nowadays, but we would not like to assert that it is yet entirely
+extinct. For once in the little town of Briviesca, on the furthest
+confines of Castile, we did indeed come across a genuine pilgrim, with
+his "cockle hat" and rusty gabardine, his staff, his gourd, and his
+"sandal shoon," all quite complete. The retinue of urchins which
+followed him proved that he was not altogether a common spectacle; but
+in what other country than Spain could one look for such a survival at
+all? It is consoling to think that among his own people St James is not
+quite without due honour even yet.
+
+[Illustration: SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
+
+From the Lugo Road.]
+
+"Ballads are too old to lie," said Sancho Panza, and I love to think the
+same of legends. The mere fact that they have passed current for
+centuries should be a bar to further investigation of title; and a spot
+which has been held sacred by fifty generations of pilgrims does not
+need to be hall-marked by Dr Dryasdust. Nevertheless when a blind man is
+bent upon going into a dark room to look for a black cat, it is but
+charity to inform him that it isn't there, and the pedantically-minded
+may be glad to receive the assurance that the whole proof of Santiago's
+identity is entirely visionary.
+
+It is related by a monkish chronicler of the English Abbey of St Alban,
+how one night in the fourteenth century it was revealed in a dream to
+one of the brethren that the relics of Saint Amphibalus were awaiting
+the quest of the faithful beneath a certain barrow on the Watling
+Street. Which barrow being reverently opened, there were discovered
+(sure enough) the bones of Amphibalus, and of sundry of his disciples,
+and the axe where-with he was martyred, and various other articles of
+great interest and sanctity. Whereby it came to pass that some grim old
+neolithic chieftain, buried æons before amid his weapons and his wives,
+was piously installed as a tutelary in the Abbey Sanctuary. And much
+dumfoundered he must have been at it all, if he was present in spirit at
+the ceremony. "Oh, Bottom! how thou art translated!"
+
+It was evidently something very similar that happened in the ninth
+century at Santiago de Compostela. But the Spanish chroniclers have been
+lacking in the Englishman's regard for circumstantial detail; so whether
+it was an untamed Cantabrian or a Roman Centurion who was annexed as
+_hero eponymus_ for the basilica of Iria Flavia it is now impossible to
+guess. Be that as it may, the bones were certainly lost not long after
+they were beatified, and the authorities had to account for their
+disappearance by protesting that Archbishop Gelmirez had built them, for
+safety's sake, into the foundations of his great cathedral. This
+delightfully incontrovertible statement was the sole satisfaction
+provided for the medieval pilgrims. But we are now no longer permitted
+to build our faith upon such a stolid foundation. The relics were
+rediscovered little more than a generation ago.
+
+This, however, is, of course, rank heresy. If any had ever doubted the
+genuineness of the original relics, their cavilling was speedily
+silenced by the direct interposition of Santiago himself. Sword in hand,
+upon his white horse, he rallied the Christian host at the crisis of the
+battle of Clavijo, mowing down the astonished Moslems ten thousand to a
+swathe. That day made his fortune for ever: but it was by no means his
+only exploit. Through many generations of warfare there was hardly a
+battle contested without his appearance in the ranks.
+
+The warrior Saint, however, was not allowed to score all the tricks in
+the rubber; and one fancies that the hated infidel must have fairly
+wiped out the adverse balance on the day when Al Manzor, the great
+Vizier of Córdova, led his ever-victorious army across the Vierzo
+passes, and carried off the very bells from the steeple to adorn the
+_Ceca_[12] of Mahound. None had ventured to bar his progress, for the
+very name of "The Conqueror" spelt despair to the Christians of that
+day. The walls were unguarded, the city deserted,--man, woman, and child
+had escaped to the mountains lest they should be consumed. But as the
+Vizier spurred his charger through the cathedral portal, behold, before
+the tomb of the Apostle there knelt a solitary monk. "What dost thou
+here?" the Moor demanded. The monk raised his eyes to the terrible
+soldier whose face none else had dared to look upon. "I am praying," he
+answered. And for the sake of that one brave simple-minded man, the
+conqueror bade spare the shrine. Christian monarchs were not always
+equally scrupulous; for Gelmirez himself had to use his cathedral as a
+fortress; and Pedro the Cruel murdered Archbishop Suero on the very
+steps of the sanctuary--his motive being solely robbery, as usual with
+that royal ruffian.
+
+The interior of the cathedral is disappointing. It is a large and
+imposing Romanesque building; but the furniture is tawdry and
+uninteresting when judged by a Spanish standard; and the colossal image
+of Santiago over the High Altar, though genuinely ancient, has rather a
+heathenish air.[13] Externally the structure is completely cased in late
+Spanish Renaissance or "_Churrigueresque_" work. This is not a beautiful
+type,--overloaded, _bizarre_, and extravagant: but everything that
+can be said in its favour may be said of the cathedral of Santiago; and
+it must be a source of no little surprise to a purist that so poor a
+style can produce such a splendid result. The west front is indeed
+Churriguera's masterpiece; and a noble conception it is, had it but been
+erected elsewhere! But it is almost a blot at Compostela, for it hides
+the great Romanesque Portal "_de la Gloria_," which (as Ruskin might
+say) is the only really perfect thing of its kind in the world.
+
+[Illustration: SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
+
+The Cathedral from the North-east.]
+
+The cathedral is most admirably situated, for it forms the central mass
+to four great quadrangles which keep a clear space in front of it on
+each of the four façades. And colleges, hospitals, and palaces are
+grouped around the quadrangles, like a party of lordly vassals assembled
+to do honour to a king.
+
+The streets of the city are narrow, paved with great slabs of granite;
+and in most cases arcaded, as protection against, not the sun, but the
+rain. For Santiago is notoriously the rainiest spot in the Peninsula,
+and is heartily bantered in consequence by all who are envious of its
+complaint. There is a tale told of a preaching friar who was making a
+round of the churches, and whose sermons upon the delights of Heaven
+drew large congregations in every country-side. Beneath the _nebulæ
+malusque Jupiter_ of Santiago he discoursed upon warmth and sunshine,
+and won all the hearts of his hearers by the tale of such fabulous
+bliss. But he needed a different bait when he reached the far end of his
+circuit. The scene and the season were altered, and the unfortunate
+Franciscan, _sub curru nimium propinqui solis_, was sizzling on the
+fiery plains of Murcia. Like Horace, he was still faithful to his text,
+but his reading of it had altered, and his song was now all of a Heaven
+that was deliciously moist and cool! Our much-maligned English climate
+has at all events got compensations. Let a man have a surfeit of
+sunshine and he learns to think tenderly of the rain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE CIRCUIT OF GALICIA
+
+
+LUGO is the hub of Galicia. It lies at the mouth of the Pass of
+Piedrafita, on the great main road which enters the province from Leon;
+and which at this point trifurcates southward, westward, and northward
+to Orense, Santiago, and Coruña. Sir John Moore had reserved his option
+to the last, and up to this point his pursuers could not tell for
+certain whether he were bound for Coruña or Vigo. Here then he paused to
+re-form his straggling regiments, and boldly offered battle upon the
+eastern front of the town. But Soult was too cautious to fight till he
+had concentrated his whole army; and Moore having gained his two days'
+rest, made a last spurt for Coruña after nightfall on the second day. We
+shall come across his traces later, as we work our way around the
+northern coast; but first we would see something further of Galicia, and
+turn to chase the Miño to the sea.
+
+There are many parts of Galicia in which the scenery has an English
+flavour, and the Miño valley at Lugo is one of the cases in point. The
+fields are green and well-wooded, fenced with rough stone walls or
+sometimes with slabs set edgewise. The hilltops, rounded and heathy, are
+plentifully studded with Celtic and Roman earthworks; and when we mount
+to their summits (an event which happens more frequently than is quite
+agreeable to the cyclist) it is only like straying from Dorset to Exmoor
+or the Yorkshire fells. The moist climate of Galicia gives the
+vegetation a chance that it does not obtain in the interior, and of
+which it avails itself enthusiastically. The trees in the village
+_alamedas_ are planted so thickly that they would seem doomed to
+suffocation. Yet they flourish luxuriantly, plaiting their branches
+together till the foliage forms a thick matted blanket over the whole
+area; and beneath them is "darkness that may be felt," so dense and
+solid that one feels one might dig a way in.
+
+Our first stage from Lugo brought us to Monforte--a real "strong mount,"
+not unlike St Michael's, but standing in the centre of a great plain
+encircled by a ring of lofty hills. Thence we proceeded up a long,
+winding mountain roadway; through the vine-clad villages that covered
+the lower slopes, and over the bare wild moorland that rose above them
+to the crest of the ridge.
+
+A big Celtic camp was planted commandingly upon the summit, and here we
+paused like mariners out of their bearings as we peered over into the
+valley which yawned for us on the further side. Surely this could not be
+the Miño! We had parted from it yesterday at Lugo--a domesticated and
+navigable-looking river, quite different from the uncivilised little
+torrent that we now saw far beneath us, tearing along the bottom of this
+V-shaped glen. The map was a little ambiguous, but it offered no
+plausible alternative; and when, after several very crooked miles, the
+road at last succeeded in curling itself down alongside, behold! it was
+the Miño, sure enough.
+
+The Miño is undoubtedly the most beautiful of all the great rivers in
+Northern Spain, and the variety of its moods is, perhaps, its most
+attractive feature. Nothing could be wilder than the glen by which it
+forces the mountains, unless it be the sister-glen by which the Sil
+comes down to unite with it, brimming with the waters from the Vierzo
+springs. Yet from the confluence to Orense it flows through an Eden of
+fertility, its hilly banks festooned with vine and olive, and the
+meadows beneath them teeming with corn and maize. Then comes a sterner
+stretch amid the mountains along the Portuguese frontier--more majestic,
+yet scarcely less fertile,--till it emerges at last in the broad, rich
+valley of Tuy, and circling under its ramparts glides slowly onward to
+the sea.
+
+Orense, the capital of the district, lies a little back from the river
+on the crest of a slight eminence, an offshoot of the neighbouring
+hills. Its fine old Romanesque cathedral would of itself be enough to
+dignify any town; but the great lion of Orense is its magnificent
+bridge. This mammoth structure was the work of the mediæval bishops,
+whose reverence for the memory of St Christopher did not entirely expend
+itself in frescoes on their cathedral walls. It is the greatest of all
+the gable bridges, and its main central span, one hundred and fifty feet
+from pier to pier, is the widest of any in Spain. Neither Martorell nor
+Toledo can quite equal it; but Almaraz is considered superior, and it
+has neither the dizzy height nor the stupendous bulk that might rank it
+as a rival to Alcántara.
+
+[Illustration: ORENSE
+
+The Bridge over the Miño.]
+
+The bridge of Orense was the pivot of the French operations when Soult
+led his power from Coruña to renew the subjugation of Portugal. His
+earlier attempts to cross the Miño at Tuy were foiled by the
+flooded river, the bad watermanship of his landlubbers, and a little
+plucky opposition from the further shore. Orense gave him an opening,
+and the country was for a moment at his mercy. But the respite had been
+invaluable--he had now but a short time. Within two months his army was
+reeling back from Oporto, without hospital, baggage, or artillery, in a
+worse plight even than Moore's. He had wrestled his first fall with the
+great antagonist who was destined to beat him from the Douro to
+Toulouse.
+
+And while he was clutching at Portugal, and Ney at western Asturias,
+Galicia had slipped from their fingers and the heather was aflame. The
+outlying garrisons were captured, the foragers waylaid and massacred,
+even the camps and columns incessantly sniped from the hills. One noted
+_guerrillero_ assured Freire that he had personally superintended the
+drowning of seven hundred French in the waters of the Miño. Probably it
+is permissible to discount his arithmetic; but the ugly boast is a
+sufficient indication of the spirit in which the struggle was carried
+on.
+
+The invaders were finally drawn away by Wellington's advance up the
+Tagus valley; but indeed their whole scheme of occupation had been
+foredoomed to failure from the first. "It is impossible for any army to
+hold Galicia," wrote Soult to his imperial taskmaster. The mountains and
+irreconcilables were too much for any force that could be spared.
+
+The Galician methods of viniculture have at least the merit of elegance,
+and the Miño is still undisciplined by the stiff formal terraces of the
+Rhine. The vines are trained over light rustic _pergolas_, the
+horizontal sticks being fixed at a height of about six feet above the
+ground, so that there is just room for a man to walk beneath them. The
+whole area of the field is thus covered with a leafy awning, and in most
+instances the old stone cottages are half surrounded with verandahs
+constructed in similar style. These are certainly the prettiest
+vineyards with which we have yet made acquaintance, but they are seldom
+seen beyond the limits of Galicia. The vines of the Duero are ground
+vines, and the landscape gets very little profit out of them.
+
+The local _vins ordinaires_ of the Northern Provinces are generally
+somewhat similar to Burgundy, but their quality varies greatly in the
+different districts. Often they are really excellent, but sometimes
+exceedingly harsh and rough--attuned to the "hard stomachs of the
+reapers," and flavoured with the pitch which is used in dressing the pig
+skins in which they are stored. The most famous of all is Sancho's
+beloved Valdepeñas from the arid plains of La Mancha; but the Miño wines
+also are excellent, and our hostess had good reason for confidence when
+she produced "her own wine" so proudly at La Cañiza. Old James Howell
+refers very affectionately to the "gentle sort of white wine" which is
+grown at Ribadávia; and he might without any injustice have extended his
+approval to the red. At all events it was nobly thought of by Don
+Francisco de Toledo, commandant of the _Tertia_ of the Miño, who sailed
+in the Spanish Armada, for he shipped an ample stock of it on board the
+_San Felipe_. Whereby it chanced that three hundred convivial Zeelanders
+were carried incontinently to the bottom as they were carousing in the
+battered derelict.
+
+The truly accommodative traveller should drink, like the natives, _a
+trago_, out of the regulation glass teapot or time-honoured "leather
+bottle." These experts hold the vessel well above their heads, and
+squirt the thin jet of liquid straight into their open mouths. But the
+art needs a long apprenticeship, and is painfully hazardous to a
+novice. It should not be essayed before strangers, nor in any elaborate
+get-up.
+
+We had hoped that our mountaineering experiences would cease for a while
+at Orense--that our road would consent to abide by the Miño, and accept
+its guidance to the sea. We had got no further than Ribadávia, however,
+before we found ourselves again going up to the heavens, and the little
+riverside towns between Ribadávia and Tuy are only to be approached by
+branch roads which drop upon them from above. The hillsides are clothed
+with pine woods, plentifully sugared with huge boulders as big as
+ordinary cottages; and if (as seems probable) these are indeed _blocs
+perchés_, the ancient glaciers of Galicia must have been of respectable
+size. All over the lower slopes they are scattered in lavish profusion,
+and the topmost are gingerly balanced on the very summits of the
+_arrêtes_.
+
+[Illustration: TUY AND VALENCIA
+
+The Frontier Towns on the Miño.]
+
+The clouds were massing ominously upon the heights above us as we rose
+clear of the pine woods, and our further impressions of the landscape
+were merged in the universal deluge that swallowed us when we reached
+the top. But the little mountain village of La Cañiza rescued us, and
+fed us and dried us, and made itself agreeable to us next morning
+ere it set us again on our way. La Cañiza was preparing a _Fiesta_; and
+a fact that excited our interest was that fresh figs were selling in the
+market at sixteen a penny--or indeed over twenty a penny, with allowance
+for the rate of exchange. We hope they were favoured with fine weather,
+but the outlook was not altogether assuring; and we were glad when we
+found ourselves across the _Puerto_ and dropping once more into the
+summer-like climate of the deep rich vale beyond.
+
+Tuy is the frontier town of the Miño, and the Portuguese fortress of
+Valencia confronts it across the river like some "deadly opposite" in an
+interrupted duel. But its quaint old houses and cathedral do not now
+wear a very martial appearance; and as I was allowed to sketch
+uninterrupted under the very nose of a sentry, it would seem that the
+rival cities have agreed to differ without any unnecessary parade.
+
+Vigo (to our surprise) proved quite unknown to all the inhabitants of
+Tuy. "Bigo" they knew; but they rejected any other designation. And that
+with a firmness which would be warmly approved at "Balladolid." The
+consonants _b_ and _v_ seem everywhere at odds for supremacy; and it
+rather adds to the perplexity of the stranger that they often get
+written as pronounced. "_Villar_," at the first glance, is not at all
+suggestive of "Billiards"; and "_Aqui se bende bino_" would be so much
+more comprehensible if it were "spelt with a we." "'_Vivere_' is the
+same as '_bibere_' to a Spaniard," laughs Martial; so the provincialism
+is at all events of respectable antiquity. Yet it is not countenanced in
+the Cloisters of Toledo, where the "Sir Oracle" of classical Castilian
+is reputed to hold his court. At the same time we must confess that when
+we visited those hallowed precincts we did not hear so much as a
+syllable of any language at all.
+
+Vigo lies about twenty miles from Tuy, on the further side of a wall of
+pointed hills; and our first intimation of our approach to that famous
+seaport was a procession of barelegged fishwives with their big dripping
+baskets balanced upon their heads. Untrammelled by their burden, they
+came swinging down the road towards us at a good five miles an hour, the
+elderly and grizzled among them as upright and elastic as the girls. If
+ever the craze for pedestrianism should culminate in an international
+team race for ladies, the fishwives of Vigo would be a "very strong
+tip." Indeed, if we felt quite sure that they would not get
+disqualified for "lifting," we might even venture to pronounce them a
+"moral cert."
+
+A Galician woman thinks nothing of a moderate-sized haystack as her
+ordinary walking head-dress; and any article she may carry, from an
+umbrella to a harmonium, is invariably poised upon her head. No doubt
+they considered us extremely foolish not to do the same with our
+knapsacks, for the theory of equilibrium comes as natural to them as
+their breath. Walking or sitting, standing or stooping, they never so
+much as raise a hand to steady their baskets or their pails. And the
+lifelong habit has certainly given them a most stately carriage. A
+duchess who is ambitious of walking worthy of her vocation could hardly
+do better than go into training with them.
+
+The Spanish peasant girls may not be classically beautiful, but they are
+well-built, strong and active; a healthy-looking, open-air race. The
+chamber-maids of the hotel at Vigo seemed to spend the whole of their
+existence carrying buckets of water upstairs on their heads to the
+bedrooms. The hotel was five storeys high; and their labour was as the
+"Well of Ronda."[14] Yet these cheerful Danaids were quite unconcerned
+about their task. Even the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso, it may be
+remembered (upon identification), proved capable of heaving the crowbar
+as well as the lustiest young fellow of the village, and her remarks to
+the reapers could be heard at a distance of half a league.
+
+Nature has dowered Vigo with the most magnificent natural harbour in
+Europe; but Vigo is only a fishing port, "a place for the spreading of
+nets." The economist who chances to wander thither will weep his eyes
+out over neglected opportunities; but an artist may use his to better
+purpose. Seldom can he feast them upon a more delightful spectacle than
+that great landlocked mountain-girt firth, with its deep blue waters
+bosomed amid the luxuriant vegetation of the hills. My sketch was taken
+looking seaward from the extreme end of the inner harbour; where Admiral
+Rooke sank the "Silver Fleet" in 1702, and where many generations of
+treasure-seekers have since groped over the muddy bottom in their vain
+endeavours to recover the "pieces of eight." Beyond the bottle-necked
+entrance lies the outer harbour upon which the town is situated; and
+further still, out of sight in the extreme distance, the natural
+breakwater of the Islas de Cies repels the ocean from the bay.
+
+[Illustration: VIGO BAY
+
+The Inner Harbour, looking out towards the Sea.]
+
+But in the town itself the most attractive feature is indubitably the
+fishing quarter. The throng of picturesque fishing craft elbowing each
+other in the crowded basin; the crazy old arcaded houses that ring the
+harbour round; the sailors staggering up the inclines with their baskets
+full of gleaming silver; the women sitting along the quay and deftly
+decapitating sardines with their thumbs. The mess, the noise, the crowd,
+the bustle, the glitter, form one of the most brilliant pictures that a
+painter could possibly conceive. And as for the smell, we do declare
+upon our veracity that it is distinctly perceptible at a distance of
+five miles.
+
+There are many such _Rias_ as Vigo along the coast to the northward; and
+the road rising sharply over the intervening ridges, finds in each
+successive valley a fresh garden of delight. The huge mountain groynes
+push themselves far out into the ocean; and their precipitous headlands,
+Vilano, Toriñana, and Finistierra, form the mighty spur stones of the
+sea-borne traffic to the south. Between them lie the gleaming estuaries,
+each a harbour fit for a navy, and the deep verdant valleys well watered
+by the streams from the hills. Perhaps there is no plant in the world
+which could not be induced to grow here with a little attention; for the
+range from palms to heather is a wide one, but they flourish as if to
+the country born. "It is the Paradise of Spain," exclaimed an
+enthusiastic Astorgan. And one can well imagine how such a picture would
+appeal to a native of the arid plateaus of Leon.
+
+Yet Galicia has a plague of its own lest the angels should prefer it to
+heaven; for the Lord of that land is Beelzebub, and its children are
+fodder for his flies. On the dry, lofty plains of the interior these
+pests are less virulent than one might expect in a tropical country; but
+in Galicia even the ordinary house-fly thinks nothing of transfixing a
+worsted stocking, and our shanks were soon spotted like currant
+dumplings with the scars of their innumerable bites. The chief
+tormentors, however, are the horse-flies--the "clegs" of the Highlands
+of Scotland--a terror even to the thick-skinned mule and pony, and
+cordially anathematised by the Galician muleteer. Their only redeeming
+quality is a certain bull-dog tenacity, which is all in favour of the
+avenger; though death is no adequate penalty for such horribly venomous
+bites.
+
+The village granaries in this district are a very insistent feature.
+There is one in nearly every cottage garden--a little stone ark raised
+on six lofty legs. In Asturias they are much larger, built of wood and
+capped with a pyramidical roof. There no one could mistake them for
+anything but what they are; but here their shape, and their size, and
+the little stone crosses on their gables, are all so irresistibly
+suggestive of a sarcophagus, that at first we could not imagine that
+they had any other purpose to serve. The average Gallego's fancy seems
+to turn on thoughts of funerals. His peculiar local type of bullock-cart
+also was manifestly derived from a coffin on wheels.
+
+At El Padron we turned inland past the local shrine of _Nuestra Señora
+de la Esclavitud_. (_Penal_ servitude, I regret to say, for it was a
+noted sanctuary for criminals.) The west front is a modest imitation of
+that of Santiago Cathedral, and the niche under its great stairway
+enshrines a beautifully cool fountain, which we could recommend more
+confidently if it did not issue from the churchyard. At this point it
+was that Borrow left the main track on his weird journey to Corcuvion;
+but we pushed straight ahead for Santiago de Compostela; and once more
+threaded its arcaded _Ruas_ in search of the Coruña road.
+
+The coach that runs daily from Santiago to Coruña prides itself upon
+possessing the most numerous team of any vehicle in Spain. We were
+assured that sixteen mules were frequently requisitioned to drag it over
+the snowy hills in winter-time; but from our own personal observation
+(in August) we cannot vouch for more than ten. The passengers were just
+stowing themselves into it as we passed them. They had a ten hours'
+journey before them, and it promised to be a roasting day. Yet the
+"insides" were packed like sardines in a basket; and some brave spirits
+were even occupying the roof among the interstices of the baggage, where
+they were all corded down together under a general tarpaulin! We
+wondered what they would look like when they emerged from their
+travelling oven at the other end!
+
+The road is rather homelike in character, remote alike from coast-line
+and mountain: and more than one stage of the journey might have been
+borrowed from Hindhead or Rake Hill. Yet we gleaned passing hints of our
+latitude from the picturesque figures of the husbandmen, with their mild
+little cream-coloured oxen, their mattocks, and their primitive
+ploughs.
+
+[Illustration: NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA ESCLAVITUD.]
+
+These last are of Adamite construction, made entirely of wood and so
+light that the long-suffering women can carry them upon their heads.
+Such was the pattern known to Hesiod and to Virgil. Such an one was
+Wamba using when the lords of the Visigoths came to summon their
+Cincinnatus to the throne of Toledo, and the haft blossomed in his hand
+in token that their tidings were true.
+
+We have continued gradually rising for the greater part of our journey;
+but the ground breaks away suddenly and sharply a few miles short of the
+coast. The view from the crest is delightful. A wide expanse of green
+undulating woodland maps itself out beneath us at the foot of the deep
+descent; and beyond gleam the still blue waters of the ocean, and the
+little saucepan-shaped city of Coruña standing out boldly in the centre
+of its bay.
+
+What a welcome sight it must have presented to Moore and his soldiers as
+they struggled over the Puerto Bello, a few miles along the ridge to the
+east! Barefoot, ragged, and hungry, and drenched by the pelting tempest,
+like Xenophon's harassed ten thousand, at last they were in sight of
+the sea. The long night march from Lugo had been the most trying and
+disastrous of any. Yet there was no slackness when they turned to bay;
+and near Betánzos even the stragglers proved that they retained
+sufficient cohesion to repulse a cavalry charge.
+
+Dropping in long steep sweeps from the heathery heights to the woodland,
+the road gradually settles itself down beside the banks of the Mero
+river; and just as the streamlet widens into an estuary we dip across
+the mouth of a little lateral valley, where the village of Palávia
+nestles between two parallel hills. The bones of three thousand men lie
+buried along that little valley, and the trim villas and gay gardens of
+the Coruña suburbanites cover the ground where French and English fought
+out their desperate struggle a hundred years ago. The focus of the
+fighting, however, was not at Palávia, but higher up the valley towards
+our left, where the ground was more favourable to the assailants, and
+where the defenders had no river to protect their flank. Here Soult made
+his grand attack under the fire of his great battery; here Moore fell
+mortally wounded on the slopes above Elviña at the very moment when he
+felt assurance of success.
+
+Moore's grave is in the citadel of Coruña. An unpretentious monument,
+but now well kept, and the centre of a charming little walled garden.
+Like many another faithful servant of his country, he had been set to do
+impossibilities, and was vilified by the impatient stay-at-homes,
+because they could not grasp the measure of his success. They had sent
+out a gallant army; and it was restored to them hungry and naked, broken
+by cruel marches, and reeking from a stricken field. They had never
+before realised what war was, and they blamed their general for
+revealing it. Indeed, as even Condé admitted, the details are ugly in
+Spain.
+
+Moore's famous victory was not the only one achieved by British arms in
+this neighbourhood. Over two centuries before, in the year after the
+Spanish Armada, Drake and Norreys landed an expeditionary force to
+chastise the port from which it had sailed. They captured and plundered
+the town, and upon the very margin of Moore's battle-field they stormed
+the bridge of El Burgo and defeated the Spanish militia who had
+assembled for its relief. Of these they slew "a thousand," while they
+lost but three of their own men. From which it may be inferred that
+Drake and Norreys had been reading the exploits of Santiago, and
+thought that a little local colour in their dispatches would serve as a
+guarantee of good faith.
+
+We had intended to make but one stage of it from Coruña, and encompass
+the bay to Ferrol. But our plans were all blown to the winds when we
+spied the little town of Betánzos clustered together upon its conical
+hill in a loop of the Mendo river,--far too attractive a spectacle to be
+skipped with a casual call. It won our hearts at first sight, as we
+stooped to the vale from the uplands: and our affections were confirmed
+the moment we entered the gates. A delightful little township, with none
+of its lines parallel and none of its angles right angles; and a whole
+population of models grouping themselves in its ramshackle arcades.[15]
+
+[Illustration: BETÁNZOS
+
+A Colonnaded Calle.]
+
+We had been commended to Betánzos by Valentina, the waitress at
+Santiago. Betánzos was Valentina's _pueblo_, and "a very gay place" (so
+said Valentina). Betánzos played up to its reputation by an improvised
+ball in the evening; and few set ballets in a theatre could provide
+so pretty a sight. The _Plaza_ is paved with cobbles, which are
+disadvantageous for dancing. But the fountain which stands in the centre
+acts as hub to a multitude of smooth flagged pathways; and up and down
+these, in to the centre and out again, the couples swung unwearyingly in
+a great vibrating star. The electric lamps (oh yes! they have electric
+lamps in Betánzos) only partially illuminated the area; and the patches
+of light and shadow gave an additional variety to the effect.
+
+The Galician peasant woman's costume is one of the prettiest in the
+Peninsula. As usual, it is very simple; a skirt and bodice, a kerchief
+tied over the head, and another crosswise over the shoulders. But the
+charm is in the colouring, and the Galician women wear the brightest of
+colours: brave reds and yellows for the kerchiefs, with something rather
+quieter for the skirt. They almost all go barefoot; a spendthrift use of
+commodities, but doubtless extremely convenient so long as the wear does
+not tell. The foot will grow coarsened in time; but the girls have not
+any misgivings,--and the beggar maid probably profited when she came
+before King Cophetua. It is rather humiliating to compare the
+square-toed natural foot with the narrow, artificially pointed article
+which has been evolved for us by our boot-makers. Verily we have small
+cause to laugh at the fashions of the Chinese!
+
+The men wear loose "white" shirts with dark-coloured breeches and
+stockings, and a _cummerbund_ wrapped round the loins. Sometimes there
+happens to be a waistcoat, or a cloak slung over the shoulder; and the
+costume is usually completed by a battered broad-brimmed hat.
+
+"Capital stuff, this," cried Ferdinand the Catholic, with reference to
+the royal jerkin, "it has worn out three pairs of sleeves!" And his
+highness's predilection for patching still appeals to the lieges of
+to-day. So piously do they practise his precept that it is often
+difficult to determine whether any part of their garments was original;
+and they all appear (justly enough) to have clung to a working
+hypothesis that the matching of colours is hazardous, but there is
+always safety in contrast. The picturesqueness of the result, however,
+is as obvious as its economy. Perhaps some day an English Ferdinand will
+revive the example for us.
+
+[Illustration: THE MASMA VALLEY
+
+Near Mondoñedo.]
+
+The beautiful bay of Coruña lay still within the curve of our advancing
+roadway, and every re-entering angle was filled with a gleaming creek.
+To our right rose rugged hills, plentifully besprinkled with
+farmsteads; and more than one rustic township punctuated the stages of
+the way. The last and most important of the inlets was the great
+bottle-necked lagoon of Ferrol; and the famous arsenal itself lay half
+concealed at the mouth of it, close under the guardian headlands that
+form the gateway to the bay.
+
+Ferrol surrendered to Soult without a blow after Coruña, and the
+pusillanimity of its governor probably robbed it of a creditable
+success. With half the spirit of Gerona or Zaragoza it would have proved
+impregnable, in the light of subsequent events. The Galicians were taken
+unaware when Moore drew the war into their mountains, and were stunned
+before they were aroused. The season, too, was winter, when a
+_guerrilla_ was almost impracticable. They showed a better spirit when
+their torpor was thawed in the spring.
+
+From Ferrol the road heaved us aloft to the crest of the great moorland
+plateau where the Miño hoards its fountains, and from which we looked
+out westward and northward over an almost limitless length of
+coast-line, with the dark upland ridges running out between the creeks
+like the ribs of a fan. How high we had risen we scarcely realised till
+we came to descend again, and saw the long, deep, highland glen
+dropping visibly before us mile beyond mile. Yet when we reached the
+corner, the little cathedral town of Mondoñedo still lay far below us;
+for what show as mountains over the Masma valley are really only the
+edges of the moor. We eventually came down to the sea at the estuary of
+Foz a little before sunset; and just as the dusk was turning to darkness
+we ran into the narrow streets of Rivadeo, and the arms of the motherly
+old hostesses who rule the "Castilian Hotel."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+WESTERN ASTURIAS
+
+
+A BUXOM old lady who was occupying the shadow of a large umbrella in the
+centre of Rivadeo marketp-lace greeted us volubly as we emerged from the
+_Fonda_ door. "A good day to your honours! It seems then that they are
+upon a journey? Ah! without doubt they are going to Castropol. Yes,
+there is a road there, but it is a long way round the _Ria_. They will
+save an hour,--two hours,--by taking a boat!" Our honours, indeed, had
+already come to the same conclusion; neither were they altogether
+surprised when their friend's eloquence culminated in the announcement
+that she herself (thank God) was a Castropolitan, and her boat in
+waiting at the quay below. A small black-eyed damsel was hastily
+installed commandant of the big umbrella, and the old lady sallied forth
+to rout out her boatman and steer us down to the shore.
+
+This spirited attempt to corner the entire passenger traffic was hotly
+resented by a partner in a rival firm; an unprincipled operator who
+endeavoured to gain control of the market by the most shameless
+rate-cutting. He would take us across for six _reals_! for five _reals_!
+for four!! He followed us down the street, waving his arms and
+gesticulating and pitching his voice a tone higher at every bid. But the
+old dame resolutely headed off all his attempts to get at her convoy;
+silenced his feebler abuse with broadsides of the bitterest sarcasm; and
+finally expressed her scorn for competition and equilibrium by a dance
+of derision executed upon the poop as the boat shoved off into the bay.
+
+It was truly a lovely morning, and the view was worthy of the sunshine.
+Behind were the white walls and shiny slate roofs of Rivadeo scrambling
+one above the other up the steeply sloping cliff; before us Castropol
+rose from the water's edge in a pyramid of purple shadow,--for the sun
+was dead behind it,--and between the two lay the glassy _Ria_, a long
+narrow fiord, winding away inland, reach beyond reach, till it lost
+itself in the bosom of the hazy hills. Evidently the path before us was
+at least cast in pleasant places.
+
+[Illustration: RIVADEO
+
+An Approach to the Harbour.]
+
+We had made bold to confide somewhat in fortune when we embarked on
+this stage of our campaign. The map gave no pledge of a road, and the
+guide-books were equally uncommitted. Borrow, indeed, had traversed the
+province, with his honest guide, Martin of Rivadeo; but Borrow made his
+journey on horseback, and his description did not lead one to infer that
+there was any opening for wheels. Yet our trust in the chapter of
+accidents brought a suitably generous reward.
+
+Take the mountains of the Lake District, and double their height; plant
+them under an Italian sky behind a Cornish coast; add plenty of old
+broad-eaved, balconied houses, not unlike Swiss chalets, a primitive
+picturesque population clad in bright colours, and draught cattle,
+ploughs, waggons, pack mules, and other appointments _en suite_. Such a
+picture is fairly typical of the scenes that awaited us upon our way.
+Here the road dipped to carry us past the end of a rocky inlet, where
+the waves were breaking upon the chesil beach some fifty yards away.
+Here it rose again to disclose a panorama of sea and mountain, with the
+thin blue smoke of the charcoal burners' fires trailing lazily across
+the plateau or wreathing itself around the shoulders of the hills. To
+Borrow's eyes it had all seemed gloomy and desolate; but he had
+traversed it in the mists of a stormy autumn, and beneath the halcyon
+skies of summer it is a veritable fairyland.
+
+The _Ria_ at Návia is scarcely worthy of the name, for it is merely the
+mouth of a little tidal river, not a harbour for sea-going ships, like
+the firth of Rivadeo. Yet it is a beautiful valley, and the
+queerly-cropped poplars give a very _bizarre_ effect to the view. A
+little further on is a more striking feature. A huge serrated ridge,
+known as the Sierra de Rañadoiro, flings itself out at right angles to
+the _cordillera_, and stands like a wall across the plateau which
+divides the mountains from the sea. Just before it reaches the coast it
+branches off into a number of smaller ridges, ravelling out like the
+strands of a cable; and the last group in the series are the seven
+_Bellotas_, which proved such formidable obstacles to Borrow and his
+guide.
+
+There is no chance of "shirking the fences." Each ridge terminates in a
+bold and lofty headland, each valley in a rocky creek; and seventy years
+ago those deep narrow gorges must have been ugly places enough. But
+Borrow's stony bridle-path is now a fine broad roadway, his "miserable
+venta" is a comfortable inn; and he certainly would not have
+troubled to push on to Muros had he found such good entertainment as did
+we.
