Vlorc^^WortL oyp 3K 57a CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE WORDSWORTH COLLECTION m LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT RE^SWENCE SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. t (L WRITTEN DURING A SHORT RESIDENCE IV SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, ROBERT SOUTHEY. WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF SPANISH AND PORTUGUEZE POETRY. BRISTOL; PRINTED BY BULGIN AND ROSSER, 70R JOSEPH COTTLE, BRISTOL, AND G. G. AND J. RQBINSON, AND CADELL AND DAVIES, LONDON. ■ ^797' l(r/^Z ^ 2 2,( ^y i RMC % PREFACE. Xn the following letters I have related what I have feen. Of the anecdotes with which they abound, there are none of which I myfelf doubt the authenticity. There are no difquifitions on commerce and politics ; I have given fads, and the Reader may comment for himfelf. My poetical imitations are made with freedom, but I have always done juftice to the originals by annexing them. The want of proper types obliged me to adopt in the Portugueze the improve- ment of the Spanifh Academy, and change the c fubfcribed into z. Where I have copied from early writers, the early fpelling is preferved. The journal of my road is minute : — this minutenefs will be ufeful to thofe a who vi PREFACE. ' who may travel the fame way, and pleafant to fuch as are already acquain- ted with it. I have reprefented things as they ap- peared to me. If any one better informed than I am fhould find me erroneous, I fhall beg him to apply this ftory : A friend of mine landed at Falmouth with a Ruffian who had never before been in England. They travelled to- -.-^^ gether to Exeter ; on the way the Ruf- ^B fian faw a dire61ing-poft, of which the infcription was effaced. " I did not think till now (faid he) that you eredfed Crucifixes in England." His companion re6lified the error, and feeing clofe by it the waggon diredion, *' take off here," he added — " had you returned home with this miflake, you would have faid not only that the Englifh erefted Croffes by the way-fide, but that flones were placed telling the paffenger where to take off his hat, and where it was permitted him to put it on again." CON- CONTENTS. LETTER I. PAGE V OYAGE to Coruna. Appearance of the Gali- cian Coafl. Cuftom-houfe. Accommodations. Carts at Coruna. - - i 'i LETTER IL Theatre. Drefs. Maragatos. Jealoufy of the Government. "Walk among the Mountains, Monumental Croffes. Tower of Hercules. Mif- cellaneous Remarks. - - - 9 LETTER in. Tale from the Silva Curiofa. Epitaph. Departure from Coruna. Road to Betanzos. Travelling accommodations. Scenery of Galicia. Griteru. Bamonde. - - - 24 LETTER IV. Lugo. Eifhop's palace. Ignorance of the Spanifh Clergy. Obfervations on the praftice of con- feffion. Biography. - - 41 LETTER viii CONTENTS. LETTER V. PAGE. Men degenerated. St. Juan de Corbo, Marillas. Puente del Corzul. Lugares. Familiarity of the Spanifti poor. Spanifli fyftem of univerfal fra- ternity. Caftro. Bee-hives. Road to Villa Franca. Palace of the Duke of Alva. Melan- choly hiflory of a widow. - - 5^ LETTER VL Carcabalos. Ponferrada. Manners of the Muleteers. Travelling accidents. Hofpitality of the Barber at St. Miguel de las Duenas. His library. Su- perftition. Chriftmas day. Manzanar. - 65 LETTER VIL Situation of Gil Bias' cavern. Aftorga. Chriftmas dinner prorogued. Caftle there. Baneza. Pu- ente de Bifana. Benevente. Caftle of the Duke of Offuna. - - _ LETTER VIII. Road to Tordefdlas. Juan de Padilla. Medina del Campo. Infcriptions. Arebalo. Embargo ex- plained. Funda San Rafael. Guadarama. Ap- proach to Madrid. - - _ 79 92 LETTER CONTENTS. ix LETTER IX. PAGE. Madrid. Mifcellanebus obfervations. Royal Re- creations. - - . io8 Effay on the Poetry of Spain and Portugal. 121 Analyfis of La Hermofura de Angelica. >• 131 LETTER X. Queen of Spain. Mufeum. Fiefta de Novillos. Progrefs of French principles. 167 LETTER XL Departure from Madrid. Talaveyra de la Reyna. Road to Naval Moral. . - _ 1^5 LETTER XIL' Foreft of the Efcurial Friars. Royal travelling. Almaraz. Puente de Almaraz. Jarayzejo. Trux- illo. Propriety of public infcriptions. Epitaph on Charles V. Tale of a Spanifli ^Eroftator. - 200 LETTER XIIL Santa Cruz. Depopulation of the Province of Ef- tremadura, Miajadas. Merida. Talaveruela. Badajos. Royal tent of Portugal. Elvas. 229 LETTER X CONTENTS. - LETTER XIV. 1 PAGE Eftremos; Arroyolos. Montemor. Syftem of Hel- 1 vetius. Travelling misfortunes. Ventas Silvey- ^^M ras. Ventas Novas. A Romeria. Aldea Gal- V| lega. Arrival at Lifbon. - - 245 LETTER XV. Earthquake. Obfervations on the City. Meeting of the two Courts. 260 LETTER XVL fl Refleftions on the Monaftic life. Story of an Eng- 1 lifh Captain. Inftitutions fomewhat fimilar to Nunneries wanted in England. 27J LETTER XVn. : Portugueze account of the antiquity, climate, popu- lation, and people of Portugal. The nine ex- < cellencies of the Portugueze language. National enmity and charafleriftic differences. Hiftory of the prefent war as relating to Portugal, 280 LETTER XVIIL ■ Adventure of Rodrigo in the Enchanted Tower. Sermon on the expulfion of the Morifcoes. - 292 • LETTER » fl CONTENTS. XI PAGE LETTER XIX. Jews, Lift of Penitents at the laft Auto da Fe; - 311 LETTER XX. Madrigals. Catharine of Portugal. 326 Account of Carlos Reduzido. 331 LETTER XXL Affidavit of a ftone falling from the air. Want of lamps. Beggars. Provifions. Vermin. Super- ftition. Anecdotes. Snow. - - 355 LETTER XXIL Mode of butchering cattle. Anecdote from Berchtold. Leopold Berchtold. Radji. 365 LETTER XXIIL Barbary corn. Almada Hill. Moorifh part of Lif- bon. Lent proceffions. 373 LETTER XXIV. Robberies. Church robberies. New Convent. St, Anthony. Pombal. Duke of Aveiro. Ajuda. Palace. Patriarchal Church, Watermen, Mu- feum. Menagerie. • - - - 39* MEMORIAL ON THE STATE OF PORTUGAL - 408 LETTER 1 xii CONTENTS. LETTER XXV. PAGE Road to Setuval. Arrabida Convent ; its origin and fituation. Cavern of St. Catherine. Convent of Brancanaz. _ , . 464 LETTER XXVL Paftoral romances. Portugueze Epic Writers. Tranflations from the Enghfh. Medical igno- rance. Mufic of the Siege of Gibraltar. Opera. Latin vi^riters. . - - 489 LETTER XXVII. Good Friday. Ealler Sunday. Emperor of the Holy Ghoft. Englifh Nuns. Monaftic anecdotes, 497 LETTER XXVIII. Cintra. Infcriptions on the rock. Palace. Penha Verde. Cork Convent. - - 509 LETTER XXIX. Poem on Cintra. Sebaftianifts. Fifhing boats. Police. Executions. Funerals. Purgatory. Englifh burying-grpund. Sepulchral infcripr tions. - - - 518 LETTER XXX. Hufband of Madame Tallien. Talafli. Prince of Brazil. Diflike of French principles ; of Eng- lifh influence. - - - - 537 INDEX INDEX TO THE POETRY. PAGE Retrofpeftive Mufings, - XV ii Epitaph on an Aftrologer, from the Spanilh, 27 Lines written on Monte Salgueiro, 35 The Mufical Afs, by Yriarte, 48 Sonnet, - - 57 Lines upon the Widow of Vilja Franca, 63 Lines upon Chriftmas Day, 76 To a Lock of Hair, by George of Montemayor, 87 Infcription for a Monument, where Juan de Pa- dilla fuffered death, - - - 95 Sonnet by Lope de Vega, 120 Extrafts from " The Beauty of Angelica," by Lope de Vega, - 135*138,141 5 147 Epigram on the Real Prefence, by Luis de Leon, - 179 Sonnet on the Real Prefence, by Luis de Leon, - 181 Extempore lines on quitting the Inquifition, by Luis de Leon, . - 184 To ZephyruSj by Efteban Manuel de Villegas, 197 Dialogue between an Athenian Philofopher and a Chriftian Theologian, by Alonfo de Le- defma, - - . _ 215 Infcription for a Column at Truxillo, 225 Sonnet, by Bartolome Leonardo, 231 Ode, - - - 248 Infcription for a Bull of Danton, imitated from Gongora, _ - - 270 Ode from Luis de Leon, 296 '^■^^l Madrigal from Quevedo, - - - 326 Madrigal fl xlv ^ INDEX TO THE POETRY. PAGE Madrigal to St. Stephen, from JerOnymo Bahia, - 328 Extrafts from Carlos Reduzido, - 333, 336, 340, 343, To a Stream from Villegas, - - 370 Old Spanifh Ballad, - - - 383 Infcription for a Tablet near the Arrabida Con- vent, from Francifco Manuel, - - 469 Mufings after vifiting the Convent of Arrabida, 476 ExtraQ; from the Caramuru, • - 488 Sonnet from the French of Madame Montreuil, - 502 Epitaph on D. Joaon de Caftro, from the Latin, - 516 The Dancing Bear, by Yriarte, - - 549 TABLE TABLE OF DISTANCES. From Coruna to Betanzos leagues. 3l Griteru 5 Bamonde s Ravadi 2 Lugo 2 St. Juan de Corbo H Marillas 3 3 2 Lugares Caftro - _ _ Herrerias Villa Franca 3i 3i Carcabalos 1 Ponferrada 3 St. Miguel de las Duenas - ih Benveveria 2i Manzanar 3 4 4 Aftorga Baneza Puente de Bifana Jt 3 3h Benevente Villalpando Villar de Frades U A Vega del Toro 4 2 Vega de Valdetroncos 1 Tordefillas 2 Ruada o Medina del Campo Artequines Aribalo Efpinofa 2 3 3 Is Labajos 8 4 Villa Caftin 2 Funda San Rafael 3 2 Guadarama Efcurial to the right Las Rofas 1 4 Madrid xvi TABLE OF DISTANCES. From Madrid to Mofloles Naval Carnero leagues. 3 Cafarubios - 2 Santa Cruz - 3 Chrifmunda - 1 ,; Maqueda Santa Olalla : I 1 Bravo - 2 Puente del Alverche - 3 ' Talaveyra de la Reyna Venta de Peralbanegas - 1 4 \ Torralva - I ;! Calzada de Oropefa Naval Moral - - 2§ 4 Almaraz - 3 Venta Nueva - 1 Las Cafas del Puerto Jarayzejo Truxillo - 2 4 uerto de Santa Cruz - 3 Miajadas San Pedro - 3 5 Merida _ 2 Lobon _ 3 Talavera la Real _ 2 Badajos - 3 3 Elvas Venta de Ponte Eftremos - 41 2 Venta del Duque Arroyolos Montemor ;- 3 3 3i Ventas Silveyras Ventas Novas - 2 Ventas de Pagoens- Atalaya Aldea Gallega - 3 4i i 2:3° Lifbon ii feparated from Aldea Gallega by diftance is about 12 miles. *^* The league is four miles Englilh. the T >gus. The [ xvii ] RETROSPECTIVE MUSINGS, WRITTEN JANUARY 15, 1797. OPAIN! ftill my mind delights to pidure forth Thy fcenes that I fhall fee no more, for there Moll pleafant were my wanderings. Memory's eye Still loves to trace the gentle Minho's courfe, And catch it's winding waters gleaming bright Amid the broken diftance. I review Leon's wild waftes and heights precipitous, Seen with ftrange feehngs of delight and dread As the flow mules along the perilous brink Faffed patient ; and Galicia's giant rocks And mountains cluftered with the fruitful pines, Whofe heads, dark-foliaged when all elfe was dim, Rofe o'er the diftant eminence diftind Crefting [ xviii ] Crefting the evening Iky. The rain falls thick. And damp and heavy is the unwholefome air; I by the cheerful hearth remember Spain, And tread with Fancy once again the ways Where, twelve months fince, I travelled on, and thought Of England, and of all my heart held dear. And wifh'd this day were come. The mills of morn (I well remember) hovered o'er the heath, When with the earlieft dawn of day we left The foiitary Venta. Soon the Sun Rofe in his glory : fcattered by the breeze The thin mifts roU'd away, and now emerged We faw where Oropefa's caftled hill Towered in the dim light dark ; and now we pad Torralva's quiet huts, and on our way Paus'd frequent, and look'd back, and gazed around, Then journeyed on, and paufed, and gazed again. It was a goodly Icene. The {lately pile Of Oropefa now with all its towers Shone in the fun-beam ; half way up the hill, Embowered in olives, like the abode of Peace, Lay Lagartina; and the cool frefti gale Bending the young corn on the gradual flope Play'd C xlx ] Play'd o'er its varying verdure. I beheld A Convent near, and my heart thought that they Who did inhabit there were holy men. For, as they look'd around them, all they faw Was very good. But, when the eve came on, How did the lovely landfcape fill my heart ! The near afcent arofe with little rocks Varied, and trees : the vale was wooded well With oaks now cheerful in their wintry leaves. And ancient cork-trees thro' their wrinkled barks Burfting, and the rich olive* underneath Whofe bleiTed fhade the green herb greener grows And fuller is the harvefl : many a ftream' That from the neighbouring hill defcended clear Wound vocal thro' the valley : the church tower Marking the haven near of that day's toil, Rofe o'er the wood. But ftill the charmed eye Dwelt lingering o'er Plafencia's fertile plain. And loved to mark the bordering mountain's fnow Pale-purpled as the evening dim decayed. The murmurs of the goat-herds fcattered flock Died on the quiet air, and failing flow The * The olive has the remarkable property of fertilizing the foil it grows on. [ XX ] The heavy ftbrk fought on the church-tower top His *fancy-ha]Iowed neil. Oh pleafant fcenes I With deep delight I faw you, yet my heart Sunk in me as the frequent thought would rife That here was none to love me. Often ftill I think of you, and Memory's myftic power Bids me re-live the paft ; and I have traced The fleeting vifions ere her myflic power Wax weak, and on the feeble eye of Age The faint-form'd fcenes decay. Befits me now Fix on Futurity the fteady ken. And tread with fteady ftep the onward road. * The ftork is held facred in Spain. LETTERS LETTERS FROM SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. ^t^J^ r.H..^r, «-^. „ LETTER I. CoRVNAj Sunday, Dec. i^i ^7S5* KJr the luxury of arriving at Tartarus, if the river Styx be as broad and as rough as the Bay of Bifcay, and Charon's boat accommo- dated like the Spanifh packet of Senor Don Raimundo Arufpini ! When I firft went on board, the mate was employed in cutting a crofs upon the fide of his birth, and the failors were feafting upon a mefsof bifcuit, onions, Kver, and horfe beans, boiled into a brown pap, which they were all pawing out of a bucket. The fame tafte and cleanlinefs of cookery were dis- played in the only dinner they aflForded us on the paflage; and the fame fpirit of devotion B made C » 3 made them, when the wind blew hard, turn in to bed and to prayers. The weather was bad and I was terrified ; but, though I had not a brafs heart, the ftiip had a copper bottom ;* and on the fifth morning we arrived in fight of Cape Finifterre. The coaft of Galicia prefented a wild and defolate profpeft; a long track of ftone moun- tains, one rifing above another, not a tree or bufli upon their barren fides; and the waves breaking at their bafe with fuch prodigious violence, as to be vifible many leagues diftant. The fun fhone over the land, and half hiding it by the morning mifts, gave a tranfitory beauty: If the eye cannot be filled by an objeQ of vafter fublimity than the boundlefs ocean, when be- held from fhore, neither can it ever dwell on a more delightful profpeQ: than that of land, dimly difcovered from the fea, and gradually grow- ing diftinft. We paffed by the little ifland feven leagues from Coruna, and one of our fellow paffengers who knew the country, ob- ferved * Illi robur et aes triplex Circa peftus erat, qui fragilem truci Commifit pelago ratcm Primus. Hor.- L 3 3 ferved, on pointing it out to us, that it was only inhabited by hares and rabbits. A Swede, (who had a little before obliged me with a lec- ture on the pronunciation of the Englilh lan- guage) made a curious blunder in his reply : ** As for de vimmin," faid he, '* dey may be very good — but de robers I Ihould not like at all." We dropt anchor in the harbour at one o'clock, as hungry as Englifhmen may be fup- pofed to be, after five days imprifonment in a Spanifti packet ; and with that eagernefs to be on fliore, which no one can imagine who has never been at fea. We were not, however, permitted to land, till we had received a vifit from the Cuftom-houfe Officers. To receive thefe men in office, it was neceffary that Sc- nor Don Raimundo Arufpini fliould pulchrify his perfon : after this metamorphofis took place, we were obliged to wait, while thefe unmerciful vifitors drank the Captain's por- ter, bottle after bottle, as faft as he could fupply them ; and though their official bufinefs did not occupy five minutes, it was five o'clock in the evening before we were fuffered to de- B 2 part, i: 4 ] part, 2Ltid even then we were obliged to leave our baggage behind us. Other places attraSl the eye of a traveller, but Coruna takes his attention by the nofe. My head ftill giddy from the motion of the fhip, is confufedby the multiplicity of novel objefts, —the drefs of the people — the proje£ting roofs and balconies of the houfes — the filth of the llrects, fo ftrange and fo difgufling to an Eng- lifhman : but, what is moft ftrange, is to hear a language which conveys to me only the melancholy refle^lion, that I am in a land of ilrangers. We are at the Navio (the Ship) a Po s a d a kept by an Italian. Forgive me for ufing the Spaniih name, that I may not commit blafphemy agalnft all Englifh pot-houfes. Our dinner was a fowl fried in oil, and ferved up in an attitude not unlike that of a frog, taken fuddenly -with a fit of the cramp. With this we had an omelet of eggs and garlic, fried in the fame execrable oil; and our only drink was a meagre wine, price about two-pence the bottle — value worfe than nothing, which by comparifon, exalts fmall beer C 5 3 beer into neBar, In this land of olives, they poifon you with the moft villainous oil ; for the fruit is fufFered to grow rancid before the juice is exprefled. You muft perceive that I write at fuch op- portunities as can be caught from my com* panions, for the room we fit in ferves likewife for the bed-chamber. It is now Monday morn^ ing, Oh, the mifery of the night ! I have been {ojlead, that a painter would find me an excel- lent fubje6t for the martyrdom of St, Bartholo^ niew. Jacob's pillow of ftone was a down cufhion, compared to that which bruifed my head laft night ; and my bed had al} poffible varieties of hill and vale, in wbofe recefles the fleas^lay fafe ; for otherwife I fhould inevitably have broken their bones by rolling over them» Our apartment is indeed furnift^ed with win- dows ; and he who takes the trouble to exJt" mine, may convince himfelf that they have once been glazed. The night air is very cold, and I have only one folitary blanket; but it is a very pretty one, with red and yellow ftrip^s. Add to this catalogue of comforts, that the cats were faying foft things in moft vile Spanifhj «^n4 [ 6 ] and you may judge what refrefhment I have received from fleep. At breakfaft they brought us our tea on a plate by way of cannifter, and fome butter of the country, pofitively not go-down- able. This however was followed by fome excellent choco- late, and I foon eftabliftied a plenum in my fyftem. The monuments of Spanifh jealoufy ftill re- main in the old houfes ; and the balconies of them are fronted with a lattice more thickly barred, than ever was hencoop in England. But jealoufy is out of faftiion at prefent ; and they tell me, an almoft univerfal depravity of manners has fucceeded. The men are a Jew-looking race; the little boys wear the monkey appendage of a tail ; and I fee infants with more feathers than ^^ fantaflic fine lady would wear at a ball. The women foon appear old, and then every feature fettles into fymmetry of uglinefs. If ever Opie paints another witch, he ought to vifit Coruna. All ideas that you can form by the help of blear eyes, mahogany complexion, C 7 3 complexion, and flirivelled parchment, muft fall infinitely ftiort of the life. Th^efe cuftom-houfe vermin ! Carrion crows do not love the fight of an army better than thefe fellows the arrival of a packet. They kept one of our companions five hours — un- rolled every fliirt, and handed a new coat round the room, that every body might look at the buttons ! We brought with us a round of falted beef undreffed, a cheefe, and a pot of butter for our journey; and they entered thefe in their books, and made us pay duty for them, as though we were merchants arrived with a cargo of provifions. I had been obliged to call on the Conful in my fea-drefs. If we had either of us regarded forms, this would have been very unpleafant : but I, as you well know, care little for thefe extraneous things; and Major Jardine is a man who attended more to the nature pf my opinions, than the quality of my coat. The carts here remind' me of the ancient Wi^r-cb^riots, and the men fland in them as they drive. They are drawn by two oxen, and C 8 ], and the wheels make a moft melancholy and deteftable difcord. The Governor of this town once ordered that they fliould be kept well oiled to prevent this ; but the drivers prefented a petition againft it, dating, that the oxen liked the found, and would not draw without it ; and therefore the order was revoked. A low wall is built all along the water-fide, to prevent fmuggling. This town is admirably paved J but its filth is aftoniflaing, when, with fo little trouble, it might be kept clean. In order to keep the balconies dry, the water- fpouts proje£l; very far : there are no vents left in the wall, and the water and the filth lie in the middle of the ftreets, till the fun dries, and the winds fweep them. The market-place is very good; and its fountain ornamented with a fine fquab-faced figure of Fame. The fountains are well contrived — the fpouts are placed fo high that no perfon can either dirt or deface them ; and they therefore fill their veflel by the me- dium of a long tube, fliaped like a tobacco- pipe. I apply C 9 ] I apply to the language ; it is very eafy, and with a little alTiftance I can underftand their poetry. This, you will fay, is beginning at the wrong end : but remember, that I am obliged to attend to profe in converfation ; and that " the cat will always after kind." Or, if you like a more claflical allufion, you knov\r. by what artifice Achilles was difcovered at the court of Lycomedes. Tvesday Evenings Dec. i^i '^"''-"'"' T"^' LETTER 11, Tuesday Nighti 1 AM juft returned from the Spanilh Comedy. The Theatre is painted with a muddy light blue, and a dirty yellow, without gilding, or any kind of ornament. The boxes are engaged by the feafon : and fubfcribers only, with their friends [ lO ] friends, admitted to them, paying a pefetta* each. In the pit are the men, feated as in a great arm'd chair ; the lower clafs ftand behind thefe feats : above are the women ; for the fexes are Separated, and fo ftriftly, that an officer was broke at Madrid, for intruding into the female places. The boxes, of courfe, hold family parties. The centre box, over the en- trance of the pit, is appointed for the magif- trates ; covered in the front with red fluff, and ornamented with the royal arms. The motto is a curious one, *' Silencio y no fumar." Silence and no fmoaking." The Comedy, of courfe, was very dull to one who could not underftand it. I was told that it contained fome wit, and more obfcenity ; but the only com- prebenfible joke to me, was '* Ah !" faid in a loud voice by one man, and *' Oh !" replied equally * 4 maravedis make i quarto. 8| quartos — i real. 4 reales — i pefetta. 5 pefettas — i dollar, or pefTo dure, value 4S. 6d. In froall fums they reckon by reales, in large ones, by dollars or doubloons. The doubloon is an imaginary coin, value three dollars. [ » ] equally loud by another, to the great amufe- ment of the audience. To this fucceeded a Comic Opera ; the charafters were reprefented by the moft ill-looking man and woman I ever faw. My Swedilh friend's ifland of hares and rabbits could not have a fitter king and queen. The man's drefs was a thread-bare brown coat lined with filk, that had once been white, and dirty corduroy waiftcoat and breeches; his beard was black, and his neckcloth and fhoes dirty : — but his face ! Jack-ketch might fell the reverfion of his fee for him, and be in no dan- ger of defrauding the purchafer. A foldier was the other charadler, in old black velveret breeches ; with a pair of gaters reaching above the knee, that appeared to have been made out of fome blackfmith's old leathern apron. A farce followed, and the hemp-ftretch man again made his appearance ; having blacked one of his eyes to look blind. M. obferved that he looked better with one eye than with two ; and we agreed, that the lofs of his head would be an addition to his beauty. The prompter Hands in the middle of the ftage, about halfway above it ; before a little tin fkreen, not unlike a man in a cheefe-toafter. He read the whole play with C " ] with the a6lors, in a tone of voice equally loud ; and, when one of the performers added a littl<3 of his own wit, he was fo provoked as to abufe him aloud, and ftiakc the book at him. Anotjier prompter made his appearance to the Operili, unfhaved, and dirty beyond defcrip- tion : they both ufed as much a6lion as the a6lors. The fcene that falls between the a6ls would difgrace a puppet-fliow at an Englifh fair ; on one fide is a hill, in fize and Chape like a fuglir-loaf, with a temple on the fummit, ex- a6lly like a watch-box ; on the other Parnaffus, with I'egafus ftriking the top in his flight, and fo gi'ff ing a fource to the waters of Helicon : but, fuch is the proportion of the horfe to the mountain, that you would imagine him to be only taking a flying leap over a large ant-hill; and think he would deftroy the whole oeconomy of ike ftate, by kicking it to pieces. Between the Mis lay a city ; and in the air fits a duck- legged Minerva, furrounded by flabby Cupids. I could fee the hair-drefling behind the fcenes : a child was fufl^ered to play on the ftage, and amufe himfelf by fitting on the fcene, and fwingiiig backward and forward, fo as to en- dangcF fetting it on fire. Five chandeliers were lighted [ »3 3 lighted by only twenty candles. To reyrefent night, they turned up two rough planks, about eight inches broad, before the ftage lamps 3 and the muficians, whenever they retired, ble.ry out their tallow candles. But the moft fioigular thing, is their mode of drawing up the curtain, A man climbs up to the roof, catches hold of a rope, and then jumps down ; the weight t)f his body raifing the curtain, and that of the curtain breaking his fall. I did not fee one a6lorwith a clean pair of flioes. The women wore in their hair a tortoife-fiiell comb to part it; the ba«ck of which is concave, and fo large as to refemble the front of a fmall bonnet. This would not have been inelegant, if their hair had been c3ean and without powder, or even appeared decent with it. I muft now to fupper. When a man muft diet on what is difagreeable, it is Ibme confolation to refle6t that it is wholefome ; and this is the cafe with the wine ; but the bread here is half gravel, owing to the foft natui.'e of their grind-flones. Inftead of tea, a man o ught to drinkAdams's folvent with his breakfafl:. Wednd^av, C H 1 Wednesday^ f I *met one of the a6lors this morning, equipped, as though he had juft made his def- ^ent in full drefs from the gibbet. The com- mon apparel of the women is a black fluff cloak, that covers the head, and reaches about half way down the back : fome wear it of white muflin ; but black is the moft common colour, and to me a very difagreeable one, as connefting the idea of dirt. The men drefs in different ways ; and, where there is this variety, no perfon is remarked as lingular. I walked about in my fea-fuit, without being taken notice of. There is, however, a very extraordinary race of men, diflinguiflied by a leathern jacket, in its form not unlike the ancient cuirass — the Maragatos, or carriers, Thefe people never intermarry with the other Spaniards, but form a feparate race : they cut their hair clofe to the head, and fometimes leave it in tufts, like flowers; Their countenances exprefs an opennefs which would be remarkable any where, and of ^courfe forms a flriking contraft to the national phyfiognomy. Their charafter correfponds to this ; for a Ma- ragato C '5 ] ragato was never known to defraud, or even to lofe any thing committed to his care. The churches here exhibit fome curious fpe- cimens of Mooriih architefture: but, as this is a fortified town, it is not fafe to be feen with , a pencil ! A poor emigrant prieft laft year^ walking juft without the town gates, turned round to look at the profpeft. He was ob- ferved, taken up on ^fufpicion of a defign to take plans of the fortifications, and aftually fent away ! I had a delightful walk this morning with the Conful, among the rude fcenery of Galicia : — - little green lanes, between ftony banks, and wild and rocky mountains ; and, although I faw neither meadows, or hedges, or trees, I was too much occupied with the new and the fub- Jime, to regret the beautiful. There were four ftone croffes in one of the lanes. I had heard of thefe monuments of murder, and therefore fufpefled what they were. Yet 1 felt a fudden gloom, at reading upon one of them, '* Here died Lorenzo, of Betanzos." About [ i6 ] About a mile from the town, I obferved a done building on an eminence, of a Angular conftm£lion. " Do you not know what it is ?'