The Shadow of the Cathedral

test allusion to the reigning prelate. It was a traditional custom in the

e was nothing to fear from a dead prelate, and besides, it was an indirect praise to the living archbishop and his favourites to speak ill of the defunct. But if during the conversation the

l judgment of the Egyptians. In the Primacy no one dared to speak the truth about

another between versicle and antiphon like mad dogs ready to fly at one another, or to speak with wonder about a certain polemic discussed by the Doctoral and the Obrero in the

ent. In the evenings they would meet in the dwelling of the bell-ringer, or when it was fine weather they would go out into the gallery above the Puerta del Perdon. In the mornings the assembly would be in the hou

his poverty; his sad, placid wife with her big yellow eyes appeared every year with a new baby tugging at her flabby breast, and several children crept along the cloister walls, dull and inert with hunger, with enormous heads and thin necks, always sickly, though none of them managed to die; afflicted by all the pains of anaemia, by boils that arose and vanished on their faces, and watery eruptions covering their hands. The shoemaker worked for the shops in the town

lower servants of the Primacy. The object of the assembly was to listen to Gabriel. The revolutionary wished to keep silence, and listened absently to their grumblings at the daily round of worship; but his friends longed to hear about those coun

ust be far more beautiful than Madrid; and just think how beautiful Madrid was! Even the shoemaker's wife, standing in the corner forgetful of her sickly children, would listen to

ouched them much more nearly than the beauties of heaven as described in the sermons, and in the pungent and dusty atmosphere of the dirty little house they would see unrolled before their mind'

maker was working alone, Gabriel, tired of the monotonou

s long as an ancient alguacil's, stood as sentry in the crossways, to

ce of former centuries failed to impress the few people who came to vespers and gossiped behind one of the pillars with some of the church servants. The evening light, filtering through the st

admit some late-coming priest, echoed like explosions throughout the building, and above the choir the organ joined in at times between

belonging to the Secretary of the Chapter, whose fixed seat was at the door of the Chapter-house. Luna was always very much diverted by the pranks of the Tato, and the confidence an

na, "you shall see how

to, cutting off his retreat, drove him into the nave, and, pretending to pursue him, drove him from chapel to chapel, finally rounding him up where he could give him some good sound whacks. The dismal h

, "you, who think you know the Cathedral so we

companying the words showed that the th

elves. Come along, uncle, it will amuse you for a little; you, like all those who think th

erves as a back to the Mount Tabor, the work of Berruguete, opens the little chapel of the Virgin of the Star. "Look well at that image,

iful and sensual figure, with its worldly smile, its rounded outlines, and its ey

ful woman, as though he intended to tear the covering from her breast. The image of pai

ion that they should be entire masters of the chapel, and do in it whatever they pleased and in all this piece of the Cathedral as far as those nearest pillars. Oh! the trouble this wrought! On the days they held their feasts to the Virgin they never paid any heed to the canons in the choir, and they grea

instrument with three st

tar. He lost his suit, and died from disappointment. He desired to be buried in that place, so that the insolent wool merchants should trample on him in death, even a

things than this. Let

t her! What a face! W

nd hours looking at he

ights I have d

ove the three hollows or chapels that pierce it runs a frieze of ancient relievos, the work of some obscure mediaeval artist. Gabriel r

and they are obliged to dress themselves to appear in the world; and see what they do directly they get their cl

of the Middle Ages, with all the directness with which the artists represented their profane conceptions, with the desire to perp

ted at the surprise

ir heads. And the stained glass, uncle, look at it well. At first so many colours blind one and the forms are indistinct; besides, the lead cuts the figures and it is difficult to make out an

ond nave, through which the evening

epresent at All Saints'. Further on, you see those two in bed, and people knocking at the door. They must be the same pair of birds with the family surprising them. Then in the next window-look

ical ideas with which ancie

mething to see. Let us go there; the servi

one side of Philip of Burgundy, and on the other side of Berruguete, bewildered him with their profusion of marble

alf a century to the upper stalls; but in those fifty years art had made a great stride, from the hard and rigid Gothic to the flowing lines and good taste of the Renaissance. They had been carved by Maestre Rodrigo at the time when Christian Spain, rous

s dividing the stalls which served to rest the head, all covered with animals, grotesque beings, dogs, monkeys, big birds, friars, and little birds, all in difficult postures, some beautiful, some obscene. Hogs and frogs wound themselves up together in inextricable ta