+
+[Illustration: THE NAVIA VALLEY]
+
+Mine host was a stout and jovial yeoman with a loud voice and a hearty
+laugh. He sat very wide at the head of the table, and promised us that
+we should have our cutlets raw. "What! Were we not Englishmen? And
+should he set cooked meat before Englishmen? No, indeed; that perfectly
+comprehended itself. _Spaniards_ ate cooked meat, but _Englishmen_
+devoured it raw." Of course (as a special concession) _we_ might have
+them cooked--"_á la Española_." But this without prejudice to the
+eternal verity that "_á la Inglesa_" was "raw." We struggled in vain to
+persuade him that we knew as much about England as he did. An Asturian
+dalesman is commonly reputed capable of driving a nail into a wall with
+his head. But so long as his principles were not controverted he
+certainly was excellent company for his guests. He regaled us with a
+capital white wine, "_Vino Castellano_" (I suppose from the Medina del
+Campo district, which is the only place where I know of white wine in
+Castile); he discoursed to us on the beauties of Právia and the
+excellence of Asturian cider; and sped us at parting with the assurance
+that there were very few hills on the road. But this last piece of
+information (as we subsequently discovered) was to be accepted in a
+strictly Asturian sense.
+
+Luarca and Cudillero, the two little coast towns of the district, are
+twin brothers in situation, but moving in different sets. Luarca is
+aspiring to the dignity of a watering-place:--it must have quite a dozen
+visitors in the season even now. Cudillero is a fishing village pure and
+simple, and is content to leave vanities alone. Each town lies nestling
+in a deep narrow notch of the lofty coast-line, with its quaint shanties
+spilling themselves pell-mell down the precipitous escarpments in all
+shapes, sizes, and positions, like rubble shot out of a cart. The
+brawling waters of a little brook go tumbling down the middle; and the
+tiny creek at the bottom is lined with a sturdy array of quays and
+breakwaters, where the fishing fleet can shelter itself from the
+tempests of the Bay. Perhaps of the two Luarca has the prettier harbour;
+but the unabashed raggedness and dilapidation of Cudillero, and the
+old-world simplicity of its people, will appeal more strongly to an
+artist's eye.
+
+The main road drops in to call at Luarca, but it is quite unaware of the
+existence of Cudillero, and but for the directions of an auspicious
+waggoner we might have strayed past it altogether. A break-neck descent
+of a mile or so eventually brought us on to the roofs of some houses;
+and it presently transpired that the town was "underneath." Down we
+plunged into it by a ricketty corkscrew street, as steep as that at
+Clovelly; ducked under the weather-beaten old church which is plugged
+like a bung in the outlet; and eventually emerged at the waterside,
+where the fishwives were sitting in a long parti-coloured fringe along
+the edge of the quay, armed with their large flat baskets, and awaiting
+the return of the boats.
+
+The _Fonda del Comércio_ was a poky and primitive little hostelry, but
+they had plenty of fresh sardines; and his lot is not entirely pitiable
+who sups upon fresh sardines. We slept in tiny alcoves curtained off
+from our dining-room; and our last recollections were connected with
+parties of happy fishermen in the street without, singing rollicking
+ditties in honour of "_amor_."
+
+I was down in the harbour early in the morning for the purpose of
+sketching, and so also were a goodly contingent of the townsfolk, intent
+on their morning dip. It is a libel on the Spanish nation to imagine
+that they do not wash. Perhaps it is true of the central plains,--poor
+people, they lack the water, but all along the coast they are much
+given to bathing. The women stroll unconcernedly down to the beach,
+armed with a huge towel and a sort of glorified sack which serves as a
+bathing costume. The huge towel, spread over their heads, envelopes them
+completely, and under cover of it they make their toilet. At Cudillero
+the beach where the boats were drawn up was reserved for the women, and
+the men bathed off the rocks a little distance away. But neither party
+made any pretence of privacy; and there is an air of primitive innocency
+about the whole proceeding which forbids all notion of offence.
+
+Another primitive sight, though of a different character, was awaiting
+me as I re-entered the town. It was Sunday morning, and the early Mass
+was being celebrated in the church at the stairfoot of the roadway. The
+building was crowded even beyond its utmost capacity, for a long _queue_
+of kneeling worshippers had thrust itself out from the open door, like
+bees hanging from a hive when they are about to swarm. Whatever may be
+the case in the cities, it is certain that the peasantry are as devout
+as ever in their religious observances; and once or twice upon holy
+days we have found the highway itself absolutely blocked with a crowd of
+worshippers intent on their orisons before some wayside shrine.
+
+[Illustration: CUDILLERO
+
+The Harbour.]
+
+We regained the high road above Cudillero by a long winding ascent; and
+leaving far below us on our left the beautiful estuary of Muros, bore up
+into the mountains for the secluded vale of Právia at the confluence of
+the Narcea and the Nalon. "Právia is better than Switzerland," our host
+at Bellotas had informed us, and we do not wish to deny it. But the
+comparison could only be made by one who had never seen Switzerland, for
+there is nothing in common between the two. Our own Lake District would
+supply a nearer parallel; but I know nothing quite like Právia except
+Právia itself; a meeting-place of many valleys with vistas of mountain
+scenery opening out on every side. Yet the heart of the range still
+holds remote and invisible. It is not till we have progressed some
+distance up the Nalon valley, and are drawing near to Oviedo, that we
+get acquainted with the higher peaks. Then, indeed, the scale becomes
+truly Alpine, and the valleys which lie across our path would not
+discredit Piedmont or Savoy.
+
+Oviedo is not a town for which I have ever been able to acquire much
+enthusiasm. A traveller newly landed from France might find it
+delightfully Spanish, but to one who is fresh from the interior it has a
+flavour of underdone French. It lies amid beautiful scenery, but just
+out of sight of the best of it; and perhaps, as it is bent upon a career
+of commercial enterprise, this retirement is creditable to its taste.
+Yet its situation is by no means commonplace, its atmosphere not
+generally smoky, and its fine old palaces and narrow cobbled _calles_
+must be allowed to weigh something in the balance against its boulevards
+and tram-lines and plate-glass.
+
+The cathedral is a fine building, though it hardly can rank with the
+finest; and it seems to be somewhat infected by the prevailing
+Frenchified air. Yet in sanctity it is pre-eminent; for it boasts the
+holiest relics in the Peninsula--all the miracle-working treasures which
+the kings of the Visigoths had hoarded in their temple at Toledo, and
+which the faithful bore away with them into the mountains when they fled
+from the invading Moors. Some splendid specimens of early jewellery may
+be seen among the caskets and monstrances; and the reredos behind the
+High Altar is quite in the best Spanish style.
+
+The children seem afflicted with an uncontrollable mania for getting
+their pictures taken. Perhaps there is thought to be luck in it, for
+even their elders are not entirely exempt. This fact accounts for the
+presence of the venerable _Sereno_ in the foreground of my drawing of
+the cathedral. He insisted on shaking hands with me for my kindness in
+putting him there, although I had conceived the obligation to be all on
+my side.
+
+These quaint old watchmen are a sort of hall-mark of municipal
+respectability. No Spanish city "of any degree of _ton_" would think of
+dispensing with its _Serenos_. Indeed, in some instances the _Sereno_
+has survived where the city is now little more than a name. Fine
+picturesque old figures clad in cloaks and slouch hats, and armed with
+javelins and lanterns,--(the towns are all lighted by electricity, but
+that is a detail),--they give a deliciously old-world flavour to the
+deserted streets at night. It is questionable whether they would be much
+use in a row; for like our own late lamented "Charlies," they are often
+aged and infirm. But their pictorial effect is incomparable: and they
+are real good Samaritans to the belated reveller, for they carry the
+keys of all the street doors on their beat, so that the errant
+householder can always steal quietly to cover, after he has awakened
+half the parish in summoning "_Ser-êno-o!_"
+
+Light sleepers abominate the whole tribe; for they have powerful voices,
+and their melodious bellow, "Twelve o'clock, and all serene!"--(the
+refrain to which they owe their title)--is sure to arouse all the dogs
+that happen to have stopped barking since eleven. It sounds such
+gratuitous worry to make night hideous because the weather is fine.
+
+But it seems quite a passion with Spaniards to know how the time is
+progressing--not from any regard of its monetary value, but merely from
+an altruistic and dilettante point of view. They adopt at least three
+bases of reckoning--the local time, the Madrid time, and the Western
+European (by which the trains do _not_ start). All the clocks are at
+variance with all of them: and the whole system seems solely contrived
+for the bewilderment of the foreigner, for the _habitué_ impartially
+ignores the lot.
+
+The people of Oviedo,--and, indeed, all Asturians and Gallegans,--are
+esteemed an inferior race by your true Castilian. The prejudice is
+rather puzzling: for "the mountains" are the cradle of the oldest and
+bluest blood in Spain. But it is of very old standing; for even the Cid
+Campeador, when administering the oath to Alfonso VI. (who was suspected
+of complicity in King Sancho's murder[16]), could devise no more
+humiliating adjuration than "If you swear falsely, may you be slain by
+an Oviedan!"
+
+[Illustration: OVIEDO
+
+A Street near the Cathedral.]
+
+Perhaps the early warriors who sallied forth to achieve the reconquest
+despised those who remained quietly behind in the mountains. And when in
+later days royalty and chivalry made their home in the south, the
+simpler northerners would come to be regarded as boors. Even to this day
+the Asturian peasant seems to lack something of the formality of the
+Castilian. He is less punctilious in enquiring "how you have passed the
+night" of a morning; less prompt with the regular roadside greeting,
+"May your honour go with God!" The slurring of these little niceties may
+possibly be sufficient to brand him as a "bounder"; and there is no
+stigma more hard to obliterate than this.
+
+For all these courteous trifles are the _shibboleth_ of high breeding to
+a Spaniard, and a terrible stumbling-block to the blunt-spoken
+Englishman,--so apt to give unwitting offence. The Spanish generals
+always waited on Wellington to ask how he had slept, even when they knew
+that he had watched all night in the trenches. If they omitted the
+ceremony they feared he would deem himself slighted. "On the contrary,"
+quoth Alava drily, "he will be very much obliged."
+
+The Asturian monarchs had good reason for fixing their capital at
+Oviedo; for it guards the main gateway of their kingdom, the chief of
+the passes to the south. It lies not indeed at the actual mouth of the
+valley, but a little on one side of it. Our road has to struggle over a
+couple of thousand-foot ridges ere it can lay its course straight for
+its goal. These two preliminary mountains we resolved to put behind us
+in the evening, and keep a clear day for the Pass of Pajares itself.
+
+Our overture was by no means a trifle. It was dark when we began the
+second descent, and the iron furnaces of Miéres glowed up out of the
+black profundity beneath us like little volcano craters anxious to win
+themselves fame. Miéres is a village of ironworkers, and rather shabby
+and grimy in consequence: yet we were glad to gain its shelter, for the
+sky had long been threatening, and the storm broke soon after our
+arrival--a true mountain tempest, with the rain roaring on the roof like
+a cataract, and incessant flashes of lightning illuminating the valley
+with the brightness of day.
+
+Storm succeeded storm throughout the night, and the outlook next
+morning was far from promising. But we took our courage in both hands
+and started at the first break in the downpour. The valley was choked
+with mist, and the road in a state of unutterable slabbiness: yet our
+enterprise was soon rewarded, for the weather had done its worst in the
+darkness, and the sunshine brought the vapours steaming up out of the
+meadows and banished them with the clouds across the summits of the
+hills.
+
+The symptoms of industrial activity do not extend far above Miéres, and
+Lena is but the quiet head village of a peaceful mountain glen. Lena is
+famous for the possession of the precious little eighth-century church
+of Sta Cristina, perhaps the most notable of the group for which the
+Oviedo district is renowned; and the scenery amid which it is situated
+is very similar to that of our own Welsh or Cumberland Highlands, though
+planned on a larger scale.
+
+Hitherto the ascent has been gradual; but now the road takes to the side
+of the mountain, and heaves itself up from shoulder to shoulder in a
+vast skein of steadily rising zigzags; while the railway which has so
+far accompanied it wanders off by itself into remote lateral valleys,
+groping for an easy gradient to help it up its four-thousand-foot
+climb. Twenty miles by road from Lena, and over thirty by rail, the
+approach to the summit is long and arduous, though redeemed by most
+lovely views. We have a vivid recollection of the glass of water which
+was bestowed upon us by the woman in charge of the level crossing at the
+foot of the final ascent. She was a Navarrese woman, and the water was
+the most delicious in the world!
+
+At the final pitch the railway takes to a tunnel; and the road scrambles
+alone to the saddle, rewarding its clients with the most magnificent
+panorama,--looking out over the abysmal valley to the wilderness of pike
+and fell on the westward, where the rigid outlines of the Peña Ubiña are
+seldom destitute of snow. A rock-climber might break his neck very
+satisfactorily among these savage crags. One great _aiguille_ in
+particular seems to challenge him by its sheer inaccessibility--a rocky
+splinter torn apart from its parent precipice, like another Napes
+Needle, but probably a thousand feet high. When the Alps have become
+unbearably Roshervilled, perhaps these untrodden fastnesses may solace
+the _blasé_ mountaineer.
+
+The step which carries us across the Pass of Pajares is one of the most
+decisive of any we have yet taken. It spans the frontier of Leon and
+Asturias, the boundary of the realms of cloud and sun. The ridge parts
+not merely two provinces but two climates, and we seem to enter the
+tropics at a stride. Behind lies the green and flowery valley, and the
+heathery slopes half veiled in tender haze; before are the hot bare
+rocks, and the parched grass toasting itself under the stare of the
+sunshine; and though the Atlantic clouds bank thick upon the northward,
+it is only an occasional straggler who ventures across to the south.
+
+The scenery is perhaps less attractive, but on the whole even more
+striking; for the rocks, as in all Spanish landscapes, take most daring
+and original forms. The most remarkable example is near the foot of the
+descent, just before arriving at the village of Pola de Gordon. Here the
+limestone strata have been tilted up absolutely vertical, hard layers
+alternating with soft, like the fat and lean in a piece of streaky
+bacon. The principal hard layer forms the precipitous face of a
+mountain, and stretches for a mile or more along the river, like a huge
+surcharged retaining wall. The complementary layers are at first buried
+in the mass behind; but presently the ridge dips to give passage to the
+river, and rises again beyond in a bold conical hill, so that all the
+layers become at once exposed. The soft strata at this point are
+entirely weathered away, and the hard remain, like huge parallel
+cock's-combs, rising as straight and steep as the parapets of a gigantic
+stairway. These razor-back limestone ridges are a very characteristic
+feature of Spanish mountain scenery; but nowhere else have I seen them
+quite so strongly marked as here.
+
+We were not to escape from the Pass without one final downpour, but
+luckily it caught us within reach of shelter at Pola de Gordon. A black,
+oily cloud glued itself onto the mountain above the village, the windows
+of Heaven were opened, and the deluge fell. It only lasted some thirty
+minutes; but by that time the village was paddling, and all the
+bye-lanes had converted themselves into foaming torrents which had piled
+great dykes of shingle at intervals across the street. Yet all the while
+we had been able to see the sky clear and brilliant under the fringe of
+the storm-rack towards the southward; and three miles away, the road was
+dry and dusty, and even the river that ran beside it was unconscious of
+the coming flood.
+
+[Illustration: IN THE PASS OF PAJÁRES
+
+Near Pola de Gordon.]
+
+We finally slipped from the valley at the village of La Robla, and
+mounted onto the bare, brown moorlands that slope towards the city of
+Leon. The mountains come to a halt behind us as abruptly as if they were
+toeing a line; and the vast level sweeping away from their feet to the
+southward is broken only by the deeply grooved valleys of the Esla's
+tributary streams. The effect is somewhat similar to the line of the
+Merionethshire mountains breaking down into the Morfa. But this
+remarkable emphasising of primary physical features is specially
+characteristic of the geology of Spain. Leon itself lies low beside the
+river, and only comes into view when we are close upon it; but the
+cathedral spires are just high enough to overtop the upland, and form a
+solitary landmark for several miles around.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+BENAVENTE, ZAMORA, AND TORO
+
+
+The Esla valley runs down broad and level from Leon towards the south; a
+monotonous umber-coloured valley, very different from the wild glens
+whence its waters are derived. The road is straight and featureless,
+though its newly-planted acacia avenues give some promise of ultimate
+redemption; and the mud-built wayside villages have a forlorn and
+collapsible air.
+
+Occasionally one lights upon a regular troglodyte settlement, a group of
+bee-hive cellars excavated in the hillside, with the chimneys struggling
+out among the sparse herbage which covers them. These caves have no
+windows, and are lit only through the open doors, yet they continued to
+be the homes of the peasantry till within comparatively recent days.
+Indeed, in some few instances they are still inhabited; but generally
+they are utilised only as storehouses and stables, while the population
+has migrated bodily into the more modern cottages which have sprung up
+to form the village at their side.
+
+The Esla itself is the most interesting item in the scenery. It flows
+parallel with the road some two or three miles to the left, close under
+the crumbling yellow cliffs which overlook the vale. Its course is
+marked by trees and greenery, chiefly the inevitable poplar; and its
+thin line of verdure, shot with flashes of sparkling water, is a welcome
+relief to the dun and dusty plain. The riverside hamlets plastered upon
+the face of the cliffs are so weather-nibbled and irregular, and so
+exactly the colour of the grounding, that they might be taken for some
+weird growth of parasitic fungus; and the whole scene has a most
+convincingly Nilotic air.
+
+A short distance from Benavente occurred one of the few mishaps which it
+was our lot to occasion. An old countryman was jogging sleepily along
+the road before us with a mule and a donkey, when the animals suddenly
+took fright at our approach. A Spaniard is commonly a good
+horseman--when he is riding a horse. But he does not think it worth
+while to ride a donkey, so he merely sits on it,--sans reins, sans
+stirrups, with both his legs on one side, and no more control over his
+mount than a sack of turnips. For a few strides our victim bounded
+wildly between his panniers like an animated shuttlecock; and then
+toppled over in ruin, while his beasts stampeded across the fields. We
+recaptured his fugitives for him, and purchased his broken eggs; but I
+fear that it somewhat soured our sympathy when we found him doing
+nothing but wring his hands and bewail his losses meanwhile. We could
+not help feeling that the "language" of an English teamster would have
+furnished a much more satisfactory solution of his woes.
+
+Benavente stands upon a tongue of high ground between the Esla and
+Orbigo valleys. The extreme tip is occupied by the old castle of the
+Counts of Benavente, one of whom is immortalized by Velasquez in the
+Prado gallery, clad in suit of armour which seems capable of reflecting
+your face. But his once splendid palace is now a ruin,--plundered and
+burnt by the stragglers of Sir John Moore's army; and the poor old town
+itself, though it contains some interesting churches, has grown wofully
+battered and threadbare since its _seigneurs_ were driven from their
+home.
+
+[Illustration: BENAVENTE
+
+From above the Bridge of Castro Gonzalo.]
+
+Yet Benavente is not without honour among us Englishmen. Its name
+figures upon a clasp of the Peninsular medal, and upon the colours of
+the 10th Hussars. Here the leading squadrons of Napoleon just got
+into touch with the rearguard of the retreating Moore;--and received a
+smart buffet for their forwardness, which was not at all to the
+Emperor's taste. The cavalry of the Imperial Guard had unexpectedly
+forded the river; and were wellnigh overwhelming the pickets, when Paget
+and his horsemen swooped upon them from behind the houses, rolled them
+up with the loss of half their number, and captured their general,
+Lefebre Desnouettes. Had Napoleon been an hour or two earlier he might
+himself have been an eye-witness of their discomfiture from the high
+ground above the Esla, the point from which my sketch was made. And it
+is a pity he missed the opportunity; for it was not till Waterloo that
+he would again see British cavalry in action, and it was the same Paget
+who was to lead them on that momentous day.
+
+The _mêlée_ took place on the broad poplared plain which lies between
+the town and the river, and the old bridge of Castro Gonzalo spans the
+torrent a little below the Frenchmen's ford. It is a long, uneven stone
+structure, with three timbered spans to remind us of the work of Moore's
+sappers; and the steep bank which rises above it is famed for a humbler
+scuffle, but one which was no less creditable to the parties chiefly
+concerned. Three days before the cavalry skirmish, when the French were
+known to be approaching, Privates Walton and Jackson of the 43rd were
+posted here at nightfall with orders that, if attacked, one should hold
+his ground and the other run back to call the picket. The night was dark
+and squally, and the flood of foemen poured over them before they were
+aware. Jackson ran back: but the horsemen were close behind him, and he
+was cut down even as he gave the alarm. But when the picket stormed up
+and the assailants were swept back into the darkness, they had not yet
+finished with Walton,--that sentry was still at his post. His uniform
+was pierced in twenty places and his bayonet was twisted like a
+corkscrew; but like the "brave Lord Willoughby"[17] he was scrupulously
+holding his ground!
+
+A finger-post and a kilometre stone stood side by side on the branch
+road at the summit. The former said "To Zamora," and the latter "38
+kilos"; whereat we rejoiced and set our pace more leisurely, for the
+daylight would last us for nearly another three hours. Yet presently as
+the tale of _kilos_ petered out we began to experience misgivings. The
+bare wide plateau of the _Tierra de Campos_ still rolled away before us
+fold beyond fold; the sun was already close upon the horizon; and where
+was the Duero valley wherein Zamora lies?
+
+Three _kilos_ more,--and still no sign of our haven.--Two
+_kilos_,--one,--and our hopes were dashed to the ground. Our road shot
+us out into one of the most desolate stretches of the great highway from
+Madrid to Vigo; and a venerable shepherd who suddenly materialised out
+of the empty landscape blandly informed us that Zamora was just "four
+leagues." Our mistake was obvious enough. The 38 _kilos_, had of course
+been reckoned from the junction with the highway. But a couple of wary
+continental travellers should have been on their guard against so stale
+a trap.
+
+At the first blush it seemed as though we were destined to fare every
+bit as badly as we merited. The last glow was dying out of the sky
+behind us, and a grumbling thunderstorm was nursing its wrath for us
+ahead. But our good luck came to our rescue, and found us a city of
+refuge:--the little hamlet of Montamarta, which was ambushed in a dip of
+the road.
+
+By this time we had learned not to be too dainty about our quarters; yet
+the _Parador_ at Montamarta was so very unassuming that at first we gave
+it the go-by; and the landlord was an unshaven ruffian who seemed fully
+capable of the blackest crimes. But the dingy little den to which he
+ushered us was full of familiar faces:--Velasquez' jolly "Topers"
+beaming over their wine-cups, the matchless "Booby of Cória," and wild
+ragged goatherds and vine dressers, with whom Salvator Rosa might have
+joined in "painting _jabeques_."[18] Rough as they looked, they were all
+in the mildest of humours. It was a sight to see our murderous-looking
+landlord truculently dandling his infant; while the mother crouched upon
+the great hearth in the centre, supervising a multitude of pipkins which
+were simmering in the glowing embers of the fire. "It is good, isn't
+it?" she asked eagerly, as we essayed her stew: and she watched every
+mouthful down our throats with affectionate solicitude to be sure that
+we did justice to our meal. The kitchen was both dining and
+sitting-room, and our garret was shared with the children, but our hosts
+were determined to make us comfortable, and we forgot their
+deficiencies in their zeal. There is no gilded luxury in a _Parador_,
+but at least we felt sure we were welcome. One barely obtains toleration
+in a _Metropole_ or a _Grand_.
+
+With dawn we were again on our journey, dodging our way past the
+cavalcade of country-folk who were pouring along to market from the
+various villages around. It was an easy stage. We had nearly made port
+yester even. Within a few miles we were at Zamora gates.
+
+In our Protestant ignorance of times and seasons we were unaware that
+the day was the festival of Corpus Christi; consequently the apparition
+of a fifteen-foot pasteboard giant lurching deviously down the main
+thoroughfare occasioned us a little mild bewilderment. This wandering
+ogre, however, was fully entitled to liberty. All respectable Spanish
+cities retain a team of giants as part of their ordinary municipal
+outfit, and Corpus Christi day is the great occasion for parading them.
+The tourist should always arrange to spend that festival in some good
+old-established city where the choicest breeds are preserved.
+
+Zamora itself is quite old enough for the purpose. Its fine old
+Romanesque cathedral was built by no less a person than the Bishop Don
+Hieronymo, "that good one with the shaven crown," who so ably
+represented the Church militant among the companions of the Cid. But
+long before his day the old frontier fortress had made itself a name by
+many a desperate resistance to the Moor, and the boast that "Zamora was
+not won in an hour," still clings to the old dismantled ramparts which
+were once its justification.[19]
+
+Moreover, the story of the greatest leaguer of all, is it not written in
+the book of the Chronicle of the Cid, and as famous in Spanish annals as
+the siege of Troy? For it came to pass that in the eleventh century King
+Fernando the Great,[20] on his deathbed, divided his kingdoms among his
+children; and the immediate and obvious consequence was a five-cornered
+family duel which set all the said kingdoms by the ears. Sancho of
+Castile had quickly dispossessed his brothers Garcia and Alfonso of
+Galicia and Leon; and his sister Elvira had yielded to him her town of
+Toro. Only Urraca his elder sister still held her patrimony; and
+Zamora was too important a pledge to be left in any hands but his own.
+
+[Illustration: ZAMORA
+
+From the banks of the Duero.]
+
+"So King Sancho drew near and beheld Zamora how strongly it was built,
+upon a cliff, with many massy towers and the river Duero running at the
+foot thereof." It was no light task to reduce it, and he proffered
+Valladolid in exchange. But my lady was in no mood to barter her
+beautiful stronghold for commonplace Valladolid, and doubtless regarded
+the offer from the same standpoint as her practical councillors,--"He
+who assails you on the rock would soon drive you from the plain."
+
+The Castilian army lacked the aid of its champion: for Ruy Diaz had been
+bred up with the princess at Zamora in Don Arias Gonzalo's household,
+and would not fight against her in person "for the sake of old times."
+Yet King Sancho was very competent to manage his own battles; and though
+his assaults were abortive, he soon began to feel more sanguine of
+blockade. Zamora was reduced to the last extremity when Vellido Dolphos,
+a knight of the princess's, put into practice against King Sancho the
+old ruse of Gobryas and Sextus Tarquinius. He feigned desertion, won the
+confidence of the king, and assassinated him under the walls in the
+course of a pretended reconnaissance, escaping again to the city when
+the deed was done. Less fortunate than his prototypes who gained credit
+for their services, Vellido Dolphos has ever since been held up to
+execration as the very type and pattern of a traitor; and Don Diego
+Ordoñez gave voice to the wrath of the Castilians by issuing a formal
+challenge to the whole city of Zamora,--man, woman, and child, the babe
+unborn, and the fishes in the river:--which even Don Quixote considered
+was going a trifle too far. Yet the city was saved; for the heir to the
+throne was Alfonso, and his return from exile put an end to the civil
+war.
+
+It is a shame to tell the story in prose. Yet we cannot refrain from
+recalling how Don Arias Gonzalo, the princess' foster-father, pointed
+out to Don Diego Ordoñez what a very serious thing he had done in
+challenging a whole cathedral city. How (no doubt with a grim chuckle)
+he produced the Rules for such case made and provided, whereby it
+appeared that the challenger must meet five champions in succession, and
+be declared disgraced if he failed against any one;--which was
+considerably more than Don Diego had bargained for! Nevertheless he put
+a bold face on the matter and gallantly met and slew his two first
+antagonists. But the third contest was indecisive; so honour was
+declared satisfied, and all imputations withdrawn. The old chivalrous
+legend makes a capital sauce for our musings as we pace the still
+formidable ramparts from which Doña Urraca once looked down upon her
+foes; or gaze up from the fortified bridge at the rock-built city above
+us, towering over the waters of the Duero like the very embodiment of
+romance.
+
+But meanwhile it is still Corpus Christi day; and the giants are
+becoming impatient. We found them all four at the bridge-head, attended
+by a large retinue of loiterers, and waiting outside a church door, like
+camels at the eye of a needle. The show had not really begun. But as we
+approached to investigate, there suddenly gushed upon us out of the
+church itself as strange a medley as that which encountered Don Quixote
+on a similar anniversary in the chariot of the Cortes of Death. First,
+four minor giants--great goggling pumpkin-headed Prince Bulbos--and the
+drum and fife band of Falstaff's ragged regiment. Then the processional
+cross and candlesticks, and Our Lady gorgeous in a white silk frock,
+borne shoulder-high on a litter, with her canopy bucketting along behind
+her about half a length to the bad. More saints, also on litters--the
+boys struggling and fighting for the honour of acting as bearers, and
+getting cuffed into a shortlived sobriety by their indignant elders. And
+finally the Host itself in its silver ark surrounded by chanting priests
+with banners and tapers. The giants closed in behind it as it issued
+from the door and beamed serenely down the long procession from their
+commanding elevation in the rear.
+
+Whether the spectacle were a sacrament or a circus, seemed at first an
+open question; but it was soon resolved. At once every head was
+uncovered and every knee was bowed, and "_His Majesty's_"[21] progress
+through the kneeling throng seemed all the more impressive for its
+incongruous trappings.
+
+Beyond the bridge the procession received its final embellishment in the
+accession of a mounted guard of honour; and throughout the rest of the
+day it continued to parade the streets and call at the various churches,
+while the populace thronged the balconies, crossing themselves, and
+cheering, and showering their paper flowers impartially upon saints and
+giants and the bald heads of the accompanying priests--an attention
+which did not appear at all gratifying to the cavalry horses of the
+escort.
+
+[Illustration: ZAMORA
+
+Church of Sta. Maria de la Horta.]
+
+The last we saw of them was in the market square at evening. The giants
+were standing at the corners; and in the centre sat Margaret of Antioch,
+Virgin and Martyr, on a grand practicable dragon which could wag its own
+head and tail. She was understood to be an "Extra," the exclusive
+property of Zamora, and not to be met with in less favoured localities.
+But precisely what she was doing in this galley we could not ascertain.
+As for the giants, they are allegorical, and typify the four quarters of
+the globe;--concerning which explanation one can only say that it is
+little better than none.
+
+The very Highest of High Masses was celebrated in the cathedral in
+honour of the occasion. The priests were in their most gorgeous
+vestments; the altar almost buried under a pyramid of silver plate; and
+the walls of the cloisters draped with magnificent pieces of old Spanish
+tapestry--Corah, Dathan and Abiram going down into the pit on horseback
+like true _caballeros_, and Pharaoh pursuing the Israelites in a coach
+and four. The service as usual was rather of a go-as-you-please
+character; for the _Coro_ and _Capilla Mayor_[22] being completely
+enclosed, it is only possible to watch the proceedings from the
+transepts at the intersection. The congregation generally seem to treat
+the affair like a "Caucus Race." They look on when they like, and leave
+off when they like, and spend the intervals strolling round the aisles.
+You are of course requested not to spit, or wear wooden shoes (which
+seem equally obnoxious to Roman Catholics and Orangemen[23]). But
+otherwise there are no restrictions: and there are certainly great
+attractions in the side shows; for the chapels are a museum of medieval
+art.
+
+The silver ark in which the Host made its progress was on show in one of
+the aisles. All Spanish cathedral bodies are inordinately proud of this
+piece of furniture (which is generally modern and tawdry); and there is
+no nearer way to the sacristan's heart than to tell him that his
+specimen is a finer one than that which you saw last at some rival
+town--Salamanca, for instance. There is a warm neighbourly hatred
+between Zamora and Salamanca; and once when I incautiously admitted
+that the Salamanca people had told me there was nothing to see here, I
+thought I should have produced an _émeute_.
+
+Wherefore I would exhort future travellers not to be misled by those
+Salamanca people. For Zamora is not merely ancient; it is even (in some
+ways) up to date. It is somewhat of a shock to an antiquarian to
+discover that the town is fully equipped with electric light; still more
+so to realise that the power station is established in the old church of
+Sta Maria de la Horta, with the dynamos purring among the arcades, and
+the chimney tucked in behind the tower. But one soon gets reconciled to
+these little incongruities. In Spain they are really so common that one
+learns to expect them from the first.
+
+The town of Toro stands some twenty miles further up the river than
+Zamora, and makes a capital partner for its neighbour. Indeed, at first
+sight it seems even more imposingly situated, for it rises on a much
+loftier hill. But its cliffs are only of soft alluvial deposit instead
+of solid rock; and its walls built only of mud, which has now nearly
+crumbled away. In other respects they are not ill-matched, for the
+streets of Toro are fully as picturesque as those of Zamora, and its
+great collegiate church not unworthy of comparison with the cathedral.
+
+The streets, as in most Spanish towns, are empty and deserted during the
+heat of the afternoon; the houses closely shuttered, and the people
+within doors. But as soon as the shadows have lengthened across the
+roadway, they turn out unanimously on to the pavement, where they sit
+spinning, sewing, and gossiping, in a sort of semi-publicity. In
+unsophisticated districts the women (like mermaids) are much addicted to
+combing each other's hair. The operator sits on a low chair or doorstep,
+while her subject settles herself upon the ground at her feet, with her
+head thrown back upon the other's lap, and her thick black mane flooding
+out over her knees. A very pretty and poetical little group they
+make--_if you do not pry too curiously into the details_. The younger
+women have frequently magnificent hair; for they are quite innocent of
+"transformations," yet their brows are most copiously crowned. One girl
+at Salamanca wore a thick black pigtail that was positively tapping her
+heels; and the beauty of Astorga (who was also of pigtail age) was not
+many inches inferior.
+
+[Illustration: A SPANISH PATIO]
+
+The majority of the houses in the town are probably not more than a
+couple of centuries old; but amongst them are a few genuine _Solares_,
+once the homes of _hidalgos_ and grandees. It was to one of these that
+the "_Conde Duque_" of Olivares, the celebrated minister of Philip IV.,
+retired upon his disgrace and banishment from court; philosophically
+busying himself with the cultivation of cabbages,--those gawky
+long-stalked abortions, uncannily suggestive of Encrinites, which still
+fill all the gardens round the town. Here he was visited by Gil Blas,
+his quondam secretary, who flattered him with smug allusions to
+Diocletian. Here also he used occasionally to entertain a more worthy
+guest,--the painter Velasquez, who was too high-minded to desert his old
+patron merely because he was under the displeasure of the king.
+Politically Olivares was as worthless and corrupt as any of his rivals,
+yet he evidently had an attractive personality. Quevedo, imprisoned four
+years in the Leonese dungeon for lampooning him, would probably remember
+him in a less amiable light!
+
+The lofty situation of the city gives it an immensely extensive outlook;
+for the left bank of the Duero is flat and low-lying, and but for the
+interposition of the high heathy ground about Fuentesauco, one would
+almost certainly be able to descry the spires of Salamanca itself.
+Doubtless Marshal Marmont used frequently to pace the terrace of the
+collegiate church when his headquarters were established here in the
+summer of 1812; gazing out over his future battleground and planning
+those intricate manoeuvres which were to close in disaster and
+disgrace.
+
+The scene of that final catastrophe is too far distant to be visible.
+But a scarcely less notable conflict actually takes its name from the
+town. This was the famous battle of Toro, which put an end to the civil
+war at the opening of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, and seated
+the Catholic kings firmly upon their throne. The rebellious nobles had
+fortified themselves by an alliance with Alfonso of Portugal, and both
+Toro and Zamora were in their hands. Alfonso's headquarters were at
+Toro, but Zamora was besieged by Ferdinand, and Alfonso marched to its
+relief. Seeing that both towns stand on the northern bank of the river,
+it is difficult to understand what the Portuguese king could hope to
+effect by advancing on the south. Perhaps he fancied that Zamora still
+commanded the bridge and that he would thus be able to enter
+unopposed. But Ferdinand's grip was too close; the bridge was in his
+hands, and Alfonso had no choice but to return.
+
+[Illustration: TORO
+
+From the banks of the Duero.]
+
+Ferdinand hurried his forces across the river in pursuit. His own army,
+as usual in medieval days, could not be maintained at fighting strength
+for many weeks together, and he was now nowise loth "to put it to the
+touch to gain or lose it all." He came up with his foe a little distance
+short of Toro. Mendoza was leading; and headed the charge against the
+troops of his brother prelate the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, with a
+breezy vehemence worthy of old Picton at Vitória, "Come on, you
+villains! I'm as good a Cardinal as he!" The weary, overmarched
+Portuguese were unable to sustain the onset; and their only retreat to
+Toro lay over the narrow patchwork bridge. Alfonso himself escaped, but
+there was no further fighting. The Catholic kings commemorated their
+victory by the erection of the great church of San Juan de los Reyes at
+Toledo, and the revolted nobles hastened to "come in" upon the best
+available terms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SALAMANCA
+
+
+Spain is far poorer in lakes than in mountains: and the deficiency has
+compensations, as it discourages the breeding of flies. But it offers a
+rare opportunity for the disquisitions of a militant geologist, for the
+lakes must have swamped all other physical features in the days when the
+hills were young. Liebana and the Vierzo have been already conceded, but
+he regards these as drops in the ocean. Now he claims the whole basin of
+the Duero from the Cordillera of Cantabria to the Sierras of Grédos and
+Guadarrama, from the highlands of la Demanda and Moncayo to the rocky
+barrier on the frontiers of Portugal, through which the pent-up waters
+at length cleft their passage to the sea.
