Chapter 8

Sólo faltaba el Corregidor.

Una vez reunida la tertulia, el señor Obispo tomó la palabra, y dijo: que, por lo mismo que habían pasado ciertas cosas en aquella casa, sus Canónigos y él seguirían yendo a ella lo mismo que antes, para que ni los honrados Molineros ni las demás personas allí presentes participasen de la censura pública, sólo merecida por aquel que había profanado con su torpe conducta una reunión tan morigerada y tan honesta. Exhortó paternalmente a la señá Frasquita para que en lo sucesivo fuese menos provocativa y tentadora en sus dichos y ademanes, y procurase llevar más cubiertos los brazos y más alto el escote del jubón: aconsejó al tío Lucas más desinterés, mayor circunspección y menos inmodestia en su trato con los superiores; y acabó dando la bendición a todos y diciendo: que, como aquel día no ayunaba, se comería con mucho gusto un par de racimos de uvas.

Lo mismo opinaron todos... respecto de este último particular..., y la parra se quedó temblando aquella tarde.--¡En dos arrobas de uvas apreció el gasto el Molinero!

* * * * *

Cerca de tres años continuaron estas sabrosas reuniones, hasta que, contra la previsión de todo el mundo, entraron en España los ejércitos de Napoleón y se armó la Guerra de la Independencia.

El señor Obispo, el Magistral y el Penitenciario murieron el año de 8, y el Abogado y los demás contertulios en los de 9, 10, 11 y 12, por no poder sufrir la vista de los franceses, polacos y otras alimañas que invadieron aquella tierra ¡y que fumaban en pipa, en el presbiterio de las iglesias, durante la misa de la tropa!

El Corregidor, que nunca más tornó al molino, fue destituido por un mariscal francés, y murió en la Cárcel de Corte, por no haber querido ni un solo instante (dicho sea en honra suya) transigir con la dominación extranjera.

Doña Mercedes no se volvió a casar, y educó perfectamente a sus hijos, retirándose a la vejez a un convento, donde acabó sus días en opinión de santa.

Garduña se hizo afrancesado.

El Sr. Juan López fue guerrillero, y mandó una partida, y murió, lo mismo que su alguacil, en la famosa batalla de Baza, después de haber matado muchísimos franceses.

Finalmente: el tío Lucas y la señá Frasquita (aunque no llegaron a tener hijos, a pesar de haber ido al Solán de Cabras y de haber hecho muchos votos y rogativas) siguieron siempre amándose del propio modo, y alcanzaron una edad muy avanzada, viendo desaparecer el Absolutismo en 1812 y 1820, y reaparecer en 1814 y 1823, hasta que, por último, se estableció de veras el sistema Constitucional a la muerte del Rey Absoluto, y ellos pasaron a mejor vida (precisamente al estallar la Guerra Civil de los _Siete años_), sin que los sombreros de copa que ya usaba todo el mundo pudiesen hacerles olvidar _aquellos tiempos_ simbolizados por el sombrero de tres picos.

FIN.

NOTES

The references are to page and line of the text.

=1=, 9. =pícaros=. This word, as a substantive here, and as an adjective elsewhere, may fairly be said to defy translation into English. In this place it has reference to the heroes of the so-called picaresque novels, a singularly Spanish manifestation of the best times of letters in Spain, whereof a belated type or imitation occasionally shows itself even to-day. The _pícaro_ is an adventurer, a rogue, a clown; oftentimes a thief, almost always a swindler; regularly a good fellow of his kind, always telling his own story, and usually coming to some rather respectable end; and all this is suggested in the word. On the picaresque novel, see F. De Haan, _An Outline of the History of the Picaresque Novel in Spain_, The Hague and New York, 1903, and F. W. Chandler, _Romances of Roguery_, Part I, New York, 1899; also, David Hannay, _The Later Renaissance_, Edinburgh, 1898.

As an adjective, the word may mean variously: low, sly, immoral, naughty, mischievous, perverse, shameless; it may be a term of the harshest reprobation, or of the most affectionate reproof.

=2=, 16. =tío=. The Spanish uses of the word are not unlike those of our word _uncle_; hence some explanation is needed for its application to the miller, in whose case there can be no question of old age, neither of any pejorative adumbration, the two usual suggestions. I think it may be said Tío Lucas was Tío Lucas because he needed some appelation, and was not up to _Señor_; also because of his friendly disposition. In =29=, 10 tía Josefa is evidently pejorative.

