Bridges and Women 



gave us what we wanted to drink, I was indifferent what the 

 regular price might be, 



"Oh ! " said he, "if you hajVe more money than you want, 

 you might give it away to more deserving men than those 

 rogues the venteros^ who rob many more honest men in their 

 time than do the regular bandits of the highway. But one 

 ought not to be too hard upon them, poor fellows ; they 

 live in constant temptation to be rogues, and their con- 

 science gets as much trodden under foot and worn away as 

 the stone step at their threshold." 



We passed a bridge with a very high pointed arch, which 

 he said he had always admired as peculiarly graceful. 

 " Yes," we replied, " but it is not so convenient as a flatter 

 one ; for you have to go up and down a very steep hill on 

 either side." 



" Beauty and convenience," he rejoined, " are seldom 

 compatible. In that respect a bridge resembles a woman ; 

 all are dangerous, and the beautiful are less convenient and 

 useful than the plain ; but, still, without a bridge and a 

 woman, you cannot pass your river or your life ; unless you 

 ford the one wet-shod, or pass the other uncomfortably as a 

 bachelor." 



As he talked and walked away at a great pace, the day 

 growing hotter and hotter, he got out of breath ; and as we 

 had to reach the Venta de Cegri, which was, for us, a good 

 day's journey from Granada ; and we had been going slower 

 than usual, for the sake of Mr. Vigil's company, we now 

 thanked him for the same, and said we must pass on, and 

 we hoped he would overtake us where we should stop to 

 bait. He thanked us for our cortesla y filantropia (courtesy 

 and philanthropy), and bid us go with God. 



It is striking to us, who are accustomed to connect the 

 use of complicated Latinised words with a studious classical 



238 



