I intended to make
but a short stay, and as a diligence would set out for Madrid the
day next but one to my arrival, I purposed departing therein for
the capital of Spain.
I was standing at the door of the inn where I had taken up my
temporary abode; the weather was gloomy, and rain seemed to be at
hand; I was thinking on the state of the country I had just
entered, which was involved in bloody anarchy and confusion, and
where the ministers of a religion falsely styled Catholic and
Christian were blowing the trump of war, instead of preaching the
love-engendering words of the blessed Gospel.
Suddenly two men, wrapped in long cloaks, came down the narrow and
almost deserted street; they were about to pass, and the face of
the nearest was turned full towards me; I knew to whom the
countenance which he displayed must belong, and I touched him on
the arm. The man stopped, and likewise his companion; I said a
certain word, to which, after an exclamation of surprise, he
responded in the manner I expected. The men were Gitanos or
Gypsies, members of that singular family or race which has diffused
itself over the face of the civilised globe, and which, in all
lands, has preserved more or less its original customs and its own
peculiar language.
Pages:
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220