We Passed On Our Way Uninterrupted; No Thieves Showed Themselves,
Nor Indeed Did We See A Single Individual Until We
Arrived at
Pegoens, and from thence to Vendas Novas our fortune was the same.
I was welcomed with great kindness
By the people of the hostelry of
the latter place, who were well acquainted with me on account of my
having twice passed the night under their roof. The name of the
keeper of this is, or was, Joze Dias Azido, and unlike the
generality of those of the same profession as himself in Portugal,
he is an honest man, and a stranger and foreigner who takes up his
quarters at his inn, may rest assured that he will not be most
unmercifully pillaged and cheated when the hour of reckoning shall
arrive, as he will not be charged a single re more than a native
Portuguese on a similar occasion. I paid at this place exactly one
half of the sum which was demanded from me at Arroyolos, where I
passed the ensuing night, and where the accommodation was in every
respect inferior.
At twelve next day we arrived at Monte More, and, as I was not
pressed for time, I determined upon viewing the ruins which cover
the top and middle part of the stately hill which towers above the
town. Having ordered some refreshment at the inn where we
dismounted, I ascended till I arrived at a large wall or rampart,
which, at a certain altitude embraces the whole hill. I crossed a
rude bridge of stones, which bestrides a small hollow or trench;
and passing by a large tower, entered through a portal into the
enclosed part of the hill. On the left hand stood a church, in
good preservation, and still devoted to the purposes of religion,
but which I could not enter, as the door was locked, and I saw no
one at hand to open it.
I soon found that my curiosity had led me to a most extraordinary
place, which quite beggars the scanty powers of description with
which I am gifted. I stumbled on amongst ruined walls, and at one
time found I was treading over vaults, as I suddenly started back
from a yawning orifice into which my next step, as I strolled
musing along, would have precipitated me. I proceeded for a
considerable way by the eastern wall, till I heard a tremendous
bark, and presently an immense dog, such as those which guard the
flocks in the neighbourhood against the wolves, came bounding to
attack me "with eyes that glowed and fangs that grinned." Had I
retreated, or had recourse to any other mode of defence than that
which I invariably practise under such circumstances, he would
probably have worried me; but I stooped till my chin nearly touched
my knee, and looked him full in the eyes, and as John Leyden says,
in the noblest ballad which the Land of Heather has produced:-
"The hound he yowled and back he fled,
As struck with fairy charm."
It is a fact known to many people, and I believe it has been
frequently stated, that no large and fierce dog or animal of any
kind, with the exception of the bull, which shuts its eyes and
rushes blindly forward, will venture to attack an individual who
confronts it with a firm and motionless countenance. I say large
and fierce, for it is much easier to repel a bloodhound or bear of
Finland in this manner than a dunghill cur or a terrier, against
which a stick or a stone is a much more certain defence. This will
astonish no one who considers that the calm reproving glance of
reason, which allays the excesses of the mighty and courageous in
our own species, has seldom any other effect than to add to the
insolence of the feeble and foolish, who become placid as doves
upon the infliction of chastisements, which if attempted to be
applied to the former would only serve to render them more
terrible, and like gunpowder cast on a flame, cause them in mad
desperation to scatter destruction around them.
The barking of the dog brought out from a kind of alley an elderly
man, whom I supposed to be his master, and of whom I made some
inquiries respecting the place. The man was civil, and informed me
that he served as a soldier in the British army, under the "great
lord," during the Peninsular war. He said that there was a convent
of nuns a little farther on, which he would show me, and thereupon
led the way to the south-east part of the wall, where stood a large
dilapidated edifice.
We entered a dark stone apartment, at one corner of which was a
kind of window occupied by a turning table, at which articles were
received into the convent or delivered out. He rang the bell, and,
without saying a word, retired, leaving me rather perplexed; but
presently I heard, though the speaker was invisible, a soft
feminine voice demanding who I was, and what I wanted. I replied
that I was an Englishman travelling into Spain, and that passing
through Monte Moro I had ascended the hill for the purpose of
seeing the ruins. The voice then said, "I suppose you are a
military man going to fight against the king, like the rest of your
countrymen." "No," said I, "I am not a military man, but a
Christian, and I go not to shed blood but to endeavour to introduce
the gospel of Christ into a country where it is not known;"
whereupon there was a stifled titter, I then inquired if there were
any copies of the Holy Scriptures in the convent, but the friendly
voice could give me no information on that point, and I scarcely
believe that its possessor understood the purport of my question.
It informed me, that the office of lady abbess of the house was an
annual one, and that every year there was a fresh superior; on my
inquiring whether the nuns did not frequently find the time
exceedingly heavy on their hands, it stated that, when they had
nothing better to do, they employed themselves in making
cheesecakes, which were disposed of in the neighbourhood.
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