A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain Volume I Part 7

The president of the council of _Arragon_ is called the vice chancellor; who is a.s.sisted by nine counsellors, and inferior officers. This council attend to the public state of the kingdom of _Arragon_, as well as to the islands of _Majorca_, _Ivica_, &c.

The council of the _Indies_ was established in 1511, for the conservation and augmentation of the new kingdoms discovered by _Columbus_ in South America, in 1492; and where the Spaniards have at this time four thousand nine hundred leagues of land, including _Mexico_ and _Peru_; land divided into many kingdoms and provinces, in which they had built, in the year 1670, upwards of eight thousand churches, and more than a thousand convents. They have there a patriarch, six arch-bishops, and thirty-two bishops, and three tribunals of the inquisition. This council is composed of a president, a grand chancellor, and twelve counsellors, a treasurer, secretary, advocates, agents, and an infinite number of inferior officers. They meet twice a week, to regulate all the affairs, both by land and sea, relative to that part of the King's dominions.

The council of the _Croisade_ is composed of a president, who is called the commissary general, and who has great privileges. The clergy are obliged to pay something annually to it; and if any one finds a purse of money in the streets, they are obliged to deliver it to the secretary of this council.

The council of _State_ is composed of men of the first birth and understanding about the court. The King presides, and is a.s.sisted by the archbishop of _Toledo_. This council is not confined to any certain number; they meet three times a week, to deliberate on the most important affairs of the kingdom.

The council of _Italy_ attends to the affairs of _Naples_, _Sicily_, and _Milan_; it is composed of a president, and six counsellors, three of whom are Spaniards, one Neapolitan, one Italian, and one Sicilian; each of which have their separate charge on the affairs of those countries.

The council of _Finances and Treasure_ is composed of a president, who is called _presidente de hazienda_, that is, superintendant of the finances; eight counsellors, and a great number of other officers, beside treasurers, controllers, &c, who have a great share of the most important affairs of the nation to regulate; they hear causes, and are not only entrusted with the treasures of the kingdom, but with administration of justice to all the king's subjects. You may easily judge what a number of officers compose this council, when I tell you, that they have twenty-six treasurers.

The council of _Flanders_ have now only the _name_; as the King of England bears that of France.--The formal manner which men, high in office or blood, observe in paying or receiving visits, is very singular: the inquisitor-general, for instance, has several black lines marked upon the floor of his anti-chamber, by which he limits the civilities he is to shew to men, according to the rank or office they bear: he has his _black_ marks for an emba.s.sador, an envoy, &c. When people of condition at Madrid propose to make a visit, it is previously announced by a page, to know the day and hour they can be received; and this ceremony is often used on ordinary visits, as well as those of a more public nature: the page too has his coach to carry him upon these errands. I have seen the account of a visit made by the Cardinal of _Arragon_ to the Admiral of _Castile_, the train of which filled the whole street; he was carried by six servants in a magnificent chair, and followed by his body coach drawn by eight mules, attended by his gentlemen, pages, esquires, all mounted on horseback, and arrayed in a most sumptuous manner. Every order of men a.s.sume an air of importance in Spain. I have been a.s.sured, that when a shoemaker has been called upon to make a pair of shoes, he would not undertake the work till he had first enquired of _Dona_, his wife, whether there was any money in the house? if she answered in the affirmative, he would not work. Even the beggars do not give up this universal privilege, as the following instance will evince:--A foreigner of fashion, who was reading in a bookseller's shop in Madrid, was accosted by one of the town beggars, who in an arrogant manner asked his charity, in terms which implied a demand rather than a favour. The stranger made no reply, nor did he take the least notice, but determined to continue reading, and dismiss the insolent beggar by his silent contempt: this encreased the beggar's hardiness; he told him, he might find time enough to read after he had attended to his request, and what he had to say. But still the gentleman read on, and disregarded his rudeness. At length, the beggar stept up to him, and with an air of the utmost insolence, at the same time taking him hold by the arm, added, What! neither charity, nor courtesy? By this time, the stranger lost all patience, and was going to correct him for his temerity:--Stop, Sir, (said the beggar, in a lower tone of voice) hear me;--pardon, me, Sir; do you not know me? No, certainly; replied the stranger, But, said he, you ought, for I was secretary to an emba.s.sy in a certain capital, where we lived together in intimacy; and then told him his name, and the particular misfortunes which had reduced him to that condition; he expressed himself with art, address, and eloquence, and succeeded in getting money from the gentleman, though he could not convince him that he was his old acquaintance.

