1084 
Guadaramas is of a much superior 
and more salubrious quality, being 
not so subject to the dangerous ex- 
tremes of heat and cold, and much 
oftener refreshed with showers, the 
great desideratum, for which the 
‘monks of Madrid so frequently im- 
portune their poor helpless saint 
Isidore, and make him feel their 
vengeance, whilst for months toge- 
ther the unrelenting clouds will not 
credit him with a single drop of 
rain. : 
‘¢ Upon our road this day.we 
purchased three lambs, at the price of 
two pisettes (shillings) apiece, and, 
little as it was, we hardly could be 
said to have had value for our mo- 
ney. Our worthy Marchetti, be- 
ing an excellent engineer, roasted 
them whole with surprising expedi- 
tion and address in a kitchen and at 
a fire, which would have puzzled 
all the resources of a French cook 
and which no English scullion would 
have approached in her very worst 
apparel.—A crew of Catalonian 
carriers, at Torrequemara, disputed 
our exclusive title to the fire, and 
with their arvoz a la Valejnezana 
would soon have ruined our roast, 
if our gallant provider had not put 
aside his capa, and displayed his 
two epaulets, to which military in- 
signia the sturdy interlopers instant- 
ly deferred. 
‘6 ‘There is excellent morality to 
be learnt in a journey of this sort. 
A supper at Villa Rodrigo is a bet- 
ter corrective for fastidiousness: and 
false delicacy, than all that Seneca 
or Epictetus can administer, and if 
a traveller in Spain will carry jus- 
tice and fortitude about him, the 
Calasseros will teach him patience, 
and the Posadas will enure him to 
temperance ; having these four car- 
dinal virtues in possession, he has 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1806. 
the whole: all Tully’s offices can- 
not tind a fifth. ‘ 
s¢ On the seventh day of our tra- 
vel we kept the pleasant Douro still 
in sight, Surely this river plays his 
natural sovercign a slippery trick 5 
rises in Galficia, is nourished and 
maintained in his course through — 
Spain, and as soon as he is become 
mature in depth and size for trade 
and navigation, deserts, and throws 
himself into the service of Portugal. 
This is the case with the Tagus also: 
this river affords the Catholic King 
a little angling for small fry at Aran. 
juez, and at Lisbon becomes a mag. 
nificent harbour to give wealth and 
splendour to a kingdom. The 
Oporto wines, that grow upon the 
banks of the Douro in its renegado 
course, find a ready and most pro- 
fitable vent in England, whilst the 
vineyards of Castile languish from 
want of a purchaser, and in some 
years are absolutely cast away, as 
not paying for the labour of mak- 
ing them into wine. 
“6 The city and castle of Burgos 
are well situated on the banks of the 
river Relancon, ‘Two fine stone 
bridges are thrown over that stream, 
and several plantations of young 
trees line the road as you approach 
it. The country is well watcred, 
and the heights furnish excellent 
pasture for sheep, being of a light 
downy soil. The cathedral church 
of Burgos deserves the notice and 
admiration of every traveller, and 
it was with sincere regret I found 
myself at leisure to devote no more 
than one hour to an edifice, that re- 
quires a day to examine it within © 
side and without. It is of that or- 
der of Gothic, which is most pro-+ 
fusely ornamented and enriched ; 
the towers are crowned with spires 
of pierced: stone-work, ‘raised upou 
3 arches, 
