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JOURNEYFROM

CONDON TO GENOA,

THROUGH

ENGLAND, PORTUGAL, SPAIN,

and F R A N E.

E * JOSEPH BARETTI,Secretary for Foreign Correfpondence to the RoyaJ

ofPainting, Sculpture, and Architecture,

V Q L n.

LONDON,



LETTER XXXIV.

Slownefs ofmules. Tago and Dom Manuelo.

Adefart. Eftallages alias Stables. Fe-

malecoynefs.

'The conquering barber.

Fools and thieves.

GVientafnuevas, Sept. 18, 1760.

O late to bed and rife early,and a

ftraw-bag will prove as comfortable

as any matrafs. I haveflept

five hours on

that ftraw-bag j and as to the vermin of

Aldeagallego they only put one in mind of

the Pafquil-makers at Rome, or the

Monthly and Critical Reviewers of Eng-

land, who would do mifchief if they had

power.



obliged

to (hackle that of the (hafts, be-

caufe he is a new mule; that is, a mule

who never was between the (hafts. The

moment they let him loofe he ran as if

his intention had been to

performin a

day the tafk of afortnight. Yet mules are

like other people. They willbegin an

undertaking with a great (how of vehe-

hemence: but their ardour foon abates

and languor enfues. The mule foon ceaf-

ed galopping; fo that Batifte in the other

chaife, and a Dominican Friar in a third,

foon overtook me, and the three vehicles

flowly following each other, in about fix

hours time brought us to a place called

Peagones.

But before I go a ftep further I muft

bring you acquainted with my good

friends theCa/efletrot.

One of them is a

Portuguefe named Dom Manuelo, the

other a Galician plainly called Tago t with-

out any Dom or Don. Which is the

I cannot as determine.



I 3 1

whofephiz

bore fome refemblance to that

of Tago 9 and I remember a fellow in the

galliesat VHlafranca who had

juflfuch a

crooked nofe as Dom Manuelo. They

maybe

very good men,faid

Kelly

when

he faw them firft, but beware ofCaleffei-

ros.

As there are neither poft-chaifesnor

ilage-coaches between the capital ofFor-*

tugal and that of Spain, thofe who do not

chufe to go on mule-back or a-foot from

either town to the other, hire fuch voi-

tures as ours, which are pretty well hungand tolerably neat; but fo

leifurely drawn

on by the mules, that a man lately ufed to

the pofl-chaifes and flying-machines of

England, has time enough to exert his

patience.

During the two firfl miles I faw the

land all covered with vines on each fide

of the road. Then the fcene changed,

though not for the better, and a country



I 4 ]

journey to-Ufica through the fands of

Africa. To fay the truth, I did not fee

. as I went on any afp, cenchris, hemorroid,

chelyder,or any other ferpent : but in all

other refpedrsLucan & verfes might do as

well for the country I crofled to-day. A

heavy, deep, and wide-flretched fandy

plain, thinly fcattered with low bumes,

.and here and there a fmall thicket of fir-

trees.

A little after twelve we reached the

above-named EJiallage of Peagones, fifteen

miles from Aldeagallega. It is with great

reafon the Portuguefe call their inns

Eftallagesythat is, Stables. There is room

enough in them for mules, afles, and

other quadrupeds: but there is no room

at all for the reception of fuch bipeds as I,

They fay that Peagones was formerly

a'confiderable town, nor.' have i any dif-

ficulty to'believe it. But time ran away

long ago with that te>"-n, 'and. together

with its name rhas left b'imtwo buildings



[ 5 ]

properly

be called houfest as they do not

referable any thing that goes by that name

in other countries, having fcarcely any

roof or cielings left, but brick-walls full

of fuchlarge

holes, that kites and vul-

tures might eafily pafs through.

At that where we flopped, a kind of

landlady offered us a mefs of chick-peas

and fome falt-fifh

by wayof dinner. The

chick-peas feemed feafoned with rank oil,

and I think that the fifh has been falted

after it was rotten. What a fmell ! It

would havepoifoned

the

Trojanhorfe!

Yet Tago and DomManuelo fellravenoufly

upon both dimes, while Batifle, the friar,

and I, made mift with madamKelly

's

provifions.Nor did we want a

defert,

,

as,

while I was running away with the new

mule, my two mefs-mates had flopped at

the vine-yards, and filled a bafket with

excellentgrapes.

At Peagones we refled full two hours ;

then paced it again for twelve or thirteen



[6

]

like fo many Cafo's) and came to this

Fientafnuevaswhere ,we are to

pafs the

night.

During the whole afternoon we met

with no living creature, except a fmall

flightof birds, half a dozen fheep, with a

goat,and two men following three

wretched affes heavily loaded. As to ri-

vers, ponds, fprings,or any other fort of

water, none is to befeen from Aldeagallega

here, look which way you will/ Pleafant

travelling! An inceflant mournfulfing-

ing of theCalejftiros, accompanied by the

inceflant tinckling of the mules' bells, to-

gether with an inceflant fun hotly rever-

berating from the inceflant fand through

an inceflant folitude! But what encreafes

the delight of fuch a journey are thofe

charming Eftallages where you flop to bait

at noon and tofleep at night.

How long I am to enjoy thefe manifold

bleflingsI cannot precifely tell, as I never

crofled thiscountry before. But this I



C 7 ']

foolifh fpiritof

curiofitywhen I came to

vifit the Portuguefe kingdom. However,

let us go on without lofing our temper.

A man needs but have patience, and time

wjll put an end to any diftrefs. Soon or

late we fhall make a fire of the ftraw-bag,

and the hour will come when my journey

through the province of Allemtejo will be

a good ftory to tell. If I fret now, I

ihallthen blame myfelffor having fretted.

Juft by this wretched villageof Vien-

tafnuevas, there is a royal country-houfe

that was built, they fay, by PhilipIII.

King ofSpain, when Portugal belonged to

his crown. It is one ofthe longeft edifices

that ever I faw, but has nothing remark-

able befides that great length. The back-

windows command an extenfive profpect

over naked flones and fandy plains.The

King of Portugal never comes here, as he

has other country-houfes much better

built and fituated. The Dominican Fmr

tells me, that about twenty leagues fur-



[ 8]

fion called Villa Vizofa very well worth a

vifit j but to go and fee it, would force me

to flaya day more in Portugal, which I

am loath to do. Of myjourney through

this difmalregion, though it is but be-

gun, I am already quite fick.

At the feveralEftallages where I have

alighted; that is, at Cabeza, Mafra, Cin~

tra, Peagones, and here, you cannot con-

ceive how I was teazed by begging wo-

men. There are always fome that come

about you with a fimpering look ; hope

you have had a good day's journey ; wim

you may live a thoufand years ; then afk

you fomething to buy themfelves Alfileres,

that is, Pins. Comply with the firft de-

mand, and they have a fecond ready.

PleafeVojfn Senhoria or Voffa Meffe to give

me fomething for a little babe I have at

home. Well : here is for the little babe.

But pray, good fir, give me fomething for

my dear mother, for my younger fifter,

for my coufm, for my niece. There is



[ 9 ]

their demands, efpecially if the wenches

happen to be fomewhat young andlightly.

At Peagones one of them came in while

I was at dinner, and firft begged for fome

pin-money as ufual ; then for a loaf of

bread ; then for a bit of the pafty ; then

for the wing of a fowl; then for a flice of

cheefe ; then for a bunch ofgrapes. Hav-

ing complied with each demand, me fat

down by me on the floor and ateheartily:

then returned to the attack and fmiled

prettily again, and afked for fome more

money. Well : take this, fweet Senhora.

Have you enough now? Oh Senhor, VoJJa

Meffehe tarn querido (Sir, you arefo gentle)

that I hope you will give me that little

trunk to put my things in. Matchlefs

impudence! A new trunk covered with

Ruffia-leather' But give me this fan.

The weather, fir, is fo intolerably hot!

For this reafon I muft

keep

it : but come

next winter, fweet miftrefs, and you {hall

Jiave it. Iverily believe, had I given her



an eye,that (he would have afked for the

other.

Take this as a fpecimen of female Por-

fuguefe coynefs.As for the

EJlallageiros,

Caleffeiros,and in general all men of low

condition, they will fpeak to you unco-

vered ; but always with a familiar fmile

on their faces, Hor do they appear at all

bamful or timid. In Lifbon I fent once

for a barber. The fellow came with a

handfome fimper on his plump cheeks.

Sir, I give you ioy of your fafe arrival in

Portugal, faid he, while placing the nap-

kin under my chin. Then afked leave to

take a pinch of muff out of my box.

While he was {having he informed me of

many things of which he fuppofed me ig-

norant, as, that in Portugal the weather is

very hot ; that there arefigs

andgrapes in

abundance; that there is likewife plenty of

fifti becaufe the fea is near. His razors, he

faid, he always got from Barcelona, be-

caufe in Portugal they make none good.



[II

]

He ftopp'dwhen the right fide of my face

was done, and afked me what opinion I had

of his countrymen -,and upon my anfwer-

ing that as yet I knew them not, being

but juft come, he feized that opportunity

to inform me that os Portnguezesfam mu-

ilto valerozos, and, flouriming with his

Barcelona-weapon, added with alofty tone

that the Spaniards tremble at the name of

the Portuguefe, and that one Portuguefe

is fufficient to put toflight half a dozen

Spaniards: nor was I fully maved before

he had quite conquered both theCajliles.

Of fuch rodomonts I am told that Por-

tugal has even alarger number than of

idlers, which isfaying a

great deal.

Neighbouring nations have in general

aflrong antipathy to each other: but

that of the Portuguefe to the Spaniards

(I fpeak of the Portuguefe rabble) is car-

ried to fuch a degree that borders upon

madnefs. The reafon is obvious. What

chance thePortuguefe have of

conquering



t 12 ]

always hate thofc who muft fometimes

be fought againflwithout any hopes of

final victory.On the contrary were the

Spaniardsto be left unmolefted by the

other European powers, Portugal would

foon be theirs if they had a mind; and

for this reafon I fuppofe they defpife the

Portuguefe fo much, asproverbially to

fay of them that they arefew andfoolifo*

Portuguefes pocos y locos. How far this

Caftilian faying is juft, letthofe determine

who know the Portuguefe better than I.

If I am to believe Yago, there are

thieves enough in this'country. As I

was gettingthis morning into my chaife

I afked him why he had noftep to let

down, that I might mount with lefs trou-

ble. Enefta tierrafiiran todo, anfwered

Yago -,that is, in this

country, peoplefteal

everything; and fo they had broken and

flolen theftep

of his chaife. Avis au Lec-

teur, faid I to myfelf. Harkye, Batifte :

mind what Yago fays, and take particular



[ '3 1

care of ourthings, at leaft until we arc

out ofeft

a tterra.

LETTER XXXV.

An adventure in a'wildernefs.

Names of

great towns.Ufele/friefs of lyes.

An

honejlcurate. Pack-faddk ftuft

to m~

vitefeep.Arrayolos, Sept. 19, if6*.

IBE LI EVE that of Portugal feveral

partsare very fine : but amongft them

we muft not reckonany

of theforty

miles I have crofTed yefterday and to-day,

which are little lefs than a continued

wildernefs.

In this

wildernefs, however,I

havemet this morning with as

pretty a love-

adventure as any in Amadis de Gaula, or

TheProweffes ofSplandiano, and was with-

in an inch ofhaving

a battlewith two

knights for the fake of alady.

I had fcarcely raifed my weary limbs



[ 14 ]

adirty woman (call her

a fairlady for

romance-fake) entered my room without

any previous meflage orembafly. I pre-

fentlyknew her for that fame wench who

laft night had gotten fome pieces of mo-ney out of me by dint of

importunity ;

that is, one piece for herfelf, one for her

little girl,another for her little

boy,

and ftill another for another little boyor

girl.

On feeing her again,Iprefently guefT-

ed at her errand, and raifmg my voice

haftily and peevi/hly, Teneos, faid I, otros

mitchachos y muchachas, cara de puta?

That is, Have you got any moreboys and

\girls, youfrontlefs huffy?

I wifh I had never uttered the cara de

^uta'

3 becaufe the wench (the fair lady,

I mean) ungratefully forgetting my re-

peated kindnefs of laft night, and hating

perhaps to hear truth as well as her bet-

ters, broke out into fuch a terrible voci-

feration, that her cries



[ '5 ]

mance-fake we will call themknights)

who, hearing from her I had called her

cara de puta,looked fo

fternly at me,

and opened their difcourfe with fuch a

tone of voice, that I thought itneceflary

to draw a fhortpiftol

out of my pocket

and cock it.

So unexpected a reception, and the few

fweet words I uttered with a tone full as

high as theirs, filled the two heros with

fuch a panick, that they fprung out of

the room, and tumbled on each other

down flairs along with the woman. '

Ba-?

tifte was with me in lefs than a moment,

and brandifliing his mining hanger, gave

me an opportunity of ruming down, not

to follow the two men, but to leap into

my chaife ; and before they or the hero-

ine had time to recover from their fudden

terror, the mules had trotted half a league

from Vientafnue'vas: and this was the

gloriousend of that frightful encounter.

We dined at a town called Montemor,



[16

]

another way. We parted very great

friends, as he had been pleafed with the

fhare he had had of our Englifh victuals,

and I much obliged to him for his fby-

ing a while behind at Vientafnuevas to

quietthe woman, and hinder the bravos

from following my chaife. We came to

pafsthe night here at Arrayolos. What

fine

polifyllabical

names in this

Portugal

!

Arrayoks, Peagones, Vientafnuevas, Al-

deagallega ! One would think they are

names of great capitals.

At this

Arrayoks

we found fo

perfidi-ous an

Eftallage,that I looked quite dif-

mayed. I fent Batifte to try if he could

induce the fuperiour of aneighbouring

convent, to

give

us a

lodging

for this

night, offering a fair number of mafles

for the poor fouls in purgatory. But the

pitilefsfriar did not chufe to have an He-

retick under his roof. Foolim Batifle,

to giveme importance, had told him that

I was an Englifh Fidalgo -,and the impor-



[ '7 ]

Appellation of Iltretick. Never did I Ted

anybody profper by petty lyes. Yet fer-

vants and the ignorant rabble never will

be perfuaded of their ufeleffhefs. I fent

likewife to the curate, who, far from

proving fo hard-hearted as the Friar, put

himfelf to the inconvenience of coming

to me through the rain that fellcopioufly,

only to aflure me that he abfolutely had

no fpare-room. Not fatisfied with fo

pretty an act ofpolitenefs, he went to

fhow Batifte anotherEjlallage that had a

floor and a roof, and thither I had

mythings prefently carried after a (hort but

warm altercation with the firftEftalla-

geiro,who thought it a great affront that

I mould leave his houfe for that ofanother

in order to avoid fleeping under acieling

that admitted the rain. Did he notfleep

there himfelf with his wife and children ?

Surelywe are as

goodChriftians as

anyEftrangeiro !

After fupper I fell a-writing, and thuj



[18

]

otherwife might make me mad on re-

flectingwhat an error I committed when

I reiblved to come and vifit thefe difmal

Arrayolosand Montemors, thefe Peagones

and Aldeagallegas !

From Vientafnuevas hither the country

is not fo flat as fromAldeagallega to Vien-

tafnuevas.At fome difiance from the

road on either fide, there are fome fmall

hills with a few trees. All thehoufesin

Montemor are painted white, which makes

that town look very neat : but by what

I could fee as I fholled about it while

dinner was making ready, there is not an

inhabitant there that has an opulent look.

The earthquake has not done any great

damage *to Montemvr-,

and no wonder,as the town is built after

thcCkifte/f man-

ner. I mean that the beft part of its ha-

bitations have but the ground-floor.

This Arrayolos I could not vifit becaufe

of the rain. If I do to-morrow, I lhall



[ 19 ]

A POSTSCRIPT, at four o'clock in the

morning, Sept. 20, 1760.

I thought myfelf very lucky laft night

when by means of the honeft curate I got

intelligenceof this

Eft

a//age

; and

mycomfort was

great when, entering this

room, I faw in a corner a heap of matraf- -

fes that had' a tolerably clean appearance.

Batifte, faid I, do not fill the ftraw-bag

to-night; but form me a bed out of half

a dozen of thefe matrafles. Take notice,

faid he, that each matrafs here is confi-

dered as a cama or bed, and you (hall pay

for as many camas as you make ufe of.

No matter for that, faid I : it is an odd

cuflom this; but fUll, do as I bid you:

and when the time came of lying down I

undrefTed with as much hurry tsRuggitfo

when he alighted from the Hippogryff

with the fair >ueen of Catajo. But alas!

The matraflas which in other countries

are filled with wool, here are filled with



Anchoret ever had in the defarts of

Thebais.

LETTER XXXVI,

No botanljl. Mafquerades and their vari-

ous wit. Pictures drawn with the pen ,

Pretty dancing . A proclamatlon .

Eftremor,Sept.

20, at

night, 1760.

THE robber's wife does not always

laugh, faysthe proverb, nor does

he always cry who travels through Por-

tugal. I have to-night fomething plea-

fant to tell after io much pain endured.

But, that I may proceed methodically, I

muft begin my floryfrom my fetting

out

this morning.

As I croffed Arrayolos I faw an old

caftle on an eminence, the battlements

of which are all broken.

The hills that furround Arrayolos, look

very well at a diftance. As far as Vienta



trees in the lower partsof thofe hills. /

At ten we reached that Vicnta do Duque.

Vlenta in Portuguefe (asVenta in Spa-

nifh) means an habitation that jlands alone

in themidft of

the

country forthe

reception

of travellers. To that called Do Duque I

have a notion that famine and wretched-

nefsrepair very often. Why fuch a lodg-

ment is dignified by the appellation of

the Duke's I cannot guefs. Perhaps it

was the lurking placeof Duke Gano, the

famous traitor in Char/emames days (ac-

cording to Pulcly Boiardo, and Ariojlo)

that ufed to fide with the Kings of Spain

and Portugal, who were then Mahomet-

ans, againft his lawfulfovereign who

was a Chriftian.

To that Vienta we alighted to eat fome

of our provifions, which (as it is cufto-

mary in this country) we then paid to the

Venteiro as if they had been his. After

dinner, without waiting for theCal^Jfciros



[ 3

hadflowly

walked twoleagues

before the

mules could overtake,me. The fun pro- ;

ved very hot, and would have burnt me

alive, but for a foft breeze that tempered

his ardour.

Going through by-pathsI

took notice of feveral plants which as fyr

as I can remember do not grow in Eng-

land, nor perhaps inItaly.

However I

am not pofitive. Arnongfl others, a fmall-

leaved fort of rofemary in great quantities,

that has a moil pleafing fmell, and a

{linking kind of herb which feels as vif-

cous as a rag dipped in tar. What a pity

not to be a botanift when a man travels

a-foot! Signer Alllone of Turin and doc-

tor Marfili of Padua, were they apprifed

pf my journey, would envy me the good

luck of wandering about the defart in the

neighbourhood of Vienta do Duque. In

England I ufed once to walk about Chelfea

garden with Doctor Marfili, and often

afked him the name of this and thatplant,



habituate my mind to this fort of recollec-

tion : fo that I cannot nowregifter here

the name of thevifcous and(linking plant,

which I was afterwards told is ufed by

tanners inflead of bark.

From the height of each hill that I

mountedfucceffively,

I could imperfectly

fee fomething on another diftant height

thatappeared

like arange

ofbuildings.

I look'd and look'd as I advanced, and

at laft knew it to be a fortified town,

"To him who goes for three live-long days

through fuch a wild region as this, fees

nothing but fuch places as Peagones or

Vicntado Duque, and meets with no body

but two or three afTes, goats, and fpar-

rows, you cannot conceive how the light

of a town proves rejoicing.

About four we were at the gate of

Eftremw (fuch is the name of the fortified

town) where a little officer coming

boldly up to the chaife-fide, aflced me



baP/ador had been fo good as to procure

rne one from Dom Luis da Cunha, other-

wife the little fellow would have taken

rne to ajail.

You cannot even go from

Lifbon to one of the neighbouring coun-

try-houfes but by apailport from that fe-

cretary of ftate without incurring the

danger of being imprifoned. Todas as

peffbas que quizere/n fahirda corfe e cidade

deLijboa, ferdln obrigadas a tirar paffa-

fortes, fays an edid publifhed here on the

1 9th of laftAuguft;

that is,c

everyper-

t{

Jon going out of this town, foall be obliged"

toprovide himfelf with apajfport"

Such

is thejealoufly of this government, and

fuch is the confcquence of wicked Aveiros

treacherous attempt.

Onentering this town of Eftremdr I

favv feveral hundred mafks, a group of

which furrounded my chaife hallooing,

roaring, and playing anticks. Many

things they fpoke with afqueaking

voice



t 25 ]

women to their windows, and I was

pleafedto fee them laugh no lefs than the

men in the ftreets. I look'd at them,

through my glafs,and they did not feem

to take offence at

my way

of

looking.Our Italian ladies are in the wrong when

they angrily clap their fans before their

faces if look'd at through aglafs,

as if

the beholder was a bafililk. It is not myfault if I am near-fighted,

and I do not

fee why I am more to be deprived of the

bleffingof looking at the fair than thofq

who have good eyes.

The women at their windows and the

mafks in the ftreets, all laughed their full,

and I with them for company. At the

EJlalldgeI was taken up flairs into a room,

the floor of which was fo cracked, that I

could fee the folks below through feveral

chinks, and its windows had mutters as

ufual, inftead ofglafs.

I look'd down in

the fquare before the Ejlalldge,and there



['6 ]

One wore horns on his head, and one had

a tail hanging behind. One had tied his

ctoak round his waift petticoat-wife, and

one wore {lockings of different colours.

Some had the Golilla after theSpanifti

manner, fome large breeches after the

Swifs. Some fhook the caftanets, and

fome played on theguittar. Several

ftooped downin a

rowthat others

might

jump over them, and feveral ran round

thefquare, throwing their hands and legs

about like madmen. Two of them came

under my window and raifed up their long

flicks, on which they had fattened wooden

parrots ill-fhapedand

ill-painted: then

laughing moft immoderately, cried to me

Monfu, Monfu. What their parrots or

their cries meant, I cannot tell, but think

that this is one of their witty ways to.

turn the French into ridicule, and they

probably miftook me fora Frenchman.

Many mowed their humour by pulling off



themfelves

very merry

at the

expence

do

Eftra?2geiro.

Batifte returned with my pafTport from

the governor, to whom he was ordered

at thetown-gate

to

gowith it.

Akind

of gentleman came with him (fent by his

Excellency)who was to take down the

marks that diftinguifh my figurefrom

thofe ofmy fellow-creatures. That gen-

tleman fat himfelf down at a table, pulled

a bit of paper and an ink-horn out of his

pocket, and bidding me to ftand up be-

fore him, looked at me feveral times. I

fuppofe that heregiftered down the moft

remarkable parts of my perfon, noted

the plainnefs of my face, the colour of

my hair, the fize of my nofe, the fmall-

nefs of my eyes, the height of my body,

and other fuchthings. The fame cere-

mony he performed with Batifte; then

marched off with much compofure after

having clapped in my hand apermiffion.



[28

]

and yetit is a

pretty well-governed king-

dom.

To fuch methods every foreigner mutt

fijbmit. There is a rigid law, publifhed

in LHbon on the 26th of laft June, which

orders every mafler orcaptain of

fhip not

to land any body onPortuguefe ground

without giving previous information to a

magiftrate newlycreated

(called

O Inten-

dente geralda polida da corte e do

rcinoj

of the qualityand

profeffionof the people

whom he is to land- Should henegleft

to give it, he would be liable to have his

{hipconfifcated and himfelf

fubjedl to

fuch punifhment as that Intendant gene-

ral thought fit. Captain Bawn landed

me without conforming to that law, and

no body gave him or me any trouble,

pofliblybecaufe Englifh packets go under

the denomination of mips of war, and

their captains are confidered as exempt

from the laws of other countries. How-



that Senhor Intendente geral of my arrival,

in order to avert allpoffible moleftation.

Strangers who enter this kingdom by

land, are by that law fubje&ed likewife

to

manytroublefome formalities. But

this government, like all others, has a

right to enadt what laws are thought pro-

per, and it is a traveller's bufmefs to obey

them rather than find fault with them.When the gentleman was gone that

had painted me with his pen, I put my-

felf in fome order and went about to fee

the town. Its houfes are all fmall and

low, and all white- warned like thofe of

Montemor. I met with mafks at every

flep,and none would let me go by with-

out a mock-bow. A number of them

flopp'd in a flreet where fome ladies fat

in a balcony, and there they began a

dance. A young fellow amongft them

fingularly attracted my attention, and

indeed that of the whole company with



[ 30 ]

in

Lijbon*

and to

give

them their

due, no natioft (of thofe that I have

feen at leaft) has any dance performed by

two perfons,fo exhilarating as their Fan-

dango. The Yrefcone of the Tufcans,

the Furlana of the Venetians, the Corrente

of the Monferrines, and the Minuet or

the Aimable of the French, are flat per-

formances in comparifon of that gallant

one which I faw executed before that bal-

cony by that young man and a boy dreffed

in woman's cloaths. But dances cannot

be defcribed by words, nor can I convey

to you any idea of the Fandango, but by

telling you that every limb was in fuch a

motion- as might be called with propriety

a regular and harmonious convul/ion of the

'whole body.I have heard a French-

rnafter in Lifbon blame it much, andfay

it was no dance at all ; but what dance

will be approved by a Frenchman that is

not a produ&ion of his country ? He has



The inhabitants of this country as well

as the Andalufians and the Granadans,

were famous for dancing fo far back as

the times of the Romans, and theiryoung

women ufed then to

goand dance at

Rome and in other parts of the Roman

empire, where they eafily captivated the

hearts of confuls andproconfuls, as the

female dancers of France go now to Italy,

Germany, and England to enamour Stg-

nors, Minheers, and Mylords. Martial

mentions withfatyrical peevimnefs the

Eetick and the Gaditan female-dancers ;

and the cldeftScatiger, fomewhere in his

poeticks, fays fomething of the dancing

anciently ufed in the provinces that lie

this way. You are lucky, my brothers,

that I travel without a Martial and a

Scaliger.Had I their books, I would not

let this opportunity flipwithout mak-

ing as great a wafte of erudition as our

Bartolit\\t antiquarian does fo often.



I 33 1

cefs of Erafil who about two monthsago*

was married to her uncle Dom Pedro.

I could not well comprehend the whole

import of that proclamation, in which

the King, Queen, Princefs, and Dom Pe-

dro were repeatedly named, along with

the blefled Lady, St. Anthony, St. Fran-

cis, the friars, the nuns, the peace and

libertyof the

kingdom,the mafks and

the dances, with I know not what.

Night at laft came on, and I went to a

fplendid fupper which Batifte had got

ready, to make himfelf amends for the

poor dinner we had made at the Vienta do

Dugue.

I go now to ftretch my limbs on the

ftraw-bag: but 1 have feen a joyful maf-

querade, and am pleafed.I wanted to

know why thefe rejoicingswere delayed

fo long after the marriage, but no body

could tell me.