There are in Spain an infinite number of such sort of beggars, who are men of sense and letters, and so _au fait_ in the art, that they will not be denied. The grand secret of the art of begging is in perseverance; and all the _well-bred_ part of beggars do not despair, though they have ten refusals. But the worst sort of beggars in Spain, are the troops of male and female gipsies: these are the genuine breed, and differ widely from all other human beings. In Spain I often met troops of these people; and when that interview happens in roads very distant from towns or dwellings, the interview is not very pleasing; for they ask as if they knew they were not to be refused; and, I dare say, often commit murders, when they can do it by surprize. Whenever I saw any of these people at a distance, I walked with a gun in my hand, and near to the side of my chaise, where there were pistols visible; and by shewing them I was not afraid, or, at least, making them believe so, they became afraid of us. They are extremely swarthy, with hair as black as jet; and form a very picturesque scene under the shade of those rocks and trees, where they spend their evenings; and live in a manner by no means disagreeable, in a climate so suitable to that style, where bread, water, and idleness is certainly preferable to better fare and hard labour. It is owing to this universal idleness that the roads, the inns, and every thing, but what is absolutely necessary, is neglected; yet, bad as the roads are, they are better than the _posada_, or inns. _El salir de la posada, es la mejor jornada_,--"_the best part of the journey_, say the Spaniards, _is the getting_ _out of the posada_." For as neither king nor people are at much expence to make or mend the high ways, except just about the capital cities, they are dry or wet, rough or smooth, steep or rugged, just as the weather or the soil happens to favour or befoul them.--Now, here is a riddle for your son; I know he is an adept, and will soon overtake me.

I'm rough, I'm smooth, I'm wet, I'm dry; My station's low, my t.i.tle's high; The King my lawful master is; I'm us'd by all, though only his: My common freedom's so well known, I am for that a proverb grown.

The roads in Spain are, like those in Ireland, very _narrow_, and the leagues very long. When I complained to an Irish soldier of the length of the miles, between Kinsale and Cork, he acknowledged the truth of my observation; but archly added, that though they were _long_, they were but _narrow_.--Three Spanish leagues make nearly twelve English miles; and, consequently, seventeen Spanish leagues make nearly one degree.

The bad roads, steep mountains, rapid rivers, &c. occasion most of the goods and merchandize, which are carried from one part of the kingdom to the other, to be conveyed on mule-back, and each mule has generally a driver; and as these drivers have their fixed stages from _posada_ to _posada_, so must the gentlemen travellers also, because there are no other accommodations on the roads but such houses; the stables therefore at the _posadas_ are not only very large, but the best part of the building, and is the lodging-room of man and beast; all the muleteers sleep there, with their cloaths on, upon a bundle of straw: but while your supper is preparing, the kitchen is crowded with a great number of these dirty fellows, whose cloaths are full of vermin; it would be impossible, therefore, for even a good cook to dress a dish with any decency or cleanliness, were such a cook to be found; for, exclusive of the numbers, there is generally a quarrel or two among them, and at all times a noise, which is not only tiresome, but frequently alarming.

These people, however, often carry large sums of money, and tho' they are dirty, they are not poor nor dishonest.--I was told in France, to beware of the _Catalans_; yet I frequently left many loose things in and about my chaise, where fifty people lay, and never lost any thing.

When I congratulated myself in a letter to my brother, upon finding in Wales a Gentleman of the name of Cooke, whose company, conversation, and acquaintance, were so perfectly pleasing to me; my brother observed, however, that my Welch _friend_ was not a _Welchman_, for, said he, "there are no COOKS in Wales;"--but this observation may be with more justice applied to Spain; for I think there are no COOKS in Spain; but there are, what is better, a great number of honest, virtuous men: I look upon the true, genuine Spaniards to be as respectable men as any in Europe; and that, among the lower order of them there is more honour and honesty than is to be found among more polished nations; and, I dare say, there were an hundred Spaniards at _Barcelona_, had they been as well informed about my ident.i.ty as Messrs. Curtoys and Wombwell, that would have changed my notes, or lent me money without.

_P.S._ The tour through Spain and Portugal by UDAL ap RHYS, grandfather to the now Mr. Price of Foxley in Herefordshire, abounds with more falshoods than truths; indeed I have been told it was written, as many modern travels are, over a pipe in a chimney corner: and I hope Mr.

Udal never was in Spain, as "_one fib is more excusable than a thousand_."

LETTER x.x.xIII.

NISMES.

