that if the Christians transported it by land, particular strength and
the aid of God would have been necessary to carry it so many leagues,
and move it over the rugged mountains of Europa;—but, he adds, it might
have come by water from Andalusia or Portugal, and in that case this
would have been a land journey of only four or five leagues.—In his
Journal, Morales mentions certain other relics of which the church of
Oviedo boasted, but for which he required better evidence than could be
adduced for them. Such were a portion of Tobit’s fish, and of Sampson’s
honey-comb, with other such things, which, he says, would lessen the
credit of the Ark, where, according to the Bishop of Oviedo, D. Pelayo,
and Sebastian, Bishop of Salamanca, they were deposited. Of these
precious relics he says nothing in his history, neither does he mention
a piece of Moses’s rod, a large piece of St. Bartholomew’s skin, and
the sole of St. Peter’s shoe, all which he enumerates in his Journal,
implying rather than expressing his doubts of their authenticity. As a
scrupulous and faithful antiquary, Morales was accustomed to require
evidence, and to investigate it; and for these he could find no other
testimony than tradition and antiquity, which, as presumptive proofs,
were strong corroborants of faith, but did not suffice of themselves.
The Holy Ark has all the evidence which he required, and the reverence
with which he regarded it, is curiously expressed in his Journal. “I have
now,” he says, “described the material part of the Camara Santa. The
spiritual and devout character which it derives from the sacred treasures
which it contains, and the feeling which is experienced upon entering
it, cannot be described without giving infinite thanks to our Lord, that
he has been pleased to suffer a wretch like me to enjoy it. I write this
in the church before the grating, and God knows I am as it were beside
myself with fear and reverence, and I can only beseech God to give me
strength to proceed with that for which I have no power myself.”—T. 10.
_Viage_, p. 91.
Morales, like Origen, had given in his youth a decisive proof of the
sincerity of his religious feelings, and it sometimes seems as if he
had emasculated his mind as well as his body. But with all this abject
superstition, he was a thoroughly pious and good man. His life is deeply
interesting, and his writings, besides their great historical and
antiquarian value, derive additional interest from the picture of the
author’s mind which they so frequently display. The portrait prefixed to
the last edition of his work is singularly characteristic.
* * * * *
_The proud array,
Of ermines, aureate vests, and jewelry,
With all which Leuvigild for after kings
Left, ostentatious of his power?_—XVIII. p. 165.
“_Postremum bellum Suevis intulit, regnumque eorum in jura gentis suæ
mirâ celeritate transmisit. Hispania magna ex parte potitus, nam antea
gens Gothorum angustis finibus arctabatur.—Fiscum quoque primus iste
locupletavit, primusque ærarium de rapinis civium, hostiumque manubiis
auxit. Primusque etiam inter suos regali veste opertus in solio resedit.
Nam ante eum et habitus et consessus communis, ut populo, ita et regibus
erat._”—S. Isidor. Hist. Goth.—Espana Sagrada, 6. 498-9.
* * * * *
_The Sueve._—XVIII. p. 166.
As late as the age of the Philips, the Portugueze were called Sevosos
by the Castillians, as an opprobrious name. Brito says, It was the old
word Suevos continued and corrupted, and used contemptuously, because its
origin was forgotten.—_Monarchia Lusitana_, 2. 6. 4.
When the Sueves and Alans over-ran Spain they laid siege to Lisbon, and
the Saints Maxima, Julia, and Verissimus (a most undoubted personage)
being Lisbonians, were applied to by their town’s people to deliver them.
Accordingly, a sickness broke out in the besieger’s camp, and they agreed
to depart upon payment of a sum of money. Bernardo de Brito complains
that Blondus and Sabellicus, in their account of this transaction, have
been so careless as to mention the money and omit the invocation of the
Saints.—_M. Lus._ 2. 5. 23.
* * * * *
_Lord God of Hosts, &c._—XVIII. p. 168.
The substance of these prayers will be found in the forms of coronation
observed by the Anglo-Saxons, and in the early ages of the French
monarchy. I am indebted for them to Turner’s most valuable History of
the Anglo-Saxons, and to Mr. Lingard’s Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon
Church, a work not more full of erudition than it is of Romish sophistry
and misrepresentation.
