Gatherings From Spain Part 5

which is something more than a walk, and less than a trot, and it is truly sedate and sedan-chair-like, and suits a grave Don, who is given, like a Turk, to tobacco and contemplation. Those Andalucian horses which fall when young into the hands of the officers at Gibraltar acquire a very different action, and lay themselves better down to their work, and gain much more in speed from the English system of training than they would have done had they been managed by Spaniards. Taught or untaught, this _pace_ is most gentlemanlike, and well did Beaumont and Fletcher

"Think it n.o.ble, as Spaniards do in riding, In managing a great horse, which is princely;"

and as has been said, is the only att.i.tude in which the kings of the Spains, true F???pp??, ought ever to be painted, witching the world with n.o.ble horsemans.h.i.+p.

Many other provinces possess breeds which are more useful, though far less showy, than the Andalucian. The horse of Castile is a strong, hardy animal, and the best which Spain produces for mounting heavy cavalry.

The ponies of Gallicia, although ugly and uncouth, are admirably suited to the wild hilly country and laborious population; they require very little care or grooming, and are satisfied with coa.r.s.e food and Indian corn. The horses of Navarre, once so celebrated, are still esteemed for their hardy strength; they have, from neglect, degenerated into ponies, which, however, are beautiful in form, hardy, docile, sure-footed, and excellent trotters. In most of the large towns of Spain there is a sort of market, where horses are publicly sold; but Ronda fair, in May, is the great Howden and Horncastle of the four provinces of Seville, Cordova, Jaen, and Granada, and the resort of all the picturesque-looking rogues of the south. The reader of Don Quixote need not be told that the race of Gines Pa.s.samonte is not extinct; the Spanish _Chalanes_, or horse-dealers, have considerable talents; but the cleverest is but a mere child when compared to the perfection of rascality to which a real English professor has attained in the mysteries of lying, chaunting, and making up a horse.

[Sidenote: MULES.]

The breeding of horses was carefully attended to by the Spanish government previously to the invasion of the French, by whom the entire horses and brood-mares were either killed or stolen, and the buildings and stables burnt.

The saddles used commonly in Spain are Moorish; they are made with high peak and croup behind; the stirrup-irons are large triangularly-shaped boxes. The food is equally Oriental, and consists of "barley and straw,"

as mentioned in the Bible. We well remember the horror of our Andalucian groom, on our first reaching Gallicia, when he rushed in, exclaiming that the beasts would perish, as nothing was to be had there but oats and hay. After some difficulty he was persuaded to see if they would eat it, which to his surprise they actually did; such, however, is habit, that they soon fell out of condition, and did not recover until the damp mountains were quitted for the arid plains of Castile.

[Sidenote: a.s.sES.]

Spaniards in general prefer mules and a.s.ses to the horse, which is more delicate, requires greater attention, and is less sure-footed over broken and precipitous ground. The mule performs in Spain the functions of the camel in the East, and has something in his morale (besides his physical suitableness to the country) which is congenial to the character of his masters; he has the same self-willed obstinacy, the same resignation under burdens, the same singular capability of endurance of labour, fatigue, and privation. The mule has always been much used in Spain, and the demand for them very great; yet, from some mistaken crotchet of Spanish political economy (which is very Spanish), the breeding of the mule has long been attempted to be prevented, in order to encourage that of the horse. One of the reasons alleged was, that the mule was a non-reproductive animal; an argument which might or ought to apply equally to the monk; a breed for which Spain could have shown for the first prize, both as to number and size, against any other country in all Christendom. This attempt to force the production of an animal far less suited to the wants and habits of the people has failed, as might be expected. The difficulties thrown in the way have only tended to raise the prices of mules, which are, and always were, very dear; a good mule will fetch from 25_l._ to 50_l._, while a horse of relative goodness may be purchased for from 20_l._ to 40_l._ Mules were always very dear; thus Martial, like a true Andalucian Spaniard, _talks_ of one which cost more than a house. The most esteemed are those bred from the mare and the a.s.s, or _"garanon"_[5] some of which are of extraordinary size; and one which Don Carlos had in his stud-house at Aranjuez in 1832 exceeded fifteen hands in height. This colossal a.s.s and a Spanish infante were worthy of each other.