+
+Now the dry bed of an ancient lake is not in itself an ideal foundation
+for a landscape; particularly when its original conformation is
+remorselessly emphasised by the entire omission of fences and of trees.
+The mud which formed the bottom has settled unevenly; and the rivers
+have eroded it into yawning channels, whose steep sides (so prominent at
+Toro) are scarped and furrowed into myriads of wrinkles by the scouring
+of the winter rains. The district is not unfertile, for it is a land of
+corn and wine and oil-olive, and water may be found at no great depth;
+yet the surface soil is parched and dusty, the villages few and far
+between, and great tracts of the higher ground consist of untilled
+heaths where the ilex and cistus make their profit out of the heritage
+unclaimed by man.
+
+It scarcely seems an interesting district for a walking tour, yet we
+were barely started before we fell in with one who thought otherwise. He
+was English, of course:--mad as usual, despite his Spanish domicile; and
+we fraternised with him at a wayside fountain where he recognised us as
+compatriots (by our Spanish) directly we saluted him. Our programmes had
+something in common, but his was by far the more onerous, and none but
+the veriest devotee of the _Wanderlust_ could have ventured to undertake
+it without some inward qualms. A long solitary tramp, and mostly
+through desolate country, over mountain and moorland, from Toro, all the
+way to Valéncia del Cid. True, he was a naturalist and an antiquary, and
+could speak the language like a native; yet, if he was proof against
+boredom, he must have been very good company to himself. It is not every
+traveller who could rely so exclusively on his own resources. The ideal
+tramp, like Don Quixote's ideal knight-errant, needs to be equipped with
+"most of the sciences in the world."
+
+Fortunately the cyclist's self-sufficiency is not tested nearly so
+highly. He moves both further and faster than the pedestrian,--covering
+two days' march in a single morning's ride. For him the great Spanish
+plains are shorn of half their monotony; and if he loves Spain he may
+blame me for hinting at monotony even here. He finds something strangely
+exhilarating in the gorgeous sunshine, the dry crisp air, the unrivalled
+immensity of landscape, and the all-pervading silence, so grateful after
+London's maddening din. Spain is pre-eminently a land of ample horizons,
+of panoramas, and bird's-eye views. The hollow conformation of the
+plains gives the widest of scope to the vision, and the pale blue peaks
+which enclose them may be as much as one hundred miles away. Standing
+on the summit of the Guadarrama passes, we were wellnigh able to
+persuade ourselves that the peaks just above us might disclose a view
+extending from the Cantabrian mountains even to the Sierra Nevada;--all
+the kingdoms of Spain and the glory of them at a single _coup-d'oeil_.
+
+The purity of the atmosphere indeed is downright bewildering, and our
+first preconceptions of distances went wandering wildly astray. Even as
+far on our way as Madrid, a fortnight later, we found that we had not
+yet been schooled to credit the milestones against the evidence of our
+eyes. Madrid lay there before us: we could tell every house, every
+window. It was absurd to try and convince us that it was ten kilometres
+away! Yet we passed nine stony compurgators ere we reached the Toledo
+gateway; and even our own cyclometers professed themselves "all of a
+tale." The illusion is accentuated by the great distances which separate
+the hamlets, and the absence of any intervening landmarks on the bare
+red plains between.
+
+Meanwhile the details of the landscape are far from uninteresting. The
+heath flowers are varied and plentiful and the butterflies brilliant in
+the extreme. The whole air rings with the yelling of the cicadas or the
+croaking of the frogs in the rare and starveling streams. Little brown
+lizards are numerous even in the mountains, but here on the plains is a
+more imposing breed; great green monsters fifteen inches in length, who
+lie out sunning themselves in the dust of the roadway, and scuttle
+wildly to cover as our shadows sweep silently by. The natives eat
+them;--so possibly does the tourist also, for many are the unsuspected
+ingredients which are involved in the meshes of a Spanish stew.
+
+The birds also, such as there are, seem exclusively decorative
+specimens. First among these are the hoopoes, with their black and white
+barred plumage, and their feather crowns, the gift of Solomon the Wise.
+They have a strong fellow-feeling for the cyclist, and flit from tree to
+tree along the road beside him with the most engaging _cameraderie_. If
+they get too far ahead they will perch and await him, cocking their
+crests and _hoo-poo-pooing_ encouragement; and once more resume their
+swift drooping flight as soon as he draws level. Should these lines meet
+their eyes they are assured that their companionship was much
+appreciated. The little watery gullies where the frogs live are
+generally picketted by the storks. Magpies too are alarmingly plentiful
+in the wild stony districts along the feet of the mountains. Seven at a
+time is all very well,--at least one knows Who to expect then,--but what
+grislier horror is portended by thirteen? A Grand Inquisitor?
+
+[Illustration: SALAMANCA
+
+Arcades in the Plaza de la Verdura.]
+
+Men as a rule seem scarcely so numerous as magpies, and one may ride for
+miles at a stretch without encountering a soul; but those whom you do
+meet are admirably in rapport with their surroundings; and though their
+pursuits may be prosaic their appearance would illustrate a romance.
+This solitary horseman, for instance, is probably a most commonplace
+personage in reality. We shall sit next to him at _comida_ in an hour or
+two, and discover that he is an eminently innocuous bagman. But out here
+in the midst of the wilderness, clad in his broad-brimmed hat and his
+ample black cloak which muffles him up to the eyes, he might pass as a
+living embodiment of Roque Guinart himself, and we rather plume
+ourselves on our resolution in venturing to keep to the road. The
+Spaniard as a rule wraps himself up amazingly when he goes a-travelling;
+and the Scotch shepherd sallying out to visit his flock in a December
+snowstorm is not more jealously plaided than the Castilian carrier
+trudging along beside his pack mules, with his purple shadow blotting
+the dusty roadway at his feet. By way of contrast one may occasionally
+see the small children scampering about outside the cabin doors without
+so much as a rag of any description whatever--an infinitely more
+enviable costume.
+
+The greater number of the vehicles are ramshackle tilt-waggons, drawn by
+a goodly array of mules, five or seven in a string. These have a horrid
+habit of pulling _en échelon_, so that each beast has a clear view of
+all the road ahead of him, and can make up his mind exactly what he
+means to shy at. This formation occupies the whole width of the roadway,
+and the driver (being a driver) is of course asleep; consequently, if
+you have a rock wall on one side and an everlasting vertical precipice
+on the other, you had better be careful how you pass. Indeed, it is well
+to give them a wide berth in any case, for even the immortal Bayard
+himself, "without fear and without reproach," professed himself anxious
+about his shins in the neighbourhood of a Spanish mule. They are
+harnessed with delightful inconsequence in all sorts of gay tags and
+fringes, and scraps of old caparisons of yellow Cordovan leather; while
+all deficiencies are eked out with string. This requires great
+quantities of string. The waggons which they draw are equally
+patchworky, with their cargoes bulging out on all sides in an imminently
+precarious fashion. In the wine districts they generally carry an
+"extra" in the shape of a huge tun slung under the axle between the
+lofty wheels.
+
+It is worthy of remark that a Spanish "gee-upper"[24] is commonly unable
+to think of any worse name for a mule than its own. "Arré! Mula!!" he
+cries, and collapses impotently. What more can he call it? It _is_ a
+mule. To do him justice, however, he seldom resorts to blows to
+reinforce his vocabulary; and the cruelty so often inveighed against in
+southern countries is not very noticeable in northern Spain. The beasts
+are gaunt, bony, and ill-kempt, but herein they are no worse off than
+their drivers: they are too often worked when galled or foundered; yet
+this is but negative heedlessness, and positive misusage is rare.
+
+The temper of the beasts is uncertain. The ox and the ass are
+phlegmatic, but the horse and mule (which have no understanding) have
+decidedly fidgetty nerves. The mules are frequently gigantic animals, as
+high-standing and big-boned as an English dray-horse, though much less
+heavy and muscular. Mixed teams are frequently requisitioned in the
+mountain districts. One sample that we met had a horse for leader, then
+two mules tandem, a pair of oxen, and a mule in the shafts; another had
+a mule for shafter, with two more mules outside the shafts, a fourth
+ahead, and three yoke of oxen to lead the way. It is extremely
+fashionable to finish off the string with a diminutive donkey (generally
+the smaller the better) tacked on as a sort of afterthought at the head
+of the whole cavalcade. He looks as though meant for a tassel, but is
+really played as a pace-maker; for he is always the fastest walker and
+the most enthusiastic worker in the team.
+
+There was a real "little Benjamin" of jackasses that we met on the road
+near Segóvia. Two men were coming into the town in charge of a bull; and
+by way of getting the hulk steered with as little personal attention as
+might be, it had struck them to harness this trifle to the monster's
+spreading horns. Had the bull really resented the arrangement it would
+have cost him but a turn of the head to heave the whole equipage over
+the parapet among the tops of the poplars below. Fortunately, however,
+he was not actively annoyed--only rather grumpy and puzzled. Every
+few steps he would stop, shaking his head and bellowing; while his
+little pilot gathered himself together, drove in his toes, and flung
+himself into the collar with the exalted enthusiasm that does not reck
+of odds. He fairly squirmed with glee as his charge condescended to move
+a step or two forward, and evidently considered that every yard of
+progress was exclusively attributable to himself.
+
+[Illustration: SALAMANCA
+
+Church of San Martin.]
+
+We took our last look at the Cantabrian mountains from the crest of the
+watershed between the Duero and Tormes; and the same hill that concealed
+them brought us into full view of another equally imposing range to the
+southward--the Sierra de Grédos, whose monarch, the Plaza Almanzor, is
+only a few feet inferior even to the Rock of Ages which dominates Europa
+Pikes. But it is to the fallows around us that our first attention is
+owing;--a site which should stir the imagination of an Englishman as Don
+Quixote's was stirred on the Campo de Montiel.
+
+Over these bleak, red plough lands for six long July days in 1812 the
+armies of Marmont and of Wellington marched and countermarched and
+circled round each other like dancers in some vast quadrille or chess
+players fencing for an opening. Neither leader would risk a doubtful
+action; for the French Army of the Centre was rapidly approaching, and
+its junction might make or mar a victory. Almost within speaking
+distance, they raced for advantage in position, and scarcely once did
+they pause to exchange a blow. It was a repetition of the old drama
+enacted centuries before by Cæsar and Afranius upon the plains of
+Lérida. But the Cæsar of this production was playing Afranius' _rôle_.
+
+Marmont had the pace of his opponent, and Wellington pivoted round
+Salamanca to guard his communications with Rodrigo. Foiled on the right,
+Marmont dashed round to the left, forded the Tormes and thrust at
+Salamanca from the south. Wellington still faced him; but King Joseph
+was now close upon him, and within two days at furthest the English
+would be hopelessly outnumbered by the junction of the hostile hosts.
+Retreat was inevitable: had, indeed, already commenced; for the baggage
+was on the move, and Wellington was but waiting for nightfall to cover
+the withdrawal of his fighting line.
+
+"A silver bridge for a retreating enemy," saith the Spanish proverb; but
+Napoleon's aspiring young marshal had been trained in a more aggressive
+school. He knew that his troops were the speedier, that Joseph's
+junction would bring a winning superiority of numbers. If he could but
+hold the English to their position for another day the campaign might be
+finished at a blow;--and he eagerly pushed on his left under Maucune to
+command the Rodrigo road. Clausel's brigade, already wheeling in from
+the rear, would link the left to the centre; and his foe would be in a
+cleft stick. But Clausel's march was limed in the thick web of olive
+woods which mantles the hills towards Alba; the fatal gap yawned
+conspicuous behind the hurrying columns; and in an instant Wellington
+pounced upon Maucune.
+
+Well was it for Marmont that the day was now far spent, and that the
+fords of the Tormes had been left unguarded! For never was victory more
+rapid or more complete. In forty minutes Marmont's magnificent army of
+forty thousand men were a horde of disorganized fugitives; and the whole
+of the central provinces lay defenceless at the feet of his foe.
+
+It seems a little strange that Salamanca should contain no monument of
+the great battle which freed half Spain from the grasp of the invader,
+and which, in after years, the mighty victor himself was wont to regard
+as his masterpiece--the Austerlitz of his career. Its only memorials
+nowadays are a few forgotten tablets on the walls of the great
+cathedral: from the roof of which the anxious townsfolk once heard the
+sudden roar of the closing battle, and watched the great column of smoke
+and dust soaring up slowly over Arapiles into the placid evening sky.
+
+Salamanca shows itself off to best advantage when approached from the
+southern side. It stands upon rising ground on the right bank of the
+Tormes, with a fine old Roman bridge leading up to it across the stream.
+The river banks are lined with voluble washerwomen,--at least a quarter
+of a mile of them, fairly elbowing one another as they chatter over
+their work; and behind them the red-roofed houses of the city are piled
+up the slope in picturesque disarray. The most prominent object is the
+great cathedral, a sixteenth century Gothic building of the type that is
+only to be encountered in Spain. It is of imposing proportions, and
+lavishly ornamented with a marvellous profusion of delicate carving
+which could not possibly have stood the exposure to the weather in any
+less favourable clime. Yet it lacks the deep mouldings and majestic
+solidity of earlier works; and this somewhat academic pretentiousness
+is not nearly so impressive as the stunted strength of the old
+cathedral which nestles under the shadow of its more showy sister--a
+typical Romanesque edifice, rude, massive, and solemn, like an oak
+beside a poplar colonnade.
+
+[Illustration: SALAMANCA
+
+From the left bank of the Tormes.]
+
+No city suffered more than Salamanca from Napoleon's disastrous
+invasion; and what that implies let her fellow victims testify! The
+French are pleased to regard themselves as the modern Athenians;--the
+modern Vandals is the name that their neighbours might prefer! Gaiseric
+himself never systematised pillage like Napoleon; and who can wonder at
+the savage retaliation of the _Partidas_ when he sees the havoc which
+was wrought in unhappy Spain? "Twenty-five convents, twenty-five
+colleges, and twenty-five arches to the bridge," was the boast of the
+citizens of Salamanca before the days of their visitation. But no less
+than twenty colleges and thirteen convents (amongst them some of the
+noblest Renaissance monuments) were razed to the ground by the
+remorseless Marmont when he built his three great redoubts to fortify
+the town against Wellington in 1812; and a ghastly bald scar in the
+midst of the crowded city still marks the spot where the tyrant's hand
+was laid. It is but poor consolation to remember that the ramparts
+erected at this frightful cost crumpled up like the pasteboard helmet
+beneath the stroke of his mightier foe: and that Marmont himself reaped
+a small instalment of his whirlwind within actual sight of the city
+which he had marred.
+
+Perhaps it is hardly too much to assert that at the end of the
+eighteenth century Salamanca must have been the most magnificently
+housed university in the world. Even now, after all her losses, I can
+think of no other on the Continent which can so well stand comparison
+with our own. But, alas! she has fallen upon evil days. The famous Irish
+college had a population of seven (Dons and Students included) at the
+time of our visit; and the salaries of the professors are such as no
+master of a board school would consider adequate in England. The
+Augustan age of Salamanca commenced in the reign of Ferdinand and
+Isabella; and was perhaps already declining when Gil Blas visited it
+with his adventurous young mistress masquerading in her doublet and
+hose. Then the city had more students than it has now inhabitants; and
+even Paris and Bologna admitted the superiority of the Salamanca
+schools. She was a progressive university too; and albeit she rejected
+Columbus, she at least accepted Copernicus--a considerable step on the
+way. In one respect her example might inspire present-day universities,
+for here it was that a lady first held a professorial chair.
+
+The great gate of the Library is now the chief relic of these bygone
+glories: and that gem of the early Renaissance is worthily supported by
+the arcaded quadrangles of some of the colleges and schools. They are
+built of the warm golden-brown stone which is common to most Salamancan
+monuments, and their richly-carved parapets and fantastically-shaped
+arches have an air of oriental opulence which is very taking to the eye.
+
+But even apart from its churches, convents, and colleges, Salamanca
+would still remain notable by reason of its palaces alone. First among
+these is the _Casa de las Conchas_,--spangled all over with the great
+stone scallop shells from which it derives its name. It is even more
+striking and original than its larger and lordlier rival, the famous
+_Palacio de Monterey_; and I owe it a special acknowledgment for the
+liberty which I have taken with it in pirating its façade to serve as
+the cover of this volume.
+
+The Castilian and Leonese _casas_ have much in common with the typical
+Florentine palaces; and even their cousins of Aragon only differ from
+them in so far as they are brick instead of stone. Towards the street
+they present a square and solemn façade, plain or heavily rusticated,
+and pierced with but few windows, which are always stoutly barred. The
+entrance is large and plain, and generally arched over with enormously
+deep _voussoirs_, which have a very imposing effect. Within is an open
+_patio_ surrounded by a double arcade. A fine staircase in a recess
+gives access to the upper tier; and the rooms which are ranged around
+the gallery all open direct into the air. The centre of the _patio_ is
+occupied by a well or fountain, and is often filled with flowers. The
+type seems exceptionally suitable to a semi-tropical country; yet modern
+builders will have none of it; and, though common in all provincial
+capitals, it is nowhere to be met with in Madrid.
+
+In a second and smaller type of house the great entrance doorway
+occupies practically the whole of the ground-floor frontage. Obviously
+it was generally entered on horseback, and the hall within (like that of
+a village _posada_) served as antechamber both to the living rooms above
+and to the stables behind. The family lived on the first and second
+floors, while the third was originally a _belvedere_. But nowadays the
+latter has been enclosed and the ground floor generally converted into a
+shop.
+
+[Illustration: SALAMANCA
+
+The Puerta del Rio, with the Cathedral Tower.]
+
+It is one of the penalties of sketching in a crowded city that everybody
+who has no immediate occupation of his own becomes consumingly
+interested in yours. There is but one spot in Salamanca where one is
+quite secure from surveillance, and that is opposite the porch of San
+Martin, perhaps the most frequented corner in the town. Here, balanced
+gingerly upon a narrow ledge, you overlook the heads of the bystanders,
+and even the most agile urchin can find no foothold in your rear.
+
+Yet the immunity is hardly worth winning. At best it is very
+uncomfortable; and if you submit to your heckling, the entertainment is
+not all on one side. At the bridge head it even secured me the offer of
+a commission. The Boniface of the little wine-shop was urgent with me to
+reproduce my sketch enlarged upon the front of his bar. My recompense
+was to comprise full board and lodging during the operation,--and that
+would have been no trifle. But he must have had considerable faith in
+the covering capacity of water colours to pit a little twenty-pan
+paint-box against fifty square feet of deal boards.
+
+But it was at the _Puerta del Rio_ that I found my _entourage_ of most
+practical utility. It had been snowing overnight in the mountains, and
+the Sierra de Grédos was draped from base to summit in a mantle of
+dazzling white. In spite of the brilliant sunshine the wind was
+incredibly bitter, and the miserable sketcher would have been frozen
+without his human screen. Truly "Winter is not over till the fortieth of
+May" within reach of those icy summits. The Duke of Wellington asserted
+that the coldest thing in his recollection was the wind at Salamanca in
+July!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+BÉJAR, ÁVILA, AND ESCORIAL
+
+
+There were "Bulls at Salamanca" (so ran the placards) on the day when we
+were to resume our journey towards the south; and the _Señor Patron_
+seemed quite crestfallen at realising that we had no intention of
+deferring our departure in order to witness the fun. Bull-fighting was
+_not_ cruel, he protested. That was all our inexplicable British
+prejudice. And as patrons of prize-fights and football we ought to be
+the last to throw stones. We were rather expected to sympathise with the
+national sport of Spain.
+
+His conclusion was truer than his reasoning. There are certain thrilling
+forms of playing with death amiably tolerated by the British public
+which are logically no whit better than bull-fighting: and it is not
+humanity but fashion that dictates to us which to condemn. Only a few
+days earlier an unfortunate woman had been killed at Madrid while
+"looping the loop" on a motor; and the Spanish papers (those eager
+reporters of bull-fights) were all most properly indignant at the
+dangerous and degrading character of this new-fangled foreign show. Our
+British high-toned repugnance is distinctly less moral than squeamish.
+But we did not want our feelings harrowed in the midst of a holiday
+tour.
+
+Bull-fighting is one of the many sports that have been ruined by
+professionalism. In the days when the young gallants of the court
+encountered the bull themselves, on their own horses, before the eyes of
+their lady-loves in the _Plaza Mayor_, there was a spice of chivalry
+about the proceeding that half redeemed its brutality. It was truly a
+sport then, albeit a savage one; but now it is merely a show.
+
+Moreover, even our host admitted that this time the _Corrida_ would be
+shorn of its foremost attraction. It was to have been inaugurated by a
+bull-fighting _Pierrot_ who was wont to await the first rush of the
+monster motionless upon a tub in the centre of the arena. The bull would
+charge headlong upon him,--check, sniff, and turn away. No doubt he owed
+his immunity to his apparent lifelessness; but it was billed as the
+"power of the human eye." Alas! on the last occasion his programme had
+miscarried. Just at the critical moment a fly had settled on his nose;
+and for one infinitesimal fraction of a second the entire voltage of the
+human eye was switched upon that miserable insect. The effect on the fly
+was not stated, but it markedly reassured the bull. Poor _Pierrot_ had
+been tossed as high as a rocket, and apparently was not expected down
+again in time for the performance to-day.
+
+The two English visitors to Salamanca also failed to figure at the
+function. They had crossed the bridge very early in the morning, and
+were heading for the mountains of Grédos by the highway leading to
+Béjar. The actual battlefield was passed upon the left, about four miles
+distant from Salamanca, subtending the angle formed by the roads to Alba
+and Béjar; and the olive woods which so hampered Clausel spread wide
+around us over the hills behind. It was a just Nemesis which overtook
+the invaders on this occasion, for the destruction of olive trees for
+fuel had been one of their most gratuitous outrages during the war. The
+olive is a slow grower, and a few hours' reckless cutting might take
+half a century to repair.
+
+At first the road rises gradually and the country is open and
+undulating; but soon it gets deeply involved in a labyrinth of
+mountains, and tacks despairingly backwards and forwards in vain
+endeavours to twist itself free from the toils. Finally it extricates
+itself by a frantic rush up a long steep hill, and resumes its journey
+at first-floor level along the shoulders of the range. Some distance
+further west it manages to discover a passage across the main ridge into
+the province of Estremadura; but the town of Béjar itself lies four or
+five miles upon the hither side.
+
+[Illustration: BÉJAR
+
+An Approach to the Town.]
+
+Hope had told us a flattering tale concerning the attractions of Béjar.
+A Salamanca gentleman to whom we confided our intention of visiting it
+had kissed his finger-tips ecstatically at the mere mention of its name.
+"_Muy bonita!_"[25] he exclaimed. "_Preciosa!!_" And truly his
+adjectives were excusable; for a more charming situation for a mountain
+township it is almost impossible to conceive. A long knife-edged ridge
+is thrown out from the range at right angles. The one street is carried
+along its crest, and the houses cling to either side of it like panniers
+on the back of a mule. A great snowclad peak, one of the minor
+summits of the Sierra, towers above the head of the ridge and gravely
+surveys the street from end to end; while the extreme point looks out
+over the wild hummocky country towards Ciudad Rodrigo, with the great
+masses of the Sierra de Gata and Peña de Francia surging up truculently
+above the lower hills. Béjar is a fragment of Tyrolean scenery dropped
+accidentally on the borders of Estremadura. Its buildings are nothing
+remarkable, but its situation is irreproachably picturesque.
+
+The town was holding a little _Fiesta_ of its own upon the day of our
+visit, and the advent of two pedlars with knapsacks was naturally
+accepted as a part of the show. Several anxious enquirers stopped us in
+the street to ascertain "what our honours were selling"; and the
+prevalent notion appeared to be that we were vendors of edible snails!
+Many of the country-folk had come in from the remoter villages and were
+attired in the quaintest of costumes. The women wore very brief skirts,
+which gave an exceedingly squat appearance to their sturdy thick-set
+figures. The men had tight black breeches and jerkins adorned with
+polished metal buttons; enormously broad leather belts something like
+the cuirasses of the Roman legionaries, and forked leather aprons
+loosely strapped down their thighs. This weird type of dress we had
+already noticed at Salamanca; and for a hot climate it must be about the
+most unsuitable ever conceived by man.
+
+The journey from Salamanca to Ávila entails a longer spell of Duero
+valley scenery than that from Salamanca to Béjar; and for the best part
+of a day we were perseveringly reeling off league after league of the
+same dry red plough lands which had already wearied us in the North. It
+was not till towards evening that the road at last began swerving and
+plunging upon the great ground-swell which ripples out into the plain
+from the feet of the Sierra de Guadarrama; and the huge granite boulders
+littered about among the stunted ilex and gorse which clothed the shaggy
+ridges apprised us that we had drawn within reach of the derelict
+_moraines_. Still as we held our course each successive wave bore us
+higher than its predecessor, till at last we looked down into a wide
+upland basin, and beheld the towers of Ávila rising proudly upon their
+daïs in the midst.
+
+[Illustration: BÉJAR
+
+A Corner in the Market-place.]
+
+There is no other walled town of my acquaintance that flaunts its
+defences quite so defiantly as Ávila. Its circlet of tower and curtain
+crests its great natural _glacis_ like the substantialised vision
+of a mural crown. The walls themselves are only about twelve feet in
+thickness, which is, of course, a mere trifle compared to Lugo and
+Astorga; but it is height that tells, and their commanding situation
+gives them an incomparably finer effect.[26] Only on the further side
+has the city begun to overflow its ancient cincture; and with its core
+of tightly-packed houses clustering round its great cathedral-fortress
+which crowns the brow of the eminence, it still receives its latter-day
+visitors in the same garb that it donned for the Cid. Doubtless the old
+rebel barons had an eye to its scenic capabilities when they selected it
+as the theatre for their mock deposition of Henrique IV. This thing was
+not to be done in a corner, and the impudent pageant which they enacted
+under its walls must have been visible for miles round.
+
+But the chief pride and glory of Ávila is the boast that it was the
+birthplace of Sta Theresa, the "seraphic" lady whom a more emotional
+epoch has preferred to the martial Santiago, and almost matched with the
+Virgin herself as the modern patroness of Spain.
+
+Sta Theresa was quite a modern saint; and, like her contemporary
+Ignatius Loyola, much more truly saintly than hagiologists would have us
+infer. They would rather persist in belauding her visionary ecstasies
+and ascetic self-mortification. Her practical common-sense and her
+gentle resolution are dismissed as earthlier virtues: yet it was these
+that made her a power.
+
+She certainly lost no time in beginning the practice of her profession,
+for at the age of seven she persuaded her baby brother to run away with
+her to Barbary to get martyred by the Moors. Being captured and brought
+home by their distracted parents, they next decided upon becoming
+hermits. But this notable scheme was also vetoed;--poor little mites!
+Maybe we know other small children who have started somewhat similarly
+on the road to canonization; but Theresa's romantic devotion outlasted
+this fanciful stage. At the age of sixteen she assumed the veil--a step
+which in wiser years she was not so eager to advocate, but in which she
+found ample opportunity for the exercise of her piety and her zeal. Her
+reform of the Carmelite nunneries was achieved in the teeth of great
+opposition from the hierarchy of the day; and her literary work is of an
+excellence that places her high among the classical writers of Spain.
+It is to such as her and Loyola, rather than to Torquemada and Ximenes,
+that the Roman Church owes its hold upon the people. And by these she is
+dowered with the attributes which belong to Catherine of Siena in
+another land.
+
+But perhaps the most remarkable honour ever accorded to her is the fact
+that two hundred years after her death she was actually gazetted
+commander-in-chief of the Spanish armies in the Peninsula war! Certainly
+Louis XI. had previously honoured Our Lady of Embrun with the colonelcy
+of his Scottish Guards. But here was a popular assembly, in the
+nineteenth century, which could "see him and go one better"; a far more
+deliberate extravagance than the whim of a fetish-cowed king. Of course
+there was more method in their madness than appears on the surface. They
+did not really want a commander-in-chief at all. What they did want was
+a Name which should fire the enthusiasm of the peasantry, as the
+citizens of Zaragoza had been fired by the name of Our Lady of the
+Pillar. At the same time it must be admitted that matters seemed to move
+more smoothly when she was superseded by the Duke of Wellington.
+
+The cathedral is a most massive structure of stern grey granite, with
+its apse bulging out beyond the city walls--battlemented, loop-holed,
+and machicolated like the profanest bastion of them all. It looks every
+inch a castle, and has not served amiss when so utilised; for in the
+great western tower the infant King Alfonso XI. (Father of Pedro the
+Cruel) was kept safe from his would-be guardians during his long
+minority, by the Bishop and people of Ávila. The interior of the
+building is one of the noblest in Spain--severe, gloomy and solemn; but
+furnished with that surpassing magnificence which only Spanish
+cathedrals can boast.
+
+The old town itself is full of quaint nooks and corners, and most of its
+streets and houses are as unalterably medieval as the walls. A county
+council inspector would probably play sad havoc with them, for even if
+they are sanitary they are terribly out of repair. There is a smell
+which lingers distinctive in these old Spanish townships. Not indeed
+altogether unpleasant, but rather grateful from association, like the
+smell of the stone walls of the West country after a summer shower. It
+is compounded of many simples, and its leading ingredient is garlic. But
+it would be hard to prove its innocency before our stern courts of
+hygiene.
+
+[Illustration: ÁVILA
+
+From the North-west.]
+
+A Spaniard, however, takes his risks more lightly than an Englishman.
+Like Sancho Panza, he argues that the physician is worse than the
+disease. Life is a shockingly hazardous business even on wafers and
+_membrillo_, and perhaps, after all, roast partridge is not quite so
+deadly as Hippocrates supposed.
+
+Perhaps the most notable of the many monasteries and churches of Ávila
+is the Convent of San Tomas at the foot of the hill to the south. As in
+many important Spanish churches, the choir is placed in a great stone
+gallery at the west end, and in this instance the arrangement is
+balanced by a similar gallery for the High Altar at the east. The floor
+is occupied by the beautiful marble monument of Prince Juan, the only
+son of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Catholic kings, fortunate in all
+else, desired in vain that greatest blessing of all, the happiness of
+their children. Juan, the hope of their kingdom, died a few months after
+his marriage, and his posthumous child was still-born. Isabella, their
+eldest daughter, torn from the cloister to give an heir to the crown,
+was married to the Crown Prince of Portugal. Her young husband was
+killed by a fall from his horse; and though she was again married to his
+successor, she died in child-birth; and her infant son, heir to the
+whole Peninsula, did not long survive. Poor mad Juana, crazed by the
+neglect of her worthless husband, was the second daughter of the
+ill-starred family, and the youngest was Catherine of Aragon.
+
+Ávila lies at an extremely lofty elevation, three thousand feet above
+sea level; and both here and at Segóvia snow frequently falls as late as
+the middle of May. The mountains immediately behind it, however, are but
+the connecting link between the Sierras of Grédos and Guadarrama, and
+all the loftier peaks lie at some distance east and west. A road leads
+through the gap to Talavera de la Reyna (a circumstance, it may be
+remembered, which was extremely fortunate for Sir John Moore).[27] But
+we, being bound for Madrid, set our course along the north of the
+mountains, heading eastward to join the main road from Vigo at the
+little town of Villacastin.
+
+Our course lay over a brown and undulating moorland, with the Duero
+plains to the left of us and the broken ridges of the Sierra rising up
+boldly upon the right. The scene might well be matched in Scotland,
+Donegal, or Connemara; for the granite mountains are very similar in
+formation, and the purple hardhead which clothes them is an excellent
+imitation of heather, though of a deeper shade, suggestive of royal
+mourning. Here and there great tracts of the moorland, many acres in
+extent, are thickly strewn with gigantic boulders, singly or in heaps,
+like huge natural cairns. Doubtless these are _blocs perchés_, the
+relics of extinct glaciers, like the similar blocks on the road from
+Salamanca, or those near Ribadávia above the Miño vale. The road, as
+usual, was almost deserted, but conscientiously patrolled by two very
+large and splendid _carabineros_ mounted on humble asses, which could
+scarcely raise their riders off the ground.
+
+At Villacastin we struck the great royal road for which we had been
+making, and the mountains stretched out their arms to receive us as we
+turned our faces towards the south. The day had been well advanced when
+we quitted Ávila, and now it was nearly dusk. The mountains were of
+indigo darkness, and the deep, closed valley into which we were plunging
+was as black as the throat of a wolf. But the white road led us on
+surely and steadily; and we knew that somewhere in the chasm before us
+was the shelter upon which we were counting for the night.
+
+The _Fonda San Rafael_ is a long, low, straggling building, very similar
+to our own old coaching inns, but much more primitive in style. The
+village aristocracy were engaged at dominoes in the kitchen; and the
+time which we wasted in dining they attempted to utilise more profitably
+by mastering the English tongue. They borrowed our pocket dictionary and
+started their task with enthusiasm. But this laudable access of energy
+did not win the success it deserved. Unluckily they commenced operations
+among the _sn's_--a combination which no Spaniard can ever pronounce
+without an antecedent e. And they came such amazing croppers over
+"_es-na-îl_," "_es-nâ-ké_" and "_es-ne-êzé_," that their bewildered
+interpreters got as much at sea as themselves.
+
+[Illustration: ÁVILA
+
+A Posada Patio.]
+
+The ascent of the _Puerto de Guadarrama_ begins immediately beyond the
+village; a series of long steep zigzags well shaded by slender pine
+trees--the "spindles of Guadarrama," to which Don Quixote likened
+Dulcinea. The climb in itself is not particularly arduous, but no doubt
+it is an ugly place in a December snowstorm; and so Napoleon found
+to his cost, when he forced the passage in 1808, rushing northwards from
+Madrid to fall upon the adventurous Moore. Marbot has left us a grisly
+description of its snow-drifts and precipices; and the furious eddies of
+whirlwind which swept horse and man to destruction as they struggled up
+the icy paths. But probably his account is a little over-painted; for
+precipices should be perennial both in summer and winter; but the
+steepest which we could identify were about of tobogganing pitch.
+
+Viewed from the north, the pass is a saddle at the end of a long deep
+valley; but its southern face forms an embrasure in a great mountain
+wall. The whole valley of the Tagus seemed spread beneath us as we gazed
+down from the summit; the plains all shimmering in a sea of purple heat
+haze, and the blue Toledan mountains rising faint and ethereal upon the
+further shore. So "Lot lifted up his eyes and looked and beheld all the
+Vale of Jordan." The text seems singularly appropriate to many of these
+vistas of Spain. A little later in the day, when the haze had been
+lifted by the sunshine, every detail of the country would have shown up
+as clearly as on a map.
+
+At the foot of the descent we swung to the right along a pleasant
+undulating road amid trees and meadows and hedgerows. And here, as in
+private duty bound, let us record our gratitude to Don Fernando, who
+erected the noble fountain whereat we refreshed ourselves by the way.
+Don Fernando's fountain is a great stone cistern, with the water gushing
+into it from an upright pillar behind. Verily his spirit is at rest if
+the wayfarers' prayers may avail him; for nowhere is water more
+appreciated than in this land of wine.
+
+Don Fernando (_requiescat in pace_) is by no means the only benefactor
+who has conferred such a boon on his countrymen. Almost every village
+near the mountains is dowered with a tank in the _plaza_, and a generous
+jet of water beneath which you may seethe your hissing head. Would that
+we were as well off in England! For our fountains can furnish no more
+than a miserable trickle, and even that is frequently dry. How often
+have we raged unsatisfied from one faithless nozzle to another, while
+the yokels mocked our agonies with commendations of the beer! Beer is
+excellent in its way--but not when one is thirsty. Then _on revient
+toujours à ses premiers amours_. [Greek: ARISTON MEN UDÔR].
+
+The famous palace of Escorial opened suddenly before us as we rounded a
+shoulder of the mountain, and there can be few palaces in the world
+which occupy so imposing a site. It is often referred to as standing
+upon a plain, but the description is entirely misleading. It rises upon
+the lap of the mountains, high above the level of Madrid. Our first
+view, moreover, much discounted our preconceived notions regarding its
+gloomy appearance; for bathed in a flood of southern sunshine, it had
+rather a cheerful aspect. But the very sunshine itself grew chilled as
+we narrowed the radius; and the bare rude walls, vast, grey, and
+featureless, like an enormously exaggerated Newgate, seemed to crush out
+all the gladness of nature with their cold, unalterable frown.