* * * * *
_Roderick brought
The buckler._—XVIII. p. 169.
_Toman, diziendo aquesto, un ancho escudo
El Duque y Conde y hombres principales,
De pies encima el Principe membrudo
Lo levantan assi del suelo iguales:
Y alçarlo en peso, quanto alçar se pudo
De alçarlo por su Rey fueron señales,
Real, Real, Real, diziendo todos,
Segun costumbre antigua de los Godos._
Ch. de Messa. Rastauracion de Espana, l. 4. ff. 34.
* * * * *
_Rejoice,
O Leon, for thy banner is display’d._—XVIII. p. 170.
“_La primera ciudad que gaño dizen fue Leon, y desde alli se llamo Rey de
Leon, y tomo por armas un Leon roxo en campo blanco, dexando las antiguas
armas de los Godos, que eran un Leon bermejo rampante, en campo azul,
buelta la cara atras, sobre tres ondas blancas y azules._”—Fran. de Pisa.
Desc. de Toledo, l. 3. c. 2.
_Fue la del quinto globo roxa estrella
rayo de su valor, voz de su fama,
y Leon de su escudo y luzimiento,
heredado blason, Signo sangriento._
Coro de las Musas, p. 102.
“_Les anciennes armes estoient parlantes, comme l’on void en celles des
Comtes de Castille, et des Rois de Leon, qui prindrent des Chateaux et
des Lions, pour signifier les noms vulgaires des Provinces, par le blason
de leurs armes; qui ne se reportent pas a l’ancienne denomination de
Castulo et de Legio, chés Pline._”—Pierre de Marca, Hist. de Bearn, l. 1.
c. 12. § 11.
“The Lion’s grinders are, _relevées de trois pointes un peu creusées
dans leur centre, dans lesquelles les speculatifs croyent voir la
figure d’une fleur de lys. Je n’ay garde de dire le contraire_,” says
P. Labat, “_il est permis a bien des gens de voir dans les nuës et
dans les charbons ardens tout ce qu’il plaît à leur imagination de s’y
representer; pourquoy ne sera-t-il pas libre de voir sur les dents
du Lion la figure des fleurs de lys? Je doute que les Espagnols en
conviennent, eux qui prennent le Lion pour les armes et le symbole
de leur monarchie; car on pourrait leur dire que c’est une marque
que sans le secours de la France, leur Lion ne seroit pas fort a
craindre._”—Afrique Occidentale, T. ii. p. 14.
* * * * *
_And Tagus bends his sickle round the scene
Of Roderick’s fall._—XVIII. p. 171.
There is a place at Toledo called la Alcurnia. “_El nombre de Alcurnia
es Arabigo, que es dezir cosa de cuerno, o en forma de cuerno, lo que
Christianos llamavan foz, o hoz de Tajo. Llamase assi porque desde que
este rio passa por debaxo de la puente de Alcantara, va haziendo una
buelta y torcedura, que en una escritura antigua se llama hoz de Tajo.
Lo mesmo acontecio a Arlança cerca de Lara, de donde se llamo la hoz de
Lara, como lo nota Ambrosio de Morales; y en el Reyno de Toledo ay la hoz
de Jucar._”—Francisco de Pisa. Desc. de Toledo, l. i. c. 14.
* * * * *
_Amid our deserts we hunt down the birds
Of heaven, ... wings do not save them!_—XX. p. 187.
The Moors have a peculiar manner of _hunting_ the partridge. In the
plains of Akkermute and Jibbel Hidded in Shedma, they take various
kinds of dogs with them, from the greyhound to the shepherd’s dog, and
following the birds on horseback, and allowing them no time to rest, they
soon fatigue them, when they are taken by the dogs. But as the Mooselmin
eats nothing but what has had its throat cut, he takes out his knife,
and exclaiming _Bismillah_, in the name of God, cuts the throat of the
game.—_Jackson’s Morocco_, p. 121.
* * * * *
_A hasty grave, scarce hidden there from dogs
And ravens, nor from wintry rains secure._—XXII. p. 204.
