Immediately After My
Return, I Dispatched Victoriano To Caramanchal, A Village At A
Short Distance From Madrid, The Only One Towards The West Which Had
Not Been Visited Last Year.
He staid there about an hour, and
disposed of twelve copies, and then returned, as he was exceedingly
timid, and was afraid of being met by the thieves who swarm on that
road in the evening.
Shortly after these events, a circumstance occurred which will
perhaps cause the English reader to smile, whilst, at the same
time, it will not fail to prove interesting, as affording an
example of the feeling prevalent in some of the lone villages of
Spain with respect to innovation and all that savours thereof, and
the strange acts which are sometimes committed by the real
authorities and the priests, without the slightest fear of being
called to account; for as they live quite apart {20} from the rest
of the world, they know no people greater than themselves, and
scarcely dream of a higher power than their own.
I was about to make an excursion to Guadalajara, and the villages
of Alcarria, about seven leagues distant from Madrid; indeed I
merely awaited the return of Victoriano to sally forth; I having
dispatched him in that direction with a few Testaments, as a kind
of explorer, in order that, from his report as to the disposition
manifested by the people for purchasing, I might form a tolerably
accurate opinion as to the number of copies which it might be
necessary to carry with me.
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