The mules in Spain, as in the East, have their coats closely shorn or clipped; part of the hair is usually left on in stripes like the zebra, or cut into fanciful patterns, like the tattooings of a New Zealand chief. This process of shearing is found to keep the beast cooler and freer from cutaneous disorders. The operation is performed in the southern provinces by gipsies, who are the same tinkers, horse-dealers, and vagrants in Spain as elsewhere. Their clipping recalls the "mulo curto," on which Horace could amble even to Brundusium. The operators rival in talent those worthy Frenchmen who cut the hair of poodles on the Pont Neuf, in the heart and brain of European civilization. Their Spanish colleagues may be known by the shears, formidable and cla.s.sical-shaped as those of Lachesis and her sisters, which they carry in their sashes. They are very particular in clipping the heels and pasterns, which they say ought to be as free from superfluous hair as the palm of a lady's hand.

Spanish a.s.ses have been immortalised by Cervantes; they are endeared to us by Sancho's love and talent of imitation; he brayed so well, be it remembered, that all the long-eared chorus joined a performer who, in his own modest phrase, only wanted a tail to be a perfect donkey.

Spanish mayors, according to Don Quixote, have a natural talent for this braying; but, save and except in the west of England, their right wors.h.i.+pfuls may be matched elsewhere.

[Sidenote: a.s.sES OF LA MANCHA.]

[Sidenote: THE MULETEER.]

The humble a.s.s, "_burro_," "_borrico_," is the rule, the as in praesenti, and part and parcel of every Spanish scene: he forms the appropriate foreground in streets or roads. Wherever two or three Spaniards are collected together in market, _junta_, or "congregation," there is quite sure to be an a.s.s among them; he is the hardworked companion of the lower orders, to whom to work is the greatest misfortune; sufferance is indeed the common virtue of both tribes. They may, perhaps, both wince a little when a new burden or a new tax is laid on them by Senor Mon, but they soon, when they see that there is no remedy, bear on and endure: from this fellow-feeling, master and animal cherish each other at heart, though, from the blows and imprecations bestowed openly, the former may be thought by hasty observers to be ashamed of confessing these predilections in public. Some under-current, no doubt, remains of the ancient prejudices of chivalry; but Cervantes, who thoroughly understood human nature in general, and Spanish nature in particular, has most justly dwelt on the dear love which Sancho Panza felt for his "_Rucio_,"

and marked the reciprocity of the brute, affectionate as intelligent. In fact, in the _Sagra_ district, near Toledo, he is called _El vecino_, one of the householders; and none can look a Spanish a.s.s in the face without remarking a peculiar expression, which indicates that the hairy fool considers himself, like the pig in a cabin of the "first gem of the sea," to be one of the family, _de la familia_, or _de nosotros_. La Mancha is the paradise of mules and a.s.ses; many a Sancho at this moment is there fondling and embracing his a.s.s, his "_chato chat.i.to_,"

"_romo_," or other complimentary variations of _Snub_, with which, when not abusing him, he delights to nickname his helpmate. In Spain, as Sappho says, Love is ?????p?????, an alternation of the agro-dolce; nor is there any Prevention of Cruelty Society towards animals; every Spaniard has the same right in law and equity to kick and beat his own a.s.s to his own liking, as a philanthropical Yankee has to wallop his own n.i.g.g.ar; no one ever thinks of interposing on these occasions, any more than they would in a quarrel between a man and his wife. The _words_ are, at all events, on one side. It is, however, recorded _in piam memoriam_, of certain Roman Catholic a.s.ses of Spain, that they tried to throw off one Tomas Trebino and some other heretics, when on the way to be burnt, being horror-struck at bearing such monsters. Every Spanish peasant is heart-broken when injury is done to his a.s.s, as well he may be, for it is the means by which he lives; nor has he much chance, if he loses him, of finding a crown when hunting for him, as was once done, or even a government like Sancho. Sterne would have done better to have laid the venue of his sentimentalities over a dead a.s.s in Spain, rather than in France, where the quadruped species is much rarer. In Spain, where small carts and wheel-barrows are almost unknown, and the drawing them is considered as beneath the dignity of the Spanish man, the subst.i.tute, an a.s.s, is in constant employ; sometimes it is laden with sacks of corn, with wine-skins, with water-jars, with dung, or with dead robbers, slung like sacks over the back, their arms and legs tied under the animal's belly. a.s.ses' milk, "_leche de burra_," is in much request during the spring season. The brown s.e.x drink it in order to fine their complexions and cool their blood, "_refrescar la sangre_;" the clergy and men in office, "_los empleados_," to whom it is mother's milk, swallow it in order that it may give tone to their gastric juices. Riding on a.s.sback was accounted a disgrace and a degradation to the Gothic hidalgo, and the Spaniards, in the sixteenth century, mounted unrepining cuckolds, "_los cornudos pacientes_," on a.s.ses. Now-a-days, in spite of all these unpleasant a.s.sociations, the grandees and their wives, and even grave amba.s.sadors from foreign parts, during the royal residence at Aranjuez, much delight in elevating themselves on this beast of ill omen, and "_borricadas_" or donkey parties are all the fas.h.i.+on.