* faid Major J. I hefitated." If I were not in Spain, I fhould have thought it a wind-mill, on the plan of that at Batterfea. *' You are right," replied he : " this is the only one that has yet been attempted on the peninfula, and it does not fucceed. Erijaldi, who owns it, is an inge- nious, enterprifing man ; but, inftead of im- proving by his failure, his countrymen will be deterred by it from attempting to fucceed. Marco, another inhabitant of this town, has ventured on a bolder undertaking, and hitherto wjth better fortune ; he has eftabliftied a lineii manufa6lory, unpatronifed and unaffifted," Our walk extended to the higheft point of the hills about a league from Coruna. The view from hence commands the town, now feen fituated on a peninfula; the harbour, the Israter winding into the country, and the oppo* fite fhore of Ferrol, with the hills towards Cape Ortegal ; to the right, the fame barren and rocky ridge of hills continues ; to the left, the Bay of Bifcay, and the light houfe, or Tower of Hercules. C »7 3 Hercules. The infcrlption near this building is roofed, to preferve it from the weather ; but they take the opportunity of ftieltering cattle' under the fame roof, and their filth renders the infcription illegible. The tradition* is, that Hercules *The whole tale is in the Troy Boke, Book II. Chap. 22. entitled " How Hercules founded the city of Corogne upon the tomb of Gerion." ■ " When it was day, Hercules iffued. out of his galley, and beholding the Port, it feemed to him that a city would {land well there, and then he faid, that forth- with he would make one there, and concluded to begin it. He fent to all places, where he knew any people were thereabouts, and gave to each man knowledge that he was mindeid to make a city there, and the firft per- fon that would come to put hand thereto, fhould have the government thereof. This thing was known in Ga- licia. Many came thither, but a woman named Co- rogne was the firft that came ; and therefore Hercules gave unto her the ruling thereof, and named it Corogne, in remembrance of the viftory that he had there. Upon the body of Gerion he founded a tower, and by his art compofed a lamp, burning continually day and night, without putting of any thing thereto, which burned af- terwards the fpace of three hundred years. Moreover, upon the pinnacle or top of the tower, he made an image of copper, looking into the fea, and gave him in C his C >8 ] Hercules built the tower ; and placed in it a mirrorj fo conftru6led by his art magic, that all veflels his hand a looking-glafs having fuch virtue, that if it happened that any man of war on the fea came to harm the city fuddenly, their army and their coming fhould appear in this faid looking-glafs ; and that dured unto the time of Nebuchadonozar, who being advertifed of the property of the glafs, filled his galleys with white things and green boughs and leaves, that in the looking- glafs they appeared no other but a wood ; whereby the Corognians, not knowing of any other thing than their glafs {hewed to them, did not furnifh them with men of arms, as they had been accuftomed to when their enemies came, and thus Nebuchadonozar took the city in a morning, defhroying the looking-glafs and the lamp. When the tower was made, Hercules caufed to come thither all the Maids of the country, and willed them to make a folemn feaft in the remembrance of the death of Gerion. They who are not verfed in the black letter clafiics, will be furprifed to find Hercules metamorphofed into a Necromancer. I fubjoin one more fpecimen of his art magic. « After this Hercules went to the city Sala- manque, and foraftnuch as it was well inhabited, he ■would make there a folemn ftudy, and did make in the earth a great round hole in manner of a ftudy, and he fet therein the feven liberal fciences, with many other books* C »9 ] veffels in that fea, at whatever diftance, might be beheld in it.* books. Then he made them of the country to come thither to ftudy ; but they were fo rude and dull, that their wits could not romp rife any cunning of fcience. Then, forafmuch as Hercules would depart on his voyage, and would that his fludy were maintained, he made an image of gold unto his likenefs, which he did fet up on bigVi in the midft of his fludy, upon a pillar ; and mads fo by his art, that all they that came before this image, to have declaration of any fcience, to all purpofes and all fciences the image anfwered, inftrufted and taught the fcholars with fludents, as if it had been Hercules in his proper perfon. The renown of this ftudy was great in all the country, and this ftudy dured after the time that St. James converted Spain unto the Chriftian faith." Query. Has there ever been fo good a head of a Col- lege at Salamanca, fince it became a " feminary for the promulgation of found and orthodox learning?" *Don Jofeph Cornide, a member of the Royal Aca- demy of Hiftory, has publilhed his inveftigations con- cerning the watch tower. He gives the infcription thus : * MARTI AVG. SACR. G. SEVIVS LVPVS AR***TECTVS LVSITANVS EX V^ H«5 [ 20 3 We waited on the General of Gallcia, to pro- duce our paffports, and obtain permiffion to travel He fills up the fecond blank by Afluvienfis, and infer- ting from thence that the tower could not have been built before Vefpafian, becaufe no towns were called after the Flavian name, before the f lavian family ob- tained the empire, conjeftures it to have been the work of Trajan. In after ages it was ufed as a for- trefs; and thus the winding afeent on the outfide, Ivhich was wide enough for a carriage, was deftroyed. In this ruinous ftate it remained till towards the clofe of the lad century, when the Englifh and Dutch Con- fuls, refident in Coruna, prefented a memorial to the Duque de Uceda, then Captain General of the king- dom, ftating the benefit that would refult to the port if this tower was converted into a light - houfe, and propofing to raife a fund for repaying the expences, by a duty on all their fhips entering the harbour. In eon- fequence of this a wooden ftair-cafe was erefted within the building, and two turrets for the fires added to the fummit, Cornide fuppofes the following infcription, which is in his poileflion, to have been placed on this oceafion : LVPUS CONSTRVXIT EMV LANS MIRACULA MEMPHIS GRADIBVS STRAVIT YLAM LVSTRANS CACVMINE NAVES A more [ »1 ] travel with arms ; for, without permiflion, no man is in this country allowed to carry the means of felf-defence. I expeHed dignity and hauteur in a Spanifli Grandee, but found neither the A more complete repair was begun in the reign of Carlos III. Under the prefent King it has been con- cluded, and thefe inscriptions placed one over eaclj entrance ; CAROLI III. P, AVG. PP. PROVIDENTIA COLLEGIVM MERCATORVM GALLAECIAE NAVIGANTIVM JNCOLVMITATI REPARATIONEM VETVSTISSIMAE AD BRIGANTIAM PHARl D. S. INCHOAVIT CAROLI III. OPT. MAX, ANNO II. ABSOLVIT, The other is in Spanilh, REINANDO CARLOS IV, EL CONSULADO MARITIMO DE GALICIA pARA SEGURIDAD DE LOS NAVEGANTES CONCLUYO A SUS EXPENSAS EN pL ANO DE 1791 LA C " 3* the one nor the other. His palace is a paltry place ; and the portraits of the king and queen in his ftate-room, would be thought indifferent fign-poftsin England. I have been introduced to a poet and philo^ fopher. Tlie face of Akenfide was not diflin- guifhed by more genius, or the drefs of Diogenes by more dirt, than chara6lerifed my new ac- quaintance. We met at the Conful's this even- ing, and converfed a little in Latin ; not with- out difficulty, fo very different was our pro- nunciation. We talked of the literature of France and England, and their confequent in- telle6lual progrefs. We too fhould have done fomething in literature, faid he ; but, croffing his hands, we are fo fettered " ifta terribili in- quifitione I" by that terrible inquilition. This man had been a friar ; but, little liking a monaf- tic life, he went on foot to Rome; and, by means . of LA REPARACION DEL MUY ANTIGUO FARO DE LA CORUNA COMENZADA EN EL REINADO Y DE ORDEN DE CARLOS UL C *3 ] of money, procured a difpenfation from the Pope. He fpends his time now in philofophizing, and writing verfes. I found him a phyfiogno' mift, and our agreement in more important points was as exafl; as in thefe. One peculiarity of this country is, that in good houfes no perfon inhabits the ground floor. A warehoufe, a fhop, or more generally a liable, is under every private dwelling-houfe. The Conful's apartments are on the attic ftory ; and, when you ring the bell, the door is opened by a long ftring from above ; like the ** Open Sefame," in the Arabian Tales. We fat round a brazier, filled with wood embers ; and occa- (ionally revived the fire by a fan, made of thin chips ; while one of the company played on the guitar; an inftrument lefs difagreeable than moll others to one who is no lover of mufic ; becaufe it is not loud enough tp force his at-« tention, when he is not difpofed to give it. There are German {hops where almoft any thing may be procured. I could not, however, buy a Tilver fpoon without a filver fork ! There is a curiofity in the yard of our pofada, which, I am C u 3 I am told, is unique in Spain — the ruins of a temple of Cloacina ; a goddefs, whofe offerings are thrown into the llreet by this barbarous people, to the great fcandal of all who are ac- cullomed to the facred fecrecy of her myfteries. LETTER III. O 'F the following flrange tale, the fcene is not far from Coruna. I tranflate it from a Spanilh book of the date 1608: entitled La SJLVA CURIOSA De Julian de Medranq, Cavallero Navarro. and dedicated by him to his Sovereign, the pueen of Navarre. Being I n ] Being in Redpndella, they told me, that about fixty years ago, there dwelt in that place an Aftrologer To famous, and believed to be To in- fallible, that not only in Redondella, but in Vigo likewife, Pontevedra, and indeed through all Galicia, he was held in fuch eftimationj as if he had been another prophet Daniel. This aftro- loger was called Marcolpho ; and, as he was confulted by all the country round, he realized an ample maintenance, and married the daughter of a principal mariner; fo beautiful, that fhe was diftinguilhed by the name of the lovely Almena. They lived together with content and comfort. The fame of his beautiful wife, and his great riches, fpread every where ; and un- fortunately reached the ears of Sempronio, the moft cruel corfair who infefted thofe feas. Tempted by fuch a prey, he refolved to fpare no eiFort to obtain it. A favorable opportunity prefented itfelf. He learnt that the inhabitants of Redondella were about to celebrate the fcfr tival of a Saint, the patron of a church, that ftood about as far from the town, as an arrow can go, difcharged thrice from a crofs-bow : here the men feafted alone, becaufe they be- longed to a brotherhood : the women kept the feftivjil [.6 3 feftival in their lioufes. During the night, Sem- pronio arranged every thing. His fpies informed him, that the men had dined in the church, and were now amuiing themfelves with different fports, and the Aftrologer in the midft of them, telling fortunes. Hearing this, Sempronio and his companions entered the town, ftript the houfe of Marcolpho, carried off the chefl with the gold, and Almena ; forced her into a boat, and made immediately for the velfel. The alarm was given ; the men of Redondella haflened home for their arms ; and Marcolpho found his home empty. He ran to the fummit of a rock that overhangs the harbour ; from whence he beheld the veffel carrying away his Almena, In vain did the wretched man cry out ; and, tearing off his garments, fix them upon a pole, and make fignals to them to return. The pirate heard not his prayers and regarded not his gef- tures. Frantic with defpair, the miferable hufband threw himfelf head-long from the rock ; thus making a facrifice of his body to the fifhes, and of his foul to the infernal Devil. The peo- ple of Redondella grieved much for poor Mar- colpho ; and, as they could not bury him in holy ground, after they had found his body, they they made him a fepulchre under one of thofe rocks furrounded by the fea, which you cannot reach without a boat ; and placed this epitaph on the rock, in very old Spiinifti. Debaxo defle cachopo Yaze el cuerpo Cepultado, D'un adevino Aftriloco, Que fizo muerte de loco Pues quifo fer afFogado, Para otros fue fingular, Mas para el non fue fefudo ; Pues no fupo adevinar Que aqui fe avia d' afiFogar, Ni que avia de fer cornudo. Su muger la linda Almena, Fue robada por Sempronio Con dineros y cadena : Su cuerpo guarda la arena, L'anima llevo el Demonio, Viator no ay rogar a Deos por eu : Quia ab inferno nulla eft redemptio. Mas roga a Deos que te de mellor ventura. Traveller [ 28 ] Traveller ! beneath this unbleft rocl^ The poor Marcolpho lies, A wretched man ! though fkill'd to rea4 The wifdom of the fkies, Tq him the ftars their fecret ways Ofdeftiny made known ; Yet, though he knew his neighbour's fate^ He dreamt not of his own. His wife was ravifh'd from him by Sempronio, pirate evil! ^is body buried in the fand, His foul is with the Devil ! Traveller ! do not pray to God for him, Becaufe from hell there is no redemption ; But pray to God that hemay grant thee a better fate? Thursday Night. About two o'clock this afternoon, we left Coruna in a coach and six. As we fit in the carriage, our eyes are above the windows; which muft, of courfe, be admirably adapted for feeing the country. Our fix mules are har^ ne{re4 t 29 ] tiefffed only with ropes : the leaders and the tniddle pair are without reins ; and the nearell reined only with ropes. The two muleteers, or more properly, the Mayoral and Zagalj either fide on a low kind of box, or walk. The mules know their names, and obey the voice of their driver with aftonifhing docility : their heads are moft gaily bedizened with tufts and hanging firings of blue, yellow, and purple worfted : each mule has fixteen bells; fo that we travel more mufically, and almoft as faft, as a flying waggon. There are four reafons why thefe bells fliould be worn ; two Englifh reafons, and two Spanilh ones : they may be neceflary in a dark night ; and, where the roads^are narrow, they give timely warning to other travellers : thefe are the Engli/h reafons. The Spaniards' motives for ufing them are, that the mules like the mufic ; and that, as all the bells are marked with a crucifix, the Devil cannot come within hearing of the confecrated peal. I walked — for you know, I am what our friend T. calls a great pedestal. The road is excellent. It is one of thofe works in which Defpotifm applies its giant force to purpofes of C 30 3 of public utility. The villages we pafifed through were mean and dirty ; and the houfes are in that flile of building, with which the pencil of Gafpar Pouffin had taught me to aflbciate more ideas of comfort than I found realized. I was delighted with the wild and novel profpe6l : hills beyond hills, far as the eye could extend, part involved in fhadow, and the more diftant illumined by the weltering fun ; but no obje6t ever ftruck me as more pi6lurefque, than where a few branchlefs pines on the diftant eminences, crefted the light with their dark foliaged heads. The water winds into the country, forming in- numerable iflets of fand, and as we advanced, of mud, fometimes covered with fuch vege- tation as the tide would fuffer. We faw fig- trees and chefnuts, and palfed one little cop- pice of oaks, fcanty trees, and evidently ftrug- gling with an ungrateful foil. By the wayfide were many crucifixes for adoration, and I counted fix monumental croffes ; but it is pro- bable that moft of thefe monuments are over people, who have been murdered in fome pri- vate quarrel, and not by robbers. About half a mile before we reached Betanzos (our abode for the night), the road lies by the fide of the river [ 3« river Mandeo. It is a terrace upon low arches, through which many fmall currents pafs, wind under the hills, and interfed the pafture into lit- tle iflands. On the.other fide, the river fpreads into a fine expanfe of water: we beheld the fcene dimly by twilight, but perhaps this obfcu- rity heightened the beauty of the landfcape, by throwing a veil over its nakednefs. We are in a room with two beds, of which I have the choice, for both my companions carry their own. It was a cuftom among the ancients to commit themfelves to the prote6lion of fome appropriate deity, when about to undertake any difficult enterprize, or undergo any danger. Were I but a Pagan now, I would implore the aid of ZETS MTIOKOP02, or Jupiter Mufcarius, and fleep without fear of mulkitoes. But as this is the eighteenth century, there are but two fpi- ritual beings, whofe peculiar patronage could be of fervice : Beelzebub, or the Lord of Flies, is one ; whom I muft renounce, with all his works, even that of fly-flapping : the other power I can- not efcape, andmuft refignmyfelf to scratch for the night. The [ 30 The walls exhibit faints in profufion, a fculp- tured crucifix, and a print perhaps worth de- fcribing. The Virgin Mary forms the maft of one ftiip, and Chrift of another, {landing upon the Chapel of Loretto, which probably ferves for the cabin. The Holy Ghoft, in the ftiape of a dove, flies behind filling the fails, while a gen- tleman in a bag-wig climbs up the fide of one of the veffels. We are going to fup on our Englifh beef. They have brought us a vinegar veflTel, about the fize of a porter pot ; excellently contrived for thefe two reafons , on account of the nar- rownefs of its neck, it is impoffible ever to clean it ; and being of lead, it makes the vine- gar fweet, and of courfe poifonous ! On entering the room, we defired the boy to remove a veflel that did not fcent it agreeably. So little idea had he that it was offenfive, that he removed it from under the bed, only to place it in the clofet ! Friday Evening, At midnight we heard the arrival of a poll from Madrid, who awoke the people of the houfe, C 33 3 houfe by cracking his whip. I cannot fay he awoke me, for I, like Polonius, was at fupper, not where I eat, but where I was eaten. The ingenious gentleman who communicated his dif- covery to the public, in the Encyclopoedia, that nine millions of mites' eggs, amount exaftly to the fize of one pigeon's egg, may, if he pleafe, calculate what quantity of blood was extraded from my body in the courfe of feven hours ; the bed being fix feet two and a half, by four feet five, and as populous as poffible in that given fpace. I have always affociated very unpleafant ideas with that of breakfalting by candle light. We were up before five this morning. The two beds were to be packed up, and all our baggage to be replaced in the coach. Our allowance was a fmall and fingle cup of chocolate, fwal- lowed (landing and in hafte. This meal is per- haps in England the moft focial of the day ; and I could not help remembering the time, when I was fure to meet a cheerful face, a good fire> and the Courier at breakfaft. At day-break I quitted the coach. The country was more wild and more beautiful than what we had pafled D yefterday. C 34 ] yefterday. In the dingle below us on the right, at the foot of a dark and barren hill, a church Hood, on the banks of a winding rivulet. The furze, even at this feafon, is in blolRxm. Before us, a httle to the left, was a bold and abrupt mountain ; in parts, naked precipices of rock ; in parts, richly varied with pines, leaflefs chef- nut trees, and oaks that ftill retained their withered foliage. A ftream, foaming along its rocky channel, wound at the bafe ; intercepted from our view where the hiJl extended its gra- dual dcfcent, and vifible again beyond : a tuft of trees, green even from their roots, grew on the banks : on the fummit of the mountain ftands a chureh, through whofe towers the light was vifible : around us were mountains, their fides covered with dark heath, and their fan- taftic tops richly varied with light and fliade. The country is rude and rocky ; the houfes all without chimnies ; and the appearance of the fmoke iffuing through their roofs, very fingular and very beautiful, as it rofe flowly, tinged by the rifing fun. In about three hours we begaa the winding afcent of Monte Salgueiro, whofe fummit had clofed the morning profpeft. By ifcending dire6lly I reached the top long before the C 35 ] the mules. There I refted, and looked back on the watch-tower of Coruna, fix leagues dif- tant, and the Bay of Bifcay. I was not, how- ever, idle while I refted : as a proof, take thefe lines. Fatigued and faint, with many a ftep and flow. This lofty mountain's pathlefs fide I climb, Whofehead.high towering o'er the wafte fublime. Bounded my diftant vifion ; far below Yon docile beafts plod patient on their way. Circling the long afcent. I paufe, and now On this fmooth rock my languid limbs I lay, And tafte the grateful breeze, and from my brow Wipe the big dews of toil. Oh ! what a fweep Of landfcape lies beneath me ! hills on hills. And rock-pil'd plains, and vallies bofom'd deep, And Ocean's dim immenfity, that fills The ample gaze. Yonder is that huge height Where ftands the holy convent ; and below Lies the fair glen, whofe broken waters flow Making fuch pleafant murmurs as dehght The lingering traveller's ear. Thus on mj road Moll fweet it is to reft me, and furvey The goodly profpeft of the journey 'd way ; And think of all the pleafures it beftowed, Dz Not [ 36 ] Not that the pleafant fcenes are paft, diflreft, But looking joyful on to that abode Where Peace and Love await me. Oh ! moft Dear ! Even fo when Age's wintry hour fhall come We fliall look back on many a well-fpent year, Not grieving at the irrevocable doom Of mortal man, or fad that the cold tomb Muft fhrine our common relics ; but mofl: bleft In holy hope of our eternal home. We proceeded two leagues further to Griteru, over a country of rocks, mountains, and fwamps. The Venta* there exceeded all my conceptions of poffible wretchednefs. The kitchen had no light but what came through the apertures of the roof or the adjoining liable. A wood fire was in the middle, and the fmoke found its way out how it could, of courfe the rafters and walls were covered with foot. The furniture con- fided of two benches and a bed, I forbear to fay how clean. The inhabitants of the ftable were a mule and a cow ; of the kitchen, a mife- rable * At a Pofada you find beds. A Venta only accom- piodates the traveller while he rcfts by day. C 37 3 rable meagre cat, a woman, and two pigs, who were as familiar as a young lady's lap dog. I never faw a human being disfigured by fuch filth and fqualidnefs as the woman ; but flie was anxious to accommodate us, and we were pleafed by her attempt to pleafe us. We had brought an undreft rump of beef from Coruna, and fried fome (lakes ourfelves ; and as you may fuppofe, after having travelled twenty miles, at the rate of three miles an hour, almoft breakfaftlefs, we found the dinner excellent. I even begin to like the wine, fo foon does habit reconcile us to any thing. Florida Blanca has ere6led a very good houfe at this place, de- figned for a pofada, but nobody will tenant it! The people here live in the fame flye with their fwine, and feem to have learnt their obftinacy as well as their filth. After dinner we went to look at an arch that had ilruckus as we entered the village. The lane that leads to it, feems to have been paved with ftones from the ruins. We were told that the place belonged to the Conde Amiranti, and that the arch had led into the court yard in the time of the Moors. Evidently, however, it was not Moorifln C 38 ] Moorifii. The few fences they have are very unpleafant to the eye ; they are made with flate ftones about three feet high, placed upright. The diftance from Griteru to Bamonde is two leagues. Half the diftance we went by a wretchedly rugged way, for the new road is nrot compleated. It is a great undertaking ; a raifed terrace with innumerable bridges. We faw many birch trees, and a few hedges of bropm. I was reminded of the old perfonification of CEconomy, by feeing two boys walk by the car- riage barefooted, and carry their fhoes. Near JBamonde is fome of the moft beautiful fcencry I ever beheld. Tliere is an old bridge, of four arches, almoft covered with ivy, over a broad but ikallow ftream, that within a few- yards makes a little fall, and circles a number of iflets covered with heath and broom. Near it was a fmall coppice of birch, and a fine fingle birch- tree hung over the bridge, waving its light branches. The hill on the oppofite ftiore rifes abruptly, a mafs of rock and heath. About two hundred yards behind, on a gentler afcent, {lands a church. The churches are fimple and ftriking ; they haye no tower, but the bells are hungf C 39 ] hung in a fingle wall, which ends in a point with a crucifix. The fheep on the hills were, as they generally are in this country, black, and therefore did not enliven the landfcape, as in England ; but this was well fupplied by a herd of goats. It was evening when we reached the pofada. I Ihould think Griteru the worft place in Eu- rope, if we were not now at Bamonde. Judge you know how bad that place muft be, where I do not wifli you were with me I At none of thefe houfes have they any windows, and if you would exclude the air, you muft ^likewife exclude the light. There are two beds in the room. Their high heads fan£lified with a crucifix, which M, obferved muft certainly be a monumental crofs to the memory of the laft traveller devoured by the bugs. The matter of the pofada here is a crazy old prieft, very inquifitive, and equally communi- cative, who looked into all our books, and brought us his breviary, and fliowed us that he could ftill read it. The woman was very anxious to know if they were at war with Eng- land. C 40 ] land. She faid how forry (he ftiould be if fuch a war fhould take place, becaufe fo many good things came from England, and particulary fuch beautiful muflin. And this woman, fo interefted left muflin fhould be fcarce, had fcarcely rags enough to cover her i We have warmed ourfelves by dreffing our own fupper. The kitchen, as ufual, receives its light through the ftable, and is without a chimney; fo you may eafily guefs the com- plexion of the timbers and the bacon-faced in- habitants. We were affembled round one of the largeft fires you ever faw, with fome of the men of the village in wooden fhoesj — three or four children — the Mayoral and Zagal — the mad Prieft — the hoftefs, and the pigs, who are always admitted to the fire-fide in the country. So totally regardlefs are they of danger, that there was a large heap of dry furze within fix feet of the fire ! and wheii one of the men wanted a little light without, he feized a hand- ful of ftraw, and carried it blazing through the liable. We fupped again on beef-fteaks, and manufaftured the remainder into foup, to carry on with us. They raife good potatoes and turnips C 41 ] turnips here, and have even promifed us milk in the morning. They boiled fome wine for us in an iron ladle. Bread is almoft as dear as in England, LETTER IV. Saturday Evening, Dec. 19. VV E were ferenaded all night by the mufiki- toes and mules. The mulkitoes always found their trumpets when they make an attack. The bells arc never taken from the mules, and the ftable is always under the bed room. Thefe muleteers are a moft