=3=, 12. =las licencias necesarias=. The censoring and licensing of books in Spain antedates printing by quite two hundred years. Provision was made for it by Alfonso el Sabio in the _Siete Partidas_ (1256-1263). The function was gradually assumed by the Inquisition, after its establishment in 1480, first tacitly, and with the coöperation [p. 130] of the civil authorities, later, after 1640, independently. From 1550 on no book could be published or circulated in Spain without the _aprobación_ and the other formalities whose sum constituted the _licencias necesarias_. The general practice went out with the Inquisition, though the Church maintains its Index in Spain as elsewhere. It may be not out of place to remark that the _licencias_, though doubtless irksome oftentimes to the author and publisher, are at present as useful to the student of literature in the matter of determining dates as is the baptismal certificate to the writer of biography. For various data, see Ticknor, _History of Spanish Literature_, vol. I, pp. 420 sqq.

=3=, 15. =gracioso=. The _gracioso_, the "droll servant," is the essentially comic character of the Spanish classic drama, as the Clown and the Fool of the English. The first examples of the _gracioso_ are in two plays of Bartolomé Torres Naharro, and the type is constant from Lope de Vega on.

=3=, 18. =romances de ciego=: songs and ballads printed coarsely on loose sheets of paper, and sold about the streets of the larger Spanish towns by the blind beggars.

=3=, 21. =D. Agustín Durán=. A prominent Spanish man of letters, author, editor, and critic, of lasting influence and importance. Son of a court physician, he was born at Madrid in 1793, died 1862. His _Romancero General_, here referred to, the standard collection of old Spanish songs and ballads, was published in two volumes of the _Biblioteca de Autores Españoles_ (Madrid, Rivadeneyra), in 1849 and 1851, and has been kept in print ever since.

=4=, 21. =Estebanillo González=. The reference is to the closing words of the _prólogo_ to the picaresque novel _Vida y Hechos de Estebanillo González_, where the author addresses his reader: "Donde, después de haberla leído y héchote más cruces que si hubieras visto al demonio, la tendrás por digna y merecedora de haber salido a luz." Estebanillo González is published in the second volume of _Novelistas Posteriores a Cervantes_, of the _Biblioteca de Autores Españoles_; the passage quoted is on page 286. Compare also De Haan, op. cit. p. 49; Chandler, _op. cit._, p. 243 sqq.

=5=, 3. =después del de (180)4 y antes del de (180)8=. Compare 7, 5: [p. 131] _supongamos que el de 1805_. As a matter of fact, no one of the years suggested (1804-1808) quite meets all the specifications, as the depositions referred to in =5=, 8 took place in 1806 and 1807; see the table in note to that line.

=5=, 4. =Don Carlos IV de Borbón.= Charles IV, King of Spain, born at Naples, 1748, succeeded his father, Charles III, in 1788, abdicated March 18th, 1808, died at Rome, 1819.

=5=, 8-9. Louis XIV (of France) | Louis (Dauphin) __________________________|__________________ | | Louis, Dauphin, Duke of Burgundy Philip, Duke of Anjou, | Philip V of Spain Louis XV | | ________________|___________ Louis, Dauphin | | | | Ferdinand VI Charles III Philip, Duke Louis XVI (jefe de ellos) of Spain of Spain of Parma beheaded January 21, 1793. | | ____________________________________________| Ferdinand | | of Parma Charles IV Ferdinand IV | of Spain, King of Naples, Louis deposed 1808. deposed 1806. (died 1803) | Charles Louis Duke of Parma, deposed 1807.

=5=, 13 sqq. =Rívoli=, village of Italy, near Verona, where Bonaparte defeated the Austrians, January 14, 1797.--=Marengo=, village 3 miles south-east of Alessandria in Piedmont. The battle of Marengo, fought June 14, 1800, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories and narrowest escapes.--=las Pirámides=; the battle of the Pyramids was fought July 21st, 1798.--=Corona de Carlo Magno=; Napoleon I was crowned emperor December 2d, 1804.