After fome debate with myfelf I have



t 35 -1

LETTER xxxviL

'&'-military cuftom. Whijkers. A palace.

No travellers expected.A hog-fty*

Fine dancing andfine eyes.

Elvas, Sept. a*, 1760. in the morning*

VAIN

have proved the efforts I

made to procure a copy of the pro-

clamation that was read the other day at

Jlftremor,and you muft do without the

tranflation, which I intended to give you

as a fpecimen of the Lufitanic eloquence,

had I been able to get it* I offered a

pretty piece of money to a poor foldier,

on condition he could obtain it for me

from his corporal. But nothing can be

done when we have no time to fpare.

Yefterday morning at five I was- awak-

ed by the drummers and pipers of that

garrifon,who came to wi(h me a good

journey with a noify march on their in-



[ 37 1

The greateft part of them are abfolately

in ragsand patches,

and in Li/bon many

of them afked my charity not only in the

ftreets, but even when they flood centi-

nels -,nor did their officers

appearto

any

great advantage when I faw them on duty

before the wooden edifice, (feevol. I.

p.

160.) though they viubly endeavoured to

put on a martial look and fet their legs in

poftures ofdefence. As to theirgenerals, it

isfaid that not one (b) has the leaft repu-

(b) In afpirited reply given by the King of Portu-

gal on April 5, 1762, to a memorial prefcnted by the

Spanijh AmbaJJadors^ there are the following words.

" Foi precizamente necefTario prezervar fua ma-

"geftade fideliflima o feu real decoro contra os

" clamores dos feus vaflallos, e contra as criticas

" que em toda a Europa redundavam, ateencherem

*' as mefmas novas publicas ;fabendo todo o mundo

**que em Portugal nao havia generaes nem

ojficiaes

*'que tivejjem experiencia das campanhas^ mandou

< 4 convidar para o feu fervi9Oo Lord Tyrawli;

** affim como fe praticou fempre nefte reino, e fe

"praticou agora a refpeito

de outros differentes of-

^ficiaes, nao fo Inglezes,

mas de todas as outras



[ 38 f

tation for military fkill. But we muil

not wonder at the great negleft of this

government with regard to the army.

This country is fa fituated, as to be al-

raoft quite out of danger of any war, if

they keep but fair with Spain; and Spain

ispoffeffed of too many dominions to

think much of this. The Portuguese

navy, they fay,is in much better order,

having failors in good plight and com-

manders of great capacity.

In Englijh thus."

It was incumbent on his molt

< l faithful

Majeftyto take care of his own

honour<c

againftthe clamour of his fubje&s and the cen-

fures of all Europe, which were even conveyed* f to the public Gazettes. It is notorious to the

.' whole world that in Portugal there are neither

<c Generals nor

Officers of experience.Therefore the

stKing invited Lord Tyrawli (thus is this name

< c

fpelt)to his fervice, and the fame has been done

* s with regard to other officers who are not aH

<*Englifh, but of other nations of Europe j and it

<l has always been the cuftom in this

kingdom

fo

*' to do whenever it was thought proper." This

ingenuous confejjiondoes great honour to tl>e Portuguese,

in



t 39 1

I went yefterday morning to Villa Vt-

zofa,

which is not far from Eftrtmor, and

fent from the EJlallagea mefTage to the

Sccrijf'e, begging the favour to have the

palace fhewn me. Seerife they call the

gentleman,to whofe care that

palaceis

entruftedi and a very polite gentleman he

is. He fent a man to me with the keys,

and met me at the gate.

My vilit did not laft long, becaufe there

is but little to be feen. In a great hall

tfeere areportraits

of Kings and Queens.

Some cardinal virtues are painted in the

deling of one room, and Hercules right-

ing the lion in another. Indifferent per-

formances, this laftefpecially. There is

nothing furprifing-ia thedifpofitio-n

of

the apartments within, no more than in

the architecture without, which at the

nrft glance looks Gothick, though not fo

at the fecond, being a bad Tufcan or

Jonick, I have already forgot which. The

furniture is rather mean than old, and



C 42 ]

it not been too late f would have flopped

and taken more notice of it. They fay

it is a Mooriffiwork. If it is true, it does

them much honour.

Efaas, likeILftremdi*-,

flands on an emi~

Bcnce. It is fortified after the modern

fafhion; but the fortifications are going

to ruinsa Happy Portuguefe that wan<t

neither fortrefies nor foldiers !

Qut of the gate at which we entered,

there was a great concourfe of people. I

afked the reafon of it* and was informed

that a fair is this week kept there for

horfes and black-cattle. On both fides c-f

the road there were many cloaths fpread

by way of tents, and the ropes which

fupported them, crofied the road in fuch

a manner, that we had not a little to do

topafs

under them with the chaifes.

The merchants xvho- had ereded thofe

temporaryconveniencies,

expellednot

that any carriage would come that way,

as it is but very feldom that they fee a



[ 43 ]

or towards Li/bon-, therefore they had

made no fcrupleto embarrafs the road.

On feeingfo many people my heart

mifgave me, as it occurred immediately

that no room mould I be able to get at

theEftallage:

nor did

my conje&ure

prove wrong, which puzzled me the more

as it began to rain very hard. However

plucking up a courage andtrufting to the

laced-coat I had put on to vifit with de-

cency the palace at Villa Vizafa, and

taking it for granted that the'EJlallageiro

would be better pleafed to give a room

to a laced ftranger than to fome bare-

footed native, I had him called at his

gate as I alighted, and muttering up all

the Portuguefe Ipoflibly could, repre-

fented to Sua Meffe in a very ferious and

pathetic tone of voice., that Sua Meffi

could not refufe me a room in Spa MeJ/e"s

houfe, if Sua Meffe would but confider

that I had an ample paflport (I pull'd it

out) from his moil faithful Majefty;



[ 45 J

thee fome amends for the great injuftice

I was indiredly guilty of, when thy

profound quiet was difturbed ! Have

patiencefor this time, and reflect that

althoughthe

greateft part

of the mo-

dern poetsbe but comparable to thy

beads in point of genius, yet when it

pleafesfortune to put a little lace on

the coatof

any oneof

them,not

onlyafTes muft give

him the wall, but even

afs-drivers get out of hog-flies to make

room for him !

With that apartment I was obliged

to put up and be thankful. Batifte

found fome mats, which he laid on its

floor ; then turned his thoughts towards

getting me a fupper.

A man would be ridiculous^ mould he

dream of any eatables ready at any Ejlal-

lage.No fuch cuftoms in this

country.

But little did we care, as we had a tur-

key in ftore ready for thefpit,

a Lifbon-



i 46 j

been decided by connoiffeurs inepicureifih

that they are ftill fuperiour to thofe of

Bayona andWeftphalia*.

I was fhewn up Hairs into a kind of

galleryj

whichopened

into feveral rooms

full of people. This gallery was fpread

with men whoflept wrapped up in their

cloaks. Afc I advanced amongft them I

felt the floor

making: and as

my headhas been filled with earthquakes ever

fince I reached Portugal, it occurred on

a fudden that the ground was making $

but prefently was fenfible that the con-cuflion was caufed by my moving along

that ill-conftrUfted floor.

As I was walking and waiting for

my fupper, fome young muleteers came

out of the fide-rooms. One of them

began to tickle his guittar,and another

produced a fong to the tune. They had

fcarcely gone on three minutes with

their performance, when thefleepers



t 47 3

a dance was begun. A man cut a ca-

per by way of reverence to a woman^

and the woman advanced immediately

to dance the Fandango with him. There

is nopoffibility

of

conveying

to

you anyjuft idea of their

hilarity, nimblenefsi

and elafticity.There were four Spanim.

and fix Portuguefe females. Out of the

tenI

took onlynotice

of three. Onewas a brownim girl called Terefuela*

whom I foon found to be the bedfinger

of them all. The other two were fil-

ters-

y the younger fo renowned in the

towns around for a beauty, that (he goei

under theappellation of la bella Catalina.

The eldeft is not fb handfome, but has

fuch eyes !

What a pity the comparifon

of the ftars is no more in fafhion I

The drefles of thefe women were all

gaudy, efpecially the Spanifh, who are

come from Badajos wUh fome male

friends to fee Elvas-fair. I muftrepeat



i 43 ]

but none of thdm is

comparableto what

I faw here to-night. It is true that

their gefturesand attitudes are forne-

times not fo compofed as one could

wi(h: yet, if I was poffcfled of the abi-

lities of Martial, inftead of running down

the Fandango and theSeguedilla, which I

fuppofe were the dances he fatyrized, I

would write a thoufand epigrams in

praifeof them, of Tercfuela, of Catalma^

and moft particularly of Paolita, who

has thofe eyes I mentioned ! Oh this

Paolita !

Both the Fandango and theSeguedilla

are danced either at the found of the

guittar alone, or the guittar accompa-

nied by the voice, which is an advan-

tageous addition when theguittariil hap-

pens to have a good voice. Both men

and women, while dancing, give a dou-

ble clap with their thumbs and middle-

fingersat every cadence, and both dances



[ 5 1

xvell as with thedirty women (for fome of

them were dirty enough) ; nor did any of

the company (how the leaftpartiality

to

age> to drefs, or to beauty, but all feem'd

to dance merely for dancing-fake. I

was a little furprifed to fee a mabby

rafcal take up fo clean agirl

as Terejuda,

who was the fined of them all, and look

fweeter

uponher than

any petit

maitre

would at Paris upon a rich and tender

widow. This would not have been al-

lowed in any of the countries I have

vifited, where theill-drefled

keep com-

pany with the ill-dreffed, and the fine

with the fine, without ever dreaming of

fuch mixtures as are praclifed in this part

of the.world.

In a corner of thisgallery there is a

largetable. Upon the table the cloth

was laid, and my fupper placed. There

I fat down to eat without ceremony or

fhame in my turn.



t 5* ]

thing

to fay to me either in Spanifh or

Portuguefe.

To the ladies after the cake I ordered

glaffesof water, becaufe 1 knew that to

offer them wine would havefpoiled

all

the good* I had done, and the offer con-

jftrued into agrofs affront

-,in fuch ef-

teem isfobriety amongft thefe people.

One of them who was with child, fent

to afk a flice of the ham, and her ex-

ample was followed by the reft.

About midnight the dance was inter-

rupted by a bonfire which was out of the

town in honour of thePrincefs' marriage.

We all went to fee it from a baftion : but

to my great fatisfaction the rain fpoiled

it, fo that we came back to the Eflallage

where the dance began again with a

greater fury than before, and lafted two

hours longer. Catalinds fitter, together

with the beft eyes had alfo the moil pliant

body and the nimblefl heels, "and being



[ 54 ]

Whenthey

had done I fent word to

Paolita, that I mould be obliged to her if

me would favour me with a copy of

her fitter's laft fong. This I did, not only

becaufe I had liked feveral

things

in that

fpng, but ajfo becaufe I wanted to try

whether it was poffibleto enter into

fome converfation with her, and fee whe-

therher fenfe and wit bore any pro-

portion to her eyes.The anfwer {he

returned was, that me would not fail

to fend me a whole book of fongs the

next day at the Pofada (the Inn) at Bada-

joz, as next day they were to go there as

well as myfelf.

To make this requeft I had employed

one of the company, who by his fa-

miliarity with her I judged a proper

mefTenger. But, brother, could'ft thou

not go to her, and talk to her thyfelf ?

No, I could not. Had this been fea-

fjble, I had not waited for your encou-



[ 55 ]

are different from thofe of England,

France, andItaly -,

and I can allure you

that I would have given I know not

what for the fatisfaction of interchang-

ing

a few words with that Paolifa, whofe

eyes in the fortieth year of my age I

could hardly reiift.

It was near three when an end was put

to thefeaft,

and each went to lie

downon the ground. Yes, all on the ground,

fome on mats, fome on ftraw-bags, fome

on the naked floor, all without taking off

their clothes, Terefuela, Catalina, andher black-ey'd fifter not excepted. All

on the ground after the manner of the

golden age.

I was the only perfon that did not do

like them. My fpiritshad been fo raifed

by this unexpected pleafure,that having

not the leafl inclination to deep, in-

ftead of going to my couch I called for

pen and ink, and have now been full



t 56 ]

quaking gallery,which I expefted every

moment to go down : and it had been

a fmgular adventure if the muletteers,

afs-drivers, calefTeiros, the brownimgirl,

fair Catalina, her fitter, and every male

and female there, had tumbled all in

a confufed heap into the ftorybelow.

It rains now very hard ; and ,as every

body

round me is

afleep,

I will

go

and

tryif I can get fome reft. The next

ftation to Badajoz is but three fhort

leagues, and I don't care how late I fet

out this afternoon.

LETTER XXXVIII.

Love- matters, white cows, a cardinal, an

old friend, and a Portuguefe letter.

Badajoz, Sept. 22, 1760, in the evening.

ITis lucky that I am going from thefe

regions. Were I to make the leafl



[ 57 ]

Yes : was I to tarry here ever fo (hen a

time, my philqfophy, which hasbravely

withftood for tenyears the repeated hof-

tilities of JBritim beauty, my poor, my

filly, my contemptible philofophy would

furrender to a power I am afhamed to

name. But let me follow the thread

cfmy ftory with my ufual method.

It was nine o'clock this

morningwhen

I had not yet clofed my eyes. The fight

of dancing and the hurry of writing

had inflamed my mind too much. I got

up and went into the making gallery,

where feveral of the men were eating

fait meat and pickled olives with the

four Spanim women. An odd breakfaft,

I thought. The women bowed and

fmiled as I entered, and the men in-

vited me to do as they did, which I

declined. People fay that the Spaniards

conftantly breakfaft on chocolate. Per-

haps they do when they are at home ;



[ 58 ]

After breakfaft they had another touch

at the Fandango in compliment to me,

having feenhow much I had been pleafed

with it : apiece

of Spanim civility that

fhould notpafs

unnoticed. But while

fome were thus dancing, others were

lliaving in the fame room. This in

other countries would be deemed an in-

tolerable wantof manners

j

but here it

is nothing. Thefe people live truly

fansfa^n, or to fay better, a la artare.

That ihort dancing being over, the

women would go to mafs though it con-

tinued to rain hard. The Spanifh wo-

men, it feems, like the Portuguefe, love

to hear a mafs every day in the year:

The Italian only on Sundays and holi-

days, efpeciallywhen young. They

went accordingly to fetch their mantillas-,

.that is the white veils with which they

cover their heads and the upper part of

their bodies. I need not tell you, that



[ 59 ]

givenme clearly

to understand feveral

times, that (lie was not difpleafed at the

preferenceI gave her to the brownifh

Tcrefuela,and even to her own handfomc

fitter : and, fince I am about it, I may as

well tell you, that when we went to fee

the bonfire, fome body in the dark gave

me aflight pinch in the arm, and ran her

hand againft mine.

Well, both men and women quitted

the galleryand went to church. But they

had fcarcely reached the bottom of the

flairs, when back returns Paolita to fetch

a glove. The fteps (he mounted with

fuch celerity, and flood before me fo un-

expectedly, that I almoft loft my fightin

the furprize. Dios te dea mil anos debien,

EJirangero,faid me, throwing up her veil

and fpeakingin my ear. I had no other

anfwer ready but a kifs on herright eye,

and another on her left ; and before I

could recover my thoughts, off fhe was



[60

]

She is gone ! and has left me, I cannot

tell in what condition ! What bufinefs

had fhe to forget a glove, or to come

back and wifh me well ! I wi(h her well

too, and with a thoufand hearts if I had

them : but I am a mere traveller in this

country; and, what is worfe, I have al-

ready travelled beyond my fortiethyear.

Whythen did me think of her

glove'Oh ye Seneca's, ye Boetius's, ye fages all,

whofe pages I once read with fome atten-

tion, I humbly beg your pardon for

having read them, as I now find, to very

little purpofe!A glance, a pinch, a no-

tjiing,has proved ftronger than any dozen

of you, and hasinftantaneoufly thrown

topfy turvy that vaft collection of wif-

dom, which I have been making for

yearsand years out of your volumes!

But let me think of her no more, and go

on with my narration.

The long vigilhad made me refolve



nued pouring. Having gone on about

two hours, we crofled a torrent called

Caya, which is the boundary on that fide

between Portugal and Spain. Though

that torrent may bepafled with a dry foot

almoft the year round, it was now fo

fwollen by the rain, that it wafhed the

bellies of my mules; fo that I lofl all

hopes of having the fongs that Paolita

had promifed, feeing plainly that the alTes

on which the two fitters are to ride back

to Badajdz, will not be able to wade the

Caya to-night.

But fee! Here me is

again. Begone, girl, begone ! I will

think of thee no more. I am forty years

of age !

My thoughts had not been agreeably

employed from Ehas to that torrent:

Yet I felt a flufti of joy as I reached the

oppolite fide of it. Portugal at laft was

behind me, and the Calefferos (no more

Caleffeiros)aifured me that

travelling



t 64 J

and fearched ; but riot in thefavage

mari-

ner that ispraclifed

in England, where

a rude fcoundrel difcompofes all your

things without any difcretion, unfows

even your coats,if

he has theleaft

fufpi-

cion of lace concealed between thelining

and the cloth; and when he has vexed

you much, extorts from you fome mil-

lings as a reward for his coarfenefs and

brutality.

This, amongft numberlefs other, is a'ri

inconvenience which diihoneft travellers

have brought upon the honefl. The

grofs of mankind are thieves j and many

of them are perpetually endeavouring to

defraud fovereigns of their rights by what

is cz\\Q&fmuggUng. Thofe who are de-

puted, to levy theferights, cannot read

honefty or difhonefty in the faces of go-

ers and comers, and diftinguiih

'

the

fmuggler from the gentleman: There-

fore they put every body indillinctly to



[ 65 ]

and that ftate. In England they are quite

infufFerable. There I have been often

{hocked to fee even ladies treated with

an indecency that the rougheft Barbarians

would be afliamed topraclife.

TheSpa-

nifh government, itfeems, aftswith more

generofity in thisrefpect

than the Eng-

li(h, and does not think fuch contrabands

as travellers

may conceal inatrunk, an

object of much attention, or a diminu-

tion worth minding of the public re-

venue.

The Pofada of Santa Lucia where I

alighted, is not much better than a Por-

tuguefe Eftallage. However its walls are

found, the roofnot cracked, and the floor

not paved with pebbles like a flree*.

Here, as in Portugal, the windows have

no panes, but only mutters, which ex-

clude the light if you exclude the rain,

the wind, or the cold. No drawers,

wardrobes, or looking-glafles. Here,



t<>6

]

chairs totter and the tables are

greafy,

exa&ly as in the EJlallages.But the

Camas alias are fomething that the Eftal-

/ageshad not; and as to this Senor (no

moreSenhorj Pofadero,

we fhould be the

beft friends in the world, was I to fix my

refidence in Badajoz. He plays upon the

guittar better than any body I have as yet

heard, andhis

civilityis

equalto his fkill

in mufic. He would play while I was

{having para defenfadar alifted,

faid he ;

that is, to divert me the while. Could he

pufh politenefs further ?

As foon as alighted I difpatched Ba-

tifte with a note to Cardinal Acciaioli, in-

forming his eminence ofmy arrival, beg^

ging leave to be admitted al bacio della

facra porpora, and to offer my fervice for

Italy,whither I was going forthwith.

While I waited for an anfwer, a gentle-

man rufhed into my room and threw his

arms about me before I was aware, crying



I 7 ]

Don't you know your old Milanefe friend

Merqfio? Ah Doctor, is it you? Indeed

it was himfelf, one of the favourite com>-

panions ofmy youth. He had met with

Batifte in the ftreet, whom he had known

in Lifbon. What do you here, Batifte?

Sir, I am with my old mafter Mr. Such

a one, and we go toItaly.

What ? Myold friend from Turin ? Yes, Sir, he is

of Turin* If you are his friend, ftepto

the Pofada, and you will fee him. This

proved a delightful furprize to the Doc-

tor andme,

as

you maywell

imagine.We aflced each other numberlefs quef-

'

tions in a moment, and could not recover

from the amazement of fuch a bell' in-

contro in fo remote a corner of the worldas Badajoz*

The cardinal* to whom my name hap-

pened not to be quite unknown, fent

me word that he would be glad to fee me,

and to him I went with Merojio, who is

He received me with af-



[ 68 ]

pleafurethat fparkled

in the eyes of two

friends who had unexpectedly met on

the banks of the Guadiana. There

I pauseda mofl agreeable evening, and

Portugal, Rome, and England furnifhed

us with topics of converfation for five

hours. With his eminence there is a

young Monjignore his nephew, and fe~

veral other Italian

gentlemen,all heart-

ilytired with their long ftay here, and

all wifhing to exchange it for Rome.

Badajoz, they fay,is no very cardina-

litian refidence.Excepting the gover-

nor Conde de la Roca, and two or three

officers of the garrifon who have feen

the world, there are no people in it much

fit for convention. The Badajozians,

who perhaps never faw a Cardinal within

their walls ever nnce they were built,

pay his eminence a fort ofrefpeft, that

approaches adoration, or idolatry, as he

termed it himfelf, which he returns with



[ 69 ]

nefs do~s not mend matters with him,

and his days pafson in languor rather

than in quiet.And how does he

pafs

the nights ? Happy we, obfcure mortals,

who have nothing to difturb ourfleep,

but the hardnefs of a mattrafs, and a

thought of Paolita! It is not always a bad

thing to be an obfcure mortal, and below

the notice of

Kings

and

Popes.I need not tell you by what accident a

man of his importance was brought to

this town. The public papers have in-

formedyou

of the treatment he met at

Lifbon, and how roughly he was driven,

from thence with all his retinue. I was

bold enough to afk him the reafon of it.

J verily think, faid he, that thofe whodid it, know it no better than myfelf. An

order was brought me in writing to quit

Lifbon in an hour; but thefifty foldiers

who brought that order, did not al-

low me a minute. Their commander



[ 7 J

me crofs the^fagusy

and faw me to the

Caya in four days. On the road I had no

bed, and fcarce any thing to eat; and all

this without my knowing why. But

come to fee me when I am in Italy, and

then I will tell you more. Here, added

he with a fmile, I muft be agreat politi-

cian, and hold my tongue.

To-morrow I intend to do as I did ta-

day, and go no more than three leagues.

I mall pafsthe whole morning with my

friend, who, like a true Milanefe, grieves

at his mailer's fituation, though he knows

no more of his affairs than myfelf.

I will end this with the letter written

by Dom Luiz da Cunha, Secretay of State

to the Cardinal, and fentfry the officer

that was to accompany him fo far as the

Caya.CARTA.

<cQue tie Ordem de S. Magejlade efcreveo

ofecretarlo

*' de efiado Dom Luiz da Cunha ao Cardinal AccialoU

"parafahir da Corte de Lisboa.

*'



'

_.,JI 7' 1

*'l

fupremopoder, que por todos os direitos flie

f

compete, para confervar illeza afua au-

"thorldade regla,

eprefer

var osfeus vaf-

"fallos

de efcandalos frejudiciaesa tran-

"quilidade public

a dos

feus

relnos : Me

" manda Intlmar a VoJJaEminencia que logo

" Immedlatamente a apprefentacao defta

f(carta haja VoJJa

Eminencia defahir defta

"corte para a outra banda do Tejo,

ehaja

"defahir via refta

defiesrelnos no precizo

" termo de quattrodias.

* f Para o decente tranfportede VoJJa Emi-

" nenciafe qchao promptos os reaes efcaleres

" na praya fronteiraa caza da habita^ao

"4e VoJJa Eminencia.

" E para que VoJJa Eminenciapojjacntrar

" nelles, e feguir a fua viagem e caminho,

"fern o menorreceyo delnfultos

contraries a

"proteccao que Sua Magefiade quer fempre

"que em todos os cazos ache em feus domi-

" nips a immunidade do caracJer de que

"VoJJa

Eminenciafe acha reve/lido

: Manda



[ 7* ]

"relno por huma decoroza e competent? ef-

" coltamilitar*

" Fico parafervira VoJJa Eminencia com

"o maior obfequio.

Deos guards aVoffa

(t Eminencia muitos annos. Pa^o a 14 de

"Jun/w de 1760. De Voffa Eminencia

"obfequiozijfimofer'vidor,

D. Luiz da CUNHA.

InEnglifh thus.

" A LETTER,

'* Which by order of his Majefty Dom Luiz

" da Cunha Secretary of State, wrote to Cardinal

" Acciaioli, that he may forthwith depart from

" the Court of Lifoon.

" Moft eminent and moft reverend Sir.

" HisMajefty, making

ufe of the juft,

"royal,

and fupreme power which he has

" all forts of right to, that he may keep" inviolate his royal authority and pre-

"ferve his

fubjedtsfrom fuch fcandals as

"might prove prejudicial to the public

*'tranquility of his kingdoms, orders me



[ 73 }

cf

your having this prefented to you, you

"quit immediately this court and crofs

" over to the oppofitefide of the Tagus,

"to depart

flrait from thefe kingdoms" within the term of four

days.

" For the decent tranfport of Your

"Eminence, the royal barges will be

"ready before the houfe inhabited by

" Your Eminence.

" And that Your Eminence may en-

< f

ter them and continue this journey

" without the lead fear of infults con*

**

trary to the protection which his Ma-"jefty on every occafion grants in his

" own dominions to the immunity of

" the character inverted in Your Emi-

" nence, the faid lord orders at the fame" time that Your Eminence be accom-

*'panied fo far as the frontier of this

"kingdom by an honourable and com-

" petent military efcort."

*'I am at Your Eminence's fervice

"



t 74 ]

" From the palace, June 14/1760. Your" Eminence's moft obfequious fervant,

" P. Luis da Cunha"

LETTER XXXIX.

Alejffbn

to itinerant writers.

Badajoz, Sept. 23, 1760, early in the morning.

LASTnight I had the curiofity

to

read over all thofe of my letters

that have Portuguefe dates : then ruminat-

ing a while on their contents, " Well,

"faid I to myfelf, let us fuppofe that

"you fhould take into your head fome

" time or other to print thefe letters,

" what do you think that people would

"fay to them ? You know, Mr. Tra-

"veller, that, before he ventures to

"prefs, every confiderate ri^an ought to

" afk himfelf this queftion twice. There-

"fore give me leave to alk you again,



I 76 ]

have calmly infpecled the tout enfimble

of my Portuguefe letters, and foregone

an hour the eftedt they may produce in

the minds of the generality of my readers,

I own I am not quite fo pleafed with

that tout enfemble as I was with each let-

ter fmgly, when I wrote them at inter-

vals four and twenty hours diftant from

each other. I am under fome appre-

henfion leaft any reader mould think

me too farcailical, and, what would be

worfe, that he (hould be led into opi-

nions with regard to the PortHguefe

that I do not intend to give him.

Was each of thefe letters to be read

abftractedly from the reft, I am pretty

fure that no body would fufpect me of

malignityand ill-will to the Portuguefe

and their country. Thedefcription of

bad inns in a region unfrequented by

travellers, the account of a barber's ab-

furdity,or a wench's impertinence, and



t 77 J

ed in the perufal, and leave no impref-

fion behind to the difhonour of Portu-

galand the generality of its inhabitants.