unaccommodating race of beings, they made us unload the coach, and load it again at the diftance of fifty yards from the pofada, thro' the mire ; and when we fet off this morning, they drove up to the door I We left fome beef intentionally behind us, at Bamonde. The people thought it had been forgotten, and followed us to reflore it. We croffed C 42 ] croffed the Minio at Ravade, by a bridge often arches, four of which are new. The river here is a clear, deep, tranquil ftream, about fixty yards wide. The road is unfiniflied, and the fcenery except at this fpot uninterefting. We reached the city of Lugo at noon : here we are de- tained, for the old coach already wants repair- ing. ^ Lugo is furrounded by a wall, with circular towers proje6ling at equal diftances. There is a walk on the top, without any fence on either fide, in width ten feet, and where the towers projefl, twenty. Time has deflroyed the cement. The ruins are in many parts covered with ivy, and the periwinkle is i^ bloflbm on all the wall. I fee doors leading from the city into the walls, and many wretched hovels are built un- der them without, mere fhells of habitations, made with ftones from the ruins, and to which the wall itfelf ferves as the back. One of the round towers proje6ls into the paflage of our pofada, which winds round it : as for the city itfelf, St. Giles's would be libelled by a com- parifon with it. M. C 43 ] M. went to vifit a canon of the Cathedra!, with whom he had once travelled to Madrid. He refides in the Bilhop's palace — a place not unlike a college, with a quadrangle, round which the priefts have their apartments. So little are the ecclefiaftics acquainted with the nature of the foreign herefies they deteft, that the canon ferioufly enquired, if we had fuch a thing as a church in England ! The cathedral prefents nothing remarkable. The two towers in the front feem to have been intended to be carried higher ; but they are noW- roofed with flates in that execrable tafte which is fo common in Spain, and which I have feeh exhibited upon old pigeon-houfes in England. The chapel of the Virgin difplayed more ele- gance, than is ufually fuffered by the tinfel tafte of Popery. While we were in the cathedral, I obferved a woman at confeflion. Much of the depravity of the people may be attributed to the nature of their religion : they confefs their crimes, wipe off the old fcore by abfolution, and fet off with light hearts and clear confciences, , to begin a new C 44 ] nbw one. A Catholic had robbed his confeflbr. *^ Father," faidhe at confeffion, *' I have ftolen fome money : will you have it ?" " Certainly not," replied the prieft ; " you muft return it to the owner." But," faidhe, " I have offered it to the owner. Father, and he will not receive it." " In that cafe," faid the prieft, *' the money is lawfully yours ;" and he gave him abfolution. An Irifhraan confefled he had ftolen fome cho- colate. " And what did you do with it ?" afked the confeffor. " Father," faid he, *' I made tea of it." But a fubje6l fo ferious, deferves a more fe- rious conftderation. It is urged, in favour of this praQice, that weak minds may be favedby it, from that defpair of falvation, which makes them abandon themfelves to the profpeft of an eternity of wretchednefs. It is this idea which has deranged the Queen of Portugal ; and un- der this madnefs one of our countrymen labours, whofe works will ever be admired by the lovers of poetry and virtue. Yet, furely, it is a bad way, to remedy one fuperftitious opinion by eftablifiiing another ; and if reafon cannot era- dicate this belief, neither can fuperftition ; for weak C 45 3 weak minds always moll eafily believe what they fear. The evil imroduced, too, is worfe than that which it is intended to fupplant. This belief of reprobation mufl neceffarily be con- fined to thofe of gloomy tenets ; and among thofe, to the few who are pre-difpofed to it by an habitual gloom of chara6ter. But, the opi* nion of this forgiving power veiled in the church, will, among the mob of mankind, de- ftroy the motives to virtue, by eradicating all dread of the confequences of vice. It fubje6ls every individual to that worft flavery of the mind, and eftablifhes an inquifitorial power in the ecclefiaftics ; who, in proportion as they are efteemed for the fuppofed fanfitity of their pro- feffion, will be found to be lefs anxious to obtain elleem by deferving it. But abfolution is always granted condition- ally, on the performance of certain duties oj atonement. And what are thefe duties of atone- ment ? A zealous Spaniard, of whom I enqui- red, told me, " many Ave Marias^ many Fafls, and many Alms.*' Remember, that thofe alms ufually go to the mendicant friars, or to pur- chafe mafTes for the fouls in purgatory ; and you will i: 46 ] will fee of what fervice penance is in correfling vicious habits. You will hardly believe, that the abfolving power of the church was main- tained, not four years ago, from the pulpit of St. Mary's, at Oxford. If a man h^d courage enough to make a con- feffor of his dearcft friend, without concealing or extenuating one aft of vice or indifcretion, he would probably become virtuous : *' For if he fhame to have his follies known, " Firft he would fhame to a£l 'em." B. Johnson, The refolution of recording in a journal every tranfaftion, wo*ild operate as a powerful antidote againft vice. From fuch a record, lept and examined with minute impartiality, we fhould learn that moft important leffon, to refpeft ourfelves. " Nothing is to be defpifed, that tends to guard our purity ; fuch little pre- cautions preferve the greateft virtues." So he faid, who, with all his faults and all his errors, deferves to be ranked among the beft and wifeft of mankind. The I 47 3 The mention of Rousseau naturally now reminds me of his confeflions. Biography has been juflly efteemed the moft ufefal of literary ftudies; and it is hitherto perhaps the moft im- perfeQ; ; for who can pry into the fecret motives of another, and trace the progrefs of his opi- nions ? Never was more unwearied induftry difplayed, than Bofwell exerted in compiling the converfations of Johnfon. We behpld the man, we fee his manners, and we hear his opi- nions ; but we neither witnefs the growth of his mind; nor enter the recelTes of his heart. The flow revolution of fentiment, and the number of little incidents which all operate on charaQer, can only be traced by the watchful eye of a felf- obferver : and yet, it is only from fuch obfer- vations, that we can obtain an accurate know- ledge of human nature. This work of Rouffeau is therefore ineftimable and unique ; for the Journal of Lavater is what any honeft Metho- dift preacher might have written ; and, though difplaying great goodnefs of heart, totally un- worthy of the genius, fame, and phyfiognomy of the author. To fuch a work a man can have but few temptations : for obvious reafons it muft be pofthumous ; motives of profit cannot exift' C 48 ] exift ; and the empty delire of fame would be more than ufually abfurd ; for the many would dwell upon his faults with all the littlenefs of triumph, becaufe they bring him down to a level with themfelves ; and by thofe readers who know a little^ and think a little^ and thofe whofe opinions are tainted by fome leading prejudices, he would be defpifed as an imi- tator. Our table here is a large ftone, with Mofaic work, framed. We have had leifure to fee the city; and, by the affiftance of fome cakes and Ibme Malaga wine, which wc procured in it, the evening has paffcd agreeably. You may perhaps like this fable of Yriarte; he has written feveral comedies, a hiftory of Spain, a didadlic poem on mufic, and tranflated the wEneid of Virgil. EL BURRO FLAUSTISTA. Efta fabulilla, Saiga bien, o mal. Me ha occurrida ahora Por cafualidad. Cerca C 49 3 Cerca de unos prados Que hai en mi lugar, Pafaba un Borrico Por cafualidad. Una flauta en ellos Hallo, que un Zagal Se dexo olvidada Por cafualidad. Acercofe a olerla El dicho animal ; Y dio un refoplido Por cafualidad. i En la flauta el aire Se hubo de colat. Y fono la flauta Por cafualidad. Oh ! dixo el Borrico. Que bien fe tocar ! Y diran que es mala ' La mufical afnal. m E S^ n [ 50 1 Sin reglas del arte Borriquitos hai, Que Unas vez aciertan For cafualidad. THE MUSICAL ASS. JUDGE, gende Reader, a« yon will;, If this fhort tale be good or ill: No hours in ftudying it were fpent, It juft occurred by accident. 4-s flrolling out, I faunter'd o'er The fields that lie around my dooF, An afs acrofs the meadow bent, His heedlefs way by accident. A carelefs fliepherd boy had trod, But juft before the very road, And on other thoughts intent, Bropt his flute by accident. The [,54 3 The afs as he beheld it, goes To fcarch it with enquiring nofe ; And breathing hard, the ftrong breath Went Jbown the flute by accident. The air in rufhing to get free, Awoke the voice of harmony ; And thro' the hollow channel fent Sweet melodies by accident. The flirill notes vibrate foft and clear. Along his longitude of ear. ** Bravo !" exclaims the raptur'd brutCj How mafterly I play the flute \" tc And hafi thou, Reader, never known, Some ftar-bleft blockhead, like friend John, Who following upon Folly's fcent, Stumbled on Truth by accident ? £ 2 LETTER C 52 ] LETTER V. Monday, Dec, 21. vV H ATEVER may be the ftate of the human mind, the human body has certainly degene- rated. We fhould fink under the weight of the armour our ancellors fought in, and out of one of their large and lofty rooms, I have feen a fuite of apartments even fpacious for their pigmy defcendants. The " fons of little men," have taken pofleffion of the world ! I find no chair that has been made fince the Refloration high enough for an evening nap ; when I fit down to dinner, nine times out often I hurt my knees againft the table ; and I am obliged to contrafl; myfelf, like one of the long viQ.ims of Procrufles, in almoft every bed I fleep in ! Such were the melancholy reflections of a tall man in a fhort bed. The road from Lugo is very bad : in many |)laces it is part of an old Spanifh paved road with C 53 i with a flone ridge in the middle. The country is better peopled and better wooded than what we have paft, and we frequently faw the Minho winding beautifully below us. At St. Juan de Corbo we flopped to eat. The church-yard wall Is there covered with crofTes, and there is the only houfe I have yet feen that reminded me of an Enghfh country feat. It belongs to Don Juan de Balcafas, a Hidalgo, or fon of Some- body, for a man of obfcure famll-y is thought to be fon of Nobody at all ! I was fitting very <:omfortably at my meal, on a funny bank, when two pigs came up to me, fhaking their tails like fpaniels, and licked up th© crumbs, and getting between my legs, put up their fnouts for more ; fuch familiarity have they learned from education. In about two hours afterwards we reached the mountaius, from whence we looked back on Lugo, four leagues diftant, and the hills as far again beyond. It was noon, and the fun very hot ; yet the beetles were flying about as in the evening in England. The country grew more beautiful, as we advanced; I have never feen fcenes more lovely. We reached Marillas to dinner ; a wretched venta, where they would light no fire to drefs our fowls, The room C 54 ] room we were in was at once a hay loft, a car. penter's fliop, a tailor's Chop, and a faw-pit, be- sides ferving to accommodate travellers. We had been warned in the morning to take two days bread from Lugo, fo that with our Englifh beef and our Englifh cheefe, and procuring good water and excellent wine, our fare was very good; but, like true Trojans, we were obh'ged to eat our tables. Immediately after dinner we entered upon the new road which wound upon the fide pf the ipountajns. As our day's journey was longer than ufual — eight leagues and a half — owing to our halt of yeflerday, we went the greater part of this ftage by moonlight. A mountainous track is well adapted for moonlight by the boun^ednefs of its fcenery. We pall the Pu- ente del Corcul, a bridge over a glen conne6l- ing two mountains. It was now a fcene of tranquil fubhmity ; Iput in the wet feafon, or after the fnows diffolve, the litde ft ream of the ^len muft fwell into a rough and rapid torrent. I do not know the height of the bridge, but it was very great. The road is continually on the edge of a precipitous defcent, and yet no wall C 55 3 wall is ere61;ed ! We were five hours going the three leagues to Lugares. There is a monu- mental crofs by the door of the pofada, and the women begged us to take all the things out of the coach, left they fhould be ftolen. Our room there was of a very ancient and buggy appearance, with true alehoufe pifture^ of St. Michael and the Virgin. I like the fa- miliarity of the people at thefe places. They addrefs us with cheerfulnefs, and without any of that awkward filerit fubmiffion which ought never to be paid by one human being to another. How often in England have I heard a tavern waiter curfed by fome fellow who would never have dared to infult him, if his fituation had permitted him to refent the infult. There is none of this in Spain, The people fhow civi- lity, and expeft to receive it. It has been faid that no man was ever an hero to his Valet. Ad- mitting for a moment that the word hero may convey a good meaning, I deny the aflertion. Great minds are confpicuous in little aftions, and thefe fall more under the infpe6lion of do- meftics than of the world. Would you know the real chara6ler of a man, obferve him when he C 56 ] he rpeaks to a fervant ; mark his manners and the tone of his voice; watch the counte- nance of the fervant, and you can hardly be er- roneous in your judgment. The Spanifh women are certainly great ad. mirers of muflm. They were very earneft here with M. to fell him his neckcloth. Buy how- ever they could not — to beg they were aftiamed, and fo the next morning they ftole my uncle's, Jofepha took hold of my hair, aflced me how I wore it England, and advifed me never to tie it, or wear powder. I tell you this for two rea- fons : as an example that fuch whofe taftes are not vitiated, diflike the abfurd cuftom of plafler- ing the head with greafe, and then covering it with dull ; and to fhew you the familiar man- ners of the people. Before an Englifh chamber- maid could have done this, flie muft have at- tained a degree of bolc|nefs which would poffibly have been the efFe6l of depravity : but in that country the familiarity of ignorant innocence is expofed to the infults qf the arrogant, and the Injuries of the debauchee. There C S7 ] There is an entrenchment near Lugo, and another by St. Juan de Corbo. The fences in that part are walls of granite, and the ftones fo large that immenfe labour muft have been necef- fary to pile them. The granite rocks, in the fields, were frequently furrounded by trees, and ornamental to the landfcape. I faw fome flirubs growing on one, where the foil muft probably have been placed by art, for I know not how it could have accumulated. Manuel Ximenes, our Mayoral, awoke us at three this morning, to know what o'clock it was. We fet off as ufual, foon after five. Not far from Lugares, half way down the mountain, oppofite the road, is a natural bridge of rock. The rocks here are of fchift. We were three hours afcending from Lugares, and that place lies high. You know I never ride when I can walk. The clouds wetted me as they paffed along. I was fatigued, and when the body is wearied the mind is feldom cheerful. In this mood I committed a fonnet : ANOTHER mountain yet ! I thought this brow Had furely been the fummit ; but they rife Hill above hill, amid the incumbent Ikies, And [ 58 3 And mock my labour. What a giddy height ! The roar of yonder ftream that foams below. Meets but at fits mine ear : ah me — my fight Shrinks from this upward toil, and fore oppreft, Sad I bethink me of my home of reft. Such is the lot of man. Up Life's fteep road Painful he drags, beguiling the long way With many a vain thought on the future day With Peace to fojourn in her calm abode. Poor Fool of Hope ! that hour will never come Till Time and Care have led thee to the tomb. The inhabitants of this peninfula are far ad- vanced towards that period when all created beings fhall fraternize. The muleteer fleeps by the fide of his mule — the brotherly love of Sancho and Dapple may be feen in every hovel ; and the horfes, and the cows, and the cats, and the dogs, and the poultry, and the people, and the pigs, all inhabit the fame apartment, not to mention three certain tribes of infeQs, for pre- fervingof whom all travellers in Spain are but lit- tle obhged to Noah. The houfes here are exact- ly like the reprefentations I have feen of the huts in C 59 ] in Kamfchatka. The thatch reaches to the ground, and there is a hole left in it which ferves for the inhabitants to go in and the fmoke to go out. The thatch is blackened with fmoke, anjd confequently no mofs can grow there. We ftopt at the village of Caftro, our only halt for the day. There is only a venta there, while one of Florida Blanca's new pofadas flands un- inhabited the very next door. We were de- fcending from half paft nine to half paft five in the evening. We left a ruined Caftle to our right, fmall indeed, but from its fituation very ftriking ; and foon after the iron works of Her- rerias. The mountains are in parts culttvated, even to their fummits ; at this feafon there is plenty of water, and there are trenches cut in the cultivated lands to preferve it. Oaks, al- ders, poplars, and chefnijt trees, are numerous in the valleys ; afid we faw the firft vineyards. A lovely country, a paradjfe of nature : but the inhabitants are kept in ignorance and poverty^ by the double defpoti|ra of their Church and State ! I faw 4 woman carrying a heavy bur- then of wood on her head, which Ihe had cut herfelf, and fpinning as fhe walked along ; a pfielancholy picture of induftrious wretchednefs. The [ 6o ] The churches here have httle balconies on the outfide with fculls in them. It is well that we ihould be familiarized to the idea of death ; but inflead of being prefented to us ghaftly and terrible, it ftiould be rendered pleafant ; inflead of dwelling on the decay of the body, we fhould be taught to contemplate the progreffion of tjie fpirit. Three people pafTed us with wens, and I puz- zled myfelf in vainly attempting to account for the connexion between wens and mountains. I faw a calf walk into one of the houfes, pufh- ing by a woman at the door with a coolnefs that marked him for one of the family. The bee-hives here are made of part of the trunk of a tree hollowed, about three feet high, and covered with a flate. All the Spanifli houfes are wthout that little appendage, which in England we think a neceffary. An Englifh- man told me, that going behind a pofada by moonlight, he faw one of thefe-hoUow pieces of wood covered with a flate, and congratulated himfelf that the people there were fo far ad- vanced as to have made fuch a convenience. Travellers of old, when they prepared for a journey, girded up their loins : he did the re- verfc. C 61 ] verfe, and was in a fituation very unfit for making a fpeedy retreat when he took off the cover, and out came the bees upon him. We are now at Villa Franca. Never did I fee a town fo beautiful as we approached : but when we entered, — Oh the elegant cleanlinefs of Drury Lane ! There is an old palace oppo- fite the pofada, of the Duke of Alva, old and ruinous, and mean and melancholy as a parifli workhoufe in England. I flood for feme time at the balcony, gazing at this place, where the moft celebrated and mofl deteflable of its pof* feffors may perhaps haye liftened to the fongs of Lope de Vega, perhaps have meditated maffacres in Holland. The mournful degrada- tion of the Dutch, as well as of the Spanifli cha-, rafter, forcibly occurred to me, and I looked on with — I truft the prophetic eye of Hope, to the promifed Brotherhood of Mankind, when OpprefTion and Commerce fhall no longer render them miferabie by making them vicious. I have jufl heard from one of my fellow travellers, who has pafTed the road frequently, , a melan- [ 62 ] a melancholy tale of the daughter of the hoft here. — She married a young man above her own rank ; he died— all that he poflefTed died with him, and the widow left deftitute with two very young children, is returned again to the miferable poverty and labour of a pofada! Very foon after her hufband's death an Iriftiman of- fered to take this woman into keeping. Her only reply was — *' You fay you love me, Sir, and yet you can infult me by this wicked oflFer!" Tuesday, before day-light, I have feen this widow. She cannot poffibly be two and twenty. Her two children were by her, the one an infant, the other about two years old, deaf and dumb ; they are beautiful children, though disfigured by dirt, and in rags. Her drefs was black, and bad enough for her prefent fituation ; but the manners of one ac- cuftomed to better fcenes were evident. She had white {lockings, and (hoes whofe make dif- covered that ftiaping of the foot and ancle which peculiarly diftinguifhes the higher clafs from thofe who work for them. There is a liquid luftre in the full black eye of the Spanifh women. [ 63 ] women, of which you can have no idea ; her face expreffed a meek refignation to wretched- ncfs. What muft that man's heart have been made of, who could have infulted this woman ? But man is a Beaft, and an ugly Beaft, and Monboddo libels the Ouran-outangs,by fufpeft- ing them of the fame family. Tuesday Evenivg. We have advaijced only four leagues to-day, for the old coach is laid up again. I have been thinking of the poor widow — perhaps I find it more eafy to exprefs my feelings in poetry than in profe. Is it becaufe my ideas adapt themfelves to the drefs they have ufually worn? And does there then, Teresa, live a man Whofe tongue unfaltering could to fuch foul thoughts Yield utterance ? Tempt thee to the hireling bed \ Buy thee, Teresa, to another's arms! Thee, fufferer! thee, forlorn and wretched one! Ere yet upon thy hufband's grave the grafs Was green! oh! is there one whofe monftrous heart Gould C 64 3 Could with infulted modefty's hot blufh Make crimfon the poor widow's woe-pale cheek! Was this thing of my fpecies ? fhaped in the mould Of man ? and fafhioned to the outward fiiow All human ? Did he move aloft and lift On high his lordly face ? and formed of flefli A nd blood like mine, meandering thro' his veins ? I blufh for human nature ! and would fain .Prove kindred with the brutes. She raifcd to Heaven Her dark eyes \v'nh. a meek upbraiding look, And felt more keen her lofs, and dropt a tear Of aggravated anguifh. I almoft Could murmur at ray lot affigned by fate. And covet wealth, that from the bitter ills Of want I might fecure thee, and provide Some fafe afylum for thy little ones, And from the blafting wind of Poverty Shield their young opening reafon. I Would be Even as a brother to thee : — fit by thee. And hear thee talk of days of happinefs. How faft they fled, and of the joys of Youth And Hope — now buried in the grave of Love! Oh I would liften to thy tale, and weep, And pour upon Afflidion's bleeding wounds The balm of Pity. Sufferer, fare thee well ! God C 65 3 God be thy comforter, and from a world Of woe, releafe thee foon ! I on my way Journeying remember thee, and think of Acr In diftant England, grateful to that Power Who from the dark and tempeft-roaring deep Preferved a life fhe renders doubly dear. 4^< LETTER Vt Wednesday, Dec. 23 i jtV young barber of Oviedo, travelling to Madrid to feek his fortune, has joined our party, and a very valuable acquifition he is. He waits on us, markets for us, affifts us in cooking, Ihaves, bleeds, draws teeth, underliands my Spanifh, and has moreover one of the bfcft phy- fiognomies in Spain. We found Englifli plates every where till vire reached Villa Franca. Our chocolate cups there were brought on a pewter plate, with a pewter F cup [ 66 3 cup fixed in the middle, to hold the earthen one. In this country we can get only white wine. The poor wear wooden fhoes turned up at the toe like fkaites, and with foles raifed like the Devon fh ire clogs. We left the new road at Carcabalos, a league from Villa Franca. Here, for the firA time, I faw the mark of manorial boundaries, which would be no unmeaning emblem in France — it is a gibbet. We now entered upon a fandy, ftoney plain ; a little herbage grew on it, but M. tells me it is bare in fummer, and fwarming with immenfe grafhoppers. The plain is about three leagues in diameter, furrounded by high mountains, at the foot of which, over a grove of evergreen oaks, we faw the town of Ponferrada. Had I only feen Villa Franca and Ponferrada as we approached, without feeing or fmelling either the ftreets or the inhabitants, I Ihould have thought Spain a ParadifeV '^'^' We found the pofada pre-oecupied by a Mar- quis and his retinue. A pleafant incident, for the axle-tree was damaged, and to proceed of courfe impoffible. Luckily the Marquis departed. C 67 3 departed, and here we are ftill detained. — Op- pofite to our balcony is the houfe of fome Hi- dalgo, with whom five ladies are juft arrived to dine in an open cartj drawn by oxen. They wear their hair combed ftraight, parted on the forehead, and tied loofely in the middle be- hind. Day and night are we annoyed by the incef- fant noife of the mules ; by night they are un- der us — we are only feparated from the liable by planks laid acrofs the beams, *' And founds and ftinks come mingled from below." By day the Mayoral is continually calling out to his mules : he gallops over the two firft fyl- lables of their name, and dwells upon the two laft with a found as flow and as wearying as the motion of his own carriage. *' Aquikia — Capit- ' ana — GalU^a — malditas mulas !" Then he cori- figns them to three hundred devils, the exa6t number they always fwear by; calls them thieves, pickpockets, and concludes the climax of vitu- peration hy *' alma de muerda," which is, be- F 2 ' ing C 68 ] ing interpreted, the Soul of what the LapUtan philofopher could never tranfmute again into bread and cheefe. Sometimes he beats them furioufly, and frequently flings a great ftone at their heads. They make the moft beautiful counterpanes at Ponferrada that I ever faw , the threads are fo difpofed that the whole feems covered with fringe. The people appear very averfe to a war with England. We had a good deal of conver- fation with a tradefman here, an intelligent man,, who felt how the internal ftate of the country in- jured commerce There are many fpecimens of Moorifh archi- tecture on the houfes here. The Caftle is a fine obje6l : it is great and grotefque, and gives me a good idea of the Giant's Caflles of Romance. Beef is ten quartos (about three pence) the pound. Bread five quartos. Brown bread, made of Indian corn, three quartos. The price of labour from four to fix reales. Thursday, C 69 ] Thursday^ Dec, 24. We left Ponferrada this morning, and our newly mended axle-tree — lafled us almoft three miles. The defcent was fteep — the road bad — and the coach crazy. Luckily we were all walking when it broke down. The Mayoral in- voked the Virgin Mary to help him, and three hundred devils to carry ofiFthe coach ; he how- ever foon found it more ufeful to go for human afliftance, while we amufed ourfelves by walk- ing backward and forward on a cold, bleak, defolate heath, with only one objetl in view, and that — a monumental crofs. In about two hours we advanced a mile to the village of St. Miguel de las Duenas. Here there is no pofada, and we are therefore at the houfe of the Barber. A Village Barber is always a great man, par- ticularly in Spain, where their regular furgeons probably are little lefs ignorant. I have been looking over our hoft's library, it contains a little about phyfic, and a great deal about the Virgin Mary. Of his medical books, I believe the only one ever heard of in England, is an old Spanifh tranflation of Diofcorides, What an C 70 ] an excellent country to break a leg in ! How- ever, if our friendly hoft be not a good furgeon, he is certainly a good Catholic. Over his books is a print called Our Lady of Seven Sorrows ; it reprefents the Virgin Mary pierced through by feven fwords, while Chrift is lying dead in her lap. To fuch a print you will naturally think nothing could be affixed more fuitable than the fong of her Seven Good Joys. There is however under it a reprefentation of the linen in which Jofeph of Arimathea wrapped up our Saviour's body, and which retaining a miracu- lous likenefs, is highly reverenced in thefe coun- tries ; not without caufe, for through the merits of this Holy Napkin, or Santo Sudario, every time a certain prayer is repeated, a foul is re- leafed from Purgatory, by permiffion of Clement Vni. If the Pope fhould be in the right, you win do good by reading it — if not, you may at leaft gratify your curiofity. Oracion del Santo Sudario, para levrar una Alma del Purgatorio. Senor havien donos dexado fenales de fu dolorofa paflion fobre el Santo Sudario, en el quz^I C 7' 3 qual facratiffimo cuerpo fue fepultado por Jo- feph, concede nos por fu miferecordia y los merecimientos de fu muerte y fepultura, pode- mos alcanfar la gloria de fu triumphante Refur- reccion. Pues vive y regna con el Padre en la unidad del Spirit© fanto por todos los figlos de los iiglos. Amen. The Prayer of the Holy Napkin to deliver a Soul from Purgatory. Lord, of whofe gracious fufferings we have re- ceived the marks upon the Holy Napkin, in which thy mod facred body was buried by Jo- feph, grant that through thy mercy and the merits of thy death and burial, we may partake of the glory of thy triumphant Refurre6i;ion. — Thou who livcft with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Ame Of the nature of our Hofts theological library, you may judge by this chance fpecimen. — A holy Man, reading the Song of Solomon, came to the feventh verfe of the fourth chapter; " My beloved is pure and without fpot." Mufing on thefe words, he fell into a deep fleep, and beheld L 7^ 1 beheld the Virgin Mary, in a vifion, with all her retinue of Cherubim and Seraphim. They repeated the verfe, *' My beloved is pure and without fpot," and a more divine voice imme- diately added, " etiam in conceptione," even in conception. This, fays the Author, is an ir« refragable proof of the immaculate conception of the Mother qf Gqd | I ought to obferve that this has nothing to do with the Orthodox and Arian tenet of the Im- maculate Conception. It is only to prove th^ Francifcan dogma, that the Virgin Mary her- felf was born without the ftain of Original Sin. In England the red petticoat only peeps through a covering of lawn, but here the Baby- lonian walks the ftreet in full drefs fcarlet. Iij England, where O'Leary is a Popifli Prieft, and Geddes choofes to call himfelf a Catholic, I have felt myfelf inclined to thirik that the ab- furdities of Popery may have been exaggerated : but here, in the words of Mary WoIIftone- craft, '' the ferious folly of Superftitjon flares every man of fenfe in the face.