Vaya! I do not like you the worse for that.But, being so, how went you to Finisterra, where they are all Christinos and negros? Why did you not go to my village? None would have meddled with you there.Those of my village are of a different stamp to the drunkards of Finisterra.Those of my village never interfere with honest people.Vaya! how I hate that drunkard of Finisterra who brought you, he is so old and ugly;were it not for the love which I bear to the Senhor Alcalde, Iwould at once unlock the gate and bid you go forth, you and your servant, the buen mozo."Antonio now descended."Follow me," said he; "his worship the alcalde will be ready to receive you in a moment."Sebastian and myself followed him upstairs to a room where, seated behind a table, we beheld a young man of low stature but handsome features and very fashionably dressed.He appeared to be inditing a letter, which, when he had concluded, he delivered to a secretary to be transcribed.He then looked at me for a moment fixedly, and the following conversation ensued between us:-ALCALDE.- I see that you are an Englishman, and my friend Antonio here informs me that you have been arrested at Finisterra.
MYSELF.- He tells you true; and but for him I believe that I should have fallen by the hands of those savage fishermen.
ALCALDE.- The inhabitants of Finisterra are brave, and are all liberals.Allow me to look at your passport? Yes, all in form.Truly it was very ridiculous that they should have arrested you as a Carlist.
MYSELF.- Not only as a Carlist, but as Don Carlos himself.
ALCALDE.- Oh! most ridiculous; mistake a countryman of the grand Baintham for such a Goth!
MYSELF.- Excuse me, Sir, you speak of the grand somebody.
ALCALDE.- The grand Baintham.He who has invented laws for all the world.I hope shortly to see them adopted in this unhappy country of ours.
MYSELF.- Oh! you mean Jeremy Bentham.Yes! a very remarkable man in his way.
ALCALDE.- In his way! In all ways.The most universal genius which the world ever produced:- a Solon, a Plato, and a Lope de Vega.
MYSELF.- I have never read his writings.I have no doubt that he was a Solon; and as you say, a Plato.I should scarcely have thought, however, that he could be ranked as a poet with Lope de Vega.
ALCALDE.- How surprising! I see, indeed, that you know nothing of his writings, though an Englishman.Now, here am I, a simple alcalde of Galicia, yet I possess all the writings of Baintham on that shelf, and I study them day and night.
MYSELF.- You doubtless, Sir, possess the English Language.
ALCALDE.- I do.I mean that part of it which is contained in the writings of Baintham.I am most truly glad to see a countryman of his in these Gothic wildernesses.Iunderstand and appreciate your motives for visiting them:
excuse the incivility and rudeness which you have experienced.
But we will endeavour to make you reparation.You are this moment free: but it is late; I must find you a lodging for the night.I know one close by which will just suit you.Let us repair thither this moment.Stay, I think I see a book in your hand.
MYSELF.- The New Testament.
ALCALDE.- What book is that?
MYSELF.- A portion of the sacred writings, the Bible.
ALCALDE.- Why do you carry such a book with you?
MYSELF.- One of my principal motives in visiting Finisterra was to carry this book to that wild place.
ALCALDE.- Ha, ha! how very singular.Yes, I remember.
I have heard that the English highly prize this eccentric book.
How very singular that the countrymen of the grand Baintham should set any value upon that old monkish book.
It was now late at night, and my new friend attended me to the lodging which he had destined for me, and which was at the house of a respectable old female, where I found a clean and comfortable room.On the way I slipped a gratuity into the hand of Antonio, and on my arrival, formally, and in the presence of the alcalde, presented him with the Testament, which I requested he would carry back to Finisterra, and keep in remembrance of the Englishman in whose behalf he had so effectually interposed.
ANTONIO.- I will do so, your worship; and when the winds blow from the north-west, preventing our launches from putting to sea, I will read your present.Farewell, my captain, and when you next come to Finisterra I hope it will be in a valiant English bark, with plenty of contrabando on board, and not across the country on a pony, in company with nuveiros and men of Padron.
Presently arrived the handmaid of the alcalde with a basket, which she took into the kitchen, where she prepared an excellent supper for her master's friend.On its being served up the alcalde bade me farewell, having first demanded whether he could in any way forward my plans.
"I return to Saint James to-morrow," I replied, "and Isincerely hope that some occasion will occur which will enable me to acquaint the world with the hospitality which I have experienced from so accomplished a scholar as the Alcalde of Corcuvion."