I Then Explained To
Them The Nature Of The New Testament, And Read To Them The Parable
Of The Sower.
They stared at each other again, but said that they
were poor, and could not buy books.
I rose, mounted, and was going
away, saying to them: "Peace bide with you." Whereupon the young
man with the gun rose, and saying, "Caspita! this is odd," snatched
the book from my hand and gave me the price I had demanded.
Perhaps the whole world might be searched in vain for a spot whose
natural charms could rival those of this plain or valley of
Bembibre, as it is called, with its wall of mighty mountains, its
spreading chestnut trees, and its groves of oaks and willows, which
clothe the banks of its stream, a tributary to the Minho. True it
is, that when I passed through it, the candle of heaven was blazing
in full splendour, and everything lighted by its rays looked gay,
glad, and blessed. Whether it would have filled me with the same
feelings of admiration if viewed beneath another sky, I will not
pretend to determine; but it certainly possesses advantages which
at no time could fail to delight, for it exhibits all the peaceful
beauties of an English landscape blended with something wild and
grand, and I thought within myself that he must be a restless
dissatisfied man, who, born amongst those scenes, would wish to
quit them. At the time I would have desired no better fate than
that of a shepherd on the prairies, or a hunter in the hills of
Bembibre.
Three hours passed away and we were in another situation. We had
halted and refreshed ourselves and horses at Bembibre, a village of
mud and slate, and which possessed little to attract attention: we
were now ascending, for the road was over one of the extreme ledges
of those frontier hills which I have before so often mentioned; but
the aspect of heaven had blackened, clouds were rolling rapidly
from the west over the mountains, and a cold wind was moaning
dismally. "There is a storm travelling through the air," said a
peasant, whom we overtook, mounted on a wretched mule; "and the
Asturians had better be on the lookout, for it is speeding in their
direction." He had scarce spoken, when a light, so vivid and
dazzling that it seemed as if the whole lustre of the fiery element
were concentrated in it, broke around us, filling the whole
atmosphere, and covering rock, tree and mountain with a glare not
to be described. The mule of the peasant tumbled prostrate, while
the horse I rode reared himself perpendicularly, and turning round,
dashed down the hill at headlong speed, which for some time it was
impossible to cheek. The lightning was followed by a peal almost
as terrible, but distant, for it sounded hollow and deep; the
hills, however, caught up its voice, seemingly repeating it from
summit to summit, till it was lost in interminable space. Other
flashes and peals succeeded, but slight in comparison, and a few
drops of rain descended. The body of the tempest seemed to be over
another region. "A hundred families are weeping where that bolt
fell," said the peasant when I rejoined him, "for its blaze has
blinded my mule at six leagues' distance." He was leading the
animal by the bridle, as its sight was evidently affected. "Were
the friars still in their nest above there," he continued, "I
should say that this was their doing, for they are the cause of all
the miseries of the land."
I raised my eyes in the direction in which he pointed. Half way up
the mountain, over whose foot we were wending, jutted forth a black
frightful crag, which at an immense altitude overhung the road, and
seemed to threaten destruction. It resembled one of those ledges
of the rocky mountains in the picture of the Deluge, up to which
the terrified fugitives have scrambled from the eager pursuit of
the savage and tremendous billows, and from whence they gaze down
in horror, whilst above them rise still higher and giddier heights,
to which they seem unable to climb. Built on the very edge of this
crag, stood an edifice, seemingly devoted to the purposes of
religion, as I could discern the spire of a church rearing itself
high over wall and roof. "That is the house of the Virgin of the
Rocks," said the peasant, "and it was lately full of friars, but
they have been thrust out, and the only inmates now are owls and
ravens." I replied, that their life in such a bleak exposed abode
could not have been very enviable, as in winter they must have
incurred great risk of perishing with cold. "By no means," said
he; "they had the best of wood for their braseros and chimneys, and
the best of wine to warm them at their meals, which were not the
most sparing. Moreover, they had another convent down in the vale
yonder, to which they could retire at their pleasure." On my
asking him the reason of his antipathy to the friars, he replied,
that he had been their vassal, and that they had deprived him every
year of the flower of what he possessed. Discoursing in this
manner, we reached a village just below the convent, where he left
me, having first pointed out to me a house of stone, with an image
over the door, which, he said, once also belonged to the canalla
(rabble) above.
The sun was setting fast, and eager to reach Villafranca, where I
had determined on resting, and which was still distant three
leagues and a half, I made no halt at this place. The road was now
down a rapid and crooked descent, which terminated in a valley, at
the bottom of which was a long and narrow bridge; beneath it rolled
a river, descending from a wide pass between two mountains, for the
chain was here cleft, probably by some convulsion of nature.
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