Espinosa

“ The friar used these letters to obtain deluded partisans for the sham king, and so many did he thus gather in Portugal as well as Castille, and so much did the farce grow, that Espinosa was at last arrested in Valladolid on suspicion and tried with the monk and Doña Ana. Espinosa was condemned to be dragged from prison, put in a basket and hanged in the square of Madrigal, quartered, and put on the highway and his head placed in an iron cage. Fr. Miguel de los Santos, after being degraded, was given over to the secular law and was hanged in the square of Madrigal on the 19th of October, 1595. ”

“ The troth I plighted to you I shall keep in life and in death, for death itself could not tear it from my soul, and this immortal soul will harbour it through eternity...”
Thus and much more in the same manner wrote the niece of King Philip of Spain to Gabriel Espinosa, the pastry-cook, in his Valladolid retreat. How he filled his days we do not know, beyond the fact that he moved freely abroad. For it was in the streets of that town that meddlesome Fate brought him face to face one day with Gregorio Gonzales, under whom Espinosa had been a scullion once in the service of the Count of Nyeba. ”

“ But Herrera is not the only lyrical poet of the period who does not appear in Espinosa’s collection. Rey de Artieda, whose sonnets are among the best in the language,—Manoel de Portugal, whose numerous religious poems are often in the national forms,—and Carrillo, a soldier of promise, who died young, and who wrote sometimes with a simplicity and freshness that never fail to be attractive,—are all omitted; though their works, published at just about the same time with the collection of Espinosa, had been known in manuscript long before, as much as those of Luis de Leon and Góngora. ”

“ The colour of his hair and beard could be corrected; and he might be made to play the part of the Hidden Prince for whose return Portugal was waiting so passionately and confidently. There had been other impostors aforetime, but they had lacked the endowments of Espinosa, and their origins could be traced without difficulty. In addition to these natural endowments, Espinosa should be avouched by Frey Miguel than whom nobody in the world was better qualified in such a matter—and by the niece of King Philip, to whom he would be married when he raised his standard. ”

“ When the irons were brought, every one present shrank at the task of putting them on the limbs of the venerable and illustrious prisoners, either from a sentiment of compassion at so great a reverse of fortune, or out of habitual reverence for his person. A wretched cook named Espinosa was the only person found to rivet the fetters. The great navigator conducted himself with the magnanimity which might have been expected. The injustice and ingratitude of the sovereigns alone wounded his spirit, and he bore all his present misfortunes in silence. ”

“ In that strong light Don Rodrigo saw that the prisoner’s hair and beard had turned grey at the roots, and so received the last proof that he had to do with the basest of impostures. The fellow had been using dyes, the supply of which had been cut short by his imprisonment. Don Rodrigo departed well-satisfied with the results of that surprise visit.
Thereafter Espinosa immediately shaved himself. But it was too late, and even so, before many weeks were past his hair had faded to its natural grey, and he presented the appearance of what in fact he was—a man of sixty, or thereabouts. ”

“ Fortune had favored him in many ways of late, and the rewards of his rascalities were truly gratifying. Not to mention the deaths of Vasco Nuñez and Lope de Sosa, the successes of Espinosa and other gold-hunting captains, or the discomfiture of Gil Gonzalez, it was a fine stroke of policy making the licenciado Alarconcillo his lieutenant at Antigua; for the fraudulent residencias taken by him, under the artful management of the governor's wife in Spain, did Pedrarias and Espinosa good service at court. ”

“ To convince them he displayed a gold watch—most rare possession—set with diamonds, a ring of price, and other costly jewels. The couple stared now with dazzled eyes.
“But didn’t you tell me when we were in Madrid together that you had been a pastry-cook at Ocana?” burst from Gregorio.
Espinosa smiled. “How many kings and princes have been compelled to conceal themselves under disguises?” he asked oracularly. And seeing them stricken, he must play upon them further. Nothing, it seems, was sacred to him—not even the portrait of that lovely, desolate royal lady in her convent at Madrigal. ”