Is not this capital

ttle chubby figure of a preaching

r. He had just emerged from a little door close to the giant, which led by a circular staircase to the

shall hear something out of

the book to the little d

ignette or anything pretty. The se?or canons do not care for music, neither do they understand it, and they are incapable of devoting a few pesetas so that it might be heard on festival days. It is quite enough for them to walk in proc

with melancholy eyes as though he were

rtrait is in the Vatican, and his lamentations, his motets, and his Magnificat rest here, forgotten for centuries. And Victoria? Do you know him? Another of the same period; his jealous contemporaries called him 'Palestrina's monkey' taking all his works to be imitations, in consequence of his long sojourn in Rome; but, believe me, instead of being plagiarisms from the Italian, they are far superior. Here also is Rivera, a Toledan master who no one remembers, but in the archives there is a whole volume of his masses, and Romero de Avila, who more than anyone had studied the Muzarabé chants, and Ramos de Pareja, not the least musician of the fifteenth century, who wrote in Bologna his book 'De Musica Tractatus,' and destroyed the ancient system of Guido de Arezzo, discovering the tonality of sound; and the Monk Urena, who added the note 'si'

ed, lowerin

el, smiling at religious things, I guess by your manner how much you conceal, and I am sure you are right. I was interested to know the history of music in the Church. I have followed step by step the long Calvary of this unhappy art

ad formed his own opinion of Don Luis and told it to everyone in the upper cloister. He was a simpleton who only knew how to play melancholy ditties on his harmoni

at the door of the sacristy, and two women kneeling before the railing of the high altar praying aloud. The early twilight of the winter

ted their new hymns and psalms to the popular songs that were then in vogue in the Roman world, or possibly to Greek music. It seems as though that word 'Greek music' ought to mean a great deal; is it not so, Gabriel? The Greeks were so great in their poetry and in the plastic arts that anything that bears their name would seem to be surrounded by an atmosphere of undying beauty. But it is not so: the march of the arts has not been parallel in human life; when sculpture had its Phidias, and had reached its climax, painting had hardly passed that rudimentary sta

d assenting to the wor

t they placed them on lines of three different colours. The imbroglio continued; to learn music badly took twelve years, and then they could not manage that singers from different towns could read from the same score. Saint Bernard, dry and austere as his times, ridiculed this music as not being solemn enough; he was a man antagonistic to all art; he would have liked to see the churches dismantled and without any architectural adornments; and the slower the music was, the better it seemed to him. He was the father of plain song, and he maintained that the more drawn out the music was, the more religious it became. But in the thirteenth century Christians found this chant most wearisome. The cathedrals in those days were the point of attraction: the theatre, the centre of all life. People went to the church to pray to God and to amuse themselves, forgetting for the moment all the wars and the violence and confusion outside. Once again popular music came into the churches, and you could hear intoned in the cathedrals all the songs most in vogue, and which were often obscene. The people took part in the religious music, singing in different tones, each one as seemed best to him, and these were the first beginnings of concerted singing. In those days religion was joyful, popular-democratic as you would say, Gabriel; there was no Inquisition, nor suspicion of heresy to embitter the soul with fanaticism and fear. All the coarse wind and stringed instruments that the artisans had in the towns, or the labourers in the fields, came into the churches, and the organ was accompanied by violas, violins, bagpipes, flutes, gu

e 1: The

though the name of his idol imposed on him

d its nest in this Primacy. It was preserved here for centuries and purified; all the best was collected in Toledo, and from the books in this Cathedral have gone forth the chorales of all the churches in Spain and America. Poor plain song! it has long been dead. You see for yourself, Gabriel, who comes to the Cathedral at the hour of the choir? No one, absolutely no one. The matins are recited, and all the offices are intoned in the midst of perfect solitude. The people who still believe know nothing of the liturgy; they do not prize it and have forgotten all about it; they are only attracted by the novenas, the triduos and retreats, all that is termed tolerated and extra-liturgic worship. The Jesuits, with their cunning, guessed that they must give their services a theatrical attraction, and for this reason their churches-gilt, carpeted, and decked with flowers like dressing-rooms-are always full, whereas the old cat