=6=, 2. The Spaniard is specially fond of parenthetical interjection of a votive kind, and rarely omits it in speaking of the dead. The phrase used here is frequent, though rather of the elaborate: _¡Que santa gloria haya!_ often abbreviated in writing to _¡q. s. g. h!_ is one of the frequent simpler forms. Parentheses of another, though analogous sort, are _C. m. b._ or _C. p. b._--_cuyas manos, cuyos pies beso_--often inserted in letters after the name of some person; and there are others. The Latin _absit omen!_ may be called to mind in this connection.

=6=, 12. =Gaceta.= The Gazette, the official newspaper of Spain, was established in 1661. By decree of 12 April, 1791, all newspapers except this one were suppressed; and as it was not until after 1811 that the Cortes of Cadiz restored in some measure the liberty of the press, the _Gaceta_ was at the time of the story the only source of information accessible to Spaniards, except perhaps in one or two of the largest cities. Alarcón pokes a bit of fun at the _Gaceta_, in the present passage; and Richard Ford, in the 1845 edition of his _Handbook for Travellers in Spain_, vol. II, page 728, says of it: "Its pages for the last fifty years, the French _Moniteur_ only excepted, are the greatest satire ever deliberately published by any people on itself."

=6=, 21. =Inquisición.= The Inquisition in Spain was suspended by a decree of Napoleon, December 4th, 1808. Ferdinand VII made various efforts to restore it, and it did not disappear finally until 1834. It had been established by a decree promulgated at Toledo in December, 1480, to commissioners appointed in September of that year, and its first court was held at Seville in 1481. See H. C. Lea, _A History of the Inquisition in Spain_, Vol. I, New York, 1906, pp. 160 sqq.; Ch. V. Langlois, _L'inquisition d'après des travaux récents_.

=6=, 23. =fueros.= The _fuero_ was a special privilege or concession granted by the king to any particular province, town, or individual. Celebrated examples in Spanish national history are those granted to Aragon and to the Basque provinces. On the _fuero_ see Rafael Altamira y Crevea, _Historia de España y de la Civilización Española_, Barcelona, 1900 and 1902, vol. I, pp. 502 sqq. The word _fuero_ is also used to denote the body of municipal law, and as title of a collection of statutes, as in Fuero Juzgo, Fuero Real, etc.

=6=, 26. =Corregidor.= In the cities of Spain in which there was neither royal governor nor court, the _corregidor_ was, under the old régime, the most important personage, filling at once the offices of judge, financial administrator, head of the council, and prosecutor. His authority, especially in the remote towns, was practically unlimited.

He was appointed directly by the king. With constitutional government, he has lost importance, and when found is simply an _alcalde_, or mayor.

=6=, 28. The unabridged text here is: "y pagando diezmos, primicias, alcabalas, subsidios, mandas, y limosnas forzosas, rentas, rentillas, capitaciones, tercias reales, gabelas, frutos-civiles, y hasta cincuenta tributos más, cuya nomenclatura no viene a cuento ahora." The best account of all these taxes is to be found under the appropriate headings in Marcelino Martínez Alcubilla, _Diccionario de la Administración española_, fifth edition, Madrid, 1892. They were nearly all abolished by the reforms introduced by Mon in 1846.

=7=, 2. =la=; _sc. historia_.

=8=, 2. =ciudad.= On the subject of the locality, Alarcón tells us in the omitted portions of the preface already referred to, that the different ballads assign different places to the action; the one published in Durán's _Romancero_ bears the title _El Molinero de Arcos_, and the scene is laid at Arcos de la Frontera; another, a _romance de ciego_ this, puts it at Jerez de la Frontera, as does also a third, repeated to Alarcón by Hartzenbusch; and he says that the peasant folk of Estremadura, among whom also the story is current, locate the action at Plasencia, Cáceres, and other towns of that province. He concludes, after having told us that Repela's version mentions no names: "En tal situación, y considerando que Repela nació, vivió y murió en la provincia de Granada; que su versión parece la auténtica y fidedigna, y que aquella es la tierra que mejor conocemos nosotros, nos hemos tomado la licencia de figurar que sucedió el caso en una ciudad, que no nombremos, del antiguo reino granadino."

Bonilla, in the article referred to in the introduction to this book, publishes still another ballad which begins "En cierto lugar de España," and makes no nearer reference to the place.

