Pacheco

“ Pacheco appreciated the talent and outlook of these young men, he protected it as much as he could, and above all cultivated those qualities which seemed to him the most striking. Velázquez said to him: “I hold to the principle that nature ought to be the chief master and swear neither to draw nor to paint anything which is not before me”; and Pacheco, encouraged by the tendency towards a frankly naturalistic style which his disciple showed, and observing the qualities which he evinced, made Velázquez his son-in-law before he had arrived at the age of nineteen. ”

“ He walked rapidly toward Las Tendillas, where he found great excitement, and heard all sorts of comments and gossip. He asked a man where Pacheco was.
“He’s near the Plaza de la Trinidad now.”
Quentin ran on, opening a path through the crowd with his elbows.
“The man is an idiot,” he thought. “Could he have imagined that he was really going to head the Revolution?”
After a hard struggle, Quentin could see two horsemen riding at the head of the rabble. One of them was Pacheco; the other was his brother.
“Long live Liberty! Long live the Revolution!” shouted the bandit, waving his arm. ”

“ Pacheco stuck a knife into the fellow, with bad results, and left him cold.... A man’s affair!” added Quentin resignedly.
“Then one of those sergeants of the guardia civil who like to stick their noses into everything, insisted upon hunting Pacheco. He gave chase to him and caught up to him; but Pacheco, seeing that the game was about up, and remembering the words of Quevedo: that it is better to be ahead by a blow in the face than by all Castile, discharged his fowling-piece at the guard. ”

“ You stay with me, Quentin, for I want to talk to you.”
Again Pacheco climbed to the box, clucked to the horses, and the carriage went on its way. It was beginning to clear up; here and there a patch of star-sprinkled sky appeared between the great, black clouds.
“He seems like a fine fellow,” said the Countess, who was now completely at her ease, when she and Quentin were alone.
“Do not deceive yourself; there are only two places where true gentlemen can be found: in the mountains, or in prison.” ”

“ They applied the torture, but neither word nor groan was extracted from him. Engrossed with the prisoner, for it was his task to write down whatever disjointed words might escape his lips, Pacheco neither noticed not even remembered the presence of the young Moor. No unusual paleness could be visible on his embrowned cheek, but his whole frame felt to himself to have become rigid as stone; a deadly sickness had crept over him, and the terrible conviction of all which rested with him to do alone prevented his sinking senseless on the earth. ”

“ After defeating the Calicut troops on land Pacheco took the personal command of his squadron at sea, and defeated the Calicut fleet of fifty-two ships. The news of these battles spread abroad through India. Many Rájás in the interior sent envoys to the Portuguese commander, and the Zamorin himself earnestly sued for peace. The prestige of the Portuguese was assured by Pacheco's victories, and from this time forth for nearly a century the inhabitants of Southern India recognised that the Portuguese were stronger than themselves, and were eager to trade with them or to make alliances. ”

“ I warn you, Pacheco is here.”
When she heard this, the woman opened the door and threw herself into the arms of the bandit. She had her hair crimped, covered with little bow knots, and was wearing a white wrapper.
Quentin took the basket.
“Well,” he said, “I’ll leave you two alone if you wish.”
“No!” exclaimed Pacheco in terror; then turning to the woman, he added: “This gentleman and I have some important matters to discuss. We are gambling with life.”
“First we’ll eat a little,” said Quentin. “That’s an idea for you.” ”

“ But the brave marquess stood almost alone, save his faithful chamberlain, Solier. Several of his knights were dismounted, and swarms of Moors, with lifted knives, gathered round them as they lay, searching for the joints of the armour, which might admit a mortal wound. Gradually, one by one, many of Villena's comrades joined their leader, and now the green mantle of Don Alonzo de Pacheco was seen waving without the copse, and Villena congratulated himself on the safety of his brother. Just at that moment, a Moorish cavalier spurred from his troop, and met Pacheco in full career. ”

“ Pacheco, thus outraged, submitted to his fate. He mounted the ladder with a steady step, and was hanged between two other Spanish officers. So perished miserably a brave soldier, and one of the most distinguished engineers of his time; a man whose character and accomplishments had certainly merited for him a better fate. ”

