proposed to try some of it in boiling water: it coagulated therein, and then the two sceptics were convinced that it was blood, and exclaimed, Mirabilis Deus in Sanctis suis. Part of this blood was sent to the Archbishop,.. the devout dipt cloths in it, and the Cloister was boarded up so that the crouds who flocked there might behold it without entering; and thus it continued till it dried away,.. for it did not disappear, as in former times,.. the secret of the miracle was lost. Berganza. L. 2. C. 9.

Two hundred Martyrs in one grave were a Potosi of relicks, and the Monks of Cardeña have not been niggardly of their stores. Skulls and shin bones were given away so liberally about the beginning of the 17th century, and so many applications made for them, that the brethren found it necessary to obtain a Brief from the Pope, which made his express permission necessary for such a gift,.. except it were to a Cathedral or Collegiate church. L. 2. C. 15.

Berganza however was not contented with this inexhaustible mine. The history of the martyrdom is recorded by different writers, with such irreconcileable difference of date and circumstance, that he is persuaded a second troop of two hundred were in like manner put to the sword, some years after the first! L. 3. C. 11. And yet this author, when he was not blinded by the abominable superstitions of his church, was an acute and accurate antiquary.

Xativa. P. 138.

(34.) Among the glories of this town of Xativa, Miedes reckons that of its having been the birth-place of Alexander VI. who by the grace of God became Pope! guiado por la mano de Dios! L. 14. C. 15.

Almogavares. P. 141.

(35.) If Miedes and Bluteau be right in the etymology which they assign to this word, it may perhaps mean Men of the Earth. .. i. e. who lay upon the bare earth. Moncada however, in his Expedicion de los Catalanes y Aragoneses. f. 19, thinks the name refers rather to their origin than their customs, and that they were descended from the Avars, as is affirmed by the Byzantine historian George Pachymer.

In the Sicilian wars between Pedro the Third of Aragon, and the French, a party of the Almogavares fell in with a large body of the enemy, and fled. One of them was taken, and the French thought him such a monster, that instead of killing him they took him to the Prince of the Morea, their commander, as a curiosity. His dress was a short frock girt round him with a rope; a bonnet of undrest leather, with buskins and shoes of the same,.. and this was all: he was lean and sun burnt, his beard long, and his hair black and bushy. He was asked who he was, and he answered, An Almogavar of the King of Aragon's army. The Prince, thinking little of him because of his wretched appearance, observed that it was not possible there could be any worth

or courage in such a miserable, poor, half-savage race, if they were all such as this. The Almogavar was offended at this, and said, In truth he thought himself one of the meanest of his fellows; yet such as he was, if they would restore him his weapons, and any knight was there who would venture to fight him, armed at all points and on horseback, he would undertake the combat, on condition that he should be set at liberty if he were conqueror, or otherwise put to death. The Prince expressed so great a wish to see this challenge accepted that a young French knight presented himself; and they went out to the field. The knight couched his spear and ran at him,.. he leapt aside from the encounter, and at the same time threw his dart with a sure aim, and drove it half way to the hilt in the horse's breast: the horse fell, and in an instant the Almogavar was upon his enemy, knife in hand, had cut the lace of his helmet, and in another instant would have had his head off, had not the Prince interfered. The Prince then ordered him to be clothed, and sent to Messina. When the King of Aragon heard this, he ordered ten Frenchmen to be clothed, and sent them to the Prince, saying, That for every one of his people whom he would set at liberty, he would give ten Frenchmen in exchange. Desclot. ff. 125, of Cervera's Translation.

These men were mostly mountaineers of Aragon and Catalonia. They would sometimes pass two days without food, and if nothing else was to be had, fed upon the herbs of the field: each man carried a wallet with provisions, and flint and steel. Do. ff. 95.

Adalides. P. 164.

(36.) The Adalides were people of great importance in an army. They were the guides; they were to say what quantity of provision was to be taken,.. to show where wood, oats, and herbage were to be found,.. where scouts were to be placed, .. almost they were to direct every inroad. The word is interpreted in the Partidas to mean Guides. No man could become an Adalid, unless he were appointed to the office; and when a King or other Lord was about to appoint one, twelve of the best Adalides were to be convened, or if so many could not be found, the number was made up by the best informed men at hand, and they were sworn to say whether they thought the person proposed possessed sufficient, 1. knowledge of the country; 2. courage; 3. good natural sense; and 4. honesty, to qualify him for the office. Any person who undertook it without this authority incurred the penalty of death. When this jury had pronounced that he was qualified, the Lord who was to appoint him should then give him raiment, a sword, a horse, and armour both of iron and of fuste* according to the custom of the country. A Rico Ome who

In Note 6. p. 227, I have conjectured armas de fuste to mean mock-armour,.. not then recollecting this passage; which evidently shows that it was intended for service. Perhaps it was made of reeds, or very small twigs. The shepherds in the North of Portugal wear at this day

has knights under him, was then to gird on his sword, but the blow on the neck was not to be given. Then a shield was to be laid upon the ground, on which he was to stand,.. and the King or Lord who appointed him drew the sword and delivered it into his hands; his twelve vouchers lifted him on the shield, with his face to the East, and he made two strokes with the sword, one upward, the other athwart, so as to describe a cross, exclaiming, I, such-a-one, defy all the enemies of the faith, in the name of God and of my Lord the King, and of my country: and this he repeated towards the other three quarters. He then sheathed the sword, and the King gave him his badge of office, saying, I permit thee to be an Adalid from this time forward. He was then allowed to bear arms and banner, and to eat at board with knights, and he might exercise authority by words over honourable men and knights, and over foot soldiers and the Almogavar-horse, by deeds, striking them if they did amiss, not however so as to injure them. Partida. 2. T. 22. L. 1. 2. 3. 4.

