Add 48203 from /home/DONE/48203.zip

author: nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> 2025-02-27 18:37:23 -0800
committer: nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> 2025-02-27 18:37:23 -0800
commit: 66076c23faa6404f59c5f07ea42e57f8b938d8c3 (patch)
tree: 81b6faadf99d36ef43aee7e4314024eab9b68009
5 files changed, 25620 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/48203/48203-0.txt b/48203/48203-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..466002a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/48203/48203-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11027 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters from Spain, by Joseph Blanco White
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Letters from Spain
+
+Author: Joseph Blanco White
+
+Release Date: February 8, 2015 [EBook #48203]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM SPAIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Josep Cols Canals, Ramon Pajares Box, and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note
+
+  * Italics are denoted by underscores as in _italics_.
+  * Small caps are represented in upper case as in SMALL CAPS.
+  * Obvious printer errors have been silently corrected.
+  * Original spelling was kept, but variant spellings were made
+    consistent when a predominant usage was found.
+  * Throughout the book, different Spanish spellings have been
+    homogenized into “Colegio Mayor” and “Colegial Mayor”.
+
+
+
+
+    LETTERS
+    FROM
+    SPAIN.
+
+    BY
+
+    DON LEUCADIO DOBLADO.
+
+    SECOND EDITION.
+
+    REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR.
+
+    LONDON:
+    HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
+
+    1825.
+
+
+
+
+J. GREEN, PRINTER, LEICESTER-STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE.
+
+
+
+
+  PREFACE
+  TO THE
+  SECOND EDITION.
+
+
+That a work like the present should appear in a Second Edition,
+implies such a reception from the Public as demands the most sincere
+gratitude on my part. I am anxious, therefore, to make the only
+return I have in my power, by adding, as I conceive, some value
+to the work itself; not, indeed, from any material corrections,
+but by stamping the facts and descriptions which it contains, with
+the character of complete authenticity. The readers of _Doblado’s
+Letters_ may be sure that in them they have the real Memoirs of
+the person whose name is subscribed to this address. Even the
+disguise of that name was so contrived, as to be a mark of identity.
+_Leucadio_ being derived from a Greek root which means _white_, the
+word _Doblado_ was added, in allusion to the repetition of my family
+name, translated into Spanish, which my countrymen have forced upon
+us, to avoid the difficulty of an orthography and sound, perfectly at
+variance with their language. In short, Doblado and his inseparable
+friend, the Spanish clergyman, are but one and the same person; whose
+origin, education, feelings, and early turn of thinking, have been
+made an introduction to the personal observations on his country,
+which, with a deep sense of their kindness, he again lays before the
+British Public.
+
+    JOSEPH BLANCO WHITE.
+
+_Chelsea, June 1st, 1825._
+
+
+
+
+  PREFACE
+  TO THE
+  FIRST EDITION.
+
+
+Some of the following Letters have been printed in the New Monthly
+Magazine.
+
+The Author would, indeed, be inclined to commit the whole collection
+to the candour of his readers without a prefatory address, were it
+not that the plan of his Work absolutely requires some explanation.
+
+The slight mixture of fiction which these Letters contain, might
+raise a doubt whether the sketches of Spanish manners, customs, and
+opinions, by means of which the Author has endeavoured to pourtray
+the moral state of his country at a period immediately preceding, and
+in part coincident with the French invasion, may not be exaggerated
+by fancy, and coloured with a view to mere effect.
+
+It is chiefly on this account that the Author deems it necessary to
+assure the Public of the reality of every circumstance mentioned in
+his book, except the name of _Leucadio Doblado_. These Letters are in
+effect the faithful memoirs of a real Spanish clergyman, as far as
+his character and the events of his life can illustrate the state of
+the country which gave him birth.
+
+_Doblado’s_ Letters are dated from Spain, and, to preserve
+consistency, the Author is supposed to have returned thither after
+a residence of some years in England. This is another fictitious
+circumstance. Since the moment when the person disguised under the
+above name left that beloved country, whose religious intolerance has
+embittered his life--that country which, boasting, at this moment,
+of a _free_ constitution, still continues to deprive her children of
+the right to worship God according to their own conscience--he has
+not for a day quitted England, the land of his ancestors, and now the
+country of his choice and adoption.
+
+It is not, however, from pique or resentment that the Author has
+dwelt so long and so warmly upon the painful and disgusting picture
+of Spanish bigotry. Spain, “with all her faults,” is still and shall
+ever be the object of his love. But since no man, within the limits
+of her territory, can venture to lay open the canker which, fostered
+by religion, feeds on the root of her political improvements; be
+it allowed a self-banished Spaniard to describe the sources of
+such a strange anomaly in the New Constitution of Spain, and thus
+to explain to such as may not be unacquainted with his name as a
+Spanish writer, the true cause of an absence which might otherwise be
+construed into a dereliction of duty, and a desertion of that post
+which both nature and affection marked so decidedly for the exertion
+of his humble talents.
+
+_Chelsea, June 1822._
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+
+LETTER I.
+
+  Mistakes of Travellers.--Townsend’s Accuracy.--View of Cadiz
+  from the Sea.--Religion blended with Public and Domestic Life
+  in Spain.--Customs relating to the Host or Eucharist.--Manners
+  and Society at Cadiz.--Passage by Sea to Port Saint Mary’s.--St.
+  Lucar.--Passage up the Guadalquivir to Seville.--Construction and
+  internal Economy of the Houses in that Town.--Knocking, and greeting
+  at the Door.--Devotion of the People of Seville to the Immaculate
+  Conception of the Virgin Mary.                                 p. 1-22
+
+
+LETTER II.
+
+  Difficulty of describing National Characters.--_Nobles_
+  and _Plebeians_, in Spain.--Purity of Blood.--_Tizon de
+  España._--Grandees.--_Hidalgos_ in Low Life.--Execution of an
+  _Hidalgo_.--Spanish Pride, visible among the Lower Classes.--Usual
+  Employment of Day at Seville.--Spanish Politeness.--Absence of
+  Jealousy in Modern Times.--Dinner.--_Siesta._--Public Walks.--Dress
+  of the Spanish Ladies.--Various Uses of the Fan.--Character of the
+  Spanish Females.                                              p. 23-51
+
+
+LETTER III.
+
+  Eagerness of Free-thinking Spaniards to become acquainted, and
+  their quickness in knowing one another. Inclosure of a detached
+  Paper, intituled _A few Facts connected with the Formation of the
+  Intellectual and Moral Character of a Spanish Clergyman_.     p. 52-58
+
+  Importance of examining the Tendency of Catholicism.--Account of two
+  highly devout Roman Catholics.--Auricular Confession.--Education
+  of a Spanish Boy.--Evils arising from the Celibacy of the
+  Clergy.--Education under the Jesuits.--Congregation of Saint Philip
+  Neri.--Exercises of Saint Ignatius.--Aristotelic Philosophy taught by
+  the Dominicans.--Feyjoo’s Works.--Spanish Universities and Colleges,
+  called _Mayores_.--Indirect Influence of the Inquisition on the State
+  of Knowledge in Spain.--Mental Struggles of a young Spaniard on
+  points connected with the established System of Faith.--Impressions
+  produced by the Ceremony of Catholic Ordination.--Unity and
+  Consistency of the Catholic System.--Train of Thought and Feeling
+  leading to the final Rejection of Catholicism.               p. 58-118
+
+
+LETTER IV.
+
+  On Bull-fights, and other National Customs connected with those
+  Amusements.                                                 p. 119-140
+
+
+LETTER V.
+
+  A Journey to Osuna and Olvera.--A Spanish Country Inn.--The Play
+  El Diablo Predicador.--Souls in Purgatory begged for: Lottery
+  of Purgatory.--Character of Two Nuns at Osuna.--A Country
+  Vicar.--Customs at Olvera.--Tapadas, or veiled Females.--A
+  Dance.--The _Riberas_’ Lamp.                                p. 141-170
+
+
+LETTER VI.
+
+  The Yellow Fever at Seville, in 1800.--Spiritual Methods of stopping
+  its progress.--Alcalá de Guadaíra escapes the infection.--Two
+  Spanish Missionaries.--The _Virgin of the Eagle_.--The _Dawn
+  Rosary_.--State of Seville after the disappearance of the Disorder.
+                                                              p. 171-190
+
+
+LETTER VII.
+
+  Monks and Friars.--Instances of gross misconduct among
+  them.--Their Influence.--_Brother Sebastian_ and Charles III.--The
+  Carthusians.--Hermits near Cordova.                         p. 191-210
+
+
+LETTER VIII.
+
+  Nuns.--Motives for taking the Veil.--Circumstances attending that
+  Ceremony.--Account of a young Lady compelled by her Mother to take
+  the Monastic Vows.--_Escrúpulos_, or Religious Anxiety.--Spiritual
+  Flirtation.--Nun Doctors.                                   p. 211-228
+
+
+LETTER IX.
+
+  Memorandums of some Andalusian Customs and Festivals.--Saint
+  Sebastian’s Day: Carnival, p. 230.--Ash-Wednesday, p. 239.--Mid-lent,
+  p. 243.--Passion, or Holy Week, p. 245.--Passion Wednesday, p.
+  251.--Thursday in the Passion Week, p. 252.--Good Friday, p.
+  258.--Saturday before Easter, p. 264.--May Cross, p. 267.--Corpus
+  Christi, p. 268.--Saint John’s Eve, p. 274.--Saint Bartholomew, p.
+  277.--Detached Prejudices and Practices, p. 280.--Funerals of Infants
+  and Maids, p. 282.--Spanish Christian Names, p. 286.--Christmas,
+  p. 288.
+
+
+LETTER X.
+
+  A Sketch of the Court of Madrid, in the Reign of Charles the Fourth,
+  and the Intrigues connected with the Influence of the Prince of the
+  Peace.                                                      p. 292-320
+
+
+LETTER XI.
+
+  Private Life at Madrid.--_Pretendientes._--Literary Characters.
+                                                              p. 321-343
+
+
+LETTER XII.
+
+  Events connected with the beginning of the French Invasion.--The
+  _Escurial_ at the Time of the Arrest of the Prince of
+  Asturias.--Revolution at Aranjuez and Madrid.--Massacre of the 2d of
+  May, 1808.                                                  p. 344-372
+
+
+LETTER XIII.
+
+  State of Spain at the time of the general Rising against the French,
+  as observed in a Journey from Madrid to Seville, through the Province
+  of Estremadura.                                                 p. 373
+
+
+APPENDIX.--An Account of the Suppression of the Jesuits in Spain. p. 395
+
+NOTES.                                                            p. 411
+
+
+
+
+LETTERS FROM SPAIN.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER I.
+
+
+    _Seville, May 1798._
+
+I am inclined to think with you, that a Spaniard, who, like myself,
+has resided many years in England, is, perhaps, the fittest person
+to write an account of life, manners and opinions as they exist in
+this country, and to shew them in the light which is most likely
+to interest an Englishman. The most acute and diligent travellers
+are subject to constant mistakes; and perhaps the more so, for what
+is generally thought a circumstance in their favour--a moderate
+knowledge of foreign languages. A traveller who uses only his eyes,
+will confine himself to the description of external objects; and
+though his narrative may be deficient in many topics of interest,
+it will certainly be exempt from great and ludicrous blunders. The
+difficulty, which a person, with a smattering of the language of the
+country he is visiting, experiences every moment in the endeavour
+to communicate his own, and catch other men’s thoughts, often urges
+him into a sort of mental rashness, which leads him to settle many
+a doubtful point for himself, and to forget the unlimited power, I
+should have said tyranny, of usage, in whatever relates to language.
+
+I still recollect the unlucky hit I made on my arrival in London,
+when, anxious beyond measure to catch every idiomatic expression, and
+reading the huge inscription of the Cannon Brewery at Knightsbridge,
+as the building had some resemblance to the great cannon-foundry in
+this town, I settled it in my mind that the genuine English idiom,
+for what I should now call _casting_, was no other than _brewing_
+cannon. This, however, was a mere verbal mistake. Not so that which
+I made when the word _nursery_ stared me in the face every five
+minutes, as in a fine afternoon I approached your great metropolis,
+on the western road. Luxury and wealth, said I to myself, in a strain
+approaching to philosophic indignation, have at last blunted the best
+feelings of nature among the English. Surely, if I am to judge from
+this endless string of _nurseries_, the English ladies have gone a
+step beyond the unnatural practice of devolving their first maternal
+duties upon domestic hirelings. Here, it seems, the poor helpless
+infants are sent to be kept and suckled in crowds, in a decent kind
+of _Foundling-Hospitals_. You may easily guess that I knew but one
+signification of the words _nursing_ and _nursery_. Fortunately I
+was not collecting materials for a book of travels during a summer
+excursion, otherwise I should now be enjoying all the honour of the
+originality of my remarks on the customs and manners of Old England.
+
+From similar mistakes I think myself safe enough in speaking of my
+native country; but I wish I could feel equal confidence as to the
+execution of the sketches you desire to obtain from me. I know you
+too well to doubt that my letters will, by some chance or other, find
+their way to some of the London Magazines, before they have been
+long in your hands. And only think, I intreat you, how I shall fret
+and fidget under the apprehension that some of your pert newspaper
+writers may raise a laugh against me in some of those _Suns_ or
+_Stars_, which, in spite of intervening seas and mountains, can dart
+a baneful influence, and blast the character of infallibility, as
+an English scholar, which I have acquired since my return to Spain.
+I have so strongly rivetted the admiration of the Irish merchants
+in this place, that, in spite of their objection to my not calling
+tea _ta_, they submit to my decision every intricate question about
+your provoking _shall_ and _will_: and surely it would be no small
+disparagement, in this land of proud _Dons_, to be posted up in a
+London paper as a murderer of the _King’s English_. How fortunate
+was our famous Spanish traveller, my relative, _Espriella_[1] (for
+you know that there exists a family connexion between us by my
+mother’s side) to find one of the best writers in England, willing to
+translate his letters. But since you will not allow me to write in
+my own language, and since, to say the truth, I feel a pleasure in
+using that which reminds me of the dear land which has been my second
+home--the land where I drew my first breath of liberty--the land
+which taught me how to retrieve, though imperfectly and with pain,
+the time which, under the influence of ignorance and superstition,
+I had lost in early youth--I will not delay a task which, should
+circumstances allow me to complete it, I intend as a token of
+friendship to you, and of gratitude and love to your country.
+
+  [1] See Espriella’s “Letters from England.”
+
+Few travellers are equal to your countryman, Mr. Townsend, in the
+truth and liveliness of his descriptions, as well as in the mass of
+useful information and depth of remark with which he has presented
+the public[2]. It would be impossible for any but a native Spaniard
+to add to the collection of traits descriptive of the national
+character, which animates his narrative; and I must confess that
+he has rather confined me in the selection of my topics. He has,
+indeed, fallen into such mistakes and inaccuracies, as nothing short
+of perfect familiarity with a country can prevent. But I may safely
+recommend him to you as a guide for a fuller acquaintance with the
+places whose _inhabitants_ I intend to make the chief subject of my
+letters. But that I may not lay upon you the necessity of a constant
+reference, I shall begin by providing your fancy with a “local
+habitation” for the people whose habits and modes of thinking I will
+forthwith attempt to pourtray.
+
+  [2] He visited Spain in the years 1786 and 1787.
+
+The view of Cadiz from the sea, as, in a fine day, you approach
+its magnificent harbour, is one of the most attractive beauty.
+The strong deep light of a southern sky, reflected from the lofty
+buildings of white free stone, which face the bay, rivets the eye of
+the navigator from the very verge of the horizon. The sea actually
+washes the ramparts, except where, on the opposite side of the
+town, it is divided by a narrow neck of land, which joins Cadiz to
+the neighbouring continent. When, therefore, you begin to discover
+the upper part of the buildings, and the white pinnacles of glazed
+earthenware, resembling china, that ornament the parapets with
+which their flat roofs are crowned; the airy structure, melting at
+times into the distant glare of the waves, is more like a pleasing
+delusion--a kind of _Fata Morgana_--than the lofty, uniform massive
+buildings which, rising gradually before the vessel, bring you back,
+however unwilling, to the dull realities of life. After landing on
+a crowded quay, you are led the whole depth of the ramparts along
+a dark vaulted passage, at the farthest end of which, new-comers
+must submit to the scrutiny of the inferior custom-house officers.
+Eighteen-pence slipped into their hands with the keys of your
+trunks, will spare you the vexation of seeing your clothes and linen
+scattered about in the utmost disorder.
+
+I forgot to tell you, that scarcely does a boat with passengers
+approach the landing-stairs of the quay, when three or four
+_Gallegos_, (natives of the province of Galicia) who are the only
+_porters_ in this town, will take a fearful leap into the boat, and
+begin a scuffle, which ends by the stronger seizing upon the luggage.
+The successful champion becomes your guide through the town to the
+place where you wish to take up your abode. As only two gates are
+used as a thoroughfare--the sea-gate, _Puerta de la Mar_, and the
+land-gate, _Puerta de Tierra_--those who come by water are obliged to
+cross the great Market--a place not unlike Covent Garden, where the
+country people expose all sorts of vegetables and fruits for sale.
+Fish is also sold at this place, where you see it laid out upon the
+pavement in the same state as it was taken out of the net. The noise
+and din of this market are absolutely intolerable. All classes of
+Spaniards, not excluding the ladies, are rather loud and boisterous
+in their speech. But here is a contention between three or four
+hundred peasants, who shall make his harsh and guttural voice be
+uppermost, to inform the passengers of the price and quality of his
+goods. In a word, the noise is such as will astound any one, who has
+not lived for some years near Cornhill or Temple Bar.
+
+Religion, or, if you please, superstition, is so intimately blended
+with the whole system of public and domestic life in Spain, that I
+fear I shall tire you with the perpetual recurrence of that subject.
+I am already compelled, by an involuntary train of ideas, to enter
+upon that endless topic. If, however, you wish to become thoroughly
+acquainted with the national character of my country, you must learn
+the character of the national religion. The influence of religion
+in Spain is boundless. It divides the whole population into two
+comprehensive classes, bigots and dissemblers. Do not, however,
+mistake me. I am very far from wishing to libel my countrymen. If I
+use these invidious words, it is not that I believe every Spaniard
+either a downright bigot or a hypocrite: yet I cannot shut my eyes
+to the melancholy fact, that the system under which we live must
+unavoidably give, even to the best among us, a taint of one of
+those vices. Where the law threatens every dissenter from such an
+encroaching system of divinity as that of the Church of Rome, with
+death and infamy--where every individual is not only invited, but
+enjoined, at the peril of both body and soul, to assist in enforcing
+that law; must not an undue and tyrannical influence accrue to the
+believing party? Are not such as disbelieve in secret, condemned to
+a life of degrading deference, or of heart-burning silence? Silence,
+did I say? No; every day, every hour, renews the necessity of
+explicitly declaring yourself what you are not. The most contemptible
+individual may, at pleasure, force out _a lie_ from an honestly proud
+bosom.
+
+I must not, however, keep you any longer in suspense as to the origin
+of this flight--this unprepared digression from the plain narrative
+I had begun. You know me well enough to believe that after a long
+residence in England, my landing at Cadiz, instead of cheering my
+heart at the sight of my native country, would naturally produce
+a mixed sensation, in which pain and gloominess must have had the
+ascendant. I had enjoyed the blessings of liberty for several years;
+and now, alas! I perceived that I had been irresistibly drawn back
+by the holiest ties of affection, to stretch out my hands to the
+manacles, and bow my neck to that yoke, which had formerly galled my
+very soul. The convent of San Juan de Dios--(laugh, my dear friend,
+if you will: at what you call my _monachophobia_; _you_ may do so,
+who have never lived within range of any of these European _jungles_,
+where lurks every thing that is hideous and venomous)--well, then,
+San Juan de Dios is the first remarkable object that meets the eye
+upon entering Cadiz by the sea-gate. A single glance at the convent
+had awakened the strongest and most rooted aversions of my heart,
+when just as I was walking into the nearest street to avoid the
+crowd, the well-remembered sound of a hand-bell made me instantly
+aware that, unless pretending not to hear it, I could retrace my
+steps, and turn another corner, I should be obliged to kneel in the
+mud till a priest, who was carrying the consecrated wafer to a dying
+person, had moved slowly in his sedan-chair from the farthest end of
+the street to the place where I began to hear the bell.
+
+The rule on these occasions, is expressed in a proverbial saying--_al
+Rey, en viendolo; a Dios, en oyendolo_--which, after supplying its
+elliptical form, means that external homage is due to the king
+upon seeing him: and to God--_i. e._ the host, preceded by its
+never-failing appendage, the bell--the very moment you hear him. I
+must add, as a previous explanation of what is to follow, that God
+and the king are so coupled in the language of this country, that
+the same title of _Majesty_ is applied to both. You hear, from the
+pulpit, the duties that men owe to _both Majesties_; and a foreigner
+is often surprised at the hopes expressed by the Spaniards, that
+_his Majesty_ will be pleased to grant them life and health for some
+years more. I must add a very ludicrous circumstance arising from
+this absurd form of speech. When the priest, attended by the clerk,
+and surrounded by eight or ten people, bearing lighted flambeaus, has
+broken into the chamber of the dying person, and gone through a form
+of prayer, half Latin, half Spanish, which lasts for about twenty
+minutes, one of the wafers is taken out of a little gold casket,
+and put into the mouth of the patient as he lies in bed. To swallow
+the wafer without the loss of any particle--which, according to the
+Council of Trent, (and I fully agree with the fathers) contains the
+same Divine person as the whole--is an operation of some difficulty.
+To obviate, therefore, the impropriety of lodging a sacred atom, as
+it might easily happen, in a bad tooth, the clerk comes forth with a
+glass of water, and in a firm and loud voice asks the sick person,
+“Is his Majesty gone down?”[3] The answer enables the learned clerk
+to decide whether the passage is to be expedited by means of his
+cooling draught.
+
+  [3] The Spanish words are _Ha pasado su Magestad?_
+
+But I must return to my _Gallego_, and myself. No sooner had I called
+him back, as if I had suddenly changed my mind as to the direction
+in which we were to go, than with a most determined tone he said
+“_Dios--Su Magestad._” Pretending not to hear, I turned sharply
+round, and was now making my retreat--but it would not do. Fired
+with holy zeal, he raised his harsh voice, and in the barbarous
+accent of his province, repeated three or four times, “_Dios--Su
+Magestad_;” adding, with an oath, “This man is a heretic!” There was
+no resisting that dreadful word: it pinned me to the ground. I took
+out my pocket-handkerchief, and laying it on the least dirty part
+of the pavement, knelt upon it--not indeed to pray; but while, as
+another act of conformity to the custom of the country, I was beating
+my breast with my clenched right hand, as gently as it could be done
+without offence--to curse the hour when I had submitted thus to
+degrade myself, and tremble at the mere suspicion of a being little
+removed from the four-footed animals, whom it was his occupation to
+relieve of their burdens.
+
+In the more populous towns of Spain, these unpleasant meetings are
+frequent. Nor are you free from being disturbed by the holy bell
+in the most retired part of your house. Its sound operates like
+magic upon the Spaniards. In the midst of a gay, noisy party, the
+word--“_Su Magestad_”--will bring every one upon his knees until
+the tinkling dies in the distance. Are you at dinner?--you must
+leave the table. In bed?--you must, at least, sit up. But the most
+preposterous effect of this custom is to be seen at the theatres. On
+the approach of the host to any military guard, the drum beats, the
+men are drawn out, and as soon as the priest can be seen, they bend
+the right knee, and invert the firelocks, placing the point of the
+bayonet on the ground. As an officer’s guard is always stationed at
+the door of a Spanish theatre, I have often laughed in my sleeve at
+the effect of the _chamade_ both upon the actors and the company.
+“_Dios, Dios!_” resounds from all parts of the house, and every
+one falls that moment upon his knees. The actors’ ranting, or the
+rattling of the castanets in the _fandango_, is hushed for a few
+minutes, till the sound of the bell growing fainter and fainter, the
+amusement is resumed, and the devout performers are once more upon
+their legs, anxious to make amends for the interruption. So powerful
+is the effect of early habit, that I had been for some weeks in
+London before I could hear the postman’s bell in the evening, without
+feeling instinctively inclined to perform a due genuflection.
+
+Cadiz, though fast declining from the wealth and splendour to which
+she had reached during her exclusive privilege to trade with the
+Colonies of South America, is still one of the few towns of Spain,
+which, for refinement, can be compared with some of the second rate
+in England. The people are hospitable and cheerful. The women,
+without being at all beautiful, are really fascinating. Some of the
+_Tertulias_, or evening parties, which a simple introduction to the
+lady of the house entitles any one to attend daily, are very lively
+and agreeable. No stiffness of etiquette prevails: you may drop
+in when you like, and leave the room when it suits you. The young
+ladies, however, will soon either find out, or imagine, the house and
+company to which you give the preference; and a week’s acquaintance
+will lay you open to a great deal of good-natured bantering upon the
+cause of your short calls. Singing to the guitar, or the piano, is a
+very common resource at these meetings. But the musical acquirements
+of the Spanish ladies cannot bear the most distant comparison with
+those of the female amateurs in London. In singing, however, they
+possess one great advantage--that of opening the mouth--which your
+English _Misses_ seem to consider as a great breach of propriety.
+
+The inhabitants of Cadiz, being confined to the rock on which their
+city is built, have made the towns of Chiclana, Puerto Real, and
+Port St. Mary’s, their places of resort, especially in the summer.
+The passage, by water, to Port St. Mary’s, is, upon an average,
+of about an hour and a half, and the intercourse between the two
+places, nearly as constant as between a large city and its suburbs.
+Boats full of passengers are incessantly crossing from daybreak
+till sunset. This passage is not, however, without danger in case
+of a strong wind from the east, in summer, or of rough weather, in
+winter. At the mouth of the Guadalete, a river that runs into the bay
+of Cadiz, by Port St. Mary’s, there are extensive banks of shifting
+sands, which every year prove fatal to many. The passage-boats are
+often excessively crowded with people of all descriptions. The
+Spaniards, however, are not so shy of strangers as I have generally
+found your countrymen. Place any two of them, male or female, by the
+merest chance, together, and they will immediately enter into some
+conversation. The absolute disregard to a stranger, which custom
+has established in England, would be taken for an insult in any part
+of Spain; consequently little gravity is preserved in these aquatic
+excursions.
+
+In fine weather, when the female part of the company are not troubled
+with fear or sickness, the passengers indulge in a boisterous sort
+of mirth, which is congenial to Andalusians of all classes. It is
+known by the old Spanish word _Arana_, pronounced with the Southern
+aspirate, as if written _Haranna_. I do not know whether I shall be
+able to convey a notion of this kind of amusement. It admits of no
+liberties of action, while every allowance is made for words which do
+not amount to gross indecency. It is--if I may use the expression--a
+conversational _row_; or, to indulge a more strange assemblage of
+ideas, the _Arana_ is to conversation, what romping is to walking arm
+in arm. In the midst, however, of hoarse laugh and loud shouting,
+as soon as the boat reaches the shoals, the steersman, raising his
+voice with a gravity becoming a parish-clerk, addresses himself to
+the company in words amounting to these--“Let us pray for the souls
+of all that have perished in this place.” The pious address of the
+boatman has a striking effect upon the company: for one or two
+minutes every one mutters a private prayer, whilst a sailor-boy goes
+round collecting a few copper coins from the passengers, which are
+religiously spent in procuring masses for the souls in purgatory.
+This ceremony being over, the riot is resumed with unabated spirit,
+till the very point of landing.
+
+I went by land to St. Lucar, a town of some wealth and consequence at
+the mouth of the Guadalquivir, or Bœtis, where this river is lost in
+the sea through a channel of more than a mile in breadth. The passage
+to Seville, of about twenty Spanish leagues up the river, is tedious;
+but I had often performed it, in early youth, with great pleasure,
+and I now quite forgot the change which twenty years must have made
+upon my feelings. No Spanish conveyance is either comfortable or
+expeditious. The St. Lucar boats are clumsy and heavy, without a
+single accommodation for passengers. Half of the hold is covered
+with hatches, but so low, that one cannot stand upright under them.
+A piece of canvass, loosely let down to the bottom of the boat, is
+the only partition between the passengers and the sailors. It would
+be extremely unpleasant for any person, above the lower class, to
+bear the inconveniences of a mixed company in one of these boats.
+Fortunately, it is neither difficult nor expensive to obtain the
+exclusive hire of one. You must submit, however, at the time of
+embarkation, to the disagreeable circumstance of riding on a man’s
+shoulders from the water’s edge to a little skiff, which, from
+the flatness of the shore, lies waiting for the passengers at the
+distance of fifteen or twenty yards.
+
+The country, on both sides of the river, is for the most part, flat
+and desolate. The eye roves in vain over vast plains of alluvial
+ground in search of some marks of human habitation. Herds of black
+cattle, and large flocks of sheep, are seen on two considerable
+islands formed by different branches of the river. The fierce
+Andalusian bulls, kept by themselves in large enclosures, where, with
+a view to their appearance on the arena, they are made more savage
+by solitude; are seen straggling here and there down to the brink of
+the river, tossing their shaggy heads, and pawing the ground on the
+approach of the boat.
+
+The windings of the river, and the growing shallows, which obstruct
+its channel, oblige the boats to wait for the tide, except when
+there is a strong wind from the south. After two tedious days, and
+two uncomfortable nights, I found myself under the _Torre del Oro_,
+a large octagon tower of great antiquity, and generally supposed to
+have been built by Julius Cæsar, which stands by the mole or quay
+of the capital of Andalusia, my native, and by me, long deserted
+town. Townsend will acquaint you with its situation, its general
+aspect, and the remarkable buildings, which are the boast of the
+_Sevillanos_. My task will be confined to the description of such
+peculiarities of the country as he did not see, or which must have
+escaped his notice.
+
+The eastern custom of building houses on the four sides of an open
+area is so general in Andalusia, that, till my first journey to
+Madrid, I confess, I was perfectly at a loss to conceive a habitable
+dwelling in any other shape. The houses are generally two stories
+high, with a gallery, or _corredor_, which, as the name implies,
+_runs_ along the four, or at least the three sides of the _Pátio_,
+or central square, affording an external communication between the
+rooms above stairs, and forming a covered walk over the doors of the
+ground-floor apartments. These two suites of rooms are a counterpart
+to each other, being alternately inhabited or deserted in the seasons
+of winter and summer. About the middle of October every house in
+Seville is in a complete bustle for two or three days. The lower
+apartments are stripped of their furniture, and every chair and
+table--nay, the kitchen vestal, with all her laboratory--are ordered
+off to winter quarters. This change of habitation, together with
+mats laid over the brick-floors, thicker and warmer than those used
+in summer, is all the provision against cold, which is made in this
+country. A flat and open brass pan of about two feet diameter, raised
+a few inches from the ground by a round wooden frame, on which, those
+who sit near it, may rest their feet, is used to burn charcoal made
+of brushwood, which the natives call _cisco_. The fumes of charcoal
+are injurious to health; but such is the effect of habit, that the
+natives are seldom aware of any inconvenience arising from the
+choking smell of their brasiers.
+
+The precautions against heat, however, are numerous. About the latter
+end of May the whole population moves down stairs. A thick awning,
+which draws and undraws by means of ropes and pullies, is stretched
+over the central square, on a level with the roof of the house. The
+window-shutters are nearly closed from morning till sunset, admitting
+just light enough to see one another, provided the eyes have not
+lately been exposed to the glare of the streets. The floors are
+washed every morning, that the evaporation of the water imbibed by
+the bricks, may abate the heat of the air. A very light mat, made
+of a delicate sort of rush, and dyed with a variety of colours, is
+used instead of a carpet. The _Pátio_, or square, is ornamented with
+flowerpots, especially round a _jet d’eau_, which in most houses
+occupies its centre. During the hot season the ladies sit and receive
+their friends in the _Pátio_. The street-doors are generally open;
+but invariably so from sunset till eleven or twelve in the night.
+Three or four very large glass lamps are hung in a line from the
+street-door to the opposite end of the _Pátio_; and, as in most
+houses, those who meet at night for a _Tertulia_, are visible from
+the streets, the town presents a very pretty and animated scene till
+near midnight. The poorer class of people, to avoid the intolerable
+heat of their habitations, pass a great part of the night in
+conversation at their doors; while persons of all descriptions are
+moving about till late, either to see their friends, or to enjoy the
+cool air in the public walks.
+
+This gay scene vanishes, however, on the approach of winter. The
+people retreat to the upper floors; the ill-lighted streets are
+deserted at the close of day, and become so dangerous from robbers,
+that few but the young and adventurous retire home from the
+_Tertulia_ without being attended by a servant, sometimes bearing
+a lighted torch. The free access to every house, which prevails
+in summer, is now checked by the caution of the inhabitants. The
+entrance to the houses lies through a passage with two doors, one
+to the street, and another called the _middle-door_ (for there is
+another at the top of the stairs) which opens into the _Pátio_.
+This passage is called _Zaguan_--a pure Arabic word, which means, I
+believe, a porch. The middle-door is generally shut in the day-time:
+the outer one is never closed but at night. Whoever wants to be
+admitted must knock at the middle-door, and be prepared to answer a
+question, which, as it presents one of those little peculiarities
+which you are so fond of hearing, I shall not consider as unworthy of
+a place in my narrative.
+
+The knock at the door, which, by-the-by, must be single, and by no
+means loud--in fact, a tradesman’s knock in London--is answered with
+a _Who is there?_ To this question the stranger replies, “Peaceful
+people,” _Gente de paz_--and the door is opened without farther
+enquiries. Peasants and beggars call out at the door, “Hail, spotless
+Mary!” _Ave, Maria purisima!_ The answer, in that case, is given
+from within in the words _Sin pecado concebida_: “Conceived without
+sin.” This custom is a remnant of the fierce controversy, which
+existed about three hundred years ago, between the Franciscan and the
+Dominican friars, whether the Virgin Mary had or not been subject
+to the penal consequences of original sin. The Dominicans were not
+willing to grant any exemption; while the Franciscans contended for
+the propriety of such a privilege. The Spaniards, and especially the
+Sevillians, with their characteristic gallantry, stood for the honour
+of our Lady, and embraced the latter opinion so warmly, that they
+turned the watchword of their party into the form of address, which
+is still so prevalent in Andalusia. During the heat of the dispute,
+and before the Dominicans had been silenced by the authority of the
+Pope, the people of Seville began to assemble at various churches,
+and, sallying forth with an emblematical picture of the _sinless_
+Mary, set upon a sort of standard surmounted by a cross, paraded
+the city in different directions, singing a hymn to the _Immaculate
+Conception_, and repeating aloud their beads or rosary. These
+processions have continued to our times, and constitute one of the
+nightly nuisances of this place. Though confined at present to the
+lower classes, those that join in them assume that characteristic
+importance and overbearing spirit, which attaches to the most
+insignificant religious associations in this country. Wherever one of
+these shabby processions presents itself to the public, it takes up
+the street from side to side, stopping the passengers, and expecting
+them to stand uncovered in all kinds of weather, till the standard
+is gone by. Their awkward and heavy banners are called, at Seville,
+_Sinpecados_, that is, “sinless,” from the theological opinion in
+support of which they were raised.
+
+The Spanish government, under Charles III., shewed the most ludicrous
+eagerness to have the _sinless purity_ of the Virgin Mary added by
+the Pope to the articles of the Roman Catholic faith. The court of
+Rome, however, with the cautious spirit which has at all times guided
+its spiritual politics, endeavoured to keep clear from a stretch of
+authority, which, even some of their own divines would be ready to
+question; but splitting, as it were, the difference with theological
+precision, the censures of the church were levelled against such as
+should have the boldness to assert that the Virgin Mary had derived
+any taint from “her great ancestor;” and, having personified the
+_Immaculate Conception_, it was declared, that the Spanish dominions
+in Europe and America were under the protecting influence of that
+mysterious event. This declaration diffused universal joy over the
+whole nation. It was celebrated with public rejoicings on both sides
+of the Atlantic. The king instituted an order distinguished by the
+emblem of the Immaculate Conception--a woman dressed in white and
+blue; and a law was enacted, requiring a declaration, upon oath, of
+a firm belief in the _Immaculate Conception_, from every individual,
+previous to his taking any degree at the universities, or being
+admitted into any of the corporations, civil and religious, which
+abound in Spain. This oath is administered even to mechanics upon
+their being made free of a Guild.[4]
+
+  [4] See Note A, at the end of the Volume.
+
+Here, however, I must break off, for fear of making this packet too
+large for the confidential conveyance, to which alone I could trust
+it without great risk of finishing my task in one of the cells of the
+Holy Inquisition. I will not fail, however, to resume my subject as
+soon as circumstances permit me.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER II.
+
+
+    _Seville ---- 1798._
+
+TO A. D. C. ESQ.
+
+MY DEAR SIR--Your letter, acquainting me with Lady ----’s desire
+that you should take an active part in our correspondence on Spain,
+has increased my hopes of carrying on a work, which I feared would
+soon grow no less tiresome to our friend than to me. Objects which
+blend themselves with our daily habits are most apt to elude our
+observation; and will, like some dreams, fleet away through the
+mind, unless an accidental word or thought should set attention on
+the fast-fading track of their course. Nothing, therefore, can be
+of greater use to me than your queries, or help me so much as your
+observations.
+
+You must excuse, however, my declining to give you a sketch of
+the national character of the Spaniards. I have always considered
+such descriptions as absolutely unmeaning--a mere assemblage
+of antitheses, where good and bad qualities are contrasted for
+effect, and with little foundation in nature. No man’s powers of
+observation can be, at once, so accurate and extensive, so minute and
+generalizing, as to be capable of embodying the peculiar features
+of millions into an abstract being, which shall contain traces of
+them all. Yet this is what most travellers attempt after a few
+weeks residence--what we are accustomed to expect from the time
+that a Geographical Grammar is first put into our hands. I shall
+not, therefore, attempt either abstraction or classification, but
+endeavour to collect as many facts as may enable others to perceive
+the general tendency of the civil and religious state of my country,
+and to judge of its influence on the improvement or degradation of
+this portion of mankind, independently of the endless modifications
+which arise from the circumstances, external and internal, of every
+individual. I will not overlook, however, the great divisions of
+society, and shall therefore acquaint you with the chief sources of
+distinction which both law and custom have established among us.
+
+The most comprehensive division of the people of Spain is that of
+_nobles_ and _plebeians_. But I must caution you against a mistaken
+notion which these words are apt to convey to an Englishman. In
+Spain, any person whose family, either by immemorial prescription,
+or by the king’s patent, is entitled to exemption from some burdens,
+and to the enjoyment of certain privileges, belongs to the class of
+nobility. It appears to me that this distinction originated in the
+allotment of a certain portion of ground in towns conquered from
+the Moors. In some patents of nobility--I cannot say whether they
+are all alike--the king, after an enumeration of the privileges and
+exemptions to which he raises the family, adds the general clause,
+that they shall be considered in all respects, as _Hidalgos de
+casa y solar conocido_--“_Hidalgos_, i. e. nobles (for the words
+are become synonymous) of a known family and _ground-plot_.” Many
+of the exemptions attached to this class of Franklins, or inferior
+nobility, have been withdrawn in our times, not, however, without
+a distinct recognition of the _rank_ of such as could claim them
+before the amendment of the law. But still a Spanish gentleman, or
+_Caballero_--a name which expresses the privileged gentry in all
+its numerous and undefined gradations--cannot be ballotted for the
+militia; and none but an _Hidalgo_ can enter the army as a cadet.
+In the routine of promotion, ten cadets, I believe, must receive
+a commission before a serjeant can have his turn--and even that
+is often passed over. Such as are fortunate enough to be raised
+from the ranks can seldom escape the reserve and slight of their
+prouder fellow-officers; and the common appellation of _Pinos_,
+“pine-trees”--alluding, probably, to the height required in a
+serjeant, like that of _freedman_, among the Romans, implies a stain
+which the first situations in the army cannot completely obliterate.
+
+_Noblesse_, as I shall call it, to avoid an equivocal term, descends
+from the father to all his male children, for ever. But though a
+female cannot transmit this privilege to her issue, her being the
+daughter of an _Hidalgo_ is of absolute necessity to constitute
+what, in the language of the country, is called, “a nobleman on four
+sides”--_noble de quatro costados_: that is, a man whose parents,
+their parents, and their parents’ parents, belonged to the privileged
+class. None but these _square noblemen_ can receive the order of
+knighthood. But we are fallen on degenerate times, and I could name
+many a knight in this town who has been furnished with more than one
+_corner_ by the dexterity of the _notaries_, who act as secretaries
+in collecting and drawing up the proofs and documents required on
+these occasions.
+
+There exists another distinction of blood, which, I think, is
+peculiar to Spain, and to which the mass of the people are so
+blindly attached, that the meanest peasant looks upon the want of
+it as a source of misery and degradation, which he is doomed to
+transmit to his latest posterity. The least mixture of African,
+Indian, Moorish, or Jewish blood, taints a whole family to the most
+distant generation. Nor does the knowledge of such a fact die away
+in the course of years, or become unnoticed from the obscurity and
+humbleness of the parties. Not a child in this populous city is
+ignorant that a family, who, beyond the memory of man have kept a
+confectioner’s shop in the central part of the town, had one of
+their ancestors punished by the Inquisition for a relapse into
+Judaism. I well recollect how, when a boy, I often passed that way,
+scarcely venturing to cast a side glance on a pretty young woman
+who constantly attended the shop, for fear, as I said to myself, of
+shaming her. A person free from tainted blood is defined by law, “an
+old Christian, clean from all bad race and stain,” _Christiano viejo,
+limpio de toda mala raza, y mancha_. The severity of this law, or
+rather of the public opinion enforcing it, shuts out its victims from
+every employment in church or state, and excludes them even from the
+_Fraternities_, or religious associations, which are otherwise open
+to persons of the lowest ranks. I verily believe, that were St. Peter
+a Spaniard, he would either deny admittance into heaven to people of
+tainted blood, or send them to a retired corner, where they might not
+offend the eyes of the _old Christians_.
+
+But alas! what has been said of laws--and I believe it true in
+most countries, ancient and modern, except England--that they are
+like cobwebs, which entrap the weak, and yield to the strong and
+bold, is equally, and perhaps more generally applicable to public
+opinion. It is a fact, that many of the grandees, and the titled
+noblesse of this country, derive a large portion of their blood
+from Jews and Moriscoes. Their pedigree has been traced up to those
+cankered branches, in a manuscript book, which neither the threats
+of Government, nor the terrors of the Inquisition, have been able to
+suppress completely. It is called _Tizon de España_--“the Brand of
+Spain.” But wealth and power have set opinion at defiance; and while
+a poor industrious man, humbled by feelings not unlike those of an
+Indian _Paria_, will hardly venture to salute his neighbour, because,
+forsooth, his fourth or fifth ancestor fell into the hands of the
+Inquisition for declining to eat pork--the proud grandee, perhaps
+a nearer descendant of the Patriarchs, will think himself degraded
+by marrying the first gentlewoman in the kingdom, unless she brings
+him _a hat_, in addition to the six or eight which he may be already
+entitled to wear before the king. But this requires some explanation.
+
+The highest privilege of a grandee is that of covering his head
+before the king. Hence, by two or more _hats_ in a family, it is
+meant that it has a right, by inheritance, to as many titles of
+grandeeship. Pride having confined the grandees to intermarriages
+in their own caste, and the estates and titles being inheritable by
+females, an enormous accumulation of property and honours has been
+made in a few hands. The chief aim of every family is constantly to
+increase this preposterous accumulation. Their children are married,
+by dispensation, in their infancy, to some great heir or heiress; and
+such is the multitude of family names and titles which every grandee
+claims and uses, that if you should look into a simple passport given
+by the Spanish Ambassador in London, when he happens to be a member
+of the ancient Spanish families, you will find the whole first page
+of a large foolscap sheet, employed merely to tell you who the great
+man is whose signature is to close the whole. As far as vanity alone
+is concerned, this ambitious display of rank and parentage, might,
+at this time of day, be dismissed with a smile. But there lurks a
+more serious evil in the absurd and invidious system so studiously
+preserved by our first nobility. Surrounded by their own dependents,
+and avoided by the gentry, who are seldom disposed for an intercourse
+in which a sense of inferiority prevails, few of the grandees are
+exempt from the natural consequences of such a life--gross ignorance,
+intolerable conceit, and sometimes, though seldom, a strong dose of
+vulgarity. I would, however, be just, and by no means tax individuals
+with every vice of the class. But I believe I speak the prevalent
+sense of the country upon this point. The grandees have degraded
+themselves by their slavish behaviour at Court, and incurred great
+odium by their intolerable airs abroad. They have ruined their
+estates by mismanagement and extravagance, and impoverished the
+country by the neglect of their immense possessions. Should there be
+a revolution in Spain, wounded pride, and party spirit, would deny
+them the proper share of power in the constitution, to which their
+lands, their ancient rights, and their remaining influence entitle
+them. Thus excluded from their chief and peculiar duty of keeping
+the balance of power between the throne and the people, the Spanish
+grandees will remain a heavy burthen on the nation; while, either
+fearing for their overgrown privileges, or impatient under reforms
+which must fall chiefly on them and the clergy, they will always
+be inclined to join the crown in restoring the abuses of arbitrary
+government.
+
+Would to Heaven that an opportunity presented itself for re-modelling
+our constitution after the only political system which has been
+sanctioned by the experience of ages--I mean your own. We have nearly
+the same elements in existence; and low and degraded as we are by the
+baneful influence of despotism, we might yet by a proper combination
+of our political forces, lay down the basis of a permanent and
+improvable free constitution. But I greatly fear that we have been
+too long in chains, to make the best use of the first moments of
+liberty. Perhaps the crown, as well as the classes of grandees and
+bishops, will be suffered to exist, from want of power in the popular
+party; but they will be made worse than useless through neglect and
+jealousy. I am neither what you call a tory nor a bigot; nor am I
+inditing a prophetic elegy on the diminished glories of crowns,
+coronets and mitres. A levelling spirit I detest indeed, and from
+my heart do I abhor every sort of spoliation. Many years, however,
+must pass, and strange events take place, before any such evils can
+threaten this country. Spanish despotism is not of that insulting
+and irritating nature which drives a whole people to madness. It is
+not the despotism of the taskmaster whose lash sows vengeance in the
+hearts of his slaves. It is the cautious forecast of the husbandman
+who mutilates the cattle whose strength he fears. The degraded animal
+grows up, unconscious of the injury, and after a short training, one
+might think he comes at last to love the yoke. Such, I believe, is
+our state. Taxes, among us, are rather ill-contrived than grinding;
+and millions of the lower classes are not aware of the share they
+contribute. They all love their king, however they may dislike the
+exciseman. Seigneurial rights are hardly in existence: and both
+gentry and peasantry find little to remind them of the exorbitant
+power which the improvident and slothful life of the grandees, at
+court, allows to lie dormant and wasting in their hands. The majority
+of the nation are more inclined to despise than to hate them; and
+though few men would lift up a finger to support their rights, fewer
+still would imitate the French in carrying fire and sword to their
+mansions.
+
+For bishops and their spiritual power _Juan Español_[5] has as
+greedy and capacious a stomach, as _John Bull_ for roast beef and
+ale. One single class of people feels galled and restless, and that
+unfortunately neither is, nor can be, numerous in this country.
+The class I mean consists of such as are able to perceive the
+encroachments of tyranny on their intellectual rights--whose pride
+of mind, and consciousness of mental strength, cause them to groan
+and fret, daily and hourly, under the necessity of keeping within
+the miry and crooked paths to which ignorance and superstition have
+confined the active souls of the Spaniards. But these, compared
+with the bulk of the nation, are but a mere handful. Yet, they may,
+under favourable circumstances, recruit and augment their forces
+with the ambitious of all classes. They will have, at first, to
+disguise their views, to conceal their favourite doctrines, and
+even to cherish those national prejudices, which, were their real
+views known, would crush them to atoms. The mass of the people may
+acquiesce for a time in the new order of things, partly from a vague
+desire of change and improvement, partly from the passive political
+habits which a dull and deadening despotism has bred and rooted in
+the course of ages. The army may cast the decisive weight of the
+sword on the popular side of the balance, as long as it suits its
+views. But if the church and the great nobility are neglected in
+the distribution of legislative power--if, instead of alluring them
+into the path of liberty with the sweet bait of _constitutional_
+influence, they are only alarmed for their rights and privileges,
+without a hope of compensation, they may be shovelled and heaped
+aside, like a mountain of dead and inert sand; but they will stand,
+in their massive and ponderous indolence, ready to slide down at
+every moment, and bury the small active party below, upon the least
+division of their strength. A house, or chamber of peers, composed of
+grandees in their own right--that is, not, as is done at present, by
+the transfer of one of the titles accumulated in the same family--of
+the bishops, and of a certain number of law lords regularly chosen
+from the supreme court of judicature (a measure of the greatest
+importance to discourage the distinction of _blood_, which is,
+perhaps, the worst evil in the present state of the great Spanish
+nobility), might, indeed, check the work of reformation to a slower
+pace than accords with the natural eagerness of a popular party. But
+the legislative body would possess a regulator within itself, which
+would faithfully mark the gradual capacity for improvement in the
+nation. The members of the privileged chamber would themselves be
+improved and enlightened by the exercise of constitutional power, and
+the pervading influence of public discussion: while, should they be
+overlooked in any future attempt at a free constitution, they will,
+like a diseased and neglected limb, spread infection over the whole
+body, or, at last, expose it to the hazard of a bloody and dangerous
+amputation. But it is time to return to our _Hidalgos_.
+
+  [5] A name denoting the plain unsophisticated Spaniard.
+
+As the _Hidalguia_ branches out through every male whose father
+enjoys that privilege, Spain is overrun with _gentry_, who earn their
+living in the meanest employments. The province of Asturias having
+afforded shelter to that small portion of the nation which preserved
+the Spanish name and throne against the efforts of the conquering
+Arabs; there is hardly a native of that mountainous tract, who, even
+at this day, cannot shew a legal title to honours and immunities
+gained by his ancestors, at a time when every soldier had either a
+share in the territory recovered from the invaders, or was rewarded
+with a perpetual exemption from such taxes and services as fell
+exclusively upon the _simple_[6] peasantry. The numerous assertors
+of these privileges among the Asturians of the present day, lead me
+to think that in the earliest times of the Spanish monarchy every
+soldier was raised to the rank of a Franklin. But circumstances
+are strangely altered. Asturias is one of the poorest provinces
+of Spain, and the _noble_ inhabitants having, for the most part,
+inherited no other patrimony from their ancestors than a strong
+muscular frame, are compelled to make the best of it among the more
+feeble tribes of the south. In this capital of Andalusia they have
+engrossed the employments of watermen, porters, and footmen. Those
+belonging to the two first classes are formed into a _fraternity_,
+whose members have a right to the exclusive use of a chapel in the
+cathedral. The privilege which they value most, however, is that of
+affording the twenty stoutest men to convey the moveable stage on
+which the consecrated host is paraded in public, on Corpus Christi
+day, enshrined in a small temple of massive silver. The bearers are
+concealed behind rich gold-cloth hangings, which reach the ground
+on the four sides of the stage. The weight of the whole machine is
+enormous; yet these twenty men bear it on the hind part of the head
+and neck, moving with such astonishing ease and regularity, as if the
+motion arose from the impulse of steam, or some steady mechanical
+power.
+
+  [6] _Gentle_ and _simple_, as I find in those inexhaustible
+  sources of intellectual delight, the Novels by the author of
+  “Waverley,” are used by the Scottish peasants in the same manner
+  as _Noble_, and _Llano_, (plain, simple) by the Spaniards.
+
+While these _Gentlemen Hidalgos_ are employed in such ungentle
+services, though the law allows them the exemptions of their class,
+public opinion confines them to their natural level. The only chance
+for any of these disguised _noblemen_ to be publicly treated with due
+honour and deference is, unfortunately, one for which they feel an
+unconquerable aversion--that of being delivered into the rude hands
+of a Spanish _Jack Ketch_. We had here, two years ago, an instance
+of this, which I shall relate, as being highly characteristic of our
+national prejudices about blood.
+
+A gang of five banditti was taken within the jurisdiction of this
+_Audiencia_, or chief court of justice, one of whom, though born
+and brought up among the lowest ranks of society, was, by family,
+an _Hidalgo_, and had some relations among the better class of
+gentlemen. I believe the name of the unfortunate man was _Herrera_,
+and that he was a native of a town about thirty English miles from
+Seville, called _el Arahal_. But I have not, at present, the means
+of ascertaining the accuracy of these particulars. After lingering,
+as usual, four or five years in prison, these unfortunate men were
+found guilty of several murders and highway robberies, and sentenced
+to suffer death. The relations of the _Hidalgo_, who, foreseeing
+this fatal event, had been watching the progress of the trial, in
+order to step forward just in time to avert the stain which a cousin,
+in the second or third remove, would cast upon their family, if he
+died in mid-air like a villain; presented a petition to the judges,
+accompanied with the requisite documents, claiming for their relative
+the honours of his rank, and engaging to pay the expenses attending
+the execution of a _nobleman_. The petition being granted as a matter
+of course, the following scene took place. At a short distance from
+the gallows on which the four _simple_ robbers were to be hanged in
+a cluster, from the central point of the cross beam, all dressed in
+white shrouds, with their hands tied before them, that the hangman,
+who actually rides upon the shoulders of the criminal, may place his
+foot as in a stirrup,[7]--was raised a scaffold about ten feet high,
+on an area of about fifteen by twenty, the whole of which and down
+to the ground, on all sides, was covered with black baize. In the
+centre of the scaffold was erected a sort of arm-chair, with a stake
+for its back, against which, by means of an iron collar attached to
+a screw, the neck is crushed by one turn of the handle. This machine
+is called _Garrote_--“a stick”--from the old-fashioned method of
+strangling, by twisting the fatal cord with a stick. Two flights of
+steps on opposite sides of the stage, afforded a separate access, one
+for the criminal and the priest, the other for the executioner and
+his attendant.
+
+  [7] The Cortes have abolished this barbarous method of inflicting
+  death.
+
+The convict, dressed in a loose gown of black baize, rode on a horse,
+a mark of distinction peculiar to his class, (plebeians riding
+on an ass, or being dragged on a hurdle,) attended by a priest,
+and a notary, and surrounded by soldiers. Black silk cords were
+prepared to bind him to the arms of the seat; for ropes are thought
+dishonourable. After kneeling to receive the last absolution from
+the priest, he took off a ring, with which the unfortunate man had
+been provided for that melancholy occasion. According to etiquette
+he should have disdainfully thrown it down for the executioner;
+but, as a mark of Christian humility, he put it into his hand. The
+sentence being executed, four silver candlesticks, five feet high,
+with burning wax-candles of a proportionate length and thickness,
+were placed at the corners of the scaffold; and in about three hours,
+a suitable funeral was conducted by the _posthumous_ friends of the
+noble robber, who, had they assisted him to settle in life with half
+of what they spent in this absurd and disgusting show, might, perhaps
+have saved him from his fatal end. But these honours being what is
+called _a positive act of noblesse_, of which a due certificate is
+given to the surviving parties, to be recorded among the legal proofs
+of their rank; they may have acted under the idea that their relative
+was fit only to add lustre to the family by the close of his career.
+
+The innumerable and fanciful gradations of family rank which the
+Spaniards have formed to themselves, without the least foundation
+in the laws of the country, are difficult to describe. Though the
+_Hidalguia_ is a necessary qualification, especially in country
+towns, to be admitted into the best society, it is by no means
+sufficient, by itself, to raise the views of every _Hidalgo_ to a
+family connexion with the “blue blood”--_sangre azul_ of the country.
+The shades by which the vital fluid approaches this privileged hue,
+would perplex the best colourist. These prejudices, however, have
+lost much of their force at Madrid, except among the grandees,
+and in such maritime towns as Malaga and Cadiz, where commerce has
+raised many new, and some foreign families into consequence. But
+there is a pervading spirit of vanity in the nation, which actuates
+even the lowest classes, and may be discovered in the evident
+mortification which menials and mechanics are apt to feel, on the
+omission of some modes of address intended, as it were, to cast a
+veil on the humbleness of their condition. To call a man by the
+name of _blacksmith_, _butcher_, _coachman_, would be considered
+an insult. They all expect to be called either by their Christian
+name, or by the general appellation _Maestro_ and in both cases with
+the prefixed _Señor_; unless the word expressing the employment
+should imply superiority: as _Mayoral_, chief coachman--_Rabadán_,
+chief shepherd--_Aperador_, bailiff. These, and similar names,
+are used without an addition, and sound well in the ears of the
+natives. But no female would suffer herself to be addressed _cook_,
+_washer-woman_, &c.; they all feel and act as if, having a natural
+claim to a higher rank, misfortune alone had degraded them. Poverty,
+unless it be extreme, does not disqualify a man of family for the
+society of his equals. Secular clergymen, though plebeians, are,
+generally, well received; but the same indulgence is not readily
+extended to monks and friars, whose unpolished manners betray too
+openly the meanness of their birth. Wholesale merchants, if they
+belong to the class of _Hidalgos_, are not avoided by the great
+gentry. In the law, _attorneys_ and _notaries_ are considered to be
+under the line of _Caballeros_, though their rank, as in England,
+depends a great deal on their wealth and personal respectability.
+Physicians are nearly in the same case.
+
+Having now made you acquainted with what is here called the _best
+sort_ of people, you will probably like to have a sketch of their
+daily life: take it, then, neither from the first, nor the last of
+the class.
+
+Breakfast, in Spain, is not a regular family meal. It generally
+consists of chocolate, and buttered toast, or muffins, called
+_molletes_. Irish salt-butter is very much in use; as the heat of
+the climate does not allow the luxuries of the dairy, except in
+the mountainous tracts of the north. Every one calls for chocolate
+whenever it suits him; and most people take it when they come
+from mass--a ceremony seldom omitted, even by such as cannot be
+reckoned among the highly religious. After breakfast, the gentlemen
+repair to their occupations; and the ladies, who seldom call upon
+one another, often enjoy the _amusement_ of music and a sermon
+at the church appointed on that day for the public adoration of
+the Consecrated Host, which, from morning till night, takes place
+throughout the year in this, and a few other large towns. This is
+called _el jubileo_--the jubilee; as, by a spiritual grant of the
+Pope, those who visit the appointed church, are entitled to the
+plenary indulgence which, in former times, rewarded the trouble and
+dangers of a journey to Rome, on the first year of every century--a
+poor substitute, indeed, for the _ludi sæculares_, which, in former
+times, drew people thither from all parts of the Roman empire.
+The bait, however, was so successful for a time, that _jubilees_
+were celebrated every twenty-five years. But when the taste for
+papal indulgences began to be cloyed by excess, few would move
+a foot, and much less undertake a long journey, to spend their
+money for the benefit of the Pope and his Roman subjects. In these
+desperate circumstances, the Holy Father thought it better to send
+the _jubilee_, with its plenary indulgence, to the distant sheep
+of his flock, than to wait in vain for their coming to seek it at
+Rome. To this effort of pastoral generosity we owe the inestimable
+advantage of being able, every day, to perform a spiritual visit
+to St. Peter’s at Rome; which, to those who are indifferent about
+architectural beauty, is infinitely cheaper, and just as profitable,
+as a pilgrimage to the vicinity of the Capitol.
+
+About noon the ladies are at home, where, employed at their needle,
+they expect the morning calls of their friends. I have already told
+you how easy it is for a gentleman to gain an introduction to any
+family: the slightest occasion will produce what is called _an offer
+of the house_, when you are literally told that the house _is yours_.
+Upon the strength of this offer, you may drop in as often as you
+please, and idle away hour after hour, in the most unmeaning, or it
+may chance, the most interesting conversation.
+
+The mention of this offer of the house induces me to give you
+some idea of the hyperbolical civility of my countrymen. When an
+English nobleman, well known both to you and me, was some years
+ago travelling in this country, he wished to spend a fortnight at
+Barcelona; but, the inn being rather uncomfortable for himself
+and family, he was desirous of procuring a country-house in the
+neighbourhood of the town. It happened at this time that a rich
+merchant, for whom our friend had a letter, called to pay his
+respects; and in a string of high-flown compliments, assured his
+Lordship that both his town-house and his villa were entirely at
+his service. My lady’s eyes sparkled with joy, and she was rather
+vexed that her husband had hesitated a moment to secure the villa
+for his family. Doubts arose as to the sincerity of the offer, but
+she could not be persuaded that such forms of expression should be
+taken, in this country, in the same sense as the--“Madam I am at your
+feet,”--with which every gentleman addresses a lady. After all, the
+merchant, no doubt, to his great astonishment, received a very civil
+note, accepting the loan of his country house. But, in answer to the
+note, he sent an awkward excuse, and never shewed his face again.
+The poor man was so far from being to blame, that he only followed
+the established custom of the country, according to which it would
+be rudeness not to offer any part of your property, which you either
+mention or show. Fortunately, Spanish etiquette is just and equitable
+on this point; for as it would not pardon the omission of the offer,
+so it would never forgive the acceptance.
+
+A foreigner must be surprised at the strange mixture of caution
+and liberty which appears in the manners of Spain. Most rooms have
+glass doors; but when this is not the case, it would be highly
+improper for any lady to sit with a gentleman, unless the doors were
+open. Yet, when a lady is slightly indisposed in bed, she does not
+scruple to see every one of her male visitors. A lady seldom takes a
+gentleman’s arm, and never shakes him by the hand; but on the return
+of an old acquaintance after a considerable absence, or when they
+wish joy for some agreeable event, the common salute is an embrace.
+An unmarried woman must not be seen alone out of doors, nor must she
+sit _tête-à-tête_ with a gentleman, even when the doors of the room
+are open; but, as soon as she is married, she may go by herself where
+she pleases, and sit alone with any man for many hours every day. You
+have in England strange notions of Spanish jealousy. I can, however,
+assure you, that if Spanish husbands were, at any time, what novels
+and old plays represent them, no race in Europe has undergone a more
+thorough change.
+
+Dinners are generally at one, and in a few houses, between two and
+three. Invitations to dine are extremely rare. On some extraordinary
+occasions, as that of a young man performing his first mass--a
+daughter taking the veil--and, in the more wealthy houses, on the
+saint-days of the heads of the family, they make what is called a
+_convite_, or feast. Any person accustomed to your private dinners,
+would be thrown into a fever by one of these parties. The height of
+luxury, on these occasions, is what we call _Comida de Fonda_--a
+dinner from the coffee-house. All the dishes are dressed at an
+inn, and brought ready to be served at table. The Spanish houses,
+even those of the best sort, are so ill provided with every thing
+required at table, that wine, plates, glasses, knives and forks,
+are brought from the inn together with the dinner. The noise and
+confusion of these _feasts_ is inconceivable. Every one tries to
+repay the hospitable treat with mirth and noise; and though Spaniards
+are, commonly, water-drinkers, the bottle is used very freely on
+these occasions; but they do not continue at table after eating the
+dessert. Upon the death of any one in a family, the nearest relatives
+send a dinner of this kind, on the day of the funeral, that they may
+save the chief mourners the trouble of preparing an entertainment for
+such of their kindred as have attended the body to church. Decorum,
+however, forbids any mirth on these occasions.
+
+After I became acquainted with English hospitality, my mind was
+struck with a custom, which, being a matter of course in Spain, had
+never attracted my notice. An invitation to dinner, which, by the
+by, is never given in writing, must not be accepted on the first
+proposal. Perhaps our complimentary language makes it necessary to
+ascertain how far the inviter may be in earnest, and a good-natured
+civility has made it a rule to give national vanity fair play, and
+never, without proper caution, to trust _pot-luck_, where fortune
+so seldom smiles upon that venerable utensil. The first invitation
+“to eat the soup” should be answered, therefore, with “a thousand
+thanks;” by which a Spaniard civilly declines what no one wishes him
+to accept. If, after this skirmish of good breeding, the offer should
+be repeated, you may begin to suspect that your friend is in earnest,
+and answer him in the usual words, _no se meta Usted en eso_--“do
+not engage in such a thing.” At this stage of the business, both
+parties having gone too far to recede, the invitation is repeated and
+accepted.
+
+I might, probably, have omitted the mention of this custom, had I not
+found, as it appears to me, a curious coincidence between Spanish
+and ancient Greek manners on this point. Perhaps you recollect that
+Xenophon opens his little work called “The Banquet,” by stating how
+Socrates and his pupils, who formed the greater part of the company
+the entertainment therein described, were invited by Callias, a rich
+citizen of Athens. The feast was intended to celebrate the victory
+of a young man, who had obtained the crown at the Panathenæan games.
+Callias was walking home with his young friend to the Pireus, when
+he saw Socrates and his daily companions. He accosted the former in
+a familiar and playful manner, and, after a little bantering on his
+philosophical speculations, requested both him and his friends to
+give him the pleasure of their company at table. “They, however,”
+says Xenophon, “_at first, as was proper_, thanked him, and declined
+the invitation; _but when it clearly appeared that he was angry at
+the refusal_, followed him.” I am aware that the words in Xenophon
+admit another interpretation, and that the phrase which I render,
+_as was proper_, may be applied to the _thanks_ alone; but it may be
+referred, with as much or better reason, both to thanks and refusal,
+and the custom which I have stated inclines me strongly to adopt
+that sense.[8] The truth is, that wherever dinner is not, as in
+England, the chief and almost exclusive season of social converse,
+an invitation to dine must appear somewhat in the light of a gift or
+present--which every man of delicacy feels reluctant to accept at all
+from a mere acquaintance, or without some degree of compulsion, from
+a friend. Besides, we know the abuse and ridicule with which both
+Greeks and Romans attacked the _Parasites_, or dinner-hunters; and
+it is very natural to suppose that a true gentleman would be upon
+his guard against the most distant resemblance to those unfortunate
+starvelings.
+
+  [8] See note B.
+
+The custom of sleeping after dinner, called _Siesta_, is universal in
+summer, especially in Andalusia, where the intenseness of the heat
+produces languor and drowsiness. In winter, taking a walk, just after
+rising from table, is very prevalent. Many gentlemen, previously to
+their afternoon walk, resort to the coffee-houses, which now begin to
+be in fashion.
+
+Almost every considerable town of Spain is provided with a public
+walk, where the better classes assemble in the afternoon. These
+places are called _Alamedas_, from _Alamo_, a common name for the elm
+and poplar, the trees which shade such places. Large stone benches
+run in the direction of the alleys, where people sit either to rest
+themselves or to carry on a long talk, in whispers, with the next
+lady; an amusement which, in the idiom of the country, is expressed
+by the strange phrase, _pelar la Pava_--“to pluck the hen-turkey.” We
+have in our _Alameda_ several fountains of the most delicious water.
+No less than twenty or thirty men with glasses, each holding nearly
+a quart, move in every direction, so dextrously clashing two of them
+in their hands, that without any danger of breaking them, they keep
+up a pretty lively tinkling like that of well-tuned small bells.
+So great is the quantity of water which these people sell to the
+frequenters of the walk, that most of them live throughout the year
+on what they thus earn in summer. Success in this trade depends on
+their promptitude to answer every call, their neatness in washing the
+glasses, and most of all, on their skilful use of the good-natured
+waggery peculiar to the lower classes of Andalusia. A knowing air, an
+arch smile, and some honied words of praise and endearments, as “My
+rose,” “My soul,” and many others, which even a modest and high-bred
+lady will hear without displeasure; are infallible means of success
+among tradesmen who deal with the public at large, and especially
+with the more tender part of that public. The company in these
+walks presents a motley crowd of officers in their regimentals,--of
+clergymen in their cassocks, black cloaks, and broad-brimmed hats,
+not unlike those of the coalmen in London,--and of gentlemen wrapped
+up in their _capas_, or in some uniform, without which a well-born
+Spaniard is almost ashamed to shew himself.
+
+The ladies’ walking-dress is susceptible of little variety. Nothing
+short of the house being on fire would oblige a Spanish woman to step
+out of doors without a black petticoat, called _Basquiña_, or _Saya_,
+and a broad black veil, hanging from the head over the shoulders, and
+crossed on the breast like a shawl, which they call _Mantilla_. The
+_mantilla_ is, generally, of silk trimmed round with broad lace. In
+summer-evenings some white _mantillas_ are seen; but no lady would
+wear them in the morning, and much less venture into a church in such
+a _profane_ dress.
+
+A showy fan is indispensable, in all seasons, both in and out of
+doors. An Andalusian woman might as well want her tongue as her
+fan. The fan, besides, has this advantage over the natural organ
+of speech--that it conveys thought to a greater distance. A dear
+friend at the farthest end of the public walk, is greeted and cheered
+by a quick, tremulous motion of the fan, accompanied with several
+significant nods. An object of indifference is dismissed with a slow,
+formal inclination of the fan, which makes his blood run cold. The
+fan, now, screens the titter and whisper; now condenses a smile into
+the dark sparkling eyes, which take their aim just above it. A gentle
+tap of the fan commands the attention of the careless; a waving
+motion calls the distant. A certain twirl between the fingers betrays
+doubt or anxiety--a quick closing and displaying the folds, indicates
+eagerness or joy. In perfect combination with the expressive features
+of my countrywomen, the fan is a magic wand, whose power is more
+easily felt than described.
+
+What is mere beauty, compared with the fascinating power arising from
+extreme sensibility? Such as are alive to those invisible charms,
+will hardly find a plain face among the young women of Andalusia.
+Their features may not, at first view, please the eye; but seem to
+improve every day till they grow beautiful. Without the advantages
+of education, without even external accomplishments, the vivacity
+of their fancy sheds a perpetual glow over their conversation; and
+the warmth of their heart gives the interest of affection to their
+most indifferent actions. But Nature, like a too fond mother, has
+spoilt them, and Superstition has completed their ruin. While the
+activity of their minds is allowed to run waste for want of care
+and instruction, the consciousness of their powers to please,
+impresses them with an early notion that life has but one source
+of happiness. Were their charms the effect of that cold twinkling
+flame which flutters round the hearts of most Frenchwomen, they
+would be only dangerous to the peace and usefulness of one half of
+society. But, instead of being the capricious tyrants of men, they
+are, generally, their victims. Few, very few Spanish women, and
+none, I will venture to say, among the Andalusians, have it in their
+power to be coquettes. If it may be said without a solecism, there
+is more of that vice in our men than in our females. The first,
+leading a life of idleness, and deprived by an ignorant, oppressive,
+and superstitious government, of every object that can raise and
+feed an honest ambition, waste their whole youth, and part of their
+manly age, in trifling with the best feelings of the tender sex, and
+poisoning, for mere mischief’s sake, the very springs of domestic
+happiness. But ours is the most dire and complex disease that ever
+preyed upon the vitals of human society. With some of the noblest
+qualities that a people can possess (you will excuse an involuntary
+burst of national partiality), we are worse than degraded--we are
+depraved, by that which is intended to cherish and exalt every
+social virtue. Our corrupters, our mortal enemies, are religion and
+government. To set the practical proofs of this bold position in a
+striking light is, undoubtedly, beyond my abilities. Yet such, I must
+say, is the force of the proofs I possess on this melancholy topic,
+that they nearly overcome my mind with intuitive evidence. Let me,
+then, take leave of the subject into which my feelings have hurried
+me, by assuring you, that wherever the slightest aid is afforded to
+the female mind in this country, it exhibits the most astonishing
+quickness and capacity; and that, probably, no other nation in the
+world can present more lovely instances of a glowing and susceptible
+heart preserving unspotted purity, not from the dread of public
+opinion, but in spite of its encouragements.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER III.
+
+
+    _Seville, ---- 1799._
+
+Fortune has favoured me with an acquaintance--a young clergyman of
+this town--for whom, since our first introduction, I have felt a
+growing esteem, such as must soon ripen into the warmest affection.
+Common danger, and common suffering, especially of the mind, prove
+often the readiest and most indissoluble bonds of human friendship:
+and when to this influence is added the blending power of an
+intercommunity of thoughts and sentiments, no less unbounded than
+the confidence with which two men put thereby their liberty, their
+fortune, and their life into the hands of each other--imagination
+can hardly measure the warmth and devotedness of honest hearts thus
+united.
+
+Spaniards, who have broken the trammels of superstition, possess a
+wonderful quickness to mark and know one another. Yet caution is so
+necessary, that we never offer the right hand of fellowship till,
+by gradual approaches, the heart and mind are carefully scanned on
+both sides. There are _bullies_ in mental no less than in animal
+courage: and I have sometimes been in danger of committing myself
+with a pompous fool that was hazarding propositions in the evening,
+which he was sure to lay, in helpless fear, before the confessor, the
+next morning; and who, had he met with free and unqualified assent
+from any one of the company, would have tried to save his own soul
+and body by carrying the whole conversation to the Inquisitors. But
+the character of my new friend was visible at a glance; and, after
+some conversation, I could not feel the slightest apprehension that
+there might lurk in his heart either the villainy or the folly
+which can betray a man, in this world, under a pretext of ensuring
+his happiness in the next. He too, either from the circumstance of
+my long residence in England, or, as I hope, from something more
+properly belonging to myself, soon opened his whole mind; and we both
+uttered downright _heresy_. After this mutual, this awful pledge, the
+Scythian ceremony of tasting each other’s blood could not have more
+closely bound us in interest and danger.
+
+The coolness of an orange-grove is not more refreshing to him who has
+panted across one of our burning plains, under the meridian sun in
+August, than the company of a few trusty friends to some unbending
+minds, after a long day of restraint and dissimulation. When after
+our evening walk we are at last comfortably seated round my friend’s
+reading-table, where an amiable young officer, another clergyman,
+and one of the most worthy and highly-gifted men that tyranny and
+superstition have condemned to pine in obscurity, are always welcomed
+with a cordiality approaching to rapture--I cannot help comparing
+our feelings to those which we might suppose in Christian slaves at
+Algiers, who, having secretly unlocked the rivets of their fetters,
+could shake them off to feast and riot in the dead of night, cheering
+their hearts with wild visions of liberty, and salving their wounds
+with vague hopes of revenge. Revenge, did I say! what a false notion
+would that word give you of the characters that compose our little
+club! I doubt if Nature herself could so undo the work of her hands
+as to transform any one of my kind, my benevolent friends, into a
+man of blood. As to myself, mere protestations were useless. You
+know me; and I shall leave you to judge. But there is a revenge of
+the fancy, perfectly consistent with true mildness and generosity,
+though certainly more allied to quick sensibility than to sound and
+sober judgment. The last, however, should be seldom, if at all,
+looked for among persons in our circumstances. Our childhood is
+artificially protracted till we wonder how we have grown old: and,
+being kept at an immeasurable distance from the affairs and interest
+of public life, our passions, our virtues, and our vices, like those
+of early youth, have deeper roots in the imagination than the heart.
+I will not say that this is a prevalent feature in the character of
+my countrymen; but I have generally observed it among the best and
+the worthiest. As to my confidential friends, especially the one I
+mentioned at the beginning of this letter, in strict conformity with
+the temper which, I fear, I have but imperfectly described, they
+spend their lives in giving vent, among themselves, to the suppressed
+feelings of ridicule or indignation, of which the religious
+institutions of this country are a perennial source to those who
+are compelled to receive them as of Divine authority. England has
+so far improved me, that I can perceive the folly of this conduct.
+I am aware that, instead of indulging this childish gratification
+of our anger, we should be preparing ourselves, by a profound
+study of our ancient laws and customs, and a perfect acquaintance
+with the pure and original doctrines of the Gospel, for any future
+opening to reformation in our church and state. But under this
+intolerable system of intellectual oppression, we have associated
+the idea of Spanish law with despotism, and that of Christianity
+with absurdity and persecution. After my return from England I feel
+almost involuntarily relapsing into the old habits of my mind. With
+my friends, who have never left this country, any endeavour to break
+and counteract such habits would be perfectly hopeless. Despondency
+drives them into a course of reading and thinking, which leads only
+to suppressed contempt and whispered sarcasm. The violence which
+they must constantly do to their best feelings, might breed some of
+the fiercer passions in breasts less softened with “the milk of human
+kindness.” But their hatred of the prevailing practices and opinions
+does not extend to persons. Yet I for one must confess, that were I
+to act from a first and habitual impulse, without listening to my
+better judgment, there is not a saint or a relic in the country I
+would not trample under foot, and treat with the utmost indignity. As
+things are, however, I content myself with scoffing and railing the
+whole day. But I trust that, on a change of circumstances, I should
+act more soberly than I feel.
+
+I should have found it very difficult, without this fortunate
+intimacy with a man who, though still in the prime of youth, has
+lately obtained, by literary competition, a place among what we call
+the higher clergy--that is, such as are _above_ the cure of souls--to
+give you an insight into the internal constitution of the Spanish
+church, the vices of the system which prepares our young men for the
+altar, and the ruinous foundations on which the ecclesiastical law,
+aided by civil power, hazards the morals of our religious teachers
+and their flocks. When I had expressed to my friend my desire of
+having his assistance in carrying on this correspondence, as well
+as satisfied his mind on the improbability of any thing entrusted
+to you, recoiling upon himself in Spain; he shewed me a manuscript
+he had drawn up some time before, under the title: “A few facts
+connected with the formation of the intellectual and moral character
+of a Spanish Clergyman.” “Who knows,” he said, “but that this
+sketch may answer your purpose? No traveller’s-guide account of our
+universities and clerical establishments, can convey such a living
+picture of our state, as the history of a young mind trained up under
+their influence. You might easily find a list of the professors,
+endowments, and class-books of which the framework of Spanish
+education consists. But who would have the patience to read it, or
+what could he learn from it? I had intended that this little effusion
+of an oppressed and struggling mind should lie concealed till some
+future period, probably after my death, when my country might be
+prepared to learn and lament the wrongs she has, for ages, heaped on
+her children. But, since you have provided against discovery, and are
+willing to translate into English any thing I may give you, it will
+be some satisfaction to know that the results of my sad experience
+are laid before the most enlightened and benevolent people of Europe.
+Perhaps, if they know the true source of our evils, the day will come
+when they may be able and willing to help us.”
+
+The question with me now was, not whether I should accept the
+manuscript, but whether I could do it justice in the translation.
+Trusting, however, that the novelty of the matter would atone for
+the faults of my style; labour and perseverance have, at length,
+enabled me to enclose it in this letter. As I have thus introduced
+a stranger to you. I am bound in common civility to fall into the
+background, and let him speak for himself.
+
+
+_A few Facts connected with the formation of the Intellectual and
+    Moral Character of a Spanish Clergyman._
+
+“I do not possess the cynical habits of mind which would enable me,
+like Rousseau, to expose my heart naked to the gaze of the world.
+I have neither his unfortunate and odious propensities to gloss
+by an affected candour, nor his bewitching eloquence to display,
+whatever good qualities I may possess: and as I must overcome no
+small reluctance and fear of impropriety, to enter upon the task
+of writing an account of the workings of my mind and heart, I have
+some reason to believe that I am led to do so by a sincere desire
+of being useful to others. Millions of human creatures are made to
+venture their happiness on a form of Christianity which possesses the
+strongest claims to our attention, both from its great antiquity,
+and the extent of its sway over the most civilized part of the
+earth. The various effects of that religious system, unmixed with
+any thing unauthorized or spurious, upon my country, my friends, and
+myself, have been the object of my most serious attention, from the
+very dawn of reason till the moment when I am writing these lines.
+If the result of my experience should be, that religion, as it is
+taught and enforced in Spain, is productive of exquisite misery in
+the amiable and good, and of gross depravity in the unfeeling and the
+thoughtless--that it is an insuperable obstacle to the improvement of
+the mind, and gives a decided ascendancy to lettered absurdity, and
+to dull-headed bigotry--that it necessarily breeds such reserve and
+dissimulation in the most promising and valuable part of the people
+as must check and stunt the noblest of public virtues, candour and
+political courage--if all this, and much more that I am not able
+to express in the abstract form of simple positions, should start
+into view from the plain narrative of an obscure individual; I hope
+I shall not be charged with the silly vanity of attributing any
+intrinsic importance to the domestic events and private feelings
+which are to fill up the following pages.
+
+“I was born of parents who, though possessed of little property, held
+a decent rank among the gentry of my native town. Their characters,
+however, are so intimately connected with the formation of my own,
+that I shall indulge an honest pride in describing them.
+
+“My father was the son of a rich Irish merchant, who obtained for
+himself and descendants a patent of _Hidalguia_, or noblesse, early
+in the reign of Ferdinand VI. During the life of my grandfather, and
+the consequent prosperity of his house, my father was sent abroad
+for his education. This gave a polish to his manners, which, at that
+period, was not easily found even in the first ranks of the nobility.
+Little more than accomplishments, however, was left him, when, in
+consequence of his father’s death, the commercial concerns of the
+house being managed by a stranger, received a shock which had nearly
+reduced the family to poverty and want. Yet something was saved;
+and my father, who, by some unaccountable infatuation, had not been
+brought up to business, was now obliged to exert himself to the
+utmost of his power. Joining, therefore, in partnership with a more
+wealthy merchant, who had married one of his sisters, he contrived,
+by care and diligence, together with a strict, though not sordid
+economy, not to descend below the rank in which he had been born.
+Under these unpromising circumstances he married my mother, who, if
+she could add but little to her husband’s fortune, yet brought him a
+treasure of love and virtue, which he found constantly increasing,
+till death removed him on the first approaches of old age.
+
+“My mother was of honourable parentage. She was brought up in that
+absence of mental cultivation which prevails, to this day, among
+the Spanish ladies. But her natural talents were of a superior
+cast. She was lively, pretty, and sang sweetly. Under the influence
+of a happier country, her pleasing vivacity, the quickness of her
+apprehension, and the exquisite degree of sensibility which animated
+her words and actions, would have qualified her to shine in the most
+elegant and refined circles.
+
+“_Benevolence_ prompted all my father’s actions, endued him, at
+times, with something like supernatural vigour, and gave him, for
+the good of his fellow-creatures, the courage and decision he wanted
+in whatever concerned himself. With hardly any thing to spare, I do
+not recollect a time when our house was not a source of relief and
+consolation to some families of such as, by a characteristic and
+feeling appellation, are called among us the _blushing poor_.[9]
+In all seasons, for thirty years of his life, my father allowed
+himself no other relaxation, after the fatiguing business of his
+counting-house, than a visit to the general hospital of this town--a
+horrible scene of misery, where four or five hundred beggars are,
+at a time, allowed to lay themselves down and die, when worn out
+by want and disease. Stripping himself of his coat, and having put
+on a coarse dress for the sake of cleanliness, in which he was
+scrupulous to a fault; he was employed, till late at night, in making
+the beds of the poor, taking the helpless in his arms, and stooping
+to such services as even the menials in attendance were often loth
+to perform. All this he did of his own free will, without the least
+connexion, public or private, with the establishment. Twice he was at
+death’s door from the contagious influence of the atmosphere in which
+he exerted his charity. But no danger would appal him when engaged
+in administering relief to the needy. Foreigners, cast by misfortune
+into that gulf of wretchedness, were the peculiar objects of his
+kindness.
+
+  [9] _Pobres vergonzantes._
+
+“The principle of benevolence was not less powerful in my mother;
+but her extreme sensibility made her infinitely more susceptible of
+pain than pleasure--of fear than hope--and, for such characters,
+a technical religion is ever a source of distracting terrors.
+Enthusiasm--that bastard of religious liberty, that vigorous weed of
+Protestantism--does not thrive under the jealous eye of infallible
+authority. Catholicism, it is true, has, in a few instances, produced
+a sort of splendid madness; but its visions and trances partake
+largely of the tameness of a mind previously exhausted by fears and
+agonies, meekly borne under the authority of a priest. The throes of
+the New Birth harrow up the mind of the Methodist, and give it that
+frenzied energy of despair, which often settles into the all-hoping,
+all-daring raptures of the enthusiast. The Catholic Saint suffers in
+all the passiveness of blind submission, till nature sinks exhausted,
+and reason gives way to a gentle, visionary madness. The natural
+powers of my mother’s intellect were strong enough to withstand,
+unimpaired, the enormous and constant pressure of religious fears in
+their most hideous shape. But, did I not deem reason the only gift of
+Heaven which fully compensates the evils of this present existence, I
+might have wished for its utter extinction in the first and dearest
+object of my natural affection. Had she become a visionary, she had
+ceased to be unhappy. But she possessed to the last an intellectual
+energy equal to any exertion, except one, which was not compatible
+with the influence of her country--that of looking boldly into the
+dark recess where lurked the phantoms that harassed and distressed
+her mind.
+
+“It would be difficult, indeed, to choose two fairer subjects for
+observing the effects of the religion of Spain. The results, in both,
+were lamentable, though certainly not the most mischievous it is apt
+to produce. In one, we see mental soberness and good sense degraded
+into timidity and indecision--unbounded goodness of heart, confined
+to the lowest range of benevolence. In the other, we mark talents of
+a superior kind, turned into the ingenious tormentors of a heart,
+whose main source of wretchedness was an exquisite sensibility to the
+beauty of virtue, and an insatiate ardour in treading the devious
+and thorny path it was made to take for the 'way which leadeth unto
+life.’--A bolder reason, in the first, (it will be said) and a reason
+less fluttered by sensibility, in the second, would have made those
+virtuous minds more cautious of yielding themselves up to the full
+influence of ascetic devotion. Is this, then, all that men are to
+expect from the unbounded promises of light, and the lofty claims
+of authority, which our religion holds forth? Is it thus, that,
+when, to obtain the protection of an infallible guide, we have, at
+his command, maimed and fast bound our reason, still a precipice
+yawns before our feet, from which none but that insulted reason can
+save us? Are we to call for her aid on the brink of despair and
+insanity, and then spurn our faithful, though injured friend, lest
+she should unlock our hand from that of our proud and treacherous
+leader? Often have I, from education, habit, and a misguided love of
+moral excellence, been guilty of that inconsistency, till frequent
+disappointment urged me to break my chains. Painful, indeed, and
+fierce was the struggle by which I gained my liberty, and doomed I am
+for ever to bear the marks of early bondage. But no power on earth
+shall make me again give up the guidance of my reason, till I can
+find a rule of conduct and belief that may safely be trusted, without
+wanting _reason_ itself to moderate and expound it.
+
+“The first and most anxious care of my parents was to sow abundantly
+the seeds of Christian virtue in my infant breast. In this, as in
+all their proceedings, they strictly followed the steps of those
+whose virtue had received the sanction of their church. Religious
+instruction was conveyed to my mind with the rudiments of speech; and
+if early impressions alone could be trusted for the future complexion
+of a child’s character, the music, and the splendid pageantry of
+the cathedral of Seville, which was to me the first scene of mental
+enjoyment, might, at this day, be the soundest foundation of my
+Catholic faith.
+
+“Divines have declared that moral responsibility begins at the age
+of seven, and, consequently, children of quick parts are not allowed
+to go much longer without the advantage of confession. My mind had
+scarcely attained the first climacteric, when I had the full benefit
+of absolution for such sins as my good mother, who acted as the
+accusing conscience, could discover in my _naughtiness_. The church,
+we know, cannot be wrong; but to say the honest truth, all her pious
+contrivances have, by a sad fatality, produced in me just the reverse
+of their aim. Though the clergyman who was to shrive this young
+sinner had mild, gentle, and affectionate manners, there is something
+in auricular confession which has revolted my feelings from the day
+when I first knelt before a priest, in childish simplicity, to the
+last time I have been forced to repeat that ceremony, as a protection
+to my life and liberty, with scorn and contempt in my heart.
+
+“Auricular confession, as a subject of theological controversy, is,
+probably, beneath the notice of many; but I could not easily allow
+the name of philosopher to any one who should look upon an inquiry
+into the moral influence of that religious practice, as perfectly
+void of interest. It has been observed, with great truth, that the
+most philanthropic man would feel more uneasiness in the expectation
+of having his little finger cut off, than in the assurance that
+the whole empire of China was to be swallowed up the next day by
+an earthquake. If ever, therefore, these lines should meet the eye
+of the public in some distant country (for ages must pass before
+they can see the light in Spain), I entreat my readers to beware of
+indifference about evils from which it is their happiness to be free,
+and to make a due allowance for the feelings which lead me into a
+short digression. They certainly cannot expect to be acquainted with
+Spain without a sufficient knowledge of the powerful moral engines
+which are at work in that country; and they will, perhaps, find that
+a Spanish priest may have something to say which is new to them on
+the subject of confession.
+
+“The effects of confession upon young minds are, generally,
+unfavourable to their future peace and virtue. It was to that
+practice I owed the first taste of remorse, while yet my soul was in
+a state of infant purity. My fancy had been strongly impressed with
+the awful conditions of the penitential law, and the word _sacrilege_
+had made me shudder on being told that the act of concealing any
+thought or action, the rightfulness of which I suspected, would make
+me guilty of that worst of crimes, and greatly increase my danger
+of everlasting torments. My parents had, in this case, done no more
+than their duty, according to the rules of their church. But, though
+they had succeeded in rousing my fear of hell, this was, on the other
+hand, too feeble to overcome a childish bashfulness, which made the
+disclosure of a harmless trifle, an effort above my strength.
+
+“The appointed day came at last, when I was to wait on the confessor.
+Now wavering, now determined not to be guilty of sacrilege, I knelt
+before the priest, leaving, however, in my list of sins, the last
+place to the hideous offence--I believe it was a petty larceny
+committed on a young bird. But, when I came to the dreaded point,
+shame and confusion fell upon me, and the accusation stuck in my
+throat. The imaginary guilt of this silence haunted my mind for four
+years, gathering horrors at every successive confession, and rising
+into an appalling spectre, when, at the age of twelve, I was taken
+to receive the sacrament. In this miserable state I continued till,
+with the advance of reason, I plucked, at fourteen, courage enough
+to unburthen my conscience by a general confession of the past. And
+let it not be supposed that mine is a singular case, arising either
+from morbid feeling or the nature of my early education. Few, indeed,
+among the many penitents I have examined, have escaped the evils
+of a similar state; for, what a silly bashfulness does in children,
+is often, in after-life, the immediate effect of that shame by
+which fallen frailty clings still to wounded virtue. The necessity
+of confession, seen at a distance, is lighter than a feather in
+the balance of desire; while, at a subsequent period, it becomes
+a punishment on delicacy--an instrument to blunt the moral sense,
+by multiplying the subjects of remorse, and directing its greatest
+terrors against imaginary crimes.
+
+“These evils affect, nearly equally, the two sexes; but there are
+some that fall peculiarly to the lot of the softer. Yet the remotest
+of all--at least, as long as the Inquisition shall exist--is the
+danger of direct seduction by the priest. The formidable powers
+of that odious tribunal have been so skilfully arrayed against
+the abuse of sacramental trust, that few are found base and blind
+enough to make the confessional a _direct_ instrument of debauch.
+The strictest delicacy, however, is, I believe, inadequate fully to
+oppose the demoralizing tendency of auricular confession. Without the
+slightest responsibility, and, not unfrequently, in the conscientious
+discharge of what he believes his duty, the confessor conveys to
+the female mind the first foul breath which dims its virgin purity.
+He, undoubtedly, has a right to interrogate upon subjects which are
+justly deemed awkward even for maternal confidence; and it would
+require more than common simplicity to suppose that a discretionary
+power of this nature, left in the hands of thousands--men beset with
+more than common temptations to abuse it--will generally be exercised
+with proper caution. But I will no longer dwell upon this subject for
+the present. Men of unprejudiced minds will easily conjecture what I
+leave unsaid; while to shew a hope of convincing such as have made a
+full and irrevocable surrender of their judgment, were only to libel
+my own.
+
+“From the peculiar circumstances of my country, the training of my
+mental faculties was an object of little interest with my parents.
+There could be scarcely any doubt in the choice of a line of life
+for me; who was the eldest of four children. My father’s fortune was
+improving; and I might help and succeed him with advantage to myself
+and two sisters. It was, therefore, in my father’s counting-house,
+that, under the care of an old trusty clerk, I learned writing and
+arithmetic. To be a perfect stranger to literature is not, even now,
+a disgrace among the better class of Spaniards. But my mother, whose
+pride, though greatly subdued, was never conquered by devotion,
+felt anxious that, since, from prudential motives, I was doomed to
+be buried for life in a counting-house, a little knowledge of Latin
+should distinguish me from a mere mercantile drudge. A private
+teacher was accordingly procured, who read with me in the evening,
+after I had spent the best part of the day in making copies of the
+extensive correspondence of the house.
+
+“I was now about ten years old, and though, from a child, excessively
+fond of reading, my acquaintance with books did not extend beyond a
+history of the Old Testament--a collection of the Lives of the Saints
+mentioned in the Catholic Almanack, out of which I chose the Martyrs,
+for modern saints were never to my taste--a little work that gave
+an amusing miracle of the Virgin for every day of the year[10]--and
+prized above all, a Spanish translation of Fenelon’s Telemachus,
+which I perused till I had nearly learned it by heart. I heard,
+therefore, with uncommon pleasure, that, in acquiring a knowledge of
+Latin, I should have to read stories not unlike that of my favourite
+the Prince of Ithaca. Little time, however, was allowed me for study,
+lest, from my love of learning, I should conceive a dislike to
+mercantile pursuits. But my mind had taken a decided bent. I hated
+the counting-house, and loved my books. Learning and the church were,
+to me, inseparable ideas; and I soon declared to my mother that I
+would be nothing but a clergyman.
+
+  [10] See Note C.
+
+“This declaration roused the strongest prejudices of her mind and
+heart, which cold prudence had only damped into acquiescence. To have
+a son who shall daily hold in his hands the real body of Christ, is
+an honour, a happiness which raises the humblest Spanish woman into
+a self-complacent consequence that attends her through life. What,
+then, must be the feelings of one who, to the strongest sense of
+devotion, joins the hope of seeing the dignities and emoluments of
+a rich and proud Church bestowed upon a darling child? The Church,
+besides, by the law of celibacy, averts that mighty terror of a
+fond mother--a wife, who, sooner or later, is to draw away her
+child from home. A boy, therefore, who at the age of ten or twelve,
+dazzled either by the gaudy dress of an officiating priest--by the
+importance he sees others acquire, when the bishop confers upon
+them the clerical tonsure--or by any other delusion of childhood,
+declares his intention of taking orders, seldom, very seldom escapes
+the heavy chain which the Church artfully hides under the tinsel of
+honours, and the less flimsy, though also less attainable splendour
+of her gold. Such a boy, among the poor, is infallibly plunged into
+a convent; if he belongs to the gentry, he is destined to swell the
+ranks of the secular clergy.
+
+“It is true that, in all ages and countries, the leading events
+of human life are inseparably linked with some of the slightest
+incidents of childhood. But this fact, instead of an apology, affords
+the heaviest charge against the crafty and barbarous system of laying
+snares, wherein unsuspecting innocence may, at the very entrance of
+life, lose every chance of future peace, happiness and virtue. To
+allow a girl of sixteen to bind herself, for ever, with vows--not
+only under the awful, though distant guardianship of heaven, but the
+odious and immediate superintendence of man--ranks, indeed, with
+the most hideous abuses of superstition. The law of celibacy, it is
+true, does not bind the secular clergy till the age of twenty-one;
+but this is neither more nor less than a mockery of common sense,
+in the eyes of those who practically know how frivolous is that
+latitude.[11] A man has seldom the means to embrace, or the aptitude
+to exercise a profession for which he has not been trained from
+early youth. It is absurd and cruel to pretend that a young man,
+whose best ten or twelve years have been spent in preparation for
+orders, is at full liberty to turn his back upon the Church when he
+has arrived at one-and-twenty. He may, indeed, preserve his liberty;
+but to do so he must forget that most of his patrimony has been laid
+out on his education, that he is too old for a cadetship in the
+army, too poor for commerce, and too proud for a petty trade. He
+must behold, unmoved, the tears of his parents; and, casting about
+for subsistence, in a country where industry affords no resource,
+love, the main cause of these struggles, must content itself with
+bare possible lawfulness, and bid adieu to the hope of possession.
+Wherever unnatural privations make not a part of the clerical duty,
+many may find themselves in the Church who might be better elsewhere.
+But no great effort is wanted to make them happy in themselves, and
+useful to the community. Not so under the unfeeling tyranny of our
+ecclesiastical law. For, where shall we find that virtue which,
+having Nature herself for its enemy, and misery for its meed, will
+be able to extend its care to the welfare of others?--As to myself,
+the tenour and colour of my life were fixed the moment I expressed my
+childish wish of being a clergyman. The love of knowledge, however,
+which betrayed me into the path of wretchedness, has never forsaken
+its victim. It is probable that I could not have found happiness in
+uneducated ignorance. Scanty and truly hard-earned as it is the store
+on which my mind feeds itself, I would not part with it for a whole
+life of unthinking pleasure: and since the necessity of circumstances
+left me no path to mental enjoyment, except that I have so painfully
+trodden, I hail the moment when I entered it, and only bewail the
+fatality which fixed my birth in a Catholic country.
+
+  [11] The secular clergy are not bound by vows. Celibacy is
+  enforced upon them by a law which makes their marriage illegal,
+  and punishable by the Ecclesiastical Courts.
+
+“The order of events would here require an account of the system of
+Spanish education, and its first effects upon my mind; but, since I
+speak of myself only to shew the state of my country, I shall proceed
+with the moral influence, that, without interruption, I may present
+the facts relating severally to the heart and intellect, in as large
+masses as the subject permits.
+
+“The Jesuits, till the abolition of that order, had an almost
+unrivalled influence over the better classes of Spaniards. They had
+nearly monopolized the instruction of the Spanish youth, at which
+they toiled without pecuniary reward; and were equally zealous in
+promoting devotional feelings both among their pupils and the people
+at large. It is well known that the most accurate division of labour
+was observed in the allotment of their various employments. Their
+candidates, who, by a refinement of ecclesiastical policy, after an
+unusually long probation, were bound by vows, which, depriving them
+of liberty, yet left a discretionary power of ejection in the order;
+were incessantly watched by the penetrating eye of the master of
+novices: a minute description of their character and peculiar turn
+was forwarded to the superiors, and at the end of the noviciate,
+they were employed to the advantage of the community, without ever
+thwarting the natural bent of the individual, or diverting his
+natural powers by a multiplicity of employments. Wherever, as in
+France and Italy, literature was in high estimation, the Jesuits
+spared no trouble to raise among themselves men of eminence in
+that department. In Spain, their chief aim was to provide their
+houses with popular preachers, and zealous, yet prudent and gentle,
+confessors. Pascal, and the Jansenist party, of which he was the
+organ, accused them of systematic laxity in their moral doctrines:
+but the charge, I believe, though plausible in theory, was perfectly
+groundless in practice. If, indeed, ascetic virtue could ever be
+divested of its connatural evil tendency--if a system of moral
+perfection that has for its basis, however disavowed and disguised,
+the Manichæan doctrine of the two principles, could be applied with
+any partial advantage as a rule of conduct, it was so in the hands
+of the Jesuits. The strict, unbending maxims of the Jansenists, by
+urging persons of all characters and tempers to an imaginary goal
+of perfection, bring quickly their whole system to the decision of
+experience. They are like those enthusiasts who, venturing upon the
+practice of some Gospel sayings, in the literal sense, have made
+the absurdity of that interpretation as clear as noon-day light. A
+greater knowledge of mankind made the Jesuits more cautious in the
+culture of devotional feelings. They well knew that but few can
+prudently engage in open hostility with what in ascetic language is
+called the world. They now and then trained up a sturdy champion,
+who, like their founder Loyóla, might provoke the enemy to single
+combat with honour to his leaders; but the crowd of mystic combatants
+were made to stand upon a kind of jealous truce, which, in spite of
+all care, often produced some jovial meetings of the advanced parties
+on both sides. The good fathers came forward, rebuked their soldiers
+back into the camp, and filled up the place of deserters by their
+indefatigable industry in engaging recruits.
+
+“The influence of the Jesuits on the Spanish morals, from every
+thing I have learned, was undoubtedly favourable. Their kindness
+attracted the youth from the schools to their company: and, though
+this intimacy was often employed in making proselytes to the order,
+it also contributed to the preservation of virtue in that slippery
+age, both by the ties of affection, and the gentle check of example.
+Their churches were crowded every Sunday with regular attendants,
+who came to confess and receive the sacrament. The practice of
+choosing a certain priest, not only to be the occasional confessor,
+but _director of the conscience_, was greatly encouraged by the
+Jesuits. The ultimate effects of this surrender of the judgment are,
+indeed, dangerous and degrading; but, in a country where the darkest
+superstition is constantly impelling the mind into the opposite
+extremes of religious melancholy and profligacy, weak persons are
+sometimes preserved from either by the friendly assistance of a
+prudent _director_; and the Jesuits were generally well qualified for
+that office. Their conduct was correct, and their manners refined.
+They kept up a dignified intercourse with the middling and higher
+classes, and were always ready to help and instruct the poor, without
+descending to their level. Since the expulsion of the Jesuits, the
+better classes, for the most part, avoid the company of monks and
+friars, except in an official capacity; while the lower ranks, from
+which these professional saints are generally taken, and where they
+re-appear, raised, indeed, into comparative importance, but grown
+bolder in grossness and vice, suffer more from their influence than
+they would by being left without any religious ministers.[12]
+
+  [12] See note D.
+
+“Since the abolition of the Jesuits, their devotional system has been
+kept up, though upon a much narrower scale, by the congregations
+of Saint Philip Neri (_l’Oratoire_, in France), an Italian of the
+sixteenth century, who established voluntary associations of secular
+clergymen, living together under an easy rule, but without monastic
+vows, in order to devote themselves to the support of piety. The
+number, however, of these associated priests is so small, that,
+notwithstanding their zeal and their studied imitation of the
+Jesuits, they are but a faint shadow of that surprising institution.
+Yet these priests alone have inherited the skill of Loyóla’s
+followers in the management of the ascetic contrivance, which,
+invented by that ardent fanatic, is still called, from his Christian
+name, _Exercises of Saint Ignatius_. As it would be impossible
+to sketch the history of my mind and heart without noticing the
+influence of that powerful engine, I cannot omit a description of
+the establishment kept by the _Philippians_ at Seville--the most
+complete of its kind that probably has ever existed.
+
+“The _Exercises of Saint Ignatius_ are a series of meditations on
+various religious subjects, so artificially disposed, that the mind
+being at first thrown into distressing horror, may be gradually
+raised to hope, and finally soothed, not into a certainty of Divine
+favour, but a timid consciousness of pardon. Ten consecutive days
+are passed in perfect abstraction from all wordly pursuits. The
+persons who submit to this spiritual discipline, leave their homes
+for rooms allotted to them in the religious house where the Exercises
+are to be performed, and yield themselves up to the direction of the
+president. The priest, who for nearly thirty years has been acting in
+that capacity at Seville, enjoys such influence over the wealthy part
+of the town, that, not satisfied with the temporary accommodation
+which his convent afforded to the pious guests, he can now lodge
+the Exercitants in a separate building, with a chapel annexed,
+and every requisite for complete abstraction, during the days of
+their retirement. Six or eight times in the year the Exercises
+are performed by different sets of fifty persons each. The utmost
+precision and regularity are observed in the distribution of their
+time. Roused by a large bell at five in the morning, they immediately
+assemble in the chapel to begin the meditation appointed for the
+day. At their meals they observe a deep silence; and no intercourse,
+even among each other, is permitted, except during one hour in
+the evening. The settled gloom of the house, the almost incessant
+reading and meditation upon subjects which, from their vagueness
+and infinitude, harass and bewilder the fancy, and that powerful
+sympathetic influence, which affects assemblies where all are intent
+on the same object and bent on similar feelings, render this house a
+modern cave of Trophonius, within whose dark cells cheerfulness is
+often extinguished for ever.
+
+“Unskilful, indeed, must be the hand that, possessed of this engine,
+can fail to subdue the stoutest mind in which there lurks a particle
+of superstitious fear. But Father Vega is one of those men who are
+born to command a large portion of their fellow creatures, either by
+the usual means, or some contrivance of their own. The expulsion of
+the Jesuits during his probationship in that order, denied him the
+ample field on which his early views had been fixed. After a course
+of theological studies at the University, he became a member of the
+_Oratorio_, and soon attracted the notice of the whole town by his
+preaching. His active and bold mind combines qualities seldom found
+in the same individual. Clear-headed, resolute, and ambitious, the
+superstitious feelings which melt him into tears whenever he performs
+the Mass, have not in the least impaired the mental daringness he
+originally owes to nature. Though seldom mixing in society, he is a
+perfect man of the world. Far from compromising his lofty claims
+to respect, he flatters the proudest nobles of his spiritual train
+by well-timed bursts of affected rudeness, which, being a mere
+display of spiritual authority, perfectly consistent with a full
+acknowledgment of their worldly rank and dignity, give them, in the
+eyes of the more humble bystanders, the additional merit of Christian
+condescension. As an instance of this, I recollect his ordering the
+Marquis del Pedroso, one of the haughtiest men in this town, to
+fetch up-stairs from the chapel, a heavy gold frame set with jewels,
+in which the Host is exhibited, for the inspection of the company
+during the hour of recreation allowed in the Exercises. No man
+ever shewed such assurance and consciousness of Heaven’s delegated
+authority as Father Vega, in the Confessional. He reads the heart of
+his penitent--impresses the mind with the uselessness of disguise,
+and relieves shame by a strong feeling that he has anticipated
+disclosure. In preaching, his vehemence rivets the mind of the
+hearers; a wild luxuriance of style engages them with perpetual
+variety; expectation is kept alive by the remembered flashes of
+his wit; while the homely, and even coarse, expressions he allows
+himself, when he feels the whole audience already in his power, give
+him that air of superiority which seems to set no bounds to the
+freedom of manner.
+
+“It is however, in his private chapel that Father Vega has prepared
+the grand scene of his triumphs over the hearts of his audience.
+Twice every day, during the Exercises, he kneels for the space of
+one hour, surrounded by his congregation. Day-light is excluded, and
+a candle is so disposed in a shade that, without breaking the gloom
+of the chapel, it shines on a full-length sculpture of Christ nailed
+to the Cross, who, with a countenance where exquisite suffering is
+blended with the most lovely patience, seems to be on the point
+of moving his lips to say--“Father, forgive them!” The mind is at
+first allowed to dwell, in the deepest silence, on the images and
+sentiments with which previous reading has furnished it, till the
+Director, warmed with meditation, breaks forth in an impressive
+voice, not, however, addressing himself to his hearers, from whom
+he appears completely abstracted, but pouring out his heart in
+the presence of the Deity. Silence ensues after a few sentences,
+and not many minutes elapse without a fresh ejaculation. But the
+fire gradually kindles into a flame. The addresses grow longer and
+more impassioned; his voice, choked with sobs and tears, struggles
+painfully for utterance, till the stoutest hearts are forced to yield
+to the impression, and the chapel resounds with sighs and groans.
+
+“I cannot but shudder at the recollection that my mind was made to
+undergo such an ordeal at the age of fifteen; for it is a custom
+of the diocese of Seville to prepare the candidates for orders
+by the Exercises of Saint Ignatius; and even those who are to be
+incorporated with the clergy by the ceremony of the _First Tonsure_,
+are not easily spared this trial. I was grown up a timid, docile,
+yet ardent boy. My soul, as I have already mentioned, had been early
+made to taste the bitterness of remorse, and I now eagerly embraced
+the offer of those expiatory rites which, as I fondly thought, were
+to restore lost innocence, and keep me for ever in the straight path
+of virtue. The shock, however, which my spirits felt, might have
+unnerved me for life, and reduced my faculties to a state little
+short of imbecility, had I not received from nature, probably as a
+compensation for a too soft and yielding heart, an understanding
+which was born a rebel. Yet, I cannot tell whether it was my heart
+or my head, that, in spite of a frighted fancy, endued me with
+resolution to baffle the blind zeal of my confessor, when, finding,
+during these Exercises, that I knew the existence of a prohibited
+book in the possession of a student of divinity, who, out of mere
+good nature, assisted my early studies; he commanded me to accuse
+my friend before the Inquisition. Often have I been betrayed into a
+wrong course of thinking, by a desire to assimilate myself to those I
+loved, and thus enjoy that interchange of sentiment which forms the
+luxury of friendship. But even the chains of love, the strongest I
+know within the range of nature, could never hold me, the moment I
+conceived that error had bound them. This, however, brings me to the
+history of my mind.
+
+“An innate love of truth, which shewed itself on the first
+developement of my reason, and a consequent perseverance in the
+pursuit of it to the extent of my knowledge, that has attended me
+through life, saved me from sinking into the dregs of Aristotelic
+philosophy, which, though discountenanced by the Spanish government,
+are still collected in a few filthy pools, fed by the constant
+exertions of the Dominicans. Unfortunately for me, these monks have
+a richly endowed college at Seville, where they give lectures on
+Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, to a few young men whom they recruit
+at the expense of flattering their parents. My father’s confessor
+was a Dominican, and he marked me for a divine of his own school.
+My mother, whose heart was with the Jesuits, would fain have sent
+me to the University, where the last remnant of their pupils
+still held the principal chairs. But she was informed by the wily
+monk, that _heresy_ had began to creep among the new professors
+of philosophy--heresy of such a horrible tendency, that it nearly
+amounted to polytheism. The evidence on which this charge was
+grounded, seemed, indeed, irresistible; for you had only to open the
+second volume of one Altieri, a Neapolitan friar, whose Elements
+of philosophy are still used as a class-book at the University of
+Seville, and you would find, in the first pages, that he makes
+_space_ uncreated, infinite, and imperishable. From such premises the
+consequence was evident; the new philosophers were clearly setting up
+a rival deity.
+
+“With the usual preparation of a little Latin, but in absolute want
+of all elementary instruction, I was sent to begin a course of logic
+at the Dominican college. My desire of learning was great indeed; but
+the _Categoriæ ad mentem Divi Thomæ Aquinatis_, in a large quarto
+volume, were unsavoury food for my mind, and, after a few vain
+efforts to conquer my aversion, I ended in never opening the dismal
+book. Yet, untrained as I was to reading, books were necessary to
+my happiness. In any other country I should have met with a variety
+of works, which, furnishing my mind with facts and observations,
+might have led me into some useful or agreeable pursuit. But in
+Spain, the chances of lighting on a good book are so few, that I must
+reckon my acquaintance with one that could open my mind, among the
+fortunate events of my life. A near relation of mine, a lady, whose
+education had been superior to that commonly bestowed on Spanish
+females, possessed a small collection of Spanish and French books.
+Among these were the works of Don Fray Benito Feyjoo, a Benedictine
+monk, who, rising above the intellectual level of his country, about
+the beginning of the present (18th) century, had the boldness to
+attack every established error which was not under the immediate
+patronage of religion. His mind was endowed with extraordinary
+clearness and acuteness; and having, by an extensive reading of Latin
+and French works, acquired a great mass of information on physical
+and historical subjects, he displayed it, with peculiar felicity of
+expression, in a long series of discourses and letters, forming a
+work of fourteen large closely printed volumes.[13]
+
+  [13] Feyjoo died in 1765. Several of his Essays were published in
+  English by John Brett, Esq. 1780.
+
+“It was not without difficulty that I obtained leave to try whether
+my mind, which had hitherto lain a perfect waste, was strong enough
+to understand and relish Feyjoo. But the contents of his pages came
+like the spring showers upon a thirsty soil. A man’s opinion of the
+first work he read when a boy, cannot safely be trusted; but, to
+judge from the avidity with which at the age of fifteen I devoured
+fourteen volumes on miscellaneous subjects, and the surprising
+impulse they gave to my yet unfolded faculties, Feyjoo must be a
+writer who deserves more notice than he has ever obtained from his
+countrymen. If I can trust my recollection, he had deeply imbibed
+the spirit of Lord Bacon’s works, together with his utter contempt
+of the absurd philosophy which has been universally taught in Spain,
+till the last third of the eighteenth century. From Bayle, Feyjoo had
+learned caution in weighing historical evidence, and an habitual
+suspicion of the numberless opinions which, in countries unpurified
+by the wholesome gales of free contending thought, are allowed to
+range unmolested, for ages, with the same claim to the rights of
+prescription as frogs and insects have to their stagnant pools. In
+a pleasing and popular style, Feyjoo acquainted his countrymen with
+whatever discoveries in experimental philosophy had been made by
+Boyle at that time. He declared open war against quackery of all
+kinds. Miracles and visions which had not received the sanction of
+the Church of Rome did not escape the scrutinizing eye of the bold
+Benedictine. Such, in fact, was the alarm produced by his works
+on the all-believing race for whom he wrote, that nothing but the
+patronage of Ferdinand VI. prevented his being silenced with the
+_ultima ratio_ of Spanish divines--the Inquisition.
+
+“Had the power of Aladdin’s lamp placed me within the richest
+subterraneous palace described in the Arabian Nights, it could not
+have produced the raptures I experienced from the intellectual
+treasure of which I now imagined myself the master. Physical strength
+developes itself so gradually, that few, I am inclined to think,
+derive pleasure from a sudden start of bodily vigour. But my mind,
+like a young bird in the nest, had lived unconscious of its wings,
+till this unexpected leader had, by his boldness, allured it into
+flight. From a state of mere animal life, I found myself at once
+possessed of the faculty of thinking; and I can scarcely conceive,
+that the soul, emerging after death into a higher rank of existence,
+shall feel and try its new powers with a keener delight. My
+knowledge, it is true, was confined to a few physical and historical
+facts; but I had, all at once, learned to reason, to argue, to
+doubt. To the surprise and alarm of my good relatives, I had been
+changed within a few weeks, into a sceptic who, without questioning
+religious subjects, would not allow any one of their settled notions
+to pass for its current value. My mother, with her usual penetration,
+perceived the new tendency of my mind, and thanked Heaven, in my
+presence, that Spain was my native country; ‘else,’ she said, ‘he
+would soon quit the pale of the church.’
+
+“The main advantage, however, which I owed to my new powers, was a
+speedy emancipation from the Aristotelic school of the Dominicans.
+I had, sometimes, dipped into the second volume of their Elements
+of Philosophy, and had found, to my utter dismay, that they denied
+the existence of a _vacuum_--one of my then favourite doctrines--and
+attributed the ascent of liquids by suction, to the horror of nature
+at being wounded and torn. Now, it so happened that Feyjoo had given
+me the clearest notions on the theory of the sucking-pump, and the
+relative gravity of air and water. Nothing, therefore, could equal my
+contempt of those monks, who still contended for the whole system of
+sympathies and antipathies. A reprimand from the reverend Professor
+of Logic, for my utter inattention to his lectures, sprung, at
+length, the mine which, charged with the first scraps of learning,
+and brimful of boyish conceit, had long been ready to explode.
+
+“Had the friar remonstrated with me in private, my habitual timidity
+would have sealed up my lips. But he rated me before the whole class,
+and my indignation fired up at such an indignity. Rising from my seat
+with a courage so new to me that it seemed to be inspired, I boldly
+declared my determination not to burden and pervert my mind with the
+absurdities that were taught in their schools. Being asked, with a
+sarcastic smile, which were the doctrines that had thus incurred
+my disapprobation, I visibly surprised the Professor--no bright
+genius himself--with the theory of the sucking-pump, and actually
+nonplus’d him on the mighty question of _vacuum_. To be thus bearded
+by a stripling, was more than his professional humility could bear.
+He bade me thank my family for not being that moment turned out of
+the lecture-room; assuring me, however, that my father should be
+acquainted with my impertinence in the course of that day. Yet I
+must do justice to his good-nature and moderation in checking the
+students, who wished to serve me, like Sancho, with a blanketing.
+
+“Before the threatened message could reach my father, I had, with
+great rhetorical skill, engaged maternal pride and fear, in my
+favour. In what colours the friar may have painted my impudence,
+I neither learned nor cared: for my mother, whose dislike of the
+Dominicans, as the enemies of the Jesuits, had been roused by the
+public reprimand of the Professor, took the whole matter into her
+hands, and before the end of the week, I heard, with raptures, that
+my name was to be entered at the University.
+
+“Having thus luckily obtained the object of my wishes, I soon
+retrieved my character for industry, and received the public thanks
+of my new Professor. What might have been my progress under a better
+system than that of a Spanish university, vanity will probably not
+allow me to judge with fairness. I will, therefore, content myself
+with laying a sketch of that system before the reader.
+
+“The Spanish universities had continued in a state worthy of the
+thirteenth century till the year 1770, when the Marquis of Roda, a
+favourite minister of Charles III., gave them an amended plan of
+studies, which though far below the level of knowledge over the rest
+of Europe, seems at least to recognise the progress of the human
+mind since the revival of letters. The present plan forbids the
+study of the Aristotelic philosophy, and attempts the introduction
+of the inductive system of Bacon; but is shamefully deficient, in
+the department of literature. Three years successive attendance in
+the schools of logic, natural philosophy, and metaphysics, is the
+only requisite for a master’s degree; and, though the examinations
+are both long and severe, few of the Spanish universities have yet
+altered the old statute which obliges the candidates to draw their
+Theses from Aristotle’s logic and physics, and to deliver a long
+discourse upon one chapter of each; thus leaving their daily lectures
+perfectly at variance with the final examinations. Besides these
+preparatory schools, every university has three or four professors
+of divinity, as many of civil and canon law, and seldom less of
+medicine. The students are not required to live in colleges. There
+are, however, establishments of this kind for undergraduates; but
+being, for the most part, intended for a limited number of poor boys,
+they make no part of the Academic system. Yet some of these colleges
+have, by a strange combination of circumstances, risen to such a
+height of splendour and influence, that I must digress into a short
+sketch of their history.
+
+“The original division of Spanish colleges into _minor_ and _major_,
+arose from the branches of learning for which they were intended.
+Grammar and rhetoric alone were taught in the first; divinity, law,
+and medicine, in the last. Most of the _Colegios Mayores_ were, by
+papal bulls and royal decrees, erected into _universities_, where,
+besides the fellows, students might repair daily to hear the public
+lectures, and finally take their degrees. Thus the university of
+this town (Seville) was, till lately, attached to this college, the
+rector or head of which elected annually by the fellows, was, by
+virtue of his office, rector of the university. This, and the great
+colleges of Castille, enjoying similar privileges, but far exceeding
+ours in wealth and influence, formed the literary aristocracy of
+Spain. Though the statutes gave no exclusion to plebeians, the
+circumstances required in the candidates for fellowships, together
+with the _esprit de corps_ which actuated the electors, confined such
+places to the _noblesse_. Anxious to increase their influence, none
+of the six great colleges of Spain could ever be induced to elect
+any one who was not connected with some of the best families. This,
+however, was but a prudential step, to avoid the public disgrace to
+which the _pruebas_, or interrogatories relative to _blood_, might
+otherwise expose the candidates. One of the fellows was, and is still
+at Seville, according to the statutes, to repair to the birth-place
+of the parents of the elected member, as well as to those of his
+two grandfathers and grandmothers--except when any of them is a
+foreigner, a circumstance which prevents the journey, though not
+the inquiry--in order to examine upon oath, from fifteen to thirty
+witnesses at each place. These, either from their own knowledge,
+or the current report of the town, must swear that the ancestor in
+question never was a menial servant, a shopkeeper or petty tradesman;
+a mechanic; had neither himself, nor any of his relations, been
+punished by the Inquisition, nor was descended from Jews, Moors,
+Africans, Indians, or Guanchos, _i. e._ the aborigines of the Canary
+Islands. It is evident that none but the hereditary gentry could
+expose themselves to this ordeal: and as the pride of the reporter,
+together with the character of his college, were highly interested
+in the purity of blood of every member, no room was left for the
+evasions commonly resorted to for the admission of knights in the
+military orders.
+
+“Thus, in the course of years, the six great colleges[14] could
+command the influence of the first Spanish families all over the
+kingdom. It was, besides, a point of honour among such as had
+obtained a fellowship, never to desert the interest of their college:
+and, as every cathedral in Spain has three canonries, which must be
+obtained by a literary competition, of which the canons themselves
+are the judges, wherever a _Colegial Mayor_ had obtained a stall,
+he was able to secure a strong party to any one of his college who
+should offer himself as a champion at those literary jousts. The
+chapters, on the other hand, were generally inclined to strengthen
+their own importance by the accession of people of rank, leaving poor
+and unknown scholars to grovel in their native obscurity. No place of
+honour in the church and law was left unoccupied by the _collegians_:
+and even the distribution which those powerful bodies made of their
+members--as if not only all the best offices and situations, but
+even a choice of them, were in their hands--was no secret to the
+country at large. Fellows in orders, who possessed abilities, were
+kept in reserve for the literary _competitions_. Such as could not
+appear to advantage at those public trials were, by means of court
+favour, provided for with stalls in the wealthiest cathedrals. The
+absolutely dull and ignorant were made _inquisitors_, who, passing
+judgment in their secret halls, could not disgrace the college by
+their blunders. Medicine not being in honour, there were no fellows
+of that profession. The lay members of the major colleges belonged
+exclusively to the law, but they would never quit their fellowships
+except for a place among the judges. Even in the present low ebb of
+collegiate influence, the College of Seville would disown any of the
+fellows who should act as a mere advocate.
+
+  [14] There exist in Spain some other colleges which are also
+  called _mayores_; but none, except four at Salamanca, one at
+  Valladolid, and one at Seville, were reckoned as a part of the
+  literary aristocracy of the country. None but these had the
+  privilege of referring all their interests and concerns to a
+  committee of the supreme council of the nation, expressly named
+  for that purpose.
+
+“While the colleges were still at the height of their power, a young
+lawyer offered himself for one of the fellowships at Salamanca,
+and was disdainfully rejected for want of sufficient proofs of
+_noblesse_. By an extraordinary combination of circumstances, the
+offended candidate rose to be prime minister of state, under Charles
+III., with the title of Marquis of Roda. The extraordinary success
+he had met with in public life, could not, however, heal the wound
+his pride had received in his youth. But, besides the inducement of
+his private feelings, he seems to have been an enemy to all influence
+which was not exerted by the king and his ministers. Two powerful
+bodies, the Jesuits and the colleges, engrossed so forcibly, and,
+I may say, painfully, his attention, that it was wittily observed,
+‘that the spectacles he wore had painted glasses, one representing a
+Jesuit, the other a collegian’--and thus allowed him to see nothing
+else. The destruction to which he had doomed them was, at length,
+accomplished by his means. His main triumph was, indeed, over the
+Jesuits: yet his success against the colleges, though certainly less
+splendid, was the more gratifying to his personal feelings. The
+method he employed in the downfall of the last is not unworthy of
+notice, both for its perfect simplicity, and the light it throws upon
+the state and character of the country. Having the whole patronage
+of the Crown in his hands, he placed, within a short time, all the
+existing members of the Salamanca colleges, in the most desirable
+situations both of the church and law, filling their vacancies with
+young men of no family. Thus the bond of collegiate influence was
+suddenly snapped asunder: the old members disowned their successors;
+and such as a few days before looked upon a fellowship as an object
+of ambition, would have felt mortified at the sight of a relative
+wearing the gown of a _reformed_ college. The _Colegio Mayor_ of
+Seville was attacked by other means. Without enforcing the admission
+of the unprivileged classes, the minister, by an arbitrary order,
+deprived it of its right to confer degrees. The convocation of
+doctors and masters was empowered to elect their own rector, and
+name professors for the schools, which were subsequently opened to
+the public in one of the deserted houses that had belonged to the
+Jesuits. Such is the origin of the university where I received my
+education.
+
+“Slight, however, are the advantages which a young mind can derive
+from academical studies in Spain. To expect a rational system of
+education where the Inquisition is constantly on the watch to keep
+the human mind within the boundaries which the Church of Rome, with
+her host of divines, has set to its progress; would shew a perfect
+ignorance of the character of our religion. Thanks to the league
+between our church and state, the Catholic divines have nearly
+succeeded in keeping down knowledge to their own level. Even such
+branches of science as seem least connected with religion, cannot
+escape the theological rod; and the spirit which made Galileo
+recant upon his knees his discoveries in astronomy, still compels
+our professors to teach the Copernican system as an hypothesis.
+The truth is that, with Catholic divines, no one pursuit of the
+human mind is independent of religion. Since the first appearance
+of Christianity, its doctrines have ever been blended with the
+philosophical views of their teachers. The scriptures themselves,
+invaluable as they are in forming the moral character, frequently
+touch, by incident, upon subjects unconnected with their main
+object, and treat of nature and civil society according to the
+notions of a rude people in a very primitive period. Hence the
+encroachments of divines upon every branch of human knowledge,
+which are still supported by the hand of power in a great part of
+Europe, but in none so outrageously as in Spain. Astronomy must
+ask the inquisitors’ leave to see with her own eyes. Geography was
+long compelled to shrink before them. Divines were made the judges
+of Columbus’s plans of discovery, as well as to allot a species to
+the Americans. A spectre monk haunts the Geologist in the lowest
+cavities of the earth; and one of flesh and blood watches the steps
+of the philosopher on its surface. Anatomy is suspected, and watched
+closely, whenever she takes up the scalpel; and Medicine had many
+a pang to endure while endeavouring to expunge the use of bark and
+inoculation from the catalogue of mortal sins. You must not only
+believe what the Inquisition believes, but yield implicit faith
+to the theories and explanations of her divines. To acknowlege
+on the authority of Revelation, that mankind will rise from their
+graves, is not sufficient to protect the unfortunate Metaphysician,
+who should deny that man is a compound of two substances, one of
+which is naturally immortal. It was long a great obstacle to the
+rejection of the Aristotelic philosophy, that the _substantial
+forms_ of the schools were found an exceedingly convenient veil for
+the invisible work of _transubstantiation_; for our good divines
+shrewdly suspected, that if colour, taste, smell, and all the other
+properties of bodies were allowed to be mere _accidents_--the bare
+impressions on our sense of one variously modified substance--it
+might be plausibly urged that, in the consecrated Host, the body of
+Christ had been converted into bread, not the bread into that body.
+But it would be endless and tedious to trace all the links, of which
+the Inquisition has formed the chain that binds and weighs down the
+human mind among us. Acquiescence in the voluminous and multifarious
+creed of the Roman church is by no means sufficient for safety.
+A man who closes his work with the O. S. C. S. R. E. (_Omnia sub
+correctione Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ_) may yet rue the moment when he
+took pen in hand. Heterodoxy may be easily avoided in writing; but
+who can be sure that none of his periods _smacks of heresy_ (sapiens
+hæresim)--none of his sentences are of that uncouth species which is
+_apt to grate pious ears_ (piarum aurium offensivas)? Who then will
+venture upon the path of knowledge, where it leads straight to the
+Inquisition?[15]
+
+  [15] ... Il s’est établi dans Madrid un systême de liberté sur la
+  vente des productions, qui s’étend même à celles de la presse;
+  et que, pourvu que je ne parle en mes écrits ni de l’autorité,
+  ni du culte, ni de la politique, ni de la morale, ni des gens
+  en place, ni des corps en crédit, ni de l’Opera, ni des autres
+  spectacles, ni de personne qui tienne à quelque chose, je puis
+  tout imprimer librement, sous l’inspection de deux ou trois
+  censeurs.--_Marriage de Figaro, Act 5, Sc. 3_.
+
+“Yet such is the energy of the human mind, when once acquainted
+with its own powers, that the best organized system of intellectual
+tyranny, though so far successful as to prevent Spanish talent from
+bringing any fruit to maturity, fails most completely of checking its
+activity. Could I but accurately draw the picture of an ingenuous
+young mind struggling with the obstacles which Spanish education
+opposes to improvement--the alarm at the springing suspicions of
+being purposely betrayed into error--the superstitious fears that
+check its first longings after liberty--the honest and ingenious
+casuistry by which it encourages itself to leave the prescribed
+path--the maiden joy and fear of the first transgression--the
+rapidly-growing love of newly discovered truth, and consequent hatred
+of its tyrants--the final despair and wild phrenzy that possess it on
+finding its doom inevitable, on seeing with an appalling evidence,
+that its best exertions are lost, that ignorance, bigotry, and
+superstition claim and can enforce its homage--no plot of romance
+would be read with more interest by such as are not indifferent to
+the noblest concerns of mankind. As I cannot, however, present an
+animated picture, I shall proceed with a statement of facts.
+
+“An imperfect knowledge of logic and natural philosophy was all I
+acquired at the university before I began the study of divinity;
+and like most of my countrymen, I should have completed my studies
+without so much as suspecting the existence of elegant literature,
+had it not been for my acquaintance with an excellent young man, much
+my senior at the university, who, by his own unassisted industry, had
+made some progress in the study and imitation of the classics.[16]
+To him I owed my first acquaintance with Spanish poetry, and my
+earliest attempts at composition in my own language. My good fortune
+led me, but a short time after, to a member of the _Colegio Mayor_
+of this town--another self-improved man, whose extraordinary talents
+having enabled him, at the age of nineteen, to cast a gleam of good
+taste over the system of his own university of Osuna, made him
+subsequently, at Seville, the centre of a small club of students.[17]
+Through the influence of his genius, and the gratuitous assistance he
+gave them in their studies, some of his private pupils rose so far
+above the mass of their academical fellows, as to shew by the fair,
+though scanty, produce of their minds, the rich promise which the
+state of their country yearly blasts.
+
+  [16] Don Manuel Maria del Marmol.
+
+  [17] Don Manuel Maria de Arjona.
+
+“In all the Spanish universities with which I am acquainted, I
+have observed a similar struggle between enterprising genius and
+constituted ignorance. Valencia, Granada, the college of San
+Fulgencio at Murcia; Salamanca, above all, and Seville, the least
+among them; have exhibited symptoms of rebellion, arising from
+the undaunted ardour of some young members, who having opened for
+themselves a path to knowledge, would, at some time or other, make
+a desperate effort to allure the rising generation to follow their
+steps. The boldest champions in this hopeless contest, have generally
+started among the professors of moral philosophy. Government had
+confined them to the puny Elements of Jacquier and Heinnecius; but a
+mind once set on “the proper study of mankind,” must be weak indeed
+not to extend its views beyond the limits prescribed by the ignorance
+of a despot or his ministers. With alarm and consternation to the
+_white-tasselled_ heads,[18] and thrilling hopes to their secret
+enemies, connected series of Theses have of late appeared among us,
+which, in spite of the studied caution of their language, betrayed
+both their origin and tendency. Genuine offspring of the French
+school, the very turn of their phrases gave strong indications of a
+style formed in defiance of the Holy Inquisition. But these fits of
+restless impatience have only secured the yoke they were intended
+to loosen. I have visited Salamanca after the great defeat of the
+philosophical party, the strongest that ever was formed in Spain. A
+man of first-rate literary character among us,[19] whom merit and
+court favour had raised to one of the chief seats in the judicature
+of the country, but whom court caprice had, about this time, sent to
+rusticate at Salamanca, was doing me the honours of the place, when,
+approaching the convocation-hall of the university, we perceived the
+members of the faculty of divinity strolling about, while waiting for
+a meeting of their body. A runaway slave, still bearing the marks
+of the lash on his return, could not have shrunk more instinctively
+at the sight of the planters meeting at the council-room, than my
+friend did at the view of the cowls, ‘white, black, and grey,’ which
+partially hid the sleek faces of his offended masters. He had, it is
+true, been lucky enough to escape the imprisonment and subsequent
+penance in a monastery which was the sad lot of the chief of his
+routed party; but he himself was still suspected and watched closely.
+The rest of his friends, the flower of the university, had been kept
+for three or four years, in constant fear of their personal liberty,
+being often called before the secret tribunal to answer the most
+captious interrogatories about themselves and their acquaintance, but
+never put in possession of every count of the indictment. After this
+and a few such examples, we have, at last, perceived the folly of
+engaging in a desperate game, where no possible combination can, for
+the present, give the dissenting party a single chance of success.
+
+  [18] A coloured tassel on the cap is, in Spain, the peculiar
+  distinction of doctors and masters. _White_, denotes divinity:
+  green, canon law: crimson, civil law: yellow, medicine; and
+  blue, arts, i. e. philosophy. Those caps are worn only on public
+  occasions at the universities.
+
+  [19] Melendez Valdez.
+
+“French philosophy had not found its way to the university of
+Seville, at the time when I was studying divinity. Even the knowledge
+of the French language was a rare acquirement both among the
+professors and their hearers. I have mentioned, at the beginning of
+this sketch, that one of the few books which delighted my childhood
+was a Spanish translation of Telemachus. A fortunate incident had
+now thrown into my hands the original of my old favourite, and I
+attempted to understand a few lines by comparing them with the
+version. My success exceeded my hopes. Without either grammar or
+dictionary, I could, in a few weeks, read on: guessing a great deal,
+it is true, but visibly improving my knowledge of the idiom by
+comparing the force of unknown words in different passages. An odd
+volume of Racine’s tragedies was my next French book. Imperfectly as
+I must have understood that tender and elegant poet, his plays gave
+me so much pleasure, that by repeated readings I found myself able
+to understand French poetry. It was about this time that I made my
+invaluable acquaintance at our college. My friend had learned both
+French and Italian in a similar manner with myself. He was acquainted
+with one of the judges of our _Audiencia_, or provincial court of
+judicature, a man of great literary celebrity,[20] who possessed a
+very good library, from whence I was indulged with French books, as
+well as Italian; for by a little ingenuity and the analogy of my own
+language, I had also enabled myself to read the language of Petrarch.
+
+  [20] Don Juan Pablo Forner.
+
+“Hitherto I had never had courage enough to take a forbidden book in
+my hands. The excommunication impending over me by the words _ipso
+facto_, was indeed too terrific an object for my inexperienced mind.
+Delighted with my newly acquired taste for poetry and eloquence, I
+had never brooded over any religious doubts--or rather, sincerely
+adhering to the Roman Catholic law, which makes the examination of
+such doubts as great a crime as the denial of the article of belief
+they affect, I had always shrunk with terror from every heterodox
+suggestion. But my now intimate friend and guide had made canon law
+his profession. Ecclesiastical history, in which he was deeply
+versed, had, without weakening his Catholic principles, made him a
+pupil of that school of canonists who, both in Germany and France,
+having exposed the forgeries, by means of which papal power had made
+itself paramount to every human authority, were but too visibly
+disposed to a separation from Rome. My friend denied the existence
+of any power in the Church to inflict excommunication, without a
+declaratory sentence in consequence of the trial of the offender.
+Upon the strength of this doctrine, he made me read the ‘Discourses
+on Ecclesiastical History,’ by the Abbé Fleury--a work teeming with
+invective against monks and friars, doubts on modern miracles, and
+strictures on the virtues of modern saints. Eve’s heart, I confess,
+when
+
+    ----her rash hand in evil hour
+    Forth reaching to the fruit, she pluck’d, she ate,
+
+could not have beaten more convulsively than mine, as I opened the
+forbidden book. Vague fears and doubts haunted my conscience for many
+days. But my friend, besides being a sound Catholic, was a devout
+man. He had lately taken priest’s orders, and was now not only my
+literary but my spiritual director. His abilities and his affection
+to me had obtained a most perfect command over my mind, and it was
+not long before I could match him in mental boldness, on points
+unconnected with articles of faith.
+
+“This was, indeed, the happiest period of my life. The greatest
+part of my time, with the exception of that required for my daily
+attendance at the dull lectures of the divinity professors, was
+devoted to the French critics, André, Le Bossu, Batteux, Rollin, La
+Harpe, and many others of less note. The habit of analyzing language
+and ideas, which I acquired in the perusal of such works, soon led me
+to some of the French metaphysicians, especially Condillac.
+
+“It was the favourite amusement of myself and those constant
+associates of my youth that formed the knot of friends, of whom
+the often mentioned _Colegial Mayor_ was the centre and guide; to
+examine all our feelings, in order to resolve them into some general
+law, and trace them to their simple elements. This habit of analysis
+and generalization extended itself to the customs and habits of the
+country, and the daily incidents of life, till in the course of time
+it produced in me the deceitful, though not uncommon notion, that
+all knowledge is the result of developed principles, and gave me a
+distaste for every book that was not cast into a regular theory.
+
+“While I was thus amused and deceived by the activity of my mind,
+without endeavouring to give it the weight and steadiness which
+depends upon the knowledge of facts; Catholicism, with its ten
+thousand rules and practices, was mechanically keeping up the
+ill-contrived structure of devotion, which it had raised more in my
+fancy than my heart. It had now to contend, however, with an enemy
+whom nothing but fixed hope can keep within bounds--but religion had
+left me no hope. Instead of engaging love on her side, she had forced
+him into an inseparable league with immorality. I will not describe
+the misery that embittered my youth, and destroyed the peace of my
+maturer years--the struggles, perhaps the crimes, certainly the
+remorse, that were in me the consequence of the barbarous laws of my
+country. They are too intimately blended with _self_, too intricately
+entwined with the feelings of others, to be left exposed for ever to
+the cold indifference of the multitude. Whatever on this point is
+connected with the general state of Spain, has already been touched
+upon. Mine, indeed, is the lot of thousands. Often did I recoil at
+the approach of the moment when I was to bind myself for ever to the
+clerical profession, and as often my heart failed me at the sight of
+a mother in tears! It was no worldly interest--it was the eternal
+welfare of my soul, which she believed to depend on my following the
+call of Heaven, that made the best of mothers a snare to her dearest
+child. The persuasions of my confessor, and, above all, the happiness
+I experienced in restoring cheerfulness to my family, deluded me
+into the hope of preserving the same feeling through life. A very
+short time, however, was sufficient to open my eyes. The inexorable
+law that bound me, was the bitterest foe to my virtue. Yet devotion
+had not lost her power over my fancy, and I broke loose, more than
+once, from her thraldom, and was as often reclaimed, before the awful
+period which was to raise me to the priesthood.
+
+“If mental excitement, attended with the most thrilling and sublime
+sensations, the effect of deception, could be indulged without
+injury to our noblest faculties--if life could be made a long dream
+without the painful startings produced by the din and collision of
+the world--if the opium of delusion could be largely administered
+without a complete enervation of our rational energies--the lot
+of a man of feeling, brought up in the undisturbed belief of the
+Catholic doctrines, and raised to be a dispenser of its mysteries;
+would be enviable above all others. No abstract belief, if I am to
+trust my experience, can either soothe our fears or feed our hopes,
+independently of the imagination; and I am strongly inclined to
+assert, that no genuine persuasion exists upon unearthly subjects,
+without the co-operation of the imaginative faculty. Hence the
+powerful effects of the splendid and striking system of worship
+adopted by the Roman church. A foreigner may be inclined to laugh
+at the strange ceremonies performed in a Spanish cathedral, because
+these ceremonies are a conventional language to which he attaches no
+ideas. But he that from the cradle has been accustomed to kiss the
+hand of the priest, and receive his blessing--that has associated the
+name and attributes of the Deity with the consecrated bread--that has
+observed the awe with which it is handled--how none but annointed
+hands dare touch it--what clouds of incense, what brilliancy of gems
+surround it when exposed to the view--with what heartfelt anxiety the
+glare of lights, the sound of music, and the uninterrupted adoration
+of the priests in waiting, are made to evince the overpowering
+feeling of a God dwelling among men--such a man alone can conceive
+the state of a warm-hearted youth, who, for the first time approaches
+the altar, not as a mere attendant, but as the sole worker of the
+greatest of miracles.
+
+“No language can do justice to my own feelings at the ceremony
+of ordination, the performance of the first mass, and during the
+interval which elapsed between this fever of enthusiasm and the cold
+scepticism that soon followed it. For some months previous to the
+awful ceremony I voluntarily secluded myself from the world, making
+religious reading and meditation the sole employment of my time. The
+_Exercises of Saint Ignatius_, which immediately preceded the day
+of ordination, filled my heart with what appeared to me a settled
+distaste for every wordly pleasure. When the consecrating rights
+had been performed--when my hands had been annointed--the sacred
+vesture, at first folded on my shoulders, let drop around me by the
+hands of the bishop--the sublime hymn to the all-creating Spirit
+uttered in solemn strains, and the power of restoring sinners to
+innocence, conferred upon me--when, at length, raised to the dignity
+of a ‘fellow-worker with God,’ the bishop addressed me, in the name
+of the Saviour: ‘Henceforth I call you not servant ... but I have
+called you friend;’ I truly felt as if, freed from the material
+part of my being, I belonged to a higher rank of existence. I had
+still a heart, it is true--a heart ready to burst at the sight of
+my parents, on their knees, while impressing the first kiss on my
+newly-consecrated hands; but it was dead to the charms of beauty.
