THE following winter, my friend, George Cayley, was orderedto the south for his health. He went to Seville. I joinedhim there; and we took lodgings1 and remained till the spring.
As Cayley published an amusing account of our travels, 'LasAforjas, or the Bridle2 Roads of Spain,' as this is more thanfifty years ago - before the days of railways and tourists -and as I kept no journal of my own, I will make free use ofhis.
A few words will show the terms we were on.
I had landed at Cadiz, and had gone up the Guadalquivir in asteamer, whose advent3 at Seville my friend was on the look-out for. He describes his impatience4 for her arrival. Bysome mistake he is misinformed as to the time; he is aquarter of an hour late.
'A remnant of passengers yet bustled6 around the luggage,arguing, struggling and bargaining with a contentious7 companyof porters. Alas8! H. was not to be seen among them. Therewas still a chance; he might be one of the passengers who hadgot ashore9 before my coming down, and I was preparing to rushback to the city to ransack10 the hotels. Just then aninternal convulsion shook the swarm11 around the luggage pile;out burst a little Gallego staggering under a huge Britishportmanteau, and followed by its much desired, and now almostdespaired of, proprietor12.
'I saw him come bowling13 up the slope with his familiar gait,evidently unconscious of my presence, and wearing that sturdyand almost hostile demeanour with which a true Briton marchesinto a strange city through the army of officiousimportunates who never fail to welcome the true Briton'sarrival. As he passed the barrier he came close to me in thecrowd, still without recognising me, for though straightbefore his nose I was dressed in the costume of the people.
I touched his elbow and he turned upon me with a look ofimpatient defiance14, thinking me one persecutor15 more.
'How quickly the expression changed, etc., etc. We rushedinto each other's arms, as much as the many great coats slungover his shoulders, and the deep folds of cloak in which Iwas enveloped16, would mutually permit. Then, saying more thana thousand things in a breath, or rather in no breath at all,we set off in great glee for my lodgings, forgetting in theexcitement the poor little porter who was following at fulltrot, panting and puffing17 under the heavy portmanteau. Wegot home, but were no calmer. We dined, but could not eat.
We talked, but the news could not be persuaded to come outquick enough.'
Who has not known what is here described? Who does not envythe freshness, the enthusiasm, of such bubbling of warm younghearts? Oh, the pity of it! if these generous emotionsshould prove as transient as youth itself. And then, whenone of those young hearts is turned to dust, and one is leftto think of it - why then, 'tis not much comfort to reflectthat - nothing in the world is commoner.
We got a Spanish master and worked industriously18, also pickedup all the Andalusian we could, which is as much like pureCastilian as wold-Yorkshire is to English. I also tooklessons on the guitar. Thus prepared, I imitated my friendand adopted the ordinary costume of the Andalusian peasant:
breeches, ornamented19 with rows of silvered buttons, gaiters,a short jacket with a red flower-pot and blue lily on theback, and elbows with green and scarlet20 patterns, a red FAJAor sash, and the sombrero which I believe is worn nowhereexcept in the bull-ring. The whole of this picturesque21 dressis now, I think, given up. I have spent the last two wintersin the south of Spain, but have not once seen it.
It must not be supposed that we chose this 'get-up' togratify any aesthetic22 taste of our own or other people's; itwas long before the days of the 'Too-toos,' whom Mr. Gilbertbrought to a timely end. We had settled to ride throughSpain from Gibraltar to Bayonne, choosing always the bridle-roads so as to avoid anything approaching a beaten track. Wewere to visit the principal cities and keep more or less anortherly course, staying on the way at such places asMalaga, Cordova, Toledo, Madrid, Valladolid, and Burgos. Therest was to be left to chance. We were to take no map; andwhen in doubt as to diverging23 roads, the toss of a coin wasto settle it. This programme was conscientiously24 adhered to.
The object of the dress then was obscurity. For safety(brigands abounded) and for economy, it was desirable to passunnoticed. We never knew in what dirty POSADA or road-sideVENTA we should spend the night. For the most part it was atthe resting-place of the muleteers, which would be nothingbut a roughly paved dark chamber25, one end occupied by mulesand the other by their drivers. We made our own omelets andsalad and chocolate; with the exception of the never failingBACALLAO, or salt fish, we rarely had anything else; androlling ourselves into our cloaks, with saddles for pillows,slept amongst the muleteers on the stone flags. We hadbought a couple of ponies26 in the Seville market for 7L. and8L. Our ALFORJAS or saddlebags contained all we needed. Ourportmanteaus were sent on from town to town, wherever we hadarranged to stop. Rough as the life was, we saw the peopleof Spain as no ordinary travellers could hope to see them.
The carriers, the shepherds, the publicans, the travellingmerchants, the priests, the barbers, the MOLINERAS ofAntequera, the Maritornes', the Sancho Panzas - all just asthey were seen by the immortal27 knight28.
