It was not long after my Return before News arriv'd of the Peace; which though they receiv'd with Joy, they could hardly entertain with Belief. Upon which, the new _Corrigidor_, with whom I held a better Correspondence than I had done with the old one, desired me to produce my Letters from _England_, that it was true. Never did People give greater Demonstrations of Joy, than they upon this Occasion. It was the common cry in the Streets, _Paz con Angleterra, con todo Mundo Guerra_; And my Confirmation did them as much Pleasure as it did Service to me; for is possible, they treated me with more Civility than before. But the Peace soon after being proclaimed, I received Orders to repair to _Madrid_, where the rest of the Prisoners taken at _Denia_ had been carried; when I, by reason of my Wounds, and want of Health, had been left behind. Others I understood lay ready, and some were on their March to _Bayone_ in _France_; where Ships were ordered for their Transportation into _England_. So after a Residence of three Years and three Months; having taken leave of all my Acquaintance, I left a Place, that was almost become natural to me, the delicious _Sainte Clemente de la Mancha_. Nothing of Moment, or worth observing, met I with, till I came near _Ocanna_; and there occurred a Sight ridiculous enough. The Knight of the Town, I last came from, the ever renown'd _Don Quixot_, never made such a Figure as a _Spaniard_, I there met on the Road. He was mounted on a Mule of the largest size, and yet no way unsizeable to his Person: He had two Pistols in his Holsters, and one on each side stuck in his Belt; a sort of large Blunderbuss in one of his Hands, and the fellow to it slung over his Shoulders hung at his Back. All these were accompany'd with a right _Spanish Spado_, and an Attendant _Stiletto_, in their customary Position. The Muletier that was my guide, calling out to him in _Spanish_, told him he was very well arm'd; to which, with a great deal of Gravity, the Don returned Answer, _by Saint Jago a Man cannot be too well arm'd in such dangerous Times_. I took up my Quarters that Night at _Ocanna_, a large, neat, and well built Town. Houses of good Reception, and Entertainment, are very scarce all over _Spain_; but that, where I then lay, might have pass'd for good in any other Country. Yet it gave me a Notion quite different to what I found: for I imagined it to proceed from my near Approach to the Capital. But instead of that, contrary to all other Countries, the nearer I came to _Madrid_, the Houses of Entertainment grew worse and worse; not in their Rates do I mean (for that with Reason enough might have been expected) but even in their Provision, and Places and way of Reception, I could not however forbear smiling at the Reason given by my Muletier, that it proceeded from a piece of Court Policy, in Order to oblige all Travellers to hasten to _Madrid_.