SEVILLE AND GRANADA
(JANUARY-SEPTEMBER, 1833)
SEVILLE--GRANADA--TETUAN--FESTIVITIES AT MADRID--RETURN TO ENGLAND
SEVILLA, _Saturday, January 12 [1833]_.
I did not answer your letter last post, as I was then in the Sierra
Morena, near Alcolea, on a shooting excursion.
You will find a large engraving of the tomb of the Catholic kings
in the folio work published at Madrid in 1804 by Don Pablo Lorano,
and called _Antiquedades arabes in España_.
Lewis, who is here, says, if you are not satisfied with that print,
that he will make a drawing of the chapel and tomb at Granada when
he returns. There are portraits of Fernando and Isabella in the
Generalife; but they are bad, and certainly not so old as the
period those personages lived in. At the Cartuja convent, near
Burgos, is a genuine and beautiful small portrait of Isabella,
which struck me very much when I was there, and is certainly of
the time, and in the manner, of Holbein.
If you are acquainted with a brother of General Sⁿ. Martin, who has
just been named Bishop of Barcelona, he will probably be able to
put you in the way of getting a copy made of this portrait by some
artist at Burgos. The newly-elected Bishop was treasurer of the
cathedral at Burgos, and is a most worthy and good man.
Don José O’Lawlor could get you copies made of the portraits at the
Generalife and of the tomb of Granada, and that musical artist
_Muriel_ will do the job in a manner that no one will recognise
them.
So much for your Excellency’s commissions.
We are all agog here with the arrival of Amarillas from Granada,
who will make an excellent Captain-General, quite as honest and
firm as Quesada, and much better and higher bred. If you see Madᵉ
Quesada, who is a most agreeable, charming, fat old lady, pray lay
me most devotedly at her feet.
My wife has been far from well lately--a bad cough, pain in her
chest, and palpitations of the heart. I am not quite comfortable
about her, and have some thoughts of going to Madeira. The Colonel
is here as usual, and has lately set up a waistcoat, which he has
eulogised to all Seville.
My wife wishes to know if you would like to have a _very, very
fine_ Pajes guitar. There was a talk of one being to be sold, and
it was mentioned to her.
I have this instant seen the _Gazetta_, and that Don José is
appointed Captain-General of Mallorca. I suspected something was in
the wind when so prudent a gentleman undertook the journey to
Madrid. I am sorry for it, as I had eyes on the Alhambra for next
summer.
SEVILLA, _March 6 [1833]_.
I have been resisting during these last six weeks an _empeño_
[favour] of my wife’s, but have at length yielded, as most men,
whether single or married, must to the constant battery of female
determination. She has bought a small silver filigree box, about
half a foot long and six inches high, which she is very anxious to
send to England, and to get it in without being broken up. She
wants to know whether you can or will help her in this matter. It
is a favour to be bestowed on her, and for which she will ever
remain your handmaid or handwoman. I have told her that _I_ do not
ask you, because you would say _no_ slap, and there would be an end
of it. As the box is so small, will it be possible to get Lady S.
Canning to take it back with her? I hardly like writing to Lord
Althorp about it, as the Whigs, of course, will never do a job. So
the matter stands. If you can do it, it will be a great favour to
her, as the nicknack is a very pretty one. If you cannot, then she
must bear it patiently--_no tiene remedio_. You will have heard of
us and of our masquerading from a tall major, who was as high as a
hill; he passed through with a stammering gentleman, who, I hope,
was not the talebearer, or it is not told yet.
We are expecting a flock of Consuls from Europe and Africa--the
Brackenburys and the Drummond Hays, who are going to spend the Holy
Week, and a rare unholy one will they make it; as, where two or
three English are gathered together, there is envy, hatred, and
uncharitableness amongst them, and still more with that great class
of people His B.M. Consuls. The Hays, I hear, are the greatest men
alive. I am thinking of being off to escape the Consular deluge,
and to retire to the polished cities of Tangier and Tetuan. Mr. Hay
has made me offers for my house, and probably I shall make hay
while the sun shines.
We have applied for the Alhambra, and, as soon as I can get an
answer, we shall prepare to set forth for Granada, having no fear
_now_ of José Maria, who came to Seville and paid me a visit of
which the whole town is talking. I received him as a man of his
merits deserves, and gave him a present of a pistol, with which
probably, if he meets me on the high road, he will shoot me.
