There he will
find all that gravity of deportment and chivalry of disposition
which Cervantes is said to have sneered away; and there he will
hear, in everyday conversation, those grandiose expressions, which,
when met with in the romances of chivalry, are scoffed at as
ridiculous exaggerations.
I had one enemy in the village - it was the curate.
"The fellow is a heretic and a scoundrel," said he one day in the
conclave. "He never enters the church, and is poisoning the minds
of the people with his Lutheran books. Let him be bound and sent
to Toledo, or turned out of the village at least."
"I will have nothing of the kind," said the alcalde, who was said
to be a Carlist. "If he has his opinions, I have mine too. He has
conducted himself with politeness. Why should I interfere with
him? He has been courteous to my daughter, and has presented her
with a volume. Que viva! and with respect to his being a Lutheran,
I have heard say that amongst the Lutherans there are sons of as
good fathers as here. He appears to me a caballero. He speaks
well."
"There is no denying it," said the surgeon.
"Who speaks SO well?" shouted the herrador. "And, who has more
formality? Vaya! did he not praise my horse, 'The Flower of
Spain'? Did he not say that in the whole of Ingalaterra there was
not a better? Did he not assure me, moreover, that if he were to
remain in Spain he would purchase it, giving me my own price? Turn
him out, indeed! Is he not of my own blood, is he not fair-
complexioned? Who shall turn him out when I, 'the one-eyed,' say
no?"
In connection with the circulation of the Scriptures I will now
relate an anecdote not altogether divested of singularity. I have
already spoken of the water-mill by the bridge of Azeca. I had
formed acquaintance with the tenant of this mill, who was known in
the neighbourhood by the name of Don Antero. One day, taking me
into a retired place, he asked me, to my great astonishment,
whether I would sell him a thousand Testaments at the price at
which I was disposing of them to the peasantry; saying, if I would
consent he would pay me immediately. In fact, he put his hand into
his pocket, and pulled it out filled with gold ounces. I asked him
what was his reason for wishing to make so considerable a purchase.
Whereupon he informed me that he had a relation in Toledo whom he
wished to establish, and that he was of opinion that his best plan
would be to hire him a shop there and furnish it with Testaments.
I told him that he must think of nothing of the kind, as probably
the books would be seized on the first attempt to introduce them
into Toledo, as the priests and canons were much averse to their
distribution.
