Spanish
life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
-
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain.
Life
in Spain:-
I've been reading a book published in 1792 and entitled:-
A JOURNEY THROUGH S P J
I N IN THE YEARS I786 AND I787; WITH PARTICULAR ATTENTION • TO THE
AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, COMMERCE, POPULATION, TAXES, AND REVENUE
OF F H A r C O U N F R Ti AND • REMARKS ■ IK PASSIXG 'through
PART OF FRANCE. By JOSEPH TOWNSEND, A. M. RECTOR OF PEWSEY, WILTS;
AND LATE OF CLARE-HALL, CAMBRIDGE.
Of course, that's not the way it was originally written; it's the way a computer had rendered the original text to the best of its ability. As you'll appreciate, it's not an easy read. Here's another short example:-
t B ^HE morning after
my arrival I exJL amined my letters. Among the perfons of diftindlion
and authority, to whom I was recommended, I judged, as an
ecclefiaftic, my lird: attention to be due to the archbhliop, and
therefore I haftened early to his palace. He received me with
politenefs, permitted me to kifs his ring[!], made me fit down, and
then, having read my letter, he told me, that as long as I continued
at Seville I muft dine every day with him, unlefs when I fliould be
more agreeably engaged.
Anyway, Townsend was an ardent free-trader who was horrified by the attitude of the Spanish government - national and local - towards trade and commerce. Going so far as to say:- No country ever
invented a more ruinous system of finance, or one less friendly to
manufactures and to commerce. And: Among a great variety
of causes producing this effect, and itself the genuine offspring of
bad government, is the want of a free market. It's a theme to which he constantly returns as he meticulously researches and records data - and attitudes! - around the country. Frankly, when you observe the curb-ful attitude of the Spanish government towards developments such as Google, Airbnb, Blabla car and Uber, you're force to wonder whether much has changed. And then there are the cartels and the medieval guilds such as those of the pharmacists. . . .
But back to Townsend . . . It can be rather boring to plough through his observations and lists but, from time to time, there are gems like this report of an Inquisition trial in Sevilla not long before he'd arrived there. Of a man charged with using an early version of female viagra or rohypnol so that he could take advantage of numerous women. I have, of course, gone to the trouble of correcting the computer's pathetic efforts at reproduction:-
The principal actor in
this farce was Ignacio Rodriguez, a beggar. The first profession of
this man was arms ; but of his conduct in that line little has
transpired. It is certain, that he was with count 0‘Reilly in the
unfortunate expedition against Algiers, where he was wounded in the
leg. In consequence of this he was discharged as an invalid, and had
an offer of the usual pension; but he chose rather to cast himself on the public, and to enjoy his liberty, than to be lost in obscurity
with his companions. For
this purpose, he was careful to keep his wound from healing ; and, such was his address, that he procured a comfortable living, or
rather, as it appeared, fared sumptuously every day.
After some years, he
was so unfortunate as to attract the attention of D. Bernardo
Cantero, the intendant general of the police, who, seeing him from
day to day, inquired for what reason he kept his wound open, and
ordered him to have it healed. Rodriguez, not knowing to whom he spoke, replied with insolence, “I ask alms, and not advice.”
This ill-timed answer proved his ruin.
The intendant, struck
with his appearance, and offended with his insolence, watched him,
and having observed something uncommon in a long conversation between him and a female, called Juliana Lopez, caused her to be followed,
and arrested. This woman, although artful, being taken by surprise,
was confused, and soon confessed, that the paper she had delivered
to the beggar contained some materials for making love powder. On
this evidence Rodriguez was taken into custody, with a female named
Angela Barrios, who, being a woman of inferior talents was employed only in commissions of no great importance.
All three being committed to the common jail, were frequently
questioned, and the result of their examination was laid before the
king, who, by the advice of his confessor, referred the matter to the
inquisitors. In consequence of this the prisoners were removed, and
confined in the prison of the inquisition.
No tribunal has such
advantages in tracing out the truth[!]. Nor can any other investigate a
dark transaction with such a certainty of success as this court[!].
Unfettered by forms[!], and not limited for time, they are at liberty to
bring whom they please before them, to take them from their beds in
the the middle of the
night, to examine them by surprise, to terrify their imaginations, to
torment their bodies, to stretch them on the rack, and to cross
examine them at distant periods. With these advantages, the impostor
was made to confess the whole of his practices, with all the most minute particulars, and the names of the parties to whom he had sold
his powder. He explained, in his confession, the materials of which
he had composed it; but these, to a modest ear, should never have
been mentioned; and he acknowledged, that every female, after taking
it, had been obliged to grant him whatever he chose to ask, without
which the charm was to have no effect. Whenever he administered it, he
muttered some necromantic formula, that he might give an air of
mystery to the transaction, and inspire the mind with confidence in
its success.
Juliana Lopez, his
associate, served him as an emissary and a panegyrist ; and that she might in all respects lend herself to his views and to his wishes,
she hired a convenient garden, to which he might retire at all seasons, whenever it suited his convenience.
Angela Barrios acted
as a servant to the others, and being of a weak understanding, was
never admitted to their confidence. Fidelity and silence on her part
were sometimes however requisite, and in these she never failed.