“ Just at that moment, a Moorish cavalier spurred from his troop, and met Pacheco in full career. The Moor was not clad, as was the common custom of the Paynim nobles, in the heavy Christian armour. He wore the light flexile mail of the ancient heroes of Araby or Fez. His turban, which was protected by chains of the finest steel interwoven with the folds, was of the most dazzling white—white, also, were his tunic and short mantle; on his left arm hung a short circular shield, in his right hand was poised a long and slender lance. ”

“ Pacheco went [74] on, “nobody in Cordova knows it. Well, if you and the girls would like to drink a bottle of the best Montilla, I’ll treat.”
“Accepted.”
“Cuervo!” shouted Pacheco, stepping outside the door.
The innkeeper appeared; a man of some fifty years, stoop-shouldered, ill-shaven, with hatchet-shaped side whiskers, and a red sash about his waist.
“What does Señor José wish?” he inquired.
“Bring a few bottles of your best.”
While they were waiting for the wine, the ill-tempered girl and Currito resumed their quarrel.
“Look out for that girl,” said Currito, “she hasn’t much sense.” ”

“ As for wit, replied Don Felix, she certainly is not wanting, for she has taken great pains to cultivate her mind; but her beauty is by no means to be boasted of—indeed we are thought to be very much alike. If that is the case, exclaimed Pacheco, she cannot be behindhand with her reputation. Your features are regular, your complexion almost too fine for a man: your cousin must be an absolute enchantress. I should like to see and converse with her. That you shall, if I have any interest in the family, and this very day, too, replied the little Proteus of a Mendoza. ”

“ Then when we come to more tangible things, we find to-day El Greco’s models in the dark peasants of Toledo. Nowhere else can we quite believe in the reality of those coldly fervent, self-absorbed, ecstatic men, who greet us with such fascination from his canvases, their lean, long profiles suggesting again that aspect of a sword.
Then, El Greco’s colour was drawn from the landscape around him. And colour, if we may credit the truth of the conversation recounted by Pacheco, was to him the one quality in painting, form, drawing, all else, being of secondary significance. ”

“ Pacheco, in particular, was at a loss for language forcible enough to convey his sentiments in all their acrimony; away went exordium after exordium, to the tearing and maiming of five or six fair sheets, before the words looked crooked enough to please his jealous eyes. At length, however, he produced an epistle which came up with his most tragical conceptions. It ran thus: "Self-knowledge is a leading branch of wisdom, my little philosopher. As a candidate for a professor's chair, lay aside the vanity of fancying yourself amiable. ”

“ In Pacheco’s school Velazquez remained for five years, studying proportion and perspective, and seeing all that was best in the literary and artistic circles of Seville. Here also he fell in love with his master’s daughter Juana, whom he married in 1618 with the hearty approval of Pacheco, who praises his hand and heart, claiming at the same time all the credit of having been his master. The young painter set himself to copy the commonest things about him— earthenware jars of the country people, birds, fish> fruit and flowers of the market-place. ”

“ Both infantry and horse marched forward boldly at parade step; and the Americans could but admire the showy uniforms, the arms which gleamed like silver, the belts white with pipeclay, and the freshly polished brasses. Pacheco soon became engaged with the Second Indiana, which—perhaps half a mile from any support except O’Brien’s three guns on its right—was the corps nearest Marshall and farthest forward on the plateau ”

“ Pacheco, indeed, regarded Luis de Leon as something of a universal genius: an expert in mathematics, in jurisprudence, in medicine—and, though self-taught as a painter—an artist of considerable skill. ”

“ He accordingly set friendly Nairs in palm-trees, and as soon as the first army started they gave the fire signal. The King of Calicut hurried forward, but in the darkness either army mistook the other for an ambush of natives from Cochin, [Pg 95] and a long, fierce battle followed between them, while Pacheco listened to the uproar but awaited the enemy in vain. At dawn the two hostile armies found out their mistake and retired in horror and dismay, while Pacheco, like some great gloating demon, appeared in the increasing light to add to their confusion with his artillery. ”