Lewis, who is with me still, made a drawing of him--a fine handsome
fellow, and fit to be absolute king of Andalucia.
If you have time to write, pray tell us what is _really known_
about the cholera. Is it at Lisbon? What are you about at Madrid,
making the exchange to rise so? I am ruined by it.
My wife begs to be remembered to you, and that her _empeño_ may be
remembered by you.
Poor Don José! What a mess he made of his trip to Madrid, where his
Dionysia nearly miscarried, and he has completely. As far as we are
concerned, I am delighted to see him again at Granada.
SEVILLA, _April 3 [1833]_.
My wife begs me to thank you a thousand times for offering to send
her box. The size is 5 inches wide, 6 inches high, 8 inches long.
If you think fit, I will send it to you, and you shall dispose of
the matter as you like. It contains a few odd Spanish trinkets,
about £50 worth, in which _materiam superavit opus_, and which she
wishes not to lose on account of the recollections attached to
them, being memorials of her travels. I am really quite vexed at
giving you all this trouble, thinking on the subject exactly the
same as you do, and wishing all ladies and their _empeños_ at the
devil.
We are full of _Misereres_, _Custodias_, _Pagos_, and processions,
all the night and day work of the Holy Week, all unction, the
fruits of which will duly make their appearance, this day nine
months, in a plentiful crop of bastards for the _Casa de los
Expositos_. Lots of English from the Rock, of the regiment called
The Tiger; Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consuls-General, as thick as
blackberries, and quite as insipid. I am dying to be lodged again
in the Alhambra, and hear the ovation of the Tia’s chickens. Will
the troubled times permit your Excellency to come and see us again
this summer, when we will ride to Alhama and on to the Consul Mark,
_el siempre Vencidor, El Galib?_
We are all at a nonplus at what is going on in the _Corte_. His
Majesty’s letter to the Captain-Generals is a poser, and means in
English, “I want nobody but my little Cea Bermudez.”[34] However, I
am delighted to see that his Majesty is so well, as these decrees
speak more clearly than any bulletins, that he has no thoughts of
dying, and cares no more for Isabel than George the Fourth did for
Charlotte. I wonder you can have any doubts whatever as to what
will happen next. You will see the next word of command will be “As
you were.”
It would be a pity that the march of intellect should get into the
Peninsula, or that Africa should cease to begin at the Pyrenees.
SEVILLA, _Wednesday, 17 [April 1833]_.
I enclose you the receipt of the _diligence_ for the small box I
sent you, in consequence of your kind offer to send it home for my
wife. Mind, I should never have ventured to bother you on such a
subject. The _diligence_ will arrive on Monday morning. If you will
send your whiskered _Chasseur_ with the enclosed paper, no
custom-house officer will dare to open it.
I suppose Brackenbury will send you the news of the two packets, up
and down, which have met at Cadiz. The one from Malta brings the
news that the Russians have 7 sail of the line at Constantinople,
and 40 transports full of troops in the Bosphorus, and that Mehemet
Ali’s fleet, 5 sail, have hoisted the flag of independence.[35]
The _Hermes_ from England, sent off at an hour’s notice by the
Admiralty, touched at Oporto, Vigo, Lisbon, with orders to all the
English ships of war to proceed directly to Constantinople, without
anchoring at Gibraltar. The _Malabar_, Captain Percy (with Sir
William Eden on board), is at Cadiz, and, ere this, in the
Mediterranean. Other English ships are in sight. Private
intelligence to “_the Proconsul_” says that the cholera is at
Lisbon.
Will you be so kind, if you have time, to let me know when the box
arrives, and, if it goes to England, how and when? It contains £50
or £60 of trinkets, the honey collected by my Queen Bee.
Shirreff is uncertain as to his motions. He is agog at the thoughts
of a war and a three-decker. It is probable that he will turn off
at Ossuna and proceed directly to Gibraltar by Ronda.
I hope to arrive at Granada next Wednesday, where, in case of
seizure or squalls, you have a house at your _disposicion_ to
retire to.
TETUAN, _Saturday, May 25 [1833]_.
Do not be alarmed at a letter from this land of lions, tigers,
deserts, and cannibals, for I assure you it is a paradise compared
to the garrison and gunfire of Gibraltar, almost as beautiful as
Granada, quite as civilised as Spain, and abounding with comforts
and accommodations, seeing that the houses of the Jews are more
handsomely and abundantly furnished than those of the grandees of
Seville.
