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.
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