I hired a French servant to conduct the mules, on one of which I placed two trunks, made purposely for this mode of conveyance, containing my clothes, and on the other two similar ones, filled with provisions for a week, such as hams, for which Grenada is famous, pies, and other good things, together with a small barrel of wine; in short, having neglected nothing to make me independent of inns on the road, I quitted Grenada, escorted by a detachment of twelve dragoons, and accompanied by Colonel Marshall and Monsieur de Billi, who were directed by the General to provide me with suitable quarters, while we remained together, and in every other respect to attend to my comfort. In spite, however, of all these attentions, the prospect of a three months journey at this inclement season was by no means exhilarating.
The country we passed through for some miles is flat, and cultivated as well as the Spanish system of agriculture admits. At a small village, called Pixor, where we bated the cattle, the country assumes a quite different appearance, being generally billy and rocky, with considerable woods, which formerly reached quite to the road; but the trees for about four hundred yards in depth on each side had been recently cut down, to deprive the brigands of the cover they afforded, to conceal themselves and shoot at the straggling parties of French. The abrupt inequalities of this tract of country would lead one to suppose it had undergone the effects of an earthquake. The summits of several of the hills are crowned by small Moorish towers, which seem to have served for making signals.
Having separated a little distance from the body of the escort, I entered into conversation with a dragoon, whose manners and address bespoke his superior education. I found that his parents had been respectable people, but that his having been drawn for the conscription had so affected his mother, as to deprive her of her intellects, and that his father had in consequence disposed of his property, and removed from his former residence to he knew not whither. This simple tale he delivered with a feeling and modesty that could not fail of making a strong impression, and certainly it did so on me.
A heavy storm of rain and wind coming on before we could reach Alcala Reale, we entered that town wet and uncomfortable, and I had no change of clothes, having been obliged to leave the mules in the rear, to come on with a return escort. Colonel Marshall, who commanded at Alcala Reale, had, like most of the French superior officers, formed a temporary connexion with a Spanish lady, from whom I met great civility, and spent the evening pleasantly with the Colonel over a pipe and some hot brandy and water; for the wine was execrable. Here I met a Portuguese officer in the French service, who spoke good English; he appeared to be much interested in the fate of his country, and lamented that circumstances obliged him to remain in the service of her enemy.
Alcala Reale is a considerable town of about eight to nine thousand inhabitants; it is in Andalusia, nearly on the borders of Grenada, and is situated on an elevated plain. It is commanded by a strong Moorish castle, and has been considerably improved by the French, particularly by the formation of public walks.
November 14. While at breakfast with Colonel Marshall, the officer charged with escorting the prisoners arrived, and reported that some Spanish officers had escaped, at the same time proposing that the person at whose house they were billetted should be arrested and punished; but the Colonel very properly demanded if a centinel had been placed over them ? and being answered in the affirmative, replied, that the officer of the guard or the sentinel was to blame, and not the Spaniard; a very unusual instance of considerate justice in a French officer in Spain, for in general the unfortunate Spaniards are punished for the negligence of the French officers and soldiers charged with the prisoners.
The main body of the escort having quitted Alcala Reale early in the morning, after breakfast I took advantage of a detachment of cavalry to rejoin it. The road skirted a ravine, which forms some strong passes, formerly crossed by bridges, but all now broken down, to obstruct the passage of the French; the road was also broken up in several places, and certainly had the Spaniards defended these passes with common resolution, the enemy could never have penetrated into the country with heavy artillery. The fact, however, is, that at the commencement the Spaniards were lukewarm in their own cause, and would probably have still remained so, had not the cruelties and excesses of the French roused them to resistance and revenge.
Our escort, which originally consisted of nineteen hundred infantry and one hundred cavalry, to guard eleven hundred Spaniards and about one hundred and forty English and Germans, was continually increased by numbers of travellers, who availed themselves of the safety it offered them. The curious vehicles of these travellers, the mixture of animals by which they were drawn, and the dresses of the passengers, formed au amusing sight. With respect to the latter, few of them paid much attention to externals, a dirty red night cap usually covering their heads, which, had I not known that they have no such word, and are even ignorant off its meaning, I might have thought they intended for comfort.
After four hours march we reached Alcaudete, an insignificant town, on irregular ground, with narrow and badly paved streets. Here we slept, and resuming our journey next morning (November 15), passed over a tract covered with beautiful turf, interspersed with clumps of evergreen oaks, and in every respect resembling a highly drest English park. The escort usually halted between the stages on the brink of some rivulet to take refreshment, and this as much from necessity as choice, for we seldom met an isolated house in a day’s march. The Countess of Superonda and her daughter, who were among the travellers that joined the escort, when we halted, politely invited me to partake of their repast. This lady travelled in a large coach, drawn by seven mules, and filled with feather beds, live poultry, and drest provisions; she was accompanied by an intelligent priest, and attended by several domestics, mounted on asses. She informed me that the greater part of a considerable property which she possessed near Malaga, had been confiscated by the French, and that she was now going to Madrid to endeavour to arrange for the reception of the part which, at the commencement of the troubles, she had taken the precaution to make over to a friend in that city.