From the MOZOS DE LA CUADRA (ostlers) and ARRIEROS, upwardsand downwards29, nowhere have I met, in the same class, withsuch natural politeness. This is much changed for the worsenow; but before the invasion of tourists one never passed aman on the road who did not salute30 one with a 'Vaya usted conDios.' Nor would the most indigent31 vagabond touch the filthyBACALLAO which he drew from his wallet till he hadcourteously addressed the stranger with the formula 'Quiereusted comer?' ('Will your Lordship please to eat?') Thecontrast between the people and the nobles in this respectwas very marked. We saw something of the latter in the clubat Seville, where one met men whose high-sounding names andtitles have come down to us from the greatest epochs ofSpanish history. Their ignorance was surprising. Not one ofthem had been farther than Madrid. Not one of them knew aword of any language but his own, nor was he acquainted withthe rudiments32 even of his country's history. Theirconversation was restricted to the bull-ring and the cockpit,to cards and women. Their chief aim seemed to be to staggerus with the number of quarterings they bore upon theirescutcheons; and they appraised33 others by a like estimate.
Cayley, tickled34 with the humour of their childish vanity,painted an elaborate coat of arms, which he stuck in thecrown of his hat, and by means of which he explained to themthat he too was by rights a Spanish nobleman. With theutmost gravity he delivered some such medley35 as this: HisIberian origin dated back to the time of Hannibal, who, afterhis defeat of the Papal forces and capture of Rome, had, asthey well knew, married Princess Peri Banou, youngestdaughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. The issue of themarriage was the famous Cardinal36 Chicot, from whom he -George Cayley - was of direct male descent. When Chicot wasslain by Oliver Cromwell at the battle of Hastings, hisdescendants, foiled in their attempt to capture England withthe Spanish Armada, settled in the principality of Yorkshire,adopted the noble name of Cayley, and still governed thatprovince as members of the British Parliament.
From that day we were treated with every mark of distinction.
Here is another of my friend's pranks37. I will let Cayleyspeak; for though I kept no journal, we had agreed to write ajoint account of our trip, and our notebooks were commonproperty.
After leaving Malaga we met some beggars on the road, to oneof whom, 'an old hag with one eye and a grizzly38 beard,' Ithrew the immense sum of a couple of 2-cuarto pieces. An oldman riding behind us on an ass5 with empty panniers, seeingfortunes being scattered39 about the road with such recklessand unbounded profusion40, came up alongside, and entered intoa piteous detail of his poverty. When he wound up with plainbegging, the originality41 and boldness of the idea of amounted beggar struck us in so humorous a light that we couldnot help laughing. As we rode along talking his case over,Cayley said, 'Suppose we rob him. He has sold his marketproduce in Malaga, and depend upon it, has a pocketful ofmoney.' We waited for him to come up. When he got fairlybetween us, Cayley pulled out his revolver (we both carriedpistols) and thus addressed him:
'Impudent old scoundrel! stand still. If thou stirr'st handor foot, or openest thy mouth, I will slay42 thee like a dog.
Thou greedy miscreant43, who art evidently a man of propertyand hast an ass to ride upon, art not satisfied withouttrying to rob the truly poor of the alms we give them.
Therefore hand over at once the two dollars for which thouhast sold thy cabbages for double what they were worth.'
The old culprit fell on his knees, and trembling violently,prayed Cayley for the love of the Virgin44 to spare him.
'One moment, CABALLEROS,' he cried, 'I will give you all Ipossess. But I am poor, very poor, and I have a sick wife atthe disposition45 of your worships.'
'Wherefore art thou fumbling46 at thy foot? Thou carriest notthy wife in thy shoe?'
'I cannot untie47 the string - my hand trembles; will yourworships permit me to take out my knife?'
He did so, and cutting the carefully knotted thong48 of aleather bag which had been concealed49 in the leg of hisstocking, poured out a handful of small coin and began toweep piteously.
Said Cayley, 'Come, come, none of that, or we shall feel itour duty to shoot thy donkey that thou may'st have somethingto whimper for.'
The genuine tears of the poor old fellow at last touched theheart of the jester.
'We know now that thou art poor,' said he, 'for we have takenall thou hadst. And as it is the religion of the Ingleses,founded on the practice of their celebrated50 saint, RobinoHoodo, to levy51 funds from the rich for the benefit of theneedy, hold out thy sombero, and we will bestow52 a trifle uponthee.'
So saying he poured back the plunder53; to which was added, tothe astonishment54 of the receiver, some supplementary55 piecesthat nearly equalled the original sum.
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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bustled
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| 闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促 | |
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contentious
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| adj.好辩的，善争吵的 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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ransack
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| v.彻底搜索，洗劫 | |
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swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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persecutor
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| n. 迫害者 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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industriously
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ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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aesthetic
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| adj.美学的，审美的，有美感 | |
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diverging
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| 分开( diverge的现在分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳 | |
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conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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indigent
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的 | |
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rudiments
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| n.基础知识，入门 | |
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appraised
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| v.估价( appraise的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；估量；评价 | |
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tickled
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| （使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
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medley
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| n.混合 | |
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cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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grizzly
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| adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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41
originality
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| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
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42
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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43
miscreant
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| n.恶棍 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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45
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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46
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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untie
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| vt.解开，松开；解放 | |
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48
thong
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| n.皮带；皮鞭；v.装皮带 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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50
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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51
levy
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| n.征收税或其他款项，征收额 | |
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52
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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53
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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54
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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55
supplementary
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| adj.补充的，附加的 | |
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