+
+"First a tomb, next a convent, last a palace," was the ideal at which
+the founder was aiming; and the massive asceticism of the building is an
+apt reflection of his mood. It boasts itself the finest of all the great
+monasteries: and if tested by weight or by measure, the claim could
+hardly be denied. But this vast gloomy prison is a thing which has
+nothing in common with the staid beauty of Poblet,[28] or the
+Aladdin-like brilliance of the Certosa at Pavia. Yet the extreme
+severity of its style is by no means inappropriate to the great church
+which forms the central feature; and none that remember its grim
+associations would wish to see the Escorial other than it is.
+
+The memory of Philip the Prudent is still held in honour by Spaniards,
+for he reigned in the days of their glory, and was probably the most
+powerful autocrat who ever occupied the throne. But history's more
+equable judgment has condemned the reign as a failure, and the monarch
+as one of the scourges of mankind. True, he has not lacked apologists;
+for there is an uncanny fascination about his grim personality; and it
+is not difficult to show some redeeming quality even in a Louis XI. or a
+Richard III. But most of us prefer our history broadly coloured, with
+good strong lights and shadows. We must be allowed a real villain
+occasionally; and, till such time as we get Iago incarnate, Philip II.
+will do very sufficiently well. "A rake in his youth, a monster in his
+manhood, a miser in his old age;"--the bitter epitaph scribbled up over
+his deathbed paints his character in three lines.
+
+[Illustration: ESCORIAL
+
+From the East.]
+
+And yet none who has once visited the Escorial will thereafter think of
+Philip without some glimmerings of respect. Our loathing for his
+selfish and cruel tyranny is tempered with a kind of shuddering pity for
+that other side of his character;--his gloomy religious mania, the taint
+inherent in his blood. There was something of gruesome greatness in the
+mind which could conceive such a building, "reserving for himself but a
+cell in the house he was erecting for God."
+
+The Escorial was Philip's most cherished creation. Probably he had a
+large share in designing it; certainly he watched it stone by stone as
+it grew. Here he dwelt as "Brother Philip," a monk in his own monastery,
+"ruling two worlds with a scrap of paper, from a cell on a mountain
+side." Here he was worshipping when he received the news of Lepanto, and
+of the destruction of the Armada. And it was with the same resolute
+stoicism that he learned of the victory and of the defeat. Here he
+died--the death of Herod Agrippa; sustaining his two months' agony with
+a constancy worthy of de Seso himself.[29] And all that is left of him
+rests in the little octagonal chapel beneath the High Altar, where his
+sire and his successors share his tomb. His portrait by Pantoja hangs on
+the walls of the library. A dreadful visage,--heartless, deceitful,
+obstinate,--miserable beyond the power of words to express. But no
+picture ever painted, no statue ever carved, could reveal his character
+more vividly than the great gloomy pile of hard grey granite which he
+himself has bequeathed as a legacy to posterity.
+
+Yet on one point the tyrant-hermit claims our unreserved approbation. He
+displayed a most excellent taste in the matter of selecting a site. Here
+we can feel no shadow of sympathy for his critics. His choice was
+unexceptionable: and those who impugn it are blind. Indeed, this whole
+range of Sierras is a region of singular beauty, and the charming old
+towns which lie on the foot hills beneath it,--Béjar and Plaséncia,
+Ávila and Segóvia,--give it an added interest which mountain districts
+do not often possess. Charles V. was drawn hither to Yuste, as Philip to
+Escorial: yet each held an ample dominion and neither was an incapable
+_connoisseur_. The jaded soldier and statesman could wish for no
+pleasanter resting-place than these grave highland solitudes which form
+the backbone of Spain.
+
+The road which leads plainwards from Escorial to Madrid--"that splendid
+road constructed regardless of cost for the gratification of a royal
+caprice"--seems now scarce worthy of Macaulay's eulogies. Many of the
+roads to the northward have had to encounter far greater engineering
+difficulties, and show quite excellent results. Yet this and all other
+Madrid roads are uniformly villanous; and when they amalgamate they
+produce the Madrid paving, which is a thing to remember in bad dreams.
+
+The capital itself, however, does not show up badly when approached from
+the northward; and the Royal Palace which dominates it, on the hill
+above the Manzanares, is an exceedingly imposing pile. Aránjuez (we were
+given to understand) considers itself equal to Windsor; but no one of
+our acquaintance would dare mention Buckingham Palace in competition
+with the _Palacio Real_ at Madrid.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+TOLEDO
+
+
+There are but three reasons, that I know of, for anyone visiting Madrid.
+First, that the roads (which are very bad) lead there; second, that the
+Prado picture gallery (which was closed) is exceeding magnifical; and
+third, that there is a bicycle repairer--which is an unsatisfactory
+reason at best. Smart, well-groomed, busy cities with commodious
+mansions and boulevards may be found (by such as have need of them)
+within easier distances than this. And for those who seek old streets,
+historic monuments, and that delightful aroma of medievalism which is
+the true inward charm of the Peninsula,--are not the little crooked
+_calles_ of Ávila and Segóvia and Toledo better than all the _carreras_
+of Madrid?
+
+To them the "Only Court" is no more than a convenient "jumping-off
+place"; a head office of "Cooks'"; an _entrepôt_ of the central roads.
+The Mecca of their pilgrimage lies fifty miles to the southward,--Toledo,
+the ancient stronghold of the Moor, the Visigoth, and the Roman in the
+days when none dreamed of such a kingdom as Castile.
+
+The map showed two roads to Toledo, and already I had sampled one of
+them. "The Illescas road," I argued, "was as bad as possible"; and
+"therefore the Aránjuez road is the best." My premise had been quite
+unassailable, yet after all my deduction proved fallacious. More just,
+and equally logical, was "therefore it has necessarily improved."
+
+The Aránjuez road, to do it justice, starts off with the most admirable
+intentions; and as if it were really determined to arrive (as it
+proposes) at Cadiz. But there is a sad slump in its prospects before it
+has got far on the journey. It becomes stony and bumpy and hummocky,
+with ruts like the furrows of a plough; and to steer a bicycle along the
+narrow ribbon of practicable track at the margin is an operation of some
+nicety, which is not at all facilitated by a heavy side wind. Presently
+there is a lucid interval of good smooth surface, which lasts just long
+enough to put the victim into good humour; and the final stage into
+Aránjuez is like the shingle that is upon the sea-shore.
+
+Such are the habits of a Spanish road; and in a way its eccentricities
+are consolatory. However bad it may be, you can always cherish the hope
+that it will reform itself altogether round the next turn. There is no
+reason why it should, but it often does. Of course, "in the alternative"
+the converse is equally true, but that is a point which needs glossing.
+Unless you foster a sanguine temperament you will make no progress at
+all.
+
+I have dwelt at some length on the state of the road, but, indeed, at
+this stage there is little else to dwell upon. A struggling avenue is
+pluckily endeavouring to push a line of green pickets across the
+dun-coloured plain; and here and there are a few miserly olives, each
+perched upon the little hoard of soil clutched by its hungry roots. But
+the only things that seem really to flourish are the gigantic six-foot
+thistles, and I fear that is an ill-omened fertility. It is a greener
+and leafier world when we descend into the Jarama valley.
+
+[Illustration: TOLEDO
+
+Bridge of Alcántara, from the Illescas Road.]
+
+Yet those who have heard Aránjuez described as a Garden of Eden in the
+midst of a desolate wilderness are likely to find themselves somewhat
+disillusioned by the reality. True, a tree is always a welcome object in
+verdureless Castile; but the English elms which are the boast of King
+Philip's oasis, "they grow best at home in the North Countree"; and
+though they wear a brave face, they must envy the ample glades and rich
+green turf which their brethren enjoy in the parks of England. That the
+much-vaunted palace itself should prove rather a failure need surprise
+no one. The Spanish nobles are town-dwellers, and a country seat such as
+Haddon, or Hatfield, or Burleigh, is quite beyond their ken. Aránjuez
+was a first attempt, and is not the right plant for the soil. Perhaps
+Hampton Court, enlarged and remodelled in the style of an Alexandra
+Palace, might convey some notion of its cheap tea-gardeny air: but even
+the river is uninteresting--a reproach that can seldom be levelled at
+the Tagus!
+
+I had been cheering my flagging spirits by the anticipation of a nice
+shady road down the Tagus banks to Toledo: but now an old muleteer
+regretfully mentioned that the road was dead, and truly it was the
+spectre of a road to which he introduced me. The ox-carts had been
+wallowing in it axle deep throughout the winter, and the spring sun had
+baked it into a chaos of _seracs_ and _crevasses_ which might have been
+practicable for a goat. It was wide and straight indeed, and it boasted
+a noble avenue; but its sole saving feature, from a practical
+standpoint, was a grassy footpath at the side. So long as the avenue
+continued, the track maintained some semblance of coherency; but when
+that also defaulted, it frankly abandoned all further interest in life.
+As a guide it was luckily needless; I had simply to follow the valley,
+and as there were no walls or hedges I could make a bee-line if I chose.
+Moreover, on the further side of the river a lofty detached hill, with a
+ruined castle on the summit, formed a prominent landmark by which to
+gauge my progress; and with plenty of time before me, I was bound to
+arrive in the end.
+
+A sympathetic bandit, who found me hauling my bicycle across a ploughed
+field, dispassionately suggested that I might find the railroad better.
+This opinion was loyally endorsed by Second Bandit a mile or so to the
+rearward; and Third Bandit (ever the most practical of the trio) fairly
+marched me up the embankment and launched me along the permanent way.
+They were quite right--it was better; but sleepers and ballast are not a
+desirable cycle track, and my well-regulated English mind revolted
+against the scandalous impropriety of the whole proceeding. However, it
+is sheer waste of one's scruples to squander them over the infraction of
+Spanish bye-laws. They are humoured so long as convenient; but for
+everything there is a season: and nobody dreams of enforcing them if
+they chance to be inopportune. There was a wayside station to pass
+before I reached Toledo; there was a train drawn up at the platform,
+with all the officials _en evidence_, and the passengers, as usual,
+profiting by the stoppage to indulge in a stroll and cigarettes. I
+dismounted perforce at the points; but through the station I rode
+unblushingly: and no one seemed to regard the circumstance as the least
+unusual or reprehensible. No doubt from Aránjuez to Toledo all
+bicyclists travel that way.
+
+Meanwhile I had been making fair progress, and my goal was nearly
+gained. My castellated beacon had dropped out of sight behind me; and in
+front, at the end of the valley, silhouetted against the western sky,
+rose the great rocky knoll which is the seat of imperial Toledo. A bend
+of the river had brought its waters within easy reach, and having washed
+off the dust of travel, I was indulging in a few minutes' idleness
+before resuming the road. Suddenly a herd of cattle plashed down into
+the river a few yards away from me; and their diminutive Corydon--a
+little brown wisp of humanity in the costume of a second-hand
+scarecrow--came pattering happily at their heels. An English yokel
+would have been hopelessly flabbergasted by such an unlooked-for
+encounter; but not so my little Castilian. He bowed, sat down beside me,
+and launched out into conversation with the most delicious confidence
+and self-possession, as if it were all the most natural occurrence in
+the world. He accepted a cigarette with becoming gravity, and made
+sympathetic murmurs when the matches refused to light. Our final success
+was acknowledged with a prim little "Blessed be God!" At the end of our
+chat he escorted me back to the pathway, and made his adieu with a
+quaint courtliness that conferred a dignity on his rags. Yet probably he
+had never set foot outside his village, nor set eyes on a stranger in
+his life. Good manners, like good looks, are sometimes bred in the bone.
+
+[Illustration: TOLEDO
+
+The Bridge of Alcántara.]
+
+Hitherto the valley has been wide and open; but now the river begins to
+reveal itself in its true character,--_El Tajo_, the Gash,[30]--deep and
+narrow between its riven walls. Across its path lies the massive granite
+barrier of the mountains of Toledo. The stream drives squarely into them
+and recoils away sullenly towards the west. But ere it turns it has
+bitten deep, and a great outlying bastion is held in the hollow of its
+curve. The sun at his creation shone first upon that rocky dais! The
+dignity of Toledo demands no meaner site!
+
+It is indeed an ideal situation for a medieval fortress; in plan a rough
+approximation to the shape of a rather square D. The curved line is
+formed by the gorge of the Tagus, whose steep, rocky banks would alone
+be an adequate defence; the straight by the landward face,--also lofty
+and precipitous, and crowned with the remnants of Wamba's ancient walls.
+And at the two corners the grand fortified medieval bridges of San
+Martin and Alcántara throw their lofty arches across the stream. The
+site is very similar to that of Durham: but the Toledo plateau is
+larger; and the Tagus is all unwooded, and wilder and grander than the
+Wear.
+
+The founder, of course, was Hercules. All Spanish cities were founded by
+Hercules, except a few which had been previously founded by Tubal. No
+doubt a large man with a club was a somewhat recurrent phenomenon; and
+the tale of his legendary prowess was the sole evidence of identity that
+an early Phoenician colonist was likely to require. After the
+Phoenicians came the Romans. But the glory of Toledo first reached its
+height in the Dark Ages which succeeded the Roman, when the Visigoth
+dwelled in the land. Toledo was the capital of the Visigothic kingdom;
+and that kingdom in the day of its power, during the reigns of Leovigild
+and Wamba, was probably the most potent among all the nations of the
+West. How dire must have been the consternation of Austrasia and
+Neustria and Lombardy, when, scarcely a generation later, their
+protagonist succumbed so utterly before the onset of the Moors!--when
+the Jews opened the gates of the unwary capital to admit the hordes of
+Tarik, and the fall of imperial Toledo set the seal on the disaster of
+Guadalete.
+
+Neither Christian nor Moslem underrated the catastrophe of that fatal
+Palm Sunday; and the meagre outline of history has been gaudily coloured
+by romance. Who has not heard the tale of the enchanted Tower of
+Hercules, wherein the self-willed Roderic sought and learned the secret
+of his doom? The fascinating Shahrazad won a full night's respite from
+her dangerous lord by her catalogue of the loot of the "City of
+Labtayt"--the hundred and seventy crowns of pearl and jacinth, the
+magical mirror, and the emerald table of Solomon!
+
+[Illustration: TOLEDO
+
+Puerta del Sol.]
+
+The Tower of Hercules is no longer alive to testify: but an old Moorish
+ruin down by the water's edge, under the bridge of San Martin, is still
+pointed out as the scene of the companion tale. Here the fair Florinda
+was bathing in the Tagus when her beauty caught the eye of the royal
+Roderic, and fired the passion which brought unnumbered woes to Spain.
+It is, indeed, a little hard upon poor Florinda that she should never
+have been forgiven for her share in the disaster. It was her father, not
+she, who let loose the Moors to avenge her; and even the legend
+describes her as more sinned against than sinning. Yet the ballads,
+which can spare pity for Roderic, have nothing but contumely for her. It
+is argued, I suppose, that all the trouble arose out of her unbridled
+passion for bathing. But this is a failing which we northerners regard
+more leniently. Arletta's ablutions were under a happier star!
+
+During the palmy days of Moslem dominion, Toledo had to yield pride of
+place to Córdova. But after the fall of the western Caliphate it
+disputed the _hegemony_ with Seville; and it was with considerable
+equanimity that Mohammed, the king of Andalusia, saw his formidable
+rival grappled by the Christians under Alfonso VI. The author of the
+_Poema del Cid_ bitterly deplores the fact that there was no "sacred
+bard" to immortalise the chivalrous incidents of that great two years'
+leaguer; but, at least, the result was satisfactory, and three hundred
+and seventy years after its capture Toledo was won again from the Moor.
+Its fall was wellnigh fatal to the Spanish Moslems; for Mohammed himself
+was now unable to resist the conqueror; and willing to live "a
+camel-driver in the African deserts rather than a swineherd in Castile,"
+he despairingly summoned the Almoravides from Morocco to his aid. He had
+sold his kingdom to save it; yet the newcomers beat back Alfonso: and
+the Cid's newly-won kingdom of Valéncia went under in the flood. But
+Toledo, once the stronghold of Paynimry, was now the bulwark of
+Christendom; and against its iron ramparts the wave of Moslem reaction
+spent itself in vain.
+
+Now began the second period of Toledo's greatness. The city became the
+seat of the Spanish primate and the favourite residence of the Castilian
+kings. Some of its importance leaked away southward when Córdova and
+Seville were reconquered by Ferdinand III. in 1248. But the first great
+blow to its prosperity was the inhuman expulsion of the Jews by
+Ferdinand and Isabella at the end of the fifteenth century. Toledo had
+been one of their chief asylums ever since the destruction of Jerusalem;
+and though Goth and Moor and Christian had all alike persecuted them
+whenever they became rich enough to make it worth while, yet they were
+now a numerous colony, wealthy, honoured, and well affected to the
+crown. But Torquemada's savage fanaticism overbore the scruples of the
+queen. The whole nation was ruthlessly exiled at a bare six months'
+notice; and perhaps it is no exaggeration to say that nearly all of
+them, beggared and hopeless, perished of hardship by the way.
+
+Toledo was still important enough to play the leading rôle in the great
+revolt of the _Communeros_ at the beginning of the reign of Charles V.
+It was indeed the last city to succumb; and that resolute lady, Maria
+Pacheco, the widow of Padilla, held it for many months against the
+imperial forces before she finally abandoned the struggle and fled from
+the realm. The thoroughness with which this rising was suppressed is
+perhaps a matter for regret. The triumph of the crown was too complete;
+and Spain, once the most democratic of medieval monarchies, was
+henceforth an absolute autocracy.
+
+With this last effort Toledo's prominence upon the stage of history
+comes practically to an end. Henceforth it retired upon its reputation,
+and let the busy world go on without it as it chose. It still turns out
+a few of those famous sword blades, "the ice brook's temper," which
+Othello bore upon his thigh; but, for the rest, it is but a quiet
+country town, dozing placidly under the _ægis_ of the great cathedral,
+which now seems to furnish its only _raison d'être_.
+
+[Illustration: TOLEDO
+
+Calle del Comércio, with the Cathedral Tower.]
+
+Nearly a thousand years have elapsed since Toledo was recovered by the
+Christians; and, though but few of its monuments are of genuine Moresco
+workmanship,[31] yet to all outward appearance it remains a Moorish city
+still. The trade-mark of the East is stamped indelibly upon it;--steep,
+narrow, crooked streets; and square, sombre palaces, whose grim façades
+give no hint of the lovely _patios_ within. Its mazy network of _calles_
+is spread all over the surface of the great domed rock upon which it
+stands; and the fact that the Calle del Comércio is the widest,
+longest and straightest of any, may serve as some indication of the
+character of the rest. Street frankly admits that it is one of the few
+cities where he could not find his way without a guide; and but that I
+found all ways equally fascinating, it is highly probable that I should
+have been in the same predicament myself. Every corner of the stage
+seems still set exactly as it was quitted by the heroes and heroines of
+Lope de Vega and Calderon. Lazarillo de Tormes might still be town
+crier. It might be but yesterday that the horrified Gil Blas recognised
+the comrades of his early escapades walking among the condemned in
+the procession of the _Auto-da-fé_. One little alley that I discovered
+in the course of my wanderings bore the remarkable title of
+"_Calle del Diablo pertinece al Ayuntamiento_,"
+"The-Devil-belongs-to-the-Corporation Street." He does!--to many
+Corporations! But few are ingenuous enough to proclaim the fact at the
+street corners! And few have such slight cause to lament it;--he is
+generally a Devil of Unrest.
+
+The great Alcázar,[32] which is the most prominent object in the city,
+is too uncompromisingly cubical to be strictly picturesque; and the
+cathedral, which is its chief glory, is singularly unobtrusive in a
+general view. The houses shoulder up against it as though anxious to
+keep it hidden; and when, after much circumnavigation, we do manage at
+last to unmask it, behold! it is bare and featureless, only redeemed
+from meanness by its noble western tower.
+
+But the moment we pass the portal all cavilling is awed to silence. Out
+of the blaze of the southern sunshine we step into a vast, mysterious
+twilight, lit only by the jewelled pictures in the clerestory overhead.
+The air is heavy with the odour of incense; and the chant of the canons
+thunders down the aisles. The style of this great temple is the purest
+and most solemn of thirteenth-century Gothic. Built by the canonized
+king, St Ferdinand, out of the spoils of Seville, it is equal to Rheims
+in majesty, and ranks next to Cologne in point of size. But noble as is
+the edifice itself, this is but the casket for its nobler treasures. No
+other Cathedrals in the world can compete with the Spanish in the
+richness of their furniture; and here, for more than three centuries,
+the richest of all the great Chapters[33] lavished their wealth upon the
+adornment of their shrine. The skilfulest craftsmen of the
+Renaissance,--Copin and Rodrigo, de Arfe and Villalpando, Borgoña and
+Berruguete,--spent the best years of their lives upon its stalls and
+_rejas_ and _custodias_.[34] They were furnished with gold and silver,
+jasper and alabaster, with a prodigality worthy of Solomon himself; and
+we may well apply to them all the boast that is recorded of two of
+them,--that no one can ever determine who best deserves the palm.
+
+The great masterpieces of the cathedral are concentrated in bewildering
+profusion about the _Coro_ and _Capilla Mayor_; but each and all of the
+score of chapels that surround it, is stored with relics of history and
+gems of ancient art. Here lies Alvaro de Luna, the Cardinal Wolsey of
+Spanish history. The great Constable died on the scaffold in the _Plaza_
+at Valladolid, and his vindictive enemies would not spare even his tomb;
+but his beautiful marble monument shows that his daughter's piety was
+respected in a later reign. Here lies the Grand Cardinal Mendoza,
+_tertius rex_ to the wedded "kings" who made Spain a nation; and his
+tomb is worthy of a king. Here lie the early monarchs of Castile,--their
+sarcophagi caught up in the tangle of intricate tracery which encloses
+the _Capilla Mayor_. And here, among all these kings and princes, are
+the monuments of two others;--Abu Walid the Moslem, "the good _Alfaqui_"
+who pled for his persecutors against the wrath of Alfonso VI.; and the
+humble shepherd of the Morena, who led Alfonso VIII. by the secret pass
+across the mountains, and died on the plains of Tolosa in the great
+victory which his guidance gained.[35] "They buried them in the city of
+David among the kings, because they had done good in Israel." The men of
+the thirteenth century were no respecters of persons, and could
+understand an honourable reward.
+
+[Illustration: TOLEDO
+
+The Gorge of the Tagus.]
+
+One of the chapels is specially reserved for the performance of the
+Mozarabic[36] ritual, the ancient Use of St Isidore, which had been
+preserved by the Toledan Christians throughout the period of their
+subjection to the Moors. At the reconquest the Romanizers were anxious
+to suppress it, and after much controversy the question was referred to
+ordeal by battle. Two bulls were appointed champions for the rival
+churches! but the defeat of the Roman representative left his clients
+unconvinced, and two knights took the place of the bulls. Again the
+Toledan was victorious, but again the argumentative Romanists refused to
+accept the result. The arm of the flesh was a vain thing in such a
+matter; "the God that answereth by fire, let Him be God!" The protests
+of the _Mozárabes_ were overborne, and the arbitrary bonfire was kindled
+in the triangular Toledan market-place. The Romanists astutely conceded
+the privilege of "first go." They complacently watched their antagonists
+commit St Isidore's precious Missal to the flames. _And, behold, it
+would not burn!_ Had the Romanists kept their heads it might have
+occurred to them that the old parchment tome, with its thick oak boards
+and solid metal clasps, was about as unpromising a bit of fuel as mortal
+bonfire could tackle. But this third defeat gave them a panic. There was
+only a draw to be hoped for, and they dared not expose their own volume
+to such an unprofitable risk. With desperate ingenuity they once more
+tried to revive the controversy from the beginning; but their opponents
+were now upon too firm ground, and their orthodoxy had to be conceded.
+
+In later years, however, the Mozarabic ritual fell into disuse, and was
+only rescued from oblivion by the enterprise of Cardinal Ximenes, who
+collated and republished it, and founded the chapel wherein it is still
+performed. This sounds rather a broad-minded act for a Grand Inquisitor;
+but Ximenes, an ascetic and a conqueror, a foe to knowledge and a patron
+of learning, was one of those strange complex characters whose actions
+seem consistent to no one but himself.
+
+One might readily fill a volume with a list of the glories of Toledo,
+and not a tithe of its attractions can be mentioned in these meagre
+notes. Its proximity to Madrid renders it somewhat better known than the
+majority of Castilian cities, yet most visitors appear to imagine that
+they can "do" it adequately in a day. A cheerful American whom I met
+there had come over from Madrid in the morning, and was returning the
+same afternoon. He was seeing Toledo in three hours, and was spending
+one of them in dining! A month might well prove insufficient; but a
+month was not to be spared. One further visit, however, is incumbent on
+every Englishman. A pilgrimage down the Tagus to the battlefield of
+Talavera is a duty that he may not ignore.
+
+The Tagus valley becomes more tame and domesticated below the grim
+defiles of Toledo; and its mountain fences, the Sierras of Grédos and
+Guadalupe, face one another at a distance of some fifty miles. Yet the
+intervening plains have not nearly the amplitude of the Duero's, though
+the ground is comparatively open and even comparatively green. It is a
+very interesting district; for the Tagus was long a frontier river, and
+its banks were as diligently fortified as those of our own Tweed.
+
+The roads from Madrid and Toledo unite at the castle of Magueda; and it
+was at the brook beneath it that I made the acquaintance of _El Maestre_
+Pedro and his wife and family, a couple of Pyrenean bears and a Barbary
+ape. What an ungainly group they looked as they came scrambling down the
+road towards me! But they were all true Castilians (at least all the
+human section), and offered me a share of their food when they stopped
+to lunch at the water side, as all well-bred wayfarers should:--Would my
+honour please to eat? "Many thanks! a good meal to your honours!" is the
+correct reply to this courtesy: and therewith I went my way.
+
+And now the military tourist will begin to recognise that he is
+approaching a classic neighbourhood. His ear is caught by the names of
+the villages--Torrijos, Sta Olalla, Alcabon. They are humble little
+hamlets enough, yet their names ring vaguely familiar. They each dropped
+a card upon history one hundred years ago.
+
+Now, too, the landscape is pervaded by an additional feature, which was
+likewise important enough to win historical mention on the
+battlefield.[37] To wit, Pigs. Pigs and pigs and pigs. Pigs by single
+spies, pigs in battalions. No fat and greasy citizens, like their
+cousins in England, but sinewy, razor-backed racers of strong sporting
+proclivities, who rioted along beside the bicycle in sheer exuberance of
+athleticism. There was a big pig fair toward at Talavera on the morrow,
+and its votaries were mustering from all points of the compass like the
+sorcerers of Domdaniel when Eblis summoned them to doom. They were all
+washed beautifully clean by a tremendous thunderstorm which caught us at
+the bridge over the Alberche: but the streets and lanes of the city were
+reduced to an indescribable state.
+
+[Illustration: TALAVERA DE LA REINA
+
+From the banks of the Tagus.]
+
+Talavera de la Reyna lies upon low ground on the right bank of the
+Tagus, which here is comparatively wide and shallow, and is crossed by
+a long and very crooked bridge. The town is not strictly fortified;
+but it is walled, and well screened by its orchards; and as the plain is
+here narrowed by outlying hummocks from the mountains, it forms an
+effective position for disputing the passage of the road.
+
+All the main fighting in the battle took place upon the higher ground to
+the northward. The town itself, with its enclosures and orchards, was
+occupied by the Spaniards under their obstinate old Captain-General
+Cuesta. They had nearly come to grief two days before in retreating
+across the Alberche, but were now entrenched in a position too strong
+for assault; and Jourdan and Victor directed all their efforts against
+the left and centre where the English were drawn up. Here the ground is
+more open and more elevated, sloping up from the flats by the river till
+it culminates in the hill of Medellin. The position (as in most other
+battlefields) does not seem very formidable to a layman. But then any
+position that did would probably never be attacked.
+
+The battle was one of the bloodiest in the Peninsula; for the British
+were heavily outnumbered, and their raw militia battalions lacked three
+years' tempering of the Ironsides of Albuera and Badajoz. But what they
+lacked in warcraft they redeemed in staunchness. For two days and a
+night they were fighting, and then their assailants sullenly withdrew.
+Yet, after all, Sir Arthur Wellesley had won merely a tactical victory.
+His strategic position was too perilous to permit him to garner the
+fruits. Soult's Galician army corps, already reorganised after the
+_debacle_ of the Douro, was threatening his rear from Plaséncia; and it
+was only by an adroit retreat across the Tagus at Arzobispo that he was
+able to elude the stroke.
+
+One of the minor incidents of the battle was an extraordinary piece of
+marching. The Light Division, under General Craufurd, was far in the
+rear at the commencement of the fighting, and were eager to get up
+before the close. The task was too great, but the attempt was something
+Homeric. They covered sixty-two miles in twenty-six hours, all in full
+marching order: and lost but seventeen stragglers by the way! This was
+probably a record for the Peninsula; though Wellington himself thought
+that it might be paralleled in India; and some of Marmont's marches
+previous to Salamanca were not far behind. What manner of men were they
+who could achieve such feats in July under a Spanish sun?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A RAID INTO ESTREMADURA
+
+
+The Estremadura road launches out boldly from the end of the Segóvia
+bridge at Madrid, and the fingerpost which points along it laconically
+observes that that way you will get to Badajos. But quite a lot of water
+will flow under the Segóvia bridge first, even though it is only the
+Manzanares which runs there.
+
+Wherefore, to avoid over-watering this narrative, we will not begin it
+at Madrid, nor even at Talavera, but transport ourselves at one stride
+right away to the other end of the long line of snowy mountains which
+guards the northern side of the Estremadura road. Here the Sierra de
+Grédos ends in a forked tail like one of its own falcons, and between
+the forks a long, straight valley runs up into the centre of the range.
+The great snow-peaks sit along either side of that long, straight valley
+like a Parliament of Gods, with the shaggy ilex woods wrapped around
+their knees; and at its mouth, on a slight eminence half encircled by
+the new-born waters of the Jerte, stands the ancient city of Plaséncia.
+
+I were ungrateful not to retain a warm corner in my heart for pretty
+little Plaséncia, for I arrived there limping and dog-wrecked, and
+Plaséncia was kind to me. But he would be an unimpressionable mortal who
+could not love her for her beauty alone; and I am not sure that even
+I--such is man's gratitude--would remember her as kindly had she been
+less fair. The crumbling walls, the solemn palaces, the quaint old
+streets and beautiful situation, make this little Hesperian township one
+of the most charming in Spain. Is she not rightly named "Pleasaunce"?
+Queenly Segóvia herself need not disdain so fair a cousin.
+
+But Plaséncia should not strictly be included in the Castilian family
+circle; she has married into Estremadura, and the mountains part her
+from her kind. The picturesque Estremenian peasantry lounge about her
+squares and _plazas_, but her site and her buildings seem still to
+proclaim her kinship. Like other Spanish wives, she has not quite
+dropped her maiden name.
+
+[Illustration: PLASÉNCIA
+
+Puente San Lazaro.]
+
+There is not much traffic in the streets of Plaséncia, neither is
+much expected. The workmen patching the cathedral roof were heaving over
+the broken tiles on to the pavement without so much as a prefatory
+"Heads below!" Yet the place looks far from dead, for the balconies are
+gay with flower-boxes, and the numerous old palaces still wear a
+comparatively prosperous air. The cathedral stands right upon the
+ancient walls, which form a sort of terrace to it upon the southern
+side. Internally its effect is marred by a transverse partition; but
+externally, though (like Mr Mantelini's countesses) it has no outline,
+it is decked with a fanciful miscellaneous finery which makes it
+inordinately picturesque. Moreover, it is an educational centre, and we
+are indebted to it for constant processions of demure little students,
+clad in black cassocks with a burning heart worked in crimson upon the
+breast. They are beyond comparison the best-behaved children in the
+Peninsula, and make most appropriate figures in the quiet and shady
+square.
+
+The _Fonda_ where I brought myself to anchor was situated entirely upon
+the first floor; and this waste of good space was gratuitous, for the
+ground floor was all empty vaults. My bedroom was at the back. To reach
+it I had to pass through the kitchen; and incidentally to make myself
+amiable to the cook, who was manipulating her pots over a range of
+strictly classical construction which might have been imported from
+Pompeii. Beyond was a tiny _patio_ where Maria and the Señora were busy
+at their household duties under the shade of the vines; and then came my
+room. There was no window except the glazed upper panel of the door; and
+no ventilation when the door was shut, so it was usually open. I could
+shut it without getting out of bed. Our meals were served in the little
+_comedor_ adjoining the kitchen. Maria waited, handing round the viands
+in their native earthenware pipkins, piping hot from the fire. Also she
+led the conversation, being a notable authority on all the latest gossip
+and scandal; and the cook popped her head through the serving-hatch and
+chimed in volubly at every suitable opening. There is a homeliness about
+these little hostels which is very delightful; but it is always a puzzle
+to me how the women get their meals. They seldom dine with their
+men-folk, and, so far as my observation goes, must subsist entirely on
+"tasters."
+
+[Illustration: PLASÉNCIA
+
+The Town Walls and Cathedral.]
+
+Of course you seldom get a bill. "This is no time o'night to use our
+bills! With one word of my mouth I can tell them what is to
+betall."[38] The Señora confined herself literally to one word when I
+asked her, and responded "thirty-two," but I suppose my face must have
+betrayed some uncertainty, for "_reals_[39] not _pesetas_!" added the
+Señora hastily, knocking seventy-five per cent. off my mental
+calculation, and bringing her charges for full board and lodging down to
+about three shillings a day. I wonder who was responsible for the libel
+that Spanish innkeepers cheat; any attempt at overcharging is an almost
+unprecedented event.
+
+The borderland character of Plaséncia is reflected in its surroundings.
+The Castilian sierras wall it in upon the east; but away to the west
+stretches the wilderness of Estremadura--vast rugged moors interlaced
+with wide belts of olive and ilex, or small rare patches of cultivated
+ground. The lonely road holds steadily upon its way till it reaches the
+lip of the Tagus ravine, and then plunges abruptly down to the level of
+the river.
+
+There is a marked contrast in the scenery along the two great rivers of
+northern Spain. The Duero valley is wide and tame, a great unfenced
+expanse of vineyard and cornfield, edged by low hills of petrified
+earth; but the Tagus rift is narrow and savage, walled in by bare black
+rock, and showing few traces of the hand of man. The road swings down
+the hill in admirable style, but startles the traveller by coming to an
+abrupt and untimely end about half a mile short of the river; and I had
+to plough my way down through the shingle to the water's edge to
+prospect for a continuation. Far away up stream a few shattered piers
+and arches testify to the neglected munificence of some old _Pontifex
+Maximus_ of Toledo; and overhead the great lattice girders of the
+railway spring from pier to pier across the gulf; but where is there a
+passage for a wayfaring man? "It strictly prohibits itself" to use the
+railway line; moreover, the sleepers are laid directly upon the naked
+girders, so that the passenger gets a fine bird's-eye view of the
+landscape between his toes; but there is neither ferry nor ford,--at
+least none where a stranger can see them; and why strain at the strict
+prohibition if you can swallow the bird's-eye view?
+
+Some little way up the further shore I stumble across the road again. It
+is getting along capitally, thank you, and tackles the steep ascent in a
+most business-like system of curves and gradients without bestowing a
+thought upon the lamentable _hiatus_ in the rear. Elsewhere one might
+reprobate such conduct, but here one accepts it as natural. "_Cosas de
+España_,"--It's the way with Spain.
+
+At the top is a wilderness of rocky pasture powdered with flocks of
+merino sheep, the great nomad hordes that migrate every winter into
+these southern latitudes, and are now working their way north again
+towards the mountains of Leon. Among them stand the cloaked figures of
+their shepherds, tall and motionless,--a hermit race; and the pale peaks
+of Almanzor and his brother giants far away in the background, survey
+with complacent approval a picture as antiquated as themselves.
+Presently this desert gives way to olive woods, and the olive woods to
+more cultivated ground. Thick cactus hedges, fringed round with an
+edging of blossom, begin to hint at a southern climate; and the
+peasantry are already reaping the barley harvest, though it is yet but
+the middle of May. At last a cluster of towers planted in the saddle of
+a low serrated ridge marks the goal of my day's journey, and with a wide
+sweep to the right, to outflank an intervening valley, I enter the town
+of Cáceres.
