Part 9 (1/2)

So's_ Gentleed ht preceeding the unfortunate Catastrophe of his Master, he aiting on him in the Casemet, where he observed, sometime before the rest of the Company took notice of it, that General _Richards_ appeared very pensive and thoughtful, that the whole Night long he was pester'd with, and could not get rid of a great Flie, which was perpetually buzzing about his Ears and Head, to the vexation and disturbance of the rest of the Co, when they went upon the Battery, under which the Mine was, the General ot a little merry, and the rest out of a Bravado, would stay, and would not let the General stir; that at last it was propos'd by Colonel _Syburg_ to have the other two Bottles to the Queen's Health, after which he proether

Upon this 's_ Gentleman, said, he was sent to fetch the stipulated two Bottles; returning hich, Captain _Daniel Weaver_, within thirty or forty Yards of the Battery, ran by hi, he was resolv'd to drink the Queen's Health with them; but his Feet were scarce on the Battery, when the Mine was sprung, which took hi_ now a Justice in _West'd Fates

If Predestination, in the Eyes of many, is an unaccountable Doctrine, what better Account can the wisest give of this Fatality? Or to what else shall we impute the Issue of this whole Transaction? That Men shall be solicited to their Safety; suffered to survey the Danger they were threatened with; a Certainty, see such a Concourse of People crowding to be Spectators of their i Catastrophe; and after all this, so infatuated to stay on the fatal Spot the fetching up of the other two Bottles; whatever it may to such as never think, to such as plead an use of Reason, it must administer Matter worthy of the sedatest Consideration

Being now pretty well recover'd of my Wounds, I was by Order of the Governor of _Valencia_, removed to _Sainte Clemente de la Mancha_, a Town somewhat more Inland, and consequently esteem'd more secure than a See upwards of three Years To er divested of Acquaintance or Friend (for at that instant I was sole Prisoner there) at first it appear'd such, tho' in a very small compass of Tireeable Conversation

_SAINTE Clemente de la Mancha_, is rendered famous by the renown'd _Don Michael Cerviantes_, who in his facetious but satyrical Romance, has fix'd it the Seat and Birth Place of his Hero _Don Quixot_

The Gentleotry, of any that I met with in all _Spain_; of which inmany others, an Expression that fell froure thereabout, and of a very plentiful Fortune, shall now suffice I was becoether with a Freedoerous to be co me one Day in a sort of a jocose reatest Miracles that ever were heard of? I answer'd, Jesus Christ

”It is very true,” says he, ”Jesus Christ did great Miracles, and a great one it was to feed five Thousand People with two or three small Fishes, and a like number of Loaves: But _Saint Francis_, the Founder of the _Franciscan_ Order, has found out a way to feed daily one hundred Thousand Lubbards with nothing at all”;the _Franciscans_, the Followers of Saint _Francis_, who have no visible Revenues; yet in their way of Living come up to, if they do not exceed any other Order

Another Day talking of the Place, it naturally led us into a Discourse of the Knight of _la Mancha, Don Quixot_ At which time he told me, that in his Opinion, that Work was a perfect Paradox, being the best and the worst Romance, that ever rote

”For,” says he, ”tho' it must infallibly please every Man, that has any taste of Wit; yet has it had such a fatal Effect upon the Spirits of my Countrymen, that every Man of Wit must ever resent; for,” continu'd he, ”before the Appearance in the World of that Labour of _Cerviantes_, it was next to an Iht, or without Danger There were seen sobefore the Windows of their Mistresses, that a Stranger would have i less than a Race of Knight Errants But after the World became a little acquainted with that notable History; the Man that was seen in that once celebrated Drapery, was pointed at as a _Don Quixot_, and found hih and Low And I verily believe,” added he, ”that to this, and this only e that dampness and poverty of Spirit, which has run thro' all our Councils for a Century past, so little agreeable to those nobler Actions of our famous Ancestors”

After many of these lesser sorts of Confidences, _Don Felix_ reco next Door to his own It was at a Widoho had one only Daughter, her House just opposite to a _Francisan_ Nunnery Here I re inat their _Matins_, and late in the Evening at their _Vespers_, with Delight enough to my self, and without the least Indecency in the World in hts of them Their own Divine Employ tooinconsentaneous or offensive

This avetwo Nuns invested; and in this I e, that a Stranger who is curious (I would impute it rather to their hopes of Conversion, than to their Vanity) shall be adeantries, than any Native

One of these Nuns was of the first Quality, which render'd the Cere the her Relations and Friends allattir'd in her most sumptuous Apparel, and a Coronet plac'd on her Head, they attended her, in Cavalcade, to the Nunnery, the Streets and Windows being crowded, and fill'd with Spectators of all sorts

So soon as she enter'd the Chapel belonging to the Nunnery, she kneel'd down, and with an appearance ofup, she advanced a Step or two farther, when on her Knees she repeated the Salutes: This done she approached to the Altar, where she remained till Mass was over: After which, a Sermon was preach'd by one of the Priests in Praise, or rather in an exalted Preference of a single Life The Ser over, the Nun elect fell down on her Knees before the Altar; and after soain, she withdrew into an inner Roo off all her rich Attire, she put on her Nun's Weeds: In which , offer'd up so over, she was led to the Door of the Nunnery, where the Lady and the rest of the Nuns stood ready to receive her with open Arms Thus enter'd, the Nuns conducted her into the Quire, where after they had entertained her with Singing, and playing upon the Organ, the Ceremony concluded, and every one departed to their proper Habitations

