Chapter LVII (3)

It is remarkable how many of the great men in Spanish history, however, have been distinguished by this blemish: Hannibal, Viriatus, Táric, Abdur Rahman I., and Don Juan el Tuerto in the reign of Alfonso XI.

{190} Byron, _Don Juan_, xiii. 11. Borrow probably knew well enough where the lines came from. _Don Juan_ had not been published more than fifteen years at the time, and was in the zenith of its popularity. But Byron and his ways were alike odious to the rough manliness of Borrow (see _Lavengro_, ch. xxxix.), and, in good truth, however much the poet “deserves to be remembered,” it is certainly not for this line, which contains as many _suggestiones falsi_ as may be packed into one line. Yet the “sneer” is not in the original, but in Borrow’s misquotation; Byron wrote “smiled.” The idea of the poet having spent a handful of gold ounces in a Genoese posada at Seville and at a bull-fight at Madrid, that he might be competent to tell the world that Cervantes sneered Spain’s chivalry away, is superlatively Borrovian—and delicious. The entire passage runs thus—

“Cervantes smiled Spain’s chivalry away;
A single laugh demolish’d the right arm
Of his own country;—seldom since that day
Has Spain had heroes.”

{192} About thirty pounds, at the exchange of the day.

{195a} “I wish to enlist with you.”

{195b} “_Gee up_, donkey!” From this _arrhé_, of Arabic origin, is derived the word _arriero_, a muleteer.

{197} “Blessed be God!”

{198} See note, _ante_, p. 190.

{201} See vol. i. p. 257.

{202} Aranjuez, the Roman _Ara Jovis_, was, until the absorption of the great military order by the Crown under Isabella and Ferdinand, a favourite residence of the Grand Masters of Santiago.

{203} “Die schönen Tage in Aranjuez Sind nun zu Ende.”

The opening lines of _Don Carlos_.

{204} An exceedingly ancient town, celebrated in the days before the Roman dominion.

{205} See Glossary, _sub. verb_. SCHOPHON. As to rabbits in Spain, see note, vol. i. p. 25.

{208} The modern La Granja or San Ildefonso is, in the season, anything but desolate: the beautiful, if somewhat over-elaborate gardens, are admirably kept up, and the general atmosphere of the plain is bright and cheerful, though the Court of to-day prefers the sea-breezes of Biscay to the air of the Guadarrama, when Madrid becomes, as it does, well-nigh uninhabitable in summer.

{211a} A particular scoundrel. His massacre of prisoners, November 9, 1838, was remarkable for its atrocity, when massacre was of daily occurrence. See Duncan, _The English in Spain_, pp. 247, 248.

{211b} See note, vol. i. p. 164.

{213} August 31, 1838.

{215} Don Carlos, who probably died a natural death in 1568.

{217} The etymology of Andalusia is somewhat of a _crux_; the various authorities are collected and reviewed in an appendix to Burke’s _History of Spain_, vol. i. p. 379. The true etymology may be Vandalusia, the abiding-place of the Vandals, though they abode in Southern Spain but a very short time; but the word certainly came into the Spanish through the Arabic, and not through the Latin, long years after Latin was a spoken language. The young lady was quite right in speaking of it as _Betica_ or _Bœtica_; though the _Terra_ would be superfluous, if not incorrect.

{218} He had succeeded to that title on the death of his uncle, December 22, 1838.

{219} _I.e._ “My Lord the Sustainer of the Kingdom.” See preface to _The Zincali_, second edition.

{221a} _Tio_. A common method of address, conveying no reference to real relationship. So the Boers in South Africa speak of “Oom (uncle) Paul.”

{221b} “What beautiful, what charming reading!”

{223} _No hay otro en el mundo_.

{224a} See note on p. 147.

{224b} Κατὰ τὸν τόπον καὶ ὁ τρόπος, as Antonio said.—[Note by Borrow]. _I.e._ “As is the place, such is the character (of the people).”

