Domestic.—­Excuse me, sir.  His worship hired yesterday a house, for which he engaged to pay fourteen pence daily; but when the senorita saw it, she wept, and said it was no house, but a hog-sty, so his worship paid one day’s rent and renounced his bargain.  Fourteen pence a day! why, in our country, we can have a palace for that money.

Myself.—­From what country do you come?

Domestic.—­Cavalier, you appear to be a decent gentleman, and I will tell you our history.  We are from Andalusia, and his worship was last year receiver-general for Granada:  his salary was fourteen thousand rials, with which we contrived to live very commodiously—­attending the bull funcions regularly, or if there were no bulls, we went to see the novillos, and now and then to the opera.  In a word, sir, we had our diversions and felt at our ease; so much so, that his worship was actually thinking of purchasing a pony for the young gentleman, who is fourteen, and must learn to ride now or never.  Cavalier, the ministry was changed, and the new corners, who were no friends to his worship, deprived him of his situation.  Cavalier, they removed us from that blessed country of Granada, where our salary was fourteen thousand rials, and sent us to Galicia, to this fatal town of Lugo, where his worship is compelled to serve for ten thousand, which is quite insufficient to maintain us in our former comforts.  Good-bye, I trow, to bull funcions, and novillos, and the opera.  Good-bye to the hope of a horse for the young gentleman.  Cavalier, I grow desperate:  hold your tongue, for God’s sake! for I can talk no more.”

On hearing this history I no longer wondered that the receiver-general was eager to save a cuarto in the purchase of the oil for the gaspacho of himself and family of eleven daughters, one son, and a domestic.

We staid one week at Lugo, and then directed our steps to Coruna, about twelve leagues distant.  We arose before daybreak in order to avail ourselves of the escort of the general post, in whose company we travelled upwards of six leagues.  There was much talk of robbers, and flying parties of the factious, on which account our escort was considerable.  At the distance of five or six leagues from Lugo, our guard, in lieu of regular soldiers, consisted of a body of about fifty Miguelets.  They had all the appearance of banditti, but a finer body of ferocious fellows I never saw.  They were all men in the prime of life, mostly of tall stature, and of Herculean brawn and limbs.  They wore huge whiskers, and walked with a fanfaronading air, as if they courted danger, and despised it.  In every respect they stood in contrast to the soldiers who had hitherto escorted us, who were mere feeble boys from sixteen to eighteen years of age, and possessed of neither energy nor activity.  The proper dress of the Miguelet, if it resembles anything military, is something akin to that anciently used by the English marines.