1831.] Spatiish Hig/uvai^s and Bijwaijs. 6;") 7 



lean subsistence it must be, if we may judge by the physiognomy of its 

 inhabitants. 



On my return to IMadrid, I found the citizens illuminating, partly in 

 honour of the Holy Virgin, whose feast it happened to be on that day, 

 but more particularly to celebrate the event of the French troops ob- 

 taining an advantage over their countrymen, by storming and t;iking 

 the Trocadero at Cadiz. The Duke of Reggio reviewed eleven thousand 

 French troops, and a corps of two thousand Spaniards, under the com- 

 mand of general Quesada. The gallant general looked much more like 

 a clown than a commander, and the appearance of the troops was quite 

 in keeping with their leader. I have had several opportunities of seeing 

 these Royalist coi'ps. Once, at Segovia, I witnessed a gathering of two 

 thousand of these gentlemen, commanded by a priest named Jlarino. All 

 the respectable inhabitants of the town were sent to jail, charged with 

 entertaining liberal opinions ; and in their dungeons were obliged to 

 answer the contributions levied by this professor of Christianity to keep 

 his ragamuffins from plundering the town. I think I never but once in 

 my life beheld a more ill-looking set of fellows, and that Avas when, in 

 an evil moment, my curiosity tempted me to visit the camp of the Baron 

 d'EroIes, at Perpignan. It seemed to me as though Spain had been 

 ransacked for ruffians, and that the Baron d'Eroles commanded the elite. 

 The fellows looked beyond description savage and hungry, as though a 

 well-fed passenger would have been a bonne bouche to them. I thought 

 myself lucky in escaping with my life. 



IMadrid was rather dull at this period, and I accepted an invitation 

 from a friend at Guadalaxara, whence I determined on an excursion to 

 Sarragossa, by a route which few travellers had explored. I was 

 stimulated to this adventure, as I understood my old servant iManuel was 

 then on duty in the neighbouring mountains as a mountain guard, and 

 I was well aware that he Avas acquainted with every by-road in that 

 part of the country. I sent for him, and a most grotesque figure he 

 was. His cap was made of a wolf's skin ; his jacket and trowsers were 

 of the hides of other animals. He wore sandals on his feet ; and a cloak, 

 a firelock, and a huge dog, completed his equipment. He was de- 

 lighted with my proposal, and I gave him money to enable him to change 

 his costume. 



The next day Rlanuel was a very different sort of person ; — he was 

 drest in a good blue jacket and trowsers, and a round hat ornamented 

 with a red cockade. His chin, which on the preceding day had been 

 graced by an enormous beard, was as smooth as a dancing-master's ; and 

 nothing remained of his former cosUiine but his cloak, his dog, and his 

 gun. My horse was laden with all the little stores which I knew we 

 could not procure on the road which we were about to traverse, and thus 

 equipped we started on our journey. 



-We reached Torica, three leagues distant, on the same afternoon ; 

 crossing a delightful country, abounding in corn and olives. Formerly, 

 it must have been a place of consequence. On a hill stand the ruins of 

 a castle, which in days of yore connnanded the grand pass from IMadrid 

 to Arragon and Catalonia. Almost every village in Spain has its castle 

 and mouldering monuments of better days, — of many, the history is 

 known and preserved ; but of more, every record has perished, except 

 the gray walls, and the ivy which covers tliem. Tiie solitary posada 

 was entirely occupied by muleteers, and we were obliged to sleep under 



