He put lame cripples on their legs again, and hurled this sarcasm at them, "There, you are on your paws once more; may you walk long in this valley of tears!" When he saw a poor man dying of hunger, he gave him all the pence he had about him, growling out, "Live on, you wretch! eat! last a long time! It is not I who would shorten your penal servitude." After which, he would rub his hands and say, "I do men all the harm I can." Through the little window at the back, passers-by could read on the ceiling of the van these words, written within, but visible from without, inscribed with charcoal, in big letters,-- URSUS, PHILOSOPHER.
ANOTHER PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
THE COMPRACHICOS.
I.
Who now knows the word Comprachicos, and who knows its meaning?
The Comprachicos, or Comprapequenos, were a hideous and nondescript association of wanderers, famous in the 17th century, forgotten in the 18th, unheard of in the 19th.

The Comprachicos are like the "succession powder," an ancient social characteristic detail.

They are part of old human ugliness.

To the great eye of history, which sees everything collectively, the Comprachicos belong to the colossal fact of slavery.
Joseph sold by his brethren is a chapter in their story.

The Comprachicos have left their traces in the penal laws of Spain and England.