Each letter would have no other effecl:

than is produced in the mind of him

who reads the burlefque Capitoh, written

by our poet Berni to his friend the fa-

mous Fracajlorius indifpraife

ofSettig-

nano, (a village in the Veronefe territory'] j

and every man wouldpoflibly laugh at

the fubjed: of the pidure as well as at

the humour of thepainter, as it is the

cafe in that Gapitolo. But I fear left

my burlefque accounts, taken all toge-

ther, mould produce a different effect

from that which would be

produced byonly one, and bring me upon a level

with thofe peevifh and infolent travel-

mongers, who in the countries they de-

fcribe look

onlyfor

fubjedsof blame and

difapprobation.

That my reader therefore may not form



[ 78 ]

of the Portuguefe than I intend, I will

warn him here to take notice, that,

though the proportion of cenfure and ri-

dicule may prove greater in them than

that ofpraife

and

commendation, yethe

muft not be too quick to infer upon my

teflimony, that both the country and

the nation of the Portuguefe are un-

deferving his efteem. I have feen butlittle of either, and have had no means

of giving any judgment of the middle

or of the higheft clafs. Therefore if

any reader mould find himfelf difpofed

to take my word and give implicit cre-

dit to my letters, let him reftrain his ima-

gination,and not confound thofe two

clafles with the lowed. Cardinal Acci-

aioli (whofe fmcerity is much greater

than his politics)and the gentlemen

of his retinue, who have no great rea-

fon to be in love with the Portuguefe,

have allured me that, both of the high



[ 79 ]

1 have faid of the hermits of the Cork-

convent, the curate of Arrayolos, the

fheriff of Villa Vizofa,and fome others,

ought to convince my readers that I

do not intend to make them look on

Portugal as a country quite deftitute

of politenefs andhofpitality.

I certainly

have no great opinion of its literature

and arts, or ofits

populace ; and mycontempt is the natural confequence of

my obfervations, though quite curfory,

quite fuperficial.Let us however not

forget, that arts and literature can ne-

ver be greatly cultivated in countries of

fmall extent, as Portugal is ; and with

refpect to the low part of any nation,

there is always a wide difference between

the mannersprevailing in a large metro-

polis and in the country depending on it.

Every metropolis abounds in vices al-

moft unknown to the inhabitants of

petty towns andvillages ; and this re-



[So

]

therogues

whoflung

ftones at me in the

valley of Alcantara. I am perfuaded

that with fuch an adventure I mould not

have met, but in the neighbourhood of

a metropolis.

I wifh it had been in my power to

go and vifit theuniverfity of Cohimbra,

and the kingdom of Algarve mentioned

almoft no where but on the Portuguefe

coin. An account of that kingdom and

that univerlity would poffibly have raifed

my ideas of the Portuguefe people : and

I wim alfo, that it had been confident

with the plan of my prefent journey to

go and wander a while on the banks

of the Minho and the Douro, and care-

fully examine the cuftoms and manners

of thofe that drink of their ftreams. But

what avails wifhing, when we are not

rich enough to fatisfy either our own

or our friends' curiofity? However, iince

I am about wifhing, I will wiih that



[ 82]

wife, as his name had been inaccurately

pronounced by thofer who fpoke of her.

She is a moft wonderous being, it feems.

She has been in the four quarters of the

world, and fpeaks feveral languages,

amongft which that of the Indians in tfre

neighbourhood of Goa, where (he refided

as a maid of honour to the unfortunate

vice-queen marchionefs Tavora, who was

beheaded in Lifbon with the duke of

Aveiro. She has alfo been in Japan with

her firft hufband, a Dutch phyfician, to

whom me was married at Batavia : and

it is but latelythat me was redeemed

from a long flavery,and

pafled from,

Morocco to Gibraltar in the Englifh fhip

thatwent

toBarbary

to fetch

many cap-tives of the Britifh nation, fhipwrecked

laft year (ifI am not miftaken) in a

man of war called the Litchfield. Ma-

dam Merofio had been taken three years

before in a Portuguefe veflel by a Sakteen

and would have



t 83 ]

been an Englimwoman. As fuch, fhe

was redeemed along with the crew of the

Litchfald. Soon after fhe had been fold

at MoroccQ, fhe became agreat favour-

ite with a favourite Sultana there, and

flayed there long enough to learn that

language. She has informed her huf-

band from Gibraltar, that the prefents

her miftrefs made her when forced to

part with her, will prove more than

fufficient to live the remainder of their

days inquiet.

He has defired her to

take the road ofItaly,

and meethim

at Genoa or Milan. A narrative of her

life would make a fine book, and if I

fee her any where inItaly,

I willfpirit

her up to it, and offer her my fervice

towards the work.

The Cardinal has obligingly drawn

from me a promife that I will pay him (a)

(a} I kept that promifein the year 1 765, and

pajfeda few months at Ancona with him. He dieA



[ 84 ]

a vifit when we cometo]

be all on the

good fide of the Alps. Ireally

was

forry to leave him in aplace, which

muft on many accounts prove very dif-

agreeable

to a man of his

parts,habits,

and focial temper. I am afraid the

crofles he has met with in Lifbon will

impair his health. I took my leave about

onein the afternoon of

him,of

myfriend, and of Paolita's native place with

a heart full of the moft fmcere forrow,

and after two hoursriding crofled a

torrent called Guadixa. Only one cot-

tage have I feen to-day in the fpace

of threeleagues. This

village of Ta-

laverola is but fmall, and the only thing

pompous in it that I have obferved, is

the fhort infcription on the gate of the

Pofada. Mefon for los Cavalieros* It

would be properer if it faid, for lot

Muletteros. However, it may be confi-

deredr

as an enchanted caftle built by



[ 85 1

As I wasloitering

before that Me-

fon waiting for my fupper,a

parcel of

poor littlegirls

came to look at the

Eftrangero. Aflung them their names

and other fuch

importantqueftions, I

happened to look at my watch. One

of them on feeing it, afked me what

it was. Un relox, faid I, que me dize las

horas."

Awatch that tells me the hour."

Habla el relox ?replied the pert thing.

" Does the watchfpeak?" Look here, my

dear, faid I. When this hand points

at this mark, it is one: when at this,

it is two-,and fo on. But how does

the hand, faid thegirl, go from one

mark to the other, and tell you the

hour you want to know ? The queflion

was fomewhat puzzling, as I knew not

what words to ufe tofatisfy

her curi-

ofity.To

fpare myfelf the trouble of

a long explanation, which might at laft

prove incomprehenfible, I put the watch



[86

]

conceive how fhe was ftruck on hear-

ing it.- No furprize was ever fo flrongly

marked in any face. All her little friends

would have the watch clapped at their

ears, and it wasvery diverting

to fee the

effect it produced in their little minds.

Unable to contain the aftonifhment

caufed by t^iatlittle noife, fome of them

ranalong

theftreet,

called theinfantry

of the village,and brought it all about

me to fee and hear el relox del cava/tero.

Happy the boy orgirl

that could hear

it twice out of my princely condefcen-

lion ! Who could ever have thought,

that I had with me the ready means of

making them all fo happy ! And feveral

of the men and women who ran at the

creatures' buflle, took me for a moil

refpe&able Hidalgo upon the mere credit

of my watch. Thus I beguiled an hour,

jmmenfely delighted with their aftonim-

ment and innocent joy. Meafure you



[ 87 ]

and thevillage

of Talaverola in the Spa-

nifh Ejlremadura.

Re-entering the Mefon, andinfpe&ing

its furniture, I faw in a corner an alms-

box fixed to the wall with this

infcrip-tion upon it :

tu honrado Cavallero

$ue llegalsa

ejle Mefon,

Da un ochavo a las almas,

T ponloen

ejle Cajon.

Mira quela obra es buena

Del divino Goncijlorio,

Y lo admite de mano ajena

Para que falgar de pena

Las almas del Pttrgatono.

In Englifli thus :

Te noble cavalier, whohave reached this my, give a half-penny to

thefouls, and put it in this box. 'Take no-

tice that this acJ will prove acceptable to

the heavenly conjiftory, and it will be worth

the liberality of any foreignerto deliver

the out



[83

]

There are no watchmakershere,

faid

I, but there are poets : and to pafs

another moment I tranflated thefe verfes

into Italian thus :

Signor dabbene e bello

Qui glunto aJuo grand' agio,

Dehlafcl

unquattrinello

Dell* anime infuffragio !

Voffignoria llluftriffima

Fara cofa gratiftima

Al fanto Conciftorio

Con pecunia pochiffima

Per chi fta inPurgatorio.

And with this I take my leave of the

Pindar of the Guadixa, or the Tatavero/an

bard ; call him as you like.



[ 9 ]

few arc the lives fo diverfified as toafford

quick pafTages from actions of one kind

to actions of another -

y and to write and

to read over and over the fameftory,

would only aggravate the tedioufnefs of

uniformity.

It is however providential that uni-

formity is difgufting. Were not man

actuated by an invincible averfion to it,

he would certainly lit down in idleness

after having provided for theprefent ne-

ceffity,and his care would

fcarcely ever

preclude the wants of to-morrow. Ouraverfion to uniformity makes us hcte a

jailabove all other things, becaufe life is

pafledwith a greater uniformity in a

jail

than any where elfe. And why do weall wiih for an incefTant increafe of riches,

but becaufe we know that riches afFord

the readieft means of varying life ? In-

deed all our efforts tend to this end, and

I think that all men would, if they could,



[ 92 ]

-nefs I am driven to the hardeft fhifts. I

put my mind to no fmall torture every

night, and have recourfe to various flou-

riflies in order to efcape it both for your

fake and mine. Sometimes the flourish

will be gay, fometimes will be dull.

Dull or not, I muft now fay that this

morning I fat out from ty/avero/a at

eight, and that I have neither faid, nor

feen, nor done any thing in this whole

day that could relieve me from wearifome

uniformity. I have only obferved that

the Leandro (laurel-rGfi) which is culti-

vated with fo much care in our Italian

gardens for its beautiful flower, grows

fpontaneoufly on the banks of the Guadi-

ana> Next to this unimportant informa-

tion I muft give you another, quite as

unimportant; and it is, that about noon

we fat down, Batifte, the CalefTeros, and

I, upon the bank of the Guadiana,tQ eat

a dinner we had brobght with us, as



r 95 ]

Augufta Emrita,and was

tfoe metropolisof Lttfitania; but time has changed it.

Many antiquitiesare here to be feen, as

this was once aflourishing colony of the

Romans. The Meridans feem to care

but little for thofe remains, and are ne-

verthelefs proud of them. At leaft the

Pofadero feem'd fo to me. He is what

they call in Spanim, un agradable habla-

dor." A fair-fpoken man, a fpecious

"prater." And has told me that even

their bridge is a Roman work. I have

not time to verify his aflertion ; but in-

deed it is a noble bridge, long, fpacious,

and all of free-ftone.

LETTER XLII.

An odd colonel and a kind curate. Boys

andgirlsjumping at my quartillos.

Meaxaras (or Miajadas) Sept. 47, 1760.

E N I (hall have told you that



[ 96 I

conclude thafe my letter ofto-day will

prove quite asinfipid

-as that ofyefterday,

I wim I could fill up my daily accounts

with interefling matter : But confider

that I travel on without flopping through

a country very thinly peopled,and that

little can be faid when but little is to be

feen. However this day's letter will

provemore

entertaining

than

mylaft.

This morning (I cannot avoid this ex-

prdfion) we crofTed early the eaflern

partof Mtrida* territory,

which is

prettyfertile in

fome places, and (lop-

ped at a hamlet called San Pedro about

two leagues diflant, and there dined,

though it was but nine o'clock, becaufe

we were fure to find no more habitations

from thence to this Meaxaras, which is

five long leagues diflant from San Pedro.

While we were employed in taking off

the rind of a large Merida-melon,

(whofe feeds mall be certainly preferved)

a moft



t 97 1

old gentleman was in it, who is colonel

of a regiment of cavalry called De la

keyna. He was preceded by half a dozen

of his horfemen. As foon as alighted he

came into the room where I was at din-

ner with my people; that is, Batifle

and the CalefTerds. I got up, offered

him a feat, and invited him to partake

of

myfare, which was not bad, as

pa-tridges and other game are very plentiful

in thefe defarts, and to be bought of the

country-people or the Pofaderos almoft

for

nothing.But the colonel was in a

pet,thanked me

coldly, turned his back,

went to wait without for my going, that

he might takepoffeflion of the room,

which is the only one in the Pofada.

Then growing impatient, as Ifuppofe, he

ran to the ftable ; and that he might do

fomething towards difcharging his ill-

humour, he ordered that my four mules

(hould beinftantly driven out of it, to

make room for his two and for the



tioi

]

thinks that fome of their defcendants arc

flill lurking in fcveral partsof the coun-

try, openly living,like chriftians, butfe-

cretly pra&ifingfome Mahometanifm.

Yet,faid

he,their fear of

beingdifco-

vered has always been fogreat, everfince

the edidl of general expulfion in 1610,

that, daring not to fpeak Arabick even

amongft themfelves for fear of being

overheard, they have loft it, and with it

thegreateft part

of theirreligion, which

will totally perifhof itfelf before it is

long, and all of us be (a) Chrijlianos Viejos,

probably before another century is elap-

fed. Could I vifit the moil unfrequented

partsof Granada and Andalujtay I would

enquire more about thefe Morlfcos and

their remains. By the monuments they

have left in all partsof this kingdom they

feem to have been a brave breed of men.

(0) OLD CHRISTIANS, is a title which Spaniards

give themfelves-tto let others know that they are net de-

or when convert



[102

]

As the moon {hone bright, I rambled

about thevillage awhile, after having

partedwith the good curate! In turning

a corner I met with fome men and women

who fat on benchestalking together

and

enjoying the frefhnefs of the night,

while fome children of both fexes were

playing in the midft of the ftreet. Muc-

chachita^ faid I to a fprightly girl whocurtefied to me of her own accord, will

you tell me my way to the Pofada of Tia

Morena? In this country they give the

appellation of Tia (Aunt} to all old wo-men of low rank. Turn that corner,

faid thegirl,

and it is the fecond houfe on

your left hand. Take this for your kind-

nefs, faid I, giving her a fmall coin.

Her play-fellows who faw me reward

an anfwer, were prefently about me.

Senor, Senor, deame unquartlllo tambien,

(( give me a farthing too." I diftributed

as many as I had, and each of them



bourhood in an inftant. T a mi tambien,

Senor, y a mi. y a mi. One pulled me by

the coat, one took me by the hand or

arm, one called me by a foft name, one

by another. Finding my coins run fhort

of their numbers, I told them I had none

left; but that I would find more if they

would come with me to Tia Morena. Do

you

think I

fpoke

to the deaf? No.

One and all (hewed great joy at the un-

expected offer, and environed by them I

went to the Tia. She had heard the

noife at adiftance,

and trembled to hear

it approach -,and Batifte, who diftin-

guimed my voice amongft fifty, prefently

concluded I had brought myfelf intp

fome diflrefs, and ran up flairs for his

hanger. I called the Tia out with a moft

imperious voice, and ordered her to bring

meinftantly

all the Quartillos fhe had in

her till. Then puming the boys and

girls pell-mell into the Court-yard, bid



[.06

]

fcands while I held them

by

an ear; but

the wicked little wenches cried as loud as

if I had flead them, and thus concealed

to the boys the diftindtion they received.

Upon mycredit,

youwould have been

aftonimed at their fagacity,and how rea-

dily they caught my meaning. Some of

them would even fqueeze the hand of

the donor, andlook

upto

him witha

fweet fmile without ceafing their mock

fcreams. Muft I tell you all ? One of

them had more than ten ^uartillos at

once; and why ? Becaufe her name wasPaolita. That name was too powerful

ibr my impartiality.

The Quarttild''s being at laft all gone,

I difmifled them with a fhort exhorta-

tion to be all good boys and good girls,

and the feaft ended with a univerfal

fhout to the Cavallero. All went away

much more pleafed with the manner of

the thing than with thething itfelf, and



ftoncs ill-cemented together with mor-

tar, diforderly fcattered on each fide of

the great road. On each heap a wooden

crofs has been creeled. I fuppofe the

Truxillians have more devotion to the

Crofs than their neighbours, lince they

have more than thirtyfuch crofTes before

that gate.Few of their houfes have

glafsin their windows, but mutters

only, after the manner of the Portu-

guefe country-towns.

Over the gate oppofite to that at

which we entered,Ifpent

half anhour,

endeavouring to decypher an infcription

over an arch, though to no purpofe.

Both theinfcription and the arch are

modern. The abbreviatures of the in-

fcriptionare in a very odd tafte. Per-

haps its author thought he imitated

thofe of the ancient Romans ; but be-

tween the antient Romans and the mo-dern Truxilians, there is

fcarcelyfo



of thefe learned wants to exprcfs Charles

Emanue! king of Sardinia, he firfl writes

the diphthong CE of a proportionable

fize; then in the bunch of the diph-

thong he writes a fmall k and a fmall s,

and thus his meaning is clearly expreffed

in his opinion. See what labours are

here prepared to future Gravius's and

Gronovius's !

I forgot to tell you that the Pofada

at Meaxaras (or Miajadas, as others pro-

nounce) is a tolerable good inn, and

Tla Morena a

verycordial and ferviceable

woman. This Pofada of Truxillo is ftill

better than that of Meaxaras : but at both

you muft fend for whatever you want

to the (hops in the neighbourhood ; andit feems that it is the general cuftom

of Spain to furnifh you with nothing

at fuch places but lodging andlight,

together with the ufe of the fire-place

to drefs your victuals, which will be

drefs'd the of



who is a young and handfome woman,'

is actually diflblving in tears ; and me has

reafon enough for grieving, as the fmall

pox has killed both her children this

very morning.When me was told of

it, me fell into a fwoon, from which

they could hardly recover her in an hour.

Then me fat a long while penfive and

quiet ; then ftorm'd ; then fwoon'd-,

the nwas penfive and quiet again. She has

been ftorming in my hearing this half

hour, and has reallyawakened my whole

commiferation. Never have I feen grief

fo frantickly exprefled,nor heard fuch

piercingwords. The Spaniards have the

reputationof being endowed with the

greateft fenfibility of heart ; and I think

this character of theirs ftrongly expreffed

in their faces, univerfallyfull of meaning

both in men and women. Poor Pofa-

dera ! I wim her children had been in-

oculated like many in England. But in.



mentioned. It is aftonifhing how flow

is the progrefsof any new practice, be

it ever fo ufeful ! I have heard when

I was in England, that our countrymen

beginto

adoptinoculation, and am

gladof it. This is almoft the , only rational

thing, of which the Italians have not

fet the example to the other nations of

Europe. Hadit

been known by themin the golden Medicean days, it had pro-

bably been pradtifed by this time all over

Europe, and this poor woman would not

be overwhelmed by that tempeft of grief

that is now making her whole foul.

Having nothing to add of Trux/Ho, I

may as well, for the fake offilling

a

page, tell you a pretty thing that a young

woman of my acquaintance did in Lon-

don. She was very handfome, but very

poor, andobliged to work hard at her

needle for her bread. A gentleman in

good circumftances flattered her with



r i i

fon to think, with a view to have hei*

on worfe terms.

After many months courtmip he went

one day to tell her, that he was going

in the country for a while, and repeated

his promifes^ with thegreateft warmth.

But why don't you marry me before you

go ? faid the ingenuous girl.You have

beenprOmiflng

and

promifmg every day,and I don't fee why you mould promife,

being your own matter.

My artful fpark was fomewhat fur-

prifedat this

plain fpeech, which he:

thought maidenly modefty would never

permit her to utter, for me was cer^

tainlya modeft young woman. But find-

ing himfelf thus pufhed home, to put

it ftill off with decency, he told her

that he would not have protracted this

bufinefs fo long,but for a reafon that

he had never dared to tell her. Andwhat is that reafon ? faid me in an alarm.

the



[ "3 ]

fmall-pox i and fhould you have it af%

ter marriage and your beauty be deftroyed

by it, I am but a man like another,

and mould probably repent, as you know

that beauty is what chiefly induces men

to love women, and all other good qua-

lities go for nothing without it. Well,

faid me, your reafons arejuft. Go into

thecountry

j come to fee me whenyou

come back, and we will talk of mar-

riageno more, until I have had the fmall*

pox,that we may fee what effects it

will produce.

He was no fooner gone than me had

herfelf inoculated. In a few weeks me

was quite well, nor was herpretty face

at all impaired. The lover came back,

and was quite fubdued by this coura-

geous proof of her affection. He mar-

ried her without delay, and very happy

he is now in his worthy wife. Our

Italian girls may love with more ardour



hand to the work, and not without dan-

ger offalling ourfelyes among the

craggs

of the declivity.

Subject to fuch accidents are thofe

who go in chaifes about thefe defolate

regions, where few people travel becaufe

the roads are bad, and where the roads

are bad becaufe few people travel.

Half an hour after

having

mounted

this difficult Cuefta, I came flill a-foot

to Zarayzejo, quite fpent with fatigue and

with walking in the rage of the fun

thatreverberated from the

continuedrocks. The man of the Pofada told me

on my arrival, that this is a fmall and

wretched village,where nothing is to

be feen that deferves notice; therefore

I threw myfelf on a bed andflept

till

it was quitedark. I

forgot to tell you,

that yefterdaywe dined at Puerto Santa

Cruz, another wretched village, which

lies at the foot of a high and naked



[ "7 1

that craggy declivity, fittingon its ftones

after having got the chaife off. Wedrank our wine tour a tour out of a fkin-

bag, which is called Borracho and Bota,

both by the Portuguefe and the Spaniards.

Our's holds about five gallons, and we fill

it wherever we find the liquor good.

Yefterday at Santa Cruz we cooled the

bag in a ftream, leaving it there a full

hour : but to-day were forced to drink

warm, which was uncomfortable enough

on fo hot aday.

How greatis the dif-

ference between travelling through Spain

and England !

I 3LET-



[ "9 ]

and girls, who came to fhow me the

way crofs a thick foreft, dancing and

capering before me for more than a

league.This was a

pleafant diversion

which rendered my walk lefsdifagree-

able: yetit was nothing at all when

compared to the mirth at Meaxaras.

We have now gone three days over

mountains very high, and part of them

very woody. The weather was this morn-

ing fomewhat rainy. Had it been fine

I would have clambered up a craggy

hill and vilited the Cajlilk of Mirabete>

which ftands on the moft elevated fum-

mit in this province. That caflle is a

league diftant from Zayrazejo, and was

a work of theMorifcos. They

hadgiven

Arabic names to almofl all the towns, vil-

lages, mountains, vallies, and rivers of

this diftrict, which they poflefTed for many

centuries, and many of thofe names are

ftill preferved.I wim I knew Arabick,

that I trace their and ori-



[120

]

ginal : but there is never an end of myvain willies.

That caftle of Mirabete, by which the

whole Sierra has taken its denomination,

is now entirely uninhabited, though not

intirely ruined. A fhepherd told me,

that there hay mucho que ver (much yet is

to be fcenj particularly fome mofaick

ftones and walls encrufted withparti-

coloured pieces of marble. Indeed, if I

could afford the expence, I would run

over all Spain, in fpight of its bad ac-

commodations, andvifit moil

particu-

larly the tops of its numerous moun-

tains, on which the Morifcos chiefly de-

lighted to build. The fatisfadlion that

would be the confequence of my difco-

veries and remarks, would amply re-

pay me the fatigue of fuch a ramble.

Innumerable are the objects ofcuriofity

up and down this large kingdom that

deferve to be feen, examined, and de-

fcribed.



moft fertile of authors that ever exifted ;

yet it is aftonifhing how little is to be

found in their languages about the ftate

of Spain, either before or after the Mo-

rifcos quitted it. Of that nation which

pofTefiedthe

greateft partof it for feve-

ral centuries, and were in it from 713

to 1610, we fcarcely know any thing

with regard to their dome/tick way of

living,their laws, arts, fciences, trade,

manufactures, andagriculture. Yet about

a million of them ftill exifted not fo much

as two centuries

ago, according

to fome

authors. Mariana, in the fupplement to

his own hiflory, does but fay in general

terms, that the number of thofe who

were driven out ofSpain

was incredible.

That incredible number, or that mil-

lion, was expelled this kingdom in 1610

by a formidable edict of Philip ill. In

this age which abounds in mighty phi^

lofophers infinitelymore than any ever

did, it has been, and is ilill, a faftiion



for having been guilty of fuch apolitical

error as to deprive their kingdom at one

blow of that vaft number of inhabitants.

Monjieur de Voltaire and the whole tribe

of his admirers, have very gravely def-

canted on this fubject, and endeavoured

to make the people confider that ex-

pulfion,as no lefs inhuman than im-

political.What ?

fay thefe wife heads :

Deprive a million of people of their na-

tive homes, and drive them away, men>

women, and children ? Folly never to

be retrieved, and cruelty never to be pa-

ralleled but by St. Bartholomew's maf-

facre \

Thefe exclamations appear fo plaufible,

that I am almoft afraid to offer a word of

apologyfor Philip III, though I enter-

tain fome fufpicion that the parade of

humanity made by our modim wits, has

fometendency

towardsforwarding

irre-

ligion and countenancing rebellion. Let

us however recollect, with regard to



[ 124 ]

lieved a part of his garrifon refolved to

revolt and fide with his befiegers the mo-

ment they mould corrie to a general af-

fault. I muft, faysthe governor, either

drive thefe traytors out of thefe walls, or

put them all to death, or perifh myfelf.

If I put them to death, the world will

tax me with cruelty; and if I drive them

out, they will augment the army with-

out. Brother-foldiers, what muft I do ?

Let us not embrue our hands in fo much

blood but they are traytors, and we

muft get rid of them. They will go

and encreafe the army of our enemies and

leave our garrifon incomplete; but thofe

that remain will aft with unanimity:

We mall then have only our enemies to

fear : we lofe numbers, but we get

ftrength.

This in all probability was the icafon-

ingof

Philipand his council when the

expullion of the Morifcos was refolved

Upon. One of two great evils was to be



[ '25 ]

they are to be called barbarous for it, is

beyond my comprehenfion.

Of the many writers who have made

mention of the Morifcos, none ever gave

me any fatisfadtion, exceptNavagero; and

yethe fpoke but very little of them in

thofe letters which he wrote to our great

Collectorof Travels Giambattijla Rannujio,

when he went ambafTador from the Ve-

netians to the Emperor Charles V. From

thofe letters, compofed by Navagero out

of his own journal, we colled: that the

Morifcosin their drefs, cuftoms and man-

ners, as well as in their language, were

much different from any of the European

nations; worthy therefore to have been

,

examined by an European philofopher

with a much greater attention than Nava-

gero feems to have had. Their arts and

fciences were neither few nor contempti-

ble. The learned have often in their

mouths the names of fome of their hi-



I 126]

mmes only. Tradition informs the Spa-

niards, that the Morifcos had likewife a

great many poets.But their productions

are now loft to Europe, and we know

not whether Africa has preferved them.

