"To the house of the cleverest man in Spain," he replied, "to whom I intend to introduce you; for you must not think that Pontevedra has nothing to boast of but its splendid edifices and its beautiful country; it produces more illustrious minds than any other town in Spain.Did you ever hear of the grand Tamerlane?""Oh, yes," said I, "but he did not come from Pontevedra or its neighbourhood: he came from the steppes of Tartary, near the river Oxus.""I know he did," replied the notary, "but what I mean to say is, that when Enrique the Third wanted an ambassador to send to that African, the only man he could find suited to the enterprise was a knight of Pontevedra, Don - by name.Let the men of Vigo contradict that fact if they can."We entered a large portal and ascended a splendid staircase, at the top of which the notary knocked at a small door: "Who is the gentleman to whom you are about to introduce me?" demanded I.
"It is the advocate -," replied Garcia; "he is the cleverest man in Spain, and understands all languages and sciences."We were admitted by a respectable-looking female, to all appearance a housekeeper, who, on being questioned, informed us that the Advocate was at home, and forthwith conducted us to an immense room, or rather library, the walls being covered with books, except in two or three places, where hung some fine pictures of the ancient Spanish school.There was a rich mellow light in the apartment, streaming through a window of stained glass, which looked to the west.Behind the table sat the Advocate, on whom I looked with no little interest: his forehead was high and wrinkled, and there was much gravity on his features, which were quite Spanish.He was dressed in a long robe, and might be about sixty; he sat reading behind a large table, and on our entrance half raised himself and bowed slightly.
The notary public saluted him most profoundly, and, in an under voice, hoped that he might be permitted to introduce a friend of his, an English gentleman, who was travelling through Galicia.
"I am very glad to see him," said the Advocate, "but Ihope he speaks Castilian, else we can have but little communication; for, although I can read both French and Latin, I cannot speak them.""He speaks, sir, almost as good Spanish," said the notary, "as a native of Pontevedra.""The natives of Pontevedra," I replied, "appear to be better versed in Gallegan than in Castilian, for the greater part of the conversation which I hear in the streets is carried on in the former dialect.""The last gentleman which my friend Garcia introduced to me," said the Advocate, "was a Portuguese, who spoke little or no Spanish.It is said that the Gallegan and Portuguese are very similar, but when we attempted to converse in the two languages, we found it impossible.I understood little of what he said, whilst my Gallegan was quite unintelligible to him.
Can you understand our country dialect?" he continued.
"Very little of it," I replied; "which I believe chiefly proceeds from the peculiar accent and uncouth enunciation of the Gallegans, for their language is certainly almost entirely composed of Spanish and Portuguese words.""So you are an Englishman," said the Advocate."Your countrymen have committed much damage in times past in these regions, if we may trust our histories.""Yes," said I, "they sank your galleons and burnt your finest men-of-war in Vigo Bay, and, under old Cobham, levied a contribution of forty thousand pounds sterling on this very town of Pontevedra.""Any foreign power," interrupted the notary public, "has a clear right to attack Vigo, but I cannot conceive what plea your countrymen could urge for distressing Pontevedra, which is a respectable town, and could never have offended them.""Senor Cavalier," said the Advocate, "I will show you my library.Here is a curious work, a collection of poems, written mostly in Gallegan, by the curate of Fruime.He is our national poet, and we are very proud of him."We stopped upwards of an hour with the Advocate, whose conversation, if it did not convince me that he was the cleverest man in Spain, was, upon the whole, highly interesting, and who certainly possessed an extensive store of general information, though he was by no means the profound philologist which the notary had represented him to be.
When I was about to depart from Pontevedra in the afternoon of the next day, the Senor Garcia stood by the side of my horse, and having embraced me, thrust a small pamphlet into my hand: "This book," said he, "contains a description of Pontevedra.Wherever you go, speak well of Pontevedra." Inodded."Stay," said he, "my dear friend, I have heard of your society, and will do my best to further its views.I am quite disinterested, but if at any future time you should have an opportunity of speaking in print of Senor Garcia, the notary public of Pontevedra, - you understand me, - I wish you would do so.""I will," said I.
