Chapter I: Front Matter

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Produced by Chuck Greif, the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net, the Internet Archive & Google Books.

GLORIES OF SPAIN

GLORIES OF SPAIN

BY

CHARLES W. WOOD, F.R.G.S.,

AUTHOR OF

"LETTERS FROM MAJORCA," "IN THE VALLEY OF THE RHONE," ETC., ETC.

WITH EIGHTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS.

London

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1901

LONDON:

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED.

STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

AT THE GARE D'ORLEANS.

On Calais quay--At the Custom-house--A lady of the past--Ungallant examiner--Better to reign than serve--Paris--Vanity Fair--Sowing and reaping--Laughing through life--At the Hotel Chatham--A pleasant picture--In maiden meditation--M. Pascal is wise in his generation--The secrets of the Seine--Notre Dame--Ile St. Louis--A mediaeval atmosphere--Victor Hugo--Ghosts of the Hotel Lambert--H. C. again--His little comedy--M. the Inspector--Outraged ladies--"En voiture, messieurs!"--Mystery not cleared--The Orleanais--La Vendee--Garden of France--A dilemma--Polite Chef de Gare--Crossing the Garonne--Land of corn and wine 1

CHAPTER II.

A NARBONNE HOSTESS.

Carcassonne--In feudal times--Simon de Montfort--Canal du Midi--L'age d'or et le Grand Monarque--A modern Golden Fleece--One of earth's fair scenes--Choice of evils--M. le Chef yields--Narbonne--A woman of parts--The course of true love runs smooth--_Diner de contrat_--Honey _versus the lune de miel_--Madame's philosophy--_L'Allee des Soupirs_--An unfinished cathedral--At the gloaming hour--Mystery and devotion--The Hotel de Ville--A domestic drama--High festival and champagne--The next morning--H. C. repentant--Madame at her post--Ambrosial breakfast--"Il faut payer pour ses plaisirs"--Dramatic exit--Perpignan--Home of the kings of Majorca--Elne--"Adieu, ma chere France!"--Over the frontier--Gerona--Crowded platform--What H. C. thought--Unpoetical incident--From the sublime to the ridiculous 12

CHAPTER III.

BLACK COFFEE--AND A CONFESSION.

Continued uproar--H. C. disillusioned--A dark night--Not like another Caesar--More crowds--A demon scene--Fair time--Glorious days of the past--In marble halls and labyrinthine passages--Our excellent host--His substantial partner--Contented minds--Picturesque court--Songless nightingales--Conscription--H. C.'s modesty--Our host appreciative but personal--Bears the torch of genius--A mistake--Below the salt--Host's fair daughters--Catalonian women--The Silent Enigma--Remarkable priest--Good intentions--Lecture on black coffee--Confessions--Benjamin's portions--A gifted nature 27

CHAPTER IV.

A NIGHT VISION.

Wrong turnings--H. C.'s gifts and graces--Out at night--The arcades of Gerona--At the fair--Ancient outlines--Demons at work--In the dry bed of the river--Roasting chestnuts--Mediaeval outlines--In the vortex--Clairvoyantes and lion-tamers--Clown's despair--Deserted streets--Vision of the night--Haunted staircase--Dark and dangerous--A small grievance--The reeds by the river--Cry of the watchmen--Hare and hounds--Fair Rosamund--Jacob's ladder--New rendering to old proverbs--Cathedral by night--H. C. oblivious--Scent fails--Return to earth--Romantic story--Last of a long line--_El Sereno!_--The witching hour--H. C. unserenaded--Next morning--Grey skies--A false prophet--Magic picture--Cathedral by day--Mediaeval dreams 41

CHAPTER V.

GERONA THE BEAUTIFUL.

A Gerona senora--Grace and charm--Lord of creation--Morning greeting--Arcades and ancient houses--Conscription--Gerona a discovery--Streets of steps--Ancient eaves and rare ironwork--Old-world corner--Desecrated church--Gothic cloisters--Ghosts of the past--Visions of to-day--Soldiers interested--"Happy as kings"--Lingerings--Colonel seeks explanation--No lover of antiquity--More conscription--Dramatic scene--Pedro to the rescue--Mother and son--Sad story--Strong and merciful--Pedro grateful--Restricted interests--Colonel becomes impenetrable again 58

CHAPTER VI.

ANSELMO THE PRIEST.

Beauties of age--Apostles' Doorway--How the old bishops kept out of temptation--Interior of cathedral--Its vast nave--Days of Charlemagne--And of the Moors--A giant dwarfed--Rare choir--Surly priest--And a more kindly--Our showman--Dazzling treasures--Father Anselmo--Romantic story--Heaven or the world?--Doubts--The gentle Rosalie decides--Sister Anastasia--Told in the sacristy--A heart-confession--Anselmo's mysticism--Heresy--Charms of antiquity--Scene of his triumph--Celestial vision--Church of San Pedro--Pagan interior--Rare cloisters--Desecrated church--Singular scene--Chiaroscuro--Miguel the carpenter--His opinions--Daily life a religion--Anselmo improves his opportunity--"A reflected light"--Ruined citadel--War of succession--Alvarez and Marshall--Gerona in decadence--A revelation--Dreamland--Midday vision 72

CHAPTER VII.