[Sidenote: THE MULETEER.]

[Sidenote: MARAGATOS.]

The muleteer of Spain is justly renowned; his generic term is _arriero_, a gee-uper, for his _arre arre_ is pure Arabic, as indeed are almost all the terms connected with his craft, as the Moriscoes were long the great carriers of Spain. To travel with the muleteer, when the party is small or a person is alone, is both cheap and safe; indeed, many of the most picturesque portions of Spain, Ronda and Granada for instance, can scarcely be reached except by walking or riding. These men, who are constantly on the road, and going backwards and forwards, are the best persons to consult for details; their animals are generally to be hired, but a muleteer's stud is not pleasant to ride, since their beasts always travel in single files. The leading animal is furnished with a copper bell with a wooden clapper, to give notice of their march, which is shaped like an ice-mould, sometimes two feet long, and hangs from the neck, being contrived, as it were, on purpose to knock the animal's knees as much as possible, and to emit the greatest quant.i.ty of the most melancholy sounds, which, according to the pious origin of all bells, were meant to scare away the Evil One. The bearer of all this tintinnabular clatter is chosen from its superior docility and knack in picking out a way. The others follow their leader, and the noise he makes when they cannot see him. They are heavily but scientifically laden. The cargo of each is divided into three portions; one is tied on each side, and the other placed between. If the cargo be not nicely balanced, the muleteer either unloads or adds a few stones to the lighter portion--the additional weight being compensated by the greater comfort with which a well-poised burden is carried. These "sumpter"

mules are gaily decorated with trappings full of colour and tags. The head-gear is composed of different coloured worsteds, to which a mult.i.tude of small bells are affixed; hence the saying, "_muger de mucha campanilla_," a woman of many bells, of much show, much noise, or pretension. The muleteer either walks by the side of his animal or sits aloft on the cargo, with his feet dangling on the neck, a seat which is by no means so uncomfortable as it would appear. A rude gun, "but 'twill serve," and is loaded with slugs, hangs always in readiness by his side, and often with it a guitar; these emblems of life and death paint the unchanged reckless condition of Iberia, where extremes have ever met, where a man still goes out of the world like a swan, with a song. Thus accoutred, as Byron says, with "all that gave, promise of pleasure or a grave," the approach of the caravan is announced from afar by his cracked or guttural voice: "How carols now the l.u.s.ty muleteer!" For when not engaged in swearing or smoking, the livelong day is pa.s.sed in one monotonous high-pitched song, the tune of which is little in harmony with the import of the words, or his cheerful humour, being most unmusical and melancholy; but such is the true type of Oriental _melody_, as it is called. The same absence of thought which is shown in England by whistling is displayed in Spain by singing. "_Quien canta sus males espanta:_" he who sings frightens away ills, a philosophic consolation in travel as old and as cla.s.sical as Virgil:--"Cantantes licet usque, minus via taedet, camus," which may be thus translated for the benefit of country gentlemen:--

If we join in doleful chorus, The dull highway will much less bore us.