+
+The tourist who wishes to explore Estremadura will find that the
+inexorable laws of geography have fixed his headquarters at Cáceres. But
+he need have no grudge against the inexorable laws aforesaid; they might
+have chosen a much worse place. To begin with, Cáceres is a town of
+resources; there is a man in it who owns a bicycle, and who did own till
+recently a tube of rubber solution, but this rare and costly curio has
+since been acquired by a foreign collector. Moreover, it is the capital
+of its province, and it rejoices in a picturesque and busy little
+market; but the gem of the whole, to an artist's eyes, is the "old town"
+which crowns the rising ground in the centre, a delightful relic of
+antiquity all untainted by the contact of to-day.
+
+Nobody seems to go into the old town of Cáceres except the girls with
+their water pitchers _en route_ for the Fountain of Council on the
+further side. The streets are so steep that they are all stepped, and so
+narrow that it is impossible for two loaded mules to pass. No sound is
+heard in them but the clattering of the storks, and the grim old palaces
+which wall them in have an indescribable air of mystery and romance. I
+am convinced that any bold spirit who dared to penetrate into their
+flowery _patios_ would find them still inhabited by the old
+comrades of Cortes and Pizarro and Diego Garcia de Paredes, the great
+Estremenian warriors of yore. No mere modern mortals can dwell behind
+those changeless walls. The grey old ramparts which enclose them must
+have checked the march of time.
+
+[Illustration: CÁCERES
+
+Within the old Town Walls.]
+
+Four main roads diverge from Cáceres towards the four points of the
+compass. That towards the east leads to Trujillo, the birthplace of
+Pizarro, and the mountain sanctuary of Guadalupe, which the Estremenian
+conquerors enriched with the spoils of Mexico and Peru. I was scheming
+in vain to attain to them, but my fate was most resolutely hostile. Two
+sallies resulted in breakdowns, and at last I reluctantly succumbed. My
+first successful foray was towards the south.
+
+This road leads over a queer wild country, half common, half moor,
+sparsely inhabited, and fringed with the low, rugged ridges which are
+such a feature of the district. It was a notable haunt of robbers a
+couple of generations ago. Towards the south-east rises the Sierra de
+Montanchez, which at this point forms the watershed between the Tagus
+and Guadiana, and the road gradually rises to pass over its tail. The
+Sierra piles itself up into fine bold masses on the left of the road;
+and beneath it on the further side lies the hamlet of Arroyo Molinos,
+where three thousand French soldiers, reputed the best in Spain, were
+surprised and crushed by General Hill in 1811.
+
+Girard was retreating before Hill from Cáceres, and had halted here for
+the night, leaving pickets along the road to the northward to give
+warning of pursuit. But the pursuers he dreaded had already outstripped
+and intercepted him. Hill had followed the parallel road (which is now
+the main one) and lay unsuspected at Alcuesca, three miles to the south.
+Not a Spaniard in either village but knew of the intended _coup_; but
+who would betray it to a Frenchman? And no whisper of his danger reached
+Girard till the 71st and 92nd regiments swept the street with fixed
+bayonets in the grey of the stormy dawn. Estremadura was Hill's
+province, and his other most notable exploit, the seizing of the bridge
+of Almaraz, was also achieved in this locality. Two victories of which
+Wellington himself might have been proud.
+
+From the summit of the pass the ground sweeps away to the southward, an
+ocean of white-flowered cistus bushes interspersed with the vivid yellow
+of the broom. But this brilliant spectacle does not continue for many
+miles; it soon gives way to the usual jumble of rock and grass and
+olive; and at last from this stony upland one looks down across the
+sloping cornfields to the distant Guadiana and the town of Mérida.
+
+A big red-roofed village with no special feature, built beside the broad
+and sandy bed of a great river, Mérida from a distance looks commonplace
+enough. Yet the wide, smooth cornfields around it might disclose a
+different scene. Time was when the garrison of Augusta Emerita was
+fifteen-fold more numerous than her present population, when her walls
+were twenty miles in circumference, and even in her decay her astonished
+conqueror could confess that it was "impossible to enumerate" the
+marvels she contained. Comparing what she is with what she was, the
+wonder is not that so much has survived, but that so much has
+disappeared; and yet in good truth the remains are ample enough, "equal
+to Rome" say the Meridans, and who should know better than they?
+
+First the great aqueduct (the greatest of three); the bridge of
+sixty-four[40] arches which spans the Guadiana, and the mighty castle
+which guards its townward end. The theatre, still almost perfect; the
+ruins of the Temple of Diana, and of the massive Arch of Trajan. The
+amphitheatre is now but an heap, and the hippodrome can only be traced
+by its foundations; but the whole soil teems with coins and fragments of
+pottery, and if ever systematic excavation could be hoped for in this
+happy-go-lucky country, who can guess what treasures might be revealed?
+It is at least an encouraging symptom that the Meridans are very proud
+of their "_antiguedades_," and are always eager to act as showmen; in
+which capacity they are equipped with the most startling archæological
+heresies that have ever been foisted upon an astonished world.
+
+It was a hard-worked little room that was assigned to me for my lodging
+at Mérida. At night I slept there, but by day it was a tailor's shop,
+and between times it was borrowed by Juanita for the conduct of her
+little _affaires du coeur_. Its many-sidedness was the result of its
+situation, for it was on the ground floor, with a large French window
+opening direct on to the pavement, and guarded with a stout iron grille.
+To myself this entailed a rather embarrassing publicity, but it just
+suited Juanita, who could interview her lover comfortably through the
+bars.
+
+[Illustration: CÁCERES
+
+Calle de la Cuesta de Aldana.]
+
+Each night as I returned from the café I beheld the same little
+picture (it was being produced in replica in half the streets of the
+town); the moonlight bright upon the _Fonda_ walls, and the black
+cloaked figure clinging like a bat to the rails. I am proud to remember
+that I always tried to play the game properly, and glided off
+unobtrusively into a side street before I got near enough to interfere.
+But I doubt if I ever really escaped observation, for at my next round
+the pavement would be untenanted, and Juanita waiting at the street door
+to let me in.
+
+It might be supposed that there was no ostensible motive why she should
+not have kept tryst at the door instead of the window, or "gone out
+walking" with her lover as an English girl would have done. But no! that
+would not be "proper." La Señora Grundy insists upon a barred window.
+Perhaps that is one of the reasons why all Spanish windows are barred.
+
+"Marriage is honourable to all." But in Spain it is considered expedient
+to give an elaborately clandestine flavour to the indispensable
+preliminary of courtship; and during the whole of that period Romeo is
+officially tabooed by Juliet's kin. He may be a most desirable _parti_,
+and the bosom friend of all her brothers. But now he is remorselessly
+"cut." When they meet, they never see him;--neither (logically enough)
+do they ever notice that cryptic enigma who is "feeding on iron" at the
+lattice every evening soon after dark. So matters continue until the
+courtship has ripened and the happy lover can formally demand his lady's
+hand. Then he is at once received into all honour and affection, and the
+lovers are put on a regular footing by being formally betrothed, a
+ceremony scarcely less binding than marriage itself.
+
+Mérida was my southernmost limit, and detained me somewhat longer than I
+had intended. But, indeed, the very origin of the city seems to
+constitute an invitation to repose. First invaded and last subdued of
+all the Roman provinces, Spain was just witnessing the dawn of her early
+millennium when Augustus founded this home of rest for the veterans of
+the final campaign. If rest was his intention, it would rejoice his
+heart to see how diligently it is still practised by the descendants of
+his original colonists. But my own sojourn was not entirely voluntary. I
+had tried once more for Trujillo, and been forced to put back for
+repairs. Even a fate-compelled idleness, however, may sometimes be found
+opportune.
+
+[Illustration: MÉRIDA
+
+"Los Milagros," the ruins of the Great Aqueduct.]
+
+The great ruined aqueduct, the headquarters of all the storks of
+the Guadiana, towered over the Cáceres road to the right of me as I
+again bore away to the northward. It had been the first object to greet
+my arrival, and was the last to haunt me as I left. The huge gaunt piers
+and crumbling arches seem more imposing in their ruin even than the
+complete structure at Segóvia, though I believe actual measurements
+place the latter first by a short head. "The Miracles," the townsfolk
+call them; and the title is well bestowed. Yet Estremadura can boast one
+other miracle more stupendous even than these.
+
+Once more I sallied forth from Cáceres, and set my face towards the
+west; and surely in all the solitudes of Estremadura there are none more
+solitary than this. Mile after mile the straight, white road heaves its
+long line across the ridges of the rolling moor. Its dust is seamed with
+the trail of the viper, and here and there the eagle hangs poised above
+his hunting-ground; but other life or landmark there is none for leagues
+together, till one feels one has been riding there for ever, and will
+probably continue till the end of time. Sometimes a ruined watch-tower
+will afford a distant beacon; sometimes a well-ambushed hamlet, whose
+swine are reputed to develop a specially succulent bacon by a strict
+adherence to a viper dietary. They appear like the phases in a dream,
+and are swallowed in the immensity of their surroundings. As well seek a
+pin in a haystack as a homestead in this boundless waste.
+
+If there be any faith in the milestones, Alcántara cannot lie beyond
+that great purple combe ahead of me. Yet how can there be room for the
+Tagus valley on the hither side? But even as I am flouting their
+promise, the road dives gracefully over the lip of an unsuspected
+hollow, and the fragments of a crumbling rampart resolve themselves into
+the long-sought town. The gateway admits me to a forlorn and grimy
+street; the houses are ruinous and neglected; everywhere is dirt and
+misery and dilapidation. What went ye out into the wilderness to see?
+
+Just beyond the town, and far below the level of the moors, the Tagus
+has carved its deep and savage glen. Right and left, as far as the eye
+can reach, the bare bluff headlands stoop down into the abyss like the
+tors on the Devonshire coast; and at the bottom, pent between its walls
+of rock, the tawny river swirls down the ravine. All is vast and huge
+and desolate; the town itself hardly shows in such a picture; yet in the
+midst one object catches the eye which seems to challenge comparison
+even with nature itself,--the work of Titans rather than men,--THE
+BRIDGE--_Al Kántarah_.
+
+Spain is the land of bridges. In all Europe they have few rivals, but
+here they own a King. Since the day when Caius Julius Lacer finished his
+great work for the Emperor Trajan, and was laid to rest beside it, no
+other bridge has ever challenged comparison with his;--a work to vie
+with the pyramids of Egypt, or the Flavian Amphitheatre at Rome.
+
+It is long before the eye can learn to grasp its full dimensions; all
+around it is rock and mountain, there is nothing to give scale. We are
+warned of it first by the camera, for the lens will not look at so wide
+an angle; and then by the size of the archway flung across the road at
+the centre pier. Presently, as we peer over the parapet into the depths
+of the gulf below us, we realise that there is a man down there walking
+by the waterside, and a dog which seems to bark though we cannot hear
+the sound. Our eye slowly sizes up the _voussoir_ above which we are
+standing; it is a twelve-ton block of granite; and the huge vault with
+its eighty such _voussoirs_ seems to widen and deepen beneath us as we
+gaze; for the brook that it spans is the river Tagus, whose waters have
+their source three hundred miles away.
+
+Thus hint by hint we have pieced together the astonishing conclusion
+that the span of each of the two great central arches is rather wider,
+and nearly as high as the interior of the dome of St Paul's; and that
+the height of the railway lines above the Firth of Forth is sixty feet
+less than that of the road above the Tagus! What must the scene be like
+in winter, when the waters are foaming against the springer stones one
+hundred and fifty feet above their summer level! How vast the strength
+of these massive piers which for eighteen hundred years have defied the
+fury of the floods!
+
+Where now is the great _Via Lata_ that ran from Gades to Rome? Where are
+the famous cities which it threaded on the way? The vine and olive grow
+in the forum of Italica, and the Miracles of Mérida are a dwelling for
+the stork. But here at the wildest point of all its wild journey our
+eyes may still behold a memorial which nature has assailed in
+vain:--"Pontem perpetui mansurum in sæcula mundi,"--the monument of
+Caius Julius Lacer, more enduring even than Wren's.
+
+[Illustration: ALCÁNTARA]
+
+We English, I regret to say, were responsible for blowing up one of
+the smaller arches in 1809; and our makeshift restoration,--a suspension
+bridge made out of ships' cables, probably the earliest introduction of
+the type to Europe,--lasted till the time of the Carlist wars. Then it
+was again destroyed, and the Spaniards were long content with a ferry.
+Now, however, they have restored it in its native granite, a feat of
+which they are justly proud. Only, seeing that no cement at all was used
+in the original building, it was really a little too bad of them to
+insist upon pointing the joints!
+
+It seems rather farcical to make a parade of military secrecy about a
+structure that has been famous for eighteen centuries; but there is a
+sentry assigned to it to make sure of preserving its privacy, and I
+think I acted kindly towards him in providing one culprit for the year.
+Our re-arrival in the town to interview the _Teniente_ created quite a
+little sensation, particularly as that official was not to be found at
+his office, and had to be hunted through the parish by packs of
+importunate boys. The _Teniente_ was eventually run to earth in his
+bedroom, in a state of great deshabille, but as polite as if he had been
+attired in full court uniform. His house and his goods were at my
+service, and himself only too anxious to do anything in the world to
+oblige me; but I must not sketch within twenty-five miles of the
+frontier without a special permit from the Minister of War at Madrid!
+The travelling Englishman (when not admittedly mad) is always an object
+of suspicion. But it must be confessed that his vagaries are generally
+humoured in Spain. He only gets gently restrained in remote and
+inaccessible places, where the official (never having seen a stranger
+before) naturally feels it incumbent upon him to do something, but it is
+not quite certain what. I made no attempt to protest. It would, of
+course, have been entirely useless; and my Spanish had been already
+heavily strained in compliments. Moreover, in this instance the _genius
+loci_ had benignantly decreed that I should have got the horse before
+they locked the stable door.
+
+Meanwhile I had been left some consolation. The bridge is not quite the
+only lion at Alcántara, and the grand Benedictine convent of its old
+military monks rises most imposingly upon the edge of the impending
+moors. It is now ruinous and dismantled, its fine church perfect but
+empty, and its cloisters used as a cart-shed by the thrifty usurpers of
+its halls. Beyond this feature, however, the town has little attraction.
+It was mercilessly sacked in the spring of 1809 by General
+Lapisse,--killed three months later while striving to rally his division
+during the great assault at Talavera,--and since that crushing disaster
+it has never had spirit to raise its head. There comes a stage when ruin
+ceases to be picturesque and becomes only depressing. It is rather in
+this connection that I remember Alcántara and Sahagun.[41]
+
+It is not altogether surprising, in such an inconsequent country, to
+discover that by crossing Alcántara you will arrive--Nowhere! and that
+the only traffic across that stupendous edifice is limited to a few
+flocks of sheep and some casual mules. I had hoped to return to
+Plaséncia by way of Cória. It is no great distance. Alcántara is in
+Cória diocese, and there are no special obstacles beyond the river; but
+there is no vestige of a road. No, I must return from Alcántara to
+Cáceres, and from Cáceres to Plaséncia, and from Plaséncia I might find
+a road to Cória--perhaps. Which is the reason why Cória is now
+bracketted with Trujillo and Guadalupe as one of the places I hope to
+see some day. I returned, therefore, to Plaséncia the same way that I
+had come; and passing round the end of the Sierra de Grédos, took my
+farewell of these "extrema Durii"[42] from the summit of the Pass of
+Béjar.
+
+I have since learned that "nothing but a lively historical curiosity,
+and a keen sympathy with the lonely melancholy of the heaths, could have
+enabled me to endure with equanimity the privations to which I was
+exposed."
+
+It is astonishing how little I realised my fortitude at the time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+SEGÓVIA
+
+
+Few streams are so mercilessly bantered as the hapless Manzanares, and
+it is rough on an honest little river to rag it because it is poor. It
+is "navigable at all seasons for a coach and six"; it is mockingly urged
+"to sell its bridges for water"; and it labours under a gross imputation
+(not to be whispered in the presence of touchy Madrilenos), that upon
+one occasion when it happened to be sufficiently copious to float a
+mule's pack-saddle, the enthusiastic citizens turned out to capture the
+"whale." Even its few partisans show a calculated _gaucherie_ in their
+compliments. "Duke of streams and viscount of rivers" is quite a
+preposterous flight. But perhaps the bitterest tribute is the gibe of a
+jealous young sportsman (a Toledan, and consequently part-proprietor of
+the Tagus) who had fainted from heat at a bull-fight, and to whom his
+neighbours were kindly proffering a pitcher of water:--"Pour it into
+the Manzanares," gasped the Spanish Sidney, "it needs it more than I."
+
+No one would have had an ill word to say of it had it clung to its
+lowlier destiny. It reaps the reward of the tuft-hunting which sent it
+to visit Madrid. A mile above the Iron Gate it is as pretty and secluded
+a little brooklet as anyone need desire;--a clean shingly bed, and
+broken banks fringed with brushwood and poplars, beneath whose shade we
+very contentedly dozed through the hot hours of siesta-time, cooling our
+toes in the water and restfully contemplating the distant summits of the
+Sierra de Guadarrama,--faint opalescent outlines above the tree-tops in
+the glen. We had ridden in that morning from Toledo; and to push on
+across the mountains the same afternoon was too heavy a task to be
+seriously contemplated. No; we would take matters easily during the
+heat, and drift on in the evening towards the foot of the pass. We
+should find lodging--of a sort--at some little village _posada_, and
+could tackle the long ascent in the cool of the early dawn.
+
+[Illustration: SEGÓVIA
+
+Church of San Miguel.]
+
+The sun was sinking as we passed las Rozas, but there was still an hour
+of daylight before us, and it seemed a pity to waste such a beautiful
+evening, so we launched out venturously on to the moors. At first
+we had fellow-voyagers;--a homeward ploughman with his yoke of oxen,--a
+shepherd with his whip--(is there any other region where shepherds use
+whips?)--and his droop-necked flock earing the ground towards their
+fold. But soon the dusk won its will, and the darkling track lay empty.
+The only survivor astir was the habitual belated _arriero_, with his
+team outspanned for the night and his waggon beached upon the margin of
+the road. The stars had already begun to flicker up in the heavens, and
+we could see that Torrelodones, the next village, must be Hobson's
+choice for ourselves.
+
+At Torrelodones, saith the proverb, are twenty-four burgesses and
+twenty-five thieves (the twenty-fifth being the curate); yet there is no
+innkeeper among so many. Bread and wine, however, were forthcoming at
+one of the cabins, and eggs at a second, which we got cooked at a third;
+and if anyone wanted to wash himself, was there not the fountain on the
+village green? Beds, however, were a different matter. A muleteer would
+have rolled himself up on the floor in his blanket; but we had no
+blankets, and did not fancy the floor. As for the reputation of the
+villagers, no doubt that was wholly unmerited; but we thought of the
+fresh air of heaven, and the scent of the clean sweet herbage was borne
+in to us upon the breeze.
+
+It was already dark when we quitted the hamlet, and the distant lights
+of Madrid were twinkling up at us from the misty plain below. But
+another beacon rose in sight as we breasted the surge of the moorland--a
+large brilliantly-lighted building, apparently right in front of us and
+only a few hundred yards away. What was it? Evidently no ordinary
+farmstead--the lights were so many and so small. But anyway it would not
+do to camp right under its windows, so the question was shelved
+unanswered. We wheeled aside from the roadway, and picked out a bedroom
+under the lee of a huge boulder which promised us shelter from the wind.
+
+Anyone who has ever tried the experiment must be perfectly well aware
+that the delights of an extemporary bivouac are better imagined than
+endured; but we had not bargained to take our discomfort in exactly the
+form that it came. The last few nights we had spent at Toledo kicking
+the last sheets off our beds in a vain endeavour to get reposefully
+cool.[43] But the boot was on the other leg up here in the lap of the
+mountains. In vain did we empty our knapsacks; we could not get the
+clothes to keep us warm. About midnight the wind veered. Our faithless
+boulder no longer gave us shelter; and as we rose to shift our berth,
+behold, there was that brilliantly lighted building still shining in
+front of us as steadily as before. What could it be, keeping this
+night-long vigil when all the rest of the world was asleep? But now the
+mist had cleared and our eyes had grown accustomed to the starlight, and
+the true solution of the riddle flashed suddenly across our minds. A
+dozen miles off at the least, on the further side of the intervening
+valley, the thousand windows of the Escorial were staring out
+unwinkingly into the night!
+
+The stars seemed to travel very slowly across the zenith as we dozed
+through the dog-watches in our chilly nest. But at last a lightening in
+the east heralded the approach of dawn; and no sooner was there enough
+light to swear by than we were again upon the road, thankful for the
+excuse to work some warmth into our shivering limbs. Our teeth fairly
+chattered as we dipped into the cold shadowy hollows; but the level rays
+of the rising sun caught us as we topped the ridges, and cheered us with
+an ample promise of a warm time to come. It was not long before our
+troubles were forgotten, and a big bowl of hot coffee at Villalba sent
+us to the pass like giants refreshed.
+
+The Puerto de Navacerrada is one thousand feet higher than that of
+Guadarrama, and the road, being less frequented, is unfortunately not so
+well kept. But for all that it can be cordially recommended to the
+traveller, for it boasts far finer scenery as a reward for the extra
+toil. To our right the shadowy dome of the Great Iron Head cut a bold
+arc of purple out of the glowing eastern sky, while to our front and
+left lay the long serrated ridge of the Seven Pikes, a prominent
+landmark to travellers across the northern plains. The hillsides were
+draped from foot to summit with the rich purple mantle of the flowering
+hard-head, variegated with vivid splashes of gold where the broom had
+ousted its hardier rival; and every here and there the slope was broken
+by groves of pine, or jutting crags of grey granite, with the cool blue
+shadows sleeping at their feet. Looking back over our left shoulders
+along the southern face of the mountains, our eyes were caught by the
+towers of the Escorial rising up nobly from the lower slopes, and
+scarcely dwarfed even by their mountain background; while, a little
+nearer, the Vigo road--a pyramid of persevering zigzags--was struggling
+up the face of the range to reach the Puerto de Guadarrama.
+
+Our own pass rejoices in the possession of a multitude of summits, and
+the sixth or seventh of these (upon which we had really pinned our
+faith) disappointed us bitterly by abdicating in favour of another,
+distant at least an hour away. This last, however, was guaranteed
+genuine by the inevitable hall-mark of a _caminero's_ hut, and was,
+moreover, on such intimate terms with the Seven Pikes that we felt there
+was no room for deception.
+
+The gradient of the northern face is distinctly steeper than the
+southern, and the road zigzags down sharply through the shadowy
+pine-woods which clothe all this portion of the range. Not a soul
+crossed our path as we threaded their silent alleys; and the only house
+is a solitary _Venta_ midway down the descent, which rejoices in the
+ominous title of Mosquito Tavern. We thought of Polonius at supper and
+did not risk a meal. Deep down in the dingle beneath us a mountain
+stream was chattering towards the plain; and as we neared the outlet of
+the valley, and felt that we had broken the back of our day's journey,
+we began to cast envious glances at the inviting waters.
+
+Our bedroom had not proved altogether a success, but our bathroom was
+worthy of Diana. The clear cold stream gushed smoothly over its pebbly
+bed, and the pines which thronged its mossy banks spread a green network
+against the blaze of the noonday sun. A skein of brilliant blue
+dragon-flies flashed to and fro across the ripples; and at the head of
+the glade a solitary peak rose clear and sharp against the sky. The
+beautiful Dorothea cooling her crystal feet in the limpid water was the
+sole thing lacking to complete the picture. And even she would have been
+an embarrassment from a practical point of view. How much they miss who
+travel through Spain by railway, and grumble (legitimately enough) at
+the difficulty of obtaining baths at their hotels! The wayfarer has
+happier fortune;--but not an Eresma every day!
+
+At the mouth of the valley stands the royal palace of La Granja, built
+by Philip IV. as a rival to Versailles. The structure is not nearly so
+fine, though the site and the fountains are finer. But who goes to Spain
+to see copies of things French? And we swung disdainfully past the
+gateway, and headed our course for the great cathedral tower that marks
+the position of Segóvia.
+
+[Illustration: SEGÓVIA
+
+Arco San Estéban.]
+
+We were drawing quite close to the city when we overtook a party of
+four,--two _carabineros_ and two civilians,--sauntering arm in arm along
+the roadway and amicably sharing cigarettes. But a hideous blight
+descended upon this innocent idyll when they drew up with us at the
+_Fielato_.[44] The _carabineros_ shouldered their rifles and gave an
+extra twirl to their mustachios,--the civilians meekly held out their
+wrists for the handcuffs,--and Law and Order with their miserable
+captives strutted inspiringly into public view. Evidently Segóvia
+demanded a certain amount of style, and we two vagabonds eyed each other
+dubiously. But the Eresma had given us a "clean slate." No one would
+have guessed from our looks that we had spent the night in the open and
+ridden across the mountains since the dawn. "Nevertheless," quoth one of
+us sententiously, "what with the bad night, and the early start, and the
+long ride, and the hot sun, and the bathe, and the pine-woods, and the
+_comida_ which we are going to eat, I expect there'll be more _siesta_
+than sight-seeing for us this afternoon."
+
+There are a certain number of towns in Europe which form a class by
+themselves--a class of professional models for the delectation of the
+artist. They do not necessarily possess the most interesting monuments,
+but they are blessed with a certain genius for assuming graceful poses,
+for wearing harmonious colours, and framing themselves into pictures
+from whatever point they are viewed. They are a very select
+company,--even Florence and Nuremburg can scarcely be included,--but
+Venice is one, and Bruges, and Rothenburg-a-Tauber; and Segóvia ranks
+with them.
+
+The principal lion of the city was lying in wait at the gates
+thereof,--the huge granite Aqueduct, one of the wonders of Spain. Its
+mighty piers go striding like colossi across the valley, and the little
+puny houses "peep about under their huge legs." By whom it was built is
+a matter of some question; possibly by Augustus,--more probably by
+Trajan[45]; so at least say the learned, who are wofully wrong-headed
+about such things. The true story is that it was erected by the Devil in
+a single night, out of his love and affection for a fair damsel of
+Segóvia, to save her the trouble of going down the hill to draw water.
+Her townswomen unto this hour are profiting by her sumptuous love-token.
+But her poor suitor was not so fortunate. His Delilah found one stone
+a-missing, and took advantage of the flaw to repudiate her contract.
+
+Beneath its broad shadow we dived in among the crazy patchwork houses of
+the _Azoquejo_, the once disreputable "Little Market" where Don
+Quixote's rascally innkeeper had been wont to "practise knight-errantry"
+in his callow days. A steep crooked street led us up under the toppling
+balconies, past the beautiful Romanesque arcades of the Church of San
+Martin, and the heavily rusticated façade of the sombre Palace of Pikes.
+Truly this was a captivating city; we made the confession immediately.
+And as yet all the grounds of our verdict were a few steps inside the
+back door.
+
+Segóvia is Queen of Castilian cities, as Toledo is the King of them. But
+Segóvia does not lend her countenance to those who approach from the
+south. She sits with her face to the northward towering over the road
+from Valladolid:--an unforgettable vision, the fairy city of our dreams.
+
+Spain seems to take a delight in concentrating her fascinations. For
+mile after mile she will trail you over a dull and spirit-quelling
+country, till all your enthusiasm is properly subdued. Then she will
+suddenly overwhelm you with a whole cargo of accumulated perfections, an
+extravagance of beauty which leaves admiration aghast. And never was
+_coup de théâtre_ more artfully developed than this great spectacle of
+Segóvia. A far-distant glimpse of a little group of turrets bristling
+upon the base of the mountains at the foot of the Seven Pikes; a tardy
+approach up the valley of the Eresma, whose trees and rocks impede all
+further view. The valley becomes a trench; and a vision of towers and
+cliffs begins to stir our anticipation; while the trench narrows down to
+a gullet, with sides so straight and smooth that they might have been
+cut by hand. Then comes a sudden turn; the rock gates swing wide open,
+and all in a moment the marvel stands revealed.
+
+Perched upon the precipitous cliffs of a long wedge-shaped promontory
+between two confluent gorges, Segóvia has been aptly likened to a ship
+stranded sidelong on the mountains with its bows slanting towards the
+plain. The sharp prow and lofty forecastle are formed by the heights of
+the _Alcázar_; a little further aft is the "bridge,"--the high ground
+round the _Plaza Mayor_, where stands the cathedral, the central feature
+of the whole. And if one is to run the comparison to death, I
+suppose the funnel would be represented by the cathedral campanile, and
+the stern galleries by the aqueduct arcades. The likeness is undeniable,
+but altogether too prim and pedantic. As well might one picture a fairy
+in a tailor-made costume.
+
+[Illustration: SEGÓVIA
+
+The Alcázar]
+
+There is something almost life-like in the sweep of the tilted strata as
+the great cliff leaps above the summit of the poplars. It seems like the
+"station of the herald Mercury";--arrested motion rather than repose;--a
+great wave petrified in the act of breaking, with spires and gables for
+the spray upon the crest. Beneath it curves the green and fertile
+valley, the "terrestrial Paradise" of the Monks of El Parral[46]; and
+the richness, brilliance and daring of the whole wonderful composition
+form a theme which is the despair both of pen and pencil alike.
+
+The _Alcázar_, which is poised upon the extremity of the precipice, was
+gutted by fire some forty years ago, and is consequently largely a
+restoration; but it harmonises so admirably with the lines of nature
+that one hardly realises that it has not grown of its own accord. It has
+always been a royal stronghold, but never played any very important part
+in the tumultuous drama of Spanish history; our friend the enemy, with
+commendable discretion, having commonly preferred to gather his laurels
+from some less inaccessible bough. It has, however, attained a minor
+celebrity through the carelessness of a nursemaid. This sounds but a
+threadbare method of achieving greatness; but the girl who accidentally
+dropped an heir-apparent out of a window of the _Alcázar_ at Segóvia
+must be allowed to have fixed the standard at the very highest
+conceivable peg.
+
+But the proudest day in its annals was that upon which Isabella the
+Catholic (newly apprised of the death of her brother King Henry) rode
+forth from its gateway to claim the homage of Castile and Leon. The
+moment was critical, for her succession was disputed; but Segóvia stood
+firmly in her favour,--a worthy birthplace for the worthiest era of
+Spain. The site seems designed for such a pageant; but it bore its own
+bane in the setting: for from the little convent of Sta Cruz, below the
+gateway of San Estéban, Torquemada was drawn to sway his nobler Queen.
+
+Torquemada was Isabella's evil genius--the demon who was to turn all her
+blessings to a curse. It is but just to him to admit that he was honest
+in his wrong-headedness; that he believed as sincerely in the
+wickedness of an unauthorised conscience as in the righteousness of
+persecution, and would have gone to the stake himself in support of his
+tenets with as much resolution as any of his victims. It is the standing
+puzzle with such men how they could fail to recognise in their own
+spirit the condemnation of their own methods. Persecution they would
+have derided if applied to them by others. Why should they credit its
+efficacy when applied to others by them? And an even saner thought they
+might have gleaned from the old essayist[47]:--"When all is done it is
+an over-valuing of one's convictions by them to cause that a man be
+burned alive."
+
+The cruelty for which we chiefly condemn them is a crime for which they
+were not wholly responsible. The age was cruel,--"the most cruel of all
+ages," wrote the grave Montaigne:--and the Inquisition did but deal with
+heresy as treason was dealt with by the State. Its secrecy was its new
+and horrible feature and the one most deeply resented at the time.
+
+For at first, even in Spain, the Inquisition was not tamely accepted;
+and some of the noblest churchmen were loudest in its rebuke.[48] It
+sinned against the light. It was a thing of devils; an atrocity only to
+be paralleled by the witch-doctors of Ashanti and Benin.
+
+These grisly reflections are the inevitable Nemesis of all romantic and
+chivalrous associations; but they seem as sadly out of place in this
+sunny Eden as the trail of the serpent in its prototype. Isabella was a
+generous patroness to the little convent, and her own mottoes and badges
+figure in its delicate carving. She needed no such piety to keep her
+memory green.
+
+[Illustration: SEGÓVIA
+
+Arco Santiago.]
+
+The Valladolid road skirts the foot of the precipice on the larboard
+side and doubles back into the city, where the slope is easiest at the
+stern. But the straight path is taken by an irresponsible little
+bye-way, which rushes the steep ascent along the feet of the beetling
+ramparts, and succeeds in winning a footing inside the Santiago gate.
+Here the elegant horse-shoe arches look as if they might have been
+borrowed from the Alhambra; and as we issued from under their shadow we
+were confronted by the graceful campanile of the Church of San Estéban,
+a work of the thirteenth century, and unique in Spanish
+architecture, though it may be mated in Provence. _Were_ confronted,
+alas! for I fear it now stands no longer. The tower was badly cracked
+when first we saw it, and on the occasion of my second visit was being
+taken down as dangerous. As to its ultimate destiny it is quite
+impossible to prophesy: but Spaniards are capable restorers should they
+happen to think it worth while. It may be as reverently revived as the
+work at Leon Cathedral, or (_Di meliora!_) razed with as little
+compunction as the late leaning tower at Zaragoza.
+
+The gateway of San Estéban is a little abaft the church, and, like its
+neighbour of Santiago, has distinctly a Moorish air. Not so the Arco San
+Andres, the other great gate, to the starboard. That is uncompromisingly
+Gothic, and large and massive enough to balance both the other two.
+
+Upon this side the city is bounded by the little bourn of the Clamores,
+a scantier stream than the Eresma, but equally romantic and picturesque.
+It flows in a straight-sided gully like a natural moat, the upper
+reaches becoming gradually shallower and wider till they expand into the
+broad valley which is crossed by the aqueduct arcade. Here the most
+prominent feature is the cathedral, which surges up out of the medley
+of houses, overtopping even the pinnacles of the _Alcázar_. It is the
+latest important Gothic monument ever erected upon Spanish soil, a
+sister church to the new cathedral of Salamanca, and, like it, of
+imposing and elegant proportions, though its details are less
+elaborately ornate.
+
+We are far from exhausting the subject, but it is vain to continue the
+catalogue. The true fascination of the town must be felt and not
+described. I am afraid that even the Segóvians are not fully
+appreciative; for our host considered that we were wasting our time
+there, and wished to pack us off to la Granja to see the fountains play.
+"It was a shame," he said, "to spend every day in Segóvia."
+Segóvia!--where every street corner is worth a wilderness of fountains!
+
+[Illustration: SEGÓVIA
+
+Church of San Estéban.]
+
+When Gil Blas was imprisoned in the "tower of Segóvia," his kind-hearted
+gaoler assured him that he would find the view from his window very
+fine--when he cared to look. This casual remark gains significance from
+the fact that it is about the only allusion to scenery in all that
+veracious biography.[49] For any hint to the contrary the
+Cantabrian mountains might be mole-hills, and Grenada itself as
+commonplace as Valladolid. Le Sage dealt with men, not with scenery, and
+no doubt, like Dr Johnson, would have preferred Fleet Street; but
+Segóvia wrings a tiny tribute even from him.
+
+Gil Blas, it may be remembered, was not impressed by the prospect. He
+had a very bad fit of the blues, and could only observe that there were
+nettles by the stream. But doubtless he saw better ere leaving. His
+character (never much to boast of) was at least vastly improved by his
+involuntary sojourn, and perhaps it is not too fanciful to suggest that
+"the view from the window" may deserve some of the credit of the cure.
+
+"There are none of beauty's daughters with a magic like thee," sings
+Byron to one of his _houris_; and the same whole-hearted allegiance to
+Segóvia will be paid by most of those who have once come under her
+spell. Grenada, perhaps, may equal her. So does Albarracin, in
+tertio-decimo: and the situation of Cuenca is probably the grandest of
+all. But even Grenada herself will not steal her admirers from Segovia;
+and Cuenca, for all its brilliance, is a gem of fewer facets than this.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+BÚRGOS
+
+
+Last but not the least among the merits of Segóvia is to be reckoned the
+fact that it pays some attention to its roads, for these are decidedly
+the best in all the central provinces. No doubt they owe something to
+their proximity to the Sierra de Guadarrama, which supplies them with
+their granite metalling, and even vouchsafes them an occasional shower.
+Yet there is a balance of credit to be shared among the worthy
+_camineros_,--those humble "pawns" who are posted at long intervals
+along the roadway (each with his donkey and his dog), diligently
+trimming the margins and spreading the tags of herbage over the surface
+of the road. The method seems somewhat original, but at least it has the
+merit of success; for the scraps of turf serve to catch the dews at
+night-time--and moisture is the chief desideratum upon every Spanish
+road.