re numerous. The two devout women had disappeared; no one remained in the Cathedral save Gabriel and the Chapel-master. From the

ich glow from the stained glass windows; outside, the last rays of the sun w

master, the organist, the tenor, contralto, and the bass form the chapel. We are clergy like the canons, we become beneficiaries by appointment, we have studied religious science as they have, and, moreover, we are musicians; but in spite of this we receive less than half the salary of a canon, and to remind us constantly of our inferior position we have to sit in the lower stalls. We, the only ones in the choir who know anything about music, have to occupy the lowest places. The precentor is by right the chief of the singers, and the precentor is a canon named by Rome without competition, probably not knowing a note of the pentagramma. Oh! the anarchy, friend Gabriel! Oh! the contempt of the Church for music which has always been its slave and never its

ke the musician, made that same religion responsible, but they did not dare to say so aloud. Respect to the Church and to the higher powers, instilled since their childhood, kept the population of the Cathedral silent. The greater part of the servitors of the

ver the monotonous ecclesiastical existence, the complaints of the canons against His Eminence, and what the cardinal said about the Chapter, an underground war which was reproduced at every archiepiscopal elevation, intrigues and heart-burn

heir ears; but these humble servitors kept silence when these murmurs were repeated in their presence, fearing to be reported by thei

y he may have wished to be turned out of "that den" to give himself up to his favourite pursuit, going to the bull-ring without any objections from

e choir time, and the names of all the ladies and nuns who crimped their surplices, and could tell of the fierce and deadly rivalries between these admirers of the Chapter, endeavouring to vanquish ea

himself long anywhere. The other evening he said to a chaplain of the chapel of the kings, 'Those captain professors at the A

they moved. These were the dandies of the Chapter, the young canons, who often made journeys to Madrid to confess their patronesses-ancient marchionesses who, by dint of i

ladies," said the Tato. "Brrrum

nons come out, the Perrero spoke

ds. No one in the palace can manage him; hi

he is so very il

in a bad temper all the palace trembles, and very soon all the diocese. He is a good man, but when the mad dog bites him everyone must fly. I have seen him on pontifical d

aints of the Ch

e. But nothing common, a fine and refreshing drink, only to keep up his strength, nothing more. And the wine is first class, uncle; I know it from one of his household. He gives as much as fifty duros the arroba![1] They keep him the best in all la

-Measure containing

s cynical mockery, still sho

ll the newspapers took as much notice of him as though he were Guerra. His wisdom finds a remedy for everything. If they speak of the poverty and misery in the world, he sings the old song: bread for the poor, charity from the rich, and much Christian doctrine for everyone; that men ought not to quarrel becau

ite excited speakin

o. Well, the youngster paraded up and down the Zocodover in his uniform with the Portuguese lady on his arm to arouse the jealousy of his companions in the Academy. One day the young woman presented herself at the palace, and the servants, seeing her so beautifully dressed, made no difficulty about letting her in, thinking she was some lady from Madrid. His Eminence received her with a paternal smile, and listened to her without winking. A friend of mine, one of the pages who was present, told me about it. She came to complain to the cardinal that his nephew, the cadet, had entertained her for two days with

ed, listening

to propose I know not what reform to the Primate, and they began by saying, 'My lord, the Chapter thinks-.' Don Sebastian, turned into a basilisk, interrupted them, 'The Chapter cannot think anything; the Chapter has not common sense,' and he turned his back, leaving them petrified. Afterwards, he began shouting, and thumping the furniture with his fists, saying he would fill all the vacancies in the Cathedral with the dregs of the clergy, that he would fill the Chapter with drunkards, with impostors, etc. 'I will

canons say abou

really his son by a certain lady when he was bishop in Andalusia. But this does not seem to irritate Don Sebas

