To the Reverend Dr. Thomas Turner.
Reverend Sir,
Your great goodness will excuse the tardiness of this letter, when I assure you, that I have been long ambitious of collecting any thing, that might deserve your notice; tho hitherto I have been successless in that desire. Many things indeed have occurred observable to me; but I could not hope at the same time, that they might appear such to you. For it is common with unexperienced travelers to be transported with pleasure and admiration, when their accounts are not able to raise the same affections in their freinds; either because they converse with men of better judgment, or because the most valuable relations must needs be heard with a greater coldness, than the things were seen. But notwithstanding these discouragements, I have lately looked back upon my Journal, to see if any thing might there appear remarkable at this distance; and tho a short voyage by sea must be barren of all real curiosity, yet for the subject of this letter I shall now trouble you with some of the things, which I observed at Cadiz, Messina, and Milo, the three only places, where we touched in our passage hither.
In Cadiz, as in most other parts of the Spanish dominions, there is nothing very curious, but in their churches or convents; and this, when once seen, is to be deplored, rather than admired. For when you first come into the town, you are not so much struck with a face of religion, as with the notion of a certain politic game, where the priests are soon discovered to be the only winners. Since in the whole place there is nothing fat and well favoured, but the clergy. The rest of the inhabitants appear meagre, wan, and melancholy, being mostly employed either in repairing to mass, or returning from it; sometimes counting their beads, and at other times perhaps lugging an heavy Saint in their arms. And therefore, were they not supported under this condition by a certain natural pride, which is fed partly with the real history of their former state, and partly with a romantic imagination of their present grandeur; they would soon become so sensible of their slavish poverty and superstition, as either to break their own hearts, or that yoke, which oppresses them.
There are several religious houses in this city, one of Franciscans, another of Dominicans, a third of Augustins, and a fourth of Capuchins; besides some nunneries, and a fifth convent called the Mercy, being founded for the redemption of Christian slaves. There is likewise an hospital, named the Hospital of St. John of God; where we saw a large and decent infirmary for sick and wounded persons, whether natives or foreigners. There is nothing much remarkable in these places, besides the altar pieces of their chapels, which are every where gaudily and richly furnished; but those particularly of the cathedral church, and Dominican convent, are adorned with tables of wrought and massy silver. On the walls is seen abundance of painting and imagery, the device of which is for the most part offensive, or ridiculous. An instance of the latter was the picture of St. Michael, with a pair of scales in his hand, weighing the merits of departed saints: of the former, the pourtraiture of God the Father, in the shape of an old man; with many other blasphemous representations of the Trinity. Either in their vestries, or their chapels, there is commonly the Saint of their order pourtrayed at large, in a gaudy habit, and inclosed in a case of glass. Other lesser images of Saints they expose in holes of the wall, where it faces the town; and to these the devouter part of the people pay their several occasional oraisons, as they pass the streets. This large multitude of altars and saints, which every where appears at Cadiz, could not but remind me of what the priestess in Petronius sais: Utique nostra regio tam praesentibus plena est numinibus, ut facilius possis deum, quam hominem invenire[144]. But not to tire your patience with the many odd pieces of superstition, which occur in every corner of the city, I shall give you a relish of the whole in the two following instances.