{225} Alcalá de Henares. See note, vol. i. p. 223.

{228a} “Good night!”

{228b} “Good night to you!”

{234} Or _Nevski_ = of the Neva; as we have a Thames Street.

{236} Spanish, _duende_. See p. 238. Oddly enough in _Germanía_, or thieves’ slang, _duende_ = _ronda_, a night patrol.

{237} Madrid is not a city or _ciudad_, but only the chief of _villas_.

{240} In Romany, _Chuquel sos pirela cocal terela_.

{242a} _El Nuevo Testamento Traducido al Español de la Vulgata Latino por el Rmo. P. Phelipe Scio de S. Miguel de las Escuelas Pias Obispo Electo de Segovia_. _Madrid_. _Imprenta á cargo de D. Joaquin de la Barrera_. 1837.

{242b} The church of San Gines is in the Calle del Arenal; the chapel of Santa Cruz in the Concepcion Jerónima.

{246} This is a curious slip; the spelling is found in the first and all subsequent editions. The true name of the defile—it is between Velez el Rubio and Lorca—is, as might be supposed, _La Rambla_, but the narrowest part of the pass is known as the _Puerto de Lumbreras_ (the Pass of Illumination), and from _Rambla_ and _Lumbrera_ Borrow or the printer of 1843 evolved the strange compound _Rumblar_!

{248} This would naturally mean, “Most reverend sir, art thou still saying, or, dost thou still say Mass?” which seems somewhat irrelevant. Possibly what “the prophetess” meant to ask was, “Most reverend sir, hast thou yet said Mass?”

{251a} “Knowest thou the land where the lemon-trees bloom?” The song of Mignon in Goethe’s _Wilhelm Meister_, introduced in the opera of _Faust_.

{251b} See note, vol. i. p. 216.

{256} Born at Amalfi, 1623, a simple fisherman. He headed the rebellion of the Neapolitans against the Spanish viceroy, in 1647. His success as a leader led to a revulsion of popular feeling, and he was executed or murdered within a few days of his greatest triumph.

{261} Chiefly in their pronunciation of the characteristic G and Z of the Castilian as S instead of TH. The South-American Spaniards, so largely recruited from Andalusia, maintain the same sibilation, which is about as offensive to a true Castilian as the dropping of an H is to an educated Englishman.

{262} Safacoro is the Romany name for Seville; and Len Baro for the great river, _arabicé_ Wady al Kebir, the Guadalquivir. See Glossary.

{263} For further information about Manuel and Luis Lobo, who compiled a manuscript collection of the pseudo-gypsy writings of _los del aficion_, or those addicted to the _Gitanos_ and their language, see _The Zincali_, part iii. chap. ii.

{264a} Κύριε, voc. of κύριος, the usual mode of address, “sir.”

{264b} The name of a famous family of Dutch printers (1594–1680).

{266} Priests. Greek, παπᾶς; not Spanish, in which language _Papa_ means the Pope (of Rome).

{267} Τίποτε = nothing at all.

{273} The secondary signification of “prosperity” or “good fortune” is more familiar to English ears; the word having come to us by way of the Spanish, American, and Californian mining camps.

{274} “The Illustrious Scullion.”

{282} Lit. a butterfly.

{288} This was Mr. John Brackenbury.

{292a} The great Danish poet, born in 1779, died 1850; see _ante_, note, vol. i. p. 29.

{292b} October 21, 1805.

{293a} It is an American in our own day, Captain Mahan, U.S.N., who has called attention, in his masterly _influence of Sea Power upon History_, to the transcendent importance of the battle of Trafalgar, hardly realized by the most patriotic Englishman, who had well-nigh forgotten Trafalgar in celebrating the more attractive glories of Waterloo.

{293b} Storm of east wind; wind from the Levant.

{293c} I.e. _Kafirs_, the Arabic term of reproach, signifying an unbeliever; one who is _not a Moslem_!