“ Señor Espinosa was silent, his crafty, bead-like eyes regarding closely the angry, excited face of the judge-advocate.
“Captain Gordon went on a wild-goose chase, and when he returned he found the insurgents had been in San Juan in his absence. Ten soldiers, American men, were caught, trapped, and butchered. The natives who brought me the information were vouched for by you and now you’ve got to prove to me that you’re not a sneaking traitor!” ”

“ The Moriscos appealed to Philip, but, when he referred the memorial to Espinosa, the latter replied that no suspension could be considered; religious men had charged the king’s conscience, telling him that he was responsible for the souls of the apostates. In the Council of State, the Duke of Alva and the Commendador of Alcántara were in favor of suspension, and the Council suggested the gradual enforcement of one article a year, but Espinosa and Deza had more influence than soldiers and statesmen—it was a religious question with which the latter had nothing to do. ”

“ We do not readily part from an old friend whom we rediscover in an unsuspected state of affluence. Espinosa must home with Gregorio. Gregorio’s wife would be charmed to renew his acquaintance, and to hear from his own lips of his improved and prosperous state. Gregorio would take no refusal, and in the end Espinosa, yielding to his insistence, went with him to the sordid quarter where Gregorio had his dwelling. ”

“ Instantly the country was alive with savages; Albites found himself surrounded by four thousand of the enemy, wholly cut off from the main body. The Spaniards fought desperately for six hours, and would have been destroyed had not Espinosa appeared and let loose upon the assailants the bloodhounds and the horsemen. Twenty caciques and a host of warriors were slain, and many of the Spaniards were badly wounded. "That night we slept upon the battle-field," says Espinosa, "and next day I threw up a protection of palisades and sent out in search of the cacique Paris." ”

“ Espinosa had been a soldier, and had seen the world. During the war between Spain and Portugal he had served in the armies of King Philip, had befriended Frey Miguel when the friar’s convent was on the point of being invaded by soldiery, and had rescued him from the peril of it. Thus they had become acquainted, and Frey Miguel had had an instance of the man’s resource and courage. Further, he was of the height of Don Sebastian and of the build to which the king might have grown in the years that were sped, and he presented other superficial resemblances to the late king. ”

“ Oh!” Once more the colour suffused her cheeks, and her eyes glowed, her expression became radiant. “Where is he?”
“Here. Here in Madrigal.”
“In Madrigal?” She was all amazement. “But why in Madrigal?”
“He was in Valladolid, and there heard that I—his sometime preacher and counsellor—was Vicar here at Santa Maria la Real. He came to seek me. He comes disguised, under the false name of Gabriel de Espinosa, and setting up as a pastry-cook until his term of penance shall be completed, and he shall be free to disclose himself once more to his impatiently awaiting people.” ”

“ Espinosa, after listening to the memorial, expressed his surprise that a person of the high condition of Don Juan Henriquez should have consented to take charge of such a mission. "It was for that very reason I undertook it," replied the nobleman, "as affording me a better opportunity to be of service to the king." "It can be of no use," said the minister; "religious men have represented to his majesty that at his door lies the salvation of these Moors; and the ordinance which has been decreed, he has determined shall be carried into effect." ”

“ Don Henry commissioned Francis Pereira, the Portuguese ambassador at Madrid, to terminate this dispute with Cardinal Espinosa. While this affair was being negotiated, several Spaniards who had been condemned by the tribunal of Llerena to be burnt in effigy as contumacious, were arrested in Portugal by the inquisitors of Evora, who immediately demanded the writings of the trial according to the convention of 1544. The tribunal of Llerena replied that it was impossible not to follow the example of Cardinal Espinosa. ”

“ Neither so bold as Vasco Nuñez, nor so cunning as Pedrarias, nor so cruel as Pizarro, nor so learned as Espinosa, he was a man of deeper and broader experience than any one of them, with a more evenly balanced mind, a cooler, sounder judgment, not always a warrant for greater success than with a more senseless recklessness, but on the whole much safer as a colleague, and more reliable as a friend. He was not a man easily diverted by hollow schemes, however brilliant or high-soaring ”