It is quite a mistake to suppose that there is any difficulty or
danger in travelling in Barbary, or that the condition of the Jews
or Christians here is so deplorable as gentlemen on their travels
have printed and published for the benefit of Mr. Colburn and
edification of the British public. Both are treated with great
kindness, and the proof of the substantial prosperity of the sons
of Israel is in the silks and jewels, domestic comforts and
luxuries, which are to be met with even among the poorest of them.
I must go back a little in my letter. We left Seville in April, and
reached Granada in due time, in spite of the wind and the rain. We
thence proceeded to the town called by the English Gib, by the way
of Alhama _ay de mi_![36] Loja, Antequera, and Ronda, a fine
mountain ride, full of Moorish castles and fastnesses, the scene of
many a desperate conflict, all of which are written in the book of
Washington Irving. From Gibraltar we were conveyed by Shirreff to
Tangiers, a pretty little town situated in a sheltered bay. I need
not tell you how great is the change on landing, greater than that
between Dover and Calais. I will not say that, on coming from
Spain, it is coming from civilisation to barbarism, it being well
known that Africa begins at the Pyrenees; but still the change of
turbans for hats, _haiks_ for _capas_, camels for mules, wild Arabs
in their peaked _jellibeas_ for monks, is sufficiently striking.
The interior of the town is like a Spanish one--all dirt, ruin, and
bad pavement, the houses, low and windowless, looking like whitened
sepulchres; and the women, in their _haiks_ and muffled-up faces,
look like the ghost in _Semiramis_--a very appropriate population
for so sepulchral a city. From under the shroud, however, peep out
certain black, soft eyes, so full of life that a gentleman would
have no objection to be haunted in the night-time by one of these
spectres.
The Jewesses do not hide their faces, and it would be a sin to do
so, as they are truly beautiful. Their costume is most fanciful and
oriental--a mass of brocade, golden sashes, handkerchiefs, and
jewelry, pearls, rubies, and emeralds, by no means the trappings of
a people said to be stripped to the skin by the Moors. If they have
any “_old cloes_,” they buy and sell them and do not wear them.
They are highly pleased at being visited, and show their finery
with great complacency. My wife has been admitted into the interior
of divers houses of the Moors, but does not give so favourable an
account of them as of the Jewesses. The newly-married women paint
their faces very much as we remember, in the days of our youth,
that facetious gentleman Grimaldi did.
There is a very decent inn, much cleaner and better provided than
those in Spain. We were lodged at His B. Majesty’s
Consulate-General, and so changed houses with the Hays. From
Tangiers we rode to Tetuan, a pleasant ride through a rich country,
well cultivated, of about eleven hours. Here we have put up in the
oriental dwelling of a respectable Jew, who has two daughters, who
make me think every day better of Moses as a legislator--fair
complexions, dark black hair, and soft, mild, large, almond-shaped
eyes, rendered more oriental by a dark powder, with which the lids
are slightly blacked, which gives an indescribable soft expression
to them. We have been received by the Pasha in oriental state,
turbaned guards, Ethiopian slaves, cushions and couches, and much
green tea, almond cakes and sweetmeats. My wife was presented to
his lady, and presented by her with a scarf value ten shillings,
for which she gave her a musical snuff-box.
The situation of the town delightful, on the slope of a hill
commanded by an embattled castle, and overlooking a valley of
gardens bounded to the north-east by the blue sea, and to the south
by a magnificent chain of mountains. It is a second Granada, and
the original founders who fled from Granada brought with them all
their love for agriculture and gardens, which are here the delight
of the Moors. The hills supply them with an abundance of water,
which under African sun and a fertile soil covers the earth with
the most luxuriant vegetation and every kind of fruit given to man
to eat. The town is like that of Tangiers, impressive when seen
from the distance, but ruined in the interior. The bazaars, and
especially the corn and vegetable markets, very African. Lines of
camels laden with dates from Tafilet, silks from Fez, Ethiopians,
wild Arabs, and muffled women, naked legs and covered faces, all
talking a guttural idiom which beats German to nothing. The wares
they deal with are as singular as the people: painted _couskousu_
dishes from Fez, odd brown zebra-looking carpets from Rabat,
tricolour clothes for the Ethiopians, velvet embroidered cushions,
slippers and sashes from Algiers. Then the jewelry of the women. My
wife represents the Moorish women as one mass of pearls and
precious stones. I have seen the collection of a Jewish woman
which filled a decent-size box, about four times as big as the one
my wife troubled you with, and which I hope started safely for
England. Huge uncut emeralds seem to be the favourites. The houses
are full of small _patios_, arches, arabesque work, and tesselated
pavement, like the Alhambra, and the palace of the Governor, which
is in high order, gives one an idea of what the Alhambra must have
been once upon a time. We hope to set out to-morrow for Gibraltar,
and thence to Granada _viâ_ Malaga, and, having embraced His B. M.
