Читать книгу The Story of a Peninsular Veteran. Sergeant in the Forty-Third Light Infantry, during the Peninsular War онлайн

38 страница из 63

Our voyage was remarkably pleasant, and we landed at the desired haven without danger or loss. The harbour of Corunna is spacious and safe, and the town is defended by batteries and guns mounted at all points. The citadel is also strongly fortified, but both are commanded by heights within a short distance. Within the houses of the inhabitants there is little to suit the taste of an Englishman. The weather when I was there, though cold and chilly, seldom produced the sociable sight of a cheerful fire within doors; indeed, I never observed so much as a hearth or stove in which to kindle one. The superstitious contrarieties and absurdities of papacy have here an unmolested reign. While holidays were observed with punctilious scruples, for which no sound reason could be urged, the Sabbath, though guarded by Scriptural injunction, was violated with impunity. The churches are well built, but the altar-pieces are disfigured by a profusion of tinsel and ornament. The Virgin Mary is frequently exhibited in a figure some three feet high, dressed in laced clothing; the saints also keep her company, some being placed in niches of the building, and others enclosed in cases of glass, with care proportioned, perhaps, to the merit assigned to each by their capricious and fanciful worshippers.