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第29章

the zincali-第29章

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was young。  Certainly Gitanos and Gitanas confessed before Don 



Martin Fajardo that they did not really marry; but that in their 



banquets and festivals they selected the woman whom they liked; and 



that it was lawful for them to have as many as three mistresses; 



and on that account they begat so many children。  They never keep 



fasts nor any ecclesiastical command。  They always eat meat; Friday 



and Lent not excepted; the morning when I seized those whom I 



afterwards executed; which was in Lent; they had three lambs which 



they intended to eat for their dinner that day。 … Quinones; page 



13。







Although what is stated in the above extracts; respecting the 



marriages of the Gitanos and their licentious manner of living; is; 



for the most part; incorrect; there is no reason to conclude the 



same with respect to their want of religion in the olden time; and 



their slight regard for the forms and observances of the church; as 



their behaviour at the present day serves to confirm what is said 



on those points。  From the whole; we may form a tolerably correct 



idea of the opinions of the time respecting the Gitanos in matters 



of morality and religion。  A very natural question now seems to 



present itself; namely; what steps did the government of Spain; 



civil and ecclesiastical; which has so often trumpeted its zeal in 



the cause of what it calls the Christian religion; which has so 



often been the scourge of the Jew; of the Mahometan; and of the 



professors of the reformed faith; what steps did it take towards 



converting; punishing; and rooting out from Spain; a sect of demi…



atheists; who; besides being cheats and robbers; displayed the most 



marked indifference for the forms of the Catholic religion; and 



presumed to eat flesh every day; and to intermarry with their 



relations; without paying the vicegerent of Christ here on earth 



for permission so to do?







The Gitanos have at all times; since their first appearance in 



Spain; been notorious for their contempt of religious observances; 



yet there is no proof that they were subjected to persecution on 



that account。  The men have been punished as robbers and murderers; 



with the gallows and the galleys; the women; as thieves and 



sorceresses; with imprisonment; flagellation; and sometimes death; 



but as a rabble; living without fear of God; and; by so doing; 



affording an evil example to the nation at large; few people gave 



themselves much trouble about them; though they may have 



occasionally been designated as such in a royal edict; intended to 



check their robberies; or by some priest from the pulpit; from 



whose stable they had perhaps contrived to extract the mule which 



previously had the honour of ambling beneath his portly person。







The Inquisition; which burnt so many Jews and Moors; and 



conscientious Christians; at Seville and Madrid; and in other parts 



of Spain; seems to have exhibited the greatest clemency and 



forbearance to the Gitanos。  Indeed; we cannot find one instance of 



its having interfered with them。  The charge of restraining the 



excesses of the Gitanos was abandoned entirely to the secular 



authorities; and more particularly to the Santa Hermandad; a kind 



of police instituted for the purpose of clearing the roads of 



robbers。  Whilst I resided at Cordova; I was acquainted with an 



aged ecclesiastic; who was priest of a village called Puente; at 



about two leagues' distance from the city。  He was detained in 



Cordova on account of his political opinions; though he was 



otherwise at liberty。  We lived together at the same house; and he 



frequently visited me in my apartment。







This person; who was upwards of eighty years of age; had formerly 



been inquisitor at Cordova。  One night; whilst we were seated 



together; three Gitanos entered to pay me a visit; and on observing 



the old ecclesiastic; exhibited every mark of dissatisfaction; and 



speaking in their own idiom; called him a BALICHOW; and abused 



priests in general in most unmeasured terms。  On their departing; I 



inquired of the old man whether he; who having been an inquisitor; 



was doubtless versed in the annals of the holy office; could inform 



me whether the Inquisition had ever taken any active measures for 



the suppression and punishment of the sect of the Gitanos:  



whereupon he replied; 'that he was not aware of one case of a 



Gitano having been tried or punished by the Inquisition'; adding 



these remarkable words:  'The Inquisition always looked upon them 



with too much contempt to give itself the slightest trouble 



concerning them; for as no danger either to the state; or the 



church of Rome; could proceed from the Gitanos; it was a matter of 



perfect indifference to the holy office whether they lived without 



religion or not。  The holy office has always reserved its anger for 



people very different; the Gitanos having at all times been GENTE 



BARATA Y DESPRECIABLE。







Indeed; most of the persecutions which have arisen in Spain against 



Jews; Moors; and Protestants; sprang from motives with which 



fanaticism and bigotry; of which it is true the Spaniards have 



their full share; had very little connection。  Religion was assumed 



as a mask to conceal the vilest and most detestable motives which 



ever yet led to the commission of crying injustice; the Jews were 



doomed to persecution and destruction on two accounts; … their 



great riches; and their high superiority over the Spaniards in 



learning and intellect。  Avarice has always been the dominant 



passion in Spanish minds; their rage for money being only to be 



compared to the wild hunger of wolves for horse…flesh in the time 



of winter:  next to avarice; envy of superior talent and 



accomplishment is the prevailing passion。  These two detestable 



feelings united; proved the ruin of the Jews in Spain; who were; 



for a long time; an eyesore; both to the clergy and laity; for 



their great riches and learning。  Much the same causes insured the 



expulsion of the Moriscos; who were abhorred for their superior 



industry; which the Spaniards would not imitate; whilst the 



reformation was kept down by the gaunt arm of the Inquisition; lest 



the property of the church should pass into other and more 



deserving hands。  The faggot piles in the squares of Seville and 



Madrid; which consumed the bodies of the Hebrew; the Morisco; and 



the Protestant; were lighted by avarice and envy; and those same 



piles would likewise have consumed the mulatto carcass of the 



Gitano; had he been learned and wealthy enough to become obnoxious 



to the two master passions of the Spaniards。







Of all the Spanish writers who have written concerning the Gitanos; 



the one who appears to have been most scandalised at the want of 



religion observable amongst them; and their contempt for things 



sacred; was a certain Doctor Sancho De Moncada。







This worthy; whom we have already had occasion to mention; was 



Professor of Theology at the University of Toledo; and shortly 



after the expulsion of the Moriscos had been brought about by the 



intrigues of the monks and robbers who thronged the court of Philip 



the Third; he endeavoured to get up a cry against the Gitanos 



similar to that with which for the last half…century Spain had 



resounded against the unfortunate and oppressed Africans; and to 



effect this he published a discourse; entitled 'The Expulsion of 



the Gitanos;' addressed to Philip the Third; in which he conjures 



that monarch; for the sake of morality and everything sacred; to 



complete the good work he had commenced; and to send the Gitanos 



packing after the Moriscos。







Whether this discourse produced any benefit to the author; we have 



no means 

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