^' At the entrance of this village Hands a tree, two of whofe branches C 73 ] had the misfortune to grow fomewhat in the ihape of a crofs. The top and the limbs were therefore lopt off, and a face carved on it, fimilar to what I have feen boys cut upon a turnip ; this done, it is an objeft of devotion. Our hoft has been juft catechifing my Uncle : do you believe in God ? to be fure I do. And do you believe in Jefus Chrift ? Certainly, replied my Uncle. But afk him, faid his fon-in-law, in a whifper loud enough to be heard, afk him if he believes i^ the Virgin Mary ? An Irifh Priefl has the following paffage in his Spanifli fermon, " Many reafons have been afligned for the earthquake and darknefs at the crucifixion, but to me this appears the only ra- tional caufe. The Blefled Virgin, who always in humility was accullomed to look upon the ground, lifted up her eyes to the crofs. De- prived of the light of her eyes, the earth trem- bled, and the fun hid himfelf, afhamed to behold fuperior radiance." There is a large Nunnery near us, where we have heard the Nuns fing. The chapel grating }s by no means clofe, and when the fervice was over L 74 1 over, they came clofe to it, probably to gratify their own curiofity as well as ours. Some of them were handfome, and I faw none who either by their fize or their countenance indicated aufterity. This is a beautiful fpot. The room I am in commands a tranquil and pleafing view : A little ftream flows near the houfe ; the con- - vent lies to the right, and we look over a rich valley to the high mountains near us. Where we are to fleep I know not, for our h oil's daugh- ter and her hufband fleep in the kitchen, and in this, the only other room, the barber, his wife, and child ! The only face for which I have conceived any afFeftion in Spain, is a dried pig's, in the kitchen below, and alas! this is a hopelefs paflion ! Christmas day, six o'clock in the evening. In the cold and comfortlefs room of apofada, having had no dinner but what we made in the coach, fatigued, and out of fpirits, a pleafant fituation ! I have been walking above three hours up this immenfe mountain; very agreeable no doubt for the goats who browze in the vallies, knd [ 75 ] and the lizards and wolves who inhabit the reft of it ! We flept laft night in the room with the Barber, his wife, and child. At midnight they all went to Cock-mafs. At day-break I had the pleafure of wifhing my fellow travellers a merry Chriftmas. Our profpedl of a Chriftmas dinner made us laugh, for you muft know that in the downfall of the coach, we fuftained a grievous lofs. Our travelling foup had come all the way from Bamonde, flung under the carriage in a pitcher, and at every flage we had a new edition, with additions and improvements. You may fmile at our lofs, but when Faint and wearily The way-worn traveller Treads the mazes to the mountain's top, a w^rm difh of foup in a cold day, was a ferious thing to lofe. Homer fays, " a good dinner is no bad thing." Our road lay through a fertile valley till we had pall the town of Benveveria, where, to my no fmall regret, we paft by one of the bed pofadas on the road ! We flopped at the village pf Torre, a wild and delightful fpot, where the wine was not unlike Burgundy. From thence >y afcended the mountain to Manzanar. On the C 76 3 the way the following lines occurred. You will like them, becaufe they fimply cxprefs natural feelings. How many a heart is happy at this hour In England ! brightly o'er the cheerful hall Beams the heap'd hearth, and friends and kindred meet. And the glad Mother round her feftive board Beholds her children, feparated long Amid the world's wide way, aflembled now. And at the fight Affe6lion lightens up With fmiles the eye that Age has longbedinim'd. I do remember when I was a child, How my young heart, a ftranger then to Care, With tranfport leapt upon this holy -day, As o'er the houfe, all gay with evergreens. From friend to friend with eager fpeed I ran, Bidding a merry Chriltmas to them all. Thofe years are pafl; : their pleafures and their pains Are now like yonder convent-crefted hill. That bounds the diftant profpeft, dimly feen, Yet pidur'd upon Memory's myftic glafs, In faint fair hues. A weary traveller now I journey o'er the defert mountain track Of C 77 ] Of Leon : wilds all drear and comfortlefg. Where the grey lizards, in the noon-tide fun, Sport on their rocks, and where the goatherd ftarts, Roufed from his midnight fleep, and ftiakes to hear The wolf's loud yell, and falters as he calls On Saints to fave./ Hence of the friends I think Who now perchance remember me, and pour The glafs of votive friend/hip. At the name Will not thy cheek, Beloved ! wear the hue Of Love ? and in mine Edith's eye the tear Tremble ? I will not wifh thee not to weep ; — There is ftrange pleafure in AfFeftion's tears— And he who knows not what it is to wake And weep at midnight, is an inftrument Of Nature's common work. Yes — think of me. My Edith ! think — that travelling far away I do beguile the long and lonely hours With many a day-dream, piBuring fcenes as fair. Of peace, and comfort, and domeftic joys, As ever to the youthful poet's eye Creative Fancy fafliion'd; Think of me, My Edith ! abfent from thee, in a land Of ftrangers ! and remember when thy heart Heaves with the figh of forrow, what delight Awaits [ 78 ] Awaits the moment when the eager voice Of welcome, fhall that forrow overpay. Being a Briftolman, and of courfe not the worfe for a little fmoking, I have ventured into the kitchen to warm myfelf among the muleteers and Maragatos, and prepare our fupper. By the by the Barber's wife fold us the old cock by way of a delicate chicken. We have found that the people will over-reach us if they can, and it is not to be wondered at. He who ftarves his dog makes a thief of him. Poverty is the mother of Crimes.— Yet we have experienced much atten- tion and hofpitaHty : my Uncle gave a few reales among the Carpenter's children, who was making our new axle-tree; and wh^n we de- parted this morning, their mother brought us a pig's face and a lap full of pears. LETTER [ 79 3 LETTER VII. W: Bav! EZAf Saturday, Dec, z6. E have paffed over a bleak and defolate track of barrennefs this morning, near the Cavern of Gil Bias. Never was there a more convenient place to be murdered in, and eleven monumental crofles, which I counted within three leagues, juftified my opinion of its physiognomy. We flopped two hours at Aftorga, once the capital of the Asturias, but Oviedo holds that rank at' prefent, and this is now a city of Leon. Here I expefted to live well. Gil Bias had fared luxurioufly at Aftorga; we heard of a cook's fliop; Manuel was appointed commiffioner to examine the ftate of provifions, and his report was, that we might have half a turkey and a leg of mutton juft dreffed, for a dollar. If the Queen's birth-day may be put off fix months, why might not we keep Chriftmas-day on the twenty-fixth of December, and dine orthodoxly on C 8a ] on Turkey ? When thefe dainties arrived-^for the poor bird, Vitellius would have " Made the wicked mafter cook In boiling oil to ftand;'* and for the mutton, I vehemently fufpe6l it to have been the leg of fome little ugly bandy- legged tough-finewed turnfpit. The ftreets of Aftorga are paved in ridges ; the caftle and the cathedral are well worthy the traveller's obfervation, the one for its antiquity, the other for its beauty. Over the caftle gate- way are the figures of a warrior and lion fighting, and efcutcheons, fupported each by a man and woman in the drefs of the times : thefe fhould be preferved by the hand of the engraver before they ftiare the fame fate as the reft of the building. The fight of a ruined caftle in England, though calling up fome melancholy refledions, ftill re- minds us of the improvements of fociety. God be thanked that the pride of chivalry is extin- ffuifhed for ever ! it is fad to behold The defart ivy clafp the joylefs hearth, but C 8i 3 biit it is pleafant to remember that the Feudal Tyranny is mellowed down, and that though England incurs all the guilt of war, fhe feels Very few of its horrors. In Spain Society is not improved, the halls of hofpitality are defolate, but the haunts of Superftition are multiplying. They are building a new convent by the ruins of the Caftle of Aftorga. I faw families a6lually living in holes dug in the Caflle wall. Almost I regret the Moors s what has this country gained by their expulfion? A tolerant and cleanly fuperftition has been exchanged for the filth and ferocity of Monks, and the dogma of Mary's immaculate concep- tion has taken place of the divine legation of Mohammed. To fay that the Courts of Cor- dova and Granada exhibited more fplendor than that of Madrid, were only to ftiew them fuperior in what is of little worth ; but when were the arts fo foftered ? when were the people fo induftrious and fo happy ? There is a curious Roman piece of bas-re- lievo in the Cloifters lately dug up. Our pofada has glafs windows ! and we procured an excel- G lenC [ 82 ] lent wine called Peralta, in flavor not unlike Mouiftain, but fuperior. We proceeded four leagues over a plain to Baneza. Here is the bcft houfe we have yet found. They have got us a rabbit, and five partridges. On entering this town, as like- wife at Aftorga, a man came to examine our baggage; a mode of taking a pefetta without the difgrace of begging, or the danger of rob- bing. Sunday, December z.*j. Baneza is an old and ugly town with piazzas under its houfes. A crofs was fufpended from the front of the pofada there, like an Englifh lign, and near it a fun in the fame manner, un- derwritten the houfe of the fun. They brought us a bill here, and it was very extravagant. Six reales for the rabbits and onions, twenty-four for the partridges, two for candles, and the reft in the fame proportion. In Spain however no traveller can be impofed upon, if he choofes to prevent it, by calling for a board with the juft price of every article, which, by order of the Government, is kept in every pofada. Our road C 83 ] road was very bad; it lay over a fertile and populous plain for three leagues, till we reached the Puente de Bifana. On either fide of us lay towns thickly fcattered, all of which had once been fortified. Lapwings, ftorks, and wild ducks, are in abundance here : he who travels with a gun in this part of the country, need never want provifions. At the bridge of Bifana is a pofada miferably furnifhed with two beds and one foli- tary chair ! Here I faw a man whofe breeches were of white fheep fkin, and his gaiters of black with the wool outwards. From hence to Bene- vente are three leagues and a half of good road, a thing of no fmall confequence here, for you cannot calculate your time by the length of the way, without taking the ftate of the road into confideration. To the right of the Puente de Bifana, we faw a range of caverns dug out of a hill : I fancied them to be the dens of the per- fecuted natives, Suevi or Goths, and my imagi- nation peopled them with banditti : on enquiry we learnt they were wine vaults. The cellars near Benevente are hollowed in the earth, and the earth from the cavity forms a mound above them, in which the entrance appears like the chimney of a fubterraneous dwelling. We G 2 paCTed t 84 3 |)affed through a village completely in mins^ the houfes and churches were of mud, the walls only remained, and there was not a fmgle in- habitant. We arrived at Benevente too late to fee the infide of the Caflle. M. however had formerly vifited it, and I copy his account. " We entered by a gradual afcent which led to a cloifter or colonnade of four fides, that looked down into a court where once had been a fountain. We Were hence conduced through a Moorifh gate- way of three femicireular arches, to a large room decorated with bearings, &c. This opened into a gallery of about fifty paces long and twelve wide, ornamented in the moft elegant Moorifli tafte. The front is fupported by jafper pillars ; the pavement confifts of tiles coloured and painted with the efcalop or fcollop fliell of St. lago. In the recefles of the wall are Arabic decorations and infcriptions. From hence is an extenfive profpe£l over the fertile vallies of Leon, watered by the Marez and the Ezla. From the wall of the flair-cafe an arm in armour fupports a lamp. The roof of the chapel repre- fents Stala£lydes. In the armory are old muf- kets^. C 85 3 kets, where the trigger brought the match round to th€ pan." The caflle belongs to the Duke of Offuna. Benevente muft be a place of con- fiderable trade, for when M. was laft here he counted above fifty carts in the market place, chiefly laden with grain. In the corner of this room are placed two treftles : four planks are laid acrofs thefe, and fupport a flraw-ftuflFed mattrefs of immenfe thick, nefs : over this is another as difproportionately thin, and this is my bed. The feat of my chair is as high as the table I write upon. A lamp hangs upon the door. Above us are bare tim- bers ; for as yet I have feen no cielings in Spain. The floor is tiled. Such are the comfortable ac- commodations we meet with after travelling from the rifing to the fetting fun. We have however a brazier here, the firft I have feen fince our departure from Coruna. I am ufed to the vermin : to htjlead is become the Order of the Night, and I fubmit to it with all due refignation. Of the people — extreme filth and deplorable ignorance are the moft prominent charafteriftics ; yet there is a civility in th^ peafantry which Englifhmen do not poflefs, and I HI [ 86 3 I feel a pleafure when the pafTeng^r accofts me with the ufual benediction, " God be with you." There is a mud wall round the town. Here I firft faw people dancing in the ftreets with caf- tanets. Our landlady told us there was an Englifh merchant in the houfe, his name Don Francifco, and this proved to be a German ped- lar, with a ring on every finger. Some of the churches here are fine fpecimens of early Saxon architefture. In the church wall are two crofTes, fompofed of human fculls with thigh bones fpr the pedeftal, fixed on a black ground. The river Ezia, where we paft it a little be- low Benavente, is a clear deep tranquil ftream. I drank of its water, and found it excellent. A ftream of little note, yet fhould it be dear to the Poet; for it is confecrated by the genius of George of Montemayor. I muft give you a fpecimen of the poetry of his Diana. After a year's abfence Sireno returns to his miftrefs on the banks of the Ezla, and finds her married. In this ftate he lays him down on the Ihore, and ^ddreffes thefe lines to a lock of her hair. CABELLOSj C 87 ] CABELLOS, quanta mudanza He vifto defpues que os vi, Y quam mal parefcey ay Effa color de efperanza. Bien penfava yo cabellos, (Aunque con algun temor) Que no fuera otro paftor Digno de ver fe cabe ellos. Ay cabellos, quantos dias La mi Diana mirava, Si OS trayo, o fi os dexava, y otras cien mil ninerias ; Y quantas vezes llorando (Ay lagrimas enganofas) Pedia celos de cofas De que yo eftava burlando. Los ojos que me matavan, Dezi dorados cabellos, Que culpa tuve en creellos, Pues ellos me afleguravan ? No vifles vos que algun dia. Mil lagrimas derramava, Hafta que yo le jurava. Que fus palabras creya ? Quien [ 88 ] Quien vio tanta hermofura i En tan mudable fubjeQo ? Y en amador tan perfe£lo, Quien vio tanta defventura ? O cabcllps no os porreys. Per venir de ado vehiftes. Viendo me como me veys ? Sobre el arena fentada De aquel rio la vi yo Do con el dedo efcrivio Antes muerta que mudada. Mira el Amor lo que ordena, ] Que OS viene hazer creer ; Co fas dichas por muger. Y efcriptas en el arena. '■ AH ,; C 89 3 *AH me ! thou Relic of that faithlefs fair ! Sad changes have I fuffered fince that day When, in this valley, from her long loofe hair I bore thee, Relic of my Love ! away. Well did I then believe Diana's truth, . For foon true Love each jealous care repreffes; And fondly thought that never other youth Should wanton with the Maiden's unbound treffes. Here * The firft ftanza of the original, alludes to a Spanifh peculiarity. The hair of Diana was kept in green filk. Sad changes have I fuffered fince that day, When here reclining on this grafly flope, I bore thee. Relic of my Love ! away, And faded are thy tints, green hue of Hope I • Thjs love-language of colours is given at large in the following extraft from the "Hifloria delasGuerras civiles de Granada. *' Mudava trages y veftidos conforme la paflion que fentia. Unas vezes veftia negro folo, otras vezes negro y pardo, otras de morado y bianco por moftrar fu fe ; lo par- do y negro por monftrar fa trajabo. Otras vezes veftia azul moflrando divifa de rabiofos celos , otras de verde por fignificar fu efperanza ; otras vezes de amarillo por rnof- C 90 ] Here on the cold clear Ezla's breezy fide My hand amid her ringlets wont to rove. She profFer'd now the lock, and now denied. With all the baby playfulnefs of Love. Here the falfe Maid, with many an artful tear, Made me each rifmg thought of doubt difcover. And vow'd and wept — till Hope had ceas'd to fear, Ah me ! beguiling like a child her lover. Witnefs thou how that fondeft falfefl fair Has figh'd and wept on Ezla's ftielter'd fhore, And vow'd eternal truth, and made me fwear. My heart no jealoufy Ihould harbour more. Ah! moflrar defconfianza, y el dia que hablava con fu Zayda fe ponia de encarnado y bianco, fenal de alegria y con- *ento." " Zayde altered his drefs according to the emotions he felt. Sometimes he wore black alone, fometimes black and grey. At other times he was in purple and white to ftiew his conftancy, or black and grey, to exprefs his grief ; fometimes in blue, denoting that he was tormented by jealoufy ; fometimes in green, to fignify hope ; fome- times he was in yellow, to fhow doubt ; and on the day on which he fpoke to Zayda, he clad himfelf in red and white, to exprefs his joy and fatisfaftion." [ 9' ] Ah ! tell me ! could I but believe thofe eyes f Thofe Ipvely eyes with tears my cheek be- dewing, When the mute eloquence of tears and fighs I felt, and trufted, and embraced my ruin. So falfe and yet fo fair ! fo fair a mien Veiling fo falfe a mind who ever knew ? So true and yet fo wretched ! who has feen A man like me, fo wretched and fo true ? Fly from me on the wind, for you have feen How kind (he was, how lov'd by her you knew me ; Fly, fly vain Witnefs what I once have been. Nor dare, all wretehed as I am, to view me !" One evening on the river's pleafant ftrand, The Maid too well beloved fat with me. And with her finger traced upon the fand, " Death for Diana— not Inconftancy !" And Love beheld us from his fecret (land. And mark'd his triumph, laughing to behold me. To fee me trull a writing traced in fand, Xq fee me credit what a Woman told me ! LETTER [ 92 ] LETTER VIII. ToRDESiLLASj Tuesday^ Dec, sg. X HE courfe of the Ezla, on this fide of Be- nevente, has altered much fince the bridge was built. It now flands fide ways to the current : the ftream is ftrong, and the bridge in ruins. After an execrable ftage of five leagues, we reached Vallalpando to dinner, whofe mud walls magnified through a mill, appeared to us like the yet refpe6lable remains of a large for- tification. Here we bought two turkies for a dollar. It is a poor and miferable town, and the hoftefs of our pofada was a complete per- fonification of Famine. To Villar de Frades are four leagues farther, by as good a road as may be expe6led, when it lies over ploughed fields and fwamps. Our room is gayly orna- mented with German prints of all the Virtues, and the four quarters of the globe. Here is like- wife a wax figure of St. Chriftopher, in a glafs cafe* [ 93 3 cafe. Man is naturally delighted with the won- derful. A ftory of a giant or a ghoft delights ©ur infancy, and Valentine and Orfon, and the Seven Champions of Chriftendom, are among the firft books that engage the attention of our opening reafon. Perhaps this difpofition in the Spaniards may be difcovered in their moft popu- lar legends. That of St. Chriftopher is of the old romantic kind. Saint lago and Saint Mi- chael are their favourite faints, becaufe the one fought on horfeback againfl the Moors, and the other defeated the Old Dragon in a fingle com- bat. Perhaps their fingular attachment to the do6lrine of the Virgin Mary's' purity may be traced to the fame fource. We left Villar de Frades at day-break, and have been till fix in the evening travelling only five leagues. At Vega del Toro we paffed a palace of the Duke of Lirias. We dined at Vega de Valdetroncos. Here the kitchen ex- hibited to us the novelty of a good chimney. The floor of our room was rubbed over, or rather brown-waftied with clay. There was a print of the Virgin Mary in a tree, with the Sun upon her head and the Moon under her feet. ' A printed C 94 ] A printed paper was hung up ftating that this thefis had been defended at Salamanca, and ap- proved of by that Univerfity in 1794. — " No fins are fo atrocious that the Church cannot for* give them!" Here we ventured upon a faufage, and a pre- cious mixture it was of garlic and anifeed; lite- rally nothing elfe, and this fried in their rancid oil ! We are now at Tordefillas, where we have found a good pofada, good rooms, good wine, a brazier, and civility. Before it reaches this place, the road is paved, but this fuddenly ends, and the carriage goes down a ftep, fomewhat more than a foot deep. It was here that Joanna, when her dotage had ripened into raadnefs, for fo many years watched by the corpfe of her hufband. It was here too Padilla triumphed, and we have perhaps this day trod over the ground where this Martyr of Free- dom fuffered. With Padilla expired the liber- ties of Spain: her defpotifm, terrible and def- tru6live under Charles and Philip, is now be- come as defpicable abroad for its imbecility, as it is deteftable for its pernicious effeds at home. We Z 95 ] We may hope that in a more enlightened age fome new Padilla may arife with better fortune and with more enlarged views j then, and not till then, will Spain aflume her ancient rank in Eu- rope ; and perhaps fome infcription like the fol- lowing may mark the fpot where JUAN DE PADILLA died the death of a traitor : Traveller! if thou doft bow thefupple knee Before Oppreffion's footftool, hie thee hence! This ground is holy : here Padilla died. Martyr of Freedom, But if thou doll love Her glorious caufe, ftand here, and thank thy God That thou doft view the peftilent pomp of power With indignation, that thine honeft heart, Feeling a brother's pity for mankind, Rebels againft oppreffion. Not unheard Nor unavailing fhall the prayer of praife Afcend ; for loftieft feelings in thy foul Shall rife of thine own nature, fuch as prompt To deeds of virtue. Relics filver-fhrined And chaunted mafs, will wake within thy breaft,. Thoughts valuelefs and cold compared with theCe. We croffed the Duero at Tordefillas by a no- ble bridge. One of the Latin hiftorians fays, that C 96 ] that the water of this river made the Roman fol- diers, who drank of them, melancholy ; and if they drank nothing elfe, we may believe him. I loft my hat at this place; 'twas little matter: it had been injured on the voyage, and fent to be pulchrified by a hatter at Coruna, who fent it home without binding, or lining, or drefling, hav- ing wafhed it, thickened it, altered its fhape, and made it good for nothing, all which he did for one pafetta. We proceeded four leagues to Medina del Campo, paffing through the half-way town of Ruada. In the ftreets there are feveral bridges over the mire for foot paflengers, formed of large ftones, about eighteen inches high and two feet afunder, which are left unconne6led that carriages may pafs. Here we bought fome oranges. This is a great wine country, at pre- fent dreary and without verdure : the' vineyards give a better appearance to it in other feafonSj but a dry goofeberry-bufh is a fine piece of tim- ber compared to the vine in winter. The drefs of the men is almoft univerfally brown; the fe- male peafantry love gaudier colours, blue and green are common among them, but they drefs more generally in red and yellow. 