It Was Melancholy To Behold The Misery
And Desolation Of The Wives And Children Of Those Who Were Thus Massacred,
And Whose Houses Were Pillaged Of Every Thing Valuable, As They Went About
The Streets Bewailing Their Forlorn Condition.
Some obscure persons[5] carried or dragged the dead body of the marquis to
the church, where no one
Dared to give it burial, till one Juan Barbaran
and his wife, who had been servants to the marquis, obtained permission
from Don Diego, and buried the marquis and his brother as well as they
could. They were obliged to hurry over the ceremony as quickly as possible,
having hardly time to clothe the body in the habit of St Jago, of which
order he was a member, and to put on his spurs according to the usual
manner of burying the knights of that order; as they were informed that
some of the Almagrians were hastening to the church to cut off the head of
the marquis to affix it to the gallows. Barbaran himself performed the
ceremonies of the funeral, at which he was sole mourner, and defrayed all
the expences from his own funds. He next endeavoured to provide for the
security of the children of the marquis, who were concealed in different
parts of the city of Lima, now under the absolute controul of the
Almagrians.
In this melancholy catastrophe, we have a forcible example of the
uncertainty and changeableness of fortune. In a very short space of time,
a private individual who held no important office, had discovered a vast
extent of country containing powerful kingdoms, of which he made himself
master and governor with almost uncontrolled authority, bestowing on
several persons such ample fortunes and extensive revenues as none of the
richest and most powerful monarchs whom we read of in history had ever
given away in so short a time.
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