+Among the friendly crowd that surrounded me for the same purpose,
+were those lips which a few months before I would have died to press;
+yet I could but just mark their superior softness. In vain did I
+exert myself to check exuberance of feelings at my first mass. My
+tears bedewed the _corporals_ on which, with the eyes of faith, I
+beheld the disguised lover of mankind whom I had drawn from heaven to
+my hands. These are dreams, indeed,--the illusions of an over-heated
+fancy; but dreams they are which some of the noblest minds have
+dreamt through life without waking--dreams which, while passing
+vividly before the mental eye, must entirely wrap up the soul of
+every one who is neither _more_ nor _less_ than a man.
+
+“To exercise the privileges of my office for the benefit of my
+fellow-creatures, was now my exclusive aim and purpose. I daily
+celebrated mass, with due preparation, preached often, and rejected
+none that applied to me for confession. The best ascetic writers of
+the Church of Rome were constantly in my hands. I made a study of
+the Fathers; but, though I had the Scriptures among my books, it
+was, according to custom, more for reference than perusal. These
+feelings, this state of mental abstraction, is by no means uncommon,
+for a time, among young priests whose hearts have not been withered
+by a course of premature profligacy. It would be absurd to expect it
+in such as embrace the clerical state as a trade, or are led to the
+church by ambition, and least of all among the few that would never
+bind themselves with the laws of celibacy, had they not previously
+freed their minds from all religious fears. Yet, among my numerous
+acquaintance in the Spanish clergy, I have never met with any one,
+possessed of bold talents, who has not, sooner or later, changed
+from the most sincere piety to a state of unbelief.[21] Were every
+individual who has undergone this internal transformation to describe
+the steps by which it was accomplished, I doubt not but the general
+outline would prove alike in all. I shall, however, conclude my
+narrative by faithfully relating the origin and progress of the
+total change that took place in my mind within little more than a
+year after taking priest’s orders.
+
+  [21] See Note E.
+
+“The ideas of consistency and perfection are strongly attached by
+every sincere Catholic to his system of faith. The church of Rome
+has played for many centuries a desperate though, till lately, a
+successful game. Having once proclaimed the necessity of an abstract
+creed for salvation, and made herself the infallible framer and
+expounder of that creed, she leaves her votaries no alternative but
+that of receiving or rejecting the whole of her doctrines. Luckily
+for her interests, men seldom go beyond a certain link in the
+chain of thought, or allow themselves to look into the sources of
+traditionary doctrines. Her theological system on the other hand,
+having so shaped its gradual growth as to fill up deficiencies as
+they were perceived, affords an ample range to every mind that,
+without venturing to examine the foundations, shall be contented with
+the symmetry, of the structure. I have often heard the question,
+how could such men as Bossuet and Fenelon adhere to the church
+of Rome and reject the Protestant faith? The answer appears to
+me obvious. Because, according to their fixed principles on this
+matter, they must have been either Catholics or Infidels. Laying it
+down as an axiom, that Christianity was chiefly intended to reveal
+a system of doctrines necessary for salvation, they naturally and
+consistently inferred the existence of an authorized judge upon
+questions of faith, otherwise the inevitable doubts arising from
+private judgment would defeat the object of revelation. Thus it is
+that Bossuet thought he had triumphantly confuted the Protestants
+by merely shewing that they could not agree in their Articles. Like
+Bossuet, most Catholic divines can see no medium between denying the
+infallible authority of the Church and rejecting revelation.
+
+“No proposition in Euclid could convey stronger conviction to my
+mind than that which I found in this dilemma. Let me but prove, said
+I to myself, that there exists a single flaw in the system, and it
+will all crumble into dust. Yet, as in a Catholic, ‘once to doubt is
+once to be resolved,’ I might have eternally closed my eyes, like
+many others, against the impression of the most glaring falsehoods;
+for how could I retrieve the rash step of holding my judgment in
+suspense while I examined? The most hideous crimes fall within the
+jurisdiction of a confessor; but the mortal taint of heresy cannot be
+removed except by the Pope’s delegated authority, which, in Spain, he
+has deposited in the hands of the Inquisition. Should I deliberately
+indulge my doubts for a moment, what a mountain of crime and misery
+I should bring upon my head! My office would, probably, lay me under
+the necessity of celebrating mass the next day, which, to do with a
+consciousness of unabsolved sin, is sacrilege; while this particular
+offence would besides involve me in the ecclesiastical sentence of
+_suspension_ and _interdict_. The recurring necessity of officiating
+at the altar, before I could remove these inabilities, would increase
+them every day tenfold, and give my life a foretaste of the torturing
+fire to which I should be doomed by the sentence of my church. These
+fears are not peculiar to timid or weak characters: they are the
+legitimate consequences of a consistent and complicated system, and
+cannot be dispelled but by a decided rejection of the whole.
+
+The involuntary train, however, both of feeling and thought, which
+was to make me break out into complete rebellion, had long been
+sapping the foundations of my faith, without my being aware that
+the whole structure nodded to its ruin. A dull sense of existence,
+a heaviness that palled my taste for life and its concerns, had
+succeeded my first ardour of devotion. Conscientiously faithful to
+my engagements, and secluded from every object that might ruffle
+the calm of my heart, I looked for happiness in the performance of
+my duty. But happiness was fled from me; and, though totally exempt
+from remorse, I could not bear the death-like silence of my soul.
+An unmeaning and extremely burdensome practice laid by the Church
+of Rome upon her clergy, contributed not a little to increase the
+irksomeness of my circumstances. A Catholic clergyman, who employs
+his whole day in the discharge of his duty to others, must yet
+repeat to himself the service of the day in an audible voice--a
+performance which neither constant practice, nor the most rapid
+utterance can bring within the compass of less than an hour and a
+half in the four-and-twenty. This exhausting exercise is enjoined
+under pain of mortal sin, and the restitution of that day’s income on
+which any portion of the office is omitted.
+
+“Was mine a life of usefulness?--Did not the world, with all its
+struggles, its miseries, and its vices, hold out nobler and more
+exalted ends than this tame and deadening system of perfection? How
+strong must be the probability of future reward, to balance the
+actual certainty of such prolonged misery? Suppose, however, the
+reality and magnitude of the recompence--am I not daily, and hourly,
+in danger of eternal perdition? My heart sinks at the view of the
+interminable list of offences; every one of which may finally plunge
+me into the everlasting flames. Everlasting! and why so? Can there be
+revenge or cruelty in the Almighty? Such were the harassing thoughts
+with which I wrestled day and night. Prostrate upon my knees I daily
+prayed for deliverance; but my prayers were not heard. I tried to
+strengthen my faith by reading Bergier, and some of the French
+Apologists. But what can they avail a doubting Catholic? His system
+of faith being indivisible, the evidences of Christianity lead him to
+the most glaring absurdities. To argue with a doubting Catholic is
+to encourage and hasten his desertion. Chateaubriand has perfectly
+understood the nature of his task, and by engaging the feelings and
+imagination in defence of his creed, has given it the fairest chance
+against the dry and tasteless philosophy of his countrymen. His
+book[22] propped up my faith for a while.
+
+  [22] “Beauties of Christianity,” 3 vols. 8vo.
+
+“Almost on the eve of my mental crisis, I had to preach a sermon
+upon an extraordinary occasion; when, according to a fashion derived
+from France, a long and elaborate discourse was expected. I made
+infidelity my subject, with a most sincere desire of convincing
+myself while I laboured to persuade others. What effect my arguments
+may have had upon the audience I know not; they were certainly lost
+upon the orator. Whatever, in this state, could break the habit of
+awe which I was so tenaciously supporting--whatever could urge me
+into uttering a doubt on one of the Articles of the Roman Creed,
+was sure to make my faith vanish like a soap-bubble in the air. I
+had been too earnest in my devotion, and my Church too pressing and
+demanding. Like a cold, artful, interested mistress, that Church
+either exhausts the ardour of her best lovers, or harasses them to
+destruction. As to myself, a moment’s dalliance with her great rival,
+Freedom, converted my former love into perfect abhorrence.
+
+One morning, as I was wrapt up in my usual thoughts, on the banks
+of the Guadalquivir, a gentleman, who had lately been named by the
+government to an important place in our provincial judicature,
+joined me in the course of my ramble. We had been acquainted but a
+short time, and he, though forced into caution by an early danger
+from the Inquisition, was still friendly and communicative. His
+talents of forensic eloquence, and the sprightliness and elegance
+of his conversation, had induced a conviction on my mind, that he
+belonged to the philosophical party of the university where he had
+been educated. Urged by an irresistible impulse, I ventured with him
+upon neutral ground--monks, ecclesiastical encroachments, extravagant
+devotion--till the stream of thought I had thus allowed to glide over
+the feeble mound of my fears, swelling every moment, broke forth as a
+torrent from its long and violent confinement. I was listened to with
+encouraging kindness, and there was not a doubt in my heart which I
+did not disclose. Doubts they had, indeed, appeared to me till that
+moment; but utterance transformed them, at once, into demonstrations.
+It would be impossible to describe the fear and trepidation that
+seized me the moment I parted from my good-natured confidant. The
+prisons of the Inquisition seemed ready to close their studded gates
+upon me; and the very hell I had just denied, appeared yawning before
+my eyes. Yet, a few days elapsed, and no evil had overtaken me. I
+performed mass with a heart in open rebellion to the Church that
+enjoined it: but I had now settled with myself to offer it up to my
+Creator, as I imagine that the enlightened Greeks and Romans must
+have done their sacrifices. I was like them, forced to express my
+thankfulness in an absurd language.
+
+“This first taste of mental liberty was more delicious than any
+feeling I ever experienced; but it was succeeded by a burning thirst
+for every thing that, by destroying my old mental habits, could
+strengthen and confirm my unbelief. I gave an exorbitant price for
+any French irreligious books, which the love of gain induced some
+Spanish booksellers to import at their peril. The intuitive knowledge
+of one another, which persecuted principles impart to such as
+cherish them in common, made me soon acquainted with several members
+of my own profession, deeply versed in the philosophical school
+of France. They possessed, and made no difficulty to lend me, all
+the Antichristian works, which teemed from the French press. Where
+there is no liberty, there can be no discrimination. The ravenous
+appetite raised by forced abstinence makes the mind gorge itself
+with all sorts of food. I suspect I have thus imbibed some false,
+and many crude notions from my French masters. But my circumstances
+preclude the calm and dispassionate examination which the subject
+deserves. Exasperated by the daily necessity of external submission
+to doctrines and persons I detest and despise, my soul overflows
+with bitterness. Though I acknowledge the advantages of moderation,
+none being used towards me, I practically, and in spite of my better
+judgment, learn to be a fanatic on my own side.
+
+“Pretending studious retirement, I have fitted up a small room, to
+which none but my confidential friends find admittance. There lie
+my _prohibited books_, in perfect concealment, in a well-contrived
+nook under a staircase. The _Breviary_ alone, in its black-binding,
+clasps, and gilt leaves, is kept upon the table, to check the
+suspicions of any chance intruder.”
+
+
+
+
+LETTER IV.
+
+
+    _Seville ----_
+
+An unexpected event has, since my last, thrown the inhabitants of
+this town into raptures of joy. The bull-fights which, by a royal
+order, had been discontinued for several years, were lately granted
+to the wishes of the people. The news of the most decisive victory
+could not have more elated the spirits of the Andalusians, or roused
+them into greater activity. No time was lost in making the necessary
+preparations. In the course of a few weeks all was ready for the
+exhibition, while every heart beat high with joyful expectation of
+the appointed day which was to usher in the favourite amusement.
+
+You should be told, however, that Seville is acknowledged, on all
+hands, to have carried these fights to perfection. To her school of
+_bullmanship_, that art owes all its refinements. Bull-fighting is
+considered by many of our young men of fashion a high and becoming
+accomplishment; and mimicking the scenes of the amphitheatre forms
+the chief amusement among boys of all ranks in Andalusia. The
+boy who personates the most important character in the drama--the
+bull--is furnished with a large piece of board, armed in front, with
+the natural weapons of the animal, and having handles fastened to the
+lower surface. By the last the boy keeps the machine steady on the
+top of the head, and with the former he unmercifully pushes such of
+his antagonists as are not dexterous enough to evade, or sufficiently
+swift to escape him. The fighters have small darts, pointed with
+pins, which they endeavour to fix on a piece of cork stuck flat on
+the horned board, till at length the bull falls, according to rule,
+at the touch of a wooden sword.
+
+Our young country-gentlemen have a substitute for the regular
+bull-fights, much more approaching to reality. About the beginning
+of summer, the great breeders of black cattle--generally men of rank
+and fortune--send an invitation to their neighbours to be present at
+the trial of the yearlings, in order to select those that are to be
+reserved for the amphitheatre. The greatest festivity prevails at
+these meetings. A temporary scaffolding is raised round the walls
+of a very large court, for the accommodation of the ladies. The
+gentlemen attend on horseback, dressed in short loose jackets of
+silk, chintz, or dimity, the sleeves of which are not sewed to the
+body, but laced with broad ribbons of a suitable colour, swelling
+not ungracefully round the top of the shoulders. A profusion of
+hanging buttons, either silver or gold, mostly silver gilt, twinkle
+in numerous rows round the wrists of both sexes. The saddles,
+called _Albardones_, to distinguish them from the peak-saddle,
+which is seldom used in Andalusia, rise about a foot before and
+behind in a triangular shape. The stirrups are iron boxes, open on
+both sides, and affording a complete rest the whole length of the
+foot. Both country-people and gentlemen riding in these saddles,
+use the stirrups so short, that, in defiance of all the rules of
+_manège_, the knees and toes project from the side of the horse,
+and, when galloping, the rider appears to kneel on its back. A white
+beaver-hat, of rather more than two feet diameter, fastened under the
+chin by a ribbon, was till lately worn at these sports, and is still
+used by the horsemen at the public exhibitions; but the _Montera_
+is now prevalent. I find it difficult to describe this part of the
+national dress without the aid of a drawing. Imagine, however, a
+bishop’s mitre inverted, and closed on the side intended to receive
+the head. Conceive the two points of the mitre so shortened that,
+placed downwards on the skull, they scarcely cover the ears. Such is
+our national cap. Like Don Quixote’s head-piece, the frame is made of
+pasteboard. Externally it is black velvet, ornamented with silk frogs
+and tassels of the same colour.
+
+Each of the cavaliers holds a lance, twelve feet in length, headed
+with a three-edged steel point. The weapon is called _Garrocha_,
+and it is used by horsemen whenever they have to contend with
+the bulls, either in the fields or the amphitheatre. The steel,
+however, is sheathed by two strong leather rings, which are taken
+off in proportion to the strength of the bull, and the sort of wound
+which is intended. On the present occasion no more than half an
+inch of steel is uncovered. Double that length is allowed in the
+amphitheatre; though the spear is not intended to kill or disable
+the animal, but to keep him off by the painful pressure of the steel
+on a superficial wound. Such however, is the violence of the bulls
+when attacking the horses, that I once saw the blunt spear I have
+described, run along the neck into the body of the beast and kill
+him on the spot. But this is a rare occurrence, and foul play was
+suspected on the part of the man, who seems to have used more steel
+than the lance is allowed to be armed with.
+
+The company being assembled in and round the rural arena, the
+one-year-old bulls are singly let in by the herdsmen. It might be
+supposed, that animals so young would be frightened at the approach
+of the horseman couching his spear before their eyes; but our
+Andalusian breeders expect better things from their favourites. A
+young bull must attack the horseman twice, bearing the point of the
+spear on his neck, before he is set apart for the bloody honours of
+the amphitheatre. Such as flinch from the trial are instantly thrown
+down by the herdsmen, and prepared for the yoke on the spot.
+
+These scenes are often concluded with a more cruel sport, named
+_Derribar_. A strong bull is driven from the herd into the open
+field, where he is pursued at full gallop by the whole band of
+horsemen. The Spanish bull is a fleet animal, and the horses find it
+difficult to keep up with him at the first onset. When he begins,
+however, to slack in his course, the foremost spearsman, couching his
+lance, and aiming obliquely at the lower part of the spine, above the
+haunches, spurs his horse to his utmost speed, and, passing the bull,
+inflicts a wound, which, being exceedingly painful, makes him wince,
+lose his balance, and come down with a tremendous fall. The shock
+is so violent that the bull seems unable to rise for some time. It
+is hardly necessary to observe, that such feats require an uncommon
+degree of horsemanship, and the most complete presence of mind.
+
+Our town itself abounds in amusements of this kind, where the
+professional bull-fighters learn their art, and the amateurs feast
+their eyes, occasionally joining in the sport with the very lowest
+of the people. You must know, by the way, that our town corporation
+enjoys the privilege of being our sole and exclusive butchers. They
+alone have a right to kill and sell meat; which, coming through
+their _noble_ hands, (for this municipal government is entailed on
+the first Andalusian families) is the worst and dearest in the whole
+kingdom. Two droves of lean cattle are brought every week to a large
+slaughter-house (_el matadero_) which stands between one of the city
+gates and the suburb of San Bernardo. To walk in that neighbourhood
+when the cattle approach is dangerous; for, notwithstanding the
+emaciated condition of the animals, and though many are oxen and
+cows, a crowd is sure to collect on the plain, and by the waving of
+their cloaks, and a sharp whistling which they make through their
+fingers, they generally succeed in dispersing the drove, in order
+to single out the fiercest for their amusement. Nothing but the
+Spanish cloak is used on these occasions. Holding it gracefully at
+arm’s length before the body, so as to conceal the person from the
+breast to the feet, they wave it in the eyes of the animal, shaking
+their heads with an air of defiance, and generally calling out _Ha!
+Toro, Toro!_ The bull pauses a moment before he rushes upon the
+nearest object. It is said that he shuts his eyes at the instant
+of pushing with his horns. The man keeping his cloak in the first
+direction, flings it over the head of the animal, while he glances
+his body to the left, just when the bull, led forward by the original
+impulse, must run on a few yards without being able to turn upon his
+adversary, whom, upon wheeling round, he finds prepared to delude him
+as before. This sport is exceedingly lively; and when practised by
+proficients, seldom attended with danger. It is called _Capéo_. The
+whole population of San Bernardo, men, women and children, are adepts
+in this art. Within the walls of the slaughter-house, however,
+is the place where the bull-fighters by profession are allowed to
+improve themselves. A member of the town corporation presides,
+and admits, gratis, his friends; among whom, notwithstanding the
+filth natural to such places, ladies do not disdain to appear. The
+_Matadero_ is so well known as a school for bull-fighting, that
+it bears the cant appellation of the _College_. Many of our first
+noblesse have frequented no other school. Fortunately, this fashion
+is wearing away. Yet we have often seen Viscount Miranda, the head
+of one of the proudest families of the proud city of Cordova, step
+into the public amphitheatre, and kill a bull with his own hand.
+This gentleman had reared up one of his favourite animals, and
+accustomed him to walk into his parlour, to the great consternation
+of the company. The bull, however, once, in a surly mood, forgot
+his acquired tameness, and gored one of the servants to death; in
+consequence of which his master was compelled to kill him.
+
+That Spanish gentlemen fight in public with bulls, I suppose you have
+heard or read. But this does not regularly take place, except at the
+coronation of our kings, and in their presence. Such noblemen as
+are able to engage in the perilous sport, volunteer their services
+for the sake of the reward, which is some valuable place under
+government, if they prefer it to an order of Knighthood. They appear
+on horseback, attended by the first professional fighters, on foot,
+and use short spears with a broad blade, called _Rejones_.
+
+A _Bull-day_, (Dia de Toros), as it is emphatically called at
+Seville, stops all public and private business. On the preceding
+afternoon, the amphitheatre is thrown open to all sorts of people
+indiscriminately. Bands of military music enliven the bustling scene.
+The seats are occupied by such as wish to see the promenade on the
+arena, round which the ladies parade in their carriages, while every
+man seems to take pleasure in moving on the same spot where the
+fierce combat is to take place within a few hours. The spirits of the
+company are, in fact, pitched up by anticipation to the gay, noisy,
+and bold temper of the future sport.
+
+Our amphitheatre is one of the largest and handsomest in Spain. A
+great part is built of stone; but, from want of money, the rest is
+wood. From ten to twelve thousand spectators may be accommodated
+with seats. These rise, uncovered, from an elevation of about eight
+feet above the arena, and are finally crowned by a gallery, from
+whence the wealthy behold the fights, free from the inconveniences
+of the weather. The lowest tier, however, is preferred by the young
+gentlemen, as affording a clear view of the wounds inflicted on the
+bull. This tier is protected by a parapet. Another strong fence,
+six feet high, is erected round the arena, leaving a space of about
+twenty, between its area and the lower seats. Openings, admitting
+a man sideways, are made in this fence, to allow the men on foot
+an escape when closely pursued by the bull. They, however, most
+generally leap over it, with uncommon agility. But bulls of a certain
+breed, will not be left behind, and literally clear the fence.
+Falling into the vacant space before the seats, the animal runs about
+till one of the gates is opened, through which he is easily drawn
+back to the arena.
+
+Few among the lower classes retire to their beds on the eve of a
+_Bull-day_. From midnight they pour down the streets leading to
+the amphitheatre, in the most riotous and offensive manner, to be
+present at the Encierro--_shutting-in_ of the bulls--which being
+performed at the break of day, is allowed to be seen without paying
+for seats. The devoted animals are conducted from their native
+fields to a large plain in the neighbourhood of Seville, from whence
+eighteen, the number exhibited daily during the feasts, are led to
+the amphitheatre, on the appointed day, that long confinement may not
+break down their fierceness. This operation has something extremely
+wild in its character. All the amateurs of the town are seen on
+horseback with their lances hastening towards Tablada, the spot
+where the bulls are kept at large. The herdsmen, on foot, collect
+the victims of the day into a drove; this they do by means of tame
+oxen, called _Cabestros_, taught to be led by a haulter, carrying,
+tied round their neck, a large deep-sounding bell, with a wooden
+clapper. What the habit of following the bells of the leaders fails
+to do, the cracking of the herdsmen’s slings is sure to perform, when
+the animals are not driven to madness. The horsemen, also, stand on
+all sides of the drove till they get into a round trot. Thus they
+proceed to within half a mile of the amphitheatre. At that distance a
+path is closed up on both sides, with stout poles, tied horizontally
+across upright stakes--a feeble rampart, indeed, against the fury of
+a herd of wild bulls. Yet the Sevillian mob, though fully aware of
+the danger, are mad enough to take pleasure in exposing themselves.
+The intolerable noise in my street, and the invitation of a Member of
+the _Maestranza_--a corporate association of noblemen, whose object
+is the breeding and breaking of horses, and who in this town enjoy
+the exclusive privilege of giving bull-feasts to the public--induced
+me, during the last season, to get up one morning with the dawn, and
+take my stand at the amphitheatre, where, from their private gallery,
+I commanded a view of the plain lying between the river Guadalquivir
+and that building.
+
+At the distant sound of the oxen’s bells, shoals of people were seen
+driving wildly over the plain, like clouds before a strong gale.
+One could read in their motions, a struggle between fear on one
+side, and vanity and habit on the other. Now they approached the
+palisade, now they ran to a more distant spot. Many climbed up the
+trees, while the more daring or fool-hardy, kept their station on
+what they esteemed a post of honour. As our view was terminated by
+a narrow pass between the river and the ancient tower called _del
+Oro_, or Golden, the cavalcade broke upon us with great effect. It
+approached at full gallop. The leading horsemen, now confined within
+the palisades, and having the whole herd at their heels, were obliged
+to run for their lives. Few, however, ventured on this desperate
+service, and their greatest force was in the rear. The herdsmen
+clinging to the necks of the oxen, in order to keep pace with the
+horses, appeared, to an unpractised eye, doomed to inevitable
+destruction. The cries of the multitude, the sound of numberless
+horns, made of the hollow stem of a large species of thistle, the
+shrill and penetrating whistling, which seems most to harass and
+enrage the bulls, together with the confused and rapid motion of the
+scene, could hardly be endured without a degree of dizziness. It
+often happens, that the boldest of the mob succeed in decoying a bull
+from the drove; but I was, this time, fortunate enough to see them
+safely lodged in the _Toril_--a small court divided into a series of
+compartments with drop-gates, in the form of sluices, into which they
+are successively goaded from a surrounding gallery, and lodged singly
+till the time of letting them loose upon the arena.
+
+The custom of this town requires that a bull be given to the
+populace immediately after the _shutting-in_. The irregular fight
+that ensues is perfectly disgusting and shocking. The only time I
+have witnessed it, the area of the amphitheatre was actually crowded
+with people, both on horse and foot. Fortunately their numbers
+distracted the animal: on whatever side he charged, large masses
+ran before him, on which he would have made a dreadful havock, but
+for the multitude which drew his attention to another spot. Yet one
+of the crowd, evidently in a state of intoxication, who stood still
+before the bull, was tossed up to a great height, and fell apparently
+dead. He would have been gored to pieces before our eyes, had not
+the herdsmen and some other good fighters, drawn away the beast with
+their cloaks.
+
+Such horrors are frequent at these irregular fights; yet neither
+the cruelty of the sport, nor the unnecessary danger to which even
+the most expert bull-fighters expose their lives, nor the debauch
+and profligacy attendant on such exhibitions, are sufficient to
+rouse the zeal of our fanatics against them. Our popular preachers
+have succeeded twice, within my recollection, in shutting up the
+theatre. I have myself seen a friar with a crucifix in his hand,
+stop at its door, at the head of an evening procession; and, during
+a considerable part of the performance, conjure the people, as
+they valued their souls, not to venture into that abode of sin;
+but I never heard from these holy guardians of morals the least
+observation against bull-fighting: and even our _high-flyers_ in
+devotion--the _Philippians_,[23] whom we might call our Methodists,
+allow all, except clergymen, to attend these bloody scenes, while
+they deny absolution to any who do not renounce the play.
+
+  [23] See Letter III. p. 77.
+
+Before quitting the amphitheatre I was taken by my friend to the
+gallery from which the bulls were goaded into their separate
+stalls. As it stands only two or three feet above their heads, I
+could not but feel a degree of terror at such a close view of these
+fiery savage eyes, those desperate efforts to reach the beholders,
+accompanied by repeated and ferocious bellowings. There is an
+intelligence and nobleness in the lion that makes him look much less
+terrific in his den. I saw the _Divisa_, a bunch of ribbons tied to
+a barbed steel point, stuck into the bulls’ necks. It is intended
+to distinguish the breeds by different combinations of colours,
+which are stated in handbills, sold about the streets like your
+court-calendars before the assizes.
+
+Ten is the appointed hour to begin the morning exhibition; and such
+days are fixed upon as will not, by a long church-service, prevent
+the attendance of the canons and prebendaries, who choose to be
+present; for the chapter, in a body, receive a regular invitation
+from the _Maestranza_. Such, therefore, as have secured seats,
+may stay at home till the tolling of the great bell announces
+the elevation of the host--a ceremony which takes place near the
+conclusion of the daily morning service.
+
+The view of the Seville amphitheatre, when full, is very striking.
+Most people attend in the Andalusian dress, part of which I have
+already described. The colour of the men’s cloaks, which are of silk,
+in the fine season, varies from purple to scarlet. The short loose
+jackets of the men display the most lively hues, and the white veils
+which the females generally wear at these meetings, tell beautifully
+with the rest of their gay attire.
+
+The clearing of the arena, on which a multitude lounges till the last
+moment, is part of the show, and has the appropriate appellation of
+_Despejo_. This is performed by a battalion of infantry. The soldiers
+entering at one of the gates in a column, display their ranks, at
+the sound of martial music, and sweep the people before them as
+they march across the ground. This done, the gates are closed, the
+soldiers perform some evolutions, in which the commanding officer
+is expected to shew his ingenuity, till, having placed his men in a
+convenient position, they disband in a moment, and hide themselves
+behind the fence.
+
+The band of _Toreros_ (bull-fighters), one half in blue, the other
+in scarlet cloaks, now advance in two lines across the arena, to
+make obeisance to the president. Their number is generally twelve
+or fourteen, including the two _Matadores_, each attended by an
+assistant called _Mediaespada_ (demi-sword). Close in their rear
+follow the _Picadores_ (pikemen) on horseback, wearing scarlet
+jackets trimmed with silver lace. The shape of the horsemen’s jackets
+resembles those in use among the English postboys. As a protection to
+the legs and thighs, they have strong leather overalls, stuffed to
+an enormous size with soft brown paper--a substance which is said to
+offer great resistance to the bull’s horns. After making their bow to
+the president, the horsemen take their post in a line to the left of
+the gate which is to let in the bulls, standing in the direction of
+the barrier at the distance of thirty or forty paces from each other.
+The fighters on foot, without any weapon or means of defence, except
+their cloaks, wait, not far from the horses, ready to give assistance
+to the pikemen. Every thing being thus in readiness, a constable, in
+the ancient Spanish costume, rides up to the front of the principal
+gallery, and receives into his hat the key of the _Toril_ or bull’s
+den, which the president flings from the balcony. Scarcely has the
+constable delivered the key under the steward’s gallery, when, at the
+waving of the president’s handkerchief, the bugles sound amid a storm
+of applause, the gates are flung open, and the first bull rushes
+into the amphitheatre. I shall describe what, on the day I allude
+to, our connoisseurs deemed an interesting fight, and if you imagine
+it repeated, with more or less danger and carnage, eight times in
+the morning and ten in the evening, you will have a pretty accurate
+notion of the whole performance.
+
+The bull paused a moment and looked wildly upon the scene; then,
+taking notice of the first horseman, made a desperate charge against
+him. The ferocious animal was received at the point of the pike,
+which, according to the laws of the game, was aimed at the fleshy
+part of the neck. A dextrous motion of the bridle-hand and right leg
+made the horse evade the bull’s horn, by turning to the left. Made
+fiercer by the wound, he instantly attacked the next pikeman, whose
+horse, less obedient to the rider, was so deeply gored in the chest
+that he fell dead on the spot. The impulse of the bull’s thrust threw
+the rider on the other side of the horse. An awful silence ensued.
+The spectators, rising from their seats, beheld in fearful suspense
+the wild bull goring the fallen horse, while the man, whose only
+chance of safety depended on lying motionless, seemed dead to all
+appearance. This painful scene lasted but a few seconds; for the men
+on foot, by running towards the bull, in various directions, waving
+their cloaks and uttering loud cries, soon made him quit the horse to
+pursue them. When the danger of the pikeman was passed, and he rose
+on his legs to vault upon another horse, the burst of applause might
+be heard at the farthest extremity of the town. Dauntless, and urged
+by revenge, he now galloped forth to meet the bull. But, without
+detailing the shocking sights that followed, I shall only mention
+that the ferocious animal attacked the horsemen ten successive times,
+wounded four horses and killed two. One of these noble creatures,
+though wounded in two places, continued to face the bull without
+shrinking, till growing too weak, he fell down with the rider. Yet
+these horses are never trained for the fights; but are bought for the
+amount of thirty or forty shillings, when, worn out with labour, or
+broken by disease, they are unfit for any other service.
+
+A flourish of the bugles discharged the horsemen till the beginning
+of the next combat, and the amusement of the people devolved on the
+_Banderilleros_--the same whom we have hitherto seen attentive to the
+safety of the horsemen. The _Banderilla_, literally, little flag,
+from which they take their name, is a shaft of two feet in length,
+pointed with a barbed steel, and gaily ornamented with many sheets of
+painted paper, cut into reticulated coverings. Without a cloak, and
+holding one of these darts in each hand, the fighter runs up to the
+bull, and stopping short when he sees himself attacked, fixes the two
+shafts, without flinging them, behind the horns of the beast at the
+very moment when it stoops to toss him. The painful sensation makes
+the bull throw up his head without inflicting the intended blow,
+and while he rages in impotent endeavours to shake off the hanging
+darts that gall him, the man has full leisure to escape. It is on
+these occasions, when the _Banderilleros_ fail to fix the darts, that
+they require their surprising swiftness of foot. Being without the
+protection of a cloak, they are obliged to take instantly to flight.
+The bull follows them at full gallop; and I have seen the man leap
+the barrier, so closely pursued by the enraged brute, that it seemed
+as if he had sprung up by placing the feet on its head. Townsend
+thought it was literally so. Some of the darts are set with squibs
+and crackers. The match, a piece of tinder, made of a dried fungus,
+is so fitted to the barbed point, that, rising by the pressure which
+makes it penetrate the skin, it touches the train of the fireworks.
+The only object of this refinement of cruelty is, to confuse the
+bull’s instinctive powers, and, by making him completely frantic, to
+diminish the danger of the _Matador_, who is never so exposed as when
+the beast is collected enough to meditate the attack.
+
+At the waving of the president’s handkerchief, the bugles sounded the
+death-signal, and the _Matador_ came forward. _Pepe Illo_, the pride
+of this town, and certainly one of the most graceful and dextrous
+fighters that Spain has ever produced, having flung off his cloak,
+approached the bull with a quick, light, and fearless step. In his
+left hand he held a square piece of red cloth, spread upon a staff
+about two feet in length, and in his right, a broad sword not much
+longer. His attendants followed him at a distance. Facing the bull,
+within six or eight yards, he presented the red flag, keeping his
+body partially concealed behind it, and the sword entirely out of
+view. The bull rushed against the red cloth, and our hero slipped by
+his side by a slight circular motion, while the beast passed under
+the lure which the _Matador_ held in the first direction, till he
+had evaded the horns. Enraged by this deception, and unchecked by
+any painful sensation, the bull collected all his strength for a
+desperate charge. Pepe Illo now levelled his sword, at the left side
+of the bull’s neck, and, turning upon his right foot as the animal
+approached him, ran the weapon nearly up to the hilt into its body.
+The bull staggered, tottered, and dropped gently upon his bent legs;
+but had yet too much life in him for any man to venture near with
+safety.--The unfortunate _Illo_ has since perished from a wound
+inflicted by a bull in a similar state. The _Matador_ observed, for
+one or two minutes, the signs of approaching death in the fierce
+animal now crouching before him, and at his bidding, an attendant
+crept behind the bull and struck him dead, by driving a small poniard
+at the jointure of the spine and the head. This operation is never
+performed, except when the prostrate bull lingers. I once saw _Illo_,
+at the desire of the spectators, inflict this merciful blow in a
+manner which nothing but ocular demonstration would have made me
+believe. Taking the poniard, called _Puntilla_, by the blade, he
+poised it for a few moments, and jerked it with such unerring aim
+on the bull’s neck, as he lay on his bent legs, that he killed the
+animal with the quickness of lightning.
+
+Four mules, ornamented with large morrice-bells and ribbons,
+harnessed a-breast, and drawing a beam furnished with an iron hook in
+the middle, galloped to the place where the bull lay. This machine
+being fastened to a rope previously thrown round the dead animal’s
+horns, he was swiftly dragged out of the amphitheatre.
+
+I have now given you a more minute, and, I trust, more correct
+description of every thing connected with the bull-fights than has
+ever been drawn by any traveller. Townsend’s is the best account
+of these sports I ever met with; yet it is not free from mistakes.
+So difficult is it to see distinctly, scenes with which we are not
+familiarly acquainted.
+
+The risk of the fighters is great, and their dexterity alone
+prevents its being imminent. The lives most exposed are those of
+the _Matadores_; and few of them have retired in time to avoid a
+tragical end. Bull fighters rise from the dregs of the people. Like
+most of their equals, they unite superstition and profligacy in
+their character. None of them will venture upon the arena without a
+_scapulary_, two small square pieces of cloth suspended by ribbons,
+on the breast and back, between the shirt and the waistcoat.
+In the front square there is a print, on linen, of the Virgin
+Mary--generally, the _Carmel_ Mary, who is the patron goddess of all
+the rogues and vagabonds in Spain. These scapularies are blessed,
+and sold by the Carmelite Friars. Our great _Matador_, Pepe Illo,
+besides the usual amulet, trusted for safety to the patronage of St.
+Joseph, whose chapel adjoins the Seville amphitheatre. The doors of
+this chapel were, during Illo’s life, thrown open as long as the
+fight continued, the image of the Saint being all that time encircled
+by a great number of lighted wax-candles, which the devout gladiator
+provided at his own expense. The Saint, however, unmindful of this
+homage, allowed his client often to be wounded, and finally left him
+to his fate at Madrid.
+
+To enjoy the spectacle I have described, the feelings must be greatly
+perverted; yet that degree of perversion is very easily accomplished.
+The display of courage and address which is made at these
+exhibitions, and the contagious nature of all emotions in numerous
+assemblies, are more than sufficient to blunt, in a short time, the
+natural disgust arising from the first view of blood and slaughter.
+If we consider that even the Vestals at Rome were passionately fond
+of gladiatorial shows, we shall not be surprised at the Spanish taste
+for sports which, with infinite less waste of human life, can give
+rise to the strongest emotions.
+
+The following instance, with which I shall conclude, will shew you
+to what degree the passion for bull-fights can grow. A gentleman of
+my acquaintance had some years ago the misfortune to lose his sight.
+It might be supposed, that a blind man would avoid the scene of his
+former enjoyment--a scene where every thing is addressed to the eye.
+This gentleman, however, is a constant attendant at the amphitheatre.
+Morning and evening he takes his place with the _Maestranza_,
+of which he is a member, having his guide by his side. Upon the
+appearance of every bull, he greedily listens to the description of
+the animal, and of all that takes place in the fight. His mental
+conception of the exhibition, aided by the well known cries of the
+multitude, is so vivid, that when a burst of applause allows his
+attendant just to hint at the event that drew it from the spectators,
+the unfortunate man’s face gleams with pleasure, and he echoes the
+last clappings of the circus.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER V.
+
+
+    _Seville, ---- 1801._
+
+The calamity which has afflicted this town and swept away eighteen
+thousand of its inhabitants,[24] will more than sufficiently
+account for my long silence. But, during the interruption of my
+correspondence, there is a former period for which I owe you a more
+detailed explanation.
+
+  [24] The yellow fever in 1800.
+
+My travels in Spain have hitherto been as limited as is used among
+my countrymen. The expense, the danger, and the great inconvenience
+attending a journey, prevent our travelling for pleasure or
+curiosity. Most of our people spend their whole lives within their
+province, and few among the females have ever lost sight of the town
+that gave them birth. I have, however, brought home some of your
+English restlessness; and, as my dear friend, the young clergyman,
+whose account of himself is already in your hands, had to visit a
+very peculiar spot of Andalusia, I joined him most willingly in his
+excursion, during which I collected a few traits of our national
+manners, with a view to add one more to my preceding sketches.
+
+My friend’s destination was a town in the mountains or Sierra de
+Ronda, called Olbera, or Olvera, for we make no difference in the
+pronunciation of the _b_ and the _v_. A young man of that town
+had been elected to a fellowship of this _Colegio Mayor_, and my
+friend, who is a member of that body, was the appointed commissioner
+for collecting the _pruebas_, or evidence, which, according to
+the statutes, must be taken at the birth-place of the candidate,
+concerning the purity of his blood and family connexions. The badness
+of the roads, in that direction, induced us to make the whole
+journey on horseback. We were provided with the coarse dress which
+country gentlemen wear on similar occasions--a short loose jacket
+and small-clothes of brown serge; thick leather gaiters; a cloak
+tied up in a roll on the pommel of the saddle; and a stout spencer,
+ornamented with a kind of patchwork lace, made of pieces of various
+colours, which is a favourite riding-dress of our Andalusian beaux.
+Each of us, as well as the servant, whose horse carried our light
+luggage, was armed with a musket, hanging by a hook, on a ring,
+which all travelling-saddles are furnished with for that purpose.
+This manner of travelling is, upon the whole, the most pleasant
+in Andalusia. Robbers seldom attack people on horseback, provided
+they take care, as we did, never to pass any wooded ground without
+separating to the distance of a musket-shot from each other.
+
+My fellow-traveller took this opportunity to pay a visit to some
+of his acquaintance at Osuna, a town of considerable wealth, with
+a numerous _noblesse_, a collegiate church, and a university. At
+the end of our first days’ journey we stopped at a pretty populous
+village called El Arahal. The inn, though far from comfortable, in
+the English sense of the word, was not one of the worst we were
+doomed to endure in our tour, for travellers were not here obliged
+to starve if they had not brought their own provisions; and we had a
+room with a few broken chairs, a deal table and two flock beds, laid
+upon planks raised from the brick-floor by iron tressels. A dish of
+ham and eggs afforded us an agreeable and substantial dinner, and a
+bottle of cheap, but by no means unpleasant wine, made us forget the
+jog-trot of our day’s journey.
+
+We had just felt the approach of that peculiar kind of _ennui_
+which lurks in every corner of an inn, when the sound of a fife and
+drum, with more of the sporting and mirthful than of the military
+character, awakened our curiosity. But to ask a question, even at
+the best Spanish _fonda_ (hotel), you must either exert your lungs,
+calling the waiter, chambermaid, and landlord, in succession, to
+multiply the chances of finding one disposed to hear you; or adopt
+the more quiet method of searching them through the house, beginning
+at the kitchen. Here, however, we had only to step out of our room
+and we found ourselves within the cook’s dominions. The best country
+inns, indeed, consist of a large hall contiguous to the street or
+road, and paved like the former with round stones. At one end of this
+hall there is a large hearth, raised about a foot from the ground. A
+wood-fire is constantly burning upon it, and travellers of all ranks
+and degrees, who do not prefer moping in their cold, unglazed rooms,
+are glad to take a seat near it, where they enjoy, gratis, the wit
+and humour of carriers, coachmen, and clowns, and a close view of the
+hostess or her maid, dressing successively in the same frying pan,
+now an omelet of eggs and onions, now a dish of dried fish with oil
+and love-apples, or it may be the limbs of a tough fowl which but
+a few moments before had been strutting about the house. The doors
+of the bed-rooms, as well as that of the stable-yard, all open into
+the hall. Leaving a sufficient space for carriages and horses to
+cross from the front door to the stables, the Spanish carriers, or
+_harrieros_, who travel in parties of twenty or thirty men and double
+that number of mules, range themselves at night along the walls, each
+upon his large packsaddle, with no other covering but a kind of
+horse-cloth, called _manta_, which they use on the road to keep them
+dry and warm in winter.
+
+Into this truly common-hall were we brought by the sound of the drum,
+and soon learned from one of the loungers who sauntered about it,
+that a company of strolling-players were in a short time to begin
+their performance. This was good news indeed for us, who, unwilling
+to go early to bed with a certainty of not being allowed to sleep,
+dreaded the close of approaching night. The performance, we were
+told, was to take place in an open court, where a cow-house, open
+in front, afforded a convenient situation both for the stage and
+the dressing-room of the actors. Having each of us paid the amount
+of a penny and a fraction, we took our seats under a bright starry
+sky, muffled up in our cloaks, and perfectly unmindful of the danger
+which might arise from the extreme airiness of the theatre. A
+horrible screaming fiddle, a grumbling violoncello, and a deafening
+French-horn, composed the band. The drop-curtain consisted of four
+counterpanes sewed together; and the scenes, which were red gambroon
+curtains, hanging loose from a frame, and flapping in the wind, let
+us into the secrets of the dressing-room, where the actors, unable to
+afford a different person for every character, multiplied themselves
+by the assistance of the tailor.
+
+The play was _El Diablo Predicador_--“The Devil turned
+Preacher”--one of the numerous dramatic compositions published
+anonymously during the latter part of the Austrian dynasty. The
+character of this comedy is so singular, and so much of the public
+mind may be learned from its popularity all over the country, that I
+will give you an abstract of the plot.
+
+The hero of the play, designated in the Dramatis Personæ by the
+title of _primer galan_ (first gallant), is _Lucifer_, who, dressed
+in a suit of black velvet and scarlet stockings--the appropriate
+stage-dress of devils, of whatever rank and station--appears in
+the first scene mounted upon a griffin, summoning his confidant
+_Asmodeus_ out of a trap, to acquaint him with the danger to which
+the newly-established order of Saint Francis exposed the whole
+kingdom of darkness. Italy (according to the arch-demon) was overrun
+with mendicant friars; and even Lucca, the scene of the play, where
+they had met with a sturdy opposition, might, he feared, consent
+to the building of a Franciscan convent, the foundations of which
+were already laid. Lucifer, therefore, determines to assist the
+Lucchese in dislodging the cowled enemies from that town; and he
+sends Asmodeus to Spain upon a similar service. The chief engine he
+puts in motion is _Ludovico_, a wealthy and hard-hearted man, who
+had just married _Octavia_, a paragon of virtue and beauty, thus
+cruelly sacrificed by her father’s ambition. _Feliciano_, a cousin
+of Octavia, and the object of her early affection, availing himself
+of the husband’s ignorance of their now-broken engagement, makes his
+appearance at Lucca with the determination of seducing the bride
+and taking revenge on Ludovico. The _Guardian_ of the new convent
+of Saint Francis, being obliged by the rule of his order to support
+the friars by daily alms collected from the people, and finding the
+inhabitants of Lucca determined to starve them out of their city,
+applies to Ludovico for help. That wicked man thrusts the Guardian
+and his lay-brother _Antolín_--the _gracioso_ of the play--out of
+the house, to be hooted and pelted by the mob. Nothing, therefore,
+is left for the friars but to quit the town: and now, the poet
+considering Horace’s rule for supernatural interference as perfectly
+applicable to such a desperate state of things, the _Niño Dios_ (the
+Child God),[25] and _Michael the archangel_, come down in a cloud
+(you will readily conceive that the actors at our humble theatre
+dispensed with the machinery), and the last, addressing himself to
+Lucifer, gives him a peremptory order to assume the habit of Saint
+Francis, and under that disguise to stop all the mischief he had
+devised against Octavia; to obtain support from the people of Lucca
+for the Franciscans; and not to depart till he had built two convents
+instead of the one he was trying to nip in the bud.
+
+  [25] See Note F.
+
+To give, as you say in England, the Devil his due, it must be
+confessed, that Lucifer, though now and then exclaiming against the
+severity of his punishment, executes his commission with exemplary
+zeal. He presents himself to the Guardian, in the garb of the order,
+and having Brother Antolín appointed as his attendant, soon changes
+the hearts of the people, and obtains abundant supplies for the
+convent. The under-plot proceeds in the mean time, involving Octavia
+in the most imminent dangers. She snatches from Feliciano a letter,
+in which she had formerly avowed her love to him, which, imperfectly
+torn to pieces, falls into Ludovico’s hands, and induces him to plan
+her death. To accomplish this purpose, he takes her into the country,
+and stabs her in the depth of a forest, a few minutes before Monk
+Lucifer, who fairly and honestly had intended to prevent the blow,
+could arrive at the place with his lay-companion.
+
+To be thus taken by surprise puzzles the ex-archangel not a little.
+Still he observes, that since Octavia’s soul had neither gone to
+heaven, purgatory, nor hell, a miracle was on the point of being
+performed. Nor was he deceived in this shrewd conjecture; for the
+_Virgin Mary_ descends in a cloud, and touching the body of Octavia,
+restores her to life. Feliciano arriving at this moment, attributes
+the miracle to the two friars; and the report of this wonder exposes
+Antolín to a ludicrous mobbing in the town, where his frock is torn
+to pieces to keep the shreds as relics. Lucifer now endeavours to
+prove to the resuscitated wife, that, according to the canon law,
+her marriage has been dissolved by death; but she, distrusting the
+casuistry of that learned personage, immediately returns to her
+husband. Her unwilling protector is therefore compelled to prevent a
+second death, which the desperate Ludovico intends to inflict upon
+his too faithful wife. After this second rescue of the beautiful
+Octavia, Lucifer makes a most edifying address, urging Ludovico to
+redeem his sins, by giving alms to the Franciscans. His eloquence,
+however, making no impression upon the miser, Saint Michael gives
+the word from behind the scenes, and the obdurate man is swallowed
+up by the earth. Michael now makes his appearance; and, upon a very
+sensible remonstrance of Lucifer, as to the hardship of his present
+case, he allows the latter to strip off the cowl, and carry on
+hostilities against the Franciscans by the usual arts he employs
+against the other religious orders, _i. e._ assaulting the monks’
+virtue by any means except their stomachs. Food the Franciscans must
+never want, according to the heavenly promise made to their founder.
+
+This curious play is performed, at least once a year, on every
+Spanish theatre; when the Franciscan friars, instead of enforcing
+the standing rule, which forbids the exhibition of the monkish dress
+upon the stage, regularly lend the requisite suits to the actors: so
+favourable is the impression it leaves in favour of that mendicant
+order.
+
+Our truly Thespian entertainment was just concluded, when we heard
+the church-bell toll what in Spain is called _Las Animas_--the Souls.
+A man, bearing a large lantern with a painted glass, representing
+two naked persons enveloped in flames, entered the court, addressing
+every one of the company in these words:--_The Holy Souls, Brother!
+Remember the Holy Souls._ Few refused the petitioner a copper coin,
+worth about the eighth part of a penny. This custom is universal in
+Spain. A man, whose chief employment is to be agent for the souls in
+purgatory, in the evening--the only time when the invisible sufferers
+are begged for about the towns--and for some saint or _Madonna_,
+during the day, parades the streets after sunset, with the lantern
+I have described, and never fails to visit the inns, where the
+travellers, who generally entrust their safety from robbers to the
+_holy souls_, are always ready to make some pecuniary acknowledgement
+for past favours, or to engage their protection in future dangers.
+The tenderness of all sorts of _believing_ Spaniards for the souls
+in purgatory, and the reliance they place on their intercession with
+God, would almost be affecting, did it not originate in the most
+superstitious credulity.
+
+The doctrine of purgatory is very easily, nay, consistently embraced
+by such as believe in the expiatory nature of pain and suffering.
+The best feelings of our hearts are, besides, most ready to assist
+the imagination in devising means to keep up an intercourse with
+that invisible world, which either possesses already, or must
+soon possess, whatever has engaged our affections in this. Grief
+for a departed friend loses half its bitterness with a Catholic
+who can firmly believe that not a day shall pass without repeated
+and effectual proofs of attachment, on his part, till he join the
+conscious object of his love in bliss. While other articles of the
+Catholic faith are too refined and abstract for children, their
+tender and benevolent minds eagerly seize on the idea of purgatory
+fire. A parent or a brother, still kind to them in another world,
+yet suffering excruciating pains that may be relieved, shortened,
+and perhaps put an end to by some privation or prayer, are notions
+perfectly adapted to their capacity and feelings. Every year brings
+round the day devoted by the church to the relief of the departed
+souls. The holy vestments used at the three masses, which, by a
+special grant, every priest is allowed to perform that morning,
+are black. Large candles of yellow wax are placed over the graves
+within the churches; and even the church-yards, those humble places
+of repose appointed among us for criminals and paupers, are not
+neglected on that day of revived sorrows. Lights are provided for
+them at the expense of the society established in every town of
+Spain for the relief of the friendless spirits, who, for want of
+assistance, may be lingering in the purifying flames; and many of the
+members, with a priest at their head, visit these cemeteries for nine
+successive evenings.
+
+Thus, even benevolence, under the guidance of superstition,
+degenerates into absurdity. It does not, however, stop here; but,
+rushing headlong into the ludicrous, forces a smile upon the face
+of sympathy, and painfully compels our mirth where our tears were
+ready to flow. The religious ingenuity of the Catholics has gone
+so far as to publish the scheme of a lottery for the benefit of
+such souls as might otherwise escape their notice. It consists of a
+large sheet of paper fixed in a frame, with an open box beneath it.
+Under different heads, numbered from one to ninety, the inventor of
+this pious game has distributed the most interesting cases which
+can occur in the _debtors’ side_ of the infernal Newgate, allotting
+to each a prayer, penance or offering. In the box are deposited
+ninety pieces of card, distinguished by numbers corresponding to the
+ninety classes. According as the pious gambler draws the tickets, he
+performs the meritorious works enjoined in the scheme--generally a
+short prayer or slight penance--transferring their spiritual value to
+the fortunate souls to whom each card belongs. Often in my childhood,
+have I amused myself at this good-natured game. But the Inquisition
+is growing fastidious; and though the _lottery of purgatory_ is as
+fairly grounded on the doctrines of Rome, as the papal bulls for the
+release of suffering souls, which are sold for sixpence, with a blank
+for inserting the name of the person in whose behalf it is purchased;
+the inquisitors, it seems, will not allow the liberation of the
+departed to become a matter of chance, and the _lottery scheme_ has
+lately been prohibited. Fortunately, we still have various means
+of assisting our friends in _Hades_; for, besides masses, Bulls,
+prayers, and penances, the Pope has established eight or ten days
+in the year, on which every Spaniard (for the grant is confined to
+Spain) by kneeling at five different altars, and there praying for
+the _extirpation of heresy_, is entitled to send a species of _habeas
+animam_ writ to any of his friends in purgatory. The name of the
+person whose liberation is intended should, for fear of mistakes,
+be mentioned in the prayers. But, lest the order of release should
+find him already free, or perhaps within those gates to which no Pope
+has ever ventured to apply his keys, we are taught to endorse the
+spiritual bill with other names, addressing it finally to the _most
+worthy and disconsolate_.
+
+These privileged days are announced to the public by a printed
+notice, placed over the bason of holy water, which stands near every
+church-door; and, as no one enters without wetting his forehead with
+the blessed fluid, there is no fear that the happy season should pass
+unheeded by the pious. The words written on the tablet are plain and
+peremptory: _Hoy se saca Anima_; literally, “This is a soul-drawing
+day.” We must, however, proceed on our uninterrupted journey.
+
+Osuna, where we arrived on the second day after leaving Seville,
+is built on the declivity of one of the detached hills which stand
+as out-posts to the Sierra de Ronda, having in front a large
+ill-cultivated plain, from whence the principal church, and the
+college, to which the university of that town is attached, are
+seen to great advantage. The great square of the town is nearly
+surrounded by an arcade or piazza, with balconies above it, and is
+altogether not unlike a large theatre. Such squares are to be found
+in every large town of Spain, and seem to have been intended for the
+exhibition of tournaments and a kind of bull-fights, less fierce
+and bloody than those of the amphitheatre, which bear the name of
+_regocijos_ (rejoicings.)
+
+The line of distinction between the _noblesse_ and the unprivileged
+class being here drawn with the greatest precision, there cannot
+be a more disagreeable place for such as are, by education, above
+the lower ranks, yet have the misfortune of a plebeian birth. An
+honest respectable labourer without ambition, yet with a conscious
+dignity of mind not uncommon among the Spanish peasantry, may, in
+this respect, well be an object of envy to many of his betters.
+Gentlemen treat them with a less haughty and distant air than is used
+in England towards inferiors and dependents. A _rabadán_ (chief
+shepherd), or an _aperador_ (steward), is always indulged with a
+seat when speaking on business with his master, and men of the first
+distinction will have a kind word for every peasant, when riding
+about the country. Yet they will exclude from their club and billiard
+table a well-educated man, because, forsooth, he has no legal title
+to a Don before his name.
+
+This town, though one of the third order, supports three convents
+of friars and two of nuns. A gentleman of this place who, being
+a clergyman, enjoys a high reputation as a spiritual director,
+introduced us to some of the ladies at the nunneries. By this means
+I became acquainted with two very remarkable characters--a worker of
+miracles, and a nun in despair (_monja desesperada_). The first was
+an elderly woman, whose countenance and manners betrayed no symptoms
+of mental weakness, and whom, from all I was able to learn, it would
+be difficult to class either with the deceiving or deceived. The
+firm persuasion of her companions that she is sometimes the object,
+sometimes the instrument of supernatural operations, inspires them
+with a respect bordering upon awe. It would be tedious to relate the
+alleged instances of her prying into futurity, and searching the
+recesses of the heart. Reports like these are indeed easily raised
+and propagated: but I shall briefly relate one, which shows how
+stories of this kind may get abroad through the most respectable
+channels, and form a chain of evidence which ingenuity cannot
+trace up to involuntary error, and candour would not attribute to
+deliberate falsehood.
+
+The community of the _Descalzas_ (unshod nuns) had more than once
+been thrown into great consternation on seeing their prioress--for to
+that office had her sanctity raised the subject of my story--reduced,
+for many days together, to absolute abstinence from food and drink.
+Though prostrate, and with hardly any power of motion, she was in
+full possession of her speech and faculties. Dr. Carnero, a physician
+well known in these parts for skill and personal respectability,
+attended the patient, for though it was firmly believed by the nuns
+that human art could not reach the disease, it is but justice to say,
+that no attempts were visible to give it a supernatural character
+among strangers. The doctor, who seems to have at first considered
+the case as a nervous affection, wished to try the effect of a
+decided effort of the patient under the influence of his presence and
+authority; for among nuns the physician is next in influence to the
+professor. Having therefore sent for a glass of water, and desiring
+the attendants to bolster up the prioress into a sitting posture, he
+put it into her hand, with a peremptory injunction to do her utmost
+to drink. The unresisting nun put the water to her lips, and stopped.
+The physician was urging her to proceed, when to his great amazement
+he found the contents of the glass reduced to one lump of ice.--We
+had the account of this wonder from the clergyman who introduced us
+to the nun. Of his veracity I can entertain no doubt: while he, on
+the other hand, was equally confident of Dr. Carnero’s.
+
+Our visit to the other convent made me acquainted with one of the
+most pitiable objects ever produced by superstition--a reluctant nun.
+Of the actual existence of such miserable beings one seldom hears
+in Spain. A sense of decorum, and the utter hopelessness of relief,
+keep the bitter regrets of many an imprisoned female a profound
+secret to all but their confessor. In the present case, however, the
+vehemence of the sufferer’s feelings had laid open to the world the
+state of her harassed mind. She was a good-looking woman, of little
+more than thirty: but the contrast between the monastic weeds, and
+an indescribable air of wantonness which, in spite of all caution,
+marked her every glance and motion, raised a mixed feeling of disgust
+and pity, that made us uncomfortable during the whole visit. We had,
+nevertheless, to stay till the customary refreshments of preserves,
+cakes, and chocolate were served from within the double grate that
+divided us from the inhabitants of the convent. This is done by means
+of a semicircular wooden frame which fills up an opening in the wall:
+the frame turns upon its centre, presenting alternately its concave
+and its convex side. The refreshments being placed within the hollow
+part; a slight impulse of the hand places them within reach of the
+visitors. This machine takes the name of _torno_, from its rotatory
+motion. But I must leave the convents for a future letter.
+
+After a few days not unpleasantly spent at Osuna, we proceeded to
+Olbera. The roads through all the branches of the Sierra de Ronda,
+though often wild and romantic, are generally execrable. A mistake
+of our servant had carried us within two miles of a village called
+Pruna, when we were overtaken by a tremendous storm of hail and
+thunder. Rain succeeded in torrents, and forced us to give up all
+idea of reaching our destination that evening. We, consequently, made
+for the village, anxious to dry our clothes, which were perfectly wet
+through; but so wretched was the inn, that it had not a room where
+we could retire to undress. In this awkward situation, my friend as
+a clergyman, thought of applying to the vicar, who, upon learning
+his name, very civilly received us in his house. The dress of this
+worthy priest, a handsome man of about forty, shewed that he was at
+least as fond of his gun and pointer, as of his missal. He had a
+little of the swaggering manner of Andalusia, but it was softened by
+a frankness and a gentleman-like air, which we little expected in
+a retired Spanish vicar. The fact is, that the livings being poor,
+none but the sons of tradesmen or peasants have, till very lately,
+entered the church, without well-grounded hopes of obtaining at once
+a place among the dignified clergy. But I should rather say that the
+real _vicars_ are exempted from the care of a parish, and, under the
+name of _beneficiados_, receive the tithes, and spend them how and
+where they please. The nomination of curates belongs to the bishops;
+some of whom, much to the credit of the Spanish prelacy, have of late
+contrived to raise their income, and thereby induced a few young men,
+who, not long ago would have disdained the office, to take a parish
+under their care. The superiority, however, which was visible in
+our host, arose from his being what is known by the name of _cura y
+beneficiado_, or having a church, of which, as is sometimes the case,
+the incumbency is inseparable from the curacy. He was far above his
+neighbours in wealth and consequence; and being fond of field sports
+and freedom, he preferred the wild spot where he had been born, to a
+more splendid station in a Spanish cathedral.
+
+The principal, or rather the most frequented, room in the vicars
+house was, as usual, the kitchen or great hall at the entrance.
+A well-looking woman, about five and thirty, with a very pretty
+daughter of fifteen, and a peasant-girl to do the drudgery of the
+house, formed the canonical establishment of this happy son of St.
+Peter. To scrutinize the relation in which these ladies stood to the
+priest, the laws of hospitality would forbid; while to consider them
+as mere servants, we shrewdly guessed, would have hurt the feelings
+of the vicar. Having therefore, with becoming gallantry, wound
+ourselves into their good graces, we found no difficulty, when supper
+was served up, in making them take their accustomed places, which,
+under some pretence, they now seemed prepared to decline.
+
+Our hearty meal ended, the _alcalde_, the _escribano_ (attorney), and
+three or four of the more substantial farmers, dropped in to their
+nightly _tertulia_. As the vicar saw no professional squeamishness
+in my reverend companion, he had no hesitation to acquaint us with
+the established custom of the house, which was to play at _faro_
+till bed-time; and we joined the party. A green glazed earthen jar,
+holding a quart of brandy, flavoured with anise, was placed at the
+foot of the vicar, and a glass before each of the company. The
+inhabitants of the Sierra de Ronda are fond of spirits, and many
+exceptions to the general abstemiousness of the Spaniards are found
+among them. But we did not observe any excess in our party. Probably
+the influence of the clergyman, and the presence of strangers kept
+all within the strictest rules of decorum. Next morning, after taking
+a cup of chocolate, and cordially thanking our kind host, we took
+horse for Olbera.
+
+Some miles from that village, we passed one of the extensive woods
+of ilex, which are found in many parts of Spain. In summer, the
+beauty of these forests is very great. Wild flowers of all kinds,
+myrtles, honeysuckles, cystus, &c. grow in the greatest profusion,
+and ornament a scene doubly delicious from the cool shade which
+succeeds to the glare of open and desolate plains, under a burning
+sun. Did not the monumental crosses, erected on every spot where a
+traveller has fallen by the hands of robbers, bring gloomy ideas to
+the mind, and keep the eye watching every turn, and scouring every
+thicket, without allowing it to repose on the beauties that court
+it on all sides; Spain would afford many a pleasant and romantic
+tour. Wild boars, and deer, and a few wolves, are found in these
+forests. Birds of all kinds, hawks, kites, vultures, storks, cranes,
+and bustards, are exceedingly numerous in most parts of the country.
+Game, especially rabbits, is so abundant in these mountains, that
+many people live by shooting; and though the number of dogs and
+ferrets probably exceeds that of houses in every village, I heard
+many complaints of annual depredations on the crops.
+
+We had traversed some miles of dreary rocky ground, without a tree,
+and hardly any verdure to soften its aspect, when from a deep valley,
+formed by two barren mountains, we discovered Olbera, on the top of
+a third, higher than the rest, and more rugged and steep than any we
+had hitherto passed Both the approach and view of the town were so
+perfectly in character with what we knew of the inhabitants, that the
+idea of spending a week on that spot became gloomy and uncomfortable
+at that moment.
+
+The rustic and almost savage manners of the _noblesse_ of Olbera
+are unparalleled in Andalusia. Both gentlemen and peasants claim
+a wild independence, a liberty of misrule for their town, the
+existence of which betrays the real weakness which never fails
+to attend despotism. An Andalusian proverb desires you to “Kill
+your man and fly to Olbera”--_Mata al hombre y vete a Olbera_. A
+remarkable instance of the impunity with which murder is committed
+in that town occurred two years before our visit. The _alguacil
+mayor_, a law-officer of the first rank, was shot dead by an unknown
+hand, when retiring to his house from an evening _tertulia_. He had
+offended the chief of a party--for they have here their Capulets and
+Montagues, though I could never discover a Juliet--who was known to
+have formerly dispatched another man in a similar way; and no doubt
+existed in the town, that Lobillo had either killed the alguacil, or
+paid the assassin. The expectation, however, of his acquittal was as
+general as the belief of his guilt. To the usual dilatoriness of the
+judicial forms of the country, to the corruption of the scriveners
+or notaries who, in taking down, most artfully alter the written
+evidence upon which the judges ground their decision, was added the
+terror of Lobillo’s name and party, whose vengeance was dreaded by
+the witnesses. We now found him at the height of his power; and
+he was one of the persons examined in evidence of the noble birth
+and family honours of the candidate in whose behalf my friend had
+received the commission of his college. Lobillo is a man between
+fifty and sixty, with a countenance on which every evil passion is
+marked in indelible characters. He was, in earlier life, renowned
+for his forwardness in the savage rioting which to this day forms
+the chief amusement of the youth of this town. The fact is, that the
+constant use of spirits keeps many of them in a state of habitual
+intoxication. One cannot cross the threshold of a house at Olbera
+without being presented with a glass of brandy, which it would be an
+affront to refuse. The exploits performed at their drinking-bouts
+constitute the traditional chronicle of the town, and are recounted
+with great glee by young and old. The idea of mirth is associated by
+the _fashionables_ of Olbera with a rudeness that often degenerates
+into downright barbarity. The sports of the field are generally
+terminated by a supper at one of the _cortijos_, or farm-houses of
+the gentry, where the _gracioso_ or _wit_ of the company, is expected
+to promote some practical joke when mischief is rife among the
+guests. The word _culebra_, for instance, is the signal for putting
+out the lights, and laying about with the first thing that comes to
+hand, as if trying to kill the _snake_, which is the pretended cause
+of the alarm. The stomachs of the party are, on other occasions,
+tried with a raw hare or kid, of which no one dares refuse to eat his
+share: and it is by no means uncommon to propose the alternative of
+losing a tooth, or paying a fine.
+
+The relations of the young man whose pedigree was to be examined by
+my friend, made it a point to entertain us, by rotation, every night
+with a dance. At these parties there was no music but a guitar,
+and some male and female voices. Two or four couples stood up for
+_seguidillas_, a national dance, not unlike the _fandango_, which
+was, not long since, modified into the _bolero_, by a dancing-master
+of that name, a native of the province of Murcia, from which it was
+originally called _Seguidillas Murcianas_. The dancers, rattling
+their castanets, move at the sound of a single voice, which sings
+couplets of four verses, with a burthen of three, accompanied by
+musical chords that, combining the six strings of the guitar into
+harmony, are incessantly struck with the nails of the right hand.
+The singers relieve each other, every one using different words
+to the same tune. The subject of these popular compositions, of
+which a copious, though not very elegant collection is preserved in
+the memory of the lower classes, is love; and they are generally
+appropriate to the sex of the singers.
+
+The illumination of the room consisted of a _candíl_--a rude lamp of
+cast-iron, hung up by a hook on an upright piece of wood fixed on
+a three-footed stool, the whole of plain deal. Some of the ladies
+wore their _mantillas_ crossed upon the chin so as to conceal their
+features. A woman in this garb is called _tapada_; and the practice
+of that disguise, which was very common under the Austrian dynasty,
+is still preserved by a few females in some of our country-towns.
+I have seen them at Osuna and El Arahal, covered from head to foot
+with a black woollen veil falling on both sides of the face, and
+crossed so closely before it that nothing could be perceived but the
+gleaming of the right eye placed just behind the aperture. Our old
+dramatic writers found in the _tapadas_ an inexhaustible resource for
+their plots. As the laws of honour protected a veiled lady from the
+intrusions of curiosity, jealousy was thus perpetually mocked by the
+very objects that were the main source of its alarms.
+
+My introduction, at the first evening-party, to one of the ladies
+of Olbera, will give you an idea of the etiquette of that town. A
+young gentleman, the acknowledged _gracioso_ of the upper ranks,
+a character which in those parts must unite that of _first bully_
+to support it; had from the day of our arrival taken us under his
+patronage, and engaged to do for us the honours of the place. His
+only faults were, drinking like a fish, and being as quarrelsome as a
+bull-dog; _au reste_, he was a kind-hearted soul, and would serve a
+friend the whole length of the broad-sword, which, according to the
+good old fashion, he constantly carried under the left arm, concealed
+by the large foldings of his cloak. At the dances, he was master of
+the ceremonies, and, as such, he introduced us to the company. We
+had not yet seated ourselves, when Don Juan de la Rosa--such was
+our patron’s name--surprised me with the question, which of the
+present ladies I preferred to sit by. Thinking it was a jest, I
+made a suitable answer; but I soon found he was serious. As it was
+not for me to innovate, or break through the laudable customs of
+Olbera, no other cause remained for hesitation but the difficulty of
+the choice. Difficult it was indeed; not, however from the balanced
+influence of contending beauty, but the formidable host of either
+coy or grinning faces, which nearly filled one side of the room. To
+take my post by one of the rustic nymphs, and thus engage to keep up
+a regular flirtation for the evening, was more, I confess, than my
+courage allowed me. Reversing, therefore, the maxim which attributes
+increased horrors to things unknown, I begged to be introduced to a
+_tapada_ who sat in a corner, provided a young man of the town, who
+was at that moment speaking with her, had not a paramount claim to
+the place. The word was scarcely spoken, when my friend, Don Juan,
+advanced with a bold step, and, addressing his townsman with the
+liberty of an established _gracioso_, declared it was not fit for a
+_clown_ to take that place, instead of the _stranger_. The young man,
+who happened to be a near relation of the lady, gave up his chair
+very good-humouredly, and I was glad to find that the airiness and
+superior elegance of shape, which led me to the choice, had directed
+me to a gentlewoman. My veiled talking partner was highly amused--I
+will not say flattered--with what she chose to call my blunder, and,
+pretending to be old and ugly, brought into full play all my Spanish
+gallantry. The evening was passed less heavily than I dreaded; and
+during our stay at Olbera we gave a decided preference to the lady
+of whom I had, thus strangely, declared myself the _cortejo pro
+tempore_. She was a native of Malaga, whom her husband, an officer
+on half-pay, had induced to reside in his native town, which she
+most cordially detested. Perhaps you wish to know the reason of her
+disguise at the dance. Moved by a similar curiosity, I ventured to
+make the inquiry, when I learned that, for want of time to dress, she
+had availed herself of the custom of the country, which makes the
+_mantilla_ a species of _dishabille_ fit for an evening party.
+
+In the intervals of the dance we were sometimes treated with dramatic
+scenes, of which the dialogue is composed on the spot by the actors.
+This amusement is not uncommon in country-towns. It is known by the
+name of _juegos_--a word literally answering to _plays_. The actors
+are in the habit of performing together, and consequently do not
+find it difficult to go through their parts without much hesitation.
+Men in women’s clothes act the female characters. The truth is, that
+far from being surprised at the backwardness of the ladies to join
+actively in the amusement, the wit and humour of the _juegos_ is
+such, that one only wonders how any modest woman can be present at
+the performance.
+
+One night the dance was interrupted by the hoarse voice of our worthy
+friend Don Juan, who happened to be in the kitchen on a visit to
+a favourite jar of brandy. The ladies, though possessed of strong
+nerves, shewed evident symptoms of alarm; and we all hurried out of
+the room, anxious to ascertain the cause of the threatening tones
+we had heard. Upon our coming to the hall, we found the doughty
+hero standing at a window with a cocked gun in his hands, sending
+forth a volley of oaths, and protesting he would shoot the first
+man who approached his door. The assault, however, which he had
+thus gallantly repulsed, being now over, he soon became cool enough
+to inform us of the circumstances. Two or three individuals of
+the adverse party, who were taking their nightly rounds under the
+windows of their mistresses, hearing the revel at Rosa’s house, were
+tempted to interrupt it by just setting fire to the door of the
+entrance-hall. The house might, in a short time, have been in flames,
+but for the unquenchable thirst of the owner, which so seasonably
+drew him from the back to the front of the building.
+
+We were once retiring home at break of day, when Don Juan, who never
+quitted us, insisted upon our being introduced at that moment to one
+of two brothers of the name of Ribera, who had, the evening before,
+arrived from his farm. Remonstrance was in vain: Don Juan crossed
+the street, and “the wicket opening with a latch,” in primitive
+simplicity, we beheld one of the most renowned _braggadocios_
+of Olbera lying in bed, with a gun by his side. Ribera, so
+unceremoniously disturbed, could not help greeting the visitors in
+rather rough language; but he was soon appeased, on perceiving that
+we were strangers. He sat up in his bed, and handed to me a tumbler
+of brandy, just filled from the ever-present green jar, that stood
+within his reach upon a deal table. The life I was leading had given
+me a severe cough, and the muzzle of Ribera’s gun close to my head
+would scarcely have alarmed me more than the brim-full rummer with
+which I was threatened. A terrible fit of coughing, however, came to
+my assistance; and Don Juan interposing in my favour, I was allowed
+to lay down the glass.
+
+The facetiousness of the two Riberas is greatly admired in their
+town. These loving brothers had, on a certain occasion, gone to bed
+at their _cortijo_ (farm), forgetting to put out the _candíl_, or
+lamp, hung up at the opposite end of the hall. The first who had
+retired urged that it was incumbent on him who sat up latest, to have
+left every thing in proper order; but the offender was too lazy to
+quit his bed, and a long contest ensued. After much, and probably
+not very temperate disputing, a bright thought seemed to have crossed
+the younger brother. And so it was indeed; for stopping short in
+the argument, he grasped the gun, which, as usual, stood by his
+bed-side, took a sure aim, and put an end both to the dispute and its
+subject, by shooting down the _candíl_. The humour of this _potent
+conclusion_ was universally applauded at Olbera. I have been assured
+that the same extinguisher is still, occasionally, resorted to by
+the brothers; and a gun heard in the night, infallibly reminds the
+inhabitants, of the Riberas’ lamp.[26]
+
+  [26] See Note G.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VI.
+
+
+    _Seville, ---- 1801._
+
+My residence in this town, after visiting Olbera, was short and
+unpleasant. The yellow-fever, which had some months before appeared
+at Cadiz, began to show itself in our large suburb of Triana, on the
+other side of the Guadalquivir. As no measures were taken to prevent
+communication with Cadiz, it is supposed that the infection was
+brought by some of the numerous seafaring people that inhabit the
+vicinity of the river. The progress of the malady was slow at first,
+and confined to one side of the street where it began. Meetings of
+all the physicians were convened by the chief magistrates, who,
+though extremely arbitrary in matters of daily occurrence, are,
+in Spain, very timid and dilatory on any extraordinary emergency.
+Unconscious of the impending danger, the people flocked to these
+meetings to amuse themselves at the expense of our doctors, who are
+notoriously quarrelsome and abusive when pitted against each other.
+A few of the most enlightened among them ventured to declare that
+the fever was infectious; but their voice was drowned in the clamour
+of a large majority who wished to indulge the stupid confidence of
+the inhabitants. The disease in the mean time crossed the river; and
+following the direction of the street where it originally appeared
+at Triana--now quite overrun by the infection--began its ravages
+within the ancient walls of our town. It was already high time to
+take alarm, and symptoms of it were shewn by the chief authorities.
+Their measures, however, cannot fail to strike you as perfectly
+original. No separation of the infected from the healthy part of the
+town: no arrangement for confining and relieving the sick poor. The
+governor who, by such means, had succeeded in stopping the progress
+of the fever would have been called to account for the severity of
+his measures, and his success against the infection turned into a
+demonstration that it never existed. Anxious, therefore, to avoid
+every questionable step in circumstances of such magnitude, the civil
+authorities wisely resolved to make an application to the archbishop
+and chapter, for the solemn prayers called _Rogativas_, which are
+used in times of public affliction. This request being granted
+without delay, the _Rogativa_ was performed at the cathedral for nine
+consecutive days, after sunset.
+
+The gloom of that magnificent temple, scarcely broken by the light of
+six candles on the high altar, and the glimmering of the lamps in the
+aisles, combined with the deep and plaintive tones of forty singers
+chanting the penitential psalms, impressed the throng of supplicants
+with the strongest feelings, which superstition can graft upon fear
+and distress.
+
+When the people observed the infection making a rapid progress in
+many parts of the town, notwithstanding the due performance of the
+usual prayers, they began to cast about for a more effectual method
+of obtaining supernatural assistance. It was early suggested by many
+of the elderly inhabitants, that a fragment of the true Cross, or
+_Lignum Crucis_, one of the most valuable relics possessed by the
+cathedral of Seville, should be exhibited from the lofty tower called
+_Giralda_; for they still remembered, when, at the view of that
+miraculous splinter, myriads of locusts which threatened destruction
+to the neighbouring fields, rose like a thick cloud, and conveyed
+themselves away, probably to some infidel country. The _Lignum
+Crucis_, it was firmly believed, would, in like manner, purify the
+atmosphere, and put an end to the infection. Others, however, without
+any disparagement to the holy relic, had turned their eyes to a
+large wooden crucifix, formerly in great repute, and now shamefully
+neglected, on one of the minor altars of the Austin Friars, without
+the gates of the town. The effectual aid given by that crucifix in
+the plague of 1649 was upon record. This wonderful image had, it
+seems, stopped the infection, just when one half of the population
+of Seville had been swept away; thus evidently saving the other half
+from the same fate. On this ground, and by a most natural analogy,
+the hope was very general, that a timely exhibition of the crucifix
+through the streets, would give instant relief to the town.[27]
+
+  [27] See Note H.
+
+Both these schemes were so sound and rational, that the chief
+authorities, unwilling to shew an undue partiality to either, wisely
+determined to combine them into one great _lustration_. A day was,
+accordingly, fixed for a solemn procession to conduct the crucifix
+from the convent to the cathedral, and to ascend the tower for the
+purpose of _blessing_ the four cardinal winds with the _Lignum
+Crucis_. On that day, the chapter of the cathedral, attended by
+the civil governor, the judges, the inquisitors, and the town
+corporation, repaired to the convent of Saint Augustin, and, having
+placed the crucifix upon a moveable stage covered with a magnificent
+canopy, walked before it with lighted candles in their hands, while
+the singers, in a mournful strain, repeated the names of the saints
+contained in the Catholic litany, innumerable voices joining, after
+every invocation in the accustomed response--_Ora pro nobis_. Arrived
+at the cathedral, the image was exposed to public adoration within
+the presbytery, or space reserved for the ministering clergy, near
+the high altar. After this the dean, attended by the chapter, the
+inferior ministers of the church, and the singers, moved in solemn
+procession towards the entrance of the tower, and, in the same
+order ascended the five-and-twenty inclined planes, which afford a
+broad and commodious access to the open belfry of that magnificent
+structure. The worship paid to any fragment of the true Cross is next
+in degree to that which is due to the consecrated host. On the view
+of the priest in his robes at one of the four central arches of the
+majestic steeple, the multitude, who had crowded to the neighbourhood
+of the cathedral from all parts of the city, fell upon their knees,
+their eyes streaming with tears: tears, indeed, which that unusual
+sight would have drawn from the weak and superstitious on any
+other occasion, but which, in the present affliction, the stoutest
+heart could hardly repress. An accidental circumstance heightened
+the impressiveness of the scene. The day, one of the hottest of
+an Andalusian summer, had been overcast with electric clouds. The
+priest had scarcely begun to make the sign of the cross with the
+golden vase which contains the _Lignum Crucis_, when one of the
+tremendous thunderstorms, so awful in southern climates, burst upon
+the trembling multitude. A few considered this phenomenon as a proof
+that the public prayers were heard, and looked upon the lightning as
+the instrument which was to disperse the cause of the infection.
+But the greatest number read in the frowns of the sky the unappeased
+anger of Heaven, which doomed them to drain the bitter cup that was
+already at their lips. Alas! they were not deceived. That doom had
+been sealed when Providence allowed ignorance and superstition to fix
+their dwelling among us; and the evils which my countrymen feared
+from a preternatural interposition of the avenging powers above,
+were ready to arise as the natural consequences of the means they
+themselves had employed to avert them. The immense concourse from all
+parts of the town had, probably, condensed into a focus the scattered
+seeds of infection. The heat, the fatigue, the anxiety of a whole day
+spent in this striking, though absurd, religious ceremony, had the
+most visible and fatal effect on the public health. Eight and forty
+hours after the procession, the complaint had left but few houses
+unvisited. The deaths increased in a tenfold proportion, and at the
+end of two or three weeks the daily number was from two to three
+hundred.
+
+Providence spared me and my best friend by the most unforeseen
+combination of circumstances. Though suffering under an obstinate
+ague, _Leandro_--so he is called at our private club--had determined
+not to quit his college, at the head of which he was placed for that
+year. His family, on the other hand, had for some time resided at
+Alcalá de Guadaíra, a village beautifully situated within twelve
+miles of Seville. Alarmed at the state of the town, and unwilling to
+leave my friend to perish, either by the infection, or the neglect to
+which the general consternation exposed an invalid, I prevailed upon
+him to join his family, and attended him thither. This was but a few
+days before the religious ceremony which I have described from the
+narrative of eye-witnesses. It was my intention to have returned to
+Seville; but the danger was now so imminent, that it would have been
+madness to encounter it without necessity. Thus a visit which I meant
+for a week, was inevitably prolonged to six months.
+
+For you, however, who love detail in the description of this hitherto
+little known country, my time was not spent in vain. Yet I must begin
+by a fact which will be of more interest to my old friend, Doctor
+----, than yourself.
+
+Alcalá de Guadaíra is a town containing a population of two thousand
+inhabitants, and standing on a high hilly spot to the northeast of
+Seville. The greatest part of the bread consumed in this city comes
+daily from Alcalá, where the abundant and placid stream of the
+Guadaíra, facilitates the construction of water-mills. Many of the
+inhabitants being bakers, and having no market but Seville, were
+under the necessity of repairing thither during the infection. It is
+not with us as in England, where every tradesman practically knows
+the advantages of the division of labour, and is at liberty, to
+consult his own convenience in the sale of his articles. The bakers,
+the butchers, the gardeners, and the farmers, are here obliged to
+sell in separate markets, where they generally spend the whole day
+waiting for customers. Owing to this regulation of the police, about
+sixty men, and double that number of mules, leave Alcalá every day
+with the dawn, and stand till the evening in two rows, inclosed with
+iron railings, at the _Plaza del Pan_. The constant communication
+with the people from all parts of the town, and so long an exposure
+to the atmosphere of an infected place, might have been supposed
+powerful enough to communicate the disease. We, certainly, were in
+daily apprehension of its appearance at Alcalá. So little, however,
+can we calculate the effects of unknown causes, that of the people
+that thus braved the contagion, only one, who passed the night in
+Seville, caught the disease and died. All the others, no less than
+the rest of the village, continued to enjoy the usual degree of
+health, which, probably owing to its airy situation, is excellent at
+all times.
+
+The daily accounts we received from our city, independent of the
+danger to which we believed ourselves exposed, were such as would
+cast a gloom over the most selfish and unfeeling. Superstition,
+however, as if the prospect had not been sufficiently dark and
+dismal, was busy among us, increasing the terrors which weighed
+down the minds of the people. Two brothers, both clergymen,
+wealthy, proud, conceited of the jargon they mistook for learning,
+and ambitious of power under the cloak of zeal, had, upon the
+first appearance of the fever, retreated to Alcalá, where they
+kept a country-house. Two more odious specimens of the pampered,
+thorough-bred, full-grown Spanish bigot, never appeared in the ranks
+of the clergy. The eldest, a dignitary of the church, was a selfish
+devotee, whose decided taste for good living, and mortal aversion
+to discomfort, had made him calculate with great nicety how, by an
+economy of pleasure in this world, he might secure a reasonable share
+of it in the next. But whatever degree of self-denial was necessary
+to keep him from gross misconduct, he amply repaid himself in the
+enjoyment of control over the consciences and conduct of others.
+
+From the comparative poverty of the parish priests, and the shade
+into which they are thrown by the upper clergy, the power of the
+first is so limited, that the most bigoted and violent among them can
+give but little trouble to the laity. The true priest of old times is
+only to be found among those ecclesiastics, who to a dignified office
+join that degree of fanaticism which makes men conceive themselves
+commissioned by Heaven to weed the world of evil, and tear up by the
+roots whatever offends their privileged and infallible eyes. Thus it
+was, for instance, that the holy personage at Alcalá claimed and
+exercised a right to exclude from church such females as, by a showy
+dress, were apt to disturb the abstracted, yet susceptible minds of
+the clergy. The lady of a judge was, within my recollection, turned
+by this proud bigot out of the cathedral of Seville, in the presence
+of a multitude assembled for the ceremonies of the Passion-week. The
+husband, whose displeasure would have brought ruin on a more humble
+individual, was obliged to devour this insult in silence. It should
+be observed, by the way, that as the walking-dress of the Spanish
+females absolutely precludes immodesty, the conduct of this religious
+madman admits no excuse or palliation. Yet this is so far from being
+a singular instance, that, what sumptuary laws would never be able
+to accomplish, the rude and insolent zeal of a few priests has fully
+obtained in every part of Spain. Our females, especially those of
+the better classes, never venture to church in any dress but such as
+habit has made familiar to the eyes of the zealots.
+
+Whatever be the feelings that produce it, there is, in Spain, a
+sort of standing crusade against the fair sex, which our priests,
+except such as have been secretly gained over to the enemy, carry
+on incessantly, though not with the same vigour, at all times. The
+main subject of contention is a right claimed by the clergy to
+regulate the dress of the ladies, and prevent the growth of such
+arts of charming as might endanger the peace of the church. Upon
+the appearance of a new fashion, the “drum ecclesiastic” never
+fails to sound the war-note. Innumerable are the sermons I heard
+in my younger days against silk shoes--for the Spanish females
+have the extravagance to use them out of doors--the wearing of
+which, especially embroidered with silk or gold, was declared by
+the soundest divines to be a _mortal sin_. Patience, however, and
+that watchful perseverance with which Nature has armed the weaker
+sex against the tyranny of the stronger, have gradually obtained a
+toleration for silk shoes, while taste has extenuated the sin by
+banishing the embroidery. Yet the Demon of Millinery had lately set
+up another stumbling-block, by slily suggesting to the ladies that
+their petticoats were monstrous long, and concealed those fairy feet
+and ankles which are the pride of Andalusia. The petticoats shrunk
+first by barleycorns; half an inch was then pared off by some bolder
+sempstress, till at length the ground, the former place of safety for
+consecrated eyes, was found thick set with snares. In vain have the
+most powerful preachers thundered against this abomination; nor did
+it avail that some of our bishops, deeming the occasion worthy of
+their interference, grasped the long-neglected pen to enter a most
+solemn protest against the _profaneness_ of the female dress. But the
+case seemed hopeless. A point gained upon petticoats was sure to be
+lost on top-knots; and when the pious were triumphing on the final
+subjection of projecting stays, a pin threw them into utter confusion
+by altering its position on the orthodox neck-kerchief.
+
+Often had some great calamity been foretold from the pulpit as the
+punishment of the incorrigible perverseness of our females; and, on
+the first appearance of the fever, there was but little doubt among
+the chosen few as to its real cause. Many a stitch was undone at
+Seville, and many a flounce torn off, by the same pretty hand that,
+but a few days before, had distributed its foldings with a conscious
+feeling of its future airiness and light flutterings. The pin,
+which, in Spain, forces the cambric kerchief to do, both morning and
+evening, the transient morning duty of your ruffs and spencers--that
+mysterious pin which vibrates daily at the toilette under the
+contending influence of vanity and delicacy--the pin, in short,
+which, on our females, acts as the infallible barometer of devotion,
+had risen to the highest point of _dryness_, without, alas! checking
+the progress of the disease.
+
+Our two divines, fearful of being swept away with the guilty,
+were, at this time, perfectly outrageous in their zeal to bring
+the bakers’ wives at Alcalá to a due sense of the evil influence
+of their glaring, bushy top-knots and short petticoats. Having,
+therefore, with little ceremony to the vicar, taken possession of
+the parish church, they began a course of preaching for nine days,
+known by the name of _Novena_, a definite number which, with many
+other superstitions, has been applied to religious rites among the
+Catholics since the times of Roman paganism.
+
+Most of the Spanish villages possess some miraculous image--generally
+of the Virgin Mary--which is the _palladium_ of the inhabitants.
+These tutelar deities are of a very rude and ancient workmanship,
+as it seems to have been the case with their heathen prototypes.
+The “Great Diana” of the _Alcalaians_ is a small, ugly, wooden
+figure, nearly black with age, and the smoke of the lamp which burns
+incessantly before it, dressed up in a tunic and mantle of silver
+or gold tissue, and bearing a silver crown. It is distinguished
+from the innumerable host of wooden virgins by the title of _Virgen
+del Aguila_--“the Virgin of the Eagle,” and is worshipped on a high
+romantic spot, where stood a high fortress of the Moors, of which
+large ruins are still visible. A church was erected, probably soon
+after the conquest of Andalusia, on the area of the citadel. A
+spring-well of the most delicious water is seen within the precincts
+of the temple, to which the natives resort for relief in all sorts
+of distempers. The extreme purity of both air and water, on that
+elevated spot, may indeed greatly contribute to the recovery of
+invalids, for which the Virgin gets all the credit.
+
+The _Novena_, which was to avert the infection from the village,
+would have been inefficient without the presence of the _Eagle_
+patroness, to whom it was dedicated. The image was, accordingly,
+brought down to the parish church in a solemn procession. The eldest
+_Missionary_--for such priests as preach, not for a display of
+eloquence, but the conversion of sinners, assume that title among
+us--having a shrill, disagreeable voice, and being apt, when he
+addressed the people, to work himself into a feverish excitement
+approaching to madness, generally devolved that duty on his brother,
+while he devoted himself to the confessional. The brother is, indeed,
+cast in the true mould of a popular preacher, such as can make a
+powerful impression on the lower classes of Spain. His person is
+strong, his countenance almost handsome, his voice more loud than
+pleasing. He has, in fact, all the characteristics of an Andalusian
+_Majo_: jet black passionate eyes, a shining bluish beard darkening
+his cheeks from within an inch of his long eye-lashes, and a
+swaggering gait which, in the expressive idiom of the country, gives
+such as move with it, the name of _Perdonavidas_--Life sparers, as
+if other people owed their lives to the mercy, or contempt of these
+heroes. The effects of his preaching were just what people expect
+on similar occasions. A Missionary feels baffled and disappointed
+when he is not interrupted by groans, and some part of the female
+audience will not go into hysterics. If he has a grain of spirit
+about him, such a perverse indifference nettles him into a furious
+passion, and he turns the insensibility of his hearers into a
+visible proof of their reprobate state. Thus it often happens,
+that, the people measuring their spiritual danger by the original
+dulness or incomprehensibility of the sermon, the final triumph of
+the missionary is in exact proportion to his absurdity. To make
+these wild discourses more impressive, as well as to suit the
+convenience of the labouring classes, they are commonly delivered
+after sunset. Our orator, it is true, omitted the exhibition of a
+soul in hell-flames, which a few years ago was regularly made from
+the pulpit in a transparent picture; but he worked up the feelings of
+the audience by contrivances less disgusting and shocking to common
+sense. Among others he fixed a day for collecting all the children of
+the town under seven years of age, before the image of the Virgin.
+The parents, as well as all others who had attained the age of moral
+responsibility, were declared to be unworthy of addressing themselves
+in supplication, and therefore excluded from the centre of the
+church, which was reserved for the throng of innocent suppliants.
+
+When the first period of nine days had been spent in this mockery
+of common sense and religion, the fertile minds of our missionaries
+were not at a loss to find a second course of the same pious mummery,
+and so on till the infection had ceased at Seville. The preservation
+of the village from the fever which, more or less, had existed for
+three or four months in the neighbouring towns, you will easily
+believe, was attributed by the preachers to their own exertions.
+The only good effect, however, which I observed, in consequence of
+their sermons, was the increased attendance of the male part of the
+population at the _Rosario de Madrugada_--the Dawn Rosary--one of
+the few useful and pleasing customs which religion has introduced in
+Spain.
+
+It is an established practice in our country towns to awake the
+labouring population before the break of day, that they may
+be early in readiness to begin their work, especially in the
+corn-fields, which are often at the distance of six or eight miles
+from the labourers’ dwellings. Nothing but religion, however, could
+give a permanency to this practice. Consequently a _rosary_, or
+procession, to sing praises to the Virgin Mary before the dawn, has
+been established among us from time immemorial. A man with a good
+voice, active, sober, and fond of early rising, is either paid,
+or volunteers his services, to perambulate the streets an hour
+before daybreak, knocking at the doors of such as wish to attend
+the procession, and inviting all to quit their beds and join in
+the worship of the Mother of God. This invitation is made in short
+couplets, set to a very simple melody, and accompanied by the pretty
+and varied tinkling of a hand-bell, beating time to the tune. The
+effect of the bell and voice, especially after a long winter-night,
+has always been very pleasing to me. Nor is the fuller chorus of
+the subsequent procession less so. The chant, by being somewhat
+monotonous, harmonizes with the stillness of the hour; and without
+chasing away the soft slumbers of the morning, relieves the mind from
+the ideas of solitude and silence, and whispers life and activity
+returning with the approaching day.
+
+The fever having stopped its ravages about the end of autumn, and
+nearly disappeared a few weeks before Christmas, my friend and myself
+prepared to return home. I shall never forget our melancholy arrival
+in this town on the last evening of December. Besides the still
+existing danger of infection to those who had been absent, there was
+a visible change in the aspect of the town, no less than in the looks
+and manner of the inhabitants, which could not but strike the most
+thoughtless on the first approach to that scene of recent misery and
+woe. An unusual stillness reigned in every street; and the few pale
+faces which moved in them, worked in the mind a vivid representation
+of the late distress. The heart seemed to recoil from the meeting of
+old acquaintances; and the signs of mourning were every where ready
+to check the first risings of joy at the approach of friends that had
+been spared.
+
+The Sunday after our arrival, we went, according to custom, to
+the public walk on the banks of the river. But the thousands who
+made it their resort before the late calamity, had now absolutely
+deserted it. At the end of the walk was the burying-ground, which,
+during the great mortality, had been appointed for that quarter
+of the city. The prevalent custom of burying in vaults within the
+churches kept the town unprovided with an appropriate place for
+interment out of the walls; and a portion of waste land, or common,
+now contained the remains of ten thousand inhabitants, who in their
+holiday rambles had, not long before, been sporting unconsciously
+over their graves. As we approached the large mounds, which, with
+the lofty cross erected on the turf, were yet the only marks which
+distinguished the consecrated from the common ground, we saw one
+of the _Rosarios_, or processions in honour of the Virgin, slowly
+advancing along the avenue of the public walk. Many who formerly
+frequented that place for recreation, had, under the impression of
+grief and superstitious terror, renounced every species of amusement,
+and marshalling themselves in two files, preceded by a cross, and
+closed by the picture of the Virgin on a standard, repaired every
+Sunday to the principal place of burial, where they said prayers for
+the dead. Four or five of these processions, consisting either of
+males or females, passed towards the cemetery as we were returning.
+The melancholy tone in which they incessantly sang the Ave Maria and
+the Lord’s Prayer, as they glided along a former scene of life and
+animation; and the studied plainness of the dresses, contrasted with
+the gay apparel which the same persons used to display on that very
+spot, left us no wish to prolong our walk. Among the ladies whose
+penitent dress was most striking, we observed many who, not satisfied
+with mere plainness of attire, had, probably under a private vow,
+clothed themselves in a stuff peculiar to some of the religious
+orders. The grey mixture used by the Franciscans was most prevalent.
+Such vows are indeed very common in cases of danger from illness;
+but the number and class of the females whom we found submitting to
+this species of penance, shewed the extent and pressure of the past
+affliction.
+
+So transient, however, are the impressions of superstitious fear when
+unsupported by the presence of its object, that a few months have
+sufficed nearly to obliterate the signs of the past terror. The term
+of the vows having expired with most, our females have recovered
+their wonted spirits, and put aside the dull weeds of their holy
+patrons. Many, it is probable, have obtained from their confessors
+a commutation of the rash engagement, by means of a few pence paid
+towards the expenses of any war that may arise between his Catholic
+Majesty and Turks or infidels--a Crusade, for which government
+collects a vast yearly sum, in exchange for various ghostly
+privileges and indulgences, which the King buys from the Pope at a
+much cheaper rate than he retails them to his loving subjects.
+
+One loss alone will, I fear, be permanent, or of long duration to the
+gay part of this town. The theatrical representations, which, on the
+first appearance of the epidemic fever, were stopped, more by the
+clamour of the preachers than the apprehensions of the inhabitants;
+will not be resumed for years. The opinion formerly entertained by
+a comparatively small number, that the opening of the theatre at
+Seville had never failed to draw the vengeance of heaven sometimes
+on its chief supporters, sometimes on the whole town; has been
+wonderfully spread under the influence of the last visitation: and
+government itself, arbitrary and despotic as it is among us, would
+have to pause before any attempt to involve this most religious city
+in the unpardonable guilt of allowing a company of comedians within
+its walls.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VII.
+
+
+    _Seville, ---- 1803._
+
+I have connected few subjects with more feelings of disgust and
+pain than that of the Religious Orders in this country. The evil of
+this institution, as it relates to the male sex, is so unmixed, and
+unredeemed by any advantage, and its abuse, as applied to females,
+so common and cruel, that I recoil involuntarily from the train of
+thought which I feel rising in my mind. But the time approaches, or
+my wishes overstep my judgment, when this and such gross blemishes
+of society will be finally extirpated from the face of the civilized
+world. The struggle must be long and desperate; and neither the
+present nor the ensuing generation are likely to see the end. Let
+me, however, flatter myself with the idea, that by exposing the
+mischievous effects of the existing system, I am contributing--no
+matter how little--towards its final destruction. Such a notion alone
+can give me courage to proceed.
+
+Gibbon has delineated, with his usual accuracy, the origin and
+progress of monastic life;[28] and to his elegant pages I must refer
+you for information on the historical part of my subject. But his
+account does not come down to the establishment of the Mendicant
+Orders of Friars. The distinction, however, between these and
+the Monks is not very important. The Monks, as the original name
+implies, retired from the world to live in perfect solitude. As these
+fanatics increased, many associations were formed, whose members,
+professing the same rule of religious life, were distinguished by the
+appropriate name of _Cœnobites_.[29] When, at length, the frantic
+spirit which drove thousands to live like wild beasts in the deserts,
+had relaxed, and the original _Eremites_ were gradually gathered into
+the more social establishment of convents, the original distinction
+was forgotten, and the primitive name of Monks became prevalent.
+Still holding up their claims to be considered _Anachorites_, even
+when they had become possessed of lands and princely incomes, their
+monasteries were founded in the neighbourhood, but never within the
+precincts of towns: and though the service of their churches is
+splendid, it is not intended for the benefit of the people, and the
+Monks are seldom seen either in the pulpit or the confessional.
+
+  [28] Chapter xxxvii.
+
+  [29] Persons who live in common.
+
+The Friars date their origin from the beginning of the thirteenth
+century, and were instituted for the express purpose of acting as
+auxiliaries to the clergy. Saint Dominic, the most odious, and Saint
+Francis, the most frantic of modern saints, enlisted their holy
+troops without any limitation of number; for, by quartering them
+on the productive population of Christendom, the founders took no
+concern for the daily supply of their numerous followers.
+
+The Dominicans, however, having succeeded in the utter destruction
+of the Albigenses, and subsequently monopolized, for more than three
+centuries, the office of inquisitors, enriched themselves with the
+spoils of their victims, and are in the enjoyment of considerable
+wealth. The Franciscans continue to thrive upon alms; and, relying
+on the promise made to Saint Francis in a vision, that his followers
+should never feel want, point to the abundant supplies which flow
+daily into their convents as a permanent miracle which attests the
+celestial origin of their order. With the historical proofs of St.
+Francis’s financial vision I confess myself perfectly unacquainted.
+But when I consider that the general or chief of these holy beggars,
+derives from the collections daily made by his friars, a personal
+income of twenty thousand a year, I cannot withhold my assent to its
+genuineness; for who, except a supernatural being, could possess such
+a thorough knowledge of the absurdity of mankind?
+
+It would be tedious to enter into a description of the numerous
+orders comprehended under the two classes of Monks and Friars.
+The distinguishing characters of the first are wealth, ease, and
+indulgence--those of the last, vulgarity, filth, and vice. I shall
+only add that, among the Monks, the Benedictines are at the top of
+the scale for learning and decency of manners, while the Hieronimites
+deservedly occupy the bottom. To the Friars I am forced to apply the
+Spanish proverb--“There is little to choose in a mangy flock.” The
+Franciscans, however, both from their multitude and their low habits
+of mendicity, may be held as the proper representatives of all that
+is most objectionable in the religious orders.
+
+The inveterate superstition which still supports these institutions
+among us has lost, of late, its power to draw recruits to the
+cloister, from the middle and higher classes. Few monks, and scarcely
+a friar, can be found, who by taking the cowl, has not escaped a life
+of menial toil. Boys of this rank of life are received as novices at
+the age of fifteen, and admitted, after a year’s probation, to the
+perpetual vows of _obedience_, _poverty_, and _celibacy_. Engagements
+so discordant with the first laws of human nature could hardly stand
+the test of time, even if they arose from the deepest feelings of
+enthusiasm. But this affection of the mind is seldom found in our
+convents. The year of noviciate is spent in learning the cant and
+gestures of the vilest hypocrisy, as well as in strengthening, by the
+example of the professed young friars, the original gross manners
+and vicious habits of the probations.[30] The result of such a system
+is but too visible. It is a common jest among the friars themselves,
+that in the act of taking the vows, when the superior of the convent
+draws the cowl over the head of the novice, he uses the words _Tolle
+verecundiam_--“Put off shame.” And indeed, were the friars half so
+true to their profession as they are to this supposed injunction, the
+Church of Rome would really teem with saints. Shameless in begging,
+they share the scanty meal of the labourer, and extort a portion of
+every product of the earth from the farmer. Shameless in conduct,
+they spread vice and demoralization among the lower classes, secure
+in the respect which is felt for their profession, that they may
+engage in a course of profligacy without any risk of exposure. When
+an instance of gross misconduct obtrudes itself upon the eyes of the
+public, every pious person thinks it his duty to hush up the report,
+and cast a veil on the transaction. Even the sword of justice is
+glanced aside from these consecrated criminals. I shall not trouble
+you with more than two cases, out of a multitude, which prove the
+power of this popular feeling.
+
+  [30] See Note I.
+
+The most lucrative employment for friars, in this town, is preaching.
+I have not the means to ascertain the number of sermons delivered
+at Seville in the course of the year; but there is good reason
+to suppose that the average cannot be less than twelve a-day.
+One preacher, a clergyman, I know, who scarcely passes one day
+without mounting the pulpit, and reckons on three sermons every
+four-and-twenty hours, during the last half of Lent.
+
+Of these indefatigable preachers, the greatest favourite is a young
+Franciscan friar, called Padre R----z, whose merit consists in a
+soft clear-toned voice, a tender and affectionate manner, and an
+incredible fluency of language. Being, by his profession, under a vow
+of absolute poverty, and the Franciscan rule carrying this vow so
+far as not to allow the members of the order to touch money, it was
+generally understood that the produce of these apostolical labours
+was faithfully deposited to be used in common by the whole religious
+community. An incident, however, which lately came to light, has
+given us reason to suspect that we are not quite in the secret of
+the internal management of these societies of saintly paupers, and
+that individual industry is rewarded among them with a considerable
+share of profits. A young female cousin of the zealous preacher in
+question, was living quite alone in a retired part of this town,
+where her relative paid her, it should seem, not unfrequent visits.
+Few, however, except her obscure neighbours, suspected her connexion
+with the friar, or had the least notion of her existence. An old
+woman attended her in the day-time, and retired in the evening,
+leaving her mistress alone in the house. One morning the street was
+alarmed by the old servant, who, having gained admittance, as usual,
+by means of a private key, found the young woman dead in her bed, the
+room and other parts of the house being stained with blood. It was
+clear, indeed, upon a slight inspection of the body, that no violence
+had taken place; yet the powerful interest excited at the moment,
+and before measures had been taken to hush the whole matter, spread
+the circumstances of the case all over the town, and brought the
+fact to light, that the house itself belonged to the friar, having
+been purchased by an agent with the money arising from his sermons.
+The hungry vultures of the law would have reaped an abundant harvest
+upon any lay individual who had been involved in such a train of
+suspicious circumstances. But, probably, a proper _douceur_ out of
+the sermon fees increased their pious tenderness for the friar; while
+he was so emboldened by the disposition of the people to shut their
+eyes on every circumstance which might sully the fair name of a son
+of Saint Francis, that, a few days after the event, he preached a
+sermon, denouncing the curse of Heaven on the impious individuals who
+could harbour a belief derogatory to his sacred character.
+
+Crimes of the blackest description were left unpunished during the
+last reign, from a fixed and avowed determination of the King[31]
+not to inflict the punishment of death upon a priest. Townsend has
+mentioned the murder of a young lady committed by a friar at San
+Lucar de Barrameda; and I would not repeat the painful narrative,
+were it not that my acquaintance with some of her relatives, as
+well as with the spot on which she fell, enables me to give a more
+accurate statement.
+
+  [31] Charles III.
+
+A young lady, of a very respectable family in the above-mentioned
+town, had for her confessor a friar of the Reformed or _Unshod_
+Carmelites. I have often visited the house where she lived, in front
+of the convent. Thither her mother took her every day to mass, and
+frequently to confession. The priest, a man of middle age, had
+conceived a passion for his young penitent, which, not venturing to
+disclose, he madly fed by visiting the unsuspecting girl with all
+the frequency which the spiritual relation in which he stood towards
+her, and the friendship of her parents, allowed him. The young woman
+now about nineteen, had an offer of a suitable match, which she
+accepted with the approbation of her parents. The day being fixed
+for the marriage, the bride, according to custom, went, attended by
+her mother, early in the morning to church, to confess and receive
+the sacrament. After giving her absolution, the confessor, stung
+with the madness of jealousy, was observed whetting a knife in the
+kitchen. The unfortunate girl had, in the mean time, received the
+host, and was now leaving the church, when the villain, meeting her
+in the porch, and pretending to speak a few words in her ear--a
+liberty to which his office entitled him--stabbed her to the heart
+in the presence of her mother. The assassin did not endeavour to
+escape. He was committed to prison; and after the usual delays of
+the Spanish law, was condemned to death. The King, however, commuted
+this sentence into a confinement for life in a fortress at Puerto
+Rico. The only anxiety ever showed by the murderer was respecting
+the success of his crime. He made frequent enquiries to ascertain
+the death of the young woman; and the assurance that no man could
+possess the object of his passion, seemed to make him happy during
+the remainder of a long life.
+
+Instances of enthusiasm are so rare, even in the most austere orders,
+that there is strong ground to suspect its seeds are destroyed by
+a pervading corruption of morals. The Observant Franciscans, the
+most numerous community in this town, have not been able to set up
+a living saint after the death, which happened four or five years
+since, of the last in the series of servants to the order, who, for
+time immemorial, have been a source of honour and profit to that
+convent. Besides the lay-brothers--a kind of upper servants under
+religious vows, but excluded from the dignity of holy orders--the
+friars admit some peasants, under the name of Donados, (_Donati_,
+in the Latin of the middle ages,) who, like their predecessors of
+servile condition, give themselves up, as their name expresses it,
+to the service of the convent. As these people are now-a-days at
+liberty to leave their voluntary servitude, none are admitted but
+such as by the weakness of their understanding, and the natural
+timidity arising from a degree of imbecility, are expected to
+continue for life in a state of religious bondage. They wear the
+habit of the order, and are employed in the most menial offices,
+unless, being able to act, or rather to bear the character of
+extraordinary sanctity, they are sent about town to collect alms for
+their employers. These idiot saints are seen daily with a vacillating
+step, and look of the deepest humility, bearing about an image of the
+child Jesus, to which a basket for alms is appended, and offering,
+not their hand, which is the privilege of priests, but the end of
+their right sleeve, to be kissed by the pious. To what influence
+these miserable beings are sometimes raised, may be learned from a
+few particulars of the life of Hermanito Sebastian (Little Brother
+Sebastian) the last but one of the Franciscan collectors in this town.
+
+During the last year of Philip V. Brother Sebastian was presented
+to the _Infantes_, the king’s sons, that he might confer a blessing
+upon them. The courtiers present, observing that he took most notice
+of the king’s third son, Don Carlos, observed to him that his
+respects were chiefly due to the eldest, who was to be king. “Nay,
+nay, (it is reported he answered, pointing to his favourite) this
+shall be king too.” Some time after this interview, Don Carlos was,
+by the arrangements which put an end to the Succession War, made
+Sovereign Prince of Parma. Conquest subsequently raised him to the
+throne of Naples; and, lastly, the failure of direct heirs to his
+brother Ferdinand VI. put him in possession of the crown of Spain.
+His first and unexpected promotion to the sovereignty of Parma had
+strongly impressed Don Carlos with the idea of Sebastian’s knowledge
+of futurity. But when, after the death of the prophet, he found
+himself on the throne of Spain, he thought himself bound in honour
+and duty to obtain from the Pope the _Beatification_, or Apotheosis,
+of _Little Sebastian_. The Church of Rome, however, knowing the
+advantages of strict adherence to rules and forms, especially when a
+king stands forward to pay the large fees incident to such trials,
+proceeded at a pace, compared to which your Court of Chancery would
+seem to move with the velocity of a meteor. But when the day arrived
+for the exhibition, before the Holy Congregation of Cardinals, of
+all papers whatever which might exist in the hand-writing of the
+candidate for saintship, and it was found necessary to lay before
+their Eminences an original letter, which the King carried about his
+person as an amulet; good Carlos found himself in a most perplexing
+dilemma. Distracted between duty to his ghostly friend, and his
+fears of some personal misfortune during the absence of the letter,
+he exerted the whole influence of his crown through the Spanish
+ambassador at Rome, that the trial might proceed upon the inspection
+of an authentic copy. The Pope, however, was inexorable, and nothing
+could be done without the autograph. The king’s ministers at home,
+on the other hand, finding him restless, and scarcely able to enjoy
+the daily amusement of the chase, succeeded, at length, in bringing
+about a plan for the exhibition of the letter, which, though attended
+with an inevitable degree of anxiety and pain to his majesty, was,
+nevertheless, the most likely to spare his feelings. The most active
+and trusty of the Spanish messengers was chosen to convey the
+invaluable epistle to Rome, and his speed was secured by the promise
+of a large reward. Orders were then sent to the ambassador to have
+the Holy Congregation assembled on the morning when the messenger
+had engaged to arrive at the Vatican. By this skilful and deep-laid
+plan of operations, the letter was not detained more than half an
+hour at Rome; and another courier returned it with equal speed to
+Spain. From the moment when the King tore himself from the sacred
+paper, till it was restored to his hands, he did not venture once out
+of the palace. I have given these particulars on the authority of a
+man no less known in Spain for the high station he has filled, than
+for his public virtues and talents. He has been minister of state to
+the present King, Charles IV., and is intimately acquainted with the
+secret history of the preceding reign.[32]
+
+  [32] Jovellanos; see Appendix.
+
+Great remnants of self-tormenting fanaticism are still found among
+the Carthusians. Of this order we have two monasteries in Andalusia,
+one on the banks of the Guadalquivir, within two miles of our gates,
+and another at Xeréz, or Sherry, as that town was formerly called in
+England, a name which its wines still bear. These monasteries are
+rich in land and endowments, and consequently afford the monks every
+comfort which is consistent with their rule. But all the wealth in
+the universe could not give those wretched slaves of superstition a
+single moment of enjoyment. The unhappy man who binds himself with
+the Carthusian vows, may consider the precincts of the cell allotted
+him as his tomb. These monks spend daily eight or nine hours in the
+chapel, without any music to relieve the monotony of the service.
+At midnight they are roused from their beds, whither they retire at
+sunset, to chaunt matins till four in the morning. Two hours rest
+are allowed them between that service and morning prayers. Mass
+follows, with a short interruption, and great part of the afternoon
+is allotted to vespers. No communication is permitted between the
+monks, except two days in the week, when they assemble during an
+hour for conversation. Confined to their cells when not attending
+church-service, even their food is left them in a wheel-box, such as
+is used in the nunneries,[33] from which they take it when hungry,
+and eat it in perfect solitude. A few books and a small garden, in
+which they cultivate a profusion of flowers, are the only resources
+of these unfortunate beings. To these privations they add an absolute
+abstinence from flesh, which they vow not to taste even at the risk
+of their lives.
+
+  [33] See Letter V. page 141.
+
+I have on different occasions spent a day with some friends at the
+_Hospederia_, or Stranger’s Lodge, at the Carthusians of Seville,
+where it is the duty of the steward, the only monk who is allowed to
+mix in society, to entertain any male visitors who, with a proper
+introduction, repair to the monastery. The steward I knew before
+my visit to England, had been a merchant. After several voyages to
+Spanish America, he had retired from the world, which, it was evident
+in some unguarded moments, he had known and loved too well to have
+entirely forgotten. His frequent visits to the town, ostensibly upon
+business, were not entirely free from suspicion among the idle and
+inquisitive; and I have some reason to believe that these rumours
+were found too well grounded by his superiors. He was deprived of the
+stewardship, and disappeared for ever from the haunts of men.
+
+The austerity of the Carthusian rule of life would cast but a
+transient gloom on the mind of an enlightened observer, if he could
+be sure that the misery he beheld was voluntary; that hope kept a
+crown of glory before the eyes of every wretched prisoner, and that
+no unwilling victim of a temporary illusion, was pining for light and
+liberty, under the tombstone sealed over him by religious tyranny.
+But neither the view of the monks, fixed as statues in the stalls of
+their gloomy church, nor those that are seen in the darkest recesses
+of the cloisters, prostrate on the marble pavement, where, wrapt up
+in their large white mantles, they spend many an hour in meditation;
+nor the bent, gliding figures which wander among the earthy mounds
+under the orange-trees of the cemetery--that least melancholy spot
+within the wall of the monastery,--nothing did ever so harrow my
+feelings in that mansion of sorrow, as the accidental meeting of a
+repining prisoner. This was a young monk, who, to my great surprise,
+addressed me as I was looking at the pictures in one of the cloisters
+of the Carthusians near Seville, and very politely offered to shew me
+his cell. He was perfectly unknown to me, and I have every reason to
+believe that I was equally so to him. Having admired his collection
+of flowers, we entered into a literary conversation, and he asked
+me whether I was fond of French literature. Upon my shewing some
+acquaintance with the writers of that nation, and expressing a mixed
+feeling of surprise and interest at hearing a Carthusian venturing
+upon that topic, the poor young man was so thrown off his guard,
+that, leading me to a bookcase, he put into my hands a volume of
+Voltaire’s _Pièces Fugitives_, which he spoke of with rapture. I
+believe I saw a volume of Rousseau’s works in the collection; yet
+I suspect that this unfortunate man’s _select library_ consisted
+of amatory rather than philosophical works. The monk’s name is
+unknown to me, though I learned from him the place of his birth; and
+many years have elapsed since this strange meeting, which from its
+insulation amidst the events and impressions of my life, I compare to
+an interview with an inhabitant of the invisible world. But I shall
+never forget the thrilling horror I felt, when the abyss of misery
+into which that wretched being was plunged, opened suddenly upon my
+mind. I was young, and had, till that moment, mistaken the nature
+of enthusiasm. Fed as I saw it in a Carthusian convent, I firmly
+believed it could not be extinguished but with life. This ocular
+evidence against my former belief was so painful, that I hastened
+my departure, leaving the devoted victim to his solitude, there to
+wait the odious sound of the bell which was to disturb his sleep, if
+the subsequent horror of having committed himself with a stranger,
+allowed him that night to close his eyes.
+
+Though the number of Hermits is not considerable in Spain, we are not
+without some establishments on the plan of the _Lauras_ described
+by Gibbon.[34] The principal of these solitudes is Monserrat in
+Catalonia, an account of which you will find in most books of
+travels. My own observation on this point does not, however, extend
+beyond the hermitages of Cordoba, which, I believe, rank next to the
+above-mentioned.
+
+  [34] Chapter xxxvii.
+
+The branch of Sierra Morena, which to the north of Cordoba separates
+Andalusia from La Mancha, rises abruptly within six miles of
+that city. On the first ascent of the hills the country becomes
+exceedingly beautiful. The small rivulets which freshen the valleys,
+aided by the powerful influence of a southern atmosphere, transform
+these spots, during April and May, into the most splendid gardens.
+Roses and lilies, of the largest cultivated kinds, have sown
+themselves in the greatest profusion upon every space left vacant by
+the mountain-herbs and shrubs, which form wild and romantic hedges to
+these native flower-plots. But as you approach the mountain-tops to
+the right and left, the rock begins to appear, and the scanty soil,
+scorched and pulverized by the sun, becomes unfit for vegetation.
+Here stands a barren hill of difficult approach on all sides, and
+precipitous towards the plain, its rounded head inclosed within a
+rude stone parapet, breast high, a small church rising in the centre,
+and about twenty brick tenements irregularly scattered about it. The
+dimensions of the huts allow just sufficient room for a few boards
+raised about a foot from the ground, which, covered with a mat, serve
+for a bed: a trivet to sit upon, a diminutive deal table supporting
+a crucifix, a human skull, and one or two books of devotion. The
+door is so low that it cannot be passed without stooping; and the
+whole habitation is ingeniously contrived to exclude every comfort.
+As visiting and talking together is forbidden to the hermits, and the
+cells are at some distance from one another, a small bell is hung
+over the door of each, to call for assistance in case of sickness or
+danger. The hermits meet at chapel every morning to hear mass and
+receive the sacrament from the hands of a secular priest; for none
+of them are admitted to orders. After chapel, they retire to their
+cells, where they pass their time in reading, meditation, plaiting
+mats, making little crosses of Spanish broom, which people carry
+about them as a preservative from erysipelas, and manufacturing
+instruments of penance, such as scourges and a sort of wire bracelets
+bristled inside with points, called _Cilicios_, which are worn near
+the skin by the _ultra-pious_ among the Catholics. Food, consisting
+of pulse and herbs, is distributed once a day to the hermits, leaving
+them to use it when they please. These devotees are usually peasants,
+who, seized with religious terrors, are driven to this strange method
+of escaping eternal misery, in the next world. But the hardships of
+their new profession are generally less severe than those to which
+they were subject by their lot in life; and they find ample amends
+for their loss of liberty in the certainty of food and clothing
+without labour, no less than in the secret pride of superior
+sanctity, and the consequent respect of the people.
+
+Thus far these hermitages excite more disgust than compassion. But
+when, distracted by superstition, men of a higher order and more
+delicate feelings, fly to these solitudes as to a hiding-place from
+mental terrors; the consequences are often truly melancholy. Among
+the hermits of Cordoba, I found a gentleman who, three years before,
+had given up his commission in the army, where he was a colonel of
+artillery, and, what is perhaps more painful to a Spaniard, his cross
+of one of the ancient orders of knighthood. He joined our party, and
+showed more pleasure in conversation than is consistent with that
+high fever of enthusiasm, without which his present state of life
+must have been worse than death itself. We stood upon the brow of the
+rock, having at our feet the extensive plains of Lower Andalusia,
+watered by the Guadalquivir, the ancient city of Cordoba with its
+magnificent cathedral in front, and the mountains of Jaén, sweeping
+majestically to the left. The view was to me, then a very young man,
+truly grand and imposing; and I could not help congratulating the
+hermit on the enjoyment of a scene which so powerfully affected the
+mind, and wrapt it up in contemplation. “Alas! (he answered with
+an air of dejection) I have seen it every day these three years!”
+As hermits are not bound to their profession by irrevocable vows,
+perhaps this unfortunate being has, after a long and painful
+struggle, returned to the habitations of men, to hide his face in
+an obscure corner, bearing the reproach of apostacy and backsliding
+from the bigoted, and the sneer of ridicule from the thoughtless;
+his prospects blasted for ever in this world, and darkened by fear
+and remorse, in the next. Woe to the incautious who publicly engage
+their services to religion, under the impression that they shall be
+allowed to withdraw them upon a change of views, or an abatement of
+fervour. The very few establishments of this kind, where solemn vows
+do not banish the hopes of liberty for ever, are full of captives,
+who would fain burst the invisible chains that bind them; but cannot.
+The church and her leaders are extremely jealous of such defections:
+and as few or none dare raise the veil of the sanctuary, redress is
+nearly impossible for such as trust themselves within it. But of this
+more in my next.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VIII.
+
+
+    _Seville, ---- 1805._
+
+When the last census was made, in 1787, the number of Spanish females
+confined to the cloister, for life, amounted to thirty-two thousand.
+That in a country where wealth is small and ill distributed, and
+industry languishes under innumerable restraints, there should be a
+great number of portionless gentlewomen unable to find a suitable
+match, and consequently glad of a dignified asylum, where they might
+secure peace and competence, if not happiness; is so perfectly
+natural, that the founders and supporters of any institution intended
+to fulfil those objects, would deserve to be reckoned among the
+friends of humanity. But the cruel and wicked church law, which,
+aided by external force, binds the nuns with perpetual vows, makes
+the convents for females the _Bastilles_ of superstition, where many
+a victim lingers through a long life of despair or insanity.
+
+Though I do not mean to enter into a point of theological
+controversy, I find it impossible to dwell for a moment on this
+subject without expressing my utter abhorrence and detestation of
+the cold indifference with which our Church looks on the glaring
+evil consequences of some of its laws, when, according to her
+own doctrines, they might be either repealed or amended, without
+relinquishing any of her claims. The authority of the Roman Pontiff,
+in all matters of church government, is not questioned among
+Catholics. Yet, from a proud affectation of infallibility, even upon
+such points as the most violent partisans of that absurd pretention
+have never ventured to place within its reach, the church of Rome
+has been so sparing of the power to reform her laws, that it might
+be suspected she wished to abandon it by prescription. Always ready
+to _bind_, the heirs of Saint Peter have shewn themselves extremely
+averse to the more humane office of _loosing on earth_, except when
+it served the purposes of gain or ambition. The time, I believe, will
+never come when the church of Rome will agree to make concessions
+on what are called _matters of faith_. But I cannot discover the
+least shadow of reason or interest for the obstinacy which preserves
+unaltered the barbarous laws relating to the religious vows of
+females; unless it be that vile animal jealousy, which persons,
+deprived of the pleasures of love, are apt to mistake for zeal in the
+cause of chastity; such zeal as your Queen Elizabeth felt for the
+purity of her maids.
+
+The nunneries in this town amount to twenty-nine. Of these, some
+are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Friars, whose rule of
+religious life they profess; and some under that of the Episcopal
+See. The last, generally follow the monastic rules of Saint Benedict,
+Saint Bernard, or Saint Jerom; and it is remarkable, that the same
+superiority which is observable in the secular above the regular
+clergy, is found in the nuns under the episcopal jurisdiction. Some
+of these inhabit large convents, whose courts and gardens allow the
+inhabitants ample space for exercise and amusement. Instead of narrow
+cells, the nuns live in a comfortable suite of apartments, often at
+the head of a small family of younger nuns whom they have educated,
+or of pupils, not under religious vows, whom their parents place
+there for instruction. The life, in fact, of these communities, is
+rather collegiate than monastic; and were it not for the tyrannical
+law which deprives the professed nuns of their liberty, such
+establishments would be far from objectionable. The dress of these
+nuns is still that which the _Dueñas_, or elderly matrons, wore when
+the convents were founded; with the addition of a large mantle,
+black, white, or blue, according to the custom of the order, which
+they use at the choir. From a head-dress not unlike that which, if I
+may venture upon such matters, I believe you call a _mob-cap_, hangs
+the black veil. A rosary, or chaplet of black beads with a cross
+at the end, is seen hanging over the neck and shoulders, or loosely
+coiled on a leather strap, which tightens the tunic or gown to the
+waist. A slip of cloth of the breadth of the shoulders, called the
+_scapulary_, hangs down to the feet both before and behind, probably
+with a view to conceal every outline of the female shape.
+
+The mildness of these monastic rules being unsatisfactory to the
+fiery spirit of bigotry, many convents have been founded under the
+title of _Reformed_, where, without the least regard to the sex of
+the votaries, young and delicate females are subjected to a life of
+privation and hardship, as the only infallible method of obtaining
+the favour of Heaven. Their dress is a tunic of sackcloth, tied
+round the waist with a knotted rope. The rule allows them no linen
+either for clothing or bedding. Woollen of the coarsest kind frets
+their bodies, day and night, even during the burning summers of the
+South of Spain. A mantle of the same sackcloth is the only addition
+which the nuns make to their dress in winter, while their feet,
+shod with open sandals, and without either socks or stockings, are
+exposed to the sharp winter blasts, and the deadening chill of the
+brick-floors. A band of coarse linen, two inches in breadth, is worn
+by the Capuchin nuns, bound tight six or eight times round the head,
+in remembrance, it is said, of the _crown of thorns_; and such is
+the barbarous spirit of the rule, that it does not allow this band
+to be taken off, even under an access of fever. A young woman who
+takes the veil in any of the reformed convents, renounces the sight
+of her nearest relations. The utmost indulgence, as to communication
+with parents and brothers, extends only to a short conversation
+once a month, in the presence of one of the elder nuns, behind a
+thick curtain spread on the inner side of the iron grating, which
+completely intercepts the view. The religious vows, however, among
+the Capuchin nuns, put a final end to all communication between
+parents and children.
+
+To those unacquainted with the character of our species of
+Christianity, it will be difficult to conceive what motive can
+influence the mind of a young creature of sixteen thus to sacrifice
+herself upon the altars of these Molochs, whom we call Saints and
+Patriarchs. To me these horrid effects of superstition appear so
+natural, that I only wonder when I see so many of our religious
+young females still out of the convent. Remorse and mental horrors
+goad some young men into the strictest monasteries, while more
+amiable, though equally mistaken views, lead our females to a similar
+course of life. We are taught to believe self-inflicted pain to be
+acceptable to the Deity, both as an atonement for crime, and a token
+of thankfulness. The female character, among us, is a compound of the
+most ardent feelings--vehement to delirium, generous to devotedness.
+What wonder then if, early impressed with the loveliness and
+sufferings of an incarnate Deity, an exquisitely tender mind grow
+restless and dissatisfied with a world, as yet known only through the
+pictures of morose fanatics, and pant after the most effectual means
+of giving her celestial lover an unquestionable proof of gratitude?
+The first nascent wish of taking the veil is eagerly watched and
+seized by a confessor, who, to a violent jealousy of earthly
+bridegrooms, joins a confident sense of merit in adding one virgin
+more to the ten thousand of the spiritual _Harem_. Pious parents
+tremble at the thought of standing between God and their daughter,
+and often with a bleeding heart lead her to the foot of the altar.
+
+There is an extreme eagerness in the Catholic professors of
+celibacy, both male and female, to decoy young persons into the
+toils from which they themselves cannot escape. With this view they
+have disguised the awful ceremony which cuts off an innocent girl
+from the sweetest hopes of nature, with the pomp and gaiety, which
+mankind have unanimously bestowed on the triumph of legitimate love.
+The whole process which condemns a female “to wither on the virgin
+thorn,” and “live a barren sister all her life,” is studiously made
+to represent a wedding. The unconscious victim, generally in her
+fifteenth year, finds herself, for some time previous to her taking
+the veil, the queen--nay, the idol of the whole community which has
+obtained her preference. She is constantly addressed by the name of
+bride, and sees nothing but gay preparations for the expected day of
+her spiritual nuptials. Attired in a splendid dress, and decked with
+all the jewels of her family and friends, she takes public leave of
+her acquaintance; visits, on her way to the convent, several other
+nunneries, to be seen and admired by the recluse inhabitants; and
+even the crowd which collects in her progress, follows her with
+tears and blessings. As she approaches the church of her monastery,
+the dignified ecclesiastic who is to perform the ceremony, meets
+the intended novice at the door, and leads her to the altar, amid
+the sounds of bells and musical instruments. The monastic weeds
+are blessed by the priest in her presence; and having embraced her
+parents and nearest relations, she is led by the lady who acts as
+bride’s-maid to the small door next to the double grating, which
+separates the nuns’ choir from the body of the church. A curtain is
+drawn while the abbess cuts off the hair of the novice, and strips
+her of her worldly ornaments. On the removal of the curtain she
+appears in the monastic garb, surrounded by the nuns bearing lighted
+tapers, her face covered with the white veil of probationship,
+fixed on the head by a wreath of flowers. After the Te Deum, or
+some other hymn of thanksgiving, the friends of the family adjourn
+to the _Locutory_, or visiting-room, where a collation of ices and
+sweetmeats is served in the presence of the mock bride, who, with
+the principal nuns, attends behind the grating which separates
+the visitors from the inmates of the convent. In the more austere
+nunneries the parting visit is omitted, and the sight of the novice
+in the white veil, immediately after having her hair cut off, is the
+last which, for a whole year, is granted to the parents. They again
+see her on the day when she binds herself with the irrevocable vows,
+never to behold her more, unless they should live to see her again
+crowned with flowers, when she is laid in the grave.
+
+Instances of novices quitting the convent during the year of
+probation are extremely rare. The ceremony of taking the veil is too
+solemn, and bears too much the character of a public engagement,
+to allow full liberty of choice during the subsequent noviciate.
+The timid mind of a girl shrinks from the idea of appearing again
+in the world, under the tacit reproach of fickleness and relaxed
+devotion. The nuns, besides, do not forget their arts during the
+nominal trial of the victim, and she lives a whole year the object
+of their caresses. Nuns, in fact, who, after profession, would have
+given their lives for a day of free breathing out of their prison, it
+has been my misfortune to know; but I cannot recollect more than one
+instance of a novice quitting the convent; and that was a woman of
+obscure birth, on whom public opinion had no influence.
+
+That many nuns, especially in the more liberal convents, live happy,
+I have every reason to believe; but, on the other hand, I possess
+indubitable evidence of the exquisite misery which is the lot of some
+unfortunate females, under similar circumstances. I shall mention
+only one case, in actual existence, with which I am circumstantially
+acquainted.
+
+A lively and interesting girl of fifteen, poor, though connected
+with some of the first gentry in this town, having received her
+education under an aunt who was at the head of a wealthy, and not
+austere, Franciscan convent, came out, as the phrase is, _to see the
+world_, previous to her taking the veil. I often met the intended
+novice at the house of one of her relations, where I visited daily.
+She had scarcely been a fortnight out of the cloister, when that
+world she had learned to abhor in description, was so visibly and
+rapidly winning her affections, that at the end of three months she
+could hardly disguise her aversion to the veil. The day, however, was
+now fast approaching which had been fixed for the ceremony, without
+her feeling sufficient resolution to decline it. Her father, a good
+but weak man, she knew too well, could not protect her from the
+ill-treatment of an unfeeling mother, whose vanity was concerned in
+thus disposing of a daughter for whom she had no hopes of finding a
+suitable match. The kindness of her aunt, the good nun to whom the
+distressed girl was indebted for the happiness of her childhood,
+formed, besides, too strong a contrast with the unkindness of the
+unnatural mother, not to give her wavering mind a strong though
+painful bias towards the cloister. To this were added all the arts
+of pious seduction so common among the religious of both sexes. The
+preparations for the approaching solemnity were, in the mean time,
+industriously carried on with the greatest publicity. Verses were
+circulated, in which her confessor sang the triumph of Divine Love
+over the wily suggestions of the _impious_. The _wedding-dress_ was
+shewn to every acquaintance, and due notice of the appointed day was
+given to friends and relatives. But the fears and aversion of the
+devoted victim grew in proportion as she saw herself more and more
+involved in the toils she had wanted courage to burst when she first
+felt them.
+
+It was in company with my friend Leandro, with whose private history
+you are well acquainted,[35] that I often met the unfortunate Maria
+Francisca. His efforts to dissuade her from the rash step she was
+going to take, and the warm language in which he spoke to her
+father on that subject, had made her look upon him as a warm and
+sincere friend. The unhappy girl on the eve of the day when she
+was to take the veil, repaired to church, and sent him a message,
+without mentioning her name, that a female penitent requested his
+attendance at the confessional. With painful surprise he found the
+future novice at his feet, in a state bordering on distraction. When
+a flood of tears had allowed her utterance, she told him that, for
+want of another friend in the whole world to whom she could disclose
+her feelings, she came to him, not, however, for the purpose of
+confession, but because she trusted he would listen with pity to her
+sorrows. With a warmth and eloquence above her years, she protested
+that the distant terrors of eternal punishment, which, she feared,
+might be the consequence of her determination, could not deter
+her from the step by which she was going to escape the incessant
+persecution of her mother. In vain did my friend volunteer his
+assistance to extricate her from the appalling difficulties which
+surrounded her: in vain did he offer to wait upon the archbishop, and
+implore his interference: no offers, no persuasions could move her.
+She parted as if ready to be conveyed to the scaffold, and the next
+day took the veil.
+
+  [35] See Letter III.
+
+The real kindness of her aunt, and the treacherous smiles of
+the other nuns, supported the pining novice through the year of
+probation. The scene I beheld when she was bound with the perpetual
+vows of monastic life, is one which I cannot recollect without an
+actual sense of suffocation. A solemn mass, performed with all the
+splendour which that ceremony admits, preceded the awful oaths of
+the novice. At the conclusion of the service, she approached the
+superior of the order. A pen, gaily ornamented with artificial
+flowers, was put into her trembling hand, to sign the engagement for
+life, on which she was about to enter. Then, standing before the
+iron grate of the choir, she began to chaunt, in a weak and fainting
+voice, the act of consecration of herself to God; but, having uttered
+a few words, she fainted into the arms of the surrounding nuns. This
+was attributed to mere fatigue and emotion. No sooner had the means
+employed restored to the victim the powers of speech, than, with a
+vehemence which those who knew not her circumstances attributed to
+a fresh impulse of holy zeal, and in which the few that were in the
+painful secret saw nothing but the madness of despair; she hurried
+over the remaining sentences, and sealed her doom for ever.
+
+The real feelings of the new votaress were, however, too much
+suspected by her more bigoted or more resigned fellow-prisoners; and
+time and despair making her less cautious, she was soon looked upon
+as one likely to bring disgrace on the whole order, by divulging
+the secret that it is possible for a nun to feel impatient under
+her vows. The storm of conventual persecution, (the fiercest and
+most pitiless of all that breed in the human heart), had been
+lowering over the unhappy young woman during the short time which
+her aunt, the prioress, survived. But when death had left her
+friendless, and exposed to the tormenting ingenuity of a crowd of
+female zealots, whom she could not escape for an instant; unable to
+endure her misery, she resolutely attempted to drown herself. The
+attempt, however, was ineffectual. And now the merciless character of
+Catholic superstition appeared in its full glare. The mother, without
+impeaching whose character no judicial steps could be taken to prove
+the invalidity of the profession, was dead; and some relations and
+friends of the poor prisoner were moved by her sufferings to apply
+to the church for relief. A suit was instituted for this purpose
+before the ecclesiastical court, and the clearest evidence adduced
+of the indirect compulsion which had been used in the case. But the
+whole order of Saint Francis, considering their honour at stake, rose
+against their rebellious subject, and the judges sanctioned her vows
+as voluntary and valid. She lives still in a state approaching to
+madness, and death alone can break her chains.[36]
+
+  [36] She died in 1821.
+
+Such an instance of misery is, I hope, one of those extreme cases
+which seldom take place, and more seldom transpire. The common source
+of suffering among the Catholic recluses proceeds from a certain
+degree of religious melancholy, which, combined with such complaints
+as originate in perpetual confinement, affect more or less the
+greater number.
+
+The mental disease to which I allude is commonly known by the name
+of _Escrúpulos_, and might be called _religious anxiety_. It is the
+natural state of a mind perpetually dwelling on hopes connected
+with an invisible world, and anxiously practising means to avoid an
+unhappy lot in it, which keep the apprehended danger for ever present
+to the imagination. Consecration for life at the altar promises, it
+is true, increased happiness in the world to come; but the numerous
+and difficult duties attached to the religious profession, multiply
+the hazards of eternal misery by the chances of failure in their
+performance; and while the plain Christian’s offences against the
+moral law are often considered as mere frailties, those of the
+professed votary seldom escape the aggravation of sacrilege. The
+odious diligence of the Catholic moralists has raked together an
+endless catalogue of sins, by _thought, word, and deed_, to every one
+of which the punishment of eternal flames has been assigned. This
+list, alike horrible and disgusting, haunts the imagination of the
+unfortunate devotee, till, reduced to a state of perpetual anxiety,
+she can neither think, speak, nor act, without discovering in every
+vital motion a sin which invalidates all her past sacrifices, and
+dooms her painful efforts after Christian perfection, to end in
+everlasting misery. Absolution, which adds boldness to the resolute
+and profligate, becomes a fresh source of disquietude to a timid
+and sickly mind. Doubts innumerable disturb the unhappy sufferer,
+not, however, as to the power of the priest in granting pardon, but
+respecting her own fulfilment of the conditions, without which to
+receive absolution is _sacrilege_. These agonizing fears, cherished
+and fed by the small circle of objects to which a nun is confined,
+are generally incurable, and usually terminate in an untimely death,
+or insanity.
+
+There are, however, constitutions and tempers to which the atmosphere
+of a nunnery seems natural and congenial. Women of uncommon
+cleverness and judgment, whose strength of mind preserves them in a
+state of rational happiness are sometimes found in the cloisters.
+But the true, the genuine nun--such, I mean, as, unincumbered by a
+barbarous rule, and blessed with that Liliputian activity of mind
+which can convert a parlour or a kitchen into an universe--presents a
+most curious modification of that amusing character, _the old maid_.
+Like their virgin sisters all over the world, they too have, more or
+less, a flirting period, of which the confessor is always the happy
+and exclusive object. The heart and soul of almost every nun not
+passed fifty, are centred in the priest that directs her conscience.
+The convent messengers are seen about the town with lots of spiritual
+_billets-doux_, in search of a soothing line from the ghostly
+fathers. The nuns not only address them by that endearing name, but
+will not endure from them the common form of speech in the third
+person:--they must be _tutoyé_, as children are by their parents.
+Jealousy is a frequent symptom of this nameless attachment; and
+though it is impossible for every nun to have exclusive possession of
+her confessor, few will allow the presence of a rival within their
+own convent.
+
+I do not intend, however, to cast an imputation of levity on the
+class of Spanish females which I am describing. Instances of gross
+misconduct are extremely rare among the nuns. Indeed, the physical
+barriers which protect their virtue are fully adequate to guard
+them against the consequences of a most unbounded intimacy with
+their confessors. Neither would I suggest the idea that nothing but
+obstacles of this kind keeps them, in all cases, within the bounds of
+modesty. My only object is to expose the absurdity and unfeelingness
+of a system which, while it surrounds the young recluses with strong
+walls, massive gates, and spiked windows, grants them the most
+intimate communication with a man--often a young man--that can be
+carried on in words and writing. The struggle between the heart thus
+barbarously tried, and the unnatural duties of the religious state,
+though sometimes a mystery to the modest sufferer, is plainly visible
+in most of the young captives.
+
+About the age of fifty, (for spiritual flirtation seldom exhausts
+itself before that age,) the genuine nun has settled every feeling
+and affection upon that shifting centre of the universe, which,
+like some circles in astronomy, changes with every step of the
+individual--I mean _self_. It has been observed that no European
+language possesses a true equivalent for your English word _comfort_;
+and, considering the state of this country, Spanish would have little
+chance of producing a similar substantive, were it not for some
+of our nuns, who, as they make a constant practical study of the
+subject, may, at length, enrich our dictionary with a name for what
+they know so well without it. Their comforts, however, poor souls!
+are still of an inferior kind, and arise chiefly from the indulgence
+of that temper, which, in the language of your _ladies’ maids_,
+makes their mistresses _very particular_; and which, by a strange
+application of the word, confers among us the name of _impertinente_.