o is th

who rules everything, and Don Sebastian, who is so terrible with everyone else, becomes like an angel when he sees her. He rages and screams and bites the days when he is ill, but if Do?a Visita appears,

e?" asked Gabri

on is Don Sebastian's! And the thing is, the object is hardly worth it-a very thin, pale little girl, with large eyes and a soft skin; that is all. They say she sings, and plays the piano, and reads and knows a great many things

what you thin

y him tales about all the grumbling against him, do not deny it with any warmth. And Don Sebastian gets angry, and is furious each time any murmurs about thi

moments as though he were doubtfu

rdinal to prevent the violence of His Eminence, who very often, when he is racked with excessive pain, would throw cups and plates at the heads of his serva

ad as though he wer

nd I know how they live. One of the servants has often seen them kissing-that is to say, not the two kissing. No, she

s confidences with va

r with equanimity those attacks on his superiors; in his opinion they were all calumnies. The canons had spoken of all the preceding archbishops precisely as they now spoke of Don Sebastian, but this did not in the

a word to escape him that could reveal his past; he felt beyond measure proud of the atmosphere of admiration that surrounded his brother, and the attention with which the simple inhabitants of the cloister listened to th

with pleasure, seeing Gabriel a better colour,

well, brother," he

l come at its own hour, it has me in its grasp. It is only you w

le his efforts. He thought that frequent nourishment was the only remedy

Drink what

overty, with those lacerated lungs and with that heart subject to constant disturbance

sumed more than all the others in the household put together. At the end of the month Esteban was obliged to invoke the aid of Silver Stick to enable him to get along the last few days, entering thus in

oncealment in the Cathedral? He wished for some post in the service of the church, in order to receive at the beginning of every month a few pesetas from the hands of S

placid monotony of his life. He inquired of Esteban as to what he could possibly do, not to remain inactive, but his brother always answered with his kind

was a heavy and complicated erection, of a sumptuous and rococo style, which had cost the second Cardinal de Bourbon a fortune at the beginning of last century. A real forest of woodwork formed the

hich he would be able to give his brother for two weeks; and he, who had been used in former days to

r? The invalid tranquillised him. He knew what those works were in the church; everything was done with parsimony, but without much regard to time. The workmen in the service of the church worked with that calm laziness, and that slow prudence which characterised every act

ntent on giving orders to his fellow-workers; he went from the church to the top of the Claverias, where the monument was stored, and seeing

his various friends. The bell-ringer and his friends were lost in astonishment. A

him one morning by the i

I won't say any more; but be ready to help me. The day w

s fabric. According to their traditional custom all the Toledans gathered to admire-the steps covered with rows of burning lights, the Roman legionaries

one with its immaculate whiteness, in spite of the black veils that covered both statues and altars. The clouds of colour from the lovely rose wi

ng his jacket, and turning

t her here; she is waitin

ouched on the stone coping of the garden, wrapped in an old

prominent cheek-bones, of the face before him. The eyes deep sunk in the sockets without eyebrows or eyelashes, with the pupils still beautiful, but dulled with a g

cle Gabriel, one of God's angels, in spite of his misfo

head, moved her shoulders and drew back, as though she could not endure the presence o

id Gabriel, "it is not goo

in front; she went up with her head bent and without looki

, and you will have time to settle things here. I spent three days there. Ay, Gabriel, my son, what things I have seen, what hells there are for poor women! and we call ourselves Christians, but I think we are fiend

nas the girl seemed to wake up, and drew quickly back with a look of ter

aunt; "it is your home. You had

amined everything with a sort of stupefaction, as though marvelling that everything should be in the same place as five years before, and with an exactitude that made her doubt if such a lo

silence between

you. Be calm and do not cry; trust me. You do not know me well, but the aunt will have told you that I am interested in yo

burst out on seeing her old room. Afterwards they heard a sound as though she were throwing

honour which is nothing more than lies! What is honourable is to be charitable and compassionate to others, and to harm no one. I said this the other day when I was shocked at the shamelessness of my son-in-law, who was furious at my going to Madrid to find the child. He spoke of the honour of the family, and that if Sagr

the old woman looked u

in the struggle? Sh

Cathedral. And you, shall you da

gin to cry, or I should turn and rend him for his obstinacy. You will manage better

f God spread in the priestly tribe on the roofs, an atmosphere of sadness even more marked than that inside the church. All the women and children of the Claverias were do

happened to you? The aunt frightene

ban. I am well,

eriousness alarmed him and the prolonged silence in which he appe

make a beginning

that I found on my return here. You said to me, 'My daughter is dead,' and you never showed any wi