Before we reached Martos we were met by a Monsieur Saul, a German, who, though but a Lieutenant, commanded in the town. He immediately introduced himself to me, and did not leave me long in doubt as to his character’s being that of a ferocious braggadocio, which I suppose was his chief recommendation to a command in this unhappy country. Among other stories equally marvellous, he had singly attacked forty armed Spaniards, of whom he killed thirteen and made the rest prisoners; which reminded me of the story of the Irish soldier, who on bringing several prisoners before his commander, and being asked how he singly could have managed to take so many, answered, “by my soul, I surrounded them, to be sure!” As we approached Martos this ruffian pointed out to me two poor wretches hanging at a tree, who had recently been executed by his order, observing with an infernal smile, “that was the way to subdue Spain!” to which I could not help replying, “that it would require a vast deal of rope and a great many hangmen to execute eleven millions of people, and that if one only remained, revenge would be his motto.” Clenching his fist, knitting his diabolical brows, and curling his bushy mustachios, he swore a terrible oath, that, “if it depended on him he would not leave one Spaniard in existence!” Determined to glut me with sights of horror, on arriving at the Plaza in the town, he desired me to remark a marble seat covered with the blood and brains of victims recently butchered; then suddenly changing the subject invited me to dine with him, an honour which I declined with little appearance of politeness, so much was I shocked with the bloodthirsty character of this monster.
At Martos I was billetted at the house of an old officer of the Walloon guards, who had served forty-six years, and whose prepossessing appearance singularly contrasted with that of the ferocious Saul. This respectable old gentleman led me over his house, which had been the family mansion for centuries, and shewed me an apartment in which he exultingly informed me that Charles the Third had once deigned to pass the night, and which he requested me to occupy as the greatest honour he could then do an English officer of distinction. In this apartment was a splendid altar with several figures of saints, and the good old lady of the mansion who accompanied us, informed me that I could there perform my devotions without fear of interruption, never dreaming that I was a heretic, nor was there any necessity for my enlightening her on the subject.
These good people prepared me a comfortable dinner with six covers, to which I invited our officers and Monsieur de Billi. During a part of our repast our hosts sat and conversed with us, and though they seemed to be really rejoiced at being able to treat us with hospitality, they could not help expressing their surprise at the quantity of wine we drank; and as we several times declined coffee, they concluded Englishmen had a general aversion to it, which was also a matter of astonishment.
November 16. Quitting Martos at an early hour, our road lay over a rich, well cultivated, and seemingly more populous country than I had yet observed, for we passed through two large villages before we arrived at Jaen, on entering which I was accosted by the Major de Place, a genteel young man who was raising a Spanish regiment for the French service, and who accompanied me to Colonel Schouwalu, the Commandant, residing in the bishop’s palace. From this gentleman I met an extremely civil reception, and accepted his invitation to dinner.
Jaen is a middling sized town with a population of between eight and ten thousand inhabitants. It is situated on very uneven ground, with narrow, crooked and steep streets, and is surrounded by an old Moorish wall and commanded by a castle. The cathedral which I visited before dinner, accompanied by the Commandant and Dean, stands in the Plaza and opposite the bishop’s palace. It is a superb edifice: the correct Corinthian order is preserved throughout, with the exception of the columns in the inside, which are rather heavy in proportion to the rest of the building. It had formerly four hundred canons or dignitaries, but is now much reduced. Among the pictures particularly worthy of notice were a Virgin by Mesci, a St. Jerome by Spagnoletto, and the Martyrdom of St. Chrysostom. The Sacristie is well proportioned and elegant, and the grand altar magnificent, being supported by columns of a marble found in the neighbourhood, resembling lapis lazuli. In many houses on the road I had observed a head of Christ, engraved in a singular manner, and I now found that they were copies from a painting in this cathedral, which on my requesting to see, the Dean politely prepared to gratify my curiosity. Having retired for some minutes he returned drest in his canonicals, accompanied by twelve priests bearing lighted wax tapers in large golden candlesticks: after a mass had been said, two small folding doors were thrown open with great devotion, and by the light of some candles I observed in a niche a dark representation of the head and neck of our Saviour, so inimitably executed that I was struck with an awful sensation not to be described. The eyes appeared to penetrate the inmost recesses of the soul, and the whole had so much the appearance of life, that if any thing could excuse the superstitious worship of the material representation of the divinity, it would certainly be this picture. The crown of the head is covered with a veil, and the picture is placed in a frame of solid gold, set with diamonds and emeralds of immense value. The miraculous history of this sanía farsa is, that an old woman is said to have placed a handkerchief thrice folded on the face of our Saviour, on his descent from the cross, and when taken off each fold was found to have received an exact impression of the countenance; one is preserved at Madrid, a second at Toledo, and the third is that at Jaen.
According to invitation I proceeded to dine with the Commandant, where a party of about thirty was assembled, and amongst them the Dean, with whom I had much pleasing and instructive conversation in Spanish, which he spoke with such elegance that I much regretted not being able to spend some days in his society to improve myself in that language. The Commandant I also found to be a most respectable character, with a degree of sincerity and frankness in his manners and conversation seldom met with in modern Frenchmen.
While at dinner I learnt that Major Ropach had been sent with a detachment to destroy a village about twelve miles distant, where some French soldiers had been murdered the preceding night; for it is a general order, that the inhabitants of the place where such a crime is committed, are to be put to the sword, without exception of age or sex, and their habitations burned to the ground; nor is any enquiry ever made into the provocation that may have occasioned these excesses. By this system of terror and extermination the French have created the bands, which they name brigands; for the inhabitants of a village who are fortunate enough to escape from these military executions, having no place of refuge, join the first armed party they meet, and urged by revenge and desperation, commit the greatest cruelties on the enemies that fall into their hands: in short, such is the horrid manner of conducting the war in Spain, that the French have every individual Spaniard against them in his heart; and as to the ultimate result of the contest I can only observe, that the subjection of a civilized and powerful nation, united in the common defence of its liberty, religion and property, by a foreign army, would be an event hitherto unprecedented in history.
After dinner the Commandant politely saw me to my lodgings, where I received an invitation from my host and his wife to accompany them to a tertulia, which however I declined. I observed that the inhabitants were obliged by order to keep a candle burning in every window throughout the night, by which the streets are lighted in a cheap and easy manner.