+The squeamishness, fastidiousness, and morbid sensibility of nuns,
+make that name a proverbial reproach to every sort of affected
+delicacy. As great and wealthy nunneries possess considerable
+influence, and none can obtain the patronage of the Holy Sisters
+(_Mothers_, they are called by the Spaniards,) without accommodating
+themselves to the tone and manners of the society; every person,
+male or female, connected with it, acquires a peculiar mincing air,
+which cannot be mistaken by an experienced observer. But in none does
+it appear more ludicrously than in the old-fashioned _nun-doctors_.
+Their patience in listening to long, minute, and often-told
+reports of cases; the mock authority with which they enforce their
+prescriptions, and the peculiar wit they employ to raise the spirits
+of their patients, would, in a more free country, furnish comedy with
+a most amusing character. Some years ago a very stupid practitioner
+bethought himself of taking orders, thus to unite the spiritual and
+bodily leech, for the convenience of nuns. The Pope granted him a
+dispensation of the ecclesiastical law, which forbids priests to
+practise physic; and he found himself unrivalled in powers, among the
+faculty. The scheme succeeded so well that our doctor sent home for a
+lad, his nephew, whom he has brought up in this twofold trade, which,
+for want of direct heirs, of which priests in this country cannot
+boast, is likely to be perpetuated in the collateral branches of that
+family. With regard to their curative system, as it applies to the
+souls, I am a very incompetent judge: the body, I know--at least the
+half-spiritualized bodies of the nuns--they treat exclusively with
+syrups. This is a fact of which I have a melancholy proof in a near
+relation, a most amiable young woman, who was allowed to drop into
+an early grave, while her growing disease was opposed with nothing
+but syrup of violets! I must add, however, that the wary doctor, not
+forgetting the ghostly concerns of his patient, never omitted to
+add a certain dose of _Agnus Castus_ to every ounce of the syrup; a
+practice to which, he once told a friend of mine, both he and his
+uncle most religiously adhered when attending young nuns, with the
+benevolent purpose of making their religious duties more easy.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER IX.
+
+
+    _Seville, ---- 1806._
+
+As, in order to help my memory, I have been for some time collecting
+notes under different heads, relative to the customs, both public
+and private, which are most remarkable in the annual circle of
+_Sevillian_ life, I find myself possessed of a number of detached
+scraps, which, though affording abundant matter for more than one of
+my usual dispatches, are much too stubborn to bend themselves into
+any but their original shape. After casting about in my mind for some
+picturesque or dramatic plan of arrangement, I had, most cowardly, I
+confess, and like a mere novice in the art of authorship, determined
+to suppress the detached contents of my common-place book, when it
+occurred to me that, as they were no less likely to gratify your
+curiosity in their present state than in a more elaborate form, a
+simple transcript of my notes would not stand amiss in the collection
+of my letters. I shall, therefore, present you with the following
+sample of my _Fasti Hispalenses_, or Sevillian Almanack, without,
+however, binding myself to furnish it with the three hundred and
+sixty-five articles which that name seems to threaten. Or, should you
+still find the title too ambitious and high-sounding for the mere
+gossip and prattle of this series of scraps, I beg you will call
+it (for I have not the heart to send out my productions not only
+shapeless, but nameless)
+
+
+  MEMORANDUMS OF SOME ANDALUSIAN CUSTOMS AND FESTIVALS.
+
+  JANUARY 20TH. SAINT SEBASTIAN’S DAY.
+
+Carnival has been ushered in, according to an ancient custom which
+authorises so early a commencement of the gaieties that precede Lent.
+Little, however, remains of that spirit of mirth which contrived such
+ample amends for the demure behaviour required during the annual
+grand fast. To judge from what I have seen and heard in my boyhood,
+the generation who lived at Seville before me, were, in their love
+of noisy merriment, but one step above children; and contrived to
+pass a considerable portion of their time in a round of amusements,
+more remarkable for jollity than for either show or refinement; yet
+unmixed with any grossness or indecorum. I shall give a specimen
+in a family of middle rank, whose circumstances were not the most
+favourable to cheerfulness.
+
+The joy and delight of my childhood was centered in the house of four
+spinsters of the good old times, who, during a period of between
+fifty and sixty years, passed “in single blessedness,” and with
+claims to respectability, as ample as their means of supporting
+it were scanty; had waged the most resolute and successful war
+against melancholy, and were now the seasoned veterans of mirth.
+Poverty being no source of degradation among us, these ladies had a
+pretty numerous circle of friends, who, with their young families,
+frequented their house--one of the old, large, and substantial
+buildings which, for a trifling rent, may be had in this town, and
+which care and neatness have kept furnished for more than a century,
+without the addition or substitution of a single article. In a
+lofty drawing-room, hung round with tapestry, the faded remnants of
+ancient family pride, the good old ladies were ready, every evening
+after sunset, to welcome their friends, especially the young of both
+sexes, to whom they showed the most good-natured kindness. Their
+scanty revenue did not allow them to treat the company with the usual
+refreshments, except on particular days--an expense which they met
+by a well-planned system of starvation, carried on throughout the
+year, with the utmost good humour. An ancient guitar, as large as a
+moderate violoncello, stood up in a corner of the room, ready at a
+moment’s notice, to stir up the spirits of the young people into a
+dance of the Spanish _Seguidillas_, or to accompany the songs which
+were often _forfeited_ in the games that formed the staple merriment
+at this season.
+
+The games, in truth, which in England are nearly forgotten, even
+within their last asylums--ladies’ schools and nurseries,--were
+thirty years ago a favourite amusement in this country. That they
+have, at some period, been common to a great part of Europe, will not
+be doubted by any one who, like myself, may attach such importance
+to this subject as to be at the trouble of comparing the different
+sports of that kind which prevail in France, England, and Spain. I
+wish, indeed, that antiquarians were a more jovial and volatile race
+than I have found them in general; and that some one would trace up
+these amusements to their common source. The French, with that spirit
+of system and scientific arrangement which even their perfumers,
+_Marchandes de Modes_, and dancing-masters display, have already,
+according to a treatise now lying before me, distributed these games
+into _Jeux d’action_ and _Jeux d’esprit_.
+
+In marking their similarity among the three nations I have mentioned,
+I shall pass over the former; for who can doubt that _romping_ (so I
+will venture, though less elegantly, to express the French _action_)
+is an innate principle in mankind, impelling the human animal to
+similar pranks all over the globe, from the first to the third of his
+climacterics? But to find that, just at the age when he perceives
+the necessity of assuming the demureness of maturity, he should, in
+different places and under a variety of circumstances, fall upon
+the same contrivances in order to _desipere in loco_, or to find a
+loop-hole to indulge himself in _playing the fool_, is a phenomenon
+which I beg leave to recommend to the attention of philosophers.
+
+The _jeux d’esprit_, which I find to be used, with some slight
+variations, in France, England, and Spain, or, at least, in some
+two of those countries, are--_The Aviary_, or giving the heart
+to one bird, committing one’s secret to another, and plucking a
+feather from a third; at the risk of mistaking the objects of the
+intended raillery or gallantry, disguised under the name of different
+birds.--In _The Soldier_, the players being questioned by the leader
+about the clothing they mean to give a decayed veteran, must avoid
+the words _yes_, _no_, _white_, and _black_. The ingenuity displayed
+in this game is much of the kind that appears in some of our tales
+of the seventeenth century, where the author engaged to omit some
+particular vowel throughout his narrative.--_Exhausting a letter_,
+each player being obliged to use three words with the initial
+proposed by the leader. The English game, _I love my love_, is a
+modification of this: in Spanish it is commonly called _el Jardin_,
+the Garden.--_La Plaza de Toros_, or the Bull Amphitheatre, in
+French, _L’Amphigouri_, is a story made up of words collected from
+the players, each of whom engages to name objects peculiar to some
+trade.--_Le mot placé_, a refinement on _Cross purposes_, in Spanish
+_Los Despropósitos_, is a game in which every player in the ring,
+having whispered to his neighbour, on the right, the most unusual
+word he can think of, questions are put in the opposite direction,
+the answer to which, besides being pertinent, must contain the given
+word.--_The stool of repentance_, (Gallicè) _La Sellette_, (Hispan.)
+_La Berlina_, is, as my French author wisely observes, a dangerous
+game, where the penitent hears his faults from every one in company
+through the medium of the leader, till he can guess the person who
+has nettled him most by his remarks.
+
+I will not deny that a taste among grown people for these childish
+amusements, bespeaks a great want of refinement; but I must own, on
+the other hand, that there is a charm in the remnants of primitive
+simplicity, which gave a relish to these scenes of domestic gaiety,
+not to be found in the more affected manners of the present day. The
+French, especially in the provinces, are still addicted to these
+joyous, unsophisticated family meetings. For my part, I lament that
+the period is nearly gone by, when neither bigotry nor fastidiousness
+had as yet condemned those cheap and simple means of giving vent to
+the overflow of spirits, so common in the youth of all countries,
+but more especially under this our animating sky; and cannot endure
+with patience, that fashion should begin to disdain those friendly
+meetings, where mirth and joy, springing from the young, diffused a
+fresh glow of life over the old, and Hope and Remembrance seemed to
+shake hands with Pleasure in the very teeth of Time.
+
+As Carnival approached, the spirit of romping gained fast upon its
+assiduous votaries, till it ended in a _full possession_, which
+lasted the three days preceding Ash-Wednesday.
+
+The custom alluded to by Horace of _sticking a tail_,[37] is still
+practised by the boys in the streets, to the great annoyance of
+old ladies, who are generally the objects of this sport. One of
+the ragged striplings that wander in crowds about Seville, having
+tagged a piece of paper with a hooked pin, and stolen unperceived
+behind some slow-paced female, as, wrapt up in her veil, she tells
+the beads she carries in her left hand; fastens the paper-tail on
+the back of the black or walking petticoat, called _Saya_. The whole
+gang of ragamuffins, who, at a convenient distance, have watched
+the dexterity of their companion, set up a loud cry of _Lárgalo,
+lárgalo_--Drop it, drop it--which makes every female in the street
+look to the rear, which, they well know is the fixed point of attack
+with the merry light-troops. The alarm continues till some friendly
+hand relieves the victim of sport, who, spinning and nodding like a
+spent top, tries in vain to catch a glance at the fast-pinned paper,
+unmindful of the physical law which forbids her head to revolve
+faster than the great orbit on which the ominous comet flies.
+
+  [37]
+
+    ... Nihilo ut sapientior, ille
+    Qui te deridet, caudam trahat,
+                                      SAT. II. iii.
+
+    So he who dared thy madness to deride,
+    Though you may frankly own yourself a fool,
+    Behind him trails his mark of ridicule.
+                                      FRANCIS.
+
+Carnival, properly so called, is limited to Quinquagesima-Sunday,
+and the two following days, a period which the lower classes pass
+in drinking and rioting in those streets where the meaner sort of
+houses abound, and especially in the vicinity of the large courts,
+or halls, called _Corrales_, surrounded with small rooms or cells,
+where numbers of the poorest inhabitants live in filth, misery, and
+debauch. In front of these horrible places are seen crowds of men,
+women, and children, singing, dancing, drinking, and pursuing each
+other with handfuls of hair-powder. I have never seen, however, an
+instance of their taking liberties with any person above their class;
+yet, such bacchanals produce a feeling of insecurity, which makes the
+approach of those spots very unpleasant during the Carnival.
+
+At Madrid, where whole quarters of the town, such as _Avapiés_
+and _Maravillas_, are inhabited exclusively by the rabble, these
+Saturnalia are performed upon a larger scale. I once ventured with
+three or four friends, all muffled in our cloaks, to parade the
+Avapiés during the Carnival. The streets were crowded with men, who,
+upon the least provocation, real or imaginary, would have instantly
+used the knife, and of women equally ready to take no slight share in
+any quarrel: for these lovely creatures often carry a poniard in a
+sheath, thrust within the upper part of the left stocking, and held
+up by the garter. We were, however, upon our best behaviour, and
+by a look of complacency on their sports, and keeping at the most
+respectful distance from the women, came away without meeting with
+the least disposition to insolence or rudeness.
+
+A gentleman who, either out of curiosity or depraved taste, attends
+the amusements of the vulgar, is generally respected, provided he is
+a mere spectator, and appears indifferent to the females. The ancient
+Spanish jealousy is still observable among the lower classes; and
+while not a sword is drawn in Spain upon a love-quarrel, the knife
+often decides the claims of more humble lovers. Yet, love is, by
+no means, the main instigator of murder among us. A constitutional
+irritability, especially in the southern provinces, leads, without
+any more assignable reason, to the frequent shedding of blood. A
+small quantity of wine, nay, the mere blowing of the easterly wind,
+called _Soláno_, is infallibly attended with deadly quarrels in
+Andalusia. The average of dangerous or mortal wounds, on every great
+festival at Seville, is, I believe, about two or three. We have,
+indeed, a well-endowed hospital, named _de los Herídos_, which,
+though open to all persons who meet with dangerous accidents, is
+from this unhappy disposition of the people, almost confined to the
+wounded. The large arm-chair where the surgeon in attendance examines
+the patient just as he is brought in, usually upon a ladder, is
+known in the whole town by the name of the Bullies’ chair--_Silla
+de los Guapos_. Every thing, in fact, attests both the generality
+and inveteracy of that horrible propensity among the Spaniards. I
+have met with an original unpublished privilege granted in 1511, by
+King Don Manoel of Portugal, to the German merchants established at
+Lisbon, whereby their servants, to the number of six, are allowed to
+carry arms both day and night, provided such privileged servants be
+not Spaniards.[38] Had this clause been inserted after the Portuguese
+nation had thrown off the Spanish yoke, I should attribute it to
+political jealousy; but, considering its date, I must look upon it as
+proving the inveteracy and notoriety of the barbarous disposition,
+the mention of which has led me into this digression.
+
+  [38] “Os quais servidores naô seraô Hespanhôes para gozarem de
+  dita libertade.”
+
+The Carnival amusements still in use among the middling ranks of
+Andalusia are, swinging, playing all manner of tricks on the unwary,
+such as breaking egg-shells full of powdered talc on the head, and
+throwing handfuls of small sugar-plums at the ladies, which they
+repay with besprinkling the assailants with water from a squirt. This
+last practical joke, however, begins to be disused, and increased
+refinement will soon put an end to them all. Dancing and a supper to
+the frequenters of the daily _Tertulia_, is, on one of the three days
+of Carnival, a matter of course among the wealthy.
+
+
+ASH-WEDNESDAY.
+
+The frolics of Carnival are sometimes carried on till the dawn of
+this day, the first of the long fast of Lent, when a sudden and most
+unpleasant transition takes place for such as have set no bounds to
+the noisy mirth of the preceding season. But, as the religious duties
+of the church begin at midnight, the amusements of Shrove-Tuesday
+cease, in the more correct families, at twelve, just as your Opera is
+hurried, on Saturdays, that it may not encroach on the following day.
+
+Midnight is, indeed, a most important period with us. The obligation
+of fasting begins just when the leading clock of every town strikes
+twelve; and as no priest can celebrate mass, on any day whatever,
+if he has taken the smallest portion of meat or drink after the
+beginning of the civil day, I have often seen clergymen devouring
+their supper against time, the watch upon the table, and the anxious
+eye upon the fatal hand, while large mouthfuls, chasing one
+another down their almost convulsed throats, appeared to threaten
+suffocation. Such hurry will seem incredible to your well-fed
+Englishmen, for whom supper is an empty name. Not so to our worthy
+divines, who, having had their dinner at one, and a cup of chocolate
+at six, feel strongly the necessity of a substantial supper before
+they retire to bed. A priest, therefore, who, by some untoward
+accident, is overtaken by “the dead waste and middle of the night,”
+with a craving stomach, having to perform mass at a late hour next
+morning, may well feel alarmed at his impending sufferings. The
+strictness, in fact, with which the rule of receiving the Sacrament
+into a fasting stomach is observed, will hardly be believed in a
+Protestant country. I have known many a profligate priest; yet never
+but once met with any who ventured to break this sacramental fast.
+The infraction of this rule would strike horror into every Catholic
+bosom; and the convicted perpetrator of such a daring sacrilege as
+dividing the power of digestion between the Host and common food,
+would find it difficult to escape the last vengeance of the Church.
+This law extends to the laity whenever they intend to communicate.
+
+I must now acquaint you with the rules of the Roman Catholic fast,
+which all persons above the age of one-and-twenty, are bound to
+observe during Lent, Sundays excepted. One meal alone, from which
+flesh, eggs, milk, and all its preparations, such as cheese and
+butter, called _Lacticinia_, are excluded, is allowed on a fast day.
+It is under this severe form that your English and Irish Catholics
+are bound to keep their Lent. But we Spaniards are the darlings
+of our Mother Church of Rome, and enjoy most valuable privileges.
+The _Bull of the Crusade_, in the first place, dispenses with our
+abstinence from eggs and milk. Besides throwing open the hen-house
+and dairy, the said Bull unlocks the treasure of laid-up merits,
+of which the Pope keeps the key, and thus we are refreshed both in
+body and soul, at the trifling cost of about three-pence a-year.
+Yet we should have been compelled to live for forty days on your
+Newfoundland fish--not a savoury food in these hot countries--had
+it not been for a new kind of hostilities which our Government, in
+concert with the Pope, devised against England, I believe during
+the siege of Gibraltar. By allowing the Spaniards to eat meat four
+days in the Lent weeks, it was proposed to diminish the profits
+which Great Britain derives from the exportation of dried fish. We
+had accordingly another privilege, under the title of _Flesh-Bull_,
+at the same moderate price as the former. This additional revenue
+was found too considerable to be relinquished on the restoration of
+peace; and the Pope, who has a share in it, soon discovered that the
+weakness of our constitutions requires more solid nutriment than the
+dry chips of the Newfoundland fish can afford.
+
+The _Bull of the Crusade_ is proclaimed, every year before Lent,
+by the sound of kettle-drums and trumpets. As no one can enjoy the
+privileges expressed in these papal rescripts without possessing a
+printed copy thereof, wherein the name of the owner is inserted;
+there is a house at Seville with a printing-office, by far the
+most extensive in Andalusia, where, at the expense of Government,
+these Bulls are reprinted every year, both for Spain and Spanish
+America. Now, it has been wisely arranged that, on the day of the
+yearly publication, copies for the preceding twelvemonth shall
+become absolutely stale and unprofitable; a measure which produces a
+most prodigious hurry to obtain new Bulls, in all who wish well to
+their souls and do not quite overlook the ease and comfort of their
+stomachs.
+
+The article of _Bulls_ hold a conspicuous station in the Spanish
+budget. The price of the copies being, however, more than double in
+Spanish America, it is from thence that the chief profit of this
+spiritual juggle arises. Cargoes of this holy paper are sent over
+every year by Government to all our transatlantic possessions, and
+one of the most severe consequences of a war with England, is the
+difficulty of conveying these ghostly treasures to our brethren of
+the New World, no less than that of bringing back the worldly, yet
+necessary, dross, which they give in exchange to the Mother-country.
+But I fear I am betraying state secrets.
+
+
+MID-LENT.
+
+We have still the remnants of an ancient custom this day, which
+shews the impatient feelings with which men sacrifice their comforts
+to the fears of superstition. Children of all ranks--those of the
+poor in the streets, and such as belong to the better classes in
+their houses--appear fantastically decorated, not unlike the English
+chimney-sweepers on May-day, with caps of gilt and coloured paper,
+and coats made of the _Crusade Bulls_ of the preceding year. In this
+attire they keep up an incessant din the whole day, crying, as they
+sound their drums and rattles, _Aserrar la vieja; la pícara pelleja_:
+“Saw down the old woman, the roguish b--ch.” About midnight, parties
+of the common people parade the streets, knocking at every door,
+and repeating the same words. I understand that they end this revel
+by sawing in two, the figure of an old woman, which is meant as the
+emblem of Lent.
+
+There is little ground, however, for these peevish feelings against
+old Lent, among the class that exhibits them most; for few of the
+poorer inhabitants of large towns taste any meat in the course of
+the year, and, living as they do upon a very scanty pittance of
+bread and pulse, can ill afford to confine themselves to one meal
+in the four-and-twenty hours. The privations of the fasting season
+are felt chiefly by that numerous class who, unable the other hand,
+a strong sense of religious duty; submit like unwilling slaves
+to the unwelcome task which they dare not omit. Many, however,
+fall off before the end of Lent, and take to their breakfasts
+and suppers under the sanction of some good-natured Doctor, who
+declares fasting injurious to their health. Others, whose healthy
+looks would belie the dispensing physician, compound between the
+Church and their stomachs by adding an ounce of bread to the cup of
+chocolate which, under the name of _Parvedad_, our divines admit as
+a venial infraction. There is, besides, a fast-day supper, which was
+introduced by those good souls the primitive Monks at their evening
+conferences, where, finding that an empty stomach was apt to increase
+the hollowness of their heads, they allowed themselves a crust of
+bread and a glass of water, as a support to their fainting eloquence.
+This relaxation of the primitive fast took the name of _Collatio_, or
+conference, which it preserves among us. The Catholic casuists are
+not agreed, however, on the quantity of bread and vegetables, (for
+any other food is strictly excluded from the _collation_,) which may
+be allowed without being guilty of a _deadly sin_. The _Probabilistæ_
+extend this liberty as far as six ounces by weight, while the
+_Probabilioristæ_ will not answer for the safety of a hungry soul,
+who indulges beyond four ounces. Who shall decide when doctors
+disagree? I have known an excellent man who weighed his food on these
+occasions till he brought it within some grains of four ounces. But
+few are inclined to take the matter so seriously, and, confiding in
+the deceitful balance of their eyes, use a system of weights in which
+four ounces fall little short of a pound.[39]
+
+  [39] The Casuists are divided into _Probabilistæ_ and
+  _Probabilioristæ_. The first, among whom were the Jesuits,
+  maintain that a certain degree of probability as to the
+  lawfulness of an action is enough to secure against sin. The
+  second, supported by the _Dominicans_ and the _Jansenists_ (a
+  kind of Catholic Calvinists, condemned by the Church) insist on
+  the necessity of always taking the _safest_, or most probable
+  side. The French proverb _Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien_, is
+  perfectly applicable to the practical effects of these two
+  systems, as they are observed in Spain.
+
+
+PASSION, OR HOLY WEEK.
+
+_Pandite, nunc, Helicona, Deæ_, might I say, in the true spirit of a
+native of Seville, when entering upon a subject which is the chief
+pride of this town. To tell the honest truth, we are _quizzed_ every
+where for our conceit of these solemnities; and it is a standing joke
+against the _Sevillians_, that on the arrival of the King in summer,
+it was moved in the _Cabildo_, or town corporation, to repeat the
+Passion-week for the amusement of his Majesty. It must be owned,
+however, that our Cathedral service on that solemn Christian festival
+yields not in impressiveness to any ceremonies of modern worship, to
+dispel their superstitious fear, and wanting, on with which I am
+acquainted, either by sight or description.
+
+It is impossible to convey in words an adequate idea of architectural
+grandeur. The dimensions of a temple do not go beyond a certain point
+in augmenting the majesty of effect. A temple may be so gigantic as
+to make the worshippers mere pigmies. An immense structure, though
+it may be favourable to contemplation, must greatly diminish the
+effect of such social rites as aim at the imagination through the
+senses. I have been told by a native of this town, who visited Rome,
+and on whose taste and judgment I greatly depend, that the service
+of the Passion-week at Saint Peter’s, does not produce a stronger
+effect on the mind than that of our Cathedral. If this impression
+did not arise from the power of early habit, I should account for it
+from the excessive magnitude of the first temple in Christendom. The
+practice, also, of confining the most striking and solemn ceremonies
+to the Sixtine Chapel seems to shew that the Romans find the Church
+of Saint Peter unfavourable to the display of religious pomp. I shall
+add, though fearful of venturing too far upon a subject with which
+I am but slightly acquainted, that the ancients appear to have been
+careful not to diminish the effect of their public worship by the too
+large dimensions of the temples.
+
+The size of our Cathedral seems to me happily adapted to the object
+of the building. Three hundred and ninety-eight feet long by two
+hundred and ninety-one broad--the breadth distributed into five
+aisles, formed by one hundred and four arches, of which those of
+the centre are one hundred and thirty-four feet high, and the rest
+ninety-six--remove the limits of an undivided structure enough to
+require that effort of the eye and pause of the mind before we
+conceive it as a whole, which excites the idea of grandeur. This, I
+believe, is the impression which a temple should produce. To aim at
+more is to forget the solemn performances for which the structure is
+intended. Let the house of prayer, when solitary, appear so ample as
+not to exclude a single suppliant in a populous town; yet let the
+throng be visible on a solemn feast. Let the loftiness of the aisles
+soften the noise of a moving multitude into a gentle and continuous
+rustling; but let me hear the voice of the singers and the peals of
+the organ returned in deep echoes; not lost in the too distant vaults.
+
+The simultaneous impression of architectural and ritual magnificence
+produced at the Cathedral of Seville is, I conceive, difficult to be
+rivalled. The pillars are not so massive as to obstruct the sight
+at every turn; and were the influence of modern taste strong enough
+to prevail over the canonical vanity which blocks up the middle of
+every Cathedral with the clumsy and absurd inclosure of the choir, it
+would be difficult to imagine a more striking view than that which
+our Church presents on Holy Thursday.--In one respect, and that a
+most important one, it has the advantage over Saint Peter’s at Rome.
+The scene of filth and irreverence which, according to travellers,
+sometimes disgusts the eye and revolts the mind at the Church of the
+Vatican--those crowds of peasants and beggars, eating, drinking, and
+sleeping, on Christmas eve, within the precincts of the temple; are
+not to be seen at Seville. Our Church, though almost thronged day and
+night on the principal festivals, is not profaned by any external
+mark of indevotion. The strictest watch is kept by members of the
+chapter appointed for that purpose, who, attended by their vergers,
+go their rounds for the preservation of order. The exclusion of
+every kind of seats from the Church, though rather inconvenient for
+the people, prevents its being made a lounging-place; and, besides
+allowing the beautiful marble pavement to appear unbroken, avoids
+that dismal look of an empty theatre, which benches or pews give to
+churches in the intervals of divine service.
+
+Early on Palm-Sunday the melancholy sound of the _Passion-bell_
+announces the beginning of the solemnities for which the fast of Lent
+is intended to prepare the mind. This bell is one of the largest
+which are made to revolve upon pivots. It is moved by means of two
+long ropes, which, by swinging the bell into a circular motion, twine
+gently at first, round the massive arms of a cross, of which the
+bell forms the foot, and the head its counterpoise. Six men then
+draw back the ropes till the enormous machine conceives a sufficient
+impetus to coil them in an opposite direction; and thus alternately,
+as long as ringing is required. To give this bell a tone appropriate
+to the sombre character of the season, it has been cast with several
+large holes disposed in a circle round the top--a contrivance which,
+without diminishing the vibration of the metal, prevents the distinct
+formation of any musical note, and converts the sound into a dismal
+clangour.
+
+The chapter, consisting of about eighty resident members, in their
+choral robes of black silk with long trains and hoods, preceded by
+the inferior ministers, by thirty clergymen, in surplices, whose deep
+bass voices perform the plain or Ambrosian chaunt, and by the band
+of wind-instruments and singers, who execute the more artificial
+strains of modern or counterpoint music; move in a long procession
+round the farthest aisles, each holding a branch of the oriental or
+date palm, which, overtopping the heads of the assembled multitude,
+nod gracefully, and bend into elegant curves at every step of the
+bearers. For this purpose, a number of palm-trees are kept with their
+branches tied up together, that, by the want of light, the more
+tender shoots may preserve a delicate yellow tinge. The ceremony of
+blessing these branches is solemnly performed by the officiating
+priest, previously to the procession; after which they are sent by
+the clergy to their friends, who tie them to the iron bars of the
+balconies, to be, as they believe, a protection against lightning.
+
+At the long church-service for this day, the organ is silent, the
+voices being supported by hautboys and bassoons. All the altars are
+covered with purple or grey curtains. The holy vestments, during
+this week, are of the first-mentioned colour, except on Friday, when
+it is changed for black. The four accounts of our Saviour’s passion
+appointed as gospels for this day, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,
+are dramatized in the following manner. Outside of the gilt-iron
+railing, which incloses the presbytery, are two large pulpits of
+the same materials, from one of which, at the daily high-mass, the
+subdeacon chaunts the epistle, as the deacon does the gospel from
+the other. A moveable platform with a desk, is placed between the
+pulpits on the _Passion-days_; and three priests or deacons, in
+_albes_ (the white vestment, over which the dalmatic is worn by the
+latter, and the chasuble by the former) appear on these elevated
+posts, at the time when the gospel should be said. These officiating
+ministers are chosen among the singers in holy orders; one a bass,
+another a tenor, and the third a counter-tenor. The tenor chaunts
+the narrative, without changing from the key note, and makes a pause
+whenever he comes to the words of the interlocutors mentioned by the
+Evangelist. In those passages the words of our Saviour are sung by
+the bass, in a solemn strain. The counter-tenor, in a more florid
+style, personates the inferior characters, such as Peter, the Maid,
+and Pontius Pilate. The cries of the priests and the multitude, are
+imitated by the band of musicians within the choir.
+
+
+PASSION-WEDNESDAY.
+
+The mass begins within a white veil, which conceals the officiating
+priest and ministers, and the service proceeds in this manner till
+the words “the veil of the temple was rent in twain” are chaunted.
+At this moment the veil disappears, as if by enchantment, and the
+ears of the congregation are stunned with the noise of concealed
+fireworks, which are meant to imitate an earthquake.
+
+The evening service named _Tinieblas_ (darkness) is performed this
+day after sunset. The cathedral, on this occasion, exhibits the most
+solemn and impressive aspect. The high altar, concealed behind dark
+grey curtains which fall from the height of the cornices, is dimly
+lighted by six yellow-wax candles, while the gloom of the whole
+temple is broken in large masses by wax torches, severally fixed on
+each pillar of the centre aisle, at about one-third of its length
+from the ground. An elegant candlestick of brass, from fifteen to
+twenty feet high, is placed, this and the following evening, between
+the choir and the altar, holding thirteen candles, twelve of yellow,
+and one of bleached wax, distributed on the two sides of the triangle
+which terminates the machine. Each candle stands by a brass figure
+of one of the apostles. The white candle occupying the apex, is
+allotted to the Virgin Mary. At the conclusion of each of the twelve
+psalms appointed for the service, one of the yellow candles is
+extinguished, till, the white taper burning alone, it is taken down
+and concealed behind the altar. Immediately after the ceremony, the
+_Miserere_, as we call the fifty-first psalm, set, every other year,
+to a new strain of music, is sung in a grand style. This performance
+lasts neither more nor less than one hour. At the conclusion of the
+last verse the clergy break up abruptly without the usual blessing,
+making a thundering noise by clapping their moveable seats against
+the frame of the stalls, or knocking their ponderous _breviaries_
+against the boards, as the Rubric directs.
+
+
+THURSDAY IN THE PASSION WEEK.
+
+The ceremonies of the high mass (the only one which is publicly
+performed on this and the next day) being especially intended as
+a remembrance of the last supper, are, very appropriately, of a
+mixed character--a splendid commemoration which leads the mind from
+gratitude to sorrow. The service, as it proceeds, rapidly assumes
+the deepest hues of melancholy. The bells, which were joining in one
+joyous peal from every steeple, cease at once, producing a peculiar
+heavy stillness, which none can conceive but those who have lived in
+a populous Spanish town, long enough to lose the conscious sense of
+that perpetual tinkling which agitates the ear during the day, and
+great part of the night.
+
+A host, consecrated at the mass, is carried with great solemnity
+to a temporary structure called the _Monument_, erected in every
+church with more or less splendour, according to the wealth of the
+establishment. There it is deposited in a silver urn, generally
+shaped like a sepulchre, the key of which, hanging from a gold chain,
+is committed by the priest to the care of one of the most respectable
+inhabitants of the parish, who wears it round his neck as a badge
+of honour, till the next morning. The key of the Cathedral Monument
+is entrusted to the archbishop, if present, or to the dean in his
+absence.
+
+The striking effect of the last-mentioned structure is not easily
+conceived. It fills up the space between four arches of the nave,
+rising in five bodies to the roof of the temple. The columns of
+the two lower tiers, which, like the rest of the monument, imitate
+white marble filletted with gold, are hollow, allowing the numerous
+attendants who take care of the lights that cover it from the ground
+to the very top, to do their duty during four-and-twenty hours,
+without any disturbance or unseemly bustle. More than three thousand
+pounds of wax, besides one hundred and sixty silver lamps, are
+employed in the illumination.
+
+The gold casket set with jewels, which contains the host, lies
+deposited in an elegant temple of massive silver, weighing five
+hundred and ten marks, which is seen through a blaze of light, on
+the pediment of the monument. Two members of the chapter in their
+choral robes, and six inferior priests in surplices, attend on their
+knees before the shrine, till they are relieved by an equal number
+of the same classes, at the end of every hour. This act of adoration
+is performed without interruption from the moment of depositing the
+host in the casket till that of taking it out the next morning. The
+cathedral, as well as many others of the wealthiest churches, is kept
+open and illuminated the whole night.
+
+One of the public sights of the town, on this day, is the splendid
+cold dinner which the archbishop gives to twelve paupers, in
+commemoration of the Apostles. The dinner is to be seen laid out on
+tables, filling up two large rooms in the palace. The twelve guests
+are completely clothed at the expense of their host; and having
+partaken of a more homely dinner in the kitchen, are furnished with
+large baskets to take away the splendid commons allotted to each in
+separate dishes, which they sell to the _gourmands_ of the town.
+Each, besides, is allowed to dispose of his napkin, curiously made
+up into the figure of some bird or quadruped, which people buy both
+as ornaments to their china cupboards, and as specimens of the
+perfection to which some of our poorer nuns have carried the art of
+plaiting.
+
+At two in the afternoon the archbishop, attended by his chapter,
+repairs to the Cathedral, where he performs the ceremony, which, from
+the notion of its being literally enjoined by our Saviour, is called
+the _Mandatum_. The twelve paupers are seated on a platform erected
+before the high altar; and the prelate, stripped of his silk robes,
+and kneeling successively before each, washes their feet in a large
+silver bason.
+
+About this time the processions, known by the name of _Cofradías_,
+(Confraternities) begin to move out of the different churches to
+which they are attached. The head of the police appoints the hour
+when each of these pageants is to appear in the square, where stand
+the Town Hall, and the _Audiencia_ or Court of Justice. From thence
+their route to the Cathedral, and out of it, to a certain point, is
+the same for all. These streets are lined by two rows of spectators
+of the lower classes, the windows, being occupied by those of a
+higher rank. An order is previously published by the town-crier,
+directing the inhabitants to decorate their windows, which they do
+by hanging out the showy silk and chintz counterpanes of their beds.
+The processions themselves, except one which enjoys the privilege of
+parading the town in the dead of night, have little to attract the
+eye or affect the imagination. Their chief object is to convey groups
+of figures, as large as life, representing different scenes of our
+Saviour’s passion.
+
+There is something remarkable in the established and characteristic
+marks of some figures. The Jews are distinguished by long aquiline
+noses. Saint Peter is completely bald. The dress of the Apostle
+John is green, and that of Judas Iscariot yellow; and so intimately
+associated is this circumstance with the idea of the traitor, that it
+has brought that colour into universal discredit. It is, probably,
+from this circumstance (though yellow may have been allotted to Judas
+from some more ancient prejudice,) that the Inquisition has adopted
+it for the _Sanbeníto_, or coat of infamy, which persons convicted
+of heresy are compelled to wear. The red hair of Judas, like Peter’s
+baldness, seems to be agreed upon by all the painters and sculptors
+of Europe. _Judas hair_ is a usual name in Spain; and a similar
+appellation, it should seem, was used in England in Shakspeare’s
+time. “His hair,” says Rosalind, in As you like it, “is of the
+dissembling colour:” to which Celia answers--“Something browner than
+Judas’s.”
+
+The midnight procession derives considerable effect from the
+stillness of the hour, and the dress of the attendants on the sacred
+image. None are admitted to this religious act but the members of
+that _fraternity_; generally young men of fashion. They all appear
+in a black tunic, with a broad belt so contrived as to give the
+idea of a long rope tied tight round the body; a method of penance
+commonly practised in former times. The face is covered with a long
+black veil, falling from a sugar-loaf cap three feet high. Thus
+arrayed, the nominal _penitents_ advance, with silent and measured
+steps, in two lines, dragging a train six feet long, and holding
+aloft a wax-candle of twelve pounds, which they rest upon the
+hip-bone, holding it obliquely towards the vacant space between them.
+The veils, being of the same stuff with the cap and tunic, would
+absolutely impede the sight but for two small holes, through which
+the eyes are seen to gleam, adding no small effect to the dismal
+appearance of such strange figures. The pleasure of appearing in a
+disguise, in a country where masquerades are not tolerated by the
+Government, is a great inducement to our young men for subscribing
+to this religious association. The disguise, it is true, does not
+in the least relax the rules of strict decorum which the ceremony
+requires; yet the mock penitents think themselves repaid for the
+fatigue and trouble of the night by the fresh impression which they
+expect to make on the already won hearts of their mistresses, who,
+by preconcerted signals, are enabled to distinguish their lovers, in
+spite of the veils and the uniformity of the dresses.
+
+It is scarcely forty years since the disgusting exhibition of people
+streaming in their own blood, was discontinued by an order of the
+Government. These _penitents_ were generally from among the most
+debauched and abandoned of the lower classes. They appeared in white
+linen petticoats, pointed white caps and veils, and a jacket of the
+same colour, which exposed the naked shoulders to view. Having,
+previously to their joining the procession, been scarified on the
+back, they beat themselves with a cat-o’-nine-tails, making the blood
+run down to the skirts of their garment. It may be easily conceived
+that religion had no share in these voluntary inflictions. There was
+a notion afloat that this act of penance had an excellent effect on
+the constitution; and while vanity was concerned in the applause
+which the most bloody flagellation obtained from the vulgar, a still
+stronger passion looked forward to the irresistible impression it
+produced on the strapping belles of the lower ranks.
+
+
+GOOD FRIDAY.
+
+The crowds of people who spent the evening and part of the night
+of Thursday in visiting the numerous churches where the host is
+entombed, are still seen, though greatly thinned, performing this
+religious ceremony, till the beginning of service at nine. This is,
+perhaps, the most impressive of any used by the Church of Rome.
+The altars, which, at the end of yesterday’s mass, were publicly
+and solemnly stripped of their cloths and rich table-hangings by
+the hands of the priest, appear in the same state of distressed
+negligence. No musical sound is heard, except the deep-toned voices
+of the psalm, or plain chaunt singers. After a few preparatory
+prayers, and the dramatized history of the Passion, already
+described, the officiating priest, (the archbishop at the cathedral)
+in a plain albe or white tunic, takes up a wooden cross six or seven
+feet high, which, like all other crosses, has for the last two weeks
+of Lent been covered with a purple veil; and standing towards the
+people, before the middle of the altar, gradually uncovers the sacred
+emblem, which both the clergy and laity worship upon their knees.
+The prelate is then unshod by the assistant ministers, and taking
+the cross upon his right shoulder, as our Saviour is represented
+by painters on his way to Calvary, walks alone from the altar to
+the entrance of the presbytery or chancel, and lays his burden upon
+two cushions. After this, he moves back some steps, and approaching
+the cross with three prostrations, kisses it, and drops an oblation
+of a piece of money, into a silver dish. The whole chapter, having
+gone through the same ceremony, form themselves in two lines, and
+repair to the monument, from whence the officiating priest conveys
+the deposited host to the altar, where he communicates upon it
+without consecrating any wine. Here the service terminates abruptly;
+all candles and lamps are extinguished; and the tabernacle, which
+throughout the year contains the sacred wafers, being left open,
+every object bespeaks the desolate and widowed state of the church,
+from the death of the Saviour to his resurrection.
+
+The ceremonies of Good-Friday being short and performed at an early
+hour, both the gay and the devout would be at a loss how to spend the
+remainder of the day but for the grotesque _Passion Sermons_ of the
+suburbs and neighbouring villages; and the more solemn performance
+known by the name of _Tres Horas_--three hours.
+
+The practice of continuing in meditation from twelve to three o’clock
+of this day--the time which our Saviour is supposed to have hung on
+the cross--was introduced by the Spanish Jesuits, and partakes of
+the impressive character which the members of that order had the
+art to impart to the religious practices by which they cherished
+the devotional spirit of the people. The church where the _three
+hours_ are kept, is generally hung in black, and made impervious
+to day-light. A large crucifix is seen on the high altar, under a
+black canopy, with six unbleached wax-candles, which cast a sombre
+glimmering on the rest of the church. The females of all ranks
+occupy, as usual, the centre of the nave, squatting or kneeling on
+the matted ground, and adding to the dismal appearance of the scene,
+by the colour of their veils and dresses.
+
+Just as the clock strikes twelve, a priest in his cloak and cassock
+ascends the pulpit, and delivers a preparatory address of his own
+composition. He then reads the printed Meditation on the _Seven
+Words_, or Sentences spoken by Jesus on the cross, allotting to each
+such a portion of time as that, with the interludes of music which
+follow each of the readings, the whole may not exceed three hours.
+The music is generally good and appropriate, and, if a sufficient
+band can be collected, well repays to an amateur the inconvenience
+of a crowded church, where, from the want of seats, the male part
+of the congregation are obliged either to stand or kneel. It is, in
+fact, one of the best works of Haydn, composed, a short time ago, for
+some gentlemen of Cadiz, who shewed both their taste and liberality
+in thus procuring this masterpiece of harmony for the use of their
+country. It has been lately published in Germany, under the title of
+“Sette Parole.”
+
+Every part of the performance is so managed that the clock strikes
+three about the end of the meditation, on the words _It is
+finished_.--The description of the expiring Saviour, powerfully drawn
+by the original writer of the _Tres Horas_, can hardly fail to strike
+the imagination when listened to under the influence of such music
+and scenery; and when, at the first stroke of the clock, the priest
+rises from his seat, and in a loud and impassioned voice, announces
+the consummation of the awful and mysterious sacrifice, on whose
+painful and bloody progress the mind has been dwelling so long; few
+hearts can repel the impression, and still fewer eyes can conceal it.
+Tears bathe every cheek, and sobs heave every female bosom.--After a
+parting address from the pulpit, the ceremony concludes with a piece
+of music, where the powers of the great composer are magnificently
+displayed in the imitation of the disorder and agitation of nature
+which the Evangelists relate.
+
+The _Passion Sermons_ for the populace might be taken for a parody
+of the _Three Hours_. They are generally delivered, in the open
+air, by friars of the Mendicant Orders, in those parts of the city
+and suburbs which are chiefly, if not exclusively, inhabited by the
+lower classes. Such gay young men, however, as do not scruple to
+relieve the dulness of Good-Friday with a ride, and feel no danger
+of exposing themselves by any unseasonable laughter, indulge not
+unfrequently in the frolic of attending one of the most complete
+and perfect sermons of this kind, at the neighbouring village of
+Castilleja.
+
+A moveable pulpit is placed before the church door, from which a
+friar, possessed of a stentorian voice, delivers an _improved_
+history of the Passion, such as was revealed to Saint Bridget, a
+Franciscan nun, who, from the dictation of the Virgin Mary, has left
+us a most minute and circumstantial account of the life and death of
+Christ and his mother. This yearly narrative, however, would have
+lost most of its interest but for the scenic illustrations which
+keep up the expectation and rivet the attention of the audience.
+It was formerly the custom to introduce a living Saint Peter--a
+character which belonged by a natural and inalienable right to the
+baldest head in the village--who acted the Apostle’s denial, swearing
+_by Christ_, he did not know the man. This edifying part of the
+performance is omitted at Castilleja; though a practised performer
+crows with such a shrill and natural note as must be answered with
+a challenge by every cock of spirit in the neighbourhood. The
+flourish of a trumpet announces, in the sequel, the publication
+of the sentence passed by the Roman governor; and the town crier
+delivers it with legal precision, in the manner it is practised in
+Spain, before an execution. Hardly has the last word been uttered,
+when the preacher, in a frantic passion, gives the crier the _lie
+direct_, cursing the tongue that has uttered such blasphemies.[40] He
+then invites an angel to contradict both Pilate and the Jews: when,
+obedient to the orator’s desire, a boy gaudily dressed, and furnished
+with a pair of gilt pasteboard wings, appears at the window, and
+proclaims the _true verdict of Heaven_. Sometimes in the course of
+the preacher’s narrative, an image of the Virgin Mary is made to meet
+that of Christ, on his way to Calvary, both taking an affectionate
+leave in the street. The appearance, however, of the Virgin bearing
+a handkerchief to collect a sum for her son’s burial, is never
+omitted, both because it melts the whole female audience into tears,
+and because it produces a good collection for the convent. The whole
+is closed by the _Descendimiento_, or unnailing a crucifix as large
+as life from the cross; an operation performed by two friars, who,
+in the character of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, are seen with
+ladders and carpenters’ tools, letting down the jointed figure, to be
+placed on a bier and carried into the church in the form of a funeral.
+
+  [40] “_Calla, maldita lengua_,” the usual exclamation which stops
+  the crier, has become a jocular expression in Andalusia.
+
+I have carefully glided over such parts of this absurd performance
+as would shock many an English reader even in narrative. Yet such is
+the strange mixture of superstition and profaneness in the people
+for whose gratification these scenes are exhibited, that though any
+attempt to expose the indecency of these shows would rouse their zeal
+“to the knife,” I cannot venture to translate the jokes and sallies
+of wit that are frequently heard among the Spanish peasantry upon
+these sacred topics.
+
+
+SATURDAY BEFORE EASTER.
+
+I have not been able to ascertain the reason why the Roman Catholic
+celebrate the resurrection this morning, with an anticipation of
+nearly four and twenty hours, and yet continue the fast till midnight
+or the beginning of Sunday. This practice is, I believe, of high
+antiquity.
+
+The service begins this morning without either the sound of bells
+or of musical instruments. The _Paschal Candle_ is seen by the
+north-side of the altar. But, before I mention the size of that used
+at our cathedral, I must protest against all charges of exaggeration.
+It is, in fact, a pillar of wax, nine yards in height, and thick in
+proportion, standing on a regular marble pedestal. It weighs eighty
+_arrobas_, or two thousand pounds, of twelve ounces. This candle
+is cast and painted new, every year; the old one being broken to
+pieces on the Saturday preceding Whitsunday, the day when part of
+it is used for the consecration of the baptismal font. The sacred
+torch is lighted with the _new fire_, which this morning the priest
+strikes out of a flint, and burns during service till Ascension-day.
+A chorister in his surplice climbs up a gilt-iron rod, furnished with
+steps like a flag-staff, and having the top railed in, so as to admit
+of a seat on a level with the end of the candle. From this _crow’s
+nest_, the young man lights up and trims the wax pillar, drawing off
+the melted wax with a large iron ladle.
+
+High mass begins this day behind the great veil, which for the two
+last weeks in Lent covers the altar. After some preparatory prayers,
+the priest strikes up the hymn _Gloria in excelsis Deo_. At this
+moment the veil flies off, the explosion of fireworks in the upper
+galleries reverberates in a thousand echoes from the vaults of the
+church, and the four-and-twenty large bells of its tower, awake,
+with their discordant though gladdening sounds, those of the one
+hundred and forty-six steeples which this religious town boasts
+of. A brisk firing of musketry, accompanied by the howling of the
+innumerable dogs, which, unclaimed by any master, live and multiply
+in our streets, adds strength and variety to this universal din. The
+firing is directed against several stuffed figures, not unlike the
+Guy Fawkes of the fifth of November; which are seen hanging by the
+neck on a rope, extended across the least frequented streets. It is
+then that the pious rage of the people of Seville is vented against
+the archtraitor Judas, whom they annually hang, shoot, draw and
+quarter in effigy.
+
+The church service ends in a procession about the aisles. The priest
+bears the host in his hands, visible through glass, as a picture
+within a medallion. The sudden change from the gloomy appearance of
+the church and its ministers, to the simple and joyous character
+of this procession, the very name of _Pasqua Florída_, the flowery
+Passover, and, more than the name, the flowers themselves, which
+well-dressed children, mixed with the censer-bearers, scatter on the
+ground, crowd the mind and heart with the ideas, hopes, and feelings
+of renovated life, and give to this ceremony, even for those who
+disbelieve the personal presence in the host, of a Deity triumphant
+over death; a character of inexpressible tenderness.
+
+
+MAY CROSS.
+
+The rural custom of electing a May Queen among the country belles is,
+I understand, still practised in some parts of Spain. The name of
+_Maia_, given to the handsomest lass of the village, who, decorated
+with garlands of flowers, leads the dances in which the young people
+spend the day, shews how little that ceremony has varied since the
+time of the Romans. The villagers, in other provinces, declare their
+love by planting, during the preceding night, a large bough or a
+sapling, decked with flowers, before the doors of their sweethearts.
+
+As most of our ancient church festivals were contrived as substitutes
+for the Pagan rites, which the Christian priesthood could not
+otherwise eradicate, we still have some remnants of the sanctified
+_May-pole_ in the little crosses, which the children ornament with
+flowers, and place upon tables, holding as many lighted tapers as,
+from the contributions of their friends, they can afford to buy.
+
+I have heard that the children at Cambridge dress up a figure called
+the _May-lady_, and setting it upon a table, beg money of the
+passengers. The difference between this and the analogous Spanish
+custom arose, in all probability, from the respective prevalence in
+either country of the _May-pole_, or the _Maia_. A figure of the
+Virgin, which the Reformation has reduced to a nameless as well as
+shapeless puppet, took place of the latter, while the cross was
+employed to banish the former. I am inclined to believe that the
+illuminated grottos of oyster-shells, for which the London children
+beg about the streets, are the representatives of some Catholic
+emblem, which had its day as a substitute for a more classical idol.
+I was struck in London with the similarity of the plea which the
+children of both countries urge in order to obtain a halfpenny. The
+“it is but once a year, sir!” often reminded me of the
+
+    La Cruz de Mayo
+    que no come ni bebe
+    en todo el año.
+
+    The Cross of May
+    Remember pray,
+    Which fasts a year and feasts a day.
+
+
+CORPUS CHRISTI.
+
+This is the only day in the year when the consecrated Host is
+exposed, about the streets, to the gaze of the adoring multitude. The
+triumphal character of the procession which issues forth from the
+principal church of every town of note in the kingdom, and a certain
+dash of bitter and threatening zeal which still lies disguised under
+the ardent and boundless devotion displayed on this festival, shew
+but too clearly the spirit of defiance which suggested it in the heat
+of the controversies upon the real presence. It is within my memory
+that the taste for dignity and decorum which this Metropolitan
+Church has ever evinced in the performance of religious worship,
+put an end to the boisterous and unbecoming appendages which an
+inveterate custom had annexed to this pageant.
+
+At a short distance in front of the procession appeared a group of
+seven gigantic figures, male and female, whose dresses, contrived
+by the most skilful tailors and milliners of the town, regulated
+the fashion at Seville for the ensuing season. A strong man being
+concealed under each of the giants and giantesses, the gaping
+multitude were amused at certain intervals with a very clumsy dance,
+performed by the figures, to the sound of the pipe and tabor. Next to
+the Brobdignag dancers, and taking precedence of all, there followed,
+on a moveable stage, the figure of a Hydra encircling a castle,
+from which, to the great delight of all the children of Seville, a
+puppet not unlike Punch, dressed up in a scarlet jacket trimmed with
+morrice-bells, used often to start up; and having performed a kind of
+wild dance, vanished again from view into the body of the monster.
+The whole of this compound figure bore the name of _Tarasca_, a word
+of which I do not know either the meaning or derivation. That these
+figures were allegorical no one can doubt who has any knowledge of
+the pageants of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It would
+be difficult, however, without the help of an obscure tradition,
+to guess that the giants in perriwigs and swords, and their fair
+partners in caps and petticoats, were emblems of the seven deadly
+sins. The Hydra, it should seem, represented Heresy, guarding the
+castle of Schism, where Folly, symbolized by the strange figure in
+scarlet, displayed her supreme command. This band of monsters was
+supposed to be flying in confusion before the triumphant sacrament.
+
+Mixed with the body of the procession, there appeared three sets of
+dancers; the _Valencianos_, or natives of the kingdom of Valencia,
+who, in their national costume of loose waistcoats, puffed linen
+sleeves, bound at the wrists and elbows with ribbons of various
+colours, and broad white trowsers reaching only to the knees,
+performed a lively dance, mingling their steps with feats of
+surprising agility: after these followed the sword-dancers in the old
+martial fashion of the country: and last of all, the performers of
+an antiquated Spanish dance--I believe the _Chacona_, dressed in the
+national garb of the sixteenth century.
+
+A dance of the last-mentioned description, and in a similar
+costume, is still performed before the high altar in the presence
+of the chapter, at the conclusion of the service on this day and
+the following se’nnight. The dancers are boys of between ten and
+fourteen, who, under the name of _Seizes_,[41] are maintained at
+the college which the Cathedral supports for the education of the
+acolytes, or inferior ministers. These boys, accompanied by a full
+orchestra, sing a lyric composition in Spanish, which, like the
+Greek chorusses, consists of two or three systems of metres, to
+which the dancers move solemnly, going through a variety of figures
+in their natural step, till, ranged at the conclusion of the song,
+in two lines facing each other as at the outset, they end with a
+gentle caper, rattling the castanets, which hitherto lay silent and
+concealed in their hands. That this grotesque performance should be
+allowed to continue, is, I believe, owing to the pride which this
+chapter take in the privilege, granted by the Pope to the dancers,
+of wearing their hats within view of the consecrated host--a liberty
+which the King himself cannot take, and which, if I am not misled by
+report, no one besides can boast of, except the Dukes of Altamira,
+who, upon certain occasions, clap on their hat, at the elevation of
+the host, and draw the sword, as if shewing their readiness to give a
+conclusive answer to any argument against transubstantiation.
+
+  [41] This name is, as far as I know, peculiar to Seville. The
+  similarity of its sound and that of _sizars_ used at Cambridge,
+  seems to denote a common origin in the two words.
+
+The _Corpus Christi_ procession begins to move out of the cathedral
+exactly at nine in the morning. It consists in the first place of the
+forty communities of friars who have convents in this town. They
+follow one another in two lines, according to the established order
+of precedence. The strangeness and variety of their dresses, no less
+than their collective numbers, would greatly strike any one but a
+Spaniard, to whom such objects are perfectly familiar.--Next appears
+the long train of relics belonging to the Cathedral, placed each by
+itself on a small stage moved by one or more men concealed under
+the rich drapery which hangs on its sides to the ground. Vases of
+gold and silver, of different shapes and sizes, contain the various
+portions of the inestimable treasure whereof the following is an
+accurate catalogue:
+
+    A tooth of Saint Christopher.
+
+    An agate cup used at Mass by Pope Saint Clement, the immediate
+    successor of Saint Peter.
+
+    An arm of Saint Bartholomew.
+
+    A head of one of eleven thousand virgins.
+
+    Part of Saint Peter’s body.
+
+    Ditto of Saint Lawrence.
+
+    Ditto of Saint Blaise.
+
+    The bones of the Saints Servandus and Germanus.
+
+    Ditto of Saint Florentius.
+
+    The Alphonsine tables, left to the Cathedral by King Alphonso the
+    Wise, containing three hundred relics.
+
+    A silver bust of Saint Leander, with his bones.
+
+    A thorn from our Saviour’s crown.
+
+    A fragment of the true cross.
+
+Last of all appears the body of prebendaries and canons, attended
+by their inferior ministers. Such, however, is the length of the
+procession, and the slow and solemn pace at which it proceeds, that,
+without a break in the lines, it takes a whole hour to leave the
+church. The streets, besides being hung up with more taste than for
+the processions of the Passion Week, are shaded all the way with a
+thick awning, and the pavement is strewed with rushes. An article of
+the military code of Spain obliges whatever troops are quartered in a
+town where this procession takes place, to follow it under arms; and
+if sufficient in number, to line the streets through which it is to
+pass.
+
+Under all these circumstances, the first appearance of the host in
+the streets is exceedingly imposing. Encircled by jewels of the
+greatest brilliancy, surrounded by lighted tapers and enthroned on
+the massive, yet elegant temple of silver already mentioned when
+describing the _Monument_,[42] no sooner has it moved to the door
+of the church than the bells announce its presence with a deafening
+sound, the bands of military music mix their animating notes with
+the solemn hymns of the singers, clouds of incense rise before the
+moving shrine, and the ear is thrilled by the loud voice of command,
+and the clash of the arms which the kneeling soldiers strike down
+to the ground. When the concealed bearers of the shrine[43] present
+it at the top of the long street where the route commences, the
+multitudes which crowd both the pavement and windows, fall prostrate
+in profound adoration, without venturing to rise up till the object
+of their awe is out of sight. Flowers are often scattered from the
+windows, and the most beautiful nosegays adorn the platform of the
+moveable stage.
+
+  [42] See page 253.
+
+  [43] See Letter II. p. 34.
+
+Close behind the host follows the archbishop, surrounded by his
+ecclesiastical retinue. One of his chaplains carries a large double
+cross of silver, indicative of metropolitan dignity. The train of the
+purple mantle is supported by another clergyman. These, like the rest
+of the prelate’s attendants and pages, are young men of family, who
+disdain not this kind of service, in the expectation of high church
+preferment. But what gives all this state the most unexpected finish
+is an inferior minister in his surplice bearing a circular fan of
+richly embroidered silk about two feet in diameter, and attached to
+a silver rod six feet in length. At a convenient distance from the
+archbishop this fan is constantly waved, whenever during the summer
+months he attends the cathedral service, thus relieving him from the
+oppressive effects of his robes under the burning sun of Andalusia.
+This custom is, I believe, peculiar to Seville.
+
+
+SAINT JOHN’S EVE.
+
+Feelings far removed from those of devotion prevail in the
+celebration of the Baptist’s festival. Whether it is the inviting
+temperature of a midsummer night, or some ancient custom connected
+with the present evening, “Saint John,” says the Spanish proverb,
+“sets every girl a gadding.” The public walks are crowded after
+sunset, and the exclusive amusement of this night, flirtation, or in
+the Andalusian phrase, _pelar la Pava_, (plucking the hen-turkey)
+begins as soon as the star-light of a summer sky, unbroken by the
+partial glare of lamps, enables the different groups to mix with a
+liberty approaching that enjoyed in a masquerade. Nothing in this
+kind of amusement possesses more zest than the chat through the
+iron bars of the lower windows, which begins about midnight. Young
+ladies, who can compose their mamas to sleep at a convenient hour,
+glide unperceived to the lower part of the house, and sitting on
+the window-sill, behind the latticework, which is used in this
+country instead of blinds, wait, in the true spirit of adventure,
+(if not pre-engaged to a dull, common-place matrimonial prelude,)
+for the chance sparks, who, mostly in disguise, walk the streets
+from twelve till dawn. Such, however, as the mere love of mirth
+induces to pass the night at the windows, generally engage another
+female companion, a sister, a friend, and often a favourite maid, to
+take a share in the conversation, and by a change of characters to
+puzzle their out-of-doors visitors. These, too, when not _seriously_
+engaged, walk about in parties, each assuming such a character as
+they consider themselves most able to support. One pretends to be a
+farmer just arrived from the country, another a poor mechanic, this a
+foreigner speaking broken Spanish, that a _Gallego_, making love in
+the still less intelligible dialect of his province. The gentlemen
+must come provided with no less a stock of sweetmeats (which from
+the circumstance of being folded each separately in a piece of
+paper, are called _Papelillos_) than of lively small talk and wit.
+A deficiency in the latter is unpardonable; so that a _bore_, or
+_Majadero_,[44] if not ready to quit the post when bidden, is soon
+left to contemplate the out-side of the window-shutters. The habitual
+distance at which the lower classes are kept from those above them,
+prevents any disagreeable meddling on their part; and the ladies who
+indulge in these frolics, feel perfectly safe from intrusion and
+impertinence.
+
+  [44] A word derived from the verb _Majar_, to beat in a mortar.
+
+The sauntering about the fields, practised by the populace of
+Madrid, on the same night, is there called “_Cogér la Verbena_,”
+gathering Vervain; an appellation evidently derived from an ancient
+superstition which attributed preternatural powers to that plant when
+gathered at twelve o’clock on St. John’s Eve. The nocturnal rambles
+of the present times, much as they might alarm the guardians of
+public morals, if such an office existed among us, need not give any
+uneasiness on the score of witchcraft to the Reverend Inquisitors.
+
+
+SAINT BARTHOLOMEW.
+
+The commemoration of this Apostle takes place on the 24th of August.
+It is not, however, to record any external circumstance connected
+with this church festival--which, in fact, is scarcely distinguished
+by any peculiar solemnity--that I take notice of it, but for a
+private superstitious practice which strikes me as a most curious
+modification of one used by the pious housewives in the days of
+Augustus.
+
+Intermittent fevers, especially the Tertian and Quartan, are very
+common in most parts of Andalusia. The season when they chiefly
+attack the inhabitants, is summer; and whether the unbounded use,
+which all sorts of people, but particularly the poor, make of grapes
+and melons, contributes to the production of the disease, or whether
+the mere coincidence of the two facts is, as usual, taken for cause
+and effect; it is an established opinion in this part of the country
+that, if fruit is not the original source of the ague, an abstinence
+from that kind of food is indispensable to avoid a relapse into that
+treacherous complaint.
+
+That there should be a particular Saint, to superintend the medical
+department of curing the ague, is so perfectly consistent with the
+Catholic notions, that a deficiency on that point would more surprise
+me than to find a toe not under the influence of some heavenly aspect
+in the _Vox Stellarum_, which was one of my wonders in England. That
+province, in fact, is allotted to Saint Bartholomew. Now, ninepence
+is a sufficient inducement for any of our sons of Esculapius to mount
+his mule as well as his wig, and dose you with the most compound
+electuary he is master of; but how to fee a supernatural doctor,
+would be a puzzling question, were it not that tradition teaches the
+method of propitiating every individual mentioned in the calendar.
+Each Saint has a peculiar fancy--from Saint _Anthony of Padua_, who
+will often delay the performance of a miracle till you plunge him
+into a well, or nail his print topsy-turvy upon the wall, to Saint
+_Pasqual Baylon_, who is readiest to attend such as accompany their
+petitions with some lively steps and a final caper. As to Saint
+Bartholomew, nothing will induce him to cure an ague but a vow to
+abstain, on the day of his festival, from all food except bread and
+fruit--the very means which, but for his miraculous interference,
+would, according to common opinion, cause either a return, or an
+aggravation of the complaint.
+
+Mark, now, the vow employed by the Roman matrons for the cure of
+intermittents. It is recorded by Horace, and thus translated by
+Francis:--
+
+    “Her child beneath a quartan fever lies
+    For full four months, when the fond mother cries,
+    Sickness and health are thine, all-powerful Jove;
+    Then, from my son this dire disease remove,
+    And when your priests thy solemn fast proclaim,
+    Naked the boy shall stand in Tiber’s stream.
+    Should chance, or the physician’s art, upraise
+    Her infant from the desperate disease;
+    The frantic dame shall plunge her hapless boy,
+    Bring back the fever, and the child destroy.”[45]
+
+  [45]  Jupiter, ingentes qui das adimisque dolores,
+    (Mater ait pueri menses jam quinque cubantis),
+    Frigida si puerum quartana reliquerit, illo
+    Mane, die quo tu indicis jejunia, nudus
+    In Tiberi stabit.--Casus, medicusve levarit
+    Ægrum ex precipiti; mater delira necabit
+    In gelidâ fixum ripâ, febrimque reducet.
+                                  HOR. SAT. L. II. 3. 288.
+
+The existence of Heathen superstitions adapted to Christian worship
+is too common to excite surprise; nor is it any similarity in the
+externals of the two practices I have just compared, that constitutes
+their analogy. My mind is struck alone by the unchangeable spirit of
+superstition, which, attributing in all ages and nations, our own
+passions and feelings to supernatural beings, endeavours to obtain
+their favour by flattering their vanity. Both the ancient Roman and
+modern Spanish vow for the cure of the ague, seem to set at defiance
+the supposed and most probable causes of the disease, from which the
+devotees seek deliverance; as if to secure to the patron deities the
+undoubted and full honour of the miracle.
+
+
+DETACHED PREJUDICES AND PRACTICES.
+
+Having mentioned the superstitious method used in this country
+for the cure of the ague, I wish to introduce a short account of
+some popular prejudices more or less connected with the prevalent
+religious notions. I shall probably add a few facts under this head,
+for no better reason than that I do not know how to class them under
+any other.
+
+There is an allusion in Hudibras to an antiquated piece of gallantry
+which I believe may be illustrated by a religious custom to which I
+was sometimes subjected in my childhood. The passage runs thus:
+
+    I’ll carve your name on barks of trees
+    With true love-knots and flourishes, ...
+    _Drink every letter on’t in stum,
+    And make it brisk Champaigne become._[46]
+
+  [46] Hudibras, Part II. Canto I.
+
+The latter compliment is paid by sick persons to the Virgin Mary,
+in the hope of recovering health through her intercession. An image
+is worshipped at one of the principal parish churches in this
+town, under the title of the _Virgin of Health_. The charm of this
+denomination draws numbers to the sanctuary, which, being in the
+centre of the wealthiest population, derives considerable splendour
+from their offerings. In exchange for these they often receive a
+sheet of printed paper containing at regular intervals the words
+_Salus infirmorum_, in very small type. In case of illness, one
+of the lines is cut off, and, being coiled into a small roll, the
+patient swallows it in a glass of water.
+
+The room where a person lies dangerously ill, generally contains more
+relics and amulets than the chimney-piece of an invalid, under the
+care of a London apothecary, holds phials of all shapes and sizes.
+The friends of a lady near her confinement, vie with each other in
+procuring her every kind of supernatural assistance for the trying
+hour; when, strange to say, she is often dressed in the episcopal
+robes of some saint, which are supposed to act most effectually when
+in contact with the body of the distressed petitioner. But whatever
+patrons the ladies may choose to implore in those circumstances,
+there are two whose assistance, by means of relics, pictures, or the
+apparel of their images, is never dispensed with. The names of these
+invisible accoucheurs are _Saint Raymundus Nonnatus_, and _Saint
+Vincent Ferrer_. That the former should be considered as peculiarly
+interested in such cases, having, as his addition implies, been
+extracted from the womb of his dead mother, is perfectly clear and
+natural. But, _Ferrer’s_ sympathy requires a slight explanation.
+
+That saint--a native of Valencia, and a monk of the order of Saint
+Dominic, possessed the gift of miracles in such a degree, that
+he performed them almost unconsciously, and not unfrequently in
+a sort of frolic. Being applied to, on a certain occasion, by a
+young married lady, whom the idea of approaching maternity kept in
+a state of constant terror, the good-natured Saint desired her to
+dismiss her fears, as he was determined to take upon himself whatever
+inconvenience or trouble there might be in the case. Some weeks had
+elapsed, when the good Monk, who had forgotten his engagement, was
+heard in the dead of night roaring and screaming in a manner so
+unusual, and so little becoming a professional Saint, that he drew
+the whole community to his cell. Nothing, for a time, could relieve
+the mysterious sufferings, and though he passed the rest of the night
+_as well as could be expected_, the fear of a relapse would have kept
+his afflicted brethren in painful suspense, had not the grateful
+husband of the timid lady, who was the cause of the uproar, taken an
+early opportunity to return thanks for the _unconscious_ delivery of
+his consort. Saint Vincent, though according to tradition perfectly
+unwilling to stand a second time proxy for nervous ladies, is, from
+a very natural sympathy, constantly in readiness to act as the male
+Lucina of the Spanish matrons.
+
+
+FUNERALS OF INFANTS AND MAIDS.
+
+From the birth to the death of a child the passage is often so easy
+that I shall make it an apology for the abruptness of the present
+transition. The moral accountableness of a human being, as I have
+observed before, does not, according to Catholic divines, begin till
+the seventh year; consequently such as die without attaining that
+age, are, by the effect of their baptism, indubitably entitled to
+a place in heaven. The death of an infant is therefore a matter of
+rejoicing to all but those in whose bosoms nature speaks too loud to
+be controlled by argument. The friends who call upon the parents,
+contribute to aggravate their bitterness by _wishing them joy_ for
+having increased the number of angels. The usual address on these
+occasions is _Angelitos al Cielo!_ Little Angels to Heaven--an
+unfeeling compliment, which never fails to draw a fresh gush of
+tears from the eyes of a mother. Every circumstance of the funeral
+is meant to _force_ joy upon the mourners. The child, dressed in
+white garments, and crowned with a wreath of flowers, is followed
+by the officiating priest in silk robes of the same colour; and
+the clergymen who attend him to the house from whence the funeral
+proceeds to the church, sing in joyful strains the psalm _Laudate,
+pueri, Dominum_, while the bells are heard ringing a lively peal. The
+coffin, without a lid, exposes to the view the little corpse covered
+with flowers, as four well-dressed children bear it, amidst the
+lighted tapers of the clergy. No black dress, no signs of mourning
+whatever are seen even among the nearest relatives; the service at
+church bespeaks triumph, and the organ mixes its enlivening sounds
+with the hymns, which thank death for snatching a tender soul, when
+through a slight and transient tribute of pain, it could obtain an
+exemption from the power of sorrow. Yet no funerals are graced with
+more tears; nor can dirges and penitential mournings produce even a
+shadow of the tender melancholy which seizes the mind at the view of
+the formal and affected joy with which a Catholic infant is laid in
+his grave.
+
+A young unmarried woman among us
+
+    ----“is allowed her virgin crants,[47]
+    Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
+    Of bell and burial.”
+
+  [47] Garlands.
+
+In addition to the wreath of flowers, a palm-branch is put into a
+maiden’s hand; an emblem of victory against the allurements of love,
+which many a poor fair conqueror would have willingly exchanged for
+a regular defeat. They are dressed in every other respect like nuns,
+and the coffin is covered with a black velvet pall, as in all other
+funerals.
+
+The preceding passage in Hamlet begins with an allusion to a very
+ancient custom, which is still observed in Spain at the monumental
+crosses erected on the highways to those who have perished by the
+hands of robbers.
+
+        “For charitable prayers,
+    Sherds, flints, and pebbles, should be thrown on her.”
+
+This is literally done by every peasant when passing one of those
+rude and melancholy monuments. A heap of stones is always observed
+at the foot of the cross; not, however, _instead_ of prayers, as
+the passage would seem to imply, but as a tale by which the number
+of _Paternosters_ said by the compassionate passengers, might be
+reckoned. The antiquity of this _Christianized_ custom appears, from
+a passage in the Book of Proverbs, to be very great. The proverb or
+sentence, translated as it is in the margin of the English Bible,
+runs thus: “As he that putteth a precious stone in a heap, so is he
+that giveth honour to a fool.”[48]
+
+  [48] Proverbs xxvi. 8.
+
+The Latin version which, you must know, is of great antiquity,
+and was made the basis of Jerom’s, about the middle of the fourth
+century, renders this proverb in a remarkable manner. _Sicut qui
+mittit lapidem in acervum Mercurii; ita qui tribuit insipienti
+honorem._ As he that casts a stone on the _heap of Mercury_, &c. &c.
+Now, bearing in mind that stones are at this day thrown upon certain
+graves in Spain; that, according to the passage in Shakspeare, a
+similar custom seems to have prevailed in other parts of Europe; and
+that Jerom believed he rendered the spirit of the Hebrew proverb by
+translating the word which the English Divines doubted, whether to
+construe _a sling_, or _a heap of stones_, by the phrase, _acervus
+Mercurii_; a deity, whose statues were frequently placed over
+sepulchres among the Romans--bearing all this in mind, I say, it
+appears to me that the custom of covering some graves with stones
+thrown at random, must have existed in the time of the writer of the
+Proverbs. Perhaps I may be allowed to conjecture that it originated
+in the punishment of stoning, so common among the Jews; that
+passengers flung stones, as a mark of abhorrence, on the heap which
+hid the body of the criminal; that the primitive Christians, many of
+whom were Jews, followed the same method of shewing their horror of
+heathen tombs, till those places came to be known, in Jerom’s time,
+by the appellation of _heaps of Mercury_; that modern Christians
+applied the same custom to the graves of such as had been deemed
+unworthy of consecrated ground; and, finally, that the frequency of
+highway robberies and murders in Spain detached the custom from the
+idea of crime, and softened a mark of detestation into one of prayer
+and intercession for the unfortunate victim.
+
+
+SPANISH CHRISTIAN NAMES.
+
+The extraordinary devotion of the Catholics, especially in this
+country, to the Virgin Mary, and the notion, supported by the clergy,
+that as many Saints as have their names given to a child at baptism,
+are, in some degree, engaged to take it under their protection,
+occasion a national peculiarity not unworthy of remark. In the first
+place few have less than half a dozen names entered in the parish
+register, a list of which is given to the priest that he may read
+them out in the act of christening the child. It would be difficult
+indeed, under these circumstances, for most people to know exactly
+their own names, especially if, like myself, they have been favoured
+with _eleven_. The custom of the country, however, allows every
+individual to forget all but the first in the list. In our devotion
+to the Virgin, we have hitherto avoided the strange solecism of the
+French _Monsieur Marie_, though almost every Spaniard has _Maria_ for
+a second name.
+
+The titles given to the innumerable images of the Virgin Mary, which
+supply the usual names of our females, might occasion the most
+ludicrous puns or misnomers, if habit had not diverted the mind from
+their real meaning. No names are more common than _Encarnacion_,
+Incarnation--_Concepcion_, Conception--_Visitacion_,
+Visitation--_Maravillas_, Marvels--_Regla_, Rule--_Dolores_,
+Pains--_Agustias_, Anguishes--_Soledad_, Solitude--_Natividad_,
+Nativity, &c. Other titles of the Virgin afford, however, more agreeable
+associations. Such are _Estrella_, Star--_Aurora_--_Amparo_,
+Protection--_Esperanza_, Hope--_Salud_, Health--_Pastora_,
+Shepherdess--_Rocio_, Dew, &c. But words, as it is said of the
+chameleon, take the colour of the objects to which they are attached;
+and I have known _Pains_ and _Solitudes_ among our Andalusians, who,
+had they been more numerous, might have produced a revolution in the
+significations of the language.
+
+
+CHRISTMAS.
+
+Since no festival of any interest takes place between summer and this
+season, it is already time to conclude these notes with the expiring
+year.
+
+It was the custom, thirty or forty years since, among families
+of fortune, to prepare, for an almost public exhibition, one or
+two rooms of the house, where, upon a clumsy imitation of rocks
+and mountains, a great number of baby-houses and clay figures,
+representing the commonest actions of life, were placed amidst a
+multitude of lamps and tapers. A half ruined stable, surrounded by
+sheep and cattle, was seen in the front of the room, with the figures
+of Joseph, Mary, and some shepherds, kneeling in adoration of the
+child in the manger--an act which an ass and an ox imitated with the
+greatest composure. This collection of puppets, called _Nacimiento_,
+is still, though seldom intended for show, set up in many houses,
+both for the amusement and the religious gratification of the family
+and their more intimate friends.
+
+At the period which I have just mentioned, the _Nacimientos_ were
+made a pretext for collecting a large party, and passing several
+nights in dancing, and some of the national amusements described
+in the article of _Carnival_. The rooms being illuminated after
+sunset, not only the friends of the family were entitled to enjoy
+the festivities of the evening, but any gentleman giving his name
+at the door, might introduce one or more ladies, who, if but known
+by sight to the master of the house, would be requested to join in
+the amusements which followed. These were singing, dancing, and
+not unfrequently, speeches, taken from the old Spanish plays, and
+known by the name of _Relaciones_. Recitation was considered till
+lately as an accomplishment both in males and females; and persons
+who were known to be skilled in that art, stood up at the request
+of the company to deliver a speech with all the gesticulation of
+our old school of acting, just as others gratified their friends by
+performing upon an instrument. A slight refreshment of the Christmas
+cakes, called _Oxaldres_, and sweet wines or home-made _liqueurs_,
+was enough to free the house from the imputation of meanness: thus
+mirth and society were obtained at a moderate expense. But the
+present _Nacimientos_ seldom afford amusement to strangers; and with
+the exception of singing carols to the sound of the _zambomba_,
+little remains of the old festivities.
+
+I must not, however, omit a description of the noisy instrument whose
+no less sounding name I have just mentioned. It is general in most
+parts of Spain at this season, though never used at any other. A
+slender shoot of reed (Arundo Donax) is fixed in the centre of a
+piece of parchment, without perforating the skin, which, softened
+by moisture, is tied, like a drum-head, round the mouth of a large
+earthen jar. The parchment, when dry, acquires a great tension, and
+the reed being slightly covered with wax, allows the clenched hand to
+glide up and down, producing a deep hollow sound of the same kind as
+that which proceeds from the tambourine when rubbed with the middle
+finger.
+
+The church service on Christmas Eve begins at ten in the night, and
+lasts till five in the morning. This custom is observed at every
+church in the town; nor does their number, or the unseasonableness
+of the hour, leave the service unattended in any. The music at the
+Cathedral is excellent. It is at present confined to part of the
+Latin prayers, but was, till within a few years, used in a species of
+dramatic interludes in the vulgar tongue, which were sung, not acted,
+at certain intervals of the service. These pieces had the name of
+_Villancicos_, from _Villano_, a clown; shepherds and shepherdesses
+being the interlocutors in these pastorals. The words, printed at the
+expense of the Chapter, were distributed to the public, who still
+regret the loss of the wit and humour of the Swains of Bethlehem.
+
+The custom of the country requires a formal call between Christmas
+and Twelfth-day, on all one’s acquaintance; and tables are placed
+in the house squares, or _Patios_, to receive the cards of the
+visiters. Presents of sweetmeats are common between friends;
+and patients send to their medical attendants the established
+acknowledgment of a turkey; so that Doctors in great practice open
+a kind of public market for the disposal of their poultry. These
+turkeys are driven in flocks by gipseys, who patiently walk in
+the rear of the ungovernable phalanxes, from several parts of Old
+Castile, and chiefly from Salamanca. The march which they perform is
+of no less than four hundred miles, and lasts about one half of the
+year. The turkeys, which are bought from the farmers mere chickens,
+acquire their full growth, like your fashionables, in travelling, and
+seeing the world.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER X.
+
+
+    _Madrid, 1807._
+
+My removal to this capital has been sudden and unexpected. My friend
+Leandro, from whom I am become inseparable, was advised by his
+physicians to seek relief from a growing melancholy--the effect of
+a mortal aversion to his professional duties, and to the intolerant
+religious system with which they are connected--in the freedom and
+dissipation of the court; and I found it impossible to tear myself
+from him.
+
+The journey from Seville to Madrid, a distance of about two hundred
+and sixty English miles, is usually performed in heavy carriages
+drawn by six mules, in the space of from ten to eleven days. A party
+of four persons is formed by the coachman, (Mayoral) who fixes the
+day and hour for setting out, arranges the length of the stages,
+prescribes the time for getting up in the morning, and even takes
+care that every passenger attends mass on a Sunday, or any other
+church festival during the journey. As it was, however, of importance
+not to delay my friend’s removal from Seville, we chose the more
+expensive conveyance by posting, and having obtained a passport, set
+off in an open and half foundered chaise--the usual vehicles till
+within thirty miles of Madrid.
+
+You will form some idea of our police and government, from the
+circumstance of our being obliged to take our passport, not for
+Madrid, but Salamanca, in order thus to smuggle ourselves into the
+capital. The minister of _Gracia y Justicia_, or home department,
+Caballero, one of the most willing and odious instruments of our
+arbitrary court, being annoyed by the multitude of place-hunters,
+whom we denominate Pretendientes, who flocked to Madrid from the
+provinces; has lately issued an order forbidding all persons
+whatever, to come to the capital, unless they previously obtain a
+royal license. To await the King’s pleasure would have exposed us
+to great inconvenience, and probably to a positive denial. But as
+the minister’s order was now two or three months old, a period at
+which our court-laws begin to grow obsolete, and we did not mean to
+trouble _his excellency_; we trusted to luck and our purse, as to any
+little obstacles which might arise from the interference of inferior
+officers.
+
+I shall not detain you with a description of our journey--the
+delays at the post-houses--our diminished haste at Valdepeñas for
+the sake of its delicious wine just as it is drawn from the immense
+earthen-jars, where it is kept buried in the ground; and, finally,
+the ugly but close and tight post-chaises drawn by three mules
+a-breast, which are used from Aranjuez to Madrid. I do not love
+description, probably because I cannot succeed in it. You will,
+therefore, have the goodness to apply for a picture of this _town_
+(for I wish you to remark that it is not reckoned among our _cities_)
+in Burgoing, Townsend, or some other professed traveller. My
+narrative shall, as hitherto, be limited to what these gentlemen were
+not likely to see or understand with the accuracy and distinctness of
+a native.
+
+The influence of the court being unlimited in Spain, no object
+deserves a closer examination from such as wish to be acquainted
+with the moral state of this country. I must, therefore, begin
+with a sketch of the main sources of that influence, carefully
+excluding every report which has reached me through any but the most
+respectable channels, or an absolute notoriety. The fountain-head
+of power and honours among us has, till lately, been the Queen, a
+daughter of the late Duke of Parma, a very ugly woman, now fast
+approaching old age, yet affecting youth and beauty. She had been but
+a short time married to the present King, then Prince of Asturias,
+when she discovered a strong propensity to gallantry, which the
+austere and jealous temper of her father-in-law Charles III. was
+scarcely able to check. Her husband, one of those happy beings born
+to derive bliss from ignorance, has ever preserved a strong and
+exclusive attachment to her person. This attachment, combined with a
+most ludicrous simplicity, closes his mind against every approach of
+suspicion.
+
+The first favourite of the Princess that awakened the King’s
+jealousy, was a gentleman of his son’s household, named Ortíz.
+Concerned for the honour of the Prince, no less than for the
+strictness of morals, which, from religious principles, he had
+anxiously preserved in his court; he issued an order, banishing
+Ortíz to one of the most distant provinces. The Princess, unable to
+bear this separation, and well acquainted with the character of her
+husband, engaged him to obtain the recall of Ortíz from the King.
+Scrupulously faithful to his promise, the young Prince watched the
+first opportunity to entreat his father’s favour, and falling upon
+his knees, asked the boon of Ortíz’s return, gravely and affectingly
+urging that “his wife Louisa was quite unhappy without him, as he
+used to amuse her amazingly.” The old King, surprised and provoked
+by this wonderful simplicity, turned his back upon the good-natured
+petitioner, exclaiming: _Calla, tonto! Déxalo irse: Qué simple que
+eres!_ “Hold your tongue, booby! Let him go: What a simpleton thou
+art!”
+
+Louisa deprived, however, of her _entertaining_ Ortíz, soon found a
+substitute in a young officer named Luis de Godoy. He was the eldest
+of three brothers, of an ancient but decayed family, in the province
+of Estremadura, who served together in the Horse-Guards, a corps
+exclusively composed of gentlemen, the lowest ranks being filled by
+commissioned officers. Scarcely had this new attachment been formed,
+when the old King unmercifully nipped it in the bud, by a decree
+of banishment against Don Luis. The royal order was, as usual, so
+pressing, that the distressed lover could only charge his second
+brother Manuel with a parting message, and obtain a promise of his
+being the bearer of as many tokens of constancy and despair, as could
+be safely transmitted by the post.
+
+It is a part of the cumbrous etiquette of the Spanish Court to give
+a separate guard to every member of the royal family, though all
+live within the King’s palace; and to place sentinels with drawn
+swords at the door of every suite of apartments. This service is
+performed without interruption day and night, by the military corps
+just mentioned. Manuel Godoy did not find it difficult to be on duty
+in the Prince’s guard, as often as he had any letter to deliver. A
+certain tune played on the flute, an instrument with which that young
+officer used to beguile the idle hours of the guard, was the signal
+which drew the Princess to a private room, to which the messenger had
+secret, but free access.
+
+There is every reason to believe that _Luis’s_ amorous dispatches had
+their due effect for some weeks, and that his royal mistress lived
+almost exclusively upon their contents. Yet time was working a sad
+revolution in the fortunes of the banished lover. Manuel grew every
+day more interesting, and the letters less so, till the faithless
+confidant became the most _amusing_ of mortals to the Princess, and
+consequently a favourite with her good-natured husband.
+
+The death of the old King had now removed every obstacle to the
+Queen’s gallantries, and Manuel Godoy was rapidly advanced to the
+highest honours of the state, and the first ranks of the army. But
+the new sovereign did not yet feel quite easy upon the throne; and
+the dying King’s recommendation of his favourite Floridablanca,
+by prolonging that minister’s power, still set some bounds to the
+Queen’s caprices. Charles IV., though perfectly under his wife’s
+control, could not be prevailed upon to dismiss an old servant of
+his father without any assignable reason; and some respect for
+public opinion, a feeling which seldom fails to cast a transient
+gleam of hope on the first days of every reign, obliged the Queen
+herself to employ other means than a mere act of her will in the
+ruin of the premier. He might, however, have preserved his place
+for some time, and been allowed to retire with his honours, had not
+his jealousy of the rising Godoy induced him to oppose the tide of
+favour which was now about to raise that young man to a Grandeeship
+of the first class. To provide for the splendour of that elevated
+rank, the Queen had induced her husband to bestow upon Godoy a
+princely estate, belonging to the crown, from which he was to take
+the title of the Duke de la Alcúdia. Floridablanca, either from
+principle, or some less honourable motive, thought it necessary to
+oppose this grant as illegal; and having induced the King to consult
+the Council of Castille upon that point, endeavoured to secure an
+answer agreeable to his wishes, by means of a letter to his friend
+the Count Cifuentes. Most unluckily for the minister, before this
+letter arrived from San Ildefonso, where the court was at that time,
+the president was seized with a mortal complaint, and the dispatches
+falling into the hands of his substitute Cañada, were secretly
+transmitted to the Queen. It is needless to add, that the report of
+the council was favourable, that Godoy was made Duke de la Alcúdia,
+and that both he and the Queen were now wholly bent upon their
+opposer’s ruin.
+
+During Floridablanca’s influence with the King, a manuscript satire
+had been circulated against that minister, in which he was charged
+with having defrauded one _Salucci_, an Italian banker connected with
+the Spanish Government. Too conscious, it should seem, of the truth
+of the accusation, Floridablanca suspected none but the injured party
+of being the contriver and circulator of the lampoon. The obnoxious
+composition was, however, written in better Spanish than Salucci
+could command, and the smarting minister could not be satisfied
+without punishing the author. His spies having informed him that
+the Marquis de Manca, a man of wit and talent, was intimate at
+Salucci’s, he had no need of farther proofs against him. The banker
+was immediately banished out of the kingdom, and the poet confined
+to the city of Burgos, under the inspection and control of the civil
+authorities.
+
+But the time was now arrived when these men, who were too well
+acquainted with the state of Spain to look for redress at the hands
+of justice, were to obtain satisfaction from the spirit of revenge
+which urged the Queen to seek the ruin of her husband’s minister.
+Charles IV. being informed of Floridablanca’s conduct towards Salucci
+and Manca, the last was recalled to Court. His enemy’s papers,
+including a large collection of _billets-doux_, were seized and put
+into the Marquis’s hands, to be used as documents in a secret process
+instituted against the minister: who, according to his own rules
+of justice, was, in the mean time, sent a prisoner to the fortress
+of Pamplona. His confinement, however, was not prolonged beyond
+the necessary time to ruin him in the King’s opinion; and upon the
+marriage of two of the Royal Princesses, an _indulto_, or pardon,
+was issued, by which, though declared guilty of embezzling forty-two
+millions of _reals_, he was enlarged from his close confinement, and
+allowed to reside at Murcia, his native town.
+
+I am not certain, however, whether Floridablanca’s dismissal did
+not shortly precede his accusation by _Manca_, as the immediate
+consequence of his efforts to make the King join the coalition
+against France after the death of Louis XVI. Charles IV. was, it
+seems, the only sovereign in Europe, who felt no alarm at the fate
+of the unfortunate Louis; and had more at heart the recollection
+of a personal slight from his cousin, than all the ties of common
+interest and blood. Charles had learned that, on his accession to the
+throne of Spain, the usual letter of congratulation being presented
+for signature to Louis, that monarch humourously observed, that he
+thought the letter hardly necessary, “for the poor man,” he said,
+“is a mere cypher, completely governed and henpecked by his wife.”
+This joke had made such a deep impression on the King, as to draw
+from him, when Louis was decapitated, the unfeeling and almost brutal
+remark that “a gentleman so ready to find fault with others, did not
+seem to have managed his own affairs very well.” The Count de Aranda,
+who, in the cabinet councils, had constantly voted for peace with
+France, was appointed, in February, 1792, to succeed Floridablanca.
+But the turn of affairs, and the pressing remonstrances of the allied
+sovereigns, altered the views of Charles; and having, at the end of
+seven months, dismissed Aranda with all the honours of his office,
+Godoy, then Duke of Alcúdia, was appointed his successor to begin
+hostilities against France. I need not enter into a narrative of that
+ill-conducted and disastrous war. An appearance of success cheered
+up the Spaniards, always ready to fight with their neighbours on the
+other side of the Pyrenees. But the French armies having received
+reinforcements, would have soon paid a visit to Charles at Madrid, if
+his favourite minister, with more address than he ever discovered in
+his subsequent management of political affairs, had not concluded and
+ratified the peace of Basle.
+
+The fears of the whole country at the progress of the French arms
+had been so strong, that peace was hailed with enthusiasm; and the
+public joy, on that occasion, would have been unalloyed but for the
+extravagant rewards granted to Godoy for concluding it. A new dignity
+above the grandeeship was created for him alone, and, under the
+title of _Prince of the Peace_, Godoy was placed next in rank to the
+Princes of the royal blood.
+
+There was but one step in the scale of honours which could raise a
+mere subject higher than the Queen’s favour had exalted Godoy--a
+marriage into the royal family. But the only distinction which love
+seemed not blind enough to confer on the favourite, he actually owed
+to the jealousy of his mistress.
+
+Among the beauties whom the hope of the young minister’s favour drew
+to Madrid from all parts of Spain, there was an unmarried lady of
+the name of Tudó, a native of Malaga, whose charms both of person
+and mind would have captivated a much less susceptible heart than
+Godoy’s. From the moment she was presented by her parents, La Tudó
+(we are perfectly unceremonious in naming ladies of all ranks)
+obtained so decided a supremacy above the numerous sharers in the
+favourite’s love, that the Queen, who had hitherto overlooked a
+crowd of occasional rivals, set her face against an attachment which
+bid fair to last for life. It had, indeed, subsisted long enough
+to produce unquestionable proof of the nature of the intimacy, in
+a child whose birth, though not blazoned forth as if sanctioned by
+public opinion, was not hidden with any consciousness of shame.
+A report being circulated at court, that the Prince of the Peace
+was secretly married to La Tudó, the Queen, in a fit of jealousy,
+accused him to the King as guilty of ingratitude, in thus having
+allied himself to a woman of no birth, without the slightest mark
+of deference to his royal benefactors. The King, whose fondness
+for Godoy had grown above his wife’s control, seemed inclined to
+discredit the story of the marriage; but, being at that time at one
+of the royal country residences called _Sitios_--the _Escurial_,
+I believe, where the ministers have apartments within the palace;
+the Queen led her husband through a secret passage, to a room where
+they surprised the lovers taking their supper in a comfortable
+_tête-à-tête_.
+
+The feelings excited by this sight must have been so different in
+each of the royal couple, that one can scarcely feel surprised at the
+strangeness of the result. Godoy had only to deny the marriage to
+pacify the King, whose good nature was ready to make allowances for
+a mere love-intrigue of his favourite. The Queen, hopeless of ever
+being the exclusive object of the gallantries of a man to whom she
+was chained by the blindest infatuation, probably feared lest the
+step she had taken should tear him away from her presence. A slave
+to her vehement passions, and a perfect stranger to those delicate
+feelings which vice itself cannot smother in some hearts, she seemed
+satisfied with preventing her chief rival from rising above her own
+rank of a mistress; and, provided the place was occupied by one to
+whom her paramour was indifferent, wished to see him married, and be
+herself the match-maker.
+
+The King’s late brother, Don Luis, who, in spite of a cardinal’s hat,
+and the archbishoprick of Seville, conferred on him before he was of
+age to take holy orders, stole a kind of left-handed marriage with a
+Spanish lady of the name of Vallabríga; had left two daughters and
+a son, under the guardianship of the archbishop of Toledo. Though
+not, hitherto, allowed to take their father’s name, these children
+were considered legitimate; and it is probable that the King had been
+desirous of putting them in possession of the honours due to their
+birth, long before the Queen proposed the eldest of her nieces both
+as a reward for Godoy’s services, and a means to prevent in future
+such sallies of youthful folly as divided his attention between
+pleasure and the service of the crown. These or similar reasons
+(for history must content herself with conjecture, when the main
+springs of events lie not only behind the curtain of state, but those
+of a four-post bed) produced in the space of a few weeks, a public
+recognition of Don Luis’s children, and the announcement of his
+eldest daughter’s intended marriage with the Prince of the Peace.
+
+The vicious source of Godoy’s unbounded power, the temper of the
+Court where he enjoyed it, and the crowd of flatterers which his
+elevation had gathered about him, would preclude all expectation
+of any great or virtuous qualities in his character. Yet there are
+facts connected with the beginning of his government which prove
+that he was not void of those vague wishes of doing good, which,
+as they spring up, are “choked with cares and riches and pleasures
+of this world.” I have been assured by an acute and perfectly
+disinterested observer, whose high rank gave him free access to the
+favourite, during part of the period when with the title of Duke de
+la Alcúdia he was at the head of the Spanish ministry, that “there
+was every reason to believe him active, intelligent, and attentive
+in the discharge of his duty; and that he was perfectly exempt from
+all those airs and affectation which men who rise by fortune more
+than merit, are apt to be justly accused of.” Though, like all the
+Spanish youth brought up in the military profession, he was himself
+unlettered, he shewed great respect for talents and literature in
+the formation of the ministry which succeeded his own; when, from his
+new rank, and his marriage into the royal family, he was considered
+above the duties of office.
+
+Saavedra, whom he made first minister of state, is a man of great
+natural quickness, improved both by reading and the observation of
+real life; but so irresolute of purpose, so wavering in judgment, so
+incapable of decision, that, while in office, he seemed more fit to
+render public business interminable, than to direct its course in his
+own department. Jovellanos, appointed to be Saavedra’s colleague, is
+justly considered as one of the living ornaments of our literature.
+Educated at Salamanca in one of the _Colegios Mayores_, before the
+reform which stripped those bodies of their honours and influence, he
+was made a judge in his youth, and gradually ascended to one of the
+supreme councils of the nation. His upright and honourable conduct
+in every stage of his life, both public and private, the urbanity of
+his manners, and the formal elegance of his conversation, render him
+a striking exemplification of the old Spanish _Caballero_. With the
+virtues and agreeable qualities of that character, he unites many of
+the prejudices peculiar to the period to which it belongs. To a most
+passionate attachment to the privileges and distinctions of blood,
+he joins a superstitious veneration for all kinds of external forms.
+The strongest partialities warp his fine understanding, confining
+it, upon numerous subjects, to distorted or limited views. As a judge
+and a man of letters, he was respected and admired by all. As a chief
+justice in any of our provincial courts of law, he would have been a
+blessing to the people of his district; while the dignified leisure
+of that situation would have enabled him to enrich our literature
+with the productions of his elegant mind. As a minister, however,
+through whose hands all the gifts of the Crown were to be distributed
+to a hungry country, where two-thirds of the better classes look
+up to patronage for a comfortable subsistence, he disappointed the
+hopes of the nation. At Court, his high notions of rank converted his
+rather prim manner into downright stiffness; and his blind partiality
+for the natives of Asturias, his province--probably because he
+thought them the purest remnant of Gothic blood in Spain--made him
+the most unpopular of ministers. Instead of promoting the welfare
+of the nation by measures which gradually, and upon a large scale,
+might counteract the influence of a profligate Court, he tried to
+oppose the Queen’s established interference in detail. She once made
+a personal application to Jovellanos in favour of a certain candidate
+for a prebendal stall. The minister gave her a flat denial, alleging
+that the person in question had not qualified himself at any of the
+universities. “At which of them,” said the Queen, “did you receive
+your education?”--“At Salamanca, Madam.”--“What a pity,” rejoined
+she, “that they forgot to teach you manners!”
+
+While employed in this petty warfare, which must have soon ended in
+his dismissal, a circumstance occurred, which, though it was the
+means of reconciling the Queen to Jovellanos for a time, has finally
+consigned him to a fortress in Majorca, where to this day he lingers
+under a confinement no less unjust than severe.
+
+The ceremony of Godoy’s marriage was scarcely over, when he resumed
+his intimacy with La Tudó in the most open and unguarded manner. The
+Queen, under a relapse of jealousy, seemed so determined to clip the
+wings of her spoiled favourite, that Jovellanos was deceived into a
+hope of making this pique the means of reclaiming his patron, if not
+to the path of virtue, at least to the rules of external propriety.
+Saavedra, better acquainted with the world, and well aware that Godoy
+could, at pleasure, resume any degree of ascendancy over the Queen,
+entered reluctantly into the plot. Not so Jovellanos. Treating this
+Court intrigue as one of the regular lawsuits on which he had so long
+practised his skill and impartiality, he could not bring himself
+to proceed without serving a notice upon the party concerned. He
+accordingly forwarded a remonstrance to the Prince of the Peace, in
+which he reminded him of his public and conjugal duties, in the most
+forcible style of forensic and moral eloquence. The Queen, in the
+mean time, had worked up her husband into a feeling approaching to
+anger against Godoy, and the decree for his banishment was all but
+signed before the offending gallant thought himself in such danger
+as to require the act of submission, which alone could restore him
+to the good graces of his neglected mistress. He owed, however, his
+safety to nothing but Saavedra’s indecision and dilatoriness. That
+minister could not be persuaded to present the decree of banishment
+for the royal signature, till the day after it had been agreed upon.
+Godoy, in the mean time, obtained a private interview with the Queen,
+who, under the influence of a long-checked and returning passion, in
+order to exculpate herself, represented the Ministers--the very men
+whom Godoy had raised into power--as the authors of the plot; and
+probably attributed the plan to Jovellanos, making him, from this
+moment, the marked object of the favourite’s resentment.
+
+The baffled Ministers, though not immediately dismissed, must have
+felt the unsteadiness of the ground on which they stood, and dreaded
+the revenge of an enemy, who had already shewn, in the case of
+Admiral Malaspina, that he was both able and willing to wreak it on
+the instruments of the Queen’s jealousy. That officer, an Italian by
+birth, had just returned from a voyage round the globe, performed
+at the expense of this Government, when the Queen, who found it
+difficult to regulate the feelings of her husband towards Godoy, to
+the sudden and rapid variations of her own, induced her confidant,
+the Countess of Matallana, to engage him in drawing up a memorial to
+the King, containing observations on the public and private conduct
+of the favourite, and representing him in the blackest colours.
+Malaspina was at this time preparing the account of his voyage for
+publication, with the assistance of a conceited sciolist, a Sevillian
+friar called Padre Gil, who, in our great dearth of real knowledge,
+was looked upon as a miracle of erudition and eloquence. The Admiral,
+putting aside his charts and log-books, eagerly collected every
+charge against Godoy which was likely to make an impression upon the
+King; while the friar, inspired with the vision of a mitre ready
+to drop on his head, clothed them in the most florid and powerful
+figures which used to enrapture his audience from the pulpit. Nothing
+was now wanting but the Queen’s command to spring the mine under the
+feet of the devoted Godoy, when the intended victim, informed of
+his danger, and taking advantage of one of those soft moments which
+made the Queen and all her power his own, drew from her a confession
+of the plot, together with the names of the conspirators. In a few
+days, Malaspina found himself conveyed to a fortress, where, with his
+voyage, maps, scientific collections, and every thing relating to
+the expedition, he remains completely forgotten; while the reverend
+writer of the memorial was forwarded under an escort to Seville,
+the scene of his former literary glory, to be confined in a house of
+correction, where juvenile offenders of the lower classes are sent to
+undergo a salutary course of flogging.
+
+The Queen was preparing the dismissal of Saavedra and Jovellanos,
+when a dangerous illness of the former brought forward a new actor in
+the intricate drama of Court intrigue, who, had he known how to use
+his power, might have worked the complete ruin of its hero.
+
+The First Clerk of the Secretary of State’s Office--a place answering
+to that of your under-secretary of State--was a handsome young man,
+called Urquijo. His name is probably not unknown to you, as he was
+a few years ago with the Spanish Ambassador in London, where his
+attachment to the French jacobins and their measures could not
+fail to attract some notice, from the unequivocal heroic proof of
+self-devotion which he shewed to that party. It was, in fact, an
+attempt to drown himself in the pond at Kensington Gardens, upon
+learning the peace made by Buonaparte with the Pope at Tolentino; a
+treaty which disappointed his hopes of seeing the final destruction
+of the Papal See, and Rome itself a heap of ruins, in conformity
+to a decree of the French Directory. Fortune, however, having
+determined to transform our brave _Sans-Culotte_ into a courtier,
+afforded him a timely rescue from the muddy deep; and when, under
+the care of Doctor V----, he had been brought to understand how
+little his drowning would influence the events of the French war, he
+returned to Madrid, to wield his pen in the office where his previous
+qualification of _Joven de Lenguas_,[49] had entitled him to a place,
+till he rose, by seniority, to that of Under-Secretary.
+
+  [49] Young men are appointed to go abroad with the Spanish
+  ambassadors in order to learn foreign languages, and thus qualify
+  themselves as diplomatists.
+
+Every Spanish minister has a day appointed in the course of the
+week--called _Dia de Despacho_--when he lays before the King the
+contents of his portfolio, to dispose of them according to his
+Majesty’s pleasure. The Queen, who is excessively fond of power,[50]
+never fails to attend on the occasions. The minister, during this
+audience, stands, or, if desired, sits on a small stool near a
+large table placed between him and the King and Queen. The love
+of patronage, not of business, is, of course, the object of the
+Queen’s assiduity; while nothing but the love of gossip enables her
+husband to endure the drudgery of these sittings. During Saavedra’s
+ministry, his Majesty was highly delighted with the premier’s powers
+of conversation, and his inexhaustible fund of good stories. The
+portfolio was laid upon the table; the Queen mentioned the names of
+her _protegés_, and the King, referring all other business to the
+decision of the minister, began a comfortable chat, which lasted till
+bed-time. When Saavedra was taken with that sudden and dangerous
+illness which Godoy’s enemies were inclined to attribute to poison,
+(a suspicion, however, which both the favourite’s real good nature,
+and his subsequent lenity towards Saavedra, absolutely contradict)
+the duty of carrying the portfolio to the King devolved upon the
+Under-secretary. Urquijo’s handsome person and elegant manners made
+a deep impression upon the Queen; and ten thousand whispers spread
+the important news the next morning, that her Majesty had desired the
+young clerk to take a seat.
+
+  [50] It is a well known fact that there are letters in existence
+  addressed by her, while Princess of Asturias, to the judges in
+  the provinces, asking their votes in pending lawsuits.
+
+This favourable impression, it is more than probable, was heightened
+by a fresh pique against Godoy, whose growing disgust of his royal
+mistress, and firm attachment to La Tudó, offered her Majesty daily
+subjects of mortification. She now conceived the plan of making
+Urquijo, not only her instrument of revenge, but, it is generally
+believed, a substitute for the incorrigible favourite. But in this
+amorous Court even a Queen can hardly find a vacant heart; and
+Urquijo’s was too deeply engaged to one of Godoy’s sisters, to appear
+sensible of her Majesty’s condescension. He mustered, however,
+a sufficient portion of gallantry to support the Queen in her
+resolution of separating Godoy from the Court, and depriving him of
+all influence in matters of government.
+
+It is, indeed, surprising, that the Queen’s resentment proceeded no
+farther against the man who had so often provoked it, and that his
+disgrace was not attended with the usual consequences of degradation
+and imprisonment. Many and powerful circumstances combined, however,
+in Godoy’s favour--the King’s almost parental fondness towards
+him--the new minister’s excessive conceit of his own influence
+and abilities, no less than his utter contempt of the discarded
+favourite--and, most of all, the Queen’s unextinguished and ever
+reviving passion, backed by her fears of driving to extremities a man
+who had, it is said, in his power, the means of exposing her without
+condemning himself.
+
+During Saavedra’s ministry, and that interval of coldness produced by
+Godoy’s capricious gallantries, which enabled his enemies to make the
+first attempt against him; his royal mistress had conceived a strong
+fancy for one Mallo, a native of Caraccas, and then an obscure _Garde
+du Corps_. The rapid promotion of that young man, and the display of
+wealth and splendour which he began to make, explained the source of
+his advancement to every one but the King. Godoy himself seems to
+have been stung with jealousy, probably not so much from his rival’s
+share in the Queen’s affections, as from the ill-concealed vanity
+of the man, whose sole aim was to cast into shade the whole Court.
+Once, as the King and Queen, attended by Godoy and other grandees of
+the household, were standing at the balcony of the royal seat El
+Pardo, Mallo appeared at a distance, driving four beautiful horses,
+and followed by a brilliant retinue. The King’s eye was caught by the
+beauty of the equipage, and he inquired to whom it belonged. Hearing
+that it was Mallo’s--“I wonder,” he said, “how that fellow can afford
+to keep such horses.”--“Why, please your Majesty,” replied Godoy,
+“the scandal goes, that he himself is kept by an ugly old woman--I
+quite forget her name.”
+
+Mallo’s day of prosperity was but short. His vanity, coxcombry
+and folly, displeased the King, and alarmed the Queen. But in the
+first ardour of her attachments, she generally had the weakness of
+committing her feelings to writing; and Mallo possessed a collection
+of her letters. Wishing to rid herself of that absurd, vain fop, and
+yet dreading an exposure, she employed Godoy in the recovery of her
+written tokens. Mallo’s house was surrounded with soldiers in the
+dead of night; and he was forced to yield the precious manuscripts
+into the hands of his rival. The latter, however, was too well aware
+of their value to deliver them to the writer; and he is said to keep
+them as a powerful charm, if not to secure his mistress’s affection,
+at least to subdue her fits of fickleness and jealousy. Mallo was
+soon banished and forgotten.
+
+The two ministers, Saavedra and Jovellanos, had been rusticated to
+their native provinces; the first, on account of ill health; the
+second, from the Queen’s unconquerable dislike. Urquijo, who seems
+to have been unable either to gain the King’s esteem, or fully to
+return the Queen’s affection, could keep his post no longer than
+while the latter’s ever ready fondness for Godoy, was not awakened
+by the presence of its object. The absence of the favourite, it
+is generally believed, might have been prolonged, by good policy,
+and management of the King on the part of Urquijo, if his rashness
+and conceit of himself had ever allowed him to suspect that any
+influence whatever, was equal to that of his talents and person.
+Instead of strongly opposing a memorial of the Prince of the Peace,
+asking permission to kiss their majesties’ hands upon the birth of a
+daughter, borne to him by the Princess his wife, Urquijo imagined the
+Queen so firmly attached to himself, that he conceived no danger from
+this transient visit of his offended rival. Godoy made his appearance
+at Court; and from that moment Urquijo’s ruin became inevitable.
+His hatred of the Court of Rome had induced the latter to encourage
+the translation of a Portuguese work, against the extortions of the
+Italian _Dataria_, in cases of dispensations for marriage within the
+prohibited degrees. Thinking the public mind sufficiently prepared
+by that work, he published a royal mandate to the Spanish bishops,
+urging them to resume their ancient rights of dispensation. This step
+had armed against its author the greater part of the clergy; and the
+Prince of the Peace found it easy to alarm the King’s conscience by
+means of the Pope’s nuncio, Cardinal _Casoni_, who made him believe
+that his minister had betrayed him into a measure which trespassed
+upon the rights of the Roman Pontiff. I believe that Godoy’s growing
+dislike of the Inquisition spared Urquijo the horrors of a dungeon
+within its precincts. He had not, however, sufficient generosity to
+content himself with the banishment of his enemy to Guipuzcoa. An
+order for his imprisonment in a fortress followed him thither in
+a short time--a circumstance, which might raise a suspicion that
+Urquijo had employed his personal liberty to make a second attempt
+against the recalled favourite.
+
+This supposition would be strongly supported by the general mildness
+of Godoy’s administration, if one instance of cruel and implacable
+revenge were not opposed to so favourable a view of his conduct.
+Whether the Queen represented Jovellanos to the Prince of the Peace
+as the chief actor in the first plot which was laid against him,
+or that he charged that venerable magistrate with ingratitude for
+taking any share in a conspiracy against the man who had raised him
+to power; Godoy had scarcely been restored to his former influence,
+when he procured an order to confine Jovellanos in the Carthusian
+Convent of Majorca. The unmanliness of this second and long-meditated
+blow, roused the indignation of his fallen and hitherto silent
+adversary, calling forth that dauntless and dignified inflexibility
+which makes him, in our days, so fine a specimen of the old Spanish
+character. From his confinement he addressed a letter to the King,
+exposing the injustice of his treatment in terms so removed from the
+servile tone of a Spanish memorial, so regardless of the power of
+his adversary, that it kindled anew the resentment of the favourite,
+through whose hands he well knew it must make its way to the throne.
+Such a step was more likely to aggravate than to obtain redress for
+his wrongs. The virtues, the brilliant talents, and pleasing address
+of Jovellanos had so gained upon the affections of the monks, that
+they treated him with more deference than even a minister in the
+height of his power could have expected. Godoy’s spirit of revenge
+could not brook his enemy’s enjoyment of this small remnant of
+happiness; and with a cruelty which casts the blackest stain on his
+character, he removed him to a fortress in the same island, where,
+under the control of an illiterate and rude governor, Jovellanos
+is deprived of all communication, and limited to a small number of
+books for his mental enjoyment. The character of the gaoler may be
+conceived from the fact of his not being able to distinguish a _work_
+from a _volume_. Jovellanos’s friends are not allowed to relieve his
+solitude with a variety of books, even to the number contained in
+the governor’s instructions; for he reckons literary works by the
+piece, and a good edition of Cicero, for instance, appears to him a
+complete library.[51]
+
+  [51] See Note K.
+
+Since his restoration to favour, the Prince of the Peace has been
+gradually and constantly gaining ascendancy. The usual titles
+of honour being exhausted upon him, the antiquated dignity of
+_High-Admiral_ has been revived and conferred upon him, just at the
+time when your tars have left us without a navy. Great emoluments,
+and the address of _Highness_ have been annexed to this dignity.
+A brigade of cavalry, composed of picked men from the whole army,
+has been lately given to the High-Admiral as a guard of honour.
+His power, in fine, though delegated, is unlimited, and he may be
+properly said to be the acting Sovereign of Spain. The King, by the
+unparalleled elevation of this favourite, has obtained his heart’s
+desire in a perfect exemption from all sorts of employment, except
+shooting, to which he exclusively devotes every day of the year.
+Soler, the minister of finance, is employed to fleece the people; and
+Caballero, in the home department, to keep them in due ignorance and
+subjection. I shall just give you a sample of each of these worthies’
+minds and principles.--It has been the custom for centuries at
+Valladolid to make the Dominican Convent of that town a sort of bank
+for depositing sums of money, as it was done in the ancient temples,
+under similar circumstances of ignorance, of commerce and insecurity
+of property. Soler, being informed that the monks held in their
+hands a considerable deposit, declared “that it was an injury to the
+state to allow so much money to lie idle,” and seizing it, probably
+for the Queen, whose incessant demands form the most pressing and
+considerable item of the Spanish budget, gave government-paper to the
+monks, which the creditors might sell, if they chose, at eighty per
+cent. discount.--Caballero, fearing the progress of all learning,
+which might disturb the peace of the Court, sent, not long since, a
+circular order to the Universities, forbidding the study of moral
+philosophy: “His Majesty,” it was said in the order, “was not in want
+of philosophers, but of good and obedient subjects.”
+
+Under the active operation of this system, the Queen has the command
+of as much money and patronage as she desires; and finding it
+impracticable to check the gallantries of her _cher ami_, has so
+perfectly conquered her jealousy as to be able not only to be on the
+most amicable terms with him, but to emulate his love of variety in
+the most open and impudent manner.
+
+I wish to have done with the monstrous heap of scandal, which the
+state of our Court has unavoidably forced into my narrative. Much,
+indeed, I leave untold; but I cannot omit an original and perfectly
+authentic story, which, as it explains the mystery of the King’s
+otherwise inexplicable blindness respecting his wife’s conduct,
+justice requires to be made public. The world shall see that his
+Majesty’s apathy does not arise from any disgraceful indifference
+for what is generally considered by men as a vital point of honour;
+but that the peace and tranquillity of his mind is grounded on a
+philosophical system--I do not know whether physical or moral--which
+is, I believe, peculiar to himself.
+
+The old Duke del I---- (on the authority of whose lady I give you
+the anecdote) was once, with other grandees, in attendance on the
+King, when his Majesty, being in high gossiping humour, entered into
+a somewhat gay conversation on the fair sex. He descanted, at some
+length, on fickleness and caprice, and laughed at the dangers of
+husbands in these southern climates. Having had his fill of merriment
+on the subject of jealousy, he concluded with an air of triumph--“We,
+_crowned heads_, however, have this chief advantage above others,
+that our honour, as they call it, is safe; for suppose that queens
+were as much bent on mischief as some of their sex, where could they
+find kings and emperors to flirt with? Eh?”
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XI.
+
+
+    _Madrid, ---- 1807._
+
+In giving you a sketch of private life at Madrid, I shall begin
+by a character quite peculiar to the country, and well known all
+over Spain by the name of _Pretendientes_, or place-hunters. Very
+different ideas, however, are attached to these denominations in
+the two languages. Young men of the proudest families are regularly
+sent to Court on that errand, and few gentlemen destine their sons
+either for the church or the law, without calculating the means
+of supporting them three or four years at Madrid, as regular and
+professed _place-hunters_. The fact is, that, with the exception of
+three stalls in every cathedral, and in some collegiate churches,
+that are obtained by literary competition, there is not a single
+place of rank and emolument to which Court interest is not the
+exclusive road. Hence the necessity for all who do not possess an
+independent fortune, in other words, for more than two thirds of the
+Spanish gentry, to repair to the capital, there to procure that
+interest, by whatever means their circumstances may afford.
+
+The _Pretendientes_ may be divided into four classes. Clergymen,
+who aspire to any preferment not inferior to a prebend; lawyers,
+who wish to obtain a place on the bench of judges in one of our
+numerous courts, both of Spain and Spanish America; men of business,
+who desire to be employed in the collection of the revenue; and
+_advocates_, whose views do not extend beyond a _Corregimiento_--a
+kind of _Recordership_, with very limited judicial powers, which
+exists in every town of any note where there is not an _Audiencia_,
+or superior tribunal. I shall dispatch the last two classes in a few
+words.
+
+Between our advocates or barristers, and the superior judges, called
+_Oidores_, there is such a line of distinction as to be almost an
+insuperable barrier. A young man, who, having studied Roman law at
+the University, attends three or four years at an acting advocate’s
+chambers, is, after an examination on Spanish law, qualified to
+plead at the courts of justice. But once engaged in this branch of
+the law, he must give up all hopes of rising above that doubtful
+rank which his profession gives him in society. Success may make him
+rich, but he must be contented with drudging for life at the bar of a
+provincial court, and bear the slighting and insolent tone with which
+the judges consider themselves at liberty to treat the advocates. It
+is, therefore, not uncommon among young lawyers, who cannot command
+interest enough to be placed on the bench, to offer themselves as
+candidates for a _Corregimiento_. Having scraped together a little
+money, and procured a few letters of recommendation, they repair
+to Madrid, where they are seen almost daily in the minister’s
+waiting-room with a petition, and a printed list of their university
+degrees and literary qualifications, called _Papél de Méritos_,
+which, after two or three hours attendance, they think themselves
+happy if his excellency will take from their hands. Such as can
+obtain an introduction to some of the grandees who have the right
+to appoint magistrates on their estates, confine themselves to the
+easier, though rather more humiliating task, of _toad-eating_ to
+their patron.
+
+The _Pretendientes_ for the higher branches of finance, must be
+able to make a more decent appearance at Court, if they hope for
+success. It is not, however, the minister for that department, who
+is most to be courted in order to obtain these lucrative places.
+A recommendation from the Queen, or from the Prince of the Peace,
+generally interferes with his views, if he allows himself to have
+any of his own. To obtain the first, a handsome figure, or some
+pleasing accomplishment, such as singing to the guitar in the Spanish
+style, are the most likely means, either by engaging her Majesty’s
+attention, or the affections of some of her favourite maids of
+honour. The no less powerful recommendation of the Prince of the
+Peace is, I must say in justice to him, not always made the reward of
+flattery, or of more degrading servility. Justice and a due regard
+for merit, are, it is true, far from regulating the distribution of
+his patronage: yet, very different from the ministers who tremble
+before him, he can be approached by every individual in the kingdom,
+without an introduction, and in the certainty of receiving a civil,
+if not a favourable answer. His great failing, however, being the
+love of pleasure, none are so sure of a gracious reception as those
+who appear at his public levees, attended by a handsome wife or
+blooming daughter. The fact is so well known all over the country,
+and--I blush to say it--the national character is so far sinking
+under the influence of this profligate government, that beauties
+flock from every province for the chance of being noticed by the
+favourite. His public levee presents every week a collection of
+the handsomest women in the country, attended by their fathers or
+husbands. A suit thus supported is never known to fail.
+
+The young aspirants to a _toga_, or judge’s gown, often succeed
+through some indirect influence of this kind. The strange notion that
+an _advocate_--one that has pleaded causes at the bar--has, in a
+manner, disqualified himself for the bench, leaves the administration
+of justice open to inexperienced young men, who, having taken a
+degree in Roman law, and nominally attached themselves for a short
+time to an _advocate_, as practitioners, are suddenly raised to the
+important station of judges, either by marrying any of the Queen’s
+maids of honour, or some more humble beauty on whom the Prince of
+the Peace has cast a transient gleam of favour. I have known such
+a reward extended to the sister of a temporary favourite, who,
+being poor, and in love with a young man of family, poor himself,
+and hopeless of otherwise obtaining a place, enabled him to marry,
+by bringing a judge’s gown for her portion. Yet so perfectly can
+circumstances alter the connexion which some moral feelings have
+between themselves under certain forms and modifications of society,
+that the man I allude to, as having owed his promotion to such
+objectionable influence, is an example of justice and impartiality
+in the difficult station in which he has been placed. I do not mean,
+however, that a person who degrades his character with a view to
+promotion, gives a fair promise of honourable principles when called
+to discharge the duties of a public office: the growing venality of
+our judges is too sad and clear a proof of the reverse. But when
+a Government becomes so perfectly abandoned as to block up with
+filth and pollution every avenue to wealth, power, and even bare
+subsistence, men who, in a happier country, would have looked upon
+the contaminated path with abhorrence, or, had they ventured a single
+step upon it, would have been confirmed in their degradation by the
+indelible brand of public censure; are seen to yield for a moment to
+the combined influence of want and example, and recover themselves
+so far, as almost to deserve the thanks of the people for having
+snatched a portion of authority from the grasp of the absolutely
+worthless.
+
+Before I proceed to the remaining class of _Pretendientes_, allow
+me, as a relief from the contemplation of this scene of vice and
+corruption, to acquaint you with a man in power who, unwarped by
+any undue influence, has uniformly employed his patronage in the
+encouragement of modest and retiring merit. His name is Don Manuel
+Sixto Espinosa. His father was a musician, who having had the good
+fortune to please the King by his tasteful performances on the piano,
+was appointed teacher of that instrument to the Royal Family. His
+son, a young man of great natural abilities, which he had applied to
+the study of finance and political economy, (branches of knowledge
+little attended to in Spain,) had been gradually raised to a place
+of considerable influence in that department, when his well-known
+talents made the Prince of the Peace fix upon him as the fittest
+man to direct the establishment for the consolidation of the public
+debt. Espinosa, as Director of the Sinking Fund, has been accused of
+impiety by the clergy, for trespassing on their overgrown privileges;
+and blamed, by such as allow themselves to canvass state matters in
+whispers, for not opposing the misapplication of the funds he enables
+Government to collect. It would be needless to answer the first
+charge. As to the second, common candour will allow that it is unfair
+to confound the duties of a collector with those of a trustee of the
+national revenue.
+
+Without, however, entering upon the only remaining question, whether,
+in the unfortunate circumstances of this country, it is an honest
+man’s duty to refuse his services to a Government whose object is
+to fleece the subject in order to pamper its own vices--a doctrine
+doubtful in theory, and almost inapplicable in practice,--Espinosa
+has qualities acknowledged by all who know him, and even undenied
+by his enemies, which, without raising him into an heroic model of
+public virtue, make him a striking instance of the power of virtuous
+and honourable principle, in the midst of every allurement and
+temptation which profligacy, armed with supreme power, can employ.
+Inaccessible to influence, his patronage has uniformly been extended
+to men of undoubted merit. A manuscript Essay on Political Economy,
+written by a friendless young man and presented to Espinosa, was
+enough to obtain the author a valuable appointment. A decided enemy
+to the custom of receiving presents, so prevalent in Spain, as to
+have become a matter of course in every suit, either for justice or
+favour; I positively know, that when a commercial transaction, to the
+amount of millions, between this Government and a mercantile house in
+London had received his approbation, Espinosa sent back a hamper of
+wine, which one of the partners had hoped, from its trifling value,
+he would have received as a token of gratitude. His private conduct
+is exemplary, and his manners perfectly free from “the insolence of
+office,” which he might assume from the high honours to which he has
+been raised. His parents, now very old, and living in the modest,
+unassuming style which becomes their original rank, are visited by
+Espinosa every Sunday, (the only day which leaves him a moment of
+rest) and treated with the utmost kindness and deference. Always
+mild and modest in his deportment, it is on these occasions that he
+seems quite to forget his honours, and carry himself back to the time
+when he looked for love and protection from those two, now, helpless
+beings. It is there, and only there, that I once met Espinosa, and
+he has ever since possessed my respect. If I have dwelt too long on
+the subject of a man perfectly unknown to you, I trust you will not
+attribute it to any of the motives which generally prompt the praises
+of men in power. These, indeed, can never reach the ear of him they
+commend, nor has he the means to serve the eulogist. But the daily
+sickening sight of this infamous Court makes the mind cling to the
+few objects which still bear the impress of virtue: and having to
+proceed with the disgusting picture in which I have engaged, I gladly
+seized the opportunity of dispelling the impression which my subject
+might leave, either that I take pleasure in vilifying my country, or
+that every seed of honour has died away from the land.
+
+I do not know how it happens that in going through the description
+of the different classes of _Pretendientes_, I have inverted the
+order which they hold in my enumeration, so that I still find myself
+with the Reverend _Stall-hunters_ upon my hands. These, as you may
+suppose, are, by the decencies of their profession, compelled to take
+quite a different course from those already described; for Hymen, in
+this country, expects nothing from the clergy but disturbance; and
+Love, accustomed, at Court, to the glitter of lace and embroidery,
+is, usually, frightened at the approach of their black cloaks, and
+the flapping brims of their enormous hats.
+
+During the last reign, and the early part of the present, the King
+seldom disposed of his patronage without the advice of his Privy
+Council. The _Camaristas de Castilla_ received the petitions of the
+candidates, accompanied by documental proofs of their merits and
+qualifications, and reported thereon to the King through the Minister
+of the home department. Such was the established practice till
+the Queen took to herself the patronage of the Crown, and finally
+shared it with her favourite. The houses of the Privy Counsellors
+were, accordingly, the great resort of the Clerical _Pretendientes_.
+Letters of introduction to some of the _Camaristas_ were considered
+the most indispensable provision for the Madrid journey; and no
+West Indian slave was ever so dependent on the nod of his master,
+as these parasites were on the humours of the whole family of the
+Privy Counsellor, where each had the happiness to be received as a
+constant visiter. There he might be seen in the morning relieving the
+_ennui_ of the lady of the house; who, from the late period of life
+at which judges are promoted to a place in the King’s Council, are
+themselves of the age which we call _canonical_; and there he was
+sure to be found in the evening making one at the game of _Mediatór_,
+without which her ladyship would be more restless and unhappy than
+if she had missed her supper. In this Egyptian bondage the clerical
+aspirant would pass three or four years of his life, till his patron
+was willing and able to obtain for him the first place in the list
+of three candidates presented to the King at each vacancy, when the
+happy man quitted the Court for some cathedral, there quietly to
+enjoy the fruits of his patience and perseverance.
+
+The road to preferment is, at present, more intricate and uncertain.
+I know a few who have been promoted in consequence of having assisted
+the Government with their pens. Such is the case of a clergyman,
+whose work against the privileges of the province of Biscay was the
+prelude to the repeal of its ancient charters under the Prince of
+the Peace: such is that of a learned sycophant who has lately given
+us a National Cathechism, in imitation of one published by Napoleon
+after his accession to the throne of France, setting forth the
+divine right of Kings, and the duty of passive obedience. But the
+despotism which crushes us, is too pampered and overgrown to require
+the assistance of pensioned scribblers. There was a period when the
+Prince of the Peace was pleased to see his name in verse; but crowds
+of sonnetteers showered so profusely their praises upon him, that he
+has grown insensible to the voice of the Muses. He, now and then,
+rewards some of his clerical courtiers, with a recommendation to the
+minister, which amounts to a positive order; but seems rather shy
+of meddling with such paltry concerns. It is the Queen who has, of
+late, taken possession of the keys of the church, which she commits
+into the hands of her first lady of the bed-chamber, allowing her to
+levy a toll on such as apply for admittance to the snug corners of
+the establishment. I do not report from hearsay. The son of a very
+respectable Seville tradesman, whom I have known all my life, having
+taken orders, became acquainted with a person thoroughly conversant
+with the state of the Court, who put him in possession of the secret
+springs which might promote him at once to a prebendal stall in the
+cathedral of his own town. The young man had no qualifications but
+a handsome person, and a pretty long purse, of which, however, his
+father had still the strings in his own hands. Four thousand dollars,
+or two years income of the prebend, was the market-price then fixed
+by the lady of the bed-chamber; and though the good dull man,
+the father, was not unwilling to lay out the money so evidently to
+the advantage of his son, he had heard something about simony,--a
+word which, together with his natural reluctance to part with his
+bullion, gave him such qualms of conscience as threatened to quash
+the young man’s hopes. The latter possessed but a very scanty stock
+of learning, but was not easily driven to his wit’s end; and, knowing
+too well the versatile nature of casuistry, proposed a consultation
+of three reverend divines, in order to take their opinion as to
+the lawfulness of the transaction. The point being duly debated,
+it appeared that, since the essence of simony is the purchase of
+spiritual things for money, and the interest of the Queen’s confidant
+was perfectly wordly and temporal, it might conscientiously be bought
+for the sum at which she valued it. The young man, furnished with his
+gold credentials, was a short time ago properly introduced to the
+Queen’s female favourite. Having attended her evening parties for a
+short time, he has, without farther trouble, been presented to the
+vacant stall at Seville.
+
+The hardships of a _Pretendiente’s_ life, especially such as do not
+centre their views in the church, have often furnished the theatre
+with amusing scenes. The Spanish proverbial imprecation--“May you
+be dragged about as a _Pretendiente_,” cannot be felt in its full
+force but by such as, like myself, have lived on terms of intimacy
+with some of that unfortunate race. A scanty supply of money from
+their families is the only fund on which a young man, in pursuit
+of a judge’s gown, must draw for subsistence, for three or four
+journeys a year to the _Sitios_, in order to attend the Court; for
+the court-dress which he is obliged to wear almost daily; and the
+turns of ill-luck at the card-table of his lady patroness. What a
+notion would an Englishman form of our degree of refinement, if he
+was to enter one of the lodging-houses at Aranjuez, for instance,
+and find a large paved court surrounded by apartments, each filled
+by a different set of lodgers, with three or four wretched beds,
+and not so many chairs for all furniture; here one of the party
+blacking his shoes; there another darning his stockings; a third
+brushing the court-dress he is to wear at the minister’s levee;
+while a fourth lies still in bed, resting, as well as he can, from
+the last night’s ball! As hackney coaches are not known either at
+Madrid or the Sitios, there is something both pitiable and ludicrous
+in the appearance of these judges, intendants, and governors in
+embryo, sallying forth in full dress, after their laborious toilet,
+to pick their way through the mud, often casting an anxious look on
+the lace frills and ruffles which, artfully attached to the sleeves
+and waistcoat, might by some untoward accident, betray the coarse
+and discoloured shirt which they meant to conceal. Thus they trudge
+to the palace, to walk up and down the galleries for hours, till
+they have succeeded in making a bow to the minister, or any other
+great personage, on whom their hopes depend. Having performed this
+important piece of duty, they retire to a very scanty dinner, unless
+their good stars should put them in the way of an invitation. In the
+afternoon they must make their appearance in the public walk, where
+the royal family take a daily airing; after which, the day is closed
+by the attendance at the _Tertulia_ of some great lady, if they be
+fortunate enough to have obtained her leave to pay her this daily
+tribute of respect.
+
+Such as visit Madrid and the _Sitios_, independent of Court favour,
+may, for a few weeks, find amusement in the strangeness of the scene.
+The Court of Spain is, otherwise, too dull, stiff, and formal, to
+become an interesting residence. The only good society in the upper
+ranks is to be found among the _Corps Diplomatique_. The King, wholly
+occupied in the chase, and the Queen in her _boudoir_, are, of late,
+extremely averse to the theatres. Two Spanish play-houses are still
+allowed to be open every night; but the opera has been discontinued
+for several years, merely because it was a daily _rendezvous_ for the
+higher classes. So jealous is the Queen of fashionable assemblies,
+that the grandees do not venture to admit more than four or five
+individuals to their _tertulias_; and scarcely a ball is given at
+Madrid in the course of the year. This, however, is never attempted
+without asking the Queen’s permission. The Marchioness of Santiago,
+whose evening parties were numerous, and attended by the most
+agreeable and accomplished people in the capital, was, a short time
+since, obliged, by an intimation communicated through the police, to
+deny her house to her friends.
+
+Even bull-fights have been forbidden, and the idle population of
+the metropolis of Spain have been left no other source of amusement
+than collecting every evening in the extensive walk called El Prado,
+after having lounged away the morning about the streets, or basked
+in the sun, during the winter, at the Puerta del Sol, a large space,
+almost surrounded by public buildings. The coffee-rooms are, in the
+cold season, crowded for about an hour after dinner, i. e. from three
+to four in the afternoon, and in the early part of the evening; but
+the noise, and the smoke of the cigars, make these places as close
+and disagreeable as any tap-room in London. It would be absurd
+to expect any kind of rational conversation in such places. The
+most interesting topics must be carefully avoided, for fear of the
+combined powers of the police and the Inquisition, whose spies are
+dreaded in all public places. Hence the depraved taste which degrades
+our intercourse to an eternal giggling and bantering.
+
+Our daily resource for society is the house of Don Manuel Josef
+Quintana, a young lawyer, whose poetical talents, select reading,
+and various information, place him among the first of our men
+of letters; while the kindness of his heart, and the lofty and
+honourable principles of his conduct, make him an invaluable friend
+and most agreeable companion. After our evening walk in the Prado,
+we retire to that gentleman’s study, where four or five others,
+of similar taste and opinions, meet to converse with freedom upon
+whatever subjects are started. The political principles of Quintana
+and his best friends consist in a rooted hatred of the existing
+tyranny, and a great dislike of the prevailing influence of the
+French Emperor over the Spanish Court.
+
+It was in this knot of literary friends that an attempt to establish
+a Monthly Magazine originated, a short time before my arrival at
+Madrid. But such is the listlessness of the country on every thing
+relating to literature, such the trammels in which the _Censors_
+confine the invention of the writers, that the publication of the
+_Miscelanea_ was given up in a few months. Few, besides, as our men
+of taste are in number, they have split into two parties, who pursue
+each other with the weapons of satire and ridicule.
+
+Moratin, the first of our comic writers--a man whose genius, were he
+free from the prejudices of strict adherence to the _Unities_, and
+extreme servility to the Aristotelic rules of the drama, might have
+raised our theatre to a decided superiority over the rest of Europe,
+and who, notwithstanding the trammels in which he exerts his talents,
+has given us six plays, which for the elegance, the liveliness,
+and the refined graces of the dialogue, as well as the variety,
+the truth, the interest, and comic power of the characters, do not
+yield, in my opinion, to the best modern pieces of the French, or the
+English stage--Moratin, I say, may be considered as the centre of one
+of the small literary parties of this capital, while Quintana is the
+leader of the other. Difference of opinion on literary subjects is
+not, however, the source of this division. Moratin and his friends
+have courted the favour of the Prince of the Peace, while Quintana
+has never addressed a line to the favourite. This tacit reproach,
+embittered, very probably, by others rather too explicit, dropped by
+the independent party, has kindled a spirit of enmity among the Court
+_literati_, which, besides producing a total separation, breaks out
+in satire and invective on the appearance of any composition from the
+pen of Quintana.
+
+I have been insensibly led where I cannot avoid entering upon the
+subject of literature, though from the nature of these letters, as
+well as the limits to which I am forced to confine them, it was my
+intention to pass it over in silence. I shall not, however, give you
+any speculations on so extensive a topic, but content myself with
+making you acquainted with the names which form the scanty list of
+our living poets.
+
+I have already mentioned Moratin and Quintana. I do not know that the
+former has published any thing besides his plays, or that he has,
+as yet, given a collection of them to the public. I conceive that
+some fears of the Inquisitorial censures are the cause of this delay.
+There has, indeed, been a time when his play, _La Mogigata_, or
+Female Devotee, was scarcely allowed to be acted, it being believed
+that, but for the patronage of the Prince of the Peace, it would long
+before have been placed in the list of forbidden works.
+
+Quintana has published a small collection of short poems, which
+deservedly classes him among those Spaniards who are just allowed to
+give a specimen of their powers, and shew us the waste of talents for
+which our oppressive system of government is answerable to civilized
+Europe. He has embellished the title-page of his book with an
+emblematical vignette, where a winged human figure is seen chained to
+the threshold of a gloomy Gothic structure, looking up to the Temple
+of the Muses in the attitude of resigned despondency. I should not
+have mentioned this trifling circumstance, were it not a fresh proof
+of the pervading feeling under which every aspiring mind among us is
+doomed hopelessly to linger.
+
+It is not, however, the Gothic structure of our national system
+alone which confines the poetic genius of Spain. There is (if I may
+venture some vague conjectures upon a difficult and not yet fairly
+tried subject) a want of flexibility in the Spanish language, arising
+from the great length of most of its words, the little variety
+of its terminations, and the bulkiness of its adverbs, which must
+for ever, I fear, clog its verse. The sound of our best poetry is
+grand and majestic indeed; but it requires an uncommon skill to
+subdue and modify that sound, so as to relieve the ear and satisfy
+the mind. Since the introduction of the Italian measures by Boscan
+and Garcilaso, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, our best
+poets have been servile imitators of Petrarch, and the writers of
+that school. Every Spanish poet has, like the knight of La Mancha,
+thought it his bounden duty to be desperately in love, deriving both
+his subject and his inspiration from a minute dissection of his lady.
+The language, in the mean time, condemned for centuries, from the
+unexampled slavery of our press, to be employed almost exclusively
+in the daily and familiar intercourse of life, has had its richest
+ornaments tarnished and soiled, by the powerful influence of mental
+association. Scarcely one third of its copious dictionary can be used
+in dignified prose, while a very scanty list of words composes the
+whole stock which poetry can use without producing either a sense of
+disgust or ridicule. In spite of these fetters, Quintana’s poetical
+compositions convey much deep thought and real feeling; and should
+an unexpected revolution in politics allow his mind that freedom,
+without which the most vigorous shoots of genius soon sicken and
+perish, his powerful numbers might well inspire his countrymen with
+that ardent and disinterested love of liberty which adds dignity to
+the amiableness of his character.
+
+The poet who has obtained most popularity in our days is Melendez,
+a lawyer, who, having for some time been a professor of polite
+literature at Salamanca, was raised by the Prince of the Peace to a
+place in the Council of Castile, and, not long after, rusticated to
+his former residence, where he remains to this day. Melendez is a man
+of great natural talents, improved by more reading and information
+than is commonly found among our men of taste. His popularity as a
+poet, however, was at first raised on the very slight and doubtful
+foundation of a collection of Anacreontics, and a few love-poems,
+possessing little more merit than an harmonious language, and a
+certain elegant simplicity. Melendez, in his youth, was deeply
+infected with the mawkish sensibility of the school of Gessner; and
+had he not by degrees aimed at nobler subjects than his _Dove_,
+and his _Phyllis_, a slender progress in the national taste of
+Spain would have been sufficient to consign his early poems to the
+toilettes of our town shepherdesses. He has, however, in his maturer
+age, added a collection of odes to his pastorals, where he shows
+himself a great master of Spanish verse, though still deficient in
+boldness and originality. That he ranks little above the degree of
+a sweet versifier, is more to be attributed to that want of freedom
+which clips the wings of thought in every Spaniard, than to the
+absence of real genius. It is reported that Melendez is employed in a
+translation of Virgil: should he live to complete it, I have no doubt
+it will do honour to our country.
+
+During the attempt to awaken the Spanish Muse, which has been made
+for the last fifty years, none has struck out a fairer path towards
+her emancipation from the affected, stiff, and cumbrous style in
+which she was dressed by our Petrarchists of the sixteenth century
+than a naval officer named Arriaza. If his admirable command of
+language, and liveliness of fancy, were supported by any depth of
+thought, acquired knowledge, or the least degree of real feeling; the
+Spaniards would have an original poet to boast of.
+
+Few as the names of note are in the poetical department, I fear I
+must be completely silent in regard to the branch of eloquence. Years
+pass with us without the publication of any original work. A few
+translations from the French, with now and then a sermon, is all the
+Madrid Gazette can muster to fill up its page of advertisements. A
+compilation, entitled El Viagero Universal, and the translation of
+Guthrie’s Grammar of Geography, are looked upon as efforts both of
+literary industry and commercial enterprise.
+
+There exist two Royal Academies--one for the improvement of the
+Spanish Language, the other for the advancement of National History.
+We owe to the former an ill-digested dictionary, with a very bad
+grammar; and to the latter some valuable discourses, and an
+incomplete geographical and historical dictionary. Had the _Spanish
+Academy_ continued their early labours, and called in the aid of real
+talent, instead of filling up the list of members with titled names,
+which have made it ridiculous; their Dictionary might, without great
+difficulty, have been improved into a splendid display of one of the
+richest among modern languages; and the philosophical spirit of the
+age would have been applied to the elucidation of its elements. That
+Academy has published a volume of prize essays and poems, the fruits
+of a very feeble competition, in which the poetry partakes largely
+of the servility of imitation to which I have already alluded, and
+the prose is generally stiff and affected. Our style, in fact, is, at
+present, quite unsettled--fluctuating between the wordy pomposity of
+our old writers, without their ease, and the epigrammatic conciseness
+of second-rate French writers, stripped of their sprightliness and
+graces. As long, however, as we are condemned to the dead silence in
+which the nation has been kept for centuries, there is little chance
+of fixing any standard of taste for Spanish eloquence. Capmany,
+probably our best living philologist and prose writer, insists upon
+our borrowing every word and phrase from the authors of the sixteenth
+century, the golden age (as it is called) of our literature; while
+the Madrid translators seem determined to make the Spanish language a
+dialect of the French--a sort of _Patois_, unintelligible to either
+nation. The true path certainly lies between both. The greatest part
+of our language has been allowed to become vulgar or obsolete. The
+languages which, during the mental progress of Europe, have been made
+the vehicles and instruments of thought, have left ours far behind
+in the powers of abstraction and precision; and the rich treasure
+which has been allowed to lie buried so long, must be re-coined and
+burnished, before it can be recognised for sterling currency. It is
+neither by rejecting as foreign whatever expressions cannot be found
+in the writers under the Austrian dynasty, nor by disfiguring our
+idiom with Gallicisms, that we can expect to shape it to our present
+wants and fashions. Our aim should be to think for ourselves in
+our own language--to _think_, I say, and express our thoughts with
+clearness, force, and precision; not to imitate the mere sound of
+the empty periods which generally swell the pages of the old Spanish
+writers.
