[4b] They enacted this under the pretence that all young men were wanted for the defence of the country. Even the friars were obliged to be silent against such a plea.
[4c] Nor are there wanting instances of friars atoning on the scaffold for crimes of the deepest dye; and I could mention examples of fraud, violence and murder committed since the king’s return by individuals among them, whose monstrous atrocity it would be difficult to parallel.
[5a] Romerias. That these acts of devotion are always attended with shameful profligacy is sufficiently known. Even Calderon bears testimony to their danger:
— Todos los concursos
De varias romerias,
Tal vez en zelo empiezan
Y acaban en delicia;
El verse unos con otros
Conmuevese á la alegria,
La alegria al banquete
El banquete á la risa,
La risa al bayle, al juego
A la vaya, á la grita
Escollos en que siempre
La devocion peligra.A Maria el Corazon.
So, indeed, says the old proverb, “Quien muchos romerias anda tarde ó nunca se santifica.”
[5b] The Roman Catholic Church has made a glorious league with the fine arts, each of which has been made subservient to its purposes, and has maintained its mighty influence. Poetry, painting and music can never pay the immense debt they owe to the gorgeous machinery of the Romish ritual.
[5c] Perhaps I may be allowed to introduce a few specimens of the style of the Romanceros. For instance, their praises of the Virgin:
La reyna de los cielos
Emperatriz soberana
Fuente de amor y dulzura
Rio de bondad y de gracia
Pielago de perfecciones
Tranquilo mar de gracias
Iris de serenidades
Lucero de la mañana
Del cielo norte seguro.San Onofre.
Sagrada Virgen Maria
Antorcha del cielo empireo
Hixa del eterno Padre,
Madre del supremo bixo
Del sacro espiritu esposa.Jayme del Castillo.
Hermosisima Maria
Preciosisima açucena
Que con tu divina gracia
Nos libertais de la pena,
Florida y hermosa rosa
Palma, cipres, virgen bella
Lirio, olivo, torre hermosa
De encumbrada fortaleza
Cielos, sol y luna hermosa
Fuente llena de clemencia
Que con tu divina gracia
Triunfos y lauros aumentas:
Gran Señora del Carmelo
Suplicote, sacra reyna
Que abogada y protectira
Con el rey de gracias seas.Judio de Toledo.
Great, however, as is their devotion, it is less than their bombast.
Paren en sus movimientos
Ayre, fuego, tierra y ondas
Sol, luna, estrellas, luceros
Los planetas y la Aurora
Mientras mi pluma remonta
Su vuelo al mas sacro asunto
De la estacion dichosa
Quando vino la Cruz de Grao.Cruz de Grao.
Remonte el vuelo mi pluma
Hasta la region mas alta
Del viento donde lucida
Brille, dando á aquesta plana
Y principio al suceso
Mas admirable de que narra
En sus anales el tiempo
Y las historias pasadas.Jayme de Aragon.