Those Who
Remain Are For The Most Part Grey-Beards And Priests, Good For
Nothing But To Assemble In Private Coffee-Houses, And To Prate
Treason Together.
Let them prate, Don Jorge; let them prate; the
destinies of Spain do not depend on the wishes of ojalateros and
pasteleros, but on the hands of stout gallant nationals like myself
and friends, Don Jorge.
Myself. - I am sorry to learn from your lady mother, that you are
strangely dissipated.
Baltasar. - Ho, ho, Don Jorge, she has told you that, has she; what
would you have, Don Jorge? I am young, and young blood will have
its course. I am called Baltasar the gay by all the other
nationals, and it is on account of my gaiety and the liberality of
my opinions that I am so popular among them. When I mount guard I
invariably carry my guitar with me, and then there is sure to be a
function at the guard-house. We send for wine, Don Jorge, and the
nationals become wild, Don Jorge, dancing and drinking through the
night, whilst Baltasarito strums the guitar and sings them songs of
Germania:
"Una romi sin pachi
Le peno a su chindomar," &c., &c.
That is Gitano, Don Jorge; I learnt it from the toreros of
Andalusia, who all speak Gitano, and are mostly of Gypsy blood. I
learnt it from them; they are all friends of mine, Montes Sevilla
and Poquito Pan. I never miss a function of bulls, Don Jorge.
Baltasar is sure to be there with his amiga. Don Jorge, there are
no bull-functions in the winter, or I would carry you to one, but
happily to-morrow there is an execution, a funcion de la horca; and
there we will go, Don Jorge.
We did go to see this execution, which I shall long remember. The
criminals were two young men, brothers; they suffered for a most
atrocious murder, having in the dead of night broke open the house
of an aged man, whom they put to death, and whose property they
stole. Criminals in Spain are not hanged as they are in England,
or guillotined as in France, but strangled upon a wooden stage.
They sit down on a kind of chair with a post behind, to which is
affixed an iron collar with a screw; this iron collar is made to
clasp the neck of the prisoner, and on a certain signal it is drawn
tighter and tighter by means of the screw, until life becomes
extinct. After we had waited amongst the assembled multitude a
considerable time, the first of the culprits appeared; he was
mounted on an ass, without saddle or stirrups, his legs being
allowed to dangle nearly to the ground. He was dressed in yellow
sulphur-coloured robes, with a high-peaked conical red hat on his
head, which was shaven. Between his hands he held a parchment, on
which was written something, I believe the confession of faith.
Two priests led the animal by the bridle; two others walked on
either side, chanting litanies, amongst which I distinguished the
words of heavenly peace and tranquillity, for the culprit had been
reconciled to the church, had confessed and received absolution,
and had been promised admission to heaven. He did not exhibit the
least symptom of fear, but dismounted from the animal and was led,
not supported, up the scaffold, where he was placed on the chair,
and the fatal collar put round his neck. One of the priests then
in a loud voice commenced saying the Belief, and the culprit
repeated the words after him. On a sudden, the executioner, who
stood behind, commenced turning the screw, which was of prodigious
force, and the wretched man - was almost instantly a corpse; but, as
the screw went round, the priest began to shout, "pax et
misericordia et tranquillitas," and still as he shouted, his voice
became louder and louder, till the lofty walls of Madrid rang with
it: then stooping down, he placed his mouth close to the culprit's
ear, still shouting, just as if he would pursue the spirit through
its course to eternity, cheering it on its way. The effect was
tremendous. 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. The
population of Constantinople is extraordinary enough, but to form
it twenty nations have contributed; Greeks, Armenians, Persians,
Poles, Jews, the latter, by the by, of Spanish origin, and speaking
amongst themselves the old Spanish language; but the huge
population of Madrid, with the exception of a sprinkling of
foreigners, chiefly French tailors, glove-makers and peruquiers, is
strictly Spanish, though a considerable portion are not natives of
the place.
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