A DAY OF ENCOUNTERS.

"Can a prophet come out of Galilee?"--The unexpected happens--Under the probe--Wise reservation--Born to command--Contrasts--Nothing new under the sun--The senora prepares for the fair--Grievance not very deep seated--Bewitching appearance--Senora dramatic--Ernesto--Marriage a lottery--Every cloud its silver lining--Gerona _en fete_--Delormais' mission--Deceptive appearances--Evils of conscription--Ernesto's ambition--Les beaux jours de la vie--Rosalie--A fair picture--Strange similarity--Heavenwards--Anastasia or Rosalie--Her dreams and visions--Modern Paul and Virginia--Eternal possession--A Gerona saint--The better part--More heresy--Fenelon--One creed, one worship--Not peace but a sword--Not dead to the world--Angel of mercy--H. C. mistaken--Earthly idyll 99

CHAPTER VIII.

MOTHER AND SON.

Demons at work--In the crowd--Ernesto and his mother--Roasted chestnuts--Instrument of torture--New school of anatomy--Rhine-stones or diamonds?--Happy mother--Honest confession--Danger of edged tools--Cayenne lozenges for the monkeys--Joseph--Early compliments--Ernesto pleads in vain--Down by the river--Music of the reeds--Rich prospect--Faust--Singers of the world--Joseph takes tickets--Gerona keeps late hours--Its little great world--Between the acts--Successful evening--In the dark night--On the bridge--Silence and solitude--Astral bodies--Joseph turns Job's comforter--Magnetism--Delormais psychological--Alone in the streets--Saluting the Church militant--Haunted staircase again--Sighs and rustlings--H. C. retires--"Drink to me only with thine eyes"--Delormais' challenge--Leads the way--Illumination--Coffee equipage--"Only the truth is painful"--Lost in reverie 114

CHAPTER IX.

DELORMAIS.

Magnetism--Past life--Impulsive nature--First impressions--Perfumed airs--A gentle spirit--Haunted groves--Blue waters of the Levant--Great devotion--A rose-blossom--Back to the angels--Special Providence--Fair Provence--Charmed days--Excursions--Isles of Greece--Ossa and Pelion--City of the violet crown--Spinning-jennies have something to answer for--Olympus--AEgina--Groves of the Sacred Plain--Narrow escapes--Pleasures of home-coming--Rainbow atmosphere--Orange and lemon groves--The nightingales--Impressionable childhood--Fresh plans--The Abbe Riviere--Rare faculty--Domestic chaplain--Debt of gratitude--Treasure-house of strength Given to hospitality--First great sorrow--Passing away--Resolve to travel--"I can no more"--The old Adam dies hard--Chance decides 130

CHAPTER X.

DELORMAIS' ROMANCE.

Rome--Count Albert--Happy months--Sweets of companionship--Egypt--Strange things--Quiet weeks--Sinai--Freedom of the desert--Crossing the Red Sea--Mount Serbal--Convent of St. Catherine--In the Valley of the Saint--Tomb of Sheikh Saleh--Pools of Solomon--Jerusalem the Golden--Bethel--Lebanon--Home again--Fresh scenes--Algeria--Hanging gardens of the Sahel--Mount Bubor and its glories--Rash act--At the twilight hour--Earthly paradise--Fair Eve--Fervent love--Arouya--Nature's revenge--Not to last--Eternal requiem of the sea--In the backwoods--Hunting wolves--Prairies of California--Honolulu--Active volcanoes--Lake of fire--Rare birds and wild-flowers--Worship of Peleus--An eruption--Mighty upheaval--Coast of Labrador--Shooting bears 143

CHAPTER XI.

MONSEIGNEUR.

Great conflict--Returning to Paris--Count Albert married--Marriages declined--Love buried in the grave of Arouya--Frivolities--Napoleon at the Tuileries--Illness--Doctors' errors--Days of horror--Vow registered--Between life and death--Victory--Home again--Abbe's objections--Resolve strengthened--Death of the Abbe--Taking vows--Life of energy and action--Rapid sketch--Sympathies--All ordained--"Monseigneur"--"Mon ami"--Cry of the watchmen--Candles wax dim and blue--Wandering in dreams--False prophet--H. C. rises with the lark--Beauty of Gerona--Pathetic scene--Colonel administers consolation--Widow's heart sings for joy--In the cloisters again--Good-bye--In the cathedral--Anselmo--Sunshine over all--Miguel--On the ruined citadel--Anselmo's signal--A glory departs 154