I Was Of Course Very Much Surprised, But Summoning All My
Latinity, I Called Her Manchegan Prophetess, And Expressing My
Admiration For Her Learning, Begged To Be Informed By What Means
She Became Possessed Of It.
I must here observe that a crowd
instantly gathered around us, who, though they understood not one
word of our discourse, at every sentence of the girl shouted
applause, proud in the possession of a prophetess who could answer
the Englishman.
She informed me that she was born blind, and that a Jesuit priest
had taken compassion on her when she was a child, and had taught
her the holy language, in order that the attention and hearts of
Christians might be more easily turned towards her. I soon
discovered that he had taught her something more than Latin, for
upon telling her that I was an Englishman, she said that she had
always loved Britain, which was once the nursery of saints and
sages, for example Bede and Alcuin, Columba and Thomas of
Canterbury; but she added those times had gone by since the re-
appearance of Semiramis (Elizabeth). Her Latin was truly
excellent, and when I, like a genuine Goth, spoke of Anglia and
Terra Vandalica (Andalusia), she corrected me by saying, that in
her language those places were called Britannia and Terra Betica.
When we had finished our discourse, a gathering was made for the
prophetess, the very poorest contributing something.
After travelling four days and nights, we arrived at Madrid,
without having experienced the slightest accident, though it is but
just to observe, and always with gratitude to the Almighty, that
the next mail was stopped.
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