Their knowledge of agriculture is al-

lowed on all hands, and the remains of

their buildings, efpeciallythofe at Gra-

nada, defcribed by Navagero and others,

bear witnefs to their fkill in architecture.

But European incurioufnefs has fuffered

their excellencies to fink into oblivion.

We are at prefent perfectly ignorant of

the Arabick dialect which they fpoke ;

ignorant of their fciences, arts, and cha-

racterifticalpeculiarities.

Yet an atten-

tive and curious traveller might ftill

glean about this country fufficient mate-

rials for an interesting account of that

people, by defcribing with exactnefs

thofe ruins of their former habitations

that ftill exift, by fearching for tradition

in the oldfongs, romances, and chronicles,



t 7 1

both Spanifh and Arabick, that have ftill

a run amongft this people, or lie concealed

in their libraries, and forming deductions

of what was once from what is ftill left.

If a King of Spain knew well what

country he has, he would in my opinion

be one of the moft powerful monarchs of

the world. Let canals be cut through

the provinces that they may beeafily

irri-

gated, which may be done in a few years

by an abfolute and rich King, as the

Kings of Spain are, and will long be. Let

Uriel:

ceconomybe eftablifhed, and

agri-culture encouraged with liberality; and

the natural fecundity of the Spanifh-

ground will feed many more millions

thanit

now contains. Thisis

the uni^form cry of all the judicious Spaniards

with whom I have converfed before I

came to vifit thefe regions;and I think

them right fince I have feen EJlremadura.

I have obferved amongft other things,

that the of this na-



t

are almoft as good to eat as our almonds,

or rather our chefnuts. Butnothing is

done towards augmenting the number of

thofe trees. If they were cultivated

wherever they would grow, EJiremadura

alone would be able to furnifh half Eu-

ropewith good hams, as numberlefs

fwine might be fed here at almoft no ex-

pence,as I am told it is done a little fur-

ther towards Madrid-, and the fwine that

feed upon the acorns of the green-oak,

are you cannot think how good. But

neither that,nor

anyother kind of

culti-

vation is much thought on in thefeparts,

and both mountains and vallies are mife-

rably negleded -,therefore the province

has a great fcarcity of inhabitants, and

few or none of them opulent. They eat

little, are covered with rags, and lodge

meanly. It is true that a very little fuf-

fices them to keep foul and body together,

becaufe they are doubtlefs the moft tem-



t 1*9 ]

even theirpriefts have good

coatson their

backs. Then they are fo indurated by

their hard manner ofliving, that they

can lie on their naked floors in winter,

and even in the open air in fummer with-

out inconvenience. They certainly en-^

joy a kind of happinefs by livingin this

carelefs manner, fatisfied with the pre-

fent for want of knowing better, and per-

fectly unmindful of the future} and that

they are not very unhappy, their chearful

looks* as well as their general healthi-

nefs, fufficiently tefHfy. But it is not

the intereft of their King that they

mould lead a life of indolence, however

happy they may be ; nor is it, I think,

their own to bafk through life in fordid

and hungry negligence, when they

might have plenty, and perhaps elegance,

with care fhort of anxieties, and labour1

fhort offatigue.

The Eftremadurart mountains contain



t 131 ]

tioriably

as faft as the

Spaniards

after the

full recovery and peaceable pofleffion of*

their ancient kingdom. Thus have other

nations funk from their grandeur as footi

astheir

enemiesand rivals

werebereft of

the power of hurting.That virtue may

preferveitfelf alive and bright, obftacleS

and contention are necelTary; otherwife

it will grow rufty and perim. Thus will

the Englim do, the bravcft nation of the

prefentworld. Let them be once pof-

fefled of the whole circuit of commerce,

at which they have long aimed, and

which they are in a fair way ofobtaining.

The firfl confequence of that wim'd-for

polTeffionwill be immenfe riches, thd

fecond emaiculation, and the third fo

many vices and follies, as willtotally

annihilate their induftry as well as their

bravery ; and fome poor defperate nation

will at laft do to them what they are ac-

tually doing to others. But let us not



[ '33 1

providethem both with implements and

with inftru&ors.

About half a league from Cafas del

Puerto, the Tagus is crofted again over a

bridge compofedof two wide arches,

which, they fay,was a work of the Ro-

mans. There the waters of that river

are of a brick colour, but fo deep, that

they mighf poflibly be made navigable:

and fo might thofe of the Guadiana down

from MJrida to the fea. But not a boat,

great or fmall, have I feen on thofe two

ftreams in Spanifh Eftremadura, nor any

kind of dike, dam, nor other invention to

fubftracl: any part of thofe ftreams, and

turn it from its natural channel for the

purpofes of agriculture.

Rofemary, lavender, fage, thyme, and

other fweet-fmelling plants, grow plen-

tifully about the wildeft partsof thefe

mountains and vallies, and make journey-

ing on foot very pleafant with their



[ '34 ]

(heep, and am fatisfied thatlarger might

be had, would thefepeople be at the

trouble.

This villageof Almaraz, is as poor as

that of

Zarayzejo,

and has

nothing

re-

markable but the romanticalnefs of its fi-

tuation. The fight from the Pofada*&

windows runs over a trail of rocky coun-

trynot

totally deprivedof trees.

Scarce

any wheat-land is to be feen from Trux-

illO) and I may fay from Msrlda to this

place.

LETTER XLVI.

Flat groundagain. Holyfriars andpretty

girls. Chewing of acorns. An odd or-

gan. Widows lightingcandles. Stujf

andfluff when I have nothing elfe.

Naval Moral, Sept. zj, 1760.

ITis eleven in the morning, and I am

only two leagues firom Almaraz, be-



[ '35 ]

was catching. While the mules are eat-

ing their chopped ftraw, I may as well

be at my quill.

I am at laft out of the mountains, and

to-day's journey has been and will be

performed on flat-ground. At the dif-

tance of a league from dlmardz I went

along fome wide vineyards that belong to

a convent of Dominican Friars. How,

beautiful the grapes that hung all about!

Adjoining to thofe vineyards there are

houfes where thofe grapes are collected,

and the wine made. That wineI

hadheard much commended by my Calefferos,

and I muft tell you by the by, that the

two fellows love to drink rather in the

German than in the Spanifh way. Asour Eorracho was near empty, I alighted

at thofe houfes to fill it. I mean, that I

alighted at an inn, and was furprized to

find, not that it belongs to thofe friars,

but that they themfelves have the fuper-



in that inn, chatting with the fervant-

maids, amongft whom I could not help

to take notice of one very livelyand

fmart, her head high, her neck of fnow,

befides an eye fo full of luftre! None of

Calypfds nymphs would any poet dare to

compare to fuch a Senora. She is niece

(one of the friars told it me) to an old

woman there, who is as lean as a

gothic

pillar;but it is the niece and not the

aunt that plays the landlady and receives

the cuftomers' money. I never would

marrythat I

might turn friar, and neverturn'd friar that I might marry whenever

I mould lift j but there I was near lofing

my liberty one way or the other.

Jetting apart: A man ought not to be

hafly in thinking ill of his neighbours ;

'but my neighbours ought alfo to take

fome care not to give a man any motive

for thinking ill. If I had feen friars in

Italy fuperintending an inn of their own,



[ '37 1

ever have had the good opinion I have of

their exadnefs in the obfervance of their

vows. Whatever coat we may wear,

we are allfragile, and much holinefs

is

required

to refift near

temptations.The dame that refembles a gothic pil-

lar, afked me if it was true that the Pope

has excommunicated the Portuguefe and

prohibitedthem to tell their beads.

Shehas heard, it feems, of the prefent fquab~

bles between the courts of Rome andLif-

bon y and I fuppofe that betides the an-

tipathy which animates the Spanim and

Portuguefe vulgar againft each other, her

good landlords the friars fide with his ho-*

linefs, when they difcourfe over fuch

matters at their inn. This in all proba-

bility put her upon afking me thofe rl-

djculous queflions. I anfwered them in

the negative, got again into my chaife,

crofled a large foreil of green oal^s, and

bit their acorns to beguile theway. In-



[ '38 ]

of Italy,and I never heard of any in the

eaftern, which I have not yet vifited. On

a pinch I think they would do for food,

both raw and roafted.

At Nova! Moral we alighted to bait,

and, while the calefleros wereeating, I

went to fee a church juft by the Pofada,

There they were finginga

great mafs

at the found of anorgan,

of which the

tubes, inftead of pointing ftraight up-

wards, as in all organs I ever faw, lie

reclined outwards and hang down to-

wards the people below, prefenting their

extremities in the form oftrumpets' ends.

A friar was playing on that odd organ

with afloniming maftery. I wondered

to fee many women in the church whofat about on their heels, wholely hidden

by their black mantles, 2nd with many

ffnall wax candles lighted before them.

I afked the meaning of thofe lights, and

was anfwered that the women who had



[ '39 J

dead hufbands. I don't know whether

the number of their refpe&ive candles

implied the number of theirrefpective

hufbands. Some had but one, fomc

two or three, ibme fo far as feven. Per-

haps they only indicate their greater or

lefs degrees of devotion or affe&ion.

Nocturnal POSTSCRIPTfrom the Calza-

dade

Orofeza. Comingout of

NavalMoral, we entered another foreft quite

as fine as that of Ardennay fo celebrated

in our romances, in which knight-er-

rants ufed formerly to go in fearch of

adventures. After a good league it open-

ed into a vaftplain limited on both

fides by high mountains, the tops of

which, efpecially thofe on my left, were

covered with fnow, in defiance of the

fun that mines again very hot. I had not

been fenfible of its force thefe three days

pad, becaufe the morning rains and the

evening mifts blunted the {harpnefs of



the other fide of the Eftremaduran hills.

Jt has made me fo tavvney fince I firft

faw the mouth of the Tagus, that, if it

continues to roaft me a fortnight longer,

youwill on

my reachinghome miftake

me for the black king in Metajlajios

Dido 5 or at leaft for an outgrown Savoy-

ard-boy of thofe who roll down Mount'

Cenis and Mount-Genevre every year aboutOctober, and go to play the Chimney-

fweepers about Piedmont and Lombardy.

This Calzada is the beft village I have

as yet feen fince I left Lijbon ; and myprefent Pofadera, though a young wo-

man, is not fo my as all the young wo-

men I have met with on this road. She

loves to talk and aik queftions, and we

prated together for above an hour.

Amongft other things me has aflured

me, that the women of this place are

the moft modeft in all Spain. She pities

me for going to Madrid, where Las Mu-



[ HI ]

who was there but laft month for a whole

week. To calm her kind uneafmefs with

regard to my journey there, I have given

her my word, that, if ever I marry in

Spain,I will pofitively come to the Cal-

zada for a wife, and beg of her to help

me to the beft, which me has cordially

promifed to do, and wimes it may be

foon.

May be you will find fault with my

tellingthis and other petty tranfactions,

of mine. But confider that I cannot

every moment have an earthquake ready

at hand, nor pompous patriarchs at every

ftep,nor kings playing the mafons, nor

loads of Jefuits fhipp'd off for Civzfa

Vecchia. Such grand topics do not oc-

cur every day,and of fomething I muft

fill my letters, or break the plan of my

journal. Thus I write about literature

when I am juft come out of a library,

and fcribble about my landlady when at



[ 144 I

her of a hundred at leaft. Her income*

amounts to near fifteen thoufand pounds,

as I am told, and her eftate is to be fhared

sifter her death betwen the duke of Alba

and that of Medina Sidonia.

In the plain adjacent to the hill,

and on the left fide of the great road

as you come from the Calzada, the Fran-

cifcanfriars

havea

convent which con-tains forty of them. It makes a

great

figure from without, but I did not flop

to vifit it. A little further is Venta Pe-

rafoanegas a forry houfe, where I threw

rnyfelfon a bed and made my Siefla ; that

is, Iflept

an hour, becaufe the weather

was infupportably hot. My dinner I had

eaten in the chaife two hours before, and

we had flopped at a petty town orvillage,

called Torrafaa, to drink an azumbre ; fo

they call a wine-meafure, which contains

about half a gallon : but [in fome places

this meafure is more and in others lefs



[ 145 1

ledge at theirfingers'

end. When I want

to be familiar with them, I call one of

them elConde Borracho, (thatis Dom Ma-

nuelo) the other el Marques Botay and Ba-

tifte el Senor Don Azumbre. They are

now fo well accuftomed to thefe appel-

lations, that they call each other by

thefe names ; and thefe are fome of my

petty expedients

to folace

my journey.

They had jointly told me that at T0r-

ralva the wine was excellent ; and the

lovers of Lipari or Genfdno, one a Ro-

man,the other a

Neapolitan wine,would find that my men are

right.

Here you willfay,

that I am grown

very ftudious about wines, and are going

to imagine that the Englifh have fppiled

me. The Englifh have indeed accuf-

tomed me to drink a little more than I

would perhaps ever have done, had I ne-

ver quitted home. The bottle is their

chief incitement to fociablenefs ; and too



ful without it. Yet I am Hill temperate j

and my notice of the wines produced by

thefe regions,is not out of kindnefs to

the bottle, but, in humble imitation of

all other travellers, merely to heap up

pettyinformation when nothing more

interefling is at hand.

After theSiefta

I bad the caleiTeros to

follow me at their leifure, and went

out of the Venta with an intention to walk

two or three miles. I had not gone thus

a-foot a whole mile when I overtook a

fmall body of foldiers who were for Tiz-

favera like myfelf.

Soldiers are people who will talk to yon

if you will talk to them : and I who am

as much a friend to converfation as the beft

of them all, prefently joined them, told

them almoft without any preamble who

I was, whence J came, and whither I

was going, and heard as much of them,

together with the name of their regiment



[ H7 3

of afles that carried their

luggage.

An

officer commanded them who marched

before, mounted upon a nag fo very lean,

that(a) Rozinante had been a Brigliadoro

to it.

The gentlemandid not feem de-

firous to enter into converfation with

me j fo I let him alone, and mixed with

them.

Amongft many other things I afked

whether any of them had ever travelled

out of their kingdom. Two of them

had, one by fea, the other by land. He

who had been at fea, fell once into the

power of an Englifh privateer. But, faid

he, en la tlerra deayuellos hereges la carcel

escofa efpantable y de muy grande horror.

tf In the land of thoje hereticks a jail is a

"frightful thing and of the greatejlhor-

" ror :" and to avoid being thrown into

it, he took party amongft the failors, and

lived on board the privateer better than

ayear, during which time he applied



[ 148 ]

foelofely

to theirlanguage,

that he can

now tell from one to twenty. Though

the Englim are hereticks, added he, yet

they are muy valientes,"

very valiant" ma-

nage a mip as well as the Spaniards,

y no tienen miedo de aquellos (a)Gavachos

de Francefes, que, porfcida de Santo Anto-

nio Jon peores de losInglefes ;

" and are

**

not at all afraid of the contemptible

"French, ic/io, by St. Anthony s

life,are

"ivorfe

than the Eng/tflj."Their way of

eating, continued the foldier, is dif-

ferent from 'ours. They don't like much

garlick, onions, pimenton, (Spanim pep-

per) garvanzos '(chick-peas) or abadejo

fifh), fo that I accuftomed myfelf to

befe with them, and could dranke

der bere> which is un bino hecho de agna ;

'* a ivine made with water" The Eng-

(a) Gavachois an

injurious appellation beftowedon the French

by the Spanijh vulgar. I know of no fa-

tisfaflory etymology ofthis word. The Piedmontejs



[ 149 1

liili failors, inftead of PedroCapon,

ufed

to call me Spani Monqut ; which words,

by the help of his face, I couldeafily

tranflate into Spanijh monkey.

The other fellow wasftill

more di-

verting than Pedro Capon. No man have

I ever heard lyewith fo brazen a face, and

with fo greata volubility

of tongue. He

had been a corporal in the wars of Italy

(now he is capofquadra, a fergeant] and

was in theliege

of Cuneo that was carried

on by the joint armies of Spain and France

in the laft war.

Inftead of being a town (asit

is),and

inftead of being chiefly furrounded with,

a mound of earth and faggots, (asit was

at that time) Cuneo, faid my Capo-fquddra,

is a caftle encompafled with no lefs than

feven marble-walls, each very high and

very thick ; fo th'at, after having taken

the firft, as we did in the firft attack,

we had only the feventh part of the bu-



[I JO ]

masfuerte

del tan nombradoCaftillo

de Mi-

lan :" that curfed caftle

isdoubtlefs much

"larger and ftronger than that

moft re-

" no*wned at Milan" Both his compa-

nions andmyfelf

wereready

tocry

at

his pathetic defcription of the hardships

he had there undergone, along with the

infant Don Philip, que fe mojlro alia tan

bi-zarro en pelear como qualquiera de nos

otros j

" who there Jhowed himfelfds Jlout

"infight as any ofus" Bombs, carcaffes,

and cannon-balls cayan a diluvio en el

canipo del Caftillo, de lo Exercito Savoyano,

y de muchas otras partes, y con todoejflo

!os pokresfoldados no tenian que comer Ji no

la nieve deaquellas

malditas montanas que

Human los Apeninos:(f

fell as a deluge

"from thecaftle, from the Savoyard army,

" andfrom divers other parts -,andfor all

"that the poor foldiers had nothing to eat

" but the frozen fnow of thofe curfed

"mountains called the Appenines"



[ 15* ]

had by this time made us all very thirfly;

therefore we left the great road, went to

it, and begg'd of thelay-friar who has

it in cuftody, to let us have fome wine

for love or money. The rude fellow,

cafling a look of difdain upon us, and

pointing to a certainplace, informed us

that there was a well there, I don't know

whether I

grew paleor red with

angerat

this unexpected reception. However I

expostulated in the mildefl terms ; but he

was inexorable with regard,to the officer

and foldiers, and would do no more thanorder an old witch of a maid to fetch

me fome wine in an earthen pot.I was

within an inch of throwing the pot into

his face ; but abftained, becaufe I faw

the officer and foldiers ftand filent. The

officer only faid da gracias a tu habito;

" thankthy coat

"and beckoned to his men

to go to the well. Such a number of

foldiers in France, would in fuch a cafe

have



[ 'S3 ]

would dare to behave as the Spanifh did

with French foldiers. They told me af-

ter, that in Spain foldiers and friars

are no friends ; and they might as well

have faid that they are mortal enemies.

The friar refufed a bribe I offered, confi-

derable enough as I thought for alay-

friar. Indignation ruffled the forehead

of

my companions,and a defire of re-

venge wasprefently fhadowed after the

flrongmanner of Caravaggio in all their

eyes. We turned our backs in fullen fi-

lence, the foldiers with a fcheme in

their heads, and I much fcandalized at

the favage inurbanity of the friar.

About half a mile from the Quinta

we found ourfelves by the fide of an am-

ple vineyard, which the foldiers knew to

belong to the good fathers of the Quinta.

The liquor they had not drank, kindled

their military fpirits in a moment, and

the demon of devaftation took pofTeffion of



[ 55 ]

had; but could not imagine how it had

happened. I told them . in the prefence

of the Pofadero and his wife, and afked

if the foldiers were liable to be punifhed

for fuch an offence. Punifhed? faid the

woman. It is the friar that ought to be

punifhed, not the poor men. Every body

there was pleafed to hear of this exploit,

and it feems that thelow people here

bear as great a hatred to the friars as the

foldiers themfelves, though I had brought

a notion with me, that the Spanifh vul-

gar have all friars in the utmofl venera-

tion.

To this adventure which made me

laugh, I muft add another that vexed

me. After having walked three or four

miles from the Venta Perahanegas, I

found that my coat grew infupportably

heavy. One of the foldiers offered to

carry it for me, and I readily flripped,

nor did I think of putting it on again



with an handkerchief which I did not

mifs till we reached the Pofada. This

made me go about in fearch of the fel-

lows. I met with one; then with two;

then with two more. Cavailffos, faid I,

one of you deferves not to be your fellow-

foldier. He has robbed me of apiftol;

but the theft will be of no ufe to him.

It is the fellow to this; and

youfee that

it cannot be charged if it is not unfcrewed

with this iron; befides that the balls

muft be of a particular mould : fo that

inftead of apiftol,

he has ftolen but a bit

of fteel that will fend him to t;he gallies.

They feemed much difpleafed at this

piece of intelligence,but could have no

guefs at the thief, as my coat had been

carried by turns, now by one, now by

another; but they promifed to go and

enquire after it, and to come to the Po-

fada if the piftol was found, as they

thought it would be.



Many people ran at the noife, but the

rafcals were gone ; and thus ended our

tender friendship.I fat down again to

my {upper with words quick, angry, and

loud:

but cooled by degrees, and ended

my repaftin tolerable good humour, very

gladthat no worfe had happened. The

Pofaderaand her maids danced a Fan-

dango under the portico, and when that

was over I went to my quillas ufual. It

has now ftruck eleven, and no foldier

has appeared; fo that I give up thepiflol

for loft.

LETTER XLVIII.

Another ugly affair.Silk and earthen

ma-

nufattures.A dialogue with a Corre-

gidor,and a new calejfero.

Zevolla, Oft. 2, 1769.

AProverb fays that he who reckon*

without his hoft reckons twice j



[ 159 ]

givenorder to be awaked at four. At

four I was awaked, not to be told that

the mules were put to, but that I could

not fet out, becaufe that the chaifes had

been ordered to(lay

wherethey were.

By whom and why ? By theCorregidor,

and becaufe of your Portuguefe Caleflero.

The rogue has quarrelledlait night, and

givena ftab with his knife to a

youngman of the houfe. And where is the fel-

low? The Pofadero caufed him to be

arrefted, and the Corregidor being imme-

diately apprifed of it, has fent him to

jail.I wonder you did not hear the noife ;

but you were tired with walking and

ilept foundly.

And fo, Dom Manuelo is in jail ? I amforry for the ftab; but it is very well

that he is clapp'd up. We (hall be trou-

bled no longer with him. The old raf-

cal has made me mad enough, getting

drunk at every Pofada, andquarrelling



While I was thus difcourfing with Ba-

tifte and fome others, a lady, ,whom by

her Mantilla (white veil)I thought Spa-

nim, though me was not, addreiTed me

in Caftilian, and told me, that as a Ca-

uallero I ought to go to theCorregidor^

and follicit him to take off the embargo

on the chaifes, amongft which there was

hers, which gaveher the

greateft concernas me wanted to be at Madrid upon bufi-

nefs of the utmoft importance. The

Corregidor, me faid, is the chief magi-

ilrate in this town, and if you do not goto him, you may poffibly flay in Ta/avera

much longer than you have a mind.

This piece of advice was moft wel-

come. Without giving myfelf time to

recollect that it was too early, I went

ftraightto the Corregidors, but could not

fee him becaufe he was afleep,and was

told that he would hot be vifible till ten;

perhaps till eleven, or perhaps till



t 163 ]

every body's mouth waseffectuallye

ftopp'd,as it would have been moft

dangerous to offend him, or only to fall

under hisfufpicion.

But,befides

this,continued the

lady>

my hufband has another reafori to plead,

and that is> that during the laft four years

he has inceflantly follicited his own dif-

tniffion, which the Director would never

grant. My hufband will now tell the

motive that induced him to wifh for that

difmifllon, which was that on one fide

he faw the Director fquander away the

monies affignedto the manufacture, toge-

ther with theprofits arifing from it, and

on the other he dared not open hislips

for fear of ajail

or worfe.

How far thefe reafons will operate in

favour of her huiband, I know not. But

as me intends to fet out forthwith and

go to Madrid to complain atoud of the

treatment he has met with, I raifed no



vantageous in fuch cafes not to appear

difmayed, and to fet off injured inno-

cence with bold and energetick rheto-

rick.

I was much taken with the good fenfe

and nimbleneis of tongue of my Swifs

lady, and giving her room for further

difcourfe, me informed me that about

ten

years ago

fome Frenchmen,fugitives

from Lyons, went to eftablifh the above

filken manufacture at Talavera. They

were greatly encouraged by the Spanifh

miniftry, efpecially bythe

Marquis Dela Enfenada, who put it upon fo refpect-

able a footing, that it became an import-

ant object in a very little time.

It muft be owned to the honour of the

French, that in thefe forts of affairs they

are the moffc induftrious, active, and en-

terprifmg people under the fun. Eng-

land, Holland, and other countries knowit, fome to their advantage, fome to the

I have known feveral of them



turn of mind : but the reverend father

Norbert, already mentioned, was myhero above them all in this

refpecl.

Without a penny when he landed in

England, without knowing a word of

the language, and with only a few let-

ters of recommendation in his pocket,

father Norbert beftirred himfelf fo well,

that hebegan

a

tapeftry manufactory,in

which I faw little lefs than a hundred

people employed. He found means of

gettinginto favour with the

principal no-

bility and gentry of that kingdom, andwent on in his undertaking at fuch a

rate, that had he been lefs vain and vi-

cious, he would have raifeu in a few

years a delirable eftate. But who can

givewifdom to a Frenchman whom for-

tune befriends ? The man, like the above

director-general, gave himfelf up to all

manner of expence, was foon obliged to

flythe country, keep himfelf concealed



[166

}

contrived as to obtain alarge penfion,

which be is to deferve by fcribbling

againft his old enemies the Jefuits. I

had a glimpfe of him in the EngHfli

corTee-houfe at

Li/bon,

and heard that

he had changed his name from Parifot

to Platel, as he had done before from

Norbert toParifot, It is not in Portugal

and in other countries as in

England,where there are laws

againft changing

one's name : but thegood capuchin ne-

ver troubled himfelf much with any law.

A wonderful man!

Neither the monaf-tic life, nor the long beard ; neither the

ftudy of theology, which he was obliged

to follow for more than twenty years,

nor his miffionary peregrinations in many

partsof the Eaft-Indies ; neither ficknefs,

nor old age,could ever fubdue that na-

tionalfpirit

of enterprize which led him

to fet up as a manufacturer in England,

where he managed all his numerous de-



[,67 J

And here let mefay

it by the by, that

I mould be glad to have the point tho-

roughly difcufled by fome able cafuift,

how far the prejudice caufed to one's

own native

country by carrying

into ano-

ther fome peculiar branch of ufeful trade,

is reconcilable with the laws ofmorality.

The clock at laft ftruck ten, and I

quitted the lady to go to the Corregidor.

At his door was a tall fellow wrapp'd up

in an ample black-cloak with alarge

flapp'dhat on his head, exactly after the

manner of the cufcom- officers at Badajoz.

He had a white rod in his hand and

looked very grave. Cavalierot faidl, can

I pay my refpectsto the Senor Corregidor?

He turned his head another way. Can I,

repeated I in a louder tone, andpulling

him lightly by the cloak, can I pay my

refpe&s to theCorregidor ? I know not,

anfwered he : but you may knock and

afk Scnora Fernanda. I knock'd, and the



ftands for you SirJ Will you pleafe, Se*

nora, to let the corregidor know that a

ftranger would be glad to Ipeak a word

with Su Merced? I recollected after, that

fhe look'd four, at the word Merced.

And who is your Merced, afked the

old madam.

I am a Granger, I tell you, quite

unknown to the corregidor. But an ac-

cident happens that forces me to give

him this trouble.

He isgetting up, replied Fernanda,

and I will go to tell him that you want

to fee him.