+
+I do not mean, however, to pester you with a dissertation. Wretched
+as is the present state of Spanish literature, it would require a
+distinct series of letters to trace the causes of its decay, to
+relate the vicissitudes it has suffered, and to weigh the comparative
+merits of such as, under the deadening influence of the most absolute
+despotism, are still endeavouring to feed the smouldering fire,
+which, but for their efforts, would have long since been extinguished.
+
+You will, I trust, excuse this short digression, in the sure hope
+that I shall resume the usual gossip in my next letter.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XII.
+
+
+    _Seville, July 25, 1808._
+
+Acquainted as you must be with the events which, for these last two
+months, have fixed the eyes of Europe on this country, it can give
+you little surprise to find me dating again from my native town. I
+have arrived just in time to witness the unbounded joy which the
+defeat of Dupont’s army, at Baylen, has diffused over this town. The
+air resounds with acclamations, and the deafening clangour of the
+Cathedral bells, announces the arrival of the victorious General
+Castaños, who, more surprised at the triumph of his arms than any
+one of his countrymen, is just arrived to give thanks to the body of
+Saint Ferdinand, and to repose a few days under his laurels.
+
+There is something very melancholy in the wild enthusiasm, the
+overweening confidence, and mad boasting which prevail in this town.
+Lulled into a security which threatens instant death to any who
+should dare disturb it with a word of caution, both the _Junta_ and
+the people look on the present war as ended by this single blow; and
+while they spend, in processions and Te-Deums, the favourable moments
+when they might advance on Madrid, their want of foresight, and utter
+ignorance of the means of retaliation possessed by the enemy, induce
+them loudly to call for the infraction of the capitulation which has
+placed a French army in their power. The troops, which the articles
+agreed upon entitle to a conveyance to their own country, are, by
+the effect of popular clamour, to be confined in hulks, in the Bay
+of Cadiz. General Dupont is the only individual who, besides being
+treated with a degree of courtesy and respect, which, were it not
+for the rumours afloat, would bring destruction upon the Junta; has
+been promised a safe retreat into France. He is now handsomely lodged
+in a Dominican convent, and attended by a numerous guard of honour.
+The morning after his private arrival, the people began to assemble
+in crowds, and consequences fatal to the General were dreaded.
+Several members of the Junta, who were early to pay the general their
+respects, and chiefly one Padre Gil,[52] a wild, half-learned monk,
+whose influence over the Sevillian mob is unbounded; came forward,
+desiring the multitude to disperse. Whether truth and the urgency of
+the case forced out a secret, known only to the Junta; or whether
+it was an artifice of the orator, who, among his eccentricities
+and mountebank tricks, must be allowed the praise of boldness in
+openly condemning the murders of which the mob has been guilty; he
+asserted in his speech, that “Spain was more indebted to Dupont than
+the people were aware of.” These words, uttered with a strong and
+mysterious emphasis, had the desired effect, and the French general
+has now only to dread the treatment which may await him in France, in
+consequence of his defeat and surrender.
+
+  [52] See Letter X. p. 309.
+
+Having made you acquainted with the only circumstances in the last
+most important event, which the public accounts are not likely to
+mention, I shall have done with news--a subject to which I feel an
+unconquerable aversion--and begin my account of the limited field of
+observation in which my own movements, since the first approach of
+the present troubles, have placed me.
+
+The first visible symptom of impending convulsions was the arrest
+of Ferdinand, then Prince of Asturias, by order of his father. My
+inseparable companion, Leandro, had been for some time acquainted
+with a favourite of the Prince of the Peace, who, being like my
+friend, addicted to music, had often asked us to his amateur parties.
+On the second of last November we were surprised by a letter from
+that gentleman, requesting my friend to proceed to the Escurial
+without delay, on business of great importance. As we walked to the
+Puerta del Sol, to procure a one-horse chaise, called _Caleza_, the
+news of the Prince’s arrest was whispered to us, by an acquaintance,
+whom we met at that winter resort of all the Madrid loungers. We
+consulted for a few minutes on the expediency of venturing near the
+Lion’s den, when his Majesty was so perfectly out of all temper; but
+curiosity and a certain love of adventure prevailed, and we set off
+at a round trot for the Escurial.
+
+The village adjacent to the building bearing that name, is one of
+the meanest in that part of Castille. Houses for the accommodation
+of the King’s suite have been erected at a short distance from the
+monastic palace, which the royal family divide with the numerous
+community of Hieronymites, to whom Philip II. assigned one wing of
+that magnificent structure. But such as, following the Court on
+business, are obliged to take lodgings in the neighbourhood, must be
+contented with the most wretched hovels. In one of these we found
+our friend, Colonel A., who, though military tutor to the youngest
+of the King’s sons, might well have exchanged his room and furniture
+for such as are found in England at the most miserable pot-house. My
+intimacy with Leandro was accepted as an excuse for my intrusion,
+and we were each accommodated with a truckle-bed, quickly set up in
+the two opposite corners of the Colonel’s sitting-room. The object
+of the summons which had occasioned our journey, was not long kept a
+secret. The clergyman who superintended the classical studies of the
+Infante Don Francisco de Paula, was suspected of having assisted the
+Prince of Asturias in the secret application to Buonaparte, which
+had produced the present breach in the royal family. Should the
+proofs of his innocence, which the tutor had presented to the King
+and Queen, fail to re-establish him in their good opinion, my friend
+would be proposed as a successor, and enter without delay upon the
+duties of the office. The whole business was to be decided in the
+course of the next day. The present being the commemoration of the
+Departed, or All-Souls’ Day, we wished to visit the church during the
+evening service. On taking leave of the Colonel, he cautioned us not
+to approach that part of the building where the Prince was confined
+under a guard, to his own apartments.
+
+Though this was our first visit to the Escurial, the disclosure which
+had just been made to my friend, was of too important a nature to
+leave us in a fit mood to enjoy the solemn grandeur of the structure
+to which we were directing our steps, and the rude magnificence of
+the surrounding scene. To be placed near one of the members of the
+royal family, when that family had split into two irreconcileable
+parties, and to be reckoned among the enemies of the heir apparent,
+was, at once, to plunge headlong into the most dangerous vortex of
+Court intrigue which had yet threatened to overwhelm the country. To
+decline the offer, when the candidate’s name had in all probability
+received the sanction of the Prince of the Peace, was to incur
+suspicion from those who had arbitrary power in their hands. In this
+awkward dilemma, our most flattering prospect was the acquittal
+of the tutor, an event by no means improbable, considering the
+well-known dulness of that grave personage, and the hints of the
+approaching release of the Prince, which we had gathered from the
+Colonel. We therefore proposed to divert our thoughts from the
+subject of our fears by contemplating the objects before us.
+
+The Escurial incloses within the circuit of its massive and lofty
+walls, the King’s palace, the monastery, with a magnificent church,
+and the Pantheon, or subterranean vault of beautiful marble,
+surrounded with splendid sarcophagi, for the remains of the Spanish
+Kings and their families. It stands near the top of a rugged
+mountain, in the chain which separates Old from New Castille, and by
+the side of an enormous mass of rock, which supplied the architect
+with materials. It was the facility of quarrying the stone where it
+was to be employed, that made the gloomy tyrant, Philip II., mark out
+this wild spot in preference to others, equally sequestered and less
+exposed to the fury of the winds, which blow here with incredible
+violence. To have an adequate shelter from the blast, an ample
+passage, well aired and lighted, was contrived by the architect from
+the palace to the village.
+
+The sullen aspect of the building; the bleak and rude mountain
+top, near which it stands more in rivalry than contrast; the wild
+and extensive glen opening below, covered with woods of rugged,
+shapeless, stunted ilex, surrounded by brushwood; the solitude and
+silence which the evening twilight bestowed on the whole scenery,
+increased to the fancy by the shy and retiring manners of a scanty
+population, trained under the alternate awe of the Court, and
+their own immediate lords, the monks,--all this, heightened by the
+breathless expectation which the imprisonment of the heir apparent
+had created, and the cautious looks of the few attendants who had
+followed the royal family on this occasion; impressed us with a vague
+feeling of insecurity, which it would be difficult to express or
+analyze. No one except ourselves and the monks, perambulating the
+aisles with lighted tapers in their hands, in order to chant dirges
+to the memory of the founder and benefactors, was to be seen within
+the precincts of the temple. The vaults re-echoed our very steps when
+the chorus of deep voices had yielded to the trembling accents of the
+old priest who presided at the ceremony. To skulk in the dark, might
+have excited suspicion, and to come within the glare of the monks’
+tapers, was the sure means of raising their unbounded curiosity. We
+soon therefore glided into the cloisters next to the church. But, not
+being well acquainted with the locality of the immense and intricate
+labyrinth which the monastery presents to a stranger, the fear of
+getting upon forbidden ground, or of being locked up for the night,
+induced us to retire to our lodgings.
+
+With the approbation of our host, we ventured the next morning to
+apply to the monk, who acts, by appointment, as the _Cicerone_ of
+the monastery, for a view of the chief curiosities it contains. He
+allowed us a walk in the magnificent and valuable library, which
+is said to be one of the richest European treasures of ancient
+manuscripts--a treasure, indeed, which, amidst those mountains, and
+under the control of an illiberal government and a set of ignorant,
+lazy monks, may be said to be hid in the earth. The collection of
+first-rate pictures at the Escurial is immense; and the walls may
+be said to be covered with them. One has only to lounge about the
+numerous cloisters of the Monastery, to satiate the most craving
+appetite for the beauties of art. Our guide, however, who took no
+pleasure in going over the same ground for the ten-thousandth time,
+hurried us to the collection of relics, in which he seemed to take
+a never failing delight. I will not give you the list of these
+spiritual treasures. It fills up a large board from three to four
+feet in length, and of a proportionate breadth, at the entrance of
+the choir. Yet I cannot omit that we were shewn the body of one of
+the innocents massacred by Herod, and some coagulated milk of the
+Virgin Mary. The monk cast upon us his dark, penetrating eyes, as
+he exhibited these two most curious objects;--but the air of the
+Escurial has a peculiar power to lengthen and fix the muscles of the
+face. There is, in the same room which contains the relics, a curious
+box of a black shining wood, probably ebony, the whole lid of which
+is covered, on the inside, with the wards of a most complicated
+lock. It is said to have contained the secret correspondence of the
+unfortunate Don Carlos, which his unnatural father, Philip II., made
+the pretext for his imprisonment, and probably for the violent death
+which is supposed to have ended his misery.
+
+On returning from the inspection of the Monastery, our suspense was
+relieved by the welcome intelligence that the Infante’s tutor had
+been fully acquitted. The Prince of Asturias, we were told also, had
+mentioned to the King the names of his advisers, and was now released
+from confinement. My friend was too conscious of the danger which, in
+the shape of promotion, had hung over his head for some hours, not to
+rejoice in what many would call his disappointment. He had probably
+dallied some moments with ambition; but, if so, he was fortunate
+enough to perceive that she had drawn him to the brink of a precipice.
+
+The Prince of the Peace had, against his custom, remained at Madrid
+during the Escurial season, that he might escape the imputation
+of promoting the unhappy divisions of the royal family. Something
+was rumoured at Madrid of a dismemberment of Portugal intended by
+Bonaparte, in consequence of which Godoy was to obtain an independent
+sovereignty. This report, originally whispered about by the friends
+of the latter, was completely hushed up in a few days; while, instead
+of the buoyancy of spirits which the prospect of a crown was likely
+to produce in the favourite, care and anxiety were observed to
+lurk in all his words and motions. He continued, however, holding
+his weekly levees; and as the French troops were pouring into the
+Spanish territory, endeavoured to conceal his alarm by an air of
+directing their movements. When, however, the French had taken
+almost violent possession of some of our fortresses, and were seen
+advancing to Madrid with Murat at their head, there was no farther
+room for dissimulation. Though I had no object at Godoy’s levees but
+the amusement of seeing a splendid assembly, open to every male or
+female who appeared in a decent dress; that idle curiosity happened
+to take me to the last he held at Madrid. He appeared, as usual,
+at the farthest end of a long saloon or gallery, surrounded by a
+numerous suite of officers, and advanced slowly between the company,
+who had made a way for him in the middle. Such as wished to speak to
+him took care to stand in front, while those who, like myself, were
+content to pay for their admission with a bow, kept purposely behind.
+Godoy stood now before the group, of which I formed one of the least
+visible figures, and bowing affably, as was his manner, said, in a
+loud voice, “Gentlemen, the French advance fast upon us; we must be
+upon our guard, for there is abundance of bad faith on their side.”
+It was now evident that Napoleon had cast off the mask under which he
+was hitherto acting; and such as heard this speech had no doubt that
+the arrival of Izquierdo, Godoy’s confidential agent at Paris, had at
+once undeceived him; filling him with shame and vexation at the gross
+artifice to which he had been a dupe.
+
+This happened about the beginning of March. The Court had proceeded
+to their spring residence of Aranjuez, and the Prince of the Peace
+joined the royal family soon after. A visible gloom had, by this
+time, overcast Madrid, arising chiefly from a rumour, that it
+was intended by the King and Queen to follow the example of the
+Portuguese family, and make their escape to Mexico. Few among the
+better classes were disposed, from love or loyalty, to oppose such
+a determination. But Madrid and the royal _Sitios_ would sink
+into insignificance, were the Court to be removed to a distance.
+The dissolution of the most wretched Government always fills its
+dependents with consternation; and the pampered guards with which the
+pride of Spanish royalty had surrounded the throne, could not endure
+to be levelled, by the absence of the sovereign, with the rest of
+the army. The plan, therefore, of a flight out of Spain, with the
+ocean at the distance of four hundred miles, was perfectly absurd and
+impracticable.
+
+The departure of the royal family had, with all possible secrecy,
+been fixed for the 19th of March. Measures, however, were taken by
+Ferdinand’s friends, on the first appearance of preparations for
+the journey, to defeat the intentions of the King, the Queen, and
+the favourite. Numbers of the peasantry were sent to Aranjuez from
+villages at a considerable distance; and the Spanish foot-guards, the
+Walloons, and the horse-guards engaged to support the people. Soon
+after midnight, before the 19th, a furious attack was made by the
+populace on the house of the Prince of the Peace, who, leaping out of
+his bed, had scarcely time to escape the knives which were struck,
+in frenzied disappointment, where the warmth of the sheets clearly
+shewed how recently he had left them. As the doors were carefully
+guarded, no doubt remained of his being still in the house; and after
+the slight search which could be made by artificial light, it was
+determined to guard all the outlets till the approaching day.
+
+The alarm soon spread to the royal palace, where the Prince’s
+friends, among whom policy had ranged at this critical moment, the
+ministers who owed most to Godoy; hailed, in the King’s terror,
+and the Queen’s anxiety to save the life of her lover, the fairest
+opening for placing Ferdinand on the throne. Day-light had enabled
+the ringleaders to begin the most active search after the Prince
+of the Peace; and the certainty of his presence on the spot
+rendered his destruction inevitable. It does honour, indeed, to the
+affectionate and humane character of Charles, whatever we may think
+of his other qualities, that he resigned the crown from eagerness to
+rescue his faithless friend. The King’s abdication was published to
+the multitude, with whom the guards had taken an open and decided
+part, and Ferdinand appeared on horseback to fulfil the engagement
+he had made to his parents of protecting the favourite from the
+assassins. The unfortunate man, after a confinement of more than
+twelve hours, in a recess over the attics of his house, where he had
+lurked, with scarcely any clothing, and in absolute want of food
+and drink, was, if I may credit report, compelled by thirst to beg
+the assistance of a servant who betrayed him to his pursuers. What
+saved him from falling on the spot, a victim to the fierceness of
+his enemies--whether the desire of the leaders to inflict upon him
+a public and ignominious death, or some better feelings, of such
+as, at this fearful moment, surrounded his person--I am not able to
+tell. Nor would I deprive the new King of whatever claim to genuine
+humanity his conduct on this occasion may have given him. I can only
+state the fact that, under his escort Godoy was carried a prisoner to
+the Horse-guard Barracks, not, however, without receiving some severe
+wounds on the way, inflicted by such as would not miss the honour of
+fleshing their knives on the man whom but a few hours before, they
+would not have ventured to look boldly in the face.
+
+The news of the revolution at Aranjuez had spread through the
+capital by the evening of the 19th; and it was but too evident that
+a storm was gathering against the nearest relations of Godoy. Night
+had scarcely come on, when a furious mob invaded the house of Don
+Diego, the favourite’s younger brother. The ample space which the
+magnificent Calle de Alcalá leaves at its opening into the Prado,
+of which that house forms a corner, afforded room not only for the
+operations of the rioters, but for a multitude of spectators, of
+whom I was one myself. The house having been broken into, and found
+deserted, the whole of the rich furniture it contained was thrown
+out at the windows. Next came down the very doors, and fixtures of
+all kinds, which, made into an enormous pile with tables, bedsteads,
+chests of drawers, and pianos, were soon in a blaze, that, but for
+the stillness of the evening, might have spread to the unoffending
+neighbourhood. Having enjoyed this splendid and costly bonfire, the
+mob ranged themselves in a kind of procession, bearing lint-torches,
+taken from the numerous chandlers-shops which are found at Madrid;
+and directed their steps to the house of the Prince Franciforte,
+Godoy’s brother-in-law.
+
+The magistrates, however, had by this time fixed a board on the
+doors both of that and Godoy’s own house, giving notice that the
+property both of the favourite and his near relations had been
+confiscated by the new King. This was sufficient to turn away the mob
+from the remaining objects of their fury; and without any farther
+mischief, they were contented with spending the whole night in the
+streets, bearing about lighted torches, and drinking at the expense
+of the wine-retailers, whose shops, like your pot-houses, are the
+common resort of the vulgar. The riot did not cease with the morning.
+Crowds of men and women paraded the streets the whole day, with cries
+of “Long live King Ferdinand!--Death to Godoy!” The whole garrison of
+Madrid were allured out of their barracks by bands of women bearing
+pitchers of wine in their hands; and a procession was seen about the
+streets in the afternoon, where the soldiers, mixed with the people,
+bore in their firelocks the palm-branches which, as a protection
+against lightning, are commonly hung at the windows. Yet, amidst this
+fearful disorder, no insult was offered to the many individuals of
+the higher classes, who ventured among the mob. Nothing, however,
+appears to me so creditable to the populace of Madrid, as their
+abstaining from pillage at the house of Diego Godoy--every article,
+however valuable, was faithfully committed to the flames.
+
+Murat, with his army, was, during these events, at a short distance
+from Madrid. The plan of putting the royal family to flight had been
+frustrated by the popular commotion at Aranjuez, and the unexpected
+accession of Ferdinand. But the new King, no less than his parents,
+hastening by professions of friendship to court the support of French
+power, Murat proceeded to the Spanish capital, there to pursue the
+course which might be most conducive to the views of his sovereign.
+I saw the entrance of the division which was to make the town their
+head-quarters. The rest occupied the environs, some in a camp within
+half a mile, and some in the neighbouring villages. The French
+entered as friends, and they cannot say that the inhabitants shewed,
+upon that occasion, the least symptoms of hostility. The prominent
+feeling which might be observed in the capital, was a most anxious
+expectation; but I know several instances of French soldiers relieved
+by the common people; and had Murat acknowledged Ferdinand VII., he
+with his troops would have been hailed and treated as brothers.
+
+The French troops had been but a few days at Madrid, when Ferdinand
+left Aranjuez for his capital, where Murat inhabited the magnificent
+house of the Prince of the Peace, within a very short distance of the
+royal palace. From thence he encouraged the young King’s hopes of
+a speedy recognition by the Emperor, excusing himself, at the same
+time, for taking no notice of Ferdinand’s approach and presence,
+either by himself or his troops. Without any other display but that
+of the most enthusiastic applause from the multitude, Ferdinand, on
+horseback, and attended by a few guards, appeared at the gate of
+Atocha. I had placed myself near the entrance, and had a full view
+of him, as, surrounded by the people on foot, he moved on slowly,
+up the beautiful walk called El Prado. Never did monarch meet with
+a more loyal and affectionate welcome from his subjects; yet, never
+did subjects behold a more vacant and unmeaning countenance, even
+among the long faces of the Spanish Bourbons. To features not at all
+prepossessing, either shyness or awkwardness had added a stiffness,
+which, but for the motion of the body, might induce a suspicion that
+we were wasting our greetings on a wax figure.
+
+As if for the sake of contrast, Murat, whose handsome figure on
+horseback was shewn to the greatest advantage by a dress almost
+theatrical, appeared every Sunday morning in the Prado, surrounded
+by generals and aid-de-camps, no less splendidly accoutred, there to
+review the picked troops of his army. Numbers of people were drawn
+at first by the striking magnificence of this martial spectacle; but
+jealousy and distrust were fast succeeding to the suspense and doubt
+which the artful evasions of the French Prince had been able to keep
+up for a time.
+
+The first burst of indignation against the French was caused by
+their interference in favour of the Prince of the Peace. The people
+of Madrid were so eager for the public execution of Godoy, that
+when it was known that the man on whose hanging carcase they daily
+expected to feast their eyes, was proceeding out of the kingdom under
+a French escort; loud and fierce murmurs from all quarters of the
+town announced the bitter resentment of disappointed revenge. It
+was, nevertheless, still in the power of Napoleon to have kept the
+whole nation at his devotion, by making the long-expected recognition
+of Ferdinand. Even when, through the unworthy artifices which are
+already known to the world, Ferdinand had been decoyed to Bayonne,
+and the greatest anxiety prevailed at Madrid as to the result of the
+journey, I witnessed the joy of an immense multitude collected at
+the Puerta del Sol, late in the evening, when, probably with a view
+to disperse them, the report was spread that the courier we had seen
+arrive, brought the intelligence of Napoleon’s acknowledgement of the
+young King, and his determination to adopt him by marriage into his
+own family. The truth, however, could not be concealed any longer;
+and the plan of usurpation, which was disclosed the next morning,
+produced the clearest indications of an inevitable catastrophe.
+
+The wildest schemes for the destruction of the French division at
+Madrid were canvassed almost in public, and with very little reserve.
+Nothing indeed so completely betrays our present ignorance as to the
+power and efficiency of regular troops, as the projects which were
+circulated in the capital for an attack on the French corps, which
+still paraded every Sunday morning in the _Prado_. Short pikes,
+headed with a sharp-cutting crescent, were expected to be distributed
+to the spectators, who used to range themselves behind the cavalry.
+At one signal the horses were to be houghed with these instruments,
+and the infantry attacked with poniards. To remonstrate against such
+absurd and visionary plans, or to caution their advocates against
+an unreserved display of hostile views, which, of itself, would be
+enough to defeat the ablest conspiracy; was not only useless, but
+dangerous. The public ferment grew rapidly, and Murat, who was fully
+apprised of its progress, began to shew his intention of anticipating
+resistance.
+
+One Sunday afternoon, towards the end of April, as I was walking with
+a friend in the extensive gardens of the old royal palace El Retiro,
+(which, as they adjoin the Prado, are the usual resort of such as
+wish to avoid a crowded walk,) the sound of drums beating to arms
+from several quarters of the town, drew us, not without trepidation,
+to the inner gate of the large square, through which lay our way out
+of the palace. The confused voices of men, and the more distinct
+cries of the women, together with the view of two French regiments
+drawn up in the square, and in the act of loading their muskets,
+would have placed us in the awkward dilemma whether to venture out,
+or to stay, we knew not how long, in the solitary gardens; had not
+a French officer, whom I addressed, assured us that we might pass
+in front of the troops without molestation. The Prado, which we had
+left thronged with people, was now perfectly empty, except where
+some horse-patroles of the French were scudding away in different
+directions. As we proceeded towards the centre of the town, we were
+told that the alarm had been simultaneous and general. Parties of
+French cavalry had been scouring the streets; and, in the wantonness
+of military insolence, some soldiers had made a cut now and then at
+such as did not fly fast enough before them. The street-doors were,
+contrary to the usual practice, all shut as in the dead of night,
+and but a few groups of men were seen talking about the recent and
+now subsiding alarm. Among these we saw one shewing his hat cut
+through by the sabre of a French dragoon. No one could either learn
+or guess the cause of this affray; but I am fully convinced that it
+was intended just to strike fear into the people, and to discourage
+large meetings at the public walks. It was a prelude to the second of
+May--that day which has heaped the curses of every Spaniard on the
+head which could plan its horrors, and the heart that could carry
+them through to the last, without shrinking.
+
+The insurrection of the second of May did not arise from any
+concerted plan of the Spaniards; it was, on the contrary, brought
+about by Murat, who, wishing to intimidate the country, artfully
+contrived the means of producing an explosion in the capital. The
+old King’s brother and one of his sons, who had been left at Madrid,
+were, on that day, to start for Bayonne. The sight of the last
+members of the royal family leaving the country, under the present
+circumstances, could not but produce a strong sensation on a people
+whose feelings had for some months been racked to distraction. The
+Council of Regency strongly recommended the Infante’s departure in
+the night; but Murat insisted on their setting off at nine in the
+morning. Long before that hour an extensive square, of which the new
+Palace forms the front, was crowded with people of the lower classes.
+On the Princes appearing in their travelling dresses, both men and
+women surrounded the carriages, and cutting the traces, shewed a
+determination to prevent their departure. One of Murat’s aid-de-camps
+presenting himself at this moment, was instantly assaulted by the
+mob, and he would have fallen a victim to their fury but for the
+strong French guard stationed near that general’s house. This guard
+was instantly drawn up, and ordered to fire on the people.
+
+My house stood not far from the Palace, in a street leading to one
+of the central points of communication with the best part of the
+town. A rush of people crying “To arms,” conveyed to us the first
+notice of the tumult. I heard that the French troops were firing
+on the people; but the outrage appeared to me both so impolitic and
+enormous, that I could not rest until I went out to ascertain the
+truth. I had just arrived at an opening named Plazuéla de Santo
+Domingo, the meeting point of four large streets, one of which leads
+to the Palace, when, hearing the sound of a French drum in that
+direction, I stopped with a considerable number of decent and quiet
+people, whom curiosity kept rivetted to the spot. Though a strong
+piquet of infantry was fast advancing upon us, we could not imagine
+that we stood in any kind of danger. Under this mistaken notion we
+awaited their approach; but, seeing the soldiers halt and prepare
+their arms, we began instantly to disperse. A discharge of musketry
+followed in a few moments, and a man fell at the entrance of the
+street, through which I was, with a great throng, retreating from
+the fire. The fear of an indiscriminate massacre arose so naturally
+from this unprovoked assault, that every one tried to look for safety
+in the narrow cross streets on both sides of the way. I hastened
+on towards my house, and having shut the front door, could think
+of no better expedient, in the confused state of my mind, than to
+make ball-cartridges for a fowling-piece which I kept. The firing
+of musketry continued, and was to be heard in different directions.
+After the lapse of a few minutes, the report of large pieces of
+ordnance, at a short distance, greatly increased our alarm. They
+were fired from a park of artillery, which, in great neglect, and
+with no definite object, was kept by the Spanish Government, in that
+part of the town. Murat, who had this day all his troops under arms,
+on fixing the points of which they were to gain possession, had
+not forgotten the park of artillery. A strong column approached it
+through a street facing the gate, at which Colonel Daoiz, a native
+of my town, and my own acquaintance, who happened to be the senior
+officer on duty, had placed two large pieces loaded with grape shot.
+Determined to perish rather than yield to the invaders, and supported
+in his determination by a few artillery-men, and some infantry under
+the command of Belarde, another patriot officer; he made considerable
+havock among the French, till, overpowered by numbers, both these
+gallant defenders of their country fell, the latter dead, the former
+desperately wounded. The silence of the guns made us suspect that the
+artillery had fallen into the hands of the assailants; and the report
+of some stragglers confirmed that conjecture.
+
+A well-dressed man had, in the mean time, gone down the street,
+calling loudly on the male inhabitants to repair to an old depôt of
+arms. But he made no impression on that part of the town. To attempt
+to arm the multitude at this moment was, in truth, little short of
+madness. Soon after the beginning of the tumult, two or three columns
+of infantry entered by different gates, making themselves masters of
+the town. The route of the main corps lay through the _Calle Mayor_,
+where the houses, consisting of four or five stories, afforded the
+inhabitants the means of wreaking their vengeance on the French,
+without much danger from their arms. Such as had guns, fired from the
+windows; while tiles, bricks, and heavy articles of furniture, were
+thrown by others upon the heads of the soldiers. But, now, the French
+had occupied every central position; their artillery had struck panic
+into the confused multitude; some of the houses, from which they had
+been fired at, had been entered by the soldiers; and the cavalry were
+making prisoners among such as had not early taken to flight. As the
+people had put to death every French soldier, who was found unarmed
+about the streets, the retaliation would have been fearful, had not
+some of the chief Spanish magistrates obtained a decree of amnesty,
+which they read in the most disturbed parts of the town.
+
+But Murat thought he had not accomplished his object, unless an
+example was made on a certain number of the lower classes of
+citizens. As the amnesty excluded any that should be found bearing
+arms, the French patroles of cavalry, which were scouring the
+streets, searched every man they met, and making the clasp knives
+which our artisans and labourers are accustomed to carry in their
+pockets, a pretext for their cruel and wicked purpose, led about
+one hundred men to be tried by a Court Martial; in other words,
+to be butchered in cold blood. This horrid deed, the blackest,
+perhaps, which has stained the French name during their whole career
+of conquest, was performed at the fall of day. A mock tribunal of
+French officers having ascertained that no person of note was among
+the destined victims, ordered them to be led out of the Retiro, the
+place of their short confinement, into the Prado; where they were
+despatched by the soldiers.
+
+Ignorant of the real state of the town, and hearing that the tumult
+had ceased, I ventured out in the afternoon towards the Puerta del
+Sol, where I expected to learn some particulars of the day. The
+cross streets which led to that place were unusually empty; but as
+I came to the entrance of one of the avenues which open into that
+great rendezvous of Madrid, the bustle increased, and I could see an
+advanced guard of French soldiers formed two-deep, across the street,
+and leaving about one-third of its breadth open to such as wished
+to pass up and down. At some distance behind them, in the irregular
+square which bears the name of the _Sun’s Gate_, I distinguished
+two pieces of cannon, and a very strong division of troops. Less
+than this hostile display would have been sufficient to check my
+curiosity, if, still possessed with the idea that it was not the
+interest of the French to treat us like enemies, I had not, like
+many others who were on the same spot, thought that the peaceful
+inhabitants would be allowed to proceed unmolested about the streets
+of the town. Under this impression I went on without hesitation, till
+I was within fifty yards of the advanced guard. Here a sudden cry
+of _aux armes_, raised in the square, was repeated by the soldiers
+before me; the officer giving the command to make ready. The people
+fled up the street in the utmost consternation; but my fear having
+allowed me, instantly, to calculate both distances and danger, I made
+a desperate push towards the opening left by the soldiers, where a
+narrow lane, winding round the Church of San Luis, put me in a few
+seconds out of the range of the French muskets. No firing however
+being heard, I concluded that the object of the alarm was to clear
+the streets at the approach of night.
+
+The increasing horror of the inhabitants, as they collected the
+melancholy details of the morning, would have accomplished that
+end, without any farther effort on the part of the oppressors. The
+bodies of some of their victims seen in several places; the wounded
+that were met about the streets; the visible anguish of such as
+missed their relations; and the spreading report that many were
+awaiting their fate at the Retiro, so strongly and painfully raised
+the apprehensions of the people, that the streets were absolutely
+deserted long before the approach of night. Every street-door
+was locked, and a mournful silence prevailed wherever I directed
+my steps. Full of the most gloomy ideas, I was approaching my
+lodgings by a place called Postígo de San Martin, when I saw four
+Spanish soldiers bearing a man upon a ladder, the ends of which
+they supported on their shoulders. As they passed near me, the
+ladder being inclined forward, from the steepness of the street, I
+recognized the features of my townsman and acquaintance, Daoiz, livid
+with approaching death. He had lain wounded since ten in the morning,
+in the place where he fell. He was not quite insensible when I met
+him. The slight motion of his body, and the groan he uttered as the
+inequality of the ground, probably, increased his pain, will never be
+effaced from my memory.
+
+A night passed under such impressions, baffles my feeble powers of
+description. A scene of cruelty and treachery exceeding all limits
+of probability, had left our apprehensions to range at large, with
+scarcely any check from the calculations of judgment. The dead
+silence of the streets since the first approach of night, only
+broken by the trampling of horses which now and then were heard
+passing along in large parties, had something exceedingly dismal
+in a populous town, where we were accustomed to an incessant and
+enlivening bustle. The _Madrid cries_, the loudest and most varied in
+Spain, were missed early next morning; and it was ten o’clock before
+a single street-door had been open. Nothing but absolute necessity
+could induce the people to venture out.
+
+On the third day after the massacre, a note from an intimate friend
+obliged me to cross the greatest part of the town; but though my way
+lay through the principal streets of Madrid, the number of Spaniards
+I met, did not literally amount to six. In every street and square
+of any note I found a strong guard of French infantry, lying beside
+their arms on the pavement, except the sentinel, who paced up and
+down at a short distance. A feeling of mortified pride mixed itself
+with the sense of insecurity which I experienced on my approaching
+these parties of foreign soldiers, whose presence had made a desert
+of our capital. Gliding by the opposite side of the street, I passed
+them without lifting my eyes from the ground. Once I looked straight
+in the face of an inferior officer--a serjeant I believe, wearing
+the cross of the _Legion d’honneur_--who, taking it as an insult,
+loaded me with curses, accompanied with threats and the most abusive
+language. The Puerta del Sol, that favourite lounge of the Madrid
+people, was now the _bivouac_ of a French division of infantry and
+cavalry, with two twelve-pounders facing every leading street. Not a
+shop was open, and not a voice heard but such as grated the ear with
+a foreign accent.
+
+On my return home, a feeling of deep melancholy had seized upon me,
+to which the troubles of my past life were lighter than a feather in
+the scale of happiness and misery. I confined myself to the house
+for several days, a prey to the most harassing anxiety. What course
+to take in the present crisis, was a question for which I was not
+prepared, and in which no fact, no conjecture could lead me. My
+friend, the friend for whose sake alone I had changed my residence,
+had a mortal aversion to Seville--that town where he could not avoid
+acting in a detested capacity.[53] Some wild visions of freedom from
+his religious fetters, had been playing across his troubled mind,
+while the French approached Madrid; and though he now looked on their
+conduct with the most decided abhorrence, still he could hardly
+persuade himself to escape from the French bayonets, which he seemed
+to dread less than Spanish bigotry.
+
+  [53] That of a Catholic Clergyman.
+
+But my mind has dwelt too long on a painful subject, and I hope you
+will excuse me if I put off the conclusion till another Letter.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XIII.
+
+
+    _Seville, July 30, 1808._
+
+Whether Murat began to suspect that his cruel method of intimidating
+the capital would rouse the provinces into open resistance, or
+whether (with the unsteadiness of purpose which often attends a
+narrow mind, acting more from impulse than judgment,) he wished to
+efface the impressions which his insolent cruelty had left upon
+the Spaniards; he soon turned his attention to the restoration
+of confidence. The folly, however, of such an endeavour, while
+(independent of the alarm and indignation which spread like wildfire
+over the country,) every gate of Madrid was kept by a strong guard
+of French infantry, must have been evident to any one but the
+thoughtless man who directed it. The people, it is true, ventured
+again freely out of the houses: but the public walks were deserted,
+and the theatres left almost entirely to the invaders.
+
+Yet it was visible that the French had a party, which, though feeble
+in numbers, contained some of the ablest, and not a few of the most
+respectable men at Madrid. Nay, I firmly believe, that had not the
+Spaniards of the middle and higher classes been from time immemorial
+brought up in the strictest habits of reserve on public measures, and
+without a sufficient boldness to form and express their opinions; the
+new French Dynasty would have obtained a considerable majority among
+our gentry. In the first place, two-thirds of the above description
+hold situations under Government, which they would have hoped to
+preserve by adherence to the new rulers. Next, we should consider
+the impression which the last twenty years had left on the thinking
+part of the community. Under the most profligate and despicable Court
+in Europe, a sense of political degradation had been produced among
+such of the Spaniards as were not blinded by a nationality of mere
+instinct. The true source of the enthusiasm which appeared on the
+accession of Ferdinand, was joy at the removal of his father; for
+hopes of a better government, under a young Prince of the common
+stamp, seated on an arbitrary throne, must have been wild and
+visionary indeed. As for the state of dependance on France, which
+would follow the acknowledgement of Joseph Bonaparte, it could not
+be more abject or helpless than under Ferdinand, had his wishes of a
+family alliance been granted by Napoleon. It cannot be denied that
+indignation at the treatment we have experienced strongly urged the
+nation to revenge; but passion is a blind guide, which thinking men
+will seldom trust on political measures. To declare war against an
+army of veterans already in the heart of Spain, might be, indeed,
+an act of sublime patriotism; but was it not, too, a provocation
+more likely to bring ruin and permanent slavery on the country, than
+the admission of a new King, who, though a foreigner, had not been
+educated a despot, and who, for want of any constitutional claims,
+would be anxious to ground his rights on the acknowledgment of the
+nation?
+
+Answers innumerable might be given to these arguments--and that I was
+far from allowing them great weight on my mind I can clearly prove,
+by my presence in the capital of Andalusia. But I cannot endure that
+blind, headlong, unhesitating patriotism which I find uniformly
+displayed in this town and province--a loud popular cry which every
+individual is afraid not to swell with his whole might, and which,
+though it may express the feeling of a great majority, does not
+deserve the name of public _opinion_, any more than the unanimous
+acclamations at an _Auto da Fé_. Dissent is the great characteristic
+of liberty. I am, indeed, as willing as any man to give my feeble
+aid to the Spanish cause against France; but I feel indignant at the
+compulsion which deprives my views of all individuality--which, from
+the national habits of implicit submission to whatever happens to be
+established, forces every man into the crowd, so that nothing can
+save him but running for his life with the foremost.
+
+I repeat, that I need not an apology for my political conduct
+on this momentous occasion. Feelings which will, indeed, bear
+examination, but on which I ground no merit, have brought me to
+the more honourable side of the question. Yet I must plead for
+candour and humanity in favour of such as, from the influence of the
+views I have touched upon, and in some cases, with a more upright
+intention than many an outrageous patriot, have opposed the beginning
+of hostilities. The name of traitor, with which they have been
+indiscriminately branded, must cut them off irrevocably from our
+party; and even the fear of being too late to avoid suspicion among
+us, may oblige those whom chance or the watchfulness of the Madrid
+Government, has hitherto prevented from joining us, to make at last,
+common interest with the French.
+
+To escape from Madrid, after the news of the insurrection of
+Andalusia had reached that capital, was, in fact, an undertaking of
+considerable difficulty, and, as I have found by experience, attended
+with no small danger. Dupont’s army had occupied the usual road
+through La Mancha, and no carriages were allowed by the French to
+set off for the refractory provinces. My decision, however, to join
+my countrymen, had been formed as soon as they took up arms against
+the French; and though my friend shuddered at the idea of casting
+his lot with the defenders of the Pope and the Inquisition, he soon
+forgot all personal interest, in a question between a foreign army
+and his own natural friends.
+
+There were no means of reaching Andalusia but through the province
+of Estremadura, and no other conveyance, at that time, than two
+Aragonese waggons, which having stopped at a small inn, or _venta_,
+three miles from Madrid, were not under the immediate control of the
+French police. The attention of the new Government was, besides,
+too much divided by the increasing difficulties of their situation,
+to extend itself beyond the gates of the town. We had only to make
+our way through the French guard, and walk to the _venta_ on the
+day appointed by the waggoners. But if a single person met with no
+impediment at the gates, luggage of any description was sure to
+be intercepted; and we had to take our choice between staying, or
+travelling a fortnight, without more than a shirt in our pocket.
+
+Thus lightly accoutred, however, we left Madrid at three in the
+afternoon of the 15th of June, and walked under a burning sun to
+meet our waggons. Summer is, of all seasons, in Spain, the most
+inconvenient for travellers; and nothing but necessity will induce
+the natives to cross the burning plains, which abound in the country.
+To avoid the fierceness of the sun, the coaches start between three
+and four in the morning, stop from nine till four in the afternoon,
+and complete the day’s journey between nine and ten in the evening.
+We, alas! could not expect that indulgence. Each of us confined
+with our respective waggoner, within the small space which the load
+had left near the awning, had to endure the intolerable closeness
+of the waggon, under the dead stillness of a burning atmosphere,
+so impregnated with floating dust, as often to produce a feeling
+of suffocation. Our stages required not only early rising, but
+travelling till noon. After a disgusting dinner at the most miserable
+inns of the unfrequented road we were following, our task began
+again, till night, when we could rarely expect the enjoyment even of
+such a bed as the Spanish _ventas_ afford. Our stock of linen allowed
+us but one change, and we could not stop to have it washed. The
+consequences might be easily foreseen. The heat, and the company of
+our waggoners, who often passed the night by our side, soon completed
+our wretchedness, by giving us a sample of one, perhaps the worst, of
+the Egyptian plagues; which, as we had not yet got through one-half
+of our journey, held out a sad prospect of increase till our arrival
+at Seville.
+
+There was something so cheering in the consciousness of the sacrifice
+both of ease and private views we were making, in the idea of
+relieving our friends from the anxiety in which the fear of our
+joining the French party must have kept them--in the hopes of being
+received with open arms by those with whom we had made common
+interest at a time when every chance seemed to be against them--that
+our state of utter discomfort could not at first make any impression
+on our spirits. The slip of New Castille, which lies between Madrid
+and the frontiers of Estremadura, presented nothing that could in
+the least disturb these agreeable impressions; and the reception we
+met with from the inhabitants was in every respect as friendly as we
+had expected. An instance of simple unaffected kindness shewn to us
+by a poor woman near Móstoles, would hardly deserve being mentioned,
+but for the painful contrast by which the rest of our journey has
+endeared it to my memory.--Oppressed by the heat and closeness of our
+situation, and preferring a direct exposure to the rays of the sun
+in the open air, we had left our heavy vehicles at some distance,
+when the desire of enjoying a more refreshing draught than could be
+obtained from the heated jars which hung by the side of our waggons,
+induced us to approach a cottage, at a short distance from the road.
+A poor woman sat alone near the door, and though there was nothing in
+our dress that could give us even the appearance of gentlemen, she
+answered our request for a glass of water, by eagerly pressing us to
+sit and rest ourselves. “Water,” she said, “in the state I see you
+in, is sure, Gentlemen, to do you harm. I fortunately have some milk
+in the cottage, and must beg you to accept it.--You, dear Sirs,” she
+added, “are, I know, making your escape from the French at Madrid.
+God bless you, and prosper your journey!” Her sympathy was so truly
+affecting, that it actually brought tears into our eyes. To decline
+the offer of the milk, as well as to speak of payment, would have
+been an affront to the kind-hearted female; and giving her back the
+blessing she had so cordially bestowed upon us, was all we could do
+to shew our gratitude.
+
+Cheered up by this humble, yet hearty welcome among our countrymen,
+we proceeded for two or three days; our feelings of security
+increasing all the while with the distance from Madrid. It was,
+however, just in that proportion that we were approaching danger. We
+had, about nine in the morning, reached the Calzada de Oropesa, on
+the borders of Estremadura, when we observed, with painful surprise,
+a crowd of country people, who, collecting hastily round us, began
+to inquire who we were, accompanying their questions with the fierce
+and rude tone which forebodes mischief, among the testy inhabitants
+of our southern provinces. The _Alcalde_ soon presented himself, and,
+having heard the account we gave of ourselves and our journey, wisely
+declared to the people that, our language being genuine Spanish, we
+might be allowed to proceed. He added, however, a word of advice,
+desiring us to be prepared to meet with people more inquisitive and
+suspicious than those of Oropesa, who would make us pay dear for any
+flaw they might discover in our narrative. As if to try our veracity
+by means of intimidation, he acquainted us with the insurrections
+which had taken place in every town and village, and the victims
+which had scarcely failed in any instance, to fall under the knives
+of the peasantry.
+
+The truth and accuracy of this warning became more and more evident
+as we advanced through Estremadura. The notice we attracted at the
+approach of every village, the threats of the labourers whom we
+met near the road, and the accounts we heard at every inn, fully
+convinced us that we could not reach our journey’s end without
+considerable danger. The unfortunate propensity to shed blood, which
+tarnishes many a noble quality in the southern Spaniards, had been
+indulged in most towns of any note, under the cloak of patriotism.
+Frenchmen, of course, though long established in Spain, were pointed
+objects of the popular fury; but most of the murders which we heard
+of, were committed on Spaniards who, probably, owed their fate to
+private pique and revenge, and not to political opinions. We found
+the _Alcaldes_ and _Corregidores_, to whom we applied for protection,
+perfectly intimidated, and fearing the consequences of any attempt
+to check the blind fury of the people under them. But no description
+of mine can give so clear a view of the state of the country, as the
+simple narrative of the popular rising at Almaraz, the little town
+which gives its name to a well-known bridge on the Tagus, as it was
+delivered to us by the _Alcalde_, a rich farmer of that place. The
+people of his district, upon hearing the accounts from Madrid, and
+the insurrections of the chief towns of their province, flocked,
+on a certain day, before the Alcalde’s house, armed with whatever
+weapons they had been able to collect, including sickles, pick-axes,
+and similar implements of husbandry. Most happily for the worthy
+magistrate, the insurgents had no complaint against him: and on the
+approach of the rustic mob, he confidently came out to meet them.
+Having with no small difficulty obtained a hearing, the Alcalde
+desired to be informed of their designs and wishes. The answer
+appears to me unparalleled in the history of mobs. “We wish, Sir, to
+kill somebody,” said the spokesman of the insurgents. “Some one has
+been killed at Truxillo; one or two others at Badajoz, another at
+Merida, and we will not be behind our neighbours. Sir, we will kill
+a traitor.” As this commodity could not be procured in the village,
+it was fortunate for us that we did not make our appearance at a time
+when the good people of Almaraz might have made us a substitute, on
+whom to display their loyalty. The fact, however, of their having no
+animosities to indulge under the mask of patriotism, is a creditable
+circumstance in their character. A meeting which we had, soon
+after leaving the village, with an armed party of these patriots,
+confirmed our opinion that they were among the least savage of their
+province.
+
+The bridge of Almaraz stands at the distance of between three and
+four miles from the village. It was built in the time of Charles the
+fifth, by the town of Plasencia; but it would not have disgraced an
+ancient Roman architect. The Tagus, carrying, even at this season,
+a prodigious quantity of water, passes under the greater of the
+two arches, which support the bridge. Though the height and span
+of these arches give to the whole an air of boldness which borders
+upon grandeur, the want of symmetry in their size and shape, and the
+narrow, though very deep, channel to which the rocky banks confine
+the river, abate considerably the effect it might have been made to
+produce. Yet there is something impressive in a bold work of art
+standing single in a wild tract of country, where neither great
+towns, nor a numerous and well distributed population, with all the
+attending marks of industry, luxury, and refinement, have prepared
+the imagination to expect it. As soon, therefore, as the bridge was
+seen at a distance, we left the waggons, and allowing them to proceed
+before us, lingered to enjoy the view.
+
+Just as we stood admiring the solidity and magnitude of the
+structure, casting by chance our eyes towards the mountain which
+rises on the opposite side, and confines the road to a narrow space
+on the precipitous bank of the river, we saw a band of from fifteen
+to twenty men, armed with guns, leaving the wood where they had been
+concealed, and coming down towards the waggons. The character of the
+place, combined with the dresses, arms, and movements of the men,
+convinced us at once that we had fallen into the hands of banditti.
+But as they could take very little from us, we thought we should meet
+with milder treatment if we approached them without any signs of
+fear. On our coming up to the place, we observed some of the party
+searching the waggons; but seeing the rest talking quietly with the
+carriers, our suspicions of robbery were at an end. The whole band,
+we found, consisted of peasants, who, upon an absurd report that
+the French intended to send arms and ammunition to the frontiers of
+Portugal, had been stationed on that spot to examine every cart and
+waggon, and stop all suspicious persons. Had these people been less
+good-natured and civil, we could not have escaped being sent, in that
+dangerous character, to some of the Juntas which had been established
+in Spain. But being told by my friend that he was a clergyman, and
+hearing us curse the French in a true patriotic style; they wished us
+a happy journey, and allowed us to proceed unmolested.
+
+We expected to arrive at Merida on a Saturday evening, and to have
+left it early on Sunday after the first mass, which, for the benefit
+of travellers and labourers, is performed before dawn. But the
+axletree of one of our waggons breaking down, we were obliged to
+sleep that night at a _Venta_, and to spend the next day in the
+above-mentioned city. The remarkable ruins which still shew the
+ancient splendour of the Roman _Emerita Augusta_ would, in more
+tranquil times, have afforded us a pleasant walk round the town, and
+more than repaid us for the delay. Fatigue, however, induced us to
+confine ourselves to the inn, where we expected, by the repose of
+one day, to recruit our strength for the rest of our journey. Having
+taken a luncheon, we retired to our beds for a long _siesta_, when
+the noise of a mob rushing down the street and gathering in front of
+the inn, drew us, nearly undressed, to the window. As far as the eye
+could reach, nothing was to be seen but a compact crowd of peasants,
+most of them with clasp knives in their hands. At the sight of us,
+such as were near began to brandish their weapons, threatening they
+would make mince-meat of every Frenchman in the inn. Unable to
+comprehend the cause of this tumult, and fearing the consequences
+of the blind fury which prevailed in the country, we hurried on our
+clothes, and ran down to the front hall of the inn. There we found
+twelve dragoons standing in two lines on the inside of the gate,
+holding their carbines ready to fire, as the officer who commanded
+them warned the people that were blockading the gate they should do
+upon the first who ventured into the house. The innkeeper walked up
+and down the empty hall, bewailing the fate of his house, which he
+assured us would soon be set on fire by the mob. We now gathered
+from him the cause of this turmoil and confusion. A young Frenchman
+had been taken on the road to Portugal, with letters to Junot, and
+on this ground was forwarded under an escort of soldiers to the
+Captain-general of the Province at Badajoz. The crowd in the street
+consisted of about two thousand peasants, who having volunteered
+their services, were under training at the expense of the city. The
+poor prisoner had been imprudently brought into the town when the
+recruits were in the principal square indulging in the idleness
+of a Sunday. On hearing that he was a Frenchman, they drew their
+knives and would have cut him to pieces, but for the haste which the
+soldiers made with him towards the inn.
+
+The crowd, by this time, was so fierce and vociferous, that we could
+not doubt they would break in without delay. My companion, being
+fully aware of our dangerous position, urged me to follow him to the
+gate, in order to obtain a hearing, while the people still hesitated
+to make their way between the two lines of soldiers. We approached
+the impenetrable mass; but before coming within the reach of the
+knives, my friend called loudly to the foremost to abstain from doing
+us any injury; for though without any marks of his profession about
+him, he was a priest, who, with a brother, (pointing to me,) had
+made his escape from Madrid to join his countrymen. I verily believe,
+that as fear is said sometimes to lend wings, it did on this occasion
+prompt my dear friend with words; for a more fluent and animated
+speech than his has seldom been delivered in Spanish. The effects of
+this unusual eloquence were soon visible among those of the rioters
+that stood nearest; and one of the ringleaders assured the orator,
+that no harm was meant against us. On our requesting to leave the
+house, we were allowed to proceed into the great square.
+
+My friend there inquired the name of the Bishop’s substitute, or
+_Vicar General_; and, with an agreeable surprise, we learnt that
+it was Señor Valenzuela. We instantly recognised one of our fellow
+students at the University of Seville. He had been elected a Member
+of the Revolutionary Junta of Merida, and though not more confident
+of his influence over the populace than the rest of his colleagues,
+whom the present mob had reduced to a state of visible consternation,
+he instantly offered us his house as an asylum for the night, and
+engaged to obtain for us a passport for the remainder of the journey.
+In the mean time, the military commander of the place, attended by
+some of the magistrates, had promised the crowd to throw the young
+Frenchman into a dungeon, as he had done a few nights before with his
+own adjutant, against whom these very same recruits had risen on the
+parade, with so murderous a spirit, that though protected by a few
+regulars, they wounded him severely, and would have taken his life
+but for the interference of the Vicar, who, bearing the consecrated
+host in his hands, placed the officer under the protection of that
+powerful charm. The Frenchman was, accordingly, conducted to prison;
+but neither the soldiers nor the magistrates, who surrounded him,
+could fully protect him from the savage fierceness of the peasants,
+who crowding upon him, as half dead with terror, he was slowly
+dragged to the town gaol, stuck the points of their knives into
+several parts of his body. Whether he finally was sacrificed to the
+popular fury, or, by some happy chance, escaped with life, I have not
+been able to learn.
+
+Though not far from our journey’s end, we were by no means relieved
+from our fears and misgivings. Often were we surrounded by bands
+of reapers, who, armed with their sickles, made us go through the
+ordeal of a minute interrogatory. But what cast the thickest gloom on
+our minds was, the detailed account we received from an Alcalde, of
+the events which had taken place at Seville. A revolution, however
+laudable its object, is seldom without some features which nothing
+but distance of time or place, can soften into tolerable regularity.
+We were too well acquainted with the inefficiency of most of the
+men who had suddenly been raised into power, not to feel a strong
+reluctance to place ourselves under their government and protection.
+The only man of talents in the Junta of Seville was Saavedra, the
+ex-minister.[54] Dull ignorance, mixed with a small portion of
+inactive honesty, was the general character of that body. But a man
+of blood had found a place in it, and we could not but fear the
+repetition of the horrid scene with which he opened the revolution
+that was to give him a share in the supreme government of the
+province.
+
+  [54] See Letter X.
+
+The Count Tilly, a titled Andalusian gentleman, of some talents,
+unbounded ambition, and no principle, had, on the first appearance
+of a general disposition to resist the French, employed himself in
+the organization of the intended revolt. His principal agents were
+men of low rank, highly endowed with the characteristic shrewdness,
+quickness, and loquacity of that class of Andalusians, and thereby
+admirably fitted to appear at the head of the populace. Tilly,
+however, either from the maxim that a successful revolution must be
+cemented with blood--a notion which the French Jacobins have too
+widely spread among us--or, what is more probable, from private
+motives of revenge, had made the death of the Count del Aguila an
+essential part of his plan.
+
+That unfortunate man was a member of the town corporation of Seville,
+and as such he joined the established authorities in their endeavours
+to stop the popular ferment. But no sooner had the insurrection
+burst out, than both he and his colleagues made the most absolute
+surrender of themselves and their power into the hands of the people.
+This, however, was not enough to save the victim whom Tilly had
+doomed to fall. One of the inferior leaders of the populace, one
+Luque, an usher at a grammar-school, had engaged to procure the
+death of the Count del Aguila. Assisted by his armed associates, he
+dragged the unhappy man to the prison-room for noblemen, or Hidalgos,
+which stands over one of the gates of the town; and, deaf to his
+intreaties, the vile assassin had him shot on the spot. The corpse,
+bound to the arm chair, in which the Count expired, was exposed for
+that and the next day to the public. The ruffian who performed the
+atrocious deed, was instantly raised to the rank of lieutenant in the
+army. Tilly himself is one of the Junta; and so selfish and narrow
+are the views which prevail in that body, that, if the concentration
+of the now disjointed power of the provinces should happen, the
+members, it is said, will rid themselves of his presence, by sending
+a man they fear and detest, to take a share in the supreme authority
+of the kingdom.[55]
+
+  [55] This was actually the case at the creation of the Central
+  Junta.
+
+The effects of the revolutionary success on a people at large, like
+those of slight intoxication on the individual, call forth every
+good and bad quality in a state of exaggeration. To an acute but
+indifferent observer, Seville, as we found it on our return, would
+have been a most interesting study. He could not but admire the
+patriotic energy of the inhabitants, their unbounded devotion to the
+cause of their country, and the wonderful effort by which, in spite
+of their passive habits of submission, they had ventured to dare both
+the authority of their rulers, and the approaching bayonets of the
+French. He must, however, have looked with pity on the multiplied
+instances of ignorance and superstition which the extraordinary
+circumstances of the country had produced.
+
+To my friend and companion, whose anti-catholic prejudices are the
+main source of his mental sufferings, the religious character which
+the revolution has assumed, is like a dense mist concealing or
+disfiguring every object which otherwise would gratify his mind. He
+can see no prospect of liberty behind the cloud of priests who every
+where stand foremost to take the lead of our patriots. It is in vain
+to remind him that many among those priests, whose professional creed
+he detests, are far from being sincere; that if, by the powerful
+assistance of England, we succeed in driving the French out of the
+country, the moral and political state of the nation must benefit by
+the exertion. The absence of the King, also, is a fair opening for
+the restoration of our ancient liberties; and the actual existence
+of popular Juntas, must eventually lead to the re-establishment of
+the Cortes. To this he answers that he cannot look for any direct
+advantage from the feeling which prompts the present resistance to
+the ambition of Napoleon, as it chiefly arises from an inveterate
+attachment to the religious system whence our present degradation
+takes source. That if the course of events should enable those
+who have secretly cast off the yoke of superstition, to attempt a
+political reform, it will be by grafting the feeble shoots of Liberty
+upon the stock of Catholicism; an experiment which has hitherto,
+and must ever prove abortive. That from the partial and imperfect
+knowledge of politics and government which the state of the nation
+permits, no less than from the feelings produced by the monstrous
+abuse of power under which Spain has groaned for ages, too much
+will be attempted against the crown; which, thus weakened in a
+nation whose habits, forms, and manners, are moulded and shaped to
+despotism, will leave it for a time a prey either to an active or an
+indolent anarchy, and finally resume its ancient influence.
+
+Partial as I must own myself to every thing that falls from my
+friend, I will not deny that these views are too general, and that,
+though the principles on which he grounds them are sound, the
+inferences are drawn much too independently of future events and
+circumstances. Yet the dim coloured medium through which he sees
+the state of a country, whence he derives a constant feeling of
+unhappiness, will make him, I fear, but little fit to assist with
+his talents the work of Spanish reform, so long, at least, as he
+shall feel the iron yoke which Spain has laid on his neck. I have,
+therefore, formed a plan for his removal to England, whenever the
+progress of the French arms, which our present advantages cannot
+permanently check, shall enable him to take his departure, so as to
+shew that if his own country oppresses him, he will not seek relief
+among her enemies.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX TO LETTERS III. AND VII.[56]
+
+  [56] The account in Letter VII. of the anxiety manifested by
+  Charles III. on the occasion of sending to Rome a manuscript in
+  the hand of a Spanish simpleton, whom the superstition of that
+  country wished to invest with the honours of Saintship, was
+  compiled from local tradition, and the recollections preserved
+  from a former perusal of the present Appendix. Its noble author,
+  whose love of the literature of Spain, and great acquaintance
+  with that country, would be enough to designate him, were he
+  not best known by a peculiar benevolence of heart, which no man
+  ever expressed so faithfully in the affability of his manners;
+  has subsequently favoured the writer of the preceding Letters
+  with his permission to publish this sketch. The attentive reader
+  will observe some slight variations between my story of Brother
+  Sebastian and that given in this Appendix. But as they all
+  relate to circumstances connected with the city of Seville, I am
+  unwilling to omit or to alter what I have heard from my townsmen
+  and the contemporaries of Sebastian himself.
+
+    AN ACCOUNT
+    OF THE
+    SUPPRESSION OF THE JESUITS IN SPAIN.
+
+    Extracted from a Letter of Lord ----.
+
+
+The suppression of the Jesuits in Spain always appeared to me a very
+extraordinary occurrence; and the more I heard of the character of
+Charles III. by whose edict they were expelled, the more singular
+the event appeared. Don Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, who had
+been acquainted with all, and intimate with many, of those who
+accomplished this object, related several curious circumstances
+attending it; gave me a very interesting and diverting account
+of the characters concerned, and sent me, in 1809, two or three
+letters, which are still in my possession, containing some of the
+secret history of this very remarkable transaction. I send you the
+substance of his conversation, with some additional anecdotes related
+to me by other Spaniards. They may throw light on the accidents and
+combinations which led to the suppression of that formidable body of
+men.
+
+Charles III. came to the throne of Spain with dispositions very
+unfavourable to the Jesuits. Not only the disputes with the Court of
+Rome, to which the government of Naples was at all times exposed, but
+the personal affronts which he conceived himself to have received
+from Father Rávago, the Jesuit, Confessor to his brother Ferdinand,
+estranged him from that formidable company. The jealousy entertained
+by Barbara, Queen of Spain, of any influence which the Court of
+Naples might obtain in the councils of her husband, and the opposite
+system of politics adopted by the two Courts, had convinced the
+Jesuits of the impossibility of being well with both. Not foreseeing
+the premature death of Ferdinand, and the sterility of his wife,
+they had very naturally exerted all their arts to ingratiate
+themselves with the powerful crown of Spain, rather than with the
+less important Court of Naples. They were accordingly satisfied with
+placing Padre Rávago about Ferdinand, and, either from policy or
+neglect, allowed Charles to select his Confessor from another order
+of regular clergy. Queen Barbara was a patroness of the Jesuits;
+and, very possibly, her favourite, the eunuch Farinelli, exerted his
+influence in their favour. The Marquis of Ensenada, long the minister
+of Ferdinand, was their avowed protector, ally, and partizan; and
+the Queen’s ascendancy over her husband’s mind was too firmly
+established to be shaken even by the removal of that minister. But
+upon the failure of that Princess, and the subsequent death of the
+King himself, the Jesuits experienced a sudden and fatal reverse
+of fortune. The policy of the Court of Madrid was altered. Charles
+felt deep resentment against England for the transactions in the Bay
+of Naples. The influence of the Court of Versailles was gradually
+restored. It may be easily supposed that the active enemies of the
+Jesuits in France and Italy began to turn their eyes to the Court of
+Madrid with more hopes of co-operation in that quarter than they had
+hitherto ever ventured to entertain. There is, however, no reason to
+imagine that till the nomination of Roda, to the place of Minister
+of Grace and Justice, any actual design was formed by persons in
+trust or power, of having recourse to such violent expedients as were
+afterwards resorted to for the expulsion of the Jesuits.
+
+Don Manuel de Roda, an Aragonese by birth, and an eminent lawyer at
+Madrid, had imbibed very early both the theological and political
+tenets of the Jansenists. He had been distinguished at the bar by
+his resolute and virulent opposition to the members of the _Colegios
+Mayores_. That institution, founded for the education and assistance
+of poor students, had been perverted from its original intentions:
+for though no one could be admitted but upon competition and a
+plurality of voices, it consisted _de facto_ entirely of persons of
+family. Its members, by the aid of exclusive privileges in the career
+of the law, by mutual assistance, and a corporation spirit, not
+unlike that of the Jesuits themselves, had obtained a large portion
+of ecclesiastical and legal patronage, and enjoyed almost a monopoly
+of the highest judicial offices in Castile. The members of these
+colleges were enabled to succeed to the offices of _Fiscal, Oydor_,
+and other magistracies, without the previous ceremony of passing
+advocates, which was a gradation none but those who were _Colegiales_
+could dispense with. These privileges gave them great influence,
+and the expense which attended their elections, (especially that of
+the Rectors of each College, an annual office of great consideration
+among them,) served as an effectual bar to the pretensions of any
+who had not birth and wealth to recommend them. It is just, however,
+to observe, that if they were infected with the narrow spirit of
+corporations, they retained to the last the high sense of honour
+which is always the boast, and sometimes the characteristic, of
+privileged orders of men. It has ever been acknowledged by their
+enemies, that since the abolition of their exclusive privileges,
+which Roda lived to accomplish, and, yet more, since their further
+discouragement by the Prince of Peace, the judicial offices have not
+been filled by persons of equal character for integrity, learning,
+and honour. But those who studied the laws without the advantages of
+an education at the _Colegios Mayores_, were naturally and justly
+indignant at the privileges which they enjoyed. The boldness of
+Don Manuel de Roda’s opposition to an order of men so invidiously
+distinguished, ingratiated him with the lawyers, who, in Spain as
+elsewhere, constitute a large, active, and formidable body of men.
+But the same high spirit having involved him in a dispute with a man
+of rank and influence, his friend and protector the Duke of Alva
+thought it prudent for him to withdraw from Court; and with a view
+of enabling him to do so with credit to himself, entrusted him with
+a public commission to Rome, where he was received as the agent of
+the King of Spain. He here, no doubt, acquired that knowledge which
+was so useful to him afterwards in the prosecution of his important
+design. By what fatality he became minister, I know not. Charles
+III. must have departed from his general rule of appointing every
+Minister at the recommendation of his predecessor, for Roda succeeded
+a Marquis of Campo Villar, who had been educated at the _Colegios
+Mayores_, and was attached to the Jesuits. Possibly the interest of
+the Duke of Alva was the cause of his promotion. He was appointed
+Minister of Grace and Justice, I believe, as early as 1763, though
+Jovellanos implies that he was not Minister till 1765 or even 1766.
+From the period of his nomination, however, one may safely date the
+design of suppressing the Jesuits in Spain. It was systematically,
+though slowly and secretly pursued, by a portion of the Spanish
+Cabinet. Indeed the views, not only of the ministry, but of the
+understanding of Roda, were so exclusively directed to such objects,
+that Azara sarcastically observed, that he wore spectacles, through
+one glass of which he could perceive nothing but a _Colegial_, and
+through the other nothing but a _Jesuit_. If, however, his views were
+contracted, he had the advantage often attributed to a short sight--a
+clear and more accurate perception of every thing that came within
+the limited scope of his organs. He had the discernment to discover
+those, who, with dispositions congenial to his own had talents to
+assist him. He had cunning enough to devise the means of converting
+to his purpose the weaknesses of such as without predisposition to
+co-operate with him, were from station or accident necessary to his
+design. Though a strict Jansenist himself, he selected his associates
+and partizans indiscriminately from Jansenists and philosophers or
+freethinkers. Among the first, the most remarkable was Tavira, bishop
+of Salamanca; among the latter Campomanes and the Count de Aranda.
+
+Before we speak of the co-operation of these powerful men, it is
+necessary to explain the difficulties which occurred in securing the
+sanction and assistance of the King himself. Charles III., though
+no friend to the Jesuits, was still less a friend, either by habit
+or principle, to innovation. He was not less averse by constitution
+to all danger. Moreover, he was religious and conscientious in
+the extreme. The acquiescence and sanction of his Confessor was
+indispensably necessary to the adoption of any measure affecting
+the interests of the Church. Neither would the bare consent of the
+Confessor (in itself no easy matter to obtain) be sufficient. He
+must be zealous in the cause, and cautious as well as active in the
+promotion of it. Great secrecy must be observed; for the scheme might
+be defeated as effectually by indifference or indiscretion as by
+direct resistance or intrigue. There was little in the character of
+the Confessor to encourage a man less enterprising or less cunning
+than Roda.
+
+Fr. Joaquin de Elita, or Father Osma, (so called from the place
+of his birth) was a friar of little education and less ability,
+attached by habit to the order to which he belonged, and in other
+respects exempt from those passions of affection or ambition, as
+well as from that ardour of temper or force of opinion, which
+either excite men to great undertakings or render them subservient
+to those of others. Roda, however, from personal observation, and
+from an intimate knowledge of those passions which a monastic life
+generally engenders, discovered the means of engaging even Father
+Osma in his views. None who have not witnessed it can conceive the
+effect of institutions, of which vows of perpetual celibacy form
+a necessary part. Their convent, their order, the place of their
+nativity, the village or church to which they belong, often engage
+in the minds of religious men the affections which in the course
+of nature would have been bestowed on their kindred, their wives,
+or their children. Padre Elita was born in the city of which the
+venerable and illustrious Palafox had been bishop. The sanctity of
+that eminent prelate’s life, the fervour of his devotion, the active
+benevolence and Christian fortitude of his character, had insured
+him the reputation of a saint, and might, it was thought, by many
+Catholics, entitle him to canonization.[57] Roda, however, well knew
+that the Jesuits bore great enmity to his memory on account of his
+disputes with them in South America; he foresaw that every exertion
+of that powerful body would be made to resist the introduction of his
+name into the Rubric. He therefore suggested very adroitly to Father
+Osma the glory which would redound to his native town if this object
+could be accomplished. He painted in glowing colours the gratitude
+he would inspire in Spain, and the admiration he would excite in the
+Catholic world if through his means a Spaniard of so illustrious a
+name and of such acknowledged virtue could be actually sainted at
+Rome. He had the satisfaction of finding that Father Osma espoused
+the cause with a fervour hardly to be expected from his character.
+He not only advised but instigated and urged the King to support
+the pretensions of the bishop of Osma with all his influence and
+authority. But here an apparent difficulty arose, which Roda turned
+to advantage, and converted to the instrument of involving the Court
+of Madrid in an additional dispute with the Roman Pontiff. Charles
+III. was not unwilling to support the pretensions of his Confessor’s
+favourite Saint; but he had a job of his own in that branch to drive
+with the Court of Rome, and he accordingly solicited in his turn the
+co-operation of Father Osma, to obtain the canonization of Brother
+Sebastian.
+
+  [57] There is a Life of Palafox, published at Paris, in 1767.
+  The design of the unknown author is evidently to mortify and
+  prejudice the Jesuits by exalting the character of one of their
+  earliest and fiercest opponents. The author is, however, either
+  an ardent fanatic of the Jansenist party, and as superstitious
+  as those he wishes to expose; or he promotes the cause of the
+  Philosophers of France and Spain by affecting devotion, and
+  conciliating many true believers to the measure of suppressing
+  the Jesuits.--Palafox was the illegitimate child of Don Jayme
+  de Palafox y Mendoza, by a lady of rank, who, to conceal her
+  pregnancy, retired to the waters of Fitero in Navarre, and being
+  delivered on the 24th June, 1600, to avoid the scandal, took
+  the wicked resolution of drowning her child in the neighbouring
+  river. The woman employed to perpetrate this murder was detected
+  before she effected her purpose, the child saved, and brought up
+  by an old dependant of the house of Ariza till he was ten years
+  old, when his father returned from Rome, acknowledged, relieved,
+  and educated him at Alcalá and Salamanca. His mother became a
+  nun of the barefooted Carmelite order. Palafox was introduced at
+  Court, and to the Count Duke de Olivares in 1626, and was soon
+  after named to the council of India. An illness of his paternal
+  sister, the funeral of two remarkable men, and the piety of his
+  mother, made such impression upon him, that he gave himself up
+  to the most fervent devotion, and soon after took orders. He
+  became chaplain to the Queen of Hungary, Philip IVth’s sister,
+  and travelled through Italy, Germany, Flanders, and France. In
+  1639, he was consecrated Bishop of Angelopolis, or Puebla de los
+  Angeles, in America. His first quarrel with the Jesuits was on
+  the subject of tithes. Lands on which tithes were payable had
+  been alienated in favour of the Company, and they pretended, that
+  when once the property of their body, they were exempt from that
+  tax. The second ground was a pretended privilege of the Jesuits
+  to preach without the permission of the Diocesan, against which
+  Palafox contended. The Jesuits, having the Viceroy of New Spain
+  on their side, obliged Palafox to fly; on which occasion he
+  wrote his celebrated letters against his enemies. A brief of the
+  Pope in his favour did not prevent his being recalled in civil
+  terms, by the King. At the petition of the Jesuits, who dreaded
+  his return to America, the King named him to the bishopric of
+  Osma. Of the austerity and extravagance of his principles, the
+  following resolutions of the pious bishop are specimens: Not to
+  admit any woman to his presence, and never to speak to one but
+  with his eyes on the ground, and the door open. Never to pay
+  a woman a compliment, but when the not doing so would appear
+  singular or scandalous; and never to look a female in the face.
+  Whenever compelled to visit a woman, to wear a cross with sharp
+  points next the skin.
+
+The story of this last-mentioned obscure personage is so curious, and
+illustrates so forcibly the singular character of Charles, that it
+will not be foreign to my purpose to relate it.
+
+During Philip the Fifth’s residence in Seville, Hermano Sebastian, a
+sort of lay-brother[58] of the Convent of San Francisco el Grande,
+was accustomed to visit the principal houses of the place with an
+image of the Infant Jesus, in quest of alms for his order. The
+affected sanctity of his life, the demure humility of his manner,
+and the little sentences of morality with which he was accustomed
+to address the women and children whom he visited, acquired him the
+reputation of a saint in a small circle of simple devotees. The
+good man began to think himself inspired, to compose short works
+of devotion, and even to venture occasionally on the character of
+a prophet. Accident or design brought him to the palace: he was
+introduced to the apartments of the princes, and Charles then a
+child, took a prodigious fancy to Brother Sebastian of the _Niño
+Jesus_, as he was generally called in the neighbourhood, from the
+image he carried when soliciting alms for his convent. To ingratiate
+himself with the royal infant, the old man made Charles a present
+of some prayers written in his own hand, and told him, with an air
+of sanctified mystery, that he would one day be King of Spain, in
+reward, no doubt, of his early indications of piety and resignation.
+The present delighted Charles, and, young as he was, the words and
+sense of the prophecy sunk deep in his superstitious and retentive
+mind. Though he was seldom known to mention the circumstance for
+years, yet he never parted with the manuscript. It was his companion
+by day and by night, at home and in the field. When he was up, it
+was constantly in his pocket; and it was placed under his pillow
+during his hours of rest. But when, by his accession to the crown of
+Spain, its author’s prediction was fulfilled, the work acquired new
+charms in his eyes, his confidence in Brother Sebastian’s sanctity
+was confirmed, and his memory was cherished with additional fondness
+by the grateful and credulous monarch. At the same time, therefore,
+that the pretensions of the Bishop of Osma to canonization were urged
+at Rome, the Spanish minister was instructed to speak a good word
+for the humble friar Sebastian. The lively and sarcastic Azara was
+entrusted with this negotiation; and, as I know that he was at some
+pains to preserve the documents of this curious transaction, it is
+not impossible that he may have left memoirs of his life, in which
+the whole correspondence will, no doubt, be detailed with minuteness
+and exquisite humour.
+
+  [58] He was not a _lay-brother_, but a _Donado_, a species of
+  religious drudges, who, without taking vows, wear the habit of
+  the order; and may leave it when they please. The _Donados_ are
+  never called _Fray_, but _Hermano_.--_See Doblado’s Letter_ IX.
+
+The Court of Rome is ever fertile in expedients, especially when the
+object is to start difficulties and suggest obstacles to any design.
+The investigation of Palafox’s pretensions was studiously protracted;
+and it was easy to perceive that the influence of the Jesuits in
+the Sacred College was exerted to throw new impediments in the way
+of their adversary’s canonization. Though the Court of Rome could
+never seriously have thought of giving Brother Sebastian a place
+in the Rubric, they amused Charles III. by very long discussions on
+his merits, and went through, with scrupulous minuteness, all the
+previous ceremonies for ascertaining the conduct of a saint.
+
+It is a maxim, that the original of every writing of a person
+claiming to be made a saint, must be examined at Rome by the Sacred
+College, and that no copy, however attested, can be admitted as
+sufficient testimony, if the original document is in existence. The
+book, therefore, to which the Spanish Monarch was so attached, was
+required at Rome. Here was an abundant source of negotiation and
+delay. Charles could not bring himself to part with his treasure,
+and the forms of canonization precluded the College from proceeding
+without it. At length, the King, from his honest and disinterested
+zeal for the friar, was prevailed upon. But Azara was instructed to
+have the College summoned, and the Cardinals ready, on the day and
+even the hour at which it was calculated that the most expeditious
+courier could convey the precious book from Madrid to Rome. Relays
+were provided on the road, and Charles III. himself deposited the
+precious manuscript in the hands of his most trusty messenger, with
+long and anxious injunctions to preserve it most religiously, and not
+to lose a moment in sallying forth from Rome on his return, when the
+interesting contents of the volume should have been perused.
+
+The interim was to Charles III. a “phantasma, or a hideous dream.”
+He never slept, and scarcely took any nourishment during the few
+days he was separated from the beloved paper. His domestic economy,
+and the regulation of his hours, which neither public business nor
+private affliction in any other instance disturbed, was altered; and
+the chase, which was not interrupted even by the illness and death
+of his children, was suspended till Brother Sebastian’s original MS.
+could again accompany him to the field. He stood at the window of his
+palace counting the drops of rain on the glasses, and sighing deeply.
+Business, pleasure, conversation, and meals, were suspended, till
+the long-expected treasure returned, and restored the monarch to his
+usual avocations.
+
+When, however, his Confessor discovered that the Court of Rome was
+trifling with their solicitations, that to Palafox there was an
+insurmountable repugnance, and when the King began to suspect that
+the sacrifice he had been compelled to make was all to no purpose,
+and that the pains of separation had been inflicted upon him without
+the slightest disposition to grant him the object for which alone he
+had been inclined to endure it, both he and his Confessor grew angry.
+The opposition to their wishes was, perhaps, truly, and certainly
+industriously traced to the Jesuits.
+
+In the mean while a riot occurred at Madrid. In 1766, the people
+rose against the regulation of police which attempted to suppress
+the cloaks and large hats, as affording too great opportunities for
+the concealment of assassins. These and other obnoxious measures
+were attributed to the Marquis of Squilace, who, in his quality
+of favourite as well as foreigner, was an unpopular minister of
+finance. Charles III. was compelled to abandon him; and the Count of
+Aranda, disgraced under Ferdinand VI. and lately appointed to the
+captain-generalship of Valencia, was named President of the council
+of Castile, for the purpose of pacifying by his popularity, and
+suppressing by his vigour, the remaining discontents of the people.
+He entered into all Roda’s views. As an Aragonese, he was an enemy
+of the _Colegios Mayores_, for they admitted few subjects of that
+Crown to their highest distinctions: and as a freethinker, and man of
+letters, he was anxious to suppress the Jesuits.
+
+Reports, founded or unfounded, were circulated in the country, and
+countenanced by these powerful men, that the Jesuits had instigated
+the riots of Madrid. It was confidently asserted, that many had
+been seen in the mob, though disguised; and Father Isidro Lopez, an
+Asturian, who was considered as one of the leading characters in the
+company, was expressly named as having been active in the streets.
+Ensenada, the great protector of the Jesuits in the former reign, had
+been named by the populace as the proper successor of Squilace, and
+there were certainly either grounds for suspecting, or pretexts for
+attributing the discontent of the metropolis to the machinations of
+the Jesuits and their protector the ex-minister Ensenada. Enquiries
+were instituted. Many witnesses were examined; but great secrecy
+was preserved. It is, however, to be presumed, that, under colour
+of investigating the causes of the late riot, Aranda and Roda
+contrived to collect every information which could inflame the mind
+of the King against those institutions which they were determined to
+subvert. They had revived the controversy respecting the conduct of
+the venerable Palafox, and drawn the attention both of Charles III.
+and the public to the celebrated letter of that prelate, in which he
+describes the machinations of the Jesuits in South America, and which
+their party had but a few years since sentenced to be publicly burnt
+in the great square of Madrid.
+
+But, even with the assistance of Father Osma, the acquiescence
+of the King, and the concert of many foreign enemies of the
+Company, Roda and Aranda were in want of the additional aid which
+talents, assiduity, learning, and character could supply, to carry
+into execution a project vast in its conception, and extremely
+complicated, as well as delicate in its details. They found it in the
+famous Campomanes. Perhaps the grateful recollection of services,
+and the natural good-nature of Jovellanos, led him to praise too
+highly his early protector and precursor, in the studies which
+he himself brought to greater perfection. But Campomanes was an
+enlightened man, and a laborious as well as honest minister. He was
+at that time Fiscal of the Council and Chancellor of Castile, and
+considered by the profession of the law, as well as by the great
+commercial and political bodies throughout Spain, as an infallible
+oracle on all matters regarding the internal administration of the
+kingdom. _The Coleccion de Providencias tomadas por el gobierno sobre
+el estrañamiento y ocupacion de temporalidades de los Regulares de
+la Compañia_ (Collection of measures taken by the Government for
+the alienation and seizure of the temporalities of the Regulars of
+the company of Jesuits) is said to be a monument of his diligence,
+sagacity, and vigour.
+
+A royal decree was issued on 27th February, 1767, and dated from
+_el Pardo_, by which a Junta, composed of several members of the
+Royal Council, was instituted, in consequence of the riot of Madrid
+of the preceding year. To this Junta several bishops, selected
+from those who were most attached to the doctrines of Saint Thomas
+Aquinas, and, consequently, least favourable to the Jesuits, (for
+they espouse the rival tenets,) were added for the purpose of giving
+weight and authority to their decree. In this Junta the day and form
+of the measure were resolved upon, and instructions drawn out for
+the Magistrates who were to execute it both in Spain and in America,
+together with directions for the nature of the preparations, the
+carriages to be provided at the various places inland, and the
+vessels to be ready in the ports. The precautions were well laid.
+The secret was wonderfully kept; and on the night of the first of
+April, at midnight precisely, every College of the Jesuits throughout
+Spain was surrounded by troops, and every member of each collected
+in their respective chapters, priests or lay-brothers, young or old,
+acquainted with the decree, and forcibly conveyed out of the kingdom.
+Their sufferings are well known; and the fortitude with which they
+bore them must extort praise even from those who are most convinced
+of the mischiefs which their long influence in the courts of Europe
+produced. The expulsion and persecution of the French priests during
+the Revolution was more bloody, but scarcely less inhuman, than
+the hardships inflicted by the regular and legitimate monarchies
+which had originally encouraged them, on the Jesuits. On the other
+hand, the suppression of that society was favourable to the cause
+of liberty, morals, and even learning;--for though their system of
+education has been much extolled, it must be acknowledged that in
+Spain, at least, the period at which the education of youth was
+chiefly entrusted to Jesuits, is that in which Castilian literature
+declined, and general ignorance prevailed. If the state of education
+in a country is to be judged of by its fruits, the Jesuits in Spain
+certainly retarded its progress. In relation to the rest of Europe,
+the Spaniards were farther advanced in science and learning during
+the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, than during the seventeenth
+and eighteenth; and since the suppression of the Company, in 1767,
+and not till then, a taste for literature and a spirit of improvement
+revived among them.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+NOTE A.
+
+_On the Devotion of the Spaniards to the Immaculate Conception of the
+Virgin Mary._--p. 22.
+
+
+The history of the transactions relative to the disputes on the
+immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, even when confined to those
+which took place at Seville, could not be compressed within the
+limits of one of the preceding letters. Such readers, besides, as
+take little interest in subjects of this nature, would probably have
+objected to a detailed account of absurdities, which seem at first
+sight scarcely to deserve any notice. Yet there are others to whom
+nothing is without interest which depicts any peculiar state of the
+human mind, and exhibits some of the innumerable modifications of
+society. Out of deference, therefore, to the first, we have detached
+the following narrative from the text of Doblado’s Letters, casting
+the information we have collected from the Spanish writers into a
+note, the length of which will, we hope, be excused by those of the
+latter description.
+
+The dispute on the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin began between
+the Dominicans and Franciscans as early as the thirteenth century.
+The contending parties stood at first upon equal ground; but “the
+merits of faith and devotion” were so decidedly on the side of the
+Franciscans, that they soon had the Christian mob to support them,
+and it became dangerous for any Divine to assert that the _Mother of
+God_ (such is the established language of the Church of Rome) had
+been, like the rest of mankind, involved in original sin. The oracle
+of the Capitol allowed, however, the disputants to fight out their
+battles, without shewing the least partiality, till public opinion
+had taken a decided turn.
+
+In 1613, a Dominican, in a sermon preached at the cathedral of
+Seville, threw out some doubts on the Immaculate Conception. This
+was conceived to be an insult not only to the Virgin Mary, but to
+the community at large; and the populace was kept with difficulty
+from taking summary vengeance on the offender and his convent.
+Zuñiga, the annalist of Seville, who published his work in 1677,
+deems it a matter of Christian forbearance not to consign the names
+of the preacher and his convent to the execration of posterity.
+But if the civil and ecclesiastical authorities exerted themselves
+for the protection of the offenders, they were also the first to
+promote a series of expiatory rites, which might avert the anger of
+their Patroness, and make ample reparation to her insulted honour.
+Processions innumerable paraded the streets, proclaiming the original
+purity of the Virgin Mother; and _Miguél del Cid_, a _Sevillian_ poet
+of that day, was urged by the Archbishop to compose the Spanish hymn,
+“Todo el Mundo en general,” which, though far below mediocrity, is
+still nightly sung at Seville by the associations called Rosarios,
+which have been described in Doblado’s Letters.[59]
+
+  [59] Letter I. p. 20.
+
+The next step was to procure a decision of the Pope in favour of
+the _Immaculate Conception_. To promote this important object two
+commissioners were dispatched to Rome, both of them dignified
+clergymen, who had devoted their lives and fortunes to the cause of
+the Virgin Mary.
+
+After four years of indescribable anxiety the long wished-for
+decree, which doomed to silence the opponents of Mary’s original
+innocence, was known to be on the point of passing the _seal of the
+Fisherman_,[60] and the _Sevillians_ held themselves in readiness to
+express their unbounded joy the very moment of its arrival in their
+town. This great event took place on the 22d of October 1617, at ten
+o’clock P.M. “The news, says Zuñiga, produced a universal stir in
+the town. Men left their houses to congratulate one another in the
+streets. The fraternity of the _Nazarenes_ joining in a procession
+of more than six hundred persons, with lighted candles in their
+hands, sallied forth from their church, singing the hymn in honour of
+_Original Purity_. Numerous bonfires were lighted, the streets were
+illuminated from the windows and terraces, and ingenious fireworks
+were let off in different parts of the town. At midnight the bells of
+the cathedral broke out into a general chime, which was answered by
+every parish church and convent; and many persons in masks and fancy
+dresses having gathered before the archbishop’s palace, his grace
+appeared at the balcony, moved to tears by the devout joy of his
+flock. At the first peal of the bells all the churches were thrown
+open, and the hymns and praises offered up in them lent to the
+stillness of night the most lively sounds of the day.”
+
+  [60] _Sigillum_ or _annulus Piscatoris_, the great seal of the
+  Popes.
+
+A day was subsequently fixed when all the authorities were to take a
+solemn oath in the Cathedral, to believe and assert the _Immaculate
+Conception_. An endless series of processions followed to thank
+Heaven for the late triumph against the unbelievers. In fact, the
+people of Seville could not move about, for some time, without
+forming a religious procession. “Any boy,” says a contemporary
+historian, “who, going upon an errand, chose to strike up the hymn
+_Todo el Mundo_, were sure to draw after him a train, which from one
+grew up into a multitude; for there was not a gentleman, clergyman,
+or friar, who did not join and follow the chorus which he thus
+happened to meet in the streets.”
+
+Besides these religious ceremonies, shows of a more worldly character
+were exhibited. Among these was the Moorish equestrian game, called,
+in Arabic, _El Jeerid_, and in Spanish, _Cañas_, from the reeds
+which, instead of javelins, the cavaliers dart at each other, as they
+go through a great variety of graceful and complicated evolutions
+on horseback.[61] _Fiestas Reales_, or bull-fights, where gentlemen
+enter the arena, were also exhibited on this occasion. To diversify,
+however, the spectacle, and indulge the popular taste, which requires
+a species of comic interlude, called _Mogiganga_, a dwarf, whose
+diminutive limbs required to have the stirrups fixed on the flap
+of the saddle, mounted on a milk-white horse, and attended by four
+negroes of gigantic stature, dressed in a splendid oriental costume,
+fought with one of the bulls, and drove a full span of his lance into
+the animal’s body--a circumstance which was deemed too important to
+be omitted by the historiographers of Seville.
+
+  [61] Gentlemen of the first rank, who are members of the
+  associations called _Maestranzas_, perform at these games on
+  the King’s birth-day, and other public festivals. Horsemanship
+  was formerly in great estimation among the Andalusian gentry,
+  who joined in a variety of amusements connected with that art.
+  Such was the _Parejas de Hachas_, a game performed by night, at
+  which the riders bore lighted torches. When Philip the Fourth
+  visited Seville, in 1624, one hundred gentlemen, each attended
+  by two grooms, all with torches in their hands, ran races before
+  the king. This was the only amusement which, according to the
+  established notions, could be permitted in Lent.
+
+The most curious and characteristic of the shows was, however, an
+allegorical tournament, exhibited at the expense of the company of
+silk-weavers, who, from the monopoly with the Spanish Colonies, had
+attained great wealth and consequence at that period. It is thus
+described, from the records of the times, by a modern Spanish writer.
+
+“Near the Puerta del Pardon (one of the gates of the cathedral),
+a platform was erected, terminating under the altar dedicated to
+the Virgin, which stands over the gate.[62] Three splendid seats
+were placed at the foot of the altar, and two avenues railed in on
+both sides of the platform to admit the Judges, the challenger, the
+supporters or seconds, the marshal, and the adventurers. Near one of
+the corners of the stage was pitched the challenger’s tent of black
+and brown silk, and in it a seat covered with black velvet. In front
+stood the figure of an apple-tree bearing fruit, and hanging from its
+boughs a target, on which the challenge was exposed to view.
+
+  [62] The reader must be aware that this was an imitation of a
+  foot tournament, an amusement as frequent among the ancient
+  Spanish knights as the jousts on horseback. It is called in the
+  Spanish Chronicles _Tornéo de a pié_.
+
+“At five in the afternoon, the Marshal, attended by his Adjutant,
+presented himself in the lists. He was followed by four children, in
+the dress used to represent angels, with lighted torches in their
+hands. Another child, personating Michael the Archangel, was the
+leader of a second group of six angels, who were the bearers of the
+prizes--a Lamb and a Male Infant. The Judges, Justice and Mercy,
+appeared last of all, and took their appointed seats.
+
+“The sound of drums, fifes, and clarions, announced soon after,
+the approach of another group, composed of two savages of gigantic
+dimensions, with large clubs on their shoulders, eight torch-bearers
+in black, and two infernal Furies, and, in the centre, the
+challenger’s shield-bearer, followed by the challenger’s supporter or
+second, dressed in black and gold, with a plume of black and yellow
+feathers. This band having walked round the stage, the second brought
+the challenger out of the tent, who, dressed uniformly with his
+supporter, appeared wielding a lance twenty-five hands in length.[63]
+
+  [63] Though the Spanish writer has forgotten to mention the
+  allegory of the challenger, it is evident, from the sequel, that
+  he was intended to represent _Sin_.
+
+The following is a list of the Adventurers, their attendants, or
+torch-bearers, and supporters or seconds:--
+
+                         Attendants              Seconds
+    ---------------------------------------------------------
+    Adam                 6 Clowns                { Hope and
+                                                 {   Innocence.
+
+    Cain                 6 Infernal Furies         Envy.
+
+    Abraham              6 Dwarfs,[64] three   }
+                           Angels in the habit }   Faith.
+                           of Pilgrims,        }
+                           and Isaac           }
+
+    Job                  6 Pages                   Patience.
+
+    David                6 Squires                 Repentance.
+
+    Jeroboam             4 Jews                    Idolatry.
+
+    Ahab                12 Squires                 Covetousness.
+
+    John the Baptist    12 Squires               { Divine Love
+                                                 {   and Grace.
+
+  [64] Dwarfs were formerly very common among the servants of the
+  Spanish nobility. But it is not easy to guess for what reason
+  they were allotted to Abraham, on this occasion.
+
+“The dresses (continues the historian) were all splendid, and suited
+to the characters.
+
+“The Adventurers engaged the challenger in succession, and all were
+wounded by the first stroke of his enormous lance. In this state they
+drew their swords, and fought with various success, some conquering
+the common enemy, while others yielded to his superior force.
+None, however, distinguished himself so much as the Baptist, who,
+regardless of the wound he had received at the first onset, and being
+armed with fresh weapons by _Grace_, beat the adversary in every
+succeeding rencounter. His extraordinary success was rewarded with a
+seat near the Judges, and the Lamb was awarded him as a prize.
+
+“After this, the Marshal and his Adjutant, followed by _Grace_ and
+_Divine Love_, left the stage. In a short time they re-appeared,
+followed by twelve youths, as torch-bearers, the seven Virtues[65]
+personated by children from four to five years of age, and nine
+Angels, as representatives of the nine hierarchies. Two squires
+attended each of the Virtues and Angels; the whole train being
+closed by _Grace_ and _Divine Love_, supporting the last Adventurer,
+a beautiful child seven years old, who, as intended to represent
+the Holy Virgin, was more splendidly dressed than the rest, in a
+suit of sky-blue and white, sprinkled with golden stars, the hair
+flowing down the shoulders in curls, and held round the head by a
+twelve-starred diadem.
+
+  [65] The Spanish Catechism enumerates seven vices and seven
+  opposite virtues.
+
+“When the combatants faced each other, the challenger could not
+conceal his trepidation. The female Adventurer, on the other hand,
+would not use the lance with which she had entered the lists; for
+it bore the words DAUGHTER OF ADAM, in a banderole which hung from
+it. Having thrown away that weapon, she received another from the
+seconds, with the inscription DAUGHTER OF THE FATHER. At this moment
+the challenger darted his lance; but in his fear and confusion, he
+could not touch his adversary, while the heroine, on the contrary,
+taking an unerring aim at his breast, brought him instantly upon
+his knees; and the victory was completed with two other lances,
+bearing the mottoes--MOTHER OF THE SON--SPOUSE OF THE HOLY GHOST.
+Unhurt by her adversary, she had now laid him on the ground, and
+placed her foot and sword upon his neck, amidst a shout of universal
+acclamation. The Judges awarded her the _Child Jesus_, as a prize,
+and seated her above all in a throne. Next under the Virgin took
+their seats _Divine Love_, _Grace_, _Michael_, and _John the
+Baptist_, and a general tournament ensued, in which all the other
+combatants engaged. The tournament being ended, the challenger and
+his second retired through the left avenue. The rest of the actors
+conducted the victor, through that on the right, attended by one
+hundred and forty torch-bearers, and a band of musicians singing
+her triumphal hymn, which was echoed by the immense concourse.”
+_Compendio Historico de Sevilla por Don Fermin Arana de Varflora_
+(Padre Valderrama) p. 77, et seq.
+
+
+NOTE B.
+
+_On a Passage in Xenophon._--p. 46.
+
+The passage from Xenophon translated in the text is this: Οἱ οὖν
+ἀμφὶ τὸν Σωκράτην πρῶτον μέν, ὥσπερ εἰκὸς ἦν, ἐπαινοῦντες τὴν κλῆσιν
+οὐχ ὑπισχνοῦντο συνδειπνήσειν. ὡς δὲ πάνυ ἀχθόμενος φανερὸς ἦν, εἰ
+μὴ ἕψοιντο, συνηκολούθησαν. Sympos. c. 1. 7. Ernesti is angry at
+the ὥσπερ εἰκὸς, which is soon after repeated, when speaking of
+the order in which the guests placed themselves at table. He wants,
+in the last passage, to change it into ὡς ἔτυχον. But though the
+emendation is plausible, there seems to be no necessity to alter the
+reading. Xenophon is, indeed, remarkably fond of that phrase. The
+εἰκὸς, in both places, probably means _according to custom_. It might
+be applied to the order of precedence in England, and it should seem
+to have been used by Xenophon to denote the Greek sense of propriety
+in taking a place at table. In Spain, where there is no established
+order, a great deal of bowing and scraping takes place before the
+guests can arrange that important point. But, without any settled
+rule, there is a tact which seldom misleads any one who wishes not to
+give offence. This is probably the second ὥσπερ εἰκὸς of Xenophon.
+
+
+NOTE C.
+
+“_A little work that gave an amusing Miracle of the Virgin for every
+Day in the Year._” p. 70.
+
+The book alluded to in the text is the _Año Virgineo_. The moral
+tendency of this and similar books may be shewn by the following
+story--technically named an _Example_--which I will venture to give
+from memory:--A Spanish soldier, who had fought in the Netherlands,
+having returned home with some booty, was leading a profligate and
+desperate life. He had, however, bled for the Faith: and his own was
+perfectly orthodox. A large old picture of the Virgin Mary hung over
+the inside of the door of his lodgings, which, it seems, did not
+correspond in loftiness to the brave halberdier’s mind and demeanour.
+Early every morning he used to sally forth in pursuit of unlawful
+pleasure; but, though he never did bend his knees in prayer, he
+would not cross the threshold without a loud _Hail Mary!_ to the
+picture, accompanied by an inclination of the halbert, which partly
+from his outrageous hurry to break out of the nightly prison, partly
+from want of room for his military salute, inflicted many a wound on
+the canvass. Thus our soldier went on spending his life and money,
+till a sharp Spanish dagger composed him to rest, in the heat of a
+brawl. “He died and made no sign.” The Devil, who thought him as
+fair a prize as any that had ever been within his grasp, waited only
+for the sentence which, according to Catholics, is passed on every
+individual immediately after death, in what they call the _Particular
+Judgment_. At this critical moment the Virgin Mary presented herself
+in a black mantle, similar to that which she wore in the picture,
+but sadly rent and slit in several places. “These are the marks,”
+she said to the affrighted soul, “of your rude, though certainly
+well-meant civility. I will not, however, permit that one who has so
+cordially saluted me every day, should go into everlasting fire.”
+Thus saying, she bade the evil spirit give up his prisoner, and the
+gallant soldier was sent to purge off the dross of his boisterous
+nature, in the gentler flames of purgatory.--A portion of the book
+from which I recollect this story, was, for many years, read every
+evening in one of the principal parishes at Seville. I observed the
+same practice at a town not far from the capital of Andalusia; and,
+for any thing I know to the contrary, it may be very common all over
+Spain. Such is the doctrine which, disowned in theory by the divines
+of the Roman church, but growing out of the system of saint-worship,
+constitutes the main religious feeling of the vulgar, and taints
+strongly the minds of the higher classes in Spain. The Chronicles
+of the Religious Orders are full of narratives, the whole drift of
+which is to represent their patron saint as powerful to save from the
+very jaws of hell. The skill of the painter has often been engaged
+to exhibit these stories to the eye, and the Spanish convents abound
+in pictures more encouraging to vice than the most profligate prints
+of the Palais Royal. I recollect one at Seville in the convent of
+the Antonines--a species of the genus _Monachus Franciscanus_ of the
+_Monachologia_--so strangely absurd, that I hope the reader will
+forgive my lengthening this note with its description. The picture I
+allude to was in the cloisters of the convent of San Antonio, facing
+the principal entrance, so late as the year 1810, when I was last at
+Seville. The subject is the hairbreadth escape of a great sinner,
+whom St. Francis saved against all chances. An extract from the
+Chronicles of the Order, which is found in a corner of the painting,
+informs the beholder that the person whose soul is represented on the
+canvass, was a lawless nobleman, who, fortified in his own castle,
+became the terror and abhorrence of the neighbourhood. As neither the
+life of man, nor the honour of woman, was safe from the violence of
+his passions, none willingly dwelt upon his lands, or approached the
+gate of the castle. It chanced, however, that two Franciscan friars,
+having lost the way in a stormy night, applied for shelter at the
+wicked nobleman’s gate, where they met with nothing but insult and
+scorn. It was well for them that the fame of St. Francis filled the
+world at that time. The holy saint, with the assistance of St. Paul,
+had lately cut the throat of an Italian bishop, who had resisted the
+establishment of the Franciscans in his diocese.[66]
+
+  [66] This curious scene is the subject of another picture in the
+  cloisters of Saint Francis, at Seville. The bishop is seen in
+  his bed, where Saint Francis has neatly severed the head from
+  the body with Saint Paul’s sword, which he had borrowed for this
+  pious purpose. As the good friars might have been suspected of
+  having a hand in this miracle, the saint performed an additional
+  wonder. The figures of Saint Paul and Saint Francis stood side
+  by side in a painted glass window of the principal convent
+  of the order. The apostle had a sword in his hand, while his
+  companion was weaponless. To the great surprise of the fathers,
+  it was observed, one morning, that Saint Paul had given away the
+  sword to his friend. The death of the bishop, which happened
+  that very night, explained the wonder, and taught the world
+  what those might expect who thwarted the plans of Heaven in the
+  establishment of the Franciscans.
+
+The fear of a similar punishment abated the fierceness of the
+nobleman, and he ordered his servants to give the friars some clean
+straw for a bed, and a couple of eggs for their supper. Having given
+this explanation, the painter trusts to the appropriate language of
+his art, and takes up the story immediately after the death of the
+noble sinner. Michael the archangel--who by a traditional belief,
+universal in Spain, and probably common to all Catholic countries, is
+considered to have the charge of weighing departed souls with their
+good works, against the sins they have committed--is represented
+with a large pair of scales in his hand. Several angels, in a group,
+stand near him, and a crowd of devils are watching, at a respectful
+distance, the result of the trial. The newly-departed soul, in the
+puny shape of a sickly boy, has been placed, naked, in one scale,
+while the opposite groans under a monstrous heap of swords, daggers,
+poisoned bows, love-letters, and portraits of females, who had been
+the victims of his fierce desires. It is evident that this ponderous
+mass would have greatly outweighed the slight and nearly transparent
+form which was to oppose its pressure, had not Saint Francis, whose
+figure stands prominent in the painting, assisted the distressed
+soul by slipping a couple of eggs and a bundle of straw into its own
+side of the balance. Upon this seasonable addition, the instruments
+and emblems of guilt are seen to fly up and kick the beam. It appears
+from this that the Spanish painter agrees with Milton in the system
+of weighing Fate; and that, since the days of Homer and Virgil,
+superior weight is become the sign of victory, which with them was
+that of defeat--_quo vergat pondere lethum_.
+
+
+NOTE D.
+
+_On the Moral Character of the Spanish Jesuits,_ p. 77.
+
+Whatever we may think of the political delinquencies of their
+leaders, their bitterest enemies have never ventured to charge the
+Order of Jesuits with moral irregularities. The internal policy of
+that body precluded the possibility of gross misconduct. No Jesuit
+could step out of doors without calling on the superior for leave
+and a companion, in the choice of whom great care was taken to vary
+the couples. Never were they allowed to pass a single night out of
+the convent, except when attending a dying person: and, even then,
+they were under the strictest injunctions to return at whatever
+hour the soul departed. Nothing, however, can give a more striking
+view of the discipline and internal government of the Jesuits than
+a case well known in my family, which I shall here insert as not
+devoid of interest. A Jesuit of good connexions, and more than common
+abilities, had, during a long residence at Granada, become a general
+favourite, and especially in a family of distinction where there
+were some young ladies. On one of the three days properly named the
+Carnival, he happened to call at that house, and found the whole
+family indulging with a few intimate friends in the usual mirth of
+the season; but all in a private domestic manner. With the freedom
+and vivacity peculiar to Spanish females, the young ladies formed a
+conspiracy to make their favourite Jesuit stand up and dance with
+them. Resistance was in vain: they teased and cajoled the poor man,
+till he, in good-natured condescension, got up, moved in the dance
+for a few minutes, and retired again to his seat. Years elapsed: he
+was removed from Granada, and probably forgot the transient gaiety
+into which he had been betrayed. It is well known that the general
+of the Jesuits, who made Rome his constant residence, appointed
+from thence to every office in the order all over the world. But so
+little caprice influenced those nominations, that the friends of the
+unfortunate dancer were daily expecting to see him elected provincial
+governor of the Jesuits in Andalusia. To their great surprise,
+however, the election fell upon a much inferior man. As the elections
+were triennial, the strongest interest was made for the next turn.
+Pressed on all sides, the general desired his secretary to return a
+written answer. It was conceived in these words: “It cannot be: he
+danced at Granada.”
+
+I have seen Capuchin friars, the most austere order of Franciscans,
+rattling on a guitar, and singing Boleros before a mixed company in
+the open fields; and I have heard of a friar, who being called to
+watch over a death-bed, in a decent but poor family, had the audacity
+to take gross liberties with a female in the very room where the
+sick man lay speechless. He recovered, however, strength enough to
+communicate this horrid insult to his son, from whom I have the fact.
+The convent to which this friar belonged, is notorious, among the
+lower classes, for profligacy.
+
+I shall add a little trait illustrative of Spanish manners. A friar
+in high glee is commonly reminded of his profession, in a jeering
+tone, by the wags of the company. Cries of, _Cáñamo, Padre_, (hemp,
+my father!) are heard from all sides, alluding to the scourge used
+for the discipline, which is made of that substance, and recommending
+it as a proper cure for rebellious spirits. These two words will cut
+a friar to the heart.
+
+
+NOTE E.
+
+“_On the Prevalence of Scepticism among the Catholic Clergy._” p. 100.
+
+I once heard an English gentleman, who had resided a long time in
+Italy, where he obtained lodgings in a convent, relate his surprise
+at the termination of a friendly discussion which he had with the
+most able individuals of the house, on the points of difference
+between the Churches of England and Rome. The dispute had been
+animated, and supported with great ability on the Catholic side
+by one of the youngest monks. When, at length, all, except the
+chief disputants, had retired, the young monk, turning to his
+English guest, asked him whether he really believed what he had
+been defending? Upon receiving a serious answer in the affirmative,
+he could not help exclaiming, _Allor lei crede più che tutto il
+convento_.
+
+
+NOTE F.
+
+“_The Child God._” p. 147.
+
+The representation of the Deity in the form of a child is very common
+in Spain. The number of little figures, about a foot high, called
+Niño Dios, or Niño Jesus, is nearly equal to that of nuns in most
+convents. The nuns dress them in all the variety of the national
+costumes, such as clergymen, canons in their choral robes, doctors
+of divinity in their hoods, physicians in their wigs and gold-headed
+canes, &c. &c. The Niño Jesus is often found in private houses; and
+in some parts of Spain, where contraband trade is the main occupation
+of the people, is seen in the dress of a smuggler with a brace of
+pistols at his girdle, and a blunderbuss leaning on his arm.
+
+
+NOTE G.
+
+“_On the Town of Olbera._” p. 170.
+
+In De Rocca’s “_Memoires sur la Guerre des Français en Espagne_,”
+there is a trait so perfectly in character with Don Leucadio’s
+description of the people of Olbera, that I must beg leave to
+transcribe it:--
+
+“Nous formâmes un bivouac dans une prairie entourée de murs,
+attenante à l’auberge qui est sur la route au bas du village.
+Les habitans furent, pendant le reste du jour, assez tranquilles
+en apparence, et ils nous fournirent des vivres; mais, au lieu
+d’un jeune bœuf que j’avais demandé, ils nous apportèrent un âne
+coupé en quartiers: les hussards trouvèrent que ce veau, comme
+ils l’appellaient, avait le goût un peu fade; mais ce ne fut que
+long-temps après que nous apprîmes cette bizarre tromperie, par les
+montagnards eux-mêmes. Ils nous criaient souvent, dans la suite, en
+tiraillant avec nous, ‘Vous avez mangé de l’âne à Olbera.’ C’était,
+dans leur opinion, la plus sanglante des injures qu’on pût faire à
+des chrétiens.”
+
+De Rocca’s book abounds in lively pictures of Spanish manners,
+especially in the account he gives of the Serrania de Ronda; without
+indulging national partialities, he does full justice to his mortal
+enemies, and represents them in the most favourable colours which
+were consistent with truth.
+
+
+NOTE H.
+
+“_The effectual aid given by that Crucifix in the Plague of 1649, was
+upon record._” p. 174.
+
+Zuñiga, in his Annals, copies a Spanish inscription, which still
+exists in the convent of Saint Augustin, at Seville; of which I
+subjoin a translation:--
+
+“In 1649, this town being under a most violent attack of the plague,
+of which great numbers died,[67] the two most illustrious Chapters,
+Ecclesiastical and Secular, requested that this community of our
+father St. Augustin, should allow the image of Christ to be carried
+to the Cathedral. It was, accordingly, conveyed, on the second of
+July of the same year, in a solemn procession, attended by the
+Secular Chapter (the Town Corporation), and all the religious
+communities, amidst the loud wailings of the people; when the most
+illustrious Chapter of the Cathedral walked to meet the procession at
+the end of the street of the _Placentines_.[68] The most holy image
+was left that evening and the ensuing night in the Cathedral, and
+returned the next day to its shrine, our Lord being pleased to ordain
+that the plague should begin to abate from the day when the image
+was brought out, and cease altogether at the end of the _Octavario_,
+(eight days worship), as it was attested by the physicians. Wherefore
+the most noble and most loyal city of Seville appointed the said
+second of July, for ever, to repair to this convent as an act of
+thanksgiving for that great benefit.”
+
+  [67] Espinosa, the modern editor and annotator of Zuñiga, states,
+  from ancient records, that within the first six weeks after the
+  appearance of the plague, the number of deaths amounted to eighty
+  thousand. This, however, we consider as a palpable exaggeration;
+  for, though Seville was nearly depopulated on that occasion,
+  it is probable that it never contained more than one hundred
+  thousand inhabitants.
+
+  [68] Seville has several streets bearing the name of foreign
+  nations--a faint memorial of its former commerce and wealth. The
+  street of the _Placentines_ is a continuation of that of the
+  Franks (Francos). There is a Lombard Street (calle Lombardos), a
+  _Genoa Street_, and some others of a similar denomination.
+
+In spite of this solemn acknowledgment of the miracle, the
+_astrologers_ of that day were unwilling to give the crucifix the
+whole credit of staying the plague. Zuñiga shrewdly observes that
+the conjunction of Jupiter with Mars, which, according to Captain
+Francis de Ruesta, removed the infection, did not take place till the
+12th of July, ten days after the wonderful effects of the procession
+had become visible; and the Captain himself, probably to keep clear
+of the Inquisition, declares that the favourable influence of the
+planets “was previously _ensured_ by the exhibition of the Holy
+Christ of Saint Augustin.” _Zuñiga, Anales de Sevilla_, t. iv. p. 404.
+
+
+NOTE I.
+
+“_Vicious Habits of the Religious Probationers._” p. 195.
+
+The Spanish satirical novel, “_Fray Gerundio de Campazas_,” contains
+a lively picture of the adventures of a Novice. It was written by
+Padre Isla, a Jesuit, for the purpose of checking the foppery and
+absurdity of the popular preachers. Cervantes himself could not boast
+of greater success in banishing the books of Chivalry than Isla in
+shaming the friars out of the affected and often profane _concetti_,
+which, in his time, were mistaken for pulpit eloquence. But the
+Inquisition could not endure that her great props, the religious
+orders, should be exposed, in any of their members, to the shafts of
+ridicule; and _Fray Gerundio_ was prohibited.
+
+
+NOTE K.
+
+A book entitled _Memorias para la vida del Excmo. Señor D. Gaspar
+Melchor de Jovellanos_, was published, at Madrid, in 1814, by Cean
+Bermudez. This gentleman, whose uninterrupted intimacy from early
+youth with the subject of his Memoirs, enabled him to draw an
+animated picture of one of the most interesting men that Spain has
+produced in her decline, has, probably, from the habits of reserve
+and false notions of decorum, still prevalent in that country,
+greatly disappointed our hopes. What relates to Jovellanos himself
+is confined to a few pages, containing little more than the dates of
+events connected with his public life, some vague declamation, and a
+few inuendos on the great intrigues which, having raised him to the
+ministry, confined him soon after to the fortress of Bellver. The
+second part contains a catalogue, and a slight analysis of his works.
+The friends of Jovellanos, however, are indebted to the author of the
+Memorias, for the help which this collection of notes on the life of
+that truly excellent and amiable man will afford any future writer
+who, with more settled habits of freedom, and altogether under more
+favourable circumstances, shall undertake to draw the full-length
+picture of which we yet scarcely possess a sketch.
+
+For the satisfaction of such of our readers as may wish to know the
+fate of Jovellanos, we subjoin a brief account of the last years of
+his life.
+
+Upon the accession of Ferdinand VII., Jovellanos was, by royal order,
+released from his confinement, and subsequently elected a Member of
+the Central Junta. When the French entered Seville in 1810, and the
+Regency of Cadiz superseded the Junta, he wished to retire to his
+native place, Gijon, in Asturias.
+
+The popular feeling, exasperated by national misfortunes, was now
+venting itself against the abdicated Government, to whose want of
+energy the advantages of the French were indiscriminately attributed;
+and Jovellanos, accidentally detained in the Bay of Cadiz, had the
+mortification of learning that he was involved in the absurd and
+shameful suspicion of having shared in the spoil of the Spanish
+treasury, with which the Central Junta was charged. A dignified
+appeal to the candour of the nation, which he sent to the Cadiz
+papers for insertion, was not permitted to see the light--so narrow
+and illiberal were the views of the Regency--and the feeling and
+high-minded Castilian had to sail under the intolerable apprehension
+that some of his countrymen might look upon him as a felon
+endeavouring to abscond from justice.
+
+If any one circumstance could add to the painfulness of Jovellanos’s
+situation, it was that, while the thoughtlessness or the ingratitude
+of his countrymen thus involved him in a suspicion of peculation,
+the state of his finances was such as to have obliged him to accept
+the sum of little more than one hundred pounds, the savings of many
+year’s service, which his trusty valet pressed upon him, with tears,
+that he might defray the expenses of their removal from Seville.
+
+After being almost wrecked on the coast of Galicia, Jovellanos was
+obliged to land at the small town of Muros. Here he had to endure a
+fresh insult from the petty Junta of that province, by whose orders
+his papers were minutely searched, and copies taken at the option of
+an officer sent for that purpose with a military detachment.
+
+A temporary retreat of the French from Gijon enabled Jovellanos to
+revisit his native town; but an unexpected return of the invaders
+obliged him soon after to take ship with the utmost precipitation.
+His flight was so sudden that he was actually at sea without having
+determined upon a place of refuge. Had the venerable and unhappy
+fugitive listened to the repeated invitations which his intimate
+friend Lord Holland sent him after the first appearance of danger
+from the progress of the French, his life might have been prolonged
+under the hospitable roof of Holland House. But Jovellanos’s notions
+of public duty were too exalted and romantic: and he would not quit
+Spain while there was a single spot in the possession of her patriots.
+
+In attempting to reach by sea the port of Ribadeo, where there lay
+a Spanish frigate, in which he hoped to find a passage to Cadiz,
+another storm kept him for eight days under the peculiar hardships of
+a dangerous navigation in a small and crowded ship. Exhausted both in
+body and mind, and with a heart almost broken by the ill-treatment he
+had met with at the close of a long life spent in the service of his
+country, he landed at Vega, where, the poverty of the town offering
+no better accommodations, he was placed in the same room with Valdés
+Llanos, an old friend and relation, who had joined him in the flight,
+and seemed so shattered by age and fatigue, as not to be able to
+survive the effects of the late storm. Here Jovellanos employed his
+remaining strength in nursing and comforting his fellow-sufferer,
+till, Valdés being near his end, his friend was, according to the
+notions of the country, removed to another room. But death had
+also laid his hand on Jovellanos. Two days after completing his
+sixty-sixth year, he was laid in the same grave with his friend.[69]
+
+  [69] In the Appendix No. 2, to Lord Holland’s _Life of Lope de
+  Vega_ are found both the originals and translations of some
+  eloquent passages from Jovellanos’s pen, to which I have made an
+  allusion in this note. His portrait also, from a marble bust
+  executed at Seville by Don Angel Monasterio, at his lordship’s
+  desire, and now in his possession, is prefixed to the second
+  volume of the same work.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Letters from Spain, by Joseph Blanco White
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM SPAIN ***
+
+***** This file should be named 48203-0.txt or 48203-0.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/4/8/2/0/48203/
+
+Produced by Josep Cols Canals, Ramon Pajares Box, and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
+be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
+States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive
+specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
+eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook
+for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
+performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given
+away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks
+not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the
+trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
+
+START: FULL LICENSE
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
+person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
+1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
+Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country outside the United States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
+on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+
+  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
+  United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you
+  are located before using this ebook.
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
+other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
+Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+provided that
+
+* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
+  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+  Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
+  works.
+
+* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+  receipt of the work.
+
+* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
+Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
+www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
+mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
+volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
+locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
+Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to
+date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
+official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+
+    Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+    Chief Executive and Director
+    gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
+state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
+facility: www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/48203/48203-0.zip b/48203/48203-0.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3efd18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/48203/48203-0.zip
diff --git a/48203/48203-h.zip b/48203/48203-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3786f74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/48203/48203-h.zip
diff --git a/48203/48203-h/48203-h.htm b/48203/48203-h/48203-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d50c4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/48203/48203-h/48203-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,14593 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+    <title>
+      Letters From Spain, by Joseph Blanco White&mdash;A Project Gutenberg eBook
+    </title>
+    <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" />
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+      body { margin: 0 auto; max-width: 60%; /* 40em; */ }
+      p    { margin: 0.75em 0 0 0; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1.5em; }
+
+      h1, h2, h3 { text-align: center; clear: both; font-weight: normal; }
+      h1         { line-height: 1.5em; }
+      h2         { margin: 0.75em 10% 1em 10%; font-size: 150%; }
+      h3         { margin: 1.5em 10% 1em 10%; font-size: 120%; }
+
+      h2.nobreak    { page-break-before: avoid; }
+
+      .falseh1   { margin: 0 0 1em 0; text-indent: 0; text-align: center;
+                   font-weight: normal; font-size: 175%; clear: both; }
+      .subh3     { margin: 1em 1.5em; text-indent: 0; text-align: center;
+                   font-weight: normal; font-size: large; clear: both; }
+
+      .front     { margin: 3em 0; page-break-before: always; }
+      .front p   { margin: 0; text-indent: 0; text-align: left; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 90%; }
+      .tit       { margin: 3em auto 0 auto; page-break-before: always; }
+      .tit p     { text-indent: 0; text-align: center; }
+      .aftit     { margin: 0 auto; page-break-before: always; }
+      .aftit p   { margin: 0.2em 0; text-align: center; text-indent: 0; }
+      .chapter   { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 2em; }
+
+      .i1        { padding-left: 1.5em; }
+
+      .p1        { margin-top: 1.5em;   }
+      .p2        { margin-top: 2em;     }
+      .p4        { margin-top: 4em;     }
+
+      .xss       { font-size: xx-small; }
+      .xs        { font-size: x-small;  }
+      .small     { font-size: small;    }
+      .large     { font-size: large;    }
+      .xlarge    { font-size: x-large;  }
+
+      hr         { clear: both; width: 33%; text-align: center; margin: 3em auto; }
+      hr.chap    { width: 20%; }
+      hr.brief   { width: 10%; margin: 2em auto; }
+      hr.sep1    { width: 6%;  margin: 0.5em auto; }
+      hr.sep2    { width: 6%;  margin: 1.5em auto; }
+
+      .smcap     { font-variant: small-caps; }
+      .noindent  { text-indent: 0; }
+      .signed    { text-align: right; }
+      .center    { text-align: center; text-indent: 0; }
+      .footdate  { margin: 2em 0; text-indent: 0; font-size: small; }
+      .headdate  { margin: 1em 0; padding-right: 1.5em; text-align: right; }
+      .sentto    { text-indent: 0; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1em; }
+      .end       { margin: 3em 0 0 0; text-align: center; text-indent: 0; font-size: 90%; }
+
+      blockquote   { margin: 1.5em auto; }
+      blockquote p { margin: 0; font-size: 90%; }
+
+      .contents p         { clear: both; padding-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em; }
+      .contents p.letter  { padding-top: 1em; padding-left: 0; text-indent: 0; text-align: center; }
+      .contents p.toright { margin: 0; padding: 0; text-indent: 0; text-align: right; }
+
+      table  { margin: 0 auto; }
+      .tdl   { text-align: left; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em; }
+      .tdr   { text-align: right; padding-left: 1em; white-space: nowrap; }
+      .tdvab { text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline; }
+      .td170 { font-size: 170%; }
+      .td380 { font-size: 380%; vertical-align: top; }
+      .tdbb  { border-bottom: thin solid black; }
+
+      .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+        /* visibility: hidden; */
+        position: absolute;
+        right: 90%;
+        font-size: small;
+        font-variant: normal;
+        font-style: normal;
+        font-weight: normal;
+        letter-spacing: normal;
+        text-align: right;
+        color: #B0B0B0;
+        text-indent: 0;
+      }
+
+      /* Images */
+      .figcenter  { margin: 2em auto; text-align: center; }
+
+      /* Footnotes */
+      .footnotes       { margin: 1.5em 0 1em 0; border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; background-color: #F0FFFF; }
+      .footnote        { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; font-size: 0.9em; }
+      .footnote p      { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent: 0; }
+      .footnote .label { padding-right: .5em; }
+      .fnanchor        { vertical-align: top; text-decoration: none; font-size: 0.75em;
+                         font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; }
+
+      /* Poetry */
+      .poetry-container { text-align: center; }
+      .poetry           { display: inline-block; margin: 1em 0; text-align: left; font-size: 90%; }
+      .poetry p         { margin: 0; padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em }
+      .poetry p.i1      { padding-left: 3em; }
+      .poetry p.isig    { text-align: right; }
+
+      /* Transcriber's notes */
+      .transnote    { border: thin solid gray; background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: smaller;
+                      margin: 3em 0; padding: 1em 1em 1em 0; }
+      .tnotetit     { font-weight: bold; text-align: center; text-indent: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; }
+
+      @media handheld, print
+      {
+          p        { margin: 0; }
+
+          hr       { clear: both; width: 34%; margin-left: 33%; }
+          hr.chap  { width: 20%; margin-left: 40%; }
+          hr.brief { width: 10%; margin-left: 45%; }
+          hr.sep1,
+          hr.sep2  { width: 6%;  margin-left: 47%; }
+
+         .screenonly { display: none; }
+         .poetry     { display: block; margin-left: 5em; }
+      }
+
+    </style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters from Spain, by Joseph Blanco White
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Letters from Spain
+
+Author: Joseph Blanco White
+
+Release Date: February 8, 2015 [EBook #48203]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM SPAIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Josep Cols Canals, Ramon Pajares Box, and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="front">
+  <p><a href="#tnote">Transcriber's note</a></p>
+  <p><a href="#ToC">Table of Contents</a></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="screenonly">
+  <div class="figcenter">
+    <img src="images/cover.jpg"
+         alt="Book cover" />
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="tit">
+  <h1>LETTERS<br />
+  <span class="small">FROM</span><br />
+  SPAIN.</h1>
+
+  <p class="xs p4">BY</p>
+
+  <p class="large p2">DON LEUCADIO DOBLADO.</p>
+  <p class="p2">SECOND EDITION.</p>
+  <p class="small p2">REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR.</p>
+
+  <hr class="brief" />
+
+  <p>LONDON:</p>
+  <p class="small">HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.</p>
+  <hr class="sep1" />
+  <p class="small">1825.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="aftit">
+  <hr class="chap" />
+  <p class="center xs">J. GREEN, PRINTER, LEICESTER-STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE.</p>
+  <hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>PREFACE<br />
+  <span class="small">TO THE</span><br />
+  <span class="large">SECOND EDITION.</span></h2>
+  <hr class="sep2" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">That</span>
+a work like the present should appear in
+a Second Edition, implies such a reception from
+the Public as demands the most sincere gratitude
+on my part. I am anxious, therefore, to make the
+only return I have in my power, by adding, as I
+conceive, some value to the work itself; not, indeed,
+from any material corrections, but by stamping
+the facts and descriptions which it contains,
+with the character of complete authenticity. The
+readers of <i>Doblado’s Letters</i> may be sure that in
+them they have the real Memoirs of the person
+whose name is subscribed to this address. Even<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span>
+the disguise of that name was so contrived, as to
+be a mark of identity. <i>Leucadio</i> being derived from
+a Greek root which means <i>white</i>, the word <i>Doblado</i>
+was added, in allusion to the repetition of my
+family name, translated into Spanish, which my
+countrymen have forced upon us, to avoid the
+difficulty of an orthography and sound, perfectly
+at variance with their language. In short, Doblado
+and his inseparable friend, the Spanish clergyman,
+are but one and the same person; whose
+origin, education, feelings, and early turn of thinking,
+have been made an introduction to the personal
+observations on his country, which, with a
+deep sense of their kindness, he again lays before
+the British Public.</p>
+
+<p class="signed">JOSEPH BLANCO WHITE.</p>
+
+<p class="footdate"><i>Chelsea, June 1st, 1825.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>PREFACE<br />
+  <span class="small">TO THE</span><br />
+  <span class="large">FIRST EDITION.</span></h2>
+  <hr class="sep2" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Some</span>
+of the following Letters have been printed
+in the New Monthly Magazine.</p>
+
+<p>The Author would, indeed, be inclined to
+commit the whole collection to the candour of his
+readers without a prefatory address, were it not
+that the plan of his Work absolutely requires some
+explanation.</p>
+
+<p>The slight mixture of fiction which these Letters
+contain, might raise a doubt whether the
+sketches of Spanish manners, customs, and opi<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span>nions,
+by means of which the Author has endeavoured
+to pourtray the moral state of his
+country at a period immediately preceding, and in
+part coincident with the French invasion, may not
+be exaggerated by fancy, and coloured with a view
+to mere effect.</p>
+
+<p>It is chiefly on this account that the Author
+deems it necessary to assure the Public of the
+reality of every circumstance mentioned in his
+book, except the name of <i>Leucadio Doblado</i>.
+These Letters are in effect the faithful memoirs of a
+real Spanish clergyman, as far as his character and
+the events of his life can illustrate the state of the
+country which gave him birth.</p>
+
+<p><i>Doblado’s</i> Letters are dated from Spain, and, to
+preserve consistency, the Author is supposed to have
+returned thither after a residence of some years in
+England. This is another fictitious circumstance.
+Since the moment when the person disguised under<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span>
+the above name left that beloved country, whose
+religious intolerance has embittered his life&mdash;that
+country which, boasting, at this moment, of a <i>free</i>
+constitution, still continues to deprive her children
+of the right to worship God according to their own
+conscience&mdash;he has not for a day quitted England,
+the land of his ancestors, and now the country of
+his choice and adoption.</p>
+
+<p>It is not, however, from pique or resentment
+that the Author has dwelt so long and so warmly
+upon the painful and disgusting picture of Spanish
+bigotry. Spain, “with all her faults,” is still and
+shall ever be the object of his love. But since no
+man, within the limits of her territory, can venture
+to lay open the canker which, fostered by religion,
+feeds on the root of her political improvements; be
+it allowed a self-banished Spaniard to describe the
+sources of such a strange anomaly in the New
+Constitution of Spain, and thus to explain to such
+as may not be unacquainted with his name as a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span>
+Spanish writer, the true cause of an absence which
+might otherwise be construed into a dereliction of
+duty, and a desertion of that post which both
+nature and affection marked so decidedly for the
+exertion of his humble talents.</p>
+
+<p class="footdate"><i>Chelsea, June 1822.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter" id="ToC">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>TABLE<br />
+  <small>OF</small><br />
+  CONTENTS.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<div class="contents">
+
+<p class="letter">LETTER I.</p>
+
+<p>Mistakes of Travellers.&mdash;Townsend’s Accuracy.&mdash;View of Cadiz
+from the Sea.&mdash;Religion blended with Public and Domestic Life
+in Spain.&mdash;Customs relating to the Host or Eucharist.&mdash;Manners
+and Society at Cadiz.&mdash;Passage by Sea to Port Saint Mary’s.&mdash;St.
+Lucar.&mdash;Passage up the Guadalquivir to Seville.&mdash;Construction and
+internal Economy of the Houses in that Town.&mdash;Knocking, and greeting
+at the Door.&mdash;Devotion of the People of Seville to the Immaculate
+Conception of the Virgin Mary.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_1">p. 1-22</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="letter">LETTER II.</p>
+
+<p>Difficulty of describing National Characters.&mdash;<i>Nobles</i>
+and <i>Plebeians</i>, in Spain.&mdash;Purity of Blood.&mdash;<i>Tizon de
+España.</i>&mdash;Grandees.&mdash;<i>Hidalgos</i> in Low Life.&mdash;Execution of an
+<i>Hidalgo</i>.&mdash;Spanish Pride, visible among the Lower Classes.&mdash;Usual
+Employment of Day at Seville.&mdash;Spanish Politeness.&mdash;Absence of
+Jealousy in Modern Times.&mdash;Dinner.&mdash;<i>Siesta.</i>&mdash;Public Walks.&mdash;Dress
+of the Spanish Ladies.&mdash;Various Uses of the Fan.&mdash;Character of the
+Spanish Females.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_23">p. 23-51</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="letter"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>LETTER III.</p>
+
+<p>Eagerness of Free-thinking Spaniards to become acquainted, and
+their quickness in knowing one another. Inclosure of a detached
+Paper, intituled <i>A few Facts connected with the Formation of the
+Intellectual and Moral Character of a Spanish Clergyman</i>.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_52">p. 52-58</a></p>
+
+<p class="p1">Importance of examining the Tendency of Catholicism.&mdash;Account of two
+highly devout Roman Catholics.&mdash;Auricular Confession.&mdash;Education
+of a Spanish Boy.&mdash;Evils arising from the Celibacy of the
+Clergy.&mdash;Education under the Jesuits.&mdash;Congregation of Saint Philip
+Neri.&mdash;Exercises of Saint Ignatius.&mdash;Aristotelic Philosophy taught by
+the Dominicans.&mdash;Feyjoo’s Works.&mdash;Spanish Universities and Colleges,
+called <i>Mayores</i>.&mdash;Indirect Influence of the Inquisition on the State
+of Knowledge in Spain.&mdash;Mental Struggles of a young Spaniard on
+points connected with the established System of Faith.&mdash;Impressions
+produced by the Ceremony of Catholic Ordination.&mdash;Unity and
+Consistency of the Catholic System.&mdash;Train of Thought and Feeling
+leading to the final Rejection of Catholicism.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_58">p. 58-118</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="letter">LETTER IV.</p>
+
+<p>On Bull-fights, and other National Customs connected with those
+Amusements.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_119">p. 119-140</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="letter">LETTER V.</p>
+
+<p>A Journey to Osuna and Olvera.&mdash;A Spanish Country Inn.&mdash;The Play
+El Diablo Predicador.&mdash;Souls in Purgatory begged for: Lottery
+of Purgatory.&mdash;Character of Two Nuns at Osuna.&mdash;A Country
+Vicar.&mdash;Customs at Olvera.&mdash;Tapadas, or veiled Females.&mdash;A
+Dance.&mdash;The <i>Riberas</i>’ Lamp.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_141">p. 141-170</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="letter">LETTER VI.</p>
+
+<p>The Yellow Fever at Seville, in 1800.&mdash;Spiritual Methods
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span>of stopping
+its progress.&mdash;Alcalá de Guadaíra escapes the infection.&mdash;Two
+Spanish Missionaries.&mdash;The <i>Virgin of the Eagle</i>.&mdash;The <i>Dawn
+Rosary</i>.&mdash;State of Seville after the disappearance of the Disorder.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_171">p. 171-190</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="letter">LETTER VII.</p>
+
+<p>Monks and Friars.&mdash;Instances of gross misconduct among
+them.&mdash;Their Influence.&mdash;<i>Brother Sebastian</i> and Charles III.&mdash;The
+Carthusians.&mdash;Hermits near Cordova.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_191">p. 191-210</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="letter">LETTER VIII.</p>
+
+<p>Nuns.&mdash;Motives for taking the Veil.&mdash;Circumstances attending that
+Ceremony.&mdash;Account of a young Lady compelled by her Mother to take
+the Monastic Vows.&mdash;<i>Escrúpulos</i>, or Religious Anxiety.&mdash;Spiritual
+Flirtation.&mdash;Nun Doctors.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_211">p. 211-228</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="letter">LETTER IX.</p>
+
+<p>Memorandums of some Andalusian Customs and Festivals.&mdash;Saint
+Sebastian’s Day: Carnival, <a href="#Page_230">p. 230</a>.&mdash;Ash-Wednesday, <a href="#Page_239">p. 239</a>.&mdash;Mid-lent,
+<a href="#Page_243">p. 243</a>.&mdash;Passion, or Holy Week, <a href="#Page_245">p. 245</a>.&mdash;Passion Wednesday,
+<a href="#Page_251">p. 251</a>.&mdash;Thursday in the Passion Week, <a href="#Page_252">p. 252</a>.&mdash;Good Friday,
+<a href="#Page_258">p. 258</a>.&mdash;Saturday before Easter, <a href="#Page_264">p. 264</a>.&mdash;May
+Cross, <a href="#Page_267">p. 267</a>.&mdash;Corpus Christi, <a href="#Page_268">p. 268</a>.&mdash;Saint John’s
+Eve, <a href="#Page_274">p. 274</a>.&mdash;Saint Bartholomew, <a href="#Page_277">p. 277</a>.&mdash;Detached
+Prejudices and Practices, <a href="#Page_280">p. 280</a>.&mdash;Funerals of Infants
+and Maids, <a href="#Page_282">p. 282</a>.&mdash;Spanish Christian Names, <a href="#Page_286">p. 286</a>.&mdash;Christmas,
+<a href="#Page_288">p. 288</a>.</p>
+
+
+<p class="letter">LETTER X.</p>
+
+<p>A Sketch of the Court of Madrid, in the Reign of Charles the Fourth,
+and the Intrigues connected with the Influence of the Prince of the
+Peace.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_292">p. 292-320</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="letter">LETTER XI.</p>
+
+<p>Private Life at Madrid.&mdash;<i>Pretendientes.</i>&mdash;Literary Characters.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_321">p. 321-343</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="letter"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span>LETTER XII.</p>
+
+<p>Events connected with the beginning of the French Invasion.&mdash;The
+<i>Escurial</i> at the Time of the Arrest of the Prince of
+Asturias.&mdash;Revolution at Aranjuez and Madrid.&mdash;Massacre of the 2d of
+May, 1808.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_344">p. 344-372</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="letter">LETTER XIII.</p>
+
+<p>State of Spain at the time of the general Rising against the French,
+as observed in a Journey from Madrid to Seville, through the Province
+of Estremadura.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_373">p. 373</a></p>
+
+<hr class="sep2" />
+
+<p>APPENDIX.&mdash;An Account of the Suppression of the Jesuits in Spain.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_395">p. 395</a></p>
+
+<p>NOTES.</p>
+<p class="toright"><a href="#Page_411">p. 411</a></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+  <p class="falseh1">LETTERS FROM SPAIN.</p>
+  <hr class="sep1" />
+  <h2 class="nobreak">LETTER I.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Seville, May 1798.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">I am</span>
+inclined to think with you, that a Spaniard,
+who, like myself, has resided many years in England,
+is, perhaps, the fittest person to write an
+account of life, manners and opinions as they exist
+in this country, and to shew them in the light
+which is most likely to interest an Englishman.
+The most acute and diligent travellers are subject
+to constant mistakes; and perhaps the more so,
+for what is generally thought a circumstance in
+their favour&mdash;a moderate knowledge of foreign
+languages. A traveller who uses only his eyes,
+will confine himself to the description of external
+objects; and though his narrative may be deficient
+in many topics of interest, it will certainly
+be exempt from great and ludicrous blunders.
+The difficulty, which a person, with a smattering
+of the language of the country he is visiting, expe<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>riences
+every moment in the endeavour to communicate
+his own, and catch other men’s thoughts,
+often urges him into a sort of mental rashness,
+which leads him to settle many a doubtful point
+for himself, and to forget the unlimited power, I
+should have said tyranny, of usage, in whatever
+relates to language.</p>
+
+<p>I still recollect the unlucky hit I made on my
+arrival in London, when, anxious beyond measure
+to catch every idiomatic expression, and reading
+the huge inscription of the Cannon Brewery at
+Knightsbridge, as the building had some resemblance
+to the great cannon-foundry in this
+town, I settled it in my mind that the genuine
+English idiom, for what I should now call <i>casting</i>,
+was no other than <i>brewing</i> cannon. This, however,
+was a mere verbal mistake. Not so that
+which I made when the word <i>nursery</i> stared me
+in the face every five minutes, as in a fine afternoon
+I approached your great metropolis, on the
+western road. Luxury and wealth, said I to myself,
+in a strain approaching to philosophic indignation,
+have at last blunted the best feelings of
+nature among the English. Surely, if I am to judge
+from this endless string of <i>nurseries</i>, the English
+ladies have gone a step beyond the unnatural practice
+of devolving their first maternal duties upon
+domestic hirelings. Here, it seems, the poor helpless
+infants are sent to be kept and suckled in
+crowds, in a decent kind of <i>Foundling-Hospitals</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>
+You may easily guess that I knew but one signification
+of the words <i>nursing</i> and <i>nursery</i>. Fortunately
+I was not collecting materials for a book
+of travels during a summer excursion, otherwise
+I should now be enjoying all the honour of the
+originality of my remarks on the customs and
+manners of Old England.</p>
+
+<p>From similar mistakes I think myself safe enough
+in speaking of my native country; but I wish I
+could feel equal confidence as to the execution of
+the sketches you desire to obtain from me. I know
+you too well to doubt that my letters will, by some
+chance or other, find their way to some of the
+London Magazines, before they have been long in
+your hands. And only think, I intreat you, how I
+shall fret and fidget under the apprehension that
+some of your pert newspaper writers may raise a
+laugh against me in some of those <i>Suns</i> or <i>Stars</i>,
+which, in spite of intervening seas and mountains,
+can dart a baneful influence, and blast the character
+of infallibility, as an English scholar, which
+I have acquired since my return to Spain. I have
+so strongly rivetted the admiration of the Irish
+merchants in this place, that, in spite of their objection
+to my not calling tea <i>ta</i>, they submit to my
+decision every intricate question about your provoking
+<i>shall</i> and <i>will</i>: and surely it would be no
+small disparagement, in this land of proud <i>Dons</i>, to
+be posted up in a London paper as a murderer of the
+<i>King’s English</i>. How fortunate was our famous<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
+Spanish traveller, my relative, <i>Espriella</i><a id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> (for you
+know that there exists a family connexion between
+us by my mother’s side) to find one of the best
+writers in England, willing to translate his letters.