In composing these lines I remembered a far more beautiful passage in one
of the Eclogues of the Jesuit Bussieres:—
_Artesius ruit ecce furens, finesque propinquos
Insultans, stragem agricolis fugientibus infert.
Quid facerem? matrem, ut potui, tenerumque puellum
Raptabam, et mediis abdebam corpora silvis.
Aspera jam frigebat hyems, frondosaque quercus
Pro tecto et latebris ramos præbebat opacos;
Algentem fovi matrem; fovet illa rigentem
Infantem gremio. Sub prima crepuscula lucis
Progredior, tectum miseris si forte pateret;
Silvam fusus eques telis infensus habebat;
Bona fugio, et capio compendia tuta viarum.
Conditur atra dies; cœlo nox horrida surgit.
Quam longis mihi nox misero producitur horis!
Quos gemitus fletusque dedi: quam proxima votum
Lux fuit! heu tristi lux infensissima clade!
Currebam ad notam quercum per devia tesqua.
Dux amor est. Annam video, puerumque jacentem
Affixum uberibus, duræ succumbere morti.
Ipsa parens, postquam ad vocem conversa vocantis
In me amplexantem morientia lumina fixit,
Eluctantem animam glaciato e corpore mittit.
Obrigui, frigusque novum penetravit in ossa:
Felix, si simili potuissem occumbere letho;
Sors infesta vetat. Restabat cura sepulchri,
Quo foderem ferrum deerat; miserabile corpus
Frondibus obtexi, puerum nec ab ubere vulsi
Sicut erat foliis tegitur; funusque paratur,
Heu nimis incertum, et primis violabile ventis._
* * * * *
——_their white signal-flag._—XXIII. p. 212.
A white flag, called _El Alem_, the signal, is hoisted every day at
twelve o’clock, to warn the people out of hearing, or at a great
distance, to prepare, by the necessary preliminary ablutions, to
prostrate themselves before God at the service of prayer.—_Jackson’s
Morocco_, p. 149.
* * * * *
_The Humma’s happy wings have shadowed him._—XXIII. p. 213.
The humma is a fabulous bird: The head over which its shadow once passes
will assuredly be encircled with a crown.—_Wilkes_, _S. of India_, v. i.
p. 423.
* * * * *
_Life hath not left his body._—XXIII. p. 217.
Among the _Prerogatives et Propriétés singulières du Prophète_, Gagnier
states that, “_Il est vivant dans son Tombeau. Il fait la prière dans ce
Tombeau à chaque fois que le Crieur en fait la proclamation, et au même
tems qu’on la recite. Il y a un Ange posté sur son Tombeau qui a le soin
de lui donner avis des Pri res que les Fidèles font pour lui._”—Vie de
Mahomet, l. vii. c. 18.
The common notion that the impostor’s tomb is suspended by means of
a loadstone is well known. Labat, in his Afrique Occidentale (T. ii.
p. 143.) mentions the lie of a Marabout, who, on his return from a
pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, affirmed, “_que le tombeau de Mahomet
etoit porté en l’air par le moyen de certains Anges qui se relayent
d’heure en heures pour soutenir ce fardeau_.” These fables, however, are
modest in comparison with those which the Franciscans and Dominicans have
invented to magnify their founders.
* * * * *
_Hast thou not heard
How when our clay is leaven’d first with life,
The ministering Angel brings it from that spot
Whereon ’tis written in the eternal book
That soul and body must their parting take,
And earth to earth return?_—XXIII. p. 217.
The Persians in their creed have a pleasant imagination concerning the
death of men. They say, that every one must come and die in the place
where the Angel took the earth of which he hath been made, thinking that
one of these spirits has the care of forming the human creature, which he
doth by mingling a little earth with the seed.—_Thevenot._
* * * * *
_They perish, all their thousands perish there._—XXIII. p. 220.
The battle of Covadonga is one of the great miracles of Spanish history.
It was asserted for many centuries without contradiction, and is still
believed by the people, that when the Moors attacked Pelayo in the
cave, their weapons were turned back upon themselves; that the Virgin
Mary appeared in the clouds, and that part of a mountain fell upon the
Infidels, and crushed those who were flying from the destruction. In what
manner that destruction might have been effected, was exemplified upon a
smaller scale in the Tyrol in the memorable war of 1809.