Milgracias

a fu cortesia, faid I : but

the cortefia was, that fhe made me wait

in the ftreet for more than an hour,

though it rained a little, and though I

had no capa ('black cloak) as the fellow of

the white rod, whom I never could in-

vduce to interchange a period with me by

way of paffing time, though I addrefTed



The door at laft was unbolted, and

Fernanda mowed me into alarge room

on the ground-floor, the whole furniture

of which confifted of little more than a

thick chefnut-table, and an old-fafhioned

arm-chair made of the fame wood. The

corregidorfat there pro tribunal!, with

paper and ink before him.

Having been told that he was the chief

magiftrate of the place, and a kind of

governor in it, I was a little ftartled to find

him drefled in a very dirty night-gown

with a white cotton cap not very clean

on his head. The reception he gave me

was juft fuch as an emperor would give

a hangman. I made my beft bow, but

he look'd me fteadilyin the face, and was

motionlefs. Yet I fummoned up all

my temper, and told my cafe in the mod

laconic terms, which brought about the

following fcene.



Dramatis Perfona.

Myfelfand Corregidor.

M. "I come to intreat

lifted that you" order my caleffero to be hanged if you

" think it proper ; but that you give me

" leave to look for another."

C. t( To be fure, UJled is to look for

"another, not I. I don't look for calef-

"feros."

M. "lifted

mirtakes my meaning. I

" don't want liftedto do it. I want only

"to be gone

: butcannot,

ifUJled does

< not recal the order given laft night

" that no chaife leave the Pofada; and

"this is the only thing I came to beg of

" lifted."

C." And is Ta/avera la Reyna fo

very

bad a town, that you want to leave it

c<in fuch a hurry ?

M. " I think lifted is in jeft. Good or

'

bad, that is nothing to me. I want to



C '7' ]

*' vocation of that order $ fo far at leaft

"as it regards me."

C."

I am not injeft when I tell

lifted,

*' that this is a very agreeable town to

"live in."

M. (Speaking internally}" What fort

*' of a man is this ? Is he ferious or in

"jeft?" (Speaking hud}-, "Be it fo.

" That again is nothing to me. I am" not come to Spain to admire or depre-

"ciate Palavera. I want to go to Ma-

ft drid > and an obftacle being put to my*'

journey,1 come to the

magistrate" that has power to remove it, 'ana afk

" him this pkin queilion,Whether he

ft will permit me to go or not.

('Thiswas uttered in afretful tone.)

C. " And who are you, Sir, who will

" have every thing done directly, and in

<

your

ownway

?

M. " Who J am is no great matter :

4 * but here is a pafiportwhich will tell



[ '7* 1

'

Saying this Ipull'd

it out, and put

it into his hand. It had been given me

by Count de Fuentes, the Spanifli ambaf-

fador to the Britifh court.

The corregidor read it

through

with

great compofure; then returning it with

an air of mockery, difmiiTed me with

thefe words :lifted faldra a /' ijlante, Jr

quiere, para Madrid. liftedfabe muy blen

Efpanol. Vaya Uftedcon la Madre de Dios.

" Tou ftall

injlantly fet out for Madrid,

"if you chufe ' You know Spanifh very

" well. Be gone in the name of Gods mo~" tker" With thefe words he

got up

haflily,and walked off. I did the fame

another way, after having made a moft

refpe&ful bow to Senora Fernanda, who,

forfooth, would be a witnefs to the in-

terview.

What an odd proceeding ! thought I

as I was going along the ftreet. To

{how himfelf to flrangersin a night-gown



t '73 1

by hisYneering praifeon my Ikill in Spa-

nim ? The man is a riddle.

I reached the pofadaand gave an ac-

count to the Swifs lady of the reception I

had obtained, and was

going

to extol

the corregidor's good fenfe andpolite-

nefs.

Hold, hold, faid me freely. You have

behavedamifs all the while.

Speaking

Spanim, as you do, you ought to have

known better than to term himUfted, ef-

pecially.with his houfe-keeper as foon as

you faw her. A man of his rank and

dignity is not to be addrefTed with a fa-

miliarUfte'd,

or Vuefa Merced, but with a

Vuefinoria,or Usia, or Vueftra Senoria.

How can you be ignorant of thefe dif-

tin&ions ! He has certainly been offended

at your haughtinefs, or rather he wanted

to divert himfelf with your clownifh-

nefs, and puzzle you with difpardtes,

(with nonfenfe],as he is a man to my cer-



t 175 I

dies in that manner. This cuftom of

{homing themfelves in acap, night-

gown, andflippers,

is fo general in this

country, and, old menefpecially, flick

fo clofe toit,

that nobody ever dreams

of finding fault with it.

While we were thusdifcourfing, the

man of the white rod came in, andfcarcely

railing his mufliroom-hat, told us that

the embargo was taken off, and we could

depart when wepleafed. The lady told

me in French that it would have been

proper to give him fomething, but I

would not, becaufe the fellow would

not fpeak to me when I firft faw him.

I had my landlord called, and defired

him to find me another calelTero. Here

is one ready, faid he, pointing to a young

fpark whofe face I liked little better than

old Dom Ma?2ue/o's. What is thy name,

friend ?Francifco is my name. Well,

Francifco, will thou take me to Madrid



t 176 ]

call YagOy put to, and let us be

gone.Your bill, Senor Po/adero. Here it is.

And here is the money; and this for las

Alfderes a la Muchacha > "forpin- money"

to the maid:'

I took my leaVe of that fenfiblelady,

and wiflied her fuccefs at Madrid with all

my heart. She was prefently in her

chaife ; but I could not get into minean hour after, as Tago was gone to fee his

irnprifoned friend. It was four when he

came back, and would have pafTed the

night in vat&vefdt but I would not.

Of that town I have not much tofay,

though I was almoft a whole day in it.

Mariana, the famous Spanifh hiftorian,

Was a native of that town, called Elbora

by the antient Romans. It feems a po-

pulous place and of much bufmefs. Be-

fides the filken, there are feveral other

manufactures, one inparticular of earthen

ware much efteemed throughout the



t '77 ]

churches, and other public build-

ings make a good appearance from

without ; an hofpital efpecially, which,

as I was told, receives between fix and

feven hundred fick, both from the towni

and from the adjacent country. Its ter-

ritority, particularly from the vineyard

plundered yefterday by the foldiers, to

thetown-gate,

is one of the fined tracts

of land I have yet feen, full of vines and

fruit-trees of various kinds. A league

from Ta/avera, and on this fide, the

Tagus is crofled again over a long wooden

bridge. Stopping there to pay a fmall

toll, I heard from Franclfcothat length-

ening my journey only three leagues I

could fee 'Toledo and Aranjuez. Is it fo ?

Then turn the mules' heads towards

Toledo.

To-morrow night therefore I fhall fee

that celebratedcity,

if none of my calef-

feros brings me acquainted with fome



[i 78 ]

tant from Yalavera.*

I canfay

nothingof it, becaufe I reached it late at night.

I want my fupper, having had no dinner.

LETTER XLIX.i

Extempore Poetry. Obfervations upon tra-

velling gentlemen. Towns grow thicker.

Toledo, O6h 3, 1760.

DESIRINGto reach Toledo be-

times, I rofe long before the fun :

but as my people were not yet ready, I

went part of the way a-foot, taking a lad

of the pofada to fhow it me. -

The weather wasdelightfully calm and

cool, and the moon could not be brighter.

The lad had taken hisguittar with him,

and played as we went on. Having lif-

tened a while to his playing, I alked if

he could-

fing;

but inflead of an anfwer

he gave me a long firingof

Seguedillas,

or Coplas. The firft I took immediately



[i8o ]

La Virgen del Rofario

Mi Cavaliers

Accompane depaffo

Hafta Toledo.

. My fpiritswere thrown into a fort of

a hurry the moment I found out that the

fellow was making hisSeguedillas extem-

pore, and perceived him to go on with

fuch arapidity,

as if he had been op-

prefled by the keeping of them in his

mind, and had wanted to relieve him-

felf from a burthen by difcharging them.

H^relmuft tell you, that for feveral days

paflI had entertained a ftrong fufpicion,

that .this country fwarmed with extem-

pore fingers or poets, call them asyou-

pleafe.Yet that fufpicion I

fcarcely

dared to own to myfelf, for fear of ap-

pearingridiculous in

myown

eyes,ftilf

calling to mind, that, of the many who

have given us accounts of Spain, none



t ii]

let

foreigners

into this

extraordinary

cha-

ra&eriftick of his nation.

It was in the town of Elvas that fuch

a fufpicionfirft ftole into my mind : and

I well remember, that, whenthe brown-

ifli Terefuela fung, I thought it very

flrange fhe mould touch upon fome ac-

tualparticularities, and, amongft other

things, bring the names of Catalina andPaolita into one ftanza, with a word of

affectionatepraife to each of them.

This fufpicion becameftronger and

Wronger almoft every time I heard peo-

ple ling,which was generally twice a

day. One of the foldiers the day before

yefterday was very near putting an end

to my doubts, but that I could not bear

the obfcenity of hisSeguedillas, and bid

him to forbear,which hedidinftantly. My

young ruftick has at laft happily changed

my doubts at once into the moft abfo-

lutecertainty.



[ 182]

for walking while it was coo/, and riding

when it grew hot. He mentioned feveral

birds that ibelcome the morn with their

chirping, and fpoke of thefo<w/er who gets

u['betimes to go andjboot partridges. By

degreeshe came to fpeak of me, and

afluied me that he valued much the ho-

nour offtowing me part of the way. He

took notice of my liberalityto an old

beg-gar at the Pofada, to whom I fuppofe I

gave an ochavo or two j and, by way of

a hint, brought in his own mother, who

is old andpoor. Whatfignifies enumerat-

ing his fimple thoughts ? He concluded

jiis compofition with the aboveprayer in

my favour to his Virgen delRofario.

His

thoughts

to be fure werefimple,

andthegreateflpart ofthemcloathed with

uncouth words. The firft and third lines

of every quatrain never rhymed together.

In the fecond and fourthfometimes the

rhime came in exadr, as inejlrellas and

bellas ; fometimes there was only a fimi-



do. That fimilarity of found was ftill

more imperfedt in fome other of his df-

fonancias, (as the Spaniards term them)

one of which was dtcho and fnos, and

another

prendas

and

feha.

Yet he broke

out now and then into fuchprettinefTes,

and even elegancies, as would have

done honour to fome of our Roman Ar-

cadians. For

my part,I did not much

mind the propriety or impropriety of his

expreffions, and the accuracy or inaccu-

racy of his rhymes. It was the fudden

difcovery of extempore poetry in Spain,

that fwallowed all my attention ; and

had his performance been ten times bet-

ter or ten times worfe than it was, ftill

I could only confider it on this account.

This was to me of great importance, as

national peculiaritiesare the game which

a traveller ought chieflyto purfue.

I alked him whether he could fing any

of thofe romances that are in books. By



[ '84 ]

as thofe that are termed Cop/as or Segue-

dillas, which they oftenfing, or of fhort

unrhymed verfes, which they only recite

in a particular chaunting tone. Such ro-

mances

generally

relate fome miracle, fome

devoutftory,

or fome adventure of love

and war. The number of thefe compo-

fitions is inconceivable in this country.

I know romancesenough,

faid the lad :

but no de libros, que yo nofe leer." None

"of thofe

contained in books, becaufe lean-

" not read'1

His reafon for his ignorance was fafis-

factory : but I wanted to know whether

every body in hisvillage

couldfing

ex-

tempore like him, and never could make

him underftand my meaning, as I knewofno word in his language equivalent to

our verb improwifare,t(

tojing extempore"

or to our noun improwifatore,t( an ex-

" temporejinger"

Cantan tus paifanos y tus amigos de re-



[ ,8 5 ]

"tion and without the ajjijlance of books as

"you do?"

To no ft cantar de repenfe, faid he.

%ue es refentet To no ft lo que es.

~UJle

perdone, yo no entiendo la habla defu mer-

ced. He did not know the meaning bf

the word repente,and begged my pardon

for not knowing my worfhip's language.

In mi aldea, continued he with great

fimplicity, pocos Hbroshay.

Todos cantan,

Jin libra. . Todos cantany pocos leen."

In

t(

my 'villagethere are butfew books. All

"Jing

'without a book. Few can ready

(t but all canjing." And this was all that

I could poflibly get out of him for mywant of a vulgar equivalent of the word

extempore,which I knew not how to

tranflate, but by the adverb */? repente.

However, from this imperfeft infor-

mation I thinkmyfelf

intitled to

pro-nounce, that from the torrent Caya to

the town of Toledo many people can



[ 1 86 ]

portionof parts and abilities. It is

pro-*

bable at leaft, that all attempt to do it ;

and, if fo, that many fucceed in this

kind of exercife of the imagination. That

it is very common in the

village

of Z>-

ualla, and that the greateft part of its

inhabitants can fing extempore as well as

this lad, I do not doubt. It is very plain

that,if he was

any way lingular, anddid

what his townfmen could not do, they

would have made him aware of it by

their admiration, and given him by de-

grees a better opinion of his abilities than

he feems to have. But he is by them

confidered in proportion to his rank in

life-,

that is, he is not confidered at all :

and this to me is a conclulive proof, that

with regardto them he does nothing ex-

traordinary when he throws his thoughts

fuch as they are, extemporarily into me-

tre, or, to fpeak more exactly, he does

only that, which every body elfe can do



[ 187 ]

hopeto do more than

argue.

Bear with

the eagernefs of my temper. I fear I

fhall fcarcely fleep until I have cleared

up this matter to my full fatisfaction.

Mean whileI

am fure of this, that this

faculty of finging extempore does not

belong exclufively (as I always thought)

to the Italians, or, -to fpeak with more

corrednefs, to the Tufcans. Perhaps

the extempore poetry of the Tufcans is

better upon the whole than that of the

Spaniards,becaufe the rules of criticifm

are more generally- fpread, as far as I

could obferve, through Tufcany than

through any part of Eftremadura, and

frighten a fmaller number of people there

than in our country : But thefe are con-

jectures, grounded as yet upon flightin^

formation, which I muft endeavour to

enlarge. Mean while it feems, that the

Spaniards never employ in their finging

that fort of ftanza which we call oftava,



[ i88 ]

do, in

compofitions

of the

epic

kind. We

employ it in our extempore compactions

oftener than any other metre, but the

Spaniards only make ufe in theirs of

fhort lyrick meafures, chiefly firings of

Seguedillas,each

confiftingof four fhort

lines, fometimes all four of equal mea-

fure, fometimes the fecond and fourth

ihorter than the firfl and third, fometimes

the contrary. To fuch flanzas of four

lines they will fometimestag an EftreviHo,

which is a kind of fecond part confifting

of only three lines. But all this, I fup-

pofe, depends on the tunes to which they

chufe to fing ; and of fuch tunes I have

already taken notice that they have feve-

ral. Here you have the Seguedilla fol-

lowed by theEJlrevillo.

SEGUEDILLA.

Porque todos me dicen

%ue eres muyjino



t '89 ]

ESTREVILLO.

>ue quierofea

El que a ml me llevare

Comoja/ea.

This was one of the many Seguedillaa

fung by Terefue/a at E/vas. While

finging

fhe ftole a

pretty

fmile

upona

young fellow, to whom, as I was told,

fhe was foon to be married, and he bowed

to her for it. The words, the fmile, and

the bow gave me thefiril

hint of the

Spanifh extempore finging, and a few

more of thatgirl's

lines put it in mymind to turn my attention towards the

afcertaining of this Spanifh charadler-

iftick, which I think is now nearly

effected.

In a language however, fo verfatile as

the Spanifh, fo eafily thrown into mea-

fure, and ufed by people who will not



greaterthe

facility,the lefs muft like"*

wife be the delight to a delicate ear; and

itisfure, that, if inftead of taking great

liberties with their meafures as they do,

andufing

rlmas andaffonancias

juft

as it

happens, they would fubject themfelves

(likethe Tufcans) to exact forms of

ilanzas and exact rhymes; it is evident,

Ifay,

that thepleafure

offeeing

feveral

greatdifficulties give way at once before

a warm and rapid imagination, would be

little mort of ecflaly to him who is fen-

fible to the charms of poetry. Thiswould be an approach towards the per-

fection of the art of improwifare, which

would prove the moftdelightful of all

arts, was it ever carried to perfection :

but this, I am afraid, will never be done

either by Spaniards or Italians. The

man among thofe I have heard, who car-

ried this power furthefl, was one Gio-

vanni Sibiliato in Venice. Though but



reader of our beft poets. It is not im-

poffiblebut that many in Spain fubject

themfelves to ftridt rhymes and regular

metres, as the Tufeans generally do; but

I fear it will not be in

my power

toftay

fo long in this kingdom as to decide with

tolerable juftnefs which of the two na-

tions deferves the preference upon this

fubje<3.

Be the Spanifh Improvvifaforz better or

worfe than ours, don't you think it

ftrange that no traveller ever mentioned

them ? That no native ever did, I ampretty certain, as I never found any thing

approaching towards fuch an information

in the confiderable number of Spanifh

books that I have looked into when I

was young. Yet I am not furprizedat

the general filence of Spanifh authors

upon this head. Little do people think

of writing to the world what they fup-

pofe generally known : and if extempore



[ '9* ]

Spaniards, no wonder if they all think*

that all nations can do in theirrefpective

languages what their countrymen can do

in their own, the lowed: individuals not

excepted, and of courfe omit to give the

world fuch an information.

But that no flranger travelling amongft

them fhould ever have taken notice of a

pradicefo

veryuncommon in other

countries, and likewife fo eafilyto be

noted throughout this, is what appears

to me ftill more furprifmg than the prac-

tice itfelf. Yet fuch is the inattention

with which travellers crofs countries,

even thofe who do it with theirquills in

their hands ! When they have copied out

of each other's books that the Spaniards

are proud, grave,and idle; the French

volatile, confident, and talkative j the

Italians cunning, jealous,and fuperfti-

tious; the Englilh rude, inhofpitable,

and philofophical, thegreateft part of



t '93 ]

to challenge abundance ofrefpect from

their own countrymen. For my part I

have long looked upon one part of them

with the abhorrence due topropagators

bfprejudices* fal/hoods, and calumnies ;

and upon the other with that contempt

that ought to be the lot offuperrkial, im-

pertinent, and carelefs obfervers. Think

of the thoufands and thoufands who have

vifited Greece and Turkey century after

century ! Think of their abilities in de-

fcribing broken ftones and copying de-

faced infcrr'ptions, orin

unravelling the

politicksof the Divan, and the

intrigues

of the Seraglio ! Yet a cuftom of Greece

and Turkey no lefs lingular than ufeful,

none of our numberlefs travellers could

ever difcover ; and it was a lady at lafty

who brought the weftern world acquaint-

ed with inoculation, to the eternal honour

of half a million of travelling gentlemen.

The CalefTeros overtook me at a vil-



f 194 J

to part company with my poetical lad;

Were I a man of fortune, I would have

taken him along with me, and made hint

rather my companion than my fervant;

But

being,

as

Henry

IV ufed to

fay

of

himfelf, more provided withliberality

than with the means of ufing it, I was

forced to let him go back. However, if

I could not treat him in the manner his

pretty genius deferved, I did not forget

What he had fo timely fuggefted, that he

had a poor mother.

I got into my chaife, croffed Zenlndote,

faw the caftle of Barxiente on an eminence

at fome 'diftance, and about nine flopped

to bait at Riahes. The country, I fee,

grows populous as I go on. At Rialves

I entered into converfation with the Cu-

rate, whom I found talking with the Po-

fodero,and afked him feveral queftions.

about the cuftom of improvvifare -, hut

not having Spanim enough to explain my



t

and extempore poetry.I was fKH puz-

zled by the word extempore, for which I

could not find an intelligible equivalent.

He called me caro amigo (dearfriend] at

every

word : a

piece

of

urbanity

for

which I thank him; and difplayed a

great deal of poetical knowledge, which

I did not want.

At four in the afternoon we croffed a

river called Guadarrama over an indiffer-

ent bridge, and at five reached Toledo.

At the gate my trunks were vifited, but

only proforma-

t that is, only opened andfhut. From that gate we mounted an

afcent considerably fteep for aquarter of

a mile, and alightedat a Pofada, the ap-

pellation of which, literally tranflated

into Italian, French, or Englifh, would

found very profanely: but the Spaniards

deal in religious expreffions in a manner,

that would (hock even atheifts in other

countries ; and thus they call LaSangre



[ '96 ]

England would fcarcely be thought a fit

habitation for the loweft of mankind.

LETTER L.

A cathedral grand and rich. An Alcazar.

The Mozarabickright. Ximenes deeds.

Abidcacinis hijlory.A

brafs-giant in a

cave. A Jynagogue. Charles V and

Navagero.

Toledo, Oft. 4, 1760.

AS

this town is built upon a conn*-

fiderable eminence, it ftrikes from

afar with its cupolas andfteeples, with

what is ftill ftanding of its Alcazar, and

with its furrounding wall, ornamented

with alarge

number of turrets. But the

greateft partof its houfes are meanly

built, the fquares irregular, the flreets

narrow, badly paved, and not very clean.

However,I do not

grudgethe three

leagues I have added to my journey, as

this cathedral alone is well worth going



t 198 3

ftepsof an altar made of filver, and of

fome filver-ftatues enriched with dia-

monds, rubies, and emeralds ! The hand

of profufion mows itfelf in fuch a man-

ner throughout thefe decorations, as if

thofe who ordered them had been at a

lofs what to do with the ampleft trea-

fures. Befides thofe filverfteps,

there is

a very large grate, the bars of which are

of filver iikewife; and befides thofe fil-

ver-flatues, there is a pretty confiderable

number of thofe that are of brafs or of

marble,fome of which came from fo far

as Rome, which, together with their ex-

quifite workmanfhip, makes them be

rated as high as if they were of filver.

Then thereare

tabernacles, fhrines,

oftenfories, lamps, candlefticks, crofiers,

mitres, chalices, crucifixes, reliquaries,

&c. &c. fome of gold and fome of filver,

almoft all fparlding with large jewels of

the moft precious kind, with an infinity

of fmall ones. But what do to



[ '99 ]

to requirethe united ftrength of

thirty

men to carry it inproceffion

? Nor muft I

forget many changes ofprieftly veft-

ments, made heavy by embroidery of

pearls

andprecious

ftones. Thofe that

are only embroidered with gold, are here

confidered fo little, that they are put

on every day; and thepriefts

who cele-

brated thegreat

mafs this

morning,I al-

moft miftook at a diftance for fo many

moving images of gold.

The greateft partof thefe (a) riches,

the enumeration of which would take a

large volume, are kept in feveral rooms

and clofets, and produced only on folemn

feftivals. What an indignation muft rife

in the breaft of a needy tradefman at the

fightof fo large

a ftock ufeleilly locked

(a) Mr. Clark, fpeaking of this cathedral, JJily

obfirves,that

" much plunder might be got outof it."

The remark cannot be retorted upon St. PauFs-churfh^

or Wejlmmjler-abbey^ and it is well that it cannot.

Yet a clergyman of Mr. Clark's rigid way of thinking



[200

]

pp in a church ! A ftock that, brought

into commerce, would render opulent

many thoufands of individuals, and the

whole nation happy ! What a pity the

Spaniards are not wife !

There are alfo feveral grand monu-

ments of Kings, Queens, Archbiihops,

and other great people ; and both the

cieling

and walls of the church are adorn-

ed with a vaft number ofpictures,

of

which the mqfl furprizing is a St. Chrif-

topher fo very gigantic, that Boyardo's

Caligorantewas but a dwarf in

compari-fbn. It is enough to tell you, that the

toe of that faint is as big as my whole

body.

Arite is

ufedin

this temple, whichis

called Mozarab or Mozarabick, originally

instituted by a bifhopof Seville called St.

Ifidore, who was a contemporary and

friend to St. Gregory furnamed The Great.

It feems as if St. Gregory had givenSt.

Ifidore the call



[202

J

Ximenes at the requeft of the Toletans,

have, I think, been long out of ufe -

y

and are perhaps only remembered by ec-

clefiaftical antiquaries. Something how-

ever Teems ftill to be retained in their

ritual.

J fancy you will ftare at thefe para-

graphs when you come to read them, and

think it

very

odd I mould fo

familiarlytalk of Mozarabick, Ambrofian, and Ro-

man rites, well knowing that my ftudies

never turned that way. But it was our old

friend Canontco Irico, who helped me to

what I have here written about thofe

rites. As I apprifed him fome months

agoof my fcheme to vilit

Spain, he

wrote me a long letter from (a) Trino

upon this fubjecl;of church-rites, and

defired me, if ever I came to Toledo, to

procurefor him fome information about

the Mozarabick.

In compliance with his requeft I went



holds an

employment

in the

library

of this

cathedral, and on my mowing him my

friend's letter, he promiied kindly to fend

me to Madrid the heft hiftorical account

that ihall bepoffible

of thatrite,

and

of the feveral changes it has undergone ever

fmce its firft inftitution. If he keeps his

word, as I am fure he will, the Ctinontcowill

be made very happy, by fuch means as

would give happinefs to few other men.

But there are people in this world, whofe

mental pleafures appear odd to the grofs

of mankind, and yet are far from being

unreafonable. To fearch, as our Canonico

does, after antient inftitutions and cuf-

toms that can contribute to difplay the

various hues and turns of the human

mind, and to mark the gradations of

the changes they have undergone in the

revolution of human affairs, will often

be ridiculed and defpifed by men of

fhallow and circiuiifcribed intellects ; but



[ 204 1

gree of commendation by men of liberal

and extenfive views.

I wanted to fee the libraryof the cathe-<

dral, which, as I am told, contains an

immenfe treafure of literature : but to-day

it could not be opened, and to-morrow I

intend to be gone. A man cannot flay

long enough in every place to fee every

thing, efpeciallywhen he has four men

and four mules to feed.

Cardinal Ximenes above-named, was

fo greata benefactor to this cathedral,

that a prayerfor

his foulis ilill

faid at

the end of every mafs celebrated in it.

He was one of the greateflmen that ever

appeared,At once a great ftatefman, an

intrepid foldier, a profound fcholar, and

a tolerable faint. Having been made arch-^

bifhop of Toledo out of a poor Francif-

can friar, and created cardinal foon after,

he undertook two great things of a,

very diflimilar nature, that char&erife



[205 ]

the vaft capacity of his foul. The one

was his ordering an edition of the Poli-

glot Bible, a work that employed for ma-

ny years the moft learned men of Spain :

the other was, that he raifed an

armyat

his own expence, and fent it to conquer

Oran in Africa for the crown of Spain,

which haspoflefled it ever fince. You

haveheard, that,

next thepope,

the

archbifhop of Toledo is the richeft eccle-

fiaftick in the world. Within this cen-

tury however, a confiderable part of his

revenue has been curtailed:

yet it is ftill

fo ample as noteafily to be compared any

where elfe in the church.

About forty canons officiate in this ca-

thedral, befides archdeacons, chaplains,

and otherpriefts,

all provided with liv-

ings and falaries, that enable them to live

with becoming dignity. I fupofe that all

thefe people's maintenance, together with

the archbifhop's, come from diftantparts



[ 206]

would not

producethe third

partof what

they have.

