Others you shall see naked to their Wastes, whipping themselves with Scourges made for the Purpose, till the Blood follows every Stroke; and no Man need be at a Loss to follow them by the very Tracks of Gore they shed in this frentick Perambulation.  Some, who from the Thickness of their Hides, or other Impediments, have not Power by their Scourgings to fetch Blood of themselves, are follow’d by Surgeons with their Lancets, who at every Turn, make use of them, to evince the Extent of their Patience and Zeal by the Smart of their Folly.  While others, mingling Amour with Devotion, take particular Care to present themselves all macerated before the Windows of their Mistresses; and even in that Condition, not satisfy’d with what they have barbarously done to themselves, they have their Operators at hand, to evince their Love by the Number of their Gashes and Wounds; imagining the more Blood they lose, the more Love they shew, and the more they shall gain.  These are generally Devoto’s of Quality; though the Tenet is universal, that he that is most bloody is most devout.

After these Street-Exercises, these ostentatious Castigations are over, these Self-sacrificers repair to the great Church, the bloodier the better; there they throw themselves, in a Condition too vile for the Eye of a Female, before the Image of the Virgin Mary; though I defy all their Race of Fathers, and their infallible holy Father into the Bargain, to produce any Authority to fit it for Belief, that she ever delighted in such sanguinary Holocausts.

During the whole Time of Lent, you will see in every Street some Priest or Frier, upon some Stall or Stool, preaching up Repentance to the People; and with violent Blows on his Breast crying aloud, Mia Culpa, mia maxima Culpa, till he extract reciprocal Returns from the Hands of his Auditors on their own Breasts.

When Good Friday is come they entertain it with the most profound Show of Reverence and Religion, both in their Streets and in their Churches.  In the last, particularly, they have contriv’d about twelve a-Clock suddenly to darken them, so as to render them quite gloomy.  This they do to intimate the Eclipse of the Sun, which at that time happen’d.  And to signify the Rending of the Vail of the Temple, you are struck with a strange artificial Noise at the very same Instant.

But when Easter Day appears, you find it in all Respects with them a Day of Rejoicing; for though Abstinence from Flesh with them, who at no time eat much, is not so great a Mortification as with those of the same Persuasion in other Countries, who eat much more, yet there is a visible Satisfaction darts out at their Eyes, which demonstrates their inward Pleasure in being set free from the Confinement of Mind to the Dissatisfaction of the Body.  Every Person you now meet greets you with a Resurrexit Jesus; a good Imitation of the primitive Christians, were it the real Effect of Devotion.  And all Sorts of the best Musick (which here indeed is the best in all Spain) proclaim an auspicious Valediction to the departed Season of superficial Sorrow and stupid Superstition.  But enough of this:  I proceed to weightier Matters.