Consul in that city, to get back to the Alhambra by the 6th of
June, _el dia de Corpus_, which is celebrated with great pomp in
Granada. _Adios_ ever, here and everywhere.
GIBRALTAR, _Thursday, 30 [May, 1833]_.
We have arrived here quite safely from Tetuan, and hope to be back
at Granada by the 6th of June for _el dia de Corpus_.
Leaving his wife at Granada, Ford hurried to Madrid to be present at the
solemn recognition of Isabella as heiress to the Spanish crown. In spite
of the protests of Don Carlos, the oath of allegiance was taken by the
Cortes in the Church of Geronimo at Madrid (June 20th, 1833). The
capital was given up for days to magnificent festivities, which
culminated in a bull-fight, given in the Plaza Mayor on Saturday, June
22nd. The whole square was converted into a superb spectacle, the
windows of the houses being used as boxes. Under a gorgeous canopy in
the centre window of the Town Hall sat the King and Queen; on either
side of them were the royal family and the court. The King arrived in
state at 5 o’clock. The arena was cleared by halberdiers, dressed in the
costume of the old guard of Philip II. The four knights, who took part
in the fight, led a splendid procession round the arena. Each was
accompanied by his sponsor, in a state coach and six, attended by
running footmen. The sponsors, the Dukes of Frias, Alva, and Infantado,
and the Count of Florida Blanca, were followed by troops of gaily
dressed bull-fighters and their assistants, leading horses from the
King’s stables, saddled with silver trappings, and their manes and tails
plaited with ribbons. They were succeeded by four troops, each
consisting of forty men, one equipped as ancient Spaniards, the second
as Romans, the third as wild Indians, and the fourth as Moors. When all
had taken their places the bull-fight began. The bulls were let loose,
and each of the four knights in turn advanced on horseback clad in silk,
and armed only with a short javelin. Their safety depended on the skill
of the matadors who attended them. Care had been taken that the bulls
should not be of their usual ferocity; but, even as it was, one of the
knights was severely wounded.[37]
MALAGA, _June 2 [1833]_.
If you do not repent you of your hospitable offer of giving me a
bed, during the approaching shows and ceremonies, I should be
delighted to run up for a few days. As I should come alone, any
hole or corner in your house would be perfectly good enough, and I
should put you by no means out of your way.
I hope to be at Granada by Thursday, and will consult Don José’s
tailor on the subject of a coat, something blue, turned up with red
and a few dollars of gold lace; you can pass me, in this decent
livery, as an _attaché_ extraordinary from the Pacha of Tetuan, or
a proconsul from his B.M. Consul-General at Tangiers. I hope in
this disguise to be allowed to stand behind your Excellency’s chair
at the different ceremonies, bull-fights, _rows_ (_si Dios
quiere_), and hold your dress cocked hat.
My wife is not well, and much knocked up by this last journey, and
will do quite well to remain quiet in the Alhambra. Indeed, some
repose is absolutely necessary to her, both bodily and mentally.
This is a warm spot; and having dined with the consul, eaten the
raisins, drunk the Malaga, and looked at the clay figures, nought
remains but to pack up the _Alforjas_ [saddle-bags] and be off to
Granada.
I wrote you a letter from Tetuan, which I hope reached you, and was
less tedious than one of sixty pages from Mr. Edward Drummond
Mortimer Auriol Hay.
I hear there will be no time for an answer to reach me at Granada,
as I must set out about the 10th to arrive the 16th. All sorts of
conveyances will no doubt be occupied, and I shall have to ride
over the interminable plains of Castille, and shall arrive as brown
as the Plenipo from Algiers.