It is upon record, that St. Peter's

church at Rome, with all that is contained

init,

has coft near thirteen millions fter-

ling,and St. Paul's at London about thir-

teen hundred thoufand pounds. I wanted

to know how much the expence bellowed

upon this, exceeded the Engliih, or camefhort of the Roman : but the

gentle cler-

gyman, to whom I applied for the men-

tioned information about the Mozarabick

rite, could not fatisfy my curiofity, as, to

his certain knowledge, no exact account

of it was ever kept,nor the value ever cal-

culated of the feveralcoftly things in it,

which were gifts from kings and queens

of Spain, and other great perfonages, be-

fides that many ancient memorials have

been deilroyed by the revolution of cen-

turies, the cathedral having been built

about nine hundred years ago, and de-



[210 ]

rnamolin

emperor

of Africa, , lie would

needs to know how that war was to end.

The gratificationof his

curioiity was at-

tended with the anticipated knowledge

of his ownimpending

ruin, becaufe he

found a brafs-giant in the cavern, who

held a large brafs-label in his hand, in

which the death of his majefty was fore-

told, together with the conquefl of his

kingdom, to be foon effected by the Afri-

cans.

The whole of this abfurd ftory is told

at large in the fixth chapter of a book en-

titled HISTORIA verdadera del Rey Don

Rodrigo, &c. compuefta par elfabio Alcayde .

Abulcacim arif Abentariquet de nation

Arabe -, nuevamente traduzida de la legut

Arabiga por Miguel de Luna, &c.

In Englim. The true HISTORY of

King Don Rodrigo, &c. writtenby

the wife

Alcayde Abulcacim Tarif Abentarique, an

Arabianby birth ; newly tranjlated from



3

I have the 4th edition of this book

printed en Valencia \ 646, with the ori-

ginal dedicatory letter in the front of it,

addrefled by the tranflator to King

PhilipIII.

It appears by that dedicatory letter^

that Miguel de Luna had ftudied Ara-

bick from his infancy, and was Arabick

Interpreter to that King. The book is

divided in twoparts.

The firfr. ends

with this information to the reader.

Acabofe de traduzirefte

libro por md

Miguel deLuna, Interprete de Su Magejlad,

a treinta dias del mes de Noviembre, an*

&c. 1589.

Jn Englim. The tranjlatwn of this book

was compleated by me Miguel de Luna, In-

terpreterto bis Majejly, on November 30,

1589.

The fecond part ends with this ftill

more interefting information.

Acabofe deefcrivir ejle

Libro de la Hifto-



ires dias del mes de Ramadan, del ano cienfff

y quarentai dos de la Hi\era.

In Englifh. The writing of thisHt/lory

of Spam was ended in the town of Bttcara,

on the thirdday of

the monthofRamadan,

the hundred andfortyfecond year ofthe H?-

gira ) which day, according to a mar-

ginal note of the tranilator, anfwers to

fome day September 763 ; that is, ex-

actly fifty years after the firft invafion of

Spain by the Morifco's, with whom this

fame hiftorian Abulcaclm Tarlf Abenta-

rlque came over, and was a helper in the

conqueft made by his countrymen, as he

repeatedly tells in the courfe of his

hiftory.

As this book by the generality of the

Spaniards is looked upon as a genuine

hiflory, give me leave to make here a few

obfervations upon it. I have read it

through with attention, and am per-

faded that De Luna tranflated it from*



what indicates it to be the performance

ofa Mahometan; and it is to be fuppo-

fed, that DeLuna would never have dared

to tell his King a lye inprint,

or offer

him a work of his own for a tranflation

of an Arabick original.

However, as to thatoriginal, taking

for granted that the tranflation is faith~

ful,it is not

poffibleto conlider it as

any better than a romance, and a ro-

mance of a much more modern date than

it is pretended by its Arabick author,

whoever he may have been. How could

Abukacim be a contemporary with the

Moorim conquerors of Spain, when he

tells us of fleets that carried numerous

armies backwards and forwards from

Arabia to Tunis, and otherparts

of that

region which we now call the coaft of

Barbary ?

Befides that it is queftionable whether

the town of Tunis exiiled at that time,



I2 '5 ]

fible to believe that the Venetians could

be induced by fuch a motive to let Ma-

hometan fleets pafsunmolefted through a

fea, of which they were mafters in a

great meafure, and fufFer them to

go

and

conquer a chriftian country.

Let us confider then what {hipping is

required to carry forty five thoufand foot,

andeight

hundred horfe(Abulcacim p.

129) to fuch a prodigious diflance as

from Arabia to Tunis. I cannot believe

the Arabs of thofe times, or indeed of

any time, to have had fuch (hipping as

could not even be muftered up by the

modern fenglifh themfelves, whofe naval

force is not to beparallel'd

even by that

of the Carthaginians when at their high-

eft, nor indeed by any power whatfoever

that was ever mentioned in hiftory.

What renders that fact a thoufand

times ftill more improbable, is the ac-

count of Muza the viceroy of Africa,



[216

]

fleet that hadtwenty

thoufand foldiers

on board ; went fo far as thatport at the

bottom of the Mediterranean to meet

his Royal MailerAhilgualit, who waited

therefor his

comingwith

twentyfive

thoufand foot and eight hundred horfe;

then failed bach with that King and thofe

troops to the place from which he had de-

parted; landed fafely and without oppo-

iition at, or near Tunis, andprefently

effected, the conqueft of that kingdom,

though it was defended by the Tunifian,

army compofed oi forty thoufand men,

and commanded by a defperate rebel.

What need had viceroy Muza to go fo

far as the bottom of the Mediterranean to

meet his King ? By what means could he

givehim previous intelligence of his

coming, that he might be ready there to

embark with his troops? Could he not

flay at home for his coming ? Yes, he

could; but it was better to go and fecure



t 217 ]

from fbme

enemy

in that

pafTage,

that

danger was exactly equal whether the

viceroy went to meet his king, or the

king to meet the viceroy. But how could

an armythat had failed feveral thoufand

miles without flopping to refrefh. any

where, preferve itfelf in fo good a con-

dition as to rout that of Tunis in the very

firfl battle, and rout it fo effectually,

though their numbers were almofl equal,

as to put a final flop to all its further

operations?

Thefe are, amongfl other, the objec-

tions I would offer to any Spaniard that

fhould infifl upon the genuinenefs of A-

bulcacim's hiflory, and tell me that aun-

que infiel y barbaro (though an infidel and

a barbarian) as Roda fays in his Cronica

de los Moros en Efpana, yet Abulcacim

was a faithful relator of facts.

It was quite dark when I returned from

my yifit to San Cervantes'* caflle, of which



[2! 9 ]

theywere not African

bybirth, were at

leaft fo by defcent ; and it appears by the

characters read by the canon on thofe

walls, that their manner of writing their

tongue was partly different from that

which is generally ufed by the modern

European Jews. An account of that Af-

rican manner of writing it, will render

the work of the canon very interefKng to

the ftudious of the facred tongue.

Toledo is one of the moil antient ci-

ties in Spain, and during feveral centu-

ries it held the rank of its metropolis.

But theneighbourhood

of Madrid has by

degrees firipped it of its numerous inha-

bitants, and it would have long been

almoft entirely deferted but for its cathe-

dral, the income of which, being fpent

here in a good meafure, contributes

chiefly to the maintenance of the few

thoufands that are left, and afiifts a little

thofe fmall manufactures of fword-blades



t 220}

confbntrendence

whenever he returnedto Spain from his various rambles about

Eiirope j and here i't'was, that the learn-

ed N&Offgertiwas fent to him as ambafla-

dor by the Venetians. There was then

an engine contrived by an Italian, which

railed the water of the Tagus up to the

Akazcr and the reft of the town. But

time deilroyed that engine, and the To-

letans are now put to agreat inconveni-

ence to procure water, which is incef-

fantlycarried up to them from that ri-

ver by'affcs heavilyloaded with fix earthen

pots each, and bought at two Maravedis

a pot ; that is, two-thirds of an Englifh

farthing.

I mall go to-morrow to Aranjufa, fe-

ven leagues beyond this town. Seven

more the next day will carry me to Ma-

drid, where I intend toftay

a while and

fcribble a great deal. But the queen,

unluckily for my journal, died fix or fe-



{ 22,]

Upon many private diversions, and a

fullflop

to all the public for a while.

This will cut me off from many amufing

topicks,for which I am very ferry both

for

your

fake and mine.

LETTER LL

Political meditations

AranjuiTz, Oft. 5. v?$s.

AB

O U T a ftone-throw from the

greatroad, and a

leaguefrom To-

ledo, I fa\v on my left-hand another

poor caftle called Pela t

ve?jcguay went to

infpect it, and found its ruins, like thofc

of San Cervantes, quite ready to perifh.

The few walls that remain are in fuch a

condition, that I could eafily throw down

the corner of one with a light puih, and

it appears that the fiat ground on which

it ftands will foon be ready for the plough.



[222

]

populous it was in former ages ! Lewis

IX king of France, as Guevara tells us

in his letters, after having feen many parts

of Europe and Ada at the time of the

Crufades, affirmed that no court was fo

fplendidas that of Caftile, which was

then a much fmaller kingdom than what

is now called Spain. But, though it was

fmaller,one of its

kings (Guevaracalls

him Alphonfo III) who kept his court

at Toledo, was able to fend to the holy

land an army of a hundred thoufand foot,

ten thoufand horfe, and fixty thoufand

carts loaded with baggage. There may

be, and I believe there is, fome Spa-

nifh exaggeration in this account. The

number of the carts at leafl bears evi-

dently no proportion to that army. But

coming down to the reign of Ferdinand

and ifabel, Caftileand drragon ftill af-

-

forded men enough to fubdue the moor-

i(h king of Granada, who muttered up



Howthick muft have the

populationbeen

during thofe periodsin thefe provinces ?

But as foon as the Spaniards had the

misfortune to be rid of thofe enemies, and

to matter all the riches of America,as they did foon after the conquefl of

Granada, fuch quantitiesof gold and fil-

ver poured into their enlarged empire

from Lima and from Mexico, as to makeit for a while the moft opulent that ever

exifted in Europe lince the downfal of

the Romans.

The confequence of that opulence to

Spain was, that her foldier hung up his

fword and buckler, her hufbandman for-

fook the plough, her artiftflung away

his tools, and the whole nation fell a-

dancing and enjoying the fudden pro-

ductions of their mighty atchievements.

Quiet fucceeded to motion for a while,

and idlenefs toinactivity. Inftead of

continuing to work for themfelves, the



t 4 3

even for many necefTaries, which praftietf

impoveriilied them much fafter than one

would have imagined.

That conduct however, would not have

proved fatal, and defolation would not

have fpreadover the internal

parts of this

kingdom, if the Spaniards had not flock'd

away hy thoufands and ten thoufands to

the newly difcovered world. It was their

precipitous emigration to Arrierica, that

deprived Eftremadura, Tckdo, the two

Caftiles, Arragon, and Leon of too many

of their inhabitants ; and had not the

government been timely alarmed at it,

and put fome limits to it, it is probable

that not a foul but what would have ran

away to the countries of gold and filver.

Yet notwithftanding this univerfal in-

dolence and precipitous emigration, Spain

would ftill have continued to bear

great

proportion to its neighbouring nations in

point of population, had not a ruinous



[22

5 1

The ambition that moved, or the necef-

fity-that forced the Spaniards to keep and

enlarge the countries which they polTefT-

ed beyond the Pireneans, proved much

more deftrudive than their annihilation

of the Morifcos, and their conquefl of

America. Flanders and Italy involved

them in diitant wars that drained their

provincesof numberlefs men, and of

more gold and filver than America could

afford. If inftead of going for vidto-

rious laurels to Pavia and St. ^u:ntin%

the Spaniardshad given up whatever they

pofTefled beyondtheir mountains, and kept

their armies and flotas at home, their

kingdom wouldhave ftill been formid-

able, and the ambafladors of France

would not eafilyhave gotten precedence

of theirs. But fuccefllve victories en-

feebled them, and the progeny of the

royal prifoner they made at Pavia, got

the hand of their monarchs a



[226

]

(a) Connetable had put an end to all Frencji

pretenfionsto the countries that lie on

the warmer fide of the Alps.

But are the Spaniards to be blamed for

not having given up thofe diftantpoiTef-

fions that were at lali wrefted from them

by the force of war ? No. The affairs

of nations become gradually fo entangled

by

a ftrong concurrence of fucceffive ac-

cidents, that the unravelling of them is

at laft out of the reach of human pru-

dence : nor is it always in the power of

nations to do what is beft, even on the

fup*

pofitionthat they had it in their will. Let

us imagine, for inftance, that Charles V

had been willing to give up all he pof-

fefled in Flanders andin

Italy, do you

really think that it would have been ia

(a} The conference ofthe great battle near Pavia

in Lombardy, won by the Connetable de Bourbon^ and

the falling of FrancisI into the hands

of Charles V,put an

effectualend to the claims of France on fe~

veral Italianprovinces.

"The French never could get



his power ? What would the world, and

Spain herfelf, have faid to him, had he

ever come to fuch a refolution ? What

would have been faid to his fonPhilip*

and to each of his fucceflbrs, had

any

of

them thought of doing what Charles

ought to have done for the advantage of

his Spanim fubjects, and lopp'd offthofe

exuberant branches of the

monarchythat

proved injurious to the trunk? Nay,

what would the world and Spain fay to

this very kihg, (hould he take into his

head to give up that fmall part of the Bar-

bary-coaft he actually pofTefTes, which

every manin Spain and outof Spain knows

to be rather detrimental than ufeful to his

kingdom ? Was any minifter to advife

fuch a meafure, he would be looked upon

as a ridiculous politician,if not as the

vileft of traitors ; and that famepeople,

to whom the keeping of Oran and Ceuta

proves onerous, would exclaimagainft



t228

]

turies to come. Nor is there any nation,

but what would think like the Spaniards

in a fimilar cafe ; and with good reafon

too, as the giving up without abfolute

compulfion what is their own, in nations

as in individuals, will always be reckoned

dilhonourable. Such is the nature of

man, and fo is the world conftituted.

Kingsmuft

marry, kings

muft die, and

kings muft make war and peace.Thefe

events will produce events> and nations

will thus acquire rightsthat cannot af-

terwards berelinquished

withouthard

flruggles,t>r without incurring blame

and contempt* The wars that in our

days gave the two Sicilies to a Spanim in-

fante, and the dutchy of Parma to ano-

ther, provedmoft ruinous to this, mo-

narchy;and well did the Spaniards, fore-

fee that ruinous they would be. But

hpw could they have hejped themfelve,s

and forborn thofe. wars ? A.co.ffee-ftatef~

a



and love confulted here with Catullus

and Petrarch about building a rural man-

iion for Pfyche, Leftua, Laura, or fome

Spanifh Infanta. ,

Imagine a park many leagues round,

cut acrofs in different parts by alleys of

two, three, and even four miles extent.

Each of thofe alleys is formed by two

double rows of elm-trees, one double row

on the right and one on the left, which

renders the made thicker. The alleys

are wide enough to admit of four coaches

a-breaft, and betwixt each double rowthere is a narrow channel, through which

runs a {Iream of water, fo that the trees,

never wanting moiilure, aregrown very

tall and very leafy.

Between thofealleys there are thick

grovesof fmaller trees of various kinds,

and thoufands of deer and wild-boars

wander there at large, betides numberlefs

hares, rabbits, pheafants, partridges, and



The central point of this great park is

the King's palace, which is partly fur-

rounded by the garden. Of that palace

we (hall fpeak anon. Let us firft take a

walk round the garden.

The chief entrance into it is through a

Parterre cut into feveral compartments,

that have borders of box and myrtle, and

contain a vaft variety of the moft beauti-

ful flowers both American and European.

There are fivepieces

of water in this

parterre, each adorned with bronze-

figures as big as the life, that raife the

water in fpouts to a confiderable height.

In the firft piece there is a Neptune with

Tritons, in the fecond a fwan with boys

playing about it, in the third I have

forgot what, and the fourth and fifth

have each a nymph riding on aferpent.

Beyond

the

parterre

on the right hand

there is an artificial cafcade of the Tagus

amidft artificial rocks. The eye is no



[ 234 ]

From hence you enter an alley that

leads to Apollosfountain. It is fo called

from a ftatue of that god ftanding on a

high pedeftal,with Pegafus by him. The

bafon of the fountain is octagonal, and

on each angle there is a naked genius

that feems to fqueeze the head of a dol-

phin with his foot, to force the water

out of his jaws. Apollo, the genius's,

the dolphins, and the bafon are of the

Tvhiteft marble.

The alley de las burlas (of the tricks)

is beyond it, and it is fo called becaufe,

as you crofs it, if the gardener pleafes,

you are fprinkled with v^ater fpouting

from under your feet, which cannot be

avoided when you have once entered the

glley.

The Fuente de la Efpma follows next.

It is formed by fourpillars

round a ba-

fon. Eachpillar

has an harpy on its

top, vomiting water on a young man whp



[ 235 ]

youngman and the

harpiesare

reckoned

matter-pieces in flatuary ; but I don't

like the conceit of monfterspouring wa-

ter upon a young man that minds his

thorn and not them. Some figure in an

attitude of horror had done better than

one in that quiet pofture. Nor do I like

the exotick birds painted round this

fountain a* top of the green lettice that

furrounds it, as I cannot clifcover any

analogy between the birds, theharpies,

and the young man. There is nothing

in my opinion that has a worfe effect in

a garden, thanpaintings, except it be

fome perfpedtive on fome wall at the end

pf fomealley.

From the horn-fountain you fee four

enclofures for fruit-trees ; and amongft

them there are actually fuch numbers of

oranges and lemons hanging on their

branches, as the Hefperides might envy.

To thofe enclofures you are led through



touch, you, than if you were under

ground : and the fremnefs is there fo

great,that it forced me to button up my

coat, although without the garden the

weather was very hot.

In one of thofe pafTages I could not

help taking notice of a large Indian-tree

which they call Lyron. Its trunk feems

compofed of half a, dozen ftems, and

the circumference of it I take to be little

lefs than four fathoms.

Leaving the fruit enclofures on the

'

right, we advanced to the Eatb of Venus.

The goddefs is there reprefented as com-

ing out of the bath, and her hair drops

water into a fine marble bafon fupported

by Cupids.

A little further there is thefountain of

Bacchus. Both the tub and the god are

of bronze, and of a moftperfect

work-

manmip. But he is fo fat, that I would

rather call him Silenus, as I do not recol-



[ 237 ]

The fountain of 1^ 'une follows : But

hisfigure,

as well as thoie of the Tritons

round it, is much fmaller than the life,

which in fuch open places always produce

a bad effect. If nature is to be departed

from, let us in open places make it gi-

gantick rather than dwarfim. Nor did I

like to fee this fubject occurring a fecond

time in the (hort fpace that there is from

the parterre to this fountain.

Beyond this Neptune there is the Ter-

rao, a wide and almoft circular

bowling-green with four trees in the midfl of it

confiderably large and tall, which with

their ample (hade, joined to that of the

high and thick hedgethat

furrounds thewhole bowling-green, renders it very

cool and pleafant.

On the right fide of this Terrdo there

is a fine bridge of five arches over the

Tagus, and at the eaft-end of that bridge

another enclofure for which I



of which is there defended by iron-rails

coloured green, divided from fpacc to

fpace by fmall marble pillars, each of

which fupports a large flower pot of a

very fine fort of earthen-ware made at

Talavera, and the arms of Spain painted

upon each poh Their forms might eafily

have been better.

Not far from that bridge there is a

fountain called the Tritons, becaufe three

of thofe fabulous beings ftand in the

middle of it with their backs to each

other, fupporting two marble bafons,

one over the other, the waterfalling

from both inlarge

meets.

Near this fountain a fmall branch of

the Tagus that has been parted higher

up, joins to it again under a wooden

bridge painted green, on which no

coaches are allowed topafs

but thofe of

the Royal Family.

From this bridge you have adelight-



t 240 ]

arch, which is likewife left on the left

hand. From thence you enter the Terrdo

again, in order to pafs to afpot that has

been embellifhed with numberlefs exo-

tick flowers, the greateft part of unfpeak-

able beauty, interfperfed with orange-

trees, the fruits of which are jufl ripe,

and hang in fuch clutters from all the

plants, that you can fcarcely fee their

leaves.

A fewfleps beyond that flower-fpot

there is the gardener's houfe. Apretty

building, fronted by apleafant meadow,

perfectly fhaded by fome of the tallefl

and moft leafy trees that ever I faw. A

narrow ditch that runs on one fide of that

meadow, produces thoufands of mufli-

rooms, which, they fay,are very good to

eat when newly fprung,but grow tough

if

theyare not foon

gathered.The

gar-dener refufed to tell me how he contrives

to have fuch anaftonifhing bed of mum-



J

in which they are placed, are of the

whiteft marble, and the water that tum-

bles in and out, ravifhes thefight with

its romantick falls.

From hence you afcend fome grand

fteps adorned likewife with fine ftatues,

and turning round a corner of the Royal

Palace, enter a parterre belonging to the

Infant Don Luis, furrounded

bya wall

full of niches, each containing a marble

buft.

The firft of thefe bufts(as

the garden-

erfaid) reprefents

aRoman Emperor^

called Hannibal the Carthaginian.

This piece ofintelligence made me

aware, that the honeft fellow was rather

lefs an hiftorian than a gardener. It washe, that had added with his chalk the

npble title of Emperador Romano to the

engraved name of Hannibal-,and this he

had done, he faid, for the quicker infor-

mation of the Letrados who flock incef-



[ 244 ]

betrayed any

remarkablefingularity

either

in drefs, manner, or behaviour. The

father and mother anfwered my cafual

queftions with plain civility,nor did the

youngladies

appear myor bamful when

I dropp'd a word of compliment, but

curtefied with a fmile or thanked with a

word, without fliffnefs, prudery, for-

wardnefs,or falfe

modefty. This beganto give me a better opinion of the Ma-

drid-manners than I had brought with

me. Having read many things of the

habitual gravity and haughtinefs of the

Spaniards,I expeded fome odd and ridi-

culous treatment ; but to my difappoint-

ment they behaved very well.

As to the Royal Palace I have not muchto fay. It is rather an elegant than a

magnificent building, confidering its

owner, and what may be called a com-

fortable King's houfe. The apartments

are wellcjifpofed

and decorated with



3

and palaces I ever faw. Nocarving,

gilding,or painting is wanted any where

in it. The furniture, and indeed every

thing in it, is juft as I would have it.

In one of the rooms there is a clock of

curious workmanfhip, that has a canary-

bird at top made of clock-work. The

canary chirps like a true bird whenever

the hour flrikes. Aningenious

trifle,

that makes a man fmile, and a child

happy.

By the drawing-room there is a little

theatre, which in the late King's re,ign

was often trod by our moft celebrated

fingers,fuch as Farinello, CafFarello, Ca-

reftini, Mingotti, and others : but no

ufe is now made of it, as his prefent Ma-

jefty has no taile for mufick.

In a largeroom that has its walls co-

vered with looking-glaffes, we had a kind

of adventure; and it would have been

ftrange if we had met with none, as this



t 246 ]

bird

fluttering

about as if

endeavouring tofind the opening at which he had got in.

It feemed as if the many mirrors embar-

rafled the poor thing by theiftultiplica-

tion of objects. We prefently gave it

chace'and ftrove to catch it. After ma-

ny ufelefs efforts intermixed with a great

deal of female fcreaming, as is ufual on

fuch occafions, the eldefl fitter made the

little creature her prifoner : but inftead of

holding it faft, me ran without hefita-

tinga moment to the window, opened

her generous hand, and let itfly away,

much to the difappointment of us all.

It was impoflible not topraife fo pretty a

deed. Her father commended her fo: it,

and I was ftrongly tempted to give her a

kifs. But, faid 1 with a ferious face, you

aremiftaken, fir, if you think the Seliorita

has done this out of meregenerofity.

He flared and did not know my meaning.

Sir, faid I in an angry tone, this was an



bird, and {he fet him at

liberty

for fear

her fifter mould catch it, and caufe a dif-

covery.

This foolifh conceit had no bad effecT:,

and madeus fuch

good friends,that

before

we parted they offered me letters for

their friends at Madrid and every thing

in their power to make me pafs agreeably

what time I intended to flay there. Sec

how eafilya man may get acquaintance

in a foreign country, if he but dares to

be in a good humour !

I was no lefs pleafed with the village

of Aranjuez, than with the palace, gar-

den^and park. Every houfe in that vil-

lage is new and white, with windows

that have green fhutters placed without,

and the ftreets are allflraight.

The King

has given and ftill gives the ground gratis

to any body that will build, provided

they conform to the plan that was ori-

ginally made, which requires great uni-



I 249 ]

le&ed by degrees, and none are now left.

We had the fame thing in Tufcany dur-

ing the reignof the two laft Grand-

Dukes of the Medicean family.

To defcribe material objeds with the

pen and give an exadl idea of gardens

and houfes, is utterly impoffible. No-

thing can do that, but the pencil. Yet

by what I have here faid, I hope you will

be able to conceive that Aranjuez is one

of the moft pleafing fpotsin Europe.

A more pleafing (a) I have feen no

where. The French travelling countefs,

who faw it eighty years ago, was charmed

with it : Yet it was not then half fo

beautiful as now.

(a) Mr. Clarkfays,

that the Royal Palace at

Aranjuez is" a tolerable

edificeJ* and the garden^" a dead

flat" There are unlucky people in this

worldt whom nothing canpleafe

tut f their own



LETTER LIII.

Trifles, fuch as travel and fuch aslife

fupply.

Villaverde, Oft. 6, 1760, at night.

IAM to pafs to-night in a very bad

lodging. At the diftance of only

three miles from fuch a capital as Ma-drid, I expected to find a better, and

could not have thought that the flraw*

bag would be of ufe.

Coming out of Aranjuez I croiTed the

Tagus over five boats fo well contrived

and painted, that, unlefs a man is told,

he will miftake them for a ftone* bridge

of four arches. Thofe fame boats are

taken from thence upon particular occa-

fions, drawn higher up the river, and

placedin fuch a manner as to form a

quadrangular fortification, which when

illuminated, as it is often done for the



t 351 ]

At that bridge begins one of the men-tioned alleys formed with double rows of

elm-trees. We entered it, and going

along it during more than aleague,

reached another bridge which old age

has rendered ruinous : but it is foon to

be demolifhed, as another juft by it is

nearly finished that will afford a fafer

pafTage.

That new bridge is all made of white

marble, and fo wide and magnificent,

that the Ganges itfelf would be proud

of it. The water under it, though per-

ennial, is at prefent but a flender brook :

yet at times is very large,when a thaw

encreaies it with the fnow of the neigh-

bouring mountains.

