Connected with the principal corridor
were many small apartments, where resided prisoners confined for
debt or for political offences.
And, lastly, there was a small
capilla or chapel, in which prisoners cast for death passed the
last three days of their existence in company of their ghostly
advisers.
I shall not soon forget my first Sunday in prison. Sunday is the
gala day of the prison, at least of that of Madrid, and whatever
robber finery is to be found within it, is sure to be exhibited on
that day of holiness. There is not a set of people in the world
more vain than robbers in general, more fond of cutting a figure
whenever they have an opportunity, and of attracting the eyes of
their fellow creatures by the gallantry of their appearance. The
famous Sheppard of olden times delighted in sporting a suit of
Genoese velvet, and when he appeared in public generally wore a
silver-hilted sword at his side; whilst Vaux and Hayward, heroes of
a later day, were the best dressed men on the pave of London. Many
of the Italian bandits go splendidly decorated, and the very Gypsy
robber has a feeling for the charms of dress; the cap alone of the
Haram Pasha, or leader of the cannibal Gypsy band which infested
Hungary towards the conclusion of the last century, was adorned
with gold and jewels to the value of four thousand guilders.
Observe, ye vain and frivolous, how vanity and crime harmonize.
The Spanish robbers are as fond of this species of display as their
brethren of other lands, and, whether in prison or out of it, are
never so happy as when, decked out in a profusion of white linen,
they can loll in the sun, or walk jauntily up and down.
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