[62] The reader must be aware that this was an imitation of a foot tournament, an amusement as frequent among the ancient Spanish knights as the jousts on horseback. It is called in the Spanish Chronicles Tornéo de a pié.
[63] Though the Spanish writer has forgotten to mention the allegory of the challenger, it is evident, from the sequel, that he was intended to represent Sin.
[64] Dwarfs were formerly very common among the servants of the Spanish nobility. But it is not easy to guess for what reason they were allotted to Abraham, on this occasion.
[65] The Spanish Catechism enumerates seven vices and seven opposite virtues.
[66] This curious scene is the subject of another picture in the cloisters of Saint Francis, at Seville. The bishop is seen in his bed, where Saint Francis has neatly severed the head from the body with Saint Paul’s sword, which he had borrowed for this pious purpose. As the good friars might have been suspected of having a hand in this miracle, the saint performed an additional wonder. The figures of Saint Paul and Saint Francis stood side by side in a painted glass window of the principal convent of the order. The apostle had a sword in his hand, while his companion was weaponless. To the great surprise of the fathers, it was observed, one morning, that Saint Paul had given away the sword to his friend. The death of the bishop, which happened that very night, explained the wonder, and taught the world what those might expect who thwarted the plans of Heaven in the establishment of the Franciscans.
[67] Espinosa, the modern editor and annotator of Zuñiga, states, from ancient records, that within the first six weeks after the appearance of the plague, the number of deaths amounted to eighty thousand. This, however, we consider as a palpable exaggeration; for, though Seville was nearly depopulated on that occasion, it is probable that it never contained more than one hundred thousand inhabitants.
[68] Seville has several streets bearing the name of foreign nations—a faint memorial of its former commerce and wealth. The street of the Placentines is a continuation of that of the Franks (Francos). There is a Lombard Street (calle Lombardos), a Genoa Street, and some others of a similar denomination.
[69] In the Appendix No. 2, to Lord Holland’s Life of Lope de Vega are found both the originals and translations of some eloquent passages from Jovellanos’s pen, to which I have made an allusion in this note. His portrait also, from a marble bust executed at Seville by Don Angel Monasterio, at his lordship’s desire, and now in his possession, is prefixed to the second volume of the same work.
Transcriber's note