+
+The wide tawny plains which spread themselves northward from Segóvia are
+chequered with mighty pine-forests, the homes of solitude and shade.
+These rich green masses form a striking contrast to the bare red earth
+around them, and the pale blue of the distant mountains which show
+faintly upon the horizon beyond. For miles at a stretch the road burrows
+through these colonnades of tree-stems,--all plentifully blazed for
+resin, and festooned with the little earthenware pipkins in which it is
+collected;--and seldom indeed is either man or beast encountered to give
+a touch of life to the shadowy depths around. At one point we passed a
+venerable _padre_, faithfully conning his breviary as he trudged behind
+his mule; at another a small brown damsel lording it over a herd of
+gigantic kine. But the only other living creature was a large snake
+dusting itself in the roadway, over whom we narrowly escaped riding, for
+we were right upon him before we saw what he was.
+
+Once clear of the pine-belt, the country quickly relapses into the
+monotony typical of the Duero vale. One may partly avoid it by taking
+the road to the eastward, and making straight for Búrgos by Sepúlveda
+and Aranda de Duero across a region of wild and lofty moors. But of the
+two roads to Valladolid there is little to choose between Olmedo and
+Medina del Campo, and we may as well follow the more direct.
+
+It is easy to understand, as we cross these great limitless levels, in
+what manner the Moors were so long able to maintain their supremacy
+against the hardier races of the North. The whole district is an ideal
+battle-field for the light-armed cavalry in which their strength
+consisted; and to set a medieval man-at-arms, cased in full panoply, to
+do a hard day's fighting under that roasting sun is a conception worthy
+of Perillus himself. The battles with which History concerns itself,
+however, are of a later age. The disconsolate little walled town of
+Olmedo (once one of the keys of Castile) has given its name to two
+desperate conflicts in the interminable civil wars which ravaged the
+peninsula in the middle of the fifteenth century. Here it was that
+Alvaro de Luna[50] gained his great victory over his confederate enemies
+in the reign of John II. Here, too, in the following reign, was fought a
+bloody fratricidal action between Henrique IV. and Alfonso, the brothers
+of Isabella the Catholic.
+
+On the eve of this latter battle, Archbishop Carillo of Toledo[51] (as
+usual "agin the government") sent a courteous message to his special
+enemy, the king's favourite, apprising him that forty knights had bound
+themselves by an oath to fight neither with small nor great, but only
+with him, the following day. Don Beltran de la Cueva, however, though he
+might not deserve his honours, at least knew how to wear them gallantly.
+He countered by remitting a full description of his horse and armour, so
+that the forty knights might make no mistake;--rode into battle as
+advertised;--and escaped unscathed. His spirit deserved no
+less:--perhaps even Carillo thought so. But one would like to know what
+became of the forty knights.
+
+Olmedo figures also in fiction, but not in so martial a vein. Hither, in
+fear of his life along the road from Valladolid, fled our old friend Gil
+Bias--ex-assistant to Dr Sangrado--with more murders on his conscience
+than even that seasoned article felt quite easy under, and the avenger
+of blood at his heels in the shape of an enraged Biscayan. We followed
+the track of his agitated _Hegira_, but, of course, in the reverse
+direction, dropping gradually down to the level of the Duero by a bare
+and undulating road. The broad river-basin looks comparatively green and
+well-wooded when viewed from the heights above Simancas; yet as one
+crosses it, it is arid enough; and the steep, flat-topped hills which
+bound it seem absolutely Saharan, whether looked at from above or below.
+The Duero itself at this point flows in a trench between crumbling
+yellow banks; and the village near it, where Gil Blas struck up
+acquaintance with the barber and the strolling actor, lingers in our
+memory as the scene of our most decisive victory over our enemies the
+dogs. Our pockets were fairly bulging with ammunition as we descended
+into the _mêlée_, and whatever we missed on the volley seemed fated to
+catch the _ricochet_. Our last missile was expended absolutely at random
+on the sound of a dog behind us. But to judge from the yell which
+followed it, it was none the less effective for that.
+
+Valladolid has the general unfinished air befitting a town that has made
+several unsuccessful attempts to establish itself as a Capital; and its
+failure to support that dignity is perhaps less surprising than the fact
+that it should have been cast for the _rôle_. It stands upon no
+important river, on no commanding hill. There is hardly a village in the
+plain around it but might equally well have drawn a prize in the lottery
+which decreed its eminence.
+
+[Illustration: BÚRGOS
+
+Arco San Martin.]
+
+In strategical position it is inferior to Búrgos--to Toledo in
+historical prestige.
+
+Its memories, too (even apart from Dr Sangrado), are none of the most
+cheerful; for it was one of the chief seats of the dreaded Inquisition,
+and no city save Seville can boast a blacker fame. The wretched Jews and
+Moors fill up the roll of the _Quemadero_,[52] but there were many
+scholars and nobles among the victims of the _Plaza Mayor_ at
+Valladolid. Here died the noble San Roman, the first of the Spanish
+reformers. His ashes were collected by the very soldiers that guarded
+his pyre and were brought to London by the English Ambassador,--a
+foretaste of evil to come. Here it was that Don Carlos de Seso, his
+limbs mangled by torture and disfigured by the ghastly _San Benito_,
+paused as he passed the royal daïs, and sternly demanded of Philip, "as
+one gentleman of another," how he could have the heart to tolerate such
+atrocities in his domain. "I would slay mine own son were he as thou
+art," was the bigot's answer. And so, to do him justice, he would;--on
+even less provocation;--as a certain grave in the Escorial can testify
+unto this day. But surely even Philip's conscience can not have been
+appeased by such a rejoinder. The memory of that awful indictment must
+have haunted him years afterwards in the long terrible days when he was
+himself meeting a yet more hideous death with equally resolute
+fortitude.
+
+There was one at least of the judges who sickened at his share in that
+day's butchery: for when, many years afterwards, Carranza, Archbishop of
+Toledo, himself fell under the suspicion of the Holy Office, the remorse
+which he felt for de Seso was imputed to him for a crime. And the spirit
+which such a man could inspire in his fellows may be judged from young
+Julian Sanchez, who suffered the same day. The flames burnt the cords
+which bound him, and in his agony he wrenched himself free. The friars
+sprang forward to hear his recantation. But Julian's eye fell upon the
+heroic figure of his leader, still steadfast amid his sufferings, and
+with the cry, "Let me die like de Seso!" he flung himself back into the
+flames.
+
+Nowhere in Europe had Protestantism nobler martyrs than the Spaniards:
+and numbers of them were men of eminence; for their very judges lamented
+that the learned men whom they had sent to confute foreign heretics were
+returning to preach the faith which they were commissioned to destroy.
+But against such persecutors their cause was hopeless. Philip and Valdez
+were men with hands of iron.
+
+Valladolid has many fine monuments, but they are scattered and lost
+among newer and less interesting surroundings. Even the old arcaded
+_plaza_ is becoming deplorably modernised; and the old-world charm of
+Toledo and Segóvia may here be sought in vain. The Pisuerga river (upon
+which the city stands) forms the eastern boundary of the _Tierra de
+Campos_, as the Esla forms the western.[53] And the scenery of the two
+valleys is so nearly identical that a traveller dropped unexpectedly in
+either might be puzzled to say which. There are the same wide basin, the
+same crumbling yellow cliffs, the same troglodyte villages, the same
+Nilotic-looking stream. The only speciality of the Pisuerga is the
+extreme dustiness of the roads.
+
+Dueñas is one of the most typical little towns of the district. Perched
+in full sunshine on one of the bare hills that flank the valley, it
+looks as thoroughly baked as a pie-crust, in spite of the poplared
+meadows at its feet. Here Ferdinand and Isabella first started their
+housekeeping, on a very modest scale indeed, with scarcely enough
+capital to guarantee to-morrow's dinner. "Saving a crown, he had nothing
+else beside," sings the Scottish lassie of her suitor in the old ballad.
+But the royal lovers' crowns were still in abeyance; and the then wearer
+of the Castilian diadem had very different matrimonial plans for his
+high-spirited sister. Wherefore he, whom History remembers as the
+austere and politic Ferdinand, stole secretly across the hostile
+frontier, disguised as groom to his own attendants, at the imminent risk
+of a broken head; and the knot was safely tied in the cathedral at
+Valladolid, with the connivance of a few of Isabella's staunchest
+partisans.
+
+[Illustration: DUEÑAS]
+
+The little cathedral town of Paléncia lies a little off the direct road;
+but it is most conveniently situated as a half-way house to Búrgos. The
+cathedral is a singularly fine one, though rather ramshackle externally;
+and, like a true Spanish cathedral, it is crammed with works of art. The
+streets are all quaintly colonnaded; but we were somewhat taken aback
+when we were shown the entrance to the _Fonda_, a miserable rat-hole in
+a blank and dirty wall. We had expected something better of
+Paléncia:--yet nothing quite so good as the delicious shady _patio_
+which we found at the end of the passage; for the hotel is really
+an excellent one, and its true entrance is from a street at the back. On
+the whole, we have nothing but commendation for Paléncia. Only we wish
+that the little sisterhood, "_Siervas de Maria, ministras para los
+enfermos_,"[54] would mind--not their p's and q's, but their m's and
+n's. A little ambiguity in the final syllable is so extremely
+compromising!
+
+We quitted Paléncia early on midsummer morning, and soon regained the
+Búrgos road. The villages that lay before us were vomiting such volumes
+of smoke that we concluded Torquemada must be justifying its title by
+the celebration of an _Auto-da-fé_. But it proved to be only lime-kilns;
+and Torquemada is pretty enough to deserve a gentler name. Here the
+Pisuerga is crossed by a long crooked old bridge; and in the fields near
+by occurred the incident which forms the subject of Pradilla's famous
+picture, when poor mad Juana, escorting her husband's body from Búrgos
+to Grenada, elected to spend the night in the open sooner than shelter
+the faithless corpse in a convent of nuns. An incident worthy of Lear!
+
+Now we deserted the Pisuerga to follow the Arlanzon, a greener and
+narrower valley, though still somewhat dreary at times. The poppies were
+blazing in the brilliant sunshine with a splendour that dazzled the eye.
+They grow best where blood has been spilled, if we are to credit old
+folklore; and the Arlanzon valley may well bear out the assertion, for
+every stage in the journey--Torquemada, Quintana del Puente, Venta del
+Pozo--was the scene of some fierce skirmish during Wellington's retreat
+from Búrgos in 1812. His army suffered terribly hereabouts; for the
+roads were wellnigh impassable in that rainy autumn, and the sulky
+troops broke out of all control. At one time there were twelve thousand
+of them all drunk together in the wine-vaults at Torquemada! The result
+was almost disaster. But fortunately the stock of wine was a large one,
+and they left enough for the French. It may be urged in extenuation that
+the country vintages are more heady than one would think, especially for
+exhausted and starving men.
+
+[Illustration: BÚRGOS
+
+Hospital del Rey.]
+
+Our own difficulties arose not from rain but from sunshine, and the last
+few miles over the hilly ground were distinctly exhausting. But at these
+high levels even the sultriest sun is tempered by a crisp and bracing
+air. The traveller who starts early can generally ride out the
+morning, and the leafy avenues of Búrgos were our haven at mid-day.
+
+Búrgos shows itself off at best advantage when seen from the eastern
+side, but the approach from the west is not unworthy of the Capital of
+Old Castile. First we pass the beautiful _Plateresque_[55] gateway of
+the Hospital del Rey. Then the towers of Las Huelgas, the most famous
+Nunnery in Spain. The convent was founded by Alfonso VIII.,--a trespass
+offering after his great defeat by the _Miramamolin_[56] at Alarcon. And
+his atonement was accepted; for twenty years later he was able to hang
+up over the High Altar the sacred banner captured at Las Navas de
+Tolosa, the great victory which extinguished for ever the long
+domination of the Moor.
+
+Under its folds the young Prince Edward of England knelt watching his
+arms on the eve of his knighthood in 1254. Here he was married--a boy
+bridegroom--to his girl-bride, the Princess Leonora of Castile; and
+hence he carried her away with him to his home in his northern island,
+where as the "dear Queen" of the Eleanor Crosses her name is held in
+honour to this day.
+
+"Laws go as Kings wish," says the Spanish proverb; otherwise it is
+difficult to imagine how the nuns could have ever permitted such a
+shocking thing as a wedding in their own Conventual Church. When we
+peeped into it, the very effigies of the kings on the royal tombs were
+jealously shrouded--for propriety's sake! Formerly ten thousand dollars
+dowry and sixteen quarterings were indispensable to the lady who wished
+to renounce the vanities of the world in this exclusive cloister! But
+now the sisterhood is sadly reduced, and takes in "paying guests,"--to
+wit, another sisterhood, with whom they live (it is said) in peace and
+amity. I mention this because an old French curé, who visited the
+convent with us, seemed to regard it as the most astounding miracle that
+Búrgos had to boast.
+
+[Illustration: BÚRGOS
+
+Arco Sta Maria.]
+
+The main entrance to the city is formed by the magnificent Arco de Sta
+Maria at the head of the bridge over the Arlanzon. It was erected to
+propitiate Charles V. after the revolt of the _Communeros_; and that
+monarch's effigy consequently occupies the most conspicuous niche. He is
+surrounded by all the local heroes of Búrgos;--Diego de Porcelos,
+_Fundator noster_, whose German son-in-law erected the _Burg_,--Lain
+Calvo, chief of the early "Judges,"--and Fernan Gonzalez, the great
+count who founded the kingdom of Castile. But of course the greatest of
+all the city demi-gods is their "Champion Chief," my Cid Ruy Diaz of
+Bivar. Doubtless he would have been their patron saint if the Pope could
+have been induced to canonize him;--a queer type of saint perhaps;--but
+there are queer types in the Calendar.
+
+"My Cid" flourished about the time of our Norman Conquest, and from his
+youth upward was recognised as the doughtiest warrior in Spain. He was
+the sword-arm (according to legend) of three successive Castilian
+sovereigns; and his services culminated in the conquest of Toledo, where
+(again according to legend) he was commander-in-chief. Afterwards he
+fell into disgrace;--chiefly owing to his invincible ignorance of the
+dogma that you ought to stop killing Moors as soon as your king has made
+peace with them; and Alfonso VI. arranged the difficulty by banishing
+him from Castile,--to kill more Moors. "My Cid" now obtained letters of
+marque (or their equivalent) from the Moorish King of Zaragoza, and
+proceeded to carve out a kingdom for himself by the conquest of
+Valéncia. This enterprise required money, and "My Cid" raised it from
+the Jews, leaving in pawn a sealed chest full of gravel, which purported
+to contain his family gems. Apparently he was indignant with the Hebrews
+because they would not accept his bare word; and it never occurred to
+either party that they were, in fact, accepting his bare word in the
+matter of the sealed chest. As a commercial transaction it seems a
+little bewildering; but it all came right in the end; and "My Cid"
+loyally redeemed his chest of gravel at full face value when Valéncia
+was subdued.
+
+At Valéncia he reigned in great glory, reconciled to the king and
+victorious against all assaults of the Moors. There he made an edifying
+end, serenely indifferent to the gathering of the mighty host which his
+foes were assembling for their final effort. Thence he sallied for the
+last time at the head of his comrades,--a ghastly figure, stiff in
+death, but clad in full armour, and mounted on Bavieca, as he was wont
+to ride of yore; and all the Moors that beleaguered him fled at the
+sight of him, so that the spoil that he took at his death was more than
+he had ever taken in his life. Ximena, his widow, bore back his body to
+Búrgos, as he had bidden her; and his bones are exhibited to
+inquisitive strangers in the Town Hall at a _peseta_ a head! How could
+the Burgalese have the heart to ravish them from his own monastery of
+San Pedro de Cardena, where he slept with Ximena and Bavieca, like the
+tough old Berseker that he was?
+
+Of all the cities of Northern Spain, Búrgos is probably the best known
+to the average tourist; but though the English language (for which one
+acquires a very keen ear after a month's abstinence) may be occasionally
+heard in the environs of the cathedral, yet the quaint old _calles_ and
+palaces are still much less visited than they deserve. Many of the
+latter are particularly fine examples of their class, especially the
+stern old _Casa del Cordon_, which takes its name from the great cord of
+St Francis, sculptured over the portal,--a common embellishment in the
+palaces of that date; and the more graceful _Casa Miranda_, built (as we
+may surmise) by some relative of the "prudent" Don Diego, Don Quixote's
+hospitable host. This last is a lovely old building of Italian delicacy
+of ornament, but, now, alas! sadly mutilated and partitioned off into
+squalid tenements, not entirely innocent of fleas.
+
+"It is never hot at Búrgos," we had been told by a friendly mentor: and
+I can testify that it is often cold there, for the place stands high,
+and the mountains of la Demanda rear their snowy crests at no great
+distance away. Yet the local saying, "Nine months of Winter, and three
+of H--l"[57] is distinctly a more impartial summary, and this month was
+apparently one of the three. The narrow streets blazed white and
+scintillating under the flood of sunshine. The wayfarer edged his way
+gingerly along the shady margin, and picked out the narrowest point
+before he would venture to cross. Then, after a timid pause, he would
+draw a deep breath and make a bolt for it. The sun caught him in transit
+like the blast from the mouth of a furnace; and he scuttled gasping into
+shelter, and cooled off on the further side. The Spanish shade
+temperature may perhaps be matched on a hot day in England, but it needs
+the _Piazza_ at Venice to rival the fury of the sun.
+
+[Illustration: BÚRGOS
+
+Patio of the Casa de Miranda.]
+
+There are, indeed, some few Salamanders who do not appear to mind it. A
+party of tonsured Franciscans were unconcernedly challenging it to do
+its worst. But most of the saner inhabitants wisely keep indoors till
+the evening; and whoso wishes to see Búrgos Society taking its airing,
+let him seat himself after dusk in front of the Café Suizo upon the
+Espolon. Then all the beauty and fashion turn out to promenade upon a
+regulation hundred yards of pavement, under the eyes of their fathers
+and brothers, who sit sipping their coffee and _anis_ beneath the trees.
+A very handsome company they are; but, alas! their hats and frocks are
+mostly Parisian creations. That most graceful of all head-dresses, the
+_mantilla_, is reserved for state occasions, such as High Masses and
+Bull-fights. "Nothing is sacred to a sapper,"--nor to a milliner, unless
+it is new.
+
+There is a cathedral at Búrgos; and we feel ourselves justified in
+mentioning it, because we heard it frankly admitted that it was "a vurry
+fine church _for such a small town_." Our Amurrican Ruskin seemed to
+think it hardly class enough for Chicago; but in contests of this
+description the battle is not to the millionaire. The builder of the
+Escorial, for all his great possessions, knew that it was not for his
+craftsmen to rival the Cartuja tombs.[58]
+
+Indeed, there is something overwhelming about the magnificence of
+Búrgos. It is rather German in character, as Leon is rather French. Yet
+though Juan de Colónia was a Rhinelander and Archbishop Maurice an
+Englishman, there is too much pure Spanish at Búrgos to assign all the
+credit to them. The building ranks as one of the wonders of Europe:--a
+cathedral perhaps as large as Canterbury, but finished throughout with
+the delicate extravagance of the _bijou_ chapel of Roslin;--which, of
+course, is really Spanish also, if Scotchmen will excuse my saying so.
+
+And, moreover, the splendour of the furniture is fully in keeping with
+the fabric: particularly the gorgeous metal _rejas_,--for what other
+craftsmen in Europe could vie with the Spanish smiths? Riches which
+might deck out a whole church among us lovers of bare walls are here
+found packed within the compass of a single chapel; and little gems of
+carving and inlay are thrust aside like lumber into corners where they
+can be scarcely seen. The whole is a dream of magnificence unsurpassable
+even in Italy: yet it is the gorgeous gloom of Toledo which still
+springs first to the memory when we contrast our own chaste chilly
+churches with the opulence of the shrines of Spain.
+
+The cathedral stands upon steeply sloping ground well above the level of
+the Arlanzon. A long broad flight of steps leads up from the street to
+the south transeptal entrance; and from the pavement of the northern
+transept the noble staircase of Diego de Silöe climbs up to another
+street level upon the further side. Beyond it and above are piled the
+quaint red-roofed houses, clambering tier upon tier up the flanks of the
+escarpment; yet for all their aspirations the bare steep mound draws
+clear of them, and "Dubreton's thundering citadel" frowns alone upon the
+crest.
+
+This castle has rather an unsatisfactory interest for Englishmen, for it
+was the obstacle which checked the advance of Wellington in his great
+campaign of 1812. It stands at the tip of a long tongue of high ground
+which runs up to the river almost at right angles; and this extreme end
+is separated from the rest of the ridge by a deep depression, so that it
+forms a sort of semi-detached hillock, shaped like a gigantic mole-hill
+some three hundred and fifty feet high. The castle is included within
+the circuit of the city walls; and the cathedral is so close beneath it
+that it is wonderful that it escaped destruction during the bombardment.
+Yet even the stained glass which once adorned the clerestory was only
+destroyed by the explosion which occurred the following year. The castle
+was once the royal residence of Castile: but nothing now remains of it
+except a few lines of grass-grown earthworks, which are utilised as
+rope-walks by the peaceful Burgalese. The modern fortress is on the hill
+of San Miguel, on the other side of the depression.
+
+In Wellington's day San Miguel was merely an outwork. Its capture was a
+preliminary operation, and it was stormed early in the siege. With
+modern artillery such a _coup_ would have been decisive. The citadel
+itself would have been blown over the pinnacles of the cathedral without
+more ado. But in those times the old line-of-battle ships fought their
+thirty-two pounders muzzle to muzzle, and "three or four feet between
+the mouths of your pistols" was considered "as good as a mile."
+
+Wellington was, moreover, miserably provided with artillery, and the
+guns of the castle were far superior to his own. His troops were
+endeavouring to "tear down the ramparts with their naked hands"; and the
+conspicuous pillar which overlooks three counties from the lonely
+heights of Malvern, records the fate of the young heir of Eastnor who
+was killed while directing the approaches. A month's siege and five
+desperate assaults left the castle still unwon when the French
+armies had gathered to relieve it: and the besiegers with muffled wheels
+stole away over the bridges in the night-time. The campaign which began
+so gloriously at Salamanca[59] had ended in another retreat.
+
+[Illustration: BÚRGOS
+
+From the East.]
+
+Yet the labour and carnage were not wasted. Joseph had neither time nor
+money to spend upon repairing the battered fortress, and next year the
+tide of war rolled back like the surge of the sea. Wellington, riding at
+the head of his troops across the hills from the westward, was saluted
+by the thunder of a terrific explosion which darkened the heavens above
+him and shook the ground beneath his feet. Then first, with stern
+elation, he recognised the presage of Vitória. His foes had despaired of
+resisting him. The castle of Búrgos was no more.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+ACROSS NAVARRE
+
+
+It must give some flavour of unreality to our impressions of the
+Peninsula that we should not allude to the beggars until the ultimate
+chapter of all. And our only excuse for our negligence will sound like
+an aggravation of the error; for we hold that the Spanish beggar has
+been much over-advertised and does not (on his merits) deserve any more
+prominent place. The number of beggars in Spain varies directly in
+proportion to the number of tourists. They are most persistent at
+Búrgos; there is a moderate superfluity at Segóvia and Toledo: but in
+the out-of-the-way districts there is only the fundamental residue, and
+that (to speak frankly) we should be rather loth to spare.
+
+"His honour the beggar, your brother"--the authorised official
+beggar--is a gentleman. He is frequently distinguished by a badge, like
+old Edie Ochiltree; and his resemblance to that worthy philosopher does
+not terminate with the badge. He is seldom unduly importunate. He begs
+"in God's name"; and when "in God's name" you implore him to excuse you,
+he seems to resignedly argue that such an adjuration would never be
+refused on insufficient grounds. His station is in the church porches;
+but he sometimes goes stumping the _calles_, and breathing a
+supplicating "_Ave Maria_" into every open door--an invocation which
+generally brings a very peppery blessing rattling down the staircase
+from the busy housewife overhead. And in fine, his entire demeanour is
+so eminently high-bred and dignified that it seems a privilege to oblige
+him. You feel as if you were conferring an obol on Belisarius, and are
+consequently on the best of terms with yourself for all the rest of the
+day.
+
+This "Lord High Vagabond of the Stocks" is, however, not quite pushing
+enough for the era. In be-touristed cities he is swamped by an army of
+interlopers. These are perhaps most frequently children; but the tribe
+is bewrayed by their cry,--"_Perrita por pan![60]--Señor-e-e-to! una
+perr-e-e-ta!_" a capital phrase for a beggar's whine! A small initiate
+was squatting beside me all the time I was sketching the Casa Miranda.
+She was engaged in coaching the baby--these were to be his first words.
+The baby being unresponsive, she maintained the refrain herself, at
+intervals of five minutes, in an uninterested semi-detached tone. If she
+got the _perrita_, that would be so much profit; but she would not be
+depressed if she didn't--she was not so keen about the _pan_. The
+benevolent stranger is misled by their bare feet and rags and
+persistency, and imagines that they are all on the brink of starvation;
+but if he wants to see real poverty let him penetrate to the remoter
+villages--and he will find no beggars there. There more than once I have
+been humbled to the dust at having my "tip" politely spurned by the
+dignified ragamuffins who have rendered me some trifling service. And
+lest I should ruin their self-respect with coppers, I have been forced
+to undermine their constitutions with cigarettes.
+
+The last beggars whom we encountered at Búrgos, however, were "right"
+beggars. They were clustering round the entrance of the great monastery
+of La Cartuja[61] de Miraflores, awaiting their daily dole. Everybody
+visits La Cartuja to see the marvellous tombs which Isabella erected for
+her father and brother--the masterpieces of _el mæstre_ Gil; yet not the
+least attractive feature are the white-robed Carthusian brethren
+themselves, and the ragged mendicants "coming for their soup" according
+to the immemorial usage of old.
+
+The convent stands about two miles from Búrgos, on a slight eminence to
+the right of the Pancorvo road, and was the last of the great monuments
+of the city that we passed on our departure towards the east. The road
+had been rising almost imperceptibly all the way from Valladolid.
+Gradually the fields had got greener and the trees more plentiful as we
+left the dun plains behind; and now a fine row of big shady elms
+introduced a welcome variety to the everlasting poplars and half-grown
+acacias which had been our only solace for many a sultry mile. The
+country, moreover, now begins to assume a more mountainous character.
+Away to the right rises the desolate Sierra de la Demanda, the northern
+outpost of the rugged ranges round Sória,--perhaps one of the wildest
+districts in all western Europe at the present day. The wolf and the
+boar still roam at will through its untrodden valleys, though I believe
+the bear now only survives in the Western Cantabrians and the Pyrenees.
+Here the venerable monastery of Silos lay securely hidden even from the
+sacrilegious Moors; and here in later years the dreaded _partidas_ of
+Mina the _guerillero_ were able to defy the utmost efforts of the
+French.
+
+Our road passes only over the merest outskirts of these mountains, and
+leads us on through Briviesca by a long, gradual, and monotonous
+descent. Yet the gates of Castile are still before us, and we do not
+quit that most Spanish of provinces without seeing it once more in its
+sternest and wildest mood. North of the road lies the long level-topped
+ridge of the Montes Obarenes, a range not dissimilar to our own Mendips,
+and, like them, cleft with an unsuspected pass. For some distance we
+skirt the base of the hills; and then with a sharp turn to the left we
+dive suddenly into the grim defile of Pancorvo, a Deva gorge in
+miniature, where road, river, and railway jostle each other through a
+maze of fantastic limestone crags.
+
+[Illustration: THE GORGE OF PANCORVO]
+
+These mountain ramparts, pierced with their deep natural posterns, are a
+most characteristic feature of the Castilian frontiers; and probably
+that "Land of Castles" owes its name as much to them as to its
+man-built donjons and citadels. Indeed, it requires no very vivid
+imagination to discover the outlines of towers and battlements among the
+sheer bare weather-beaten stones. One magnificent imitation overshadowed
+our road in the _Serranía_ of Cuenca, with keep and watch-tower and
+ballium as complete as a _Château Gaillard_. Another more ambiguous
+specimen we caught sight of in this very district;--one of those
+isolated conical hills crowned with a square rocky tooth, which are not
+uncommon in the neighbourhood of Pamplona. First it seemed that it was a
+rock,--then that it was a castle; and the balance of probability
+appeared to change every half mile. The road led straight up to our
+landmark and circled around the base, so that we saw it fairly close,
+and from three different sides; but whether it was really a rock or a
+castle we are not quite positive even to this day. There can be little
+doubt that it is to some of these _Fate Morgane_ that we owe the old
+proverb concerning castles in Spain.
+
+The northern face of the Montes Obarenes is much more broken than the
+southern; and as we run down from the pass into the pretty little town
+of Miranda, we may see, far away on our right, that other great notch
+to the eastward where the Ebro forces its passage out into the Rioja
+plains. The Ebro is but young up here in the Vizcayan highlands; yet it
+is already a fine broad river; and the massive old stone bridge of
+Miranda, flanked by quaint houses and churches, makes a singularly
+attractive sample of Spanish scenery to the tourist newly arrived from
+Bayonne.
+
+The river breaks through the mountains some ten miles lower, by a gap
+between two rocky headlands, known as the cliffs of Bilibio and Buradon;
+and beyond are the tawny undulating plains around Haro,--a famous
+wine-growing district, whose vintages usually reach the English market
+under the name of Bordeaux, though they taste just as good under their
+own. The view (given in the illustrations as La Rioja Alavesa) is one
+which is very typical of Spanish inland scenery. But a special local
+touch is given by the Navarrese villages bunched together at the tops of
+their conical hills, like so many hedgehogs with their bristles out.
+Navarre was a buffer state in medieval times, and anyone who had nothing
+else to do used to kill time by invading it. The Navarrese villages were
+always upon the defensive, and evidently acquired the habit of
+arranging themselves to suit.
+
+[Illustration: LA RIOJA ALAVESA
+
+Looking Northwards across the Ebro.]
+
+Meanwhile our road to Pamplona keeps still to the northward of the
+mountains, and, crossing the Ebro at Miranda, makes straight for the
+heights of Puebla and Morillas, which answer to the Montes Obarenes on
+the opposite side of the vale. The little river Zadora comes rippling
+out to meet us; and the gap from which it issues admits us into a wide
+level basin some ten miles in diameter, to which the Zadora itself forms
+a somewhat irregular chord. The ground on the left bank of the river
+rises considerably higher than on the right, and culminates in a little
+shaggy knoll which stands close beside our road. Watch for it, and do
+not pass it unnoticed; it is the "Englishmen's Hill." Well has it earned
+that name, for it has been twice baptized in the blood of our nation.
+Once when a detachment of the Black Prince's army, under the command of
+Sir Thomas Felton, fell fighting valiantly against thirty times their
+number on the eve of the battle of Navarrete.[62] Again when Picton's
+"fighting devils" came like a storm against it in the crisis of the
+battle of Vitória, cutting their path through the centre of King
+Joseph's tottering array.
+
+Salamanca was Wellington's most brilliant victory, but Vitória was
+unquestionably the ablest of his campaigns. This invasion was not like
+those that had gone before it--no mere sally from his impregnable
+mountain lines. At last he could wield an undivided command and an army
+as numerous as his opponents; and as he crossed the little frontier
+river Agueda, he had looked back to Portugal with a confident "adieu."
+Hill to the right and Graham to the left had already been slipped on
+their quarry; and against such a sweeping combination neither Tormes,
+Duero, nor Carrion could provide any adequate defence. Madrid was
+abandoned before him,--Búrgos was dismantled. And the retreating French
+convoys, with all their baggage, plunder, and munitions, were jammed in
+the city of Vitória at the head of the road to Bayonne.
+
+Joseph sought to bar the advance at Pancorvo, and thought the defile was
+impregnable. He looked for assault from the southward, but the storm
+broke upon him from behind. Wellington had shifted his base by sea from
+Lisbon to Santander; and sweeping Reille and Maucune before him, came
+pouring down the Ebro from the north. The stroke was a _coup de Jarnac_,
+as fatal as it was unexpected. The heights of Obarenes and Morillas were
+no longer barring the way; and Joseph hastily fell back to the hills
+behind the Zadora, the only remaining position which he could possibly
+hope to defend.
+
+As it was in the days of Las Navas de Tolosa, so was it also in this
+"crowning mercy" of the Peninsular War. It was a peasant who led Kempt's
+brigade over the unguarded bridge at Tres Pontes, and fell, like his
+prototype of the Morena, at the moment of the victorious attack.
+Clinging in desperation to each successive thicket and farmstead, the
+French were pushed remorselessly backward into the chaos of transport
+behind. And even more fatal than the frontal onset was the blow struck
+far to the left on the very confines of the plain. There Graham stormed
+the village of Gamarra Mayor, and shut off the flying army from the use
+of the great royal road. Nothing that ran upon wheels could go along the
+branch road to Pamplona. Guns, ammunition, treasure, baggage, and
+plunder all fell entire into the hands of the victors; and probably at
+the moment Joseph was very well contented that the prize was
+sufficiently valuable to effectually hamper the pursuit.
+
+The battle was the ruin of Napoleon, as well as of his cause in the
+Peninsula. The struggle had sapped his strength for years, and the
+catastrophe came at the very crisis of his fate.[63] Among all his
+enterprises there had been none more thoroughly inexcusable;--wantonly
+conceived, treacherously undertaken, ruthlessly carried out. As great a
+blunder in statecraft as it was an outrage on humanity. "The Spanish
+canker destroyed him"; and so in bare justice it should.
+
+Our route follows the track of the flying army along a deep green
+Navarrese valley between lofty and cliff-like hills. By its side runs
+the single line which connects Madrid with the frontier; but this turns
+off to the north about halfway to Pamplona, making for San Sebástien and
+Irun.
+
+[Illustration: MIRANDA DEL EBRO
+
+A Corner in the Town.]
+
+The villages are much devoted to _Pelota_[64]; and few are too poor to
+possess some species of primitive court. Those in the larger towns are
+most imposing erections; but any bare wall will do, and some of the
+churches have hoisted pathetic petitions that the parishioners will not
+practise against the walls _during the hours of divine service_.
+The houses themselves seem almost built with a view to the pastime, for
+they are solid square stone buildings, shouldering close up against the
+roadway; and their blank expanses of ashlar are persistently
+commandeered by the boys.
+
+_Pelota_ is exclusively a Basque game. In Castile and Leon the men are
+content with skittles, and the boys are generally engrossed in the
+enacting of miniature bull-fights--a game in which the star performer
+invariably elects to play bull. Dancing is, of course, an amusement
+which is common to all provinces and to both sexes: but a game in the
+English significance is an institution which seldom appeals to the
+southern mind.
+
+In this district, however, the cyclist provides a good deal of salutary
+exercise for the conscientious toll-keeper. For the Basque roads are not
+national but provincial, and the provinces maintain them by taking
+tolls. The stranger, however, is not generally aware of this custom; and
+as the toll-bars are quite unobtrusive, he rides innocently past them on
+his way. His first intimation takes the shape of a breathless and
+howling _caminero_ sprinting desperately along the road behind him, and
+smarting under the conviction that he is being wilfully bilked.
+
+Some little distance before we reach Pamplona we pass one of the most
+remarkable examples of rock formation that is to be met with even in
+Spanish hills. Here the deep glen of Larraun debouches upon the main
+valley, and across its mouth is drawn a huge natural wall of precipitous
+limestone which can hardly be less than a thousand feet high. The top is
+serrated, but both faces are equally sheer; and the thickness at the
+base is not relatively greater than one would expect in an artificial
+masonry dam. Probably, indeed, it was a natural dam originally,
+retaining a vast reservoir in the vale behind; but now it is cleft in
+the centre from top to base with a huge gash, clean-cut and narrow; and
+through this stupendous portal the little river issues from the vale.
+
+[Illustration: PAMPLONA
+
+From the Road to the Frontier.]
+
+Pamplona stands in the centre of an amphitheatre of mountains, rising
+out of the level arena on a sort of daïs covered with walls and spires.
+It is the chief of the northern frontier fortresses; but its bastions
+date mostly from the days of Vauban, and its strength (from a modern
+military standpoint) must depend on the forts which cap the neighbouring
+hills. The cathedral is an interesting building, and possesses a
+most lovely cloister; but the town generally is not very attractive to
+the artist, though it forms a good "jumping-off place" for exploring the
+country around.