“ Phil said thoughtfully, “but in war it seems to me that one can’t stop to consider the feelings of innocent people where the success of the cause is concerned. Espinosa has twice as many troops as the general, and they are fighting on their home soil. They know every footpath. Some are not armed with a rifle but are far more dangerous to us with their bolos and fanatical bravery. We did not see his stronghold, I am glad to say,” he smiled grimly at the words, “but we know that one thousand men held it successfully against five times that number of Spaniards a generation ago. ”

“ Inaccessible to influence, his patronage has uniformly been extended to men of undoubted merit. A manuscript Essay on Political Economy, written by a friendless young man and presented to Espinosa, was enough to obtain the author a valuable appointment. A decided enemy to the custom of receiving presents, so prevalent in Spain, as to have become a matter of course in every suit, either for justice or favour ”

“ For the old man is not slow to perceive, on arriving at Antigua and learning of the wonderful discovery, that he is now and must be in reality second in these parts where so lately he was appointed first. Dropping the mask, he institutes charges, and orders Vasco Nuñez to stand trial for his life.
As alcalde mayor, the investigation must be brought before the licentiate Espinosa, and he, in conformity with royal instructions, had to be associated with the bishop Quevedo. Though inexperienced, Espinosa is honest. As for the prelate—does not the accused pray devoutly, and pay liberally? ”

“ Antonio (Bib. Nov., Tom. II. p. 190) says Espinosa was attached to the great Andalusian family of the Dukes of Medina-Sidonia, the Guzmans, and of the three or four works he produced, two are in honor of his patrons, and one was published by himself as late as 1644. Much of the poetry in the “Flores” is Andalusian,—a circumstance that renders the omission of Herrera the more striking; some of it is to be found nowhere else; and, unhappily, the book itself is among the rarest in Spanish poetry. ”

“ He found, however, a passionate admirer in Góngora, who perceived in such work as Carrillo's Sonnet to the Patience of his Jealous Hope the possibilities of a revolution. When Carrillo writes of "the proud sea bathing the blind forehead of the deaf sky," he is merely setting down a tasteless conceit, which gains nothing by a forced inversion of phrase; but, as it happened, conceit of this sort was a novelty in Spain, and Góngora, who had already shown a tendency to preciosity in Espinosa's collection, resolved to develop Carrillo's innovation. ”

“ Was the liberation of a kingdom, the deliverance of a nation from servitude, the happiness of a whole people, to weigh in the balance against the fates of a natural daughter of Don John of Austria and a soldier of fortune turned pastry-cook? Frey Miguel thought not, and his plot might well have succeeded but for the base strain in Espinosa and the man’s overweening vanity, which had urged him to dazzle the Gonzales at Valladolid. That vanity sustained him to the end, which he suffered in October of 1595, a full year after his arrest. ”

“ The Spaniard was one of those on foot, and was named Espinosa. In this way his grace spent seventy seven days on the road before reaching here, during which God knows in what sort of a way we lived, and whether we could have eaten much more than we ate the day that his grace reached this city of Granada, for so it has been named out of regard for the viceroy, and because they say it resembles the Albaicin. [38] The force he led was not received the way it should have been, because they all arrived very tired from the great labor of the journey. ”

“ Made captain-general of the South Sea, not long after the catastrophe at Acla, Espinosa was unable at once to take command in person of the force at Isla Rica. Though the licentiate was of a mild, obedient disposition, it was not without misgivings that Pedrarias permitted him to assume so important a trust, the most dangerous for purposes of revolt of any within the government of Castilla del Oro; for instruments 465 employed in the accomplishment of base purposes are not apt to inspire the greatest confidence. ”

“ It was not until January 3, 1570, that Espinosa notified Doctor Moya de Contreras, then Inquisitor of Murcia, that he had been selected as senior{201} inquisitor of the projected tribunal; he was to enjoy a salary of three thousand pesos and the fruits of a prebend in the cathedral; he was to have a colleague, a fiscal and a notary or secretary, while such other officials as might be necessary would be appointed on the spot, in accordance with instructions to be given to him. ”