The process, according
to custom, contained the most minute particulars. Their crimes were
proved by a multitude of testimonies, and their guilt was confirmed
by their own confessions. From these it appeared, that his powder was
administered to persons of all ranks; and one of the inquisitors has since informed me that many ladies of high station in Madrid were
duped by him, although out of tenderness their names had been
concealed.
When the process was
gone through, the judges resolved to celebrate an Auto de Fe -
publicly in the church of the Padres del Salvador, but the king would
not consent that the nuns of S. Domingo should lose their privilege
of having the Auto in their church. The inquisitors gave way, but sent a request, that the nuns might not be admitted to the grate,
lest their ears should be offended, and the purity of their
imaginations should be defiled. This message had the effect, which
might have been
expected. Their
curiosity was the more excited, and of all the nuns four only were
absent from the grate.
On the day appointed,
at six in the morning, the people began to assemble in the street of
the inquisition, and the troops took their station to preserve good
order. About eight the beggar left his dungeon, leaning on his
crutches, and attended by a capuchin friar of no respectable
appearance,
named Father Cardenas.
As soon as he appeared in court, he fell upon his knees before one of
the inquisitors, who with the greatest mildness and gentleness
addressed him thus: “ My son, you are going to hear the relation of
your crimes, and the sentence pronounced for the expiation of your
guilt. Our lenience is great, because our holy tribunal, always most
indulgent, seeks rather to reform than to punish. Let your sorrow
flow from your confessions of guilt, and not from a sense of the
disgrace you suffer.”
This exhortation ended,
which is the same, even when the criminal is committed to to the
flames, they proceeded to throw over the shoulder of the beggar his san bcnito, or more properly his saco benedito being the sackcloth
with S. Andrew’s cross, anciently worn by penitents. On his head
they placed the cap with serpents, lizards, and blackbeetles, a green
candle in his hand, and round his neck a halter. To Juliana Lopez
the same speech was made, and when she had been clothed in familar
attire, she stood, although not with equal confidence, near to her
companion.
Last of all came forth
Angela Barrios, who, trembling and bathed in tears, fell down upon
her knees, and begged the inquisitors to spare her life. She was
answered, that the holy tribunal was not accustomed to put any one
to death[??]; that they would do her no harm; and that as her offence
was not equal to that of her companions, they had not even provided
for her a san benito, the disgraceful badge, by which all, who have
worn it, are rendered, with their families, infamous for ever.
When everything was
thus arranged, the procession began to move. In front marched soldiers to clear his way; then appeared the standard of the holy
office, supported by alguazils, and followed by familiars, With the
learned doctors of the inquisition next advanced the beggar, supported by his crutches, and attended by two secretaries, who
carried the whole process in a box lined with velvet; and the little
capuchin, as confessor, with the Marquis of Cogolludo, foil to the
Duke of Medina Coeli, of the blood royal, and the first nobleman in
Spain, as alguazil mayor, brought up the rear.
No sooner had the
pageant entered the church than mass began; after which they read
the process in the hearing of the whole assembly, which consisted of
the principal nobility, with all the ladies of the court, who had
been invited by la Marquesa de Cogolludo, and sat with her on a stage raised for this
occasion. The secretaries were frequently interrupted in reading by loud bursts of laughter, in which the beggar joined. The mirth was,
however, in some cases, attended with a degree of trepidation, when
in the process circumstances were related in which ladies who were
present had been concerned and who expected every moment to be
named.
After the whole of the
process had been read, the chief inquisitor rang a little bell, and
the prisoners drew nigh to hear their sentence. That of Ignacio
Rodriguez was, to be whipped through the streets of Madrid, to be
instructed and fortified in the mysteries of the catholic faith by a spiritual guide appointed by the court,
with whom he was to go through holy exercises for one month, failing[?] on the Fridays on bread and water; and at the end of this period he
was to make a general confession. He was to be five years shut up in
the penitentiary house of Toledo, and afterwards to be banished
for ever from Madrid
and from the royal mansions, with an obligation to inform the holy
office wherever he should happen to reside. The sentence of the other
was not so severe.
The whole ceremony
ended about three in the afternoon.
The day following, the
beggar, naked down to his waist, was mounted on an ass, attended by
the Marquis of Cogolludo. Thus accompanied, the impostor was
conducted through the streets, but without receiving any stripes and as he proceeded, he was frequently refreshed by his friends
with biscuits and wine; while many, who knew not the nature of his offence, thinking him a
heretic, cried out, viva la Virgen Maria Purisima, to which he
replied, Por me que viva.
This ceremony ended,
the Marchioness of Cogolludo gave a grand entertainment to the judges
and officers of the inquisition. [Well, why not?]
Townsend ends his account with this observation: Had it been the
intention of the king to make the inquisition, preparatory to its
abolition, contemptible in the eyes of the whole nation, he could not
have taken any step more effectual for the purpose, than he did, when
he called upon that tribunal to examine into offences, which should
have been infinitely below its notice, and to appear in the
procession with a wretch, who should have been punished in secret by
the vilest minister of justice. Others have given the history of this execrable tribunal,
both as to its origin and progress, together with the form of its
proceedings, and cruel treatment of its prisoners.
Townsend might also have been thinking of the poor women - 'of all ranks' - who must have sat in terror of being identified as the details emerged. To much laugher.
Today's cartoon:-
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| I had a feeling it was going to be one of those days |
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