Before and after Waterloo: Letters from Edward Stanley, sometime Bishop of Norwich (1802; 1814; 1816)Stanley, Edward
History
Before and after Waterloo: Letters from Edward Stanley, sometime Bishop of Norwich (1802; 1814; 1816)
Stanley, Edward
Europe -- Description and travel; France -- History -- Consulate and First Empire, 1799-1815
chief produce is Corn and oil; silk and Wine are also cultivated, but
the cold of winter sometimes injures the two latter. The place is badly
peopled and has no trade; it is chiefly supported by being the chief
criminal port of Spain, and the richest people are consequently the
Lawyers. We saw the baths of Alhambra in a state very different from
what they usually are--actually frozen over and the Ice nearly an Inch
thick. I must say I was greatly disappointed with these famed remains of
Moorish Magnificence, tho' certainly when everything was kept in order,
the fountains all playing, it must have been very different; at present
it is falling fast to ruin. The Governor is a man appointed by the
Prince of Peace,[13] and I believe would be unwilling to bestow any
attention on anything in the world but his own person, of which by all
accounts he takes special care. We returned to Malaga through Loja and
Antequerra, both Moorish towns. At Malaga we were detained by Contrary
winds for three weeks; we might, indeed, have passed our time less
advantageously at other places, as we experienced much unexpected
Civility & saw a great deal of Spanish Society. Wearied at length with
waiting for Winds, we determined to set out on our return to the Rock by
land, and accordingly hired 4 horses, and, under the most favourable
auspices, left Malaga. We soon found that even a Spanish sky could not
be trusted; it began before we had completed half our first day's
journey to pour with rain. To return was impossible, as we had forded
the first river. In short, for three days we suffered Every
Inconvenience which can be conceived, but were still to meet with
another disappointment, for on the Morning of the day in which we had
certainly calculated to arrive at Gibraltar we came to a River which was
so much swelled that the Boatman could not ferry us over. Nearly a
hundred Muleteers and others were in the same predicament, and we had
the satisfaction of passing two most miserable days in a horrid Cortigo,
a house of _accommodation_ a degree lower than a Venta. Our provisions
were exhausted, and nothing but bread and water were to be met with.
Beds, of course, or a room of any sort were unobtainable. Conceive to
yourself a kitchen filled with smoke, without windows, in which were
huddled together about forty of the lowest order of Spaniards. As it
poured with rain we could not stir out, and as for staying within doors
it was scarcely possible. If we tried to sleep we were instantly covered
with fleas and other insects equally partial to a residence on the human
body. After two days' penance, as the waters began to abate, we
determined to cross the river in a small boat and proceed on foot, which
we did, and though we had to skip thro' 2 or 3 horrible streams and wade
thro' Mud and Marshes we performed the journey lightly, as anything was
bearable after the Cortigo del rio Zuariano. We passed through St. Roque
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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