The Spanish muleteer is a fine fellow; he is intelligent, active, and enduring; he braves hunger and thirst, heat and cold, mud and dust; he works as hard as his cattle, never robs or is robbed; and while his betters in this land put off everything till to-morrow except bankruptcy, he is punctual and honest, his frame is wiry and sinewy, his costume peculiar; many are the leagues and long, which we have ridden in his caravan, and longer his robber yarns, to which we paid no attention; and it must be admitted that these cavalcades are truly national and picturesque. Mingled with droves of mules and mounted hors.e.m.e.n, the zig-zag lines come threading down the mountain defiles, now tracking through the aromatic brushwood, now concealed amid rocks and olive-trees, now emerging bright and glittering into the suns.h.i.+ne, giving life and movement to the lonely nature, and breaking the usual stillness by the tinkle of the bell and the sad ditty of the muleteer--sounds which, though unmusical in themselves, are in keeping with the scene, and a.s.sociated with wild Spanish rambles, just as the harsh whetting of the scythe is mixed up with the sweet spring and newly-mown hay-meadow.

[Sidenote: COSTUME OF THE MARAGATOS.]

There is one cla.s.s of muleteers which are but little known to European travellers--the _Maragatos_, whose head-quarters are at _San Roman_, near _Astorga_; they, like the Jew and gipsy, live exclusively among their own people, preserving their primeval costume and customs, and never marrying out of their own tribe. They are as perfectly nomad and wandering as the Bedouins, the mule only being subst.i.tuted for the camel; their honesty and industry are proverbial. They are a sedate, grave, dry, matter-of-fact, business-like people. Their charges are high, but the security counterbalances, as they may be trusted with untold gold. They are the channels of all traffic between Gallicia and the Castiles, being seldom seen in the south or east provinces. They are dressed in leathern jerkins, which fit tightly like a cuira.s.s, leaving the arms free. Their linen is coa.r.s.e but white, especially the s.h.i.+rt collar; a broad leather belt, in which there is a purse, is fastened round the waist. Their breeches, like those of the Valencians, are called _Zaraguelles_, a pure Arabic word for kilts or wide drawers, and no burgomaster of Rembrandt is more broad-bottomed. Their legs are encased in long brown cloth gaiters, with red garters; their hair is generally cut close--sometimes, however, strange tufts are left. A huge, slouching, flapping hat completes the most inconvenient of travelling dresses, and it is too Dutch to be even picturesque; but these fas.h.i.+ons are as unchangeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians were; nor will any Maragato dream of altering his costume until those dressed models of painted wood do which strike the hours of the clock on the square of _Astorga_: _Pedro Mato_, also, another figure _costumee_, who holds a weatherc.o.c.k at the cathedral, is the observed of all observers; and, in truth, this particular costume is, as that of Quakers used to be, a guarantee of their tribe and respectability; thus even Cordero, the rich Maragato deputy, appeared in Cortes in this local costume.

[Sidenote: THEIR ORIGIN.]

The dress of the Maragata is equally peculiar: she wears, if married, a sort of head-gear, _El Caramiello_, in the shape of a crescent, the round part coming over the forehead, which is very Moorish, and resembles those of the females in the ba.s.so-rilievos at Granada. Their hair flows loosely on their shoulders, while their ap.r.o.n or petticoat hangs down open before and behind, and is curiously tied at the back with a sash, and their bodice is cut square over the bosom. At their festivals they are covered with ornaments of long chains of coral and metal, with crosses, relics, and medals in silver. Their earrings are very heavy, and supported by silken threads, as among the Jewesses in Barbary. A marriage is the grand feast; then large parties a.s.semble, and a president is chosen, who puts into a waiter whatever sum of money he likes, and all invited must then give as much. The bride is enveloped in a mantle, which she wears the whole day, and never again except on that of her husband's death. She does not dance at the wedding-ball. Early next morning two roast chickens are brought to the bed-side of the happy pair. The next evening ball is opened by the bride and her husband, to the tune of the _gaita_, or Moorish bagpipe. Their dances are grave and serious; such indeed is their whole character. The _Maragatos_, with their honest, weather-beaten countenances, are seen with files of mules all along the high road to La Coruna. They generally walk, and, like other Spanish _arrieros_, although they sing and curse rather less, are employed in one ceaseless shower of stones and blows at their mules.

The whole tribe a.s.sembles twice a year at Astorga, at the feasts of Corpus and the Ascension, when they dance _El Canizo_, beginning at two o'clock in the afternoon, and ending precisely at three. If any one not a _Maragato_ joins, they all leave off immediately. The women never wander from their homes, which their undomestic husbands always do. They lead the hardworked life of the Iberian females of old, and now, as then, are to be seen everywhere in these west provinces toiling in the fields, early before the sun has risen, and late after it has set; and it is most painful to behold them drudging at these unfeminine vocations.

