BILL PAYABLE TO THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON AGAINST MONEY RECEIVED BY RICHARD FORD FROM THE DUKE’S SPANISH ESTATES.
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She worked with her own hands to repair the ravages of her predecessors, cleared away rubbish, set the famous lions on their legs in the courtyard, and reigned, with her two chattering mercenary nieces, the crabbed Queen and lioniser of the Alhambra. In the rooms which she had occupied Ford was lodged.
From the Alhambra, more beautiful, probably, in its ruin than in its restoration, most of the letters contained in this chapter were written. Here Ford entertained Addington, and to the Alhambra he returned in November, 1831, from the tour which he describes.
Ten miles from Granada is the Sota de Roma, or Wood of the Pomegranate, an estate of 4000 acres, conferred by the Cortes on the Duke of Wellington in gratitude for his victory at Salamanca. Owing to difficulties of exchange, Ford had arranged that the Duke should receive his income in England, while he drew an equivalent sum from the Duke’s Spanish estates. The agent was General O’Lawlor, an Irish gentleman in the Spanish military service. Don José, as Ford calls him, had married a wealthy heiress from Malaga, the “Dionysia” of the letters, and had made profitable investments of her money in the lead mines of Berja. Ford found the society of the O’Lawlors pleasant, as also were the green-gages in the garden attached to the old rambling house which was the agent’s residence.
His letters show little trace of the disturbed condition of the country. Yet all round him were signs of the reign of terror produced by panic of rebellion. One execution struck him, in all its circumstances, as peculiarly brutal. By express orders from Madrid, a young woman of good birth, Mariana de Pineda,[13] was, in May 1831, garrotted at Granada. Pardon was offered her if she would reveal the names of her accomplices. She refused, and died by the hand of the public executioner. Her alleged crime was the possession of a partially embroidered flag of green silk, the Constitutionalist colours. Whether she was guilty or not seems to be doubtful. It was at least alleged that the flag had been placed in her house by a Government employé, Ramon Pedroza, whose suit she had rejected. A column near the Triunfo now marks the site of her sacrifice to a longing for liberty.
Alhambra, June 7 [1831].
Dear Addington,