{294} The title formally granted to this Alonzo Perez de Guzman, under the sign-manual of King Sancho the Bravo, was that of “The Good.” His son was not crucified, but stabbed to death by the Infante Don John, with the knife that had been flung over the battlements of the city by the poor lad’s father, A.D. 1294 (see _Documentos Ineditos para la Historia de España_, tom. xxxix. pp. 1–397).

{295} Rather of Muza, the commander-in-chief of the army that conquered Gothic Spain in 711. Tarifa similarly perpetuates the memory of one of his lieutenants, Tárif; and Gibraltar is Gibil Tarik, after Tarik, his second in command (see Burke’s _History of Spain_, vol. i. pp. 110–120).

{296a} The hill of the baboons.

{296b} Rather, “The Island;” _Al Jezirah_.

{298} According to Don Pascual de Gayangos, Thursday, April 30, 711.

{301} In more modern slang, “a rock scorpion.”

{302} Του λόγου σας, a polite locution in modern Greek, signifying “you,” “your good self, _or_, selves.”

{307} More correctly, the _Preobazhenski_, _Semeonovski_, and _Findlandski polks_. The first is a very crack regiment, and was formed by Peter the Great in 1682. In 1692 it took part in the capture of Azov (Toll, “Nastolny Slovar,” _Encyclop._ tom. iii.).

{309} This would have been General Sir A. Woodford, K.C.B., G.C.M.G.

{310} “A holy man this, from the kingdoms of the East.”

{311} A street in West Hamburg, near the port and the notorious _Heiligegeist_, frequented by a low class of Jews and seafaring men.

{312a} The living waters.

{312b} Into the hands of some one else—_manû alicujus_. _Peluni_ is the Fulaneh of the Arabs, the Don Fulano of the Spaniards; Mr. So-and-So; Monsieur Chose.

{314} _I.e._ “The Hill of the English,” near Vitoria. Here, in the year 1367, Don Tello, with a force of six thousand knights, cut to pieces a body of four hundred men-at-arms and archers, under the command of Sir Thomas Felton, Seneschal of Guienne, and his brother Sir William. See Froissart, i. chap. 239; Ayala, _Cronicas de los Reyes de Castilla_, i. p. 446; Mérimée, _Histoire de Don Pèdre Ier_, p. 486.

{316} The popular name for _Etna_—an etymology most suggestive, _Mons_ (Latin) and _gibil_ (Arabic) each signifying “a mountain.”

{318} The book Zohar (Hebrew, “Brilliancy”) is, next to the canonical Scripture, one of the ablest books in Hebrew literature, having been written by the Rabbi Simeon bar Jochaï, “The Great Light” and “Spark of Moses,” early in the second century of our era. The mysteries contained in the Zohar are said to have been communicated to Jochaï during his twelve years’ seclusion in a cave; and they are specially revered by a sect of modern Jews known as Zoharites, or Sabbathians, from their founder Sabbataï Zevi, who was born at Smyrna in 1625, and claimed to be the true Messiah, but who, to save himself from death as an impostor, embraced the faith of Islám at Adrianople, and died a Moslem in 1676. Yet a hundred years later another Zoharite pretender, Jankiev Lejbovicz, who acquired the name of Jacob Frank, of Offenbach, near Frankfort, and died only in 1792, made himself famous in Germany. The Zoharites were Cabalistic, as opposed to Talmudic, in their theology or theosophy, and in later times have claimed to have much in common with Christianity.—See M. J. Mayers (of Yarmouth), _A Brief Account of the Zoharite Jews_ (Cambridge, 1826); and Graetz, _History of the Jews_, vol. v. pp. 125, 289.

{322} Rabat.

{330} 1 Kings xix. 11–13.

{337} _On_ as a termination is usually indicative of size without admiration, bigness rather than greatness, as in the Italian _one_.