+
+The bare, windy wastes that stretch away from the city towards the
+Pyrenean foot-hills are not altogether so tenantless as they seem to a
+casual view. Several of the villages still bear traces of ancient
+prosperity;--Estella, charmingly situated in a rocky hollow; Sangüesa,
+with its noble monastery; Olite, once the Windsor of Navarre. The
+last-named might almost rank as a working model for an antiquarian. Its
+lanes are packed with the decaying mansions of the long-departed
+courtiers, and dominated by the huge ruined castle which was the home of
+the warrior kings. This palatial stronghold is noted as one of the
+finest examples in the Peninsula: a match for our own Bamburgh or
+Warkworth, and consequently with few rivals in the world.
+
+As the capital of Navarre, Pamplona has, of course, been pre-eminent for
+its sieges; and it was in one of these that Ignatius Loyola received the
+wound which converted him from a dandy into an ascetic, and led to the
+foundation of the Order of Jesuits. But the siege which possesses the
+greatest interest for an Englishman is that undertaken by the Duke of
+Wellington after Vitória; the enterprise which led to that series of
+desperate struggles usually lumped together vaguely as "the Battles of
+the Pyrenees."
+
+The sieges of San Sebástien and Pamplona had been undertaken
+simultaneously; but neither made very rapid progress, and Soult was not
+the man to let them fall without an attempt to come to their aid. He had
+re-formed the wrecks of Joseph's army on the French side of the
+frontier; and advancing towards the passes of Maya and Roncesvalles, he
+assailed them both suddenly the same day. The detachments which guarded
+them were overpowered after a most resolute resistance, and Soult pushed
+down the valleys towards Pamplona, reuniting his forces on the road.
+Wellington had expected that the blow would be aimed at San Sebástien.
+He was momentarily outwitted; but he recovered just in time. Soult found
+his path barred at the fatal ridge of Saurauren,--just outside the
+Pamplona basin, and literally within sight of his goal. The beleaguered
+garrison heard the roar of that furious battle; they could watch the
+smoke-wreaths curling above the intervening ridge. But no French
+standards appeared in the mouth of the pass in the evening. When
+the battle was renewed two days later, the English were the assailants;
+and Soult and his beaten army could barely find safety in flight.
+
+[Illustration: OLITE
+
+The Castle.]
+
+Saurauren was Wellington's last great battle on Spanish soil. A few
+weeks later the two great fortresses had fallen, and--first of all the
+allied Generals--he carried the war into France. Five years previously
+he had landed in Portugal--a "Sepoy General," little more distinguished
+than Cornwallis or Eyre Coote. But those five years in the Peninsula had
+fixed his reputation for ever; and the giant who crossed the Bidassoa
+had but little to add to his stature on the field of Waterloo.
+
+There is a choice of two roads from Pamplona to the frontier. The
+_kilos_ are reckoned from Maya; but Roncesvalles bears the more historic
+name. In point of scenery there is little to choose between them; but
+perhaps Maya is the harder journey, for Maya includes Vellate, and this
+extra pass is the loftiest of the three.
+
+The country towards Roncesvalles is at first much less mountainous in
+character than that towards Vitória; for the high peaks of the Pyrenees
+lie in the centre of the range, to the eastward; and those immediately
+before us, though wild and rugged, do not show up very imposingly above
+the lofty levels upon the Spanish side. Near Pamplona the meadows are
+green and civilised, but the view becomes sterner and more barren as we
+draw near to the feet of the hills; and presently we enter a long,
+narrow, rocky gully--the bed of a mountain river--whose steep, bare
+sides are dotted with trim little bushes of box. How hot it was in that
+narrow gully! The sun's rays poured vertically into the breathless
+hollow, and their heat was radiated by every burning stone. Even the
+six-inch shadows of the box bushes were quoted at fancy values; and
+shedding our outer garments one after another, we eventually emerged at
+the further end in an almost aboriginal state.
+
+"Are you thinking of resuming the garb of civilisation?" enquired one
+vagabond of another, as we halted for a moment on the little bridge near
+the village of Burguete. "I am thinking of resuming the garb of Adam,"
+retorted his comrade desperately, as he glared into the pool beneath. It
+was rather a public place for a bathe; but there are no passengers on a
+Spanish road at _Comida_ time. And as that meal is invariably
+unpunctual, we knew that the little _Fonda_ could be reached in plenty
+of time.
+
+Burguete stands in the centre of a little cup-like valley; and prominent
+upon the further lip rises a big domed hill, one of the flankers of the
+pass. It is a sleek, smooth mountain, upholstered with green turf, and
+spangled with grazing sheep; and the big round beeches and chestnuts
+herd together all over its crest, as domesticated as on an English lawn.
+Yet the little hillock beneath it was the scene of one of the greatest
+of tragedies; for there stood the abbey of Roncesvalles, the sepulchre
+of Charlemagne's slaughtered Peers.
+
+A good deal of controversial ink has been spilt over Charlemagne's
+famous Spanish expedition: and all the confusion of history has been
+worse confounded by romance. The French Epics tell of it as a glorious
+and successful crusade, undertaken in the cause of Christendom against
+the insolence of the Moors. The Emperor dictated his own terms in his
+enemy's palace at Córdova, and it was only the treachery of Ganelon that
+led to the regrettable incident at the end. Very different is the story
+of the Spanish ballads. Their bards were most wofully sceptical of
+religious and disinterested invasion; they wished to be left to fight
+out their own quarrels with their own infidels, and felt no sort of
+satisfaction at the prospect of Spain becoming a province of the
+Franks. It was their own native heroes, Bernardo del Carpio and the
+chivalry of Leon, who overthrew the Paladins at Roncesvalles. Is not
+Roland's "Durandal" in the armoury of Madrid to this day, to prove that
+the Spaniard was the better man?
+
+[Illustration: PAMPLONA
+
+A Patio near the Cathedral.]
+
+In truth the expedition was directed against the newly-established
+Caliphate of Córdova, in alliance with Suleiman Ibn-al-Arabi, the
+Moorish king of Barcelona, who was jealous of Abderahman's growing
+power. Charlemagne captured Pamplona (which was Christian), and obtained
+some acknowledgment of suzerainty from the Sheikhs of Gerona and Huesca.
+But Zaragoza held out against him with all its traditional obstinacy:
+the ill-matched allies could by no means pull together; and the campaign
+fizzled out abortively without any substantial gain. As for the dolorous
+rout which concluded it, that was the work of neither Goth nor Moor, but
+of the angry Basques of the mountains, a nation whom Charlemagne had not
+regarded, and whom he probably despised. They had seen their country
+pillaged, their capital Pamplona taken; and now, when the rearguard was
+entangled in the mountains, they at last got the chance of plunder and
+revenge. No doubt they trapped them in that long rocky defile--straggling,
+way-worn, and cumbered with plunder and baggage--a position as hopeless
+as Elphinstone's in the Koord Kabul. The disjointed line was toiling
+painfully along the gullet; the slippery screes rose unscalable on
+either side; and the jutting crags that frowned at every corner
+afforded both ramparts and missiles to the unweariable mountaineers.
+None but the doughtiest warriors could have succeeded in breaking out
+into the basin of Burguete. And here their superior arms and discipline
+would enable them to fight their way across to the further side. Only
+one short ascent still remained to be surmounted; but their active
+enemy was before them, and the task was beyond their power. Wounded
+and exhausted, they drew together in a rallying square upon the little
+hillock; and there, fighting desperately, they were cut down to a man.
+
+The course of that fight is retold in the very conformation of the
+valley, yet somehow the picture is inadequate. The drama is not quite
+worthily staged. The place is too homely and pastoral for the scene of
+that great Saga which Taillefer chanted between the embattled hosts at
+Hastings; and which has since thrilled the hearts of generations of
+warriors, as Sidney's was thrilled by the tale of Chevy Chase. We need a
+more rugged environment for the memory of a departed demi-god. "He who
+aspires to be a hero," said Dr Johnson, "should drink brandy!" And
+perhaps, while he is about it, he might get killed in a Deva gorge.
+
+There is a softer lay for the minstrel who would linger by the braes of
+Burguete; a tale of two true lovers, who, as usual, were distressingly
+ill-starred. Their story is even more ancient than the doughty deeds of
+arms that we have just been rehearsing; for it relates to the days of
+Charlemagne's illustrious grand-sire, Charles Martel. Othman ben Abu
+Neza, the Moorish warden of the marches, had espoused a Christian bride,
+Lampegia, daughter of Duke Eudo of Aquitaine; and fleeing with her
+across the mountains to seek refuge from his indignant suzerain, was
+overtaken in the pass of Roncesvalles, and slain in his lady's arms. The
+unemotional historian is convinced that the marriage was political, and
+hints that both Eudo and Othman were conspiring against their respective
+liege lords. But at least he will grant us a certificate as to the
+authenticity of the final catastrophe: and he flatly declines to go
+further even for Roland and his Peers.
+
+Battlefields lie thick in Navarre, and even the Vale of Thorns is not
+absolutely the last of them. A second battle of Roncesvalles was
+contested upon the heights of Altobiscar, at the very crest of the Pass,
+in 1813. Here the British had been posted for six weeks, covering the
+blockade of Pamplona; and had greatly vexed the soul of their general by
+persistently deserting in twos and threes every night.
+
+Why these seasoned soldiers, at this very hour of their triumph, should
+have been seized with so strange an epidemic, is a problem which might
+take a good deal of arguing. The only contemporary theory was the
+suggestion that they were finding things slow! But their fighting
+qualities did not seem to have got much affected. Soult finally attacked
+them in person with much superior numbers: and they offered a most
+resolute resistance, only giving ground after night-fall, when it was
+evident they were being outflanked. Cole, the hero of Albuera, led them
+stubbornly back along the mountain ridges towards Pamplona; and the act
+was played out at Saurauren, where he arrived just in time to seize the
+hill.
+
+The ascent of the Pass upon the Spanish side is but trifling. A few
+brisk turns in the track, and we have climbed from the abbey ruins to
+the summit of the _col_ behind. Before us the road to France drops coil
+below coil into the deep green valley, a long descent of over three
+thousand feet. The actual frontier is some dozen miles further, at the
+village of Valcarlos; where a modest little bridge, shepherded by a
+horde of sentries, spans the waters of the infant Nive. But the spirit
+of Spain lags behind us up here upon this breezy saddle. Here is the
+true parting of the nations; and as we turn our faces plainwards, we
+feel that we are taking our leave.
+
+Farewell and adieu to you, fair Spanish ladies!
+  Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain!
+For we've received orders to cross the salt waters;
+  _We hope before long we shall see you again_!
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+PAGE
+
+
+Abándames, 21, 28, 30, 39, 42
+
+Abderahman I., Caliph of Córdova, 296
+
+Abu Walid, Alfaqui of Toledo, 208
+
+Alarcon, Battle of, 267
+
+Alba de Tormes, 163, 173
+
+Albarracin, 255
+
+Alberche, River, 212-213
+
+ALCÁNTARA, 230-235
+  Bridge, 92, 231-235
+  Monastery, 53, 234
+
+Alfonso VI. of Castile and Leon, 124-125, 140, 142, 202, 208, 269
+
+Alfonso VIII. of Castile, 60, 208, 267
+
+Alfonso XI. of Castile and Leon, 180
+
+Alfonso V. of Portugal, 150-151
+
+Alfonso, Prince of Castile, 258, 281
+
+_Alguazils_, 53, 79, 80
+
+Al Manzor, Vizier of Córdova, 85-86
+  Mountain, 161, 221
+
+Almaraz, Bridge, 92, 224
+
+_Almoravides_, 202
+
+Altobiscar, Mountain Ridge, 299
+
+Alxaman, Moorish Emir, 35
+
+Andalusia, 60, 202
+
+Aragon, 61, 168
+
+Aránjuez, 191, 193-195
+
+Arapiles, 164
+
+Arlanzon, River, 266, 268, 274
+
+Armada, The, 95, 107, 189
+
+Arriondas, 37-38, 42
+
+Arroyo Molinos, Battle of, 224
+
+Arzobispo, Bridge, 214
+
+ASTORGA, 68-71, 75, 78, 177
+
+Asturias, Eastern, 15-16, 24-42
+  Western, 93, 113-131
+
+Augustus, Emperor, 68, 228, 246
+
+_Autos da Fé_, 205, 261-262
+
+ÁVILA, 176-183, 190, 192
+
+
+Barcelona, 296
+
+Basques, 289, 296
+
+Bathers, 120
+
+Bavieca, 270-271
+
+Becerrea, 76-77
+
+Beggars, 278-280
+
+BÉJAR, 173-176, 235
+
+Bellotas, 116
+
+Bembibre, 75
+
+BENAVENTE, 133-136
+  Battle of, 134-135
+
+Berruguete, Alonzo, Sculptor, 207
+
+BETÁNZOS, 106, 108-110
+
+Bidassoa, River, 6, 293
+
+BILBAO, 5-7, 9
+
+Birds (Wild). Eagles, 21, 229;
+  Falcons, 213;
+  Hoopoes, 156;
+  Magpies, 157;
+  Ospreys, 22-23;
+  Partridges, 73;
+  Storks, 157, 222, 229, 232
+
+Biscay, Bay of, 5-7, 39
+
+Bivar, Rodrigo Diaz de. _See_ Cid.
+
+Borgoña, Felipe de, Sculptor, 207
+
+Borrow, George, 54, 103, 108 _note_, 115-117
+
+Briviesca, 82, 282
+
+Buenavista, 46, 48, 50
+
+Bull Fights, 171-173, 208, 273, 289
+
+BÚRGOS, 60, 257, 264-277, 280-281, 286
+  Castle, 275-277
+  Cathedral, 273-274
+  Monasteries, 267-268, 280-281
+  Palaces, 270
+  Siege, 275-277
+
+Burguete, 294-295, 297-298
+
+
+Cabezon, 19, 42
+
+Cacabellos, 72, 75
+
+CÁCERES, 81, 221-224, 229, 235
+
+_Cafés_, 13-14, 69-70, 273
+
+Calderon, Pedro, Dramatist, 205
+
+Camps, Celtic and Roman, 90-91
+
+CÁNGAS DE ONIS, 30-33, 37, 39
+
+CANTABRIAN MOUNTAINS, 15, 19-20, 43, 66, 152, 161, 282
+
+Cares, River, 28-29
+
+Cardena, San Pedro de, Monastery, 271
+
+Carillo, Archbishop of Toledo, 151, 258-259
+
+Carlists, 54-55
+
+Carpio, Bernardo del, 296
+
+Carranza, Archbishop of Toledo, 262
+
+Carreño, 29-30
+
+Carrion, River, 51, 286
+
+Castaños, General, 68
+
+Castile, Kingdom, 60-61, 202, 207
+  Old, 7-23, 43-45, 176-185, 243-258, 266-284
+  New, 185-214, 237-243
+
+Castles. Benavente, 134;
+  Búrgos, 275-276;
+  Magueda, 211;
+  Mérida, 225;
+  Olite, 291;
+  Ponferrada, 73;
+  Segóvia, 249-250;
+  Toledo, 205
+  in Spain, 282-283
+
+Castro Gonzalo, Bridge, 135-136
+
+Castropol, 113-114
+
+CASTRO URDIALES, 7-10, 19
+
+Cathedrals. Avila, 180;
+  Búrgos, 273-275;
+  Leon, 58-59;
+  Lugo, 79;
+  Orense, 92;
+  Oviedo, 122;
+  Paléncia, 264;
+  Pamplona, 290-291;
+  Plaséncia, 217;
+  Salamanca, 164-165;
+  Santiago, 86-87;
+  Segóvia, 253-254;
+  Toledo, 205-208;
+  Tuy, 97;
+  Zamora, 145-146
+
+Catharine of Aragon, Queen of England, 182
+
+Cervera del Pisuerga, 45
+
+Cervantes, Miguel. _See_ Quixote, Don.
+
+Charlemagne, Emperor, 295-298
+
+Charles V., King of Spain and Emperor of Germany, 190, 203, 268
+
+Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles I.), 48
+
+Charles Martel, Mayor of the Franks, 298
+
+Churriguera, Architect, 87
+
+_Cicadas_, 156
+
+CID, The. Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, 61, 124-125, 140-143, 177, 202, 269-271
+
+Cies, Islas de, 101
+
+Clamores, River, 253
+
+Clausel, General, 163, 173
+
+Clavijo, Battle of, 85
+
+Climate, 129, 170, 182, 266-267, 272, 294
+
+Cole, General, 299
+
+Colonia, Juan de, Architect, 274
+
+Combarros, 71
+
+COMMUNEROS, Revolt of, 203-204, 268
+
+Constantino, Bridge, 76
+
+Corcuvion, 103
+
+Córdova, 85, 201, 295-296
+
+Cória, 235
+
+_Corpus Christi_, Festival of, 139, 143-146
+
+Cortes, Hernando, 223
+
+CORUÑA, 64, 89, 104-105, 108, 110
+  Battle of, 92, 106-108, 111
+
+Costume, 49, 62-63, 65, 71, 109-110, 157-158, 175-176
+
+Courtship, 226-228
+
+COVADONGA, 25, 33-37
+  Battle of, 24-25, 34-37
+  Nuestra Señora de, 24-25, 34, 37
+
+Craufurd, General, 214
+
+_Cubos_, 22, 58
+
+CUDILLERO, 118-121
+
+Cuenca, 255, 283
+
+CUERA, Sierra de, 30, 38-39
+
+Cuesta, Captain General, 213
+
+Cueva, Don Beltran de la, 259
+
+Cuidad Rodrigo, 162-163, 175
+
+
+Dancing, 40, 48, 108-109, 289
+
+De Arfe, Metal worker, 207
+
+DEVA, River, 20-21, 28, 42
+  Gorge, 22-23, 25-28, 42, 43, 298
+
+Dogs, 17-19, 216, 260
+
+Dorothea. _See_ Quixote, Don.
+
+Douro, Battle of the, 93, 214
+
+Drake, Sir Francis, 107
+
+Dubreton, General, 275
+
+DUEÑAS, 263-264
+
+DUERO, River, 94, 141, 149, 259-260
+  Valley, 137, 152-153, 176, 182, 211, 220, 257
+
+Dulcinea del Toboso. _See_ Quixote, Don.
+
+
+Ebro, River, 284-285, 287
+
+Edward, Prince of England (Edward I.), 267
+  "The Black Prince", 285
+
+El Burgo, Bridge, 107
+
+Eleanor of Castile, Queen of England, 267-268
+
+Electric Lighting, 109, 147
+
+El Padron, 64, 103
+
+Elviña, 106
+
+Elvira, Princess, 140
+
+Encina, Nuestra Señora de la, 73-74
+
+Eresma, River, 243-245, 248
+
+ESCLAVITUD, Nuestra Señora de la, 103
+
+ESCORIAL, 186-190, 240-242, 261
+
+Esla, River, 57, 131, 132-135, 263
+
+Estella, 291
+
+Estremadura, 175, 215-236
+
+Eudo, Duke of Aquitaine, 298
+
+EUROPA, Picos de, 20-21, 27-29, 30, 33, 161
+
+
+Felton, Sir Thomas, 285
+
+Ferdinand I. of Leon and Castile, 60-61, 140
+  III. of Castile and Leon, 60, 202, 206
+  of Aragon (The Catholic), 110, 150, 263-264
+    and Isabella of Castile, "The Catholic Kings", 150,
+      166, 181-182, 203, 263-264
+
+Ferrol, 108, 111
+
+Finistierra, Cape, 101
+
+Fishing Ports, 9-10, 19-20, 40-41, 100-101, 118-119
+  Rivers, 38
+
+Fishwives, 98, 101, 119
+
+Flies, 31, 102
+
+Florinda (La Cava), 201
+
+Flowers (Wild). Broom, 224, 242;
+  Cactus, 221;
+  Cistus, 153, 224;
+  Hardhead, 183, 242;
+  Heather, 73, 102;
+  Poppy, 266
+
+Fountains, 79-81, 108, 186, 222, 239
+
+Foz, 112
+
+Francia, Peña de, 175
+
+
+Galicia, 15, 24, 62, 76-112, 140
+
+Gamarra Mayor, 287
+
+Ganelon, 295
+
+Garlic, 13, 180
+
+Gata, Sierra de, 175
+
+Gelmirez, Archbishop of Santiago, 84, 86
+
+Gerona, 111, 296
+
+_Gigantes_, 139, 143-145
+
+Gijon, 20, 35-36
+
+GIL BLAS de Santillana. Birth-place, 19;
+  Captain Rolando, 72;
+  Dr Sangrado, 259-261;
+  Flight from Valladolid, 259-260;
+  Don Bernardo de Castel Blazo, 53;
+  at Salamanca, 166;
+  Imprisonment, 254-255;
+  at Toledo, 205;
+  Visit to Olivares, 149;
+  Liria, 254 _note_
+
+Girard, General, 224
+
+Gonzalez, Count Fernando, 61, 269
+
+Gonzalo, Don Arias, 141-142
+
+Graham, General, 286-287
+
+GRÉDOS, Sierra de, 161, 170, 173-174, 182, 211, 215, 221, 235
+
+Grenada, 255, 265
+
+Guadalete, Battle of the, 200
+
+Guadalupe, Monastery, 223, 235
+  Sierra de, 211
+
+GUADARRAMA, Sierra de, 18, 155, 176, 182, 238, 256
+  Puerto de, 184-185, 242-243
+
+Guadiana, River, 223, 225, 229
+
+_Guardia Civil_, 53-54, 183, 245
+
+_Guerrilleros_, 93-94, 111, 282
+
+
+Haro, 284
+
+Henrique IV. of Castile, 177, 250, 258
+
+Hercules (at Toledo), 199-201
+
+Hieronymo, Bishop of Zamora, 139
+
+Hill, General, 224, 286
+
+Howell, James, 48, 95, 206 _note_
+
+Huesca, 296
+
+
+Illescas, 193
+
+Inns, 8-9, 25-27, 29, 46-48, 50, 69, 138-139, 184, 217-219, 226-227, 264-265
+
+Inquisition, 250-252, 261-263
+
+Isabella of Castile (The Catholic), 250, 252, 281.
+  _See also_ Ferdinand.
+  Princess, 181
+
+Isidoro, San, 59-61, 208-209
+
+
+Jackson, Private, 136
+
+Jarama, River, 194
+
+Jerte, River, 216
+
+Jews, 200, 203, 261, 270
+
+Joseph Buonaparte, 162-163, 277, 286-288
+
+Jourdan, Marshal, 213
+
+Juan II. of Castile, 258, 281
+  Prince of Spain, 181
+
+Juana, Queen of Spain, 182, 265
+
+Junot, Marshal, 68
+
+
+La Cañiza, 95-97
+
+Lacer, Caius Julius, Engineer, 231-232
+
+La Demanda, Sierra de, 152, 281-282
+
+La Granja, 244, 254
+
+LA HERMIDA, 23
+
+La Mancha, 95
+
+Lampegia, 298
+
+Lapisse, General, 235
+
+Laredo, 10-11, 15
+
+La Robla, 130
+
+Las Huelgas, Convent, 267-268
+
+Las Rozas, 238
+
+Lefebre Desnouettes, General, 135
+
+Lena, 127-128
+
+LEON Province (Old Kingdom), 43, 45-76, 89, 102, 128-176, 258-266, 296
+  City, 36, 45, 50, 57-65, 66 _note_, 68, 81, 131
+  Cathedral, 58-59
+  Church of San Isidoro, 59-61
+
+Leovigild, King of the Goths, 200
+
+Le Sage, 255.
+  _See also_ Gil Blas.
+
+Liebana, Vale of, 23, 42-44, 152
+
+LLANES, 40-41
+
+Lobsters, 8-10, 19-20
+
+Lope de Vega, Dramatist, 205
+
+Loyola, Ignatius, 178-179, 291
+
+Luarca, 118
+
+LUGO 68, 75-82, 89-90, 106, 177
+
+Luna, Don Alvaro de, 207, 258
+
+
+Madrid, 190-193, 215, 238, 240
+
+Mansilla de las Mulas, 57
+
+_Mantillas_, 273
+
+Manzanal, Puerto de, 70-71, 75
+
+Manzanares, River, 215, 237-238
+
+_Maragatos_, 65, 70-71
+
+Marbot, General, 185
+
+Maritornes. _See_ Quixote, Don.
+
+Marmont, Marshal, 149-150, 161-163, 165-166, 214
+
+Martorell, Bridge, 92
+
+MASMA, River, 112
+
+Maucune, General, 163, 287
+
+Maurice, Archbishop of Búrgos, 274
+
+Maya, Puerto de, 292-293
+
+Mayorga, 57
+
+Meals, 8-9, 11-13, 41, 119, 138, 218
+
+Medellin, Hill of, 213
+
+Medina del Campo, 117, 258
+
+_Membrillo_, 12, 181
+
+Mendo, River, 108
+
+Mendoza, Cardinal, 151, 207
+
+MÉRIDA, 225-229, 232
+
+Mero, River, 106
+
+Mexico, 20, 223
+
+Miéres, 126-127
+
+Military Orders, 53, 66, 73, 234
+
+Mina, General, 282
+
+MIÑO, River, 6, 78, 89-97
+
+Miraflores, La Cartuja de, 273, 280-281
+
+MIRANDA DEL EBRO, 283-285
+  Casa de, 271, 280
+
+Mondoñedo, 111
+
+Money, 219, 279 _note_
+
+Monforte, 90
+
+Montamarta, 137-139
+
+Montanchez, Sierra de, 223
+
+MOORE, Sir John, at Salamanca, 182 _note_;
+  at Sahagun, 54-55;
+  assailed by Napoleon, 184-185;
+  Benavente, 134-136;
+  Retreat across the Vierzo, 74-75;
+  Pass of Piedrafita, 76;
+  Lugo, 89;
+  March to Coruña, 105-106;
+  Battle of Coruña, 106-107
+
+Moors. Conquest of Spain, 200, 282;
+  repulsed from Asturias, 34-37;
+  Caliphate of Córdova, 201, 296;
+  Charlemagne's Invasion, 295-296;
+  Clavijo, 85;
+  Al Manzor, 85-86;
+  Sieges of Zamora, 140;
+  Reconquest of Toledo, 202;
+  The Cid, 269-270;
+  Fresh irruption, 202;
+  Battle of Alarcon, 267;
+  Battle of las Navas de Tolosa, 60, 267;
+  Reconquest of Andalusia, 60, 202;
+  Persecuted, 261
+
+Morena, Sierra, 46, 61, 208
+
+Morillas Mountains, 285
+
+_Mozarabes_, 208-210
+
+_Mudejares_, 204 _note_, 208 _note_
+
+Mules, 42, 65, 104, 158-160
+
+Munuza, Emir, 36
+
+Muros, 117, 121
+
+
+Nalon, River, 121
+
+Napoleon Buonaparte. Pursuit of Sir John Moore, 55, 184-185, 135, 75
+  Spanish War, 165, 288
+
+Narcea, River, 121
+
+Navacerrada, Puerto de, 242-244
+
+Navarre, 61, 284-300
+
+Navarrete, Battle of, 285
+
+Navas de Tolosa, Battle of, 60-61, 208, 267, 287
+
+NÁVIA, River, 76, 116
+
+Nervion, River, 5
+
+Ney, Marshal, 93
+
+Nive, River, 300
+
+Nogales, 76
+
+Norreys, Sir John, 107-108
+
+
+Obarenes, Montes, 282-285
+
+Olivares, Conde Duque de, 148-149
+
+OLITE, 291
+
+Olmedo, 258-259
+
+Orbigo, River, 66-67, 134
+
+Ordoñez, Don Diego, 142
+
+ORENSE, Bridge, 32, 92
+  City, 89, 91-92
+
+Othman ben Abu Neza, Emir, 298
+
+OVIEDO, 121-127
+  Cathedral, 122
+
+Oxen, 15-17, 30-31, 44-45, 103, 105, 159
+
+
+Pacheco, Doña Maria, 203
+
+Paget, General, 76, 135
+
+PAJARES, Puerto de, 36, 58, 80, 126-130
+
+Palaces. Búrgos, 271;
+  Cáceres, 222-223;
+  Leon, 62;
+  Olite, 291;
+  Oviedo, 122;
+  Plaséncia, 216-217;
+  Salamanca, 167-169;
+  Santiago, 87;
+  Segóvia, 247;
+  Toledo, 204;
+  Toro, 148
+
+Palávia, 106
+
+Paléncia, 264-265
+
+PAMPLONA, 60, 81, 283, 290-294, 296
+  Siege, 291-293, 298
+
+PANCORVO, Defile, 281-282, 286
+
+Pantoja, Painter, 189
+
+Paredes, Don Diego Garcia de, 32, 223
+
+Peasantry, 26-27, 31, 40, 48-50, 62, 65, 79, 99, 109-110,
+     120, 138, 147-148, 175-176, 197-198, 216, 280, 287
+
+Pedro, the Cruel, of Castile, 86, 180
+  _El Maestre._ _See_ Quixote, Don.
+
+Pelayo, King of Asturias, 24, 31-32, 34-37
+
+_Pelota_, 288-289
+
+_Peones Camineros_, 243, 256
+
+Philip II. of Spain, 67, 188-190, 194, 261-262, 273
+  IV. of Spain, 148, 244
+
+Phoenicians, 199-200
+
+Picton, General, 151, 285-286
+
+Piedrafita, Puerto de, 75-76, 89
+
+Pigs, 212, 229-230
+
+Pilar, Nuestra Señora del, 179
+
+Pilgrimages, 24-25, 64-65, 82-84
+
+Pilona, River, 38
+
+Pisuerga, River, 263, 265
+
+Pizarro, 223
+
+PLASÉNCIA, 81, 214, 216-219
+
+Ploughs, 105
+
+Poblet, Monastery, 187
+
+Pola de Gordon, 129-130
+
+Ponferrada, 72-75
+
+Pontevedra, 81
+
+Porcelos, Diego de, 269
+
+Portugal, 92-93, 97, 150, 181, 286
+
+Portugalete, 5, 9
+
+Potes, 26, 42, 43
+
+Právia, 117, 121
+
+Pyrenees, Mountains, 282, 293-300
+  Battles of the, 292-293, 299
+
+
+Quevedo, Francisco, Satirist, 149
+
+Quinones, Don Suero, 66-67
+
+QUIXOTE, Don. Tales of Chivalry, 2-3, 32, 66-67, 142, 161;
+  Ideal Knight Errant, 154;
+  Company at the Inn, 46;
+  Innkeeper, 247;
+  Dorothea, 244;
+  Dulcinea del Toboso, 65, 100, 184;
+  Sancho Panza, 8, 49, 83, 95, 181;
+  Maritornes, 9;
+  The Cortes of Death, 143;
+  Don Diego Miranda, 271;
+  _El Maestre_ Pedro, 211;
+  Roque Guinart, 157
+
+
+Rañadoiro, Sierra de, 116
+
+Reille, General, 287
+
+Religious Observances, 120-121, 143-146, 273
+
+Reptiles, Frogs, 46, 156
+  Lizards, 156
+  Snakes, 229-230, 257
+
+Ribadávia, 95-96, 183
+
+RIOJA, The, 29, 284
+
+RIVADEO, 80, 112-116
+
+Rivadesella, 39-40
+
+Rock Formations, 22-23, 28, 129-130, 282-283, 290
+
+Roderic, King of the Visigoths, 24, 200-201
+
+Roland, 296-298
+
+Roman Remains. Aqueducts, 225, 228-229, 246
+  Bridges, 76, 225, 231-232
+  Camps, 90
+  Theatres, 225
+  Walls, 58, 68, 78, 164, 225
+
+Roncesvalles. Puerto de, 292-300
+  Battles of, 292, 295-299
+
+Ronda, Well of, 99
+
+Rooke, Admiral, 100
+
+Roque Guinart. _See_ Quixote, Don.
+
+
+Sahagun, 32, 54-56, 235
+
+SALAMANCA 146-147, 149, 163-171, 176
+  Cathedrals, 164-165, 254
+  Colleges and Palaces, 165-169
+  Battle of, 150, 161-164, 214, 277, 286
+
+Saldaña, 51, 55
+
+Sanchez, Julian, 262
+
+Sancho II. of Castile, 124-125, 140-142
+  Panza. _See_ Quixote, Don.
+
+Sangüesa, Monastery, 291
+
+San Rafael, Fonda, 184
+
+San Roman, 261
+
+San Sebástien, 6, 288, 292
+
+Santander, 15, 20, 81, 287
+
+SANTIAGO (St James the Greater), 64, 83-86, 177
+  de Compostela, 64, 82-89, 104
+    Cathedral, 82, 84, 86-87, 103
+
+Santillana, 19
+
+SANTOÑA, 10-11
+
+SAN VICENTE DE LA BARQUERA, 19-20, 41
+
+Sardines, 9-10, 101, 119
+
+Sauráuren, Battle of, 292-293, 299
+
+SEGÓVIA, 182, 192, 216, 229, 244-257
+  Alcázar, 248-250
+  Aqueduct, 246-247
+  Cathedral, 253-254
+
+SELLA, River, 32, 37-39
+
+_Serenos_, 123-124
+
+Seso, Don Carlos de, 189, 261
+
+Seville, 201, 206
+
+Shepherds, 137, 208, 221, 239
+
+Siete Picos, Mountain, 242-243, 248
+
+Sil, River, 72-73, 91
+
+Silöe, Diego de, Sculptor, 275
+  Gil de, Sculptor, 281
+
+Silos, San Domingo de, Monastery, 282
+
+Simancas, 260
+
+Somers Cocks, Major, 276
+
+Sontres, 26
+
+Sória, 281
+
+SOULT, Marshal. Pursuit of Sir John Moore, 55, 75-76, 89;
+  at Coruña, 106;
+  Conquest of Galicia, 92-94, 111;
+  Repulsed from the Douro, 93;
+  Advance upon Talavera, 93-94, 214;
+  Battles of the Pyrenees, 292-293, 299
+
+Stage Coaches, 41-42, 104
+
+Street, G. E., Architect, 59, 205
+
+Suero, Archbishop of Santiago, 86
+
+Suleiman Ibn-al-Arabi, Emir, 296
+
+
+TAGUS, River, 195, 197-199, 201, 212, 214, 220, 230-232
+  Valley, 93, 185, 210-211, 219-220, 230-231
+
+TALAVERA DE LA REINA, 182, 210-214
+  Battle of, 210-214, 235
+
+Tarik, 71, 200
+
+Theresa de Ávila, Sta, 177-179
+
+Tierra de Campos, 137, 263
+
+Tina Mayor, River. _See_ Deva, River.
