_Juez_.—Come, come, _Don Jorge_, I see what you are aiming at; but listen to reason: I will not now speak to you as a _juez_, but as a friend who wishes you well, and who entertains a profound reverence for the British nation. This is a foolish affair altogether; I will not deny that the political chief acted somewhat hastily on the information of a person not perhaps altogether worthy of credit. No great damage, however, has been done to you, and to a man of the world like yourself, a little adventure of this kind is rather calculated to afford amusement than anything else. Now be advised, forget what has happened; you know that it is the part and duty of a Christian to forgive. So, _Don Jorge_, I advise you to leave this place forthwith; I dare say you are getting tired of it. You are this moment free to depart; repair at once to your lodgings, where I promise you that no one shall be permitted to interrupt you for the future. It is getting late, and the prison doors will speedily be closed for the night. _Vamos_, _Don Jorge_, _á la casa_, _á la posada_! {143a} _Myself_.—“But Paul said unto them, they have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? Nay, verily: but let them come themselves and fetch us out.” {143b} I then bowed to the _juez_, who shrugged his shoulders and took snuff. On leaving the apartment I turned to the _alcayde_, who stood at the door: “Take notice,” said I, “that I will not quit this prison till I have received full satisfaction for being sent hither uncondemned. You may expel me if you please, but any attempt to do so shall be resisted with all the bodily strength of which I am possessed.” “Your worship is right,” said the _alcayde_, with a bow, but in a low voice. Sir George, on hearing of this affair, sent me a letter in which he highly commended my resolution not to leave the prison for the present, at the same time begging me to let him know if there were anything that he could send me from the Embassy to render my situation more tolerable. I will now leave for the present my own immediate affairs, and proceed to give some account of the prison of Madrid and its inmates.