One of the reasons assigned for these honourable ceremonies at the creation of an Adalid was the danger to which he was exposed. For if he, or any of his sons, were taken, there was no mercy shown him: the state purchased him of the captors, and he was delivered up to the people to be cruelly put to death.

Milagros de N. Señora de Montserrat. Barcelona 1574. Mil. 23.

In Barbary every man of the district gave a dobra to the captor, of such importance was it thought to destroy them. The Alcayde of Alcacer saved one for the sake of Don Pedro de Menezes, though he was often called upon to give him up. He represented to the people that the Adalid was not to blame in performing his office, and bade them remember how many lives their vengeance would cost: this latter argument prevailed. Gomes Eannes. Chr. de Don Pedro de Menezes. C. 44.

Almocadenes. P. 164.

(37) These men were to the foot-soldiers what the Adalides were to the horse, and were appointed by the Adalides. Twelve Almocadenes vouched for his qualifications, one of which was to be swift of foot; raiment was given him and a lance, with a pennon of triangular shape; he was elevated upon the hafts of two spears, which were held short

great coats and hoods of straw,.. a complete covering of thatch. Something of this kind may have been used, which would deaden the blow of a sword. When Artasirus had undertaken to stab the usurper Gontharis at Carthage, he cut some arrow-shafts in pieces, and fastened the pieces round his left arm, from the wrist to the elbow, over the shirt. On this arm he received the blows which were made at him, by the adherents of Gontharis, and the arrows saved hm. Procopius.

A friend upon casting his eye over this sheet, observes to me that fustian has a tempting similarity of sound to fuste, and that the linen corselets of the Saracens and the cotton ones which the Spaniards borrow from the Mexicans, favour such an interpretation.

lest they should break, and then performed the same ceremony with his lance towards the four points of Heaven, as the Adalid did with the sword. These men could not rise to be Adalides, till they had first served among the Almogavar-horse. Part. 2. Tit. 22. L. 5. 6.

And merchants came there from all parts to buy and to sell. P. 178.

(38.) Good part of the spoil at this time lay in rich merchandize. In the wars of King Jayme El Conquistador against the Moors, merchants always followed the camp to buy the plunder and advance money to the King. When he was besieging Murcia, the soldiers used to say they should soon measure the velvets there, not by the yard but by the spear. Miedes. L. 17. C. 6.

Valencia. P. 179.

(39.) Miedes. (L. 12. C. 16.) says that there are above thirty thousand wells in Valencia and its suburbs, and that they contribute greatly to preserve the city from earthquakes and pestilent vapours, by letting the mischievous matter escape little by little, and tempering it as it passes. Los quales ayudan mucho a la firmeza y sanidad de la tierra, defendiendola assi de terremotos y otras aberturas, como de pestilentes vapores, para que salgan no con impetu debaxo de la tierra, sino poco a poco, y como rosciados y templados por los mesmos pozos.

Some, says Beuther, have called this city Epedrapolis,.. the city founded upon waters, because it hath within it more than ten thousand wells; and because they are of spring water, they rightly call them fountains. L. 1. C. 9.

According to fabulous history Valencia was founded by Romo, the 20th King from Tubal, and called after his name, Rome, in the days when Deborah and Barak were Judges of Israel. Beuther. L. 1. C. 11.

Mithridate, that great mother of medicines, says Beuther, which was invented by the King of Pontus whose name it bears, was not formerly made in Spain, because the numerous herbs used in its composition were not found there: and therefore it was brought from Venice. But for some years past it has been compounded with great solemnity in our city of Valencia by the college of Doctors in Medicine, and by the Spicers. And it is made here in greater perfection than in other parts of the world, and exported from hence to many provinces. For in the territory of this city all the herbs used in it are found, except those which grow only in India, those having now been found, which till now had not been discovered here.

P. 186. N. 5.

(40.) The sewers at Valencia were the work of Cn. Scipio,.. the six main branches are of such depth, that a man on horseback might ride through them. They have long been neglected, which Beuther imputes to the Moors: but when at any time, either from

chance, or design, they have been opened, it has been with great difficulty that the workmen could break through the arch,.. so excellently durable were the public works of the Romans.

Martin Pelaez. P. 199.

(41.) In a privilege of Henrique IV. which is given by Berganza, (L. 7. C. 13,) the courage of Martin Pelaez is accounted for in a different manner. One day when the Moors and Christians were fighting, and he as usual was in the rear, he saw an arrow strike a snake in its hole and kill it, upon which he began to meditate upon the inevitableness of destiny,.. put spurs to his horse, and gallopped into the midst of the battle.

Adelantado. P. 200.

(42.) This, which is not a Moorish title, originally meant Leader:.. the Provincial Governors are now thus called. In Castille, Andalusia, and Murcia, the office is hereditary.

An Adelantado was not allowed to marry any woman of the province over which he presided, during his office. This law was enacted because the power which he pos sessed would have enabled him to marry any woman, against the will of her friends, they not daring to refuse him. He therefore might have a barragana, a concubine, as if this was not giving him greater power of mischief! but it did not affect the great families, and they were the only persons who were regarded. Part. 4. Tit. 14. Ley. 2.. Juan de Mena, when celebrating the Adelantado Diego de Ribera, puns upon the word.

(49.) Mientras mas Moros, mas ganancia, The more Moors the more plunder! said the Cid upon this occasion, and the words became a proverb. They were repeated by that wretch Gonzalo Pizarro, when he marched against the Viceroy Blasco Nuñez Vela. Herrera 7. 8. 10.