The origin of the _Maragatos_ has never been ascertained. Some consider them to be a remnant of the Celtiberian, others of the Visigoths; most, however, prefer a Bedouin, or caravan descent. It is in vain to question these ignorant carriers as to their history or origin; for like the gipsies, they have no traditions, and know nothing. _Arrieros_, at all events, they are; and that word, in common with so many others relating to the barb and carrier-caravan craft, is Arabic, and proves whence the system and science were derived by Spaniards.

[Sidenote: TRAVELLING IN THE INTERIOR.]

The _Maragatos_ are celebrated for their fine beasts of burden; indeed, the mules of Leon are renowned, and the a.s.ses splendid and numerous, especially the nearer one approaches to the learned university of Salamanca. The _Maragatos_ take precedence on the road; they are the lords of the highway, being _the_ channels of commerce in a land where mules and a.s.ses represent luggage rail trains. They know and feel their importance, and that they are the rule, and the traveller for mere pleasure is the exception. Few Spanish muleteers are much more polished than their beasts, and however picturesque the scene, it is no joke meeting a string of laden beasts in a narrow road, especially with a precipice on one side, _cosa de Espana_. The _Maragatos_ seldom give way, and their mules keep doggedly on; as the baggage projects on each side, like the paddles of a steamer, they sweep the whole path. But all wayfaring details in the genuine Spanish interior are calculated for the _pack_, as in England a century back; and there is no thought bestowed on the foreigner, who is not wanted, nay is disliked. The inns, roads, and right sides, suit the natives and their brutes; nor will either put themselves out of their way to please the fancies of a stranger. The racy Peninsula is too little travelled over for its natives to adopt the mercenary conveniences of the Swiss, that nation of innkeepers and coach-jobbers.

[Sidenote: RIDING TOURS.]

CHAPTER VIII.

Riding Tour in Spain--Pleasures of it--Pedestrian Tour--Choice of Companions--Rules for a Riding Tour--Season of Year--Day's Journey--Management of Horse: his Feet; Shoes; General Hints.

[Sidenote: ROYAL ROADS.]

A man in a public carriage ceases to be a private individual: he is merged into the fare, and becomes a number according to his place; he is booked like a parcel, and is delivered by the guard. How free, how lord and master of himself, does the same dependent gentleman mount his eager barb, who by his neighing and pawing exhibits his joyful impatience to be off too! How fresh and sweet the free breath of heaven, after the frousty atmosphere of a full inside of foreigners, who, from the narcotic effects of tobacco, forget the existence of soap, water, and clean linen! Travelling on horseback, so unusual a gratification to Englishmen, is the ancient, primitive, and once universal mode of travelling in Europe, as it still is in the East; mankind, however, soon gets accustomed to a changed state of locomotion, and forgets how recent is its introduction. Fynes Moryson gave much the same advice two centuries ago to travellers in England, as must be now suggested to those who in Spain desert the coach-beaten highways for the delightful bye-ways, and thus explore the rarely visited, but not the least interesting portions of the Peninsula. It has been our good fortune to perform many of these expeditions on horseback, both alone and in company; and on one occasion to have made the pilgrimage from Seville to Santiago, through Estremadura and Gallicia, returning by the Asturias, Biscay, Leon, and the Castiles; thus riding nearly two thousand miles on the same horse, and only accompanied by one Andalucian servant, who had never before gone out of his native province. The same tour was afterwards performed by two friends with two servants; nor did they or ourselves ever meet with any real impediments or difficulties, scarcely indeed sufficient of either to give the flavour of adventure, or the dignity of danger, to the undertaking. It has also been our lot to make an extended tour of many months, accompanied by an English lady, through Granada, Murcia, Valencia, Catalonia, and Arragon, to say nothing of repeated excursions through every nook and corner of Andalucia. The result of all this experience, combined with that of many friends, who have _ridden over_ the Peninsula, enables us to recommend this method to the young, healthy, and adventurous, as by far the most agreeable plan of proceeding; and, indeed, as we have said, as regards two-thirds of the Peninsula, the only practicable course.