Barret sums up the story briefly, and in the true strain of Mine Ancient.
The Sarr’cen hearing that th’ Asturianites
Had king created, and stood on their guard,
Sends multitudes of Mohametized knights
To rouse them out their rocks, and force their ward.
Pelagius, hearing of this enterprize,
Prepares his petty power on Auseve mount;
Alchameh comes with Zarzen multiplies,
Meaning Pelagius’ forces to dismount.
To blows they come: but lo; a stroke divine.
The Iber, few, beats numbrous Sarracene,
Two myriads with Mahomet went to dine
In Parca’s park.
* * * * *
_The Bread of Life._—XXIV. p. 229.
It is now admitted by the best informed of the Romish writers themselves,
that, for a thousand years, no other but common or leavened bread was
used in the Eucharist. The wafer was introduced about the eleventh
century. And as far down as the twelfth century the people were admitted
to communicate in both kinds.
* * * * *
_And let no shame be offer’d his remains._—XXV. p. 234.
According to the Comendador Fernan Nunez, in his Commentary upon the
_Trezientas_, the tomb of Count Julian was shown in his days about four
leagues from Huesca at a castle called Loarri, on the outside of a church
which was in the castle.
* * * * *
_His wonted leathern gipion._—XXV. p. 236.
The Musical Pilgrim in Purchas thus describes the Leonese:—
Wymmen in that land use no vullen,
But alle in lether be the wounden:
And her hevedez wonderly ben trust,
Standing in her forheved as a crest,
In rould clouthez lappet alle be forn
Like to the prikke of a N’unicorn.
And men have doubelettez full schert,
Bare legget and light to stert.—P. 1231.
Purchas supposes this very curious poem to have been written about 200
years before he published it, _i. e._ about 1425. It is probably much
older. In entering Castille from Elvas, the author says,
Now into Castell schall we fare
Over the river, the land is bare.
Full of heath and hunger also,
And Sarasynez Governouriz thereto.
Now Badajoz and that part of the country was finally recovered from the
Moors in the early part of the thirteenth century. Purchas perhaps judged
from the age of the manuscript, which may have been written about the
time on which he fixes, and the language modernised by the transcriber.
* * * * *
_The light which o’er the fields of Bethlehem shone,
Irradiated whole Spain._—XXV. p. 238.
“_Fallamos en las estorias que aquella ora que nuestro Señor Jesu Christo
nascio, seyendo media noche, aparesçio una nuve sobre España que dio tan
gran claridad, e tan gran resplandor, e tan gran calor, como el sol en
medio del dia quando va mas apoderado sobre la tierra. E departen los
sabios e dizen que se entiende por aquella que despues de Jesu Christo
vernie su mandadero a España a predicar a los gentiles la ceguedad en
que estavan, e que los alumbrarie con la fee de Jesu Chrysto, e aquesto
fue San Pablo. Otros departen que en España avie de nasçer un prinçipe
chrystiano que serie señor de todo el mundo, e valdrie mas por el todo el
linaje de los omes, bien como esclarescio toda la tierra por la claridad
de aquella nuve en quanto ella duro._”—Coronica General, ff. 71.
A more extraordinary example of the divine favour towards Spain is
triumphantly brought forward by Francisco de Pisa. “Our Lord God,” says
he, “has been pleased to preserve these kingdoms in the purity of the
Faith, like a terrestrial Paradise, by means of the Cherubim of the Holy
Office, which with its sword of fire has defended the entrance, through
the merits and patronage of the most serene Virgin Mary the Mother of
God.” “_Ha sido servido nuestro Señor Dios conservar estos reynos de
España en la entereza de la Fe, como a un Parayso terrenal, mediante el
Cherubin del Santo Officio, que con su espada de fuego les ha defendido
la entrada por los meritos y patrocinio de la serenissima Virgen Maria
Madre de Dios._”—Desc. de Toledo, L. 1. C. 25.
This passage is truly and lamentably characteristic.
