The Life of George Borrow [69]
described with great minuteness a wonderful dog, which was kept in the neighbourhood for the purpose of catching the wolves and wild boars, and for which the proprietor had refused twenty moidores." {161b} From this it would appear that the idiocy of the guide was an armour to be assumed at will by one who preferred the sweetness of his own thoughts to the cross-questionings of his master's clients.
At Elvas, which he reached on 5th January, Borrow showed very strongly one rather paradoxical side of his character. Never backward in his dispraise of Englishmen and things English, in particular those responsible for the administration of the nation's affairs, past and present, he demonstrated very clearly, in his expressions of indignation at the Portuguese attitude towards England, that he reserved this right of criticism strictly to himself. At the inn where he stayed, he thoroughly discomfited a Portuguese officer who dared to criticise the English Government for its attitude in connection with the Spanish civil war. When refused entrance to the fort, where he had gone in order to satisfy his curiosity, Borrow exclaims, "This is one of the beneficial results of protecting a nation, and squandering blood and treasure in its defence." {162a}
Borrow was essentially an Englishman and proud of his blood, prouder perhaps of that which came to him from Norfolk, {162b} and although permitting himself and his fellow-countrymen considerable license in the matter of caustic criticism of public men and things, there the matter must end. Let a foreigner, a Portuguese, dare to say a word against his, Borrow's, country, and he became subjected to either a biting cross-examination, or was denounced in eloquent and telling periods. "I could not command myself," he writes in extenuation of his unchristian conduct in discomfiting the officer at Elvas, "when I heard my own glorious land traduced in this unmerited manner. By whom? A Portuguese? A native of a country which has been twice liberated from horrid and detestable thraldom by the hands of Englishmen." {162c}
On 6th January 1836, {162d} having sent back the "idiot" guide with the two mules, Borrow "spurred down the hill of Elvas to the plain, eager to arrive in old, chivalrous, romantic Spain," and having forded the stream that separates the two countries, he crossed the bridge over the Guadiana and entered the North Gate of Badajos, immortalised by Wellington and the British Army. He had reached Spain "in the humble hope of being able to cleanse some of the foul stains of Popery from the minds of its children." {162e}
CHAPTER XI: JANUARY-OCTOBER 1836
When Borrow entered Spain she was in the throes of civil war. In 1814 British blood and British money had restored to the throne Ferdinand VII., who, immediately he found himself secure, and forgetting his pledges to govern constitutionally, dissolved the Cortes and became an absolute monarch. All the old abuses were revived, including the re-establishment of the Inquisition. For six years the people suffered their King's tyranny, then they revolted, with the result that Ferdinand, bending to the wind, accepted a re- imposition of the Constitution. In 1823 a French Army occupied Madrid in support of Ferdinand, who promptly reverted to absolutism.
In 1829 Ferdinand married for the fourth time, and, on the birth of a daughter, declared that the Salic law had no effect in Spain, and the young princess was recognised as heir-apparent to the throne. This drew from his brother, Don Carlos, who immediately left the country, a protest against his exclusion from the succession. When his daughter was four years of age, Ferdinand died, and the child was proclaimed Queen as Isabel II.
A bitter war broke out between the respective adherents of the Queen and her uncle Don Carlos. Prisoners and wounded were massacred without discrimination, and an uncivilised and barbarous warfare waged when Borrow crossed the Portuguese frontier "to undertake the adventure of Spain."
Spain had always appealed most strongly
At Elvas, which he reached on 5th January, Borrow showed very strongly one rather paradoxical side of his character. Never backward in his dispraise of Englishmen and things English, in particular those responsible for the administration of the nation's affairs, past and present, he demonstrated very clearly, in his expressions of indignation at the Portuguese attitude towards England, that he reserved this right of criticism strictly to himself. At the inn where he stayed, he thoroughly discomfited a Portuguese officer who dared to criticise the English Government for its attitude in connection with the Spanish civil war. When refused entrance to the fort, where he had gone in order to satisfy his curiosity, Borrow exclaims, "This is one of the beneficial results of protecting a nation, and squandering blood and treasure in its defence." {162a}
Borrow was essentially an Englishman and proud of his blood, prouder perhaps of that which came to him from Norfolk, {162b} and although permitting himself and his fellow-countrymen considerable license in the matter of caustic criticism of public men and things, there the matter must end. Let a foreigner, a Portuguese, dare to say a word against his, Borrow's, country, and he became subjected to either a biting cross-examination, or was denounced in eloquent and telling periods. "I could not command myself," he writes in extenuation of his unchristian conduct in discomfiting the officer at Elvas, "when I heard my own glorious land traduced in this unmerited manner. By whom? A Portuguese? A native of a country which has been twice liberated from horrid and detestable thraldom by the hands of Englishmen." {162c}
On 6th January 1836, {162d} having sent back the "idiot" guide with the two mules, Borrow "spurred down the hill of Elvas to the plain, eager to arrive in old, chivalrous, romantic Spain," and having forded the stream that separates the two countries, he crossed the bridge over the Guadiana and entered the North Gate of Badajos, immortalised by Wellington and the British Army. He had reached Spain "in the humble hope of being able to cleanse some of the foul stains of Popery from the minds of its children." {162e}
CHAPTER XI: JANUARY-OCTOBER 1836
When Borrow entered Spain she was in the throes of civil war. In 1814 British blood and British money had restored to the throne Ferdinand VII., who, immediately he found himself secure, and forgetting his pledges to govern constitutionally, dissolved the Cortes and became an absolute monarch. All the old abuses were revived, including the re-establishment of the Inquisition. For six years the people suffered their King's tyranny, then they revolted, with the result that Ferdinand, bending to the wind, accepted a re- imposition of the Constitution. In 1823 a French Army occupied Madrid in support of Ferdinand, who promptly reverted to absolutism.
In 1829 Ferdinand married for the fourth time, and, on the birth of a daughter, declared that the Salic law had no effect in Spain, and the young princess was recognised as heir-apparent to the throne. This drew from his brother, Don Carlos, who immediately left the country, a protest against his exclusion from the succession. When his daughter was four years of age, Ferdinand died, and the child was proclaimed Queen as Isabel II.
A bitter war broke out between the respective adherents of the Queen and her uncle Don Carlos. Prisoners and wounded were massacred without discrimination, and an uncivilised and barbarous warfare waged when Borrow crossed the Portuguese frontier "to undertake the adventure of Spain."
Spain had always appealed most strongly