Part 6 (2/2)

It was upon this Account, that, as formerly, he treated the Ladies with balls, and to pursue the Dons in their own Humour, order'd a _Tawridore_ or _Bull-Feast_ In _Spain_ no sort of public Diversions are esteemed equal with this But the Bulls provided at _Valencia_, not being of the right Breed, nor ever initiated in the Mysteries, did not acquit theive the Diversion, or Satisfaction expected For which Reason I shall o a Description of this Bull-Feast; and desire my Reader to suspend his Curiosity till I come to so; that is, attended with h I have said, the Gallantries of the General were mostly political at least very inoffensive; yet there happen'd about this Tiave the Earl a vast deal of Offence and Vexation; as a Matter, that in its Consequences_Charles_, if not to the _English_ Nation in general; and which I the rather relate, in that itout to theer, not to say Folly, of inadvertent and precipitate Engagements, under unruly Passions

I have said before, that _Valencia_ is fa those, are great Numbers of Courtezans not inferior in Beauty to any Nevertheless, two of our _English_ Officers, not caring for the common Road, however safe, resolv'd to launch into the deeper Seas, though attended withof that fair City, was the Occasion of this Accident, and two Nuns the Objects It is custo to resort to the Grates of the Nunneries, there to divert themselves, and the Nuns, with a little pleasant and inoffensive Chit-chat For though I have heard soes at such Conversations, Iunseemly; and therefore whenever I have heard any such froment as to afford them Credit

Our two Officers were very assiduous at the Grates of a Nunnery in this Place; and having there pitch'd upon two Nuns, prosecuted their Aour, that, in a little tiress in their Affections, without in the least considering the Dangers that 'd Vows, and prevail'd upon the weaker Vessels to endeavour to get out to their Lovers To effect which, soon after, a Plot was lay'd; the Means, the Hour, and every thing agreed upon

It is the Custom of that Nunnery, as of many others, for the Nuns to take their weekly Courses in keeping the Keys of all the Doors The two Love-sick Ladies giving Notice to their Lovers at the Grate, that one of their Turns was coht and Hour was appointed, which the Officers punctually observing, carry'd off their Prey without either Difficulty or Interruption

But next Morning, when the Nuns were , what an Uproar was there over all the City? The Ladies were both of Quality; and therefore the Tidings were first carry'd to their Relations They receiv'd the Neith Vows of uteance; and, as is usual in that Country, put thereat canvassing for discovering ere the Aggressors: The Officers had been too frequent, and too publick, in their Addresses, to leave any rooht for, but sensible at last of their past Tereat deal of Difficulty perfected their Escape

Less fortunate were the two fair Nuns; their Lovers, in their utence, had forsaken them; and they, poor Creatures, knew not where to fly Under this sad Dilemma they were taken; and, as in like Offences, condereater Punishment is there on Earth than to be confin'd between four narrow Walls, only open at the Top; and thence to be half supported with Bread and Water, till the Offenders gradually starve to Death?

The Earl of _Peterborow_, though highly exasperated at the Proceedings of his Officers, in compassion to the unhappy Fair, resolv'd to interpose by all thecould so ainst hih'd against the Officers, at the saate in favour of the Ladies: But all was in vain; it was urg'd against those charitable Intercessions, that they had broke their Vows; and in that had broke in upon the Laws of the Nunnery and Religion; the Consequence of all which could be nothing less than the Punishment appointed to be inflicted And which was the hardest of all, the nearest of their Relations enerous Mediations; and those, who according to the common Course of Nature should have thank'd hi the'd, because he oppos'd the all which the Earl persever'd; and after a deal of Labour, first got the Penalty suspended; and, soon after, by the Dint of a very considerable Suument, which prevails in every Country) sav'd the poor Nuns froot theain into the Nunnery As to the Warlike Lovers, one of them was the Year after slain at the Battle of _Aladier in the Army

While the Earl of _Peterboroas here with his little Arreat Hereticks, neither Priests nor People were so open in their superstitious Fopperies, as I at other times found them For which Reason I will make bold, and by an Antichronism in this Place, a little anticipate some Observations that I made some time after the Earl left it And as I have not often coression, I hope it may be the more excusable now, and no way blemish my Memoirs, that I break in upon the Series of my Journal

_VALENCIA_ is a handsome City, and a Bishoprick; and is considerable not only for the Pleasantness of its Situation and beautiful Ladies; but (which at some certain Times, and on soether) for being the Birth-place of Saint _Vincent_, the Patron of the Place; and next for its being the Place where _Santo Doo_, the first Institutor of the _Dominican_ Order had his Education Here, in honour of the last, is a spacious and very splendid Convent of the _Do by which, I one Day observ'd over the Gate, a Figure of a hted Torch in his Mouth The Ih took to intend that of the Saint; but inquiring of one of the Order, at the Gate, the Meaning of the Figures near it, he very courteously ask'dRelation:

When the Mother of _Santo Doious, ith Child of that future Saint, she had a Dream which verybark in her Belly; and inquiring (at what Oracle is not said) the Meaning of her Dream, she was told, _That that Child should bark out the Gospel_ (excuse the Bareness of the Expression, it ht, _Erasives it in _Latin_ much the sahted Torch_ And this is the Reason, that wherever you see the Ihted Torch is in the Group