1 faw an in- fant at Aftorga, whofe cap was fliaped like a grenadier^ I 97 1 grenadier's, and made of blue and red plufh. Medina del Campo is in every refpeft better fupplied than any town we have yet entered. There arc no lefs than eighteen convents here ! The pofada is a very good one : there is a board hung out with this infcription : Pofada nu ebo porcav alleros. which is, being fpelled into Spanifli, Pofada neuvo por cavalleros, fo ingenioufly do they confound words and letters. Every Spanifli in- fcription and fliopboard is an enigma : the let- ters b and v are continually ufed inftead of each other : there is often no diftin6lion of words, and the fkill of the carver and painter is exerted in expreffmgas many letters byasfew lines as pof- fible ; thus the three letters DEL are written by an E, with the femicircular half of the D applied to its perpendicular line ; the letter M exprefles MU, becaufe two of its lines form a V, and if to its laft perpendicular you add the half of an H R, C 98 ] R, the cypher then denotes the firft fyllable of MURCIA. This town* is free from all impofts, and the inhabitants have a right of nominating to all offices ♦ Colmcnar fays, « this town ftiould be celebrated among Philofophers, becaufe it was here that a Spanifh phyfician, called Gomefius Pereira, dared in the middle of the fixteenth century, to publilh a book, on which he had employed the labour of thirty years, and in which he proved that beafts are nothing but machines.'* Of this early Materialift, Moreri gives the following account : — " George Gomez Pereira, a Spanifh phyfician, who lived in the fixteenth century, was born at Medina del Campo ; he was the firft author who durft affert that beafts are only machines, and do not aft from refleftion." N'ont point de sentiment. — This doftrine he advanced in 1554, in a book which had coft him the labour of thirty years, and which he entitled ^ntoniana Margarita, to do honour to the names of his father and mother. He was foon fharply attacked by Miguel de Palacio, a theologian of Salamanca, whom he as fharply anfwered ; but he formed no feft, and his opinion foon died away. It is pretended that Defcartes adopted this opinion from the Spanifh phyfician ; others deny the charge, and fay that that philofopher, who read little, had never heard Pereira or his work mentioned : he likewife attacked the original matter C 99 3 offices civil and ecclefiaftic, neither the King ot the Pope interfering. We are now three leagues from Medina del Campo, at Artequines, a little village with a good pofada, three days journey from Madrid. Thursday, Dec, 31, On the road this morning I faw a horfe's tail tied up with red ribands. We paflTed through Arebalo, matter ot Ariftotle, and the opinion of Galen concerning the nature of fevers, in his Antoniana Margarita, In 1558 he publifhed another work in folio, entitled, Nova vera- que medicina Chriftiana ratione comprobata." Bayle fays that Arriaga, one of the moft fubtle fchol- afkics in the feventh century, attacked Pereira, For, he argued, as his doftrine denied the Original Matter of AriftotlCj it would not permit him to reverence (venerer) the afhes and reliques of Saints ; for after their death, none of the matter that belonged to them would remain. The Antoniana Margarita was twice printed in folio. At Medina del Campo 1554, and at Franckfort 1610. It was a very rare book in Bayle's time. The Reader, I hope, will pardon me for throwing away fo many lines upon a man who waftpd thirty years on fo ridiculous a fubjefl;, H a C ioo 3 Arebalo, a pleafantly fituated town, where there are royal granaries, and proceeded to Efpinofa, where we dined at one of the worft houfes on the road. Here the Hoft abufed his wife for only afliing three and a half reales each for pigeons ! To acquire a barren knowledge and gratify a vain curiofity. ftiould neither be the objeft of travellers, or of thofe who read their accounts ; we fhould obferve foreign cuftoms that we may improve our own ;* fo fays Father Lafitau : and if my acquirements are to be the comment on this ferious text, I muft frankly own that the only poffible pra6lical knowledge I have yet learnt, is to confirm P.'s theory of the eatahility of cats, by the cuflora of this country. In the kitchen at Efpinofa, M. remarked to me in Spanifh, that the cat was a very large one, and Mambrino immediately enquired if we eat cats in England. As you may fuppofe, an exclamation of * Ce n'efl pas en effet une vaine euriofite et une con- noiffance fterile que doivent fe propofer les Voyageurs qui donnent des relations au Public, & ceux qui aiment a lire. On nc doit etudier les moeurs que pour former ks mcEurs.'^ P, Lafitau fur Moeurc Sauvages. [ lOi ] of furprife was the anfwer; why, faid Mam- brino, the night you were at Villa Franca we had one for fupper that weighed feven pounds. We entered upon the new road before we reached the village of Labajos. Here we have received the pleafant intelligence that the Royal Family are going to Seville, and that the Portu- gueze Court are to meet them on the frontiers. You will wonder what difference their move- ments can poffibly make to us ; for in England, if his Majefty paffes you on the road, you fay— " There goes the King," and there's an end of it; but here, when the Court think proper to move, all carriages, carts, mules, horfes and affes are immediately embargoed. Thank God, in ^n Englifliman's Di61;ionary you can find an expla- nation of that word. Know then, that during this embargo, all con- veyances may be feized for the King's ufe, at a fixed price, which price is below their common charge ; and if any of the King's Court, or the King's cooks, or the King's fcullions, want a car- riage, and were to find us upon the road, they might [ 102 ] might take our's and leave us with our baggage in the high way ; at a time when we could pro- cure no vehicle, no beafts, no houfe room, and even no food ; for the multitudes that follow the King fill all the houfes and devour all the pro- vifions. Friday f Jan. i, 1796. After travelling four leagues in a fog, we once more behold the Sun ! the mills could not have hidden from us a more uninterefting country than the plains of Caftille that we have paft; the profpeft is now comparatively beautiful ; evergreen oaks thickly fcattered over the rifing ground, bounded by the Guadarama mountains. We proceeded through the little town of Villa Caftin, five leagues to the Funda San Raphael, a royal hotel : I do not difgrace the word by ap- plying it to this houfe ; it is fituated where the road from Madrid divides on the right to San Ildefonfo Segovia and Valladolid, on the left to Coruna. As this houfe is fo near the Efcurial, and on the road to San Ildefonfo, it is of courfe frequented by the firft people, and I do not imagine that they can find their own palaces more comfortable. We even faw an Englifl; grate C 103 ] grate in one of the rooms. Here we had an ex- cellent bottle of Peralta, of which wine I fhall always think it my duty to make honourable mention. The bottle coft twelve reales ; we called for another, but were told that there was onlv one more bottle in the houfe, which the Landlord kept for his own drinking, as it was very good. The hills were now well wooded with pines, and we beheld the clouds fweeping below us. On the fummit is a monument : I got upon the pedeftal to read the infcription, which was fome- what defaced, when two men on mul^s came up, the one of whom pulled me down, and turning round his mule attempted to feize me. I was talking ^o them in my Spaniih, and making my meaning more intelligible by the poflure of my walking flick, when the carriage appeared at the winding of the road, my Uncle and M. came up, and the fellows immediately rode oiF. All I could underftand from them was, that the one called himfelf an Overfeer of the Roads, and wanted to know what I got upon the pedeftal for ; but had this been true, he would not have attempted [ 104 ] attempted to feize me, nor would they have de- parted when my companions approached. We now peaceably made out the infcription. FERDINANDVS VI PATER PATRI^ SVPERATIS MONTIBVS VIAM VTRIQVE CASTELL^E FECIT ANNO SAL. 1749. REGNI SVI. IV. The clouds which were paffing over us hid the metropolis, which would otherwife have been vilible at the diftance of eight leagues. As we defcended we faw two caravans, who had pitched their waggons for the night on the fide of the mountain, and were like Scythians feated round their fire. From the Funda San Rafael to the village of Guadarama, is two leagues. Here we fent Mambrino to look for provifions, and he informed us that as it was a fall day he could not buy rabbits openly ; but he would bring them home under his cloak ! they are very dear, two reales the couple., Saturday, [ 105 3 Saturday. The landlord at Guadarama attempted to impofe upon us, and charge five reales for each bed ; but on my Uncle's inlifting that he fhould put his name to the bill, he took the ufual price. We departed very early. The country is well wooded with the prickly oak, and ftoney like Galicia, though the ftones are in general fmaller and lefs grotefquely piled. The Efcurial was on the right ; we met feveral carriages of the ugliefl: (bapes going there, and among them many fulkies drawn by three mules abreaft. As we advanced the country grew lefs beautiful ; the Guadarama loft its inequalities in diftance, and we faw the towers of Madrid. The pofadas on the road were occupied, fo we turned a little out of it, and dined at Aribaca : here they took us for Frenchmen from our trowfers ; faid they were common in Madrid, and added that the French made the whole world conform to them. At Aribaca I faw the laws to which all inn- keepers are fubje6t. 'By one they are obliged to give a daily account to fome magiftrate of what perfons have been jn their pofada, their names, their C 106 ] their condu61:, and their converfation. By an- other, if any man of fufpicious appearance walks by the pofada, 'they muft inform a magiftrate of it, on pain of being made anfwerable for any mifchief he may do ! Here is a print of'the crucifixion, as vilely executed as the common alehoufe ornaments in England. But the fubjeft is the nailing Chrift to the crofs, and I do not know that that mo- ment has ever been chofen for a pi6lure ; furely it is a fubjeft worthy of the moft fublime abi- lities. We were now only five miles from the great city. The approach to Madrid is very, beautiful. The number of towers, the bridge of Segovia, and the palace, give it an appearance of gran- deur, which there are no fuburbs to deftroy, and a fine poplar-planted walk by the river, adds an agreeable variety to the fcene. A few fcat- tcred and miferable hovels, about a mile or mile and half from the walls, lie immediately in view of the palace, fo wretched that fome of them are only covered with old blankets and old mats. His Majefty might have more pleafant obje£is [ toy ] objeQs in view, but I know of none that can convey to him fuch ufeful meditations. The moft fingular and novel appearance to me was that of innumerable women kneeling fide by fide to wafti in the Manzanares, the banks of which for about ten miles were covered with linen. It feemed as though all the inhabitants of Madrid had, like us, juft concluded a long journey, and that there had been a general foul- cloathes-bag delivery. We are at the Cruz de Malta, a perfeft Para- dife, after travelling feventeen days in Spain, To be fure, four planks laid acrofs two iron truflles, are not quite fo elegant as an Englifli four-poft bedftead, but they are eafily kept clean, and to that conlideration every other Ihould be facrificed. At tea they brought us the milk boil- ing in a tea-pot. My Uncle has offered to take Manuel on to Lifbon as a fervant ; but Manuel is ambitious of being a barber, and wifhes to try his fortune in the fhaving line at Madrid. His profeflional pride was not ^ little gratified when one of the fraternity C 'o8 ] fraternity took us in at St. Miguel de las Duenas; andas he left the houfe he afked me with an air of triumph, if we had any fuch Barbers as that Senor in England ! LETTER IX. Madrid, Jan, 6, 1796, 'N Monday we were at the Spanifh Comedy. There is a ftationary table fixed where the door is on the Englifh ftage, and (what is a ftranger peculiarity) no money is paid going in, but a man comes round and colIe61;s it between the a6ls. Between every aft is a kind of ope- ratical farce, a piece of low and grofs buffoon- ery, which conftantly gives the lie to their motto — " reprefenting a variety of a£lions we recommend virtue to the people :" it is a large and inelegant theatre, prefenting to the eye only a mafs of tarnilhed gilding. So badly was it lighted that to fee the company was impoffible. One ( 109 ) One of the a6lre{res, whofe hair was long and curling, wore it combed naturally, without any- kind of bandage, and I have leldom feen any head drefs fo becoming. The reprefentation began at half paft four, and was over at eight. I have heard a curious fpecimen of wit from a Spanifh comedy. During the abfence of a phyfician, his fervants prefcribe. A patient has been eating too much hare; and they order him to take greyhound broth. Concerning the City and its buildings, the manners of the people, their Tertullas and their Cortejo fyftem, you will find enough in twenty different authors. What pieafes me mofl is to fee the city entirely without fuburbs : it is furrounded by a wall, and the moment you get without the gates, the profpeft before*- prefents nothing that can poffibly remind you of the vicinity of a metropolis. The walking is very unpleafant, as the flreets are not paved : the general fault of the ftreets is their narrownefs. In one of them it was with difficulty I kept my- felf fo near the wall as to efcape being crufhed by a carriage ; a friend of M, had a button on his ( iio ) his breaft torn off by a carnage in the faffle place ; accidents muft have been frequent here, for it is called. The narrow Street of Dangers. Le Calle angufta de los periglos. This very unpleafant defeft is obfervable in all the towns we have paffed through. It is eafily accounted for. All thefe towns were originally fortified, and houfes were crowded together for fecurity within the walls. As the houfes are generally high, this likewife keeps them cool, by excluding the fun ; and a Spani- ard will not think this convenience counter- balanced by the preventing a free circulation of air. The fenfes of a foreigner are immedi- ately offended by dirt and darknefs ; but the Spaniard does not diflike the one, and he con^ neQs the idea of coolnefs with the other. From the charge of dirt, however, Madrid muft now be acquitted, and the grand ftreet, the Calle de Alcala, is one of the fineft in Europe. The Prado (the public walk) croffes it at the bottom, and it is terminated by an avenue of trees, with Qne of the city gates at the end. Of C iil 3 Of Spanifh beauty I have heard much, and fay little. There is indeed a liquid luftre in the full black eye, that moll powerfully exprefles languid tendernefs. But it is in this expreflion only that very dark eyes are beautiful : you do not diftinguifh the pupil from the furrounding part, and of courfe lofe all the beauty of its dila- tion and contra6lion. The drefs both of men and -women is altogether inelegant. The old Spanifh drefs was more convenient and very graceful. They wrap the great cloaks that are now in fafhion in fuch a manner as to cover the lower half of the face ; it was on this account that the law was enabled that interdids round hats ; for as their great hats would hide the other half, every perfon would walk the ftreets as in a mafk. We are now in private lodgings, for which wc pay twenty -four reales a day. The rooms are painted in the theatrical tafte of the country, and would be cheerful if we had but a fire place. You will hardly believe that, though this place is very cold in winter, the Spani/h landlords will not fufFer a chimney to be built in th^r houfes ? They have a proverb to exprefs the calmnefs and C 112 ] and keennefs of the air. — '* The wind will not blow out a candle, but it will kill a man." I have heard that perfons who incautioufly expofed themfelves to the wind before they were com- pletely dreffed, have been deprived of the ufe of their limbs. This is an unpleafant town ; the neceflaries of life are extravagantly dear ; and the comforts are not to be procured. I hear from one who mull be well acquainted with the people, that " there is neither friendfhip, aflPe6lion, or virtue among them !" A woman of rank, during the abfence of her hufband, has been living at the hotel with another man ! and yet fhe is received into every company. I ought to add Ihe is not a Spaniard, but in England adultery meets the infamy it deferves. All our early impreffions tend to prejudice us in favour of Spain. The lirft novels that we read fill us with high ideas of the grandeur and the dignity of the national charaQer, and in peruling their a6lions in the new world, we al- moft fancy^ihem a different race from the reft of mankind, as well from the fplendor of their ex- ploits. t >'3] J)loits, as from the cruelties that fuUied them. A little obfervation foon deftroys this favourable prepofTeffion ; a great and total alteration in their exifting eftablifhments muft take place before the dignity of the Spanifh charaQer can be ref- tored. ' In the middle ages the fuperiority of thfe Nobles was not merely titular and external. Learning was known only in the cloifter; but in all accomplifhments, in all courtefies, and in all feats of arms, from habit and fafhion the Ariftocracy poffeffed a real advantage. The pride of anceftry was produ6live of good : want of opportunity might prevent the heir of an illuftrious houfe from difplaying the fame liero- ifnl that his anceftors had difplayed in the caufe of their country, but it was difgraceful to de- generate in magnificent hofpitality, and in the encouragement of whatever arts exifled. I fhould think meanly of the man who could enu- merate a long line of heroic patriots among his forefathers, if he did not feel in himfelf that pride which produces virtue. We muft look through the fpeftacles of Prejudice before a genealogical tree can appear ridiculous. I The C 114 ] The ancient Nobility of Spain were placed in circumftances peculiarly adapted to form an elevation and haughtinefs of chara6ler ; like the gallant Welfii, they had been driven among their mountains by the invaders, but their efforts were more fortunate, and they recovered their coun- try. They who have ftruggled without fuccefs in the caufe of independance tleferve the ap- plaufe of Pofterity, and, to the honour of human nature, Pofterity has always beftowed it ; but the felf applaufe of the fuccefsful is not very remote from arrogance, and this arrogance, uniting with the natural referve of the Spaniards, produced the charadteriftic haughtinefs of their grandees. This charafteriftic exifts no longer, and you may form fome idea of what the Grandees now are by a circumftance which happened only this week. A Swifs officer in the Englilh fervice has been for fome time refident at Madrid. It was told him that the Marquis of S***, at whofe houfe he was a frequent vifitor, had faid of him in public, that he was a fpy of the Englifh minif- try, and that no perfon ought to affociate with with him. The officer in company with the friend who had informed him, called upon the Marquis, C »5 ] Marquis, who received him with his ufual civi- lity, and exprefTed his joy at feeing him. The Swifs charged him with what he had faid. He denied it, and fubflituted other expreffions. — It is true, faid he, I may have faid that as you were in the EngHlh fervice, you muft of courfe be in the Englifh intereft. '^ Were thofe the expref- fions the Marquis made ufe of," faid the officer to his informer. The informer repeated what he had heard the Marquis fay, and the officer immediately called the Marquis a liar, a fcoun- drel, and a coward, and beat him. The houfe was immediately in an uproar ; the doors were fattened, and the fervants came up with their knives. The Swifs, however, placed his back to the wall, drew his fwoid, and compelled them to open the doors. The news foon got abroad, and the Marquis has been put under arreft, by order of the Court, to prevent any ferious con- fequences. We dined the fame day at the Ambaflador's, in company with the Swifs, and went to the opera afterwards. My Uncle, who is very well ac- quainted with the manners of thefe countries, obferved three men dogging us from the houfe. I 2 They C ^'6 ] They followed lis a long way, but left us at laft after looking very earneftly at us. They might have made a difagreeable miftake on the occa- fion. The officer remained in Madrid three days, and appeared every where in public ; he then very prudently decamped. The King fet off on Monday laft ; his retinue on this journey conlifts of feven thoufand per- fons ! and fo vain is his Moft Catholic Majefty of this parade, that he has aBually had a lift of his attendants printed on a paper larger than any map or chart you ever faw, and given to all the Grandees in favour. We were in hopes of fe- curing a carriage through the Marquis Yrandas's intereft. This nobleman during the war was in difgrace, but when pacific principles gained the afcendancy at Court, he was recalled from a kind of baniftiment at his country feat, and fent to negotiate the peace, which was afterwards con- cluded by Yriarte, a brother of the poet, fmce dead. The intelligence he gives us is very unfa- vourable to men who are in hafte. The Court will not be lefs than fifteen days on the road with us; no intereft can fecure us a carriage ; and if we can get one to fet out, it will probably be taken from C »»7 3 from us on the way by fome of their retinue ; and there is no accommodation at the pofadas, for, independant of the common attendants, fix hundred people of rank were obliged to lie in the open air the firft night ; nor can we go a dif- ferent road without doubling the diftance ; for were we to attempt to enter Portugal by Ciudad Rodrigo, and the province of Tras os Montes, if the rains which are daily expefted fhould over- take us, the mountain torrents would be impaf- fable. His Majelly's title to the crown of Corfica has been virtually acknowledged here in a fingular manner. A Corfican, in fome trifling quarrel concerning a plate at dinner, ftabbed a man on Sunday lafl, and took fhelter in the houfe of the Englilh Ambalfador. Thefe things are common here : I never pafled through a village without feeing three or four monumental croffes in it ; and as it can hardly be fuppofed that a banditti would attack in an inhabited place, it is fair to conclude that thefe monuments are for men who have been ftabbed in fome private quarrel. Their long knives are very convenient. Detec- tion is eafily avoided in this country and con- fcience [ .18 ] fcience foon quieted by the lullaby of abfolu. tion ! The old palace of Buen Retiro is converted into a royal porcelain manufactory ; the prices are extravagantly high, but they have arrived to great excellence in the manufafture. The falfe tafte of the people is difplayed in all the vafes I faw there, which, though made from Roman models, are all terminated by porcelain flowers ! In the gardens of his Majefty,who is a great fportf- man, occafionally ftioots, and high fcaffolds are ereCled in different parts for his markers to ftand upon : here alfo he amufes hitnfelf with a royal recreation fimilar to what boys call Bandy in England ; he is faid to play very well, but as this Auguft Perfonage is ambitious of fame, he is apt to be very angry if he is beaten. Did you ever fee two boys try which could bring the other on his knees by bending his fingers back ? The King of Spain is very fond of this amufe- ment, for he is remarkably ftrong : a little time ^go there was a Frenchman in great favour with him, becaufe he had ftrength enough to equal his Majefty in all thefe fports, and fenfe enough to yiel4 to him. Ope day when they were thus employing C i'9 ] employing themfelves, the King fancied his an- tagonift did not exert all his force ; and as his pride was hurt, infifted upon it in fuch a man- ner that the Frenchman was obliged to be in earncft, and brought him to the ground. The King immediately ftruck him in the face. Mambrino's account of the cat-eating is con- firmed : I was playing with one lafl night, and the lady told me fhe was obliged to confine her in the houfe left the neighbours fhould fteal and eat her. I have made progrefs enough in the language to talk about it very learnedly. Long acquainted with the name of Lope de Vega, you may fuppofe I eagerly made acquaintance with him as foon as it was in my power. Of his induftry and genius you have heard enough in. England : I will give you fome fpecimens of his merit and manner, from which you may judge whether or no the charadler I draw of him be juft. QUANDO C *20 ] QUANDO por efte margen folitario Villano agricultor os tranfponia Verdes olmos, apenas yo fabia Cue fucffe honefto bien, ni mal contrario. Treynta vezes el Sol al Sagitario Saliendo de la cafa humida y fria Del Efcorpion, toco defde aquel dia Curfu immortal de fu camino vario. Creciftes, y creci vueftra belleza, Fue mi edad verde, como ya a mis danos Efpejo vueftra rigida corteza ; Los dos fin fruto, vemos fus enganos, Mais ay que no era en vos naturaleza Perdi mi tiempo — Uorare mis danos. YE fliadowy elms ! when in this folitude The ruftic planted you, my infant mind As yet unapt of reafon, knew not good From evil. Thirty winters has the wind Stript from your trembling boughs the foliage fear, And thirty times upon his radiant way On you the Sun has pour'd his fummer ray, pilding the foliage of the ripen'd year. Your C 1*1 ] Your beauty ftill has grown, and ftill it grows,— Alas ! my Youth has^ been ! and now all dark And fad of mind, a man of many woes, I in the mirror of your wrinkled bark KndV mine own mournful image, and with tears Refle6l in anguifti on my ill-fpent years. » .