Enough has been said to make it clear that the story is widely known in various parts of Spain, as part of local rhyme; and, indeed, we have Alarcón's word in his preface, that this is so; we may properly make an effort towards a nearer identification of the place he had in his mind when he wrote. To this end, compare with what has just been said the paragraph beginning with line 18 of page 24, [p. 134] remembering that Alarcón was born in Guadix; and, read in connection with this last-named passage, the following, taken from page 273 of _De Madrid a Nápoles_: "Guadix fue una de las más importantes colonias de los romanos; después, en poder de los moros, llegó a ser hasta capital de un reino; verificada su reconquista por los Reyes Católicos, aún conservó durante tres siglos sus aires señoriles, y allá por el año de 8, cuando la invasión francesa, los graves señores que eran regidores perpetuos vestían sendas capas de grana, ceñían espadín y se cubrían con sombrero de tres picos.--¡Yo he alcanzado a conocer esta vestimenta de mi abuelo, que se conservaba en mi casa como una reliquia, y que nosotros, los hijos de 1833, irreverentes a fuer de despreocupados, dedicamos a mil profanaciones en nuestros juegos infantiles!" Wherefrom we may safely conclude, without pushing matters at all to extremes, that it was Guadix that surely furnished most of the local coloring for our story.

=8=, 5. =día de precepto.= Holy days of obligation are certain days independent of Sundays and feasts that may fall on them, on which it is required to hear mass, and to abstain from servile work. Those universally observed are: The Circumcision of Our Lord (January 1st); Ascension Day (forty days after Easter); the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (15th August); All Saints' Day (1st November); the Nativity of our Lord (Christmas Day); and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8th December); in Spain there are numerous others.

=8=, 5. The meals of the Spanish household order as indicated here are the _almuerzo_, breakfast; _comida_, dinner; _cena_, supper. The _chocolate_ of line 11 is the irregular luncheon more generally called _merienda_. The more usual arrangement in the household economy of the larger cities of Spain to-day includes the _desayuno_ at rising, usually simply a cup of chocolate; _almuerzo_, the second breakfast, or luncheon, at from ten o'clock to one; the _merienda_, if taken, after the siesta, at four or five o'clock; and the _comida_ at eight or after in the evening. This late _comida_ is also sometimes called _cena_; though often the real _cena_ is served, a very late supper. In view of this rather formidable list, it should be said that the Spaniard generally is not a heavy eater, and that he is usually more than common sober in the matter of drinking. [p. 135]

=8=, 10. =Rosario.= The saying of the prayers of the Rosary is an entirely private devotion, and as such may be done at any hour (compare =117=, 14); the present passage would indicate that twilight was the usual season chosen to this use by the people of the Ciudad.

=8=, 12. =tertulia.= This word is almost as difficult to translate as _pícaro_, though quite in another way. A _tertulia_ is a social gathering, of regular recurrence, for conversation or other amusement, very informal in its character, and laying the very smallest amount of social responsibility on the host. There is usually also a large measure of uniformity in the personnel of the attendance. In short, the word covers the ground from the afternoon meeting of friends for gossip in a Madrid bookshop, to the reception day of an embassador. Party, reception, gathering, club, conversazione, levee, are some of the words used frequently in translation; but no one of them quite covers the whole ground, which is perhaps not surprising, as the thing in itself is peculiarly Spanish.

=8=, 14. =Ánimas.= Seven o'clock in the evening, when the _De profundis_ is recited for the souls of the dead.

=8=, 16. =guisado=, "cooked," _pp._ of _guisar_, used as substantive, and by antonomasia for stew, fricassee.

=9=, 4. =entremés, sainete, auto sacramental.= The _entremés_ is a very short dramatic interlude of very light character, rarely more than a few minutes in the acting, which was performed between the acts of the heavier plays: the _sainete_ (_dim._ of saín: the tit-bit--bit of brain or flesh from the quarry, given the hawk by the falconer) was a similar postlude. The latter name has been generalized in Spanish and French literature (French _la saynète_), to mean a very short comedy or farce, with two or at most three or four characters. The _auto sacramental_ was a religious play often of allegorical or mystical character, written for the feast of Corpus Christi, and performed under the auspices of the church on that day or the days immediately following. See Ticknor, II, pp. 449-450, and on the _auto sacramental_, II, pp. 348 sqq.; Casiano Pellicer, _Tratado histórico sobre el origen y progresos del histrionismo en España_, Madrid, 1804, pp. 18 sqq., 189 sqq., and for a good account of the performance of the _auto_, 257 sqq. [p. 136]

=9=, 10. =volver á las andadas=, _going back over our traces_.

