The Genoese,
On The Contrary, Spoke Little, For Which He Might Have Assigned A
Good Reason; He Had Lived Thirty Years In Spain, And Had Forgotten
His Own Language Without Acquiring Spanish, Which He Spoke Very
Imperfectly.
We found Coruna full of bustle and life, owing to the arrival of
the English squadron.
On the following day, however, it departed,
being bound for the Mediterranean on a short cruise, whereupon
matters instantly returned to their usual course.
I had a depot of five hundred Testaments at Coruna, from which it
was my intention to supply the principal towns of Galicia.
Immediately on my arrival I published advertisements, according to
my usual practice, and the book obtained a tolerable sale - seven or
eight copies per day on the average. Some people, perhaps, on
perusing these details, will be tempted to exclaim, "These are
small matters, and scarcely worthy of being mentioned." But let
such bethink them, that till within a few months previous to the
time of which I am speaking, the very existence of the gospel was
almost unknown in Spain, and that it must necessarily be a
difficult task to induce a people like the Spaniards, who read very
little, to purchase a work like the New Testament, which, though of
paramount importance to the soul, affords but slight prospect of
amusement to the frivolous and carnally minded. I hoped that the
present was the dawning of better and more enlightened times, and
rejoiced in the idea that Testaments, though but few in number,
were being sold in unfortunate benighted Spain, from Madrid to the
furthermost parts of Galicia, a distance of nearly four hundred
miles.
Coruna stands on a peninsula, having on one side the sea, and on
the other the celebrated bay, generally called the Groyne. It is
divided into the old and new town, the latter of which was at one
time probably a mere suburb. The old town is a desolate ruinous
place, separated from the new by a wide moat. The modern town is a
much more agreeable spot, and contains one magnificent street, the
Calle Real, where the principal merchants reside. One singular
feature of this street is, that it is laid entirely with flags of
marble, along which troop ponies and cars as if it were a common
pavement.
It is a saying amongst the inhabitants of Coruna, that in their
town there is a street so clean, that puchera may be eaten off it
without the slightest inconvenience. This may certainly be the
fact after one of those rains which so frequently drench Galicia,
when the appearance of the pavement of the street is particularly
brilliant. Coruna was at one time a place of considerable
commerce, the greater part of which has latterly departed to
Santander, a town which stands a considerable distance down the Bay
of Biscay.
"Are you going to Saint James, Giorgio? If so, you will perhaps
convey a message to my poor countryman," said a voice to me one
morning in broken English, as I was standing at the door of my
posada, in the royal street of Coruna.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 197 of 424
Words from 103521 to 104042
of 222596