On July 1st, 1833, Ford was back at Granada. But he had now determined,
for the reasons given in the following letter, to return to England.
Addington was also leaving Madrid. Greville (_Memoirs_, ed. 1888, vol.
iii. pp. 14-15), notes on July 20th: “George Villiers is to go as
Minister to Madrid, instead of Addington, who is so inefficient they are
obliged to recall him, and at this moment Madrid is the most important
diplomatic mission, with reference to the existing and prospective state
of things. The Portuguese contest, the chance of the King of Spain’s
death and a disputed succession, the recognition of the South American
Colonies, and commercial arrangements with this country, present a mass
of interests which demand considerable dexterity and judgment; besides,
Addington is a Tory, and does not act in the spirit of this Government,
so they will recall him without ceremony.” The unfavourable criticism
is discounted by the last sentence. But there can be no question that
Addington’s successor George Villiers, afterwards (1838) fourth Earl of
Clarendon, was a man of much greater ability. Villiers remained at
Madrid till early in 1839.
_July 6 [1833]_, GRANADA.
I arrived here to dinner on Monday last, having left Madrid
Saturday morning at 2, passing through the _Prado_, which was full
of people eating gingerbread, and dancing to guitars and strumming,
a very proper and Catholic mode of keeping the _Visperas_ of Sⁿ.
Pedro.
The journey here was severe, but rapid. I found Mrs. Ford much
better, very much better than I could have expected--so much so
that we have determined on returning to England in September, _si
Dios quiere_. I do not like the looks of things here, and, with the
Portuguese business and the cholera in the Peninsula, think it high
time to return to England. Indeed, it is high time for other
reasons. My wife is left alone without female society; my children
at this important age are brought up as heathens and Spaniards, a
pretty prospect for daughters; and I myself must purge like
Falstaff, and live cleanly like a gentleman, and take to that
gentlemanlike old vice, avarice, to save a little money for the
bad times which hang over England.
We hear here that the expedition in the south of Portugal is
advancing prosperously, and that they pay as they go, which is a
surer way of making proselytes than all their charters and
constitutions.
Don José has added another young lady to his family, Dionysia
having been safely brought to bed yesterday. This is her sixth
child of the female sex.
The weather here delicious, mornings and evenings cool and fresh,
and all green, and trickling streams, shady over-leafy arbours,
with sweet singing nightingales; _per contra_ nothing to eat, and
no Valdepeñas or dinners.
The wall in the Alhambra is rising most rapidly, and the Frenchman
equally expeditious in his painting of the _Patio de los Leones_
for _Vista allegre_; indeed he had better make haste, for the
_vista_ of the future is anything but _allegre_.
GRANADA, _August 24, 1833_.
I was astounded in seeing in the _Revista_ that your ambassadorial
career in Spain is coming to a conclusion. As you have been long
prepared for it, and, indeed, rather surprised at its not having
taken place sooner, I need say no more on the matter except that
you will retire to enjoy your _otium cum dignitate_. They have been
very considerate to let you out of Spain just when the cholera is
coming in. We hear that it was at Huelva on the 10th, and will soon
be at Cadiz and Seville. This is bad intelligence for us, as we
were preparing to return to England that route. If it does not
reach Gibraltar by October, we shall go home in that packet.
If you have time, in all the misery of packing up and departure, to
write me a line, I shall be very glad to know when you are going
and what are your plans. I am sure I am most thankful to the Whigs
for their forbearance, as I verily believe, had you not furnished
me with the Galignani (to say nothing of much and friendly
hospitality on all and many occasions), I could not have survived
in this land of darkness. The papers say George Villiers is to be
your successor. He is a very clever, high-bred man, _muy rubio_ and
an _elegante_; he will please the Madrilenas. I should doubt if he
knew a word of Spanish, which he will find a pretty considerable
_desideratum_.
We are here enjoying the most beautiful weather, and one would
hardly suppose, on looking at the blue sky and bright sun, that
there was cholera in the world.
The summer has been unusually warm, and old Picacho has taken off
his white nightcap in consequence of the heat. I went up to the
Barranco de Sⁿ. Juan with Head,[38] who is a well-informed,
agreeable companion, and is filling his portfolio and pericranium
with all sorts of Spanish _memoranda_.
