1082 
lustrious lady was just now under a 
temporary cloud, for having been 
party in a frolic with the young 
and animated duchess of Aiva, who 
had ventured to exhibit her fair per- 
son'on the public parade, in the 
character of postilion to her own 
equipage, whilst Torre-Manzauares 
mounted the box as coachman, and 
other gallant spirits tuok their sta- 
tions behind as footmen, all habited 
in the splendid blue and silver live- 
ries of the house of Alva.—In some 
countries a whimlike this would bave 
passed off with eclat, in many with 
impunity, but in Spain, under the 
government of a moral and decorous 
monarch, it was regarded in so 
grave a light, that, although the 
great lady postilion escaped with a 
reprimand, the lady coachman was 
sent to her castle at a distance from 
the capital, and doomed to do pe- 
nance in solitude and obscurity. 
‘¢ We were now in the country 
for the Spanish wool, and this place 
being a considerable mart for that 
valuable article, is furnished with a 
very Jarge and commodious shearing 
house.—We slept at a poor littte 
village called San Chidrian$ and be- 
ing obliged to change our quarters 
on account of other travellers, who 
had been before-hand with us, we 
were fain to pnt up with the wretch- 
ed accommodations -of a very 
wretched posada. 
‘¢ The third day’s journey pre- 
sented to us a fine champaign coun- 
try, abounding in corn and well 
peopled. Leaving the town of Are- 
belo, which made a respectable ap- 
pearance on our right, we procceded 
to Almedo, a very remarkable 
place, being surrounded with a 
Moorish wall and towers, in very 
tolerable . preservation; Almedo 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1806. 
also has a fine convent and a hand- 
some church. 
‘* The fourth day’s journey, be- 
ing March the 27th, still led us 
us through a fair country, rich in 
corn and wine. The river Adaga 
runs through a grove of pines, in @ 
deep channel, very romantic, wan- 
dering through a large tract of vine- 
yards without fences. 
was serene and fresh, and gave us 
spirits to enjoy the scenery, which 
was new and striking. We dined 
at Valdestillas, a mean little town, 
and in the evening reached Vallado- 
lid, where bigotry may be said to 
have established its head-quarters. 
The gate of the city, which is of 
modern construction, consists of © 
three arches of equal span, and that 
very narrow; the centre of these is 
elevated with a tribune, and upon 
that is placed a pedestrian statue of 
Carlos ILf. This gate delivers you 
into a spacious square, surrounded 
by convents and churches, and pass~ 
ing this, which offers nothing at- 
tractive to dclay you, you enter the 
old gate of the city, newly painted 
in bad fresco, and ornamented with 
an equestrian statue of the reigning 
king, with a Latin inscription, very 
just to his virtues, but very little to 
the honour of the writer of it. You 
now find yourself in one of the most 
gloomy, desolate, and dirty towns 
that can be conceived, the great 
square much resembling that of the 
Plaza-mayor, in Madrid, the houses 
painted in grotesque fresco, despica- 
bly executed, and the whole in mi- 
serable condition. I was informed 
that the convents amount to between 
thirty and forty. —There is both an 
English and a Scottish college; the . 
former under the government of ' 
doctor Shepherd, a man of very 
agreeable 
The weather © 