+
+TOLEDO, 98, 105, 151, 192-193, 197-210, 240, 269
+  Bridges, 92, 199
+  Cathedral, 122, 205-210, 274
+
+Toledo, Montes de, 185, 198
+  Don Francisco de, 95
+
+Toriñana, Cape, 101
+
+Tormes, River, 161-163
+  Lazarillo de, 205
+
+TORO 140, 147-151, 153
+  Battle of, 150-151
+
+Torquemada, 265-266
+  Tomas de, Inquisitor, 179, 203, 250-251
+
+Torrelavega, 15, 19
+
+Torrelodones, 239-240
+
+Trajan, Emperor, 226, 231, 246
+
+Trees. Acacia, 132, 281;
+  Box, 294;
+  Beech, 44, 295;
+  Chestnut, 44, 295;
+  Elm, 194-195, 281;
+  Ilex, 153, 215-216, 219;
+  Olive, 173, 194, 221;
+  Palm, 102;
+  Pine, 184, 242-244, 257;
+  Poplar, 57, 65, 133, 281
+
+Tresviso, 26-27
+
+Troglodyte villages, 132-133, 263
+
+Trujillo, 223, 235
+
+TUY, 92-93, 96-98
+
+
+Ubiña, Peña, 128
+
+Unquera, 20-21, 39, 42
+
+URDON, 25-27
+
+Urraca, Princess, 140-143
+
+
+Valcarce, 75
+
+Valcarlos, 300
+
+Valdepeñas, 95
+
+Valdeprado, 44
+
+Valdez, Inquisitor, 263
+
+Valéncia del Cid, 60, 154, 202, 270
+  do Minho (Portugal) 97
+
+VALLADOLID, 97, 141, 207, 259-264, 281
+
+Velasquez, Painter, 134, 138, 149
+
+Vellate, Puerto de, 293
+
+Vellido Dolphos, 141-142
+
+Verney, Sir Edmund, 48
+
+Victor, Marshal, 213
+
+VIERZO, The, 72-75, 91, 152
+
+VIGO, 80, 97-101
+  Bay, Battle of, 100
+
+Vilano, Cape, 101
+
+Villacastin, 182-183
+
+Villafranca, 75, 81
+
+Villalba, 242
+
+Villalpando, Francisco de, Metal Worker, 207
+
+Vineyards, 94, 153, 220
+
+Visigoths, 105, 122, 200
+
+VITÓRIA, Battle of, 151, 277, 286-288, 292
+
+Vizcaya, 5-7, 24
+
+
+Walton, Private, 136
+
+Wamba, King of the Visigoths, 105, 199-200
+
+Water pitchers, 13, 80-82, 222
+
+WELLINGTON, Duke of. Campaign of the Douro, 93;
+  Campaign of Talavera, 93, 212-214;
+  at Salamanca, 165-166, 170;
+  Battle of Salamanca, 161-164;
+  Criticises Siege of Astorga, 68;
+  Siege of Búrgos, 275-277;
+  Retreat from Búrgos, 266;
+  Generalissimo of Spanish armies, 179;
+  Campaign and Battle of Vitória, 277, 286-288;
+  Battles of the Pyrenees, 292-293;
+  Allusions to Spanish character, 49, 125-126
+
+Wines, 12-13, 94-96, 266, 284
+
+
+Ximena, 270-271
+
+Ximenes, Cardinal, 179, 210
+
+
+Yakub aben Yussef of Morocco, 267
+
+Yuste, 190
+
+
+Zadora, River, 285, 287
+
+ZAMORA, 136-137, 139-147, 150
+  Cathedral, 139-140, 145-146
+
+Zaragoza, 253
+  Sieges of, 111, 179, 296
+
+[Illustration: MAP NORTHERN SPAIN]
+
+PRINTED BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+BLACK'S BEAUTIFUL BOOKS
+
+ALL WITH FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+By Post. Price 20s. 6d. THE 20s. NET SERIES Size 9 x 6-1/4 ins.
+
+
+Algeria and Tunis
+
+     Painted and Described by FRANCES E. NESBITT. 70 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Alps
+
+     Described by SIR MARTIN CONWAY. Painted by A. D. M'CORMICK. 70
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Ancient Tales and Folk-Lore of Japan
+
+     By R. GORDON SMITH. F.R.G.S. Painted by Japanese Artists. 57
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Australia
+
+     Painted by PERCY F. S. SPENCE. Described by FRANK FOX. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Belgium
+
+     Painted by A. FORESTIER. Described by G. W. T. OMOND. 77 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Birds of Britain
+
+     By J. LEWIS BONHOPE, M.A., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 100 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour, selected by H. E. DRESSER.
+
+
+Birket Foster
+
+     By H. M. CUNDALL, I.S.O., F.S.A. 100 Full-Page Illustrations (over
+     70 in Colour) and many Sketches in the Text.
+
+
+Burma
+
+     Painted and Described by R. TALBOT KELLY, R.B.A. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Cambridge
+
+     By M. A. R. TUKER. Painted by WILLIAM MATTHISON. 77 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Canada
+
+     Painted by T. MOWER MARTIN, R.C.A. Described by WILFRED CAMPBELL.
+     76 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Channel Islands
+
+     Painted by HENRY B. WIMBUSH. Described by EDITH F. CAREY. 76
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Clyde
+
+     Painted by MARY Y. HUNTER and J. YOUNG HUNTER. Described by NEIL
+     MUNRO. 67 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Constantinople
+
+     Painted by WARWICK GOBLE. Described by PROF. ALEXANDER VAN
+     MILLINGEN, D.D. 63 Full Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+From Damascus to Palmyra
+
+     By JOHN KELMAN, M.A., D.D. Painted by MARGARET THOMAS. 70 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Egypt
+
+     Painted and Described by R. TALBOT KELLY, R.B.A. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Egyptian Birds
+
+     Painted and Described by CHARLES WHYMPER. F.Z.S., B.O.U. 51
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Happy England
+
+     By HELEN ALLINGHAM. R.W.S. Text by MARCUS B. HUISH. 80 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour. (Size 9-1/2 x 7 ins.)
+
+
+The Rivers and Streams of England
+
+     Painted by SUTTON PALMER. Described by A. G. BRADLEY. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+English Costume
+
+     By DION CLAYTON CALTHROP. 73 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour and
+     numerous Sketches in the Text.
+
+
+The English Lakes
+
+     Painted by A. HEATON COOPER. Described by WILLIAM T. PALMER. 75
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Essex
+
+     Painted by BURLEIGH BRUHL, R.B.A. Described by A. R. HOPE
+     MUNCRIEFF. 75 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Florence and some Tuscan Cities
+
+     Painted by COLONEL R. C. GOFF. Described by MRS. GOFF. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustration in Colour
+
+
+The Flowers and Gardens of Japan
+
+     Painted by ELLA DU CANE. Described by FLORENCE DU CANE. 50
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Lake of Geneva
+
+     Painted by J. HARDWICKE LEWIS and MAY HARDWICKE LEWIS. Described by
+     FRANCIS GRIBBLE. 60 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Greece
+
+     Painted by JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I. Described by REV. J. A. M'CLYMONT.
+     M.A., D.D. 75 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Kate Greenaway
+
+     by M. H. SPIELMANN, F.S.A., and G. S. LAYARD. 75 Full Page
+     Illustrations (51 in Colour) and numerous Illustrations in the
+     Text.
+
+
+Hampshire
+
+     Painted by WILFRID BALL, R.E. Described by REV. TELFORD VARLEY. 75
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Holland
+
+     By NICO JUNGMAN. Text by BEATRIX JUNGMAN. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Holy Land
+
+     Painted by JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I. Described by REV. JOHN KELMAN,
+     M.A., D.D. 93 Full-Page illustrations, mostly in Colour.
+
+
+Hungary
+
+     Painted by MR. AND MRS. ADRIAN STOKES. Described by ADRIAN STOKES,
+     A.R.A. 75 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+India
+
+     By MORTIMER MENPES. Text by FLORA A. STEEL. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Ireland
+
+     Painted by FRANCIS S. WALKER, R.H.A. Described by FRANK MATTHEW. 77
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Italian Lakes
+
+     Painted by ELLA DU CANE. Described by RICHARD BAGOT. 69 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Japan
+
+     By MORTIMER MENPES. Transcribed by DOROTHY MENPES. 100 Full Page
+     Illustrations in Colour
+
+
+Kashmir
+
+     Described by SIR FRANCIS EDWARD YOUNGHUSBAND, K.C.I.E. Painted by
+     MAJOR E. MOLYNEUX, D.S.O. 75 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Kent
+
+     By W. TEIGNMOUTH SHORE. Painted by W. BISCOMBE GARDNER. 73
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Familiar London
+
+     Painted by ROSE BARTON. A.R.W.S. 61 Full Page Illustrations in
+     Colour.
+
+
+London to the Nore
+
+     Painted and Described by W. L. WYLLIE, R.A., and MARIAN AMY WYLLIE.
+     60 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+London Vanished and Vanishing
+
+     Painted and Described by PHILIP NORMAN, F.S.A. 75 Full Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Scenery of London
+
+     Painted by HERBERT M. MARSHALL R.W.S. Described by G. F. MITTON. 75
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+George Morland
+
+     By SIR WALTER GILBEY, Bt. 50 Full-Page Reproductions in Colour of
+     the Artist's best work.
+
+
+Morocco
+
+     Painted by A. S. FORREST. Described by S. L. BENSUSAN. 74 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Naples
+
+     By AUGUSTINE FITZGERALD. Described by SYBIL FITZGERALD. 80 Full
+     Page Illusirations in Colour.
+
+
+The Royal Navy
+
+     Painted by NORMAN WILKINSON. Described by H. LAWRENCE SWINBURNE. 61
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+New Zealand
+
+     Painted by the brothers F. and W. WRIGHT. Described by THE HON. W.
+     P. REEVES, Lately High Commissioner for New Zealand. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Norway
+
+     Painted by NICO JUNGMAN. Text by BEATRIX JUNGMAN. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Oxford
+
+     Painted by JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I. Described by EDWARD THOMAS. 60
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+==>PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK SOHO SQUARE LONDON W. AND OBTAINABLE
+THROUGH ANY BOOKSELLER AT HOME OR ABROAD
+
+John Pettie
+
+     By MARTIN HARDIE, B.A., A.R.E. 50 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour
+     and 8 in Black and White.
+
+
+The Riviera
+
+     Painted and Described by WILLIAM SCOTT. 75 Full-Page Illustrations
+     in Colour.
+
+
+Rome
+
+     Painted by ALBERTO PISA. Text by M. A. R. TUKER and HOPE MALLESON
+     70 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour
+
+
+Bonnie Scotland
+
+     Painted by SUTTON PALMER. Described by A. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF. 75
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Savage South Seas
+
+     Painted by NORMAN H. HARDY. Described by E. WAY ELKINGTON, F.R.G.S.
+     68 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Northern Spain
+
+     Painted and Described by EDGAR T. A. WIGRAM. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Southern Spain
+
+     Painted by TREVOR HADDON, R.B.A. Described by A. F. CALVERT. 75
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Surrey
+
+     Painted by SUTTON PALMER. Described by A. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF. 75
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Sussex
+
+     Painted by WILFRID BALL, R.E. 75 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Tibet
+
+     Painted and Described by A. HENRY SAVAGE LANDOR. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Venice
+
+     By MORTIMER MENPES. Text by DOROTHY MENPES. 100 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Warwickshire
+
+     Painted by FRED. WHITEHEAD,R.B.A. Described by CLIVE HOLLAND. 75
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Wessex
+
+     Painted by WALTER TYNDALE. Described by CLIVE HOLLAND. 75 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+West Indies
+
+     Painted by A. S. FORREST. Described by JOHN HENDERSON. 74 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Yorkshire
+
+     Painted and Described by GORDON HOME. 71 Full-Page Illustrations in
+     Colour.
+
+
+By Post, Price 10s. 6d. THE 10s. NET SERIES Size 9 x 6-1/4 ins.
+
+
+Bruges And West Flanders
+
+     Painted by A. FORESTIER. Described by G. W. T. OMOND. 37 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Light Side of Egypt
+
+     Painted and Described by LANCE THACKERAY. 36 Illustrations in
+     Colour, Cloth (album shape). Size 10-1/2 x 8 ins.
+
+
+A Book of Porcelain
+
+     Painted by WILLIAM GIBB. Text by BERNARD RACKHAM. 30 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour of Selected Examples in the Celebrated
+     Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. (Size Crown
+     Quarto).
+
+
+The Highlands and Islands of Scotland
+
+     Painted by WILLIAM SMITH, Jun. Described by A. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF.
+     40 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour
+
+
+From Sketch-Book and Diary
+
+     By LADY ELIZABETH BUTLER. 28 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour and
+     21 Line Drawings in the Text by LADY BUTLER.
+
+
+By Post, Price 7s. 11d. THE 7s. 6d. NET SERIES Size 9 x 6-1/4 ins.
+
+
+Abbotsford
+
+     Painted by WILLIAM SMITH, Jun. Described by REV. W. S. CROCKETT. 20
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Adventures among Pictures
+
+     By C. LEWIS HIND. 24 Full-Page Illustrations (8 in Colour and 16 in
+     Black and White).
+
+
+Alpine Flowers and Gardens
+
+     Painted and Described by G. FLEMWELL. 20 Full-Page Illustrations in
+     Colour.
+
+
+The Beautiful Birthday Book
+
+     By GERTRUDE DEMAIN HAMMOND, R.I. 12 Full-Page Illustrations in
+     Colour. Decorative Borders by A. A. TURBAYNE.
+
+
+Brabant & East Flanders
+
+     Painted by A. FORESTIER. Text by G. W. T. OMOND. 20 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+British Floral Decoration
+
+     By R. F. FELTON, F.R.H.S., F.N.C.S., etc. (Florist to the late King
+     Edward VII. and many Courts of Europe). 28 Full-Page Illustrations
+     (12 in Colour).
+
+
+William Callow
+
+     By H. M. CUNDALL, I.S.O., F.S.A. 22 Full-Page Illustrations in
+     Colour and Numerous Illustrations in the Text.
+
+
+Canterbury
+
+     By W. TEIGNMOUTH SHORE. Painted by W. BISCOMBE GARDNER. 20
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Chester
+
+     Painted by E. HARRISON COMPTON. Described by FRANCIS DUCKWORTH. 20
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+A History of the Church of England
+
+     By J. F. KENDALL, M. A. Illustrated from Autochromes of the Church
+     Pageant taken by ERNEST C. ELLIOTT. 24 Full-Page Illustrations (16
+     in Colour).
+
+
+Country Sketches for City Dwellers
+
+     By MRS. WILLINGHAM RAWNSLEY. 16 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Dutch Bulbs & Gardens
+
+     Painted by MIMA NIXON. Described by UNA SILBERRAD & SOPHIE LYALL.
+     24 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Edinburgh
+
+     Painted by JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I. Described by ROSALINE MASSON. 21
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+English Costume
+
+     Painted and Described by DION CLAYTON CALTHROP. In Four Sections,
+     each containing 18 to 20 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour, and
+     many Illustrations in the text: Section I. Early English--II.
+     Middle Ages--III. Tudor and Stuart--IV. Georgian, etc. Price 7s.
+     6d. net each.
+
+
+Eton
+
+     Painted by E. D. BRINTON. Described by CHRISTOPHER STONE. 24
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Eton from a Backwater (Portfolio)
+
+     Painted by H. E. LUXMORE. 12 Coloured Plates.
+
+
+Gardens of England
+
+     Painted by BEATRICE PARSONS. Described by E. T. COOK. 20 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Garden that I Love
+
+     By ALFRED AUSTIN (_Poet Laureate_). Painted by GEORGE S. ELGOOD,
+     R.I. 16 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Charm of Gardens
+
+     Text by DION CLAYTON CALTHROP. 32 Full Page Illustrations in Colour
+     (Size 9-1/2 X 7 ins.).
+
+
+Geneva
+
+     Painted by J. HARDWICKE LEWIS and MAY HARDWICKE LEWIS. Described by
+     FRANCIS GRIBBLE. 20 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Grouse and Grouse Moors
+
+     Painted by CHARLES WHYMPER, F.Z.S. Text by GEORGE MALCOLM and
+     CAPTAIN AYMER MAXWELL. 16 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour (Size
+     Large Crown 8vo.).
+
+
+Haunts of Ancient Peace
+
+     By ALFRED AUSTIN (_Poet Laureate_). Painted by AGNES LOCKE. 20
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Heart of Scotland
+
+     Painted by SUTTON PALMER. Described by A. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF. 24
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour. (Size 10-1/4 × 7-1/2 ins.)
+
+
+Inns of Court
+
+     Painted by GORDON HOME. Described by CECIL HEADLAM. 20 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Isle of Man
+
+     Painted by A. HEATON COOPER. Described by W. RALPH HALL CAINE. 20
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Isle of Wight
+
+     Painted by A. HEATON COOPER. Described by A. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF. 24
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Lamia's Winter Quarters
+
+     By ALFRED AUSTIN (_Poet Laureate_). Painted by GEORGE S. ELGOOD,
+     R.I. 16 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour, and 13 Head and Tail
+     Pieces by WILLIAM SCOTT.
+
+
+Lausanne
+
+     Painted by J. HARDWICKE LEWIS and MAY HARDWICKE LEWIS. Described by
+     FRANCIS H. GRIBBLE. 24 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Letters from the Holy Land
+
+     By LADY BUTLER, Painter of "The Roll Call." 16 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour by LADY BUTLER.
+
+
+Liége and the Ardennes
+
+     Painted by A. FORESTIER. Described by G. W. T. OMOND. 20 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+London
+
+     Text by A. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF. 32 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour
+     (Size 9-1/2 × 7 ins.).
+
+
+The Tower of London
+
+     Painted by JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I. Described by ARTHUR POYSER. 20
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Flowers and Gardens of Madeira
+
+     Painted by ELLA DU CANE. Described by FLORENCE DU CANE. 24
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Malta
+
+     Painted by SIGNOR V. BORON. Described by FREDERICK W. RYAN. 20
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Middlesex
+
+     Painted by JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I. Described by A. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF.
+     20 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Montreux
+
+     Painted by J. HARDWICKE LEWIS. Described by FRANCIS H. GRIBBLE. 20
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+MOSCOW
+
+     Painted by F. DE HARNEN. Described by HENRY M. GROVE (H.M.'s Consul
+     at Moscow). 32 Full-Page Illustrations (16 in Colour).
+
+
+The New Forest
+
+     Painted and Described by MRS. WILLINGHAM RAWNSLEY. 20 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Nuremberg
+
+     Painted by ARTHUR GEORGE BELL. Described by MRS. A. G. BELL. 20
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
+
+     Translated by EDWARD FITZGERALD. Painted by GILBERT JAMES. Edited,
+     with notes, by REYNOLD ALLEYNE NICHOLSON, M.A. 16 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour. (Size 10-1/4 × 7-1/2 ins.)
+
+
+Pompeii
+
+     Painted by ALBERTO PISA. Described by W. M. MACKENZIE, M.A., F.S.A.
+     24 Full-Page Illustrations (20 in Colour).
+
+
+St. Petersburg
+
+     Painted by F. DE HAENEN. Described by S. DOBSON. 32 Full-Page
+     Illustrations (16 in Colour).
+
+
+Scottish Life and Character
+
+     Painted by H. J. DOBSON, R.S.W., A.R.C.A. Described by WILLIAM
+     SANDERSON. 20 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Our Life in the Swiss Highlands
+
+     By JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS and his daughter MARGARET. Painted by J.
+     HARDWICKE LEWIS. With a Preface by MRS. VAUGHAN (MARGARET SYMONDS).
+     22 Full-Page Illustrations (20 in Colour).
+
+
+The Homes of Tennyson
+
+     Painted by HELEN ALLINGHAM, R.W.S. Described by ARTHUR H. PATERSON.
+     20 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Days with Velasquez
+
+     By C. LEWIS HIND. 24 Full-Page Illustrations (8 in Colour and 16 in
+     Black and White).
+
+
+Westminster Abbey
+
+     Painted by JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I. Described by MRS. A. MURRAY SMITH.
+     21 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Winchester
+
+     Painted by WILFRID BALL, R.E. Described by the REV. TELFORD VARLEY,
+     M.A., B.SC. 24 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Windsor
+
+     Painted by GEORGE M. HENTON. Described by SIR RICHARD RIVINGTON
+     HOLMES, K.C.V.O. 20 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Worcestershire
+
+     Painted by THOMAS TYNDALE. Described by A. G. BRADLEY. 24 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Wye
+
+     Painted by SUTTON PALMER. Described by A. G. BRADLEY. 24 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Yorkshire Coast and Moorland Scenes
+
+     By GORDON HOME. 31 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Yorkshire Dales and Fells
+
+     Painted and Described by GORDON HOME. 20 Full-Page Illustrations in
+     Colour.
+
+
+Yorkshire Vales and Wolds
+
+     Painted and Described by GORDON HOME. 20 Full-Page Illustrations in
+     Colour.
+
+
+By Post, Price 6s. 4d. THE 6s. NET SERIES Size 7-1/2 × 5-1/4 ins.
+
+
+The Cotswolds
+
+     Painted by G. F. NICHOLLS. Described by FRANCIS DUCKWORTH. 24
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Upper Engadine
+
+     Painted by J. HARDWICKE LEWIS. Described by SPENCER C. MUSSON. 24
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Galloway
+
+     Painted by JAMES FAED, Jun. Described by J. M. SLOAN. 24 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Ireland
+
+     Painted by FRANCIS S. WALKER, R.H.A. Described by FRANK MATHEW. 32
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Jamaica
+
+     Painted by A. S. FORREST. Described by JOHN HENDERSON. 24 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Kew Gardens
+
+     Painted by T. MOWER MARTIN, R.C.A. Described by A. R. HOPE
+     MONCRIEFF. 24 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Liverpool
+
+     Painted by J. HAMILTON HAY. Described by WALTER SCOTT. 25 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+The Norwegian Fjords
+
+     Painted and Described by A. HEATON COOPER. 24 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Paris
+
+     By MORTIMER MENPES. Text by DOROTHY MENPES. 24 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour and numerous Line Illustrations in the
+     Text.
+
+
+The Peak Country
+
+     Painted by W. BISCOMBE GARDNER. Described by A. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF.
+     24 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+Tyrol
+
+     Painted by E. HARRISON COMPTON. Described by W. A. BAILLIE-GROHMAN.
+     24 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour.
+
+
+BLACK'S BEAUTIFUL BOOKS
+
+ALL WITH FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+FOR ANGLERS
+
+By Post, Price 7s. 11d. PRICE 7s. 6d. NET EACH Size 8 x 5-1/2 ins.
+
+
+Fishermen's Weather
+
+     Edited by F. G. AFLALO. Opinions and Experiences by 100 well-known
+     Anglers. Containing 8 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour from
+     Pictures by CHARLES WHYMPER, F.Z.S.
+
+
+Trout Fishing
+
+     By W. EARL HODGSON. Third Edition. Containing Frontispiece and a
+     Model Book of Flies in Colour.
+
+
+Salmon Fishing
+
+     By W. EARL HODGSON. Containing 8 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour,
+     including Model Cases of 74 Varieties of Salmon Flies, and 10
+     Full-Page Reproductions from Photographs.
+
+
+
+MISCELLANEOUS
+
+
+China
+
+     Painted by MORTIMER MENPES. Text by THE HON. SIR HENRY ARTHUR
+     BLAKE, G.C.M.G. 16 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour and many Line
+     Drawings in the Text. Demy Quarto, Cloth, Gilt Top.
+
+     PRICE 5s. NET; by Post, Price 5s. 6d.
+
+
+The Ramparts of Empire
+
+     Painted by NORMAN L. WILKINSON. Text by FRANK FOX. 12 Full-Page
+     Illustrations in Colour. Large Crown Octavo, Cloth.
+
+     PRICE 5s. NET; by Post, Price 5s. 4d.
+
+
+Oriental Carpets, Runners and Rugs, and some Jacquard Reproductions
+
+     By SYDNEY HUMPHRIES. 24 Full-Page Reproductions in Colour and 8
+     Full-Page Illustrations in Black and White. Demy Quarto, Cloth,
+     Gilt Top.
+
+     PRICE £2 2s. NET; by Post, Price £2 2s. 9d.
+
+
+Gainsborough
+
+     Engraved by MORTIMER MENPES. Text by JAMES GREIG, R.H.A. 15
+     Full-Page Examples of the Master's Work in Colour-Facsimile.
+     Imperial Quarto, Cloth, Gilt Top. (Size 15 X 11 inches.)
+
+     PRICE £3 3s. NET; by Post, Price £3 3s. 9d.
+
+
+THE "MOTOR ROUTES" SERIES
+
+By GORDON HOME
+
+
+The Motor Routes of England
+
+A Guide to the Beautiful Scenery and Interesting Localities in the
+Country
+
+
+SOUTHERN SECTION (South of the Thames)
+
+     Large Crown Octavo. Containing 24 Full-Page Illustrations in
+     Colour, and 45 Sketch Maps in the Text.
+
+WESTERN SECTION
+
+     Large Crown Octavo. Containing 24 Full-Page Illustrations in Colour
+     and 42 Sketch Maps in the Text.
+
+_In preparation._
+
+Cloth, Each Price 5s. Net (by Post, Price 5s. 5d.); Leather, Each Price
+7s. 6d. Net (by Post, Price 7s. 11d.)
+
+
+The Motor Routes of France. Part I.
+
+To the Châteaux Country, Biarritz, The Pyrenees, The Riviera, and the
+Rhone Valley
+
+     Large Crown Octavo. Containing 16 Full-Page Illustrations in
+     Colour, 16 in Black and White, and 63 Maps and Plans.
+
+Cloth, Price 5s. Net (by Post, Price 5s. 5d.); Leather, Price 7s. 6d.
+Net (by Post, Price 7s. 11d.)
+
+
+Rembrandt
+
+     By MORTIMER MENPES. With an Essay on the Life and Work of Rembrandt
+     by C. LEWIS HIND. Demy Quarto, Cloth, Gilt Top(11 × 8-1/2 inches).
+     16 Examples of the Master's Work, Reproduced in Colour-Facsimile by
+     a Special Process.
+
+     PRICE 12s. 6d. NET; by Post, Price 13s.
+
+
+The Lady of the Lake
+
+     By SIR WALTER SCOTT. Large Crown Octavo, Cloth, Gilt Top. 50
+     Full-Page Illustrations (8 of them in Colour, from Paintings by
+     SUTTON PALMER).
+
+     PRICE 5s. NET
+
+     By Post, Price 5s. 5d.
+
+
+The Practical Angler
+
+Or, The Art of Trout Fishing, more particularly applied to Clear Water
+
+     By W. C. STEWART. Large Crown Octavo, Cloth. Containing Coloured
+     Facsimiles of the Flies used by Mr. STEWART (6 Plates).
+
+     PRICE 3s. 6d. NET
+
+     By Post, Price 3s. 10d.
+
+
+_THE "PORTRAIT BIOGRAPHIES" SERIES_.
+
+Sir Henry Irving
+
+     By MORTIMER and DOROTHY MENPES. Containing 8 Portraits of Irving in
+     Colour. (Size 6-1/4 × 4 ins.)
+
+     PRICE 2s. NET
+
+     By Post, Price 2s. 3d.
+
+
+THE "PEOPLES OF MANY LANDS" SERIES
+
+Each Large Fcap. Quarto (9 × 7-1/2 ins.). Cloth, Price 5s. net each;
+  by Post, Price 5s. 4d.
+
+
+The People of Holland
+
+     Painted by NICO JUNGMAN. Containing 32 Full-Page Plates in Colour,
+     Tipped on Grey Mounts, and the Interleaves with Descriptive Notes
+     Quaintly Ornamented.
+
+
+The People of Egypt
+
+     Painted by LANCE THACKERAY. Containing 32 Full Page Plates in
+     Colour, Tipped on Grey Mounts, and the Interleaves, with the
+     Descriptive Notes Illustrated with Thumb-nail Sketches in Black and
+     White.
+
+
+The People of India
+
+     Painted by MORTIMER MENPES. Containing 32 Full-Page Plates in
+     Colour, Tipped on Grey Mounts.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] "Infernal _anis_," says the advertisement, "made from the worst
+wines of the Priorato, is neither tonic, digestive, nor restorative,
+and has never been commended at any exhibition."
+
+[2] Literally "Tubs", the solid semicircular bastions of Spanish town
+walls.
+
+[3] A collegiate church, intermediate in dignity between a parish
+church and a cathedral.
+
+[4] A public promenade, thickly planted with trees.
+
+[5] A Spanish league is about an hour's march, say 3-3/4 miles.
+
+[6] At one place it consisted of a huge earthenware bowl, 3 feet high
+and 4 feet in diameter, filled up solid with earth to within 4 inches
+of the rim.
+
+[7] Here died ----.
+
+[8] See p. 140.
+
+[9] See p. 140.
+
+[10] This monastery is a very notable Leonese monument, a masterpiece
+of _Plateresque_, somewhat similar to the _Otto Heinrichs Bau_ at
+Heidelberg, and formerly the property of the knights of Santiago.
+
+[11] Astorga = _Ast_urica _Aug_usta.
+
+[12] Literally the "House of Purification," _i.e._ the Great Mosque of
+Córdova.
+
+[13] There is something of the same flavour about the inscription on
+the Gates of the _Hospital del Rey_ at Burgos; "Blessed is the man that
+provideth for the sick and needy, St James (!) shall deliver him in the
+time of trouble."
+
+[14] The fate most dreaded by the Spanish prisoners in the Moorish wars.
+
+[15] Borrow stigmatises Betánzos as a filthy and evil-smelling
+pest-house. But then his horse broke down there. So much depends upon
+the point of view!
+
+[16] See page 142.
+
+[17] /p "Who would not give a foot of ground For all the Devils in
+Hell."--_Ballad of Lord Willoughby._ p/
+
+[18] A cant term for knifing. The Neapolitan had a standing feud with
+Spain.
+
+[19] The proverb is still quite current. A carrier of whom we inquired
+the distance to Zamora oracularly answered that "It could never be
+gained in an hour."
+
+[20] See p. 60.
+
+[21] The recognised Spanish title for the Host.
+
+[22] Presbytery.
+
+[23] "Here's to the glorious, pious and immortal memory of the great
+and good King William, who delivered us from Popery, brass money, _and
+wooden shoes_!"
+
+[24] _Arriero_, from _arré_! gee-up!
+
+[25] As in Italian, the diminutive is a sort of endearing form of
+superlative.
+
+[26] They were built at the end of the eleventh century. A singularly
+fine bit of work for so early a date.
+
+[27] Moore was at Salamanca and his artillery at Talavera when Napoleon
+reached Madrid.
+
+[28] The burial-place of the Kings of Aragon.
+
+[29] See p. 261.
+
+[30] Such is the meaning of the word, but I would not like to vouch for
+the etymology. The derivation is possibly the other way.
+
+[31] The tiny mosque of _San Cristo de la Luz_ is the only genuine
+Moorish fragment. The _Puerta del Sol_, the church of _Sta Maria la
+Blanca_, etc., are _Mudéjar_ work. Cp. note on p. 208.
+
+[32] _I.e._ "Citadel," _Cæsareum_.
+
+[33] James Howell in 1620 estimates the annual income of Toledo at
+£100,000, a sum equivalent to nearly half a million to-day.
+
+[34] Metal screens and reliquaries.
+
+[35] He has only a statue at Toledo; but his actual grave has a
+scarcely less honourable site in _las Huelgas_ at Búrgos.
+
+[36] The _Mozárabes_ were Christians under the dominion of the Moors,
+as _Mudéjares_ were Moors under the dominion of the Christians.
+
+[37] Several such herds were seized by the hungry regiments in the
+course of the retreat.
+
+[38] Heywood, _Fair Maid of the West_.
+
+[39] The country people invariably reckon in _reals_--the old coinage.
+The piece is no longer struck, but its value is one-fourth of a
+_peseta_.
+
+[40] Some call it eighty-one. But this includes some arches of
+construction in the spandrils, and is not fair counting.
+
+[41] Cp. p. 55.
+
+[42] The province derives its name from the conquests "beyond the
+Duero" won in the earlier stages of the struggle with the Moors.
+
+[43] _Noche Toledana_ is proverbial in Spanish as equivalent to a
+sleepless night.
+
+[44] The _Octroi_ office, to receive the city tolls.
+
+[45] Trajan was a Spaniard born, and his reign an extremely prosperous
+period for Spain.
+
+[46] "The Vineyard," a lovely dismantled monastery planted beside the
+Eresma, just underneath the town.
+
+[47] Montaigne.
+
+[48] _E.g._ Talavera, first Archbishop of Grenada, and Peter Martyr,
+the Confessor and Biographer of Isabella.
+
+[49] The beautiful _Huerta_ of Liria is the only district actually
+praised.
+
+[50] Cp. p. 207.
+
+[51] Cp. p. 151.
+
+[52] The place of execution at Seville.
+
+[53] Cp. p. 132.
+
+[54] The ambiguity would not be apparent to a Spaniard. To him
+_Invierno_, "Winter," is the assonym to _Infierno_, "Hell."
+
+[55] The "Silversmith style," or early Spanish Renaissance. So called
+from the Cellini-like carving which is its leading characteristic.
+
+[56] The Emperor of Morocco; at this time the martial Yakub aben Yussef.
+
+[57] Cp. note on p. 265.
+
+[58] See p. 281.
+
+[59] See p. 161.
+
+[60] "A ha'penny for bread." The _perrita_ or "little dog" = a
+halfpenny, and the _perro gordo_ or fat dog = a penny. Thus "Two reals
+minus a little dog" is 45 _centimos_. The animal irrelevantly called a
+"dog" is the lion on the reverse of the coin.
+
+[61] _Certosa._ Charterhouse.
+
+[62] This incident has been utilised by Conan Doyle in his _White
+Company_. But that story rather exaggerates the height and steepness of
+the hill.
+
+[63] During the sitting of the Congress of Dresden.
+
+[64] A highly developed form of Fives.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Northern Spain, by Edgar T. A. Wigram
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44490 ***
diff --git a/44490-h.zip b/44490-h.zip
deleted file mode 100644
index 82fc875..0000000
--- a/44490-h.zip
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/44490-h/44490-h.htm b/44490-h/44490-h.htm
index ddabb9b..bfa256a 100644
--- a/44490-h/44490-h.htm
+++ b/44490-h/44490-h.htm
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
   <head>  <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" />
-<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
 <title>
   The Project Gutenberg eBook of Northern Spain, by Edgar T. A. Wigram.
 </title>
@@ -125,43 +125,7 @@ background-color:#ffffff;font-variant:normal;font-style:normal;font-weight:norma
 </style>
   </head>
 <body>
-
-
-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Northern Spain, by Edgar T. A. Wigram
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: Northern Spain
-
-Author: Edgar T. A. Wigram
-
-Release Date: December 23, 2013 [EBook #44490]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTHERN SPAIN ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images available at The Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44490 ***</div>
 
 <hr class="full" />
 
@@ -10004,385 +9968,6 @@ steepness of the hill.</p></div>
 
 <hr class="full" />
 
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Northern Spain, by Edgar T. A. Wigram
-
-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTHERN SPAIN ***
-
-***** This file should be named 44490-h.htm or 44490-h.zip *****
-This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
-        http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/4/9/44490/
-
-Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images available at The Internet Archive)
-
-
-Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
-will be renamed.
-
-Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
-one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
-(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
-permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
-set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
-copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
-protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
-Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
-charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
-do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
-rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
-such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
-research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
-practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
-subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
-redistribution.
-
-
-
-*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
-
-THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
-
-To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
-Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
-http://gutenberg.org/license).
-
-
-Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works
-
-1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
-(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
-all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
-If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
-terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
-entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
-
-1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
-paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
-and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
-works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
-
-1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
-or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
-collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
-individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
-located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
-copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
-works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
-are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
-Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
-freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
-this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
-the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
-keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
-Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
-
-1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
-what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
-a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
-the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
-before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
-creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
-Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
-the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
-States.
-
-1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
-
-1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
-access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
-whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
-phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
-copied or distributed:
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
-from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
-posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
-and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
-or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
-with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
-work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
-through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
-Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
-1.E.9.
-
-1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
-terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
-to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
-permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
-
-1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
-
-1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm License.
-
-1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
-word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
-distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
-"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
-posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
-you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
-copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
-request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
-form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
-
-1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
-that
-
-- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
-     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
-     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
-     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
-     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
-     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
-     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
-     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
-     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
-     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
-     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
-     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
-
-- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
-     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
-     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-     License.  You must require such a user to return or
-     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
-     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
-     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
-
-- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
-     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
-     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
-     of receipt of the work.
-
-- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
-     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
-
-1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
-forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
-both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
-Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
-Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
-
-1.F.
-
-1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
-public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
-collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
-works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
-"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
-corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
-property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
-computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
-your equipment.
-
-1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
-of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
-fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
-DAMAGE.
-
-1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
-written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
-your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
-the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
-refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
-providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
-receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
-is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
-opportunities to fix the problem.
-
-1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
-WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
-WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
-
-1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
-If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
-law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
-interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
-the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
-provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
-
-1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
-providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
-with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
-promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
-harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
-that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
-or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
-work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
-Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
-
-
-Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
-including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
-because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
-people in all walks of life.
-
-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
-assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
-remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
-To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
-and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
-and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
-
-
-Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
-Foundation
-
-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
-Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
-number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
-http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
-Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
-permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
-
-The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
-Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
-throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
-809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
-business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
-information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
-page at http://pglaf.org
-
-For additional contact information:
-     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
-     Chief Executive and Director
-     gbnewby@pglaf.org
-
-
-Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
-Literary Archive Foundation
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
-spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
-freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
-array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
-status with the IRS.
-
-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
-States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
-with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
-SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
-particular state visit http://pglaf.org
-
-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
-approach us with offers to donate.
-
-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
-outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
-
-Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
-methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
-To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
-
-
-Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
-works.
-
-Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
-concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
-with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
-Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
-
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
-editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
-unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
-keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
-
-
-Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
-
-     http://www.gutenberg.org
-
-This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
-
-
-</pre>
-
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44490 ***</div>
 </body>
 </html>