Don José is _in statu quo_, and has had another baby born to him. I
occasionally stroll with him in the Alameda, and listen to his old
campaigns and how the Duke “flaked” the French on all occasions. I
am reading the masterly work of Napier, and O’Lawlor is quite a
commentator. _Quæque ipse miserrima vidi et quorum pars magna fui._
You won’t be tempted to run down here in the _diligence_, and go
home in the October packet?
Brackenbury was at Seville, gone to see the paintings of Mr.
Roberts, which I hear are very fine;[39] but the news at Huelva
sent him off per steamer to his post at Cadiz.
I fear the wise Whigs will find their _protégé_ in Portugal in a
mess; we hear every day of the country rising against Dom Pedro.
O’Lawlor considers his troubles as now beginning. Your troubles
and mine are fast drawing to an end.
_Sept. 21, 1833_, MADRID.
We arrived here at last this morning, after a most distressing
journey, in consequence of the detentions and discomforts
occasioned on the road by the singular precautions taken in the
towns against the approach of the cholera. These are so very
absurd, and so totally calculated to defeat the object in view,
that I think some account of what took place may possibly interest
you.
As I had to travel with a sick wife, four small children--one of
them only weaned a few days--I made many enquiries of General
Abadia and the _administrador_ of the _diligence_ at Granada
whether any difficulties would be offered on the road, with a view
of making some sort of preparation; but, having been assured that
none would, I ventured forth on Wednesday morning. We reached Jaen
without interruption, but on our arrival found a guard of soldiers
drawn up across the road, with many of the inhabitants behind them.
The _diligence_ was stopped, though it could only come from
Granada; and though all other carriages coming from Granada were
admitted at once, a precaution taken against the _diligence only_,
which on the contrary ought to have been the least suspected, both
from the forms of its institution and the decency of travellers who
proceed by such a conveyance. The _mayoral_ got down, and entered
into close communication with the soldiers and people, collected
all the passports, and gave them _into the hand_ of a person
appointed to receive them. The passengers then alighted, and
mingled with the assembled people until the passports were
returned.
Next morning we proceeded to Mengibar, a miserable hamlet, where we
were detained by some wild-looking peasants and a nondescript
soldier in a _gorro_ without stockings, but with a sword in his
hand. The passports were received in the same way, and returned
duly _viséd_ by the _Junta de Sanidad_. In almost every town some
sort of detention took place, generally of about half an hour, but
varying in detail according to the plan laid down by each petty
Junta.
At Guarroman a carriage, supposed to have a person from Seville in
it, was turned out of the town, and the passengers obliged to pass
the day in the sun, without food or communication, while some steps
were taken to procure them a _cortijo_.
At Manzanares, where we arrived early, we were detained much
longer, as none of the peasants could read or write, and the
passports had to be taken to the _Escribano_, who was in bed, and
had left orders not to be disturbed.
At Ocaña, where we ought to have rested some hours and supped, the
_diligence_ was peremptorily ordered out of the town. We were
driven out and left to ourselves; the innkeeper, who ought to have
provided food, not having done so because there might be some
difficulty in his getting paid. However, a party in the carriage
fared better: several ladies, attended by two officers of the
garrison with servants, came down to the _diligence_ with
provisions, remained with it an hour, and then returned to Ocaña
with the _very guards_ who were appointed to prevent all
communication.
At Aranjuez, the next town, we were admitted without stoppage,
enquiry, or notice of any sort.
It is needless to point out to you the absurdity of these
proceedings, so vexatious to travellers, and so utterly ill
calculated to produce any good effect. Persons suspected of being
infected are allowed to remain in full communication with
inhabitants of the town, before their actual freedom from disease
is ascertained. The commonest measures of sanitary precautions are
neglected. There was no bar, no rope across the road, no fixed spot
for the travellers to communicate with the guards, no receiving
papers or passports with tongs, or with vinegar, or any of the
usual disinfecting processes.
Each little town seemed to act according to its own ideas, and all
absolute and peremptory; all in equal ignorance of what was passing
below and left in equal ignorance by the authorities at Madrid;
without orders or instructions, or one general simple plan to be
adopted everywhere, each petty village acting for itself as if no
other town existed, and without reference to the public good.
Depend upon it, they are adopting the sure means of rapidly
communicating the disease, and _any one_ infected traveller will
bring it, to a certainty, to Madrid, if no better precautions are
taken in the towns nearer the disorder.