Esteban, becoming very gloomy; "why do you speak to me

nd forgive. We understand honour from a different point of view. You believe in the Castillian honour-that traditional and barbarous honour, more cruel and dismal even than dishonour; a theatrical honour, whose impulses are never founded on human feeling, but on the fear of what others will say, the desire to appear greater and more dignified in the eyes of others than to your own conscience. For the adulterous wife, death; for the murderer, revenge; for the fugitive daughter, contempt and forgetfulness; this is your gospel. I have another standard; for the wife who forgets her duties, contempt and oblivion; for that fragment of our own flesh who flies from us, love, support, gentleness, even endeavouring to compass her return to us. Esteban, we are separated by our beliefs, the gulf of cen

d he wore his gloomiest look

hat I have suffered! The times I have wept with rage alone in this home, hearing what they were saying behind my back. And then," he added quietly as though grief were paralysing his voice, "there was that unhappy martyr who died of shame; my poor wife who left the world so as not to see my grief and the contempt of others! And do you wish me to forget all this? For the rest, Gabriel, I cannot express what I feel as well as you do. But honour-is honour. It is to live in my house without fear of being shamed, to sleep at night without fea

uate our own being throughout the generations and the centuries; it is they who make us immortal, and that preserve and transmit something of our personality, even as we have inherited something from our ancestors. He who forgets those beings who are his own creation is more worthy of execration than he who leaves life by suicide. The disappointments of life, the laws and customs invented by men, what are they before the instinctive affection we feel for beings that have proceeded from ourselves, and who perpetuate the infinite variety of our habits and thoughts? I abhor those wretches who, in order not to disturb the commonplace peace of matrimony, abandon the children they have outside the house. Paternity is the most noble of all animal functions, but the anima

Gabriel," screamed Esteba

use you are a fearful man and have not learnt the art of murder, and that arms are his profession? If you had taken lawless vengeance, relying only on what you think your right, his powerful family would have retaliated on you; but you have not revenged yourself through an instinct of sel

ff" shook his h

ar you. That woman shall not return here; did

n which your poor daughter fell. What had you taught her to enable her to defend herself from the evil in the world? How was she armed to preserve intact what you call honour? You and your wife had set her the example of the respect due to wealth and high birth by allowing that young man to come to your house, thinking it an honour that a gentleman should have fallen in love with your daughter. When the inevitable results of social inequality came about she could not give him up; she had one of those noble natures that rise in revolt against the prejudi

bent, continued to ma

our bread while a creature who is flesh of your flesh suffers hunger, or if I should be nursed in my illness while she, who is possibly worse than I am, has no friendly hand to comfort her. If she does not return, I am not your brother, but an intruder, usurping the share of affection and comfort that ought to fall to her. Brother, everyone has his own code of morality; yours is taught by the priests, mine I have made for myself, and though it is less apparent, it may very likely be more strict. In the name of my morality I say to you, Esteban, my brother, either your daughte

to his feet with a

ee you. I must care for you, you are my whole family; before I had no interest, I lived without hope. Now I have one, to see you strong and well, and can you say so ca

ch raised his hands in supplicatio

tears. Look at me, I am calm, but do not think for that it is less

she that you plead so e

her and spoken to her?

e of your unbelief ev

hed

of leaving, thought the decisive moment had arrived

ld, ask your f

Gabriel as though he could not guess who that

d a long while looking at her. Little by little, in that face so altered by illness, he began to trace the well-known features. In the tearful eyes devoid of eyelas

on! p

felt his courage fail; his eyes expres

acion," followed by the young woman, dragging he

am, let your will be accomplished. Let her remain, as you wish it, b