Pablo De Segovia

Towards the evening, before it was dark, we left the inn, to go to the / house that had been hired for us, which was without the Santiago Gate, / in a court full of scholars; but in our house there were only three / families of us. The owner, or landlord of it was one of those who / believe in God out of complaisance or only in outward show, such as they / vulgarly called Moriscos; for there are abundance of this sort of / people, and of those that have great noses and cannot endure the smell / of bacon. Yet I do not by this mean to reflect upon the people of / quality, which are there very numerous and unspotted in blood. The / landlord received me with a worse countenance than if I had been an / Inquisitor come to ask him for his billet of faith; I know not whether / he did it to make us respect him the more, or whether it was the nature / of the beast, for it is no wonder they should be ill natured who are of / such bad principles. We brought in our goods, made the beds, and rested / that night. When it was day, all the scholars in the house came in their / shirts to demand entrance money of my master. He being an utter stranger / to that affair, asked me, "What it was they would be at? " whilst I at / the same time, for fear of what might happen, thrust myself between two / quilts, with only half my head out, like a tortoise. They demanded a / couple of crowns, which were given them; and they set up a hellish cry, / singing, "Long live our companion, and let him be admitted into our / friendship; let him enjoy all the privileges of a freeman, and be / allowed to have the itch, to be greasy, and as hungry as we are. " This / said, they all tumbled down the stairs, we dressed ourselves, and set / out for the schools. My master was conducted by some collegians, his / father's friends, and so took his place in the school; but I, being to / go to another place, went all alone, and began to quake for fear.

I had scarce set my foot into the great court, before they all faced me, and / began to cry, "A new fellow! " The better to colour the matter, I fell / a-laughing, as if I had not regarded it; but it availed me not, for / eight or nine of them standing about me began to grin and laugh out. I / blushed; would to God I had not, for immediately one that was next me / clapped his hand to his nose, and stepping aside, said, "This Lazarus is / for rising from the dead, he stinks so. " Then they all stood off, / stopping their noses. I thinking to escape that way, held my nose too, / and said, "You are in the right, gentlemen, here is a great stink. " They / all burst out a-laughing, and getting farther off, gathered about a / hundred strong. They began to hawk, and give the alarm with their / throats, and by their coughing, and opening and shutting of their / mouths, I perceived what they were preparing for me.[10] By this time I / was daubed all over from head to foot; but a sly dog observing that I / was covered, and had nothing on my face, came running towards me, crying / out, as if he had been in a passion, "Enough; do not murder him. " After / all this they would have necked me as they do rabbits to kill them; but / there was no touching me, without carrying off some part of their / loathsome bounty, which hung all about my wretched cloak, then turned / grey with filth, though it came in black. They left me, looking all / over like an old man's spitting-sheet. I went home, though I scarce knew / the way; and it was good luck that this happened in the morning, for I / met but two or three boys, who, I believe, were good-natured, for they / only threw half a dozen dirty clouts at me, and went their ways.