The Day after we arriv'd at _Valencia_, the Gates of which fine City
were set open to us with the highest Demonstrations of Joy. I call'd it
a fine City; but sure it richly deserves a brighter Epithet, since it is
a common Saying among the _Spaniards_, that the Pleasures of _Valencia_
would make a _Jew_ forget _Jerusalem_. It is most sweetly situated in a
very beautiful Plain, and within half a League of the _Mediterranean_
Sea. It never wants any of the Fragrancies of Nature, and always has
something to delight the most curious Eye. It is famous to a Proverb for
fine Women; but as infamous, and only in that so, for the Race of
Bravoes, the common Companions of the Ladies of Pleasure in this
Country. These Wretches are so Case-hardened, they will commit a Murder
for a Dollar, tho' they run their Country for it when they have done.
Not that other Parts of this Nation are uninfested with this sort of
Animals; but here their Numbers are so great, that if a Catalogue was to
be taken of those in other Parts of that Country, perhaps nine in ten
would be found by Birth to be of this Province.

But to proceed, tho' the Citizens, and all Sorts of People, were
redundant in their various Expressions of Joy, for an Entry so
surprizing, and utterly lost to their Expedition, whatever it was to
their Wishes, the Earl had a secret Concern for the Publick, which lay
gnawing at his Heart, and which yet he was forced to conceal. He knew
that he had not four thousand Soldiers in the Place, and not Powder or
Ammunition for those; nor any Provisions lay'd in for any thing like a
Siege. On the other Hand, the Enemy without were upwards of seven
Thousand, with a Body of four Thousand more, not fifteen Leagues off, on
their March to join them. Add to this, the Marechal de _Thesse_ was no
farther off than _Madrid_, a very few Days' March from _Valencia_; a
short Way indeed for the Earl (who, as was said before, was wholly
unprovided for a Siege, which was reported to be the sole End of the