"Ca!" Said They, "The Swords Of Toledo Were Never So Good As Those
Which We Are Daily Making.
It is ridiculous enough to see
strangers coming here to purchase old swords, the greater part of
which are
Mere rubbish, and never made at Toledo, yet for such they
will give a large price, whilst they would grudge two dollars for
this jewel, which was made but yesterday"; thereupon putting into
my hand a middle-sized rapier. "Your worship," said they, "seems
to have a strong arm, prove its temper against the stone wall; -
thrust boldly and fear not."
I HAVE a strong arm and dashed the point with my utmost force
against the solid granite: my arm was numbed to the shoulder from
the violence of the concussion, and continued so for nearly a week,
but the sword appeared not to be at all blunted, or to have
suffered in any respect.
"A better sword than that," said an ancient workman, a native of
Old Castile, "never transfixed Moor out yonder on the sagra."
During my stay at Toledo, I lodged at the Posada de los Caballeros,
which signifies the inn of the gentlemen, which name, in some
respects, is certainly well deserved, for there are many palaces
far less magnificent than this inn of Toledo. By magnificence it
must not be supposed, however, that I allude to costliness of
furniture, or any kind of luxury which pervaded the culinary
department. The rooms were as empty as those of Spanish inns
generally are, and the fare, though good in its kind, was plain and
homely; but I have seldom seen a more imposing edifice. It was of
immense size, consisting of several stories, and was built
something in the Moorish taste, with a quadrangular court in the
centre, beneath which was an immense algibe or tank, serving as a
reservoir for rain-water. All the houses in Toledo are supplied
with tanks of this description, into which the waters in the rainy
season flow from the roofs through pipes. No other water is used
for drinking; that of the Tagus, not being considered salubrious,
is only used for purposes of cleanliness, being conveyed up the
steep narrow streets on donkeys in large stone jars. The city,
standing on a rocky mountain, has no wells. As for the rain-water,
it deposits a sediment in the tank, and becomes very sweet and
potable: these tanks are cleaned out: twice every year. During
the summer, at which time the heat in this part of Spain is
intense, the families spend the greater part of the day in the
courts, which are overhung with a linen awning, the heat of the
atmosphere being tempered by the coolness arising from the tank
below, which answers the same purpose as the fountain in the
southern provinces of Spain.
I spent about a week at Toledo, during which time several copies of
the Testament were disposed of in the shop of my friend the
bookseller. Several priests took it up from the mostrador on which
it lay, examined it, but made no remarks; none of them purchased
it. My friend showed me through his house, almost every apartment
of which was lined from roof to floor with books, many of which
were highly valuable. He told me that he possessed the best
collection in Spain of the ancient literature of the country. He
was, however, less proud of his library than his stud; finding that
I had some acquaintance with horses, his liking for me and also his
respect considerably increased. "All I have," said he, "is at your
service; I see you are a man after my own heart. When you are
disposed to ride out upon the sagra, you have only to apply to my
groom, who will forthwith saddle you my famed Cordovese entero; I
purchased him from the stables at Aranjuez, when the royal stud was
broken up. There is but one other man to whom I would lend him,
and that man is Flinter."
At Toledo I met with a forlorn Gypsy woman and her son, a lad of
about fourteen years of age; she was not a native of the place, but
had come from La Mancha, her husband having been cast into the
prison of Toledo on a charge of mule-stealing: the crime had been
proved against him, and in a few days he was to depart for Malaga,
with the chain of galley slaves. He was quite destitute of money,
and his wife was now in Toledo, earning a few cuartos by telling
fortunes about the streets, to support him in prison. She told me
that it was her intention to follow him to Malaga, where she hoped
to be able to effect his escape. What an instance of conjugal
affection; and yet the affection here was all on one side, as is
too frequently the case. Her husband was a worthless scoundrel,
who had previously abandoned her and betaken himself to Madrid,
where he had long lived in concubinage with the notorious she-thug
Aurora, at whose instigation he had committed the robbery for which
he was now held in durance. "Should your husband escape from
Malaga, in what direction will he fly?" I demanded.
"To the chim of the Corahai, my son; to the land of the Moors, to
be a soldier of the Moorish king."
"And what will become of yourself?" I inquired; "think you that he
will take you with him?"
"He will leave me on the shore, my son, and as soon as he has
crossed the black pawnee, he will forget me and never think of me
more."
"And knowing his ingratitude, why should you give yourself so much
trouble about him?"
"Am I not his romi, my son, and am I not bound by the law of the
Cales to assist him to the last? Should he return from the land of
the Corahai at the end of a hundred years, and should find me
alive, and should say, I am hungry, little wife, go forth and steal
or tell bahi, I must do it, for he is the rom and I the romi."
On my return to Madrid, I found the despacho still open:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 142 of 218
Words from 144351 to 145395
of 222596