« ESSAY ON THE POETRY SPAIN and PORTUGAL. In the earlieft ages of Englifh poetry, the talk of tranflation was thought as honourable as that of original compolition. Whatever enmity might fubfift between two countries, it extended not to their literature ; and if the ftate of com- merce confined the enterprizing fpirit of the merchant, the poet had no reafon to complain, Chaucer frequently fpared himfelf the trouble of invention, and adopted the allegories of the Provencial t 122 ] Provencial fchool, and the licentious humour or the dignified romance of Boccacio, whofe melancholy catalogue of the Great and Unhappy, furnifhed ample materials to the authors of the Mirror of Magiftrates. Gower may be ftiled a poetical compiler ; the induftrious Lydgate added foreign genius to his own ; and Barclay even went to Holland for his fpecimen, whofe merit is fuch as may be expedled when the author was a Dutchman and the tranflator a Monk. The extravagant fancy of Marino and the prolix dulnefs of Du Bartas, were well ren- dered by the wild and pious imagination of Cralhaw, and the induftrious ftupidity of Sylvef- ter. Our anceftors were made acquainted with the tales of Ariofto by Harrington's vile rhymes; and Taffo was introduced to the Englifti by Fairfax, in a drefs which, though now a little out of fafhion, is more graceful than any he has lince appeared in. It is ftrange that the litera- ture of Spain and Portugal fhould have been totally neg]e6led at this period, when thefe coun- tries were in the meridian of their glory. Don Quixote, the Vifions of Quevedo, the Spanifh Rogue, and the Lazarillo de Tormes of the great Mendoza, are almoft the only Spanifh books that C 123 ] that we have naturalized ; and from the Por- tuguefe, excepting the Lufiad, I recolleft only the old romance of Palmerin of England. The Lufiad, which in the hands of Mr. Mickle has exceeded the original, was indeed firft tranflated by Fanfhaw,* who has likewife printed a few fonnets from the Spanifh, felefted with little tafte, and rendered with little elegance. In * The beft of this Author's pieces that is printed as ori- ginal, is only a free tranflation from Luis de Gongora, AYER nacifte, y moriras manana ; Para tan breve fer quien te dio vida ? Para vivir tarn poco eftas luzida ? Y para nada fer eftas lozana ! Si tu hermofura te engano mas vana, Blen prefto las veras devanecida, Porque en ella hermofura efta efcondida, La occafion de morir muerte temprana. ©uando te corte la robufta mano Ley de la agricultura permitida Groffero aliento acaba a tu fuerte. No falgas que te aguarda algun tyrano, Dilata en nacer para tu vida Que anticipas tu fer para tu muerte. C 124 3 In all countries the aera of Genius has pre- ceded that of tafte. Neither of thefe faculties can be attained without a certain peculiar ap- titude of mind, the exiftence of which, in de- fiance of fyftems and metaphyficians, experience fufficiently demonftrates. But Tafte is a delicate plant that cannot be reared without the moft careful cultivation, when the buds of Genius will burft forth, and its roots ftrike deep, however un- TO A ROSE. BLOWN in the morning thou flialt fade ere noon, What boots a life that in fuch hafte forfakes thee ? Thou art wonderous frolic being to die fo foon, And paffing proud a little colour makes thee. If thee thy brittle beauty lo deceives, Know then the thing that fwells thee is thy bane ; For the fame beauty doth in bloody leaves The fentence of thy early death contain. Some clown's coarfe lungs will poifon thy fweet flower, If by the carelefs plough thou fhalt be torn, And many Herod's lie in wait each hour To murder thee as foon as thou art born S Nay, force thy bud to blow, their tyrant breath Anticipating life to haften death. Perhaps this may be printed among his tranflations in another edition. The one I have is of 16^6, 12 5 ] unfavourably it be fituated. The early poets have all of them been eager to exprefs all their thoughts without rejefting the incongru- ous, or chufing the beft adapted language. We had our Cowley and our Dryden before Pope taught us correftnefs, or Gray united judgment with imagination ; and Dante Pulci and Boy- ardo preceded Taflb. As nations decline fo declines the genius of their individuals; they have rifen together and together have they fallen, and this participation of national glory or national degradation is uniform. Athenian genius periftied with the li- berty of Athens, and Roman literature had become contemptible long before the Goths deftroyed it. Spain and Portugal never attained to the aera of Tafte. Their rife was fliort and rapid ; their decline has been flow and continued. The fpirit of enterprize, which fupported the Spanifti cha- rader and elevated it fo high, notwithftanding the double tyranny of their Kings and Priefts, foon languifhed. The Spanifh adventurers were diverted from their inhuman yet great and fplendid enterprizes in America, to a conteft of [ 126 ] of equal injuftice but different fuccefs in the Netherlands. When the deteftable Philip the Second died, he left his enemies viftorious and his people impoverifhed. The efforts of his feeble fucceffor were fruitlefs ; the name of Spanifh glory furvived, but the glory of Spain was extinguifhed. The mad expedition of Sebaflian betrayed Portugal into the hands of Philip the Second. Its fall as an independant fta^e, united with the decline of the power that had abforbed it to fink the Portugueze character ; and when the courage ©f his wife feated the contemptible Braganza on the throne of his anccflors, though the monarchy was reftored to the *' heir of a long line of Kings," the fpirit of the people was gone for ever. A variety of caufes combined with the decline of the country to degrade the literature of Spain. During the feventeenth century a falfe tafte in- fe6ted Europe. Quaint metaphors and more quaint metaphyfics took poffeflion of poetry ; and thus were the fublime powers of Quarles wafled, and the genius of Cowley, and the time C 127 ] time, and the paper of the rabble of his imitators. Marino corrupted the Italian poets, and the Spaniards, always tottering on extravagance, foon caught the contagion. The dangerous abilities of Lope de Vega af- fifted the progrefs of the evil. This prodigy of nature wrote for the multitude, and cared not for the critics ; and flrange indeed would it have been if the man who conftantly wrote five fheets a day, did not in the rabble of his thoughts ftum- ble upon fome that were good. The wit and fatire of Villegas and Cervantes were wafted againft this carelefs yet lively verfifier : the people flocked to his loofe comedies, and bought his books : the money he rapidly acquired he libe- rally beftowed ; the poet was admired and the man was beloved. This evil however might have been as tran- fient in Spain as it has been in the reft of Europe ; but there the human mind has been fettered by their accurfed government and their aceurfed hierarchy. Defpotifm impiifoned Quevedo, and Luis de Leon was feized by the Inquifition ; tho' no [ ,28 ] no man could be more blamelefs than the on^, or more orthodox than the other. Nor is it merely by the dread of its power that Defpotifm checks the progrefs of genius. Inftances for perfecution for literary temerity are rare, not becaufe the Governors would be flow to punilh, but becaufe circumftances and education have left few men enlightened or vir- tuous enough to deferve puniQiment. At feven years of age the abfolute authority of the Con-, feffor begins. Superftition is prefented in all its fplendor and in all its terrors, difcuflion is pro- hibited, and enquiry rendered almoft impoffible, by the wife precaution of fubmitting all books to the Inquilition before they may be printed or circulated in thefe kingdoms. The effeft of thefe fyftems on the mind is like that of thofe poifons on the body that produce death by a dow but certain operation. In moft countries the mob of mankind negleft the fpirit of religion, though they would foon be- come perfecutors in fupport of its forms. This is however more the cafe in reformed countries than [ 129 ] than in thofe where Popery remains, becaufe the fpirit and the forms of Popery are more clofely Connefted, as in the do6lrine of the Real Pre- fence, the reverence of Relics, and the prac- tice of Confeflion. In England, though the progrefs of Infidelity be rapid and alarming, there are however thofe who after having given the fubje6l that ferious examination which it re- quires, are fully and firmly convinced of the truth, and qualified ably to defend the caufe of Chrif- tianity ; but in Roman Catholic countries the fcepticifm that precedes enquiry is looked upon as deeply finful, and between bigotry and athe- ifm no medium is known. Thefe circumftances are all of them unfa- vourable to Poetry. To form the real Poet en- thufiafm is neceffarv, and a confcioufnefs of the dignity of his own nature ; the one cannot exift in the bigot, and neither of them in the Atheift or in the contented flave of Defpotifm. Such then are the caufes that have combined to prevent the progrefs of Poetry in Spain, — ? the licentious negligence of their mofl favourite authors, the decline of the ftate, the defpotifm K of C 130 ] of the government, and an abfurd and abomina- ble fLiper{lition : yet let it not be fuppofed that the Spanifli Poets are deftitute of merit becaufe they have not attained to perfection : labouring under To many difadvantages, it is rather to be wondered at that they have done fo much, than that they have not accompliftied more. The fubjeQ; is not unworthy the attention of the Philofopher. Books are the portrait of the public mind, and the chara6leriftic traits of every age and of every people may be read in their poetry. Who is there that cannot phyfiogno- mize the French from Racine, Crebillon, and Voltaire ? To fay of our own countrymen that Shakefpear is their favourite bard, is at once to give their charaQsr and pronounce their eulo- gium. It is the fame terrible energy that pro- duced the ballads of Burger and the dramas of Schiller that enables the brutalized German to butcher his kneeling enemy. ANALYSIS L m ] ANALYSIS OF LA HERMOSURA JDE ANGELICA AN HEROIC POEM, BY LOPE FELIX DE VEGA CARPIO. Wi HAT poetical mind has not been fafcinated with the magic of Ariofto ? This wild and won- derful Author, after leading the reader through forty-fix cantos, leaves him to regret that the work is fo foon concluded. Though his poem however be compleat, many Italian authors have carried their admiration of it fo far as in- judicioufly to attempt a fupplement. Others, with more judgment, have endeavoured to con- ne8: their fame with that of Ariofto, by profe- cuting his hints and producing a poem that fhall at once be whole in itfelf, and yet poffefs the advantage of relation with the Orlando Furiofo. Of one of thefe, the Angelica Innamorata of K 2 Vicenzo Vicenzo Bruglantino, I kndw only that it was printed in quarto at Venice in 1553. The Licentiate Luis Barahona de Soto produced ano- ther called the Tears of Angelica, Las Lagri- fnas de Angelica, printed at Granada in 1586. Of this poem, the Curate fays, in the memorable trial of Don Quixote's Library,* " I fliould have been very forry if this book had been condemned to be burnt, for the Author was not only one of the moft famous poets of Spain, but likewife of the world;" and Lope de Vega calls him,^ *' that Soto who equalled Apollo in the arts of Poetry and Medicine, and who wrote the for- tunes of Medoro in leaves of gold." But of all thofe who have followed the path that led the Italian poet to immortality. Lope de Vega * Lloraralas yo, fi tal libro hublera mandado quemar, porque fu Autor fue uno de los famofos Poetas del mundo, no folo de Efpana. % Efte Soto Mejor que en el de Tenedos remoto , Phafelis y Tegira, Apolo per la Lira Del Medico excellente, Queen laminas del oro Efcribio la Ventura de Medoro. Laurel de Afol*, [ 133 ] Vega himfelf is the moft celebrated. Confident of his own powers he has attempted to rival Taffo in his Jerufalen Conquiftada, and Ariollo in The Beauty of Angelica. An account of this poem will make the reader acquainted with the manner, the merits, and the faults of Lope de Vega. He begins the work by addreffing a namelefs Lady ; then declaring his fubjeQ, he exprefles his hope that Philip will be propitious, and enters into an uninterefting and unpoetical detail of Moorifh ravages, which is concluded by a pane- gyric on Ferdinand and Ifabella. i Lido, King of Andalufia, reigned at Seville, and falling in love with Clorinarda, Princefs of Fez, from a fight of her piQure, demands and obtains her in marriage. Cardiloro, Prince of Tangiers, the fon of Mandricardo and the fickle Doralice, loves Clorinarda, and is beloved by her. He follows her to Seville, and after dif- tinguifhing himfelf in the bull-feaft at her mar- riage, goes in a ftate of defpair to the banks of the river Betis. LLEVADO [ 134 3 LLEVADO en fin de tanto defvario Oue affi fuele de amor veneer triftezas Mezclo fu fuego en llanto al Betis frio El humido criftal rompiendo en piezas : Las blancas Ninfas del anciano rio For ver la caufa alzaron las cabezas, Mas luego por huir de vozes tales Perdieron muchas perlas y corales. El Ofo, a quien afligen las Abejas Qaando abrazado a la colmena corre, Hafta cubrir la frente y las orejas Del mas vicino rio fe focorre ; Y anli de fus cuydades y fus quejas, Cardiloro abrazado a la gran torre Donde Lido fu bien gozar queria, Penfo valerfe por el agua fria. Pero precipitarfe quifo apenas Quando de enmedio del profundo rio Como fuelen pintarfe las Sirenas Una fombra atajo fu defvario : Las ovas de coral y conchas llenas Sacudiendo las perlas del rozio, Aparto de la frente coronada De verde ynojo y dixo en voz formada. AT C >35 ] AT length fuch frenzy feized him as o'erpowered Love's deep defponding anguifh. His hot tears He with the cold ftream mingled, breaking thus The humid cryttal. From their ancient haunts The -wondering Naiads rofe, then terrified By his loud cries fled fall, and in their flight Their pearls and corals loft.* As when a Bear Unwife, unbleft, attacks- the honey 'd hive. Forth fly the vengeful tribe ; they fwarm around Their foe, and madden with their venom'd ftings The invading brute ; he paws his front and ears With fruitlefs fury, to the river's brink Speeds on all frantic in his agony, And plunges defperate in. Thus on the towers Of Seville Cardiloro fix'd his eyes Where flie, the idol of his heart, that night Was Lido's bride ! Wildly he gaz'd awhile, Then furious rufh'd along beneath the wave To whelm his forrows. As he rufh'd, arofe A Spe£lre from the flream, his long lank hair With coral intermix'd and many a fhell. Shaped like the fabled Merman. All amaz'd The Youth beheld his Father's troubled face, And heard his hollow voice. Surely * He does not add whether they were advertifed in the newfpapers the next day. [ 136 ] Surely the man who attempted to rival Arioflo ought not to have imitated him. After upbraiding his fon with degeneracy, the fpirit of Mandricardo commands him to feek a large cavern in the Sierra which divides Anda- lufia from Caftille, where his uncle, the fage Ardano, fhall relieve him. CANTO II. Cardiloro reaches the cave, which is painted with the hiftories of Boyardb and Ariofto. After he has contemplated thefe, Ardano touches him with his wand, and lays him in a deep flumber ; in the mean time the wretched bride dies of grief. CANTO III. Lido is inconfolable for the death of Clori- ijarda. LA [ m ] LA vida acaba, el animo anihila Y el corazon en lagrimas diftila. His fpirit perifhed in him, and his heart Diftill'd away in tears. He dies and leaves his kingdom to that man who has the moft beautiful wife, appointing feven Kings as judges. The news fpread abroad, and Seville is filled with women, Gentiles, Turks, Moorci and Saracens ; they fwarm from the South Sea, from the Levant, and from Brazil ; even the Ethiop comes to rival with her black perfe6tion the pure fnow of Germany. O VANIDAD ! que defpena del Cielo De las eftrellas la tefcera parte, Pintura natural en futil velo, Favorecida de colores y arte, Nieve al fol, pluma al viento, flor al yelo, Atambor enganofo y eftandarte, Que llamas y conduzes a la muerte Al moco, al viejo, al fabio, al fuerte. Breve C '38 ] Breve tvrano de la vida agena Niebla del alma, carcel del fentido, Gloria de lexos, y de cerca pena, Del gufto yman, de la memoria olvido En llanto Crocodilo, en voz Sirena, Sol fuerte, mar fereno, afpid dormido, Blanco te toda embidia, error del fefTo, Y madre enfin de todo mal fucceffo. O quanto mal ban hecho Espejos vanos ! Maldigo el Cielo el inventor primero ! Mas que importaran vidros Venecianos Se el agua fupo hazer cafo tan fiero ? O VANITY ! by whom the Angels fell From Heaven ! thou fubtle painter who doth mix So artfully and well thy flattering hues ; Snow to the Sun ! a feather to the Wind ! A flower to the fharp winter's frofl; ! thy hand Beats the loud larum, and the young, the old. The wife, the weak, the mighty, flock beneath Thy banners to their death. Thy [ 139 3 Thy mifts obfcure The foul : — brief tyrant of our little life. Thou haft imprifon'd Reafon. From afar Thy magnet draws our velfels to what feems In diftance fair, tho' the near vi6lim ftarts And knows the Rock of Ruin ! Crocodile, , With thy feigned tears ! Siren of melody ! Falfe as the filver-furfac'd ocean calm, Or like the fleeping Viper! damning Vice Of the whole fex — of mortal miferies Thou, Vanity, art Mother ! May juft Heaven Curfe him whofe evil wit invented firft Your favourite mirrors ! yet what matter they ? Deprive a woman of her looking-glafs, And fl^e will fit befide the ftream, and there Gaze on her imaged idol. THISBE, Oueen of Epire, appears firft. TAL viejo dize que mirar importa Si ygual el cuerpo con el roftro fea, Qual fuele el efcuhor que el leno corta Y por medidas juftas le tantea : Que en la materia alarga, quita, acorta Para que falga la que fue la ydea, Que la beldad de Tift)e fm medida. Con arte quieron que fe juzgue y mida. Otro [ 140 ] Otro le aprueva, y dize que confifte En una union de miembros la hermofura, Y que fi 7gual aquefte al otro affifte, Entonces es perfeta la figura, Y que de efta unidad fe adorne y vifte Del cuerpo la acabada compoftura, Y que por eflb le beldad renia El nombre de concordia y armonia. Que coma con la mufica fe haze, Concorde fon con el agudo y grave^ Y de diverfji voz fe engendra y naze Por la ygualdad el armonia fuave ; AfTi la union del cuerpo fatisfaze. Que de la perfecion tiene la Have, Pues diferentes cuerdas mano y lira Hazen Concordes fuavidad que admira, O caducos juezes con antojos Quereis medir un roftro, un tierno pecho ? Medid el ayre de unos bellos ojos — Y medereis del cielo al fuelo el trecho ! THISBE, t 141 ] T HI SEE, Queen of Epire, appears first. ONE grave old judge obferved, that it was right Well to remark the fymmetry of form And face, if thefe their juft proportions hold ; And as the Sculptor traces with a line His ftatue to corred the length and breadth Of what his toil had fafliion'd : fo he deem'd That it were fit to meafure Thifbe's form By accurate rule. Another one approved The fage advice ; for Beauty, he obferved. Rightly defin'd, was fymmetry of parts. And where this fymmetry of parts exifls, There is the figure perfeft, and the whole, Thus of its due proportion'd parts compofed, Becomes harmonious, wherefore Beauty bears The names of Concord and of harmony. For as in Mufic Concord is produced By various different founds that fymphonize. And from their union Harmony is born ; So in the human frame harmonious parts Compofe one perfeft whole, and touch the keys That wake fuch founds melodious as intrance The hearer with delight. O dotard [ 142 ] O dotard Ones That look at beauty thro' your fpe6lacles, Afk the dimenfions of a lovely face, /.nd calculate a bofom by fquare inches ! Meafure the magic of a Woman's eye. And ye may take the altitude of Heaven, And tell how long the road there ! Vanity brought the Egyptian Nicandra_, whofe hair was ftraw-colour, her complexion brown, an emerald-eyed Princefs ! Celia too was there, the Queen of Cordova ; her drefs difcovered a bofom that, though of fnow, would have burnt the Salamander who fhould attempt to live amid its flames. CANTO IV. By what magic the charms of Angelica have been preferved is not recorded ; yet her beauty is the fubjeft of this poem, in which the Sons of Ariofto's chara6ters are introduced. Rolando comes to this extraordinary trial. Prince of Hun- gary, the fon * of Zerbino and Ifabella. Glo- riardo, * How came Lope de Vega to forget that Ifabella died a Virgin, when fo very Angular a part of the Orlando Furiofo particularly treats of her death ? and admitting the defcent of Rolando, how came he Prince of Hungary ? [ M3 ] riardo, the offspring of Rogero and Brada- mant, a man as perfe6t as human nature can allow. Liriodoro, heir of Brandimart and the affedionate Flordelis. The Scythian Turca- theo, Gradaffo's fierce and barbarous fon. The mild Rofelida, graceful in her Perfian garments. Cloris, the finely formed Queen of Cyprus. Rof- tubaldo, fon of Fcrragut, of llately ftature, but his dark eyes were haughty. Leuridemo, whom the Sicilians called their Adonis. Carpanto, the huge and furious offspring of Agrican. The Bohemian Claridan, a virtuous philofopher. Celauro, a proud Ethiopian ; and the Ethiop Queen Nereyda, fo foul a woman that it was faid a Crocodile had engendered her on the pu- trefaftion of the Nile, and her appearance made the fiQion credible. ADONDE vas fantafma del Letheo, Manca de efcura tinta en bianco rafo ? Harpia entre les mefas de Fineo ? Aragne entre las Mufas del Parnafo ? Penfas que el premio fe concede al Feo ? Han te enganado o el efpejo acafo ? Sal del templo de Venus, y no acuerdes Que fe apaguen en ti fus hachas verdes. Jvlas [ 144 ] Mas bien fera que vayas como niebla Para que venga el Sol con dulce falva. Per cuya fombra y fngida tiniebla Oual fuele per la noche rompar el alva : Que ya de refplandores cerca y puebla Y de tus nubes nos defiende y falva, La eftrella de la Reyna del Cathayo^ Que delhara tu fombre con fu rayo. Angelica la Bella defcuydada, De la bolver al amorofo Uoro, En el Cathay donde nacio cafada Con el fin par belliffimo Medoro : Ya de las trifles quexas olvidada Del Efpanol, Frances, Barvaro y Moro, Gozava en paz fu Reyno y fu marido, Quado efta nueva le toco el oydo. Viendo la que en el mundo nombre tuvo De rica muellra del hermofo cielo, Cuyo divino refplandor detuvo A quien ofreze mirra Delpho y Delo ; Quel nombre altivo que en el cielo eftuvo, Y fe olvidava del ingrato fuelo ; No quifo permitir que eftando viva Agena mano tal hazana efcriva. Yanfi C M5 ] Y anfi con fu Medoro en efta emprefa Moftro la perfecion divina eftrana, Que a tantos heroes la cerviz oprefa Tuvo de Francia Be rv aria y Efpana t Tendio a la efpalda la madexa efpefa Adon Amor fe pierde y enmarana, De los cabellos rubios y luftrofos Sutiles crefpos largos y copiofos, Moftro la frente Candida y ferena, Y la arqueada ccja que procura Do pelos cortos y futiles Uena Ser evano en color, feda en blandura j Que a la bella nariz (de falta agena) Con una ygual y denfa compoftura El un eftremo em punta fe refuelve Y el otro hazia el oydo en arco buelve* Moftro los ojos, y la nina bella Negra, y el globo o circulo vifivo, Fuera de aquel pequeno cerco della De bianco y flordelino puro y vivo ; Alegre vifto que falia por ella Un fuego dulce honefto y atra6livo Ojos negros al fin, y ojos rafgados De una grandeza ygual y relevados. L Las C '46 ] Las pequenas orejas con un roxa Color que los dos circulos relieva El eflremo menor languido y floxo, Sin la concavidad que fe reprueva : Que a tanta quexa y amorofo antoxo A tanta hazana y bellicofa prueva, Fueron de fordos Afpides y alzavo, Humanas a la voz d'un muerto efclavo. Menos luftrofas que la blanca frente Con rofay nacar en jazmin y nieve. Las mexillas encarna dulcemente Hafta el bello puriflimo relieve : Que alii la grana y purpura confiente, El primero lugar que fe le deve. Y la bella nariz que los divide, Y la contienda de los dos impide. Que de las cejas ygualmente pende Ygual hafta fu eftremo, y dividida De una linea tan leve que no ofende For las concavidades eftendida : Alta el principio, y quando al fin deciende . For un dulce compas defminuyda, Y aquel eftremo que moftro partido De un rofado color poco encendido. Moftro C 147 ] Moftro la boca y labios carmefies Mezclados a realces tranfparentesj Como los encarnardos alhelies Con fus claros y efcuros diferentes; Y en fus finos engaftes de rubies Los concertades y pequenos dientes Del color del alxofary encarnada Barva redonda, a la mitad rofada, Del ayre cuerpo brio y gentileza Modeflia mageflady manfedumbre, Admirada quedo naturaleza Los limites paflb de fu coftumbre : No puedo encarecer tanta belleza Ciego del rayo de fu hermofa lumbre, Y pues la Bella a todos diferencio Huviera dicho mas con el filencio. PHANTOM of Tartarus ! whither art thou come? A blot on this white tablet ! — foul of form And all unwelcome as the Harpy guefts At the fad meal of Phineus t canft thou think Thofe fiend-like features can obtain the meed L 2 Of [ '48 J Of Beauty ? has thy mirror Co deceived Thine ideot vanity ? away, away — Depart Neyrada, and pollute no naore The fane of Venus ! But thou haft come well ! Thou art as welcome as the palling cloud When rifing in his radiance the bright fun Scatters the morning vapors ; the weak eye Beholds him breaking thro' the fhadowy veil, Elfe dazzled by his rays : thou art come well. For that Cathaian day-ftar rifes now ! Angelica — Angelica appears In all her charms mature ! Yes fhe is here> Angelica, the theme of many a fong. Who has not heard of her whofe fatal charms Led forth fuch hofts to war, Chriftians and Moors, Franks, Spaniards, and Barbarians ? She had dwelt Long time fecure, Albracca's peaceful Queen, Medoro's wife beloved ; when tidings came Of the rich crown of Seville, left the prize Of Beauty ; then of paft calamities Forgetful, or in vain rememb'ring, foon Her former pride return'd : nor could fhe brook ■fhat whiift fhe lived another fair Ihould gain The C 149 ] The flattering meed. She left her peaceful home. And with Medoro fought again the land Of many a former forrow. Now was feen That more than human fymmetry of charms. That ftrange perfe6lion, whofe prodigious power Had with fuch magic might enflaved the hearts Of Heroes. O'er her fhoulders cluft'ring hung Her gloffy ringlets, in whofe wanton waves Love fported with delight, and hid him now Beneath the mazy trefles, and now bound The golden fetters round his prifon'd plumes. They faw her clear white front, and her arch'd brow Whofe ebon hair in foftnefs, not the filk Drawn by the indufl;rious infe6t round her cell Exceeds. Of equal fize the brows approach'd, Then bending o'er its eye each lelTening arch Gently declin'd. They faw her full dark eyes Beaming majeftic awe ! — Ah ! who could meet Her full-dark eyes that with their lightning glance Jhriird every heart ? Th( [ 150 ] The loofe locks gave to view Pier rofy-circled ears, of many a tale Of Love, and many a paffion-pleading ftrain, Like the deaf adder, recklefs. The pure pearl. The unfpotted fnow, the milk white jeflamine, Bore with her purer cheek no rivalry ; Nor could the colour of the opening rofe, Tho' gleaming with the dews of morn, compare With her more lively hue. Her well-form'd nofe, Rifing between the arches of her brow, Drew a right line. Her rofeate lips difclofed The fymmetry of teeth that feem'd to grow Ivory in rubies rooted : but her form Was fuch, and fuch her majefty of mien, That Nature in admiring wonder gazed At her own work. Dazzled with this excefs Of Beauty, let me ceafe with feeble hand To paint perfe6lion ;* on a theme like this Silence alone is eloquent. Mcdoro came with her, an effeminate boy, Gran llorador y mufico eflremado. One of fine feelings, and moft mufical, yet f Lope de Vega fhould have faid this five ftanzas back. [ 151] yet fo beautiful that the Poet imitates Timan- thes, and throws a veil over his perfe6tions. CANTO Vt * She has conquered — the Beautiful One — fhe has conquered" — exclaimed the multitude when Angelica appeared. SI moftraras eflbs ojos bellos Azules como el cielo, y los faphiros De donde Amor, aunque fe abrafe en ellos Haze a las almas amorofos tiros : Si moftraras la red de tus cabellos Dulciffima prifion de mis fufpiros Que los excedo, fi en amar me calmas Y oxala que fulpiros fueran almas. Si moftraras la boca embuelta en rifa La blanca mano y el nevado pecho Bafas de la coluna terfa y lifa, En que fe afirma aquel divino techo Sofpecho que baxaran tan aprifa Almas como laureles a defpecho De tantos pretendientes — pero ignoro Quien fuera de tus meritos Medoro. BUT C 152 ] BUT my Luzinda ! hadft thou then difplay'd Thofe fapphire eyes bright as the fummer heaven! Whence Love (tho' kindled by their fire himfelf) Inflames all hearts ; if thou hadft given to view The proud profufion of thofe wanton locks. The prifon of my fighs — (ah ! would to God That I could figh my foul into their toils !) If thou, Luzinda, hadft difplay'd thy lips Array 'd with fmiles — if they had feen thy neck, The polifti'd pillar of that roof divine, All loves, all laurels, thou hadft rightly gained. And rivalry were vain ; but who had been, Medoro-like, the counterpart of thee ? The power of Love in the aflembly is thu§ curioufly exprefled : Eftiende Amor fus rayos encendidas La tierra elada fu vapor exala, Ya fuerza del calor el frio yelo 3uelto en fufpiros va fubiendo el cielp. From their Heart's foil exhaPd By Love's hot beaming fun, the vapors rofe. And fteam'd in fighs to Heaven. Thifbe [ 153 ] Thifbe is enamoured of Liriodoro ; Rolando of Rofelida ; but the Poet juflly abufes Cupid for making Nereyda love Medoro, and inflaming the foul Zerdano for Angelica. One of the judges addrefles Angelica in a long complimentary fpeech, and fhe receives the Crown, the prize of Beauty. The dotage of the Queen prompts her to harangue the multi- tude upon the merits of Medoro, and claim the Crown for him. The old judge eafily confents; but the fon of Ferragut flernly demands if the old dotard will place that effeminate animal upon the throne, and exclaims, " Ye all know me to be the King of Toledo ; but ye do not know that if ye 'defend your kingdom by handfome