_Monsr Anglois_ having sent me back my _pa.s.sa-porte_, signed by _Don Philipe Cabine_, the Captain-General of _Barcelona_, accompanied by a very kind and friendly letter, I determined to quit the only place in Spain which had afforded me pleasure, amus.e.m.e.nt, and delight. We accordingly sat off the next day for _Martorel_, and went to the Three Kings, where our Italian host, whose extortions I had complained of before, received us with a face of the utmost disdain; and though he had no company in his house, put us into much worse apartments than those we had been in before. I ordered something for supper, and left it to him, as he had given us a very good one before; but he was not only determined to punish us in lodging, but in eating also, and sent only four little mutton cutlets, so small, that they were not sufficient for one, instead of four persons; we pretended, however, not to perceive his insolence, that he might not enjoy our punishment; and the next day, as I was desirous of looking about me a little, we removed to another _posada_, where, about noon, a Canon of great ecclesiastical preferment arrived, with a coach, six mules, and a large retinue, to dinner: the Canon had no more the marks of a gentleman than a muleteer; and he had with him two or three persons, of no better appearance. While his dinner, a kind of _olla_, was preparing, I went into the kitchen, where the smell of the rancid oil with which it was dressed, would have dined two or three men of moderate or tender stomachs; nor had he any other dish. There was behind his coach a great quant.i.ty of bedding, bed-steads, &c. so you will perceive he travelled _comme il faut_. His livery servants were numerous, and had on very short livery coats, with large sleeves, and still shorter waists. After he had eat a dinner, enough to poison a pack of hounds, he sat off in great pomp for _Barcelona_, a city I pa.s.sed the next day with infinite pleasure, without entering its inhospitable gates; which I could not have done, had not _Mons. Anglois_ saved me that mortification by getting my _pa.s.sa porte refreshed_. I confess, Sir, that while I pa.s.sed under the fortifications of that city, which the high road made necessary, I felt, I knew not why, a terror about me, that my frame is in general a stranger to; and rather risqued two hours' night travelling, bad and dangerous as the roads were, than sleep within four leagues of it; so that it was ten o'clock before we got to _Martereau_, a little city by the sea side, where we had lodged on our way to _Barcelona_. The next day, we proceeded on the same delightful sea coast we had before pa.s.sed, and through the same rich villages, on our way to _Girone_, _Figuiere_, &c. and avoided that horrid _posada_ where the Frenchman died, by lying at a worse house, but better people: but having bought a brace of partridges, and some _red fish_ on the road, we fared sumptuously, except in beds, which were straw mattra.s.ses, very hard, and the room full of wet Indian corn; but we were no sooner out of our _posada_, than the climate and the beautiful country made ample amends for the town and _posada_ grievances.

It is contrary to the law of Spain to bring more than a certain quant.i.ty of Spanish gold or silver out of the kingdom, and I had near an hundred pounds in gold _duras_, about the size of our quarter guineas. I endeavoured to change them at _Figuiere_, but I found some very artful, I may say roguish, schemes laid, to defraud me, by a pretended difficulty to get French money, and therefore determined to proceed with it to _Jonquiere_, the last village, where it was not probable I could find so much French money. I therefore had a very large French _queue_ made up, within which the greater part of my Spanish gold was bound; and as the weight _made_ me hold up my _tete d'or_, the custom-house officers there, who remembered my entrance into Spain, found half-a-crown put into their hands less trouble than examining my baggage gratis; they accordingly _pa.s.sed_ me on my way to _Bellegarde_, without even opening it; and we found the road up to that fortress, though in the month of December, full as good as when we had pa.s.sed it in the summer; and after descending on the French side, and crossing the river, got to the little _auberge_ at _Boulon_, the same we had held too bad when we went into Spain, even to eat our breakfast at; but upon our return, worthy of a place of rest, and we accordingly staid there a week: beds with curtains, rooms with chimnies, and paper windows, though tattered and torn, were luxuries we had been unaccustomed to.--But I must not omit to tell you, that on our road down on the French side of the _Pyrenees_, two men, both armed with guns, rushed suddenly out of the woods, and making towards us, asked, whether we wanted a guard? I was walking, perhaps fortunately at that time, with my fuzee in my hand, and my servant had a double barrelled pistol in his; and therefore forbid them to approach us, and told them, we had nothing else to lose but our lives, and that if they did not retire I should look upon them as people who meant to plunder, rather than protect us: they accordingly retired into the woods, and I began to believe they had no evil intent; but finding an _Exempt_ of the _Marechaussee_ at _Boulon_, I told him what had pa.s.sed, and asked him whether his men attended upon that road, in coloured cloaths, or any others were allotted, to protect or guard travellers? He a.s.sured me there were no such people of any kind; that his men always moved on horseback, in their proper character, and suspected _our guard_ would have been very troublesome, had they found us _off our guard_; but he did not offer, nor did I ask him, to send after them, though he was a very civil, sensible man, who had been three years on duty in _Corsica_; and, consequently, his company, for the week I staid in such a poor town, was very agreeable. And as _Mons. Bernard_, or some officer of the _Marechaussee_, is always in duty at this town, I would advise those who enter into Spain, by that route, to procure a couple of those men to escorte them up to _Bellegarde_--an attention that no officer in France will refuse to shew, when it is not incompatible with his duty.