{343a} The tomato was hardly known in England in 1839, and was not common for forty years after, so Borrow may be excused for giving the word in its Spanish form. The plant was introduced into Spain from Peru in the sixteenth century.

{343b} “Lord of the World.” _Adun_ or _Adon_ is the well-known Hebrew word for Lord, and is said to be the origin of the Spanish title _Don_. _Oulem_ is the Arab ‘_Olam_. The following lines are the first poem in the _Targum_, a collection of translations by Borrow from thirty languages, printed at St. Petersburg in 1835:—

“Reigned the universe’s Master, ere were earthly things begun:
When his mandate all created Ruler was the name he won;
And alone he’ll rule tremendous when all things are past and gone,
He no equal has, nor consort, he, the singular and lone,
Has no end and no beginning; his the sceptre, might and throne.
He’s my God and living Saviour, rock to whom in need I run;
He’s my banner and my refuge, fount of weal when called upon;
In his hand I place my spirit at nightfall and rise of sun,
And therewith my body also; God’s my God—I fear no one.”

{348} In 1684, on the familiar official plea of “economy.”

{349} “Good morning, O my lord.”

{351} “There is no God but one.”

{354} “Buy here, buy here.”

{357a} This youth followed Borrow to England, where he was introduced to Mr. Petulengro as a _pal_, but rejected by him as “no Roman.” See _The Zincali_, Preface to Second Edition.

{357b} “Hail, Mary, full of grace, pray for me.”

{357c} “Remove the faithless race from the borders of the believers, that we may gladly pay due praises to Christ.”

{359} This has been already alluded to as regards Southern Spain.

{360} Algiers.

{361} Essence of white flowers. The Arabic _attar_ = essence is well known in combination as _otto_ or _attar_ of roses. _Nuar_ is a form of _Nawār_ = flowers.

{362} This was still market-day in 1892.

{364} Nowhere has the destruction of locusts been undertaken in a more systematic manner, or carried to greater perfection than in the island of Cyprus, where a special tax is levied by the British Government to defray the expenses of what is called “the war.” The system is the invention of a Cypriote gentleman, Mr. Mattei.

{365} More commonly known as the prickly pear (_Opuntia vulgaris_).

{367a} The house of the trades [Borrow], or rather “of the handicrafts.”

{367b} Seashore. See the Glossary.

{372} Friday.

{375} The etymology of Granada is doubtful. Before the invasion of Spain by the Arabs, a small town of Phœnician origin, known as Karnattah, existed near Illiberis (Elvira), and probably on the site of the more modern city of Granada. The syllable _Kar_ would, in Phœnician, signify “a town.” The meaning of _nattah_ is unknown (Gayangos, i. 347; Casiri, _Bib. Ar. Hisp. Esc._, ii. 251; Conde, _Hist. Dom._, i. pp. 37–51). The supposition that the city owes its name to its resemblance to a ripe pomegranate (_granada_) is clearly inadmissible. As in the case of Leon, the device was adopted in consequence of its appropriateness to an existing name—although the modern city of Granada is probably not older than 1020. The Arabic word, moreover, for a pomegranate is _romàn_; and Soto de Roma, the name of the Duke of Wellington’s estate in Andalusia, means “the wood of the pomegranates;” and an _ensalada romana_ is not a Roman, but a pomegranate salad (see Pedaza, _Hist. Eccl. de Granada_ [1618], fol. 21, 22; Romey, _Hist._, i. 474, 475).—Burke’s _Hist. of Spain_, vol. i. p. 116.

{376a} The most powerful, or the most respected, man in Tangier. Power and respect are usually enjoyed by the same individual in the East.

{376b} “It does not signify.”

{378} See note, vol. i. p. 240.

{382} “Algerine, Moor so keen, No drink wine, No taste swine.”

{383a} “That is not lawful.”

{383b} “Everything is lawful.”

{383c} “Hail, star of the sea, benign Mother of God, and for ever virgin, blessed gate of heaven.”

{395} Andalusian for _ciego_.

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