+But since you will not allow me to write in my
+own language, and since, to say the truth, I feel a
+pleasure in using that which reminds me of the
+dear land which has been my second home&mdash;the
+land where I drew my first breath of liberty&mdash;the
+land which taught me how to retrieve, though imperfectly
+and with pain, the time which, under the
+influence of ignorance and superstition, I had lost
+in early youth&mdash;I will not delay a task which,
+should circumstances allow me to complete it, I
+intend as a token of friendship to you, and of gratitude
+and love to your country.</p>
+
+<p>Few travellers are equal to your countryman,
+Mr. Townsend, in the truth and liveliness of his
+descriptions, as well as in the mass of useful information
+and depth of remark with which he has
+presented the public<a id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>. It would be impossible
+for any but a native Spaniard to add to the collection
+of traits descriptive of the national character,
+which animates his narrative; and I must confess
+that he has rather confined me in the selection of
+my topics. He has, indeed, fallen into such mistakes
+and inaccuracies, as nothing short of perfect
+familiarity with a country can prevent. But I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>
+may safely recommend him to you as a guide for
+a fuller acquaintance with the places whose <i>inhabitants</i>
+I intend to make the chief subject of my
+letters. But that I may not lay upon you the
+necessity of a constant reference, I shall begin by
+providing your fancy with a “local habitation” for
+the people whose habits and modes of thinking I
+will forthwith attempt to pourtray.</p>
+
+<p>The view of Cadiz from the sea, as, in a fine
+day, you approach its magnificent harbour, is
+one of the most attractive beauty. The strong
+deep light of a southern sky, reflected from the lofty
+buildings of white free stone, which face the bay,
+rivets the eye of the navigator from the very verge
+of the horizon. The sea actually washes the ramparts,
+except where, on the opposite side of the
+town, it is divided by a narrow neck of land, which
+joins Cadiz to the neighbouring continent. When,
+therefore, you begin to discover the upper part of
+the buildings, and the white pinnacles of glazed
+earthenware, resembling china, that ornament the
+parapets with which their flat roofs are crowned;
+the airy structure, melting at times into the distant
+glare of the waves, is more like a pleasing delusion&mdash;a
+kind of <i>Fata Morgana</i>&mdash;than the lofty, uniform
+massive buildings which, rising gradually before
+the vessel, bring you back, however unwilling, to
+the dull realities of life. After landing on a crowded
+quay, you are led the whole depth of the ramparts
+along a dark vaulted passage, at the farthest end<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+of which, new-comers must submit to the scrutiny
+of the inferior custom-house officers. Eighteen-pence
+slipped into their hands with the keys of
+your trunks, will spare you the vexation of seeing
+your clothes and linen scattered about in the utmost
+disorder.</p>
+
+<p>I forgot to tell you, that scarcely does a boat
+with passengers approach the landing-stairs of the
+quay, when three or four <i>Gallegos</i>, (natives of the
+province of Galicia) who are the only <i>porters</i> in this
+town, will take a fearful leap into the boat, and
+begin a scuffle, which ends by the stronger seizing
+upon the luggage. The successful champion becomes
+your guide through the town to the place
+where you wish to take up your abode. As only
+two gates are used as a thoroughfare&mdash;the sea-gate,
+<i>Puerta de la Mar</i>, and the land-gate, <i>Puerta de
+Tierra</i>&mdash;those who come by water are obliged to
+cross the great Market&mdash;a place not unlike Covent
+Garden, where the country people expose all sorts
+of vegetables and fruits for sale. Fish is also sold
+at this place, where you see it laid out upon the
+pavement in the same state as it was taken out of
+the net. The noise and din of this market are
+absolutely intolerable. All classes of Spaniards,
+not excluding the ladies, are rather loud and
+boisterous in their speech. But here is a contention
+between three or four hundred peasants, who
+shall make his harsh and guttural voice be uppermost,
+to inform the passengers of the price and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>
+quality of his goods. In a word, the noise is such
+as will astound any one, who has not lived for some
+years near Cornhill or Temple Bar.</p>
+
+<p>Religion, or, if you please, superstition, is so
+intimately blended with the whole system of public
+and domestic life in Spain, that I fear I shall tire
+you with the perpetual recurrence of that subject.
+I am already compelled, by an involuntary train of
+ideas, to enter upon that endless topic. If, however,
+you wish to become thoroughly acquainted
+with the national character of my country, you
+must learn the character of the national religion.
+The influence of religion in Spain is boundless. It
+divides the whole population into two comprehensive
+classes, bigots and dissemblers. Do not, however,
+mistake me. I am very far from wishing to
+libel my countrymen. If I use these invidious
+words, it is not that I believe every Spaniard either
+a downright bigot or a hypocrite: yet I cannot
+shut my eyes to the melancholy fact, that the
+system under which we live must unavoidably
+give, even to the best among us, a taint of one
+of those vices. Where the law threatens every
+dissenter from such an encroaching system of
+divinity as that of the Church of Rome, with death
+and infamy&mdash;where every individual is not only
+invited, but enjoined, at the peril of both body and
+soul, to assist in enforcing that law; must not an
+undue and tyrannical influence accrue to the believing
+party? Are not such as disbelieve in secret,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+condemned to a life of degrading deference, or of
+heart-burning silence? Silence, did I say? No;
+every day, every hour, renews the necessity of explicitly
+declaring yourself what you are not. The
+most contemptible individual may, at pleasure,
+force out <i>a lie</i> from an honestly proud bosom.</p>
+
+<p>I must not, however, keep you any longer in
+suspense as to the origin of this flight&mdash;this unprepared
+digression from the plain narrative I had
+begun. You know me well enough to believe that
+after a long residence in England, my landing at
+Cadiz, instead of cheering my heart at the sight of
+my native country, would naturally produce a
+mixed sensation, in which pain and gloominess
+must have had the ascendant. I had enjoyed the
+blessings of liberty for several years; and now, alas!
+I perceived that I had been irresistibly drawn back
+by the holiest ties of affection, to stretch out my
+hands to the manacles, and bow my neck to that
+yoke, which had formerly galled my very soul.
+The convent of San Juan de Dios&mdash;(laugh, my dear
+friend, if you will: at what you call my <i>monachophobia</i>;
+<i>you</i> may do so, who have never lived
+within range of any of these European <i>jungles</i>,
+where lurks every thing that is hideous and venomous)&mdash;well,
+then, San Juan de Dios is the
+first remarkable object that meets the eye upon entering
+Cadiz by the sea-gate. A single glance at
+the convent had awakened the strongest and most
+rooted aversions of my heart, when just as I was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
+walking into the nearest street to avoid the crowd,
+the well-remembered sound of a hand-bell made me
+instantly aware that, unless pretending not to hear
+it, I could retrace my steps, and turn another corner,
+I should be obliged to kneel in the mud till a
+priest, who was carrying the consecrated wafer to
+a dying person, had moved slowly in his sedan-chair
+from the farthest end of the street to the
+place where I began to hear the bell.</p>
+
+<p>The rule on these occasions, is expressed in a
+proverbial saying&mdash;<i>al Rey, en viendolo; a Dios, en
+oyendolo</i>&mdash;which, after supplying its elliptical form,
+means that external homage is due to the king upon
+seeing him: and to God&mdash;<i>i. e.</i> the host, preceded
+by its never-failing appendage, the bell&mdash;the very
+moment you hear him. I must add, as a previous
+explanation of what is to follow, that God and the
+king are so coupled in the language of this country,
+that the same title of <i>Majesty</i> is applied to both.
+You hear, from the pulpit, the duties that men
+owe to <i>both Majesties</i>; and a foreigner is often
+surprised at the hopes expressed by the Spaniards,
+that <i>his Majesty</i> will be pleased to grant them life
+and health for some years more. I must add a
+very ludicrous circumstance arising from this
+absurd form of speech. When the priest, attended
+by the clerk, and surrounded by eight or ten people,
+bearing lighted flambeaus, has broken into the
+chamber of the dying person, and gone through
+a form of prayer, half Latin, half Spanish, which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+lasts for about twenty minutes, one of the wafers is
+taken out of a little gold casket, and put into the
+mouth of the patient as he lies in bed. To swallow
+the wafer without the loss of any particle&mdash;which,
+according to the Council of Trent, (and I fully
+agree with the fathers) contains the same Divine
+person as the whole&mdash;is an operation of some difficulty.
+To obviate, therefore, the impropriety of
+lodging a sacred atom, as it might easily happen,
+in a bad tooth, the clerk comes forth with a glass
+of water, and in a firm and loud voice asks the
+sick person, “Is his Majesty gone down?”<a id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> The
+answer enables the learned clerk to decide whether
+the passage is to be expedited by means of his
+cooling draught.</p>
+
+<p>But I must return to my <i>Gallego</i>, and myself.
+No sooner had I called him back, as if I had suddenly
+changed my mind as to the direction in
+which we were to go, than with a most determined
+tone he said “<i>Dios&mdash;Su Magestad.</i>” Pretending
+not to hear, I turned sharply round, and was now
+making my retreat&mdash;but it would not do. Fired
+with holy zeal, he raised his harsh voice, and in
+the barbarous accent of his province, repeated
+three or four times, “<i>Dios&mdash;Su Magestad</i>;”
+adding, with an oath, “This man is a heretic!”
+There was no resisting that dreadful word: it
+pinned me to the ground. I took out my pocket<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>-handkerchief,
+and laying it on the least dirty part
+of the pavement, knelt upon it&mdash;not indeed to pray;
+but while, as another act of conformity to the
+custom of the country, I was beating my breast
+with my clenched right hand, as gently as it could
+be done without offence&mdash;to curse the hour when
+I had submitted thus to degrade myself, and tremble
+at the mere suspicion of a being little removed
+from the four-footed animals, whom it was his occupation
+to relieve of their burdens.</p>
+
+<p>In the more populous towns of Spain, these
+unpleasant meetings are frequent. Nor are you
+free from being disturbed by the holy bell in the
+most retired part of your house. Its sound operates
+like magic upon the Spaniards. In the midst of a
+gay, noisy party, the word&mdash;“<i>Su Magestad</i>”&mdash;will
+bring every one upon his knees until the tinkling
+dies in the distance. Are you at dinner?&mdash;you
+must leave the table. In bed?&mdash;you must, at
+least, sit up. But the most preposterous effect of
+this custom is to be seen at the theatres. On the
+approach of the host to any military guard, the
+drum beats, the men are drawn out, and as soon as
+the priest can be seen, they bend the right knee,
+and invert the firelocks, placing the point of the
+bayonet on the ground. As an officer’s guard is
+always stationed at the door of a Spanish theatre, I
+have often laughed in my sleeve at the effect of the
+<i>chamade</i> both upon the actors and the company.
+“<i>Dios, Dios!</i>” resounds from all parts of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+house, and every one falls that moment upon his
+knees. The actors’ ranting, or the rattling of the
+castanets in the <i>fandango</i>, is hushed for a few
+minutes, till the sound of the bell growing fainter
+and fainter, the amusement is resumed, and the
+devout performers are once more upon their legs,
+anxious to make amends for the interruption. So
+powerful is the effect of early habit, that I had
+been for some weeks in London before I could
+hear the postman’s bell in the evening, without
+feeling instinctively inclined to perform a due
+genuflection.</p>
+
+<p>Cadiz, though fast declining from the wealth and
+splendour to which she had reached during her
+exclusive privilege to trade with the Colonies of
+South America, is still one of the few towns of
+Spain, which, for refinement, can be compared
+with some of the second rate in England. The
+people are hospitable and cheerful. The women,
+without being at all beautiful, are really fascinating.
+Some of the <i>Tertulias</i>, or evening parties, which a
+simple introduction to the lady of the house entitles
+any one to attend daily, are very lively and agreeable.
+No stiffness of etiquette prevails: you may
+drop in when you like, and leave the room when
+it suits you. The young ladies, however, will soon
+either find out, or imagine, the house and company
+to which you give the preference; and a week’s
+acquaintance will lay you open to a great deal of
+good-natured bantering upon the cause of your<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+short calls. Singing to the guitar, or the piano,
+is a very common resource at these meetings. But
+the musical acquirements of the Spanish ladies
+cannot bear the most distant comparison with those
+of the female amateurs in London. In singing,
+however, they possess one great advantage&mdash;that of
+opening the mouth&mdash;which your English <i>Misses</i>
+seem to consider as a great breach of propriety.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of Cadiz, being confined to the
+rock on which their city is built, have made the
+towns of Chiclana, Puerto Real, and Port St.
+Mary’s, their places of resort, especially in the
+summer. The passage, by water, to Port St.
+Mary’s, is, upon an average, of about an hour and
+a half, and the intercourse between the two places,
+nearly as constant as between a large city and its
+suburbs. Boats full of passengers are incessantly
+crossing from daybreak till sunset. This passage
+is not, however, without danger in case of a strong
+wind from the east, in summer, or of rough weather,
+in winter. At the mouth of the Guadalete, a river
+that runs into the bay of Cadiz, by Port St. Mary’s,
+there are extensive banks of shifting sands, which
+every year prove fatal to many. The passage-boats
+are often excessively crowded with people of all
+descriptions. The Spaniards, however, are not so
+shy of strangers as I have generally found your
+countrymen. Place any two of them, male or
+female, by the merest chance, together, and they
+will immediately enter into some conversation.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+The absolute disregard to a stranger, which custom
+has established in England, would be taken for an
+insult in any part of Spain; consequently little
+gravity is preserved in these aquatic excursions.</p>
+
+<p>In fine weather, when the female part of the
+company are not troubled with fear or sickness,
+the passengers indulge in a boisterous sort of mirth,
+which is congenial to Andalusians of all classes.
+It is known by the old Spanish word <i>Arana</i>,
+pronounced with the Southern aspirate, as if
+written <i>Haranna</i>. I do not know whether I shall
+be able to convey a notion of this kind of amusement.
+It admits of no liberties of action, while
+every allowance is made for words which do not
+amount to gross indecency. It is&mdash;if I may use
+the expression&mdash;a conversational <i>row</i>; or, to
+indulge a more strange assemblage of ideas, the
+<i>Arana</i> is to conversation, what romping is to
+walking arm in arm. In the midst, however, of
+hoarse laugh and loud shouting, as soon as the
+boat reaches the shoals, the steersman, raising his
+voice with a gravity becoming a parish-clerk,
+addresses himself to the company in words amounting
+to these&mdash;“Let us pray for the souls of all that
+have perished in this place.” The pious address
+of the boatman has a striking effect upon the
+company: for one or two minutes every one
+mutters a private prayer, whilst a sailor-boy goes
+round collecting a few copper coins from the
+passengers, which are religiously spent in pro<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>curing
+masses for the souls in purgatory. This
+ceremony being over, the riot is resumed with
+unabated spirit, till the very point of landing.</p>
+
+<p>I went by land to St. Lucar, a town of some
+wealth and consequence at the mouth of the
+Guadalquivir, or Bœtis, where this river is lost in
+the sea through a channel of more than a mile in
+breadth. The passage to Seville, of about twenty
+Spanish leagues up the river, is tedious; but I had
+often performed it, in early youth, with great
+pleasure, and I now quite forgot the change which
+twenty years must have made upon my feelings.
+No Spanish conveyance is either comfortable or
+expeditious. The St. Lucar boats are clumsy and
+heavy, without a single accommodation for passengers.
+Half of the hold is covered with hatches,
+but so low, that one cannot stand upright under
+them. A piece of canvass, loosely let down to
+the bottom of the boat, is the only partition between
+the passengers and the sailors. It would be
+extremely unpleasant for any person, above the
+lower class, to bear the inconveniences of a mixed
+company in one of these boats. Fortunately, it is
+neither difficult nor expensive to obtain the exclusive
+hire of one. You must submit, however, at
+the time of embarkation, to the disagreeable circumstance
+of riding on a man’s shoulders from the
+water’s edge to a little skiff, which, from the flatness
+of the shore, lies waiting for the passengers at
+the distance of fifteen or twenty yards.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The country, on both sides of the river, is for the
+most part, flat and desolate. The eye roves in vain
+over vast plains of alluvial ground in search of
+some marks of human habitation. Herds of black
+cattle, and large flocks of sheep, are seen on two
+considerable islands formed by different branches
+of the river. The fierce Andalusian bulls, kept by
+themselves in large enclosures, where, with a view
+to their appearance on the arena, they are made
+more savage by solitude; are seen straggling here
+and there down to the brink of the river, tossing
+their shaggy heads, and pawing the ground on the
+approach of the boat.</p>
+
+<p>The windings of the river, and the growing
+shallows, which obstruct its channel, oblige the
+boats to wait for the tide, except when there is a
+strong wind from the south. After two tedious
+days, and two uncomfortable nights, I found myself
+under the <i>Torre del Oro</i>, a large octagon tower of
+great antiquity, and generally supposed to have
+been built by Julius Cæsar, which stands by the
+mole or quay of the capital of Andalusia, my native,
+and by me, long deserted town. Townsend
+will acquaint you with its situation, its general
+aspect, and the remarkable buildings, which are
+the boast of the <i>Sevillanos</i>. My task will be confined
+to the description of such peculiarities of the
+country as he did not see, or which must have
+escaped his notice.</p>
+
+<p>The eastern custom of building houses on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+four sides of an open area is so general in Andalusia,
+that, till my first journey to Madrid, I
+confess, I was perfectly at a loss to conceive a habitable
+dwelling in any other shape. The houses
+are generally two stories high, with a gallery, or
+<i>corredor</i>, which, as the name implies, <i>runs</i> along
+the four, or at least the three sides of the <i>Pátio</i>,
+or central square, affording an external communication
+between the rooms above stairs, and forming
+a covered walk over the doors of the ground-floor
+apartments. These two suites of rooms are a
+counterpart to each other, being alternately inhabited
+or deserted in the seasons of winter and
+summer. About the middle of October every
+house in Seville is in a complete bustle for two or
+three days. The lower apartments are stripped of
+their furniture, and every chair and table&mdash;nay,
+the kitchen vestal, with all her laboratory&mdash;are
+ordered off to winter quarters. This change of
+habitation, together with mats laid over the brick-floors,
+thicker and warmer than those used in summer,
+is all the provision against cold, which is
+made in this country. A flat and open brass pan
+of about two feet diameter, raised a few inches
+from the ground by a round wooden frame, on
+which, those who sit near it, may rest their feet,
+is used to burn charcoal made of brushwood,
+which the natives call <i>cisco</i>. The fumes of charcoal
+are injurious to health; but such is the effect
+of habit, that the natives are seldom aware of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+any inconvenience arising from the choking smell
+of their brasiers.</p>
+
+<p>The precautions against heat, however, are numerous.
+About the latter end of May the whole
+population moves down stairs. A thick awning,
+which draws and undraws by means of ropes and
+pullies, is stretched over the central square, on a
+level with the roof of the house. The window-shutters
+are nearly closed from morning till sunset,
+admitting just light enough to see one another,
+provided the eyes have not lately been exposed to
+the glare of the streets. The floors are washed
+every morning, that the evaporation of the water
+imbibed by the bricks, may abate the heat of the
+air. A very light mat, made of a delicate sort of
+rush, and dyed with a variety of colours, is used
+instead of a carpet. The <i>Pátio</i>, or square, is ornamented
+with flowerpots, especially round a <i>jet
+d’eau</i>, which in most houses occupies its centre.
+During the hot season the ladies sit and receive
+their friends in the <i>Pátio</i>. The street-doors are
+generally open; but invariably so from sunset till
+eleven or twelve in the night. Three or four very
+large glass lamps are hung in a line from the street-door
+to the opposite end of the <i>Pátio</i>; and, as in
+most houses, those who meet at night for a <i>Tertulia</i>,
+are visible from the streets, the town presents
+a very pretty and animated scene till near midnight.
+The poorer class of people, to avoid the
+intolerable heat of their habitations, pass a great<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>
+part of the night in conversation at their doors;
+while persons of all descriptions are moving about
+till late, either to see their friends, or to enjoy the
+cool air in the public walks.</p>
+
+<p>This gay scene vanishes, however, on the approach
+of winter. The people retreat to the
+upper floors; the ill-lighted streets are deserted
+at the close of day, and become so dangerous
+from robbers, that few but the young and
+adventurous retire home from the <i>Tertulia</i> without
+being attended by a servant, sometimes bearing
+a lighted torch. The free access to every
+house, which prevails in summer, is now checked
+by the caution of the inhabitants. The entrance
+to the houses lies through a passage with two doors,
+one to the street, and another called the <i>middle-door</i>
+(for there is another at the top of the stairs)
+which opens into the <i>Pátio</i>. This passage is
+called <i>Zaguan</i>&mdash;a pure Arabic word, which means,
+I believe, a porch. The middle-door is generally
+shut in the day-time: the outer one is never closed
+but at night. Whoever wants to be admitted
+must knock at the middle-door, and be prepared
+to answer a question, which, as it presents one of
+those little peculiarities which you are so fond of
+hearing, I shall not consider as unworthy of a
+place in my narrative.</p>
+
+<p>The knock at the door, which, by-the-by, must
+be single, and by no means loud&mdash;in fact, a tradesman’s
+knock in London&mdash;is answered with a <i>Who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+is there?</i> To this question the stranger replies,
+“Peaceful people,” <i>Gente de paz</i>&mdash;and the door is
+opened without farther enquiries. Peasants and
+beggars call out at the door, “Hail, spotless
+Mary!” <i>Ave, Maria purisima!</i> The answer, in
+that case, is given from within in the words <i>Sin
+pecado concebida</i>: “Conceived without sin.” This
+custom is a remnant of the fierce controversy,
+which existed about three hundred years ago,
+between the Franciscan and the Dominican friars,
+whether the Virgin Mary had or not been subject
+to the penal consequences of original sin. The
+Dominicans were not willing to grant any exemption;
+while the Franciscans contended for the
+propriety of such a privilege. The Spaniards, and
+especially the Sevillians, with their characteristic
+gallantry, stood for the honour of our Lady, and
+embraced the latter opinion so warmly, that they
+turned the watchword of their party into the
+form of address, which is still so prevalent in Andalusia.
+During the heat of the dispute, and before
+the Dominicans had been silenced by the authority
+of the Pope, the people of Seville began to
+assemble at various churches, and, sallying forth
+with an emblematical picture of the <i>sinless</i> Mary,
+set upon a sort of standard surmounted by a cross,
+paraded the city in different directions, singing a
+hymn to the <i>Immaculate Conception</i>, and repeating
+aloud their beads or rosary. These processions
+have continued to our times, and constitute one of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+the nightly nuisances of this place. Though confined
+at present to the lower classes, those that
+join in them assume that characteristic importance
+and overbearing spirit, which attaches to the most
+insignificant religious associations in this country.
+Wherever one of these shabby processions presents
+itself to the public, it takes up the street from side
+to side, stopping the passengers, and expecting
+them to stand uncovered in all kinds of weather,
+till the standard is gone by. Their awkward and
+heavy banners are called, at Seville, <i>Sinpecados</i>,
+that is, “sinless,” from the theological opinion in
+support of which they were raised.</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish government, under Charles III.,
+shewed the most ludicrous eagerness to have the
+<i>sinless purity</i> of the Virgin Mary added by the
+Pope to the articles of the Roman Catholic faith.
+The court of Rome, however, with the cautious
+spirit which has at all times guided its spiritual
+politics, endeavoured to keep clear from a stretch
+of authority, which, even some of their own
+divines would be ready to question; but splitting,
+as it were, the difference with theological precision,
+the censures of the church were levelled against
+such as should have the boldness to assert that
+the Virgin Mary had derived any taint from “her
+great ancestor;” and, having personified the <i>Immaculate
+Conception</i>, it was declared, that the Spanish
+dominions in Europe and America were under the
+protecting influence of that mysterious event.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+This declaration diffused universal joy over the
+whole nation. It was celebrated with public rejoicings
+on both sides of the Atlantic. The king
+instituted an order distinguished by the emblem of
+the Immaculate Conception&mdash;a woman dressed in
+white and blue; and a law was enacted, requiring
+a declaration, upon oath, of a firm belief in the
+<i>Immaculate Conception</i>, from every individual, previous
+to his taking any degree at the universities,
+or being admitted into any of the corporations,
+civil and religious, which abound in Spain. This
+oath is administered even to mechanics upon their
+being made free of a Guild.<a id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>Here, however, I must break off, for fear of
+making this packet too large for the confidential
+conveyance, to which alone I could trust it without
+great risk of finishing my task in one of the cells
+of the Holy Inquisition. I will not fail, however,
+to resume my subject as soon as circumstances
+permit me.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER II.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Seville &mdash;&mdash; 1798.</i></p>
+
+<p class="sentto">TO A. D. C. ESQ.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Sir</span>&mdash;Your
+letter, acquainting me with
+Lady &mdash;&mdash;’s desire that you should take an active
+part in our correspondence on Spain, has increased
+my hopes of carrying on a work, which I feared
+would soon grow no less tiresome to our friend than
+to me. Objects which blend themselves with our
+daily habits are most apt to elude our observation;
+and will, like some dreams, fleet away through the
+mind, unless an accidental word or thought should
+set attention on the fast-fading track of their course.
+Nothing, therefore, can be of greater use to me
+than your queries, or help me so much as your observations.</p>
+
+<p>You must excuse, however, my declining to give
+you a sketch of the national character of the Spaniards.
+I have always considered such descriptions
+as absolutely unmeaning&mdash;a mere assemblage of
+antitheses, where good and bad qualities are contrasted
+for effect, and with little foundation in na<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>ture.
+No man’s powers of observation can be, at
+once, so accurate and extensive, so minute and generalizing,
+as to be capable of embodying the peculiar
+features of millions into an abstract being,
+which shall contain traces of them all. Yet this
+is what most travellers attempt after a few weeks
+residence&mdash;what we are accustomed to expect from
+the time that a Geographical Grammar is first put
+into our hands. I shall not, therefore, attempt either
+abstraction or classification, but endeavour to collect
+as many facts as may enable others to perceive
+the general tendency of the civil and religious state
+of my country, and to judge of its influence on the
+improvement or degradation of this portion of mankind,
+independently of the endless modifications
+which arise from the circumstances, external and
+internal, of every individual. I will not overlook,
+however, the great divisions of society, and shall
+therefore acquaint you with the chief sources of
+distinction which both law and custom have established
+among us.</p>
+
+<p>The most comprehensive division of the people
+of Spain is that of <i>nobles</i> and <i>plebeians</i>. But I must
+caution you against a mistaken notion which these
+words are apt to convey to an Englishman. In
+Spain, any person whose family, either by immemorial
+prescription, or by the king’s patent, is entitled
+to exemption from some burdens, and to the
+enjoyment of certain privileges, belongs to the class
+of nobility. It appears to me that this distinction<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+originated in the allotment of a certain portion of
+ground in towns conquered from the Moors. In
+some patents of nobility&mdash;I cannot say whether
+they are all alike&mdash;the king, after an enumeration
+of the privileges and exemptions to which he raises
+the family, adds the general clause, that they shall
+be considered in all respects, as <i>Hidalgos de casa y
+solar conocido</i>&mdash;“<i>Hidalgos</i>, i. e. nobles (for the words
+are become synonymous) of a known family and
+<i>ground-plot</i>.” Many of the exemptions attached to
+this class of Franklins, or inferior nobility, have
+been withdrawn in our times, not, however, without
+a distinct recognition of the <i>rank</i> of such as
+could claim them before the amendment of the law.
+But still a Spanish gentleman, or <i>Caballero</i>&mdash;a name
+which expresses the privileged gentry in all its numerous
+and undefined gradations&mdash;cannot be ballotted
+for the militia; and none but an <i>Hidalgo</i> can
+enter the army as a cadet. In the routine of promotion,
+ten cadets, I believe, must receive a commission
+before a serjeant can have his turn&mdash;and even that
+is often passed over. Such as are fortunate enough to
+be raised from the ranks can seldom escape the reserve
+and slight of their prouder fellow-officers;
+and the common appellation of <i>Pinos</i>, “pine-trees”&mdash;alluding,
+probably, to the height required in a
+serjeant, like that of <i>freedman</i>, among the Romans,
+implies a stain which the first situations in the army
+cannot completely obliterate.</p>
+
+<p><i>Noblesse</i>, as I shall call it, to avoid an equivocal<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+term, descends from the father to all his male children,
+for ever. But though a female cannot transmit
+this privilege to her issue, her being the daughter
+of an <i>Hidalgo</i> is of absolute necessity to constitute
+what, in the language of the country, is called, “a
+nobleman on four sides”&mdash;<i>noble de quatro costados</i>:
+that is, a man whose parents, their parents, and
+their parents’ parents, belonged to the privileged
+class. None but these <i>square noblemen</i> can receive
+the order of knighthood. But we are fallen on degenerate
+times, and I could name many a knight in
+this town who has been furnished with more than
+one <i>corner</i> by the dexterity of the <i>notaries</i>, who act
+as secretaries in collecting and drawing up the
+proofs and documents required on these occasions.</p>
+
+<p>There exists another distinction of blood, which,
+I think, is peculiar to Spain, and to which the mass
+of the people are so blindly attached, that the meanest
+peasant looks upon the want of it as a source of
+misery and degradation, which he is doomed to
+transmit to his latest posterity. The least mixture
+of African, Indian, Moorish, or Jewish blood, taints
+a whole family to the most distant generation. Nor
+does the knowledge of such a fact die away in the
+course of years, or become unnoticed from the
+obscurity and humbleness of the parties. Not a
+child in this populous city is ignorant that a family,
+who, beyond the memory of man have kept a confectioner’s
+shop in the central part of the town, had
+one of their ancestors punished by the Inquisition for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
+a relapse into Judaism. I well recollect how, when a
+boy, I often passed that way, scarcely venturing to
+cast a side glance on a pretty young woman who
+constantly attended the shop, for fear, as I said to
+myself, of shaming her. A person free from tainted
+blood is defined by law, “an old Christian, clean
+from all bad race and stain,” <i>Christiano viejo, limpio
+de toda mala raza, y mancha</i>. The severity of this
+law, or rather of the public opinion enforcing it,
+shuts out its victims from every employment in
+church or state, and excludes them even from the
+<i>Fraternities</i>, or religious associations, which are
+otherwise open to persons of the lowest ranks. I
+verily believe, that were St. Peter a Spaniard, he
+would either deny admittance into heaven to people
+of tainted blood, or send them to a retired
+corner, where they might not offend the eyes of
+the <i>old Christians</i>.</p>
+
+<p>But alas! what has been said of laws&mdash;and I believe
+it true in most countries, ancient and modern,
+except England&mdash;that they are like cobwebs, which
+entrap the weak, and yield to the strong and bold,
+is equally, and perhaps more generally applicable
+to public opinion. It is a fact, that many of the
+grandees, and the titled noblesse of this country,
+derive a large portion of their blood from Jews and
+Moriscoes. Their pedigree has been traced up to
+those cankered branches, in a manuscript book,
+which neither the threats of Government, nor the
+terrors of the Inquisition, have been able to sup<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>press
+completely. It is called <i>Tizon de España</i>&mdash;“the
+Brand of Spain.” But wealth and power have
+set opinion at defiance; and while a poor industrious
+man, humbled by feelings not unlike those
+of an Indian <i>Paria</i>, will hardly venture to salute his
+neighbour, because, forsooth, his fourth or fifth
+ancestor fell into the hands of the Inquisition for
+declining to eat pork&mdash;the proud grandee, perhaps a
+nearer descendant of the Patriarchs, will think himself
+degraded by marrying the first gentlewoman in
+the kingdom, unless she brings him <i>a hat</i>, in addition
+to the six or eight which he may be already
+entitled to wear before the king. But this requires
+some explanation.</p>
+
+<p>The highest privilege of a grandee is that of covering
+his head before the king. Hence, by two or
+more <i>hats</i> in a family, it is meant that it has a right,
+by inheritance, to as many titles of grandeeship.
+Pride having confined the grandees to intermarriages
+in their own caste, and the estates and titles
+being inheritable by females, an enormous accumulation
+of property and honours has been made in a
+few hands. The chief aim of every family is constantly
+to increase this preposterous accumulation.
+Their children are married, by dispensation, in their
+infancy, to some great heir or heiress; and such is
+the multitude of family names and titles which every
+grandee claims and uses, that if you should look
+into a simple passport given by the Spanish Ambassador
+in London, when he happens to be a mem<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>ber
+of the ancient Spanish families, you will find
+the whole first page of a large foolscap sheet, employed
+merely to tell you who the great man is
+whose signature is to close the whole. As far as
+vanity alone is concerned, this ambitious display of
+rank and parentage, might, at this time of day, be
+dismissed with a smile. But there lurks a more
+serious evil in the absurd and invidious system so
+studiously preserved by our first nobility. Surrounded
+by their own dependents, and avoided by
+the gentry, who are seldom disposed for an intercourse
+in which a sense of inferiority prevails, few
+of the grandees are exempt from the natural consequences
+of such a life&mdash;gross ignorance, intolerable
+conceit, and sometimes, though seldom, a strong
+dose of vulgarity. I would, however, be just, and
+by no means tax individuals with every vice of the
+class. But I believe I speak the prevalent sense of
+the country upon this point. The grandees have
+degraded themselves by their slavish behaviour at
+Court, and incurred great odium by their intolerable
+airs abroad. They have ruined their estates by mismanagement
+and extravagance, and impoverished
+the country by the neglect of their immense possessions.
+Should there be a revolution in Spain,
+wounded pride, and party spirit, would deny them
+the proper share of power in the constitution, to
+which their lands, their ancient rights, and their
+remaining influence entitle them. Thus excluded
+from their chief and peculiar duty of keeping the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+balance of power between the throne and the people,
+the Spanish grandees will remain a heavy burthen
+on the nation; while, either fearing for their
+overgrown privileges, or impatient under reforms
+which must fall chiefly on them and the clergy,
+they will always be inclined to join the crown in
+restoring the abuses of arbitrary government.</p>
+
+<p>Would to Heaven that an opportunity presented
+itself for re-modelling our constitution after the
+only political system which has been sanctioned
+by the experience of ages&mdash;I mean your own. We
+have nearly the same elements in existence; and
+low and degraded as we are by the baneful influence
+of despotism, we might yet by a proper
+combination of our political forces, lay down the
+basis of a permanent and improvable free constitution.
+But I greatly fear that we have been too
+long in chains, to make the best use of the first
+moments of liberty. Perhaps the crown, as well
+as the classes of grandees and bishops, will be suffered
+to exist, from want of power in the popular
+party; but they will be made worse than useless
+through neglect and jealousy. I am neither what
+you call a tory nor a bigot; nor am I inditing a
+prophetic elegy on the diminished glories of crowns,
+coronets and mitres. A levelling spirit I detest
+indeed, and from my heart do I abhor every sort of
+spoliation. Many years, however, must pass, and
+strange events take place, before any such evils
+can threaten this country. Spanish despotism is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+not of that insulting and irritating nature which
+drives a whole people to madness. It is not the
+despotism of the taskmaster whose lash sows
+vengeance in the hearts of his slaves. It is the
+cautious forecast of the husbandman who mutilates
+the cattle whose strength he fears. The degraded
+animal grows up, unconscious of the injury, and
+after a short training, one might think he comes at
+last to love the yoke. Such, I believe, is our state.
+Taxes, among us, are rather ill-contrived than
+grinding; and millions of the lower classes are
+not aware of the share they contribute. They all
+love their king, however they may dislike the
+exciseman. Seigneurial rights are hardly in existence:
+and both gentry and peasantry find little to
+remind them of the exorbitant power which the
+improvident and slothful life of the grandees, at
+court, allows to lie dormant and wasting in their
+hands. The majority of the nation are more inclined
+to despise than to hate them; and though
+few men would lift up a finger to support their
+rights, fewer still would imitate the French in
+carrying fire and sword to their mansions.</p>
+
+<p>For bishops and their spiritual power <i>Juan
+Español</i><a id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> has as greedy and capacious a stomach,
+as <i>John Bull</i> for roast beef and ale. One single
+class of people feels galled and restless, and that
+unfortunately neither is, nor can be, numerous in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>
+this country. The class I mean consists of such as
+are able to perceive the encroachments of tyranny
+on their intellectual rights&mdash;whose pride of mind,
+and consciousness of mental strength, cause them
+to groan and fret, daily and hourly, under the necessity
+of keeping within the miry and crooked paths
+to which ignorance and superstition have confined
+the active souls of the Spaniards. But these, compared
+with the bulk of the nation, are but a mere
+handful. Yet, they may, under favourable circumstances,
+recruit and augment their forces with the
+ambitious of all classes. They will have, at first,
+to disguise their views, to conceal their favourite
+doctrines, and even to cherish those national prejudices,
+which, were their real views known, would
+crush them to atoms. The mass of the people may
+acquiesce for a time in the new order of things,
+partly from a vague desire of change and improvement,
+partly from the passive political habits which
+a dull and deadening despotism has bred and rooted
+in the course of ages. The army may cast the
+decisive weight of the sword on the popular side of
+the balance, as long as it suits its views. But if
+the church and the great nobility are neglected in
+the distribution of legislative power&mdash;if, instead of
+alluring them into the path of liberty with the
+sweet bait of <i>constitutional</i> influence, they are only
+alarmed for their rights and privileges, without a
+hope of compensation, they may be shovelled and
+heaped aside, like a mountain of dead and inert<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+sand; but they will stand, in their massive and
+ponderous indolence, ready to slide down at every
+moment, and bury the small active party below,
+upon the least division of their strength. A house,
+or chamber of peers, composed of grandees in their
+own right&mdash;that is, not, as is done at present, by
+the transfer of one of the titles accumulated in the
+same family&mdash;of the bishops, and of a certain number
+of law lords regularly chosen from the supreme
+court of judicature (a measure of the greatest importance
+to discourage the distinction of <i>blood</i>,
+which is, perhaps, the worst evil in the present
+state of the great Spanish nobility), might, indeed,
+check the work of reformation to a slower pace
+than accords with the natural eagerness of a popular
+party. But the legislative body would possess a
+regulator within itself, which would faithfully mark
+the gradual capacity for improvement in the nation.
+The members of the privileged chamber would
+themselves be improved and enlightened by the
+exercise of constitutional power, and the pervading
+influence of public discussion: while, should they
+be overlooked in any future attempt at a free constitution,
+they will, like a diseased and neglected
+limb, spread infection over the whole body, or, at
+last, expose it to the hazard of a bloody and dangerous
+amputation. But it is time to return to our
+<i>Hidalgos</i>.</p>
+
+<p>As the <i>Hidalguia</i> branches out through every<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+male whose father enjoys that privilege, Spain is
+overrun with <i>gentry</i>, who earn their living in the
+meanest employments. The province of Asturias
+having afforded shelter to that small portion of the
+nation which preserved the Spanish name and
+throne against the efforts of the conquering Arabs;
+there is hardly a native of that mountainous tract,
+who, even at this day, cannot shew a legal title to
+honours and immunities gained by his ancestors, at
+a time when every soldier had either a share in the
+territory recovered from the invaders, or was
+rewarded with a perpetual exemption from such
+taxes and services as fell exclusively upon the
+<i>simple</i><a id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> peasantry. The numerous assertors of
+these privileges among the Asturians of the present
+day, lead me to think that in the earliest times of
+the Spanish monarchy every soldier was raised to the
+rank of a Franklin. But circumstances are strangely
+altered. Asturias is one of the poorest provinces
+of Spain, and the <i>noble</i> inhabitants having, for the
+most part, inherited no other patrimony from their
+ancestors than a strong muscular frame, are compelled
+to make the best of it among the more feeble
+tribes of the south. In this capital of Andalusia
+they have engrossed the employments of watermen,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+porters, and footmen. Those belonging to the two
+first classes are formed into a <i>fraternity</i>, whose
+members have a right to the exclusive use of a
+chapel in the cathedral. The privilege which they
+value most, however, is that of affording the twenty
+stoutest men to convey the moveable stage on
+which the consecrated host is paraded in public,
+on Corpus Christi day, enshrined in a small temple
+of massive silver. The bearers are concealed
+behind rich gold-cloth hangings, which reach the
+ground on the four sides of the stage. The weight
+of the whole machine is enormous; yet these twenty
+men bear it on the hind part of the head and neck,
+moving with such astonishing ease and regularity,
+as if the motion arose from the impulse of steam, or
+some steady mechanical power.</p>
+
+<p>While these <i>Gentlemen Hidalgos</i> are employed in
+such ungentle services, though the law allows them
+the exemptions of their class, public opinion confines
+them to their natural level. The only chance
+for any of these disguised <i>noblemen</i> to be publicly
+treated with due honour and deference is, unfortunately,
+one for which they feel an unconquerable
+aversion&mdash;that of being delivered into the rude
+hands of a Spanish <i>Jack Ketch</i>. We had here, two
+years ago, an instance of this, which I shall relate, as
+being highly characteristic of our national prejudices
+about blood.</p>
+
+<p>A gang of five banditti was taken within the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+jurisdiction of this <i>Audiencia</i>, or chief court of
+justice, one of whom, though born and brought up
+among the lowest ranks of society, was, by family,
+an <i>Hidalgo</i>, and had some relations among the
+better class of gentlemen. I believe the name of
+the unfortunate man was <i>Herrera</i>, and that he was
+a native of a town about thirty English miles from
+Seville, called <i>el Arahal</i>. But I have not, at present,
+the means of ascertaining the accuracy of
+these particulars. After lingering, as usual, four
+or five years in prison, these unfortunate men were
+found guilty of several murders and highway robberies,
+and sentenced to suffer death. The relations
+of the <i>Hidalgo</i>, who, foreseeing this fatal event, had
+been watching the progress of the trial, in order to
+step forward just in time to avert the stain which
+a cousin, in the second or third remove, would
+cast upon their family, if he died in mid-air like a
+villain; presented a petition to the judges, accompanied
+with the requisite documents, claiming for
+their relative the honours of his rank, and engaging
+to pay the expenses attending the execution of a
+<i>nobleman</i>. The petition being granted as a matter
+of course, the following scene took place. At a
+short distance from the gallows on which the four
+<i>simple</i> robbers were to be hanged in a cluster, from
+the central point of the cross beam, all dressed in
+white shrouds, with their hands tied before them,
+that the hangman, who actually rides upon the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+shoulders of the criminal, may place his foot as in
+a stirrup,<a id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>&mdash;was raised a scaffold about ten feet
+high, on an area of about fifteen by twenty, the
+whole of which and down to the ground, on all
+sides, was covered with black baize. In the centre
+of the scaffold was erected a sort of arm-chair, with
+a stake for its back, against which, by means of
+an iron collar attached to a screw, the neck is
+crushed by one turn of the handle. This machine
+is called <i>Garrote</i>&mdash;“a stick”&mdash;from the old-fashioned
+method of strangling, by twisting the
+fatal cord with a stick. Two flights of steps on
+opposite sides of the stage, afforded a separate
+access, one for the criminal and the priest, the
+other for the executioner and his attendant.</p>
+
+<p>The convict, dressed in a loose gown of black
+baize, rode on a horse, a mark of distinction peculiar
+to his class, (plebeians riding on an ass, or
+being dragged on a hurdle,) attended by a priest,
+and a notary, and surrounded by soldiers. Black
+silk cords were prepared to bind him to the arms
+of the seat; for ropes are thought dishonourable.
+After kneeling to receive the last absolution from
+the priest, he took off a ring, with which the unfortunate
+man had been provided for that melancholy
+occasion. According to etiquette he should
+have disdainfully thrown it down for the execu<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>tioner;
+but, as a mark of Christian humility, he
+put it into his hand. The sentence being executed,
+four silver candlesticks, five feet high, with
+burning wax-candles of a proportionate length
+and thickness, were placed at the corners of the
+scaffold; and in about three hours, a suitable
+funeral was conducted by the <i>posthumous</i> friends
+of the noble robber, who, had they assisted him to
+settle in life with half of what they spent in this
+absurd and disgusting show, might, perhaps have
+saved him from his fatal end. But these honours
+being what is called <i>a positive act of noblesse</i>, of
+which a due certificate is given to the surviving
+parties, to be recorded among the legal proofs of
+their rank; they may have acted under the idea
+that their relative was fit only to add lustre to the
+family by the close of his career.</p>
+
+<p>The innumerable and fanciful gradations of
+family rank which the Spaniards have formed to
+themselves, without the least foundation in the
+laws of the country, are difficult to describe.
+Though the <i>Hidalguia</i> is a necessary qualification,
+especially in country towns, to be admitted into
+the best society, it is by no means sufficient, by
+itself, to raise the views of every <i>Hidalgo</i> to a
+family connexion with the “blue blood”&mdash;<i>sangre
+azul</i> of the country. The shades by which the vital
+fluid approaches this privileged hue, would perplex
+the best colourist. These prejudices, however,
+have lost much of their force at Madrid, except<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+among the grandees, and in such maritime towns
+as Malaga and Cadiz, where commerce has raised
+many new, and some foreign families into consequence.
+But there is a pervading spirit of vanity
+in the nation, which actuates even the lowest
+classes, and may be discovered in the evident mortification
+which menials and mechanics are apt to
+feel, on the omission of some modes of address
+intended, as it were, to cast a veil on the humbleness
+of their condition. To call a man by the
+name of <i>blacksmith</i>, <i>butcher</i>, <i>coachman</i>, would be
+considered an insult. They all expect to be called
+either by their Christian name, or by the general
+appellation <i>Maestro</i> and in both cases with the
+prefixed <i>Señor</i>; unless the word expressing the
+employment should imply superiority: as <i>Mayoral</i>,
+chief coachman&mdash;<i>Rabadán</i>, chief shepherd&mdash;<i>Aperador</i>,
+bailiff. These, and similar names,
+are used without an addition, and sound well in
+the ears of the natives. But no female would
+suffer herself to be addressed <i>cook</i>, <i>washer-woman</i>,
+&amp;c.; they all feel and act as if, having a
+natural claim to a higher rank, misfortune alone
+had degraded them. Poverty, unless it be extreme,
+does not disqualify a man of family for the society
+of his equals. Secular clergymen, though plebeians,
+are, generally, well received; but the same
+indulgence is not readily extended to monks and
+friars, whose unpolished manners betray too openly
+the meanness of their birth. Wholesale merchants,
+if they belong to the class of <i>Hidalgos</i>, are not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+avoided by the great gentry. In the law, <i>attorneys</i>
+and <i>notaries</i> are considered to be under the line of
+<i>Caballeros</i>, though their rank, as in England, depends
+a great deal on their wealth and personal
+respectability. Physicians are nearly in the same
+case.</p>
+
+<p>Having now made you acquainted with what is
+here called the <i>best sort</i> of people, you will probably
+like to have a sketch of their daily life: take
+it, then, neither from the first, nor the last of the
+class.</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast, in Spain, is not a regular family meal.
+It generally consists of chocolate, and buttered
+toast, or muffins, called <i>molletes</i>. Irish salt-butter
+is very much in use; as the heat of the climate
+does not allow the luxuries of the dairy, except in
+the mountainous tracts of the north. Every one
+calls for chocolate whenever it suits him; and
+most people take it when they come from mass&mdash;a
+ceremony seldom omitted, even by such as cannot
+be reckoned among the highly religious. After
+breakfast, the gentlemen repair to their occupations;
+and the ladies, who seldom call upon one
+another, often enjoy the <i>amusement</i> of music and a
+sermon at the church appointed on that day for
+the public adoration of the Consecrated Host,
+which, from morning till night, takes place throughout
+the year in this, and a few other large towns.
+This is called <i>el jubileo</i>&mdash;the jubilee; as, by a
+spiritual grant of the Pope, those who visit the
+appointed church, are entitled to the plenary indul<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>gence
+which, in former times, rewarded the trouble
+and dangers of a journey to Rome, on the first
+year of every century&mdash;a poor substitute, indeed,
+for the <i>ludi sæculares</i>, which, in former times, drew
+people thither from all parts of the Roman empire.
+The bait, however, was so successful for a time,
+that <i>jubilees</i> were celebrated every twenty-five
+years. But when the taste for papal indulgences
+began to be cloyed by excess, few would move a
+foot, and much less undertake a long journey, to
+spend their money for the benefit of the Pope and
+his Roman subjects. In these desperate circumstances,
+the Holy Father thought it better to send
+the <i>jubilee</i>, with its plenary indulgence, to the distant
+sheep of his flock, than to wait in vain for
+their coming to seek it at Rome. To this effort of
+pastoral generosity we owe the inestimable advantage
+of being able, every day, to perform a spiritual
+visit to St. Peter’s at Rome; which, to those who
+are indifferent about architectural beauty, is infinitely
+cheaper, and just as profitable, as a pilgrimage
+to the vicinity of the Capitol.</p>
+
+<p>About noon the ladies are at home, where, employed
+at their needle, they expect the morning
+calls of their friends. I have already told you how
+easy it is for a gentleman to gain an introduction to
+any family: the slightest occasion will produce
+what is called <i>an offer of the house</i>, when you are
+literally told that the house <i>is yours</i>. Upon the
+strength of this offer, you may drop in as often as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+you please, and idle away hour after hour, in the
+most unmeaning, or it may chance, the most interesting
+conversation.</p>
+
+<p>The mention of this offer of the house induces
+me to give you some idea of the hyperbolical civility
+of my countrymen. When an English nobleman,
+well known both to you and me, was some
+years ago travelling in this country, he wished to
+spend a fortnight at Barcelona; but, the inn being
+rather uncomfortable for himself and family, he was
+desirous of procuring a country-house in the neighbourhood
+of the town. It happened at this time
+that a rich merchant, for whom our friend had
+a letter, called to pay his respects; and in a
+string of high-flown compliments, assured his Lordship
+that both his town-house and his villa were
+entirely at his service. My lady’s eyes sparkled
+with joy, and she was rather vexed that her husband
+had hesitated a moment to secure the villa
+for his family. Doubts arose as to the sincerity of
+the offer, but she could not be persuaded that such
+forms of expression should be taken, in this country,
+in the same sense as the&mdash;“Madam I am at
+your feet,”&mdash;with which every gentleman addresses
+a lady. After all, the merchant, no doubt, to his
+great astonishment, received a very civil note, accepting
+the loan of his country house. But, in answer
+to the note, he sent an awkward excuse, and
+never shewed his face again. The poor man was so
+far from being to blame, that he only followed the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+established custom of the country, according to
+which it would be rudeness not to offer any part
+of your property, which you either mention or
+show. Fortunately, Spanish etiquette is just and
+equitable on this point; for as it would not pardon
+the omission of the offer, so it would never forgive
+the acceptance.</p>
+
+<p>A foreigner must be surprised at the strange mixture
+of caution and liberty which appears in the
+manners of Spain. Most rooms have glass doors;
+but when this is not the case, it would be highly
+improper for any lady to sit with a gentleman, unless
+the doors were open. Yet, when a lady is slightly
+indisposed in bed, she does not scruple to see every
+one of her male visitors. A lady seldom takes a
+gentleman’s arm, and never shakes him by the
+hand; but on the return of an old acquaintance
+after a considerable absence, or when they wish
+joy for some agreeable event, the common salute is
+an embrace. An unmarried woman must not be
+seen alone out of doors, nor must she sit <i>tête-à-tête</i>
+with a gentleman, even when the doors of the room
+are open; but, as soon as she is married, she may
+go by herself where she pleases, and sit alone with
+any man for many hours every day. You have in
+England strange notions of Spanish jealousy. I can,
+however, assure you, that if Spanish husbands were,
+at any time, what novels and old plays represent
+them, no race in Europe has undergone a more
+thorough change.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Dinners are generally at one, and in a few houses,
+between two and three. Invitations to dine are
+extremely rare. On some extraordinary occasions,
+as that of a young man performing his first mass&mdash;a
+daughter taking the veil&mdash;and, in the more wealthy
+houses, on the saint-days of the heads of the
+family, they make what is called a <i>convite</i>, or feast.
+Any person accustomed to your private dinners,
+would be thrown into a fever by one of these parties.
+The height of luxury, on these occasions, is
+what we call <i>Comida de Fonda</i>&mdash;a dinner from the
+coffee-house. All the dishes are dressed at an inn,
+and brought ready to be served at table. The Spanish
+houses, even those of the best sort, are so ill
+provided with every thing required at table, that
+wine, plates, glasses, knives and forks, are brought
+from the inn together with the dinner. The noise
+and confusion of these <i>feasts</i> is inconceivable. Every
+one tries to repay the hospitable treat with mirth
+and noise; and though Spaniards are, commonly,
+water-drinkers, the bottle is used very freely on
+these occasions; but they do not continue at table
+after eating the dessert. Upon the death of any one
+in a family, the nearest relatives send a dinner of
+this kind, on the day of the funeral, that they may
+save the chief mourners the trouble of preparing an
+entertainment for such of their kindred as have attended
+the body to church. Decorum, however,
+forbids any mirth on these occasions.</p>
+
+<p>After I became acquainted with English hospita<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>lity,
+my mind was struck with a custom, which,
+being a matter of course in Spain, had never attracted
+my notice. An invitation to dinner, which,
+by the by, is never given in writing, must not be
+accepted on the first proposal. Perhaps our complimentary
+language makes it necessary to ascertain
+how far the inviter may be in earnest, and a
+good-natured civility has made it a rule to give national
+vanity fair play, and never, without proper
+caution, to trust <i>pot-luck</i>, where fortune so seldom
+smiles upon that venerable utensil. The first invitation
+“to eat the soup” should be answered,
+therefore, with “a thousand thanks;” by which a
+Spaniard civilly declines what no one wishes him to
+accept. If, after this skirmish of good breeding, the
+offer should be repeated, you may begin to suspect
+that your friend is in earnest, and answer him in
+the usual words, <i>no se meta Usted en eso</i>&mdash;“do not
+engage in such a thing.” At this stage of the business,
+both parties having gone too far to recede,
+the invitation is repeated and accepted.</p>
+
+<p>I might, probably, have omitted the mention of
+this custom, had I not found, as it appears to me,
+a curious coincidence between Spanish and ancient
+Greek manners on this point. Perhaps you recollect
+that Xenophon opens his little work called
+“The Banquet,” by stating how Socrates and his
+pupils, who formed the greater part of the company
+the entertainment therein described, were invited
+by Callias, a rich citizen of Athens. The feast was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+intended to celebrate the victory of a young man,
+who had obtained the crown at the Panathenæan
+games. Callias was walking home with his young
+friend to the Pireus, when he saw Socrates and his
+daily companions. He accosted the former in a
+familiar and playful manner, and, after a little bantering
+on his philosophical speculations, requested
+both him and his friends to give him the pleasure
+of their company at table. “They, however,” says
+Xenophon, “<i>at first, as was proper</i>, thanked him,
+and declined the invitation; <i>but when it clearly appeared
+that he was angry at the refusal</i>, followed
+him.” I am aware that the words in Xenophon
+admit another interpretation, and that the phrase
+which I render, <i>as was proper</i>, may be applied to
+the <i>thanks</i> alone; but it may be referred, with as
+much or better reason, both to thanks and refusal,
+and the custom which I have stated inclines me
+strongly to adopt that sense.<a id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The truth is, that
+wherever dinner is not, as in England, the chief
+and almost exclusive season of social converse, an
+invitation to dine must appear somewhat in the
+light of a gift or present&mdash;which every man of delicacy
+feels reluctant to accept at all from a mere
+acquaintance, or without some degree of compulsion,
+from a friend. Besides, we know the abuse
+and ridicule with which both Greeks and Romans
+attacked the <i>Parasites</i>, or dinner-hunters; and it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>
+is very natural to suppose that a true gentleman
+would be upon his guard against the most distant
+resemblance to those unfortunate starvelings.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of sleeping after dinner, called <i>Siesta</i>,
+is universal in summer, especially in Andalusia,
+where the intenseness of the heat produces languor
+and drowsiness. In winter, taking a walk, just
+after rising from table, is very prevalent. Many
+gentlemen, previously to their afternoon walk, resort
+to the coffee-houses, which now begin to be in
+fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Almost every considerable town of Spain is
+provided with a public walk, where the better
+classes assemble in the afternoon. These places
+are called <i>Alamedas</i>, from <i>Alamo</i>, a common name
+for the elm and poplar, the trees which shade such
+places. Large stone benches run in the direction
+of the alleys, where people sit either to rest themselves
+or to carry on a long talk, in whispers, with
+the next lady; an amusement which, in the idiom
+of the country, is expressed by the strange phrase,
+<i>pelar la Pava</i>&mdash;“to pluck the hen-turkey.” We
+have in our <i>Alameda</i> several fountains of the most
+delicious water. No less than twenty or thirty
+men with glasses, each holding nearly a quart,
+move in every direction, so dextrously clashing two
+of them in their hands, that without any danger of
+breaking them, they keep up a pretty lively tinkling
+like that of well-tuned small bells. So great is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+the quantity of water which these people sell to the
+frequenters of the walk, that most of them live
+throughout the year on what they thus earn in
+summer. Success in this trade depends on their
+promptitude to answer every call, their neatness in
+washing the glasses, and most of all, on their skilful
+use of the good-natured waggery peculiar to the
+lower classes of Andalusia. A knowing air, an arch
+smile, and some honied words of praise and endearments,
+as “My rose,” “My soul,” and many others,
+which even a modest and high-bred lady will hear
+without displeasure; are infallible means of success
+among tradesmen who deal with the public at
+large, and especially with the more tender part of
+that public. The company in these walks presents
+a motley crowd of officers in their regimentals,&mdash;of
+clergymen in their cassocks, black cloaks, and
+broad-brimmed hats, not unlike those of the coalmen
+in London,&mdash;and of gentlemen wrapped up in
+their <i>capas</i>, or in some uniform, without which a well-born
+Spaniard is almost ashamed to shew himself.</p>
+
+<p>The ladies’ walking-dress is susceptible of little
+variety. Nothing short of the house being on fire
+would oblige a Spanish woman to step out of doors
+without a black petticoat, called <i>Basquiña</i>, or <i>Saya</i>,
+and a broad black veil, hanging from the head over
+the shoulders, and crossed on the breast like a shawl,
+which they call <i>Mantilla</i>. The <i>mantilla</i> is, generally,
+of silk trimmed round with broad lace. In<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+summer-evenings some white <i>mantillas</i> are seen;
+but no lady would wear them in the morning, and
+much less venture into a church in such a <i>profane</i>
+dress.</p>
+
+<p>A showy fan is indispensable, in all seasons, both
+in and out of doors. An Andalusian woman might
+as well want her tongue as her fan. The fan, besides,
+has this advantage over the natural organ of
+speech&mdash;that it conveys thought to a greater distance.
+A dear friend at the farthest end of the
+public walk, is greeted and cheered by a quick,
+tremulous motion of the fan, accompanied with several
+significant nods. An object of indifference is
+dismissed with a slow, formal inclination of the fan,
+which makes his blood run cold. The fan, now,
+screens the titter and whisper; now condenses a
+smile into the dark sparkling eyes, which take their
+aim just above it. A gentle tap of the fan commands
+the attention of the careless; a waving
+motion calls the distant. A certain twirl between
+the fingers betrays doubt or anxiety&mdash;a quick
+closing and displaying the folds, indicates eagerness
+or joy. In perfect combination with the expressive
+features of my countrywomen, the fan is a
+magic wand, whose power is more easily felt than
+described.</p>
+
+<p>What is mere beauty, compared with the fascinating
+power arising from extreme sensibility? Such as
+are alive to those invisible charms, will hardly find
+a plain face among the young women of Andalusia.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+Their features may not, at first view, please the
+eye; but seem to improve every day till they grow
+beautiful. Without the advantages of education,
+without even external accomplishments, the
+vivacity of their fancy sheds a perpetual glow over
+their conversation; and the warmth of their heart
+gives the interest of affection to their most indifferent
+actions. But Nature, like a too fond mother,
+has spoilt them, and Superstition has completed
+their ruin. While the activity of their minds is
+allowed to run waste for want of care and instruction,
+the consciousness of their powers to please, impresses
+them with an early notion that life has but
+one source of happiness. Were their charms the
+effect of that cold twinkling flame which flutters
+round the hearts of most Frenchwomen, they
+would be only dangerous to the peace and usefulness
+of one half of society. But, instead of being
+the capricious tyrants of men, they are, generally,
+their victims. Few, very few Spanish women, and
+none, I will venture to say, among the Andalusians,
+have it in their power to be coquettes. If it may
+be said without a solecism, there is more of that
+vice in our men than in our females. The first,
+leading a life of idleness, and deprived by an ignorant,
+oppressive, and superstitious government, of every
+object that can raise and feed an honest ambition,
+waste their whole youth, and part of their manly
+age, in trifling with the best feelings of the tender
+sex, and poisoning, for mere mischief’s sake, the very<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>
+springs of domestic happiness. But ours is the
+most dire and complex disease that ever preyed
+upon the vitals of human society. With some of
+the noblest qualities that a people can possess (you
+will excuse an involuntary burst of national partiality),
+we are worse than degraded&mdash;we are depraved,
+by that which is intended to cherish and exalt every
+social virtue. Our corrupters, our mortal enemies,
+are religion and government. To set the practical
+proofs of this bold position in a striking light is, undoubtedly,
+beyond my abilities. Yet such, I must say,
+is the force of the proofs I possess on this melancholy
+topic, that they nearly overcome my mind with
+intuitive evidence. Let me, then, take leave of the
+subject into which my feelings have hurried me,
+by assuring you, that wherever the slightest aid is
+afforded to the female mind in this country, it
+exhibits the most astonishing quickness and capacity;
+and that, probably, no other nation in the
+world can present more lovely instances of a glowing
+and susceptible heart preserving unspotted
+purity, not from the dread of public opinion, but in
+spite of its encouragements.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER III.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Seville, &mdash;&mdash; 1799.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Fortune</span>
+has favoured me with an acquaintance&mdash;a
+young clergyman of this town&mdash;for whom,
+since our first introduction, I have felt a growing
+esteem, such as must soon ripen into the warmest
+affection. Common danger, and common suffering,
+especially of the mind, prove often the readiest and
+most indissoluble bonds of human friendship: and
+when to this influence is added the blending power
+of an intercommunity of thoughts and sentiments,
+no less unbounded than the confidence with which
+two men put thereby their liberty, their fortune,
+and their life into the hands of each other&mdash;imagination
+can hardly measure the warmth and
+devotedness of honest hearts thus united.</p>
+
+<p>Spaniards, who have broken the trammels of
+superstition, possess a wonderful quickness to mark
+and know one another. Yet caution is so necessary,
+that we never offer the right hand of fellowship<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+till, by gradual approaches, the heart and mind are
+carefully scanned on both sides. There are <i>bullies</i>
+in mental no less than in animal courage: and I have
+sometimes been in danger of committing myself
+with a pompous fool that was hazarding propositions
+in the evening, which he was sure to lay, in
+helpless fear, before the confessor, the next morning;
+and who, had he met with free and unqualified
+assent from any one of the company, would
+have tried to save his own soul and body by carrying
+the whole conversation to the Inquisitors. But
+the character of my new friend was visible at a glance;
+and, after some conversation, I could not feel the
+slightest apprehension that there might lurk in his
+heart either the villainy or the folly which can
+betray a man, in this world, under a pretext of
+ensuring his happiness in the next. He too, either
+from the circumstance of my long residence in
+England, or, as I hope, from something more properly
+belonging to myself, soon opened his whole
+mind; and we both uttered downright <i>heresy</i>.
+After this mutual, this awful pledge, the Scythian
+ceremony of tasting each other’s blood could not
+have more closely bound us in interest and danger.</p>
+
+<p>The coolness of an orange-grove is not more
+refreshing to him who has panted across one of our
+burning plains, under the meridian sun in August,
+than the company of a few trusty friends to some
+unbending minds, after a long day of restraint and dissimulation.
+When after our evening walk we are at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+last comfortably seated round my friend’s reading-table,
+where an amiable young officer, another clergyman,
+and one of the most worthy and highly-gifted
+men that tyranny and superstition have condemned
+to pine in obscurity, are always welcomed with a
+cordiality approaching to rapture&mdash;I cannot help
+comparing our feelings to those which we might
+suppose in Christian slaves at Algiers, who, having
+secretly unlocked the rivets of their fetters, could
+shake them off to feast and riot in the dead of night,
+cheering their hearts with wild visions of liberty,
+and salving their wounds with vague hopes of
+revenge. Revenge, did I say! what a false notion
+would that word give you of the characters that
+compose our little club! I doubt if Nature herself
+could so undo the work of her hands as to transform
+any one of my kind, my benevolent friends,
+into a man of blood. As to myself, mere protestations
+were useless. You know me; and I shall
+leave you to judge. But there is a revenge of the
+fancy, perfectly consistent with true mildness and
+generosity, though certainly more allied to quick
+sensibility than to sound and sober judgment. The
+last, however, should be seldom, if at all, looked for
+among persons in our circumstances. Our childhood
+is artificially protracted till we wonder how we
+have grown old: and, being kept at an immeasurable
+distance from the affairs and interest of public
+life, our passions, our virtues, and our vices, like
+those of early youth, have deeper roots in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+imagination than the heart. I will not say that
+this is a prevalent feature in the character of my
+countrymen; but I have generally observed it
+among the best and the worthiest. As to my confidential
+friends, especially the one I mentioned at
+the beginning of this letter, in strict conformity
+with the temper which, I fear, I have but imperfectly
+described, they spend their lives in giving
+vent, among themselves, to the suppressed feelings
+of ridicule or indignation, of which the religious
+institutions of this country are a perennial source
+to those who are compelled to receive them as of
+Divine authority. England has so far improved
+me, that I can perceive the folly of this conduct.
+I am aware that, instead of indulging this childish
+gratification of our anger, we should be preparing
+ourselves, by a profound study of our ancient laws
+and customs, and a perfect acquaintance with the
+pure and original doctrines of the Gospel, for any
+future opening to reformation in our church and
+state. But under this intolerable system of intellectual
+oppression, we have associated the idea of
+Spanish law with despotism, and that of Christianity
+with absurdity and persecution. After my return
+from England I feel almost involuntarily relapsing
+into the old habits of my mind. With my friends,
+who have never left this country, any endeavour
+to break and counteract such habits would be perfectly
+hopeless. Despondency drives them into a
+course of reading and thinking, which leads only to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+suppressed contempt and whispered sarcasm. The
+violence which they must constantly do to their
+best feelings, might breed some of the fiercer
+passions in breasts less softened with “the milk of
+human kindness.” But their hatred of the prevailing
+practices and opinions does not extend to persons.
+Yet I for one must confess, that were I to
+act from a first and habitual impulse, without
+listening to my better judgment, there is not a saint
+or a relic in the country I would not trample under
+foot, and treat with the utmost indignity. As
+things are, however, I content myself with scoffing
+and railing the whole day. But I trust that, on a
+change of circumstances, I should act more soberly
+than I feel.</p>
+
+<p>I should have found it very difficult, without
+this fortunate intimacy with a man who, though
+still in the prime of youth, has lately obtained, by
+literary competition, a place among what we call
+the higher clergy&mdash;that is, such as are <i>above</i> the
+cure of souls&mdash;to give you an insight into the internal
+constitution of the Spanish church, the vices
+of the system which prepares our young men for
+the altar, and the ruinous foundations on which the
+ecclesiastical law, aided by civil power, hazards the
+morals of our religious teachers and their flocks.
+When I had expressed to my friend my desire of
+having his assistance in carrying on this correspondence,
+as well as satisfied his mind on the improbability
+of any thing entrusted to you, recoiling<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
+upon himself in Spain; he shewed me a manuscript
+he had drawn up some time before, under the title:
+“A few facts connected with the formation of the
+intellectual and moral character of a Spanish
+Clergyman.” “Who knows,” he said, “but that
+this sketch may answer your purpose? No traveller’s-guide
+account of our universities and clerical
+establishments, can convey such a living picture of
+our state, as the history of a young mind trained
+up under their influence. You might easily find a
+list of the professors, endowments, and class-books
+of which the framework of Spanish education consists.
+But who would have the patience to read
+it, or what could he learn from it? I had intended
+that this little effusion of an oppressed and
+struggling mind should lie concealed till some
+future period, probably after my death, when my
+country might be prepared to learn and lament the
+wrongs she has, for ages, heaped on her children.
+But, since you have provided against discovery,
+and are willing to translate into English any thing
+I may give you, it will be some satisfaction to know
+that the results of my sad experience are laid before
+the most enlightened and benevolent people of
+Europe. Perhaps, if they know the true source of
+our evils, the day will come when they may be
+able and willing to help us.”</p>
+
+<p>The question with me now was, not whether I
+should accept the manuscript, but whether I could
+do it justice in the translation. Trusting, however,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+that the novelty of the matter would atone for the
+faults of my style; labour and perseverance have,
+at length, enabled me to enclose it in this letter.
+As I have thus introduced a stranger to you. I am
+bound in common civility to fall into the background,
+and let him speak for himself.</p>
+
+<hr class="sep2" />
+
+<h3><i>A few Facts connected with the formation of the Intellectual
+and Moral Character of a Spanish Clergyman.</i></h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">“I do</span> not possess the cynical habits of mind
+which would enable me, like Rousseau, to expose
+my heart naked to the gaze of the world. I have
+neither his unfortunate and odious propensities to
+gloss by an affected candour, nor his bewitching
+eloquence to display, whatever good qualities I may
+possess: and as I must overcome no small reluctance
+and fear of impropriety, to enter upon the task
+of writing an account of the workings of my mind
+and heart, I have some reason to believe that I am
+led to do so by a sincere desire of being useful to
+others. Millions of human creatures are made to
+venture their happiness on a form of Christianity
+which possesses the strongest claims to our attention,
+both from its great antiquity, and the extent of its<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
+sway over the most civilized part of the earth. The
+various effects of that religious system, unmixed
+with any thing unauthorized or spurious, upon my
+country, my friends, and myself, have been the
+object of my most serious attention, from the very
+dawn of reason till the moment when I am writing
+these lines. If the result of my experience should be,
+that religion, as it is taught and enforced in Spain,
+is productive of exquisite misery in the amiable and
+good, and of gross depravity in the unfeeling and
+the thoughtless&mdash;that it is an insuperable obstacle
+to the improvement of the mind, and gives a decided
+ascendancy to lettered absurdity, and to dull-headed
+bigotry&mdash;that it necessarily breeds such reserve
+and dissimulation in the most promising and
+valuable part of the people as must check and
+stunt the noblest of public virtues, candour and
+political courage&mdash;if all this, and much more that
+I am not able to express in the abstract form of
+simple positions, should start into view from the
+plain narrative of an obscure individual; I hope I
+shall not be charged with the silly vanity of attributing
+any intrinsic importance to the domestic
+events and private feelings which are to fill up the
+following pages.</p>
+
+<p>“I was born of parents who, though possessed
+of little property, held a decent rank among the
+gentry of my native town. Their characters, however,
+are so intimately connected with the forma<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>tion
+of my own, that I shall indulge an honest pride
+in describing them.</p>
+
+<p>“My father was the son of a rich Irish merchant,
+who obtained for himself and descendants a patent
+of <i>Hidalguia</i>, or noblesse, early in the reign of Ferdinand
+VI. During the life of my grandfather, and
+the consequent prosperity of his house, my father
+was sent abroad for his education. This gave a polish
+to his manners, which, at that period, was not
+easily found even in the first ranks of the nobility.
+Little more than accomplishments, however, was
+left him, when, in consequence of his father’s death,
+the commercial concerns of the house being managed
+by a stranger, received a shock which had
+nearly reduced the family to poverty and want.
+Yet something was saved; and my father, who, by
+some unaccountable infatuation, had not been
+brought up to business, was now obliged to exert
+himself to the utmost of his power. Joining, therefore,
+in partnership with a more wealthy merchant,
+who had married one of his sisters, he contrived, by
+care and diligence, together with a strict, though
+not sordid economy, not to descend below the rank
+in which he had been born. Under these unpromising
+circumstances he married my mother, who,
+if she could add but little to her husband’s fortune,
+yet brought him a treasure of love and virtue, which
+he found constantly increasing, till death removed
+him on the first approaches of old age.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“My mother was of honourable parentage. She
+was brought up in that absence of mental cultivation
+which prevails, to this day, among the Spanish
+ladies. But her natural talents were of a superior
+cast. She was lively, pretty, and sang sweetly.
+Under the influence of a happier country, her pleasing
+vivacity, the quickness of her apprehension, and
+the exquisite degree of sensibility which animated
+her words and actions, would have qualified her to
+shine in the most elegant and refined circles.</p>
+
+<p>“<i>Benevolence</i> prompted all my father’s actions, endued
+him, at times, with something like supernatural
+vigour, and gave him, for the good of his fellow-creatures,
+the courage and decision he wanted in
+whatever concerned himself. With hardly any
+thing to spare, I do not recollect a time when our
+house was not a source of relief and consolation to
+some families of such as, by a characteristic and
+feeling appellation, are called among us the <i>blushing
+poor</i>.<a id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> In all seasons, for thirty years of his
+life, my father allowed himself no other relaxation,
+after the fatiguing business of his counting-house,
+than a visit to the general hospital of this town&mdash;a
+horrible scene of misery, where four or five hundred
+beggars are, at a time, allowed to lay themselves
+down and die, when worn out by want and
+disease. Stripping himself of his coat, and having
+put on a coarse dress for the sake of cleanliness, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+which he was scrupulous to a fault; he was employed,
+till late at night, in making the beds of the
+poor, taking the helpless in his arms, and stooping
+to such services as even the menials in attendance
+were often loth to perform. All this he did of his
+own free will, without the least connexion, public
+or private, with the establishment. Twice he was
+at death’s door from the contagious influence of the
+atmosphere in which he exerted his charity. But
+no danger would appal him when engaged in administering
+relief to the needy. Foreigners, cast by
+misfortune into that gulf of wretchedness, were the
+peculiar objects of his kindness.</p>
+
+<p>“The principle of benevolence was not less powerful
+in my mother; but her extreme sensibility
+made her infinitely more susceptible of pain than
+pleasure&mdash;of fear than hope&mdash;and, for such characters,
+a technical religion is ever a source of distracting
+terrors. Enthusiasm&mdash;that bastard of religious
+liberty, that vigorous weed of Protestantism&mdash;does
+not thrive under the jealous eye of infallible
+authority. Catholicism, it is true, has, in a few
+instances, produced a sort of splendid madness;
+but its visions and trances partake largely of the
+tameness of a mind previously exhausted by fears
+and agonies, meekly borne under the authority of a
+priest. The throes of the New Birth harrow up the
+mind of the Methodist, and give it that frenzied
+energy of despair, which often settles into the all-hoping,
+all-daring raptures of the enthusiast. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+Catholic Saint suffers in all the passiveness of blind
+submission, till nature sinks exhausted, and reason
+gives way to a gentle, visionary madness. The natural
+powers of my mother’s intellect were strong
+enough to withstand, unimpaired, the enormous
+and constant pressure of religious fears in their most
+hideous shape. But, did I not deem reason the
+only gift of Heaven which fully compensates the
+evils of this present existence, I might have wished
+for its utter extinction in the first and dearest object
+of my natural affection. Had she become a
+visionary, she had ceased to be unhappy. But she
+possessed to the last an intellectual energy equal to
+any exertion, except one, which was not compatible
+with the influence of her country&mdash;that of looking
+boldly into the dark recess where lurked the
+phantoms that harassed and distressed her mind.</p>
+
+<p>“It would be difficult, indeed, to choose two
+fairer subjects for observing the effects of the religion
+of Spain. The results, in both, were lamentable,
+though certainly not the most mischievous it
+is apt to produce. In one, we see mental soberness
+and good sense degraded into timidity and indecision&mdash;unbounded
+goodness of heart, confined to
+the lowest range of benevolence. In the other, we
+mark talents of a superior kind, turned into the
+ingenious tormentors of a heart, whose main source
+of wretchedness was an exquisite sensibility to the
+beauty of virtue, and an insatiate ardour in treading
+the devious and thorny path it was made to take<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+for the 'way which leadeth unto life.’&mdash;A bolder
+reason, in the first, (it will be said) and a reason
+less fluttered by sensibility, in the second, would
+have made those virtuous minds more cautious of
+yielding themselves up to the full influence of ascetic
+devotion. Is this, then, all that men are to expect
+from the unbounded promises of light, and the lofty
+claims of authority, which our religion holds forth?
+Is it thus, that, when, to obtain the protection of
+an infallible guide, we have, at his command, maimed
+and fast bound our reason, still a precipice yawns
+before our feet, from which none but that insulted
+reason can save us? Are we to call for her aid on
+the brink of despair and insanity, and then spurn
+our faithful, though injured friend, lest she should
+unlock our hand from that of our proud and treacherous
+leader? Often have I, from education, habit,
+and a misguided love of moral excellence, been
+guilty of that inconsistency, till frequent disappointment
+urged me to break my chains. Painful,
+indeed, and fierce was the struggle by which I
+gained my liberty, and doomed I am for ever to
+bear the marks of early bondage. But no power on
+earth shall make me again give up the guidance
+of my reason, till I can find a rule of conduct and
+belief that may safely be trusted, without wanting
+<i>reason</i> itself to moderate and expound it.</p>
+
+<p>“The first and most anxious care of my parents
+was to sow abundantly the seeds of Christian virtue
+in my infant breast. In this, as in all their proceed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>ings,
+they strictly followed the steps of those whose
+virtue had received the sanction of their church.
+Religious instruction was conveyed to my mind
+with the rudiments of speech; and if early impressions
+alone could be trusted for the future complexion
+of a child’s character, the music, and the
+splendid pageantry of the cathedral of Seville, which
+was to me the first scene of mental enjoyment,
+might, at this day, be the soundest foundation of
+my Catholic faith.</p>
+
+<p>“Divines have declared that moral responsibility
+begins at the age of seven, and, consequently, children
+of quick parts are not allowed to go much
+longer without the advantage of confession. My
+mind had scarcely attained the first climacteric,
+when I had the full benefit of absolution for such
+sins as my good mother, who acted as the accusing
+conscience, could discover in my <i>naughtiness</i>. The
+church, we know, cannot be wrong; but to say the
+honest truth, all her pious contrivances have, by a
+sad fatality, produced in me just the reverse of their
+aim. Though the clergyman who was to shrive
+this young sinner had mild, gentle, and affectionate
+manners, there is something in auricular confession
+which has revolted my feelings from the day when
+I first knelt before a priest, in childish simplicity,
+to the last time I have been forced to repeat that
+ceremony, as a protection to my life and liberty,
+with scorn and contempt in my heart.</p>
+
+<p>“Auricular confession, as a subject of theologi<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>cal
+controversy, is, probably, beneath the notice
+of many; but I could not easily allow the name of
+philosopher to any one who should look upon an
+inquiry into the moral influence of that religious
+practice, as perfectly void of interest. It has been observed,
+with great truth, that the most philanthropic
+man would feel more uneasiness in the expectation
+of having his little finger cut off, than in the assurance
+that the whole empire of China was to be swallowed
+up the next day by an earthquake. If ever, therefore,
+these lines should meet the eye of the public
+in some distant country (for ages must pass before
+they can see the light in Spain), I entreat my readers
+to beware of indifference about evils from which
+it is their happiness to be free, and to make a due
+allowance for the feelings which lead me into a
+short digression. They certainly cannot expect to
+be acquainted with Spain without a sufficient knowledge
+of the powerful moral engines which are at
+work in that country; and they will, perhaps, find
+that a Spanish priest may have something to say
+which is new to them on the subject of confession.</p>
+
+<p>“The effects of confession upon young minds
+are, generally, unfavourable to their future peace
+and virtue. It was to that practice I owed the first
+taste of remorse, while yet my soul was in a state
+of infant purity. My fancy had been strongly impressed
+with the awful conditions of the penitential
+law, and the word <i>sacrilege</i> had made me shudder
+on being told that the act of concealing any thought<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+or action, the rightfulness of which I suspected,
+would make me guilty of that worst of crimes, and
+greatly increase my danger of everlasting torments.
+My parents had, in this case, done no more than
+their duty, according to the rules of their church.
+But, though they had succeeded in rousing my
+fear of hell, this was, on the other hand, too feeble
+to overcome a childish bashfulness, which made
+the disclosure of a harmless trifle, an effort above
+my strength.</p>
+
+<p>“The appointed day came at last, when I was
+to wait on the confessor. Now wavering, now determined
+not to be guilty of sacrilege, I knelt before
+the priest, leaving, however, in my list of sins,
+the last place to the hideous offence&mdash;I believe it
+was a petty larceny committed on a young bird.
+But, when I came to the dreaded point, shame and
+confusion fell upon me, and the accusation stuck in
+my throat. The imaginary guilt of this silence
+haunted my mind for four years, gathering horrors
+at every successive confession, and rising into an
+appalling spectre, when, at the age of twelve, I was
+taken to receive the sacrament. In this miserable
+state I continued till, with the advance of reason, I
+plucked, at fourteen, courage enough to unburthen
+my conscience by a general confession of the past.
+And let it not be supposed that mine is a singular
+case, arising either from morbid feeling or the nature
+of my early education. Few, indeed, among
+the many penitents I have examined, have escaped<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+the evils of a similar state; for, what a silly bashfulness
+does in children, is often, in after-life, the
+immediate effect of that shame by which fallen
+frailty clings still to wounded virtue. The necessity
+of confession, seen at a distance, is lighter than a
+feather in the balance of desire; while, at a subsequent
+period, it becomes a punishment on delicacy&mdash;an
+instrument to blunt the moral sense, by multiplying
+the subjects of remorse, and directing its
+greatest terrors against imaginary crimes.</p>
+
+<p>“These evils affect, nearly equally, the two
+sexes; but there are some that fall peculiarly to
+the lot of the softer. Yet the remotest of all&mdash;at
+least, as long as the Inquisition shall exist&mdash;is the
+danger of direct seduction by the priest. The formidable
+powers of that odious tribunal have been
+so skilfully arrayed against the abuse of sacramental
+trust, that few are found base and blind enough
+to make the confessional a <i>direct</i> instrument of debauch.
+The strictest delicacy, however, is, I believe,
+inadequate fully to oppose the demoralizing
+tendency of auricular confession. Without the
+slightest responsibility, and, not unfrequently, in
+the conscientious discharge of what he believes his
+duty, the confessor conveys to the female mind the
+first foul breath which dims its virgin purity. He,
+undoubtedly, has a right to interrogate upon subjects
+which are justly deemed awkward even for
+maternal confidence; and it would require more
+than common simplicity to suppose that a discre<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>tionary
+power of this nature, left in the hands of
+thousands&mdash;men beset with more than common
+temptations to abuse it&mdash;will generally be exercised
+with proper caution. But I will no longer dwell
+upon this subject for the present. Men of unprejudiced
+minds will easily conjecture what I leave
+unsaid; while to shew a hope of convincing such
+as have made a full and irrevocable surrender of
+their judgment, were only to libel my own.</p>
+
+<p>“From the peculiar circumstances of my country,
+the training of my mental faculties was an object
+of little interest with my parents. There could
+be scarcely any doubt in the choice of a line of life
+for me; who was the eldest of four children. My
+father’s fortune was improving; and I might help
+and succeed him with advantage to myself and two
+sisters. It was, therefore, in my father’s counting-house,
+that, under the care of an old trusty clerk,
+I learned writing and arithmetic. To be a perfect
+stranger to literature is not, even now, a disgrace
+among the better class of Spaniards. But my mother,
+whose pride, though greatly subdued, was
+never conquered by devotion, felt anxious that,
+since, from prudential motives, I was doomed to be
+buried for life in a counting-house, a little knowledge
+of Latin should distinguish me from a mere
+mercantile drudge. A private teacher was accordingly
+procured, who read with me in the evening,
+after I had spent the best part of the day in making
+copies of the extensive correspondence of the house.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“I was now about ten years old, and though,
+from a child, excessively fond of reading, my acquaintance
+with books did not extend beyond a
+history of the Old Testament&mdash;a collection of the
+Lives of the Saints mentioned in the Catholic Almanack,
+out of which I chose the Martyrs, for
+modern saints were never to my taste&mdash;a little work
+that gave an amusing miracle of the Virgin for
+every day of the year<a id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>&mdash;and prized above all, a Spanish
+translation of Fenelon’s Telemachus, which I
+perused till I had nearly learned it by heart. I heard,
+therefore, with uncommon pleasure, that, in acquiring
+a knowledge of Latin, I should have to read
+stories not unlike that of my favourite the Prince of
+Ithaca. Little time, however, was allowed me for
+study, lest, from my love of learning, I should
+conceive a dislike to mercantile pursuits. But my
+mind had taken a decided bent. I hated the counting-house,
+and loved my books. Learning and the
+church were, to me, inseparable ideas; and I soon
+declared to my mother that I would be nothing but
+a clergyman.</p>
+
+<p>“This declaration roused the strongest prejudices
+of her mind and heart, which cold prudence
+had only damped into acquiescence. To have a
+son who shall daily hold in his hands the real body
+of Christ, is an honour, a happiness which raises
+the humblest Spanish woman into a self-complacent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
+consequence that attends her through life. What,
+then, must be the feelings of one who, to the
+strongest sense of devotion, joins the hope of seeing
+the dignities and emoluments of a rich and proud
+Church bestowed upon a darling child? The
+Church, besides, by the law of celibacy, averts that
+mighty terror of a fond mother&mdash;a wife, who,
+sooner or later, is to draw away her child from
+home. A boy, therefore, who at the age of ten or
+twelve, dazzled either by the gaudy dress of an officiating
+priest&mdash;by the importance he sees others
+acquire, when the bishop confers upon them the
+clerical tonsure&mdash;or by any other delusion of childhood,
+declares his intention of taking orders,
+seldom, very seldom escapes the heavy chain which
+the Church artfully hides under the tinsel of
+honours, and the less flimsy, though also less
+attainable splendour of her gold. Such a boy,
+among the poor, is infallibly plunged into a convent;
+if he belongs to the gentry, he is destined to swell
+the ranks of the secular clergy.</p>
+
+<p>“It is true that, in all ages and countries, the
+leading events of human life are inseparably
+linked with some of the slightest incidents of childhood.
+But this fact, instead of an apology, affords
+the heaviest charge against the crafty and barbarous
+system of laying snares, wherein unsuspecting innocence
+may, at the very entrance of life, lose
+every chance of future peace, happiness and virtue.
+To allow a girl of sixteen to bind herself, for ever,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+with vows&mdash;not only under the awful, though
+distant guardianship of heaven, but the odious and
+immediate superintendence of man&mdash;ranks, indeed,
+with the most hideous abuses of superstition.
+The law of celibacy, it is true, does not bind the
+secular clergy till the age of twenty-one; but this
+is neither more nor less than a mockery of common
+sense, in the eyes of those who practically know
+how frivolous is that latitude.<a id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> A man has seldom
+the means to embrace, or the aptitude to exercise
+a profession for which he has not been trained from
+early youth. It is absurd and cruel to pretend that
+a young man, whose best ten or twelve years have
+been spent in preparation for orders, is at full
+liberty to turn his back upon the Church when he
+has arrived at one-and-twenty. He may, indeed,
+preserve his liberty; but to do so he must forget
+that most of his patrimony has been laid out on his
+education, that he is too old for a cadetship in the
+army, too poor for commerce, and too proud for a
+petty trade. He must behold, unmoved, the tears
+of his parents; and, casting about for subsistence,
+in a country where industry affords no resource,
+love, the main cause of these struggles, must
+content itself with bare possible lawfulness, and
+bid adieu to the hope of possession. Wherever<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+unnatural privations make not a part of the clerical
+duty, many may find themselves in the Church
+who might be better elsewhere. But no great
+effort is wanted to make them happy in themselves,
+and useful to the community. Not so under the
+unfeeling tyranny of our ecclesiastical law. For,
+where shall we find that virtue which, having
+Nature herself for its enemy, and misery for its meed,
+will be able to extend its care to the welfare of
+others?&mdash;As to myself, the tenour and colour of
+my life were fixed the moment I expressed my
+childish wish of being a clergyman. The love of
+knowledge, however, which betrayed me into the
+path of wretchedness, has never forsaken its victim.
+It is probable that I could not have found happiness
+in uneducated ignorance. Scanty and truly
+hard-earned as it is the store on which my mind
+feeds itself, I would not part with it for a whole life
+of unthinking pleasure: and since the necessity of
+circumstances left me no path to mental enjoyment,
+except that I have so painfully trodden, I
+hail the moment when I entered it, and only bewail
+the fatality which fixed my birth in a Catholic
+country.</p>
+
+<p>“The order of events would here require an account
+of the system of Spanish education, and its
+first effects upon my mind; but, since I speak of
+myself only to shew the state of my country, I
+shall proceed with the moral influence, that, without
+interruption, I may present the facts relating<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+severally to the heart and intellect, in as large
+masses as the subject permits.</p>
+
+<p>“The Jesuits, till the abolition of that order, had
+an almost unrivalled influence over the better
+classes of Spaniards. They had nearly monopolized
+the instruction of the Spanish youth, at which
+they toiled without pecuniary reward; and were
+equally zealous in promoting devotional feelings
+both among their pupils and the people at large. It
+is well known that the most accurate division of
+labour was observed in the allotment of their various
+employments. Their candidates, who, by a
+refinement of ecclesiastical policy, after an unusually
+long probation, were bound by vows, which,
+depriving them of liberty, yet left a discretionary
+power of ejection in the order; were incessantly
+watched by the penetrating eye of the master of
+novices: a minute description of their character
+and peculiar turn was forwarded to the superiors,
+and at the end of the noviciate, they were employed
+to the advantage of the community, without ever
+thwarting the natural bent of the individual, or
+diverting his natural powers by a multiplicity of
+employments. Wherever, as in France and Italy,
+literature was in high estimation, the Jesuits spared
+no trouble to raise among themselves men of
+eminence in that department. In Spain, their
+chief aim was to provide their houses with popular
+preachers, and zealous, yet prudent and gentle,
+confessors. Pascal, and the Jansenist party, of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+which he was the organ, accused them of systematic
+laxity in their moral doctrines: but the
+charge, I believe, though plausible in theory, was
+perfectly groundless in practice. If, indeed, ascetic
+virtue could ever be divested of its connatural evil
+tendency&mdash;if a system of moral perfection that has
+for its basis, however disavowed and disguised, the
+Manichæan doctrine of the two principles, could
+be applied with any partial advantage as a rule of
+conduct, it was so in the hands of the Jesuits. The
+strict, unbending maxims of the Jansenists, by
+urging persons of all characters and tempers to an
+imaginary goal of perfection, bring quickly their
+whole system to the decision of experience.
+They are like those enthusiasts who, venturing
+upon the practice of some Gospel sayings, in the
+literal sense, have made the absurdity of that interpretation
+as clear as noon-day light. A greater
+knowledge of mankind made the Jesuits more
+cautious in the culture of devotional feelings. They
+well knew that but few can prudently engage in
+open hostility with what in ascetic language is
+called the world. They now and then trained up a
+sturdy champion, who, like their founder Loyóla,
+might provoke the enemy to single combat with
+honour to his leaders; but the crowd of mystic
+combatants were made to stand upon a kind of
+jealous truce, which, in spite of all care, often produced
+some jovial meetings of the advanced parties
+on both sides. The good fathers came forward,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+rebuked their soldiers back into the camp, and
+filled up the place of deserters by their indefatigable
+industry in engaging recruits.</p>
+
+<p>“The influence of the Jesuits on the Spanish
+morals, from every thing I have learned, was undoubtedly
+favourable. Their kindness attracted
+the youth from the schools to their company: and,
+though this intimacy was often employed in making
+proselytes to the order, it also contributed to the
+preservation of virtue in that slippery age, both by
+the ties of affection, and the gentle check of example.
+Their churches were crowded every Sunday
+with regular attendants, who came to confess
+and receive the sacrament. The practice of choosing
+a certain priest, not only to be the occasional
+confessor, but <i>director of the conscience</i>, was greatly
+encouraged by the Jesuits. The ultimate effects
+of this surrender of the judgment are, indeed,
+dangerous and degrading; but, in a country where
+the darkest superstition is constantly impelling the
+mind into the opposite extremes of religious melancholy
+and profligacy, weak persons are sometimes
+preserved from either by the friendly assistance of
+a prudent <i>director</i>; and the Jesuits were generally
+well qualified for that office. Their conduct was
+correct, and their manners refined. They kept up a
+dignified intercourse with the middling and higher
+classes, and were always ready to help and instruct
+the poor, without descending to their level. Since
+the expulsion of the Jesuits, the better classes, for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+the most part, avoid the company of monks and
+friars, except in an official capacity; while the
+lower ranks, from which these professional saints are
+generally taken, and where they re-appear, raised,
+indeed, into comparative importance, but grown
+bolder in grossness and vice, suffer more from their
+influence than they would by being left without
+any religious ministers.<a id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>“Since the abolition of the Jesuits, their devotional
+system has been kept up, though upon a
+much narrower scale, by the congregations of Saint
+Philip Neri (<i>l’Oratoire</i>, in France), an Italian of
+the sixteenth century, who established voluntary
+associations of secular clergymen, living together
+under an easy rule, but without monastic vows, in
+order to devote themselves to the support of piety.
+The number, however, of these associated priests is
+so small, that, notwithstanding their zeal and their
+studied imitation of the Jesuits, they are but a faint
+shadow of that surprising institution. Yet these
+priests alone have inherited the skill of Loyóla’s
+followers in the management of the ascetic contrivance,
+which, invented by that ardent fanatic, is
+still called, from his Christian name, <i>Exercises of
+Saint Ignatius</i>. As it would be impossible to sketch
+the history of my mind and heart without noticing
+the influence of that powerful engine, I cannot omit
+a description of the establishment kept by the <i>Phi<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>lippians</i>
+at Seville&mdash;the most complete of its kind
+that probably has ever existed.</p>
+
+<p>“The <i>Exercises of Saint Ignatius</i> are a series of
+meditations on various religious subjects, so artificially
+disposed, that the mind being at first thrown
+into distressing horror, may be gradually raised to
+hope, and finally soothed, not into a certainty of
+Divine favour, but a timid consciousness of pardon.
+Ten consecutive days are passed in perfect abstraction
+from all wordly pursuits. The persons who
+submit to this spiritual discipline, leave their homes
+for rooms allotted to them in the religious house
+where the Exercises are to be performed, and yield
+themselves up to the direction of the president.
+The priest, who for nearly thirty years has been
+acting in that capacity at Seville, enjoys such influence
+over the wealthy part of the town, that, not
+satisfied with the temporary accommodation which
+his convent afforded to the pious guests, he can
+now lodge the Exercitants in a separate building,
+with a chapel annexed, and every requisite for complete
+abstraction, during the days of their retirement.
+Six or eight times in the year the Exercises
+are performed by different sets of fifty persons
+each. The utmost precision and regularity are
+observed in the distribution of their time. Roused
+by a large bell at five in the morning, they immediately
+assemble in the chapel to begin the meditation
+appointed for the day. At their meals they
+observe a deep silence; and no intercourse, even<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
+among each other, is permitted, except during one
+hour in the evening. The settled gloom of the
+house, the almost incessant reading and meditation
+upon subjects which, from their vagueness and
+infinitude, harass and bewilder the fancy, and that
+powerful sympathetic influence, which affects
+assemblies where all are intent on the same object
+and bent on similar feelings, render this house a
+modern cave of Trophonius, within whose dark
+cells cheerfulness is often extinguished for ever.</p>
+
+<p>“Unskilful, indeed, must be the hand that, possessed
+of this engine, can fail to subdue the stoutest
+mind in which there lurks a particle of superstitious
+fear. But Father Vega is one of those men who
+are born to command a large portion of their fellow
+creatures, either by the usual means, or some
+contrivance of their own. The expulsion of the
+Jesuits during his probationship in that order, denied
+him the ample field on which his early views
+had been fixed. After a course of theological studies
+at the University, he became a member of the
+<i>Oratorio</i>, and soon attracted the notice of the whole
+town by his preaching. His active and bold mind
+combines qualities seldom found in the same individual.
+Clear-headed, resolute, and ambitious, the
+superstitious feelings which melt him into tears
+whenever he performs the Mass, have not in the
+least impaired the mental daringness he originally
+owes to nature. Though seldom mixing in society,
+he is a perfect man of the world. Far from compro<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>mising
+his lofty claims to respect, he flatters the
+proudest nobles of his spiritual train by well-timed
+bursts of affected rudeness, which, being a mere
+display of spiritual authority, perfectly consistent
+with a full acknowledgment of their worldly rank
+and dignity, give them, in the eyes of the more
+humble bystanders, the additional merit of Christian
+condescension. As an instance of this, I recollect
+his ordering the Marquis del Pedroso, one of
+the haughtiest men in this town, to fetch up-stairs
+from the chapel, a heavy gold frame set with jewels,
+in which the Host is exhibited, for the inspection
+of the company during the hour of recreation
+allowed in the Exercises. No man ever shewed
+such assurance and consciousness of Heaven’s delegated
+authority as Father Vega, in the Confessional.
+He reads the heart of his penitent&mdash;impresses the
+mind with the uselessness of disguise, and relieves
+shame by a strong feeling that he has anticipated
+disclosure. In preaching, his vehemence rivets the
+mind of the hearers; a wild luxuriance of style engages
+them with perpetual variety; expectation is
+kept alive by the remembered flashes of his wit;
+while the homely, and even coarse, expressions he
+allows himself, when he feels the whole audience
+already in his power, give him that air of superiority
+which seems to set no bounds to the freedom
+of manner.</p>
+
+<p>“It is however, in his private chapel that Father
+Vega has prepared the grand scene of his triumphs<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+over the hearts of his audience. Twice every day,
+during the Exercises, he kneels for the space of
+one hour, surrounded by his congregation. Day-light
+is excluded, and a candle is so disposed in a
+shade that, without breaking the gloom of the
+chapel, it shines on a full-length sculpture of
+Christ nailed to the Cross, who, with a countenance
+where exquisite suffering is blended with the
+most lovely patience, seems to be on the point of
+moving his lips to say&mdash;“Father, forgive them!”
+The mind is at first allowed to dwell, in the deepest
+silence, on the images and sentiments with which
+previous reading has furnished it, till the Director,
+warmed with meditation, breaks forth in an impressive
+voice, not, however, addressing himself
+to his hearers, from whom he appears completely
+abstracted, but pouring out his heart in the presence
+of the Deity. Silence ensues after a few sentences,
+and not many minutes elapse without a
+fresh ejaculation. But the fire gradually kindles
+into a flame. The addresses grow longer and more
+impassioned; his voice, choked with sobs and
+tears, struggles painfully for utterance, till the stoutest
+hearts are forced to yield to the impression, and
+the chapel resounds with sighs and groans.</p>
+
+<p>“I cannot but shudder at the recollection that
+my mind was made to undergo such an ordeal at
+the age of fifteen; for it is a custom of the diocese
+of Seville to prepare the candidates for orders by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+the Exercises of Saint Ignatius; and even those
+who are to be incorporated with the clergy by the
+ceremony of the <i>First Tonsure</i>, are not easily spared
+this trial. I was grown up a timid, docile, yet ardent
+boy. My soul, as I have already mentioned,
+had been early made to taste the bitterness of remorse,
+and I now eagerly embraced the offer of
+those expiatory rites which, as I fondly thought,
+were to restore lost innocence, and keep me for
+ever in the straight path of virtue. The shock,
+however, which my spirits felt, might have unnerved
+me for life, and reduced my faculties to a state little
+short of imbecility, had I not received from nature,
+probably as a compensation for a too soft and yielding
+heart, an understanding which was born a rebel.
+Yet, I cannot tell whether it was my heart or my
+head, that, in spite of a frighted fancy, endued me
+with resolution to baffle the blind zeal of my confessor,
+when, finding, during these Exercises, that
+I knew the existence of a prohibited book in the
+possession of a student of divinity, who, out of mere
+good nature, assisted my early studies; he commanded
+me to accuse my friend before the Inquisition.
+Often have I been betrayed into a wrong
+course of thinking, by a desire to assimilate myself
+to those I loved, and thus enjoy that interchange
+of sentiment which forms the luxury of friendship.
+But even the chains of love, the strongest I know
+within the range of nature, could never hold me,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+the moment I conceived that error had bound
+them. This, however, brings me to the history of
+my mind.</p>
+
+<p>“An innate love of truth, which shewed itself on
+the first developement of my reason, and a consequent
+perseverance in the pursuit of it to the extent
+of my knowledge, that has attended me through
+life, saved me from sinking into the dregs of Aristotelic
+philosophy, which, though discountenanced
+by the Spanish government, are still collected in a
+few filthy pools, fed by the constant exertions of
+the Dominicans. Unfortunately for me, these
+monks have a richly endowed college at Seville,
+where they give lectures on Aristotle and Thomas
+Aquinas, to a few young men whom they recruit
+at the expense of flattering their parents. My
+father’s confessor was a Dominican, and he marked
+me for a divine of his own school. My mother,
+whose heart was with the Jesuits, would fain have
+sent me to the University, where the last remnant
+of their pupils still held the principal chairs. But
+she was informed by the wily monk, that <i>heresy</i>
+had began to creep among the new professors of
+philosophy&mdash;heresy of such a horrible tendency,
+that it nearly amounted to polytheism. The evidence
+on which this charge was grounded, seemed,
+indeed, irresistible; for you had only to open the
+second volume of one Altieri, a Neapolitan friar,
+whose Elements of philosophy are still used as a
+class-book at the University of Seville, and you<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+would find, in the first pages, that he makes <i>space</i>
+uncreated, infinite, and imperishable. From such
+premises the consequence was evident; the new
+philosophers were clearly setting up a rival deity.</p>
+
+<p>“With the usual preparation of a little Latin,
+but in absolute want of all elementary instruction,
+I was sent to begin a course of logic at the Dominican
+college. My desire of learning was great indeed;
+but the <i>Categoriæ ad mentem Divi Thomæ
+Aquinatis</i>, in a large quarto volume, were unsavoury
+food for my mind, and, after a few vain efforts
+to conquer my aversion, I ended in never
+opening the dismal book. Yet, untrained as I was
+to reading, books were necessary to my happiness.
+In any other country I should have met with a variety
+of works, which, furnishing my mind with
+facts and observations, might have led me into
+some useful or agreeable pursuit. But in Spain,
+the chances of lighting on a good book are so few,
+that I must reckon my acquaintance with one that
+could open my mind, among the fortunate events
+of my life. A near relation of mine, a lady, whose
+education had been superior to that commonly
+bestowed on Spanish females, possessed a small
+collection of Spanish and French books. Among
+these were the works of Don Fray Benito Feyjoo, a
+Benedictine monk, who, rising above the intellectual
+level of his country, about the beginning of the present
+(18th) century, had the boldness to attack every
+established error which was not under the imme<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>diate
+patronage of religion. His mind was endowed
+with extraordinary clearness and acuteness; and
+having, by an extensive reading of Latin and
+French works, acquired a great mass of information
+on physical and historical subjects, he displayed it,
+with peculiar felicity of expression, in a long series
+of discourses and letters, forming a work of fourteen
+large closely printed volumes.<a id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>“It was not without difficulty that I obtained
+leave to try whether my mind, which had hitherto
+lain a perfect waste, was strong enough to understand
+and relish Feyjoo. But the contents of his
+pages came like the spring showers upon a thirsty
+soil. A man’s opinion of the first work he read
+when a boy, cannot safely be trusted; but, to judge
+from the avidity with which at the age of fifteen I
+devoured fourteen volumes on miscellaneous subjects,
+and the surprising impulse they gave to my
+yet unfolded faculties, Feyjoo must be a writer who
+deserves more notice than he has ever obtained
+from his countrymen. If I can trust my recollection,
+he had deeply imbibed the spirit of Lord
+Bacon’s works, together with his utter contempt of
+the absurd philosophy which has been universally
+taught in Spain, till the last third of the eighteenth
+century. From Bayle, Feyjoo had learned caution
+in weighing historical evidence, and an habitual<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
+suspicion of the numberless opinions which, in
+countries unpurified by the wholesome gales of free
+contending thought, are allowed to range unmolested,
+for ages, with the same claim to the rights
+of prescription as frogs and insects have to their
+stagnant pools. In a pleasing and popular style,
+Feyjoo acquainted his countrymen with whatever
+discoveries in experimental philosophy had been
+made by Boyle at that time. He declared open
+war against quackery of all kinds. Miracles and
+visions which had not received the sanction of the
+Church of Rome did not escape the scrutinizing
+eye of the bold Benedictine. Such, in fact, was the
+alarm produced by his works on the all-believing
+race for whom he wrote, that nothing but the patronage
+of Ferdinand VI. prevented his being silenced
+with the <i>ultima ratio</i> of Spanish divines&mdash;the
+Inquisition.</p>
+
+<p>“Had the power of Aladdin’s lamp placed me
+within the richest subterraneous palace described in
+the Arabian Nights, it could not have produced the
+raptures I experienced from the intellectual treasure
+of which I now imagined myself the master.
+Physical strength developes itself so gradually, that
+few, I am inclined to think, derive pleasure from a
+sudden start of bodily vigour. But my mind, like
+a young bird in the nest, had lived unconscious of
+its wings, till this unexpected leader had, by his
+boldness, allured it into flight. From a state of
+mere animal life, I found myself at once possessed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+of the faculty of thinking; and I can scarcely conceive,
+that the soul, emerging after death into a
+higher rank of existence, shall feel and try its new
+powers with a keener delight. My knowledge, it
+is true, was confined to a few physical and historical
+facts; but I had, all at once, learned to reason,
+to argue, to doubt. To the surprise and alarm of
+my good relatives, I had been changed within a
+few weeks, into a sceptic who, without questioning
+religious subjects, would not allow any one of their
+settled notions to pass for its current value. My
+mother, with her usual penetration, perceived the
+new tendency of my mind, and thanked Heaven, in
+my presence, that Spain was my native country;
+‘else,’ she said, ‘he would soon quit the pale of
+the church.’</p>
+
+<p>“The main advantage, however, which I owed
+to my new powers, was a speedy emancipation
+from the Aristotelic school of the Dominicans. I
+had, sometimes, dipped into the second volume of
+their Elements of Philosophy, and had found, to
+my utter dismay, that they denied the existence of
+a <i>vacuum</i>&mdash;one of my then favourite doctrines&mdash;and
+attributed the ascent of liquids by suction, to the
+horror of nature at being wounded and torn. Now,
+it so happened that Feyjoo had given me the clearest
+notions on the theory of the sucking-pump, and
+the relative gravity of air and water. Nothing,
+therefore, could equal my contempt of those
+monks, who still contended for the whole system of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+sympathies and antipathies. A reprimand from the
+reverend Professor of Logic, for my utter inattention
+to his lectures, sprung, at length, the mine
+which, charged with the first scraps of learning,
+and brimful of boyish conceit, had long been ready
+to explode.</p>
+
+<p>“Had the friar remonstrated with me in private,
+my habitual timidity would have sealed up my lips.
+But he rated me before the whole class, and my indignation
+fired up at such an indignity. Rising
+from my seat with a courage so new to me that it
+seemed to be inspired, I boldly declared my determination
+not to burden and pervert my mind with
+the absurdities that were taught in their schools.
+Being asked, with a sarcastic smile, which were
+the doctrines that had thus incurred my disapprobation,
+I visibly surprised the Professor&mdash;no bright
+genius himself&mdash;with the theory of the sucking-pump,
+and actually nonplus’d him on the mighty
+question of <i>vacuum</i>. To be thus bearded by a stripling,
+was more than his professional humility could
+bear. He bade me thank my family for not being
+that moment turned out of the lecture-room; assuring
+me, however, that my father should be acquainted
+with my impertinence in the course of
+that day. Yet I must do justice to his good-nature
+and moderation in checking the students,
+who wished to serve me, like Sancho, with a blanketing.</p>
+
+<p>“Before the threatened message could reach my<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+father, I had, with great rhetorical skill, engaged
+maternal pride and fear, in my favour. In what
+colours the friar may have painted my impudence,
+I neither learned nor cared: for my mother, whose
+dislike of the Dominicans, as the enemies of the
+Jesuits, had been roused by the public reprimand
+of the Professor, took the whole matter into her
+hands, and before the end of the week, I heard,
+with raptures, that my name was to be entered at
+the University.</p>
+
+<p>“Having thus luckily obtained the object of my
+wishes, I soon retrieved my character for industry,
+and received the public thanks of my new Professor.
+What might have been my progress under a
+better system than that of a Spanish university,
+vanity will probably not allow me to judge with
+fairness. I will, therefore, content myself with laying
+a sketch of that system before the reader.</p>
+
+<p>“The Spanish universities had continued in a
+state worthy of the thirteenth century till the year
+1770, when the Marquis of Roda, a favourite minister
+of Charles III., gave them an amended plan of
+studies, which though far below the level of knowledge
+over the rest of Europe, seems at least to recognise
+the progress of the human mind since the
+revival of letters. The present plan forbids the
+study of the Aristotelic philosophy, and attempts
+the introduction of the inductive system of Bacon;
+but is shamefully deficient, in the department of
+literature. Three years successive attendance in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+the schools of logic, natural philosophy, and metaphysics,
+is the only requisite for a master’s degree;
+and, though the examinations are both long and
+severe, few of the Spanish universities have yet altered
+the old statute which obliges the candidates
+to draw their Theses from Aristotle’s logic and physics,
+and to deliver a long discourse upon one chapter
+of each; thus leaving their daily lectures perfectly
+at variance with the final examinations.
+Besides these preparatory schools, every university
+has three or four professors of divinity, as many of
+civil and canon law, and seldom less of medicine.
+The students are not required to live in colleges.
+There are, however, establishments of this kind
+for undergraduates; but being, for the most part,
+intended for a limited number of poor boys, they
+make no part of the Academic system. Yet some
+of these colleges have, by a strange combination of
+circumstances, risen to such a height of splendour
+and influence, that I must digress into a short sketch
+of their history.</p>
+
+<p>“The original division of Spanish colleges into
+<i>minor</i> and <i>major</i>, arose from the branches of learning
+for which they were intended. Grammar and
+rhetoric alone were taught in the first; divinity,
+law, and medicine, in the last. Most of the <i>Colegios
+Mayores</i> were, by papal bulls and royal decrees,
+erected into <i>universities</i>, where, besides the fellows,
+students might repair daily to hear the public lectures,
+and finally take their degrees. Thus the uni<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>versity
+of this town (Seville) was, till lately, attached
+to this college, the rector or head of which
+elected annually by the fellows, was, by virtue of
+his office, rector of the university. This, and the
+great colleges of Castille, enjoying similar privileges,
+but far exceeding ours in wealth and influence,
+formed the literary aristocracy of Spain. Though
+the statutes gave no exclusion to plebeians, the circumstances
+required in the candidates for fellowships,
+together with the <i>esprit de corps</i> which actuated
+the electors, confined such places to the <i>noblesse</i>.
+Anxious to increase their influence, none of
+the six great colleges of Spain could ever be induced
+to elect any one who was not connected with
+some of the best families. This, however, was but
+a prudential step, to avoid the public disgrace to
+which the <i>pruebas</i>, or interrogatories relative to
+<i>blood</i>, might otherwise expose the candidates. One
+of the fellows was, and is still at Seville, according
+to the statutes, to repair to the birth-place of the
+parents of the elected member, as well as to those
+of his two grandfathers and grandmothers&mdash;except
+when any of them is a foreigner, a circumstance
+which prevents the journey, though not the inquiry&mdash;in
+order to examine upon oath, from fifteen to
+thirty witnesses at each place. These, either from
+their own knowledge, or the current report of the
+town, must swear that the ancestor in question
+never was a menial servant, a shopkeeper or petty
+tradesman; a mechanic; had neither himself, nor any<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>
+of his relations, been punished by the Inquisition,
+nor was descended from Jews, Moors, Africans,
+Indians, or Guanchos, <i>i. e.</i> the aborigines of the
+Canary Islands. It is evident that none but the
+hereditary gentry could expose themselves to this
+ordeal: and as the pride of the reporter, together
+with the character of his college, were highly interested
+in the purity of blood of every member, no
+room was left for the evasions commonly resorted
+to for the admission of knights in the military
+orders.</p>
+
+<p>“Thus, in the course of years, the six great colleges<a id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>
+could command the influence of the first
+Spanish families all over the kingdom. It was,
+besides, a point of honour among such as had obtained
+a fellowship, never to desert the interest of
+their college: and, as every cathedral in Spain has
+three canonries, which must be obtained by a literary
+competition, of which the canons themselves
+are the judges, wherever a <i>Colegial Mayor</i> had obtained
+a stall, he was able to secure a strong party
+to any one of his college who should offer himself
+as a champion at those literary jousts. The chap<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>ters,
+on the other hand, were generally inclined to
+strengthen their own importance by the accession
+of people of rank, leaving poor and unknown
+scholars to grovel in their native obscurity. No
+place of honour in the church and law was left unoccupied
+by the <i>collegians</i>: and even the distribution
+which those powerful bodies made of their
+members&mdash;as if not only all the best offices and situations,
+but even a choice of them, were in their
+hands&mdash;was no secret to the country at large.
+Fellows in orders, who possessed abilities, were
+kept in reserve for the literary <i>competitions</i>. Such
+as could not appear to advantage at those public
+trials were, by means of court favour, provided for
+with stalls in the wealthiest cathedrals. The absolutely
+dull and ignorant were made <i>inquisitors</i>,
+who, passing judgment in their secret halls, could
+not disgrace the college by their blunders. Medicine
+not being in honour, there were no fellows of
+that profession. The lay members of the major
+colleges belonged exclusively to the law, but they
+would never quit their fellowships except for a place
+among the judges. Even in the present low ebb
+of collegiate influence, the College of Seville would
+disown any of the fellows who should act as a mere
+advocate.</p>
+
+<p>“While the colleges were still at the height of
+their power, a young lawyer offered himself for one
+of the fellowships at Salamanca, and was disdainfully
+rejected for want of sufficient proofs of <i>noblesse</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
+By an extraordinary combination of circumstances,
+the offended candidate rose to be prime minister of
+state, under Charles III., with the title of Marquis
+of Roda. The extraordinary success he had met
+with in public life, could not, however, heal the
+wound his pride had received in his youth. But,
+besides the inducement of his private feelings, he
+seems to have been an enemy to all influence which
+was not exerted by the king and his ministers.
+Two powerful bodies, the Jesuits and the colleges,
+engrossed so forcibly, and, I may say, painfully, his
+attention, that it was wittily observed, ‘that the
+spectacles he wore had painted glasses, one representing
+a Jesuit, the other a collegian’&mdash;and thus allowed
+him to see nothing else. The destruction to
+which he had doomed them was, at length, accomplished
+by his means. His main triumph was, indeed,
+over the Jesuits: yet his success against the colleges,
+though certainly less splendid, was the more gratifying
+to his personal feelings. The method he employed
+in the downfall of the last is not unworthy
+of notice, both for its perfect simplicity, and the
+light it throws upon the state and character of the
+country. Having the whole patronage of the
+Crown in his hands, he placed, within a short time,
+all the existing members of the Salamanca colleges,
+in the most desirable situations both of the church
+and law, filling their vacancies with young men of
+no family. Thus the bond of collegiate influence
+was suddenly snapped asunder: the old members<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
+disowned their successors; and such as a few days
+before looked upon a fellowship as an object of
+ambition, would have felt mortified at the sight
+of a relative wearing the gown of a <i>reformed</i> college.
+The <i>Colegio Mayor</i> of Seville was attacked
+by other means. Without enforcing the admission
+of the unprivileged classes, the minister, by an
+arbitrary order, deprived it of its right to confer
+degrees. The convocation of doctors and masters
+was empowered to elect their own rector, and
+name professors for the schools, which were subsequently
+opened to the public in one of the deserted
+houses that had belonged to the Jesuits. Such
+is the origin of the university where I received my
+education.</p>
+
+<p>“Slight, however, are the advantages which a
+young mind can derive from academical studies in
+Spain. To expect a rational system of education
+where the Inquisition is constantly on the watch to
+keep the human mind within the boundaries which
+the Church of Rome, with her host of divines, has
+set to its progress; would shew a perfect ignorance
+of the character of our religion. Thanks to the
+league between our church and state, the Catholic
+divines have nearly succeeded in keeping down
+knowledge to their own level. Even such branches
+of science as seem least connected with religion,
+cannot escape the theological rod; and the spirit
+which made Galileo recant upon his knees his discoveries
+in astronomy, still compels our professors<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
+to teach the Copernican system as an hypothesis.
+The truth is that, with Catholic divines, no one
+pursuit of the human mind is independent of religion.
+Since the first appearance of Christianity, its
+doctrines have ever been blended with the philosophical
+views of their teachers. The scriptures
+themselves, invaluable as they are in forming the
+moral character, frequently touch, by incident, upon
+subjects unconnected with their main object, and
+treat of nature and civil society according to the
+notions of a rude people in a very primitive period.
+Hence the encroachments of divines upon every
+branch of human knowledge, which are still supported
+by the hand of power in a great part of
+Europe, but in none so outrageously as in Spain.
+Astronomy must ask the inquisitors’ leave to see
+with her own eyes. Geography was long compelled
+to shrink before them. Divines were made
+the judges of Columbus’s plans of discovery, as well
+as to allot a species to the Americans. A spectre
+monk haunts the Geologist in the lowest cavities of
+the earth; and one of flesh and blood watches the
+steps of the philosopher on its surface. Anatomy
+is suspected, and watched closely, whenever she
+takes up the scalpel; and Medicine had many a
+pang to endure while endeavouring to expunge the
+use of bark and inoculation from the catalogue of
+mortal sins. You must not only believe what the
+Inquisition believes, but yield implicit faith to the
+theories and explanations of her divines. To ac<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>knowlege
+on the authority of Revelation, that mankind
+will rise from their graves, is not sufficient
+to protect the unfortunate Metaphysician, who
+should deny that man is a compound of two substances,
+one of which is naturally immortal. It
+was long a great obstacle to the rejection of the
+Aristotelic philosophy, that the <i>substantial forms</i>
+of the schools were found an exceedingly convenient
+veil for the invisible work of <i>transubstantiation</i>;
+for our good divines shrewdly suspected, that
+if colour, taste, smell, and all the other properties
+of bodies were allowed to be mere <i>accidents</i>&mdash;the
+bare impressions on our sense of one variously
+modified substance&mdash;it might be plausibly urged
+that, in the consecrated Host, the body of Christ
+had been converted into bread, not the bread into
+that body. But it would be endless and tedious to
+trace all the links, of which the Inquisition has
+formed the chain that binds and weighs down the
+human mind among us. Acquiescence in the
+voluminous and multifarious creed of the Roman
+church is by no means sufficient for safety. A man
+who closes his work with the O. S. C. S. R. E.
+(<i>Omnia sub correctione Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ</i>)
+may yet rue the moment when he took pen in hand.
+Heterodoxy may be easily avoided in writing; but
+who can be sure that none of his periods <i>smacks of
+heresy</i> (sapiens hæresim)&mdash;none of his sentences
+are of that uncouth species which is <i>apt to grate
+pious ears</i> (piarum aurium offensivas)? Who then<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>
+will venture upon the path of knowledge, where
+it leads straight to the Inquisition?<a id="FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>“Yet such is the energy of the human mind,
+when once acquainted with its own powers, that
+the best organized system of intellectual tyranny,
+though so far successful as to prevent Spanish
+talent from bringing any fruit to maturity, fails
+most completely of checking its activity. Could I
+but accurately draw the picture of an ingenuous
+young mind struggling with the obstacles which
+Spanish education opposes to improvement&mdash;the
+alarm at the springing suspicions of being purposely
+betrayed into error&mdash;the superstitious fears that
+check its first longings after liberty&mdash;the honest
+and ingenious casuistry by which it encourages
+itself to leave the prescribed path&mdash;the maiden joy
+and fear of the first transgression&mdash;the rapidly-growing
+love of newly discovered truth, and consequent
+hatred of its tyrants&mdash;the final despair and wild
+phrenzy that possess it on finding its doom inevitable,
+on seeing with an appalling evidence, that
+its best exertions are lost, that ignorance, bigotry,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
+and superstition claim and can enforce its homage&mdash;no
+plot of romance would be read with more interest
+by such as are not indifferent to the noblest
+concerns of mankind. As I cannot, however, present
+an animated picture, I shall proceed with a
+statement of facts.</p>
+
+<p>“An imperfect knowledge of logic and natural
+philosophy was all I acquired at the university
+before I began the study of divinity; and like most
+of my countrymen, I should have completed my
+studies without so much as suspecting the existence
+of elegant literature, had it not been for my
+acquaintance with an excellent young man, much
+my senior at the university, who, by his own unassisted
+industry, had made some progress in the
+study and imitation of the classics.<a id="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> To him I
+owed my first acquaintance with Spanish poetry,
+and my earliest attempts at composition in my own
+language. My good fortune led me, but a short
+time after, to a member of the <i>Colegio Mayor</i>
+of this town&mdash;another self-improved man, whose
+extraordinary talents having enabled him, at the
+age of nineteen, to cast a gleam of good taste over
+the system of his own university of Osuna, made
+him subsequently, at Seville, the centre of a small
+club of students.<a id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Through the influence of his
+genius, and the gratuitous assistance he gave them<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
+in their studies, some of his private pupils rose so
+far above the mass of their academical fellows, as
+to shew by the fair, though scanty, produce of
+their minds, the rich promise which the state of
+their country yearly blasts.</p>
+
+<p>“In all the Spanish universities with which
+I am acquainted, I have observed a similar struggle
+between enterprising genius and constituted ignorance.
+Valencia, Granada, the college of San
+Fulgencio at Murcia; Salamanca, above all, and
+Seville, the least among them; have exhibited
+symptoms of rebellion, arising from the undaunted
+ardour of some young members, who having opened
+for themselves a path to knowledge, would, at some
+time or other, make a desperate effort to allure
+the rising generation to follow their steps. The
+boldest champions in this hopeless contest, have
+generally started among the professors of moral
+philosophy. Government had confined them to
+the puny Elements of Jacquier and Heinnecius;
+but a mind once set on “the proper study of mankind,”
+must be weak indeed not to extend its
+views beyond the limits prescribed by the ignorance
+of a despot or his ministers. With alarm
+and consternation to the <i>white-tasselled</i> heads,<a id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
+thrilling hopes to their secret enemies, connected
+series of Theses have of late appeared among us,
+which, in spite of the studied caution of their
+language, betrayed both their origin and tendency.
+Genuine offspring of the French school, the very
+turn of their phrases gave strong indications of a
+style formed in defiance of the Holy Inquisition.
+But these fits of restless impatience have only
+secured the yoke they were intended to loosen.
+I have visited Salamanca after the great defeat of
+the philosophical party, the strongest that ever
+was formed in Spain. A man of first-rate literary
+character among us,<a id="FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> whom merit and court favour
+had raised to one of the chief seats in the judicature
+of the country, but whom court caprice had, about
+this time, sent to rusticate at Salamanca, was doing
+me the honours of the place, when, approaching the
+convocation-hall of the university, we perceived the
+members of the faculty of divinity strolling about,
+while waiting for a meeting of their body. A runaway
+slave, still bearing the marks of the lash on his
+return, could not have shrunk more instinctively at
+the sight of the planters meeting at the council-room,
+than my friend did at the view of the cowls,
+‘white, black, and grey,’ which partially hid the
+sleek faces of his offended masters. He had, it is
+true, been lucky enough to escape the imprisonment
+and subsequent penance in a monastery<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
+which was the sad lot of the chief of his routed
+party; but he himself was still suspected and
+watched closely. The rest of his friends, the flower
+of the university, had been kept for three or four
+years, in constant fear of their personal liberty,
+being often called before the secret tribunal to
+answer the most captious interrogatories about
+themselves and their acquaintance, but never put
+in possession of every count of the indictment.
+After this and a few such examples, we have, at last,
+perceived the folly of engaging in a desperate game,
+where no possible combination can, for the present,
+give the dissenting party a single chance of success.</p>
+
+<p>“French philosophy had not found its way to
+the university of Seville, at the time when I was
+studying divinity. Even the knowledge of the
+French language was a rare acquirement both
+among the professors and their hearers. I have
+mentioned, at the beginning of this sketch, that one
+of the few books which delighted my childhood
+was a Spanish translation of Telemachus. A fortunate
+incident had now thrown into my hands the
+original of my old favourite, and I attempted to understand
+a few lines by comparing them with the
+version. My success exceeded my hopes. Without
+either grammar or dictionary, I could, in a few
+weeks, read on: guessing a great deal, it is true, but
+visibly improving my knowledge of the idiom by
+comparing the force of unknown words in different
+passages. An odd volume of Racine’s tragedies<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>
+was my next French book. Imperfectly as I must
+have understood that tender and elegant poet, his
+plays gave me so much pleasure, that by repeated
+readings I found myself able to understand French
+poetry. It was about this time that I made my
+invaluable acquaintance at our college. My friend
+had learned both French and Italian in a similar
+manner with myself. He was acquainted with one
+of the judges of our <i>Audiencia</i>, or provincial court
+of judicature, a man of great literary celebrity,<a id="FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>
+who possessed a very good library, from whence I
+was indulged with French books, as well as Italian;
+for by a little ingenuity and the analogy of my own
+language, I had also enabled myself to read the
+language of Petrarch.</p>
+
+<p>“Hitherto I had never had courage enough to
+take a forbidden book in my hands. The excommunication
+impending over me by the words <i>ipso
+facto</i>, was indeed too terrific an object for my inexperienced
+mind. Delighted with my newly acquired
+taste for poetry and eloquence, I had
+never brooded over any religious doubts&mdash;or rather,
+sincerely adhering to the Roman Catholic law,
+which makes the examination of such doubts as great
+a crime as the denial of the article of belief they
+affect, I had always shrunk with terror from every
+heterodox suggestion. But my now intimate friend
+and guide had made canon law his profession.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>
+Ecclesiastical history, in which he was deeply
+versed, had, without weakening his Catholic principles,
+made him a pupil of that school of canonists
+who, both in Germany and France, having exposed
+the forgeries, by means of which papal power had
+made itself paramount to every human authority,
+were but too visibly disposed to a separation from
+Rome. My friend denied the existence of any
+power in the Church to inflict excommunication,
+without a declaratory sentence in consequence of
+the trial of the offender. Upon the strength of this
+doctrine, he made me read the ‘Discourses on
+Ecclesiastical History,’ by the Abbé Fleury&mdash;a
+work teeming with invective against monks and
+friars, doubts on modern miracles, and strictures
+on the virtues of modern saints. Eve’s heart, I
+confess, when</p>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <p class="i1">&mdash;&mdash;her rash hand in evil hour</p>
+    <p>Forth reaching to the fruit, she pluck’d, she ate,</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="noindent">could not have beaten more convulsively than mine,
+as I opened the forbidden book. Vague fears and
+doubts haunted my conscience for many days.
+But my friend, besides being a sound Catholic,
+was a devout man. He had lately taken priest’s
+orders, and was now not only my literary but my
+spiritual director. His abilities and his affection
+to me had obtained a most perfect command over
+my mind, and it was not long before I could match<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+him in mental boldness, on points unconnected
+with articles of faith.</p>
+
+<p>“This was, indeed, the happiest period of my
+life. The greatest part of my time, with the exception
+of that required for my daily attendance at
+the dull lectures of the divinity professors, was
+devoted to the French critics, André, Le Bossu,
+Batteux, Rollin, La Harpe, and many others of
+less note. The habit of analyzing language and
+ideas, which I acquired in the perusal of such
+works, soon led me to some of the French metaphysicians,
+especially Condillac.</p>
+
+<p>“It was the favourite amusement of myself and
+those constant associates of my youth that formed
+the knot of friends, of whom the often mentioned
+<i>Colegial Mayor</i> was the centre and guide; to examine
+all our feelings, in order to resolve them into
+some general law, and trace them to their simple
+elements. This habit of analysis and generalization
+extended itself to the customs and habits of the
+country, and the daily incidents of life, till in the
+course of time it produced in me the deceitful,
+though not uncommon notion, that all knowledge
+is the result of developed principles, and gave me a
+distaste for every book that was not cast into a
+regular theory.</p>
+
+<p>“While I was thus amused and deceived by the
+activity of my mind, without endeavouring to give
+it the weight and steadiness which depends upon
+the knowledge of facts; Catholicism, with its ten<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+thousand rules and practices, was mechanically
+keeping up the ill-contrived structure of devotion,
+which it had raised more in my fancy than my
+heart. It had now to contend, however, with an
+enemy whom nothing but fixed hope can keep
+within bounds&mdash;but religion had left me no hope.
+Instead of engaging love on her side, she had forced
+him into an inseparable league with immorality. I
+will not describe the misery that embittered my
+youth, and destroyed the peace of my maturer
+years&mdash;the struggles, perhaps the crimes, certainly
+the remorse, that were in me the consequence of
+the barbarous laws of my country. They are too
+intimately blended with <i>self</i>, too intricately entwined
+with the feelings of others, to be left exposed
+for ever to the cold indifference of the multitude.
+Whatever on this point is connected
+with the general state of Spain, has already
+been touched upon. Mine, indeed, is the lot
+of thousands. Often did I recoil at the approach
+of the moment when I was to bind myself
+for ever to the clerical profession, and as often my
+heart failed me at the sight of a mother in tears!
+It was no worldly interest&mdash;it was the eternal welfare
+of my soul, which she believed to depend on
+my following the call of Heaven, that made the
+best of mothers a snare to her dearest child. The
+persuasions of my confessor, and, above all, the
+happiness I experienced in restoring cheerfulness
+to my family, deluded me into the hope of preserv<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>ing
+the same feeling through life. A very short
+time, however, was sufficient to open my eyes.
+The inexorable law that bound me, was the bitterest
+foe to my virtue. Yet devotion had not lost her
+power over my fancy, and I broke loose, more than
+once, from her thraldom, and was as often reclaimed,
+before the awful period which was to raise me to
+the priesthood.</p>
+
+<p>“If mental excitement, attended with the most
+thrilling and sublime sensations, the effect of
+deception, could be indulged without injury to
+our noblest faculties&mdash;if life could be made a
+long dream without the painful startings produced
+by the din and collision of the world&mdash;if the opium
+of delusion could be largely administered without a
+complete enervation of our rational energies&mdash;the
+lot of a man of feeling, brought up in the undisturbed
+belief of the Catholic doctrines, and raised to be a
+dispenser of its mysteries; would be enviable above
+all others. No abstract belief, if I am to trust
+my experience, can either soothe our fears or feed
+our hopes, independently of the imagination; and
+I am strongly inclined to assert, that no genuine
+persuasion exists upon unearthly subjects, without
+the co-operation of the imaginative faculty. Hence
+the powerful effects of the splendid and striking
+system of worship adopted by the Roman church.
+A foreigner may be inclined to laugh at the strange
+ceremonies performed in a Spanish cathedral, because
+these ceremonies are a conventional language<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+to which he attaches no ideas. But he that from
+the cradle has been accustomed to kiss the hand of
+the priest, and receive his blessing&mdash;that has
+associated the name and attributes of the Deity with
+the consecrated bread&mdash;that has observed the awe
+with which it is handled&mdash;how none but annointed
+hands dare touch it&mdash;what clouds of incense, what
+brilliancy of gems surround it when exposed to the
+view&mdash;with what heartfelt anxiety the glare of
+lights, the sound of music, and the uninterrupted
+adoration of the priests in waiting, are made to
+evince the overpowering feeling of a God dwelling
+among men&mdash;such a man alone can conceive the
+state of a warm-hearted youth, who, for the first
+time approaches the altar, not as a mere attendant,
+but as the sole worker of the greatest of miracles.</p>
+
+<p>“No language can do justice to my own feelings
+at the ceremony of ordination, the performance of
+the first mass, and during the interval which
+elapsed between this fever of enthusiasm and the
+cold scepticism that soon followed it. For some
+months previous to the awful ceremony I voluntarily
+secluded myself from the world, making religious
+reading and meditation the sole employment
+of my time. The <i>Exercises of Saint Ignatius</i>,
+which immediately preceded the day of ordination,
+filled my heart with what appeared to me a settled
+distaste for every wordly pleasure. When the consecrating
+rights had been performed&mdash;when my<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
+hands had been annointed&mdash;the sacred vesture, at
+first folded on my shoulders, let drop around me by
+the hands of the bishop&mdash;the sublime hymn to the
+all-creating Spirit uttered in solemn strains, and the
+power of restoring sinners to innocence, conferred
+upon me&mdash;when, at length, raised to the dignity of
+a ‘fellow-worker with God,’ the bishop addressed
+me, in the name of the Saviour: ‘Henceforth I
+call you not servant ... but I have called you
+friend;’ I truly felt as if, freed from the material
+part of my being, I belonged to a higher rank of
+existence. I had still a heart, it is true&mdash;a heart
+ready to burst at the sight of my parents, on their
+knees, while impressing the first kiss on my newly-consecrated
+hands; but it was dead to the charms
+of beauty. Among the friendly crowd that surrounded
+me for the same purpose, were those lips
+which a few months before I would have died to
+press; yet I could but just mark their superior
+softness. In vain did I exert myself to check exuberance
+of feelings at my first mass. My tears bedewed
+the <i>corporals</i> on which, with the eyes of
+faith, I beheld the disguised lover of mankind whom
+I had drawn from heaven to my hands. These are
+dreams, indeed,&mdash;the illusions of an over-heated
+fancy; but dreams they are which some of the
+noblest minds have dreamt through life without
+waking&mdash;dreams which, while passing vividly before
+the mental eye, must entirely wrap up the soul
+of every one who is neither <i>more</i> nor <i>less</i> than a man.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“To exercise the privileges of my office for the
+benefit of my fellow-creatures, was now my exclusive
+aim and purpose. I daily celebrated mass, with
+due preparation, preached often, and rejected none
+that applied to me for confession. The best ascetic
+writers of the Church of Rome were constantly in
+my hands. I made a study of the Fathers; but,
+though I had the Scriptures among my books, it
+was, according to custom, more for reference than
+perusal. These feelings, this state of mental abstraction,
+is by no means uncommon, for a time,
+among young priests whose hearts have not been
+withered by a course of premature profligacy. It
+would be absurd to expect it in such as embrace
+the clerical state as a trade, or are led to the church
+by ambition, and least of all among the few that
+would never bind themselves with the laws of celibacy,
+had they not previously freed their minds from all
+religious fears. Yet, among my numerous acquaintance
+in the Spanish clergy, I have never met with
+any one, possessed of bold talents, who has not,
+sooner or later, changed from the most sincere piety
+to a state of unbelief.<a id="FNanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> Were every individual who
+has undergone this internal transformation to describe
+the steps by which it was accomplished, I
+doubt not but the general outline would prove alike
+in all. I shall, however, conclude my narrative by
+faithfully relating the origin and progress of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+total change that took place in my mind within
+little more than a year after taking priest’s orders.</p>
+
+<p>“The ideas of consistency and perfection are
+strongly attached by every sincere Catholic to his
+system of faith. The church of Rome has played
+for many centuries a desperate though, till lately,
+a successful game. Having once proclaimed the
+necessity of an abstract creed for salvation, and
+made herself the infallible framer and expounder
+of that creed, she leaves her votaries no alternative
+but that of receiving or rejecting the whole of her
+doctrines. Luckily for her interests, men seldom
+go beyond a certain link in the chain of thought,
+or allow themselves to look into the sources of
+traditionary doctrines. Her theological system on
+the other hand, having so shaped its gradual growth
+as to fill up deficiencies as they were perceived,
+affords an ample range to every mind that, without
+venturing to examine the foundations, shall be contented
+with the symmetry, of the structure. I
+have often heard the question, how could such
+men as Bossuet and Fenelon adhere to the church
+of Rome and reject the Protestant faith? The
+answer appears to me obvious. Because, according
+to their fixed principles on this matter, they
+must have been either Catholics or Infidels. Laying
+it down as an axiom, that Christianity was
+chiefly intended to reveal a system of doctrines necessary
+for salvation, they naturally and consistently
+inferred the existence of an authorized<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+judge upon questions of faith, otherwise the inevitable
+doubts arising from private judgment would
+defeat the object of revelation. Thus it is that
+Bossuet thought he had triumphantly confuted the
+Protestants by merely shewing that they could not
+agree in their Articles. Like Bossuet, most Catholic
+divines can see no medium between denying the
+infallible authority of the Church and rejecting
+revelation.</p>
+
+<p>“No proposition in Euclid could convey stronger
+conviction to my mind than that which I found in
+this dilemma. Let me but prove, said I to myself,
+that there exists a single flaw in the system, and it
+will all crumble into dust. Yet, as in a Catholic,
+‘once to doubt is once to be resolved,’ I might have
+eternally closed my eyes, like many others, against
+the impression of the most glaring falsehoods; for
+how could I retrieve the rash step of holding my
+judgment in suspense while I examined? The
+most hideous crimes fall within the jurisdiction of
+a confessor; but the mortal taint of heresy cannot
+be removed except by the Pope’s delegated
+authority, which, in Spain, he has deposited in the
+hands of the Inquisition. Should I deliberately
+indulge my doubts for a moment, what a mountain
+of crime and misery I should bring upon my head!
+My office would, probably, lay me under the necessity
+of celebrating mass the next day, which, to
+do with a consciousness of unabsolved sin, is sacrilege;
+while this particular offence would besides<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>
+involve me in the ecclesiastical sentence of <i>suspension</i>
+and <i>interdict</i>. The recurring necessity of
+officiating at the altar, before I could remove these
+inabilities, would increase them every day tenfold,
+and give my life a foretaste of the torturing fire to
+which I should be doomed by the sentence of my
+church. These fears are not peculiar to timid or
+weak characters: they are the legitimate consequences
+of a consistent and complicated system, and
+cannot be dispelled but by a decided rejection of
+the whole.</p>
+
+<p>The involuntary train, however, both of feeling
+and thought, which was to make me break out
+into complete rebellion, had long been sapping
+the foundations of my faith, without my being
+aware that the whole structure nodded to its ruin.
+A dull sense of existence, a heaviness that palled
+my taste for life and its concerns, had succeeded
+my first ardour of devotion. Conscientiously faithful
+to my engagements, and secluded from every
+object that might ruffle the calm of my heart, I
+looked for happiness in the performance of my
+duty. But happiness was fled from me; and,
+though totally exempt from remorse, I could not
+bear the death-like silence of my soul. An unmeaning
+and extremely burdensome practice laid by the
+Church of Rome upon her clergy, contributed not
+a little to increase the irksomeness of my circumstances.
+A Catholic clergyman, who employs his
+whole day in the discharge of his duty to others,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+must yet repeat to himself the service of the day in
+an audible voice&mdash;a performance which neither
+constant practice, nor the most rapid utterance can
+bring within the compass of less than an hour and
+a half in the four-and-twenty. This exhausting
+exercise is enjoined under pain of mortal sin, and
+the restitution of that day’s income on which any
+portion of the office is omitted.</p>
+
+<p>“Was mine a life of usefulness?&mdash;Did not the
+world, with all its struggles, its miseries, and its
+vices, hold out nobler and more exalted ends
+than this tame and deadening system of perfection?
+How strong must be the probability of
+future reward, to balance the actual certainty of
+such prolonged misery? Suppose, however, the
+reality and magnitude of the recompence&mdash;am I
+not daily, and hourly, in danger of eternal perdition?
+My heart sinks at the view of the interminable
+list of offences; every one of which may finally
+plunge me into the everlasting flames. Everlasting!
+and why so? Can there be revenge or cruelty in the
+Almighty? Such were the harassing thoughts with
+which I wrestled day and night. Prostrate upon
+my knees I daily prayed for deliverance; but my
+prayers were not heard. I tried to strengthen my
+faith by reading Bergier, and some of the French
+Apologists. But what can they avail a doubting
+Catholic? His system of faith being indivisible,
+the evidences of Christianity lead him to the most
+glaring absurdities. To argue with a doubting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+Catholic is to encourage and hasten his desertion.
+Chateaubriand has perfectly understood the nature
+of his task, and by engaging the feelings and imagination
+in defence of his creed, has given it the
+fairest chance against the dry and tasteless philosophy
+of his countrymen. His book<a id="FNanchor_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> propped up
+my faith for a while.</p>
+
+<p>“Almost on the eve of my mental crisis, I had to
+preach a sermon upon an extraordinary occasion;
+when, according to a fashion derived from France, a
+long and elaborate discourse was expected. I made
+infidelity my subject, with a most sincere desire of
+convincing myself while I laboured to persuade
+others. What effect my arguments may have had
+upon the audience I know not; they were certainly
+lost upon the orator. Whatever, in this state, could
+break the habit of awe which I was so tenaciously
+supporting&mdash;whatever could urge me into uttering
+a doubt on one of the Articles of the Roman Creed,
+was sure to make my faith vanish like a soap-bubble
+in the air. I had been too earnest in my devotion,
+and my Church too pressing and demanding. Like
+a cold, artful, interested mistress, that Church either
+exhausts the ardour of her best lovers, or harasses
+them to destruction. As to myself, a moment’s
+dalliance with her great rival, Freedom, converted
+my former love into perfect abhorrence.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, as I was wrapt up in my usual<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>
+thoughts, on the banks of the Guadalquivir, a gentleman,
+who had lately been named by the government
+to an important place in our provincial judicature,
+joined me in the course of my ramble.
+We had been acquainted but a short time, and he,
+though forced into caution by an early danger from
+the Inquisition, was still friendly and communicative.
+His talents of forensic eloquence, and the
+sprightliness and elegance of his conversation, had
+induced a conviction on my mind, that he belonged
+to the philosophical party of the university where
+he had been educated. Urged by an irresistible impulse,
+I ventured with him upon neutral ground&mdash;monks,
+ecclesiastical encroachments, extravagant
+devotion&mdash;till the stream of thought I had thus
+allowed to glide over the feeble mound of my fears,
+swelling every moment, broke forth as a torrent
+from its long and violent confinement. I was listened
+to with encouraging kindness, and there was not
+a doubt in my heart which I did not disclose.