* * * * *
_The Oaken Cross._—XXV. p. 241.
The oaken cross which Pelayo bore in battle is said to have been
preserved at Oviedo in the Camara Santa in company with that which the
angels made for Alfonso the Great, concerning which Morales delivers a
careful opinion, how much of it was made by the angels, and how much has
been human workmanship. The people of Cangas, not willing that Pelayo’s
cross should be in any thing inferior to his successors’, insist that
it fell from Heaven. Morales however says, it is more certain that the
king had it made to go out with it to battle at Covadonga. It was covered
with gold and enamel in the year 908; when Morales wrote, it was in fine
preservation, and doubtless so continued till the present generation.
Upon the top branch of the cross there was this inscription: _Susceptum
placide maneat hoc in honore Dei, quod offerunt famuli Christi Adefonsus
Princeps et Scemena Regina._ On the right arm, _Quisquis auferre hæc
donaria nostra presumpserit, fulmine divino intereat ipse._ On the left,
_Hoc opus perfectum est, concessum est Sancto Salvatori Ovetensis Sedis.
Hoc signo tuetur pius, hoc signo vincitur inimicus._ On the foot, _Et
operatum est in Castello Gauzon anno Regni nostri XVII discurrente Era
DCCCCXLVI._
“There is no other testimony,” says Morales, “that this is the cross of
King Don Pelayo, than tradition handed down from one age to another. I
wish the king had stated that it was so in his inscription, and I even
think he would not have been silent upon this point, unless he had wished
to imitate Alonso el Casto, who, in like manner, says nothing concerning
the Angels upon his cross.” This passage is very characteristic of good
old Ambrosio.
* * * * *
_Like a mirror sparkling to the sun._—XXV. p. 247.
The Damascus blades are so highly polished, that when any one wants
to arrange his turban, he uses his scymetar for a looking-glass.—_Le
Brocquière_, p. 138.
* * * * *
_Oh who could tell what deeds were wrought that day,
Or who endure to hear._—XXV. p. 248.
I have nowhere seen a more curious description of a battle between
Christians and Saracens than in Barret’s manuscript:
The forlorn Christian troops Moon’d troops encharge,
The Mooned troops requite them with the like;
Whilst Grecian lance cracks (thundering) Parthian targe,
Parth’s flame-flash arrow Grecian through doth prick:
And whilst that Median scymetar unlimbs
The Christian knight, doth Christian curtle-axe,
Unhead the Median horsemen; whilst here dims
The Pagan’s goggling-eyes by Greekish axe,
The Greek unhorsed lies by Persian push,
And both all rageful grapple on the ground.
And whilst the Saracen with furious rush
The Syrian shocks, the Syrian as round
Down shouldreth Saracen: whilst Babel blade
Sends soul Byzantine to the starred cell,
Byzantine pike with like-employed trade,
Packs Babel’s spirit posting down to hell.
* * * * *
_Who from their thirsty sands
Pray that the locusts on the peopled plain
May settle and prepare their way._—XXV. p. 249.
The Saharawans, or Arabs of the Desert, rejoice to see the clouds of
locusts proceeding towards the north, anticipating therefrom a general
mortality, which they call _elkhere_, the good or the benediction; for,
after depopulating the rich plains of Barbary, it affords to them an
opportunity of emanating from their arid recesses, in the desert, to
pitch their tents in the desolated plains, or along the banks of some
river.—_Jackson’s Morocco_, p. 106.
* * * * *
_But where was he whose hand
Had wielded it so well that glorious day?_—XXV. p. 250.
The account which the Romantic Chronicle gives of Roderick after his
disappearance, is in so singular a strain of fiction, that I have been
tempted to translate it. It strikingly exemplifies the doctrine of
penance, of which monastic history supplies many instances almost as
extraordinary as this fable.
