The Reader Occasionally Called Upon Me To Explain
Passages Which, As They Referred To Particular Texts Of Scripture,
He Did Not Exactly Understand, For Not One Of The Party Had Ever
Seen Either The Old Or New Testament.
He continued reading for upwards of an hour, until he had finished
the tract; and, at its conclusion, the whole party were clamorous
for similar ones, with which I was happy to be able to supply them.
Most of these men spoke of priestcraft and the monkish system with
the utmost abhorrence, and said that they should prefer death to
submitting again to the yoke which had formerly galled their necks.
I questioned them very particularly respecting the opinion of their
neighbours and acquaintances on this point, and they assured me
that in their part of the Spanish frontier all were of the same
mind, and that they cared as little for the Pope and his monks as
they did for Don Carlos; for the latter was a dwarf (chicotito) and
a tyrant, and the others were plunderers and robbers. I told them
they must beware of confounding religion with priestcraft, and that
in their abhorrence of the latter they must not forget that there
is a God and a Christ to whom they must look for salvation, and
whose word it was incumbent upon them to study on every occasion;
whereupon they all expressed a devout belief in Christ and the
Virgin.
These men, though in many respects more enlightened than the
surrounding peasantry, were in others as much in the dark; they
believed in witchcraft and in the efficacy of particular charms.
The night was very stormy, and at about nine we heard a galloping
towards the door, and then a loud knocking; it was opened, and in
rushed a wild-looking man mounted on a donkey; he wore a ragged
jacket of sheepskin, called in Spanish zamarra, with breeches of
the same as far down as his knees; his legs were bare. Around his
sombrero, or shadowy hat, was tied a large quantity of the herb
which in English is called rosemary, in Spanish romero, and in the
rustic language of Portugal, alecrim; which last is a word of
Scandinavian origin (ellegren), signifying the elfin plant, and was
probably carried into the south by the Vandals. The man seemed
frantic with terror, and said that the witches had been pursuing
him and hovering over his head for the last two leagues. He came
from the Spanish frontier with meal and other articles; he said
that his wife was following him and would soon arrive, and in about
a quarter of an hour she made her appearance, dripping with rain,
and also mounted on a donkey.
I asked my friends the contrabandistas why he wore the rosemary in
his hat; whereupon they told me that it was good against witches
and the mischances on the road. I had no time to argue against
this superstition, for, as the chaise was to be ready at five the
next morning, I wished to make the most of the short time which I
could devote to sleep.
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