Such is the fanaticism of the countries of the Inquisition, where science is a crime, ignorance and superstition the first of virtues.  Though my official character protected me, I did not care to dispute, and cause a ridiculous scene with this bigot of a monk.  I contented myself with smiling, and by making a sign of silence as I did so to those who were with me.  The monk, therefore, had full swing, and preached a long time without giving over.  He perceived, perhaps, by our faces, that we were laughing at him, although without gestures or words.  At last he showed us the rest of the chamber, still fuming; then we descended to the Pantheon.  They did me the singular favour to light about two-thirds of the immense and admirable chandelier, suspended from the middle of the roof, the lights of which dazzled us, and enabled us to distinguish in every part of the Rotting-Room; not only the smallest details of the smallest letter, but the minutest features of the place.

I passed three days in the Escurial, lodged in a large and fine apartment, and all that were with me well lodged also.  Our monk, who had always been in an ill-humour since the day of the Rotting-Room, did not recover himself until the parting breakfast came.  We quitted him without regret, but not the Escurial, which would pleasantly occupy a curious connoisseur during more than a three months’ stay.  On the road we met the Marquis de Montalegre, who invited, us to dinner with him.  The meal was so good that we little regretted the dinner my people had prepared for us.

At last we arrived on the 9th, at our village of Villahalmanzo, where I found most comfortable quarters for myself and all who were with me.  I found there, also, my eldest son, still merely, convalescent, with the Abbe de Monthon, who came from Burgos.  We supped very gaily, and I reckoned upon taking a good excursion the next day, and upon amusing myself in reconnoitring the village and the environs; but fever seized me during the night, augmented during the day, became violent the following night, so that there was no more talk of going on the 11th to meet the King and Queen at Lerma, as they alighted from their coach, according to arrangement.

The malady increased with such rapidity that I was found to be in great danger, and immediately after, on the point of death.  I was bled shortly after.  The small-pox, with which the whole country was filled, appeared.  The climate was such this year that it froze hard twelve or fourteen hours every day, while from eleven o’clock in ’the morning till nearly four, the sun shone as brightly as possible, and it was too hot about mid-day for walking!  Yet in the shade it did not thaw for an instant.  This cold weather was all the more sharp because the air was purer and clearer, and the sky continually of the most perfect serenity.