Along the road from Aranjuez to that

bridge there is an amazing number of

marble-blocks fcattered about. What

will be done with fuch a quantity of ma-

terials no body could tell me. I fuppofe



and greater things about his favourite

villa. Happy he, who, amongft other

things, can give a vent to thepaffion

of building ! That paffion, one of the

moft univerfal, actuates me fo

ftrongly,that, if my will were equalled by my

power, the world would be adorned with

fabricks, to which the ancient capitolor

the modernSt. Peter would be but trifles.

Never did Bibienas fanciful pencil draw

fuch vaft edifices as I would erect : nor

is there any thing fo truly royal, in my

opinion, as to heap blocks upon blocks

in the various forms ofpalaces, temples,

aqueducts, theatres, amphitheatres, and

other fuch things.

You will poflibly think me ridiculous

for laying my vain thoughts thus open.

But, was every body to tell what often

fills his mind, and fuffer a curfory view

to be taken of his airy caftles, many a

man whofe reputation for the right ufe



mine, would not be deemed a vaft deal

wifer than myfelf,

From the marble-bridge to this Vil-

laverde there are but twovillages,

Valde-

moro and Pinto, both very indifferent.

The intermediate country looks ftrangely

barren, which is another thing I did not

expect to find fo near the Spanifti metro-

polis.I hear the bells of Madrid

ring,

which gladdens the heart afterhaving

crofled fo many traces of filent depart.

To-morrow I mall fee a couple of

friends, all that I now have in Madrid.

One is the Britim conful-general, the

other Don Felix d'Abreu, who was for

feveral years envoy extraordinary from

Spainto

England.I knew them both

in London, and they both know of my

coming. I hope they will be as glad to

fee me, as I (hall to fee them.



LETTER LIV.

A ftinking town that gives grangers the

head-ach. Locanda means an inn. In*

Jtruftiom to travellers who happen not to

be overloaded with money.

Madrid, Oft. 7, 1760.

TH E three miles from Villaverde

to this metropolis I chofe to walk

this, morning early, that I might con-

template it at leifure.

Madrid lies in a good meafure on a

floping ground, which makes it appear to

great advantage from that fide by which

I came. Its form approaches the circular,

and its diameter is a little more than two

Englifh miles. The numerousfpires

and

cupolas promife well at a diftance, and

.feverai ample edifices fill your fightas

you approach.'

I entered it by the magnificent ftone~



made himfelf very merry at the expence

of that bridge, and crack'd fomejefts

upon the difproportion of it to the wa-

ter that runs under. But Frenchmen,

like other

people,

will

eafily

catch at

op-portunities of being cenforious in other

people's countries. The fact is, that the

Manzanares becomes fometimes a confi-

derableriver

bythe

fudden melting ofthe fnow on the

neighbouring hills, and

is often hajf a mile broad in winter.

Philip therefore did a very proper thing

when he built a large bridge over it,

and ridiculous are thofe whopretend

to

ridicule him on this account.

From the bridge to the gate of the

town there is a ftrait and wide avenue

of fine trees, which renders the entrance

on that fide very noble. But it is im-

poffibleto tell how I was fhock'd at the

horrible ftink that feized me the inftant

I trufted myfelf within that gate ! So



t *& J

was caufed by the fetid vapours exhat-

ing from numberlefs heaps of filth lying

all about. My head was prefently dif-

ordered by it, and the head-ake conti-

nued very painful from that moment.

I came to alight at an inn called la

Locanda del Principe, which is kept by

one Zilio, a merry Venetian, and have

taken poffeffion of the highefl apartment

in it, that I may be as diftant aspoffible

from the polluted ground. But the

whole of the atmofphere is fo impreg-

nated with thofe vapours, that I think

them unavoidable, was I to mount to

the third region of the air. This has dif-

gufted me fo much, that inftead offtay-

ing here a whole month, as I propofed,

I have already refolved to run away with-

in five or fix days at moft.

As I wanted fome reft after the

fatigueof a

fortnight's journey, I kept within

doors the remainder of the day, fo that



t 257 ]

ma.

Thefew ftreets

whichI

have Teenas I was coming to the inn, are all

ftraight

and wide, and many of the houfes and

churches very fightly.Was it not for

the abominable ordure that fcarcely

leaves apafiage to foot-pafTengers along-

fide the walls, I mould judge Madrid

to be one of the nobleft cities in Europe :

but the fliocking flink has made me re-

pent I came to fee it. I had read and

heard much of its filth, but thought

that there was a great deal of exaggera-

tion in the account. My own eyes and

noftrils have now convinced me that I

was miflaken.

But why mould we vex at what can-

not be helped ? Inftead of increafing

my prefent pain by telling,the beft

thing I can do, is to be gone as foon

as I can. Should I flayhere but a

month, I fear my organs of fmell would

be deftroyed, and chufe not to run the



he pulls while he fwears) has been fb

long ufed to this fragrancy, that he can

walk about thefe ftreets with as much

indifference as he would in a field. Long

euftom to be fure will reconcile any

body to any thing : but I would not ac-

quire it upon any confederation. Much

might here be heard and feen in a month,

very well worth hearing and feeing, and I

am perfuaded that awhile hence I lhall be

forry to have loft the opportunityof bring-

ing myfelf tolerably acquainted with this

metropolis>but cannot endure the thought

of fatisfying my idle curiontyat the price

of a month's torment. I will not blame

the Spaniards for having fuffered this evil

to encreafe upon them age after age in

fuch a manner, as to be now almoft paft

remedy : but I will be gone, and neveF

think to fee this townagain, except

the

King fucceeds (a) in the fcherae they



t 259 ]

fay he has refolved upon to cleanfe it*

which will prove a truly Herculean la-

bour.

Mean while, to fill up my evening, let

me fet down here Tome inftruction to the

traveller going the journey from Li(bon

to Madrid, that whoever chances upon

thefe letters may go that road with more

facilityand comfort, than I did for want

of fuch an inftru&ion.

The firft thing you muft do before you

quit Lifbon,is to

procureapaffport

from

the fecretary of Hate, as without it you

would not be fuffered to go beyond EJlre-

mor, but forced to turn back for one, and

even be in danger of a jail. The Portu-

guefeis perhaps the moft jealous of Eu-

ropean governments, and will minutely

know who and what the Grangers are

that come into the country, or go out of

it: and people are there caft in prifon

as



t260 ]

tidnal advantage in having a paflport,

that by {howing it to the cuftom-men,

they will not open your trunks, efpeci-

allyif you are dexterous enough to

flip

a filver-coin into the paw of any of them.

It is very difagreeable to have one's

things difcompofed by fuch vifiters, who

muft be civilly fpoken to both in Portu-

gal and Spain, that they may not take it

into their heads to give you the trouble

which it is always in their power to

give.Yet take very great care to have

nothing fubject to pay cuftom, no new

fhirts, no new handkerchiefs, new ftock-

ings, new fhoes, new any thing j or you

will in fome place or other be vexed more

than you are aware. Have no books

with you but what areSpanifli, Portu-

guefe, or Italian. A friend of mine who

wanted to carry an Englifh book to Ma-

drid, took care to pafte the image of St.

Anthony on the firfl leaf, and thus faved



[ 26l]

any thing that is quite new, though ap-

parentlyfor your perfonal ufe, declare it

to the cuftom-men before they begin

their fearch if you fee them refolved upon

it, and even before; or you may re-

pent it.

The paffport being got, fend for thofe

calefleiroswho live at Aldeagallega, and

not for thofe of Liibon, whom you muft

only hire when you intend to travel on

the weftern fide of the Tagus. On the

eaftern it is much better to have the Al-

deagallegans, who keep their beads and

vehicles in that village,as their conftant

occupation is to go backwards and for-

wards on the Madrid- road, which makes

them better acquainted with it than the

Lifboners, befides that they hire them-

felves cheaper likewife.

With themyou

muft have

your bargainin writing. Any chaife with two mules

from Aldeagallega to Madrid is com-



[262

]

\vinter. Forget not the condition that

they go through Toledo and Aranjuez,

if you have a mind to go through thofe

twoplaces, which are

certainly worth

your feeing. When your bargain is

figned, the artful fellows will tell you

that you {hall want oxen at the Puerto

del Truxillo to draw you up thatfleep and

broken hill. Hearing this, I was fimple

enough to give two or three crufadoes

above my bargain on their verbal pro-

mife, that they would look themfelves

for the oxen. But, when at Truxillo,

they pretended that no oxen could be

got,and kept the crufadoes. The con-

fequence of it was, that my chaife was

overturned, and my trunk behind almoft

broken to pieces down the rocky decli-

vity. Therefore keep your money, and

when you reach Truxillo, bid them to

look for the oxen, and pay a crufado

a-pieceto the two men that mail come



I

-alwaysfound it a

very great inconve-nience to carry many conveniencies on a

iong journey. Inflead therefore of pro-

viding myfelf with a bed and feveral

pieces of kitchen -furniture, as fome

people had advifed me, I chofe to take

my chance as to eating, and would have

nothing extraordinary but aitraw-bag

and (beets. Should you be more deli-

cate you may have a knife, fpoon, and

fork, a drinking-glafs, fome towel?, a

potto boil meat, and a hand candleflick

with fome wax-tapers.

If you have a fervant who can play

the cook, fo much the better : if not,

you muft fliift as well as you can. At

the eilallages and pofadas you will find

in generalno other victuals, but a me&

of garavanzos zndjudias (dry chick-pzafe

and french beans) boiled ia oil and

water with a ftrong dofe of pepper, arui

a difh of bacallao and Jardinas fjlcck-



I 264 ]

will you find duringthe whole

journey,

except at Aranjuez. This at leaft was

my cafe. If you have no mind to put up

with fuch dainties, be careful whenever

you come to a town or village to buy

meat, fowls, and game. Game efpeci-

allyI found in abundance wherever I

flopped, and excellent partridges above

all. New-laid eggs you will often find

likewife. If you have no fervant, there

is always fpme woman who will drefs

you any thing for a fmall reward. In a

bungling manner, 'tis true : but what

Signifies that ? Their way of roafting is

to trufs the meat or bird on the point of

a fhort hand-fpit, and turn it round and

round over a flame made of rofemary

or thyme, which abound every where

in Allentejo and Eftremadura. 'Tis an

odd way; yet not fo bad as one may

imagine, efpeciallywhen helped by a

good appetite; and anappetite is never



towns, fuch as Badajoz, Merida,

vera, and Toledo, the art of cookery is

practifed in a lefs Tartarick manner; but

invillages, ventas, and

eftallages,that is

the common method. Wereany

of their

kitchens ornamented with a jack, it is

my opinion that the inhabitants of the

provinces round would flock to fee it for

a wonder, as the boys and girls ran to

look at my watch at Talaverola.

If you travel in a proper feafon, as

was my cafe, provide yourfelf with a

bafket. You meet then with grapes,

figs, melons, and other fruit in the neigh-

bourhood of almoft every habitation.

Fillyour

bafket with them, and they

will be of ufe againft the heat, which

often proves troublefome. The peafants,

both in Portugal and Spain,I have found

very kind. They would fill my bafket

with the befl fruit they had as I went by

their vineyards,and be thankful for a



[ 266J

what would have fold for guineas in

England. It is one of thebleffings of

unfrequented regions, that the peafants

are hofpitable : but whereevery trifle

maybe turned into

money, moneywill

oe expeded for every trifle.

Whether you have a bed, oronly a

ftraw-bag, take care to have the room

well fwept where you arc to lie, andhave your couch placed at a diftance

from the walls; or you will have your

deep interrupted by various kinds of in-

fe&s, which propagate wonderfully in

fo warm and poor acountry.

Some peopleare apt to

figure dangers

in diftant regions, fancy robbers fwarm-

ing on every road, and cut- throats at

every inn. For my partI never met with

any in my various rambles through feve-

ral regionsof Europe. However, it

will be prudent to carry piftols, and fo

placethem in the chaife, that they may



t =67 ]

take notice how well you are prepared

againft any attack. My Batifte wears a

broad hanger by his fide, and ispofleiled

befides of afrightful mufket, whicji he

has

always

in view. The lowpeople

of

every>aation I never ohferved to be much

daring againft Grangers when the leaft

ijefiftance is apprehended ; therefore the

precautionof

mowing fire-arms will ge-

nerally precludeall temptation to affault a

traveller.

Above all, do not forget a good Bor-

raclw in warm weather. Both in Portu-

gal and Spain, good wine is to be found

in many places.Fill it with the be ft,

and cool it by a plunge into fome brook

or river. The running waters from Al-

deagallega to Madrid I found to be all very

cold. They would refrefti my wine in

a few minutes. But furTer not your ca-

lefferos to meddle with it as often as they

would chufe, otherwife they become



|.a68 ]

mules, and endanger your necktogether

with their own for want ofvigilance.

If you cannot keep them awake, abftain

from Sleeping yourfelf in your vehicle,

cfpecially

amidft the mountains. The

mules are fure-footed, and feem to have

a full fenfe of danger when there is dan-

ger : yet a man muft take care of him-

felf.

'

You will meet with beggars in various

places ',and I am far from difcommencr-

ing liberalityto thofe who could

fcarcely

find employment if they had ever fo

greata mind to work. But there is a

breed of them in Eftremadura, who, be-

fides aiking your charity, infift upon your'

kiffing their greafy crucifixes and mado-

nas. Give nothing to them, except you

intend to kifs their images, becaufe they

have much more atheart the credit of thofe

images, than are .defirous of your ochavos

andyuarHflos.

If you give them good words



fufe to kifs, you will have a deal of foul

language, be your alms ever fogreat.

Have always fome fpare-rope in the

box of your chaife to tie your trunks again

uponoccafion. In a

countrywhere no-

thing is ever at hand that you may

chance to need, the want of a bit of rope

will fometimes put a traveller to a great

deal of trouble. I am even ufed to carry

fome nails and a hammer; nor will it be

amifs to look whenever you alight,whe-

ther the trunks are fafely tyed, efpecially

in jolting roads.

Trifling as thefe advices may appear,

you may poffibly find them ufeful. Xeno-

phon thought it not unworthy to be de-

livered topofterity, that Cyrus, amidfr.

his other military provifions,took care

that his foldiers mould have fpare thongs,

by which they might bundle up their

necefTaries or their plunder. However,

I do not intend them for thofe who have



[ 27 ]

mules before, to have them ready where-ever they pleafe,

and change them from

ftage toftage.

He who can afford the-

cxpence, will be thus able to go in five

or fix days the journey which I employed

a full fortnight in performing.

Nor muft you grumble at numerous

inconveniencies on that road,, which has

its pleafures as well as pains. Befides the

fatisfa&ion naturally afforded by the in-

fpe&ion of new modes of life, he that

goes from Liibon to Madrid has or may

have almofl every night the pleafure of a

dance, which to a well-difpofed mind is

not a fmall enjoyment, as dancing gene-

rally fufpends allfeelings

of mifery, and

makes people happy for the time. The

beholding of content in others cannot

but raife pleafing fentiments in ourfelves.

Wherever you come at night, there is

always fome body that plays on the guit-

tar, or if there is none, you may have



young men and women that are withinreach

-,and an hour is thus

agreeably

fpent. This at leaft has been my cafe

for fcveral nights.

LETTER LV.

A cunning queen. The palace almoftJinifh*

ed.

Confidencein

priejts. A vaft many

pictures, and why. MiJJals like Atlas's.

Neither grave, nor over-civi/, nor re-

ferred, nor jealous. A Tertulia is a

pretty thing. Leave alia Spagnuola.

Rice a la Valenciana.

Madrid, Oft. 8,

LASTnight I fent a note to my

friend Don Felix d'Abreu, ac-

quainting him with my arrival, and pro-

mifing him my company to-day at din-

ner, on condition he would forbear his

French ragoos for once, and give me a

true Spanifh dinner. His anfwer was



lie didfo, and took me to fee the

King's new palace that was what I

wanted moft to fee iii Madrid, not only

becaufe it had flruck me as I beheld it

yefterday at a diftance, but alfo becaufe

I have not forgot Signor Sacchetti the ar-

chitect of it, who was our father's inti-

mate friend and fellow-ftudefit in archi-

tecture under Don Philip Juvara the

famous Sicilian, who left fo many fpe-

cimens of his abilities in and about Tu-

rin. But before I attempt to give you

fome idea of that edifice, let me tell you

the reafon why it was erected upon Sac-

chetti's plan,inftead of Juvara's.

In the year 1734 the ancient royal pa-

lace in Madrid was burnt down, I know

not by what accident. King Philip V.

wanting another, and being told that

Juvara was reckoned the beft architect of

the age, requefled him of our King, in

whofe fervice he had been for many years.



t 273 1

Xvas about it, it fo happened that Eliza-

beth Farnefe, the King's fecond wife*

who managed her hufband as {hepleafed,

began to think of a war which was to

procure a fettlement in Italy to her fon

Charles. Inftead therefore of laying out

in building, according to the King's in-

tention, the feyeral millions deflined to

that purpofe, me thought to have them

kept for the occafions of that war.

This fcheme of the queen you may

eafily guefs that Juvara was not to be ap-

prifed of, nor was he everpolitician

enough to give the leaft guefs at it. He

haftened to compofe his model, which he

did not in the leaft doubt but would be

brought into execution, as the Queen

herfelf affe&ed to follicit the completion

of it.

The model took time in

making:but

when it was brought under the King's

eye for approbation, Patino who was his



t

toftick by her, reprefented to the

King,that Juvara had contriX'ed an habitation

too fmall for a monarch of Spain to live

in, and irififted upon the architect's giv-

ing

a

plan

moreproportionate

to the

grandeur of its future inhabitants.

Philip was the dupe of Patino's flatter-

ing objection, efpecially as the Queen

declaredfor the

fame opinion ; nor was

Juvara himfelf much difpleafed when he

heard it was their Majefties intention that

he mould go to the utmoft of his powers,

and think of a houfe more proportionate

both to his own abilities and the King's

treafures.

Within three years Juvara produced

another model, fo very grand, that he was

lure no objection could be raifed againftit

either on account of its fize or its magni-

ficence; and he had the momentary fatis-

faction to hear himfelf much praifed by

the whole court for the greatnefs of his



t

would require, amounting to more than

thirty millionsfterling,

the Queen and

her confidant railed the obvious objec-

tion, that the King's finances could not

reach fo high. The poor architect was

therefore ordered to think of a third plan

that kept equidiftant from the littlenefs

of the firft and the greatnefsof the fecond.

To remonftrateagainft

this decifion

had been perfectlyabfurd : but while he

was bufy about it, the war broke out that

had been long hatching, the Spanilh

doubloons began to flow faft into Italy,

and Juvara with his planswere of courfe

neglected. Scarcely was he fufFered to

open hislips

about building when he ap-

peared at court, and Patino in particular

raifed fo many difficulties whenever he

dared to mow any of his drawings to the

King, that atlafthe died broken-hearted,

probably to the great fatisfaction of the

crafty minifter who had long fpiritedhim



E 276 ]

Soon after Juvara's death, the King,

who was reallyin earneft about having a

palace, enquired whether Juvara had left

behind any difciples capable to make ufe

of thedefigns

of their matter. TheKing

of Sardinia had two; that is, Sacchetti

and our father. Sacchetti being reckoned

the beft, was fent to Spain, where he

madethe model of this

prefent palace,

which was approved of, as the war was

approaching to its end. The impatient

King would have it begun in fpight of

feveral difficulties raifed by his minifter;

yet the continuance of the War made it

be carried on fo very leifurely,as if the

intention had been to have no palace at

all. However, as foon as the peace was

concluded, the Queen herfelf pumed on

the work at fuch a rate, that Sacchetti

had the fatisfaclion to fee it advance very

faft. He is (till alive, but fo old and in-

firm, that I fear I mall quitthis town



admitted by the fide of that bed to which

he has long been confined. Within five

or fix years at moft, thepalace will be

entirely finished, and fit to receive itJ

royal gueft

with all his

family.This anecdote would probably have

been buried in perpetual filence, had not

the prefent King told it himfelf in a fit

of good humour to.fome of his attendants,

the firft time he went to fee the palace

after his return from Naples : and I think

it fingular enough to deferve a place in

this letter, as it fets off the long reach of

Queen Elizabeth's politicks, the crafti-

nefs of a ftatefman, and the fimple credu-

lityof a celebrated artift.

To give you now an accurate defcrip-

tion of Sacchetti's huge work, is what I

cannot even attempt. It is enough to

fay,that its form is exactly quadrangular,

and each of the, four fronts very near

alike. The firft floor has twenty one



t 278 ]

field behind. One of its fides is turned

towards the town, and the oppofite has

an extenfiveprofpecl:

of the country,

which it overlooks even from the loweft

windows,as it ftands on an eminence

about piftol-fhotfrom the river Manza-

nares. It is compofed of three ftories

underground, and five above-ground.

The rooms (or cellars) of the lower (lory

under-ground are fo cold, that I did not

chufe to vilit many of them. I thought

myfelf in an ice-houfe. They fay that

the whole of that lower ftory is to ferve

as a repositoryof the eatables. The

kitchens will take up theftory over it j

and over the kitchens all the people em-

ployed in them will be lodged.

Thofe three ftories are fo well con-

trived, that even the lowermoft is not

totally deprived oflight.

But its great

depth renders it fo damp, that, though

it is very cold, they fay it breeds abund-



[ 279 1

.kingdom ; which will make the whole

flory (a)be filled up.

As to the apartments over the kitch-

ens-ftory, they are To loftyand fo well

lighted,that

theyfeem intended for

much higher perfons than cooks and

fcullions. I have not counted thefteps

from the ground-floor to the bottom of

that wonderous fubterranean ; but there

are fo many, that the fatigue of coming

up was far from inconfiderable.

If the underground apartments are

grand, you may eafily think that thofe

above-ground cannot be mean. Thofe

pn the ground-floor are already inhabited

by fome of the. great officers at court.

The King's apartments are over thofe of

Xhe greatofficers. The King's brother

and children will be lodged in the third

{lory,and the fourth and fifth occupied

by their attendants.

T7;'y didfa not long afterthe date of this letter.



As none of the four

upper

ftories is

as yet intirely finimed, but ajl are en-

cumbered with the fcaffolds, materials,

and tools of feven hundred workmen

daily employedin

them,I could fee no-

thing fodistinctly as to receive much fa-

tisfadiion from the infpe&ion : but this

I couldeaftly comprehend upon a curfory

view, that when the whole (hall be

compleated, the king of Spain will be

at leaft as magnificently lodged as any

monarch in Europe, efpeciallyif the two

wings are continued that mail enclofe

the fquare court before thepalace.

Several of the rooms and halls of the

King's apartments will then have their

ceilings painted, fome by two Italians

called Corrado and'Tiepolo,

fome by a

German called Mengs, fome by a French-

man called Bayeu, and fome by a Spa-

niard calledVelafquez. Emulation, it is

to befuppcfed, has made them all do



raa'o's invention is

more fanciful and va-

rious than that of the reft : but Mengs is

by far the beftpainter, as his invention

is not much inferior to Corrados, his

defign much more correct, and his

colouring quite magick. The King

thinks him the greateft painter of theage;

and as His Majefty has been from his

infancy ufed to live in apartments rich in

pictures of the beft kind, his opinion muft

certainly carry a great weight, what-

ever contempt fome cynicks may affect

for the connoiffeurmip of a King. Some

other of thofe cielings are to be orna-

mented with various carvings, gildings,

and ftucco's, and fome other ftill in

other manners. But, as I faid, every

thing is at prefent in the utmoft confu-

fion, as nothing is yet perfectly finished.

Several of the room-walls, efpecially

in the King's apartments, are encrufted

with various kinds of Spanim marbles.



look as beautiful as any antique marbles.

It would be endlefs to fpeak of the

variety and beauty of the flowers, fome

oompofed by curious afTemblages of fe~

veral Indian woods, fome

by

a great va-

riety of the moft fingular flones and

marbles that Spain andItaly can afford.

But befides the rich furniture deftined

to each of theroyal apartments,

fome

piecesof which are already placed, the

King is poflefied of an immenfe collection

of Italian and Flemifh pictures, part of

whichis

intended for thofe apartments.

J was mown fome Raphael's, Titian's,

Giordano's, Vandikes, and Rubens's, that

are aftonimingly fine and wellpreferved,

befides fome old Velafquezs and Murillos,

juftlyheld in the higheft eflimation. It

is to be hoped, when the palace is per-

fectly finifhed and furnifhed, that the

. King will order a catalogue and defcrip-

tion of them, along with the plan and



arts, and the fatisfaction of thofe who

love them.

What ftruck me moft there, was the

entrance at thegreat gate, and the royal

chapel.

That entrance,fupported by

a

good number of lofty Hone-pillars, has

been contrived after the Italian and not

after the French manner. I mean that

the

King,

whencoming home,

will

alight from his coach under cover, which

is what the King of France cannot do

at Verfailles, where he muft alight in

theopen air,

and be wet for a

momentin

rainy weather.

As to the royal chapel it will likewise

be much finer than that at Verfailles.

No coft has been fpared to make it the

richeft thing in the world : yet its rich-

nefs does not take from its elegance.

Mafies are already celebrated in it. But

it flartled me a little to read in a label

pver the door, Oyfefaca anlma-,

that is,



[84 ]

brated there, which is to

bring

about

fuch a wonderful deliverance. I have

not forgotin ten years of Engliih life

what the erTed: is of papal indulgencies,

but have never obferved ourpriefts

in

Italyto be fo peremptory on this fubject,

as that infcriptioncomes to. Since the

Spanim prieftsare fo pofitive

about the

power of fome particular maffes faid in

this chapel, the King would do well to

keep them conftantly employed in that

good work, and force them to empty

that excruciating place as fail as it fills.

Thefacriity belonging to the chapel

is likewife very fine and already deco^

rated with feveral of the beftpictures

that ever our beft mafters painted.

As I feemedfurprifed

at the vaft num-

ber of the Italian and Flemim chef-

d'oeuvres pofieffed by this King, Don

Felix informed me that a great many of

them had been fucceflively brought over



and Milan, who generally took care when

in thofe employments to colled: as many

as they could.

This accounts very well for their fur-

prifingnumber. The

greateft partof

thofe picturesfell one after another into

the hands of'the fucceflive Kings, and fo

many of them are now in Spain, that,

were they all collected together in a fu it-

ableplace,

thegalleries

of Orleans and

Luxembourg at Paris would be no great

matter in comparifon. Nor muft I for-

get that in this King's collection there

are fome, which belonged to the unfor-

tunate Charles I. of England, vilely

fold to Spain by 'his rebellious fubjects.

Befides thofe many pictures that were

brought over by thofe Governors and

Viceroys, and thofe bought from the

Englifh, the emperor Charles V. called

over to Spain the illuftrious Titian, who

left both in Madrid and the Efcurial ftill



[286 ]

Bergamot

yacopoTrezzo, the two L,eon?

of Milan, Lucchetto of Genoa, Pellegrini

of Bologna, Zuccaro of Urbino, Luca

Giordano, and feveral others, who refided

longin

Spain duringthe

reignsof three

fucceffive Philips, have left numberlefs

performancesat Madrid, the Efcurial,

Aranjuez, St. Idefonfo, and otherparts

of this kingdom.In the organ-place of the royal chapel

there are feventy different miflals, which

contain whatever is fung there through-

out the year by the numerous band of

the King's muficians. Thofe mifTals are

all as large as thelargeft atlas's, their

leaves of vellum, all nobly bound, and

rolling on brafs-pulleys fixed to their

bottoms, that they may eafilybe taken

out of their {helves and replaced.