=10=, _tit._ III. =Do ut des=: _One good turn deserves another_, or _Turn about is fair play_.

=10=, 15. =parral= has two meanings, either one of which would be in place here. It is (1) a very large untrimmed grape-vine, or (2) a number of _parras_, i. e. of grape-vines, trained over trellises to form an arbor.

=10=, 24. =macarros=, _macaroon_, differing from those we know by not being necessarily of almond meal, being rather larger and rather darker in color.

=11=, 3. =rosetas=, a Spanish popcorn, so called from the shapes taken by the kernels at bursting. "Son granos de maíz, tostados al fuego. Suelen colocarse, para ello, sobre una plancha cualquiera de metal, y, así que se calientan, saltan, adoptando la forma de masas blancas, con estrías algo semejantes a las de la rosa" (_Bonilla_).

=11=, 6. =vino de pulso=, _home-made wine_, i. e. wine pressed by hand.

=11=, 7. =al amor de la lumbre=, taken exactly, means just near enough to the fire to be well warmed, but not scorched; trans., _in the glow of the fire_.

=por Pascuas=, _on feast-days_, _on special occasions_. The word Pascua primarily is the name of four greater feasts of the church: Easter (Pascua de Resurrección, de Flores, or Florida); Pentecost (Pascua de Espíritu Santo); Christmas (Pascua de Navidad); and Epiphany (Pascua de Reyes). The plural stands first for the days between Christmas and Epiphany. Secondarily, _Pascua_ has come to mean any three-day feast of the church; and in the plural, as here, any season of more than usual rejoicing.

=11=, 9. =rosco=: _pretzel_: the more usual form is _rosca_.

=11=, 19. =personas de campanillas=. The usual positive form of the expression is "personas de muchas campanillas."

=11=, 23 sqq. =Vuestra Merced=, here _Your Honor_, is the courteous form of address to one who has no special title, or whose title is unknown to the speaker; =Vuestra Señoría=, here _Your Worship_: these two titles in this book belong exclusively to the laity. =Vuestra Reverencia=, _Your Reverence_, is addressed indiscriminately to the more distinguished clergy; =Vuestra Ilustrísima=, _Your Lordship_, belongs specially to bishops; =Vuestra Paternidad= was originally the address [p. 137] of the humbler members of religious orders to their priors and abbots and other superiors. Translate, _Your Reverence_.

=11=, 26. =subsidio, alcabala, frutos-civiles.= Three of the very numerous taxes exacted in Spain at the time: _cf._ note to =6=, 28.--The _subsidio_ was a tax on commerce or manufactures, here on the output of the mill; the _alcabala_ was a tax on sales, fixed at the time of the story at 14 per cent. of the amount involved; the _frutos-civiles_ were the tax levied on income from real estate, royal grants, and privileges of jurisdiction.

=11=, 28 sqq. =una poca hoja, una poca leña, una poca madera=: this use of _poco_ is not literary. The meaning is perfectly clear.

=13=, 8. =Ser Supremo=, the _Supreme Being_, the usual denomination of God in the philosophic writing of the time of the French Revolution.

=Jovellanos.= Gaspar Melchior de Jovellanos or Jove-Llanos, was born in 1744, and died in 1811. He has been called the most eminent Spaniard of his time; was distinguished as a writer in economics and politics, and on education; and as a poet. He took prominent part in public life, was twice exiled for his political views and his mode of expressing them; and was minister of Justice, 1797. For a good appreciation of his value in literature, see E. Mérimée, _Etudes sur la Littérature Espagnole au XIXe Siècle--Jovellanos. Revue Hispanique_, vol. I, 1894, pp. 34-67.

=13=, 10. =la señá Frasquita.= _Señá_ is a popular corruption of the word _señora_, used as in the present case to qualify one rather above the level of the common, yet unable to claim the conventional _doña_ of the gentlewoman. Compare the use of _señor_ in the case of Juan López in Chapters XVII and XXIV, and the note on _tío_, =2=, 16 above. _Frasquita_ is one of several diminutives of Francisca (_Paca_, _Paquita_, _Frascuela_, _Francisquita_); so _la señá Frasquita_ is about equivalent to "Mrs. Fanny" or "Mistress Fanny," the discounting quality of the _señá_ being in English in the use of the given name. It may be suggested, however, that it is rarely profitable to force the translation of ordinary proper names.