The leading royal roads which connect the capital with the princ.i.p.al seaports are, indeed, excellent; but they are generally drawn in a straight line, whereby many of the most ancient cities are thus left out, and these, together with sites of battles and historical incident, ruins and remains of antiquity, and scenes of the greatest natural beauty, are accessible with difficulty, and in many cases only on horseback. Spain abounds with wide tracts which are perfectly unknown to the Geographical Society. Here, indeed, is fresh ground open to all who aspire in these threadbare days to book something new; here is scenery enough to fill a dozen portfolios, and subject enough for a score of quartos. How many flowers pine unbotanised, how many rocks harden ungeologised; what views are dying to be sketched; what bears and deer to be stalked; what trout to be caught and eaten; what valleys expand their bosoms, longing to embrace their visitor; what virgin beauties. .h.i.therto unseen await the happy member of the Travellers' Club, who in ten days can exchange the bore of eternal Pall Mall for these untrodden sites; and then what an accession of dignity in thus discovering a terra incognita, and rivalling Mr. Mungo Park! Nor is a guide wanting, since our good friend John Murray, the grand monarque of Handbooks, has proclaimed from Albemarle Street, _Il n'y a plus de Pyrenees_.

[Sidenote: HINTS TO TRAVELLERS.]

As the wide extent of country which intervenes between the radii of the great roads is most indifferently provided with public means of inter-communication; as there is little traffic, and no demand for modern conveyances--even mules and horses are not always to be procured, and we have always found it best to set out on these distant excursions with our own beasts: the comfort and certainty of this precaution have been corroborated beyond any doubt by frequent comparisons with the discomforts undergone by other persons, who trusted to chance accommodations and means of locomotion in ill-provided districts and out-of-the-way excursions: indeed, as a general rule, the traveller will do well to carry with him everything with which from habit he feels that he cannot dispense. The chief object will be to combine in as small a s.p.a.ce as possible the greatest quant.i.ty of portable comfort, taking care to select the really essential; for there is no worse mistake than lumbering oneself with things that are never wanted. This mode of travelling has not been much detailed by the generality of authors, who have rarely gone much out of the beaten track, or undertaken a long-continued riding tour, and they have been rather inclined to overstate the dangers and difficulties of a plan which they have never tried. At the same time this plan is not to be recommended to fine ladies nor to delicate gentlemen, nor to those who have had a touch of rheumatism, or who tremble at the shadows which coming gout casts before it.

[Sidenote: HEALTHFUL EXERCISE.]

Those who have endurance and curiosity enough to face a tour in Sicily, may readily set out for Spain; rails and post-horses certainly get quicker over the country; but the pleasure of the remembrance and the benefits derived by travel are commonly in an inverse ratio to the ease and rapidity with which the journey is performed. In addition to the accurate knowledge which is thus acquired of the country (for there is no map like this mode of surveying), and an acquaintance with a considerable, and by no means the worst portion of its population, a riding expedition to a civilian is almost equivalent to serving a campaign. It imparts a new life, which is adopted on the spot, and which soon appears quite natural, from being in perfect harmony and fitness with everything around, however strange to all previous habits and notions; it takes the conceit out of a man for the rest of his life--it makes him bear and forbear. It is a capital practical school of moral discipline, just as the hardiest mariners are nurtured in the roughest seas. Then and there will be learnt golden rules of patience, perseverance, good temper, and good fellows.h.i.+p: the individual man must come out, for better or worse. On these occasions, where wealth and rank are stripped of the aids and appurtenances of conventional superiority, a man will draw more on his own resources, moral and physical, than on any letter of credit; his wit will be sharpened by invention-suggesting necessity.

Then and there, when up, about, and abroad, will be shaken off dull sloth; action--Demosthenic action--will be the watch-word. The traveller will blot out from his dictionary the fatal Spanish phrase of procrastination _by-and-by_, a street which leads to the house of _never_, for "_por la calle de despues, se va a la casa de nunca_."

Reduced to s.h.i.+ft for himself, he will see the evil of waste--the folly of improvidence and want of order. He will whistle to the winds the paltry excuse of idleness, the Spanish "_no se puede_," "_it is impossible_." He will soon learn, by grappling with difficulties, how surely they are overcome,--how soft as silk becomes the nettle when it is sternly grasped, which would sting the tender-handed touch,--how powerful a principle of realising the object proposed, is the moral conviction that we can and will accomplish it. He will never be scared by shadows thin as air, for when one door shuts another opens, and he who pushes on arrives. And after all, a dash of hards.h.i.+p may be endured by those accustomed to loll in easy britzskas, if only for the sake of novelty; what a new relish is given to the palled appet.i.te by a little unknown privation!--hunger being, as Cervantes says, the best of sauces, which, as it never is wanting to the poor, is the reason why eating is their huge delight.