But what isfurpriiing in the

greateft

part of them, are the miniatures round

many of the margins of their leaves.



that kind. I gazed over feveral of therri

with admiration. The man is ftill alive:

but king Ferdinand and queen Barbara,

who kept him long employed in that

work, forgot to make any provifion for

him, and I am told that he lives now in

poverty and obfcurity. Indeed, it is great

pityif this is true ! So excellent an artift

would have made a

great

fortune in

Eng-land, and in a little time.

The court-yard of thepalace,

envi-

roned by a very grand portico,is fo very

wide,that

fiftycoaches

mightwheel to-

gether in it without much obstructing

each other. On the outfide of the great

gate,and along the chief front of the

edifice, there are placed on high pe~

deftals eight pedeftrian ftatues, fome of

which reprefent thofe amongft the antient

Roman emperors who were natives of

Spain. Thefe ftatues are of that fize

that fculptorscall heroical. Not being



palace,

I am told that his

Majefty

had

already ordered to have(a)

them taken

away.

Having fpent about four hours in myvilit to this

royal palace,I went to

pay

my refpectsto my other friend, the Bri-

ti(h conful-general, whom I had likewife

apprifedlaft night of my arrival, and

converfed two hours with him, chiefly

about the prefent flate of literature in

this kingdom, with which I want to

bring myfelf a little acquainted, but

mall not have time enough to do it.

Then, after a tour in Don Felix's coach

through feveral fine but nafty ftreets,

which encreafed much my head-ake and

deftroyed my appetite, I went to eat his

Spanifh victuals. We were five at dinner;

that is, Don Felix, one of his younger

brothers who is an officer, two other

Spanifh gentlemen, and myfelf. The

Thit was not the date this



t 289 ]

table-talk ran on the royal palace and the*

prefent war. As to the palace we were

foon of a mind, that it will be one of

the grandeft things in Europe when it is

finished j and with regard to the war, none

of them feemed much inclined to the

French fide, but hoped that the court of

France would never fucceed in their ef-

forts to

bringthem into it, now

efpeci-

ally that the Englifh have been long vic-

torious both in Germany and at fea. Don

Felix who has been in England eleven

years in a public character, and is as well

acquainted with its force as any of the

King's miniflers, cannot bear the thoughts

ofgoing to war with it, though fufficient-

ly provoked by the infolence, as he calls

it, of fome Englifh minifler who has been

bullying them long with contemptuous

fpeechesin parliament,

befides the into-

lerable abufe of fome Englifh fcribblers

poured upon the Spaniflination on occa-



which the magiflrates of Spain declared;

to be anillegal capture. We have been

more than once provoked by the Engli(h

both in Europe and America, faysDoa

Felix: yet I think we ought to keep our

peace for the prefent. The French navy

is very near deflroyed, and it is ajeft

to

fay that ours alone can cope with that of

England.

This is his opinion : yet he

freely owns, that his influence in the

King's council is belownothing, though

he is aConfejero de guerra (a member of

the council

of war),and he is ftill

per-fuaded that other notions (a) will pre-

vail.

But let us drop politicks.At the end

of this letter, and for the ufe of a certain

houfewife at home, I will write dowa

thereceipt of one of the dimes we had

at dinner. It was almoft the only one

I could touch -, not out of any diftafte to

(a]This was jhe cafe focn after,

which proved



the genuine Spanifh cookery, which I

think as good as any by the fpecimen I

had of it to-day, but becaufe my ftomach

was much difordered by the horrible

filthinefs I had feen again, and the flink

I bad again collected in my noftrils. I

feeplainly that I mall neither enjoy good

victuals nor good company in this town,

and will be

goneas foon as I can. It is

impoffible to yield to the follicitations of

my two friends, who would have me

keep up to my original plan offlopping

here a full month. That flink is in-

fupportable.

When the table-cloth was removed,

we did not amufe ourfelves with circu-

lating the bottle after theEnglim manner,

but drank a dim of coffee, and upon that

a dram of marafchlno : then leaving our

table-companions to contrive a folid peace

between the belligerant powers, Don

Felix took me to fome of his relations, to



all received me in fueh a manner, as to

make megive up at once my old notion,

that the Spaniards were a grave, over-

civil, and referved people. As foon as

the firft compliments were over, both,

men and ladies talked round with much

volubility andfprightlinefs,

and feemed

to confider me at once as an old acquaint-

ance. Another of

mynotions was, that

the Spaniards are jealous; but about

thirty ladies whom I faw to-night at a

TertuHdy behaved with fuch alertnefs,

fpokeand were

fpokento with fuch an

unconcernednefs by every man there,

that I cannot fofter any longer that no-

tion neither. That there are Spaniards

fubjecl: to the paffion of jealoufy, is pro-

bable; but that it is one of their charac-

terifticks to be fubjedt to it, I have feen

already enough of them to contradict it.

I am confident that you will be of mymind on reading the following account



It is a cuftom amongft the Spanifh la-

dies to have their friends at their houfes

feveral times every month, fome oftener,

and fome feldomer.

When a lady intends this, me fends

notice to her female acquaintance thaton

fuch a night (he mall have a Tertulia.

The notice impliesan invitation. She

that receives fuch a

meffage,fails not to

tell her male-acquaintance that on fuch

a night (he mail be at fuch a Tertulia,

-and this likewife impliesan invitation. A

coufin to Don Felix had the goodnefs to

explain to me this piece of Spanim man-

ners, as we both attended her at a Ter-

tulia.

On our alighting cut of her coach I

could not help obferving, that the gate of

the lady'shoufe where fhe carried us,

was wide open, and no porter or any

body there to guard it, as is ufual in

England at every door you intend to en-



[ 294 ]

largeflair-cafe. The mafler of the houfe

received us at the door of his firil apart-

ment, handed our lady to the room where

his wife was with thofe of her female ac-

quaintance

that hadgot

thither before us;

and having feen her in, came back to us

to pay me fuch civilities as are generally

ufed to Grangers.

The room where DonFelix

andI

wereintroduced, was full of gentlemen almofl

all in laced coats. Some ftood, fome fat, fome

talked, and fome gazed, as it happens in

large companies. Half an hour after, fe-

veral fervants who had waited on the la-

dies in the miflrefs's chamber with rin-

frefco's, brought fome to us. The cere-

mony of ferving them was this. A foot-

man firft put afilver-plate into the hands

of each man prefent ; then another pre-

fented filver cup-boards loaded with bif-

cuits made of fugar after a manner I ne-

ver faw elfewhere. They are full of hol-



[ 295 I

lemonade, and brought it to ourplate :

then dipping it into the lemonade, in

which it inftantly diflblved, drank the le-

monade out. Chocolate then was diftri-

buted round, whichbeing

drank, the fer-

vants came for the empty dimes and the

filver-plates.

We then continued in converfation for

another half hour; when, behold! Thelady of the houfe comes out of her room

followed by all the ladies me had with

her. We formed ourfelves in two rows

one on each fide of them. As the lady

went by me, her hufband prefented me

to her as aftranger, which procured me

a chearful fmile and fome very pretty

words.

None of the ladies went by but had

fornething refpectful or affectionate faid

to her by fome man or other, and their

anfwers ran in the fame ftrain. At the

end of the room in which we were, there



r 296 3

monyat the door, but the neareft

gettingin direftly, whether young or old, mar-

ried or unmarried.

As foon as they were in, we followed,

and found them all

fitting

on theEftradp

y

vvhich is a continued feat that runs round

{he room clofe to the wall.

In a corner of that room there was a

large table covered with as many diihes

as it could hold, filled with various eat-

ables. A large Perigord-pafty in the

middle, a couple of roafted Turkeys on

the fides of the party, with hams, fowls,

game, faufages, fallads, caparrones (akind

pf capers as big as filberts), zebrero (a

kind of cheefe from the kingdom of Ga-

licia) &c. &c. In fhort this was a cold

collation no lefs plentiful than elegant.

The matter with the help of fome of

the company, all{landing, quickly fell

a carving, while the remainder of us

{hatched napkins out of a heap of them



[2 97

back for plates, knives, and forks ; pla-

ced them on their napkins; then went

to getfuch victuals as they bid us to get;

then (loopingor kneeling by them while

they

wereeating,

amufed them as well

as we could, faying what came uppermoft,

with fuch hilarity and pleafantnefs,that

I never was prefentat any fcene more

delightful.

Amongft fo many ladies you may eafily

imagine that fome there were, who had

neither youth nor beauty. Yet none had

reafon to lament the abfence of either, as

they were all ferved without the leaft

apparent predilection, which I thought a

very remarkable piece of Spanifh polite-

nefs. No fervant meddled with them

during that kind of fupper. The all ate

heartily,and the

greateft part drank

water.

The merry meal being ended (and a

merry one it was) they all got up, and,



ing

us all behind.

Theywere no fooner

gone, that we fell on the remgants with

a chearfulnefs no where to be met with

but in this country. The moftjolly fet of

Venetians would have appeared grave in

comparifon of my Spaniards at the Ter-

tulia.

The rule is to have a concert afterfup-

per, partly compofed of hired muficians,

and partlyof the gentlemen who can

blow or finger any inftrument. Some of

the ladies would alfo have fung, and a

ball would have followed, as the confti-

tuent partsof a Tertulia are the fupper,

the concert, and the ball. But as the

Queen isjuft dead, mufick and dancing

were forborn, and recourfe had to cards

to confume the evening. Several card-

tables were placed in the room, and we

played at Manilla, a fafhionable game

here, not unlike Quadrille.- The lady of

the houfe did me the honour, as ailranger



[ 299 ]

a novice at that game. But, as far as I

could fee, neither ladies nor gentlemen

minded much their cards, the Spaniards

delighting much more in talking than in

playing.No

card-moneywas

putunder

the candleitick, as there is no fuch cuf-

tom in this town.

About eleven the company began to

fleal away alia Spagnuola, as we fay in

Italy; that is, without giving the leaft

warning of their going either to the

mailer or miftrcfs of the houfe. It was

twelve when Don Felix fat me down at

my Locanda with a promife to call again

early on me to-morrow morning. Here

you have

A RECEIPT to drefs ARROZ a la Valencia

ana \ that is, RICE after the manner of

Valencia.

'fakepigs-feet,

mutton- trotters, bacon,

newfaufages and hogs-blood-puddings.Boil



[ 300 J

Boil rice in the broth madeby thefe Ingre-

dients, throwing two pinches offaffron in it

whileboiling.

When the rice ishalf dons9

take it offthefire, jlrain it

lightly, put it

into

aftewing^pan,

throw the above

thingsinto it, reddening the whole with the

yolks of

two or threeeggs. Leave then the pan to

Jimmerfor about half an hour, not over,

but lender abrijk

charcoal-fire*

LETTER LVI.

Churches, convents, nunneries, hofpitats,

Queen Barbaras chiefpajjions. Bafquina

and Mantilla. Capas and Sombreros.

Santa Hermandad. Lifts ofprohibited

books.

Madrid, O<5h 9, i7fip.

THE proportion of towns confi-

dered, there are no where? except

at Rome, fo many monuments of chrif-

tianpiety,

as in Madrid.

Befides twelveparochial,

we find here



[ 3' 1

convents, thirty nunneries, tencolleges

or feminaries for the education of the

youth of both fexes, and feventeen hof-

pitals.

That this metropolis might be very re-

ligious though the number of fuch edi-

fices was fmaller, I willeafily allow. I

will even take it for granted, that many

of them were raifed

by

the hand of fu-

perftition,which is one of the moft com-

mon reproaches that proteftants, efpeci-

allythofe of the calvinift communion,,

make to the roman catholics. But while

they find fault with an unneceflary mul-

tiplicityof places of wormip amongfl us,

let them recoiled:, that out of the many

facred edifices to be feen in this town,

that fame hand of fuperflitionhas deftined

five hofpitalsto the relief of as many fo-

reign nations; that is, the Italian,

French, Portuguefe, Flemifh, and Irim,

under which laft denomination Englifh



fpeftfrom all, whether calvinifts or not,

on account of that extenfive benevolence

which made them erect afylums to ftran-

gersdiftrefTed by poverty and afflicted

with difeafe. It may be that policy as

well as fuperftition contributed a fliare

towards the building of thofe fivehofpi-

tals. But in what country mail we find

the actions of menentirely

defecated

from human weaknefs and human vices ?

I have fpent the whole of this day in

vifitingfeveral of thofe edifices, that I

might form an idea of the Spanifti muni-ficence on this particular.

The general hofpital for men, as they

call it, contains no lefs than fifteen hun-

dred iron-beds, which are diflributed

through feveral large rooms and long

galleries.It is a rule here to receive

every body that comes at any hour of the

day or the night ; nor is any follicitation

required to admittance : nay, there are



[ 33 1

and fetch whatever fick perfon fends for

them. There is alfo a phyfician, con-

ftantly attending at the grand gate, who

enquires after the complaint of any man

that comes, and orders him up to the

room or gallery affigned to his difeafe,

As I flood at that gate,an old man

was brought thither in a kind of covered

fedan. Thephyfician

uncoveredhim,

and afked him this plain queftion. 'Tiene

lifted gdllico? " Are you poxed, Jir

?" It

furprized me a little to hear the mame-

lefs fexagenarian anfwer in the affirma-

tive with the cleareft tone of voice and

thegreateft tranquillity of countenance.

I have already had feveral opportunities

to obferve, that the Spaniards are in ge-

neral lefs bamful than the Englifh by

many degrees.

Wandering about the apartments of the

fick, I could not but take notice of their

great cleannefs, I wim the Spaniards



[ 34 ]

My head-ach would not then be inceiTanf,'

as it has been ever fmce I entered at the

Toledo-gate.

I enquired of feveral fick men about

the treatment they receive, and was

pleafedwith their anfwers. Amongft

the feveral articles of their maintenance*

each man is allowed every morning by

way

of breakfaft a

large

di(h ofchocolate^

together with a ilice of bread or a fweet

bifcuit. This I thought a remarkable

fingularity.Nor are they ftinted in

pointof food

when they beginto

recover^

except the phyficians be very pofitive in

their orders to the contrary.

It is not the cuftom here to fupport

any hofpital by voluntary contributions,

inceflantlycollected from the people as

they do in England. Here eachhofpital

has an incomearifing

from lands and

other kinds of property. In England it

is adually the fafhion amongft the better



[ 35 1

been butlately ere&ed, and ere&ed by

the fame means that are employed to fup-

port them. Thofe who have difburfed

moft money towards the building of them,

as well as thofe whogive

moft

moneyto-

wards their maintenance, may have, if

they chufe, the direction of them, and

the infpe&ion over their welfare, toge-

ther "with theprivilege

ofrecommending

patients to admittance. Nothing of this

ispractifed in Madrid. Famion may

here undergo any viciffitude, and charity

grow hotter or colder. Never will the

change affect thefehofpitals.

Various (a)

Confradias have an eye over them. Some

of their members vifit them by turns,

take care that they be kept in their ufual

order, and that no fick perfon may have

reafon to complain of ncgledt orill-ufage

from thehofpital-attendants.

The chief

(a) A Confradia in Spain,like a Confraternita in

Italy , is an union of Parijhioners of the higher rant,

who contribute both with money and attendance to the



noblemen and gentlemen do not difdain

to be members of thofe Confradias, to

audit the accounts of this and that hof-

pital (generally without the intervention

of government,) and to mind that no

part of their income be embezzled or

mifmanaged. The church grants fome

indulgencies to thofe who attend to fuch

forts ofpious

deeds, and it feems this is

all the recompence they care to have for

their trouble.

Amongft thofe Confradias there is one

called La Santa Hermandad

t(

the Holytc

Brotherhood," or more commonly La

Confradia de Pan y Huevos,"

the brother-

" hood of bread andeggs!'

A number of

its members, headed by fome coniiderable

man (not feldom a grandee) ramble about

the flreets of this town during the firft

partof every night, in order to collecl

the houfelefs poor of both fexes, who,

lay themfelves down tofleep

under the



J

all thofe whom they find in this diftrefs-

ful condition, carry them to fome hof-

pitalto

fleep,and give them the next

morning a penny loaf with a couple of

eggs by wayof breakfaft; from which

practice is derived their appellation:

then, if thofe poor are in health, they

are difmifled, or kept to be cured when

they happento be difeafed. I wifh fome-

thing of this kind might be eftablifhed

in London, where the houfelefs poor are

pretty numerous.

You may eafily imagine that the above-

mentioned general hofpitalis endowed

with a very confiderable revenue. They

fay that it amounts to forty thoufand

dpubloons, which makes up no lefs than

thirty thoufand pounds fterling. Amongft

its attendants there are many friars of the

order called De San Juan de Dios. A ve-

ry proper employment for a fet of men,

who profefsa total difregard for the va-



our friars incorporated in that order, and

forced by inftitution into the fervice of

the fick in ourhofpitals. Their time

would thus be much better employed,

than in beating their bare backs on a fcaf-

fold in the time of (a) miflion.

It is faid in Madam D'Aunoys travels

through Spain, that every baftard brought

up in the foundling-hofpital at Madrid,

is looked upon as a gentleman by the

Spanim law. This aflertion the authors

of the Di&isnnairt Enciclopedique have

creduloully repeated. But the fact is not

true ; and a baftard is as much a baftard

in Madrid as any where elfe. No nobi-

lity,nor any other kind ofhonour is con-

ferredby

lawupon any poor

creature.*

(a] A miflionconjtjls of fame friars going by order

oftheir

fuperiorsto this and that place to cenvert the

people,as they call it. Upon thefe occajions they erefi

fcaffoldsin the

niidjl of fquaresand other open places,

and there they inveigh with a furious tone of voice

again/IJinners, beating themfelves the while until their

blood trickles down their bare backs toenforce

their de-



[ 39 J

brought up as a foundling in that hofpi-

tal. How thofe learned gentlemen could

reft upon fo (lender anauthority a fad of

fo fingular a nature, is pretty furprifing.

As to the churches in Madrid,they

are

in general not fo grand as I expected to

find them in a country fo much renowned

for the piety of its inhabitants. The

greateft partare

oddlydecorated with

thoufands of things that are not admit-

ted to adorn churches in other countries.

Their walls are generally covered with

fmall and artjefs works of the pencil and

the chirTel, diftributed as chance directed,

or at leaft without much order or fym-

metry. In that which belongs to the

Padres de la Merced, there is a kind of

large drawer, which contains various toys

and baubles that weregifts from] peo-

plewho have repented their attachment

to trifles, and made a facrifice of them to

a little waxen Saviour fhut up in that



that wasprefented (they

tell

you) bya

lady who thought herfelf too fond of

fweet-meats, and a muflin-apron given

by another who caught herfelf in a fit of

pride the firft time (he put it on. Bothladies fell upon the expedient of fuch of-

ferings,in order to chaflife themfelves

for their unruly vanities. I couldeafily

give you many other inftances of this mi-

nute fpeciesof Spanim devotion, which

here is very common in women, and not

rare in men. I wonder the methodifts of

England have not yet adopted this prac-

tice in confequence of their rigid notions

of chriftian mortification.

The grander!church in Madrid is that

which belongs to the Monjas Salefas

"the Salefian

Nuns" That church, to-

getherwith its fine nunnery, was built

by Queen Barbara, remarkable for little

elfe than her love of mufick and her de-

votion. Her love of mufick made her to



[ 3" 1

who washer moft conftant favourite dur*

ing a good number ofyears, and to

whom, amongft otherthings, flie be-

queathed all her mufical inftruments and

vaft collection of mufick, thegreateft

perhaps that ever was in the world. A-

mongft her tutelary faints, of whom me

had chofen a large number, the moft be-

loved was St. Francis de Sales,

commonlyftyled the Holy Bi/hop of Geneva, though

the Genoefe never acknowledged him for

theirbifhop. To honour this fecond fa-

vourite, Queen Barbara,about the

year

3748, laid out feveral thoufand doub-

loons in that church and nunnery, both

dedicated to his name. She then called

over from Annecy (a fmall town in Savoy)

a few of thofe women who follow the in-

flitution of that faint, and put them in

poffefiionof both edifices, endeavouring

ever after to augment their fifterhood

with Spanifh recruits. Thofe Savoyard



girlsto be of their number, that the

nunnery has at prefentnear thirty in-

habitants, though no. plebeian female is

admitted amongft them. The income

fettled upon them by that Queen, is

fomewhat encreafed by their receiving

boarders, who are all young ladies of

quality.The nuns teach them to read,

write, work, and pray ; but, above all,

to believe that St. Francis De Sales is

the greateftfaint in heaven, and the moll

beloved by the blefTedvirgin.

Queen Barbara had an apartment in

that nunnery, where fhe intended to re-

tire in cafe fhe fh.ould furvive her hufband.

But her intention did not take effect, as

fhe died before him. Her remains how-

ever were not carried to the Efcurial,

where all thofe of the Royal Family are

fent, but were depofited in that church,

alongwith her huiband's in a

ftatelymo-

nument.

The Salefian is the only temple in Ma-



over-numerous, nor childifh. The al-

tars in it are not, as in all other churches,

adorned with little nofegays of natural or

artificial flowers, nor is it hung with

pretty cages of canary-birds, that keep

chirping the whole day long, to the great

diverfion of thofe who go to hear mattes

in the morning, or take benedictions in

the

evening.

There are

many coftly

de-

corations in that church. The moft re-

markable, befides the royal monument,

is a filver lamp hanging by three long

filver-chains before thegreat altar,

which

lamp and chains weigh fourteen arrobas ;

that is, three hundred andfifty pounds.

The three pictures over its three altars,

are by three modern painters ; that is, Ve-

lafquczof Madrid, Signaroli of Verona,

andFrancefchiello of Naples.

The nuns mowed me in thefacrifty

fome furplices for the mafs-priefts, that

are made of the finer! Flanders-lace.

has coft above a



lieve it. They fhowed me befides feve-

ral chalices, crofTes, oftenfories, pixes,

and vafes, ornamented with fo many dia-

monds, rubies, emeralds, and other jew-

els, as to raife aftonimment even in thofe

who have feen the richeftpieces

at Lo-

retto. Many fine pictures and coflly or-

naments have I feeri alfo in the church

thatbelongs

to theJefuits.

There are neither pews, benches, nor

chairs in the churches at Madrid. At

leaft I faw none in thofe that I entered.

Their floors are covered with ftraw-mats,

upon which men and women kneel pro-

mifcuoufly, and without any diftinftion

of place, whether they be grandeesor

coblefs, dutchefles or wafherwomen. Themen will often ftand during the mafs,

but the women fit negligently on their

own heels the greateft partof the time

they pafsat church, holding their rofaries

in their hands, tellingtheir beads with



C 315 ]

body can keep up a devout recollection

amidft that general hiffing, often accom-

panied by the chirping of thecanary-

birds.

Women of all ranks wear their rofaries

in their hands whenever they go to

church, and always in fuch manner that

every body may fee them. They are a

partof their church-drefs. I am told

that it is cuftomary, amongft the lower

ranks, for the young men to prefent fine

rofaries to their fwect-hearts. Women

of whatever condition never go to churchbut with the bafquma and the mantilla on.

The bafquma is a black petticoat, com-

monly of filk, which covers their gowns

from the waift down, and the mantilla is

a muflin or cambrick veil that hides

their heads and the upper part of their

bodies. If they do not turn up their

veils, as fome of them will do both at

church and in the ftreets, it is difficult,



With regardto the men, a gentleman

generallydrefles after the French man-

ner, wearing his hat under his arm, as

they do in France. But the lower clafs

wrap

themfelves

up

to the eyes in their

capas,which are brown cloaks that reach

down to the ground.The grandees

themfelves will fometimes wear (a) thofe

ugly capas by wayof

difguife.He who

wears a capat wears alfo his hair con-

cealed under a cotton-cap, or a filk net,

and thzfombrero over ; that is, a hat with

the flaps down. But as no man is al-

lowed to enter a church, except bare-

headed, it is no lefs indecent than ridi-

culous to fee a number of them come

out of a church, and under the porch or

gate of it bufy themfelves in tying up

thofe'nets they had put in their pockets

()Since the date

ofthis letter the

K,inghas

pro-hibited to wear in Madrid the flapped hats, fa that

the bejl fort have totally left offfuck adifguife.



[ 3'7 1

as they went in, which the greateft part

of them wear until they areoffenfively

greafy.

It is notorious that the King hates to

fee a man wrapped up in a wide cloak

with a flappedhat. But his people feem

to care but little for his majefty's difap-

probationof their unfightly drefs, and

meet his

eyes

thus accoutred with the

greateftunconcernednefs. Such is the

force of inveterate cuftoms, that they

cannot even be abolimed by the frowns

of an abfolute monarch, whois

unwil-

ling to force compliance by apofitivc

command.

On the gates of many churches there

are often labels pafted up, that inform

the by-goers of what is doing within

whenever any thing is done a little more

folemn than ufual. In one of thofe la-

bels I read thefe words written in cubital

letters : Aqui ejla manifejlo elSantiffimo Sa-

"



is in view." On another I faw acatalogue

of thofe books which cannot be read

without incurring excommunication. It

is fomewhat odd, that they were all

French, and all of that clafs that cannot

do any harm with regard toreligion but

to the moft mallow readers. Few of Vol-

taire's and RoufTeau's works have efcaped

thecatalogue,

and I am told that their

names are growing no lefsterrifying in

this country, than thofe of Luther and

Calvin. Don Felix d'Abreu, who has

lived

many yearsin

England,and loft in

a good meafure the native dread of hete-

rodox books, cannot help difapproving

this Spanim method of advertifing what

is thought to deferve a prohibition. Our

grandees, fays he, will read all modifh

French authors in fpight of ourpriefts

and friars.(( The greateft part of them

'

do not care a ftraw for the anathema's" fulminated againft the readers of pro-

" hibited books. Our



[ 3'9 I

* eare not yet very fludious of

foreign"languages ; and as to our common

*'

people, they willcertainly

not trouble

"their heads about French

learning.

" Our eccleliaftic

fuperiors

are therefore

"egregioufly wrong in

inviting difobe-

" dience by their catalogues on the doors

" of churches, which ferve only to make

" known to all what would otherwife be

" known but to a few."

There is fcarcelya church in -this town

but what can boaft of fome excellent

pidlure. In the facrifty of that which is

called Los Recolletos, there are fome

which a connoiffeur would go a hundred

miles to fee, efpeciallya Mary Magda-

len fupporting a dead Chrift by Coreggto,

and a Madona with the child by Raphael.

The friar who (howed me the facriftyv

never mentioned the name of Raphael

without the previous appellation of di-

<uino. It made me fmile to find, tha*



yond the Alps. Yet it vexed me to fee

in the church of the Trinitarians a printed

declaration in favour of the Virgin's im-

maculate conception, that was ftuck with

a pin in a fine pidure attributed to Luca

Giordano.

The END of the SECOND VOLUME.



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

Los Angeles

This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.



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