Chap. 238.—_How the King Don Rodrigo left the battle and arrived at a
hermitage, and of that which befell him._
“Now when the King Don Rodrigo had escaped from the battle, he began to
go as fast as he could upon his horse along the banks of the Guadalete,
and night came on, and the horse began to fail by reason of the many
wounds which he had received; and as he went thus by the river side
deploring the great ruin which had come upon him, he knew not where he
was, and the horse got into a quagmire, and when he was in he could not
get out. And when the king saw this he alighted, and stript off all his
rich arms and the furniture thereof, and took off his crown from his
head, and threw them all into the quagmire, saying, Of earth was I made,
and even so are all my deeds like unto mud and mire. Therefore my pomp
and vanity shall be buried in this mud till it has all returned again to
earth, as I myself must do. And the vile end which I have deserved will
beseem me well, seeing that I have been the principal cause of this great
cruelty. And as he thus stript off all his rich apparel, he cast the
shoes from his feet, and went his way, and wandered on towards Portugal;
and he travelled so far that night and the day following, that he came
to a hermitage near the sea, where there was a good man who had dwelt
there serving God for full forty years; and now he was of great age, for
he was well nigh a hundred years old. And he entered into the hermitage,
and found a crucifix therein, being the image of our Lord Jesus Christ,
even as he was crucified, and for the remembrance of Him, he bent both
his knees to the ground, and claspt his hands, weeping and confessing
his sins before God, for he weened not that any man in the world saw or
heard him. And he said thus, O very Lord who by thy word hast made all
the world from nothing which it was, and hast created all things, those
which are visible to men, and those which are invisible, the heavenly as
well as the earthly, and who didst incarnate thyself that thou mightest
undergo thy passion and death, to save those who firmly put their trust
in thee, giving up thy holy ghost from thy glorified body upon the tree
of the true cross,—and who didst descend into Hell, and deliveredst thy
friends from thence, and didst regale them with the glory of Heaven; And
afterwards thy holy spirit came again into that most holy body, which
thou wast pleased to take upon thee in this world; and, manifesting
thyself for the true God which thou wert, thou didst deign to abide in
this dark world forty days with their nights, and then thou didst ascend
into thy heavenly glory, and didst enlighten with the grace of the Holy
Ghost thy beloved disciples. I beseech thee, O Lord, that thou wouldst
enlighten me, a king in tribulation, wretched and full of many sins, and
deserving all evils; let not the soul which is thine, and which cost thee
so dear, receive the evil and the desert of this abominable flesh; and
may it please thee, O Lord, after the downfall, destruction, perdition,
and desolation, which I, a miserable king, have suffered in this world,
that my disconsolate soul may not be forgotten by thee, and that all this
misery may be in satisfaction for my errors. And I earnestly beseech
thee, O Lord, that thy grace may breathe upon me, that in this world I
may make satisfaction for my sins, so that at the Great Day of Judgement
I may not be condemned to the torments of hell.
“Having said these words, weeping as though he would burst, he remained
there a long hour. And when the Hermit heard him say all this, he was
greatly astonished, and he went unto him. And when the King saw him he
was little pleased; howbeit after he had talked with him, he would rather
have found him there than have been restored again to the great honour
which he had lost; for the Hermit comforted him in such wise in this his
tribulation, that he was right well contented; and he confessed unto him,
and told him all that concerned him. And the Hermit said to him, King,
thou shalt remain in this hermitage, which is a remote place, and where
thou mayest lead thy life as long as it shall please God. And for me, on
the third day from hence, I shall pass away out of this world; and thou
shalt bury me, and thou shalt take my garments, and fulfil the time of a
year in this hermitage. Take no thought as to provision for thy support,
for every Friday thou shalt have it after the same manner as I, and thou
shalt so husband it, that it may suffice thee for the whole week; That
flesh which hath been fostered in great delight shall suffer abstinence,
lest it should grow proud; and thou shalt endure hunger and cold and
thirst in the love of our Lord, that he may have compassion upon thee.
Thy station till the hour of sleep must always be upon that rock, where
there is an oratory facing the east; and thou shalt continue the service
of God in such manner as God will direct thee to do. And take heed that
thy soul fall not into temptation. And since thou hast spoken this day of
penitence, to-morrow thou shalt communicate and receive the true body of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who will be thy protection and support against the
enemy and the persecutor. And put thou thy firm trust in the sign of the
Cross; and thus shalt thou please thy Saviour.