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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL JAN. 23, im
The daughter of a martial sire who held the rank
of captain, Catalina de Erauso was in early girlhood
placed in a convent; but after some five or six
years, finding the religious life to which she had
been destined little to her mind, she made her
escape, cut her hair short, fashioned herself a
doublet and pair of breeches, and so faced the
world in the garnish of a boy. She was then, it
would appear, fifteen or sixteen years of age, and
for the succeeding seventeen or eighteen years she
led a roving life, full of hazard and hardship,
through all of which her disguise held good and her
sex was never suspected.
It was not long before she sailed for South America, where, after some preliminary experiences in nominally peaceful occupations, she enlisted in the Spanish army, and from the year 1608 onwards took active part in the campaigns against the native 1 ndian tribes. She proved a most capable soldier, and her valour in the field soon procured her the rank of ensign ; it seems not unlikely that her further promotion was hindered chiefly by an impetuousness of disposition and a readiness to take offence which led her into innumerable quarrels and frays. Her autobiography, indeed, is largely occupied with the account of these passages, in which she appears to have divorced several souls from their bodies, and it was in consequence of a wound received on one of these occasions that she was finally led to disclose the secret of her sex.
The narrative of her adventures is extremely interesting, the curt, summary method of relation often appealing to the imagination more forcibly than a more elaborate account would have done. Here, for example, is how she describes a chance encounter with highwaymen :
" I had not gone far when, to my joy, I fell in with a soldier who was going the same way, and we travelled together. A little further on three men, wearing caps and armed with muskets, bounced out of some roadside huts, demanding all we had. We could not get rid of them, nor persuade them that we had nothing to give ; we were obliged to dismount and face them. Shots were exchanged ; they missed us ; two of them fell, and the other fled. We mounted again and jogged on."
Clearly such an incident was regarded as a very trifling matter in a stirring life like hers, but, indeed, all the descriptions of what she did and saw in her travels through Chile and Peru are characterized by a brevity which often leaves the curiosity of the reader eager for more.
It is impossible to say how far the autobiography, in the form in which we possess it, is to be accepted .as authentic. It contains beyond doubt a number of statements that cannot be reconciled with positive facts, and in the matter of dates the dis- crepancies and confusions are unmistakable. " The truth is," says Mr. Fitzmaurice-Kelly, " that we have no evidence as to when, or by whom, the ' Historia ' was written " ; and we think it can hardly be questioned that pretty numerous addi- tions and embellishments must have been made to the original version. But there are no sufficient grounds for rejecting its substantial veracity. The whole matter is admirably summed up by the editor, who says that, " whoever wrote it, and whatever its inaccuracies, it appears to be mainly based upon authentic accounts derived from the Nun Ensign herself ; it gives a vivid idea of the vicissitudes undergone by a strange, turbulent
adventuress ; and the narrative compensates for
its lack of literary artifice by its sober, laconic
simplicity."
It is almost superfluous to commend the manner in which Mr. Fitzmaurice-Kelly has performed his task as editor and translator. His Introduction is a model of conciseness, clearness, and impartiality, and supplies the reader with all the available information on the subject. It is, perhaps, worth noting that he exposes the disinsrenuousness of De Quincey's Essay, which professed to be founded on independent study, while in reality it was merely an unconscionable adaptation from that very French source which it so vehemently discredited.
We should add that the present volume is rendered additionally valuable for the student of Spanish by the inclusion of the text of Pe'rez de Montalban's hitherto almost inaccessible play, and additionally attractive to the lover of art by the reproduction on a somewhat diminutive scale of Daniel Vierge's delicate illustrations.
THE Intermddiaire continues equal to its well- established reputation. Information is given on euch diverse subjects as the family descended from Carrier of Nantes, the burning of Coligny in etfigy, and the old custom of child-marriages. In the number for 20 September may be found a note which will interest folk-lorists who collect examples of the widespread practice of walling-up living beings to secure the safety of a building. M. M. says :
"In visiting the museum of Nantes lately 1 observed this explanatory legend placed beneath a mummified cat: 'Cat immured alive, found in 1889 in taking down a wall. The animal, according to a superstition of which traces are still to be found in some parts of Normandy, appears to have been walled up alive. It was held that in this way the house would be preserved from lightning and fire.' "
A "lanterne des morts" at Bayeux is mentioned in .the same number. This lantern a kind of cylindrical column of stone, open in the upper part, and crowned with a conical hood pierced with holes rises from the roof of an ancient house, near the gutter. Formerly, when any one died in the town, instead of the bells being tolled it was customary to light the open part of the column at night, to inform the faithful that they should pray for the dead. The correspondent who describes it asks whether the use of death-lanterns can be traced in other parts of France.
to (Komsponfonts.
We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print, and to this rule we can make no exception.
Editorial communications should be addressed to "The Editor of ' Notes and Queries'" Adver- tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub- lishers " at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.G.
CORRIGENDUM. Ante, p. 51 col. 2, the sentence beginning " This date is open to question," in the second paragraph of 'First English Bishop to Marry,' should come at the end of the first paragraph.