[Sidenote: DELIGHTS OF A TOUR.]

Again, these sorts of independent expeditions are equally conducive to health of body: after the first few days of the new fatigue are got over, the frame becomes of iron, "_hecho de bronze_," and the rider, a centaur not fabulous. The living in the pure air, the sustaining excitement of novelty, exercise, and constant occupation, are all sweetened by the willing heart, which renders even labour itself a pleasure; a new and vigorous life is infused into every bone and muscle: early to bed and early to rise, if it does not make all brains wise, at least invigorates the gastric juices, makes a man forget that he has a liver, that storehouse of mortal misery--bile, blue pill, and blue devils. This health is one of the secrets of the amazing charm which seems inherent to this mode of travelling, in spite of all the apparent hards.h.i.+ps with which it is surrounded in the abstract. Oh! the delight of this gipsy, Bedouin, nomade life, seasoned with unfettered liberty!

We pitch our tent wherever we please, and there we make our home--far from letters "requiring an immediate answer," and distant dining-outs, visits, ladies' maids, band-boxes, butlers, bores, and b.u.t.ton-holders.

Escaping from the meshes of the west end of London, we are transported into a new world; every day the out-of-door panorama is varied; now the heart is cheered and the countenance made glad by gazing on plains overflowing with milk and honey, or laughing with oil and wine, where the orange and citron bask in the glorious sunbeams, the palm without the desert, the sugar-cane without the slave. Anon we are lost amid the silence of cloud-capped glaciers, where rock and granite are tost about like the fragments of a broken world, by the wild magnificence of Nature, who, careless of mortal admiration, lavishes with proud indifference her fairest charms where most unseen, her grandest forms where most inaccessible. Every day and everywhere we are unconsciously funding a stock of treasures and pleasures of memory, to be hived in our bosoms like the honey of the bee, to cheer and sweeten our after-life, when we settle down like wine-dregs in our cask, which, delightful even as in the reality, wax stronger as we grow in years, and feel that these feats of our youth, like sweet youth itself, can never be our portion again. Of one thing the reader may be a.s.sured,--that dear will be to him, as is now to us, the remembrance of those wild and weary rides through tawny Spain, where hards.h.i.+p was forgotten ere undergone: those sweet-aired hills--those rocky crags and torrents--those fresh valleys which communicated their own freshness to the heart--that keen relish for hard fare, gained and seasoned by hunger sauce, which Ude did not invent--those sound slumbers on harder couch, earned by fatigue, the downiest of pillows--the braced nerves--the spirits light, elastic, and joyous--that freedom from care--that health of body and soul which ever rewards a close communion with Nature--and the shuffling off of the frets and fact.i.tious wants of the thick-pent artificial city.

[Sidenote: CHOICE OF COMPANIONS.]

Whatever be the number of the party, and however they travel, whether on wheels or horseback, admitting even that a pleasant friend pro vehiculo est, that is, is better than a post-chaise, yet no one should ever dream of making a pedestrian tour in Spain. It seldom answers anywhere, as the walker arrives at the object of his promenade tired and hungry, just at the moment when he ought to be the freshest and most up to intellectual pleasures. The deipnosophist Athenaeus long ago discovered that there was no love for the sublime and beautiful in an empty stomach, aesthetics yield then to gastronomies, and there is no prospect in the world so fine as that of a dinner and a nap, or _siesta_ afterwards. The pedestrian in Spain, where fleshly comforts are rare, will soon understand why, in the real journals of our Peninsular soldiers, so little attention is paid to those objects which most attract the well-provided traveller. In cases of bodily hards.h.i.+p, the employment of the mental faculties is narrowed into the care of supplying mere physical wants, rather than expanded into searching for those of a contemplative or intellectual gratification; the footsore and way-worn require, according to

"The unexempt condition By which all mortal frailty must subsist, Refreshment after toil, ease after pain."