+Doubts they had, indeed, appeared to me till that
+moment; but utterance transformed them, at once,
+into demonstrations. It would be impossible to
+describe the fear and trepidation that seized me the
+moment I parted from my good-natured confidant.
+The prisons of the Inquisition seemed ready to
+close their studded gates upon me; and the very
+hell I had just denied, appeared yawning before
+my eyes. Yet, a few days elapsed, and no evil had
+overtaken me. I performed mass with a heart in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>
+open rebellion to the Church that enjoined it: but
+I had now settled with myself to offer it up to my
+Creator, as I imagine that the enlightened Greeks
+and Romans must have done their sacrifices. I was
+like them, forced to express my thankfulness in
+an absurd language.</p>
+
+<p>“This first taste of mental liberty was more delicious
+than any feeling I ever experienced; but it
+was succeeded by a burning thirst for every thing
+that, by destroying my old mental habits, could
+strengthen and confirm my unbelief. I gave an
+exorbitant price for any French irreligious books,
+which the love of gain induced some Spanish booksellers
+to import at their peril. The intuitive knowledge
+of one another, which persecuted principles
+impart to such as cherish them in common, made
+me soon acquainted with several members of my
+own profession, deeply versed in the philosophical
+school of France. They possessed, and made no
+difficulty to lend me, all the Antichristian works,
+which teemed from the French press. Where there
+is no liberty, there can be no discrimination. The
+ravenous appetite raised by forced abstinence makes
+the mind gorge itself with all sorts of food. I suspect
+I have thus imbibed some false, and many
+crude notions from my French masters. But my
+circumstances preclude the calm and dispassionate
+examination which the subject deserves. Exasperated
+by the daily necessity of external submission
+to doctrines and persons I detest and despise, my<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
+soul overflows with bitterness. Though I acknowledge
+the advantages of moderation, none being
+used towards me, I practically, and in spite of my
+better judgment, learn to be a fanatic on my own
+side.</p>
+
+<p>“Pretending studious retirement, I have fitted
+up a small room, to which none but my confidential
+friends find admittance. There lie my <i>prohibited
+books</i>, in perfect concealment, in a well-contrived
+nook under a staircase. The <i>Breviary</i> alone,
+in its black-binding, clasps, and gilt leaves, is kept
+upon the table, to check the suspicions of any
+chance intruder.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER IV.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Seville &mdash;&mdash;</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">An</span>
+unexpected event has, since my last, thrown
+the inhabitants of this town into raptures of joy.
+The bull-fights which, by a royal order, had been
+discontinued for several years, were lately granted
+to the wishes of the people. The news of the most
+decisive victory could not have more elated the
+spirits of the Andalusians, or roused them into
+greater activity. No time was lost in making the
+necessary preparations. In the course of a few
+weeks all was ready for the exhibition, while every
+heart beat high with joyful expectation of the appointed
+day which was to usher in the favourite
+amusement.</p>
+
+<p>You should be told, however, that Seville is acknowledged,
+on all hands, to have carried these
+fights to perfection. To her school of <i>bullmanship</i>,
+that art owes all its refinements. Bull-fighting is
+considered by many of our young men of fashion
+a high and becoming accomplishment; and mimicking
+the scenes of the amphitheatre forms the
+chief amusement among boys of all ranks in Anda<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>lusia.
+The boy who personates the most important
+character in the drama&mdash;the bull&mdash;is furnished
+with a large piece of board, armed in front, with
+the natural weapons of the animal, and having
+handles fastened to the lower surface. By the last
+the boy keeps the machine steady on the top of the
+head, and with the former he unmercifully pushes
+such of his antagonists as are not dexterous enough
+to evade, or sufficiently swift to escape him. The
+fighters have small darts, pointed with pins, which
+they endeavour to fix on a piece of cork stuck flat
+on the horned board, till at length the bull falls,
+according to rule, at the touch of a wooden sword.</p>
+
+<p>Our young country-gentlemen have a substitute
+for the regular bull-fights, much more approaching
+to reality. About the beginning of summer, the
+great breeders of black cattle&mdash;generally men of
+rank and fortune&mdash;send an invitation to their neighbours
+to be present at the trial of the yearlings, in
+order to select those that are to be reserved for the
+amphitheatre. The greatest festivity prevails at
+these meetings. A temporary scaffolding is raised
+round the walls of a very large court, for the accommodation
+of the ladies. The gentlemen attend
+on horseback, dressed in short loose jackets of silk,
+chintz, or dimity, the sleeves of which are not
+sewed to the body, but laced with broad ribbons of
+a suitable colour, swelling not ungracefully round
+the top of the shoulders. A profusion of hanging
+buttons, either silver or gold, mostly silver gilt,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>
+twinkle in numerous rows round the wrists of both
+sexes. The saddles, called <i>Albardones</i>, to distinguish
+them from the peak-saddle, which is seldom
+used in Andalusia, rise about a foot before and behind
+in a triangular shape. The stirrups are iron
+boxes, open on both sides, and affording a complete
+rest the whole length of the foot. Both country-people
+and gentlemen riding in these saddles,
+use the stirrups so short, that, in defiance of all the
+rules of <i>manège</i>, the knees and toes project from
+the side of the horse, and, when galloping, the rider
+appears to kneel on its back. A white beaver-hat,
+of rather more than two feet diameter, fastened
+under the chin by a ribbon, was till lately worn at
+these sports, and is still used by the horsemen at
+the public exhibitions; but the <i>Montera</i> is now
+prevalent. I find it difficult to describe this part
+of the national dress without the aid of a drawing.
+Imagine, however, a bishop’s mitre inverted, and
+closed on the side intended to receive the head.
+Conceive the two points of the mitre so shortened
+that, placed downwards on the skull, they scarcely
+cover the ears. Such is our national cap. Like
+Don Quixote’s head-piece, the frame is made of
+pasteboard. Externally it is black velvet, ornamented
+with silk frogs and tassels of the same colour.</p>
+
+<p>Each of the cavaliers holds a lance, twelve feet
+in length, headed with a three-edged steel point.
+The weapon is called <i>Garrocha</i>, and it is used by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+horsemen whenever they have to contend with the
+bulls, either in the fields or the amphitheatre. The
+steel, however, is sheathed by two strong leather
+rings, which are taken off in proportion to the
+strength of the bull, and the sort of wound which
+is intended. On the present occasion no more than
+half an inch of steel is uncovered. Double that
+length is allowed in the amphitheatre; though the
+spear is not intended to kill or disable the animal,
+but to keep him off by the painful pressure of the
+steel on a superficial wound. Such however, is the
+violence of the bulls when attacking the horses, that
+I once saw the blunt spear I have described, run
+along the neck into the body of the beast and kill
+him on the spot. But this is a rare occurrence, and
+foul play was suspected on the part of the man,
+who seems to have used more steel than the lance
+is allowed to be armed with.</p>
+
+<p>The company being assembled in and round the
+rural arena, the one-year-old bulls are singly let in
+by the herdsmen. It might be supposed, that animals
+so young would be frightened at the approach
+of the horseman couching his spear before their
+eyes; but our Andalusian breeders expect better
+things from their favourites. A young bull must
+attack the horseman twice, bearing the point of the
+spear on his neck, before he is set apart for the
+bloody honours of the amphitheatre. Such as flinch
+from the trial are instantly thrown down by the
+herdsmen, and prepared for the yoke on the spot.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>These scenes are often concluded with a more
+cruel sport, named <i>Derribar</i>. A strong bull is
+driven from the herd into the open field, where he
+is pursued at full gallop by the whole band of horsemen.
+The Spanish bull is a fleet animal, and the
+horses find it difficult to keep up with him at the
+first onset. When he begins, however, to slack in
+his course, the foremost spearsman, couching his
+lance, and aiming obliquely at the lower part of
+the spine, above the haunches, spurs his horse to his
+utmost speed, and, passing the bull, inflicts a wound,
+which, being exceedingly painful, makes him
+wince, lose his balance, and come down with a
+tremendous fall. The shock is so violent that the
+bull seems unable to rise for some time. It is
+hardly necessary to observe, that such feats require
+an uncommon degree of horsemanship, and the
+most complete presence of mind.</p>
+
+<p>Our town itself abounds in amusements of this
+kind, where the professional bull-fighters learn their
+art, and the amateurs feast their eyes, occasionally
+joining in the sport with the very lowest of the
+people. You must know, by the way, that our
+town corporation enjoys the privilege of being our
+sole and exclusive butchers. They alone have a
+right to kill and sell meat; which, coming through
+their <i>noble</i> hands, (for this municipal government
+is entailed on the first Andalusian families) is the
+worst and dearest in the whole kingdom. Two
+droves of lean cattle are brought every week to a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
+large slaughter-house (<i>el matadero</i>) which stands
+between one of the city gates and the suburb of San
+Bernardo. To walk in that neighbourhood when
+the cattle approach is dangerous; for, notwithstanding
+the emaciated condition of the animals,
+and though many are oxen and cows, a crowd is
+sure to collect on the plain, and by the waving of
+their cloaks, and a sharp whistling which they
+make through their fingers, they generally succeed
+in dispersing the drove, in order to single out the
+fiercest for their amusement. Nothing but the
+Spanish cloak is used on these occasions. Holding
+it gracefully at arm’s length before the body, so as
+to conceal the person from the breast to the feet,
+they wave it in the eyes of the animal, shaking their
+heads with an air of defiance, and generally calling
+out <i>Ha! Toro, Toro!</i> The bull pauses a moment
+before he rushes upon the nearest object. It is said
+that he shuts his eyes at the instant of pushing with
+his horns. The man keeping his cloak in the first
+direction, flings it over the head of the animal,
+while he glances his body to the left, just when the
+bull, led forward by the original impulse, must run
+on a few yards without being able to turn upon
+his adversary, whom, upon wheeling round, he
+finds prepared to delude him as before. This sport
+is exceedingly lively; and when practised by
+proficients, seldom attended with danger. It is
+called <i>Capéo</i>. The whole population of San Bernardo,
+men, women and children, are adepts in this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
+art. Within the walls of the slaughter-house, however,
+is the place where the bull-fighters by profession
+are allowed to improve themselves. A
+member of the town corporation presides, and
+admits, gratis, his friends; among whom, notwithstanding
+the filth natural to such places, ladies do
+not disdain to appear. The <i>Matadero</i> is so well
+known as a school for bull-fighting, that it bears the
+cant appellation of the <i>College</i>. Many of our first
+noblesse have frequented no other school. Fortunately,
+this fashion is wearing away. Yet we
+have often seen Viscount Miranda, the head of one
+of the proudest families of the proud city of Cordova,
+step into the public amphitheatre, and kill a
+bull with his own hand. This gentleman had
+reared up one of his favourite animals, and accustomed
+him to walk into his parlour, to the
+great consternation of the company. The bull,
+however, once, in a surly mood, forgot his acquired
+tameness, and gored one of the servants to death;
+in consequence of which his master was compelled
+to kill him.</p>
+
+<p>That Spanish gentlemen fight in public with
+bulls, I suppose you have heard or read. But this
+does not regularly take place, except at the coronation
+of our kings, and in their presence. Such
+noblemen as are able to engage in the perilous
+sport, volunteer their services for the sake of the
+reward, which is some valuable place under government,
+if they prefer it to an order of Knighthood.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>
+They appear on horseback, attended by the first
+professional fighters, on foot, and use short spears
+with a broad blade, called <i>Rejones</i>.</p>
+
+<p>A <i>Bull-day</i>, (Dia de Toros), as it is emphatically
+called at Seville, stops all public and private business.
+On the preceding afternoon, the amphitheatre
+is thrown open to all sorts of people indiscriminately.
+Bands of military music enliven the
+bustling scene. The seats are occupied by such as
+wish to see the promenade on the arena, round
+which the ladies parade in their carriages, while
+every man seems to take pleasure in moving on the
+same spot where the fierce combat is to take place
+within a few hours. The spirits of the company
+are, in fact, pitched up by anticipation to the gay,
+noisy, and bold temper of the future sport.</p>
+
+<p>Our amphitheatre is one of the largest and handsomest
+in Spain. A great part is built of stone;
+but, from want of money, the rest is wood. From
+ten to twelve thousand spectators may be accommodated
+with seats. These rise, uncovered, from
+an elevation of about eight feet above the arena, and
+are finally crowned by a gallery, from whence the
+wealthy behold the fights, free from the inconveniences
+of the weather. The lowest tier, however,
+is preferred by the young gentlemen, as affording a
+clear view of the wounds inflicted on the bull. This
+tier is protected by a parapet. Another strong
+fence, six feet high, is erected round the arena,
+leaving a space of about twenty, between its area<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+and the lower seats. Openings, admitting a man
+sideways, are made in this fence, to allow the men
+on foot an escape when closely pursued by the
+bull. They, however, most generally leap over
+it, with uncommon agility. But bulls of a certain
+breed, will not be left behind, and literally
+clear the fence. Falling into the vacant space
+before the seats, the animal runs about till one of
+the gates is opened, through which he is easily
+drawn back to the arena.</p>
+
+<p>Few among the lower classes retire to their beds
+on the eve of a <i>Bull-day</i>. From midnight they
+pour down the streets leading to the amphitheatre,
+in the most riotous and offensive manner, to be
+present at the Encierro&mdash;<i>shutting-in</i> of the bulls&mdash;which
+being performed at the break of day, is allowed
+to be seen without paying for seats. The devoted
+animals are conducted from their native fields to a
+large plain in the neighbourhood of Seville, from
+whence eighteen, the number exhibited daily during
+the feasts, are led to the amphitheatre, on the appointed
+day, that long confinement may not break
+down their fierceness. This operation has something
+extremely wild in its character. All the
+amateurs of the town are seen on horseback with
+their lances hastening towards Tablada, the spot
+where the bulls are kept at large. The herdsmen,
+on foot, collect the victims of the day into a
+drove; this they do by means of tame oxen, called
+<i>Cabestros</i>, taught to be led by a haulter, carrying,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>
+tied round their neck, a large deep-sounding bell,
+with a wooden clapper. What the habit of following
+the bells of the leaders fails to do, the cracking
+of the herdsmen’s slings is sure to perform, when
+the animals are not driven to madness. The horsemen,
+also, stand on all sides of the drove till they
+get into a round trot. Thus they proceed to
+within half a mile of the amphitheatre. At that
+distance a path is closed up on both sides, with
+stout poles, tied horizontally across upright stakes&mdash;a
+feeble rampart, indeed, against the fury of a
+herd of wild bulls. Yet the Sevillian mob, though
+fully aware of the danger, are mad enough to take
+pleasure in exposing themselves. The intolerable
+noise in my street, and the invitation of a Member
+of the <i>Maestranza</i>&mdash;a corporate association of noblemen,
+whose object is the breeding and breaking of
+horses, and who in this town enjoy the exclusive
+privilege of giving bull-feasts to the public&mdash;induced
+me, during the last season, to get up one morning
+with the dawn, and take my stand at the amphitheatre,
+where, from their private gallery, I commanded
+a view of the plain lying between the river
+Guadalquivir and that building.</p>
+
+<p>At the distant sound of the oxen’s bells, shoals of
+people were seen driving wildly over the plain, like
+clouds before a strong gale. One could read in
+their motions, a struggle between fear on one side,
+and vanity and habit on the other. Now they approached
+the palisade, now they ran to a more<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>
+distant spot. Many climbed up the trees, while
+the more daring or fool-hardy, kept their station on
+what they esteemed a post of honour. As our view
+was terminated by a narrow pass between the river
+and the ancient tower called <i>del Oro</i>, or Golden,
+the cavalcade broke upon us with great effect. It
+approached at full gallop. The leading horsemen,
+now confined within the palisades, and having the
+whole herd at their heels, were obliged to run for
+their lives. Few, however, ventured on this desperate
+service, and their greatest force was in the
+rear. The herdsmen clinging to the necks of the
+oxen, in order to keep pace with the horses, appeared,
+to an unpractised eye, doomed to inevitable
+destruction. The cries of the multitude, the sound
+of numberless horns, made of the hollow stem of a
+large species of thistle, the shrill and penetrating
+whistling, which seems most to harass and enrage
+the bulls, together with the confused and rapid
+motion of the scene, could hardly be endured without
+a degree of dizziness. It often happens, that
+the boldest of the mob succeed in decoying a bull
+from the drove; but I was, this time, fortunate
+enough to see them safely lodged in the <i>Toril</i>&mdash;a
+small court divided into a series of compartments
+with drop-gates, in the form of sluices, into which
+they are successively goaded from a surrounding
+gallery, and lodged singly till the time of letting
+them loose upon the arena.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of this town requires that a bull be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>
+given to the populace immediately after the <i>shutting-in</i>.
+The irregular fight that ensues is perfectly disgusting
+and shocking. The only time I have
+witnessed it, the area of the amphitheatre was actually
+crowded with people, both on horse and foot.
+Fortunately their numbers distracted the animal:
+on whatever side he charged, large masses ran
+before him, on which he would have made a dreadful
+havock, but for the multitude which drew his
+attention to another spot. Yet one of the crowd,
+evidently in a state of intoxication, who stood still
+before the bull, was tossed up to a great height, and
+fell apparently dead. He would have been gored
+to pieces before our eyes, had not the herdsmen
+and some other good fighters, drawn away the beast
+with their cloaks.</p>
+
+<p>Such horrors are frequent at these irregular
+fights; yet neither the cruelty of the sport, nor the
+unnecessary danger to which even the most expert
+bull-fighters expose their lives, nor the debauch
+and profligacy attendant on such exhibitions, are
+sufficient to rouse the zeal of our fanatics against
+them. Our popular preachers have succeeded
+twice, within my recollection, in shutting up the
+theatre. I have myself seen a friar with a crucifix
+in his hand, stop at its door, at the head of an
+evening procession; and, during a considerable
+part of the performance, conjure the people, as
+they valued their souls, not to venture into that
+abode of sin; but I never heard from these holy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+guardians of morals the least observation against
+bull-fighting: and even our <i>high-flyers</i> in devotion&mdash;the
+<i>Philippians</i>,<a id="FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> whom we might call our Methodists,
+allow all, except clergymen, to attend
+these bloody scenes, while they deny absolution to
+any who do not renounce the play.</p>
+
+<p>Before quitting the amphitheatre I was taken by
+my friend to the gallery from which the bulls were
+goaded into their separate stalls. As it stands only
+two or three feet above their heads, I could not
+but feel a degree of terror at such a close view of
+these fiery savage eyes, those desperate efforts to
+reach the beholders, accompanied by repeated and
+ferocious bellowings. There is an intelligence and
+nobleness in the lion that makes him look much
+less terrific in his den. I saw the <i>Divisa</i>, a bunch
+of ribbons tied to a barbed steel point, stuck into
+the bulls’ necks. It is intended to distinguish the
+breeds by different combinations of colours, which
+are stated in handbills, sold about the streets like
+your court-calendars before the assizes.</p>
+
+<p>Ten is the appointed hour to begin the morning
+exhibition; and such days are fixed upon as will
+not, by a long church-service, prevent the attendance
+of the canons and prebendaries, who choose
+to be present; for the chapter, in a body, receive
+a regular invitation from the <i>Maestranza</i>. Such,
+therefore, as have secured seats, may stay at home<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>
+till the tolling of the great bell announces the elevation
+of the host&mdash;a ceremony which takes place
+near the conclusion of the daily morning service.</p>
+
+<p>The view of the Seville amphitheatre, when full,
+is very striking. Most people attend in the Andalusian
+dress, part of which I have already described.
+The colour of the men’s cloaks, which are
+of silk, in the fine season, varies from purple to
+scarlet. The short loose jackets of the men display
+the most lively hues, and the white veils which the
+females generally wear at these meetings, tell beautifully
+with the rest of their gay attire.</p>
+
+<p>The clearing of the arena, on which a multitude
+lounges till the last moment, is part of the show,
+and has the appropriate appellation of <i>Despejo</i>.
+This is performed by a battalion of infantry. The
+soldiers entering at one of the gates in a column,
+display their ranks, at the sound of martial music,
+and sweep the people before them as they march
+across the ground. This done, the gates are closed,
+the soldiers perform some evolutions, in which the
+commanding officer is expected to shew his ingenuity,
+till, having placed his men in a convenient
+position, they disband in a moment, and
+hide themselves behind the fence.</p>
+
+<p>The band of <i>Toreros</i> (bull-fighters), one half in
+blue, the other in scarlet cloaks, now advance in
+two lines across the arena, to make obeisance to
+the president. Their number is generally twelve
+or fourteen, including the two <i>Matadores</i>, each at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>tended
+by an assistant called <i>Mediaespada</i> (demi-sword).
+Close in their rear follow the <i>Picadores</i>
+(pikemen) on horseback, wearing scarlet jackets
+trimmed with silver lace. The shape of the horsemen’s
+jackets resembles those in use among the
+English postboys. As a protection to the legs and
+thighs, they have strong leather overalls, stuffed to
+an enormous size with soft brown paper&mdash;a substance
+which is said to offer great resistance to the
+bull’s horns. After making their bow to the president,
+the horsemen take their post in a line to
+the left of the gate which is to let in the bulls,
+standing in the direction of the barrier at the distance
+of thirty or forty paces from each other.
+The fighters on foot, without any weapon or means
+of defence, except their cloaks, wait, not far from
+the horses, ready to give assistance to the pikemen.
+Every thing being thus in readiness, a constable,
+in the ancient Spanish costume, rides up to the
+front of the principal gallery, and receives into his
+hat the key of the <i>Toril</i> or bull’s den, which the
+president flings from the balcony. Scarcely has
+the constable delivered the key under the steward’s
+gallery, when, at the waving of the president’s
+handkerchief, the bugles sound amid a storm of
+applause, the gates are flung open, and the first
+bull rushes into the amphitheatre. I shall describe
+what, on the day I allude to, our connoisseurs
+deemed an interesting fight, and if you imagine it
+repeated, with more or less danger and carnage,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+eight times in the morning and ten in the evening,
+you will have a pretty accurate notion of the whole
+performance.</p>
+
+<p>The bull paused a moment and looked wildly
+upon the scene; then, taking notice of the first
+horseman, made a desperate charge against him.
+The ferocious animal was received at the point of
+the pike, which, according to the laws of the
+game, was aimed at the fleshy part of the neck.
+A dextrous motion of the bridle-hand and right leg
+made the horse evade the bull’s horn, by turning
+to the left. Made fiercer by the wound, he instantly
+attacked the next pikeman, whose horse,
+less obedient to the rider, was so deeply gored in
+the chest that he fell dead on the spot. The impulse
+of the bull’s thrust threw the rider on the
+other side of the horse. An awful silence ensued.
+The spectators, rising from their seats, beheld in
+fearful suspense the wild bull goring the fallen
+horse, while the man, whose only chance of safety
+depended on lying motionless, seemed dead to all
+appearance. This painful scene lasted but a few
+seconds; for the men on foot, by running towards
+the bull, in various directions, waving their cloaks
+and uttering loud cries, soon made him quit the
+horse to pursue them. When the danger of the
+pikeman was passed, and he rose on his legs to
+vault upon another horse, the burst of applause
+might be heard at the farthest extremity of the
+town. Dauntless, and urged by revenge, he now<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
+galloped forth to meet the bull. But, without detailing
+the shocking sights that followed, I shall
+only mention that the ferocious animal attacked the
+horsemen ten successive times, wounded four horses
+and killed two. One of these noble creatures,
+though wounded in two places, continued to face
+the bull without shrinking, till growing too weak,
+he fell down with the rider. Yet these horses are
+never trained for the fights; but are bought for the
+amount of thirty or forty shillings, when, worn out
+with labour, or broken by disease, they are unfit
+for any other service.</p>
+
+<p>A flourish of the bugles discharged the horsemen
+till the beginning of the next combat, and the
+amusement of the people devolved on the <i>Banderilleros</i>&mdash;the
+same whom we have hitherto seen
+attentive to the safety of the horsemen. The
+<i>Banderilla</i>, literally, little flag, from which they
+take their name, is a shaft of two feet in length,
+pointed with a barbed steel, and gaily ornamented
+with many sheets of painted paper, cut into reticulated
+coverings. Without a cloak, and holding
+one of these darts in each hand, the fighter runs
+up to the bull, and stopping short when he sees
+himself attacked, fixes the two shafts, without
+flinging them, behind the horns of the beast at the
+very moment when it stoops to toss him. The
+painful sensation makes the bull throw up his head
+without inflicting the intended blow, and while he
+rages in impotent endeavours to shake off the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
+hanging darts that gall him, the man has full
+leisure to escape. It is on these occasions, when
+the <i>Banderilleros</i> fail to fix the darts, that they require
+their surprising swiftness of foot. Being
+without the protection of a cloak, they are obliged
+to take instantly to flight. The bull follows them
+at full gallop; and I have seen the man leap the
+barrier, so closely pursued by the enraged brute,
+that it seemed as if he had sprung up by placing
+the feet on its head. Townsend thought it was
+literally so. Some of the darts are set with squibs
+and crackers. The match, a piece of tinder, made
+of a dried fungus, is so fitted to the barbed point,
+that, rising by the pressure which makes it penetrate
+the skin, it touches the train of the fireworks.
+The only object of this refinement of
+cruelty is, to confuse the bull’s instinctive powers,
+and, by making him completely frantic, to diminish
+the danger of the <i>Matador</i>, who is never so exposed
+as when the beast is collected enough to
+meditate the attack.</p>
+
+<p>At the waving of the president’s handkerchief,
+the bugles sounded the death-signal, and the <i>Matador</i>
+came forward. <i>Pepe Illo</i>, the pride of this
+town, and certainly one of the most graceful and
+dextrous fighters that Spain has ever produced,
+having flung off his cloak, approached the bull
+with a quick, light, and fearless step. In his left
+hand he held a square piece of red cloth, spread
+upon a staff about two feet in length, and in his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>
+right, a broad sword not much longer. His attendants
+followed him at a distance. Facing the
+bull, within six or eight yards, he presented the
+red flag, keeping his body partially concealed behind
+it, and the sword entirely out of view. The
+bull rushed against the red cloth, and our hero
+slipped by his side by a slight circular motion,
+while the beast passed under the lure which the
+<i>Matador</i> held in the first direction, till he had
+evaded the horns. Enraged by this deception, and
+unchecked by any painful sensation, the bull collected
+all his strength for a desperate charge. Pepe
+Illo now levelled his sword, at the left side of the
+bull’s neck, and, turning upon his right foot as the
+animal approached him, ran the weapon nearly up
+to the hilt into its body. The bull staggered, tottered,
+and dropped gently upon his bent legs; but
+had yet too much life in him for any man to venture
+near with safety.&mdash;The unfortunate <i>Illo</i> has
+since perished from a wound inflicted by a bull in
+a similar state. The <i>Matador</i> observed, for one or
+two minutes, the signs of approaching death in the
+fierce animal now crouching before him, and at his
+bidding, an attendant crept behind the bull and
+struck him dead, by driving a small poniard at the
+jointure of the spine and the head. This operation
+is never performed, except when the prostrate bull
+lingers. I once saw <i>Illo</i>, at the desire of the
+spectators, inflict this merciful blow in a manner
+which nothing but ocular demonstration would have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+made me believe. Taking the poniard, called <i>Puntilla</i>,
+by the blade, he poised it for a few moments,
+and jerked it with such unerring aim on the bull’s
+neck, as he lay on his bent legs, that he killed the
+animal with the quickness of lightning.</p>
+
+<p>Four mules, ornamented with large morrice-bells
+and ribbons, harnessed a-breast, and drawing a
+beam furnished with an iron hook in the middle,
+galloped to the place where the bull lay. This
+machine being fastened to a rope previously thrown
+round the dead animal’s horns, he was swiftly
+dragged out of the amphitheatre.</p>
+
+<p>I have now given you a more minute, and, I
+trust, more correct description of every thing connected
+with the bull-fights than has ever been
+drawn by any traveller. Townsend’s is the best
+account of these sports I ever met with; yet it is
+not free from mistakes. So difficult is it to see distinctly,
+scenes with which we are not familiarly acquainted.</p>
+
+<p>The risk of the fighters is great, and their dexterity
+alone prevents its being imminent. The lives
+most exposed are those of the <i>Matadores</i>; and few
+of them have retired in time to avoid a tragical end.
+Bull fighters rise from the dregs of the people.
+Like most of their equals, they unite superstition
+and profligacy in their character. None of them
+will venture upon the arena without a <i>scapulary</i>,
+two small square pieces of cloth suspended by
+ribbons, on the breast and back, between the shirt<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>
+and the waistcoat. In the front square there is a
+print, on linen, of the Virgin Mary&mdash;generally, the
+<i>Carmel</i> Mary, who is the patron goddess of all the
+rogues and vagabonds in Spain. These scapularies
+are blessed, and sold by the Carmelite Friars. Our
+great <i>Matador</i>, Pepe Illo, besides the usual amulet,
+trusted for safety to the patronage of St. Joseph,
+whose chapel adjoins the Seville amphitheatre.
+The doors of this chapel were, during Illo’s life,
+thrown open as long as the fight continued, the
+image of the Saint being all that time encircled by
+a great number of lighted wax-candles, which the
+devout gladiator provided at his own expense. The
+Saint, however, unmindful of this homage, allowed
+his client often to be wounded, and finally left him
+to his fate at Madrid.</p>
+
+<p>To enjoy the spectacle I have described, the feelings
+must be greatly perverted; yet that degree of
+perversion is very easily accomplished. The display
+of courage and address which is made at these exhibitions,
+and the contagious nature of all emotions in
+numerous assemblies, are more than sufficient to
+blunt, in a short time, the natural disgust arising
+from the first view of blood and slaughter. If we
+consider that even the Vestals at Rome were passionately
+fond of gladiatorial shows, we shall not be
+surprised at the Spanish taste for sports which, with
+infinite less waste of human life, can give rise to the
+strongest emotions.</p>
+
+<p>The following instance, with which I shall con<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>clude,
+will shew you to what degree the passion for
+bull-fights can grow. A gentleman of my acquaintance
+had some years ago the misfortune to
+lose his sight. It might be supposed, that a blind
+man would avoid the scene of his former enjoyment&mdash;a
+scene where every thing is addressed to the eye.
+This gentleman, however, is a constant attendant at
+the amphitheatre. Morning and evening he takes
+his place with the <i>Maestranza</i>, of which he is a
+member, having his guide by his side. Upon the
+appearance of every bull, he greedily listens to the
+description of the animal, and of all that takes place
+in the fight. His mental conception of the exhibition,
+aided by the well known cries of the multitude,
+is so vivid, that when a burst of applause
+allows his attendant just to hint at the event that
+drew it from the spectators, the unfortunate man’s
+face gleams with pleasure, and he echoes the last
+clappings of the circus.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER V.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Seville, &mdash;&mdash; 1801.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span>
+calamity which has afflicted this town and
+swept away eighteen thousand of its inhabitants,<a id="FNanchor_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a>
+will more than sufficiently account for my long
+silence. But, during the interruption of my correspondence,
+there is a former period for which I
+owe you a more detailed explanation.</p>
+
+<p>My travels in Spain have hitherto been as limited
+as is used among my countrymen. The expense,
+the danger, and the great inconvenience attending
+a journey, prevent our travelling for pleasure or
+curiosity. Most of our people spend their whole
+lives within their province, and few among the
+females have ever lost sight of the town that gave
+them birth. I have, however, brought home some
+of your English restlessness; and, as my dear friend,
+the young clergyman, whose account of himself<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>
+is already in your hands, had to visit a very peculiar
+spot of Andalusia, I joined him most willingly
+in his excursion, during which I collected a few
+traits of our national manners, with a view to add
+one more to my preceding sketches.</p>
+
+<p>My friend’s destination was a town in the mountains
+or Sierra de Ronda, called Olbera, or Olvera,
+for we make no difference in the pronunciation of
+the <i>b</i> and the <i>v</i>. A young man of that town had
+been elected to a fellowship of this <i>Colegio Mayor</i>,
+and my friend, who is a member of that body, was
+the appointed commissioner for collecting the
+<i>pruebas</i>, or evidence, which, according to the statutes,
+must be taken at the birth-place of the candidate,
+concerning the purity of his blood and
+family connexions. The badness of the roads, in
+that direction, induced us to make the whole journey
+on horseback. We were provided with the
+coarse dress which country gentlemen wear on
+similar occasions&mdash;a short loose jacket and small-clothes
+of brown serge; thick leather gaiters; a
+cloak tied up in a roll on the pommel of the saddle;
+and a stout spencer, ornamented with a kind of
+patchwork lace, made of pieces of various colours,
+which is a favourite riding-dress of our Andalusian
+beaux. Each of us, as well as the servant, whose
+horse carried our light luggage, was armed with a
+musket, hanging by a hook, on a ring, which all
+travelling-saddles are furnished with for that purpose.
+This manner of travelling is, upon the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
+whole, the most pleasant in Andalusia. Robbers
+seldom attack people on horseback, provided they
+take care, as we did, never to pass any wooded
+ground without separating to the distance of a musket-shot
+from each other.</p>
+
+<p>My fellow-traveller took this opportunity to pay
+a visit to some of his acquaintance at Osuna, a town
+of considerable wealth, with a numerous <i>noblesse</i>,
+a collegiate church, and a university. At the end
+of our first days’ journey we stopped at a pretty
+populous village called El Arahal. The inn, though
+far from comfortable, in the English sense of the
+word, was not one of the worst we were doomed to
+endure in our tour, for travellers were not here
+obliged to starve if they had not brought their own
+provisions; and we had a room with a few broken
+chairs, a deal table and two flock beds, laid upon
+planks raised from the brick-floor by iron tressels.
+A dish of ham and eggs afforded us an agreeable
+and substantial dinner, and a bottle of cheap, but
+by no means unpleasant wine, made us forget the
+jog-trot of our day’s journey.</p>
+
+<p>We had just felt the approach of that peculiar
+kind of <i>ennui</i> which lurks in every corner of an inn,
+when the sound of a fife and drum, with more of
+the sporting and mirthful than of the military character,
+awakened our curiosity. But to ask a question,
+even at the best Spanish <i>fonda</i> (hotel), you
+must either exert your lungs, calling the waiter,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+chambermaid, and landlord, in succession, to multiply
+the chances of finding one disposed to hear
+you; or adopt the more quiet method of searching
+them through the house, beginning at the kitchen.
+Here, however, we had only to step out of our
+room and we found ourselves within the cook’s dominions.
+The best country inns, indeed, consist
+of a large hall contiguous to the street or road, and
+paved like the former with round stones. At one
+end of this hall there is a large hearth, raised about
+a foot from the ground. A wood-fire is constantly
+burning upon it, and travellers of all ranks and
+degrees, who do not prefer moping in their cold,
+unglazed rooms, are glad to take a seat near it,
+where they enjoy, gratis, the wit and humour of
+carriers, coachmen, and clowns, and a close view
+of the hostess or her maid, dressing successively in
+the same frying pan, now an omelet of eggs and
+onions, now a dish of dried fish with oil and love-apples,
+or it may be the limbs of a tough fowl
+which but a few moments before had been strutting
+about the house. The doors of the bed-rooms, as
+well as that of the stable-yard, all open into the
+hall. Leaving a sufficient space for carriages and
+horses to cross from the front door to the stables,
+the Spanish carriers, or <i>harrieros</i>, who travel in
+parties of twenty or thirty men and double that
+number of mules, range themselves at night along
+the walls, each upon his large packsaddle, with no<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+other covering but a kind of horse-cloth, called
+<i>manta</i>, which they use on the road to keep them
+dry and warm in winter.</p>
+
+<p>Into this truly common-hall were we brought by
+the sound of the drum, and soon learned from one
+of the loungers who sauntered about it, that a
+company of strolling-players were in a short time
+to begin their performance. This was good news
+indeed for us, who, unwilling to go early to bed
+with a certainty of not being allowed to sleep,
+dreaded the close of approaching night. The performance,
+we were told, was to take place in an
+open court, where a cow-house, open in front,
+afforded a convenient situation both for the stage
+and the dressing-room of the actors. Having each
+of us paid the amount of a penny and a fraction,
+we took our seats under a bright starry sky, muffled
+up in our cloaks, and perfectly unmindful of the
+danger which might arise from the extreme airiness
+of the theatre. A horrible screaming fiddle, a
+grumbling violoncello, and a deafening French-horn,
+composed the band. The drop-curtain consisted
+of four counterpanes sewed together; and
+the scenes, which were red gambroon curtains,
+hanging loose from a frame, and flapping in the
+wind, let us into the secrets of the dressing-room,
+where the actors, unable to afford a different person
+for every character, multiplied themselves by the
+assistance of the tailor.</p>
+
+<p>The play was <i>El Diablo Predicador</i>&mdash;“The Devil<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+turned Preacher”&mdash;one of the numerous dramatic
+compositions published anonymously during the
+latter part of the Austrian dynasty. The character
+of this comedy is so singular, and so much of the
+public mind may be learned from its popularity all
+over the country, that I will give you an abstract
+of the plot.</p>
+
+<p>The hero of the play, designated in the Dramatis
+Personæ by the title of <i>primer galan</i> (first gallant),
+is <i>Lucifer</i>, who, dressed in a suit of black velvet
+and scarlet stockings&mdash;the appropriate stage-dress
+of devils, of whatever rank and station&mdash;appears
+in the first scene mounted upon a griffin, summoning
+his confidant <i>Asmodeus</i> out of a trap, to acquaint
+him with the danger to which the newly-established
+order of Saint Francis exposed the
+whole kingdom of darkness. Italy (according to
+the arch-demon) was overrun with mendicant
+friars; and even Lucca, the scene of the play,
+where they had met with a sturdy opposition,
+might, he feared, consent to the building of a
+Franciscan convent, the foundations of which were
+already laid. Lucifer, therefore, determines to assist
+the Lucchese in dislodging the cowled enemies
+from that town; and he sends Asmodeus to Spain
+upon a similar service. The chief engine he puts
+in motion is <i>Ludovico</i>, a wealthy and hard-hearted
+man, who had just married <i>Octavia</i>, a paragon of
+virtue and beauty, thus cruelly sacrificed by her
+father’s ambition. <i>Feliciano</i>, a cousin of Octavia,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+and the object of her early affection, availing himself
+of the husband’s ignorance of their now-broken
+engagement, makes his appearance at Lucca with
+the determination of seducing the bride and taking
+revenge on Ludovico. The <i>Guardian</i> of the new
+convent of Saint Francis, being obliged by the rule
+of his order to support the friars by daily alms
+collected from the people, and finding the inhabitants
+of Lucca determined to starve them out of
+their city, applies to Ludovico for help. That
+wicked man thrusts the Guardian and his lay-brother
+<i>Antolín</i>&mdash;the <i>gracioso</i> of the play&mdash;out of the
+house, to be hooted and pelted by the mob. Nothing,
+therefore, is left for the friars but to quit the
+town: and now, the poet considering Horace’s rule
+for supernatural interference as perfectly applicable
+to such a desperate state of things, the <i>Niño Dios</i>
+(the Child God),<a id="FNanchor_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> and <i>Michael the archangel</i>, come
+down in a cloud (you will readily conceive that the
+actors at our humble theatre dispensed with the
+machinery), and the last, addressing himself to
+Lucifer, gives him a peremptory order to assume
+the habit of Saint Francis, and under that disguise
+to stop all the mischief he had devised against Octavia;
+to obtain support from the people of Lucca
+for the Franciscans; and not to depart till he had
+built two convents instead of the one he was trying
+to nip in the bud.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
+<p>To give, as you say in England, the Devil his
+due, it must be confessed, that Lucifer, though
+now and then exclaiming against the severity of his
+punishment, executes his commission with exemplary
+zeal. He presents himself to the Guardian,
+in the garb of the order, and having Brother Antolín
+appointed as his attendant, soon changes the
+hearts of the people, and obtains abundant supplies
+for the convent. The under-plot proceeds in the
+mean time, involving Octavia in the most imminent
+dangers. She snatches from Feliciano a letter, in
+which she had formerly avowed her love to him,
+which, imperfectly torn to pieces, falls into Ludovico’s
+hands, and induces him to plan her death.
+To accomplish this purpose, he takes her into the
+country, and stabs her in the depth of a forest, a
+few minutes before Monk Lucifer, who fairly and
+honestly had intended to prevent the blow, could
+arrive at the place with his lay-companion.</p>
+
+<p>To be thus taken by surprise puzzles the ex-archangel
+not a little. Still he observes, that since
+Octavia’s soul had neither gone to heaven, purgatory,
+nor hell, a miracle was on the point of
+being performed. Nor was he deceived in this
+shrewd conjecture; for the <i>Virgin Mary</i> descends
+in a cloud, and touching the body of Octavia,
+restores her to life. Feliciano arriving at this moment,
+attributes the miracle to the two friars; and
+the report of this wonder exposes Antolín to a ludicrous
+mobbing in the town, where his frock is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>
+torn to pieces to keep the shreds as relics. Lucifer
+now endeavours to prove to the resuscitated wife,
+that, according to the canon law, her marriage has
+been dissolved by death; but she, distrusting the
+casuistry of that learned personage, immediately
+returns to her husband. Her unwilling protector
+is therefore compelled to prevent a second death,
+which the desperate Ludovico intends to inflict
+upon his too faithful wife. After this second rescue
+of the beautiful Octavia, Lucifer makes a most
+edifying address, urging Ludovico to redeem his
+sins, by giving alms to the Franciscans. His eloquence,
+however, making no impression upon the
+miser, Saint Michael gives the word from behind
+the scenes, and the obdurate man is swallowed up
+by the earth. Michael now makes his appearance;
+and, upon a very sensible remonstrance of Lucifer,
+as to the hardship of his present case, he allows
+the latter to strip off the cowl, and carry on hostilities
+against the Franciscans by the usual arts
+he employs against the other religious orders, <i>i. e.</i>
+assaulting the monks’ virtue by any means except
+their stomachs. Food the Franciscans must never
+want, according to the heavenly promise made to
+their founder.</p>
+
+<p>This curious play is performed, at least once a
+year, on every Spanish theatre; when the Franciscan
+friars, instead of enforcing the standing rule,
+which forbids the exhibition of the monkish dress
+upon the stage, regularly lend the requisite suits to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
+the actors: so favourable is the impression it leaves
+in favour of that mendicant order.</p>
+
+<p>Our truly Thespian entertainment was just concluded,
+when we heard the church-bell toll what
+in Spain is called <i>Las Animas</i>&mdash;the Souls. A man,
+bearing a large lantern with a painted glass, representing
+two naked persons enveloped in flames,
+entered the court, addressing every one of the
+company in these words:&mdash;<i>The Holy Souls, Brother!
+Remember the Holy Souls.</i> Few refused the
+petitioner a copper coin, worth about the eighth
+part of a penny. This custom is universal in Spain.
+A man, whose chief employment is to be agent for
+the souls in purgatory, in the evening&mdash;the only
+time when the invisible sufferers are begged for
+about the towns&mdash;and for some saint or <i>Madonna</i>,
+during the day, parades the streets after sunset,
+with the lantern I have described, and never fails
+to visit the inns, where the travellers, who generally
+entrust their safety from robbers to the
+<i>holy souls</i>, are always ready to make some pecuniary
+acknowledgement for past favours, or to
+engage their protection in future dangers. The
+tenderness of all sorts of <i>believing</i> Spaniards for the
+souls in purgatory, and the reliance they place on
+their intercession with God, would almost be affecting,
+did it not originate in the most superstitious
+credulity.</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of purgatory is very easily, nay,
+consistently embraced by such as believe in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>
+expiatory nature of pain and suffering. The best
+feelings of our hearts are, besides, most ready to
+assist the imagination in devising means to keep up
+an intercourse with that invisible world, which
+either possesses already, or must soon possess,
+whatever has engaged our affections in this. Grief
+for a departed friend loses half its bitterness with a
+Catholic who can firmly believe that not a day shall
+pass without repeated and effectual proofs of attachment,
+on his part, till he join the conscious object
+of his love in bliss. While other articles of
+the Catholic faith are too refined and abstract for
+children, their tender and benevolent minds eagerly
+seize on the idea of purgatory fire. A parent or a
+brother, still kind to them in another world, yet
+suffering excruciating pains that may be relieved,
+shortened, and perhaps put an end to by some
+privation or prayer, are notions perfectly adapted
+to their capacity and feelings. Every year brings
+round the day devoted by the church to the relief
+of the departed souls. The holy vestments used
+at the three masses, which, by a special grant,
+every priest is allowed to perform that morning,
+are black. Large candles of yellow wax are placed
+over the graves within the churches; and even the
+church-yards, those humble places of repose appointed
+among us for criminals and paupers, are
+not neglected on that day of revived sorrows.
+Lights are provided for them at the expense of the
+society established in every town of Spain for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
+relief of the friendless spirits, who, for want of
+assistance, may be lingering in the purifying flames;
+and many of the members, with a priest at their
+head, visit these cemeteries for nine successive
+evenings.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, even benevolence, under the guidance of
+superstition, degenerates into absurdity. It does
+not, however, stop here; but, rushing headlong
+into the ludicrous, forces a smile upon the face of
+sympathy, and painfully compels our mirth where
+our tears were ready to flow. The religious ingenuity
+of the Catholics has gone so far as to publish
+the scheme of a lottery for the benefit of such
+souls as might otherwise escape their notice. It
+consists of a large sheet of paper fixed in a frame,
+with an open box beneath it. Under different
+heads, numbered from one to ninety, the inventor
+of this pious game has distributed the most interesting
+cases which can occur in the <i>debtors’ side</i>
+of the infernal Newgate, allotting to each a prayer,
+penance or offering. In the box are deposited
+ninety pieces of card, distinguished by numbers
+corresponding to the ninety classes. According as
+the pious gambler draws the tickets, he performs
+the meritorious works enjoined in the scheme&mdash;generally
+a short prayer or slight penance&mdash;transferring
+their spiritual value to the fortunate souls
+to whom each card belongs. Often in my childhood,
+have I amused myself at this good-natured
+game. But the Inquisition is growing fastidious;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+and though the <i>lottery of purgatory</i> is as fairly
+grounded on the doctrines of Rome, as the papal
+bulls for the release of suffering souls, which are
+sold for sixpence, with a blank for inserting the
+name of the person in whose behalf it is purchased;
+the inquisitors, it seems, will not allow the liberation
+of the departed to become a matter of chance,
+and the <i>lottery scheme</i> has lately been prohibited.
+Fortunately, we still have various means of assisting
+our friends in <i>Hades</i>; for, besides masses,
+Bulls, prayers, and penances, the Pope has established
+eight or ten days in the year, on which
+every Spaniard (for the grant is confined to Spain)
+by kneeling at five different altars, and there praying
+for the <i>extirpation of heresy</i>, is entitled to send
+a species of <i>habeas animam</i> writ to any of his friends
+in purgatory. The name of the person whose
+liberation is intended should, for fear of mistakes,
+be mentioned in the prayers. But, lest the order
+of release should find him already free, or perhaps
+within those gates to which no Pope has ever ventured
+to apply his keys, we are taught to endorse
+the spiritual bill with other names, addressing it
+finally to the <i>most worthy and disconsolate</i>.</p>
+
+<p>These privileged days are announced to the
+public by a printed notice, placed over the bason
+of holy water, which stands near every church-door;
+and, as no one enters without wetting his
+forehead with the blessed fluid, there is no fear
+that the happy season should pass unheeded by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>
+the pious. The words written on the tablet are
+plain and peremptory: <i>Hoy se saca Anima</i>; literally,
+“This is a soul-drawing day.” We must,
+however, proceed on our uninterrupted journey.</p>
+
+<p>Osuna, where we arrived on the second day after
+leaving Seville, is built on the declivity of one of
+the detached hills which stand as out-posts to the
+Sierra de Ronda, having in front a large ill-cultivated
+plain, from whence the principal church,
+and the college, to which the university of that
+town is attached, are seen to great advantage. The
+great square of the town is nearly surrounded by
+an arcade or piazza, with balconies above it, and is
+altogether not unlike a large theatre. Such
+squares are to be found in every large town of
+Spain, and seem to have been intended for the exhibition
+of tournaments and a kind of bull-fights, less
+fierce and bloody than those of the amphitheatre,
+which bear the name of <i>regocijos</i> (rejoicings.)</p>
+
+<p>The line of distinction between the <i>noblesse</i> and
+the unprivileged class being here drawn with the
+greatest precision, there cannot be a more disagreeable
+place for such as are, by education, above the
+lower ranks, yet have the misfortune of a plebeian
+birth. An honest respectable labourer without
+ambition, yet with a conscious dignity of mind not
+uncommon among the Spanish peasantry, may, in
+this respect, well be an object of envy to many of
+his betters. Gentlemen treat them with a less
+haughty and distant air than is used in England to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>wards
+inferiors and dependents. A <i>rabadán</i> (chief
+shepherd), or an <i>aperador</i> (steward), is always indulged
+with a seat when speaking on business with
+his master, and men of the first distinction will
+have a kind word for every peasant, when riding
+about the country. Yet they will exclude from
+their club and billiard table a well-educated man,
+because, forsooth, he has no legal title to a Don
+before his name.</p>
+
+<p>This town, though one of the third order, supports
+three convents of friars and two of nuns.
+A gentleman of this place who, being a clergyman,
+enjoys a high reputation as a spiritual director,
+introduced us to some of the ladies at the nunneries.
+By this means I became acquainted with
+two very remarkable characters&mdash;a worker of miracles,
+and a nun in despair (<i>monja desesperada</i>). The
+first was an elderly woman, whose countenance
+and manners betrayed no symptoms of mental
+weakness, and whom, from all I was able to learn,
+it would be difficult to class either with the deceiving
+or deceived. The firm persuasion of her
+companions that she is sometimes the object, sometimes
+the instrument of supernatural operations,
+inspires them with a respect bordering upon awe.
+It would be tedious to relate the alleged instances
+of her prying into futurity, and searching the recesses
+of the heart. Reports like these are indeed
+easily raised and propagated: but I shall briefly
+relate one, which shows how stories of this kind<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>
+may get abroad through the most respectable
+channels, and form a chain of evidence which ingenuity
+cannot trace up to involuntary error, and
+candour would not attribute to deliberate falsehood.</p>
+
+<p>The community of the <i>Descalzas</i> (unshod nuns)
+had more than once been thrown into great consternation
+on seeing their prioress&mdash;for to that office
+had her sanctity raised the subject of my story&mdash;reduced,
+for many days together, to absolute abstinence
+from food and drink. Though prostrate, and
+with hardly any power of motion, she was in full
+possession of her speech and faculties. Dr. Carnero,
+a physician well known in these parts for skill and
+personal respectability, attended the patient, for
+though it was firmly believed by the nuns that
+human art could not reach the disease, it is but
+justice to say, that no attempts were visible to give
+it a supernatural character among strangers. The
+doctor, who seems to have at first considered
+the case as a nervous affection, wished to try the
+effect of a decided effort of the patient under
+the influence of his presence and authority; for
+among nuns the physician is next in influence to
+the professor. Having therefore sent for a glass of
+water, and desiring the attendants to bolster up the
+prioress into a sitting posture, he put it into her
+hand, with a peremptory injunction to do her
+utmost to drink. The unresisting nun put the
+water to her lips, and stopped. The physician<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
+was urging her to proceed, when to his great amazement
+he found the contents of the glass reduced to
+one lump of ice.&mdash;We had the account of this
+wonder from the clergyman who introduced us to
+the nun. Of his veracity I can entertain no doubt:
+while he, on the other hand, was equally confident
+of Dr. Carnero’s.</p>
+
+<p>Our visit to the other convent made me acquainted
+with one of the most pitiable objects ever
+produced by superstition&mdash;a reluctant nun. Of
+the actual existence of such miserable beings one
+seldom hears in Spain. A sense of decorum, and
+the utter hopelessness of relief, keep the bitter regrets
+of many an imprisoned female a profound
+secret to all but their confessor. In the present
+case, however, the vehemence of the sufferer’s feelings
+had laid open to the world the state of her
+harassed mind. She was a good-looking woman,
+of little more than thirty: but the contrast between
+the monastic weeds, and an indescribable
+air of wantonness which, in spite of all caution,
+marked her every glance and motion, raised a
+mixed feeling of disgust and pity, that made us uncomfortable
+during the whole visit. We had, nevertheless,
+to stay till the customary refreshments of
+preserves, cakes, and chocolate were served from
+within the double grate that divided us from the
+inhabitants of the convent. This is done by
+means of a semicircular wooden frame which fills
+up an opening in the wall: the frame turns upon
+its centre, presenting alternately its concave and its<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
+convex side. The refreshments being placed within
+the hollow part; a slight impulse of the hand places
+them within reach of the visitors. This machine
+takes the name of <i>torno</i>, from its rotatory motion.
+But I must leave the convents for a future letter.</p>
+
+<p>After a few days not unpleasantly spent at Osuna,
+we proceeded to Olbera. The roads through all
+the branches of the Sierra de Ronda, though often
+wild and romantic, are generally execrable. A mistake
+of our servant had carried us within two miles
+of a village called Pruna, when we were overtaken
+by a tremendous storm of hail and thunder. Rain
+succeeded in torrents, and forced us to give up all
+idea of reaching our destination that evening. We,
+consequently, made for the village, anxious to dry
+our clothes, which were perfectly wet through;
+but so wretched was the inn, that it had not a room
+where we could retire to undress. In this awkward
+situation, my friend as a clergyman, thought of applying
+to the vicar, who, upon learning his name,
+very civilly received us in his house. The dress of
+this worthy priest, a handsome man of about forty,
+shewed that he was at least as fond of his gun and
+pointer, as of his missal. He had a little of the
+swaggering manner of Andalusia, but it was softened
+by a frankness and a gentleman-like air, which we
+little expected in a retired Spanish vicar. The fact
+is, that the livings being poor, none but the sons of
+tradesmen or peasants have, till very lately, entered
+the church, without well-grounded hopes of obtaining
+at once a place among the dignified clergy.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
+But I should rather say that the real <i>vicars</i> are
+exempted from the care of a parish, and, under the
+name of <i>beneficiados</i>, receive the tithes, and
+spend them how and where they please. The nomination
+of curates belongs to the bishops; some of
+whom, much to the credit of the Spanish prelacy,
+have of late contrived to raise their income, and
+thereby induced a few young men, who, not long
+ago would have disdained the office, to take a
+parish under their care. The superiority, however,
+which was visible in our host, arose from his being
+what is known by the name of <i>cura y beneficiado</i>, or
+having a church, of which, as is sometimes the case,
+the incumbency is inseparable from the curacy. He
+was far above his neighbours in wealth and consequence;
+and being fond of field sports and freedom,
+he preferred the wild spot where he had been born,
+to a more splendid station in a Spanish cathedral.</p>
+
+<p>The principal, or rather the most frequented,
+room in the vicars house was, as usual, the kitchen
+or great hall at the entrance. A well-looking
+woman, about five and thirty, with a very pretty
+daughter of fifteen, and a peasant-girl to do the
+drudgery of the house, formed the canonical
+establishment of this happy son of St. Peter.
+To scrutinize the relation in which these ladies
+stood to the priest, the laws of hospitality would
+forbid; while to consider them as mere servants,
+we shrewdly guessed, would have hurt the feelings
+of the vicar. Having therefore, with becoming<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
+gallantry, wound ourselves into their good graces,
+we found no difficulty, when supper was served
+up, in making them take their accustomed places,
+which, under some pretence, they now seemed
+prepared to decline.</p>
+
+<p>Our hearty meal ended, the <i>alcalde</i>, the <i>escribano</i>
+(attorney), and three or four of the more substantial
+farmers, dropped in to their nightly <i>tertulia</i>. As
+the vicar saw no professional squeamishness in my
+reverend companion, he had no hesitation to acquaint
+us with the established custom of the house,
+which was to play at <i>faro</i> till bed-time; and we
+joined the party. A green glazed earthen jar,
+holding a quart of brandy, flavoured with anise,
+was placed at the foot of the vicar, and a glass before
+each of the company. The inhabitants of the
+Sierra de Ronda are fond of spirits, and many exceptions
+to the general abstemiousness of the
+Spaniards are found among them. But we did not
+observe any excess in our party. Probably the influence
+of the clergyman, and the presence of strangers
+kept all within the strictest rules of decorum.
+Next morning, after taking a cup of chocolate, and
+cordially thanking our kind host, we took horse
+for Olbera.</p>
+
+<p>Some miles from that village, we passed one of
+the extensive woods of ilex, which are found in
+many parts of Spain. In summer, the beauty of
+these forests is very great. Wild flowers of all
+kinds, myrtles, honeysuckles, cystus, &amp;c. grow in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>
+the greatest profusion, and ornament a scene doubly
+delicious from the cool shade which succeeds to the
+glare of open and desolate plains, under a burning
+sun. Did not the monumental crosses, erected on
+every spot where a traveller has fallen by the hands
+of robbers, bring gloomy ideas to the mind, and
+keep the eye watching every turn, and scouring
+every thicket, without allowing it to repose on the
+beauties that court it on all sides; Spain would afford
+many a pleasant and romantic tour. Wild boars,
+and deer, and a few wolves, are found in these forests.
+Birds of all kinds, hawks, kites, vultures, storks,
+cranes, and bustards, are exceedingly numerous in
+most parts of the country. Game, especially rabbits,
+is so abundant in these mountains, that many people
+live by shooting; and though the number of dogs and
+ferrets probably exceeds that of houses in every
+village, I heard many complaints of annual depredations
+on the crops.</p>
+
+<p>We had traversed some miles of dreary rocky
+ground, without a tree, and hardly any verdure to
+soften its aspect, when from a deep valley, formed
+by two barren mountains, we discovered Olbera, on
+the top of a third, higher than the rest, and more
+rugged and steep than any we had hitherto passed
+Both the approach and view of the town were so
+perfectly in character with what we knew of the inhabitants,
+that the idea of spending a week on that
+spot became gloomy and uncomfortable at that
+moment.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The rustic and almost savage manners of the
+<i>noblesse</i> of Olbera are unparalleled in Andalusia.
+Both gentlemen and peasants claim a wild independence,
+a liberty of misrule for their town, the existence
+of which betrays the real weakness which
+never fails to attend despotism. An Andalusian
+proverb desires you to “Kill your man and fly to
+Olbera”&mdash;<i>Mata al hombre y vete a Olbera</i>. A remarkable
+instance of the impunity with which
+murder is committed in that town occurred two
+years before our visit. The <i>alguacil mayor</i>, a law-officer
+of the first rank, was shot dead by an unknown
+hand, when retiring to his house from an
+evening <i>tertulia</i>. He had offended the chief of a
+party&mdash;for they have here their Capulets and
+Montagues, though I could never discover a Juliet&mdash;who
+was known to have formerly dispatched another
+man in a similar way; and no doubt existed in
+the town, that Lobillo had either killed the alguacil,
+or paid the assassin. The expectation, however, of
+his acquittal was as general as the belief of his guilt.
+To the usual dilatoriness of the judicial forms of the
+country, to the corruption of the scriveners or notaries
+who, in taking down, most artfully alter the
+written evidence upon which the judges ground
+their decision, was added the terror of Lobillo’s
+name and party, whose vengeance was dreaded by
+the witnesses. We now found him at the height of
+his power; and he was one of the persons examined
+in evidence of the noble birth and family honours of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>
+the candidate in whose behalf my friend had received
+the commission of his college. Lobillo is a man
+between fifty and sixty, with a countenance on
+which every evil passion is marked in indelible
+characters. He was, in earlier life, renowned for
+his forwardness in the savage rioting which to this
+day forms the chief amusement of the youth of this
+town. The fact is, that the constant use of spirits
+keeps many of them in a state of habitual intoxication.
+One cannot cross the threshold of a house at
+Olbera without being presented with a glass of
+brandy, which it would be an affront to refuse.
+The exploits performed at their drinking-bouts
+constitute the traditional chronicle of the town,
+and are recounted with great glee by young and
+old. The idea of mirth is associated by the <i>fashionables</i>
+of Olbera with a rudeness that often degenerates
+into downright barbarity. The sports of
+the field are generally terminated by a supper at
+one of the <i>cortijos</i>, or farm-houses of the gentry,
+where the <i>gracioso</i> or <i>wit</i> of the company, is expected
+to promote some practical joke when mischief
+is rife among the guests. The word <i>culebra</i>,
+for instance, is the signal for putting out the lights,
+and laying about with the first thing that comes to
+hand, as if trying to kill the <i>snake</i>, which is the
+pretended cause of the alarm. The stomachs of
+the party are, on other occasions, tried with a raw
+hare or kid, of which no one dares refuse to eat his
+share: and it is by no means uncommon to pro<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>pose
+the alternative of losing a tooth, or paying
+a fine.</p>
+
+<p>The relations of the young man whose pedigree
+was to be examined by my friend, made it a point
+to entertain us, by rotation, every night with a
+dance. At these parties there was no music but a
+guitar, and some male and female voices. Two or
+four couples stood up for <i>seguidillas</i>, a national
+dance, not unlike the <i>fandango</i>, which was, not
+long since, modified into the <i>bolero</i>, by a dancing-master
+of that name, a native of the province of
+Murcia, from which it was originally called <i>Seguidillas
+Murcianas</i>. The dancers, rattling their
+castanets, move at the sound of a single voice,
+which sings couplets of four verses, with a burthen
+of three, accompanied by musical chords that,
+combining the six strings of the guitar into harmony,
+are incessantly struck with the nails of the
+right hand. The singers relieve each other, every
+one using different words to the same tune. The
+subject of these popular compositions, of which a
+copious, though not very elegant collection is preserved
+in the memory of the lower classes, is love;
+and they are generally appropriate to the sex of the
+singers.</p>
+
+<p>The illumination of the room consisted of a
+<i>candíl</i>&mdash;a rude lamp of cast-iron, hung up by a
+hook on an upright piece of wood fixed on a three-footed
+stool, the whole of plain deal. Some of the
+ladies wore their <i>mantillas</i> crossed upon the chin so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+as to conceal their features. A woman in this garb
+is called <i>tapada</i>; and the practice of that disguise,
+which was very common under the Austrian dynasty,
+is still preserved by a few females in some of
+our country-towns. I have seen them at Osuna
+and El Arahal, covered from head to foot with a
+black woollen veil falling on both sides of the face,
+and crossed so closely before it that nothing could
+be perceived but the gleaming of the right eye
+placed just behind the aperture. Our old dramatic
+writers found in the <i>tapadas</i> an inexhaustible resource
+for their plots. As the laws of honour protected
+a veiled lady from the intrusions of curiosity,
+jealousy was thus perpetually mocked by the very
+objects that were the main source of its alarms.</p>
+
+<p>My introduction, at the first evening-party, to
+one of the ladies of Olbera, will give you an idea
+of the etiquette of that town. A young gentleman,
+the acknowledged <i>gracioso</i> of the upper ranks, a
+character which in those parts must unite that of
+<i>first bully</i> to support it; had from the day of our
+arrival taken us under his patronage, and engaged
+to do for us the honours of the place. His only
+faults were, drinking like a fish, and being as
+quarrelsome as a bull-dog; <i>au reste</i>, he was a kind-hearted
+soul, and would serve a friend the whole
+length of the broad-sword, which, according to the
+good old fashion, he constantly carried under the
+left arm, concealed by the large foldings of his
+cloak. At the dances, he was master of the ce<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>remonies,
+and, as such, he introduced us to the
+company. We had not yet seated ourselves, when
+Don Juan de la Rosa&mdash;such was our patron’s name&mdash;surprised
+me with the question, which of the
+present ladies I preferred to sit by. Thinking it
+was a jest, I made a suitable answer; but I soon
+found he was serious. As it was not for me to innovate,
+or break through the laudable customs of
+Olbera, no other cause remained for hesitation but
+the difficulty of the choice. Difficult it was indeed;
+not, however from the balanced influence of
+contending beauty, but the formidable host of
+either coy or grinning faces, which nearly filled
+one side of the room. To take my post by one of
+the rustic nymphs, and thus engage to keep up a
+regular flirtation for the evening, was more, I confess,
+than my courage allowed me. Reversing,
+therefore, the maxim which attributes increased
+horrors to things unknown, I begged to be introduced
+to a <i>tapada</i> who sat in a corner, provided a
+young man of the town, who was at that moment
+speaking with her, had not a paramount claim to
+the place. The word was scarcely spoken, when
+my friend, Don Juan, advanced with a bold step,
+and, addressing his townsman with the liberty of
+an established <i>gracioso</i>, declared it was not fit for
+a <i>clown</i> to take that place, instead of the <i>stranger</i>.
+The young man, who happened to be a near relation
+of the lady, gave up his chair very good-humouredly,
+and I was glad to find that the airi<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>ness
+and superior elegance of shape, which led me
+to the choice, had directed me to a gentlewoman.
+My veiled talking partner was highly amused&mdash;I
+will not say flattered&mdash;with what she chose to call
+my blunder, and, pretending to be old and ugly,
+brought into full play all my Spanish gallantry.
+The evening was passed less heavily than I dreaded;
+and during our stay at Olbera we gave a decided
+preference to the lady of whom I had, thus
+strangely, declared myself the <i>cortejo pro tempore</i>.
+She was a native of Malaga, whom her husband,
+an officer on half-pay, had induced to reside in his
+native town, which she most cordially detested.
+Perhaps you wish to know the reason of her disguise
+at the dance. Moved by a similar curiosity,
+I ventured to make the inquiry, when I learned
+that, for want of time to dress, she had availed
+herself of the custom of the country, which makes
+the <i>mantilla</i> a species of <i>dishabille</i> fit for an evening
+party.</p>
+
+<p>In the intervals of the dance we were sometimes
+treated with dramatic scenes, of which the dialogue
+is composed on the spot by the actors. This
+amusement is not uncommon in country-towns. It
+is known by the name of <i>juegos</i>&mdash;a word literally
+answering to <i>plays</i>. The actors are in the habit of
+performing together, and consequently do not find
+it difficult to go through their parts without much
+hesitation. Men in women’s clothes act the female
+characters. The truth is, that far from being sur<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>prised
+at the backwardness of the ladies to join
+actively in the amusement, the wit and humour of
+the <i>juegos</i> is such, that one only wonders how
+any modest woman can be present at the performance.</p>
+
+<p>One night the dance was interrupted by the
+hoarse voice of our worthy friend Don Juan, who
+happened to be in the kitchen on a visit to a favourite
+jar of brandy. The ladies, though possessed
+of strong nerves, shewed evident symptoms
+of alarm; and we all hurried out of the room,
+anxious to ascertain the cause of the threatening
+tones we had heard. Upon our coming to the hall,
+we found the doughty hero standing at a window
+with a cocked gun in his hands, sending forth a
+volley of oaths, and protesting he would shoot the
+first man who approached his door. The assault,
+however, which he had thus gallantly repulsed,
+being now over, he soon became cool enough to inform
+us of the circumstances. Two or three individuals
+of the adverse party, who were taking
+their nightly rounds under the windows of their
+mistresses, hearing the revel at Rosa’s house, were
+tempted to interrupt it by just setting fire to the
+door of the entrance-hall. The house might, in a
+short time, have been in flames, but for the unquenchable
+thirst of the owner, which so seasonably
+drew him from the back to the front of the
+building.</p>
+
+<p>We were once retiring home at break of day,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+when Don Juan, who never quitted us, insisted
+upon our being introduced at that moment to one
+of two brothers of the name of Ribera, who had,
+the evening before, arrived from his farm. Remonstrance
+was in vain: Don Juan crossed the
+street, and “the wicket opening with a latch,” in
+primitive simplicity, we beheld one of the most renowned
+<i>braggadocios</i> of Olbera lying in bed, with a
+gun by his side. Ribera, so unceremoniously disturbed,
+could not help greeting the visitors in rather
+rough language; but he was soon appeased, on
+perceiving that we were strangers. He sat up in
+his bed, and handed to me a tumbler of brandy,
+just filled from the ever-present green jar, that stood
+within his reach upon a deal table. The life I was
+leading had given me a severe cough, and the
+muzzle of Ribera’s gun close to my head would
+scarcely have alarmed me more than the brim-full
+rummer with which I was threatened. A terrible
+fit of coughing, however, came to my assistance;
+and Don Juan interposing in my favour, I was
+allowed to lay down the glass.</p>
+
+<p>The facetiousness of the two Riberas is greatly
+admired in their town. These loving brothers had,
+on a certain occasion, gone to bed at their <i>cortijo</i>
+(farm), forgetting to put out the <i>candíl</i>, or lamp,
+hung up at the opposite end of the hall. The first
+who had retired urged that it was incumbent on
+him who sat up latest, to have left every thing in
+proper order; but the offender was too lazy to quit<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>
+his bed, and a long contest ensued. After much,
+and probably not very temperate disputing, a bright
+thought seemed to have crossed the younger brother.
+And so it was indeed; for stopping short in
+the argument, he grasped the gun, which, as usual,
+stood by his bed-side, took a sure aim, and put an
+end both to the dispute and its subject, by shooting
+down the <i>candíl</i>. The humour of this <i>potent conclusion</i>
+was universally applauded at Olbera. I
+have been assured that the same extinguisher is
+still, occasionally, resorted to by the brothers;
+and a gun heard in the night, infallibly reminds the
+inhabitants, of the Riberas’ lamp.<a id="FNanchor_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER VI.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Seville, &mdash;&mdash; 1801.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">My</span>
+residence in this town, after visiting Olbera,
+was short and unpleasant. The yellow-fever,
+which had some months before appeared at Cadiz,
+began to show itself in our large suburb of Triana,
+on the other side of the Guadalquivir. As no measures
+were taken to prevent communication with
+Cadiz, it is supposed that the infection was brought
+by some of the numerous seafaring people that inhabit
+the vicinity of the river. The progress of the
+malady was slow at first, and confined to one side
+of the street where it began. Meetings of all the
+physicians were convened by the chief magistrates,
+who, though extremely arbitrary in matters of daily
+occurrence, are, in Spain, very timid and dilatory
+on any extraordinary emergency. Unconscious of
+the impending danger, the people flocked to these
+meetings to amuse themselves at the expense of our
+doctors, who are notoriously quarrelsome and
+abusive when pitted against each other. A few of
+the most enlightened among them ventured to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+declare that the fever was infectious; but their
+voice was drowned in the clamour of a large majority
+who wished to indulge the stupid confidence of
+the inhabitants. The disease in the mean time
+crossed the river; and following the direction of the
+street where it originally appeared at Triana&mdash;now
+quite overrun by the infection&mdash;began its ravages
+within the ancient walls of our town. It was
+already high time to take alarm, and symptoms of
+it were shewn by the chief authorities. Their measures,
+however, cannot fail to strike you as perfectly
+original. No separation of the infected from the
+healthy part of the town: no arrangement for confining
+and relieving the sick poor. The governor
+who, by such means, had succeeded in stopping
+the progress of the fever would have been called to
+account for the severity of his measures, and his
+success against the infection turned into a demonstration
+that it never existed. Anxious, therefore,
+to avoid every questionable step in circumstances
+of such magnitude, the civil authorities wisely resolved
+to make an application to the archbishop
+and chapter, for the solemn prayers called <i>Rogativas</i>,
+which are used in times of public affliction.
+This request being granted without delay, the
+<i>Rogativa</i> was performed at the cathedral for nine
+consecutive days, after sunset.</p>
+
+<p>The gloom of that magnificent temple, scarcely
+broken by the light of six candles on the high
+altar, and the glimmering of the lamps in the aisles,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
+combined with the deep and plaintive tones of forty
+singers chanting the penitential psalms, impressed
+the throng of supplicants with the strongest feelings,
+which superstition can graft upon fear and
+distress.</p>
+
+<p>When the people observed the infection making
+a rapid progress in many parts of the town, notwithstanding
+the due performance of the usual
+prayers, they began to cast about for a more effectual
+method of obtaining supernatural assistance.
+It was early suggested by many of the elderly inhabitants,
+that a fragment of the true Cross, or <i>Lignum
+Crucis</i>, one of the most valuable relics possessed
+by the cathedral of Seville, should be exhibited
+from the lofty tower called <i>Giralda</i>; for they
+still remembered, when, at the view of that miraculous
+splinter, myriads of locusts which threatened
+destruction to the neighbouring fields, rose
+like a thick cloud, and conveyed themselves away,
+probably to some infidel country. The <i>Lignum
+Crucis</i>, it was firmly believed, would, in like manner,
+purify the atmosphere, and put an end to the
+infection. Others, however, without any disparagement
+to the holy relic, had turned their eyes to
+a large wooden crucifix, formerly in great repute,
+and now shamefully neglected, on one of the minor
+altars of the Austin Friars, without the gates of the
+town. The effectual aid given by that crucifix in
+the plague of 1649 was upon record. This wonderful
+image had, it seems, stopped the infec<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>tion,
+just when one half of the population of Seville
+had been swept away; thus evidently saving the
+other half from the same fate. On this ground,
+and by a most natural analogy, the hope was very
+general, that a timely exhibition of the crucifix
+through the streets, would give instant relief to the
+town.<a id="FNanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>Both these schemes were so sound and rational,
+that the chief authorities, unwilling to shew an
+undue partiality to either, wisely determined to
+combine them into one great <i>lustration</i>. A day
+was, accordingly, fixed for a solemn procession
+to conduct the crucifix from the convent to the
+cathedral, and to ascend the tower for the purpose
+of <i>blessing</i> the four cardinal winds with the <i>Lignum
+Crucis</i>. On that day, the chapter of the cathedral,
+attended by the civil governor, the judges, the
+inquisitors, and the town corporation, repaired to
+the convent of Saint Augustin, and, having placed
+the crucifix upon a moveable stage covered with a
+magnificent canopy, walked before it with lighted
+candles in their hands, while the singers, in a
+mournful strain, repeated the names of the saints
+contained in the Catholic litany, innumerable
+voices joining, after every invocation in the accustomed
+response&mdash;<i>Ora pro nobis</i>. Arrived at
+the cathedral, the image was exposed to public
+adoration within the presbytery, or space reserved<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>
+for the ministering clergy, near the high altar.
+After this the dean, attended by the chapter, the
+inferior ministers of the church, and the singers,
+moved in solemn procession towards the entrance
+of the tower, and, in the same order ascended
+the five-and-twenty inclined planes, which afford
+a broad and commodious access to the open belfry
+of that magnificent structure. The worship paid
+to any fragment of the true Cross is next in degree
+to that which is due to the consecrated
+host. On the view of the priest in his robes at one
+of the four central arches of the majestic steeple,
+the multitude, who had crowded to the neighbourhood
+of the cathedral from all parts of the city, fell
+upon their knees, their eyes streaming with tears:
+tears, indeed, which that unusual sight would have
+drawn from the weak and superstitious on any
+other occasion, but which, in the present affliction,
+the stoutest heart could hardly repress. An accidental
+circumstance heightened the impressiveness
+of the scene. The day, one of the hottest of an Andalusian
+summer, had been overcast with electric
+clouds. The priest had scarcely begun to make
+the sign of the cross with the golden vase which
+contains the <i>Lignum Crucis</i>, when one of the tremendous
+thunderstorms, so awful in southern climates,
+burst upon the trembling multitude. A
+few considered this phenomenon as a proof that
+the public prayers were heard, and looked upon
+the lightning as the instrument which was to dis<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>perse
+the cause of the infection. But the greatest
+number read in the frowns of the sky the unappeased
+anger of Heaven, which doomed them to
+drain the bitter cup that was already at their lips.
+Alas! they were not deceived. That doom had
+been sealed when Providence allowed ignorance
+and superstition to fix their dwelling among us;
+and the evils which my countrymen feared from
+a preternatural interposition of the avenging powers
+above, were ready to arise as the natural consequences
+of the means they themselves had employed
+to avert them. The immense concourse from all
+parts of the town had, probably, condensed into a
+focus the scattered seeds of infection. The heat, the
+fatigue, the anxiety of a whole day spent in this
+striking, though absurd, religious ceremony, had
+the most visible and fatal effect on the public
+health. Eight and forty hours after the procession,
+the complaint had left but few houses unvisited.
+The deaths increased in a tenfold proportion,
+and at the end of two or three weeks the daily
+number was from two to three hundred.</p>
+
+<p>Providence spared me and my best friend by the
+most unforeseen combination of circumstances.
+Though suffering under an obstinate ague, <i>Leandro</i>&mdash;so
+he is called at our private club&mdash;had determined
+not to quit his college, at the head of which
+he was placed for that year. His family, on the
+other hand, had for some time resided at Alcalá de
+Guadaíra, a village beautifully situated within twelve<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
+miles of Seville. Alarmed at the state of the town,
+and unwilling to leave my friend to perish, either
+by the infection, or the neglect to which the general
+consternation exposed an invalid, I prevailed
+upon him to join his family, and attended him
+thither. This was but a few days before the religious
+ceremony which I have described from the
+narrative of eye-witnesses. It was my intention to
+have returned to Seville; but the danger was now
+so imminent, that it would have been madness
+to encounter it without necessity. Thus a visit
+which I meant for a week, was inevitably prolonged
+to six months.</p>
+
+<p>For you, however, who love detail in the description
+of this hitherto little known country, my time
+was not spent in vain. Yet I must begin by a fact
+which will be of more interest to my old friend,
+Doctor &mdash;&mdash;, than yourself.</p>
+
+<p>Alcalá de Guadaíra is a town containing a population
+of two thousand inhabitants, and standing on
+a high hilly spot to the northeast of Seville. The
+greatest part of the bread consumed in this city
+comes daily from Alcalá, where the abundant and
+placid stream of the Guadaíra, facilitates the construction
+of water-mills. Many of the inhabitants
+being bakers, and having no market but Seville,
+were under the necessity of repairing thither during
+the infection. It is not with us as in England,
+where every tradesman practically knows the advantages
+of the division of labour, and is at liberty,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>
+to consult his own convenience in the sale of
+his articles. The bakers, the butchers, the gardeners,
+and the farmers, are here obliged to sell in
+separate markets, where they generally spend the
+whole day waiting for customers. Owing to this
+regulation of the police, about sixty men, and
+double that number of mules, leave Alcalá every
+day with the dawn, and stand till the evening in
+two rows, inclosed with iron railings, at the <i>Plaza
+del Pan</i>. The constant communication with the
+people from all parts of the town, and so long
+an exposure to the atmosphere of an infected place,
+might have been supposed powerful enough to
+communicate the disease. We, certainly, were in
+daily apprehension of its appearance at Alcalá. So
+little, however, can we calculate the effects of
+unknown causes, that of the people that thus
+braved the contagion, only one, who passed the
+night in Seville, caught the disease and died. All
+the others, no less than the rest of the village, continued
+to enjoy the usual degree of health, which,
+probably owing to its airy situation, is excellent at
+all times.</p>
+
+<p>The daily accounts we received from our city,
+independent of the danger to which we believed
+ourselves exposed, were such as would cast a
+gloom over the most selfish and unfeeling. Superstition,
+however, as if the prospect had not been
+sufficiently dark and dismal, was busy among us,
+increasing the terrors which weighed down the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+minds of the people. Two brothers, both clergymen,
+wealthy, proud, conceited of the jargon they
+mistook for learning, and ambitious of power under
+the cloak of zeal, had, upon the first appearance
+of the fever, retreated to Alcalá, where they kept
+a country-house. Two more odious specimens of
+the pampered, thorough-bred, full-grown Spanish
+bigot, never appeared in the ranks of the clergy.
+The eldest, a dignitary of the church, was a selfish
+devotee, whose decided taste for good living, and
+mortal aversion to discomfort, had made him calculate
+with great nicety how, by an economy of
+pleasure in this world, he might secure a reasonable
+share of it in the next. But whatever degree
+of self-denial was necessary to keep him from gross
+misconduct, he amply repaid himself in the enjoyment
+of control over the consciences and conduct
+of others.</p>
+
+<p>From the comparative poverty of the parish
+priests, and the shade into which they are thrown
+by the upper clergy, the power of the first is so
+limited, that the most bigoted and violent among
+them can give but little trouble to the laity. The
+true priest of old times is only to be found among
+those ecclesiastics, who to a dignified office join
+that degree of fanaticism which makes men conceive
+themselves commissioned by Heaven to weed
+the world of evil, and tear up by the roots whatever
+offends their privileged and infallible eyes.
+Thus it was, for instance, that the holy personage<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
+at Alcalá claimed and exercised a right to exclude
+from church such females as, by a showy
+dress, were apt to disturb the abstracted, yet susceptible
+minds of the clergy. The lady of a judge
+was, within my recollection, turned by this proud
+bigot out of the cathedral of Seville, in the presence
+of a multitude assembled for the ceremonies
+of the Passion-week. The husband, whose displeasure
+would have brought ruin on a more humble
+individual, was obliged to devour this insult in
+silence. It should be observed, by the way, that
+as the walking-dress of the Spanish females absolutely
+precludes immodesty, the conduct of this
+religious madman admits no excuse or palliation.
+Yet this is so far from being a singular instance,
+that, what sumptuary laws would never be able to
+accomplish, the rude and insolent zeal of a few
+priests has fully obtained in every part of Spain.
+Our females, especially those of the better classes,
+never venture to church in any dress but such
+as habit has made familiar to the eyes of the
+zealots.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever be the feelings that produce it, there
+is, in Spain, a sort of standing crusade against the
+fair sex, which our priests, except such as have
+been secretly gained over to the enemy, carry on
+incessantly, though not with the same vigour, at
+all times. The main subject of contention is a
+right claimed by the clergy to regulate the dress
+of the ladies, and prevent the growth of such arts<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+of charming as might endanger the peace of the
+church. Upon the appearance of a new fashion,
+the “drum ecclesiastic” never fails to sound the
+war-note. Innumerable are the sermons I heard
+in my younger days against silk shoes&mdash;for the
+Spanish females have the extravagance to use them
+out of doors&mdash;the wearing of which, especially
+embroidered with silk or gold, was declared by
+the soundest divines to be a <i>mortal sin</i>. Patience,
+however, and that watchful perseverance with
+which Nature has armed the weaker sex against
+the tyranny of the stronger, have gradually obtained
+a toleration for silk shoes, while taste has
+extenuated the sin by banishing the embroidery.
+Yet the Demon of Millinery had lately set up
+another stumbling-block, by slily suggesting to
+the ladies that their petticoats were monstrous
+long, and concealed those fairy feet and ankles
+which are the pride of Andalusia. The petticoats
+shrunk first by barleycorns; half an inch was then
+pared off by some bolder sempstress, till at length
+the ground, the former place of safety for consecrated
+eyes, was found thick set with snares. In
+vain have the most powerful preachers thundered
+against this abomination; nor did it avail that
+some of our bishops, deeming the occasion worthy
+of their interference, grasped the long-neglected
+pen to enter a most solemn protest against the
+<i>profaneness</i> of the female dress. But the case
+seemed hopeless. A point gained upon petticoats<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>
+was sure to be lost on top-knots; and when the
+pious were triumphing on the final subjection of
+projecting stays, a pin threw them into utter confusion
+by altering its position on the orthodox
+neck-kerchief.</p>
+
+<p>Often had some great calamity been foretold
+from the pulpit as the punishment of the incorrigible
+perverseness of our females; and, on the first
+appearance of the fever, there was but little doubt
+among the chosen few as to its real cause. Many
+a stitch was undone at Seville, and many a flounce
+torn off, by the same pretty hand that, but a few
+days before, had distributed its foldings with a conscious
+feeling of its future airiness and light flutterings.
+The pin, which, in Spain, forces the cambric
+kerchief to do, both morning and evening, the
+transient morning duty of your ruffs and spencers&mdash;that
+mysterious pin which vibrates daily at the
+toilette under the contending influence of vanity
+and delicacy&mdash;the pin, in short, which, on our
+females, acts as the infallible barometer of devotion,
+had risen to the highest point of <i>dryness</i>,
+without, alas! checking the progress of the disease.</p>
+
+<p>Our two divines, fearful of being swept away
+with the guilty, were, at this time, perfectly outrageous
+in their zeal to bring the bakers’ wives at
+Alcalá to a due sense of the evil influence of their
+glaring, bushy top-knots and short petticoats.
+Having, therefore, with little ceremony to the vicar,
+taken possession of the parish church, they began<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
+a course of preaching for nine days, known by the
+name of <i>Novena</i>, a definite number which, with
+many other superstitions, has been applied to religious
+rites among the Catholics since the times
+of Roman paganism.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the Spanish villages possess some miraculous
+image&mdash;generally of the Virgin Mary&mdash;which
+is the <i>palladium</i> of the inhabitants. These
+tutelar deities are of a very rude and ancient workmanship,
+as it seems to have been the case with
+their heathen prototypes. The “Great Diana”
+of the <i>Alcalaians</i> is a small, ugly, wooden figure,
+nearly black with age, and the smoke of the lamp
+which burns incessantly before it, dressed up in a
+tunic and mantle of silver or gold tissue, and bearing
+a silver crown. It is distinguished from the
+innumerable host of wooden virgins by the title
+of <i>Virgen del Aguila</i>&mdash;“the Virgin of the Eagle,”
+and is worshipped on a high romantic spot, where
+stood a high fortress of the Moors, of which large
+ruins are still visible. A church was erected, probably
+soon after the conquest of Andalusia, on the
+area of the citadel. A spring-well of the most
+delicious water is seen within the precincts of the
+temple, to which the natives resort for relief in all
+sorts of distempers. The extreme purity of both
+air and water, on that elevated spot, may indeed
+greatly contribute to the recovery of invalids, for
+which the Virgin gets all the credit.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Novena</i>, which was to avert the infection<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+from the village, would have been inefficient without
+the presence of the <i>Eagle</i> patroness, to whom
+it was dedicated. The image was, accordingly,
+brought down to the parish church in a solemn
+procession. The eldest <i>Missionary</i>&mdash;for such
+priests as preach, not for a display of eloquence,
+but the conversion of sinners, assume that title
+among us&mdash;having a shrill, disagreeable voice, and
+being apt, when he addressed the people, to work
+himself into a feverish excitement approaching to
+madness, generally devolved that duty on his brother,
+while he devoted himself to the confessional.
+The brother is, indeed, cast in the true mould of
+a popular preacher, such as can make a powerful
+impression on the lower classes of Spain. His
+person is strong, his countenance almost handsome,
+his voice more loud than pleasing. He has, in
+fact, all the characteristics of an Andalusian <i>Majo</i>:
+jet black passionate eyes, a shining bluish beard
+darkening his cheeks from within an inch of his
+long eye-lashes, and a swaggering gait which, in
+the expressive idiom of the country, gives such as
+move with it, the name of <i>Perdonavidas</i>&mdash;Life
+sparers, as if other people owed their lives to the
+mercy, or contempt of these heroes. The effects
+of his preaching were just what people expect on
+similar occasions. A Missionary feels baffled and
+disappointed when he is not interrupted by groans,
+and some part of the female audience will not go
+into hysterics. If he has a grain of spirit about<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+him, such a perverse indifference nettles him into
+a furious passion, and he turns the insensibility of
+his hearers into a visible proof of their reprobate
+state. Thus it often happens, that, the people
+measuring their spiritual danger by the original
+dulness or incomprehensibility of the sermon, the
+final triumph of the missionary is in exact proportion
+to his absurdity. To make these wild discourses
+more impressive, as well as to suit the convenience
+of the labouring classes, they are commonly
+delivered after sunset. Our orator, it is
+true, omitted the exhibition of a soul in hell-flames,
+which a few years ago was regularly made from
+the pulpit in a transparent picture; but he worked
+up the feelings of the audience by contrivances
+less disgusting and shocking to common sense.
+Among others he fixed a day for collecting all the
+children of the town under seven years of age,
+before the image of the Virgin. The parents, as
+well as all others who had attained the age of
+moral responsibility, were declared to be unworthy
+of addressing themselves in supplication, and therefore
+excluded from the centre of the church, which
+was reserved for the throng of innocent suppliants.</p>
+
+<p>When the first period of nine days had been
+spent in this mockery of common sense and religion,
+the fertile minds of our missionaries were
+not at a loss to find a second course of the same
+pious mummery, and so on till the infection had
+ceased at Seville. The preservation of the village<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+from the fever which, more or less, had existed for
+three or four months in the neighbouring towns,
+you will easily believe, was attributed by the
+preachers to their own exertions. The only good
+effect, however, which I observed, in consequence
+of their sermons, was the increased attendance of
+the male part of the population at the <i>Rosario de
+Madrugada</i>&mdash;the Dawn Rosary&mdash;one of the few
+useful and pleasing customs which religion has introduced
+in Spain.</p>
+
+<p>It is an established practice in our country towns
+to awake the labouring population before the break
+of day, that they may be early in readiness to
+begin their work, especially in the corn-fields,
+which are often at the distance of six or eight
+miles from the labourers’ dwellings. Nothing but
+religion, however, could give a permanency to this
+practice. Consequently a <i>rosary</i>, or procession,
+to sing praises to the Virgin Mary before the dawn,
+has been established among us from time immemorial.
+A man with a good voice, active, sober,
+and fond of early rising, is either paid, or volunteers
+his services, to perambulate the streets an
+hour before daybreak, knocking at the doors of
+such as wish to attend the procession, and inviting
+all to quit their beds and join in the worship of the
+Mother of God. This invitation is made in short
+couplets, set to a very simple melody, and accompanied
+by the pretty and varied tinkling of a hand-bell,
+beating time to the tune. The effect of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
+bell and voice, especially after a long winter-night,
+has always been very pleasing to me. Nor is the
+fuller chorus of the subsequent procession less so.
+The chant, by being somewhat monotonous, harmonizes
+with the stillness of the hour; and without
+chasing away the soft slumbers of the morning,
+relieves the mind from the ideas of solitude and
+silence, and whispers life and activity returning
+with the approaching day.</p>
+
+<p>The fever having stopped its ravages about the
+end of autumn, and nearly disappeared a few weeks
+before Christmas, my friend and myself prepared
+to return home. I shall never forget our melancholy
+arrival in this town on the last evening of
+December. Besides the still existing danger of
+infection to those who had been absent, there was
+a visible change in the aspect of the town, no less
+than in the looks and manner of the inhabitants,
+which could not but strike the most thoughtless on
+the first approach to that scene of recent misery
+and woe. An unusual stillness reigned in every
+street; and the few pale faces which moved in
+them, worked in the mind a vivid representation of
+the late distress. The heart seemed to recoil from
+the meeting of old acquaintances; and the signs of
+mourning were every where ready to check the first
+risings of joy at the approach of friends that had
+been spared.</p>
+
+<p>The Sunday after our arrival, we went, according
+to custom, to the public walk on the banks of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
+river. But the thousands who made it their resort
+before the late calamity, had now absolutely deserted
+it. At the end of the walk was the burying-ground,
+which, during the great mortality, had
+been appointed for that quarter of the city. The
+prevalent custom of burying in vaults within the
+churches kept the town unprovided with an appropriate
+place for interment out of the walls; and
+a portion of waste land, or common, now contained
+the remains of ten thousand inhabitants, who in
+their holiday rambles had, not long before, been
+sporting unconsciously over their graves. As we
+approached the large mounds, which, with the
+lofty cross erected on the turf, were yet the only
+marks which distinguished the consecrated from
+the common ground, we saw one of the <i>Rosarios</i>,
+or processions in honour of the Virgin, slowly advancing
+along the avenue of the public walk.
+Many who formerly frequented that place for recreation,
+had, under the impression of grief and
+superstitious terror, renounced every species of
+amusement, and marshalling themselves in two
+files, preceded by a cross, and closed by the picture
+of the Virgin on a standard, repaired every Sunday
+to the principal place of burial, where they said
+prayers for the dead. Four or five of these processions,
+consisting either of males or females,
+passed towards the cemetery as we were returning.
+The melancholy tone in which they incessantly
+sang the Ave Maria and the Lord’s Prayer, as they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>
+glided along a former scene of life and animation;
+and the studied plainness of the dresses, contrasted
+with the gay apparel which the same persons used
+to display on that very spot, left us no wish to
+prolong our walk. Among the ladies whose penitent
+dress was most striking, we observed many
+who, not satisfied with mere plainness of attire,
+had, probably under a private vow, clothed themselves
+in a stuff peculiar to some of the religious
+orders. The grey mixture used by the Franciscans
+was most prevalent. Such vows are indeed very
+common in cases of danger from illness; but the
+number and class of the females whom we found
+submitting to this species of penance, shewed the
+extent and pressure of the past affliction.</p>
+
+<p>So transient, however, are the impressions of
+superstitious fear when unsupported by the presence
+of its object, that a few months have sufficed
+nearly to obliterate the signs of the past terror.
+The term of the vows having expired with most,
+our females have recovered their wonted spirits,
+and put aside the dull weeds of their holy patrons.
+Many, it is probable, have obtained from their
+confessors a commutation of the rash engagement,
+by means of a few pence paid towards the expenses
+of any war that may arise between his Catholic
+Majesty and Turks or infidels&mdash;a Crusade,
+for which government collects a vast yearly sum,
+in exchange for various ghostly privileges and indulgences,
+which the King buys from the Pope at a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>
+much cheaper rate than he retails them to his
+loving subjects.</p>
+
+<p>One loss alone will, I fear, be permanent, or of
+long duration to the gay part of this town. The
+theatrical representations, which, on the first appearance
+of the epidemic fever, were stopped, more
+by the clamour of the preachers than the apprehensions
+of the inhabitants; will not be resumed
+for years. The opinion formerly entertained by a
+comparatively small number, that the opening of
+the theatre at Seville had never failed to draw the
+vengeance of heaven sometimes on its chief supporters,
+sometimes on the whole town; has been
+wonderfully spread under the influence of the last
+visitation: and government itself, arbitrary and
+despotic as it is among us, would have to pause
+before any attempt to involve this most religious
+city in the unpardonable guilt of allowing a company
+of comedians within its walls.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER VII.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Seville, &mdash;&mdash; 1803.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">I have</span>
+connected few subjects with more feelings
+of disgust and pain than that of the Religious
+Orders in this country. The evil of this institution,
+as it relates to the male sex, is so unmixed, and
+unredeemed by any advantage, and its abuse, as
+applied to females, so common and cruel, that I
+recoil involuntarily from the train of thought
+which I feel rising in my mind. But the time
+approaches, or my wishes overstep my judgment,
+when this and such gross blemishes of society will
+be finally extirpated from the face of the civilized
+world. The struggle must be long and desperate;
+and neither the present nor the ensuing generation
+are likely to see the end. Let me, however, flatter
+myself with the idea, that by exposing the mischievous
+effects of the existing system, I am contributing&mdash;no
+matter how little&mdash;towards its final
+destruction. Such a notion alone can give me
+courage to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>Gibbon has delineated, with his usual accuracy,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
+the origin and progress of monastic life;<a id="FNanchor_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> and to
+his elegant pages I must refer you for information
+on the historical part of my subject. But his account
+does not come down to the establishment of
+the Mendicant Orders of Friars. The distinction,
+however, between these and the Monks is not very
+important. The Monks, as the original name implies,
+retired from the world to live in perfect solitude.
+As these fanatics increased, many associations
+were formed, whose members, professing the
+same rule of religious life, were distinguished by
+the appropriate name of <i>Cœnobites</i>.<a id="FNanchor_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> When, at
+length, the frantic spirit which drove thousands to
+live like wild beasts in the deserts, had relaxed,
+and the original <i>Eremites</i> were gradually gathered
+into the more social establishment of convents, the
+original distinction was forgotten, and the primitive
+name of Monks became prevalent. Still holding
+up their claims to be considered <i>Anachorites</i>, even
+when they had become possessed of lands and
+princely incomes, their monasteries were founded
+in the neighbourhood, but never within the precincts
+of towns: and though the service of their
+churches is splendid, it is not intended for the
+benefit of the people, and the Monks are seldom
+seen either in the pulpit or the confessional.</p>
+
+<p>The Friars date their origin from the beginning
+of the thirteenth century, and were instituted for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>
+the express purpose of acting as auxiliaries to the
+clergy. Saint Dominic, the most odious, and Saint
+Francis, the most frantic of modern saints, enlisted
+their holy troops without any limitation of number;
+for, by quartering them on the productive population
+of Christendom, the founders took no concern
+for the daily supply of their numerous followers.</p>
+
+<p>The Dominicans, however, having succeeded in
+the utter destruction of the Albigenses, and subsequently
+monopolized, for more than three centuries,
+the office of inquisitors, enriched themselves
+with the spoils of their victims, and are in the enjoyment
+of considerable wealth. The Franciscans
+continue to thrive upon alms; and, relying on the
+promise made to Saint Francis in a vision, that his
+followers should never feel want, point to the
+abundant supplies which flow daily into their convents
+as a permanent miracle which attests the celestial
+origin of their order. With the historical
+proofs of St. Francis’s financial vision I confess
+myself perfectly unacquainted. But when I consider
+that the general or chief of these holy beggars,
+derives from the collections daily made by his friars,
+a personal income of twenty thousand a year, I
+cannot withhold my assent to its genuineness; for
+who, except a supernatural being, could possess
+such a thorough knowledge of the absurdity of
+mankind?</p>
+
+<p>It would be tedious to enter into a description of
+the numerous orders comprehended under the two<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
+classes of Monks and Friars. The distinguishing
+characters of the first are wealth, ease, and indulgence&mdash;those
+of the last, vulgarity, filth, and vice.
+I shall only add that, among the Monks, the Benedictines
+are at the top of the scale for learning
+and decency of manners, while the Hieronimites
+deservedly occupy the bottom. To the Friars I
+am forced to apply the Spanish proverb&mdash;“There
+is little to choose in a mangy flock.” The Franciscans,
+however, both from their multitude and
+their low habits of mendicity, may be held as the
+proper representatives of all that is most objectionable
+in the religious orders.</p>
+
+<p>The inveterate superstition which still supports
+these institutions among us has lost, of late, its
+power to draw recruits to the cloister, from the
+middle and higher classes. Few monks, and scarcely
+a friar, can be found, who by taking the cowl, has
+not escaped a life of menial toil. Boys of this rank
+of life are received as novices at the age of fifteen,
+and admitted, after a year’s probation, to the perpetual
+vows of <i>obedience</i>, <i>poverty</i>, and <i>celibacy</i>. Engagements
+so discordant with the first laws of
+human nature could hardly stand the test of time,
+even if they arose from the deepest feelings of
+enthusiasm. But this affection of the mind is
+seldom found in our convents. The year of noviciate
+is spent in learning the cant and gestures of
+the vilest hypocrisy, as well as in strengthening, by
+the example of the professed young friars, the ori<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>ginal
+gross manners and vicious habits of the probations.<a id="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a>
+The result of such a system is but too
+visible. It is a common jest among the friars themselves,
+that in the act of taking the vows, when
+the superior of the convent draws the cowl over
+the head of the novice, he uses the words <i>Tolle
+verecundiam</i>&mdash;“Put off shame.” And indeed, were
+the friars half so true to their profession as they are
+to this supposed injunction, the Church of Rome
+would really teem with saints. Shameless in begging,
+they share the scanty meal of the labourer,
+and extort a portion of every product of the earth
+from the farmer. Shameless in conduct, they spread
+vice and demoralization among the lower classes,
+secure in the respect which is felt for their profession,
+that they may engage in a course of profligacy
+without any risk of exposure. When an
+instance of gross misconduct obtrudes itself upon
+the eyes of the public, every pious person thinks it
+his duty to hush up the report, and cast a veil on
+the transaction. Even the sword of justice is
+glanced aside from these consecrated criminals. I
+shall not trouble you with more than two cases,
+out of a multitude, which prove the power of this
+popular feeling.</p>
+
+<p>The most lucrative employment for friars, in
+this town, is preaching. I have not the means to
+ascertain the number of sermons delivered at Seville<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>
+in the course of the year; but there is good reason
+to suppose that the average cannot be less than
+twelve a-day. One preacher, a clergyman, I know,
+who scarcely passes one day without mounting the
+pulpit, and reckons on three sermons every four-and-twenty
+hours, during the last half of Lent.</p>
+
+<p>Of these indefatigable preachers, the greatest
+favourite is a young Franciscan friar, called Padre
+R&mdash;&mdash;z, whose merit consists in a soft clear-toned
+voice, a tender and affectionate manner, and an
+incredible fluency of language. Being, by his profession,
+under a vow of absolute poverty, and the
+Franciscan rule carrying this vow so far as not to
+allow the members of the order to touch money, it
+was generally understood that the produce of these
+apostolical labours was faithfully deposited to be
+used in common by the whole religious community.
+An incident, however, which lately came to light,
+has given us reason to suspect that we are not quite
+in the secret of the internal management of these
+societies of saintly paupers, and that individual industry
+is rewarded among them with a considerable
+share of profits. A young female cousin of the
+zealous preacher in question, was living quite alone
+in a retired part of this town, where her relative
+paid her, it should seem, not unfrequent visits.
+Few, however, except her obscure neighbours, suspected
+her connexion with the friar, or had the
+least notion of her existence. An old woman attended
+her in the day-time, and retired in the even<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>ing,
+leaving her mistress alone in the house. One
+morning the street was alarmed by the old servant,
+who, having gained admittance, as usual, by means
+of a private key, found the young woman dead in
+her bed, the room and other parts of the house
+being stained with blood. It was clear, indeed,
+upon a slight inspection of the body, that no violence
+had taken place; yet the powerful interest
+excited at the moment, and before measures had
+been taken to hush the whole matter, spread the
+circumstances of the case all over the town, and
+brought the fact to light, that the house itself belonged
+to the friar, having been purchased by an
+agent with the money arising from his sermons.
+The hungry vultures of the law would have reaped
+an abundant harvest upon any lay individual who
+had been involved in such a train of suspicious circumstances.
+But, probably, a proper <i>douceur</i> out
+of the sermon fees increased their pious tenderness
+for the friar; while he was so emboldened by the
+disposition of the people to shut their eyes on every
+circumstance which might sully the fair name of a
+son of Saint Francis, that, a few days after the
+event, he preached a sermon, denouncing the curse
+of Heaven on the impious individuals who could
+harbour a belief derogatory to his sacred character.</p>
+
+<p>Crimes of the blackest description were left unpunished
+during the last reign, from a fixed and
+avowed determination of the King<a id="FNanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> not to inflict<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+the punishment of death upon a priest. Townsend
+has mentioned the murder of a young lady
+committed by a friar at San Lucar de Barrameda;
+and I would not repeat the painful narrative, were
+it not that my acquaintance with some of her relatives,
+as well as with the spot on which she fell,
+enables me to give a more accurate statement.</p>
+
+<p>A young lady, of a very respectable family in the
+above-mentioned town, had for her confessor a friar
+of the Reformed or <i>Unshod</i> Carmelites. I have
+often visited the house where she lived, in front of
+the convent. Thither her mother took her every
+day to mass, and frequently to confession. The
+priest, a man of middle age, had conceived a passion
+for his young penitent, which, not venturing to disclose,
+he madly fed by visiting the unsuspecting
+girl with all the frequency which the spiritual relation
+in which he stood towards her, and the friendship
+of her parents, allowed him. The young
+woman now about nineteen, had an offer of a
+suitable match, which she accepted with the approbation
+of her parents. The day being fixed for
+the marriage, the bride, according to custom, went,
+attended by her mother, early in the morning to
+church, to confess and receive the sacrament. After
+giving her absolution, the confessor, stung with the
+madness of jealousy, was observed whetting a
+knife in the kitchen. The unfortunate girl had,
+in the mean time, received the host, and was now
+leaving the church, when the villain, meeting
+her in the porch, and pretending to speak a few<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+words in her ear&mdash;a liberty to which his office
+entitled him&mdash;stabbed her to the heart in the presence
+of her mother. The assassin did not endeavour
+to escape. He was committed to prison; and
+after the usual delays of the Spanish law, was condemned
+to death. The King, however, commuted
+this sentence into a confinement for life in a fortress
+at Puerto Rico. The only anxiety ever showed by
+the murderer was respecting the success of his
+crime. He made frequent enquiries to ascertain
+the death of the young woman; and the assurance
+that no man could possess the object of his passion,
+seemed to make him happy during the remainder
+of a long life.</p>
+
+<p>Instances of enthusiasm are so rare, even in the
+most austere orders, that there is strong ground to
+suspect its seeds are destroyed by a pervading corruption
+of morals. The Observant Franciscans, the
+most numerous community in this town, have not
+been able to set up a living saint after the death,
+which happened four or five years since, of the last
+in the series of servants to the order, who, for time
+immemorial, have been a source of honour and
+profit to that convent. Besides the lay-brothers&mdash;a
+kind of upper servants under religious vows, but
+excluded from the dignity of holy orders&mdash;the
+friars admit some peasants, under the name of
+Donados, (<i>Donati</i>, in the Latin of the middle ages,)
+who, like their predecessors of servile condition, give
+themselves up, as their name expresses it, to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+service of the convent. As these people are now-a-days
+at liberty to leave their voluntary servitude, none
+are admitted but such as by the weakness of their
+understanding, and the natural timidity arising from
+a degree of imbecility, are expected to continue for
+life in a state of religious bondage. They wear the
+habit of the order, and are employed in the most
+menial offices, unless, being able to act, or rather
+to bear the character of extraordinary sanctity,
+they are sent about town to collect alms for their
+employers. These idiot saints are seen daily with a
+vacillating step, and look of the deepest humility,
+bearing about an image of the child Jesus, to which
+a basket for alms is appended, and offering, not
+their hand, which is the privilege of priests, but the
+end of their right sleeve, to be kissed by the pious.
+To what influence these miserable beings are sometimes
+raised, may be learned from a few particulars
+of the life of Hermanito Sebastian (Little Brother
+Sebastian) the last but one of the Franciscan collectors
+in this town.</p>
+
+<p>During the last year of Philip V. Brother Sebastian
+was presented to the <i>Infantes</i>, the king’s sons,
+that he might confer a blessing upon them. The
+courtiers present, observing that he took most notice
+of the king’s third son, Don Carlos, observed to
+him that his respects were chiefly due to the eldest,
+who was to be king. “Nay, nay, (it is reported he
+answered, pointing to his favourite) this shall be
+king too.” Some time after this interview, Don<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>
+Carlos was, by the arrangements which put an end
+to the Succession War, made Sovereign Prince of
+Parma. Conquest subsequently raised him to the
+throne of Naples; and, lastly, the failure of direct
+heirs to his brother Ferdinand VI. put him in possession
+of the crown of Spain. His first and unexpected
+promotion to the sovereignty of Parma had
+strongly impressed Don Carlos with the idea of
+Sebastian’s knowledge of futurity. But when, after
+the death of the prophet, he found himself on the
+throne of Spain, he thought himself bound in
+honour and duty to obtain from the Pope the
+<i>Beatification</i>, or Apotheosis, of <i>Little Sebastian</i>.
+The Church of Rome, however, knowing the advantages
+of strict adherence to rules and forms,
+especially when a king stands forward to pay the
+large fees incident to such trials, proceeded at a
+pace, compared to which your Court of Chancery
+would seem to move with the velocity of a meteor.
+But when the day arrived for the exhibition, before
+the Holy Congregation of Cardinals, of all papers
+whatever which might exist in the hand-writing of
+the candidate for saintship, and it was found necessary
+to lay before their Eminences an original letter,
+which the King carried about his person as an
+amulet; good Carlos found himself in a most perplexing
+dilemma. Distracted between duty to his
+ghostly friend, and his fears of some personal misfortune
+during the absence of the letter, he exerted
+the whole influence of his crown through the
+Spanish ambassador at Rome, that the trial might<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+proceed upon the inspection of an authentic copy.
+The Pope, however, was inexorable, and nothing
+could be done without the autograph. The king’s
+ministers at home, on the other hand, finding him
+restless, and scarcely able to enjoy the daily amusement
+of the chase, succeeded, at length, in bringing
+about a plan for the exhibition of the letter, which,
+though attended with an inevitable degree of
+anxiety and pain to his majesty, was, nevertheless,
+the most likely to spare his feelings. The most
+active and trusty of the Spanish messengers was
+chosen to convey the invaluable epistle to Rome,
+and his speed was secured by the promise of a large
+reward. Orders were then sent to the ambassador
+to have the Holy Congregation assembled on the
+morning when the messenger had engaged to arrive
+at the Vatican. By this skilful and deep-laid plan
+of operations, the letter was not detained more than
+half an hour at Rome; and another courier returned
+it with equal speed to Spain. From the
+moment when the King tore himself from the
+sacred paper, till it was restored to his hands, he did
+not venture once out of the palace. I have given
+these particulars on the authority of a man no less
+known in Spain for the high station he has filled,
+than for his public virtues and talents. He has been
+minister of state to the present King, Charles IV.,
+and is intimately acquainted with the secret history
+of the preceding reign.<a id="FNanchor_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
+<p>Great remnants of self-tormenting fanaticism are
+still found among the Carthusians. Of this order
+we have two monasteries in Andalusia, one on the
+banks of the Guadalquivir, within two miles of our
+gates, and another at Xeréz, or Sherry, as that
+town was formerly called in England, a name which
+its wines still bear. These monasteries are rich in
+land and endowments, and consequently afford the
+monks every comfort which is consistent with their
+rule. But all the wealth in the universe could not
+give those wretched slaves of superstition a single
+moment of enjoyment. The unhappy man who
+binds himself with the Carthusian vows, may consider
+the precincts of the cell allotted him as his
+tomb. These monks spend daily eight or nine
+hours in the chapel, without any music to relieve
+the monotony of the service. At midnight they
+are roused from their beds, whither they retire at
+sunset, to chaunt matins till four in the morning.
+Two hours rest are allowed them between that service
+and morning prayers. Mass follows, with a short
+interruption, and great part of the afternoon is
+allotted to vespers. No communication is permitted
+between the monks, except two days in the week,
+when they assemble during an hour for conversation.
+Confined to their cells when not attending
+church-service, even their food is left them in a
+wheel-box, such as is used in the nunneries,<a id="FNanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+from which they take it when hungry, and eat it in
+perfect solitude. A few books and a small garden,
+in which they cultivate a profusion of flowers, are the
+only resources of these unfortunate beings. To these
+privations they add an absolute abstinence from
+flesh, which they vow not to taste even at the risk
+of their lives.</p>
+
+<p>I have on different occasions spent a day with
+some friends at the <i>Hospederia</i>, or Stranger’s Lodge,
+at the Carthusians of Seville, where it is the duty
+of the steward, the only monk who is allowed to
+mix in society, to entertain any male visitors who,
+with a proper introduction, repair to the monastery.
+The steward I knew before my visit to England,
+had been a merchant. After several voyages to
+Spanish America, he had retired from the world,
+which, it was evident in some unguarded moments,
+he had known and loved too well to have entirely
+forgotten. His frequent visits to the town, ostensibly
+upon business, were not entirely free from
+suspicion among the idle and inquisitive; and I
+have some reason to believe that these rumours
+were found too well grounded by his superiors. He
+was deprived of the stewardship, and disappeared
+for ever from the haunts of men.</p>
+
+<p>The austerity of the Carthusian rule of life would
+cast but a transient gloom on the mind of an enlightened
+observer, if he could be sure that the misery
+he beheld was voluntary; that hope kept a crown
+of glory before the eyes of every wretched prisoner,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+and that no unwilling victim of a temporary illusion,
+was pining for light and liberty, under the
+tombstone sealed over him by religious tyranny.
+But neither the view of the monks, fixed as statues
+in the stalls of their gloomy church, nor those that
+are seen in the darkest recesses of the cloisters,
+prostrate on the marble pavement, where, wrapt
+up in their large white mantles, they spend many
+an hour in meditation; nor the bent, gliding figures
+which wander among the earthy mounds under the
+orange-trees of the cemetery&mdash;that least melancholy
+spot within the wall of the monastery,&mdash;nothing
+did ever so harrow my feelings in that mansion
+of sorrow, as the accidental meeting of a repining
+prisoner. This was a young monk, who, to my
+great surprise, addressed me as I was looking at the
+pictures in one of the cloisters of the Carthusians
+near Seville, and very politely offered to shew me
+his cell. He was perfectly unknown to me, and I
+have every reason to believe that I was equally so
+to him. Having admired his collection of flowers,
+we entered into a literary conversation, and he
+asked me whether I was fond of French literature.
+Upon my shewing some acquaintance with the
+writers of that nation, and expressing a mixed feeling
+of surprise and interest at hearing a Carthusian
+venturing upon that topic, the poor young man was
+so thrown off his guard, that, leading me to a bookcase,
+he put into my hands a volume of Voltaire’s
+<i>Pièces Fugitives</i>, which he spoke of with rapture.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+I believe I saw a volume of Rousseau’s works in the
+collection; yet I suspect that this unfortunate man’s
+<i>select library</i> consisted of amatory rather than philosophical
+works. The monk’s name is unknown to
+me, though I learned from him the place of his
+birth; and many years have elapsed since this
+strange meeting, which from its insulation amidst
+the events and impressions of my life, I compare to
+an interview with an inhabitant of the invisible
+world. But I shall never forget the thrilling
+horror I felt, when the abyss of misery into which
+that wretched being was plunged, opened suddenly
+upon my mind. I was young, and had, till that
+moment, mistaken the nature of enthusiasm. Fed
+as I saw it in a Carthusian convent, I firmly believed
+it could not be extinguished but with life.
+This ocular evidence against my former belief was
+so painful, that I hastened my departure, leaving
+the devoted victim to his solitude, there to wait the
+odious sound of the bell which was to disturb his
+sleep, if the subsequent horror of having committed
+himself with a stranger, allowed him that night to
+close his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Though the number of Hermits is not considerable
+in Spain, we are not without some establishments
+on the plan of the <i>Lauras</i> described by Gibbon.<a id="FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a>
+The principal of these solitudes is Monserrat in
+Catalonia, an account of which you will find in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>
+most books of travels. My own observation on
+this point does not, however, extend beyond the
+hermitages of Cordoba, which, I believe, rank
+next to the above-mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>The branch of Sierra Morena, which to the
+north of Cordoba separates Andalusia from La
+Mancha, rises abruptly within six miles of that
+city. On the first ascent of the hills the country
+becomes exceedingly beautiful. The small rivulets
+which freshen the valleys, aided by the powerful
+influence of a southern atmosphere, transform these
+spots, during April and May, into the most splendid
+gardens. Roses and lilies, of the largest cultivated
+kinds, have sown themselves in the greatest profusion
+upon every space left vacant by the mountain-herbs
+and shrubs, which form wild and romantic
+hedges to these native flower-plots. But as you
+approach the mountain-tops to the right and left,
+the rock begins to appear, and the scanty soil,
+scorched and pulverized by the sun, becomes unfit
+for vegetation. Here stands a barren hill of difficult
+approach on all sides, and precipitous towards
+the plain, its rounded head inclosed within a rude
+stone parapet, breast high, a small church rising
+in the centre, and about twenty brick tenements irregularly
+scattered about it. The dimensions of
+the huts allow just sufficient room for a few boards
+raised about a foot from the ground, which, covered
+with a mat, serve for a bed: a trivet to sit
+upon, a diminutive deal table supporting a crucifix,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
+a human skull, and one or two books of devotion.
+The door is so low that it cannot be passed without
+stooping; and the whole habitation is ingeniously
+contrived to exclude every comfort. As visiting
+and talking together is forbidden to the hermits,
+and the cells are at some distance from one another,
+a small bell is hung over the door of each, to call
+for assistance in case of sickness or danger. The
+hermits meet at chapel every morning to hear mass
+and receive the sacrament from the hands of a
+secular priest; for none of them are admitted to orders.
+After chapel, they retire to their cells,
+where they pass their time in reading, meditation,
+plaiting mats, making little crosses of Spanish
+broom, which people carry about them as a preservative
+from erysipelas, and manufacturing instruments
+of penance, such as scourges and a sort
+of wire bracelets bristled inside with points, called
+<i>Cilicios</i>, which are worn near the skin by the <i>ultra-pious</i>
+among the Catholics. Food, consisting of
+pulse and herbs, is distributed once a day to
+the hermits, leaving them to use it when they
+please. These devotees are usually peasants, who,
+seized with religious terrors, are driven to this
+strange method of escaping eternal misery, in the
+next world. But the hardships of their new profession
+are generally less severe than those to
+which they were subject by their lot in life; and
+they find ample amends for their loss of liberty
+in the certainty of food and clothing without la<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>bour,
+no less than in the secret pride of superior
+sanctity, and the consequent respect of the people.</p>
+
+<p>Thus far these hermitages excite more disgust
+than compassion. But when, distracted by superstition,
+men of a higher order and more delicate
+feelings, fly to these solitudes as to a hiding-place
+from mental terrors; the consequences are often
+truly melancholy. Among the hermits of Cordoba,
+I found a gentleman who, three years before, had
+given up his commission in the army, where he
+was a colonel of artillery, and, what is perhaps
+more painful to a Spaniard, his cross of one of
+the ancient orders of knighthood. He joined our
+party, and showed more pleasure in conversation
+than is consistent with that high fever of enthusiasm,
+without which his present state of life must
+have been worse than death itself. We stood upon
+the brow of the rock, having at our feet the extensive
+plains of Lower Andalusia, watered by the
+Guadalquivir, the ancient city of Cordoba with its
+magnificent cathedral in front, and the mountains
+of Jaén, sweeping majestically to the left. The
+view was to me, then a very young man, truly
+grand and imposing; and I could not help congratulating
+the hermit on the enjoyment of a scene
+which so powerfully affected the mind, and wrapt it
+up in contemplation. “Alas! (he answered with
+an air of dejection) I have seen it every day these
+three years!” As hermits are not bound to their
+profession by irrevocable vows, perhaps this unfor<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>tunate
+being has, after a long and painful struggle,
+returned to the habitations of men, to hide his face
+in an obscure corner, bearing the reproach of apostacy
+and backsliding from the bigoted, and the
+sneer of ridicule from the thoughtless; his prospects
+blasted for ever in this world, and darkened
+by fear and remorse, in the next. Woe to the
+incautious who publicly engage their services to religion,
+under the impression that they shall be
+allowed to withdraw them upon a change of views,
+or an abatement of fervour. The very few establishments
+of this kind, where solemn vows do not
+banish the hopes of liberty for ever, are full of captives,
+who would fain burst the invisible chains
+that bind them; but cannot. The church and her
+leaders are extremely jealous of such defections:
+and as few or none dare raise the veil of the sanctuary,
+redress is nearly impossible for such as trust
+themselves within it. But of this more in my
+next.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER VIII.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Seville, &mdash;&mdash; 1805.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">When</span>
+the last census was made, in 1787, the
+number of Spanish females confined to the cloister,
+for life, amounted to thirty-two thousand. That in
+a country where wealth is small and ill distributed,
+and industry languishes under innumerable restraints,
+there should be a great number of portionless
+gentlewomen unable to find a suitable match,
+and consequently glad of a dignified asylum,
+where they might secure peace and competence, if
+not happiness; is so perfectly natural, that the
+founders and supporters of any institution intended
+to fulfil those objects, would deserve to be reckoned
+among the friends of humanity. But the cruel
+and wicked church law, which, aided by external
+force, binds the nuns with perpetual vows,
+makes the convents for females the <i>Bastilles</i> of
+superstition, where many a victim lingers through
+a long life of despair or insanity.</p>
+
+<p>Though I do not mean to enter into a point of
+theological controversy, I find it impossible to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+dwell for a moment on this subject without expressing
+my utter abhorrence and detestation of
+the cold indifference with which our Church looks
+on the glaring evil consequences of some of its
+laws, when, according to her own doctrines, they
+might be either repealed or amended, without relinquishing
+any of her claims. The authority of
+the Roman Pontiff, in all matters of church government,
+is not questioned among Catholics. Yet,
+from a proud affectation of infallibility, even upon
+such points as the most violent partisans of that
+absurd pretention have never ventured to place
+within its reach, the church of Rome has been so
+sparing of the power to reform her laws, that it
+might be suspected she wished to abandon it by
+prescription. Always ready to <i>bind</i>, the heirs of
+Saint Peter have shewn themselves extremely
+averse to the more humane office of <i>loosing on earth</i>,
+except when it served the purposes of gain or ambition.
+The time, I believe, will never come when
+the church of Rome will agree to make concessions
+on what are called <i>matters of faith</i>. But I cannot
+discover the least shadow of reason or interest for
+the obstinacy which preserves unaltered the barbarous
+laws relating to the religious vows of
+females; unless it be that vile animal jealousy,
+which persons, deprived of the pleasures of love,
+are apt to mistake for zeal in the cause of chastity;
+such zeal as your Queen Elizabeth felt for the
+purity of her maids.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The nunneries in this town amount to twenty-nine.
+Of these, some are under the exclusive
+jurisdiction of the Friars, whose rule of religious
+life they profess; and some under that of the Episcopal
+See. The last, generally follow the monastic
+rules of Saint Benedict, Saint Bernard, or Saint
+Jerom; and it is remarkable, that the same superiority
+which is observable in the secular above the
+regular clergy, is found in the nuns under the
+episcopal jurisdiction. Some of these inhabit large
+convents, whose courts and gardens allow the
+inhabitants ample space for exercise and amusement.
+Instead of narrow cells, the nuns live in
+a comfortable suite of apartments, often at the
+head of a small family of younger nuns whom they
+have educated, or of pupils, not under religious
+vows, whom their parents place there for instruction.
+The life, in fact, of these communities, is
+rather collegiate than monastic; and were it not
+for the tyrannical law which deprives the professed
+nuns of their liberty, such establishments
+would be far from objectionable. The dress of
+these nuns is still that which the <i>Dueñas</i>, or
+elderly matrons, wore when the convents were
+founded; with the addition of a large mantle,
+black, white, or blue, according to the custom of
+the order, which they use at the choir. From a
+head-dress not unlike that which, if I may venture
+upon such matters, I believe you call a <i>mob-cap</i>,
+hangs the black veil. A rosary, or chaplet of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>
+black beads with a cross at the end, is seen hanging
+over the neck and shoulders, or loosely coiled
+on a leather strap, which tightens the tunic or
+gown to the waist. A slip of cloth of the breadth
+of the shoulders, called the <i>scapulary</i>, hangs down
+to the feet both before and behind, probably with
+a view to conceal every outline of the female shape.</p>
+
+<p>The mildness of these monastic rules being unsatisfactory
+to the fiery spirit of bigotry, many
+convents have been founded under the title of
+<i>Reformed</i>, where, without the least regard to the
+sex of the votaries, young and delicate females are
+subjected to a life of privation and hardship, as the
+only infallible method of obtaining the favour of
+Heaven. Their dress is a tunic of sackcloth, tied
+round the waist with a knotted rope. The rule
+allows them no linen either for clothing or bedding.
+Woollen of the coarsest kind frets their bodies,
+day and night, even during the burning summers
+of the South of Spain. A mantle of the same sackcloth
+is the only addition which the nuns make to
+their dress in winter, while their feet, shod with
+open sandals, and without either socks or stockings,
+are exposed to the sharp winter blasts, and the
+deadening chill of the brick-floors. A band of
+coarse linen, two inches in breadth, is worn by
+the Capuchin nuns, bound tight six or eight times
+round the head, in remembrance, it is said, of the
+<i>crown of thorns</i>; and such is the barbarous spirit
+of the rule, that it does not allow this band to be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>
+taken off, even under an access of fever. A young
+woman who takes the veil in any of the reformed
+convents, renounces the sight of her nearest relations.
+The utmost indulgence, as to communication
+with parents and brothers, extends only to a
+short conversation once a month, in the presence of
+one of the elder nuns, behind a thick curtain spread
+on the inner side of the iron grating, which completely
+intercepts the view. The religious vows,
+however, among the Capuchin nuns, put a final
+end to all communication between parents and
+children.</p>
+
+<p>To those unacquainted with the character of our
+species of Christianity, it will be difficult to conceive
+what motive can influence the mind of a
+young creature of sixteen thus to sacrifice herself
+upon the altars of these Molochs, whom we call
+Saints and Patriarchs. To me these horrid effects
+of superstition appear so natural, that I only wonder
+when I see so many of our religious young
+females still out of the convent. Remorse and
+mental horrors goad some young men into the
+strictest monasteries, while more amiable, though
+equally mistaken views, lead our females to a similar
+course of life. We are taught to believe self-inflicted
+pain to be acceptable to the Deity, both
+as an atonement for crime, and a token of thankfulness.
+The female character, among us, is a
+compound of the most ardent feelings&mdash;vehement
+to delirium, generous to devotedness. What won<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>der
+then if, early impressed with the loveliness
+and sufferings of an incarnate Deity, an exquisitely
+tender mind grow restless and dissatisfied with a
+world, as yet known only through the pictures of
+morose fanatics, and pant after the most effectual
+means of giving her celestial lover an unquestionable
+proof of gratitude? The first nascent wish of
+taking the veil is eagerly watched and seized by a
+confessor, who, to a violent jealousy of earthly
+bridegrooms, joins a confident sense of merit in
+adding one virgin more to the ten thousand of the
+spiritual <i>Harem</i>. Pious parents tremble at the
+thought of standing between God and their daughter,
+and often with a bleeding heart lead her to
+the foot of the altar.</p>
+
+<p>There is an extreme eagerness in the Catholic
+professors of celibacy, both male and female, to
+decoy young persons into the toils from which they
+themselves cannot escape. With this view they
+have disguised the awful ceremony which cuts off
+an innocent girl from the sweetest hopes of nature,
+with the pomp and gaiety, which mankind have
+unanimously bestowed on the triumph of legitimate
+love. The whole process which condemns a female
+“to wither on the virgin thorn,” and “live a
+barren sister all her life,” is studiously made to
+represent a wedding. The unconscious victim, generally
+in her fifteenth year, finds herself, for some
+time previous to her taking the veil, the queen&mdash;nay,
+the idol of the whole community which has<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+obtained her preference. She is constantly addressed
+by the name of bride, and sees nothing but
+gay preparations for the expected day of her spiritual
+nuptials. Attired in a splendid dress, and
+decked with all the jewels of her family and friends,
+she takes public leave of her acquaintance; visits,
+on her way to the convent, several other nunneries,
+to be seen and admired by the recluse inhabitants;
+and even the crowd which collects in her progress,
+follows her with tears and blessings. As she approaches
+the church of her monastery, the dignified
+ecclesiastic who is to perform the ceremony, meets
+the intended novice at the door, and leads her to
+the altar, amid the sounds of bells and musical instruments.
+The monastic weeds are blessed by
+the priest in her presence; and having embraced
+her parents and nearest relations, she is led by the
+lady who acts as bride’s-maid to the small door next
+to the double grating, which separates the nuns’
+choir from the body of the church. A curtain is
+drawn while the abbess cuts off the hair of the
+novice, and strips her of her worldly ornaments.
+On the removal of the curtain she appears in the
+monastic garb, surrounded by the nuns bearing
+lighted tapers, her face covered with the white veil
+of probationship, fixed on the head by a wreath of
+flowers. After the Te Deum, or some other hymn
+of thanksgiving, the friends of the family adjourn
+to the <i>Locutory</i>, or visiting-room, where a collation
+of ices and sweetmeats is served in the presence of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>
+the mock bride, who, with the principal nuns, attends
+behind the grating which separates the visitors
+from the inmates of the convent. In the more
+austere nunneries the parting visit is omitted, and
+the sight of the novice in the white veil, immediately
+after having her hair cut off, is the last
+which, for a whole year, is granted to the parents.
+They again see her on the day when she binds herself
+with the irrevocable vows, never to behold her
+more, unless they should live to see her again
+crowned with flowers, when she is laid in the
+grave.</p>
+
+<p>Instances of novices quitting the convent during
+the year of probation are extremely rare. The ceremony
+of taking the veil is too solemn, and bears
+too much the character of a public engagement, to
+allow full liberty of choice during the subsequent
+noviciate. The timid mind of a girl shrinks from
+the idea of appearing again in the world, under the
+tacit reproach of fickleness and relaxed devotion.
+The nuns, besides, do not forget their arts during
+the nominal trial of the victim, and she lives a
+whole year the object of their caresses. Nuns, in
+fact, who, after profession, would have given their
+lives for a day of free breathing out of their prison,
+it has been my misfortune to know; but I cannot
+recollect more than one instance of a novice quitting
+the convent; and that was a woman of obscure
+birth, on whom public opinion had no influence.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>That many nuns, especially in the more liberal
+convents, live happy, I have every reason to believe;
+but, on the other hand, I possess indubitable
+evidence of the exquisite misery which is the lot
+of some unfortunate females, under similar circumstances.
+I shall mention only one case, in actual
+existence, with which I am circumstantially acquainted.</p>
+
+<p>A lively and interesting girl of fifteen, poor,
+though connected with some of the first gentry in
+this town, having received her education under an
+aunt who was at the head of a wealthy, and not
+austere, Franciscan convent, came out, as the
+phrase is, <i>to see the world</i>, previous to her taking
+the veil. I often met the intended novice at the
+house of one of her relations, where I visited daily.
+She had scarcely been a fortnight out of the
+cloister, when that world she had learned to abhor
+in description, was so visibly and rapidly winning
+her affections, that at the end of three months she
+could hardly disguise her aversion to the veil. The
+day, however, was now fast approaching which
+had been fixed for the ceremony, without her feeling
+sufficient resolution to decline it. Her father,
+a good but weak man, she knew too well, could
+not protect her from the ill-treatment of an unfeeling
+mother, whose vanity was concerned in
+thus disposing of a daughter for whom she had no
+hopes of finding a suitable match. The kindness
+of her aunt, the good nun to whom the distressed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>
+girl was indebted for the happiness of her childhood,
+formed, besides, too strong a contrast with
+the unkindness of the unnatural mother, not to
+give her wavering mind a strong though painful bias
+towards the cloister. To this were added all the
+arts of pious seduction so common among the religious
+of both sexes. The preparations for the
+approaching solemnity were, in the mean time, industriously
+carried on with the greatest publicity.
+Verses were circulated, in which her confessor sang
+the triumph of Divine Love over the wily suggestions
+of the <i>impious</i>. The <i>wedding-dress</i> was shewn
+to every acquaintance, and due notice of the appointed
+day was given to friends and relatives. But
+the fears and aversion of the devoted victim grew
+in proportion as she saw herself more and more involved
+in the toils she had wanted courage to burst
+when she first felt them.</p>
+
+<p>It was in company with my friend Leandro, with
+whose private history you are well acquainted,<a id="FNanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>
+that I often met the unfortunate Maria Francisca.
+His efforts to dissuade her from the rash step she
+was going to take, and the warm language in which
+he spoke to her father on that subject, had made
+her look upon him as a warm and sincere friend.
+The unhappy girl on the eve of the day when she
+was to take the veil, repaired to church, and sent
+him a message, without mentioning her name, that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>
+a female penitent requested his attendance at the
+confessional. With painful surprise he found the
+future novice at his feet, in a state bordering on
+distraction. When a flood of tears had allowed her
+utterance, she told him that, for want of another
+friend in the whole world to whom she could disclose
+her feelings, she came to him, not, however,
+for the purpose of confession, but because she
+trusted he would listen with pity to her sorrows.
+With a warmth and eloquence above her years, she
+protested that the distant terrors of eternal punishment,
+which, she feared, might be the consequence
+of her determination, could not deter her from the
+step by which she was going to escape the incessant
+persecution of her mother. In vain did my
+friend volunteer his assistance to extricate her from
+the appalling difficulties which surrounded her: in
+vain did he offer to wait upon the archbishop, and
+implore his interference: no offers, no persuasions
+could move her. She parted as if ready to be conveyed
+to the scaffold, and the next day took the
+veil.</p>
+
+<p>The real kindness of her aunt, and the treacherous
+smiles of the other nuns, supported the pining
+novice through the year of probation. The scene
+I beheld when she was bound with the perpetual
+vows of monastic life, is one which I cannot recollect
+without an actual sense of suffocation. A solemn
+mass, performed with all the splendour which
+that ceremony admits, preceded the awful oaths of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
+the novice. At the conclusion of the service, she
+approached the superior of the order. A pen, gaily
+ornamented with artificial flowers, was put into her
+trembling hand, to sign the engagement for life, on
+which she was about to enter. Then, standing
+before the iron grate of the choir, she began to
+chaunt, in a weak and fainting voice, the act of
+consecration of herself to God; but, having uttered
+a few words, she fainted into the arms of the surrounding
+nuns. This was attributed to mere fatigue
+and emotion. No sooner had the means employed
+restored to the victim the powers of speech, than,
+with a vehemence which those who knew not her
+circumstances attributed to a fresh impulse of holy
+zeal, and in which the few that were in the painful
+secret saw nothing but the madness of despair; she
+hurried over the remaining sentences, and sealed
+her doom for ever.</p>
+
+<p>The real feelings of the new votaress were, however,
+too much suspected by her more bigoted or
+more resigned fellow-prisoners; and time and despair
+making her less cautious, she was soon looked
+upon as one likely to bring disgrace on the whole
+order, by divulging the secret that it is possible for
+a nun to feel impatient under her vows. The storm
+of conventual persecution, (the fiercest and most
+pitiless of all that breed in the human heart), had
+been lowering over the unhappy young woman
+during the short time which her aunt, the prioress,
+survived. But when death had left her friendless,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+and exposed to the tormenting ingenuity of a crowd
+of female zealots, whom she could not escape for
+an instant; unable to endure her misery, she resolutely
+attempted to drown herself. The attempt,
+however, was ineffectual. And now the merciless
+character of Catholic superstition appeared in its
+full glare. The mother, without impeaching whose
+character no judicial steps could be taken to prove
+the invalidity of the profession, was dead; and
+some relations and friends of the poor prisoner
+were moved by her sufferings to apply to the church
+for relief. A suit was instituted for this purpose
+before the ecclesiastical court, and the clearest
+evidence adduced of the indirect compulsion which
+had been used in the case. But the whole order
+of Saint Francis, considering their honour at stake,
+rose against their rebellious subject, and the judges
+sanctioned her vows as voluntary and valid. She
+lives still in a state approaching to madness, and
+death alone can break her chains.<a id="FNanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
+
+<p>Such an instance of misery is, I hope, one of
+those extreme cases which seldom take place, and
+more seldom transpire. The common source of
+suffering among the Catholic recluses proceeds from
+a certain degree of religious melancholy, which,
+combined with such complaints as originate in perpetual
+confinement, affect more or less the greater
+number.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The mental disease to which I allude is commonly
+known by the name of <i>Escrúpulos</i>, and
+might be called <i>religious anxiety</i>. It is the natural
+state of a mind perpetually dwelling on hopes connected
+with an invisible world, and anxiously practising
+means to avoid an unhappy lot in it, which
+keep the apprehended danger for ever present to
+the imagination. Consecration for life at the altar
+promises, it is true, increased happiness in the
+world to come; but the numerous and difficult
+duties attached to the religious profession, multiply
+the hazards of eternal misery by the chances of
+failure in their performance; and while the plain
+Christian’s offences against the moral law are often
+considered as mere frailties, those of the professed
+votary seldom escape the aggravation of sacrilege.
+The odious diligence of the Catholic moralists has
+raked together an endless catalogue of sins, by
+<i>thought, word, and deed</i>, to every one of which the
+punishment of eternal flames has been assigned.
+This list, alike horrible and disgusting, haunts the
+imagination of the unfortunate devotee, till, reduced
+to a state of perpetual anxiety, she can
+neither think, speak, nor act, without discovering
+in every vital motion a sin which invalidates all her
+past sacrifices, and dooms her painful efforts after
+Christian perfection, to end in everlasting misery.
+Absolution, which adds boldness to the resolute
+and profligate, becomes a fresh source of disquietude
+to a timid and sickly mind. Doubts in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>numerable
+disturb the unhappy sufferer, not, however,
+as to the power of the priest in granting
+pardon, but respecting her own fulfilment of the
+conditions, without which to receive absolution is
+<i>sacrilege</i>. These agonizing fears, cherished and fed
+by the small circle of objects to which a nun is
+confined, are generally incurable, and usually terminate
+in an untimely death, or insanity.</p>
+
+<p>There are, however, constitutions and tempers
+to which the atmosphere of a nunnery seems natural
+and congenial. Women of uncommon cleverness
+and judgment, whose strength of mind preserves
+them in a state of rational happiness are
+sometimes found in the cloisters. But the true,
+the genuine nun&mdash;such, I mean, as, unincumbered
+by a barbarous rule, and blessed with that Liliputian
+activity of mind which can convert a parlour
+or a kitchen into an universe&mdash;presents a most curious
+modification of that amusing character, <i>the
+old maid</i>. Like their virgin sisters all over the
+world, they too have, more or less, a flirting period,
+of which the confessor is always the happy
+and exclusive object. The heart and soul of almost
+every nun not passed fifty, are centred in the priest
+that directs her conscience. The convent messengers
+are seen about the town with lots of spiritual
+<i>billets-doux</i>, in search of a soothing line from the
+ghostly fathers. The nuns not only address them
+by that endearing name, but will not endure from
+them the common form of speech in the third
+person:&mdash;they must be <i>tutoyé</i>, as children are by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
+their parents. Jealousy is a frequent symptom of
+this nameless attachment; and though it is impossible
+for every nun to have exclusive possession
+of her confessor, few will allow the presence of a
+rival within their own convent.</p>
+
+<p>I do not intend, however, to cast an imputation
+of levity on the class of Spanish females which
+I am describing. Instances of gross misconduct
+are extremely rare among the nuns. Indeed, the
+physical barriers which protect their virtue are
+fully adequate to guard them against the consequences
+of a most unbounded intimacy with their
+confessors. Neither would I suggest the idea that
+nothing but obstacles of this kind keeps them, in
+all cases, within the bounds of modesty. My only
+object is to expose the absurdity and unfeelingness
+of a system which, while it surrounds the
+young recluses with strong walls, massive gates,
+and spiked windows, grants them the most intimate
+communication with a man&mdash;often a young
+man&mdash;that can be carried on in words and writing.
+The struggle between the heart thus barbarously
+tried, and the unnatural duties of the religious
+state, though sometimes a mystery to the modest
+sufferer, is plainly visible in most of the young
+captives.</p>
+
+<p>About the age of fifty, (for spiritual flirtation
+seldom exhausts itself before that age,) the genuine
+nun has settled every feeling and affection upon
+that shifting centre of the universe, which, like
+some circles in astronomy, changes with every<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>
+step of the individual&mdash;I mean <i>self</i>. It has been
+observed that no European language possesses a
+true equivalent for your English word <i>comfort</i>;
+and, considering the state of this country, Spanish
+would have little chance of producing a similar
+substantive, were it not for some of our nuns, who,
+as they make a constant practical study of the
+subject, may, at length, enrich our dictionary
+with a name for what they know so well without
+it. Their comforts, however, poor souls! are still
+of an inferior kind, and arise chiefly from the indulgence
+of that temper, which, in the language
+of your <i>ladies’ maids</i>, makes their mistresses <i>very
+particular</i>; and which, by a strange application
+of the word, confers among us the name of <i>impertinente</i>.
+The squeamishness, fastidiousness, and
+morbid sensibility of nuns, make that name a proverbial
+reproach to every sort of affected delicacy.
+As great and wealthy nunneries possess considerable
+influence, and none can obtain the patronage
+of the Holy Sisters (<i>Mothers</i>, they are called by
+the Spaniards,) without accommodating themselves
+to the tone and manners of the society; every person,
+male or female, connected with it, acquires a
+peculiar mincing air, which cannot be mistaken by
+an experienced observer. But in none does it appear
+more ludicrously than in the old-fashioned
+<i>nun-doctors</i>. Their patience in listening to long,
+minute, and often-told reports of cases; the mock
+authority with which they enforce their prescriptions,
+and the peculiar wit they employ to raise the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>
+spirits of their patients, would, in a more free country,
+furnish comedy with a most amusing character.
