I Have Already Stated, That I Had Hired An Empty House In Seville,
Wherein I Proposed To Reside For Some Months.
It stood in a
solitary situation, occupying one side of a small square.
It was
built quite in the beautiful taste of Andalusia, with a court paved
with small slabs of white and blue marble. In the middle of this
court was a fountain well supplied with the crystal lymph, the
murmur of which, as it fell from its slender pillar into an
octangular basin, might be heard in every apartment. The house
itself was large and spacious, consisting of two stories, and
containing room sufficient for at least ten times the number of
inmates which now occupied it. I generally kept during the day in
the lower apartments, on account of the refreshing coolness which
pervaded them. In one of these was an immense stone water-trough,
ever overflowing with water from the fountain, in which I immersed
myself every morning. Such were the premises to which, after
having provided myself with a few indispensable articles of
furniture, I now retreated with Antonio and my two horses.
I was fortunate in the possession of these quadrupeds, inasmuch as
it afforded me an opportunity of enjoying to a greater extent the
beauties of the surrounding country. I know of few things in this
life more delicious than a ride in the spring or summer season in
the neighbourhood of Seville. My favourite one was in the
direction of Xerez, over the wide Dehesa, as it is called, which
extends from Seville to the gates of the former town, a distance of
nearly fifty miles, with scarcely a town or village intervening.
The ground is irregular and broken, and is for the most part
covered with that species of brushwood called carrasco, amongst
which winds a bridle-path, by no means well defined, chiefly
trodden by the arrieros, with their long train of mules and
borricos. It is here that the balmy air of beautiful Andalusia is
to be inhaled in full perfection. Aromatic herbs and flowers are
growing in abundance, diffusing their perfume around. Here dark
and gloomy cares are dispelled as if by magic from the bosom, as
the eyes wander over the prospect, lighted by unequalled sunshine,
in which gaily-painted butterflies wanton, and green and golden
Salamanquesas lie extended, enjoying the luxurious warmth, and
occasionally startling the traveller, by springing up and making
off with portentous speed to the nearest coverts, whence they stare
upon him with their sharp and lustrous eyes. I repeat, that it is
impossible to continue melancholy in regions like these, and the
ancient Greeks and Romans were right in making them the site of
their Elysian fields. Most beautiful they are even in their
present desolation, for the hand of man has not cultivated them
since the fatal era of the expulsion of the Moors, which drained
Andalusia of at least two thirds of its population.
Every evening it was my custom to ride along the Dedesa, until the
topmost towers of Seville were no longer in sight. I then turned
about, and pressing my knees against the sides of Sidi Habismilk,
my Arabian, the fleet creature, to whom spur or lash had never been
applied, would set off in the direction of the town with the speed
of a whirlwind, seeming in his headlong course to devour the ground
of the waste, until he had left it behind, then dashing through the
elm-covered road of the Delicias, his thundering hoofs were soon
heard beneath the vaulted archway of the Puerta de Xerez, and in
another moment he would stand stone still before the door of my
solitary house in the little silent square of the Pila Seca.
It is eight o'clock at night, I am returned from the Dehesa, and am
standing on the sotea, or flat roof of my house, enjoying the cool
breeze. Johannes Chrysostom has just arrived from his labour. I
have not spoken to him, but I hear him below in the courtyard,
detailing to Antonio the progress he has made in the last two days.
He speaks barbarous Greek, plentifully interlarded with Spanish
words; but I gather from his discourse, that he has already sold
twelve Testaments among his fellow labourers. I hear copper coin
falling on the pavement, and Antonio, who is not of a very
Christian temper, reproving him for not having brought the proceeds
of the sale in silver. He now asks for fifteen more, as he says
the demand is becoming great, and that he shall have no difficulty
in disposing of them in the course of the morrow, whilst pursuing
his occupations. Antonio goes to fetch them, and he now stands
alone by the marble fountain, singing a wild song, which I believe
to be a hymn of his beloved Greek church. Behold one of the
helpers which the Lord has sent me in my Gospel labours on the
shores of the Guadalquivir.
I lived in the greatest retirement during the whole time that I
passed at Seville, spending the greater part of each day in study,
or in that half-dreamy state of inactivity which is the natural
effect of the influence of a warm climate. There was little in the
character of the people around to induce me to enter much into
society. The higher class of the Andalusians are probably upon the
whole the most vain and foolish of human beings, with a taste for
nothing but sensual amusements, foppery in dress, and ribald
discourse. Their insolence is only equalled by their meanness, and
their prodigality by their avarice. The lower classes are a shade
or two better than their superiors in station: little, it is true,
can be said for the tone of their morality; they are overreaching,
quarrelsome, and revengeful, but they are upon the whole more
courteous, and certainly not more ignorant.
The Andalusians are in general held in the lowest estimation by the
rest of the Spaniards, even those in opulent circumstances finding
some difficulty at Madrid in procuring admission into respectable
society, where, if they find their way, they are invariably the
objects of ridicule, from the absurd airs and grimaces in which
they indulge, - their tendency to boasting and exaggeration, their
curious accent, and the incorrect manner in which they speak and
pronounce the Castilian language.
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