I myself was so excited that I involuntarily shouted
"misericordia," and so did many others.
God was not thought of;
Christ was not thought of; only the priest was thought of, for he
seemed at that moment to be the first being in existence, and to
have the power of opening and shutting the gates of heaven or of
hell, just as he should think proper. A striking instance of the
successful working of the Popish system, whose grand aim has ever
been to keep people's minds as far as possible from God, and to
centre their hopes and fears in the priesthood. The execution of
the second culprit was precisely similar; he ascended the scaffold
a few minutes after his brother had breathed his last.
I have visited most of the principal capitals of the world, but
upon the whole none has ever so interested me as this city of
Madrid, in which I now found myself. I will not dwell upon its
streets, its edifices, its public squares, its fountains, though
some of these are remarkable enough: but Petersburg has finer
streets, Paris and Edinburgh more stately edifices, London far
nobler squares, whilst Shiraz can boast of more costly fountains,
though not cooler waters. But the population! Within a mud wall,
scarcely one league and a half in circuit, are contained two
hundred thousand human beings, certainly forming the most
extraordinary vital mass to be found in the entire world; and be it
always remembered that this mass is strictly Spanish.
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