+Some years ago a very stupid practitioner
+bethought himself of taking orders, thus to unite
+the spiritual and bodily leech, for the convenience
+of nuns. The Pope granted him a dispensation of
+the ecclesiastical law, which forbids priests to
+practise physic; and he found himself unrivalled in
+powers, among the faculty. The scheme succeeded
+so well that our doctor sent home for a lad,
+his nephew, whom he has brought up in this twofold
+trade, which, for want of direct heirs, of which
+priests in this country cannot boast, is likely to be
+perpetuated in the collateral branches of that family.
+With regard to their curative system, as it applies
+to the souls, I am a very incompetent judge: the
+body, I know&mdash;at least the half-spiritualized bodies
+of the nuns&mdash;they treat exclusively with syrups.
+This is a fact of which I have a melancholy proof
+in a near relation, a most amiable young woman,
+who was allowed to drop into an early grave, while
+her growing disease was opposed with nothing but
+syrup of violets! I must add, however, that the
+wary doctor, not forgetting the ghostly concerns of
+his patient, never omitted to add a certain dose of
+<i>Agnus Castus</i> to every ounce of the syrup; a
+practice to which, he once told a friend of mine,
+both he and his uncle most religiously adhered
+when attending young nuns, with the benevolent
+purpose of making their religious duties more
+easy.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER IX.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Seville, &mdash;&mdash; 1806.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">As</span>, in order to help my memory, I have been
+for some time collecting notes under different heads,
+relative to the customs, both public and private,
+which are most remarkable in the annual circle
+of <i>Sevillian</i> life, I find myself possessed of a number
+of detached scraps, which, though affording abundant
+matter for more than one of my usual dispatches,
+are much too stubborn to bend themselves
+into any but their original shape. After casting
+about in my mind for some picturesque or dramatic
+plan of arrangement, I had, most cowardly, I confess,
+and like a mere novice in the art of authorship,
+determined to suppress the detached contents
+of my common-place book, when it occurred to
+me that, as they were no less likely to gratify
+your curiosity in their present state than in a more
+elaborate form, a simple transcript of my notes
+would not stand amiss in the collection of my
+letters. I shall, therefore, present you with the
+following sample of my <i>Fasti Hispalenses</i>, or Se<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>villian
+Almanack, without, however, binding myself
+to furnish it with the three hundred and sixty-five
+articles which that name seems to threaten. Or,
+should you still find the title too ambitious and
+high-sounding for the mere gossip and prattle of
+this series of scraps, I beg you will call it (for
+I have not the heart to send out my productions
+not only shapeless, but nameless)</p>
+
+
+<h3>MEMORANDUMS OF SOME ANDALUSIAN
+CUSTOMS AND FESTIVALS.</h3>
+
+<hr class="sep2" />
+
+<h3>JANUARY 20TH. SAINT SEBASTIAN’S DAY.</h3>
+
+<p>Carnival has been ushered in, according to an
+ancient custom which authorises so early a commencement
+of the gaieties that precede Lent.
+Little, however, remains of that spirit of mirth
+which contrived such ample amends for the demure
+behaviour required during the annual grand
+fast. To judge from what I have seen and heard in
+my boyhood, the generation who lived at Seville
+before me, were, in their love of noisy merriment,
+but one step above children; and contrived to pass
+a considerable portion of their time in a round
+of amusements, more remarkable for jollity than
+for either show or refinement; yet unmixed with
+any grossness or indecorum. I shall give a specimen
+in a family of middle rank, whose circumstances
+were not the most favourable to cheerfulness.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The joy and delight of my childhood was centered
+in the house of four spinsters of the good old
+times, who, during a period of between fifty and
+sixty years, passed “in single blessedness,” and
+with claims to respectability, as ample as their
+means of supporting it were scanty; had waged the
+most resolute and successful war against melancholy,
+and were now the seasoned veterans of
+mirth. Poverty being no source of degradation
+among us, these ladies had a pretty numerous circle
+of friends, who, with their young families, frequented
+their house&mdash;one of the old, large, and
+substantial buildings which, for a trifling rent, may
+be had in this town, and which care and neatness
+have kept furnished for more than a century, without
+the addition or substitution of a single article.
+In a lofty drawing-room, hung round with tapestry,
+the faded remnants of ancient family pride, the
+good old ladies were ready, every evening after
+sunset, to welcome their friends, especially the
+young of both sexes, to whom they showed the
+most good-natured kindness. Their scanty revenue
+did not allow them to treat the company with the
+usual refreshments, except on particular days&mdash;an
+expense which they met by a well-planned system
+of starvation, carried on throughout the year, with
+the utmost good humour. An ancient guitar, as
+large as a moderate violoncello, stood up in a corner
+of the room, ready at a moment’s notice, to stir
+up the spirits of the young people into a dance<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>
+of the Spanish <i>Seguidillas</i>, or to accompany the
+songs which were often <i>forfeited</i> in the games that
+formed the staple merriment at this season.</p>
+
+<p>The games, in truth, which in England are
+nearly forgotten, even within their last asylums&mdash;ladies’
+schools and nurseries,&mdash;were thirty years
+ago a favourite amusement in this country. That
+they have, at some period, been common to a great
+part of Europe, will not be doubted by any one
+who, like myself, may attach such importance
+to this subject as to be at the trouble of comparing
+the different sports of that kind which prevail in
+France, England, and Spain. I wish, indeed, that
+antiquarians were a more jovial and volatile race
+than I have found them in general; and that some
+one would trace up these amusements to their common
+source. The French, with that spirit of
+system and scientific arrangement which even their
+perfumers, <i>Marchandes de Modes</i>, and dancing-masters
+display, have already, according to a treatise
+now lying before me, distributed these games
+into <i>Jeux d’action</i> and <i>Jeux d’esprit</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In marking their similarity among the three
+nations I have mentioned, I shall pass over the
+former; for who can doubt that <i>romping</i> (so I
+will venture, though less elegantly, to express the
+French <i>action</i>) is an innate principle in mankind,
+impelling the human animal to similar pranks
+all over the globe, from the first to the third of his
+climacterics? But to find that, just at the age<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>
+when he perceives the necessity of assuming the
+demureness of maturity, he should, in different
+places and under a variety of circumstances, fall
+upon the same contrivances in order to <i>desipere in
+loco</i>, or to find a loop-hole to indulge himself in
+<i>playing the fool</i>, is a phenomenon which I beg
+leave to recommend to the attention of philosophers.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>jeux d’esprit</i>, which I find to be used, with
+some slight variations, in France, England, and
+Spain, or, at least, in some two of those countries,
+are&mdash;<i>The Aviary</i>, or giving the heart to one bird,
+committing one’s secret to another, and plucking a
+feather from a third; at the risk of mistaking
+the objects of the intended raillery or gallantry,
+disguised under the name of different birds.&mdash;In
+<i>The Soldier</i>, the players being questioned by the
+leader about the clothing they mean to give a
+decayed veteran, must avoid the words <i>yes</i>, <i>no</i>,
+<i>white</i>, and <i>black</i>. The ingenuity displayed in this
+game is much of the kind that appears in some
+of our tales of the seventeenth century, where
+the author engaged to omit some particular vowel
+throughout his narrative.&mdash;<i>Exhausting a letter</i>, each
+player being obliged to use three words with the
+initial proposed by the leader. The English game,
+<i>I love my love</i>, is a modification of this: in Spanish
+it is commonly called <i>el Jardin</i>, the Garden.&mdash;<i>La
+Plaza de Toros</i>, or the Bull Amphitheatre, in
+French, <i>L’Amphigouri</i>, is a story made up of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>
+words collected from the players, each of whom
+engages to name objects peculiar to some trade.&mdash;<i>Le
+mot placé</i>, a refinement on <i>Cross purposes</i>, in
+Spanish <i>Los Despropósitos</i>, is a game in which
+every player in the ring, having whispered to his
+neighbour, on the right, the most unusual word
+he can think of, questions are put in the opposite
+direction, the answer to which, besides being pertinent,
+must contain the given word.&mdash;<i>The stool of
+repentance</i>, (Gallicè) <i>La Sellette</i>, (Hispan.) <i>La
+Berlina</i>, is, as my French author wisely observes, a
+dangerous game, where the penitent hears his
+faults from every one in company through the medium
+of the leader, till he can guess the person who
+has nettled him most by his remarks.</p>
+
+<p>I will not deny that a taste among grown people
+for these childish amusements, bespeaks a great want
+of refinement; but I must own, on the other hand,
+that there is a charm in the remnants of primitive
+simplicity, which gave a relish to these scenes of
+domestic gaiety, not to be found in the more affected
+manners of the present day. The French,
+especially in the provinces, are still addicted to
+these joyous, unsophisticated family meetings. For
+my part, I lament that the period is nearly gone by,
+when neither bigotry nor fastidiousness had as yet
+condemned those cheap and simple means of giving
+vent to the overflow of spirits, so common in the
+youth of all countries, but more especially under
+this our animating sky; and cannot endure with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
+patience, that fashion should begin to disdain those
+friendly meetings, where mirth and joy, springing
+from the young, diffused a fresh glow of life over the
+old, and Hope and Remembrance seemed to shake
+hands with Pleasure in the very teeth of Time.</p>
+
+<p>As Carnival approached, the spirit of romping
+gained fast upon its assiduous votaries, till it ended
+in a <i>full possession</i>, which lasted the three days preceding
+Ash-Wednesday.</p>
+
+<p>The custom alluded to by Horace of <i>sticking
+a tail</i>,<a id="FNanchor_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> is still practised by the boys in the streets,
+to the great annoyance of old ladies, who are generally
+the objects of this sport. One of the ragged
+striplings that wander in crowds about Seville,
+having tagged a piece of paper with a hooked pin,
+and stolen unperceived behind some slow-paced
+female, as, wrapt up in her veil, she tells the beads
+she carries in her left hand; fastens the paper-tail
+on the back of the black or walking petticoat, called
+<i>Saya</i>. The whole gang of ragamuffins, who, at a
+convenient distance, have watched the dexterity of
+their companion, set up a loud cry of <i>Lárgalo,
+lárgalo</i>&mdash;Drop it, drop it&mdash;which makes every
+female in the street look to the rear, which, they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+well know is the fixed point of attack with the merry
+light-troops. The alarm continues till some friendly
+hand relieves the victim of sport, who, spinning and
+nodding like a spent top, tries in vain to catch a
+glance at the fast-pinned paper, unmindful of the
+physical law which forbids her head to revolve
+faster than the great orbit on which the ominous
+comet flies.</p>
+
+<p>Carnival, properly so called, is limited to Quinquagesima-Sunday,
+and the two following days, a
+period which the lower classes pass in drinking and
+rioting in those streets where the meaner sort of
+houses abound, and especially in the vicinity of the
+large courts, or halls, called <i>Corrales</i>, surrounded
+with small rooms or cells, where numbers of the poorest
+inhabitants live in filth, misery, and debauch.
+In front of these horrible places are seen crowds
+of men, women, and children, singing, dancing,
+drinking, and pursuing each other with handfuls of
+hair-powder. I have never seen, however, an instance
+of their taking liberties with any person
+above their class; yet, such bacchanals produce a
+feeling of insecurity, which makes the approach of
+those spots very unpleasant during the Carnival.</p>
+
+<p>At Madrid, where whole quarters of the town,
+such as <i>Avapiés</i> and <i>Maravillas</i>, are inhabited exclusively
+by the rabble, these Saturnalia are performed
+upon a larger scale. I once ventured with
+three or four friends, all muffled in our cloaks, to
+parade the Avapiés during the Carnival. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>
+streets were crowded with men, who, upon the
+least provocation, real or imaginary, would have
+instantly used the knife, and of women equally
+ready to take no slight share in any quarrel: for
+these lovely creatures often carry a poniard in a
+sheath, thrust within the upper part of the left
+stocking, and held up by the garter. We were,
+however, upon our best behaviour, and by a look of
+complacency on their sports, and keeping at the
+most respectful distance from the women, came
+away without meeting with the least disposition to
+insolence or rudeness.</p>
+
+<p>A gentleman who, either out of curiosity or depraved
+taste, attends the amusements of the vulgar,
+is generally respected, provided he is a mere spectator,
+and appears indifferent to the females. The
+ancient Spanish jealousy is still observable among
+the lower classes; and while not a sword is drawn
+in Spain upon a love-quarrel, the knife often
+decides the claims of more humble lovers. Yet, love
+is, by no means, the main instigator of murder among
+us. A constitutional irritability, especially in the
+southern provinces, leads, without any more assignable
+reason, to the frequent shedding of blood.
+A small quantity of wine, nay, the mere blowing of
+the easterly wind, called <i>Soláno</i>, is infallibly attended
+with deadly quarrels in Andalusia. The
+average of dangerous or mortal wounds, on every
+great festival at Seville, is, I believe, about two or
+three. We have, indeed, a well-endowed hospital,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>
+named <i>de los Herídos</i>, which, though open to all
+persons who meet with dangerous accidents, is
+from this unhappy disposition of the people, almost
+confined to the wounded. The large arm-chair
+where the surgeon in attendance examines the
+patient just as he is brought in, usually upon a
+ladder, is known in the whole town by the name
+of the Bullies’ chair&mdash;<i>Silla de los Guapos</i>. Every
+thing, in fact, attests both the generality and inveteracy
+of that horrible propensity among the
+Spaniards. I have met with an original unpublished
+privilege granted in 1511, by King Don
+Manoel of Portugal, to the German merchants
+established at Lisbon, whereby their servants, to
+the number of six, are allowed to carry arms both
+day and night, provided such privileged servants be
+not Spaniards.<a id="FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Had this clause been inserted
+after the Portuguese nation had thrown off the
+Spanish yoke, I should attribute it to political
+jealousy; but, considering its date, I must look
+upon it as proving the inveteracy and notoriety of
+the barbarous disposition, the mention of which has
+led me into this digression.</p>
+
+<p>The Carnival amusements still in use among
+the middling ranks of Andalusia are, swinging, playing
+all manner of tricks on the unwary, such as
+breaking egg-shells full of powdered talc on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>
+head, and throwing handfuls of small sugar-plums
+at the ladies, which they repay with besprinkling
+the assailants with water from a squirt. This last
+practical joke, however, begins to be disused, and
+increased refinement will soon put an end to them
+all. Dancing and a supper to the frequenters of
+the daily <i>Tertulia</i>, is, on one of the three days of
+Carnival, a matter of course among the wealthy.</p>
+
+
+<h3>ASH-WEDNESDAY.</h3>
+
+<p>The frolics of Carnival are sometimes carried on
+till the dawn of this day, the first of the long fast
+of Lent, when a sudden and most unpleasant transition
+takes place for such as have set no bounds to
+the noisy mirth of the preceding season. But, as
+the religious duties of the church begin at midnight,
+the amusements of Shrove-Tuesday cease, in the
+more correct families, at twelve, just as your Opera
+is hurried, on Saturdays, that it may not encroach
+on the following day.</p>
+
+<p>Midnight is, indeed, a most important period
+with us. The obligation of fasting begins just when
+the leading clock of every town strikes twelve; and
+as no priest can celebrate mass, on any day whatever,
+if he has taken the smallest portion of meat
+or drink after the beginning of the civil day, I have
+often seen clergymen devouring their supper against
+time, the watch upon the table, and the anxious
+eye upon the fatal hand, while large mouthfuls,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>
+chasing one another down their almost convulsed
+throats, appeared to threaten suffocation. Such
+hurry will seem incredible to your well-fed Englishmen,
+for whom supper is an empty name. Not
+so to our worthy divines, who, having had their
+dinner at one, and a cup of chocolate at six, feel
+strongly the necessity of a substantial supper before
+they retire to bed. A priest, therefore, who, by
+some untoward accident, is overtaken by “the dead
+waste and middle of the night,” with a craving
+stomach, having to perform mass at a late hour
+next morning, may well feel alarmed at his impending
+sufferings. The strictness, in fact, with which
+the rule of receiving the Sacrament into a fasting
+stomach is observed, will hardly be believed in a
+Protestant country. I have known many a profligate
+priest; yet never but once met with any who
+ventured to break this sacramental fast. The infraction
+of this rule would strike horror into every
+Catholic bosom; and the convicted perpetrator of
+such a daring sacrilege as dividing the power of
+digestion between the Host and common food,
+would find it difficult to escape the last vengeance
+of the Church. This law extends to the laity
+whenever they intend to communicate.</p>
+
+<p>I must now acquaint you with the rules of the
+Roman Catholic fast, which all persons above the
+age of one-and-twenty, are bound to observe during
+Lent, Sundays excepted. One meal alone, from
+which flesh, eggs, milk, and all its preparations,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>
+such as cheese and butter, called <i>Lacticinia</i>, are excluded,
+is allowed on a fast day. It is under this
+severe form that your English and Irish Catholics
+are bound to keep their Lent. But we Spaniards
+are the darlings of our Mother Church of Rome,
+and enjoy most valuable privileges. The <i>Bull of
+the Crusade</i>, in the first place, dispenses with our
+abstinence from eggs and milk. Besides throwing
+open the hen-house and dairy, the said Bull unlocks
+the treasure of laid-up merits, of which the Pope
+keeps the key, and thus we are refreshed both in
+body and soul, at the trifling cost of about three-pence
+a-year. Yet we should have been compelled
+to live for forty days on your Newfoundland fish&mdash;not
+a savoury food in these hot countries&mdash;had it
+not been for a new kind of hostilities which our
+Government, in concert with the Pope, devised
+against England, I believe during the siege of Gibraltar.
+By allowing the Spaniards to eat meat four
+days in the Lent weeks, it was proposed to diminish
+the profits which Great Britain derives from the
+exportation of dried fish. We had accordingly another
+privilege, under the title of <i>Flesh-Bull</i>, at the
+same moderate price as the former. This additional
+revenue was found too considerable to be relinquished
+on the restoration of peace; and the
+Pope, who has a share in it, soon discovered that
+the weakness of our constitutions requires more
+solid nutriment than the dry chips of the Newfoundland
+fish can afford.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The <i>Bull of the Crusade</i> is proclaimed, every
+year before Lent, by the sound of kettle-drums
+and trumpets. As no one can enjoy the privileges
+expressed in these papal rescripts without possessing
+a printed copy thereof, wherein the name of the
+owner is inserted; there is a house at Seville with
+a printing-office, by far the most extensive in
+Andalusia, where, at the expense of Government,
+these Bulls are reprinted every year, both for Spain
+and Spanish America. Now, it has been wisely
+arranged that, on the day of the yearly publication,
+copies for the preceding twelvemonth shall become
+absolutely stale and unprofitable; a measure
+which produces a most prodigious hurry to obtain
+new Bulls, in all who wish well to their souls and
+do not quite overlook the ease and comfort of their
+stomachs.</p>
+
+<p>The article of <i>Bulls</i> hold a conspicuous station
+in the Spanish budget. The price of the copies
+being, however, more than double in Spanish America,
+it is from thence that the chief profit of this
+spiritual juggle arises. Cargoes of this holy paper
+are sent over every year by Government to all our
+transatlantic possessions, and one of the most severe
+consequences of a war with England, is the
+difficulty of conveying these ghostly treasures to
+our brethren of the New World, no less than that
+of bringing back the worldly, yet necessary, dross,
+which they give in exchange to the Mother-country.
+But I fear I am betraying state secrets.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p>
+<h3>MID-LENT.</h3>
+
+<p>We have still the remnants of an ancient custom
+this day, which shews the impatient feelings with
+which men sacrifice their comforts to the fears of
+superstition. Children of all ranks&mdash;those of the
+poor in the streets, and such as belong to the
+better classes in their houses&mdash;appear fantastically
+decorated, not unlike the English chimney-sweepers
+on May-day, with caps of gilt and coloured
+paper, and coats made of the <i>Crusade Bulls</i> of the
+preceding year. In this attire they keep up an incessant
+din the whole day, crying, as they sound
+their drums and rattles, <i>Aserrar la vieja; la pícara
+pelleja</i>: “Saw down the old woman, the roguish
+b&mdash;ch.” About midnight, parties of the common
+people parade the streets, knocking at every door,
+and repeating the same words. I understand that
+they end this revel by sawing in two, the figure of
+an old woman, which is meant as the emblem of
+Lent.</p>
+
+<p>There is little ground, however, for these peevish
+feelings against old Lent, among the class that exhibits
+them most; for few of the poorer inhabitants
+of large towns taste any meat in the course
+of the year, and, living as they do upon a very
+scanty pittance of bread and pulse, can ill afford to
+confine themselves to one meal in the four-and-twenty
+hours. The privations of the fasting season
+are felt chiefly by that numerous class who, unable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>
+the other hand, a strong sense of religious duty;
+submit like unwilling slaves to the unwelcome task
+which they dare not omit. Many, however, fall
+off before the end of Lent, and take to their breakfasts
+and suppers under the sanction of some good-natured
+Doctor, who declares fasting injurious to
+their health. Others, whose healthy looks would
+belie the dispensing physician, compound between
+the Church and their stomachs by adding an ounce
+of bread to the cup of chocolate which, under the
+name of <i>Parvedad</i>, our divines admit as a venial
+infraction. There is, besides, a fast-day supper,
+which was introduced by those good souls the primitive
+Monks at their evening conferences, where,
+finding that an empty stomach was apt to increase
+the hollowness of their heads, they allowed themselves
+a crust of bread and a glass of water, as a
+support to their fainting eloquence. This relaxation
+of the primitive fast took the name of <i>Collatio</i>,
+or conference, which it preserves among us. The
+Catholic casuists are not agreed, however, on the
+quantity of bread and vegetables, (for any other
+food is strictly excluded from the <i>collation</i>,) which
+may be allowed without being guilty of a <i>deadly
+sin</i>. The <i>Probabilistæ</i> extend this liberty as far as
+six ounces by weight, while the <i>Probabilioristæ</i> will
+not answer for the safety of a hungry soul, who indulges
+beyond four ounces. Who shall decide when
+doctors disagree? I have known an excellent man
+who weighed his food on these occasions till he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>
+brought it within some grains of four ounces. But
+few are inclined to take the matter so seriously,
+and, confiding in the deceitful balance of their eyes,
+use a system of weights in which four ounces fall
+little short of a pound.<a id="FNanchor_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+
+<h3>PASSION, OR HOLY WEEK.</h3>
+
+<p><i>Pandite, nunc, Helicona, Deæ</i>, might I say, in
+the true spirit of a native of Seville, when entering
+upon a subject which is the chief pride of this town.
+To tell the honest truth, we are <i>quizzed</i> every where
+for our conceit of these solemnities; and it is a
+standing joke against the <i>Sevillians</i>, that on the arrival
+of the King in summer, it was moved in the
+<i>Cabildo</i>, or town corporation, to repeat the Passion-week
+for the amusement of his Majesty. It must
+be owned, however, that our Cathedral service on
+that solemn Christian festival yields not in impressiveness
+to any ceremonies of modern worship,
+to dispel their superstitious fear, and wanting, on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>
+with which I am acquainted, either by sight or
+description.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to convey in words an adequate
+idea of architectural grandeur. The dimensions
+of a temple do not go beyond a certain point in
+augmenting the majesty of effect. A temple may
+be so gigantic as to make the worshippers mere
+pigmies. An immense structure, though it may be
+favourable to contemplation, must greatly diminish
+the effect of such social rites as aim at the imagination
+through the senses. I have been told by a
+native of this town, who visited Rome, and on
+whose taste and judgment I greatly depend, that
+the service of the Passion-week at Saint Peter’s,
+does not produce a stronger effect on the mind than
+that of our Cathedral. If this impression did not
+arise from the power of early habit, I should account
+for it from the excessive magnitude of the
+first temple in Christendom. The practice, also,
+of confining the most striking and solemn ceremonies
+to the Sixtine Chapel seems to shew that the
+Romans find the Church of Saint Peter unfavourable
+to the display of religious pomp. I shall add,
+though fearful of venturing too far upon a subject
+with which I am but slightly acquainted, that the
+ancients appear to have been careful not to diminish
+the effect of their public worship by the
+too large dimensions of the temples.</p>
+
+<p>The size of our Cathedral seems to me happily
+adapted to the object of the building. Three hun<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>dred
+and ninety-eight feet long by two hundred
+and ninety-one broad&mdash;the breadth distributed into
+five aisles, formed by one hundred and four arches,
+of which those of the centre are one hundred and
+thirty-four feet high, and the rest ninety-six&mdash;remove
+the limits of an undivided structure enough
+to require that effort of the eye and pause of the
+mind before we conceive it as a whole, which excites
+the idea of grandeur. This, I believe, is the
+impression which a temple should produce. To
+aim at more is to forget the solemn performances
+for which the structure is intended. Let the house
+of prayer, when solitary, appear so ample as not to
+exclude a single suppliant in a populous town; yet
+let the throng be visible on a solemn feast. Let
+the loftiness of the aisles soften the noise of a moving
+multitude into a gentle and continuous rustling;
+but let me hear the voice of the singers and the
+peals of the organ returned in deep echoes; not
+lost in the too distant vaults.</p>
+
+<p>The simultaneous impression of architectural
+and ritual magnificence produced at the Cathedral
+of Seville is, I conceive, difficult to be rivalled. The
+pillars are not so massive as to obstruct the sight at
+every turn; and were the influence of modern taste
+strong enough to prevail over the canonical vanity
+which blocks up the middle of every Cathedral with
+the clumsy and absurd inclosure of the choir, it
+would be difficult to imagine a more striking view
+than that which our Church presents on Holy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>
+Thursday.&mdash;In one respect, and that a most important
+one, it has the advantage over Saint Peter’s at
+Rome. The scene of filth and irreverence which,
+according to travellers, sometimes disgusts the eye
+and revolts the mind at the Church of the Vatican&mdash;those
+crowds of peasants and beggars, eating,
+drinking, and sleeping, on Christmas eve, within the
+precincts of the temple; are not to be seen at Seville.
+Our Church, though almost thronged day and night
+on the principal festivals, is not profaned by any
+external mark of indevotion. The strictest watch
+is kept by members of the chapter appointed for
+that purpose, who, attended by their vergers, go
+their rounds for the preservation of order. The
+exclusion of every kind of seats from the Church,
+though rather inconvenient for the people, prevents
+its being made a lounging-place; and, besides allowing
+the beautiful marble pavement to appear
+unbroken, avoids that dismal look of an empty
+theatre, which benches or pews give to churches
+in the intervals of divine service.</p>
+
+<p>Early on Palm-Sunday the melancholy sound of
+the <i>Passion-bell</i> announces the beginning of the
+solemnities for which the fast of Lent is intended
+to prepare the mind. This bell is one of the largest
+which are made to revolve upon pivots. It is
+moved by means of two long ropes, which, by
+swinging the bell into a circular motion, twine
+gently at first, round the massive arms of a cross,
+of which the bell forms the foot, and the head its<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>
+counterpoise. Six men then draw back the ropes
+till the enormous machine conceives a sufficient
+impetus to coil them in an opposite direction; and
+thus alternately, as long as ringing is required. To
+give this bell a tone appropriate to the sombre character
+of the season, it has been cast with several
+large holes disposed in a circle round the top&mdash;a
+contrivance which, without diminishing the vibration
+of the metal, prevents the distinct formation of
+any musical note, and converts the sound into a
+dismal clangour.</p>
+
+<p>The chapter, consisting of about eighty resident
+members, in their choral robes of black silk with
+long trains and hoods, preceded by the inferior ministers,
+by thirty clergymen, in surplices, whose
+deep bass voices perform the plain or Ambrosian
+chaunt, and by the band of wind-instruments and
+singers, who execute the more artificial strains of
+modern or counterpoint music; move in a long procession
+round the farthest aisles, each holding a
+branch of the oriental or date palm, which, overtopping
+the heads of the assembled multitude, nod
+gracefully, and bend into elegant curves at every
+step of the bearers. For this purpose, a number of
+palm-trees are kept with their branches tied up together,
+that, by the want of light, the more tender
+shoots may preserve a delicate yellow tinge. The
+ceremony of blessing these branches is solemnly
+performed by the officiating priest, previously to
+the procession; after which they are sent by the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>
+clergy to their friends, who tie them to the iron
+bars of the balconies, to be, as they believe, a protection
+against lightning.</p>
+
+<p>At the long church-service for this day, the
+organ is silent, the voices being supported by
+hautboys and bassoons. All the altars are covered
+with purple or grey curtains. The holy vestments,
+during this week, are of the first-mentioned colour,
+except on Friday, when it is changed for black.
+The four accounts of our Saviour’s passion appointed
+as gospels for this day, Wednesday, Thursday, and
+Friday, are dramatized in the following manner.
+Outside of the gilt-iron railing, which incloses the
+presbytery, are two large pulpits of the same materials,
+from one of which, at the daily high-mass,
+the subdeacon chaunts the epistle, as the deacon
+does the gospel from the other. A moveable platform
+with a desk, is placed between the pulpits on
+the <i>Passion-days</i>; and three priests or deacons, in
+<i>albes</i> (the white vestment, over which the dalmatic
+is worn by the latter, and the chasuble by the former)
+appear on these elevated posts, at the time
+when the gospel should be said. These officiating
+ministers are chosen among the singers in holy
+orders; one a bass, another a tenor, and the third a
+counter-tenor. The tenor chaunts the narrative,
+without changing from the key note, and makes a
+pause whenever he comes to the words of the interlocutors
+mentioned by the Evangelist. In those
+passages the words of our Saviour are sung by the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>
+bass, in a solemn strain. The counter-tenor, in a
+more florid style, personates the inferior characters,
+such as Peter, the Maid, and Pontius Pilate. The
+cries of the priests and the multitude, are imitated
+by the band of musicians within the choir.</p>
+
+
+<h3>PASSION-WEDNESDAY.</h3>
+
+<p>The mass begins within a white veil, which conceals
+the officiating priest and ministers, and the
+service proceeds in this manner till the words
+“the veil of the temple was rent in twain” are
+chaunted. At this moment the veil disappears, as
+if by enchantment, and the ears of the congregation
+are stunned with the noise of concealed fireworks,
+which are meant to imitate an earthquake.</p>
+
+<p>The evening service named <i>Tinieblas</i> (darkness)
+is performed this day after sunset. The cathedral,
+on this occasion, exhibits the most solemn and impressive
+aspect. The high altar, concealed behind
+dark grey curtains which fall from the height
+of the cornices, is dimly lighted by six yellow-wax
+candles, while the gloom of the whole temple is
+broken in large masses by wax torches, severally
+fixed on each pillar of the centre aisle, at about
+one-third of its length from the ground. An elegant
+candlestick of brass, from fifteen to twenty
+feet high, is placed, this and the following evening,
+between the choir and the altar, holding thirteen
+candles, twelve of yellow, and one of bleached wax,
+distributed on the two sides of the triangle which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>
+terminates the machine. Each candle stands by a
+brass figure of one of the apostles. The white
+candle occupying the apex, is allotted to the Virgin
+Mary. At the conclusion of each of the twelve
+psalms appointed for the service, one of the yellow
+candles is extinguished, till, the white taper burning
+alone, it is taken down and concealed behind
+the altar. Immediately after the ceremony, the
+<i>Miserere</i>, as we call the fifty-first psalm, set, every
+other year, to a new strain of music, is sung in a
+grand style. This performance lasts neither more
+nor less than one hour. At the conclusion of the
+last verse the clergy break up abruptly without
+the usual blessing, making a thundering noise by
+clapping their moveable seats against the frame of
+the stalls, or knocking their ponderous <i>breviaries</i>
+against the boards, as the Rubric directs.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THURSDAY IN THE PASSION WEEK.</h3>
+
+<p>The ceremonies of the high mass (the only one
+which is publicly performed on this and the next
+day) being especially intended as a remembrance
+of the last supper, are, very appropriately, of a
+mixed character&mdash;a splendid commemoration which
+leads the mind from gratitude to sorrow. The service,
+as it proceeds, rapidly assumes the deepest
+hues of melancholy. The bells, which were joining
+in one joyous peal from every steeple, cease at
+once, producing a peculiar heavy stillness, which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+none can conceive but those who have lived in a
+populous Spanish town, long enough to lose the
+conscious sense of that perpetual tinkling which
+agitates the ear during the day, and great part of
+the night.</p>
+
+<p>A host, consecrated at the mass, is carried with
+great solemnity to a temporary structure called
+the <i>Monument</i>, erected in every church with
+more or less splendour, according to the wealth of
+the establishment. There it is deposited in a silver
+urn, generally shaped like a sepulchre, the key of
+which, hanging from a gold chain, is committed
+by the priest to the care of one of the most respectable
+inhabitants of the parish, who wears it round
+his neck as a badge of honour, till the next morning.
+The key of the Cathedral Monument is entrusted
+to the archbishop, if present, or to the dean
+in his absence.</p>
+
+<p>The striking effect of the last-mentioned structure
+is not easily conceived. It fills up the space
+between four arches of the nave, rising in five
+bodies to the roof of the temple. The columns of
+the two lower tiers, which, like the rest of the
+monument, imitate white marble filletted with
+gold, are hollow, allowing the numerous attendants
+who take care of the lights that cover it
+from the ground to the very top, to do their duty
+during four-and-twenty hours, without any disturbance
+or unseemly bustle. More than three<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>
+thousand pounds of wax, besides one hundred and
+sixty silver lamps, are employed in the illumination.</p>
+
+<p>The gold casket set with jewels, which contains
+the host, lies deposited in an elegant temple of
+massive silver, weighing five hundred and ten
+marks, which is seen through a blaze of light, on
+the pediment of the monument. Two members of
+the chapter in their choral robes, and six inferior
+priests in surplices, attend on their knees before
+the shrine, till they are relieved by an equal number
+of the same classes, at the end of every hour.
+This act of adoration is performed without interruption
+from the moment of depositing the host in
+the casket till that of taking it out the next morning.
+The cathedral, as well as many others of the
+wealthiest churches, is kept open and illuminated
+the whole night.</p>
+
+<p>One of the public sights of the town, on this
+day, is the splendid cold dinner which the archbishop
+gives to twelve paupers, in commemoration
+of the Apostles. The dinner is to be seen laid out
+on tables, filling up two large rooms in the palace.
+The twelve guests are completely clothed at the
+expense of their host; and having partaken of a
+more homely dinner in the kitchen, are furnished
+with large baskets to take away the splendid commons
+allotted to each in separate dishes, which
+they sell to the <i>gourmands</i> of the town. Each,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>
+besides, is allowed to dispose of his napkin, curiously
+made up into the figure of some bird or
+quadruped, which people buy both as ornaments to
+their china cupboards, and as specimens of the
+perfection to which some of our poorer nuns have
+carried the art of plaiting.</p>
+
+<p>At two in the afternoon the archbishop, attended
+by his chapter, repairs to the Cathedral, where he
+performs the ceremony, which, from the notion of
+its being literally enjoined by our Saviour, is called
+the <i>Mandatum</i>. The twelve paupers are seated on
+a platform erected before the high altar; and the
+prelate, stripped of his silk robes, and kneeling
+successively before each, washes their feet in a
+large silver bason.</p>
+
+<p>About this time the processions, known by the
+name of <i>Cofradías</i>, (Confraternities) begin to move
+out of the different churches to which they are attached.
+The head of the police appoints the hour
+when each of these pageants is to appear in the
+square, where stand the Town Hall, and the <i>Audiencia</i>
+or Court of Justice. From thence their route
+to the Cathedral, and out of it, to a certain point,
+is the same for all. These streets are lined by two
+rows of spectators of the lower classes, the windows,
+being occupied by those of a higher rank. An
+order is previously published by the town-crier,
+directing the inhabitants to decorate their windows,
+which they do by hanging out the showy silk and
+chintz counterpanes of their beds. The processions
+themselves, except one which enjoys the pri<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>vilege
+of parading the town in the dead of night,
+have little to attract the eye or affect the imagination.
+Their chief object is to convey groups of
+figures, as large as life, representing different scenes
+of our Saviour’s passion.</p>
+
+<p>There is something remarkable in the established
+and characteristic marks of some figures. The
+Jews are distinguished by long aquiline noses.
+Saint Peter is completely bald. The dress of the
+Apostle John is green, and that of Judas Iscariot
+yellow; and so intimately associated is this circumstance
+with the idea of the traitor, that it has
+brought that colour into universal discredit. It is,
+probably, from this circumstance (though yellow
+may have been allotted to Judas from some more
+ancient prejudice,) that the Inquisition has adopted
+it for the <i>Sanbeníto</i>, or coat of infamy, which persons
+convicted of heresy are compelled to wear.
+The red hair of Judas, like Peter’s baldness, seems
+to be agreed upon by all the painters and sculptors
+of Europe. <i>Judas hair</i> is a usual name in Spain;
+and a similar appellation, it should seem, was used
+in England in Shakspeare’s time. “His hair,” says
+Rosalind, in As you like it, “is of the dissembling
+colour:” to which Celia answers&mdash;“Something
+browner than Judas’s.”</p>
+
+<p>The midnight procession derives considerable
+effect from the stillness of the hour, and the dress
+of the attendants on the sacred image. None are
+admitted to this religious act but the members of
+that <i>fraternity</i>; generally young men of fashion.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>
+They all appear in a black tunic, with a broad belt
+so contrived as to give the idea of a long rope tied
+tight round the body; a method of penance commonly
+practised in former times. The face is covered
+with a long black veil, falling from a sugar-loaf
+cap three feet high. Thus arrayed, the nominal
+<i>penitents</i> advance, with silent and measured steps,
+in two lines, dragging a train six feet long, and
+holding aloft a wax-candle of twelve pounds, which
+they rest upon the hip-bone, holding it obliquely
+towards the vacant space between them. The
+veils, being of the same stuff with the cap and tunic,
+would absolutely impede the sight but for two small
+holes, through which the eyes are seen to gleam,
+adding no small effect to the dismal appearance of
+such strange figures. The pleasure of appearing
+in a disguise, in a country where masquerades are
+not tolerated by the Government, is a great inducement
+to our young men for subscribing to this
+religious association. The disguise, it is true, does
+not in the least relax the rules of strict decorum
+which the ceremony requires; yet the mock penitents
+think themselves repaid for the fatigue and
+trouble of the night by the fresh impression which
+they expect to make on the already won hearts of
+their mistresses, who, by preconcerted signals, are
+enabled to distinguish their lovers, in spite of the
+veils and the uniformity of the dresses.</p>
+
+<p>It is scarcely forty years since the disgusting exhibition
+of people streaming in their own blood,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>
+was discontinued by an order of the Government.
+These <i>penitents</i> were generally from among the
+most debauched and abandoned of the lower classes.
+They appeared in white linen petticoats, pointed
+white caps and veils, and a jacket of the same
+colour, which exposed the naked shoulders to
+view. Having, previously to their joining the procession,
+been scarified on the back, they beat themselves
+with a cat-o’-nine-tails, making the blood
+run down to the skirts of their garment. It may
+be easily conceived that religion had no share in
+these voluntary inflictions. There was a notion
+afloat that this act of penance had an excellent
+effect on the constitution; and while vanity was
+concerned in the applause which the most bloody
+flagellation obtained from the vulgar, a still stronger
+passion looked forward to the irresistible impression
+it produced on the strapping belles of the lower
+ranks.</p>
+
+
+<h3>GOOD FRIDAY.</h3>
+
+<p>The crowds of people who spent the evening
+and part of the night of Thursday in visiting the
+numerous churches where the host is entombed,
+are still seen, though greatly thinned, performing
+this religious ceremony, till the beginning of service
+at nine. This is, perhaps, the most impressive of
+any used by the Church of Rome. The altars,
+which, at the end of yesterday’s mass, were pub<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>licly
+and solemnly stripped of their cloths and rich
+table-hangings by the hands of the priest, appear
+in the same state of distressed negligence. No
+musical sound is heard, except the deep-toned
+voices of the psalm, or plain chaunt singers. After
+a few preparatory prayers, and the dramatized history
+of the Passion, already described, the officiating
+priest, (the archbishop at the cathedral) in a plain
+albe or white tunic, takes up a wooden cross six or
+seven feet high, which, like all other crosses, has
+for the last two weeks of Lent been covered with
+a purple veil; and standing towards the people,
+before the middle of the altar, gradually uncovers
+the sacred emblem, which both the clergy and laity
+worship upon their knees. The prelate is then
+unshod by the assistant ministers, and taking the
+cross upon his right shoulder, as our Saviour is represented
+by painters on his way to Calvary, walks
+alone from the altar to the entrance of the presbytery
+or chancel, and lays his burden upon two
+cushions. After this, he moves back some steps,
+and approaching the cross with three prostrations,
+kisses it, and drops an oblation of a piece of money,
+into a silver dish. The whole chapter, having gone
+through the same ceremony, form themselves in
+two lines, and repair to the monument, from whence
+the officiating priest conveys the deposited host to
+the altar, where he communicates upon it without
+consecrating any wine. Here the service terminates
+abruptly; all candles and lamps are extin<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>guished;
+and the tabernacle, which throughout the
+year contains the sacred wafers, being left open,
+every object bespeaks the desolate and widowed
+state of the church, from the death of the Saviour
+to his resurrection.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremonies of Good-Friday being short and
+performed at an early hour, both the gay and the
+devout would be at a loss how to spend the remainder
+of the day but for the grotesque <i>Passion Sermons</i>
+of the suburbs and neighbouring villages;
+and the more solemn performance known by the
+name of <i>Tres Horas</i>&mdash;three hours.</p>
+
+<p>The practice of continuing in meditation from
+twelve to three o’clock of this day&mdash;the time which
+our Saviour is supposed to have hung on the cross&mdash;was
+introduced by the Spanish Jesuits, and partakes
+of the impressive character which the members
+of that order had the art to impart to the religious
+practices by which they cherished the devotional
+spirit of the people. The church where the
+<i>three hours</i> are kept, is generally hung in black,
+and made impervious to day-light. A large crucifix
+is seen on the high altar, under a black canopy,
+with six unbleached wax-candles, which cast a
+sombre glimmering on the rest of the church. The
+females of all ranks occupy, as usual, the centre of
+the nave, squatting or kneeling on the matted
+ground, and adding to the dismal appearance of
+the scene, by the colour of their veils and dresses.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the clock strikes twelve, a priest in his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>
+cloak and cassock ascends the pulpit, and delivers a
+preparatory address of his own composition. He
+then reads the printed Meditation on the <i>Seven
+Words</i>, or Sentences spoken by Jesus on the cross,
+allotting to each such a portion of time as that,
+with the interludes of music which follow each of
+the readings, the whole may not exceed three
+hours. The music is generally good and appropriate,
+and, if a sufficient band can be collected,
+well repays to an amateur the inconvenience of a
+crowded church, where, from the want of seats,
+the male part of the congregation are obliged either
+to stand or kneel. It is, in fact, one of the best
+works of Haydn, composed, a short time ago, for
+some gentlemen of Cadiz, who shewed both their
+taste and liberality in thus procuring this masterpiece
+of harmony for the use of their country. It
+has been lately published in Germany, under the
+title of “Sette Parole.”</p>
+
+<p>Every part of the performance is so managed
+that the clock strikes three about the end of the
+meditation, on the words <i>It is finished</i>.&mdash;The description
+of the expiring Saviour, powerfully drawn
+by the original writer of the <i>Tres Horas</i>, can
+hardly fail to strike the imagination when listened
+to under the influence of such music and scenery;
+and when, at the first stroke of the clock, the priest
+rises from his seat, and in a loud and impassioned
+voice, announces the consummation of the awful
+and mysterious sacrifice, on whose painful and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>
+bloody progress the mind has been dwelling so
+long; few hearts can repel the impression, and still
+fewer eyes can conceal it. Tears bathe every cheek,
+and sobs heave every female bosom.&mdash;After a parting
+address from the pulpit, the ceremony concludes
+with a piece of music, where the powers of the
+great composer are magnificently displayed in the
+imitation of the disorder and agitation of nature
+which the Evangelists relate.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Passion Sermons</i> for the populace might be
+taken for a parody of the <i>Three Hours</i>. They are
+generally delivered, in the open air, by friars of the
+Mendicant Orders, in those parts of the city and
+suburbs which are chiefly, if not exclusively, inhabited
+by the lower classes. Such gay young men,
+however, as do not scruple to relieve the dulness of
+Good-Friday with a ride, and feel no danger of exposing
+themselves by any unseasonable laughter,
+indulge not unfrequently in the frolic of attending
+one of the most complete and perfect sermons of
+this kind, at the neighbouring village of Castilleja.</p>
+
+<p>A moveable pulpit is placed before the church
+door, from which a friar, possessed of a stentorian
+voice, delivers an <i>improved</i> history of the Passion,
+such as was revealed to Saint Bridget, a Franciscan
+nun, who, from the dictation of the Virgin Mary,
+has left us a most minute and circumstantial account
+of the life and death of Christ and his
+mother. This yearly narrative, however, would
+have lost most of its interest but for the scenic<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>
+illustrations which keep up the expectation and
+rivet the attention of the audience. It was formerly
+the custom to introduce a living Saint Peter&mdash;a
+character which belonged by a natural and inalienable
+right to the baldest head in the village&mdash;who
+acted the Apostle’s denial, swearing <i>by Christ</i>,
+he did not know the man. This edifying part
+of the performance is omitted at Castilleja; though
+a practised performer crows with such a shrill and
+natural note as must be answered with a challenge
+by every cock of spirit in the neighbourhood. The
+flourish of a trumpet announces, in the sequel, the
+publication of the sentence passed by the Roman
+governor; and the town crier delivers it with legal
+precision, in the manner it is practised in Spain,
+before an execution. Hardly has the last word
+been uttered, when the preacher, in a frantic passion,
+gives the crier the <i>lie direct</i>, cursing the tongue
+that has uttered such blasphemies.<a id="FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> He then invites
+an angel to contradict both Pilate and the
+Jews: when, obedient to the orator’s desire, a boy
+gaudily dressed, and furnished with a pair of gilt
+pasteboard wings, appears at the window, and proclaims
+the <i>true verdict of Heaven</i>. Sometimes in
+the course of the preacher’s narrative, an image of
+the Virgin Mary is made to meet that of Christ, on
+his way to Calvary, both taking an affectionate leave
+in the street. The appearance, however, of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>
+Virgin bearing a handkerchief to collect a sum for
+her son’s burial, is never omitted, both because it
+melts the whole female audience into tears, and
+because it produces a good collection for the convent.
+The whole is closed by the <i>Descendimiento</i>,
+or unnailing a crucifix as large as life from the cross;
+an operation performed by two friars, who, in the
+character of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus,
+are seen with ladders and carpenters’ tools, letting
+down the jointed figure, to be placed on a bier and
+carried into the church in the form of a funeral.</p>
+
+<p>I have carefully glided over such parts of this
+absurd performance as would shock many an English
+reader even in narrative. Yet such is the
+strange mixture of superstition and profaneness in
+the people for whose gratification these scenes are
+exhibited, that though any attempt to expose the
+indecency of these shows would rouse their zeal
+“to the knife,” I cannot venture to translate the
+jokes and sallies of wit that are frequently heard
+among the Spanish peasantry upon these sacred
+topics.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SATURDAY BEFORE EASTER.</h3>
+
+<p>I have not been able to ascertain the reason why
+the Roman Catholic celebrate the resurrection this
+morning, with an anticipation of nearly four and
+twenty hours, and yet continue the fast till midnight
+or the beginning of Sunday. This practice
+is, I believe, of high antiquity.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The service begins this morning without either
+the sound of bells or of musical instruments. The
+<i>Paschal Candle</i> is seen by the north-side of the
+altar. But, before I mention the size of that used
+at our cathedral, I must protest against all charges
+of exaggeration. It is, in fact, a pillar of wax,
+nine yards in height, and thick in proportion,
+standing on a regular marble pedestal. It weighs
+eighty <i>arrobas</i>, or two thousand pounds, of twelve
+ounces. This candle is cast and painted new, every
+year; the old one being broken to pieces on the
+Saturday preceding Whitsunday, the day when
+part of it is used for the consecration of the baptismal
+font. The sacred torch is lighted with the
+<i>new fire</i>, which this morning the priest strikes out
+of a flint, and burns during service till Ascension-day.
+A chorister in his surplice climbs up a gilt-iron
+rod, furnished with steps like a flag-staff, and
+having the top railed in, so as to admit of a seat
+on a level with the end of the candle. From this
+<i>crow’s nest</i>, the young man lights up and trims the
+wax pillar, drawing off the melted wax with a large
+iron ladle.</p>
+
+<p>High mass begins this day behind the great veil,
+which for the two last weeks in Lent covers the
+altar. After some preparatory prayers, the priest
+strikes up the hymn <i>Gloria in excelsis Deo</i>. At this
+moment the veil flies off, the explosion of fireworks
+in the upper galleries reverberates in a thousand
+echoes from the vaults of the church, and the four<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>-and-twenty
+large bells of its tower, awake, with
+their discordant though gladdening sounds, those
+of the one hundred and forty-six steeples which
+this religious town boasts of. A brisk firing of
+musketry, accompanied by the howling of the innumerable
+dogs, which, unclaimed by any master,
+live and multiply in our streets, adds strength and
+variety to this universal din. The firing is directed
+against several stuffed figures, not unlike the Guy
+Fawkes of the fifth of November; which are seen
+hanging by the neck on a rope, extended across the
+least frequented streets. It is then that the pious
+rage of the people of Seville is vented against the
+archtraitor Judas, whom they annually hang, shoot,
+draw and quarter in effigy.</p>
+
+<p>The church service ends in a procession about
+the aisles. The priest bears the host in his hands,
+visible through glass, as a picture within a medallion.
+The sudden change from the gloomy appearance
+of the church and its ministers, to the
+simple and joyous character of this procession, the
+very name of <i>Pasqua Florída</i>, the flowery Passover,
+and, more than the name, the flowers themselves,
+which well-dressed children, mixed with the censer-bearers,
+scatter on the ground, crowd the mind
+and heart with the ideas, hopes, and feelings of
+renovated life, and give to this ceremony, even for
+those who disbelieve the personal presence in the
+host, of a Deity triumphant over death; a character
+of inexpressible tenderness.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p>
+<h3>MAY CROSS.</h3>
+
+<p>The rural custom of electing a May Queen among
+the country belles is, I understand, still practised
+in some parts of Spain. The name of <i>Maia</i>, given
+to the handsomest lass of the village, who, decorated
+with garlands of flowers, leads the dances
+in which the young people spend the day, shews
+how little that ceremony has varied since the time
+of the Romans. The villagers, in other provinces,
+declare their love by planting, during the preceding
+night, a large bough or a sapling, decked with
+flowers, before the doors of their sweethearts.</p>
+
+<p>As most of our ancient church festivals were
+contrived as substitutes for the Pagan rites, which
+the Christian priesthood could not otherwise eradicate,
+we still have some remnants of the sanctified
+<i>May-pole</i> in the little crosses, which the
+children ornament with flowers, and place upon
+tables, holding as many lighted tapers as, from
+the contributions of their friends, they can afford
+to buy.</p>
+
+<p>I have heard that the children at Cambridge
+dress up a figure called the <i>May-lady</i>, and setting
+it upon a table, beg money of the passengers. The
+difference between this and the analogous Spanish
+custom arose, in all probability, from the respective
+prevalence in either country of the <i>May-pole</i>,
+or the <i>Maia</i>. A figure of the Virgin, which the
+Reformation has reduced to a nameless as well as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>
+shapeless puppet, took place of the latter, while
+the cross was employed to banish the former. I
+am inclined to believe that the illuminated grottos
+of oyster-shells, for which the London children beg
+about the streets, are the representatives of some
+Catholic emblem, which had its day as a substitute
+for a more classical idol. I was struck in
+London with the similarity of the plea which the
+children of both countries urge in order to obtain
+a halfpenny. The “it is but once a year, sir!”
+often reminded me of the</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <p>La Cruz de Mayo</p>
+    <p>que no come ni bebe</p>
+    <p>en todo el año.</p>
+    <p class="xss">&nbsp;</p>
+    <p>The Cross of May</p>
+    <p>Remember pray,</p>
+    <p>Which fasts a year and feasts a day.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>CORPUS CHRISTI.</h3>
+
+<p>This is the only day in the year when the consecrated
+Host is exposed, about the streets, to the
+gaze of the adoring multitude. The triumphal
+character of the procession which issues forth from
+the principal church of every town of note in the
+kingdom, and a certain dash of bitter and threatening
+zeal which still lies disguised under the ardent
+and boundless devotion displayed on this festival,
+shew but too clearly the spirit of defiance which
+suggested it in the heat of the controversies upon
+the real presence. It is within my memory that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>
+the taste for dignity and decorum which this Metropolitan
+Church has ever evinced in the performance
+of religious worship, put an end to the
+boisterous and unbecoming appendages which an
+inveterate custom had annexed to this pageant.</p>
+
+<p>At a short distance in front of the procession
+appeared a group of seven gigantic figures, male
+and female, whose dresses, contrived by the most
+skilful tailors and milliners of the town, regulated
+the fashion at Seville for the ensuing season. A
+strong man being concealed under each of the
+giants and giantesses, the gaping multitude were
+amused at certain intervals with a very clumsy
+dance, performed by the figures, to the sound of
+the pipe and tabor. Next to the Brobdignag
+dancers, and taking precedence of all, there followed,
+on a moveable stage, the figure of a Hydra
+encircling a castle, from which, to the great delight
+of all the children of Seville, a puppet not unlike
+Punch, dressed up in a scarlet jacket trimmed with
+morrice-bells, used often to start up; and having
+performed a kind of wild dance, vanished again
+from view into the body of the monster. The
+whole of this compound figure bore the name of
+<i>Tarasca</i>, a word of which I do not know either
+the meaning or derivation. That these figures
+were allegorical no one can doubt who has any
+knowledge of the pageants of the sixteenth and
+seventeenth centuries. It would be difficult, how<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>ever,
+without the help of an obscure tradition, to
+guess that the giants in perriwigs and swords, and
+their fair partners in caps and petticoats, were emblems
+of the seven deadly sins. The Hydra, it
+should seem, represented Heresy, guarding the
+castle of Schism, where Folly, symbolized by the
+strange figure in scarlet, displayed her supreme
+command. This band of monsters was supposed
+to be flying in confusion before the triumphant
+sacrament.</p>
+
+<p>Mixed with the body of the procession, there
+appeared three sets of dancers; the <i>Valencianos</i>,
+or natives of the kingdom of Valencia, who, in
+their national costume of loose waistcoats, puffed
+linen sleeves, bound at the wrists and elbows with
+ribbons of various colours, and broad white trowsers
+reaching only to the knees, performed a
+lively dance, mingling their steps with feats of
+surprising agility: after these followed the sword-dancers
+in the old martial fashion of the country:
+and last of all, the performers of an antiquated
+Spanish dance&mdash;I believe the <i>Chacona</i>, dressed in
+the national garb of the sixteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>A dance of the last-mentioned description, and
+in a similar costume, is still performed before the
+high altar in the presence of the chapter, at the
+conclusion of the service on this day and the
+following se’nnight. The dancers are boys of between
+ten and fourteen, who, under the name of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>
+<i>Seizes</i>,<a id="FNanchor_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> are maintained at the college which the
+Cathedral supports for the education of the acolytes,
+or inferior ministers. These boys, accompanied by
+a full orchestra, sing a lyric composition in Spanish,
+which, like the Greek chorusses, consists of two
+or three systems of metres, to which the dancers
+move solemnly, going through a variety of figures
+in their natural step, till, ranged at the conclusion
+of the song, in two lines facing each other as at
+the outset, they end with a gentle caper, rattling
+the castanets, which hitherto lay silent and concealed
+in their hands. That this grotesque performance
+should be allowed to continue, is, I believe,
+owing to the pride which this chapter take
+in the privilege, granted by the Pope to the dancers,
+of wearing their hats within view of the consecrated
+host&mdash;a liberty which the King himself cannot
+take, and which, if I am not misled by report,
+no one besides can boast of, except the Dukes of
+Altamira, who, upon certain occasions, clap on
+their hat, at the elevation of the host, and draw the
+sword, as if shewing their readiness to give a conclusive
+answer to any argument against transubstantiation.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Corpus Christi</i> procession begins to move
+out of the cathedral exactly at nine in the morning.
+It consists in the first place of the forty<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>
+communities of friars who have convents in this
+town. They follow one another in two lines, according
+to the established order of precedence.
+The strangeness and variety of their dresses, no
+less than their collective numbers, would greatly
+strike any one but a Spaniard, to whom such
+objects are perfectly familiar.&mdash;Next appears the
+long train of relics belonging to the Cathedral,
+placed each by itself on a small stage moved by
+one or more men concealed under the rich drapery
+which hangs on its sides to the ground. Vases of
+gold and silver, of different shapes and sizes, contain
+the various portions of the inestimable treasure
+whereof the following is an accurate catalogue:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+  <p>A tooth of Saint Christopher.</p>
+  <p>An agate cup used at Mass by Pope Saint Clement, the
+     immediate successor of Saint Peter.</p>
+  <p>An arm of Saint Bartholomew.</p>
+  <p>A head of one of eleven thousand virgins.</p>
+  <p>Part of Saint Peter’s body.</p>
+  <p>Ditto of Saint Lawrence.</p>
+  <p>Ditto of Saint Blaise.</p>
+  <p>The bones of the Saints Servandus and Germanus.</p>
+  <p>Ditto of Saint Florentius.</p>
+  <p>The Alphonsine tables, left to the Cathedral by King
+     Alphonso the Wise, containing three hundred relics.</p>
+  <p>A silver bust of Saint Leander, with his bones.</p>
+  <p>A thorn from our Saviour’s crown.</p>
+  <p>A fragment of the true cross.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="noindent">Last of all appears the body of prebendaries and
+canons, attended by their inferior ministers. Such,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>
+however, is the length of the procession, and the
+slow and solemn pace at which it proceeds, that,
+without a break in the lines, it takes a whole hour
+to leave the church. The streets, besides being
+hung up with more taste than for the processions of
+the Passion Week, are shaded all the way with a
+thick awning, and the pavement is strewed with
+rushes. An article of the military code of Spain
+obliges whatever troops are quartered in a town
+where this procession takes place, to follow it under
+arms; and if sufficient in number, to line the
+streets through which it is to pass.</p>
+
+<p>Under all these circumstances, the first appearance
+of the host in the streets is exceedingly
+imposing. Encircled by jewels of the greatest
+brilliancy, surrounded by lighted tapers and enthroned
+on the massive, yet elegant temple of
+silver already mentioned when describing the <i>Monument</i>,<a id="FNanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>
+no sooner has it moved to the door of the
+church than the bells announce its presence with a
+deafening sound, the bands of military music mix
+their animating notes with the solemn hymns of
+the singers, clouds of incense rise before the moving
+shrine, and the ear is thrilled by the loud voice of
+command, and the clash of the arms which the
+kneeling soldiers strike down to the ground. When
+the concealed bearers of the shrine<a id="FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> present it at
+the top of the long street where the route commences,
+the multitudes which crowd both the pavement and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>
+windows, fall prostrate in profound adoration, without
+venturing to rise up till the object of their awe
+is out of sight. Flowers are often scattered from
+the windows, and the most beautiful nosegays adorn
+the platform of the moveable stage.</p>
+
+<p>Close behind the host follows the archbishop,
+surrounded by his ecclesiastical retinue. One of
+his chaplains carries a large double cross of silver,
+indicative of metropolitan dignity. The train of
+the purple mantle is supported by another clergyman.
+These, like the rest of the prelate’s attendants
+and pages, are young men of family, who disdain
+not this kind of service, in the expectation of high
+church preferment. But what gives all this state
+the most unexpected finish is an inferior minister
+in his surplice bearing a circular fan of richly embroidered
+silk about two feet in diameter, and attached
+to a silver rod six feet in length. At a convenient
+distance from the archbishop this fan is constantly
+waved, whenever during the summer months
+he attends the cathedral service, thus relieving him
+from the oppressive effects of his robes under the
+burning sun of Andalusia. This custom is, I believe,
+peculiar to Seville.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SAINT JOHN’S EVE.</h3>
+
+<p>Feelings far removed from those of devotion
+prevail in the celebration of the Baptist’s festival.
+Whether it is the inviting temperature of a midsummer
+night, or some ancient custom connected<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>
+with the present evening, “Saint John,” says the
+Spanish proverb, “sets every girl a gadding.” The
+public walks are crowded after sunset, and the exclusive
+amusement of this night, flirtation, or in the
+Andalusian phrase, <i>pelar la Pava</i>, (plucking the
+hen-turkey) begins as soon as the star-light of a
+summer sky, unbroken by the partial glare of
+lamps, enables the different groups to mix with a
+liberty approaching that enjoyed in a masquerade.
+Nothing in this kind of amusement possesses more
+zest than the chat through the iron bars of the
+lower windows, which begins about midnight.
+Young ladies, who can compose their mamas to
+sleep at a convenient hour, glide unperceived to the
+lower part of the house, and sitting on the window-sill,
+behind the latticework, which is used in this
+country instead of blinds, wait, in the true spirit of
+adventure, (if not pre-engaged to a dull, common-place
+matrimonial prelude,) for the chance sparks,
+who, mostly in disguise, walk the streets from
+twelve till dawn. Such, however, as the mere love
+of mirth induces to pass the night at the windows,
+generally engage another female companion, a sister,
+a friend, and often a favourite maid, to take a share
+in the conversation, and by a change of characters
+to puzzle their out-of-doors visitors. These, too,
+when not <i>seriously</i> engaged, walk about in parties,
+each assuming such a character as they consider
+themselves most able to support. One pretends to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>
+be a farmer just arrived from the country, another
+a poor mechanic, this a foreigner speaking broken
+Spanish, that a <i>Gallego</i>, making love in the still less
+intelligible dialect of his province. The gentlemen
+must come provided with no less a stock of sweetmeats
+(which from the circumstance of being folded
+each separately in a piece of paper, are called <i>Papelillos</i>)
+than of lively small talk and wit. A deficiency
+in the latter is unpardonable; so that a <i>bore</i>,
+or <i>Majadero</i>,<a id="FNanchor_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> if not ready to quit the post when
+bidden, is soon left to contemplate the out-side of
+the window-shutters. The habitual distance at
+which the lower classes are kept from those above
+them, prevents any disagreeable meddling on their
+part; and the ladies who indulge in these frolics,
+feel perfectly safe from intrusion and impertinence.</p>
+
+<p>The sauntering about the fields, practised by the
+populace of Madrid, on the same night, is there
+called “<i>Cogér la Verbena</i>,” gathering Vervain; an
+appellation evidently derived from an ancient superstition
+which attributed preternatural powers to
+that plant when gathered at twelve o’clock on St.
+John’s Eve. The nocturnal rambles of the present
+times, much as they might alarm the guardians of
+public morals, if such an office existed among us,
+need not give any uneasiness on the score of witchcraft
+to the Reverend Inquisitors.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p>
+<h3>SAINT BARTHOLOMEW.</h3>
+
+<p>The commemoration of this Apostle takes place
+on the 24th of August. It is not, however, to
+record any external circumstance connected with
+this church festival&mdash;which, in fact, is scarcely
+distinguished by any peculiar solemnity&mdash;that I
+take notice of it, but for a private superstitious
+practice which strikes me as a most curious modification
+of one used by the pious housewives in
+the days of Augustus.</p>
+
+<p>Intermittent fevers, especially the Tertian and
+Quartan, are very common in most parts of Andalusia.
+The season when they chiefly attack the
+inhabitants, is summer; and whether the unbounded
+use, which all sorts of people, but particularly
+the poor, make of grapes and melons,
+contributes to the production of the disease, or
+whether the mere coincidence of the two facts is,
+as usual, taken for cause and effect; it is an established
+opinion in this part of the country that,
+if fruit is not the original source of the ague, an
+abstinence from that kind of food is indispensable
+to avoid a relapse into that treacherous complaint.</p>
+
+<p>That there should be a particular Saint, to superintend
+the medical department of curing the
+ague, is so perfectly consistent with the Catholic
+notions, that a deficiency on that point would more
+surprise me than to find a toe not under the influence
+of some heavenly aspect in the <i>Vox Stellarum</i>,
+which was one of my wonders in England.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>
+That province, in fact, is allotted to Saint Bartholomew.
+Now, ninepence is a sufficient inducement
+for any of our sons of Esculapius to mount
+his mule as well as his wig, and dose you with the
+most compound electuary he is master of; but how
+to fee a supernatural doctor, would be a puzzling
+question, were it not that tradition teaches the
+method of propitiating every individual mentioned
+in the calendar. Each Saint has a peculiar fancy&mdash;from
+Saint <i>Anthony of Padua</i>, who will often delay
+the performance of a miracle till you plunge him
+into a well, or nail his print topsy-turvy upon the
+wall, to Saint <i>Pasqual Baylon</i>, who is readiest to
+attend such as accompany their petitions with
+some lively steps and a final caper. As to Saint
+Bartholomew, nothing will induce him to cure an
+ague but a vow to abstain, on the day of his festival,
+from all food except bread and fruit&mdash;the
+very means which, but for his miraculous interference,
+would, according to common opinion,
+cause either a return, or an aggravation of the
+complaint.</p>
+
+<p>Mark, now, the vow employed by the Roman
+matrons for the cure of intermittents. It is
+recorded by Horace, and thus translated by
+Francis:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <p>“Her child beneath a quartan fever lies</p>
+    <p>For full four months, when the fond mother cries,</p>
+    <p>Sickness and health are thine, all-powerful Jove;</p>
+    <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>Then, from my son this dire disease remove,</p>
+    <p>And when your priests thy solemn fast proclaim,</p>
+    <p>Naked the boy shall stand in Tiber’s stream.</p>
+    <p>Should chance, or the physician’s art, upraise</p>
+    <p>Her infant from the desperate disease;</p>
+    <p>The frantic dame shall plunge her hapless boy,</p>
+    <p>Bring back the fever, and the child destroy.”<a id="FNanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The existence of Heathen superstitions adapted
+to Christian worship is too common to excite surprise;
+nor is it any similarity in the externals of
+the two practices I have just compared, that constitutes
+their analogy. My mind is struck alone by
+the unchangeable spirit of superstition, which, attributing
+in all ages and nations, our own passions
+and feelings to supernatural beings, endeavours to
+obtain their favour by flattering their vanity. Both
+the ancient Roman and modern Spanish vow for
+the cure of the ague, seem to set at defiance the
+supposed and most probable causes of the disease,
+from which the devotees seek deliverance; as if to
+secure to the patron deities the undoubted and full
+honour of the miracle.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p>
+<h3>DETACHED PREJUDICES AND PRACTICES.</h3>
+
+<p>Having mentioned the superstitious method used
+in this country for the cure of the ague, I wish to
+introduce a short account of some popular prejudices
+more or less connected with the prevalent
+religious notions. I shall probably add a few facts
+under this head, for no better reason than that I
+do not know how to class them under any other.</p>
+
+<p>There is an allusion in Hudibras to an antiquated
+piece of gallantry which I believe may be illustrated
+by a religious custom to which I was sometimes
+subjected in my childhood. The passage
+runs thus:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <p>I’ll carve your name on barks of trees</p>
+    <p>With true love-knots and flourishes, ...</p>
+    <p><i>Drink every letter on’t in stum,</i></p>
+    <p><i>And make it brisk Champaigne become.</i><a id="FNanchor_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The latter compliment is paid by sick persons to
+the Virgin Mary, in the hope of recovering health
+through her intercession. An image is worshipped
+at one of the principal parish churches in this
+town, under the title of the <i>Virgin of Health</i>.
+The charm of this denomination draws numbers
+to the sanctuary, which, being in the centre of the
+wealthiest population, derives considerable splendour
+from their offerings. In exchange for these
+they often receive a sheet of printed paper containing
+at regular intervals the words <i>Salus infirmorum</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>
+in very small type. In case of illness, one of the
+lines is cut off, and, being coiled into a small roll,
+the patient swallows it in a glass of water.</p>
+
+<p>The room where a person lies dangerously ill,
+generally contains more relics and amulets than
+the chimney-piece of an invalid, under the care of
+a London apothecary, holds phials of all shapes
+and sizes. The friends of a lady near her confinement,
+vie with each other in procuring her every
+kind of supernatural assistance for the trying hour;
+when, strange to say, she is often dressed in the
+episcopal robes of some saint, which are supposed
+to act most effectually when in contact with the
+body of the distressed petitioner. But whatever
+patrons the ladies may choose to implore in those
+circumstances, there are two whose assistance, by
+means of relics, pictures, or the apparel of their
+images, is never dispensed with. The names of
+these invisible accoucheurs are <i>Saint Raymundus
+Nonnatus</i>, and <i>Saint Vincent Ferrer</i>. That the
+former should be considered as peculiarly interested
+in such cases, having, as his addition implies, been
+extracted from the womb of his dead mother, is
+perfectly clear and natural. But, <i>Ferrer’s</i> sympathy
+requires a slight explanation.</p>
+
+<p>That saint&mdash;a native of Valencia, and a monk
+of the order of Saint Dominic, possessed the gift
+of miracles in such a degree, that he performed
+them almost unconsciously, and not unfrequently
+in a sort of frolic. Being applied to, on a certain<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>
+occasion, by a young married lady, whom the idea
+of approaching maternity kept in a state of constant
+terror, the good-natured Saint desired her to
+dismiss her fears, as he was determined to take
+upon himself whatever inconvenience or trouble
+there might be in the case. Some weeks had
+elapsed, when the good Monk, who had forgotten
+his engagement, was heard in the dead of night
+roaring and screaming in a manner so unusual, and
+so little becoming a professional Saint, that he
+drew the whole community to his cell. Nothing,
+for a time, could relieve the mysterious sufferings,
+and though he passed the rest of the night <i>as well
+as could be expected</i>, the fear of a relapse would
+have kept his afflicted brethren in painful suspense,
+had not the grateful husband of the timid lady, who
+was the cause of the uproar, taken an early opportunity
+to return thanks for the <i>unconscious</i> delivery
+of his consort. Saint Vincent, though according
+to tradition perfectly unwilling to stand a second
+time proxy for nervous ladies, is, from a very
+natural sympathy, constantly in readiness to act
+as the male Lucina of the Spanish matrons.</p>
+
+
+<h3>FUNERALS OF INFANTS AND MAIDS.</h3>
+
+<p>From the birth to the death of a child the passage
+is often so easy that I shall make it an apology
+for the abruptness of the present transition. The
+moral accountableness of a human being, as I have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>
+observed before, does not, according to Catholic
+divines, begin till the seventh year; consequently
+such as die without attaining that age, are, by the
+effect of their baptism, indubitably entitled to a
+place in heaven. The death of an infant is therefore
+a matter of rejoicing to all but those in whose
+bosoms nature speaks too loud to be controlled by
+argument. The friends who call upon the parents,
+contribute to aggravate their bitterness by
+<i>wishing them joy</i> for having increased the number
+of angels. The usual address on these occasions is
+<i>Angelitos al Cielo!</i> Little Angels to Heaven&mdash;an
+unfeeling compliment, which never fails to draw
+a fresh gush of tears from the eyes of a mother.
+Every circumstance of the funeral is meant to <i>force</i>
+joy upon the mourners. The child, dressed in
+white garments, and crowned with a wreath of
+flowers, is followed by the officiating priest in silk
+robes of the same colour; and the clergymen who
+attend him to the house from whence the funeral
+proceeds to the church, sing in joyful strains the
+psalm <i>Laudate, pueri, Dominum</i>, while the bells
+are heard ringing a lively peal. The coffin, without
+a lid, exposes to the view the little corpse
+covered with flowers, as four well-dressed children
+bear it, amidst the lighted tapers of the clergy.
+No black dress, no signs of mourning whatever
+are seen even among the nearest relatives; the
+service at church bespeaks triumph, and the organ
+mixes its enlivening sounds with the hymns, which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>
+thank death for snatching a tender soul, when
+through a slight and transient tribute of pain, it
+could obtain an exemption from the power of sorrow.
+Yet no funerals are graced with more tears;
+nor can dirges and penitential mournings produce
+even a shadow of the tender melancholy which
+seizes the mind at the view of the formal and
+affected joy with which a Catholic infant is laid in
+his grave.</p>
+
+<p>A young unmarried woman among us</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <p>&mdash;&mdash; “is allowed her virgin crants,<a id="FNanchor_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p>
+    <p>Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home</p>
+    <p>Of bell and burial.”</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="noindent">In addition to the wreath of flowers, a palm-branch
+is put into a maiden’s hand; an emblem of victory
+against the allurements of love, which many a poor
+fair conqueror would have willingly exchanged for
+a regular defeat. They are dressed in every other
+respect like nuns, and the coffin is covered with a
+black velvet pall, as in all other funerals.</p>
+
+<p>The preceding passage in Hamlet begins with
+an allusion to a very ancient custom, which is still
+observed in Spain at the monumental crosses
+erected on the highways to those who have perished
+by the hands of robbers.</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <p>“For charitable prayers,</p>
+    <p>Sherds, flints, and pebbles, should be thrown on her.”</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This is literally done by every peasant when
+passing one of those rude and melancholy monuments.
+A heap of stones is always observed at the
+foot of the cross; not, however, <i>instead</i> of prayers,
+as the passage would seem to imply, but as a tale
+by which the number of <i>Paternosters</i> said by the
+compassionate passengers, might be reckoned. The
+antiquity of this <i>Christianized</i> custom appears, from
+a passage in the Book of Proverbs, to be very great.
+The proverb or sentence, translated as it is in the
+margin of the English Bible, runs thus: “As he
+that putteth a precious stone in a heap, so is he
+that giveth honour to a fool.”<a id="FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Latin version which, you must know, is of
+great antiquity, and was made the basis of Jerom’s,
+about the middle of the fourth century, renders
+this proverb in a remarkable manner. <i>Sicut qui
+mittit lapidem in acervum Mercurii; ita qui tribuit insipienti
+honorem.</i> As he that casts a stone on the
+<i>heap of Mercury</i>, &amp;c. &amp;c. Now, bearing in mind
+that stones are at this day thrown upon certain
+graves in Spain; that, according to the passage in
+Shakspeare, a similar custom seems to have prevailed
+in other parts of Europe; and that Jerom
+believed he rendered the spirit of the Hebrew proverb
+by translating the word which the English
+Divines doubted, whether to construe <i>a sling</i>, or <i>a
+heap of stones</i>, by the phrase, <i>acervus Mercurii</i>; a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>
+deity, whose statues were frequently placed over sepulchres
+among the Romans&mdash;bearing all this in
+mind, I say, it appears to me that the custom of covering
+some graves with stones thrown at random, must
+have existed in the time of the writer of the Proverbs.
+Perhaps I may be allowed to conjecture
+that it originated in the punishment of stoning, so
+common among the Jews; that passengers flung
+stones, as a mark of abhorrence, on the heap which
+hid the body of the criminal; that the primitive
+Christians, many of whom were Jews, followed the
+same method of shewing their horror of heathen
+tombs, till those places came to be known, in Jerom’s
+time, by the appellation of <i>heaps of Mercury</i>;
+that modern Christians applied the same custom to
+the graves of such as had been deemed unworthy
+of consecrated ground; and, finally, that the frequency
+of highway robberies and murders in Spain
+detached the custom from the idea of crime, and
+softened a mark of detestation into one of prayer
+and intercession for the unfortunate victim.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SPANISH CHRISTIAN NAMES.</h3>
+
+<p>The extraordinary devotion of the Catholics,
+especially in this country, to the Virgin Mary, and
+the notion, supported by the clergy, that as many
+Saints as have their names given to a child at baptism,
+are, in some degree, engaged to take it under
+their protection, occasion a national peculiarity<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>
+not unworthy of remark. In the first place few
+have less than half a dozen names entered in the
+parish register, a list of which is given to the priest
+that he may read them out in the act of christening
+the child. It would be difficult indeed, under
+these circumstances, for most people to know exactly
+their own names, especially if, like myself,
+they have been favoured with <i>eleven</i>. The custom
+of the country, however, allows every individual
+to forget all but the first in the list. In our devotion
+to the Virgin, we have hitherto avoided the
+strange solecism of the French <i>Monsieur Marie</i>,
+though almost every Spaniard has <i>Maria</i> for a
+second name.</p>
+
+<p>The titles given to the innumerable images of
+the Virgin Mary, which supply the usual names of
+our females, might occasion the most ludicrous
+puns or misnomers, if habit had not diverted the
+mind from their real meaning. No names are
+more common than <i>Encarnacion</i>, Incarnation&mdash;<i>Concepcion</i>,
+Conception&mdash;<i>Visitacion</i>, Visitation&mdash;<i>Maravillas</i>,
+Marvels&mdash;<i>Regla</i>, Rule&mdash;<i>Dolores</i>, Pains&mdash;<i>Agustias</i>,
+Anguishes&mdash;<i>Soledad</i>, Solitude&mdash;<i>Natividad</i>,
+Nativity, &amp;c. Other titles of the Virgin afford,
+however, more agreeable associations. Such
+are <i>Estrella</i>, Star&mdash;<i>Aurora</i>&mdash;<i>Amparo</i>, Protection&mdash;<i>Esperanza</i>,
+Hope&mdash;<i>Salud</i>, Health&mdash;<i>Pastora</i>, Shepherdess&mdash;<i>Rocio</i>,
+Dew, &amp;c. But words, as it is
+said of the chameleon, take the colour of the objects
+to which they are attached; and I have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>
+known <i>Pains</i> and <i>Solitudes</i> among our Andalusians,
+who, had they been more numerous, might have
+produced a revolution in the significations of the
+language.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHRISTMAS.</h3>
+
+<p>Since no festival of any interest takes place between
+summer and this season, it is already time to
+conclude these notes with the expiring year.</p>
+
+<p>It was the custom, thirty or forty years since,
+among families of fortune, to prepare, for an almost
+public exhibition, one or two rooms of the
+house, where, upon a clumsy imitation of rocks
+and mountains, a great number of baby-houses and
+clay figures, representing the commonest actions
+of life, were placed amidst a multitude of lamps and
+tapers. A half ruined stable, surrounded by sheep
+and cattle, was seen in the front of the room, with
+the figures of Joseph, Mary, and some shepherds,
+kneeling in adoration of the child in the manger&mdash;an
+act which an ass and an ox imitated with the
+greatest composure. This collection of puppets,
+called <i>Nacimiento</i>, is still, though seldom intended
+for show, set up in many houses, both for the amusement
+and the religious gratification of the family
+and their more intimate friends.</p>
+
+<p>At the period which I have just mentioned, the
+<i>Nacimientos</i> were made a pretext for collecting a
+large party, and passing several nights in dancing,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>
+and some of the national amusements described in
+the article of <i>Carnival</i>. The rooms being illuminated
+after sunset, not only the friends of the family
+were entitled to enjoy the festivities of the evening,
+but any gentleman giving his name at the door,
+might introduce one or more ladies, who, if but
+known by sight to the master of the house, would
+be requested to join in the amusements which followed.
+These were singing, dancing, and not unfrequently,
+speeches, taken from the old Spanish
+plays, and known by the name of <i>Relaciones</i>. Recitation
+was considered till lately as an accomplishment
+both in males and females; and persons who
+were known to be skilled in that art, stood up at
+the request of the company to deliver a speech with
+all the gesticulation of our old school of acting, just
+as others gratified their friends by performing upon
+an instrument. A slight refreshment of the Christmas
+cakes, called <i>Oxaldres</i>, and sweet wines or
+home-made <i>liqueurs</i>, was enough to free the house
+from the imputation of meanness: thus mirth and
+society were obtained at a moderate expense. But
+the present <i>Nacimientos</i> seldom afford amusement
+to strangers; and with the exception of singing
+carols to the sound of the <i>zambomba</i>, little remains
+of the old festivities.</p>
+
+<p>I must not, however, omit a description of the
+noisy instrument whose no less sounding name I
+have just mentioned. It is general in most parts
+of Spain at this season, though never used at any<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>
+other. A slender shoot of reed (Arundo Donax) is
+fixed in the centre of a piece of parchment, without
+perforating the skin, which, softened by moisture,
+is tied, like a drum-head, round the mouth of a large
+earthen jar. The parchment, when dry, acquires
+a great tension, and the reed being slightly covered
+with wax, allows the clenched hand to glide up and
+down, producing a deep hollow sound of the same
+kind as that which proceeds from the tambourine
+when rubbed with the middle finger.</p>
+
+<p>The church service on Christmas Eve begins at
+ten in the night, and lasts till five in the morning.
+This custom is observed at every church in the
+town; nor does their number, or the unseasonableness
+of the hour, leave the service unattended in
+any. The music at the Cathedral is excellent. It
+is at present confined to part of the Latin prayers,
+but was, till within a few years, used in a species of
+dramatic interludes in the vulgar tongue, which
+were sung, not acted, at certain intervals of the
+service. These pieces had the name of <i>Villancicos</i>,
+from <i>Villano</i>, a clown; shepherds and shepherdesses
+being the interlocutors in these pastorals. The
+words, printed at the expense of the Chapter, were
+distributed to the public, who still regret the loss
+of the wit and humour of the Swains of Bethlehem.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of the country requires a formal call
+between Christmas and Twelfth-day, on all one’s
+acquaintance; and tables are placed in the house
+squares, or <i>Patios</i>, to receive the cards of the vi<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>siters.
+Presents of sweetmeats are common between
+friends; and patients send to their medical attendants
+the established acknowledgment of a turkey;
+so that Doctors in great practice open a kind
+of public market for the disposal of their poultry.
+These turkeys are driven in flocks by gipseys, who
+patiently walk in the rear of the ungovernable phalanxes,
+from several parts of Old Castile, and chiefly
+from Salamanca. The march which they perform
+is of no less than four hundred miles, and lasts
+about one half of the year. The turkeys, which
+are bought from the farmers mere chickens, acquire
+their full growth, like your fashionables, in travelling,
+and seeing the world.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER X.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Madrid, 1807.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">My</span>
+removal to this capital has been sudden and
+unexpected. My friend Leandro, from whom I am
+become inseparable, was advised by his physicians
+to seek relief from a growing melancholy&mdash;the
+effect of a mortal aversion to his professional duties,
+and to the intolerant religious system with which
+they are connected&mdash;in the freedom and dissipation
+of the court; and I found it impossible to tear
+myself from him.</p>
+
+<p>The journey from Seville to Madrid, a distance of
+about two hundred and sixty English miles, is
+usually performed in heavy carriages drawn by six
+mules, in the space of from ten to eleven days. A
+party of four persons is formed by the coachman,
+(Mayoral) who fixes the day and hour for setting
+out, arranges the length of the stages, prescribes
+the time for getting up in the morning, and even
+takes care that every passenger attends mass on a
+Sunday, or any other church festival during the
+journey. As it was, however, of importance not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>
+to delay my friend’s removal from Seville, we chose
+the more expensive conveyance by posting, and
+having obtained a passport, set off in an open and
+half foundered chaise&mdash;the usual vehicles till within
+thirty miles of Madrid.</p>
+
+<p>You will form some idea of our police and government,
+from the circumstance of our being
+obliged to take our passport, not for Madrid, but
+Salamanca, in order thus to smuggle ourselves into
+the capital. The minister of <i>Gracia y Justicia</i>, or
+home department, Caballero, one of the most willing
+and odious instruments of our arbitrary court,
+being annoyed by the multitude of place-hunters,
+whom we denominate Pretendientes, who flocked to
+Madrid from the provinces; has lately issued an
+order forbidding all persons whatever, to come to
+the capital, unless they previously obtain a royal
+license. To await the King’s pleasure would have
+exposed us to great inconvenience, and probably to
+a positive denial. But as the minister’s order was
+now two or three months old, a period at which
+our court-laws begin to grow obsolete, and we did
+not mean to trouble <i>his excellency</i>; we trusted to luck
+and our purse, as to any little obstacles which might
+arise from the interference of inferior officers.</p>
+
+<p>I shall not detain you with a description of our
+journey&mdash;the delays at the post-houses&mdash;our diminished
+haste at Valdepeñas for the sake of its
+delicious wine just as it is drawn from the immense
+earthen-jars, where it is kept buried in the ground;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>
+and, finally, the ugly but close and tight post-chaises
+drawn by three mules a-breast, which are
+used from Aranjuez to Madrid. I do not love description,
+probably because I cannot succeed in it.
+You will, therefore, have the goodness to apply for
+a picture of this <i>town</i> (for I wish you to remark
+that it is not reckoned among our <i>cities</i>) in Burgoing,
+Townsend, or some other professed traveller.
+My narrative shall, as hitherto, be limited to what
+these gentlemen were not likely to see or understand
+with the accuracy and distinctness of a native.</p>
+
+<p>The influence of the court being unlimited in
+Spain, no object deserves a closer examination from
+such as wish to be acquainted with the moral state
+of this country. I must, therefore, begin with a
+sketch of the main sources of that influence, carefully
+excluding every report which has reached me
+through any but the most respectable channels, or
+an absolute notoriety. The fountain-head of power
+and honours among us has, till lately, been the
+Queen, a daughter of the late Duke of Parma, a
+very ugly woman, now fast approaching old age,
+yet affecting youth and beauty. She had been but
+a short time married to the present King, then
+Prince of Asturias, when she discovered a strong
+propensity to gallantry, which the austere and
+jealous temper of her father-in-law Charles III.
+was scarcely able to check. Her husband, one of
+those happy beings born to derive bliss from ignorance,
+has ever preserved a strong and exclusive<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>
+attachment to her person. This attachment, combined
+with a most ludicrous simplicity, closes his
+mind against every approach of suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>The first favourite of the Princess that awakened
+the King’s jealousy, was a gentleman of his son’s
+household, named Ortíz. Concerned for the honour
+of the Prince, no less than for the strictness
+of morals, which, from religious principles, he had
+anxiously preserved in his court; he issued an order,
+banishing Ortíz to one of the most distant provinces.
+The Princess, unable to bear this separation,
+and well acquainted with the character of her
+husband, engaged him to obtain the recall of Ortíz
+from the King. Scrupulously faithful to his promise,
+the young Prince watched the first opportunity
+to entreat his father’s favour, and falling
+upon his knees, asked the boon of Ortíz’s return,
+gravely and affectingly urging that “his wife
+Louisa was quite unhappy without him, as he
+used to amuse her amazingly.” The old King,
+surprised and provoked by this wonderful simplicity,
+turned his back upon the good-natured
+petitioner, exclaiming: <i>Calla, tonto! Déxalo irse:
+Qué simple que eres!</i> “Hold your tongue, booby!
+Let him go: What a simpleton thou art!”</p>
+
+<p>Louisa deprived, however, of her <i>entertaining</i>
+Ortíz, soon found a substitute in a young officer
+named Luis de Godoy. He was the eldest of three
+brothers, of an ancient but decayed family, in the
+province of Estremadura, who served together in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>
+the Horse-Guards, a corps exclusively composed of
+gentlemen, the lowest ranks being filled by commissioned
+officers. Scarcely had this new attachment
+been formed, when the old King unmercifully
+nipped it in the bud, by a decree of banishment
+against Don Luis. The royal order was, as usual,
+so pressing, that the distressed lover could only
+charge his second brother Manuel with a parting
+message, and obtain a promise of his being the
+bearer of as many tokens of constancy and despair,
+as could be safely transmitted by the post.</p>
+
+<p>It is a part of the cumbrous etiquette of the
+Spanish Court to give a separate guard to every
+member of the royal family, though all live within
+the King’s palace; and to place sentinels with
+drawn swords at the door of every suite of apartments.
+This service is performed without interruption
+day and night, by the military corps just
+mentioned. Manuel Godoy did not find it difficult
+to be on duty in the Prince’s guard, as often as he
+had any letter to deliver. A certain tune played
+on the flute, an instrument with which that young
+officer used to beguile the idle hours of the guard,
+was the signal which drew the Princess to a private
+room, to which the messenger had secret, but free
+access.</p>
+
+<p>There is every reason to believe that <i>Luis’s</i> amorous
+dispatches had their due effect for some weeks,
+and that his royal mistress lived almost exclusively
+upon their contents. Yet time was working a sad<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>
+revolution in the fortunes of the banished lover.
+Manuel grew every day more interesting, and the
+letters less so, till the faithless confidant became
+the most <i>amusing</i> of mortals to the Princess, and
+consequently a favourite with her good-natured
+husband.</p>
+
+<p>The death of the old King had now removed
+every obstacle to the Queen’s gallantries, and Manuel
+Godoy was rapidly advanced to the highest
+honours of the state, and the first ranks of the
+army. But the new sovereign did not yet feel
+quite easy upon the throne; and the dying King’s
+recommendation of his favourite Floridablanca, by
+prolonging that minister’s power, still set some
+bounds to the Queen’s caprices. Charles IV., though
+perfectly under his wife’s control, could not be prevailed
+upon to dismiss an old servant of his father
+without any assignable reason; and some respect for
+public opinion, a feeling which seldom fails to cast
+a transient gleam of hope on the first days of every
+reign, obliged the Queen herself to employ other
+means than a mere act of her will in the ruin of
+the premier. He might, however, have preserved
+his place for some time, and been allowed to retire
+with his honours, had not his jealousy of the rising
+Godoy induced him to oppose the tide of favour
+which was now about to raise that young man to a
+Grandeeship of the first class. To provide for the
+splendour of that elevated rank, the Queen had induced
+her husband to bestow upon Godoy a princely<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>
+estate, belonging to the crown, from which he was
+to take the title of the Duke de la Alcúdia. Floridablanca,
+either from principle, or some less
+honourable motive, thought it necessary to oppose
+this grant as illegal; and having induced the King
+to consult the Council of Castille upon that point,
+endeavoured to secure an answer agreeable to his
+wishes, by means of a letter to his friend the Count
+Cifuentes. Most unluckily for the minister, before
+this letter arrived from San Ildefonso, where the
+court was at that time, the president was seized
+with a mortal complaint, and the dispatches falling
+into the hands of his substitute Cañada, were
+secretly transmitted to the Queen. It is needless
+to add, that the report of the council was favourable,
+that Godoy was made Duke de la Alcúdia, and that
+both he and the Queen were now wholly bent upon
+their opposer’s ruin.</p>
+
+<p>During Floridablanca’s influence with the King,
+a manuscript satire had been circulated against that
+minister, in which he was charged with having defrauded
+one <i>Salucci</i>, an Italian banker connected
+with the Spanish Government. Too conscious, it
+should seem, of the truth of the accusation, Floridablanca
+suspected none but the injured party of
+being the contriver and circulator of the lampoon.
+The obnoxious composition was, however, written
+in better Spanish than Salucci could command, and
+the smarting minister could not be satisfied without
+punishing the author. His spies having informed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>
+him that the Marquis de Manca, a man of wit and
+talent, was intimate at Salucci’s, he had no need of
+farther proofs against him. The banker was immediately
+banished out of the kingdom, and the
+poet confined to the city of Burgos, under the inspection
+and control of the civil authorities.</p>
+
+<p>But the time was now arrived when these men,
+who were too well acquainted with the state of
+Spain to look for redress at the hands of justice,
+were to obtain satisfaction from the spirit of revenge
+which urged the Queen to seek the ruin of
+her husband’s minister. Charles IV. being informed
+of Floridablanca’s conduct towards Salucci
+and Manca, the last was recalled to Court. His
+enemy’s papers, including a large collection of
+<i>billets-doux</i>, were seized and put into the Marquis’s
+hands, to be used as documents in a secret process
+instituted against the minister: who, according to
+his own rules of justice, was, in the mean time, sent
+a prisoner to the fortress of Pamplona. His confinement,
+however, was not prolonged beyond the
+necessary time to ruin him in the King’s opinion;
+and upon the marriage of two of the Royal
+Princesses, an <i>indulto</i>, or pardon, was issued, by
+which, though declared guilty of embezzling forty-two
+millions of <i>reals</i>, he was enlarged from his close
+confinement, and allowed to reside at Murcia, his
+native town.</p>
+
+<p>I am not certain, however, whether Floridablanca’s
+dismissal did not shortly precede his ac<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>cusation
+by <i>Manca</i>, as the immediate consequence
+of his efforts to make the King join the coalition
+against France after the death of Louis XVI.
+Charles IV. was, it seems, the only sovereign in
+Europe, who felt no alarm at the fate of the unfortunate
+Louis; and had more at heart the recollection
+of a personal slight from his cousin, than
+all the ties of common interest and blood. Charles
+had learned that, on his accession to the throne of
+Spain, the usual letter of congratulation being presented
+for signature to Louis, that monarch humourously
+observed, that he thought the letter hardly
+necessary, “for the poor man,” he said, “is a mere
+cypher, completely governed and henpecked by his
+wife.” This joke had made such a deep impression
+on the King, as to draw from him, when Louis was
+decapitated, the unfeeling and almost brutal remark
+that “a gentleman so ready to find fault with
+others, did not seem to have managed his own affairs
+very well.” The Count de Aranda, who, in the
+cabinet councils, had constantly voted for peace
+with France, was appointed, in February, 1792, to
+succeed Floridablanca. But the turn of affairs, and
+the pressing remonstrances of the allied sovereigns,
+altered the views of Charles; and having, at the
+end of seven months, dismissed Aranda with all the
+honours of his office, Godoy, then Duke of Alcúdia,
+was appointed his successor to begin hostilities
+against France. I need not enter into a narrative
+of that ill-conducted and disastrous war. An ap<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>pearance
+of success cheered up the Spaniards,
+always ready to fight with their neighbours on the
+other side of the Pyrenees. But the French armies
+having received reinforcements, would have soon
+paid a visit to Charles at Madrid, if his favourite
+minister, with more address than he ever discovered
+in his subsequent management of political affairs,
+had not concluded and ratified the peace of Basle.</p>
+
+<p>The fears of the whole country at the progress of
+the French arms had been so strong, that peace
+was hailed with enthusiasm; and the public joy,
+on that occasion, would have been unalloyed but
+for the extravagant rewards granted to Godoy for
+concluding it. A new dignity above the grandeeship
+was created for him alone, and, under the title
+of <i>Prince of the Peace</i>, Godoy was placed next in
+rank to the Princes of the royal blood.</p>
+
+<p>There was but one step in the scale of honours
+which could raise a mere subject higher than the
+Queen’s favour had exalted Godoy&mdash;a marriage into
+the royal family. But the only distinction which
+love seemed not blind enough to confer on the
+favourite, he actually owed to the jealousy of his
+mistress.</p>
+
+<p>Among the beauties whom the hope of the young
+minister’s favour drew to Madrid from all parts of
+Spain, there was an unmarried lady of the name of
+Tudó, a native of Malaga, whose charms both of
+person and mind would have captivated a much less
+susceptible heart than Godoy’s. From the moment<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>
+she was presented by her parents, La Tudó (we
+are perfectly unceremonious in naming ladies of all
+ranks) obtained so decided a supremacy above the
+numerous sharers in the favourite’s love, that the
+Queen, who had hitherto overlooked a crowd of occasional
+rivals, set her face against an attachment
+which bid fair to last for life. It had, indeed,
+subsisted long enough to produce unquestionable
+proof of the nature of the intimacy, in a child whose
+birth, though not blazoned forth as if sanctioned by
+public opinion, was not hidden with any consciousness
+of shame. A report being circulated at court,
+that the Prince of the Peace was secretly married
+to La Tudó, the Queen, in a fit of jealousy, accused
+him to the King as guilty of ingratitude, in thus
+having allied himself to a woman of no birth, without
+the slightest mark of deference to his royal benefactors.
+The King, whose fondness for Godoy
+had grown above his wife’s control, seemed inclined
+to discredit the story of the marriage; but, being
+at that time at one of the royal country residences
+called <i>Sitios</i>&mdash;the <i>Escurial</i>, I believe, where the
+ministers have apartments within the palace; the
+Queen led her husband through a secret passage, to
+a room where they surprised the lovers taking their
+supper in a comfortable <i>tête-à-tête</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The feelings excited by this sight must have
+been so different in each of the royal couple, that
+one can scarcely feel surprised at the strangeness
+of the result. Godoy had only to deny the mar<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>riage
+to pacify the King, whose good nature was
+ready to make allowances for a mere love-intrigue
+of his favourite. The Queen, hopeless of ever
+being the exclusive object of the gallantries of a
+man to whom she was chained by the blindest infatuation,
+probably feared lest the step she had
+taken should tear him away from her presence. A
+slave to her vehement passions, and a perfect
+stranger to those delicate feelings which vice itself
+cannot smother in some hearts, she seemed satisfied
+with preventing her chief rival from rising
+above her own rank of a mistress; and, provided
+the place was occupied by one to whom her paramour
+was indifferent, wished to see him married,
+and be herself the match-maker.</p>
+
+<p>The King’s late brother, Don Luis, who, in spite
+of a cardinal’s hat, and the archbishoprick of Seville,
+conferred on him before he was of age to take holy
+orders, stole a kind of left-handed marriage with
+a Spanish lady of the name of Vallabríga; had left
+two daughters and a son, under the guardianship of
+the archbishop of Toledo. Though not, hitherto,
+allowed to take their father’s name, these children
+were considered legitimate; and it is probable that
+the King had been desirous of putting them in possession
+of the honours due to their birth, long
+before the Queen proposed the eldest of her nieces
+both as a reward for Godoy’s services, and a
+means to prevent in future such sallies of youthful
+folly as divided his attention between pleasure and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>
+the service of the crown. These or similar reasons
+(for history must content herself with conjecture,
+when the main springs of events lie not only behind
+the curtain of state, but those of a four-post
+bed) produced in the space of a few weeks, a public
+recognition of Don Luis’s children, and the announcement
+of his eldest daughter’s intended marriage
+with the Prince of the Peace.</p>
+
+<p>The vicious source of Godoy’s unbounded power,
+the temper of the Court where he enjoyed it, and
+the crowd of flatterers which his elevation had
+gathered about him, would preclude all expectation
+of any great or virtuous qualities in his character.
+Yet there are facts connected with the beginning
+of his government which prove that he was not
+void of those vague wishes of doing good, which, as
+they spring up, are “choked with cares and riches
+and pleasures of this world.” I have been assured
+by an acute and perfectly disinterested observer,
+whose high rank gave him free access to the favourite,
+during part of the period when with the title
+of Duke de la Alcúdia he was at the head of the
+Spanish ministry, that “there was every reason to
+believe him active, intelligent, and attentive in the
+discharge of his duty; and that he was perfectly
+exempt from all those airs and affectation which
+men who rise by fortune more than merit, are apt
+to be justly accused of.” Though, like all the
+Spanish youth brought up in the military profession,
+he was himself unlettered, he shewed great respect<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>
+for talents and literature in the formation of the
+ministry which succeeded his own; when, from his
+new rank, and his marriage into the royal family,
+he was considered above the duties of office.</p>
+
+<p>Saavedra, whom he made first minister of state,
+is a man of great natural quickness, improved both
+by reading and the observation of real life; but so
+irresolute of purpose, so wavering in judgment, so
+incapable of decision, that, while in office, he seemed
+more fit to render public business interminable,
+than to direct its course in his own department.
+Jovellanos, appointed to be Saavedra’s colleague, is
+justly considered as one of the living ornaments of
+our literature. Educated at Salamanca in one of
+the <i>Colegios Mayores</i>, before the reform which
+stripped those bodies of their honours and influence,
+he was made a judge in his youth, and gradually
+ascended to one of the supreme councils of the nation.
+His upright and honourable conduct in every
+stage of his life, both public and private, the urbanity
+of his manners, and the formal elegance of his conversation,
+render him a striking exemplification of
+the old Spanish <i>Caballero</i>. With the virtues and
+agreeable qualities of that character, he unites
+many of the prejudices peculiar to the period to
+which it belongs. To a most passionate attachment
+to the privileges and distinctions of blood, he
+joins a superstitious veneration for all kinds of external
+forms. The strongest partialities warp his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>
+fine understanding, confining it, upon numerous
+subjects, to distorted or limited views. As a judge
+and a man of letters, he was respected and admired
+by all. As a chief justice in any of our provincial
+courts of law, he would have been a blessing to the
+people of his district; while the dignified leisure
+of that situation would have enabled him to enrich
+our literature with the productions of his elegant
+mind. As a minister, however, through whose
+hands all the gifts of the Crown were to be distributed
+to a hungry country, where two-thirds of
+the better classes look up to patronage for a comfortable
+subsistence, he disappointed the hopes of
+the nation. At Court, his high notions of rank
+converted his rather prim manner into downright
+stiffness; and his blind partiality for the natives
+of Asturias, his province&mdash;probably because he
+thought them the purest remnant of Gothic blood
+in Spain&mdash;made him the most unpopular of ministers.
+Instead of promoting the welfare of the nation
+by measures which gradually, and upon a large
+scale, might counteract the influence of a profligate
+Court, he tried to oppose the Queen’s established
+interference in detail. She once made a personal
+application to Jovellanos in favour of a certain candidate
+for a prebendal stall. The minister gave her
+a flat denial, alleging that the person in question
+had not qualified himself at any of the universities.
+“At which of them,” said the Queen, “did you<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>
+receive your education?”&mdash;“At Salamanca, Madam.”&mdash;“What
+a pity,” rejoined she, “that they
+forgot to teach you manners!”</p>
+
+<p>While employed in this petty warfare, which
+must have soon ended in his dismissal, a circumstance
+occurred, which, though it was the means
+of reconciling the Queen to Jovellanos for a time,
+has finally consigned him to a fortress in Majorca,
+where to this day he lingers under a confinement
+no less unjust than severe.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremony of Godoy’s marriage was scarcely
+over, when he resumed his intimacy with La Tudó
+in the most open and unguarded manner. The
+Queen, under a relapse of jealousy, seemed so determined
+to clip the wings of her spoiled favourite,
+that Jovellanos was deceived into a hope of making
+this pique the means of reclaiming his patron, if
+not to the path of virtue, at least to the rules of external
+propriety. Saavedra, better acquainted with
+the world, and well aware that Godoy could, at
+pleasure, resume any degree of ascendancy over the
+Queen, entered reluctantly into the plot. Not so
+Jovellanos. Treating this Court intrigue as one of
+the regular lawsuits on which he had so long practised
+his skill and impartiality, he could not bring
+himself to proceed without serving a notice upon
+the party concerned. He accordingly forwarded
+a remonstrance to the Prince of the Peace, in which
+he reminded him of his public and conjugal duties,
+in the most forcible style of forensic and moral<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>
+eloquence. The Queen, in the mean time, had
+worked up her husband into a feeling approaching
+to anger against Godoy, and the decree for his
+banishment was all but signed before the offending
+gallant thought himself in such danger as to require
+the act of submission, which alone could restore
+him to the good graces of his neglected mistress.
+He owed, however, his safety to nothing but Saavedra’s
+indecision and dilatoriness. That minister
+could not be persuaded to present the decree of
+banishment for the royal signature, till the day after
+it had been agreed upon. Godoy, in the mean
+time, obtained a private interview with the Queen,
+who, under the influence of a long-checked and returning
+passion, in order to exculpate herself, represented
+the Ministers&mdash;the very men whom Godoy
+had raised into power&mdash;as the authors of the
+plot; and probably attributed the plan to Jovellanos,
+making him, from this moment, the marked
+object of the favourite’s resentment.</p>
+
+<p>The baffled Ministers, though not immediately
+dismissed, must have felt the unsteadiness of the
+ground on which they stood, and dreaded the revenge
+of an enemy, who had already shewn, in the
+case of Admiral Malaspina, that he was both able
+and willing to wreak it on the instruments of the
+Queen’s jealousy. That officer, an Italian by birth,
+had just returned from a voyage round the globe,
+performed at the expense of this Government, when
+the Queen, who found it difficult to regulate the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>
+feelings of her husband towards Godoy, to the sudden
+and rapid variations of her own, induced her
+confidant, the Countess of Matallana, to engage him
+in drawing up a memorial to the King, containing
+observations on the public and private conduct of
+the favourite, and representing him in the blackest
+colours. Malaspina was at this time preparing the
+account of his voyage for publication, with the assistance
+of a conceited sciolist, a Sevillian friar
+called Padre Gil, who, in our great dearth of real
+knowledge, was looked upon as a miracle of erudition
+and eloquence. The Admiral, putting aside
+his charts and log-books, eagerly collected every
+charge against Godoy which was likely to make
+an impression upon the King; while the friar, inspired
+with the vision of a mitre ready to drop on
+his head, clothed them in the most florid and
+powerful figures which used to enrapture his audience
+from the pulpit. Nothing was now wanting
+but the Queen’s command to spring the mine under
+the feet of the devoted Godoy, when the intended
+victim, informed of his danger, and taking advantage
+of one of those soft moments which made the
+Queen and all her power his own, drew from her a
+confession of the plot, together with the names of
+the conspirators. In a few days, Malaspina found
+himself conveyed to a fortress, where, with his
+voyage, maps, scientific collections, and every thing
+relating to the expedition, he remains completely
+forgotten; while the reverend writer of the memo<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>rial
+was forwarded under an escort to Seville, the
+scene of his former literary glory, to be confined in
+a house of correction, where juvenile offenders of
+the lower classes are sent to undergo a salutary
+course of flogging.</p>
+
+<p>The Queen was preparing the dismissal of Saavedra
+and Jovellanos, when a dangerous illness of the
+former brought forward a new actor in the intricate
+drama of Court intrigue, who, had he known how
+to use his power, might have worked the complete
+ruin of its hero.</p>
+
+<p>The First Clerk of the Secretary of State’s Office&mdash;a
+place answering to that of your under-secretary of
+State&mdash;was a handsome young man, called Urquijo.
+His name is probably not unknown to you, as he
+was a few years ago with the Spanish Ambassador
+in London, where his attachment to the French
+jacobins and their measures could not fail to attract
+some notice, from the unequivocal heroic proof of
+self-devotion which he shewed to that party. It
+was, in fact, an attempt to drown himself in the
+pond at Kensington Gardens, upon learning the
+peace made by Buonaparte with the Pope at Tolentino;
+a treaty which disappointed his hopes of
+seeing the final destruction of the Papal See, and
+Rome itself a heap of ruins, in conformity to a
+decree of the French Directory. Fortune, however,
+having determined to transform our brave <i>Sans-Culotte</i>
+into a courtier, afforded him a timely rescue
+from the muddy deep; and when, under the care of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>
+Doctor V&mdash;&mdash;, he had been brought to understand
+how little his drowning would influence the events
+of the French war, he returned to Madrid, to wield
+his pen in the office where his previous qualification
+of <i>Joven de Lenguas</i>,<a id="FNanchor_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> had entitled him to a place,
+till he rose, by seniority, to that of Under-Secretary.</p>
+
+<p>Every Spanish minister has a day appointed in
+the course of the week&mdash;called <i>Dia de Despacho</i>&mdash;when
+he lays before the King the contents of his
+portfolio, to dispose of them according to his Majesty’s
+pleasure. The Queen, who is excessively
+fond of power,<a id="FNanchor_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> never fails to attend on the occasions.
+The minister, during this audience, stands,
+or, if desired, sits on a small stool near a large table
+placed between him and the King and Queen.
+The love of patronage, not of business, is, of course,
+the object of the Queen’s assiduity; while nothing
+but the love of gossip enables her husband to endure
+the drudgery of these sittings. During Saavedra’s
+ministry, his Majesty was highly delighted with
+the premier’s powers of conversation, and his inexhaustible
+fund of good stories. The portfolio was
+laid upon the table; the Queen mentioned the
+names of her <i>protegés</i>, and the King, referring all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>
+other business to the decision of the minister, began
+a comfortable chat, which lasted till bed-time.
+When Saavedra was taken with that sudden and
+dangerous illness which Godoy’s enemies were inclined
+to attribute to poison, (a suspicion, however,
+which both the favourite’s real good nature, and his
+subsequent lenity towards Saavedra, absolutely contradict)
+the duty of carrying the portfolio to the
+King devolved upon the Under-secretary. Urquijo’s
+handsome person and elegant manners made a deep
+impression upon the Queen; and ten thousand
+whispers spread the important news the next morning,
+that her Majesty had desired the young clerk
+to take a seat.</p>
+
+<p>This favourable impression, it is more than probable,
+was heightened by a fresh pique against
+Godoy, whose growing disgust of his royal mistress,
+and firm attachment to La Tudó, offered her Majesty
+daily subjects of mortification. She now conceived
+the plan of making Urquijo, not only her instrument
+of revenge, but, it is generally believed, a
+substitute for the incorrigible favourite. But in
+this amorous Court even a Queen can hardly find a
+vacant heart; and Urquijo’s was too deeply engaged
+to one of Godoy’s sisters, to appear sensible of her
+Majesty’s condescension. He mustered, however, a
+sufficient portion of gallantry to support the Queen
+in her resolution of separating Godoy from the
+Court, and depriving him of all influence in matters
+of government.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is, indeed, surprising, that the Queen’s resentment
+proceeded no farther against the man who
+had so often provoked it, and that his disgrace was
+not attended with the usual consequences of degradation
+and imprisonment. Many and powerful circumstances
+combined, however, in Godoy’s favour&mdash;the
+King’s almost parental fondness towards him&mdash;the
+new minister’s excessive conceit of his own
+influence and abilities, no less than his utter contempt
+of the discarded favourite&mdash;and, most of all,
+the Queen’s unextinguished and ever reviving passion,
+backed by her fears of driving to extremities
+a man who had, it is said, in his power, the means
+of exposing her without condemning himself.</p>
+
+<p>During Saavedra’s ministry, and that interval of
+coldness produced by Godoy’s capricious gallantries,
+which enabled his enemies to make the first
+attempt against him; his royal mistress had conceived
+a strong fancy for one Mallo, a native of
+Caraccas, and then an obscure <i>Garde du Corps</i>.
+The rapid promotion of that young man, and the
+display of wealth and splendour which he began to
+make, explained the source of his advancement to
+every one but the King. Godoy himself seems to
+have been stung with jealousy, probably not so
+much from his rival’s share in the Queen’s affections,
+as from the ill-concealed vanity of the man,
+whose sole aim was to cast into shade the whole
+Court. Once, as the King and Queen, attended by
+Godoy and other grandees of the household, were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>
+standing at the balcony of the royal seat El Pardo,
+Mallo appeared at a distance, driving four beautiful
+horses, and followed by a brilliant retinue. The
+King’s eye was caught by the beauty of the equipage,
+and he inquired to whom it belonged. Hearing
+that it was Mallo’s&mdash;“I wonder,” he said, “how
+that fellow can afford to keep such horses.”&mdash;“Why,
+please your Majesty,” replied Godoy, “the
+scandal goes, that he himself is kept by an ugly
+old woman&mdash;I quite forget her name.”</p>
+
+<p>Mallo’s day of prosperity was but short. His
+vanity, coxcombry and folly, displeased the King,
+and alarmed the Queen. But in the first ardour of
+her attachments, she generally had the weakness of
+committing her feelings to writing; and Mallo possessed
+a collection of her letters. Wishing to rid
+herself of that absurd, vain fop, and yet dreading
+an exposure, she employed Godoy in the recovery
+of her written tokens. Mallo’s house was surrounded
+with soldiers in the dead of night; and he
+was forced to yield the precious manuscripts into
+the hands of his rival. The latter, however, was
+too well aware of their value to deliver them to the
+writer; and he is said to keep them as a powerful
+charm, if not to secure his mistress’s affection, at
+least to subdue her fits of fickleness and jealousy.
+Mallo was soon banished and forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>The two ministers, Saavedra and Jovellanos, had
+been rusticated to their native provinces; the first,
+on account of ill health; the second, from the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>
+Queen’s unconquerable dislike. Urquijo, who seems
+to have been unable either to gain the King’s esteem,
+or fully to return the Queen’s affection, could
+keep his post no longer than while the latter’s ever
+ready fondness for Godoy, was not awakened by the
+presence of its object. The absence of the favourite,
+it is generally believed, might have been prolonged,
+by good policy, and management of the
+King on the part of Urquijo, if his rashness and
+conceit of himself had ever allowed him to suspect
+that any influence whatever, was equal to that of
+his talents and person. Instead of strongly opposing
+a memorial of the Prince of the Peace,
+asking permission to kiss their majesties’ hands
+upon the birth of a daughter, borne to him by the
+Princess his wife, Urquijo imagined the Queen so
+firmly attached to himself, that he conceived no
+danger from this transient visit of his offended
+rival. Godoy made his appearance at Court; and
+from that moment Urquijo’s ruin became inevitable.
+His hatred of the Court of Rome had induced
+the latter to encourage the translation of a Portuguese
+work, against the extortions of the Italian
+<i>Dataria</i>, in cases of dispensations for marriage
+within the prohibited degrees. Thinking the public
+mind sufficiently prepared by that work, he
+published a royal mandate to the Spanish bishops,
+urging them to resume their ancient rights of dispensation.
+This step had armed against its author
+the greater part of the clergy; and the Prince of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>
+the Peace found it easy to alarm the King’s conscience
+by means of the Pope’s nuncio, Cardinal
+<i>Casoni</i>, who made him believe that his minister
+had betrayed him into a measure which trespassed
+upon the rights of the Roman Pontiff. I believe
+that Godoy’s growing dislike of the Inquisition
+spared Urquijo the horrors of a dungeon within its
+precincts. He had not, however, sufficient generosity
+to content himself with the banishment of
+his enemy to Guipuzcoa. An order for his imprisonment
+in a fortress followed him thither in a short
+time&mdash;a circumstance, which might raise a suspicion
+that Urquijo had employed his personal
+liberty to make a second attempt against the recalled
+favourite.</p>
+
+<p>This supposition would be strongly supported by
+the general mildness of Godoy’s administration, if
+one instance of cruel and implacable revenge were
+not opposed to so favourable a view of his conduct.
+Whether the Queen represented Jovellanos to the
+Prince of the Peace as the chief actor in the first
+plot which was laid against him, or that he charged
+that venerable magistrate with ingratitude for taking
+any share in a conspiracy against the man who
+had raised him to power; Godoy had scarcely been
+restored to his former influence, when he procured
+an order to confine Jovellanos in the Carthusian
+Convent of Majorca. The unmanliness of this second
+and long-meditated blow, roused the indignation
+of his fallen and hitherto silent adversary, call<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>ing
+forth that dauntless and dignified inflexibility
+which makes him, in our days, so fine a specimen
+of the old Spanish character. From his confinement
+he addressed a letter to the King, exposing
+the injustice of his treatment in terms so removed
+from the servile tone of a Spanish memorial, so regardless
+of the power of his adversary, that it kindled
+anew the resentment of the favourite, through
+whose hands he well knew it must make its way
+to the throne. Such a step was more likely to aggravate
+than to obtain redress for his wrongs. The
+virtues, the brilliant talents, and pleasing address of
+Jovellanos had so gained upon the affections of the
+monks, that they treated him with more deference
+than even a minister in the height of his power
+could have expected. Godoy’s spirit of revenge
+could not brook his enemy’s enjoyment of this
+small remnant of happiness; and with a cruelty
+which casts the blackest stain on his character, he
+removed him to a fortress in the same island, where,
+under the control of an illiterate and rude governor,
+Jovellanos is deprived of all communication, and
+limited to a small number of books for his mental
+enjoyment. The character of the gaoler may be
+conceived from the fact of his not being able to
+distinguish a <i>work</i> from a <i>volume</i>. Jovellanos’s
+friends are not allowed to relieve his solitude with a
+variety of books, even to the number contained
+in the governor’s instructions; for he reckons
+literary works by the piece, and a good edition of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>
+Cicero, for instance, appears to him a complete
+library.<a id="FNanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p>
+
+<p>Since his restoration to favour, the Prince of the
+Peace has been gradually and constantly gaining
+ascendancy. The usual titles of honour being exhausted
+upon him, the antiquated dignity of <i>High-Admiral</i>
+has been revived and conferred upon him,
+just at the time when your tars have left us without
+a navy. Great emoluments, and the address
+of <i>Highness</i> have been annexed to this dignity. A
+brigade of cavalry, composed of picked men from
+the whole army, has been lately given to the High-Admiral
+as a guard of honour. His power, in fine,
+though delegated, is unlimited, and he may be properly
+said to be the acting Sovereign of Spain.
+The King, by the unparalleled elevation of this
+favourite, has obtained his heart’s desire in a perfect
+exemption from all sorts of employment, except
+shooting, to which he exclusively devotes every day
+of the year. Soler, the minister of finance, is employed
+to fleece the people; and Caballero, in the
+home department, to keep them in due ignorance and
+subjection. I shall just give you a sample of each of
+these worthies’ minds and principles.&mdash;It has been
+the custom for centuries at Valladolid to make the
+Dominican Convent of that town a sort of bank for
+depositing sums of money, as it was done in the
+ancient temples, under similar circumstances of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>
+ignorance, of commerce and insecurity of property.
+Soler, being informed that the monks held in their
+hands a considerable deposit, declared “that it was
+an injury to the state to allow so much money to
+lie idle,” and seizing it, probably for the Queen,
+whose incessant demands form the most pressing
+and considerable item of the Spanish budget, gave
+government-paper to the monks, which the creditors
+might sell, if they chose, at eighty per cent.
+discount.&mdash;Caballero, fearing the progress of all
+learning, which might disturb the peace of the
+Court, sent, not long since, a circular order to the
+Universities, forbidding the study of moral philosophy:
+“His Majesty,” it was said in the order, “was
+not in want of philosophers, but of good and obedient
+subjects.”</p>
+
+<p>Under the active operation of this system, the
+Queen has the command of as much money and
+patronage as she desires; and finding it impracticable
+to check the gallantries of her <i>cher ami</i>, has
+so perfectly conquered her jealousy as to be able
+not only to be on the most amicable terms with
+him, but to emulate his love of variety in the most
+open and impudent manner.</p>
+
+<p>I wish to have done with the monstrous heap of
+scandal, which the state of our Court has unavoidably
+forced into my narrative. Much, indeed,
+I leave untold; but I cannot omit an original and
+perfectly authentic story, which, as it explains the
+mystery of the King’s otherwise inexplicable blind<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>ness
+respecting his wife’s conduct, justice requires
+to be made public. The world shall see that his
+Majesty’s apathy does not arise from any disgraceful
+indifference for what is generally considered by
+men as a vital point of honour; but that the peace
+and tranquillity of his mind is grounded on a philosophical
+system&mdash;I do not know whether physical
+or moral&mdash;which is, I believe, peculiar to himself.</p>
+
+<p>The old Duke del I&mdash;&mdash; (on the authority of
+whose lady I give you the anecdote) was once, with
+other grandees, in attendance on the King, when
+his Majesty, being in high gossiping humour, entered
+into a somewhat gay conversation on the fair
+sex. He descanted, at some length, on fickleness
+and caprice, and laughed at the dangers of husbands
+in these southern climates. Having had his
+fill of merriment on the subject of jealousy, he concluded
+with an air of triumph&mdash;“We, <i>crowned
+heads</i>, however, have this chief advantage above
+others, that our honour, as they call it, is safe; for
+suppose that queens were as much bent on mischief
+as some of their sex, where could they find kings
+and emperors to flirt with? Eh?”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER XI.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Madrid, &mdash;&mdash; 1807.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">In</span>
+giving you a sketch of private life at Madrid,
+I shall begin by a character quite peculiar to the
+country, and well known all over Spain by the
+name of <i>Pretendientes</i>, or place-hunters. Very different
+ideas, however, are attached to these denominations
+in the two languages. Young men of
+the proudest families are regularly sent to Court on
+that errand, and few gentlemen destine their sons
+either for the church or the law, without calculating
+the means of supporting them three or four
+years at Madrid, as regular and professed <i>place-hunters</i>.
+The fact is, that, with the exception
+of three stalls in every cathedral, and in some collegiate
+churches, that are obtained by literary competition,
+there is not a single place of rank and
+emolument to which Court interest is not the
+exclusive road. Hence the necessity for all who
+do not possess an independent fortune, in other
+words, for more than two thirds of the Spanish
+gentry, to repair to the capital, there to procure<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>
+that interest, by whatever means their circumstances
+may afford.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Pretendientes</i> may be divided into four
+classes. Clergymen, who aspire to any preferment
+not inferior to a prebend; lawyers, who wish to
+obtain a place on the bench of judges in one of our
+numerous courts, both of Spain and Spanish America;
+men of business, who desire to be employed
+in the collection of the revenue; and <i>advocates</i>,
+whose views do not extend beyond a <i>Corregimiento</i>&mdash;a
+kind of <i>Recordership</i>, with very limited judicial
+powers, which exists in every town of any note
+where there is not an <i>Audiencia</i>, or superior tribunal.
+I shall dispatch the last two classes in
+a few words.</p>
+
+<p>Between our advocates or barristers, and the superior
+judges, called <i>Oidores</i>, there is such a line of
+distinction as to be almost an insuperable barrier.
+A young man, who, having studied Roman law
+at the University, attends three or four years at an
+acting advocate’s chambers, is, after an examination
+on Spanish law, qualified to plead at the courts of
+justice. But once engaged in this branch of the
+law, he must give up all hopes of rising above that
+doubtful rank which his profession gives him in society.
+Success may make him rich, but he must
+be contented with drudging for life at the bar of a
+provincial court, and bear the slighting and insolent
+tone with which the judges consider themselves at
+liberty to treat the advocates. It is, therefore, not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>
+uncommon among young lawyers, who cannot command
+interest enough to be placed on the bench, to
+offer themselves as candidates for a <i>Corregimiento</i>.
+Having scraped together a little money, and procured
+a few letters of recommendation, they repair
+to Madrid, where they are seen almost daily in the
+minister’s waiting-room with a petition, and a
+printed list of their university degrees and literary
+qualifications, called <i>Papél de Méritos</i>, which, after
+two or three hours attendance, they think themselves
+happy if his excellency will take from their
+hands. Such as can obtain an introduction to
+some of the grandees who have the right to appoint
+magistrates on their estates, confine themselves to
+the easier, though rather more humiliating task,
+of <i>toad-eating</i> to their patron.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Pretendientes</i> for the higher branches of
+finance, must be able to make a more decent appearance
+at Court, if they hope for success. It is
+not, however, the minister for that department,
+who is most to be courted in order to obtain these
+lucrative places. A recommendation from the
+Queen, or from the Prince of the Peace, generally
+interferes with his views, if he allows himself to
+have any of his own. To obtain the first, a handsome
+figure, or some pleasing accomplishment,
+such as singing to the guitar in the Spanish style,
+are the most likely means, either by engaging her
+Majesty’s attention, or the affections of some of her
+favourite maids of honour. The no less powerful<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>
+recommendation of the Prince of the Peace is, I
+must say in justice to him, not always made the
+reward of flattery, or of more degrading servility.
+Justice and a due regard for merit, are, it is true,
+far from regulating the distribution of his patronage:
+yet, very different from the ministers who tremble
+before him, he can be approached by every individual
+in the kingdom, without an introduction, and
+in the certainty of receiving a civil, if not a favourable
+answer. His great failing, however, being the
+love of pleasure, none are so sure of a gracious reception
+as those who appear at his public levees,
+attended by a handsome wife or blooming daughter.
+The fact is so well known all over the country, and&mdash;I
+blush to say it&mdash;the national character is so far
+sinking under the influence of this profligate government,
+that beauties flock from every province for
+the chance of being noticed by the favourite. His
+public levee presents every week a collection of the
+handsomest women in the country, attended by
+their fathers or husbands. A suit thus supported
+is never known to fail.</p>
+
+<p>The young aspirants to a <i>toga</i>, or judge’s gown,
+often succeed through some indirect influence of
+this kind. The strange notion that an <i>advocate</i>&mdash;one
+that has pleaded causes at the bar&mdash;has, in a
+manner, disqualified himself for the bench, leaves
+the administration of justice open to inexperienced
+young men, who, having taken a degree in Roman
+law, and nominally attached themselves for a short<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>
+time to an <i>advocate</i>, as practitioners, are suddenly
+raised to the important station of judges, either by
+marrying any of the Queen’s maids of honour, or
+some more humble beauty on whom the Prince of
+the Peace has cast a transient gleam of favour. I
+have known such a reward extended to the sister
+of a temporary favourite, who, being poor, and in
+love with a young man of family, poor himself,
+and hopeless of otherwise obtaining a place, enabled
+him to marry, by bringing a judge’s gown for
+her portion. Yet so perfectly can circumstances
+alter the connexion which some moral feelings have
+between themselves under certain forms and modifications
+of society, that the man I allude to, as
+having owed his promotion to such objectionable
+influence, is an example of justice and impartiality
+in the difficult station in which he has been placed.
+I do not mean, however, that a person who degrades
+his character with a view to promotion, gives a fair
+promise of honourable principles when called to
+discharge the duties of a public office: the growing
+venality of our judges is too sad and clear a proof
+of the reverse. But when a Government becomes
+so perfectly abandoned as to block up with filth and
+pollution every avenue to wealth, power, and even
+bare subsistence, men who, in a happier country,
+would have looked upon the contaminated path
+with abhorrence, or, had they ventured a single step
+upon it, would have been confirmed in their degradation
+by the indelible brand of public censure;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>
+are seen to yield for a moment to the combined influence
+of want and example, and recover themselves
+so far, as almost to deserve the thanks of the people
+for having snatched a portion of authority from the
+grasp of the absolutely worthless.</p>
+
+<p>Before I proceed to the remaining class of <i>Pretendientes</i>,
+allow me, as a relief from the contemplation
+of this scene of vice and corruption, to acquaint
+you with a man in power who, unwarped
+by any undue influence, has uniformly employed
+his patronage in the encouragement of modest and
+retiring merit. His name is Don Manuel Sixto
+Espinosa. His father was a musician, who having
+had the good fortune to please the King by his
+tasteful performances on the piano, was appointed
+teacher of that instrument to the Royal Family.
+His son, a young man of great natural abilities,
+which he had applied to the study of finance and
+political economy, (branches of knowledge little
+attended to in Spain,) had been gradually raised
+to a place of considerable influence in that department,
+when his well-known talents made the Prince
+of the Peace fix upon him as the fittest man to
+direct the establishment for the consolidation of
+the public debt. Espinosa, as Director of the
+Sinking Fund, has been accused of impiety by the
+clergy, for trespassing on their overgrown privileges;
+and blamed, by such as allow themselves to
+canvass state matters in whispers, for not opposing
+the misapplication of the funds he enables Govern<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span>ment
+to collect. It would be needless to answer
+the first charge. As to the second, common candour
+will allow that it is unfair to confound the
+duties of a collector with those of a trustee of the
+national revenue.</p>
+
+<p>Without, however, entering upon the only remaining
+question, whether, in the unfortunate circumstances
+of this country, it is an honest man’s
+duty to refuse his services to a Government whose
+object is to fleece the subject in order to pamper its
+own vices&mdash;a doctrine doubtful in theory, and
+almost inapplicable in practice,&mdash;Espinosa has qualities
+acknowledged by all who know him, and even
+undenied by his enemies, which, without raising
+him into an heroic model of public virtue, make
+him a striking instance of the power of virtuous
+and honourable principle, in the midst of every allurement
+and temptation which profligacy, armed
+with supreme power, can employ. Inaccessible to
+influence, his patronage has uniformly been extended
+to men of undoubted merit. A manuscript
+Essay on Political Economy, written by a friendless
+young man and presented to Espinosa, was enough
+to obtain the author a valuable appointment. A
+decided enemy to the custom of receiving presents,
+so prevalent in Spain, as to have become a matter
+of course in every suit, either for justice or favour;
+I positively know, that when a commercial transaction,
+to the amount of millions, between this
+Government and a mercantile house in London<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>
+had received his approbation, Espinosa sent back a
+hamper of wine, which one of the partners had
+hoped, from its trifling value, he would have received
+as a token of gratitude. His private conduct
+is exemplary, and his manners perfectly free from
+“the insolence of office,” which he might assume
+from the high honours to which he has been raised.
+His parents, now very old, and living in the modest,
+unassuming style which becomes their original rank,
+are visited by Espinosa every Sunday, (the only day
+which leaves him a moment of rest) and treated
+with the utmost kindness and deference. Always
+mild and modest in his deportment, it is on these
+occasions that he seems quite to forget his honours,
+and carry himself back to the time when he looked
+for love and protection from those two, now, helpless
+beings. It is there, and only there, that I once
+met Espinosa, and he has ever since possessed my
+respect. If I have dwelt too long on the subject
+of a man perfectly unknown to you, I trust you
+will not attribute it to any of the motives which
+generally prompt the praises of men in power.
+These, indeed, can never reach the ear of him they
+commend, nor has he the means to serve the eulogist.
+But the daily sickening sight of this infamous
+Court makes the mind cling to the few objects
+which still bear the impress of virtue: and having
+to proceed with the disgusting picture in which I
+have engaged, I gladly seized the opportunity of
+dispelling the impression which my subject might<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>
+leave, either that I take pleasure in vilifying my
+country, or that every seed of honour has died
+away from the land.</p>
+
+<p>I do not know how it happens that in going
+through the description of the different classes of
+<i>Pretendientes</i>, I have inverted the order which they
+hold in my enumeration, so that I still find myself
+with the Reverend <i>Stall-hunters</i> upon my hands.
+These, as you may suppose, are, by the decencies
+of their profession, compelled to take quite a different
+course from those already described; for
+Hymen, in this country, expects nothing from the
+clergy but disturbance; and Love, accustomed, at
+Court, to the glitter of lace and embroidery, is,
+usually, frightened at the approach of their black
+cloaks, and the flapping brims of their enormous
+hats.</p>
+
+<p>During the last reign, and the early part of the
+present, the King seldom disposed of his patronage
+without the advice of his Privy Council. The
+<i>Camaristas de Castilla</i> received the petitions of
+the candidates, accompanied by documental proofs
+of their merits and qualifications, and reported
+thereon to the King through the Minister of the
+home department. Such was the established practice
+till the Queen took to herself the patronage of
+the Crown, and finally shared it with her favourite.
+The houses of the Privy Counsellors were, accordingly,
+the great resort of the Clerical <i>Pretendientes</i>.
+Letters of introduction to some of the <i>Camaristas</i><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>
+were considered the most indispensable provision
+for the Madrid journey; and no West Indian slave
+was ever so dependent on the nod of his master, as
+these parasites were on the humours of the whole
+family of the Privy Counsellor, where each had the
+happiness to be received as a constant visiter.
+There he might be seen in the morning relieving
+the <i>ennui</i> of the lady of the house; who, from the
+late period of life at which judges are promoted to a
+place in the King’s Council, are themselves of the
+age which we call <i>canonical</i>; and there he was sure
+to be found in the evening making one at the game
+of <i>Mediatór</i>, without which her ladyship would be
+more restless and unhappy than if she had missed
+her supper. In this Egyptian bondage the clerical
+aspirant would pass three or four years of his life,
+till his patron was willing and able to obtain for him
+the first place in the list of three candidates presented
+to the King at each vacancy, when the happy man
+quitted the Court for some cathedral, there quietly
+to enjoy the fruits of his patience and perseverance.</p>
+
+<p>The road to preferment is, at present, more intricate
+and uncertain. I know a few who have
+been promoted in consequence of having assisted
+the Government with their pens. Such is the case
+of a clergyman, whose work against the privileges
+of the province of Biscay was the prelude to the
+repeal of its ancient charters under the Prince of the
+Peace: such is that of a learned sycophant who has
+lately given us a National Cathechism, in imitation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>
+of one published by Napoleon after his accession to
+the throne of France, setting forth the divine right
+of Kings, and the duty of passive obedience. But
+the despotism which crushes us, is too pampered
+and overgrown to require the assistance of pensioned
+scribblers. There was a period when the Prince of
+the Peace was pleased to see his name in verse;
+but crowds of sonnetteers showered so profusely
+their praises upon him, that he has grown insensible
+to the voice of the Muses. He, now and then,
+rewards some of his clerical courtiers, with a recommendation
+to the minister, which amounts to a
+positive order; but seems rather shy of meddling
+with such paltry concerns. It is the Queen who
+has, of late, taken possession of the keys of the
+church, which she commits into the hands of her
+first lady of the bed-chamber, allowing her to levy
+a toll on such as apply for admittance to the snug
+corners of the establishment. I do not report from
+hearsay. The son of a very respectable Seville
+tradesman, whom I have known all my life, having
+taken orders, became acquainted with a person
+thoroughly conversant with the state of the Court,
+who put him in possession of the secret springs
+which might promote him at once to a prebendal
+stall in the cathedral of his own town. The young
+man had no qualifications but a handsome person,
+and a pretty long purse, of which, however, his
+father had still the strings in his own hands.
+Four thousand dollars, or two years income of
+the prebend, was the market-price then fixed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>
+by the lady of the bed-chamber; and though
+the good dull man, the father, was not unwilling
+to lay out the money so evidently to the advantage
+of his son, he had heard something about simony,&mdash;a
+word which, together with his natural reluctance
+to part with his bullion, gave him such
+qualms of conscience as threatened to quash the
+young man’s hopes. The latter possessed but a
+very scanty stock of learning, but was not easily
+driven to his wit’s end; and, knowing too well the
+versatile nature of casuistry, proposed a consultation
+of three reverend divines, in order to take their
+opinion as to the lawfulness of the transaction. The
+point being duly debated, it appeared that, since
+the essence of simony is the purchase of spiritual
+things for money, and the interest of the Queen’s
+confidant was perfectly wordly and temporal, it
+might conscientiously be bought for the sum at
+which she valued it. The young man, furnished
+with his gold credentials, was a short time ago
+properly introduced to the Queen’s female favourite.
+Having attended her evening parties for a short
+time, he has, without farther trouble, been presented
+to the vacant stall at Seville.</p>
+
+<p>The hardships of a <i>Pretendiente’s</i> life, especially
+such as do not centre their views in the church, have
+often furnished the theatre with amusing scenes.
+The Spanish proverbial imprecation&mdash;“May you be
+dragged about as a <i>Pretendiente</i>,” cannot be felt in its
+full force but by such as, like myself, have lived on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>
+terms of intimacy with some of that unfortunate
+race. A scanty supply of money from their families
+is the only fund on which a young man, in pursuit
+of a judge’s gown, must draw for subsistence,
+for three or four journeys a year to the <i>Sitios</i>, in
+order to attend the Court; for the court-dress which
+he is obliged to wear almost daily; and the turns of
+ill-luck at the card-table of his lady patroness.
+What a notion would an Englishman form of our
+degree of refinement, if he was to enter one of the
+lodging-houses at Aranjuez, for instance, and find a
+large paved court surrounded by apartments, each
+filled by a different set of lodgers, with three or four
+wretched beds, and not so many chairs for all furniture;
+here one of the party blacking his shoes;
+there another darning his stockings; a third brushing
+the court-dress he is to wear at the minister’s
+levee; while a fourth lies still in bed, resting, as
+well as he can, from the last night’s ball! As hackney
+coaches are not known either at Madrid or the
+Sitios, there is something both pitiable and ludicrous
+in the appearance of these judges, intendants,
+and governors in embryo, sallying forth in full
+dress, after their laborious toilet, to pick their way
+through the mud, often casting an anxious look on
+the lace frills and ruffles which, artfully attached to the
+sleeves and waistcoat, might by some untoward accident,
+betray the coarse and discoloured shirt which
+they meant to conceal. Thus they trudge to the palace,
+to walk up and down the galleries for hours, till they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>
+have succeeded in making a bow to the minister,
+or any other great personage, on whom their
+hopes depend. Having performed this important
+piece of duty, they retire to a very scanty dinner,
+unless their good stars should put them in the way
+of an invitation. In the afternoon they must make
+their appearance in the public walk, where the
+royal family take a daily airing; after which, the
+day is closed by the attendance at the <i>Tertulia</i> of
+some great lady, if they be fortunate enough to
+have obtained her leave to pay her this daily tribute
+of respect.</p>
+
+<p>Such as visit Madrid and the <i>Sitios</i>, independent
+of Court favour, may, for a few weeks, find amusement
+in the strangeness of the scene. The Court
+of Spain is, otherwise, too dull, stiff, and formal, to
+become an interesting residence. The only good
+society in the upper ranks is to be found among
+the <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>. The King, wholly occupied
+in the chase, and the Queen in her <i>boudoir</i>,
+are, of late, extremely averse to the theatres. Two
+Spanish play-houses are still allowed to be open
+every night; but the opera has been discontinued
+for several years, merely because it was a daily <i>rendezvous</i>
+for the higher classes. So jealous is the
+Queen of fashionable assemblies, that the grandees
+do not venture to admit more than four or five individuals
+to their <i>tertulias</i>; and scarcely a ball is
+given at Madrid in the course of the year. This,
+however, is never attempted without asking the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span>
+Queen’s permission. The Marchioness of Santiago,
+whose evening parties were numerous, and attended
+by the most agreeable and accomplished people in
+the capital, was, a short time since, obliged, by an
+intimation communicated through the police, to
+deny her house to her friends.</p>
+
+<p>Even bull-fights have been forbidden, and the
+idle population of the metropolis of Spain have
+been left no other source of amusement than collecting
+every evening in the extensive walk called
+El Prado, after having lounged away the morning
+about the streets, or basked in the sun, during the
+winter, at the Puerta del Sol, a large space, almost
+surrounded by public buildings. The coffee-rooms
+are, in the cold season, crowded for about an hour
+after dinner, i. e. from three to four in the afternoon,
+and in the early part of the evening; but the noise,
+and the smoke of the cigars, make these places as
+close and disagreeable as any tap-room in London.
+It would be absurd to expect any kind of rational
+conversation in such places. The most interesting
+topics must be carefully avoided, for fear of the
+combined powers of the police and the Inquisition,
+whose spies are dreaded in all public places. Hence
+the depraved taste which degrades our intercourse
+to an eternal giggling and bantering.</p>
+
+<p>Our daily resource for society is the house of
+Don Manuel Josef Quintana, a young lawyer,
+whose poetical talents, select reading, and various
+information, place him among the first of our men<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>
+of letters; while the kindness of his heart, and the
+lofty and honourable principles of his conduct,
+make him an invaluable friend and most agreeable
+companion. After our evening walk in the Prado,
+we retire to that gentleman’s study, where four or
+five others, of similar taste and opinions, meet to
+converse with freedom upon whatever subjects are
+started. The political principles of Quintana and
+his best friends consist in a rooted hatred of the existing
+tyranny, and a great dislike of the prevailing
+influence of the French Emperor over the Spanish
+Court.</p>
+
+<p>It was in this knot of literary friends that an attempt
+to establish a Monthly Magazine originated,
+a short time before my arrival at Madrid. But
+such is the listlessness of the country on every
+thing relating to literature, such the trammels in
+which the <i>Censors</i> confine the invention of the
+writers, that the publication of the <i>Miscelanea</i> was
+given up in a few months. Few, besides, as our
+men of taste are in number, they have split into
+two parties, who pursue each other with the weapons
+of satire and ridicule.</p>
+
+<p>Moratin, the first of our comic writers&mdash;a man
+whose genius, were he free from the prejudices of
+strict adherence to the <i>Unities</i>, and extreme servility
+to the Aristotelic rules of the drama, might have
+raised our theatre to a decided superiority over the
+rest of Europe, and who, notwithstanding the trammels
+in which he exerts his talents, has given us<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>
+six plays, which for the elegance, the liveliness, and
+the refined graces of the dialogue, as well as the
+variety, the truth, the interest, and comic power of
+the characters, do not yield, in my opinion, to the
+best modern pieces of the French, or the English
+stage&mdash;Moratin, I say, may be considered as the
+centre of one of the small literary parties of this
+capital, while Quintana is the leader of the other.
+Difference of opinion on literary subjects is not,
+however, the source of this division. Moratin and
+his friends have courted the favour of the Prince of
+the Peace, while Quintana has never addressed a
+line to the favourite. This tacit reproach, embittered,
+very probably, by others rather too explicit,
+dropped by the independent party, has kindled a
+spirit of enmity among the Court <i>literati</i>, which,
+besides producing a total separation, breaks out in
+satire and invective on the appearance of any composition
+from the pen of Quintana.</p>
+
+<p>I have been insensibly led where I cannot avoid
+entering upon the subject of literature, though from
+the nature of these letters, as well as the limits to
+which I am forced to confine them, it was my intention
+to pass it over in silence. I shall not, however,
+give you any speculations on so extensive a
+topic, but content myself with making you acquainted
+with the names which form the scanty
+list of our living poets.</p>
+
+<p>I have already mentioned Moratin and Quintana.
