So soon as I arrived at Madrid, I made it my Business to enquire out, and wait upon Father Fahy, Chief of the Irish College. He received me very courteously; but when I acquainted him with the Treatment I had met with from Brennan, and had given him an Account of his other scandalous Behaviour, I found he was no Stranger to the Man, or his Character; for he soon confirm'd to me the Honour Brennan first boasted of, his considerable Family, by saying, that scarce an Assize passed in his own Country, without two or three of that Name receiving at the Gallows the just Reward of their Demerits. In short, not only Father Fahy, but all the Clergy of that Nation at Madrid, readily subscribed to this Character of him, That he was a Scandal to their Country.
After this, I had nothing more to do, but to get that Father to go with me to Pedro de Dios, who was the Head of the Dominican Cloyster, and Dean of the Inquisition. He readily granted my Request, and when we came there, in a Manner unexpected, represented to the Dean, that having some good Dispositions towards Mother-Church, I had been diverted from them, he feared, by the evil Practices of one Murtough Brennan, a Countryman of his, tho' a Scandal to his Country; that under a Pretence of seeking my Conversion, he had lay'd himself open in a most beastly Manner, such as would have set a Catholick into a vile Opinion of their Religion, and much more one that was yet a Heretick. The Dean had hardly Patience to hear Particulars; but as soon as my Friend had ended his Narration, he immediately gave his Orders, prohibiting Murtough's saying any more Masses, either in Madrid, or any other Place in Spain. This indeed was taking away the poor Wretches sole Subsistence, and putting him just upon an Equality with his Demerits.
I took the same Opportunity to make my Complaints of the Corrigidor; but his Term expiring very soon, and a Process being likely to be chargeable, I was advised to let it drop. So having effected what I came for, I returned to my old Station at la Mancha.
When I came back, I found a new Corrigidor, as I had been told there would, by the Dean of the Inquisition, who, at the same Time, advised me to wait on him. I did so, soon after my Arrival, and then experienced the Advice to be well intended; the Dean having wrote a Letter to him, to order him to treat me with all Manner of Civility. He show'd me the very Letter, and it was in such particular and obliging Terms, that I could not but perceive he had taken a Resolution, if possible, to eradicate all the evil impressions, that Murtough's Behaviour might have given too great Occasion for. This serv'd to confirm me in an Observation that I had long before made, That a Protestant, who will prudently keep his Sentiments in his own Breast, may command any Thing in Spain; where their stiff Bigotry leads 'em naturally into that other Mistake, That not to oppose, is to assent. Besides, it is generally among them, almost a work of Supererogation to be even instrumental in the Conversion of one they call a Heretick. To bring any such back to what they call Mother Church, nothing shall be spar'd, nothing thought too much: And if you have Insincerity enough to give them Hopes, you shall not only live in Ease, but in Pleasure and Plenty.
I had entertain'd some thoughts on my Journey back, of taking up my old Quarters at the Widow's; but found her so intirely converted by her Clerico, that there wou'd be no room to expect Peace: For which Reason, with the help of my fair Vicinos, and Don Felix, I took another, where I had not been long, before I received an unhappy Account of Murtough's Conduct in Murcia. It seems he had kept his Resolution in going thither; where meeting with some of his own Countrymen, though he found 'em stanch good Catholics, he so far inveigled himself into 'em, that he brought them all into a foul chance for their Lives. There were three of 'em, all Soldiers, in a Spanish Regiment, but in a fit of ambitious, though frantick, Zeal: Murtough had wheedled them to go along with him to Pedro de Dios, Dean of the Inquisition, to declare and acknowledge before him, that they were converted and brought over to Mother Church, and by him only. The poor Ignorants, thus intic'd, had left their Regiment, of which the Colonel, having notice, sent after them, and they were overtaken on the Road, their Missionair with them. But notwithstanding all his Oratory, nay, even the Discovery of the whole Farce, one of them was hang'd for an Example to the other two.
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.
Two small Leagues from Ocanna we arrived at Aranjuez, a Seat of Pleasure, which the Kings of Spain commonly select for their place of Residence during the Months of April and May. It is distant from Madrid about seven Leagues; and the Country round is the pleasantest in all Spain, Valencia excepted. The House it self makes but a very indifferent Appearance; I have seen many a better in England, with an Owner to it of no more than five hundred Pounds per Annum; yet the Gardens are large and fine; or as the Spaniards say, the finest in all Spain, which with them is all the World. They tell you at the same Time, that those of Versailles, in their most beautiful Parts, took their Model from these. I never saw those at Versailles: But in my Opinion, the Walks at Aranjuez, tho' noble in their length, lose much of their Beauty by their Narrowness.