faces, Roftubaldo, the Caftilian, {hall place his foot upon your necks." CANTO [^54] CANTO VI. TURCATHEO, enamoured of Angelica, anfwers Roftubaldo, and defies him. A gene- ral battle enfues, and Angelica, faving Medoro by means of her enchanted ring, retires with him to a garden ; he is angry at the difgrace of thus quitting the conteft, but the tears and en- dearments of his wife appeafe him. Arboles verdes, fuente clara y fria No defcubrais lo que palTo con ella. The fountains cold and clear ! ye fhadowing groves ! Tell not the holy fecrets of their loves ! Lope now obferves that the hiftory of An- ffelica and Medoro has been remarkable. Ar- giba, who ruled in Cathay during the abfence of Argalia and his fifter wifhed to marry Ange- lica to her nephew Mirtilo. In revenge fhe ftole Angeloro, the only child of Angelica and Me- doro (whofe adventures he fays are to form an- other hiftory), fliut him in a cheft and threw him C 155 ] him into the fea. Angelica was as much induced to vifit Seville by her apprehenfions left Argiba ftiould deftroy Medoro, as by her vanity. But he returns to his fubje£l. Roftubaldo, after making a great (laughter, retreats from the city. Angelica at a feaft gives Turcatheo a ring for defending her, and he and Leuridemo fwear to be her proteftors. Zerdano, another Therlites, grows more violently enamoured of Angelica, and the paffion of the foul Nereyda for Medoro becomes fo powerful that flie refolves to confult her mother who is flailed in magic, and accord- ingly fets fail for Media. CANTO VII. AFTER feafting forty days the affembly fepa- rate. Carpanto follows Belcorayda, the Queen of Granada, his fweet balilifk. — su dulce basilisco, Thifbe and Liriodoro, Rolando and Rofelida, embark together, and their veffel, attra6led by a mountain of loadftone, is wrecked upon the coaft of Brazil, where the inhabitants were hairy, fwift of foot, and tolerably civilized, only they were addided addidled to diinking human blood and eating human flefli. Thilbe efcapes into the woods, but Liriodoro, Rolando, and Rofelida are taken. The crowd follow them, as mufliitoes fwarm round their prey, when they are conduced to Gosforoftro the King. He fat on a throne of rudely-piled trees, in the valley of the Magnet Mountain, where ran a rivulet that they were wont to fwell with human blood. Grifelino, Captain of the band, prefents the prifoners, and afks him if it is not fit that thefe people who had without permiffion entered his territories, Ihould bathe his altars with their gore. CANTO VIII. GOSFOROSTRO choofes to keep Rofelida and eat her companions. He commands them to fave Liriodoro till the morrow, but immedi- ately to prepare the nuptial bed for him and Ro- felida, and to drefs Rolando for their wedding fupper. An old man obferves that the Sun would be offended if this were done before he was honoured with a facrifice. Gosforoftro and the people C 157 ] people affent, and the ceremony is fixed for the morning. During the night Thifbe in her wandering comes to the temple, and conceals herfelf there. Liriodoro is led to be facrificed, and Thifbe, feeing him, clads herfelf in the drefs of the idol, and terrifies the crowd by her ap- pearance, fo that they fly and leave him. CANTO IX. THISBE fets fire to the temple, and departs with Liriodoro; in the mean time Nereyda goes to her mother Mithilene, who dwelt in the fub- terraneous caverns of a jafper mountain. She tells her love, and implores her affiftance. Her mother bathes her in a magical bath, of which Turpin will tell the ingredients to thofe who de- fire to know fuch vanities. They mount a cloud. The birds, when they beheld fuch harpies flying along, forfook the air, and abode upon the earth many days. CANTO [ ^58 ] CANTO X. A long and tirefome account of Spain as the two women fly over it. Another account equally long and equally tirefome, of the prefents they make to Angelica and Medoro. The old Witch aflumes the form of Arcadio, and bewitches Medoro into love for her daughter. CANTO XI. AFTER palling the day on an ifland of the river Betis, they pitch their tents for the night. The negle6l which Medoro fhows to Angelica is now very indelicately expatiated upon, and Ihe, by placing the enchanted diamond on his fore- head, learns his new love. Metheline appears to Zerdano in a dream, and tells him to carry off Angelica the next day, when ihe promifes to caufe a preternatural darknefs and prepare a bark for him. In this Canto the Poet thus expreffes him- felf of marriage : O lazo [ 159 ] O lazo conjugal yugo fuave De los que eftan en voluntad conformes I Y mas que el monte a los Titanes grave Para las almas en amor disformes. Dear is the marriage bond when Love unites Two kindred fouls : but when difcordant hearts Are link'd by that indiffoluble chain, Heavier the yoke than Etna's mountain weight Eruifing the Titan's breaft. CANTO XII. THEY embark for Seville : the mufic plays : the day is clear, and Zerdano exclaims in dif- appointment: O Sueno burlado, dizo y fufpira, No veas como fus rayos Febo eftiende ? Y los divinos ojos por quien muero, Pues como con tres Soles agua efpero. Deceitful Vifion ! feeft thou not how bright The fun-beams fmile ? and her diviner eyes Shoot forth fuch fire, that the gay waves refle6l Three funs. As L i^o 3 As he fpeaks a fudden darknefs overfpreads the day, and he carries ofF Angelica in the bark prepared by the Enchantrefs, whillt her form is immediately given to Nereyda. Medoro courts this horrible Ethiopian in the dark ; but when the light returns, he is difgufted to lee his wife, as he believes. Roftubaldo makes great prepa- rations, and fets out to attack Seville. CANTO XIII. BELCORAYDAj with her attendants, is bathing in a wood-furrounded lake, when they hear a Knight apoftrophizing a pifture, who proves afterwards to be Lifardo King of Bifcay. Carpanto's mare,* Alfana, finds out Lifardo's horfe. The two Kings fight, and Lifardo is left wounded in the wood, where a man in Moorifh garments, but whofe heart is Chriftian, finds him. CANTO XIV. LISARDO is healed by Belcorayda, and finds in her the original of his pi8;ure. Roftubaldo enters the enchanted cave. CANTO * How came the fon of Agrican by Gradaffo's mare ? [ i6i ] CANTO XV. ARDANO entertains Roftubaldo with a long prophetical hiftory of the Spanifh vi6lories : Car- diloro (who would otherwife have flept twenty- years) is awakened : he hears of Clorinarda's death, and departs with the King of Toledo. CANTO XVI. ROSTUBALDO and Cardiloro join the army. Zerdano carries Angelica to a ca^ftle. Medoro ftill hates Nereyda, becaufe he is under the influence of magic, and thinks fhe is his wife. The falfe Angelica has given fome token to Turcatheo, Gloriardo, and Celauro, who all fight for her favour. Lifardo, believing Belco- rayda to be the wife of Licafto, the Chriflian flave, leaves her and comes a volunteer to Se- ville, where Medoro makes him General in Chief. CANTO [ l62 3 CANTO XVII. BELCORAYDA departs in a tempeftuous night from Granada with Licafto. They take fhelter in a houfe where they hear Carpanto's voice, and therefore efcape before the morning. Carpanto learns that fhe has been there, and throws his hofts three pikes high for not inform- ing him fooner. The viUage rife upon him ; he kills half of them, tears up trees by the roots, and goes to Granada in purfuit of Belcoyrada, while fhe reaches Seville, and is there by the centinel conduced to Lifardo : the ftory now returns to Rolando and Rofelida. The favages impute the wrath of the Sun to his abhorrence of their intended facrifice ; ai|id an old favage, obferving the Perfian drefs of Rofelida, tells a ftrange ftory of a Perfian Princefs who lived with a Monfter, and had nine children by him. With two of them flie made her efcape, and the other feven became the founders of their nation. Now he argues that Rofelida muft be a defcen- dant from that very Princefs, and that therefore they ought to be governed by Rofelida. CANTO C 1^3 3 CANTO XVIII. The Savages kill Gosforoftro, and ele6l Ro- lando and Rofelida for their King and Queen, Vv^ho civilize their fubje6ls. Rolando following the chafe, difcovers Thifbe and Liriodoro in a civern, where they have lived ten months. Nereyda now falls in love with Roftubaldoj and appoints a time when the city gates fhall be opened to him. Her love for Medoro is con- verted into hatred, and flie refolves to murder him. Methilene has recourfe to magic to dif» cover her daughter's fuccefs. CANTO XIX. METHILENE,' difcovering that Nfereyda fails becaufe Medoro loves her in her own fhape, reftores it to her, and thus the murder of Me doro is prevented by the change taking place at the moment when Nereyda lifts the knife to flrike him. Lifardo recognifes Belcorayd^, who M 2 13 [ i64 ] is chriftened and married. The gates are opened to Roftubaldo, and Seville facked. Cardiloro revenges his father's death by killing Gloriardo, and is himfelf killed by Celauro. Rollubaldo meets a Moor with the damfel Alima, whom he falls in love with, takes her from him, and places her in a houfe : here Turcatheo finds her, falls in love with her, and carries her ofF. Medoro efcapes from the carnage to an iOand, where he is hofpitably received by a fifherman, and finds his fon Angeloro. CANTO THE LAST. At the noife of war Lifardo and Belcorayda ftart from the marriage bed. Belcorayda puts on a man's habit to make her efcape; they meet Carpantoin the flight; he kills her, and recog- nifes her after he himfelf has received his death wound. Roflubaldo finds Nereyda, who is now transformed by her mother into a ferpent : he fights with her in this fhape, and throws her, bruifed and wounded to the lions. Intelligence is brought him that Turcatheo has carried off Alima -. [ 165 ] Alima : he purfues and overtakes him juft as he has faftened the damfel to a tree with intent to violate her : they fight, but the event of the combat is not related. Argalia now appears to Medoro, explains to him the illufions of vNe- reyda, and tells him where Angelica is confined. By means of the magic ring he relcafes her, and they refolve to return together to Cathay. Such is the Poem which Lope de Vega pro- duced to emulate Ariofto ! It may be well perhaps to allow a diftinftion between Epic and Heroic Poems, giving the firft title to fuch as preferve the unity of a£lion, and the other to fuch as are either metrical hif- tories or romances. The Poems of Lucan, Boyardo, Ariofto, and our Spenfer, may be claffed under this laft fpecies, and here too muft The Beauty of Angelica be included, lamentably inferior as it is in defign and execution. The Orlando Furiofo is a regular poem com- pared with this its rival. The Spaniard appears to have begun his poem without knowing how he Ihould conclude it : his chara6i;ers are equally pro^ I 166 3 prominent and equally uninterefting, except in- deed Cardiloro, who is afleep during twelve Cantos of the poem, and Rolando and Liriodoro, who have nothing to do with it : the thoughts are more odd than apt, more extravagant than fanciful ; the incidents fuch as any of the ro- mances of the day might have fuggefted : there is no difcrimination of chara6ler, no knowledge of human feelings ; the praife of eafy verfifica- tion is all tjiat it deferves. Throughout the whole Poem I do not recol- lect one folitary touch of Nature. It is the " knowledge of human nature and its feelings that forms the Poet ; without this, he may in- deed mould the Promethean ftatue of Clay, but where is the fpipt th^t fhall animate it ? I have looked into his Dragontea, but found no inducement to fee Sir Francis Drake butchered with fuch clumfy barbarity. I began his Arca- dia, but though my perfeverance has fubdued the folios of Partheniffa, CafTandra, and Cleo- patra, and even toiled through the prohx ftu- pidity of Clelia, I was not able to perfevere through C 167 ] through the little volume of Lope de Vega's paftoral profe. In his fmaller pieces, however, he is gene- rally tolerable and fometimes excellent. When he had found a good thought for a fonnet, the nature of that compofition prevented him from fpoiling it. Though his Pegafus could not ac- compliih a long journey, he carried his mafter eafijy enough on an evening ride. LETTER X. Madrid, ^an, 10. j^ DUKE of Medina Celi formerly murdered a man, and as the Court would not or could not execute fo powerful a noble, they obhged the family to drefs their pages in black flockings, and always to have a gallows {landing before their palace door. The late King permitted them to remove the gallows, but the black {lock- ings ftill remain, a fingular badge of ignominy. > [168] The noble colleftion of pi6lures at the palace here, gave me high delight. Poetry and Paint- ing are clofely allied, but I am heterodox as to the Trinity of the arts, and rejeft the coequa- lity of Mufic. Mifs J. tells me that if the Spanilh guitar does not roufe my foul, I have none ! — • Mufic appears fo unconnefted with all other fciences, that I can hardly believe it a link of the great chain. All other ftudies run into each other, and we need only begin^ one to be con- vinced of the neceffity of connefting all. But thefe mufical amateurs, who languilh away at the fquealing of an Italian, what benefit reap they from their acquirement ? Their under- ftandings are not elevated : their hearts are not purified. Where is the fidler or the fidling con- noiffeur, who will liften to a thrufti or a black- bird with half the delight that I do ? Simple melodies they defpife, and confider difficulty of execution as the perfeftion of mufic : but fimplicity is in all things the One and the Good. While we were at the palace, the King fent home a cart load of horns to ornament it. A fjngular ornament, when the Ihamelefs condufl of C 169 3 of his wife is the topic of general cenfure. Malefpini, the Circumnavigator (whofe honour- able boaft is that he has done no evil on his voyage) has been imprifoned about fix weeks on fufpicion of being concerned in a French book expofmg the private life of the Queen. What muft that Woman be who is detefled for her depravity in a metropolis where the Cortejo fyftem is fo univerfal ? About two years ago the wafherwomen of Madrid were polfeired with a fpirit of fedition, and they infulted her Majefty in the ftreets. — '' You are wafting your money upon your finery and your gallants — while we are in want of bread !" *' Bold is the tafk when fubje6ls grown too wife, '* Infl;ru61; a Monarch where his error lies !" The ringleaders were condemned to perpe- tual imprifonment. The Queen however has never entered Madrid fince, and the inhabitants are very apprehenfive that upon this journey they may fix their Court elfewhere. When it is faid that this metropohs is in the centre of the peninfula, all its advantages are enumerated : except when fwollen by the mountain fnows the the Manzanares is fo fballow that if a cockle fhould attempt to navigate it, he muft inevitably run aground. In fummer the heat is intolerable, in winter the cold is very fevere ; for the foil round the city produces nitre in great abundance, and the Guadarama mountains are covered with fnow; fo that you have the agreeable alternative of being ftarved for want of a fire, or fuffocated by the fumes of charcoal. The floors here are all covered with matting, and the matting is prodigioufly populous in fleas. We had but a bad fpecimen of the Spanilh Academicians. On our vifit to one we found him in bed about twelve o'clock, and he told us' he always lay in bed to tranfaft bufinefs ! I con- tented myfelf with liftening to the converfation, and attempted not to join in it : he obferved that I could not fpeak Spanifhj and, that I might underftand him, attempted to repeat it in Latin — non poffit — parlare. In the evening he accompanied us to the Mufeum, and difplayed as much knowledge in fculpture and mineralogy as he had exhibited in Latin, he even pointed out [ 171 ] out a large mafs of gold as being in its native flate, that had the King's ftamp upon it. The Mufeum is y/retchedly managed, Col- leQions of natural hiftory ought certainly to be open to all, who can make any ufe of them ; but here, on certain days every week, the doors are thrown open, and it becomes a raree-iliow for all the mob of Madrid ! This renders it very unpleafant to the decent part of the com- pany ; for we were fearful of leaving fomething behind us, and Hill more fearful of taking forrje- thing away. In this Mufeum is the fkeleton of a nonde- fcript animal, which appears larger than the ele- phant.* The bones are of an extraordinary thicknefs, even difproportionate to its fize ; it was dug up a few years back at Buenos Ayres. Monday i lih, Laft night I was at a Fiefta de Novillos, a Bullock fight, at which about fifteen thoufand perfons were affembled, many of them women, and indeed more women of apparent rank than * I find that a defcription of this fkeleton, with an annexed plate, is in the Monthly Magazine for Septemb^jr / C 172 ] than I had feen either at the'^ theatre or the opera. In this very rational recreation, the bullocks are only teazed, and as their horns are tipped the men only get bruifed, A bullock was led into the area, and the Heroes amufed themfelves by provoking him, then running >way and leaping over the boundary. But the two principal Heroes were each of them in a bafket which came up to his fhoulders, this he could lift up from the ground, and move along in it towards the bull, then he flicks a dart in the bull, and pops down in the bafket, which the beafts knock down, to the infinite delight of fifteen thoufand fpeftators ! Once he toffed the man in the bafket, and once put his horns in at one end and drove him out at the other. When one bull was done with, fome tame cattle were driven in, and he followed them out. Four were thus fuGceffively teazed, but a more barbarous fport followed. A wild boar was turned in to be baited. Moll of the dogs were afraid to at- tack fo formidable an enemy, and the few who had courage or folly enough were dreadfully mangled by his tuflcs. His boarfhip remained unhurt, and after maiming every dog who at- tacked him, was fufFered to go to his den. The remainder [ 173 ] remainder of the entertainment confided in turn- ing in bullocks one at a time among the mob. They provoked the beaft, and the beaft bruifed them ; and I was glad to fee that the advantage lay on the fide of the moft refpe6lable brute. What hope is there of a nation where fuch are the fafliionable and popular amufements ? The national theatres are always crowded, but the Italian opera is very thinly attended^. It is a difgrace to Europe that this abfurd and abomi- nable amufement fhould fo generally be en- couraged ; the exiftence of it depends upon a horrible mutilation of the human fpecies, and whoever frequents an opera-houfe encourages the crime. All the children here have their hair tied. The children are men in their drefs, and the men children in their underftanding. The waift- coats are generally laced before iriftead of being faftened with buttons. In many parts of the country the fleeves of the coat lace on, and there are two openings left, one at the elbow and one at the bend of the arm within. We have fre- quently C 174 ] quently feen undrelled Ikins ufed as fandals. In Leon the foles of the Ihoes are wood, and the upper leathers made oi hemp. Literature is reviving in Spain ; the tranfla- tion of Sallufl, 'by the King's brother, made it fafhionable. New editions have been publifhed of their bell poets, and the falfe tafte that fuc- ceeded to that aera is now generally decried. I faw at Coruna a tranflation of Adam Smith on the Wealth of Nations. What mutilations it may have undergone I know not, but furely no mutilation can prevent fuch a work from producing good in Spain. A tranflation of Mifs Lee's Recefs is advertifed. Works of this nature generate a tafte for reading, and till this tafte becomes general, it is in vain to expeft any beneficial effefts from literature. The Spaniards are moft obftinately attached to their old cuftoms. I heard of two men who left a manufa6lory at Guadalaxara becaufe the Proprietor of it chofe to introduce wheel- bar- rows. " No, they faid, *' they were Spaniards, and it was only fit for beafts to draw carri- ages !" Nor can the moft evident improve- ments [ 175 3 ments prevail upon them to deviate from their ufual method. In moft of the rooms here the lower half of the wall is paved with tiles like the Englifh fire places. An Englilhman had fome of thefe which formed a piflure, but required to be ground at the edges ; this the Spanifli workmen would not do, " No" — they faid, it was " muy impertinente," very impertinent ! I met with an Englifhman yefterday who has been travelling in the mercantile line through Navarre and Bifcay. He told me that he had found it prudent to pafs as a Frenchman in thofe provinces: under that charafter he received every kindnefs of hofpitality, whereas in his own he would have been infulted, and perhaps per- fonally injured. The cafe is widely different in Galicia and Leon ; but as my informer appeared to know nothing more of French principles than the common topics of abufe, I could not fufpe£l him of having haftily adopted an opinion which he might wifh to be true.* If * On my return to England I lad an /»merican for a fellow paffenger, who was in Bilbao, when the French took poffeflion of it. Before that event happened, the fhops were fhut, and provifions very fcarce ; within fix h-OUi'5 [ 176 ] If Carlos III. and his fucceffor have neither of them poflelTed much of the wifdom of Solo- mon, they have fhown fomething like his mag- nificence in their public buildings. The greateft parts of the gates and fountains of this city, which are numerous and very handfome, bear their names. Why is not the elemental coftume attended to in fountains ? River-Gods and Tri- tons are in charafter, and even a Dolphin, ugly as it is, appropriate : but when you fee a ftream running out of a bear's mouth, what idea can it | poffibly convey but that the poor beaft is la- bouring under the perpetual operation of Ipe- cacuanha ? A very fuperb Mufeum is building in the Prado, and the King has fent an Englifh- man to South America to gather foflils for it, and hours after the tricolor flag was hoifted, the {hops were all opened, and the markets overflowing. The French folr diers were in general very young : they were compleatly angry with the Spaniards for continually running away — " Curfe the fellows," they cried, " we have been hunting them thefe fix weeks, and can never get fight of them." They behaved with great regularity. The gentleman who gave me this information loft fome fpoons in the firft con- fufion ; this was cafually mentioned, and in a few hours the fpoons were brought baek. and fpecimens of mineralogy. If his Majefty can teach his people to \think duply upon any fubjed, he will ultimately do them more good than he is himfelf aware of. In the cloifters of the new Francifcan Con- vent is a very fine feries of pi6lures, that repre- fent the whole hiflory of St. Francis, from his cradle to his tomb. A draftfman was employed in copying them while we were there ; they de- ferve to be engraved, both for the real merit of the pieces, and the nature of their fubjefts. It was fomewhat curious to fee human genius em- ployed in perpetuating human abfurdity ! To-morrow morning we leave Madrid; the Court has now preceded us ten days ; they have eat every thing before them, and we ought to wait for a new generation of fowls and turkies. A journey in Spain is never an agreeable un- dertaking to look on to ; but however we begin to know the value of bad beds and bad provi- fions, when we are in danger of getting none. His Majefty travels faft : three of his guards have been killed, and four ferioufly hurt, by N galloping [ 178 ] galloping before his coach. They fuffered lefs ■diui-ring the war. I iiiufl not forget to give you a curious proof of Spanifli ingenuity. There is a lite-place in one of the apartments of the Englifli Ambaf- fador : he had ordered the chimney to be fwept, and coming into the room found three mafons, with pick-axes, &c. preparing to make a hole in the wall ! 1 have been much amufed with one of the volumes of the Parnafo Efpanol, which is de- voted to religious poems. Some of the moft curious I have attempted in the familiar ftyle of the original. EPIGRAMA AL proprio asunto. A la Fe pregunto un Villano ruftico, Criado en el Aldea, en trato barbaro, Una dificultad cafi infolubile Aca a nueftro entender comun y parvulo : Yfuc 79 ] Y fue, que como el Cuerpo real y fifico Del Sacrofanto Dios, divino farmaco, Eita en el todo, y en la parte integro Defpues que fe divide aquel Pan candido ? Al qual la Fe refponde en breve termino. Que como en un efpejo fin obftaculo, Hecho trozos, en todas las particulas Ve uno fu roftro entero en qualquier atomo ; Del propio modo Dios en qualquier minima Parte del facro Pan, tan grande, y maxima, Efta como antes de que algun Prefbitero Le parta, o le reparta, como es arbitro. EPIGRAM On the Real Presence. A Ruftic not conceiving in his mind Things plain and manifeft to all mankind, Enquir'd of Faith one day, why it was faid The Almighty God was in the holy bread ; How the uncreate, eternal, infinite God, Lay in a wafer, feem'd exceeding odd ; And if he is there, then it muft be faid, That God is broken with the broken bread. N 2 Haft C '80 ] " Haft thou a broken mirror e'er efpied ?" Thus bringing brief conviftion. Faith replied, *' When it is whole thine Image meets thine eyes; *'■ In every fragment will that image rife. " Thus when the holy Prieft, as need demands, •* Divides the blefled Hoft with hallow'd hands, " In every atom ftill contain'd will be " The Omniprefent, Infinite Deity." There is fome ingenuity in the Epigram ; but what think you of the following Sonnet, by the fame Author, on the fame fubjeCl ? I have now, for the firft time, an opportunity of fhewing a mode of punftuation peculiar to the Spaniards, and among them only of late in- vention. To every fentence that requires either a note of interrogation or admiration, this mark is prefixed as well as placed at the end, but at the beginning of the fentence it is reverfed. On the advantage of this it were needlefs to expa- tiate, and the fpecimen will fhew you what I mean. SI C »8i ] SI pan es lo que vemos, i como dura Sin que comiendo del fe nos acabe ? Si Dios, ^ como en el gufto a pan nos fabe ,? I Como de folo pan tiene figura ? Si pan, ,; como le adora la criatura ? Si Dios, ^ como en tan chico efpacio cabe ? Si pan, ^ como por ciencia no fe fabe ? Si Dios, ^ como le come fu hechura ? Si pan, I como nos harta liendo poco ? Si Dios es, ^ como puede fer partido ? Si pan, I como en el alma hace tanto ? Si Dios, I como le miro yo y le toco ? Si pan, I como del Cielo ha defcendido ? Si Dios, ^j como no muero yo de efpanto ? IF this we fee be bread, how can it laft, So conftantly confum'd yet always here ? If this be God, then how can it appear Like bread to the eye and feem bread to the tafte? If bread, why is it worfhipp'd by the baker ? If God, can fuch a fpace a God comprife ? If bread, how is it it confounds the wife ? If [ lS2 ] If God, how is it that we eat our Maker ? If bread, what good can fuch a morfel do ? If God, how is it we divide it fo ? If bread, fuch faving virtue could it give ? If God, how can I fee and touch it thus ? If bread, how tould it come from Heaven to us ? If God, how can I look at it and live ? Father Luis Ponce de Leon, the author of thefe pieces, is claffed among the nine * Cafti- lian Mufes. His family is illuftrious, not only for rank, but for the great men it has produced. The Auguftine Monk ranks high among the Spanifh poets, and one of the moft accomplifhed heroes in the days of Spanifh Chivalry bore the fame name. Don Manuel Ponce de Leon, ■was one of the three Knights who undertook the caufe of the injured Queen of Granada. You * They confifl: of Garcilaffo de la Vega, Don Efteban de Villegas, Don Francifco de Quevedo, the Condc Don Bernardino de Rebolledo, the brothers Lupercio and Bar- tolome Leonardo de Argenfola, Father Luis de Leon, Lope de Vega, and Don Francifco de Borja y Aragon, Prince of Efquilache. You will hardly believe that the man who wrote epigrams and fonnets onTranfubftantiation was perfecuted by the Inquifition ! yet fuch was the fate of Luis de Leon : he had tranflated the Song of Solomon for the ufe of an intimate friend who could not underftand the vulgate : feveral copies were circulated without his know- ledge, and for this offence he was imprifoned five years in the dungeons of that execrable tri- bunal at Valladolid. His intereft at lall made his innocence appear, and he is faid to have com- pofed the following beautiful lines as he quitted his prifon.