He told me at the same time, that there had been more Popes and Cardinals of that Order than of any, if not all the other To confire Gallery, on each Side whereof he shew'd me the Pictures of all the Popes and Cardinals that had been of that Order; a which, I particularly took Notice of that of Cardinal _Howard_, great Uncle to the present Duke of _Norfolk_ But after many _Encomiums_ of their Society, hich he interspers'd his Discourse, he added one that I least valu'd it for; That the sole Care and Conduct of the Inquisition was intrusted with the lish_ Hue Cloister, round which I took several Turns with him; and, indeed, The Place was too delicious to tire, under a Conversation less pertinent or courteous than that he entertain'd me with In the Middle of the Cloister was a se and Lereen, and Flowers, all together on one Tree; and their Fruit was so very large and beautiful, and their Flowers so transcendently odoriferous, that all I had ever seen of the like Kind in _England_ could comparatively pass only for Beauty in Epitome, or Nature imitated in Wax-work Many Flocks also of pretty little Birds, with their chearful Notes, added not a little to ht In short, in Life I never knew or found three of ratify'd

Not far from this, Saint _Vincent_, the Patron, as I said before, of this City, has a Chapel dedicated to him Once a Year they do him Honour in a sumptuous Procession Then are their Streets all stroith Flowers, and their Houses set off with their richest Tapestries, every one strives to excel his Neighbour in distinguishi+ng himself by the Honour he pays to that Saint; and he is the best Catholick, as well as the best Citizen, in the Eye of the _religious_, who ins with a Cavalcade of all the Friars of all the Convents in and about the City These walk two and tith folded Arreatest outward Appearance of Huh the Temptation from the fine Women that fill'd their Windows, or the rich Tapestries that adorn'd the Balconies ht be allow'd sufficient to attract, could I observe that any one of them all ever mov'd them upwards

After the Friars is borne, upon the Shoulders of twenty Men at least, an Ie as the Life; It is plac'd in a great Chair of Silver likewise; the Staves that bear hi of the same Metal The whole is a most costly and curious Piece of Workmanshi+p, such as istrates follow the Ie and its Supporters, dress'd in their richest Apparel, which is always on this Day, and on this Occasion, particularly sureatest Splendor, borne and accompany'd round that fine City; and at last convey'd to the Place from whence it came: And so concludes that annual Cereion, are the h in coay, like other People; yet on soleht such a Spirit as proves theotry: As a Proof of which assertion, I will now give some Account of such Observations, as I had ti two _Lent_ Seasons, while I resided there

The Week before the _Lent_ commences, commonly known by the Name of _Carnaval Time_, the whole City appears a perfect _Bartholomew_ Fair; the Streets are crouded, and the Houses e without so Trick offer'd to you; Ink, Water, and sometimes Ordure, are sure to be hurl'd at your Face or Cloaths; and if you appear concern'd or angry, they rejoyce at it, pleas'd the more, the more they displease; for all other Resenth at other times few in the World are fuller of Resenter Gentry, or Dons, to express their Gallantry, carry about thee or other sweet Water, which they cast at Ladies in their Coaches, or such other of the fair sex as they happen to meet in the Streets

But after all, if you would think the the Rules of co Decency to one another, nor the Duty they owe to Aline the then as much too excessive in all outwards Indications of Humility and Repentance Here you shall meet one, bare-footed, with a Cross on his Shoulder, a Burden rather fit for someith four Feet, and which his poor Two are ready to sink under, yet the vain Wretch bears and sweats, and sweats and bears, in hope of finding Merit in an ass's Labour

Others you shall see naked to their Wastes, whipping thees made for the Purpose, till the Blood follows every Stroke; and no Man need be at a Loss to follow them by the very Tracks of Gore they shed in this frentick Perambulation Some, who from the Thickness of their Hides, or other Is to fetch Blood of theeons with their Lancets, who at every Turn, make use of them, to evince the Extent of their Patience and Zeal by the S Amour with Devotion, take particular Care to present themselves all macerated before the Windows of their Mistresses; and even in that Condition, not satisfy'd hat they have barbarously done to themselves, they have their Operators at hand, to evince their Love by the Nu the more Blood they lose, the enerally Devoto's of Quality; though the Tenet is universal, that he that is most bloody is most devout

After these Street-Exercises, these ostentatious Castigations are over, these Self-sacrificers repair to the great Church, the bloodier the better; there they throw themselves, in a Condition too vile for the Eye of a Feh I defy all their Race of Fathers, and their infallible holy Father into the Bargain, to produce any Authority to fit it for Belief, that she ever delighted in such sanguinary Holocausts

During the whole Time of _Lent_, you will see in every Street so up Repentance to the People; and with violent Blows on his Breast crying aloud, _Mia Culpa, mia maxima Culpa_, till he extract reciprocal Returns from the Hands of his Auditors on their own breasts

When _Good Friday_ is come they entertain it with the ion, both in their Streets and in their Churches

In the last, particularly, they have contriv'd about twelve a-Clock suddenly to darken theloomy This they do to intimate the Eclipse of the Sun, which at that ti of the Vail of the Tee artificial Noise at the very same Instant