+I do not know that the former has published any<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>
+thing besides his plays, or that he has, as yet,
+given a collection of them to the public. I conceive
+that some fears of the Inquisitorial censures
+are the cause of this delay. There has, indeed,
+been a time when his play, <i>La Mogigata</i>, or Female
+Devotee, was scarcely allowed to be acted, it being
+believed that, but for the patronage of the Prince of
+the Peace, it would long before have been placed in
+the list of forbidden works.</p>
+
+<p>Quintana has published a small collection of short
+poems, which deservedly classes him among those
+Spaniards who are just allowed to give a specimen
+of their powers, and shew us the waste of talents
+for which our oppressive system of government
+is answerable to civilized Europe. He has
+embellished the title-page of his book with an emblematical
+vignette, where a winged human figure
+is seen chained to the threshold of a gloomy Gothic
+structure, looking up to the Temple of the Muses
+in the attitude of resigned despondency. I should
+not have mentioned this trifling circumstance,
+were it not a fresh proof of the pervading feeling
+under which every aspiring mind among us is
+doomed hopelessly to linger.</p>
+
+<p>It is not, however, the Gothic structure of our
+national system alone which confines the poetic
+genius of Spain. There is (if I may venture some
+vague conjectures upon a difficult and not yet fairly
+tried subject) a want of flexibility in the Spanish
+language, arising from the great length of most<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>
+of its words, the little variety of its terminations,
+and the bulkiness of its adverbs, which must for
+ever, I fear, clog its verse. The sound of our best
+poetry is grand and majestic indeed; but it requires
+an uncommon skill to subdue and modify that
+sound, so as to relieve the ear and satisfy the mind.
+Since the introduction of the Italian measures
+by Boscan and Garcilaso, at the beginning of the
+sixteenth century, our best poets have been servile
+imitators of Petrarch, and the writers of that school.
+Every Spanish poet has, like the knight of La
+Mancha, thought it his bounden duty to be desperately
+in love, deriving both his subject and
+his inspiration from a minute dissection of his
+lady. The language, in the mean time, condemned
+for centuries, from the unexampled slavery
+of our press, to be employed almost exclusively in
+the daily and familiar intercourse of life, has had its
+richest ornaments tarnished and soiled, by the powerful
+influence of mental association. Scarcely one
+third of its copious dictionary can be used in dignified
+prose, while a very scanty list of words composes
+the whole stock which poetry can use without producing
+either a sense of disgust or ridicule. In
+spite of these fetters, Quintana’s poetical compositions
+convey much deep thought and real feeling;
+and should an unexpected revolution in politics allow
+his mind that freedom, without which the most vigorous
+shoots of genius soon sicken and perish, his
+powerful numbers might well inspire his country<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>men
+with that ardent and disinterested love of
+liberty which adds dignity to the amiableness of
+his character.</p>
+
+<p>The poet who has obtained most popularity in
+our days is Melendez, a lawyer, who, having for
+some time been a professor of polite literature
+at Salamanca, was raised by the Prince of the Peace
+to a place in the Council of Castile, and, not long
+after, rusticated to his former residence, where he
+remains to this day. Melendez is a man of great
+natural talents, improved by more reading and information
+than is commonly found among our men
+of taste. His popularity as a poet, however, was at
+first raised on the very slight and doubtful foundation
+of a collection of Anacreontics, and a few love-poems,
+possessing little more merit than an harmonious language,
+and a certain elegant simplicity. Melendez,
+in his youth, was deeply infected with the mawkish
+sensibility of the school of Gessner; and had he not
+by degrees aimed at nobler subjects than his <i>Dove</i>,
+and his <i>Phyllis</i>, a slender progress in the national
+taste of Spain would have been sufficient to consign
+his early poems to the toilettes of our town
+shepherdesses. He has, however, in his maturer
+age, added a collection of odes to his pastorals,
+where he shows himself a great master of Spanish
+verse, though still deficient in boldness and originality.
+That he ranks little above the degree of a
+sweet versifier, is more to be attributed to that want
+of freedom which clips the wings of thought in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>
+every Spaniard, than to the absence of real genius.
+It is reported that Melendez is employed in a translation
+of Virgil: should he live to complete it, I
+have no doubt it will do honour to our country.</p>
+
+<p>During the attempt to awaken the Spanish Muse,
+which has been made for the last fifty years, none
+has struck out a fairer path towards her emancipation
+from the affected, stiff, and cumbrous style in
+which she was dressed by our Petrarchists of the
+sixteenth century than a naval officer named Arriaza.
+If his admirable command of language, and
+liveliness of fancy, were supported by any depth of
+thought, acquired knowledge, or the least degree
+of real feeling; the Spaniards would have an original
+poet to boast of.</p>
+
+<p>Few as the names of note are in the poetical
+department, I fear I must be completely silent
+in regard to the branch of eloquence. Years pass
+with us without the publication of any original
+work. A few translations from the French, with
+now and then a sermon, is all the Madrid Gazette
+can muster to fill up its page of advertisements.
+A compilation, entitled El Viagero Universal, and
+the translation of Guthrie’s Grammar of Geography,
+are looked upon as efforts both of literary industry
+and commercial enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>There exist two Royal Academies&mdash;one for the
+improvement of the Spanish Language, the other
+for the advancement of National History. We owe
+to the former an ill-digested dictionary, with a very
+bad grammar; and to the latter some valuable dis<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>courses,
+and an incomplete geographical and historical
+dictionary. Had the <i>Spanish Academy</i> continued
+their early labours, and called in the aid of
+real talent, instead of filling up the list of members
+with titled names, which have made it ridiculous;
+their Dictionary might, without great difficulty,
+have been improved into a splendid display of one
+of the richest among modern languages; and the
+philosophical spirit of the age would have been applied
+to the elucidation of its elements. That Academy
+has published a volume of prize essays and
+poems, the fruits of a very feeble competition, in
+which the poetry partakes largely of the servility of
+imitation to which I have already alluded, and the
+prose is generally stiff and affected. Our style, in
+fact, is, at present, quite unsettled&mdash;fluctuating
+between the wordy pomposity of our old writers,
+without their ease, and the epigrammatic conciseness
+of second-rate French writers, stripped of their
+sprightliness and graces. As long, however, as we
+are condemned to the dead silence in which the
+nation has been kept for centuries, there is little
+chance of fixing any standard of taste for Spanish
+eloquence. Capmany, probably our best living philologist
+and prose writer, insists upon our borrowing
+every word and phrase from the authors of the
+sixteenth century, the golden age (as it is called)
+of our literature; while the Madrid translators seem
+determined to make the Spanish language a dialect
+of the French&mdash;a sort of <i>Patois</i>, unintelligible to
+either nation. The true path certainly lies between<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>
+both. The greatest part of our language has been
+allowed to become vulgar or obsolete. The languages
+which, during the mental progress of Europe,
+have been made the vehicles and instruments
+of thought, have left ours far behind in the powers
+of abstraction and precision; and the rich treasure
+which has been allowed to lie buried so long, must
+be re-coined and burnished, before it can be recognised
+for sterling currency. It is neither by rejecting
+as foreign whatever expressions cannot be found
+in the writers under the Austrian dynasty, nor by
+disfiguring our idiom with Gallicisms, that we can
+expect to shape it to our present wants and fashions.
+Our aim should be to think for ourselves in our own
+language&mdash;to <i>think</i>, I say, and express our thoughts
+with clearness, force, and precision; not to imitate
+the mere sound of the empty periods which generally
+swell the pages of the old Spanish writers.</p>
+
+<p>I do not mean, however, to pester you with a
+dissertation. Wretched as is the present state of
+Spanish literature, it would require a distinct series
+of letters to trace the causes of its decay, to relate
+the vicissitudes it has suffered, and to weigh the
+comparative merits of such as, under the deadening
+influence of the most absolute despotism, are still
+endeavouring to feed the smouldering fire, which,
+but for their efforts, would have long since been extinguished.</p>
+
+<p>You will, I trust, excuse this short digression, in
+the sure hope that I shall resume the usual gossip
+in my next letter.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER XII.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Seville, July 25, 1808.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Acquainted</span>
+as you must be with the events
+which, for these last two months, have fixed the eyes
+of Europe on this country, it can give you little
+surprise to find me dating again from my native
+town. I have arrived just in time to witness the
+unbounded joy which the defeat of Dupont’s army,
+at Baylen, has diffused over this town. The air resounds
+with acclamations, and the deafening clangour
+of the Cathedral bells, announces the arrival of
+the victorious General Castaños, who, more surprised
+at the triumph of his arms than any one of
+his countrymen, is just arrived to give thanks to
+the body of Saint Ferdinand, and to repose a few
+days under his laurels.</p>
+
+<p>There is something very melancholy in the wild
+enthusiasm, the overweening confidence, and mad
+boasting which prevail in this town. Lulled into a
+security which threatens instant death to any who
+should dare disturb it with a word of caution, both
+the <i>Junta</i> and the people look on the present war<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>
+as ended by this single blow; and while they spend,
+in processions and Te-Deums, the favourable moments
+when they might advance on Madrid, their
+want of foresight, and utter ignorance of the means
+of retaliation possessed by the enemy, induce them
+loudly to call for the infraction of the capitulation
+which has placed a French army in their power.
+The troops, which the articles agreed upon entitle
+to a conveyance to their own country, are, by the
+effect of popular clamour, to be confined in hulks,
+in the Bay of Cadiz. General Dupont is the only
+individual who, besides being treated with a degree
+of courtesy and respect, which, were it not for the
+rumours afloat, would bring destruction upon the
+Junta; has been promised a safe retreat into France.
+He is now handsomely lodged in a Dominican
+convent, and attended by a numerous guard of
+honour. The morning after his private arrival, the
+people began to assemble in crowds, and consequences
+fatal to the General were dreaded. Several
+members of the Junta, who were early to pay the
+general their respects, and chiefly one Padre Gil,<a id="FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a>
+a wild, half-learned monk, whose influence over the
+Sevillian mob is unbounded; came forward, desiring
+the multitude to disperse. Whether truth and
+the urgency of the case forced out a secret, known
+only to the Junta; or whether it was an artifice of
+the orator, who, among his eccentricities and moun<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>tebank
+tricks, must be allowed the praise of boldness
+in openly condemning the murders of which
+the mob has been guilty; he asserted in his speech,
+that “Spain was more indebted to Dupont than
+the people were aware of.” These words, uttered
+with a strong and mysterious emphasis, had the desired
+effect, and the French general has now only
+to dread the treatment which may await him in
+France, in consequence of his defeat and surrender.</p>
+
+<p>Having made you acquainted with the only circumstances
+in the last most important event, which
+the public accounts are not likely to mention, I
+shall have done with news&mdash;a subject to which I
+feel an unconquerable aversion&mdash;and begin my account
+of the limited field of observation in which
+my own movements, since the first approach of the
+present troubles, have placed me.</p>
+
+<p>The first visible symptom of impending convulsions
+was the arrest of Ferdinand, then Prince of
+Asturias, by order of his father. My inseparable
+companion, Leandro, had been for some time acquainted
+with a favourite of the Prince of the Peace,
+who, being like my friend, addicted to music, had
+often asked us to his amateur parties. On the
+second of last November we were surprised by a
+letter from that gentleman, requesting my friend to
+proceed to the Escurial without delay, on business
+of great importance. As we walked to the Puerta
+del Sol, to procure a one-horse chaise, called <i>Caleza</i>,
+the news of the Prince’s arrest was whispered to us,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>
+by an acquaintance, whom we met at that winter
+resort of all the Madrid loungers. We consulted
+for a few minutes on the expediency of venturing
+near the Lion’s den, when his Majesty was so perfectly
+out of all temper; but curiosity and a certain
+love of adventure prevailed, and we set off at a
+round trot for the Escurial.</p>
+
+<p>The village adjacent to the building bearing that
+name, is one of the meanest in that part of Castille.
+Houses for the accommodation of the King’s suite
+have been erected at a short distance from the monastic
+palace, which the royal family divide with
+the numerous community of Hieronymites, to whom
+Philip II. assigned one wing of that magnificent
+structure. But such as, following the Court on
+business, are obliged to take lodgings in the neighbourhood,
+must be contented with the most wretched
+hovels. In one of these we found our friend,
+Colonel A., who, though military tutor to the
+youngest of the King’s sons, might well have exchanged
+his room and furniture for such as are
+found in England at the most miserable pot-house.
+My intimacy with Leandro was accepted as an excuse
+for my intrusion, and we were each accommodated
+with a truckle-bed, quickly set up in the two
+opposite corners of the Colonel’s sitting-room. The
+object of the summons which had occasioned our
+journey, was not long kept a secret. The clergyman
+who superintended the classical studies of the
+Infante Don Francisco de Paula, was suspected of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>
+having assisted the Prince of Asturias in the secret
+application to Buonaparte, which had produced the
+present breach in the royal family. Should the
+proofs of his innocence, which the tutor had presented
+to the King and Queen, fail to re-establish
+him in their good opinion, my friend would be proposed
+as a successor, and enter without delay upon
+the duties of the office. The whole business was
+to be decided in the course of the next day. The
+present being the commemoration of the Departed,
+or All-Souls’ Day, we wished to visit the church
+during the evening service. On taking leave of
+the Colonel, he cautioned us not to approach that
+part of the building where the Prince was confined
+under a guard, to his own apartments.</p>
+
+<p>Though this was our first visit to the Escurial,
+the disclosure which had just been made to
+my friend, was of too important a nature to leave
+us in a fit mood to enjoy the solemn grandeur of the
+structure to which we were directing our steps, and
+the rude magnificence of the surrounding scene.
+To be placed near one of the members of the royal
+family, when that family had split into two irreconcileable
+parties, and to be reckoned among the
+enemies of the heir apparent, was, at once, to
+plunge headlong into the most dangerous vortex of
+Court intrigue which had yet threatened to overwhelm
+the country. To decline the offer, when the
+candidate’s name had in all probability received the
+sanction of the Prince of the Peace, was to incur<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span>
+suspicion from those who had arbitrary power in
+their hands. In this awkward dilemma, our most
+flattering prospect was the acquittal of the tutor,
+an event by no means improbable, considering the
+well-known dulness of that grave personage, and
+the hints of the approaching release of the Prince,
+which we had gathered from the Colonel. We
+therefore proposed to divert our thoughts from the
+subject of our fears by contemplating the objects
+before us.</p>
+
+<p>The Escurial incloses within the circuit of its
+massive and lofty walls, the King’s palace, the monastery,
+with a magnificent church, and the Pantheon,
+or subterranean vault of beautiful marble,
+surrounded with splendid sarcophagi, for the remains
+of the Spanish Kings and their families. It
+stands near the top of a rugged mountain, in the
+chain which separates Old from New Castille, and
+by the side of an enormous mass of rock, which
+supplied the architect with materials. It was the
+facility of quarrying the stone where it was to be
+employed, that made the gloomy tyrant, Philip II.,
+mark out this wild spot in preference to others,
+equally sequestered and less exposed to the fury of
+the winds, which blow here with incredible violence.
+To have an adequate shelter from the blast,
+an ample passage, well aired and lighted, was contrived
+by the architect from the palace to the
+village.</p>
+
+<p>The sullen aspect of the building; the bleak and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>
+rude mountain top, near which it stands more in
+rivalry than contrast; the wild and extensive glen
+opening below, covered with woods of rugged,
+shapeless, stunted ilex, surrounded by brushwood;
+the solitude and silence which the evening twilight
+bestowed on the whole scenery, increased to the
+fancy by the shy and retiring manners of a scanty
+population, trained under the alternate awe of the
+Court, and their own immediate lords, the monks,&mdash;all
+this, heightened by the breathless expectation
+which the imprisonment of the heir apparent had
+created, and the cautious looks of the few attendants
+who had followed the royal family on this occasion;
+impressed us with a vague feeling of insecurity,
+which it would be difficult to express or analyze.
+No one except ourselves and the monks,
+perambulating the aisles with lighted tapers in their
+hands, in order to chant dirges to the memory of
+the founder and benefactors, was to be seen within
+the precincts of the temple. The vaults re-echoed
+our very steps when the chorus of deep voices had
+yielded to the trembling accents of the old priest
+who presided at the ceremony. To skulk in the
+dark, might have excited suspicion, and to come
+within the glare of the monks’ tapers, was the sure
+means of raising their unbounded curiosity. We
+soon therefore glided into the cloisters next to the
+church. But, not being well acquainted with the
+locality of the immense and intricate labyrinth
+which the monastery presents to a stranger, the fear<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>
+of getting upon forbidden ground, or of being
+locked up for the night, induced us to retire to our
+lodgings.</p>
+
+<p>With the approbation of our host, we ventured
+the next morning to apply to the monk, who acts,
+by appointment, as the <i>Cicerone</i> of the monastery,
+for a view of the chief curiosities it contains. He
+allowed us a walk in the magnificent and valuable
+library, which is said to be one of the richest European
+treasures of ancient manuscripts&mdash;a treasure,
+indeed, which, amidst those mountains, and under
+the control of an illiberal government and a set of
+ignorant, lazy monks, may be said to be hid in the
+earth. The collection of first-rate pictures at the
+Escurial is immense; and the walls may be said to
+be covered with them. One has only to lounge
+about the numerous cloisters of the Monastery, to
+satiate the most craving appetite for the beauties of
+art. Our guide, however, who took no pleasure in
+going over the same ground for the ten-thousandth
+time, hurried us to the collection of relics, in which
+he seemed to take a never failing delight. I will
+not give you the list of these spiritual treasures.
+It fills up a large board from three to four feet in
+length, and of a proportionate breadth, at the entrance
+of the choir. Yet I cannot omit that we
+were shewn the body of one of the innocents massacred
+by Herod, and some coagulated milk of the
+Virgin Mary. The monk cast upon us his dark,
+penetrating eyes, as he exhibited these two most<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>
+curious objects;&mdash;but the air of the Escurial has a
+peculiar power to lengthen and fix the muscles of
+the face. There is, in the same room which contains
+the relics, a curious box of a black shining
+wood, probably ebony, the whole lid of which is
+covered, on the inside, with the wards of a most
+complicated lock. It is said to have contained the
+secret correspondence of the unfortunate Don Carlos,
+which his unnatural father, Philip II., made
+the pretext for his imprisonment, and probably for
+the violent death which is supposed to have ended
+his misery.</p>
+
+<p>On returning from the inspection of the Monastery,
+our suspense was relieved by the welcome
+intelligence that the Infante’s tutor had been fully
+acquitted. The Prince of Asturias, we were told
+also, had mentioned to the King the names of his
+advisers, and was now released from confinement.
+My friend was too conscious of the danger which,
+in the shape of promotion, had hung over his
+head for some hours, not to rejoice in what many
+would call his disappointment. He had probably
+dallied some moments with ambition; but, if so,
+he was fortunate enough to perceive that she had
+drawn him to the brink of a precipice.</p>
+
+<p>The Prince of the Peace had, against his custom,
+remained at Madrid during the Escurial season,
+that he might escape the imputation of promoting
+the unhappy divisions of the royal family. Something
+was rumoured at Madrid of a dismemberment<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>
+of Portugal intended by Bonaparte, in consequence
+of which Godoy was to obtain an independent sovereignty.
+This report, originally whispered about
+by the friends of the latter, was completely hushed
+up in a few days; while, instead of the buoyancy
+of spirits which the prospect of a crown was likely
+to produce in the favourite, care and anxiety were
+observed to lurk in all his words and motions. He
+continued, however, holding his weekly levees;
+and as the French troops were pouring into the
+Spanish territory, endeavoured to conceal his
+alarm by an air of directing their movements.
+When, however, the French had taken almost violent
+possession of some of our fortresses, and were
+seen advancing to Madrid with Murat at their
+head, there was no farther room for dissimulation.
+Though I had no object at Godoy’s levees but the
+amusement of seeing a splendid assembly, open to
+every male or female who appeared in a decent
+dress; that idle curiosity happened to take me to
+the last he held at Madrid. He appeared, as usual,
+at the farthest end of a long saloon or gallery, surrounded
+by a numerous suite of officers, and advanced
+slowly between the company, who had made
+a way for him in the middle. Such as wished to
+speak to him took care to stand in front, while those
+who, like myself, were content to pay for their
+admission with a bow, kept purposely behind.
+Godoy stood now before the group, of which I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span>
+formed one of the least visible figures, and bowing affably,
+as was his manner, said, in a loud voice, “Gentlemen,
+the French advance fast upon us; we must
+be upon our guard, for there is abundance of bad
+faith on their side.” It was now evident that Napoleon
+had cast off the mask under which he was
+hitherto acting; and such as heard this speech had
+no doubt that the arrival of Izquierdo, Godoy’s
+confidential agent at Paris, had at once undeceived
+him; filling him with shame and vexation at the
+gross artifice to which he had been a dupe.</p>
+
+<p>This happened about the beginning of March.
+The Court had proceeded to their spring residence
+of Aranjuez, and the Prince of the Peace joined the
+royal family soon after. A visible gloom had, by
+this time, overcast Madrid, arising chiefly from a
+rumour, that it was intended by the King and
+Queen to follow the example of the Portuguese
+family, and make their escape to Mexico. Few
+among the better classes were disposed, from love
+or loyalty, to oppose such a determination. But
+Madrid and the royal <i>Sitios</i> would sink into insignificance,
+were the Court to be removed to a distance.
+The dissolution of the most wretched Government
+always fills its dependents with consternation;
+and the pampered guards with which the
+pride of Spanish royalty had surrounded the throne,
+could not endure to be levelled, by the absence of
+the sovereign, with the rest of the army. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>
+plan, therefore, of a flight out of Spain, with the
+ocean at the distance of four hundred miles, was
+perfectly absurd and impracticable.</p>
+
+<p>The departure of the royal family had, with all
+possible secrecy, been fixed for the 19th of March.
+Measures, however, were taken by Ferdinand’s
+friends, on the first appearance of preparations for
+the journey, to defeat the intentions of the King,
+the Queen, and the favourite. Numbers of the
+peasantry were sent to Aranjuez from villages at a
+considerable distance; and the Spanish foot-guards,
+the Walloons, and the horse-guards engaged to support
+the people. Soon after midnight, before the
+19th, a furious attack was made by the populace on
+the house of the Prince of the Peace, who, leaping
+out of his bed, had scarcely time to escape the knives
+which were struck, in frenzied disappointment,
+where the warmth of the sheets clearly shewed
+how recently he had left them. As the doors were
+carefully guarded, no doubt remained of his being
+still in the house; and after the slight search which
+could be made by artificial light, it was determined
+to guard all the outlets till the approaching day.</p>
+
+<p>The alarm soon spread to the royal palace, where
+the Prince’s friends, among whom policy had ranged
+at this critical moment, the ministers who owed
+most to Godoy; hailed, in the King’s terror, and
+the Queen’s anxiety to save the life of her lover, the
+fairest opening for placing Ferdinand on the throne.
+Day-light had enabled the ringleaders to begin the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span>
+most active search after the Prince of the Peace;
+and the certainty of his presence on the spot rendered
+his destruction inevitable. It does honour,
+indeed, to the affectionate and humane character
+of Charles, whatever we may think of his other
+qualities, that he resigned the crown from eagerness
+to rescue his faithless friend. The King’s abdication
+was published to the multitude, with whom
+the guards had taken an open and decided part,
+and Ferdinand appeared on horseback to fulfil the
+engagement he had made to his parents of protecting
+the favourite from the assassins. The unfortunate
+man, after a confinement of more than twelve
+hours, in a recess over the attics of his house, where
+he had lurked, with scarcely any clothing, and in
+absolute want of food and drink, was, if I may credit
+report, compelled by thirst to beg the assistance
+of a servant who betrayed him to his pursuers.
+What saved him from falling on the spot, a victim
+to the fierceness of his enemies&mdash;whether the desire
+of the leaders to inflict upon him a public and
+ignominious death, or some better feelings, of such
+as, at this fearful moment, surrounded his person&mdash;I
+am not able to tell. Nor would I deprive the
+new King of whatever claim to genuine humanity
+his conduct on this occasion may have given him.
+I can only state the fact that, under his escort
+Godoy was carried a prisoner to the Horse-guard
+Barracks, not, however, without receiving some
+severe wounds on the way, inflicted by such as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>
+would not miss the honour of fleshing their knives
+on the man whom but a few hours before, they
+would not have ventured to look boldly in the
+face.</p>
+
+<p>The news of the revolution at Aranjuez had
+spread through the capital by the evening of the
+19th; and it was but too evident that a storm was
+gathering against the nearest relations of Godoy.
+Night had scarcely come on, when a furious mob
+invaded the house of Don Diego, the favourite’s
+younger brother. The ample space which the magnificent
+Calle de Alcalá leaves at its opening into
+the Prado, of which that house forms a corner, afforded
+room not only for the operations of the rioters,
+but for a multitude of spectators, of whom I
+was one myself. The house having been broken
+into, and found deserted, the whole of the rich furniture
+it contained was thrown out at the windows.
+Next came down the very doors, and fixtures of all
+kinds, which, made into an enormous pile with
+tables, bedsteads, chests of drawers, and pianos,
+were soon in a blaze, that, but for the stillness of
+the evening, might have spread to the unoffending
+neighbourhood. Having enjoyed this splendid and
+costly bonfire, the mob ranged themselves in a kind
+of procession, bearing lint-torches, taken from the
+numerous chandlers-shops which are found at Madrid;
+and directed their steps to the house of the
+Prince Franciforte, Godoy’s brother-in-law.</p>
+
+<p>The magistrates, however, had by this time fixed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>
+a board on the doors both of that and Godoy’s
+own house, giving notice that the property both
+of the favourite and his near relations had been
+confiscated by the new King. This was sufficient
+to turn away the mob from the remaining objects
+of their fury; and without any farther mischief,
+they were contented with spending the whole night
+in the streets, bearing about lighted torches, and
+drinking at the expense of the wine-retailers, whose
+shops, like your pot-houses, are the common resort
+of the vulgar. The riot did not cease with the
+morning. Crowds of men and women paraded the
+streets the whole day, with cries of “Long live
+King Ferdinand!&mdash;Death to Godoy!” The whole
+garrison of Madrid were allured out of their barracks
+by bands of women bearing pitchers of wine
+in their hands; and a procession was seen about
+the streets in the afternoon, where the soldiers,
+mixed with the people, bore in their firelocks the
+palm-branches which, as a protection against lightning,
+are commonly hung at the windows. Yet,
+amidst this fearful disorder, no insult was offered to
+the many individuals of the higher classes, who
+ventured among the mob. Nothing, however, appears
+to me so creditable to the populace of Madrid,
+as their abstaining from pillage at the house
+of Diego Godoy&mdash;every article, however valuable,
+was faithfully committed to the flames.</p>
+
+<p>Murat, with his army, was, during these events, at
+a short distance from Madrid. The plan of putting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>
+the royal family to flight had been frustrated by
+the popular commotion at Aranjuez, and the unexpected
+accession of Ferdinand. But the new King,
+no less than his parents, hastening by professions
+of friendship to court the support of French power,
+Murat proceeded to the Spanish capital, there to
+pursue the course which might be most conducive
+to the views of his sovereign. I saw the entrance
+of the division which was to make the town their
+head-quarters. The rest occupied the environs,
+some in a camp within half a mile, and some in
+the neighbouring villages. The French entered as
+friends, and they cannot say that the inhabitants
+shewed, upon that occasion, the least symptoms of
+hostility. The prominent feeling which might be
+observed in the capital, was a most anxious expectation;
+but I know several instances of French soldiers
+relieved by the common people; and had
+Murat acknowledged Ferdinand VII., he with his
+troops would have been hailed and treated as brothers.</p>
+
+<p>The French troops had been but a few days
+at Madrid, when Ferdinand left Aranjuez for his
+capital, where Murat inhabited the magnificent
+house of the Prince of the Peace, within a very
+short distance of the royal palace. From thence he
+encouraged the young King’s hopes of a speedy recognition
+by the Emperor, excusing himself, at the
+same time, for taking no notice of Ferdinand’s
+approach and presence, either by himself or his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span>
+troops. Without any other display but that of the
+most enthusiastic applause from the multitude,
+Ferdinand, on horseback, and attended by a few
+guards, appeared at the gate of Atocha. I had
+placed myself near the entrance, and had a full
+view of him, as, surrounded by the people on foot,
+he moved on slowly, up the beautiful walk called
+El Prado. Never did monarch meet with a more
+loyal and affectionate welcome from his subjects;
+yet, never did subjects behold a more vacant and
+unmeaning countenance, even among the long faces
+of the Spanish Bourbons. To features not at all
+prepossessing, either shyness or awkwardness had
+added a stiffness, which, but for the motion of
+the body, might induce a suspicion that we were
+wasting our greetings on a wax figure.</p>
+
+<p>As if for the sake of contrast, Murat, whose
+handsome figure on horseback was shewn to the
+greatest advantage by a dress almost theatrical, appeared
+every Sunday morning in the Prado, surrounded
+by generals and aid-de-camps, no less
+splendidly accoutred, there to review the picked
+troops of his army. Numbers of people were
+drawn at first by the striking magnificence of this
+martial spectacle; but jealousy and distrust were
+fast succeeding to the suspense and doubt which
+the artful evasions of the French Prince had been
+able to keep up for a time.</p>
+
+<p>The first burst of indignation against the French
+was caused by their interference in favour of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>
+Prince of the Peace. The people of Madrid were
+so eager for the public execution of Godoy, that
+when it was known that the man on whose hanging
+carcase they daily expected to feast their eyes, was
+proceeding out of the kingdom under a French
+escort; loud and fierce murmurs from all quarters of
+the town announced the bitter resentment of disappointed
+revenge. It was, nevertheless, still in the
+power of Napoleon to have kept the whole nation at
+his devotion, by making the long-expected recognition
+of Ferdinand. Even when, through the unworthy
+artifices which are already known to the
+world, Ferdinand had been decoyed to Bayonne,
+and the greatest anxiety prevailed at Madrid as to
+the result of the journey, I witnessed the joy of an
+immense multitude collected at the Puerta del Sol,
+late in the evening, when, probably with a view to
+disperse them, the report was spread that the courier
+we had seen arrive, brought the intelligence of
+Napoleon’s acknowledgement of the young King,
+and his determination to adopt him by marriage into
+his own family. The truth, however, could not be
+concealed any longer; and the plan of usurpation,
+which was disclosed the next morning, produced the
+clearest indications of an inevitable catastrophe.</p>
+
+<p>The wildest schemes for the destruction of the
+French division at Madrid were canvassed almost in
+public, and with very little reserve. Nothing indeed
+so completely betrays our present ignorance as
+to the power and efficiency of regular troops, as the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span>
+projects which were circulated in the capital for an
+attack on the French corps, which still paraded
+every Sunday morning in the <i>Prado</i>. Short pikes,
+headed with a sharp-cutting crescent, were expected
+to be distributed to the spectators, who used
+to range themselves behind the cavalry. At one
+signal the horses were to be houghed with these
+instruments, and the infantry attacked with poniards.
+To remonstrate against such absurd and
+visionary plans, or to caution their advocates against
+an unreserved display of hostile views, which, of
+itself, would be enough to defeat the ablest conspiracy;
+was not only useless, but dangerous. The
+public ferment grew rapidly, and Murat, who was
+fully apprised of its progress, began to shew his intention
+of anticipating resistance.</p>
+
+<p>One Sunday afternoon, towards the end of April,
+as I was walking with a friend in the extensive gardens
+of the old royal palace El Retiro, (which,
+as they adjoin the Prado, are the usual resort of
+such as wish to avoid a crowded walk,) the sound of
+drums beating to arms from several quarters of the
+town, drew us, not without trepidation, to the inner
+gate of the large square, through which lay our
+way out of the palace. The confused voices of
+men, and the more distinct cries of the women, together
+with the view of two French regiments
+drawn up in the square, and in the act of loading
+their muskets, would have placed us in the awkward
+dilemma whether to venture out, or to stay, we<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>
+knew not how long, in the solitary gardens; had
+not a French officer, whom I addressed, assured us
+that we might pass in front of the troops without
+molestation. The Prado, which we had left
+thronged with people, was now perfectly empty,
+except where some horse-patroles of the French
+were scudding away in different directions. As we
+proceeded towards the centre of the town, we were
+told that the alarm had been simultaneous and general.
+Parties of French cavalry had been scouring
+the streets; and, in the wantonness of military
+insolence, some soldiers had made a cut now and
+then at such as did not fly fast enough before them.
+The street-doors were, contrary to the usual practice,
+all shut as in the dead of night, and but
+a few groups of men were seen talking about the
+recent and now subsiding alarm. Among these we
+saw one shewing his hat cut through by the
+sabre of a French dragoon. No one could either
+learn or guess the cause of this affray; but I am
+fully convinced that it was intended just to strike
+fear into the people, and to discourage large meetings
+at the public walks. It was a prelude to the
+second of May&mdash;that day which has heaped the
+curses of every Spaniard on the head which could
+plan its horrors, and the heart that could carry
+them through to the last, without shrinking.</p>
+
+<p>The insurrection of the second of May did not
+arise from any concerted plan of the Spaniards; it
+was, on the contrary, brought about by Murat,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>
+who, wishing to intimidate the country, artfully
+contrived the means of producing an explosion
+in the capital. The old King’s brother and one of
+his sons, who had been left at Madrid, were, on
+that day, to start for Bayonne. The sight of the
+last members of the royal family leaving the country,
+under the present circumstances, could not
+but produce a strong sensation on a people whose
+feelings had for some months been racked to distraction.
+The Council of Regency strongly recommended
+the Infante’s departure in the night;
+but Murat insisted on their setting off at nine
+in the morning. Long before that hour an extensive
+square, of which the new Palace forms the
+front, was crowded with people of the lower
+classes. On the Princes appearing in their travelling
+dresses, both men and women surrounded
+the carriages, and cutting the traces, shewed a determination
+to prevent their departure. One of
+Murat’s aid-de-camps presenting himself at this
+moment, was instantly assaulted by the mob, and
+he would have fallen a victim to their fury but for
+the strong French guard stationed near that general’s
+house. This guard was instantly drawn up,
+and ordered to fire on the people.</p>
+
+<p>My house stood not far from the Palace, in a
+street leading to one of the central points of communication
+with the best part of the town. A rush
+of people crying “To arms,” conveyed to us the
+first notice of the tumult. I heard that the French<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span>
+troops were firing on the people; but the outrage
+appeared to me both so impolitic and enormous,
+that I could not rest until I went out to ascertain
+the truth. I had just arrived at an opening named
+Plazuéla de Santo Domingo, the meeting point of
+four large streets, one of which leads to the Palace,
+when, hearing the sound of a French drum in that
+direction, I stopped with a considerable number of
+decent and quiet people, whom curiosity kept rivetted
+to the spot. Though a strong piquet of infantry
+was fast advancing upon us, we could not imagine
+that we stood in any kind of danger. Under
+this mistaken notion we awaited their approach;
+but, seeing the soldiers halt and prepare their arms,
+we began instantly to disperse. A discharge of
+musketry followed in a few moments, and a man
+fell at the entrance of the street, through which I
+was, with a great throng, retreating from the fire.
+The fear of an indiscriminate massacre arose so naturally
+from this unprovoked assault, that every one
+tried to look for safety in the narrow cross streets
+on both sides of the way. I hastened on towards
+my house, and having shut the front door, could
+think of no better expedient, in the confused state
+of my mind, than to make ball-cartridges for a
+fowling-piece which I kept. The firing of musketry
+continued, and was to be heard in different directions.
+After the lapse of a few minutes, the report
+of large pieces of ordnance, at a short distance,
+greatly increased our alarm. They were fired from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span>
+a park of artillery, which, in great neglect, and with
+no definite object, was kept by the Spanish Government,
+in that part of the town. Murat, who had
+this day all his troops under arms, on fixing the
+points of which they were to gain possession, had
+not forgotten the park of artillery. A strong column
+approached it through a street facing the gate, at
+which Colonel Daoiz, a native of my town, and my
+own acquaintance, who happened to be the senior
+officer on duty, had placed two large pieces loaded
+with grape shot. Determined to perish rather than
+yield to the invaders, and supported in his determination
+by a few artillery-men, and some infantry
+under the command of Belarde, another patriot
+officer; he made considerable havock among the
+French, till, overpowered by numbers, both these
+gallant defenders of their country fell, the latter
+dead, the former desperately wounded. The silence
+of the guns made us suspect that the artillery had
+fallen into the hands of the assailants; and the report
+of some stragglers confirmed that conjecture.</p>
+
+<p>A well-dressed man had, in the mean time, gone
+down the street, calling loudly on the male inhabitants
+to repair to an old depôt of arms. But he
+made no impression on that part of the town. To
+attempt to arm the multitude at this moment was,
+in truth, little short of madness. Soon after the
+beginning of the tumult, two or three columns of
+infantry entered by different gates, making themselves
+masters of the town. The route of the main<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>
+corps lay through the <i>Calle Mayor</i>, where the
+houses, consisting of four or five stories, afforded
+the inhabitants the means of wreaking their vengeance
+on the French, without much danger from
+their arms. Such as had guns, fired from the windows;
+while tiles, bricks, and heavy articles of furniture,
+were thrown by others upon the heads of
+the soldiers. But, now, the French had occupied
+every central position; their artillery had struck
+panic into the confused multitude; some of the
+houses, from which they had been fired at, had
+been entered by the soldiers; and the cavalry were
+making prisoners among such as had not early
+taken to flight. As the people had put to death
+every French soldier, who was found unarmed about
+the streets, the retaliation would have been fearful,
+had not some of the chief Spanish magistrates obtained
+a decree of amnesty, which they read in the
+most disturbed parts of the town.</p>
+
+<p>But Murat thought he had not accomplished his
+object, unless an example was made on a certain
+number of the lower classes of citizens. As the
+amnesty excluded any that should be found bearing
+arms, the French patroles of cavalry, which were
+scouring the streets, searched every man they met,
+and making the clasp knives which our artisans and
+labourers are accustomed to carry in their pockets,
+a pretext for their cruel and wicked purpose, led
+about one hundred men to be tried by a Court
+Martial; in other words, to be butchered in cold<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span>
+blood. This horrid deed, the blackest, perhaps,
+which has stained the French name during their
+whole career of conquest, was performed at the fall
+of day. A mock tribunal of French officers having
+ascertained that no person of note was among the
+destined victims, ordered them to be led out of the
+Retiro, the place of their short confinement, into
+the Prado; where they were despatched by the
+soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>Ignorant of the real state of the town, and hearing
+that the tumult had ceased, I ventured out in
+the afternoon towards the Puerta del Sol, where I
+expected to learn some particulars of the day. The
+cross streets which led to that place were unusually
+empty; but as I came to the entrance of one
+of the avenues which open into that great rendezvous
+of Madrid, the bustle increased, and I could
+see an advanced guard of French soldiers formed
+two-deep, across the street, and leaving about one-third
+of its breadth open to such as wished to pass
+up and down. At some distance behind them, in
+the irregular square which bears the name of the
+<i>Sun’s Gate</i>, I distinguished two pieces of cannon,
+and a very strong division of troops. Less than
+this hostile display would have been sufficient to
+check my curiosity, if, still possessed with the idea
+that it was not the interest of the French to treat
+us like enemies, I had not, like many others who
+were on the same spot, thought that the peaceful
+inhabitants would be allowed to proceed unmo<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>lested
+about the streets of the town. Under this
+impression I went on without hesitation, till I was
+within fifty yards of the advanced guard. Here a
+sudden cry of <i>aux armes</i>, raised in the square, was
+repeated by the soldiers before me; the officer giving
+the command to make ready. The people fled up
+the street in the utmost consternation; but my fear
+having allowed me, instantly, to calculate both
+distances and danger, I made a desperate push
+towards the opening left by the soldiers, where a
+narrow lane, winding round the Church of San Luis,
+put me in a few seconds out of the range of the
+French muskets. No firing however being heard,
+I concluded that the object of the alarm was to clear
+the streets at the approach of night.</p>
+
+<p>The increasing horror of the inhabitants, as they
+collected the melancholy details of the morning,
+would have accomplished that end, without any
+farther effort on the part of the oppressors. The
+bodies of some of their victims seen in several
+places; the wounded that were met about the
+streets; the visible anguish of such as missed their
+relations; and the spreading report that many were
+awaiting their fate at the Retiro, so strongly and
+painfully raised the apprehensions of the people,
+that the streets were absolutely deserted long before
+the approach of night. Every street-door was
+locked, and a mournful silence prevailed wherever
+I directed my steps. Full of the most gloomy ideas,
+I was approaching my lodgings by a place called<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>
+Postígo de San Martin, when I saw four Spanish
+soldiers bearing a man upon a ladder, the ends of
+which they supported on their shoulders. As they
+passed near me, the ladder being inclined forward,
+from the steepness of the street, I recognized the
+features of my townsman and acquaintance, Daoiz,
+livid with approaching death. He had lain wounded
+since ten in the morning, in the place where he
+fell. He was not quite insensible when I met him.
+The slight motion of his body, and the groan he
+uttered as the inequality of the ground, probably,
+increased his pain, will never be effaced from my
+memory.</p>
+
+<p>A night passed under such impressions, baffles
+my feeble powers of description. A scene of cruelty
+and treachery exceeding all limits of probability,
+had left our apprehensions to range at large, with
+scarcely any check from the calculations of judgment.
+The dead silence of the streets since the
+first approach of night, only broken by the trampling
+of horses which now and then were heard
+passing along in large parties, had something exceedingly
+dismal in a populous town, where we were
+accustomed to an incessant and enlivening bustle.
+The <i>Madrid cries</i>, the loudest and most varied in
+Spain, were missed early next morning; and it
+was ten o’clock before a single street-door had
+been open. Nothing but absolute necessity could
+induce the people to venture out.</p>
+
+<p>On the third day after the massacre, a note from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>
+an intimate friend obliged me to cross the greatest
+part of the town; but though my way lay through
+the principal streets of Madrid, the number of Spaniards
+I met, did not literally amount to six. In
+every street and square of any note I found a strong
+guard of French infantry, lying beside their arms
+on the pavement, except the sentinel, who paced up
+and down at a short distance. A feeling of mortified
+pride mixed itself with the sense of insecurity
+which I experienced on my approaching these parties
+of foreign soldiers, whose presence had made a
+desert of our capital. Gliding by the opposite
+side of the street, I passed them without lifting my
+eyes from the ground. Once I looked straight in
+the face of an inferior officer&mdash;a serjeant I believe,
+wearing the cross of the <i>Legion d’honneur</i>&mdash;who,
+taking it as an insult, loaded me with curses, accompanied
+with threats and the most abusive language.
+The Puerta del Sol, that favourite lounge
+of the Madrid people, was now the <i>bivouac</i> of a
+French division of infantry and cavalry, with two
+twelve-pounders facing every leading street. Not
+a shop was open, and not a voice heard but such as
+grated the ear with a foreign accent.</p>
+
+<p>On my return home, a feeling of deep melancholy
+had seized upon me, to which the troubles of
+my past life were lighter than a feather in the scale
+of happiness and misery. I confined myself to the
+house for several days, a prey to the most harassing
+anxiety. What course to take in the present crisis,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span>
+was a question for which I was not prepared, and
+in which no fact, no conjecture could lead me. My
+friend, the friend for whose sake alone I had changed
+my residence, had a mortal aversion to Seville&mdash;that
+town where he could not avoid acting in a detested
+capacity.<a id="FNanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> Some wild visions of freedom
+from his religious fetters, had been playing across
+his troubled mind, while the French approached
+Madrid; and though he now looked on their conduct
+with the most decided abhorrence, still he
+could hardly persuade himself to escape from the
+French bayonets, which he seemed to dread less
+than Spanish bigotry.</p>
+
+<p>But my mind has dwelt too long on a painful
+subject, and I hope you will excuse me if I put off
+the conclusion till another Letter.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>LETTER XIII.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="headdate"><i>Seville, July 30, 1808.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Whether</span>
+Murat began to suspect that his cruel
+method of intimidating the capital would rouse the
+provinces into open resistance, or whether (with
+the unsteadiness of purpose which often attends a
+narrow mind, acting more from impulse than judgment,)
+he wished to efface the impressions which
+his insolent cruelty had left upon the Spaniards; he
+soon turned his attention to the restoration of confidence.
+The folly, however, of such an endeavour,
+while (independent of the alarm and indignation
+which spread like wildfire over the country,) every
+gate of Madrid was kept by a strong guard of French
+infantry, must have been evident to any one but
+the thoughtless man who directed it. The people, it
+is true, ventured again freely out of the houses:
+but the public walks were deserted, and the theatres
+left almost entirely to the invaders.</p>
+
+<p>Yet it was visible that the French had a party,
+which, though feeble in numbers, contained some
+of the ablest, and not a few of the most respectable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>
+men at Madrid. Nay, I firmly believe, that had
+not the Spaniards of the middle and higher classes
+been from time immemorial brought up in the
+strictest habits of reserve on public measures, and
+without a sufficient boldness to form and express
+their opinions; the new French Dynasty would have
+obtained a considerable majority among our gentry.
+In the first place, two-thirds of the above description
+hold situations under Government, which they
+would have hoped to preserve by adherence to the
+new rulers. Next, we should consider the impression
+which the last twenty years had left on the thinking
+part of the community. Under the most profligate
+and despicable Court in Europe, a sense of
+political degradation had been produced among
+such of the Spaniards as were not blinded by a
+nationality of mere instinct. The true source of the
+enthusiasm which appeared on the accession of
+Ferdinand, was joy at the removal of his father; for
+hopes of a better government, under a young Prince
+of the common stamp, seated on an arbitrary throne,
+must have been wild and visionary indeed. As for the
+state of dependance on France, which would follow
+the acknowledgement of Joseph Bonaparte, it could
+not be more abject or helpless than under Ferdinand,
+had his wishes of a family alliance been
+granted by Napoleon. It cannot be denied that
+indignation at the treatment we have experienced
+strongly urged the nation to revenge; but passion
+is a blind guide, which thinking men will seldom<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>
+trust on political measures. To declare war against
+an army of veterans already in the heart of Spain,
+might be, indeed, an act of sublime patriotism; but
+was it not, too, a provocation more likely to bring
+ruin and permanent slavery on the country, than
+the admission of a new King, who, though a
+foreigner, had not been educated a despot, and who,
+for want of any constitutional claims, would be anxious
+to ground his rights on the acknowledgment
+of the nation?</p>
+
+<p>Answers innumerable might be given to these
+arguments&mdash;and that I was far from allowing them
+great weight on my mind I can clearly prove, by
+my presence in the capital of Andalusia. But I
+cannot endure that blind, headlong, unhesitating
+patriotism which I find uniformly displayed in this
+town and province&mdash;a loud popular cry which every
+individual is afraid not to swell with his whole
+might, and which, though it may express the feeling
+of a great majority, does not deserve the name
+of public <i>opinion</i>, any more than the unanimous acclamations
+at an <i>Auto da Fé</i>. Dissent is the great
+characteristic of liberty. I am, indeed, as willing
+as any man to give my feeble aid to the Spanish
+cause against France; but I feel indignant at the
+compulsion which deprives my views of all individuality&mdash;which,
+from the national habits of implicit
+submission to whatever happens to be established,
+forces every man into the crowd, so that nothing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span>
+can save him but running for his life with the foremost.</p>
+
+<p>I repeat, that I need not an apology for my political
+conduct on this momentous occasion. Feelings
+which will, indeed, bear examination, but on which
+I ground no merit, have brought me to the more honourable
+side of the question. Yet I must plead for
+candour and humanity in favour of such as, from the
+influence of the views I have touched upon, and in
+some cases, with a more upright intention than many
+an outrageous patriot, have opposed the beginning of
+hostilities. The name of traitor, with which they
+have been indiscriminately branded, must cut them
+off irrevocably from our party; and even the fear
+of being too late to avoid suspicion among us, may
+oblige those whom chance or the watchfulness of
+the Madrid Government, has hitherto prevented
+from joining us, to make at last, common interest
+with the French.</p>
+
+<p>To escape from Madrid, after the news of the insurrection
+of Andalusia had reached that capital,
+was, in fact, an undertaking of considerable difficulty,
+and, as I have found by experience, attended
+with no small danger. Dupont’s army had occupied
+the usual road through La Mancha, and no
+carriages were allowed by the French to set off for
+the refractory provinces. My decision, however,
+to join my countrymen, had been formed as soon as
+they took up arms against the French; and though<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span>
+my friend shuddered at the idea of casting his lot
+with the defenders of the Pope and the Inquisition,
+he soon forgot all personal interest, in a question
+between a foreign army and his own natural
+friends.</p>
+
+<p>There were no means of reaching Andalusia but
+through the province of Estremadura, and no other
+conveyance, at that time, than two Aragonese waggons,
+which having stopped at a small inn, or <i>venta</i>,
+three miles from Madrid, were not under the immediate
+control of the French police. The attention
+of the new Government was, besides, too much
+divided by the increasing difficulties of their situation,
+to extend itself beyond the gates of the town.
+We had only to make our way through the French
+guard, and walk to the <i>venta</i> on the day appointed
+by the waggoners. But if a single person met with
+no impediment at the gates, luggage of any description
+was sure to be intercepted; and we had to
+take our choice between staying, or travelling a
+fortnight, without more than a shirt in our pocket.</p>
+
+<p>Thus lightly accoutred, however, we left Madrid
+at three in the afternoon of the 15th of June, and
+walked under a burning sun to meet our waggons.
+Summer is, of all seasons, in Spain, the most inconvenient
+for travellers; and nothing but necessity
+will induce the natives to cross the burning plains,
+which abound in the country. To avoid the
+fierceness of the sun, the coaches start between
+three and four in the morning, stop from nine till<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span>
+four in the afternoon, and complete the day’s journey
+between nine and ten in the evening. We,
+alas! could not expect that indulgence. Each of
+us confined with our respective waggoner, within
+the small space which the load had left near the
+awning, had to endure the intolerable closeness of
+the waggon, under the dead stillness of a burning
+atmosphere, so impregnated with floating dust, as
+often to produce a feeling of suffocation. Our
+stages required not only early rising, but travelling
+till noon. After a disgusting dinner at the most
+miserable inns of the unfrequented road we were
+following, our task began again, till night, when
+we could rarely expect the enjoyment even of such
+a bed as the Spanish <i>ventas</i> afford. Our stock of
+linen allowed us but one change, and we could not
+stop to have it washed. The consequences might
+be easily foreseen. The heat, and the company of
+our waggoners, who often passed the night by our
+side, soon completed our wretchedness, by giving
+us a sample of one, perhaps the worst, of the Egyptian
+plagues; which, as we had not yet got through
+one-half of our journey, held out a sad prospect of
+increase till our arrival at Seville.</p>
+
+<p>There was something so cheering in the consciousness
+of the sacrifice both of ease and private
+views we were making, in the idea of relieving our
+friends from the anxiety in which the fear of our
+joining the French party must have kept them&mdash;in
+the hopes of being received with open arms by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>
+those with whom we had made common interest at
+a time when every chance seemed to be against
+them&mdash;that our state of utter discomfort could not
+at first make any impression on our spirits. The
+slip of New Castille, which lies between Madrid
+and the frontiers of Estremadura, presented nothing
+that could in the least disturb these agreeable impressions;
+and the reception we met with from the
+inhabitants was in every respect as friendly as we
+had expected. An instance of simple unaffected
+kindness shewn to us by a poor woman near Móstoles,
+would hardly deserve being mentioned, but
+for the painful contrast by which the rest of our
+journey has endeared it to my memory.&mdash;Oppressed
+by the heat and closeness of our situation, and preferring
+a direct exposure to the rays of the sun in
+the open air, we had left our heavy vehicles at some
+distance, when the desire of enjoying a more refreshing
+draught than could be obtained from the
+heated jars which hung by the side of our waggons,
+induced us to approach a cottage, at a short distance
+from the road. A poor woman sat alone
+near the door, and though there was nothing in our
+dress that could give us even the appearance of gentlemen,
+she answered our request for a glass of water,
+by eagerly pressing us to sit and rest ourselves.
+“Water,” she said, “in the state I see you in, is
+sure, Gentlemen, to do you harm. I fortunately
+have some milk in the cottage, and must beg you to
+accept it.&mdash;You, dear Sirs,” she added, “are, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span>
+know, making your escape from the French at Madrid.
+God bless you, and prosper your journey!”
+Her sympathy was so truly affecting, that it actually
+brought tears into our eyes. To decline the
+offer of the milk, as well as to speak of payment,
+would have been an affront to the kind-hearted female;
+and giving her back the blessing she had so
+cordially bestowed upon us, was all we could do to
+shew our gratitude.</p>
+
+<p>Cheered up by this humble, yet hearty welcome
+among our countrymen, we proceeded for two or
+three days; our feelings of security increasing all
+the while with the distance from Madrid. It was,
+however, just in that proportion that we were approaching
+danger. We had, about nine in the
+morning, reached the Calzada de Oropesa, on the
+borders of Estremadura, when we observed, with
+painful surprise, a crowd of country people, who,
+collecting hastily round us, began to inquire who we
+were, accompanying their questions with the fierce
+and rude tone which forebodes mischief, among
+the testy inhabitants of our southern provinces.
+The <i>Alcalde</i> soon presented himself, and, having
+heard the account we gave of ourselves and our
+journey, wisely declared to the people that, our
+language being genuine Spanish, we might be allowed
+to proceed. He added, however, a word of
+advice, desiring us to be prepared to meet with
+people more inquisitive and suspicious than those of
+Oropesa, who would make us pay dear for any flaw<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span>
+they might discover in our narrative. As if to try
+our veracity by means of intimidation, he acquainted
+us with the insurrections which had taken place
+in every town and village, and the victims which
+had scarcely failed in any instance, to fall under the
+knives of the peasantry.</p>
+
+<p>The truth and accuracy of this warning became
+more and more evident as we advanced through
+Estremadura. The notice we attracted at the approach
+of every village, the threats of the labourers
+whom we met near the road, and the accounts we
+heard at every inn, fully convinced us that we
+could not reach our journey’s end without considerable
+danger. The unfortunate propensity to shed
+blood, which tarnishes many a noble quality in the
+southern Spaniards, had been indulged in most
+towns of any note, under the cloak of patriotism.
+Frenchmen, of course, though long established in
+Spain, were pointed objects of the popular fury;
+but most of the murders which we heard of, were
+committed on Spaniards who, probably, owed their
+fate to private pique and revenge, and not to political
+opinions. We found the <i>Alcaldes</i> and <i>Corregidores</i>,
+to whom we applied for protection, perfectly
+intimidated, and fearing the consequences of any attempt
+to check the blind fury of the people under
+them. But no description of mine can give so clear
+a view of the state of the country, as the simple
+narrative of the popular rising at Almaraz, the little<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span>
+town which gives its name to a well-known bridge
+on the Tagus, as it was delivered to us by the <i>Alcalde</i>,
+a rich farmer of that place. The people of
+his district, upon hearing the accounts from Madrid,
+and the insurrections of the chief towns of
+their province, flocked, on a certain day, before the
+Alcalde’s house, armed with whatever weapons they
+had been able to collect, including sickles, pick-axes,
+and similar implements of husbandry. Most
+happily for the worthy magistrate, the insurgents
+had no complaint against him: and on the approach
+of the rustic mob, he confidently came out
+to meet them. Having with no small difficulty obtained
+a hearing, the Alcalde desired to be informed
+of their designs and wishes. The answer appears
+to me unparalleled in the history of mobs. “We
+wish, Sir, to kill somebody,” said the spokesman of
+the insurgents. “Some one has been killed at
+Truxillo; one or two others at Badajoz, another at
+Merida, and we will not be behind our neighbours.
+Sir, we will kill a traitor.” As this commodity
+could not be procured in the village, it was fortunate
+for us that we did not make our appearance at
+a time when the good people of Almaraz might
+have made us a substitute, on whom to display their
+loyalty. The fact, however, of their having no animosities
+to indulge under the mask of patriotism, is
+a creditable circumstance in their character. A
+meeting which we had, soon after leaving the vil<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span>lage,
+with an armed party of these patriots, confirmed
+our opinion that they were among the least
+savage of their province.</p>
+
+<p>The bridge of Almaraz stands at the distance of
+between three and four miles from the village. It
+was built in the time of Charles the fifth, by the
+town of Plasencia; but it would not have disgraced
+an ancient Roman architect. The Tagus, carrying,
+even at this season, a prodigious quantity of water,
+passes under the greater of the two arches, which
+support the bridge. Though the height and span
+of these arches give to the whole an air of boldness
+which borders upon grandeur, the want of symmetry
+in their size and shape, and the narrow, though
+very deep, channel to which the rocky banks confine
+the river, abate considerably the effect it might
+have been made to produce. Yet there is something
+impressive in a bold work of art standing single in
+a wild tract of country, where neither great towns,
+nor a numerous and well distributed population,
+with all the attending marks of industry, luxury,
+and refinement, have prepared the imagination to
+expect it. As soon, therefore, as the bridge was
+seen at a distance, we left the waggons, and allowing
+them to proceed before us, lingered to enjoy
+the view.</p>
+
+<p>Just as we stood admiring the solidity and magnitude
+of the structure, casting by chance our eyes
+towards the mountain which rises on the opposite
+side, and confines the road to a narrow space on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span>
+precipitous bank of the river, we saw a band of from
+fifteen to twenty men, armed with guns, leaving the
+wood where they had been concealed, and coming
+down towards the waggons. The character of the
+place, combined with the dresses, arms, and movements
+of the men, convinced us at once that we had
+fallen into the hands of banditti. But as they could
+take very little from us, we thought we should meet
+with milder treatment if we approached them without
+any signs of fear. On our coming up to the
+place, we observed some of the party searching the
+waggons; but seeing the rest talking quietly with
+the carriers, our suspicions of robbery were at an
+end. The whole band, we found, consisted of peasants,
+who, upon an absurd report that the French
+intended to send arms and ammunition to the frontiers
+of Portugal, had been stationed on that spot to
+examine every cart and waggon, and stop all suspicious
+persons. Had these people been less good-natured
+and civil, we could not have escaped being
+sent, in that dangerous character, to some of the
+Juntas which had been established in Spain. But
+being told by my friend that he was a clergyman,
+and hearing us curse the French in a true patriotic
+style; they wished us a happy journey, and allowed
+us to proceed unmolested.</p>
+
+<p>We expected to arrive at Merida on a Saturday
+evening, and to have left it early on Sunday after
+the first mass, which, for the benefit of travellers
+and labourers, is performed before dawn. But the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span>
+axletree of one of our waggons breaking down, we
+were obliged to sleep that night at a <i>Venta</i>, and to
+spend the next day in the above-mentioned city.
+The remarkable ruins which still shew the ancient
+splendour of the Roman <i>Emerita Augusta</i> would,
+in more tranquil times, have afforded us a pleasant
+walk round the town, and more than repaid us for
+the delay. Fatigue, however, induced us to confine
+ourselves to the inn, where we expected, by the repose
+of one day, to recruit our strength for the
+rest of our journey. Having taken a luncheon, we
+retired to our beds for a long <i>siesta</i>, when the noise
+of a mob rushing down the street and gathering in
+front of the inn, drew us, nearly undressed, to the
+window. As far as the eye could reach, nothing
+was to be seen but a compact crowd of peasants,
+most of them with clasp knives in their hands.
+At the sight of us, such as were near began to
+brandish their weapons, threatening they would
+make mince-meat of every Frenchman in the inn.
+Unable to comprehend the cause of this tumult,
+and fearing the consequences of the blind fury
+which prevailed in the country, we hurried on our
+clothes, and ran down to the front hall of the inn.
+There we found twelve dragoons standing in two
+lines on the inside of the gate, holding their carbines
+ready to fire, as the officer who commanded
+them warned the people that were blockading the
+gate they should do upon the first who ventured
+into the house. The innkeeper walked up and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span>
+down the empty hall, bewailing the fate of his
+house, which he assured us would soon be set on
+fire by the mob. We now gathered from him
+the cause of this turmoil and confusion. A young
+Frenchman had been taken on the road to Portugal,
+with letters to Junot, and on this ground was forwarded
+under an escort of soldiers to the Captain-general
+of the Province at Badajoz. The crowd in
+the street consisted of about two thousand peasants,
+who having volunteered their services, were under
+training at the expense of the city. The poor
+prisoner had been imprudently brought into the
+town when the recruits were in the principal
+square indulging in the idleness of a Sunday. On
+hearing that he was a Frenchman, they drew their
+knives and would have cut him to pieces, but for
+the haste which the soldiers made with him towards
+the inn.</p>
+
+<p>The crowd, by this time, was so fierce and vociferous,
+that we could not doubt they would break
+in without delay. My companion, being fully
+aware of our dangerous position, urged me to follow
+him to the gate, in order to obtain a hearing, while
+the people still hesitated to make their way between
+the two lines of soldiers. We approached the
+impenetrable mass; but before coming within the
+reach of the knives, my friend called loudly to the
+foremost to abstain from doing us any injury; for
+though without any marks of his profession about
+him, he was a priest, who, with a brother, (point<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span>ing
+to me,) had made his escape from Madrid to
+join his countrymen. I verily believe, that as fear
+is said sometimes to lend wings, it did on this occasion
+prompt my dear friend with words; for a
+more fluent and animated speech than his has
+seldom been delivered in Spanish. The effects of
+this unusual eloquence were soon visible among
+those of the rioters that stood nearest; and one of
+the ringleaders assured the orator, that no harm
+was meant against us. On our requesting to leave
+the house, we were allowed to proceed into the
+great square.</p>
+
+<p>My friend there inquired the name of the Bishop’s
+substitute, or <i>Vicar General</i>; and, with an
+agreeable surprise, we learnt that it was Señor Valenzuela.
+We instantly recognised one of our fellow
+students at the University of Seville. He had
+been elected a Member of the Revolutionary Junta
+of Merida, and though not more confident of his
+influence over the populace than the rest of his colleagues,
+whom the present mob had reduced to a
+state of visible consternation, he instantly offered
+us his house as an asylum for the night, and engaged
+to obtain for us a passport for the remainder of
+the journey. In the mean time, the military commander
+of the place, attended by some of the magistrates,
+had promised the crowd to throw the
+young Frenchman into a dungeon, as he had done
+a few nights before with his own adjutant, against
+whom these very same recruits had risen on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span>
+parade, with so murderous a spirit, that though
+protected by a few regulars, they wounded him severely,
+and would have taken his life but for the interference
+of the Vicar, who, bearing the consecrated
+host in his hands, placed the officer under
+the protection of that powerful charm. The Frenchman
+was, accordingly, conducted to prison; but
+neither the soldiers nor the magistrates, who surrounded
+him, could fully protect him from the
+savage fierceness of the peasants, who crowding
+upon him, as half dead with terror, he was slowly
+dragged to the town gaol, stuck the points of their
+knives into several parts of his body. Whether he
+finally was sacrificed to the popular fury, or, by
+some happy chance, escaped with life, I have not
+been able to learn.</p>
+
+<p>Though not far from our journey’s end, we were
+by no means relieved from our fears and misgivings.
+Often were we surrounded by bands of reapers,
+who, armed with their sickles, made us go through
+the ordeal of a minute interrogatory. But what
+cast the thickest gloom on our minds was, the detailed
+account we received from an Alcalde, of the
+events which had taken place at Seville. A revolution,
+however laudable its object, is seldom without
+some features which nothing but distance of time
+or place, can soften into tolerable regularity. We
+were too well acquainted with the inefficiency of
+most of the men who had suddenly been raised
+into power, not to feel a strong reluctance to place<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span>
+ourselves under their government and protection.
+The only man of talents in the Junta of Seville was
+Saavedra, the ex-minister.<a id="FNanchor_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> Dull ignorance, mixed
+with a small portion of inactive honesty, was the
+general character of that body. But a man of
+blood had found a place in it, and we could not but
+fear the repetition of the horrid scene with which
+he opened the revolution that was to give him a
+share in the supreme government of the province.</p>
+
+<p>The Count Tilly, a titled Andalusian gentleman,
+of some talents, unbounded ambition, and no principle,
+had, on the first appearance of a general disposition
+to resist the French, employed himself in
+the organization of the intended revolt. His principal
+agents were men of low rank, highly endowed
+with the characteristic shrewdness, quickness, and
+loquacity of that class of Andalusians, and thereby
+admirably fitted to appear at the head of the populace.
+Tilly, however, either from the maxim that
+a successful revolution must be cemented with
+blood&mdash;a notion which the French Jacobins have
+too widely spread among us&mdash;or, what is more probable,
+from private motives of revenge, had made
+the death of the Count del Aguila an essential part
+of his plan.</p>
+
+<p>That unfortunate man was a member of the town
+corporation of Seville, and as such he joined the
+established authorities in their endeavours to stop<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span>
+the popular ferment. But no sooner had the insurrection
+burst out, than both he and his colleagues
+made the most absolute surrender of themselves and
+their power into the hands of the people. This,
+however, was not enough to save the victim whom
+Tilly had doomed to fall. One of the inferior
+leaders of the populace, one Luque, an usher at a
+grammar-school, had engaged to procure the death
+of the Count del Aguila. Assisted by his armed
+associates, he dragged the unhappy man to the prison-room
+for noblemen, or Hidalgos, which stands
+over one of the gates of the town; and, deaf to his
+intreaties, the vile assassin had him shot on the
+spot. The corpse, bound to the arm chair, in which
+the Count expired, was exposed for that and the
+next day to the public. The ruffian who performed
+the atrocious deed, was instantly raised to the rank
+of lieutenant in the army. Tilly himself is one of
+the Junta; and so selfish and narrow are the views
+which prevail in that body, that, if the concentration
+of the now disjointed power of the provinces
+should happen, the members, it is said, will rid
+themselves of his presence, by sending a man they
+fear and detest, to take a share in the supreme
+authority of the kingdom.<a id="FNanchor_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p>
+
+<p>The effects of the revolutionary success on a
+people at large, like those of slight intoxication on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span>
+the individual, call forth every good and bad quality
+in a state of exaggeration. To an acute but indifferent
+observer, Seville, as we found it on our return,
+would have been a most interesting study. He
+could not but admire the patriotic energy of the
+inhabitants, their unbounded devotion to the cause
+of their country, and the wonderful effort by which,
+in spite of their passive habits of submission, they
+had ventured to dare both the authority of their
+rulers, and the approaching bayonets of the French.
+He must, however, have looked with pity on the
+multiplied instances of ignorance and superstition
+which the extraordinary circumstances of the country
+had produced.</p>
+
+<p>To my friend and companion, whose anti-catholic
+prejudices are the main source of his mental sufferings,
+the religious character which the revolution
+has assumed, is like a dense mist concealing or disfiguring
+every object which otherwise would gratify
+his mind. He can see no prospect of liberty behind
+the cloud of priests who every where stand
+foremost to take the lead of our patriots. It is in
+vain to remind him that many among those priests,
+whose professional creed he detests, are far from
+being sincere; that if, by the powerful assistance
+of England, we succeed in driving the French out
+of the country, the moral and political state of the
+nation must benefit by the exertion. The absence
+of the King, also, is a fair opening for the restoration
+of our ancient liberties; and the actual exist<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span>ence
+of popular Juntas, must eventually lead to the
+re-establishment of the Cortes. To this he answers
+that he cannot look for any direct advantage from
+the feeling which prompts the present resistance to
+the ambition of Napoleon, as it chiefly arises from an
+inveterate attachment to the religious system whence
+our present degradation takes source. That if the
+course of events should enable those who have
+secretly cast off the yoke of superstition, to attempt
+a political reform, it will be by grafting the feeble
+shoots of Liberty upon the stock of Catholicism; an
+experiment which has hitherto, and must ever prove
+abortive. That from the partial and imperfect
+knowledge of politics and government which the
+state of the nation permits, no less than from the
+feelings produced by the monstrous abuse of power
+under which Spain has groaned for ages, too much
+will be attempted against the crown; which, thus
+weakened in a nation whose habits, forms, and
+manners, are moulded and shaped to despotism,
+will leave it for a time a prey either to an active
+or an indolent anarchy, and finally resume its
+ancient influence.</p>
+
+<p>Partial as I must own myself to every thing
+that falls from my friend, I will not deny that
+these views are too general, and that, though the
+principles on which he grounds them are sound,
+the inferences are drawn much too independently of
+future events and circumstances. Yet the dim
+coloured medium through which he sees the state<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>
+of a country, whence he derives a constant feeling of
+unhappiness, will make him, I fear, but little fit to
+assist with his talents the work of Spanish reform,
+so long, at least, as he shall feel the iron yoke which
+Spain has laid on his neck. I have, therefore,
+formed a plan for his removal to England, whenever
+the progress of the French arms, which our present
+advantages cannot permanently check, shall enable
+him to take his departure, so as to shew that if his
+own country oppresses him, he will not seek relief
+among her enemies.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>APPENDIX <small>TO</small> LETTERS III. <small>AND</small> VII.<a id="FNanchor_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></h2>
+  <hr class="sep2" />
+  <h3>AN ACCOUNT<br />
+  OF THE<br />
+  SUPPRESSION OF THE JESUITS IN SPAIN.</h3>
+  <p class="center large">Extracted from a Letter of Lord &mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p1"><span class="smcap">The</span>
+suppression of the Jesuits in Spain always appeared
+to me a very extraordinary occurrence; and
+the more I heard of the character of Charles III. by
+whose edict they were expelled, the more singular the
+event appeared. Don Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos,
+who had been acquainted with all, and intimate with
+many, of those who accomplished this object, related several
+curious circumstances attending it; gave me a very
+interesting and diverting account of the characters concerned,
+and sent me, in 1809, two or three letters, which
+are still in my possession, containing some of the secret<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span>
+history of this very remarkable transaction. I send you
+the substance of his conversation, with some additional
+anecdotes related to me by other Spaniards. They may
+throw light on the accidents and combinations which led
+to the suppression of that formidable body of men.</p>
+
+<p>Charles III. came to the throne of Spain with dispositions
+very unfavourable to the Jesuits. Not only the disputes
+with the Court of Rome, to which the government
+of Naples was at all times exposed, but the personal
+affronts which he conceived himself to have received from
+Father Rávago, the Jesuit, Confessor to his brother Ferdinand,
+estranged him from that formidable company.
+The jealousy entertained by Barbara, Queen of Spain, of
+any influence which the Court of Naples might obtain in
+the councils of her husband, and the opposite system of
+politics adopted by the two Courts, had convinced the
+Jesuits of the impossibility of being well with both. Not
+foreseeing the premature death of Ferdinand, and the
+sterility of his wife, they had very naturally exerted all
+their arts to ingratiate themselves with the powerful
+crown of Spain, rather than with the less important
+Court of Naples. They were accordingly satisfied with
+placing Padre Rávago about Ferdinand, and, either
+from policy or neglect, allowed Charles to select his
+Confessor from another order of regular clergy. Queen
+Barbara was a patroness of the Jesuits; and, very possibly,
+her favourite, the eunuch Farinelli, exerted his
+influence in their favour. The Marquis of Ensenada,
+long the minister of Ferdinand, was their avowed protector,
+ally, and partizan; and the Queen’s ascendancy over
+her husband’s mind was too firmly established to be
+shaken even by the removal of that minister. But upon
+the failure of that Princess, and the subsequent death of
+the King himself, the Jesuits experienced a sudden and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span>
+fatal reverse of fortune. The policy of the Court of
+Madrid was altered. Charles felt deep resentment
+against England for the transactions in the Bay of
+Naples. The influence of the Court of Versailles was
+gradually restored. It may be easily supposed that the
+active enemies of the Jesuits in France and Italy began
+to turn their eyes to the Court of Madrid with more
+hopes of co-operation in that quarter than they had
+hitherto ever ventured to entertain. There is, however,
+no reason to imagine that till the nomination of Roda, to
+the place of Minister of Grace and Justice, any actual
+design was formed by persons in trust or power, of having
+recourse to such violent expedients as were afterwards
+resorted to for the expulsion of the Jesuits.</p>
+
+<p>Don Manuel de Roda, an Aragonese by birth, and an
+eminent lawyer at Madrid, had imbibed very early both
+the theological and political tenets of the Jansenists.
+He had been distinguished at the bar by his resolute and
+virulent opposition to the members of the <i>Colegios
+Mayores</i>. That institution, founded for the education
+and assistance of poor students, had been perverted from
+its original intentions: for though no one could be admitted
+but upon competition and a plurality of voices, it
+consisted <i>de facto</i> entirely of persons of family. Its
+members, by the aid of exclusive privileges in the career
+of the law, by mutual assistance, and a corporation spirit,
+not unlike that of the Jesuits themselves, had obtained a
+large portion of ecclesiastical and legal patronage, and
+enjoyed almost a monopoly of the highest judicial offices
+in Castile. The members of these colleges were enabled
+to succeed to the offices of <i>Fiscal, Oydor</i>, and other
+magistracies, without the previous ceremony of passing
+advocates, which was a gradation none but those who
+were <i>Colegiales</i> could dispense with. These privileges<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span>
+gave them great influence, and the expense which attended
+their elections, (especially that of the Rectors of
+each College, an annual office of great consideration
+among them,) served as an effectual bar to the pretensions
+of any who had not birth and wealth to recommend
+them. It is just, however, to observe, that if they were
+infected with the narrow spirit of corporations, they
+retained to the last the high sense of honour which is
+always the boast, and sometimes the characteristic, of
+privileged orders of men. It has ever been acknowledged
+by their enemies, that since the abolition of their exclusive
+privileges, which Roda lived to accomplish, and, yet
+more, since their further discouragement by the Prince
+of Peace, the judicial offices have not been filled by
+persons of equal character for integrity, learning, and
+honour. But those who studied the laws without the
+advantages of an education at the <i>Colegios Mayores</i>,
+were naturally and justly indignant at the privileges
+which they enjoyed. The boldness of Don Manuel
+de Roda’s opposition to an order of men so invidiously
+distinguished, ingratiated him with the lawyers, who, in
+Spain as elsewhere, constitute a large, active, and formidable
+body of men. But the same high spirit having
+involved him in a dispute with a man of rank and influence,
+his friend and protector the Duke of Alva
+thought it prudent for him to withdraw from Court; and
+with a view of enabling him to do so with credit to
+himself, entrusted him with a public commission to
+Rome, where he was received as the agent of the King of
+Spain. He here, no doubt, acquired that knowledge
+which was so useful to him afterwards in the prosecution
+of his important design. By what fatality he
+became minister, I know not. Charles III. must have
+departed from his general rule of appointing every<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span>
+Minister at the recommendation of his predecessor, for
+Roda succeeded a Marquis of Campo Villar, who had
+been educated at the <i>Colegios Mayores</i>, and was attached
+to the Jesuits. Possibly the interest of the Duke of
+Alva was the cause of his promotion. He was appointed
+Minister of Grace and Justice, I believe, as early as 1763,
+though Jovellanos implies that he was not Minister till
+1765 or even 1766. From the period of his nomination,
+however, one may safely date the design of suppressing
+the Jesuits in Spain. It was systematically, though
+slowly and secretly pursued, by a portion of the Spanish
+Cabinet. Indeed the views, not only of the ministry,
+but of the understanding of Roda, were so exclusively
+directed to such objects, that Azara sarcastically observed,
+that he wore spectacles, through one glass of
+which he could perceive nothing but a <i>Colegial</i>, and
+through the other nothing but a <i>Jesuit</i>. If, however,
+his views were contracted, he had the advantage often
+attributed to a short sight&mdash;a clear and more accurate
+perception of every thing that came within the limited
+scope of his organs. He had the discernment to discover
+those, who, with dispositions congenial to his own
+had talents to assist him. He had cunning enough to
+devise the means of converting to his purpose the weaknesses
+of such as without predisposition to co-operate
+with him, were from station or accident necessary to his
+design. Though a strict Jansenist himself, he selected
+his associates and partizans indiscriminately from Jansenists
+and philosophers or freethinkers. Among the first,
+the most remarkable was Tavira, bishop of Salamanca;
+among the latter Campomanes and the Count de
+Aranda.</p>
+
+<p>Before we speak of the co-operation of these powerful
+men, it is necessary to explain the difficulties which oc<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span>curred
+in securing the sanction and assistance of the King
+himself. Charles III., though no friend to the Jesuits,
+was still less a friend, either by habit or principle, to innovation.
+He was not less averse by constitution to all
+danger. Moreover, he was religious and conscientious
+in the extreme. The acquiescence and sanction of his
+Confessor was indispensably necessary to the adoption
+of any measure affecting the interests of the Church.
+Neither would the bare consent of the Confessor (in itself
+no easy matter to obtain) be sufficient. He must be
+zealous in the cause, and cautious as well as active in the
+promotion of it. Great secrecy must be observed; for
+the scheme might be defeated as effectually by indifference
+or indiscretion as by direct resistance or intrigue.
+There was little in the character of the Confessor to encourage
+a man less enterprising or less cunning than
+Roda.</p>
+
+<p>Fr. Joaquin de Elita, or Father Osma, (so called from
+the place of his birth) was a friar of little education and
+less ability, attached by habit to the order to which he
+belonged, and in other respects exempt from those passions
+of affection or ambition, as well as from that ardour
+of temper or force of opinion, which either excite men to
+great undertakings or render them subservient to those
+of others. Roda, however, from personal observation,
+and from an intimate knowledge of those passions which
+a monastic life generally engenders, discovered the means
+of engaging even Father Osma in his views. None who
+have not witnessed it can conceive the effect of institutions,
+of which vows of perpetual celibacy form a necessary
+part. Their convent, their order, the place of their
+nativity, the village or church to which they belong,
+often engage in the minds of religious men the affections
+which in the course of nature would have been bestowed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span>
+on their kindred, their wives, or their children. Padre
+Elita was born in the city of which the venerable and
+illustrious Palafox had been bishop. The sanctity of
+that eminent prelate’s life, the fervour of his devotion, the
+active benevolence and Christian fortitude of his character,
+had insured him the reputation of a saint, and might,
+it was thought, by many Catholics, entitle him to canonization.<a id="FNanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a>
+Roda, however, well knew that the Jesuits<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span>
+bore great enmity to his memory on account of his disputes
+with them in South America; he foresaw that
+every exertion of that powerful body would be made to
+resist the introduction of his name into the Rubric. He
+therefore suggested very adroitly to Father Osma the
+glory which would redound to his native town if this object
+could be accomplished. He painted in glowing colours
+the gratitude he would inspire in Spain, and the
+admiration he would excite in the Catholic world if
+through his means a Spaniard of so illustrious a name
+and of such acknowledged virtue could be actually
+sainted at Rome. He had the satisfaction of finding
+that Father Osma espoused the cause with a fervour
+hardly to be expected from his character. He not only
+advised but instigated and urged the King to support
+the pretensions of the bishop of Osma with all his influence
+and authority. But here an apparent difficulty
+arose, which Roda turned to advantage, and converted to
+the instrument of involving the Court of Madrid in an<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span>
+additional dispute with the Roman Pontiff. Charles III.
+was not unwilling to support the pretensions of his
+Confessor’s favourite Saint; but he had a job of his
+own in that branch to drive with the Court of Rome,
+and he accordingly solicited in his turn the co-operation
+of Father Osma, to obtain the canonization of Brother
+Sebastian.</p>
+
+<p>The story of this last-mentioned obscure personage is
+so curious, and illustrates so forcibly the singular character
+of Charles, that it will not be foreign to my purpose
+to relate it.</p>
+
+<p>During Philip the Fifth’s residence in Seville, Hermano
+Sebastian, a sort of lay-brother<a id="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> of the Convent of
+San Francisco el Grande, was accustomed to visit the
+principal houses of the place with an image of the Infant
+Jesus, in quest of alms for his order. The affected sanctity
+of his life, the demure humility of his manner, and
+the little sentences of morality with which he was accustomed
+to address the women and children whom he visited,
+acquired him the reputation of a saint in a small circle of
+simple devotees. The good man began to think himself
+inspired, to compose short works of devotion, and even
+to venture occasionally on the character of a prophet.
+Accident or design brought him to the palace: he was
+introduced to the apartments of the princes, and Charles
+then a child, took a prodigious fancy to Brother Sebastian
+of the <i>Niño Jesus</i>, as he was generally called in the
+neighbourhood, from the image he carried when soliciting
+alms for his convent. To ingratiate himself with the
+royal infant, the old man made Charles a present of some<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span>
+prayers written in his own hand, and told him, with an
+air of sanctified mystery, that he would one day be King
+of Spain, in reward, no doubt, of his early indications of
+piety and resignation. The present delighted Charles,
+and, young as he was, the words and sense of the prophecy
+sunk deep in his superstitious and retentive mind.
+Though he was seldom known to mention the circumstance
+for years, yet he never parted with the manuscript.
+It was his companion by day and by night, at home and
+in the field. When he was up, it was constantly in his
+pocket; and it was placed under his pillow during his
+hours of rest. But when, by his accession to the crown of
+Spain, its author’s prediction was fulfilled, the work acquired
+new charms in his eyes, his confidence in Brother
+Sebastian’s sanctity was confirmed, and his memory was
+cherished with additional fondness by the grateful and
+credulous monarch. At the same time, therefore, that
+the pretensions of the Bishop of Osma to canonization
+were urged at Rome, the Spanish minister was instructed
+to speak a good word for the humble friar Sebastian.
+The lively and sarcastic Azara was entrusted with this
+negotiation; and, as I know that he was at some pains to
+preserve the documents of this curious transaction, it is
+not impossible that he may have left memoirs of his life,
+in which the whole correspondence will, no doubt, be detailed
+with minuteness and exquisite humour.</p>
+
+<p>The Court of Rome is ever fertile in expedients, especially
+when the object is to start difficulties and suggest
+obstacles to any design. The investigation of Palafox’s
+pretensions was studiously protracted; and it was easy
+to perceive that the influence of the Jesuits in the Sacred
+College was exerted to throw new impediments in the
+way of their adversary’s canonization. Though the
+Court of Rome could never seriously have thought of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span>
+giving Brother Sebastian a place in the Rubric, they
+amused Charles III. by very long discussions on his
+merits, and went through, with scrupulous minuteness,
+all the previous ceremonies for ascertaining the conduct
+of a saint.</p>
+
+<p>It is a maxim, that the original of every writing of a
+person claiming to be made a saint, must be examined at
+Rome by the Sacred College, and that no copy, however
+attested, can be admitted as sufficient testimony, if the
+original document is in existence. The book, therefore,
+to which the Spanish Monarch was so attached, was required
+at Rome. Here was an abundant source of negotiation
+and delay. Charles could not bring himself to
+part with his treasure, and the forms of canonization
+precluded the College from proceeding without it. At
+length, the King, from his honest and disinterested zeal
+for the friar, was prevailed upon. But Azara was instructed
+to have the College summoned, and the Cardinals
+ready, on the day and even the hour at which it was
+calculated that the most expeditious courier could convey
+the precious book from Madrid to Rome. Relays were
+provided on the road, and Charles III. himself deposited
+the precious manuscript in the hands of his most trusty
+messenger, with long and anxious injunctions to preserve
+it most religiously, and not to lose a moment in sallying
+forth from Rome on his return, when the interesting contents
+of the volume should have been perused.</p>
+
+<p>The interim was to Charles III. a “phantasma, or a
+hideous dream.” He never slept, and scarcely took any
+nourishment during the few days he was separated from
+the beloved paper. His domestic economy, and the
+regulation of his hours, which neither public business
+nor private affliction in any other instance disturbed,
+was altered; and the chase, which was not interrupted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span>
+even by the illness and death of his children, was suspended
+till Brother Sebastian’s original MS. could again
+accompany him to the field. He stood at the window of
+his palace counting the drops of rain on the glasses, and
+sighing deeply. Business, pleasure, conversation, and
+meals, were suspended, till the long-expected treasure
+returned, and restored the monarch to his usual avocations.</p>
+
+<p>When, however, his Confessor discovered that the
+Court of Rome was trifling with their solicitations, that
+to Palafox there was an insurmountable repugnance, and
+when the King began to suspect that the sacrifice he had
+been compelled to make was all to no purpose, and that
+the pains of separation had been inflicted upon him without
+the slightest disposition to grant him the object for
+which alone he had been inclined to endure it, both he
+and his Confessor grew angry. The opposition to their
+wishes was, perhaps, truly, and certainly industriously
+traced to the Jesuits.</p>
+
+<p>In the mean while a riot occurred at Madrid. In 1766,
+the people rose against the regulation of police which
+attempted to suppress the cloaks and large hats, as
+affording too great opportunities for the concealment
+of assassins. These and other obnoxious measures were
+attributed to the Marquis of Squilace, who, in his quality
+of favourite as well as foreigner, was an unpopular
+minister of finance. Charles III. was compelled to
+abandon him; and the Count of Aranda, disgraced under
+Ferdinand VI. and lately appointed to the captain-generalship
+of Valencia, was named President of the
+council of Castile, for the purpose of pacifying by his
+popularity, and suppressing by his vigour, the remaining
+discontents of the people. He entered into all Roda’s
+views. As an Aragonese, he was an enemy of the <i>Co<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span>legios
+Mayores</i>, for they admitted few subjects of that
+Crown to their highest distinctions: and as a freethinker,
+and man of letters, he was anxious to suppress
+the Jesuits.</p>
+
+<p>Reports, founded or unfounded, were circulated in
+the country, and countenanced by these powerful men,
+that the Jesuits had instigated the riots of Madrid. It
+was confidently asserted, that many had been seen in the
+mob, though disguised; and Father Isidro Lopez, an
+Asturian, who was considered as one of the leading characters
+in the company, was expressly named as having
+been active in the streets. Ensenada, the great protector
+of the Jesuits in the former reign, had been named by
+the populace as the proper successor of Squilace, and
+there were certainly either grounds for suspecting, or
+pretexts for attributing the discontent of the metropolis
+to the machinations of the Jesuits and their protector the
+ex-minister Ensenada. Enquiries were instituted. Many
+witnesses were examined; but great secrecy was preserved.
+It is, however, to be presumed, that, under
+colour of investigating the causes of the late riot, Aranda
+and Roda contrived to collect every information which
+could inflame the mind of the King against those institutions
+which they were determined to subvert. They had
+revived the controversy respecting the conduct of the
+venerable Palafox, and drawn the attention both of
+Charles III. and the public to the celebrated letter of
+that prelate, in which he describes the machinations of
+the Jesuits in South America, and which their party had
+but a few years since sentenced to be publicly burnt in
+the great square of Madrid.</p>
+
+<p>But, even with the assistance of Father Osma, the acquiescence
+of the King, and the concert of many foreign
+enemies of the Company, Roda and Aranda were in want<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span>
+of the additional aid which talents, assiduity, learning,
+and character could supply, to carry into execution a
+project vast in its conception, and extremely complicated,
+as well as delicate in its details. They found it in the famous
+Campomanes. Perhaps the grateful recollection of
+services, and the natural good-nature of Jovellanos, led
+him to praise too highly his early protector and precursor,
+in the studies which he himself brought to greater perfection.
+But Campomanes was an enlightened man, and
+a laborious as well as honest minister. He was at that
+time Fiscal of the Council and Chancellor of Castile,
+and considered by the profession of the law, as well as
+by the great commercial and political bodies throughout
+Spain, as an infallible oracle on all matters regarding the
+internal administration of the kingdom. <i>The Coleccion
+de Providencias tomadas por el gobierno sobre el estrañamiento
+y ocupacion de temporalidades de los Regulares de
+la Compañia</i> (Collection of measures taken by the Government
+for the alienation and seizure of the temporalities
+of the Regulars of the company of Jesuits) is said to
+be a monument of his diligence, sagacity, and vigour.</p>
+
+<p>A royal decree was issued on 27th February, 1767,
+and dated from <i>el Pardo</i>, by which a Junta, composed of
+several members of the Royal Council, was instituted, in
+consequence of the riot of Madrid of the preceding year.
+To this Junta several bishops, selected from those who
+were most attached to the doctrines of Saint Thomas
+Aquinas, and, consequently, least favourable to the Jesuits,
+(for they espouse the rival tenets,) were added for
+the purpose of giving weight and authority to their decree.
+In this Junta the day and form of the measure were resolved
+upon, and instructions drawn out for the Magistrates
+who were to execute it both in Spain and in
+America, together with directions for the nature of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span>
+preparations, the carriages to be provided at the various
+places inland, and the vessels to be ready in the ports.
+The precautions were well laid. The secret was wonderfully
+kept; and on the night of the first of April, at midnight
+precisely, every College of the Jesuits throughout
+Spain was surrounded by troops, and every member of
+each collected in their respective chapters, priests or lay-brothers,
+young or old, acquainted with the decree, and
+forcibly conveyed out of the kingdom. Their sufferings
+are well known; and the fortitude with which they bore
+them must extort praise even from those who are most
+convinced of the mischiefs which their long influence in
+the courts of Europe produced. The expulsion and
+persecution of the French priests during the Revolution
+was more bloody, but scarcely less inhuman, than the
+hardships inflicted by the regular and legitimate monarchies
+which had originally encouraged them, on the
+Jesuits. On the other hand, the suppression of that society
+was favourable to the cause of liberty, morals, and
+even learning;&mdash;for though their system of education
+has been much extolled, it must be acknowledged that in
+Spain, at least, the period at which the education of
+youth was chiefly entrusted to Jesuits, is that in which
+Castilian literature declined, and general ignorance prevailed.
+If the state of education in a country is to be
+judged of by its fruits, the Jesuits in Spain certainly
+retarded its progress. In relation to the rest of Europe,
+the Spaniards were farther advanced in science and learning
+during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, than
+during the seventeenth and eighteenth; and since the
+suppression of the Company, in 1767, and not till then,
+a taste for literature and a spirit of improvement revived
+among them.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span></p>
+  <h2>NOTES.</h2>
+  <hr class="sep2" />
+  <h3 id="NoteA">NOTE A.</h3>
+  <p class="subh3"><i>On the Devotion of the Spaniards to the Immaculate
+  Conception of the Virgin Mary.</i>&mdash;<a href="#Page_22">p. 22</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span>
+history of the transactions relative to the disputes
+on the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary,
+even when confined to those which took place at Seville,
+could not be compressed within the limits of one of the
+preceding letters. Such readers, besides, as take little
+interest in subjects of this nature, would probably have
+objected to a detailed account of absurdities, which seem
+at first sight scarcely to deserve any notice. Yet there
+are others to whom nothing is without interest which
+depicts any peculiar state of the human mind, and exhibits
+some of the innumerable modifications of society.
+Out of deference, therefore, to the first, we have detached
+the following narrative from the text of Doblado’s Letters,
+casting the information we have collected from the
+Spanish writers into a note, the length of which will,
+we hope, be excused by those of the latter description.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The dispute on the Immaculate Conception of the
+Virgin began between the Dominicans and Franciscans
+as early as the thirteenth century. The contending
+parties stood at first upon equal ground; but “the
+merits of faith and devotion” were so decidedly on the
+side of the Franciscans, that they soon had the Christian
+mob to support them, and it became dangerous for any
+Divine to assert that the <i>Mother of God</i> (such is the
+established language of the Church of Rome) had been,
+like the rest of mankind, involved in original sin. The
+oracle of the Capitol allowed, however, the disputants
+to fight out their battles, without shewing the
+least partiality, till public opinion had taken a decided
+turn.</p>
+
+<p>In 1613, a Dominican, in a sermon preached at the
+cathedral of Seville, threw out some doubts on the Immaculate
+Conception. This was conceived to be an insult
+not only to the Virgin Mary, but to the community
+at large; and the populace was kept with difficulty from
+taking summary vengeance on the offender and his convent.
+Zuñiga, the annalist of Seville, who published his
+work in 1677, deems it a matter of Christian forbearance
+not to consign the names of the preacher and his convent
+to the execration of posterity. But if the civil and ecclesiastical
+authorities exerted themselves for the protection
+of the offenders, they were also the first to
+promote a series of expiatory rites, which might avert the
+anger of their Patroness, and make ample reparation to
+her insulted honour. Processions innumerable paraded
+the streets, proclaiming the original purity of the Virgin
+Mother; and <i>Miguél del Cid</i>, a <i>Sevillian</i> poet of that
+day, was urged by the Archbishop to compose the
+Spanish hymn, “Todo el Mundo en general,” which,
+though far below mediocrity, is still nightly sung at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span>
+Seville by the associations called Rosarios, which have
+been described in Doblado’s Letters.<a id="FNanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p>
+
+<p>The next step was to procure a decision of the Pope
+in favour of the <i>Immaculate Conception</i>. To promote this
+important object two commissioners were dispatched to
+Rome, both of them dignified clergymen, who had devoted
+their lives and fortunes to the cause of the Virgin
+Mary.</p>
+
+<p>After four years of indescribable anxiety the long
+wished-for decree, which doomed to silence the opponents
+of Mary’s original innocence, was known to be on
+the point of passing the <i>seal of the Fisherman</i>,<a id="FNanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> and
+the <i>Sevillians</i> held themselves in readiness to express
+their unbounded joy the very moment of its arrival in
+their town. This great event took place on the 22d of
+October 1617, at ten o’clock P.M. “The news, says
+Zuñiga, produced a universal stir in the town. Men left
+their houses to congratulate one another in the streets.
+The fraternity of the <i>Nazarenes</i> joining in a procession
+of more than six hundred persons, with lighted candles
+in their hands, sallied forth from their church, singing
+the hymn in honour of <i>Original Purity</i>. Numerous bonfires
+were lighted, the streets were illuminated from the
+windows and terraces, and ingenious fireworks were let
+off in different parts of the town. At midnight the bells
+of the cathedral broke out into a general chime, which
+was answered by every parish church and convent; and
+many persons in masks and fancy dresses having gathered
+before the archbishop’s palace, his grace appeared at the
+balcony, moved to tears by the devout joy of his flock.
+At the first peal of the bells all the churches were thrown
+open, and the hymns and praises offered up in them lent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span>
+to the stillness of night the most lively sounds of the
+day.”</p>
+
+<p>A day was subsequently fixed when all the authorities
+were to take a solemn oath in the Cathedral, to believe
+and assert the <i>Immaculate Conception</i>. An endless series
+of processions followed to thank Heaven for the late
+triumph against the unbelievers. In fact, the people of
+Seville could not move about, for some time, without
+forming a religious procession. “Any boy,” says a
+contemporary historian, “who, going upon an errand,
+chose to strike up the hymn <i>Todo el Mundo</i>, were sure
+to draw after him a train, which from one grew up into
+a multitude; for there was not a gentleman, clergyman,
+or friar, who did not join and follow the chorus which he
+thus happened to meet in the streets.”</p>
+
+<p>Besides these religious ceremonies, shows of a more
+worldly character were exhibited. Among these was
+the Moorish equestrian game, called, in Arabic, <i>El Jeerid</i>,
+and in Spanish, <i>Cañas</i>, from the reeds which, instead of
+javelins, the cavaliers dart at each other, as they go
+through a great variety of graceful and complicated evolutions
+on horseback.<a id="FNanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> <i>Fiestas Reales</i>, or bull-fights,
+where gentlemen enter the arena, were also exhibited on
+this occasion. To diversify, however, the spectacle, and
+indulge the popular taste, which requires a species of
+comic interlude, called <i>Mogiganga</i>, a dwarf, whose dimi<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span>nutive
+limbs required to have the stirrups fixed on the
+flap of the saddle, mounted on a milk-white horse, and
+attended by four negroes of gigantic stature, dressed in a
+splendid oriental costume, fought with one of the bulls,
+and drove a full span of his lance into the animal’s body&mdash;a
+circumstance which was deemed too important to be
+omitted by the historiographers of Seville.</p>
+
+<p>The most curious and characteristic of the shows was,
+however, an allegorical tournament, exhibited at the expense
+of the company of silk-weavers, who, from the
+monopoly with the Spanish Colonies, had attained great
+wealth and consequence at that period. It is thus described,
+from the records of the times, by a modern Spanish
+writer.</p>
+
+<p>“Near the Puerta del Pardon (one of the gates of the
+cathedral), a platform was erected, terminating under the
+altar dedicated to the Virgin, which stands over the
+gate.<a id="FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> Three splendid seats were placed at the foot of
+the altar, and two avenues railed in on both sides of the
+platform to admit the Judges, the challenger, the supporters
+or seconds, the marshal, and the adventurers.
+Near one of the corners of the stage was pitched the
+challenger’s tent of black and brown silk, and in it a
+seat covered with black velvet. In front stood the figure
+of an apple-tree bearing fruit, and hanging from its
+boughs a target, on which the challenge was exposed to
+view.</p>
+
+<p>“At five in the afternoon, the Marshal, attended by
+his Adjutant, presented himself in the lists. He was
+followed by four children, in the dress used to represent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span>
+angels, with lighted torches in their hands. Another
+child, personating Michael the Archangel, was the leader
+of a second group of six angels, who were the bearers of
+the prizes&mdash;a Lamb and a Male Infant. The Judges,
+Justice and Mercy, appeared last of all, and took their
+appointed seats.</p>
+
+<p>“The sound of drums, fifes, and clarions, announced
+soon after, the approach of another group, composed of
+two savages of gigantic dimensions, with large clubs on
+their shoulders, eight torch-bearers in black, and two
+infernal Furies, and, in the centre, the challenger’s shield-bearer,
+followed by the challenger’s supporter or second,
+dressed in black and gold, with a plume of black and
+yellow feathers. This band having walked round the
+stage, the second brought the challenger out of the tent,
+who, dressed uniformly with his supporter, appeared
+wielding a lance twenty-five hands in length.<a id="FNanchor_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p>
+
+<p>The following is a list of the Adventurers, their attendants,
+or torch-bearers, and supporters or seconds:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table summary="Adventurers in the allegorical tournament">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdbb">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td colspan="3" class="tdbb"><i>Attendants</i></td>
+    <td colspan="2" class="tdbb"><i>Seconds</i></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Adam</td>
+    <td class="tdr">6</td>
+    <td>Clowns</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="td170">{</td>
+    <td class="tdl">Hope and<br />Innocence.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Cain</td>
+    <td class="tdr">6</td>
+    <td>Infernal Furies</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Envy.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Abraham</td>
+    <td class="tdvab">6</td>
+    <td>Dwarfs,<a id="FNanchor_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> three<br />
+        Angels in the habit<br />
+        of Pilgrims,<br />
+        and Isaac</td>
+    <td class="td380">}</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Faith.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Job</td>
+    <td class="tdr">6</td>
+    <td>Pages</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Patience.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>David</td>
+    <td class="tdr">6</td>
+    <td>Squires</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Repentance.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Jeroboam</td>
+    <td class="tdr">4</td>
+    <td>Jews</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Idolatry.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Ahab</td>
+    <td class="tdr">12</td>
+    <td>Squires</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Covetousness.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>John the Baptist</td>
+    <td class="tdr">12</td>
+    <td>Squires</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="td170">{</td>
+    <td class="tdl">Divine Love<br />and Grace.</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="p1"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span>
+“The dresses (continues the historian) were all splendid,
+and suited to the characters.</p>
+
+<p>“The Adventurers engaged the challenger in succession,
+and all were wounded by the first stroke of his
+enormous lance. In this state they drew their swords,
+and fought with various success, some conquering the
+common enemy, while others yielded to his superior force.
+None, however, distinguished himself so much as the
+Baptist, who, regardless of the wound he had received at
+the first onset, and being armed with fresh weapons by
+<i>Grace</i>, beat the adversary in every succeeding rencounter.
+His extraordinary success was rewarded with a seat near
+the Judges, and the Lamb was awarded him as a prize.</p>
+
+<p>“After this, the Marshal and his Adjutant, followed
+by <i>Grace</i> and <i>Divine Love</i>, left the stage. In a short
+time they re-appeared, followed by twelve youths, as
+torch-bearers, the seven Virtues<a id="FNanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> personated by children
+from four to five years of age, and nine Angels, as representatives
+of the nine hierarchies. Two squires attended
+each of the Virtues and Angels; the whole train being
+closed by <i>Grace</i> and <i>Divine Love</i>, supporting the last
+Adventurer, a beautiful child seven years old, who, as
+intended to represent the Holy Virgin, was more splendidly
+dressed than the rest, in a suit of sky-blue and
+white, sprinkled with golden stars, the hair flowing down
+the shoulders in curls, and held round the head by a
+twelve-starred diadem.</p>
+
+<p>“When the combatants faced each other, the challenger
+could not conceal his trepidation. The female Adventurer,
+on the other hand, would not use the lance with
+which she had entered the lists; for it bore the words
+<span class="smcap">Daughter of Adam</span>, in a banderole which hung from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span>
+it. Having thrown away that weapon, she received
+another from the seconds, with the inscription <span class="smcap">Daughter
+of the Father</span>. At this moment the challenger darted
+his lance; but in his fear and confusion, he could not
+touch his adversary, while the heroine, on the contrary,
+taking an unerring aim at his breast, brought him instantly
+upon his knees; and the victory was completed
+with two other lances, bearing the mottoes&mdash;<span class="smcap">Mother of
+the Son</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Spouse of the Holy Ghost</span>. Unhurt by
+her adversary, she had now laid him on the ground, and
+placed her foot and sword upon his neck, amidst a shout
+of universal acclamation. The Judges awarded her the
+<i>Child Jesus</i>, as a prize, and seated her above all in a
+throne. Next under the Virgin took their seats <i>Divine
+Love</i>, <i>Grace</i>, <i>Michael</i>, and <i>John the Baptist</i>, and a
+general tournament ensued, in which all the other combatants
+engaged. The tournament being ended, the
+challenger and his second retired through the left avenue.
+The rest of the actors conducted the victor, through that
+on the right, attended by one hundred and forty torch-bearers,
+and a band of musicians singing her triumphal
+hymn, which was echoed by the immense concourse.”
+<i>Compendio Historico de Sevilla por Don Fermin Arana
+de Varflora</i> (Padre Valderrama) p. 77, et seq.</p>
+
+
+<h3 id="NoteB">NOTE B.</h3>
+
+<p class="subh3"><i>On a Passage in Xenophon.</i>&mdash;<a href="#Page_46">p. 46</a>.</p>
+
+<p>The passage from Xenophon translated in the text is
+this: <span lang="grc">Οἱ οὖν ἀμφὶ τὸν Σωκράτην πρῶτον μέν, ὥσπερ εἰκὸς ἦν,
+ἐπαινοῦντες τὴν κλῆσιν οὐχ ὑπισχνοῦντο συνδειπνήσειν. ὡς δὲ πάνυ
+ἀχθόμενος φανερὸς ἦν, εἰ μὴ ἕψοιντο, συνηκολούθησαν.</span> Sympos.
+c. 1. 7. Ernesti is angry at the <span lang="grc">ὥσπερ εἰκὸς</span>, which is soon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span>
+after repeated, when speaking of the order in which the
+guests placed themselves at table. He wants, in the
+last passage, to change it into <span lang="grc">ὡς ἔτυχον</span>. But though the
+emendation is plausible, there seems to be no necessity
+to alter the reading. Xenophon is, indeed, remarkably
+fond of that phrase. The <span lang="grc">εἰκὸς</span>, in both places, probably
+means <i>according to custom</i>. It might be applied to the
+order of precedence in England, and it should seem to
+have been used by Xenophon to denote the Greek sense
+of propriety in taking a place at table. In Spain, where
+there is no established order, a great deal of bowing and
+scraping takes place before the guests can arrange that
+important point. But, without any settled rule, there is
+a tact which seldom misleads any one who wishes not to
+give offence. This is probably the second <span lang="grc">ὥσπερ εἰκὸς</span> of
+Xenophon.</p>
+
+
+<h3 id="NoteC">NOTE C.</h3>
+
+<p class="subh3">“<i>A little work that gave an amusing Miracle of the
+Virgin for every Day in the Year.</i>” <a href="#Page_70">p. 70</a>.</p>
+
+<p>The book alluded to in the text is the <i>Año Virgineo</i>.
+The moral tendency of this and similar books may be
+shewn by the following story&mdash;technically named an <i>Example</i>&mdash;which
+I will venture to give from memory:&mdash;A
+Spanish soldier, who had fought in the Netherlands,
+having returned home with some booty, was leading a
+profligate and desperate life. He had, however, bled
+for the Faith: and his own was perfectly orthodox. A
+large old picture of the Virgin Mary hung over the inside
+of the door of his lodgings, which, it seems, did not
+correspond in loftiness to the brave halberdier’s mind
+and demeanour. Early every morning he used to sally
+forth in pursuit of unlawful pleasure; but, though he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span>
+never did bend his knees in prayer, he would not cross
+the threshold without a loud <i>Hail Mary!</i> to the picture,
+accompanied by an inclination of the halbert, which
+partly from his outrageous hurry to break out of the
+nightly prison, partly from want of room for his military
+salute, inflicted many a wound on the canvass. Thus
+our soldier went on spending his life and money, till a
+sharp Spanish dagger composed him to rest, in the heat
+of a brawl. “He died and made no sign.” The Devil,
+who thought him as fair a prize as any that had ever been
+within his grasp, waited only for the sentence which,
+according to Catholics, is passed on every individual
+immediately after death, in what they call the <i>Particular
+Judgment</i>. At this critical moment the Virgin Mary
+presented herself in a black mantle, similar to that which
+she wore in the picture, but sadly rent and slit in several
+places. “These are the marks,” she said to the affrighted
+soul, “of your rude, though certainly well-meant
+civility. I will not, however, permit that one who has so
+cordially saluted me every day, should go into everlasting
+fire.” Thus saying, she bade the evil spirit give up his
+prisoner, and the gallant soldier was sent to purge off the
+dross of his boisterous nature, in the gentler flames of
+purgatory.&mdash;A portion of the book from which I recollect
+this story, was, for many years, read every evening
+in one of the principal parishes at Seville. I observed
+the same practice at a town not far from the capital of
+Andalusia; and, for any thing I know to the contrary, it
+may be very common all over Spain. Such is the doctrine
+which, disowned in theory by the divines of the Roman
+church, but growing out of the system of saint-worship,
+constitutes the main religious feeling of the vulgar, and
+taints strongly the minds of the higher classes in Spain.
+The Chronicles of the Religious Orders are full of nar<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span>ratives,
+the whole drift of which is to represent their
+patron saint as powerful to save from the very jaws of
+hell. The skill of the painter has often been engaged to
+exhibit these stories to the eye, and the Spanish convents
+abound in pictures more encouraging to vice than
+the most profligate prints of the Palais Royal. I recollect
+one at Seville in the convent of the Antonines&mdash;a species
+of the genus <i>Monachus Franciscanus</i> of the <i>Monachologia</i>&mdash;so
+strangely absurd, that I hope the reader
+will forgive my lengthening this note with its description.
+The picture I allude to was in the cloisters of the
+convent of San Antonio, facing the principal entrance,
+so late as the year 1810, when I was last at Seville. The
+subject is the hairbreadth escape of a great sinner,
+whom St. Francis saved against all chances. An extract
+from the Chronicles of the Order, which is found in a
+corner of the painting, informs the beholder that the
+person whose soul is represented on the canvass, was a
+lawless nobleman, who, fortified in his own castle, became
+the terror and abhorrence of the neighbourhood.
+As neither the life of man, nor the honour of woman,
+was safe from the violence of his passions, none willingly
+dwelt upon his lands, or approached the gate of the
+castle. It chanced, however, that two Franciscan
+friars, having lost the way in a stormy night, applied
+for shelter at the wicked nobleman’s gate, where they
+met with nothing but insult and scorn. It was well
+for them that the fame of St. Francis filled the world at
+that time. The holy saint, with the assistance of St.
+Paul, had lately cut the throat of an Italian bishop, who
+had resisted the establishment of the Franciscans in his
+diocese.<a id="FNanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span></p>
+<p>The fear of a similar punishment abated the fierceness
+of the nobleman, and he ordered his servants to give the
+friars some clean straw for a bed, and a couple of eggs
+for their supper. Having given this explanation, the
+painter trusts to the appropriate language of his art, and
+takes up the story immediately after the death of the
+noble sinner. Michael the archangel&mdash;who by a traditional
+belief, universal in Spain, and probably common
+to all Catholic countries, is considered to have the charge
+of weighing departed souls with their good works,
+against the sins they have committed&mdash;is represented
+with a large pair of scales in his hand. Several angels,
+in a group, stand near him, and a crowd of devils are
+watching, at a respectful distance, the result of the trial.
+The newly-departed soul, in the puny shape of a sickly
+boy, has been placed, naked, in one scale, while the opposite
+groans under a monstrous heap of swords, daggers,
+poisoned bows, love-letters, and portraits of females,
+who had been the victims of his fierce desires. It is
+evident that this ponderous mass would have greatly outweighed
+the slight and nearly transparent form which
+was to oppose its pressure, had not Saint Francis, whose
+figure stands prominent in the painting, assisted the dis<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span>tressed
+soul by slipping a couple of eggs and a bundle
+of straw into its own side of the balance. Upon this
+seasonable addition, the instruments and emblems of
+guilt are seen to fly up and kick the beam. It appears
+from this that the Spanish painter agrees with Milton in
+the system of weighing Fate; and that, since the days of
+Homer and Virgil, superior weight is become the sign of
+victory, which with them was that of defeat&mdash;<i>quo vergat
+pondere lethum</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3 id="NoteD">NOTE D.</h3>
+
+<p class="subh3"><i>On the Moral Character of the Spanish Jesuits,</i> <a href="#Page_77">p. 77</a>.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever we may think of the political delinquencies
+of their leaders, their bitterest enemies have never ventured
+to charge the Order of Jesuits with moral irregularities.
+The internal policy of that body precluded the
+possibility of gross misconduct. No Jesuit could step out
+of doors without calling on the superior for leave and a
+companion, in the choice of whom great care was taken
+to vary the couples. Never were they allowed to pass a
+single night out of the convent, except when attending a
+dying person: and, even then, they were under the
+strictest injunctions to return at whatever hour the soul
+departed. Nothing, however, can give a more striking
+view of the discipline and internal government of the Jesuits
+than a case well known in my family, which I shall
+here insert as not devoid of interest. A Jesuit of good
+connexions, and more than common abilities, had, during
+a long residence at Granada, become a general favourite,
+and especially in a family of distinction where there were
+some young ladies. On one of the three days properly
+named the Carnival, he happened to call at that house,
+and found the whole family indulging with a few intimate<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span>
+friends in the usual mirth of the season; but all in a private
+domestic manner. With the freedom and vivacity
+peculiar to Spanish females, the young ladies formed a
+conspiracy to make their favourite Jesuit stand up and
+dance with them. Resistance was in vain: they teased
+and cajoled the poor man, till he, in good-natured condescension,
+got up, moved in the dance for a few minutes,
+and retired again to his seat. Years elapsed: he was
+removed from Granada, and probably forgot the transient
+gaiety into which he had been betrayed. It is well
+known that the general of the Jesuits, who made Rome
+his constant residence, appointed from thence to every
+office in the order all over the world. But so little caprice
+influenced those nominations, that the friends of the
+unfortunate dancer were daily expecting to see him
+elected provincial governor of the Jesuits in Andalusia.
+To their great surprise, however, the election fell upon
+a much inferior man. As the elections were triennial,
+the strongest interest was made for the next turn. Pressed
+on all sides, the general desired his secretary to return a
+written answer. It was conceived in these words: “It
+cannot be: he danced at Granada.”</p>
+
+<p>I have seen Capuchin friars, the most austere order of
+Franciscans, rattling on a guitar, and singing Boleros
+before a mixed company in the open fields; and I have
+heard of a friar, who being called to watch over a death-bed,
+in a decent but poor family, had the audacity to
+take gross liberties with a female in the very room where
+the sick man lay speechless. He recovered, however,
+strength enough to communicate this horrid insult to his
+son, from whom I have the fact. The convent to which
+this friar belonged, is notorious, among the lower classes,
+for profligacy.</p>
+
+<p>I shall add a little trait illustrative of Spanish manners.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span>
+A friar in high glee is commonly reminded of his profession,
+in a jeering tone, by the wags of the company.
+Cries of, <i>Cáñamo, Padre</i>, (hemp, my father!) are heard
+from all sides, alluding to the scourge used for the discipline,
+which is made of that substance, and recommending
+it as a proper cure for rebellious spirits. These two
+words will cut a friar to the heart.</p>
+
+
+<h3 id="NoteE">NOTE E.</h3>
+
+<p class="subh3">“<i>On the Prevalence of Scepticism among the Catholic
+Clergy.</i>” <a href="#Page_100">p. 100</a>.</p>
+
+<p>I once heard an English gentleman, who had resided
+a long time in Italy, where he obtained lodgings in a
+convent, relate his surprise at the termination of a friendly
+discussion which he had with the most able individuals
+of the house, on the points of difference between the
+Churches of England and Rome. The dispute had been
+animated, and supported with great ability on the Catholic
+side by one of the youngest monks. When, at
+length, all, except the chief disputants, had retired, the
+young monk, turning to his English guest, asked him
+whether he really believed what he had been defending?
+Upon receiving a serious answer in the affirmative, he
+could not help exclaiming, <i>Allor lei crede più che tutto
+il convento</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3 id="NoteF">NOTE F.</h3>
+
+<p class="subh3">“<i>The Child God.</i>” <a href="#Page_147">p. 147</a>.</p>
+
+<p>The representation of the Deity in the form of a child
+is very common in Spain. The number of little figures,
+about a foot high, called Niño Dios, or Niño Jesus,
+is nearly equal to that of nuns in most convents.
+The nuns dress them in all the variety of the national<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span>
+costumes, such as clergymen, canons in their choral
+robes, doctors of divinity in their hoods, physicians in
+their wigs and gold-headed canes, &amp;c. &amp;c. The Niño
+Jesus is often found in private houses; and in some parts
+of Spain, where contraband trade is the main occupation
+of the people, is seen in the dress of a smuggler with a
+brace of pistols at his girdle, and a blunderbuss leaning
+on his arm.</p>
+
+
+<h3 id="NoteG">NOTE G.</h3>
+
+<p class="subh3">“<i>On the Town of Olbera.</i>” <a href="#Page_170">p. 170</a>.</p>
+
+<p>In De Rocca’s “<i>Memoires sur la Guerre des Français
+en Espagne</i>,” there is a trait so perfectly in character
+with Don Leucadio’s description of the people of Olbera,
+that I must beg leave to transcribe it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>“Nous formâmes un bivouac dans une prairie entourée
+de murs, attenante à l’auberge qui est sur la route au
+bas du village. Les habitans furent, pendant le reste
+du jour, assez tranquilles en apparence, et ils nous fournirent
+des vivres; mais, au lieu d’un jeune bœuf que
+j’avais demandé, ils nous apportèrent un âne coupé en
+quartiers: les hussards trouvèrent que ce veau, comme
+ils l’appellaient, avait le goût un peu fade; mais ce ne
+fut que long-temps après que nous apprîmes cette bizarre
+tromperie, par les montagnards eux-mêmes. Ils nous
+criaient souvent, dans la suite, en tiraillant avec nous,
+‘Vous avez mangé de l’âne à Olbera.’ C’était, dans leur
+opinion, la plus sanglante des injures qu’on pût faire à
+des chrétiens.”</p>
+
+<p>De Rocca’s book abounds in lively pictures of Spanish
+manners, especially in the account he gives of the Serrania
+de Ronda; without indulging national partialities,
+he does full justice to his mortal enemies, and represents<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span>
+them in the most favourable colours which were consistent
+with truth.</p>
+
+
+<h3 id="NoteH">NOTE H.</h3>
+
+<p class="subh3">“<i>The effectual aid given by that Crucifix in the Plague
+of 1649, was upon record.</i>” <a href="#Page_174">p. 174</a>.</p>
+
+<p>Zuñiga, in his Annals, copies a Spanish inscription,
+which still exists in the convent of Saint Augustin, at
+Seville; of which I subjoin a translation:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>“In 1649, this town being under a most violent attack
+of the plague, of which great numbers died,<a id="FNanchor_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> the two
+most illustrious Chapters, Ecclesiastical and Secular, requested
+that this community of our father St. Augustin,
+should allow the image of Christ to be carried to the
+Cathedral. It was, accordingly, conveyed, on the second
+of July of the same year, in a solemn procession, attended
+by the Secular Chapter (the Town Corporation),
+and all the religious communities, amidst the loud wailings
+of the people; when the most illustrious Chapter
+of the Cathedral walked to meet the procession at the
+end of the street of the <i>Placentines</i>.<a id="FNanchor_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> The most holy
+image was left that evening and the ensuing night in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span>
+Cathedral, and returned the next day to its shrine, our
+Lord being pleased to ordain that the plague should
+begin to abate from the day when the image was brought
+out, and cease altogether at the end of the <i>Octavario</i>,
+(eight days worship), as it was attested by the physicians.
+Wherefore the most noble and most loyal city of Seville
+appointed the said second of July, for ever, to repair
+to this convent as an act of thanksgiving for that great
+benefit.”</p>
+
+<p>In spite of this solemn acknowledgment of the miracle,
+the <i>astrologers</i> of that day were unwilling to give the
+crucifix the whole credit of staying the plague. Zuñiga
+shrewdly observes that the conjunction of Jupiter with
+Mars, which, according to Captain Francis de Ruesta,
+removed the infection, did not take place till the 12th of
+July, ten days after the wonderful effects of the procession
+had become visible; and the Captain himself, probably
+to keep clear of the Inquisition, declares that the
+favourable influence of the planets “was previously <i>ensured</i>
+by the exhibition of the Holy Christ of Saint
+Augustin.” <i>Zuñiga, Anales de Sevilla</i>, t. iv. p. 404.</p>
+
+
+<h3 id="NoteI">NOTE I.</h3>
+
+<p class="subh3">“<i>Vicious Habits of the Religious Probationers.</i>” <a href="#Page_195">p. 195</a>.</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish satirical novel, “<i>Fray Gerundio de Campazas</i>,”
+contains a lively picture of the adventures of
+a Novice. It was written by Padre Isla, a Jesuit, for
+the purpose of checking the foppery and absurdity of the
+popular preachers. Cervantes himself could not boast
+of greater success in banishing the books of Chivalry
+than Isla in shaming the friars out of the affected and
+often profane <i>concetti</i>, which, in his time, were mistaken
+for pulpit eloquence. But the Inquisition could not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span>
+endure that her great props, the religious orders, should
+be exposed, in any of their members, to the shafts of ridicule;
+and <i>Fray Gerundio</i> was prohibited.</p>
+
+
+<h3 id="NoteK">NOTE K.</h3>
+
+<p>A book entitled <i>Memorias para la vida del Excmo.
+Señor D. Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos</i>, was published,
+at Madrid, in 1814, by Cean Bermudez. This gentleman,
+whose uninterrupted intimacy from early youth
+with the subject of his Memoirs, enabled him to draw
+an animated picture of one of the most interesting men
+that Spain has produced in her decline, has, probably,
+from the habits of reserve and false notions of decorum,
+still prevalent in that country, greatly disappointed our
+hopes. What relates to Jovellanos himself is confined to
+a few pages, containing little more than the dates of
+events connected with his public life, some vague declamation,
+and a few inuendos on the great intrigues which,
+having raised him to the ministry, confined him soon after
+to the fortress of Bellver. The second part contains
+a catalogue, and a slight analysis of his works. The
+friends of Jovellanos, however, are indebted to the
+author of the Memorias, for the help which this collection
+of notes on the life of that truly excellent and amiable
+man will afford any future writer who, with more settled
+habits of freedom, and altogether under more favourable
+circumstances, shall undertake to draw the full-length
+picture of which we yet scarcely possess a sketch.</p>
+
+<p>For the satisfaction of such of our readers as may
+wish to know the fate of Jovellanos, we subjoin a brief
+account of the last years of his life.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the accession of Ferdinand VII., Jovellanos
+was, by royal order, released from his confinement, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span>
+subsequently elected a Member of the Central Junta.
+When the French entered Seville in 1810, and the
+Regency of Cadiz superseded the Junta, he wished to retire
+to his native place, Gijon, in Asturias.</p>
+
+<p>The popular feeling, exasperated by national misfortunes,
+was now venting itself against the abdicated Government,
+to whose want of energy the advantages of the
+French were indiscriminately attributed; and Jovellanos,
+accidentally detained in the Bay of Cadiz, had the mortification
+of learning that he was involved in the absurd
+and shameful suspicion of having shared in the spoil of
+the Spanish treasury, with which the Central Junta was
+charged. A dignified appeal to the candour of the nation,
+which he sent to the Cadiz papers for insertion,
+was not permitted to see the light&mdash;so narrow and illiberal
+were the views of the Regency&mdash;and the feeling and
+high-minded Castilian had to sail under the intolerable
+apprehension that some of his countrymen might look
+upon him as a felon endeavouring to abscond from
+justice.</p>
+
+<p>If any one circumstance could add to the painfulness
+of Jovellanos’s situation, it was that, while the thoughtlessness
+or the ingratitude of his countrymen thus involved
+him in a suspicion of peculation, the state of his
+finances was such as to have obliged him to accept the
+sum of little more than one hundred pounds, the savings
+of many year’s service, which his trusty valet pressed
+upon him, with tears, that he might defray the expenses
+of their removal from Seville.</p>
+
+<p>After being almost wrecked on the coast of Galicia,
+Jovellanos was obliged to land at the small town of
+Muros. Here he had to endure a fresh insult from the
+petty Junta of that province, by whose orders his papers
+were minutely searched, and copies taken at the option<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span>
+of an officer sent for that purpose with a military detachment.</p>
+
+<p>A temporary retreat of the French from Gijon enabled
+Jovellanos to revisit his native town; but an unexpected
+return of the invaders obliged him soon after to take
+ship with the utmost precipitation. His flight was so
+sudden that he was actually at sea without having determined
+upon a place of refuge. Had the venerable and
+unhappy fugitive listened to the repeated invitations
+which his intimate friend Lord Holland sent him after
+the first appearance of danger from the progress of the
+French, his life might have been prolonged under the
+hospitable roof of Holland House. But Jovellanos’s notions
+of public duty were too exalted and romantic: and
+he would not quit Spain while there was a single spot in
+the possession of her patriots.</p>
+
+<p>In attempting to reach by sea the port of Ribadeo,
+where there lay a Spanish frigate, in which he hoped to
+find a passage to Cadiz, another storm kept him for eight
+days under the peculiar hardships of a dangerous navigation
+in a small and crowded ship. Exhausted both
+in body and mind, and with a heart almost broken by
+the ill-treatment he had met with at the close of a long
+life spent in the service of his country, he landed at
+Vega, where, the poverty of the town offering no better
+accommodations, he was placed in the same room with
+Valdés Llanos, an old friend and relation, who had
+joined him in the flight, and seemed so shattered by age
+and fatigue, as not to be able to survive the effects of the
+late storm. Here Jovellanos employed his remaining
+strength in nursing and comforting his fellow-sufferer,
+till, Valdés being near his end, his friend was, according
+to the notions of the country, removed to another room.
+But death had also laid his hand on Jovellanos. Two<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span>
+days after completing his sixty-sixth year, he was laid
+in the same grave with his friend.<a id="FNanchor_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="end">THE END.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<p class="center xlarge">FOOTNOTES</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_1"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_1">[1]</a></span> See Espriella’s “Letters from England.”</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_2"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_2">[2]</a></span> He visited Spain in the years 1786 and 1787.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_3"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_3">[3]</a></span> The Spanish words are <i>Ha pasado su Magestad?</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_4"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_4">[4]</a></span> See <a href="#NoteA">Note A</a>, at the end of the Volume.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_5"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_5">[5]</a></span> A name denoting the plain unsophisticated Spaniard.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_6"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_6">[6]</a></span> <i>Gentle</i> and <i>simple</i>, as I find in those inexhaustible sources
+of intellectual delight, the Novels by the author of “Waverley,”
+are used by the Scottish peasants in the same manner as <i>Noble</i>,
+and <i>Llano</i>, (plain, simple) by the Spaniards.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_7"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_7">[7]</a></span> The Cortes have abolished this barbarous method of inflicting
+death.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_8"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_8">[8]</a></span> See <a href="#NoteB">Note B</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_9"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_9">[9]</a></span> <i>Pobres vergonzantes.</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_10"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_10">[10]</a></span> See <a href="#NoteC">Note C</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_11"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_11">[11]</a></span> The secular clergy are not bound by vows. Celibacy is
+enforced upon them by a law which makes their marriage illegal,
+and punishable by the Ecclesiastical Courts.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_12"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_12">[12]</a></span> See <a href="#NoteD">Note D</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_13"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_13">[13]</a></span> Feyjoo died in 1765. Several of his Essays were published
+in English by John Brett, Esq. 1780.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_14"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_14">[14]</a></span> There exist in Spain some other colleges which are also
+called <i>mayores</i>; but none, except four at Salamanca, one at
+Valladolid, and one at Seville, were reckoned as a part of the literary
+aristocracy of the country. None but these had the privilege
+of referring all their interests and concerns to a committee
+of the supreme council of the nation, expressly named for that
+purpose.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_15"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_15">[15]</a></span> ... Il s’est établi dans Madrid un systême de liberté sur
+la vente des productions, qui s’étend même à celles de la presse;
+et que, pourvu que je ne parle en mes écrits ni de l’autorité, ni
+du culte, ni de la politique, ni de la morale, ni des gens en place,
+ni des corps en crédit, ni de l’Opera, ni des autres spectacles, ni
+de personne qui tienne à quelque chose, je puis tout imprimer
+librement, sous l’inspection de deux ou trois censeurs.&mdash;<i>Marriage
+de Figaro</i>, <i>Act 5</i>, <i>Sc. 3</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_16"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_16">[16]</a></span> Don Manuel Maria del Marmol.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_17"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_17">[17]</a></span> Don Manuel Maria de Arjona.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_18"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_18">[18]</a></span> A coloured tassel on the cap is, in Spain, the peculiar
+distinction of doctors and masters. <i>White</i>, denotes divinity:
+green, canon law: crimson, civil law: yellow, medicine; and
+blue, arts, i. e. philosophy. Those caps are worn only on public
+occasions at the universities.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_19"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_19">[19]</a></span> Melendez Valdez.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_20"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_20">[20]</a></span> Don Juan Pablo Forner.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_21"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_21">[21]</a></span> See <a href="#NoteE">Note E</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_22"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_22">[22]</a></span> “Beauties of Christianity,” 3 vols. 8vo.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_23"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_23">[23]</a></span> See Letter III. <a href="#Page_77">p. 77</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_24"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_24">[24]</a></span> The yellow fever in 1800.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_25"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_25">[25]</a></span> See <a href="#NoteF">Note F</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_26"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_26">[26]</a></span> See <a href="#NoteG">Note G</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_27"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_27">[27]</a></span> See <a href="#NoteH">Note H</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_28"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_28">[28]</a></span> Chapter xxxvii.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_29"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_29">[29]</a></span> Persons who live in common.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_30"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_30">[30]</a></span> See <a href="#NoteI">Note I</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_31"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_31">[31]</a></span> Charles III.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_32"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_32">[32]</a></span> Jovellanos; see <a href="#Page_395">Appendix</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_33"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_33">[33]</a></span> See <a href="#Page_141">Letter V. page 141</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_34"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_34">[34]</a></span> Chapter xxxvii.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_35"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_35">[35]</a></span> See <a href="#Page_52">Letter III</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_36"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_36">[36]</a></span> She died in 1821.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_37"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+<div class="poetry-container" style="margin-top: -1em;">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <p class="i1">... Nihilo ut sapientior, ille</p>
+    <p>Qui te deridet, caudam trahat,</p>
+    <p class="isig"><span class="smcap">Sat.</span> II. iii.</p>
+    <p class="xss">&nbsp;</p>
+    <p>So he who dared thy madness to deride,</p>
+    <p>Though you may frankly own yourself a fool,</p>
+    <p>Behind him trails his mark of ridicule.</p>
+    <p class="isig"><span class="smcap">Francis.</span></p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_38"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_38">[38]</a></span> “Os quais servidores naô seraô Hespanhôes para gozarem
+de dita libertade.”</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_39"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_39">[39]</a></span> The Casuists are divided into <i>Probabilistæ</i> and <i>Probabilioristæ</i>.
+The first, among whom were the Jesuits, maintain
+that a certain degree of probability as to the lawfulness of an
+action is enough to secure against sin. The second, supported by
+the <i>Dominicans</i> and the <i>Jansenists</i> (a kind of Catholic Calvinists,
+condemned by the Church) insist on the necessity of always
+taking the <i>safest</i>, or most probable side. The French proverb
+<i>Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien</i>, is perfectly applicable to the
+practical effects of these two systems, as they are observed in
+Spain.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_40"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_40">[40]</a></span> “<i>Calla, maldita lengua</i>,” the usual exclamation which
+stops the crier, has become a jocular expression in Andalusia.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_41"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_41">[41]</a></span> This name is, as far as I know, peculiar to Seville. The
+similarity of its sound and that of <i>sizars</i> used at Cambridge,
+seems to denote a common origin in the two words.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_42"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_42">[42]</a></span> See <a href="#Page_253">page 253</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_43"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_43">[43]</a></span> See Letter II. <a href="#Page_34">p. 34</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_44"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_44">[44]</a></span> A word derived from the verb <i>Majar</i>, to beat in a mortar.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_45"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+<div class="poetry-container" style="margin-top: -1em;">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <p>Jupiter, ingentes qui das adimisque dolores,</p>
+    <p>(Mater ait pueri menses jam quinque cubantis),</p>
+    <p>Frigida si puerum quartana reliquerit, illo</p>
+    <p>Mane, die quo tu indicis jejunia, nudus</p>
+    <p>In Tiberi stabit.&mdash;Casus, medicusve levarit</p>
+    <p>Ægrum ex precipiti; mater delira necabit</p>
+    <p>In gelidâ fixum ripâ, febrimque reducet.</p>
+    <p class="isig"><span class="smcap">Hor. Sat. L.</span> II. 3. 288.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_46"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_46">[46]</a></span> Hudibras, Part II. Canto I.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_47"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_47">[47]</a></span> Garlands.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_48"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_48">[48]</a></span> Proverbs xxvi. 8.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_49"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_49">[49]</a></span> Young men are appointed to go abroad with the Spanish
+ambassadors in order to learn foreign languages, and thus qualify
+themselves as diplomatists.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_50"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_50">[50]</a></span> It is a well known fact that there are letters in existence
+addressed by her, while Princess of Asturias, to the judges in the
+provinces, asking their votes in pending lawsuits.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_51"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_51">[51]</a></span> See <a href="#NoteK">Note K</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_52"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_52">[52]</a></span> See Letter X. <a href="#Page_309">p. 309</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_53"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_53">[53]</a></span> That of a Catholic Clergyman.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_54"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_54">[54]</a></span> See <a href="#Page_292">Letter X</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_55"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_55">[55]</a></span> This was actually the case at the creation of the Central
+Junta.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_56"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_56">[56]</a></span>
+The account in <a href="#Page_191">Letter VII</a>. of the anxiety manifested by Charles
+III. on the occasion of sending to Rome a manuscript in the hand of
+a Spanish simpleton, whom the superstition of that country wished
+to invest with the honours of Saintship, was compiled from local tradition,
+and the recollections preserved from a former perusal of the
+present Appendix. Its noble author, whose love of the literature of
+Spain, and great acquaintance with that country, would be enough to
+designate him, were he not best known by a peculiar benevolence of
+heart, which no man ever expressed so faithfully in the affability of
+his manners; has subsequently favoured the writer of the preceding
+Letters with his permission to publish this sketch. The attentive
+reader will observe some slight variations between my story of Brother
+Sebastian and that given in this Appendix. But as they all relate
+to circumstances connected with the city of Seville, I am unwilling
+to omit or to alter what I have heard from my townsmen and
+the contemporaries of Sebastian himself.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_57"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_57">[57]</a></span> There is a Life of Palafox, published at Paris, in 1767. The
+design of the unknown author is evidently to mortify and prejudice
+the Jesuits by exalting the character of one of their earliest and
+fiercest opponents. The author is, however, either an ardent fanatic
+of the Jansenist party, and as superstitious as those he wishes to expose;
+or he promotes the cause of the Philosophers of France and
+Spain by affecting devotion, and conciliating many true believers to
+the measure of suppressing the Jesuits.&mdash;Palafox was the illegitimate
+child of Don Jayme de Palafox y Mendoza, by a lady of rank, who,
+to conceal her pregnancy, retired to the waters of Fitero in Navarre,
+and being delivered on the 24th June, 1600, to avoid the scandal,
+took the wicked resolution of drowning her child in the neighbouring
+river. The woman employed to perpetrate this murder was detected
+before she effected her purpose, the child saved, and brought up by
+an old dependant of the house of Ariza till he was ten years old, when
+his father returned from Rome, acknowledged, relieved, and educated
+him at Alcalá and Salamanca. His mother became a nun of the
+barefooted Carmelite order. Palafox was introduced at Court, and
+to the Count Duke de Olivares in 1626, and was soon after named to
+the council of India. An illness of his paternal sister, the funeral of
+two remarkable men, and the piety of his mother, made such impression
+upon him, that he gave himself up to the most fervent devotion,
+and soon after took orders. He became chaplain to the Queen of
+Hungary, Philip IVth’s sister, and travelled through Italy, Germany,
+Flanders, and France. In 1639, he was consecrated Bishop of Angelopolis,
+or Puebla de los Angeles, in America. His first quarrel
+with the Jesuits was on the subject of tithes. Lands on which
+tithes were payable had been alienated in favour of the Company,
+and they pretended, that when once the property of their body, they
+were exempt from that tax. The second ground was a pretended
+privilege of the Jesuits to preach without the permission of the
+Diocesan, against which Palafox contended. The Jesuits, having
+the Viceroy of New Spain on their side, obliged Palafox to fly; on
+which occasion he wrote his celebrated letters against his enemies.
+A brief of the Pope in his favour did not prevent his being recalled
+in civil terms, by the King. At the petition of the Jesuits, who
+dreaded his return to America, the King named him to the bishopric
+of Osma. Of the austerity and extravagance of his principles, the
+following resolutions of the pious bishop are specimens: Not to
+admit any woman to his presence, and never to speak to one but
+with his eyes on the ground, and the door open. Never to pay a
+woman a compliment, but when the not doing so would appear singular
+or scandalous; and never to look a female in the face. Whenever
+compelled to visit a woman, to wear a cross with sharp points
+next the skin.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_58"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_58">[58]</a></span> He was not a <i>lay-brother</i>, but a <i>Donado</i>, a species of religious
+drudges, who, without taking vows, wear the habit of the order;
+and may leave it when they please. The <i>Donados</i> are never called
+<i>Fray</i>, but <i>Hermano</i>.&mdash;<a href="#Page_229"><i>See Doblado’s Letter</i> IX</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_59"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_59">[59]</a></span> Letter I. <a href="#Page_20">p. 20</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_60"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_60">[60]</a></span> <i>Sigillum</i> or <i>annulus Piscatoris</i>, the great seal of the Popes.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_61"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_61">[61]</a></span> Gentlemen of the first rank, who are members of the associations
+called <i>Maestranzas</i>, perform at these games on the King’s birth-day,
+and other public festivals. Horsemanship was formerly in great estimation
+among the Andalusian gentry, who joined in a variety of
+amusements connected with that art. Such was the <i>Parejas de Hachas</i>,
+a game performed by night, at which the riders bore lighted torches.
+When Philip the Fourth visited Seville, in 1624, one hundred gentlemen,
+each attended by two grooms, all with torches in their hands,
+ran races before the king. This was the only amusement which, according
+to the established notions, could be permitted in Lent.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_62"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_62">[62]</a></span> The reader must be aware that this was an imitation of a foot
+tournament, an amusement as frequent among the ancient Spanish
+knights as the jousts on horseback. It is called in the Spanish Chronicles
+<i>Tornéo de a pié</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_63"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_63">[63]</a></span> Though the Spanish writer has forgotten to mention the allegory
+of the challenger, it is evident, from the sequel, that he was intended
+to represent <i>Sin</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_64"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_64">[64]</a></span> Dwarfs were formerly very common among the servants of the
+Spanish nobility. But it is not easy to guess for what reason they
+were allotted to Abraham, on this occasion.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_65"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_65">[65]</a></span> The Spanish Catechism enumerates seven vices and seven opposite
+virtues.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_66"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_66">[66]</a></span> This curious scene is the subject of another picture in the
+cloisters of Saint Francis, at Seville. The bishop is seen in his bed,
+where Saint Francis has neatly severed the head from the body with
+Saint Paul’s sword, which he had borrowed for this pious purpose.
+As the good friars might have been suspected of having a hand in
+this miracle, the saint performed an additional wonder. The figures
+of Saint Paul and Saint Francis stood side by side in a painted glass
+window of the principal convent of the order. The apostle had a
+sword in his hand, while his companion was weaponless. To the
+great surprise of the fathers, it was observed, one morning, that
+Saint Paul had given away the sword to his friend. The death of
+the bishop, which happened that very night, explained the wonder,
+and taught the world what those might expect who thwarted the
+plans of Heaven in the establishment of the Franciscans.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_67"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_67">[67]</a></span> Espinosa, the modern editor and annotator of Zuñiga, states,
+from ancient records, that within the first six weeks after the appearance
+of the plague, the number of deaths amounted to eighty
+thousand. This, however, we consider as a palpable exaggeration;
+for, though Seville was nearly depopulated on that occasion, it is
+probable that it never contained more than one hundred thousand
+inhabitants.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_68"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_68">[68]</a></span> Seville has several streets bearing the name of foreign nations&mdash;a
+faint memorial of its former commerce and wealth. The street
+of the <i>Placentines</i> is a continuation of that of the Franks (Francos).
+There is a Lombard Street (calle Lombardos), a <i>Genoa Street</i>, and
+some others of a similar denomination.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a id="Footnote_69"></a><span class="label"><a href="#FNanchor_69">[69]</a></span> In the Appendix No. 2, to Lord Holland’s <i>Life of Lope de Vega</i>
+are found both the originals and translations of some eloquent passages
+from Jovellanos’s pen, to which I have made an allusion in
+this note. His portrait also, from a marble bust executed at Seville
+by Don Angel Monasterio, at his lordship’s desire, and now in his
+possession, is prefixed to the second volume of the same work.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="transnote" id="tnote">
+  <p class="tnotetit">Transcriber's note</p>
+  <ul>
+    <li>Obvious printer errors have been silently corrected.</li>
+    <li>Blank pages have been skipped.</li>
+    <li>Footnotes have been renumbered to a single series and moved to the end of the book.</li>
+    <li>Original spelling was kept, but variant spellings were made consistent when a predominant usage was found.</li>
+    <li>Throughout the book, different Spanish spellings have been homogenized into “Colegio Mayor” and “Colegial Mayor”.</li>
+  </ul>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Letters from Spain, by Joseph Blanco White
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM SPAIN ***
+
+***** This file should be named 48203-h.htm or 48203-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/4/8/2/0/48203/
+
+Produced by Josep Cols Canals, Ramon Pajares Box, and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
+be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
+States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive
+specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
+eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook
+for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
+performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given
+away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks
+not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the
+trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
+
+START: FULL LICENSE
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
+person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
+1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
+Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country outside the United States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
+on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+
+  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
+  United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you
+  are located before using this ebook.
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
+other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
+Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+provided that
+
+* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
+  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+  Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
+  works.
+
+* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+  receipt of the work.
+
+* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
+Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
+www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
+mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
+volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
+locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
+Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to
+date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
+official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+
+    Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+    Chief Executive and Director
+    gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
+state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
+facility: www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/48203/48203-h/images/cover.jpg b/48203/48203-h/images/cover.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0925d72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/48203/48203-h/images/cover.jpg
author	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-02-27 18:37:23 -0800
committer	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-02-27 18:37:23 -0800
commit	66076c23faa6404f59c5f07ea42e57f8b938d8c3 (patch)
tree	81b6faadf99d36ef43aee7e4314024eab9b68009