The rapid water at this town, which I had pa.s.sed going into Spain, was now lower than usual. Here too my horse, as well as his master, lived truly _in clover_; and though our habitation was humble, a habitation at the very foot of the _Pyrenees_ could not but be very beautiful; no part of France is more so; it is indeed a beautiful and n.o.ble sight, to see the hanging plantations of vines, olives, and mulberry-trees, warmed by a hot sun on the sides of those mountains, the upper parts of which are covered with a perpetual snow. But beautiful as all that part of the country is, there was not a single gentleman's house in the environs.

After a compleat week's refreshment, we proceeded to _Perpignan_ to spend our Christmas, where we found the _Chevalier de Maigny_ and his Lady, who had given us the letter of recommendation to the French Consul at _Barcelona_; who shewed us those marks of civility and politeness, French officers in general shew to strangers. There we staid a fortnight; and _Mons. de Maigny_ got me a considerable profit, in changing my Spanish gold for French.

In this town, I found an unfortunate young Irishman; he had been there three months, without a friend or a shilling in his pocket; and as he was a man of education and good breeding, I could not so soon forget my own situation at _Barcelona_, not to pity his: but what most induced me to a.s.sist him a little, was, what he feared might have had a contrary effect. When I asked him his name, he readily answered, "R--h; an unfortunate name!" said he;--"but, as it is my name, I will _wear it_."--He had a well-wisher in the town, a French watch-maker, to whom he imparted the little kindness I had shewn him; and as it was not enough to conduct him on foot to the north side of this kingdom, the generous, but poor watch-maker, gave him as much as I had done, and he sat off with a light heart, though a _thin pair of breeches_, for his own country. He had been to visit a rich relation at Madrid; and, I believe, did not meet with so cordial a reception there as he expected.

At this town I drank, at a private gentleman's house, part of a bottle of the wine made at a little village hard by, called _Rios Alto_; the most delicious wine I ever tasted: but as the spot produces but a small quant.i.ty, that which is really of the growth is very scarce, as well as dear: it has the strength of full port, with a flavour superior to burgundy.

_Perpignan_ is the princ.i.p.al city of _Rosillein_; it is well fortified, but the works are in a ruinous condition: the streets are narrow and dirty, but the Governor's, and the botanic gardens are worthy of notice: the climate is remarkably fine, and the air pure. The _Pyrenees_, which are at least fifteen miles distant, appear to hang in a manner over the town: to see so much snow, and feel so much sun, is very singular. Wood is very scarce and dear in that town: I frequently saw mules and a.s.ses loaded with rosemary and lavender bushes, to sell for firing. The barbarous language of the common people of this province, is very convenient, as they understand French, and can make themselves understood thro' a great part of Spain: from which kingdom not a day pa.s.ses but mules and carriages arrive, except when the heavy rains or snow obstruct the communication.--The mules and a.s.ses of Spain, and this part of France, are not only very useful but valuable beasts: the only way to get a valuable one of either sort from Spain, is, to fix upon the beast, and promise a round sum to one of the religious mendicants to smuggle it out of the kingdom, who covers the animal with bags, baskets, and a variety of trumpery, as if he was going into France to collect charity: and pa.s.ses either by _not_ being suspected, or by being a _Religieux_ if he is suspected.

As we took exactly the same route from _Perpignan_ to this town as we went, except leaving _Cette_ a few leagues on our left; I shall say nothing of our return, but that we relished our reception at the French inns, and the good cheer we found there, infinitely more than as we went: and that we were benighted for some hours before we got into _Montpellier_, and caught in the most dreadful storm of rain, thunder and lightning I ever was exposed to. I was obliged for two hours to hold my horse's bridle on one side, as my man did on the other, and feel with sticks for the margin of the road, as it was elevated very high above the marshy lands, and if the heel had slipped over on either side, it must have overset the chaise into the lowlands: besides which, the roaring of the water-streams was so great, that I very often thought we were upon the margin of some river or high bridge: nor was my suffering quite over even after I got into the city: I could not find my former _auberge_, nor meet with any body to direct me: and the water-spouts which fell into the middle of those narrow streets almost deluged us.--My poor horse, too, found the steep streets, slippery pavement, and tons of water which fell upon him, as much as he could well bear: but, as the old song says,

"Alas! by some degree of woe, We every bliss obtain;"

So we found a good fire and good cheer an ample recompence for our wet jackets. It was so very dark, that though I led my horse by the head above a league, I could but seldom see him: nor do I remember in my whole life to have met with any difficulty which so agitated my mind:--no: not even at the _bar of the House of Lords_, I did not dread the danger so much, as the idea of tumbling my family over a precipice, without the power to a.s.sist them; or, if they were _gone_, resolution enough to _follow them_.

END _of the_ FIRST VOLUME.