The very sa the Relations and Friends of the fair Novitiate ain in the Chapel of the Nunnery, where the Lady Abbess brings her out, and delivers her to theain is there a Ser over, she is brought up to the Altar, in a decent, but plain Dress, the fine Apparel, which she put off on her Initiation, being deposited on one side of the Altar, and her Nun's Weeds on the other Here the Priest in Latin cries, _Utrum horum mavis, accipe_: to which she answers, as her Inclination, or as her Instruction directs her If she, after this her Year of Probation, show any Dislike, she is at Liberty to coain into the World: But if aw'd by Fear (as too often is the Case) or won by Expectation, or present real Inclination, she makes choice of the Nun's Weeds, she is iain in the World out of the Walls of the Nunnery The young Lady I thus saw invested was very beautiful, and sang the best of any in the Nunnery

There are in the Town three Nunneries, and a Convent to every one of them; _viz_ one of _Jesuits_, one of _Carmelites_, and the other of _Franciscans_ Let me not be so far mistaken to have this taken by way of Reflection No! Whatever some of our Rakes of the Town may assert, I freely declare, that I never saw in any of the Nunneries (of which I have seenlike indecent Behaviour, that ive occasion for Satyr or Disesteem It is true, there may be Accidents, that may lead to a Misinterpretation, of which I remember a very untoward Instance in _Alicant_

When the _English_ Forces first laid Siege to that Town, the Priests, ere apprehensive of it, having been long since ard to Chastity and Modesty of us Hereticks, by the ignominious Behaviour of certain Officers at _Rota_ and _Porta St

Maria_, the Priests, I say, had taken care to send away privately all the Nuns to _Majorca_ But that the Heretick Invaders ht have no Jealousy of it, the fair _Curtezans_ of the Toere admitted to supply their Room The Officers, both of Land and Sea, as was by the Friars pre-i the Town and Castle, immediately repair'd to the Grates of the Nunnery, toss'd over their Handkercheifs, Nosegays, and other pretty Things; all which were, doubtless, very graciously received by those iinary Recluses Thence came it to pass, that in the space of a Month or less, you could hardly fall into Coer Officers, of either sort, but the Discourse, if itthese beautiful Nuns; and you wou'd have iin'd the Price of these Ladies as well known as that of Flesh in their common Markets Others, as well as my self, have often endeavour'd to disabuse those Glorioso's, but all to little purpose, till more sensible Tokens convinced them, that the Nuns, of whose Favours they so ins, tho' in a Cloyster And I am apt to think, those ould palm upon the World like vicious Relations of Nuns and Nunneries, do it onInstances of Nunneries disfranchis'd, and even derant Accounts; but I confine myself to _Spain_

In this Town of _la Mancha_ the _Corrigidore_ always has his Presidence, having sixteen others under his Jurisdiction, of which _Aled every three Years, and their Offices are the Purchase of an excessive Price; which occasions the poor People's being extravagantly fleeced, nothing being to be sold but at the Rates they iidore_ an Acknowledg

While I was here, News ca the Victory to that Side, which they espous'd (that of King _Philip_) they s But soon, alas, for them, was all that Joy converted into Sorrow: The next Courier evincing, that the Forces of King _Charles_ had been victorious in both Engagee: For Convents and Nunneries, as well as some of those Dons, whom afore I had not stood so ith, strove no , but if the victorious Arht be in nal of their Services in my Friendshi+p

Soon after an Accident fell out, which had like to have been of an unhappy Consequence toin Coles flew over our Heads, where they hover'd for a considerable time The Novelty struck them all with Admiration, as well as my self But I, less accusto, that in_Philip_, because the Eagle co, went and inforisterial Wretches e Money; andhis Expectations disappointed in th of his Foot, to let my Money run freely; he sent me next Day to _Alercon_; but the Governor of that Place having had before Intelligence, that the _English_ Ar that way, refus'd to receive me, so I return'd as I went; only the Gentleratulated the last; for that _Corrigidore_ stood but very indifferently in their Affections However, it was a warning to lish_ Freedom in a _Spanish_ Territory

As I had attain'd the Acquaintance of ious of the Place; so particularly I hadthat of the Provincial of the _Car neat; but what to e Gardens belonging to it, which often furnishedand Fruit, and much oftner with Walks of Refreshment, the most satisfactory Amusement in this warm Climate This Acquaintance with the Provincial was by a little Incident soon advanced into a Friendshi+p; which was thus: I was one Day walking, as I us'd to do, in the long Gallery of the Convent, when observing the Iin _Mary_, of which there was one at each end; I took notice that one had an Inscription under it, which was this, _Ecce, Virgo peperit filium_: but the other had no Inscription at all; upon which, I took out my Pencil, and wrote underneath, this Line:

_Sponsa Dei, patrisque parens, & filia filii_