* Aqui la embidia y mentira Me tuvieron encerrado. ^ j Dichofo el humilde eftado Del fabio que fe retira, De * On the firft day that Luis de Leon refumed his eccle- fiaftical funftions in the Cathedral at Salamanca, a vafl crowd flocked to hear him. He began with a compofed and ferene countenance, " Dicebatnus heflerna die : Pro fuis infignibus habet falicem, ad cujus pedem fecuta + & haec verba ; '• Per damna per caedes." Virtuofum enim nobile ac generofum germen oritur ex paflionibus, & fummis cru- ciatibus : Salix enim quo magis ceditur & magis germinans, ramos extollitur, & ideo dicitur Salix a faliendo, & celeri- tate crefcendi.' ' f Qy. fecuris ? [184 ] De aquefte mundo malvado ! Y con pobre mefa y cafa. En el campo deleytofo A folas fu vida pafa. Con folo Dios fe compafa Ni embidiado, ni embidiofo. ADIEU! dark dungeons ! many a weary year Envy and Falfehood have confined me here. Ah happy he, who truly wife as good. From a bad world retires to folitude ! For fure Content fhall blefs his humble fare, Tho* poor his cottage, Peace fhall fojourn there, Unenvying and unenvied pafs his days, ** Prayer all his bufinefs, all his pleafure praife." Manuel goes on with us to Lifbon. He was taken upon trial by a barber, and kept for three days to hard Ihaving ; at the end of which the man told him he might do very well for Oviedo, but he did not (have in the Madrid fafhion ! and fifnt him away without giving him a fingle mara- vedi for his labour ! LETTER C 185 3 LETTER XI. Wednesday, Jan, 13. XXT eight o'clock yefterday morning we made our efcape from Madrid, and repaffed the bridge of Segovia. We travel in a calefla with two mules ; a carriage of the fame kind, though more elegant in name and lefs fo in appearance than an Englifli Buggey. Our larder confifts of a large undreffed loin of pork, two hams, and a quiefo de puerco, or pork cheefe, which is tolerable brawn. As we follow the Royal Family fo clofe, we were in expeQation of ex- cellent roads, but tho' the roads were fmoothed for them, the multitudes of their retinue have made them infinitely worfe than they were be- fore. Two leagues' and a half from Madrid is Moftoles. Here we took a cold dinner, and I vifited the church, which Dutens fpeaks of as remarkably elegant. It well repaid my vifit ; but the moft remarkable things there were four mirrors [ 186 3 . mirrors, each with a figure of fome heathen deity ground on it. I thought Diana and Mercury odd perfonages to be pi6tured in a CathoUc chapel. We crofTcd a little ftream called the Guada- rama, by a wooden bridge which had no Garde- fou till they ere61;ed one when his Majefty was expelled to pafs that way. We paft through the town of Naval-carnero, and then turning out of the main road to avoid the returning retinue, concluded our day'sjourney of feven leagues and a half at the little village of Valmojado. The country is very uninterelling, and though well cultivated, thinly peopled. Ey Naval-carnero is the firft olive-yard I have yet feen. The fruit is ftill on the trees. My nofe, though of con- fiderable valour, and now difciplined by a month's refidence in Spain, is yet unable to endure the approximation of Joze Serrano, our calaffero, who exhales eflence of garlic hot from every pore. The houfe at Valmojado is very miferable ; they had neither a cloth to wipe our hands, or a blanket to cover us. The woman appeared at leaft C 187 ] leaft feventy. She told us flie was but eight and forty, but added that Ihe had much trouble in her time, " mucho trabajoT' We travelled two leagoes this morning over a well cultivated country, without feeing either tree or houfe; we then pail thro' a grove of the prickly oaks fo univerfal in this country, and foon afterwards left the two little towns of Santa Cruz and Chrifmunda'clofe on the left. The olive plantations at Santa Cruz and the houfes among them, made a lively contrail to the dreary track we left behind us : here was a ftone ciftern for the inhabitants to wafh their linen in fupplied from the fountain. On our right lay a noble range of lofty mountains white with fnow, the country below them was well wooded and ex- tremely beautiful. We reached Maqueda at one o'clock, five leagues diftantfrom Valmojadb, which we did* not leave before feven. We travel perhaps fomewhat fafler now than in our coach and fix. Here are the remains of a large caftle, and from the eminence on whichit {lands is a wide profpe6l over an extenfive plain well planted with olives and evergreen oaks. A little r «88 ] little brook runs below the caftle hill, and there is a very fine Convent about a mile diftant. Leaving this town we faw a pillar on a little hill to the right. I went up to it, and found only a round pillar of brick without anyinfcrip- tion. The mountains to the right and the olive trees all over the plain, made the road very pleafing, and it was more lively than ufual, for they are now gathering in the olives. We paffed through Santa Olalla, and made our halt for the night at the village of Bravo, after a jour- ney of eight leagues. We are now going to fit down to pork chops and fried onions, a pretty cool fupper ! buc fup- per is our grand meal. A cup of chocolate by lamp-light is but a comfortlefs breakfaft, and in the middle of the day we make our halt as fhort as pofTible, in order to get in early in the evening. The want of vegetables is a ferious evil. Our food is very heating, and this with the fatigue of travelling occafions a feverifh thirft at night. We [•89] We are obliged to fuperintend the cooking ourfelves, or thefe people would fcorch the meat to a cinder. Some perfon afked Mam- brino at Madrid, how we lived upon the road ? He replied, " Very well, but the Cavaliers eat their meat almoft raw." Thursday 14. Venta de Peratbanegas. » We had gone nearly a mile from Bravo this morning, when the man of the houfe overtook us with my coat, which had been left behind. There is fomething very pleafant in meeting fuch a proof of honefty, for when we have been much accuftomed to the ways of mankind, we are furprized at it as at a novelty ! The road is bad and over a barren heath, from whence w^e defcended into a large plain, and beheld the towers of Talaveyra de la Reyna, two leagues diftant. On the way we croffed the Puente del Alverca, a very long bridge, once of ftone, though the greater part is now of wood. This city was the birth-place of Mariana the hiftorians ; and it was here that Maria of Por- tugal difgraccd a chara6ier otherwife excellent by the murder of Leonora de Guzman, the miftrefs of her dead hufband Alfonfo XI. To me it is remarkable on another account : it is the only provincial town, except Coruna, where 1 have feen a bookfeller's ftiop ! I was curious enough to meafure at what height from the ground they had hung their looking glaffes here : it was nine feet, and a^ all that I have yet feen are hung equally high, we may acquit the Spanifli women of vanity. In a church porch here is a large pi6lure of St. Chriftopher,* carrying Chrift over the water, and a Biftiop is waiting to receive him on the bank. * There was a man of Ilature bigge, and bigge withall in minde, For ferve he would, yet one than whom he greater none might find. He, hearing that the Emperor was in the world moft great, Came to his Court, was entertaynd, and ferving him at meate, It chanced the Divell was nam'd, whereat the Emperor him bleft ; Whereas until he knew the caufe, the Pagan would not reft. But C 191 ] bank. This legend reminds me of what I heard of the prefent King of Spain at Madrid : when- ever he hears the Devil mentioned, he is fo ter- rified But when he heard his Lord to fear the Divell his ghoflly foe, He left his fervice, and to feek and ferve the Divell did goe : Of Heaven or Hell, God or the Divell, he earft nor heard nor carde, Alone he fought to ferve the fame that would by none be darde. He met (who foone is met) the Divell, was entertaynd, they walke, Till coming to a Croffe, the Divell did fearfully it balke : The Servant, mufing, queflioned his Mafter of his feare, One Chrift, quoth he, with dread I mind when docs 9, Croffe appeare. Then ferve thyfelf, the Gyant faid, that Chrift to ferve I'll feeke : For him he askt a Hermit, who advifed him to be meeke ; Ey which, by Faith, and Workes of Alms would fought- for Chrift be found, And how and where to praftice thefe he gav6 directions found. Thei? [ 192 ] rified that he crofles himfelf and fays his pray- ers. There are many ruins about Talaveyra ; we paft one arch fo high that a houfe of the com- mon fize, which was built in it, reached only three parts up. The country is highly cultivated about this town. We faw cheftnuts and poplars, the firft fince we left the metropolis. They had cork ftools at the pofada, and told lis the cork grew very near. In Then he that fkorned his fervice late to greateft Poten- tates, Even at a common ferry now to carry all awaites ; Thus doing long, as with ^ Child he over once did waide, Under his loade midway he faints, from finking hardly ftaide. Admiring how, and afking who, Was anfwered of the Childe, As on his fhoulders Chrift he bore, by being humbly milde, So through humilitie his foul to Chrift was reconcilde. And of his Carriage Chrifto-ferfhould thenceforth be his name. William Warner, They who did not know this curious legend of St. Chrif- topher may be amufed with it ; they who knew it before were not perhaps acquainted with the manner of an old Poet highly celebrated in his time. [ 193 ] In five hours we reached this Venta de Pe- ralbanegas, an execrable place, where our room ferves as a palTage to an inner one, unluckily- occupied by a large party, who will certainly *' murder fleep" to night. They are now at fupper, and aQually all eating out of the frying- pan ! We fet ofiF early, and paffing through a wood of ever-green oaks, beheld the town and Caftle of Oropefa, on an eminence to the left. A league before us lay the little town of Torralva, half hid by olive plantations, and the fnowy mountains bounded a vaft and fertile plain on our right. Oropefa, with its caftle, came full in view as we left Torralva ; the caftle belongs to the Duke of Alva. A little beyond, haif-way up tli continued hill is Lagartina, and at fome diftance another fmall town, both funounded with olivje trees. There are ftone enclofures here, the country is well cultivated, and the lux- uriant appearance of the corn indicates a ttrong foil. From the road which now ran in a ftrait direftion we beheld the church of La Calzada de Oropefa, the only building of the town then vifible, and apparently fituated in a grove of O olives ; I 194 ] olives; as we approached three churches ap- peared, and the few houfes among the trees. To-day has been as hot as fine June weather in England, to my great alarm, left the Enemy whom I moft dread, fhould come out of their winter quarters and begin the campaign. We dined at La Calzada de Oropefa. Of the two women at the pofada, the one has the moft deformed feet I ever faw, and goes barefoot ; the other appears to have loft the ball of one eye by an accident, and the focket is half empty and raw-red; yet has this horrible figure a large beauty fpot. The women and children are generally barefoot, which we have not obferved before. Naval Moral is four leagues diftant.^ The firft part over a barren heath, as wearying to the eye as the roads in Cornwall ; the latter through a country well wooded with ever-green oaks, and as we drew near this place, well-watered with fmall ftreams ; on the left are ftony hills with trees and ftone enclofures. They have ereded as gay an arch here as the tafte of the inhabitants could devife, and their purfes afford, with " Viva Carlos m [ 195 ] Carlos IV. j> su realfamilia^" on the one fide, and on the other '* Naval Moral 1796." This is the firft fymptom of loyalty we have yet feen. We have heard murmurs enough, for the King's journey has impoverifhed the country. The meafure of barley, which fold for feventeen quartos before he fet out, is now at twenty- four ! There are no candles in this country. A piece of cane cut with holes through it, is fufpended from the roof, and from one of thefe holes the lamp is hung by a hook. We have feen no bolfter fince we left England, and alas ! we have now bade adieu to the land of blankets ! The pepper of all this country is red. Apol- lyon could not find a better kind of nutmeg for a cool- tankard of aqua-fortis. Don Efteban Manuel de Villegas has ufed the Latin metres with great fuccefs in Spanilh. The propriety of introducing them into EngliQi ver- fification turns upon the queftion of toning poetry ; this is always done here as well as in Italy ; and I rather incline to think it fhould be done in England. O 2 AL [ 196 ] AL ZEFIRO, DULCE vecino de la verde felva, Huefped eterno del Abril florido, Vital aliento de la madre Venus, Zefiro blando ! Si de mis anfias el amor fupille ; Tu, que las quejas de mi voz llevafte, Oye : no temas, y a mi Ninfa dile, Dile, que muero. Filis un tiempo mi dolor fabia> Filis un tiempo mi dolor lloraba, Quifome un tiempo ; mas agoia temo Temo fus iras. All los Diofes con amor paterno, AG los Cielos con amor benigno, Nieguen al tiempo, que feliz volares, Nieve a la tierra. jamas el pefo de la nube parda, Quando amanece la elevada cumbre, Toque tus hombros, ni fu mal granizo Hiera tus alas. TO [ 197 ] TO ZEPHYRUS. THOU who doft love to wander in the wood- lands. Thou who with April love ft to difport thee. Hear me, O thou the vital breath of Venus, Hear me, O Zephyr ! If thou haft ever heard my fighs of anguifh. If thou haft ever heard my plaint of paflion. Hear now and fly to that beloved damfel, Tell her I perifh. There was a time when Phillis knew I lov'd her ; There was a time when Phillis too could pity ; Paft is that time, and now alas I tremble. Dreading her anger. So may the Heavens with their love benignant ; So may the high Gods, with their love paternal Suffer no fnow to chill thee as at evening, Gaily thou fporteft. So may no dark cloud pregnant with the tem- peft. Pour its rude waters heavy on thy plumage ; So may the hard hail never bruife thy pinions; Go, gentle Zephyr ! Gar^ C «98 ] * Garcilaflb de la Vega tells us ; Siempre de nueva leche en el verano, Y en el invierno abundo ! en mi majada La manteca y el quefo efta fobrado. I have * The following fpecimen will fhow the power of Spanifh hexameters ; it is likewife by Villegas : Febo la cumbre feca, que fu luz a la fombra recoge, Progne lamenta grave, Venus arde, la fuente fufurra. El frefco arroyuelo rie ; y el ayre fe crefpa* Licidas entonces, Coridondifcreto, le dice. En tanto que el viento frefco fe mueve ligero, BuUendo Jas blancas aguas regalando las hojas, Suena zagalejo, y al fon de tu cithara canta. It were wafting tiipe to tranflate any thing paftoral, Aii cxtraft from Sir Phjlip Sidney in this metre will fhow why the attempt to naturalize it in England fail'd. Firftfhall virtue be vice and beauty counted a blemifli. Ere that I leave with fong of praife her praife to folem» nize. O no, no, worthy Shepherd, worth can never enter a title, Where proofs juftly do teach, thusmatcht, fuch worth to be nought worth : Let not a Puppet abufe thy fprite, Kings crowns do not help them From [ 199 ] -I have new milk In fummer and in winter, and my cot Is well fupplied with butter and with cheefe. I wifti From the cruel head-ache, nor fhoes of gold do the gout heal : And precious couches full oft are fhakt with a fever. Awkward tranfpofitions and an attempt to regulate Englifh pronunciation by the rules of Latin Profody, dif- figured all the hexameters, &c. of Sidney and his coadju- tors. Winftanley, in his account of Abraham Fraunce, gives a better fpecimen from a tranflation of the Ethiopics. As foon as fun-beams could once peep out from the moun- tains. And by the dawn of day had fomewhat lighted Olympus, Men, whofe luft was law, whofe life was ftill to be lulling, Whofe thriving thieving, convey'd themfeives to an hill top That ftretched forward to the Heracleotica entry And mouth of Nilus, looking thence down to the main fea For fea-faring men ; but feeing none to be failing, They knew 'twas bootlefs to be Looking there for a booty. The beft fpecimen is however in the Monthly Magazine for June 1796. Dr. Sayers has Ihown us what excellence the ode may attaiii in blank verfe« Rhyme will always ornament [ 200 ] I wifh we had been fortunate enough to meet this gentleman on our journey ! »> & -1 /^«..--«r.; LETTER XII. Saturday, jfan, |6. VV E entered into converfation with a coun- tryman this morning, in a fared of ever-green oaks and cork-trees. He told us it belonged to the Friars of the Efcurial ; " but (faid he) the people here have not ground enough for their cattle ; it would be much better to give the Friars land near their own convent, and divide this among the poor in the neighbourhood." Thefe Monks fuffer the countrymen to feed their fwine here, paying forty-two reales for each pig's ornament the lighter fpecies of compofition, but it never can rival the various modulations of which blank verfc is capable, for ftrength and dignity. The Englifh Al- caics, now fo common, are in Milton uncouth and unin- telligible. Arc not the metres of Sir Philip Sidney capa- ble of a fiuiilsr improvement ? C 201 ] pig's run of two months. This is to eat what acorns fall, for they are not allowed to beat down any, however the pigs get fat by the bargain as well as the friars. The income of this eftate is 200,000 realcs, 2250 pounds fterling. They ftrip the cork-trees every third year : the trees are in general very old ; we meafured one that was fupported by props and found the girth thirty feet. TJie wild boars who inhabit this foreft, and the tame fwine who are admitted there to board and lodging, have not injured it : even the Monks appear to refpeftits age and beauty, and fatisfied with regularly ftripping the bark, fuffer the old trees to remain venerably pi61;urefque. But we are now following the Court clofely, and never did I witnefs a more melancholy fcene of deyaftation f His Mpft Catholic Majefty travels like the King of the Gypfies : his retinue ftrip the country, without paying for any thing, Heap in the woods, and burn down the trees. We found many of them yet burning : the hollow of a fine old cork-tree ferved as a fire place. The neighbouring trees were deftroyed for fuel, and ^ere a brifk wind even now to fpring up, the foreft [ 202 ] forefi: might be in flames. Mules, and horfes, and affes lie dead along the road, and though they do not cry aloud in our ears againft the bar- barity of thus deftroying them "by exceffive fa- tigue, yet they addrefs themfelves ftrongly to another fenfe. The King is fond of infcriptions. Not a ditch along the. road has been bridged without an infcription beginning, *' Reinando Carlos IV." I feel very much inclined to indulge in a placard upon one of the mutilated old trees. His Majefty's travelling exploits would have furnifhed an excellent infcription for fuch a monument of his journey. Every houfe which the King has ever honoured by his auguft prefence, is diftinguifhed by a chain hung over the door. Leaving the foreft we entered upon a fwampy plain, where, as Dutens fays, the road became truly deteftable. It is a ftage of three hours and a half to Almaraz, a fingular little town, where the houfes feem built for pigmies and the church for Patagonians. Lefs than a league diftant runs the Tagus, crofTed by a noble bridge of two arches. On the bridge are the remains of a houfe ; [ 203 3 a houfe ; all we can read of the infcription told us it was made by the city of Plafencia,* under Charles V. We are now at the Venta Nueva, within a quarter of a mile of the bridge, one of our mules is ill, and here we are detained. This is a very large houfe with very vile ac- commodations. The covered fpace thro' which we enter, where the CalefTa (lands, and where the Carriers fleep among their baggage, is feventy feet by twenty-five. My bedftead is fupported by ilicks from which the bark has never been ftripped. The beds are bad, and the Court have dirted all the linen. Here is a print of St. lago on horfeback, molt apoftolically cleaving down a Turk. The * Ponz gives the infcription and dimenfions of the bridge. " Efl:a puente hizo la ciudad de Plafencia ano de 1552. Reynando en Efpana la Mageftad Cefarea de Carlos V. Emperador. Fue maeftro Pedro de Uria." One arch is 150I wide, and 69 in height ; the other 119. 66. The bridge is 580 feet long, and fome little more than 25 wide. Like moft of the Spanifh bridges this is perfeftly flat. C 204 ] The King is at Merida to-day, within three days journey. Our Calaffero fays, he had rather return to Madrid than be embargoed, and wiflies to take us two days journey round. The only bye-way however muft be by the paths among the mountains that the fraugglers ufe, where the carriage would probably be broken. Of the two evils embargoing is the leaft, and we muft take our chance. We have fome curious fpecimens of religious poetry in England, but I think none to equal this piece by Aionfo de Ledefma. DIALOGO C 205 ] DIALOGO £ntre un Filoso/o Aieniense Y un Teologo Cristiano, Filosofo, Por cierto, Senor, yo voy En extremo aficionado A lo que me habeis contado, Puefto que Atenienfe foy : Que aunque es verdad que profefo Ser eftudiante de Atenas, Y fus Efcuelas fon buenas, No he de negaros por efo Que en Teologia Ilevais La prima, fegun fe ve, Y que en parte no fe lee Como aqui donde eftudiais. Teologo, [ ^^ 1 Teologa. En Atenas gentil gente De Filofofos fe cria, Y afi a la Filofofia, Se eftudia y lee gentilmente j Mas aqui, como veis vos. En todo fe tiende velas, Que quanto fe lee en Efcuelas Es para alabar a Dios. Fiiosofo. I Hay en la Univerfidad Colegio de lenguas ? Teologo. Si, Y en el mundo como aqui Hablan con tal propriedad. Fiiosofo, Mucho de aqueflo me efpanto. Que el nueftro tiene gran fama. Teologo. [ 207 ] Teologo* Es ay re. Filosofo. I Y como fe llama ? Teologo, El del Efpiritu Santo. Filosofo, I Quantos fon los Colegiales ? Teologo, Doce fon, y afi florecen Que en todas lenguas parecen Ser proprios y naturales. Filosofo, I En quanto tiempo aprendieron A hablar afi ? Teologo, [ 2o8 ] Teotogo. Muy en breve ; Pero todo fe Je debe Al Maeftro que tuvieron. Eftudian con gran calor, Y qualquier fu licion toma ; ' Mas el es una Paloma, Que les lee con mucho amor. 1 Filosofo. I Hay muy nobles Colegiales ',^m Entre ellos doce Varones ? ^^^ Teoloso. ^ Entre ellos hay fiete Dones, 9 Y todos muy principales. , -J Fiksofo, I Que porcion es la que tienen Los del Colegio mayor ? Teologo. C 209 ] Teologo. I Porcion ? Dios es mi Senor, Que como el Rey los mantienen. Todos le pueden tener Embidia a fu buena fuerte, Porque aqui, fi bien fe advierte, Tienen miiy bien que comer. Y fi va a decir verdad, Lo que comen de contino Es el mejor Pan y vino Que come Univerfidad. Muchas a eftudiar fe acogen Por el Pan que aqui fe encierra, Que no es como en vueftra tierra. Que ni pan ni vino cogen. Y afi vofotros pafais Con miferable porcion, Tanto que os he compafion De ver con que os fuftentais. Y tras fer tan limirado Lo que os ponen, es de mode Que el vino es vinagre todo Y el pan efta mareado. Filosofo, C 210 ] Filosofo. Antes comer fe proCura Mueho mejor que no aca. Teologo. Al Diablo comen alia : Comen mucha defventura j Y mas, tengo para mi Que alia come la mas gente Defproporcionadamente. Filosofo, \ Yo confiefo que es afi : Que en nueftro Colegio fon : Las porciones diefiguales, ■■% Que no a todos Colegiales iH Se les dcbe igual porcion. 1 Teologo. 1 Pues aca fin duda alguna ^fl| En efta Univerfidad Se come con igualdad, Porque la porcion es una. Solo J ; ,' [ 211 3 Solo el Fundador previno Que el Colegio mayor fuefe El que a los demas les diefe La porcion de Pan y Vino. Afi que eftos Colegiales No tienen mas diferencia De folo en la preeminencia, Que en la porcion fon iguales, Filosofo, I Y qual es mas dignidad El Maeftrefcuela o Reftor ? Ttolo^o, El Maeftrefcuela es mayor En efta Univerfidad ; Oue fi el Re£lor manda afi, Y todo a fus manos viene, Es por las veces que tiene Del Maeftrefcuela de aqui. P 2 Filosofo, [ 212 ] Filosofo. Ya que me habeis dado luz Del Maeftrefcuela y fu fama; Decid me como fe llama. Teologo. Don Chriftobal de la Cruz. Filosofo, No me ha parecido mal. I Quien es el ? ^ es Caballero ? Teologo. Hijo de Dios verdadero : j Y como que es principal ! Es tan noble, que os prometo Que al Padre por fu poder, Y al Hijo por fu faber, Se les debe igual refpeto. Filosofo, I Como fe llama el Re6lor ? Teologo. C 213 ] Teologo. El Doaor San Pedro. Filosofo. ^ Es hombre Que tiene en nobleza nombre ? Teologo. Era un pobre Pefcador, Sino que fue Dios fervido De darle capacidad Para que a tal dignidad Subiefe, como ha fubido, Mas todo el honor y fer, Preeminencia y opinion, A fu Amo de razon Se lo debe agradecer, Al Maeftrefcuela firvio Con tal amor y llaneza Que villa fu gran firmeza Como veis lo acomodo. Con el fu Senor tenia Honra y perfona guardada Tanto [ 214 ] Tanto que a capa y efpada A fu Amo defendia. I^ucho merece os confiefo, Que nadie con el eftuvo De los criados que tuvo Que amafe con tal excefo. Mas tal Amor y lealtad Bien fe lo pago el Senor, Pues que le hizo Reftor De aquefla Univerfidad. Filosofo, El Maeftrefcuela parece En eftremo agradecido. \ Teologo. ' Pues no le habeis eonocido, , Ni fabeis lo que merece : Tratadle, que fe de vos Os mo vera fu buen zelo, Le adoreis por Dios del Cieio, Por fer un alma de Dios, Matriculaos aca^ Que f 215 ] Que yo os doy palabra y raano. Que no tengo por Chriftiano Al que eftudia por alia. Filosofo. Yo Senor, os agradezco Efa voluntad y amor; Yo lo penfare major, Y a refponderos me ofrezco. DIALOGUE Between an Athenian Philofopher, And a Chriftian Theologian . Thilosopher, IN truth, good Sir ! I am furprifed At what you fay to me j We never heard at Athens of YouT Univerlity. I am C 2'e ] I am a ftudent as you know Of the Athenian fchools, Attentive to their doftrines, and Obedient to their rules. Our ftudies there are numerous, Our knowledge is not fmall. And yet of your theology We never heard at all. Theologian, Your Athens is a place renown'd For philofophic knowledge, But no fuch heathen lore as that Is ftudied in our College. Your Colleges are all profane. Our College is divine. To fpeak to men is taught in yours. To fpeak to God in mine. Philosopher, Some very great Profeflbr then Of languages you boaft ? Theologian, [ 247 ] Theologian, The greateft teacher in the world. By name The Holy Ghoft. Philosopher, Pray has he many pupils there ? Theologian. Twelve fcholars apt and good ; So learned — that by all the world Each one is underftood. Philosopher. And is the courfe of ftudy long ? Theologian, So little is there in it, That tho' they every language fpeak They learnt them in a minute. Philosopher. i "8 3 Philosopher, Pray are your College Commons good ? How is it that you dine ? Theologian. No fare on earth can equal it. We have fuch bread and wine ! Could you but tafte this wonderous Fare You'd credit all I told ye, Your wine would tafte like vinegar, And ail your bread feem njoul