“ Currito peevishly fell silent, and Pacheco presented Quentin to the bushy-haired man.
“This gentleman,” and he indicated Quentin, “is a brave chap whom I have had the pleasure of meeting this evening by mistake. This man,” and he nodded to the old man with the long beard, “is Don Gil Sabadía, the only person in Cordova who knows the history of every street, alley, and by-way in the city.” ”

“ He returned to a sullen audience, save where the Americans cheered him from their side of the corral.
"He is a devil—that blue-eyed one!" the natives were saying grudgingly to one another; but they were stubborn and would not cheer. "Saw you ever a riata thrown as he threw it? Not José Pacheco himself ever did so impossible a thing; truly the devil is in that gringo." So they muttered amongst themselves when he came back to the corral and slipped, laughing, from Solano's sweat-roughened back.
"You can have your Surry!" he cried boastfully to Dade, who was the first to reach him. ”

“ Pacheco took a lantern, opened the kitchen door, traversed a patio, then another, and mounting a staircase, came to a hole; it was the strawloft.
“Stretch out,” said Pacheco; “tomorrow, day will break, and the one-eyed man will see his asparagus. Good night! [302] ”
Quentin removed his boots, and in a little while was fast asleep.
In the morning a loud voice awoke him.
“Muleteers! Day’s dawning!”
Quentin sat up; the sun was pouring through the cracks in the loft; cocks were crowing. Pacheco had gone. Don Paco, seated on the straw, with a coloured handkerchief on his head, was groaning. ”

“ I shall do all in my power to keep them from apprehending him.”
“Do you hear what the Count of Doña Mencia says?” Don Paco asked Quentin.
“Yes, but it is not enough,” replied Quentin, who felt profoundly irritated upon hearing that name. “I went to see Pacheco because Don Paco told me that he could be useful to you in organizing the people. [304] Whether or not my friend has power, I do not know; what I do know is this, that Pacheco, in order to come to Cordova, makes the condition that you gentlemen must give your word that he will not be arrested, and that they will play no tricks on him. ”

“ From Herrera’s studio Velazquez betook himself to a very different master, the learned and pedantic Pacheco, the author of a heavy book on painting, and, as we see by his ; works at Madrid, a dull, commonplace painter, though at times he could rise to a rare freedom of handling and to a simple, direct realism that is in direct contradiction to the cult of Raphael preached by him in his writing. A portrait by Pacheco, owned by Sir Frederick Cook, which shows this master’s full power, was exhibited at Burlington House in 1907. ”

“ Quentin put away a few bills, and they rejoined the group.
The conversation again turned upon revolutionary ideas, about which Pacheco and Bocanegra were most enthusiastic. The bandit spoke very devotedly of General Prim.
“I don’t think there is a man like him in the world, and you needn’t laugh, comrade,” said Pacheco to Quentin, “you are not as patriotic as I am.”
“Every person admires his own likeness,” replied Quentin coldly. ”

“ But merit always has enemies: Pacheco was accused and brought to Lisbon in irons, where he remained for a considerable time chained in a dungeon. He was at length tried, and after a full investigation of the charges made against him, was honourably acquitted. His services to his country were soon forgotten, his merits were no longer thought of, and the unfortunate Pacheco ended his days in an alms-house—a circumstance referred to in the Lusiad, bk. x. p. 305.{lxxxvii}
CONTENTS.
{1}
THE LUSIAD. [62] BOOK I. ARGUMENT.
Statement of the subject. ”

“ A little later Nita Pacheco was borne into the village and given over to the skilful ministrations of the women belonging to King Philip's household. Under their kindly care the strength of the fugitive was so restored that within an hour after her arrival she was able to relate her sad story to the aged chief, who bent over her and listened to her words with breathless attention. ”

“ Why, it was the time you went to Seville!”
“Very well, I was not there. Blas told me, and there’s an end to it.”
“But of what importance is all this?” asked Quentin.
“Let them be,” interrupted the ill-tempered girl; “they’re two disagreeable old uncles!”
“Don Gil,” said Pacheco, smiling and winking his eye, “permits no one to be informed of anything he does not know about himself.”
“Well, what will you bet,” Currito presently broke out, “that you don’t know what El Golotino said when he had the lawsuit with El Manano?”
“Let’s hear, let’s hear. This is most important,” remarked Pacheco. ”