Brooke by Cadiz, and Mr. Inglis by Bayonne. Yet they have all visited the same cities and villages; the same scenery has called forth their praises, and it is creditable to Spain to add, that they all agree in their estimates of the amiable character of her people. Nor is it a little remarkable, that although Mr. Inglis has so rapidly followed the two authors just mentioned, the disadvantage under which he labours is little more than a nominal one. For he has contrived to see many things, in Madrid particularly, which did not fall under their observation; and even in the towns remote from the capital, he has gleaned a good deal of information concerning the actual state of Spanish society, which they either neglected, or had not the opportunity, to acquire. Indeed, he seems to have found a more easy way into the houses, and to have become more intimate with the families, of respectable Spaniards, than it usually falls to the lot of his literary countrymen to do. Hence, his work exhibits a highly engaging picture of the living manners of that country, of the state of its morals, its political parties, and a very full, and we have no doubt an accurate, account of its manufactures and productions. The author has made a point of citing the prices of provisions, in different parts of Spain, and of giving in general such statistical details as he could conveniently collect. But the distinguished merit of this work is, that it contains the most ample as well as the most correct view of what may be called social life in the Peninsula, that perhaps has yet been published in any language. In entering that country from the north, Mr. Inglis deviated at Vittoria from the usual route. Instead of proceeding straight to the capital, he turned to the right, and paid a visit to the ancient and interesting town of Bilbao, in the province of Biscay. The road over the Biscayan mountains is one of the finest in Europe. As the traveller approaches the town, he is surprised to find that the mountains, instead of diminishing, actually increase in height to the very edge of the sea; the town is all but encircled in their bosom, a circumstance which renders it far from being a pure or healthy place. It is well known that the Biscayans differ in personal appearance, in industry and commercial enterprize, and, above all, in their spirit of liberty, from Spaniards in general. The trade of Bilbao, which was principally in wool, has, of late years, very much declined. A little is still done in the importation of dried fish and the export of iron. The system of living and of society, if ever it was upon an extended principle, is now upon a scale more suited to the commercial decline of the port. A cup of chocolate and a crust of bread form the breakfast of the most opulent merchant; he dines at one, generally upon broth, a little boiled beef, and a morsel of pork, or a sausage, surrounded either by cabbage, or Spanish peas; a cup of chocolate again is taken in the afternoon, and for supper a lettuce, prepared with vinegar, oil, and pepper. Such is the menage at home. The plan of their society is curious. In the winter season some eight or ten families agree to form a circle; each chooses a week, and receives the others every evening during that period, treating them only with cards, music, and dancing; for the visitors take chocolate before leaving home, and supper when they return. The money won at cards is placed in a purse, which is confided to one of the party, and with the produce of the season the materials of a grand dinner are purchased, which is partaken of in the country, when the summer comes, by all the members of the circle. There is a frugal simplicity in this plan which none but very amiable persons could enjoy. Were such a scheme proposed in this country, and carried into effect, even amongst families intimately known to each other, they would get tired of it before the end of the first week. We abhor the idea of seeing the same faces, night after night, because in truth we have lost all relish for what is natural, and can relish only what is artificial, to which variety is always essential. The cheapness of the necessaries of life at Bilbao, may be collected from Mr. Inglis's statement. The town of Bilbao is extremely rich. On the occasion of the king's visit, a few years ago, the corporation expended no less than two millions of reals (20,000l.) in feasts, decorations, bull-fights, &c., and to cover these expenses, it was not necessary to lay on any additional impositions. These funds arise from dues upon the entry of all the necessaries of life, whether by land or by sea: beef is entirely a town monopoly, by which the corporation realizes 1500 reals per day. The duties upon wine, soap, and oil, are also considerable, and the dues of port entry upon all articles of subsistence are 2d. per cent. But notwithstanding these dues, living is not expensive. The following are the prices of some articles: beef is 10 quartos, or about 3d.; mutton, 3d., but is generally of an inferior quality; a lamb costs from 20d. to 2s.; veal is about 4d. per lb., all of 17 oz. Bread varies in price, according to the quality: the best is 1d. per lb, but the coarsest kinds, and the bread of Indian corn, are not sold by weight. Many kinds of game are both plentiful and cheap woodcocks are frequently to be had at 10d. or 1s. per pair. Groceries are also reasonable, and it is a curious fact, that loaf sugar, coming from England, is cheaper than raw sugar, direct from the Havannah : good wine costs a little less than 3d. per bottle. The Spanish country wines taste unpleasantly to a stranger, for they have almost all contracted, less or more, a peculiar flavour from the skins in which they are carried. There are two reasons why the Spanish wines are carried in skins in the wine countries there is little wood to make casks; but the principal reason is, that cross-roads are not suited for carriages, and that mules can more conveniently carry skins than casks. Throughout Biscay, the wages of labour are from 10d. to Is. ; and workmen, such as carpenters, masons, &c., receive from 20d. to 2s. per day.'-vol. i. pp. 26, 27. : : One of the ornaments of Bilbao, and it would be esteemed such any where, is the Campo Santo, or cemetery, a square area of about six acres, surrounded by a covered arcade, which is supported by Doric columns. The back of the arcade is an immense wall of brickwork, in which there are four rows of spaces for the reception of coffins, each space being about three feet wide, and six and a half feet in length. When a coffin is deposited in one of the spaces, it is built up with brick and lime, and a marble slab is fitted into it, upon which the name of the deceased is inscribed. It is calculated to contain altogether three thousand bodies. The entrance gate is a chaste and beautiful structure, upon which these warning lines are written: 666 "Cada paso, que vais dando Que en vano estais evitando." Mortals, every step that you take in the path of life, brings you nearer and nearer to the very exit which you shun in vain." Convents for both sexes are very numerous in Bilbao and its neighbourhood, and afford the author occasion for writing much nonsense about celibacy, and a religious life. It is very clear that he is utterly ignorant of the subject. Perhaps it may be true that monastic establishments are too numerous in Spain, looking at the matter in a political point of view; but it is equally true that they would not be so abundant, if there were not persons to fill them. English travellers expend a great deal of vain regret upon the inhabitants of such institutions in foreign countries. They may be assured of this, that monks and nuns are a much happier race of mortals than most people suspect. They are freed from all the cares of life; and it is their own fault if they have not the blessing of a pure conscience, which, in any condition, is sure to bring with it tranquillity of mind, and all those delicious feelings of which felicity is composed. But these are things which a Protestant writer cannot understand. He is just as incompetent a judge of religious, and particularly of monastic, institutions, as a blind man is of colours, or a deaf man of sounds. But let us pass to a pleasanter subject. 'Every evening while I remained in Bilbao, I spent half an hour in the Swiss Coffee-house-the only one in the town; and one evening, I was much amused by a very curious scene I witnessed there. Four gentlemen were seated at a card-table when I entered the coffee-house, and at first I paid no particular attention to them; but accidentally resting my eye upon them while sipping my coffee, I was surprised to see one of the players shut one eye, and at the same time thrust his tongue out of his mouth; from him, my eyes wandered to another, who at the same moment squinted with both eyes, and thrust forward his under-lip: I now saw that it was a constant succession of face-making, while all the while the game went on. It is impossible to describe the strange, ludicrous, and hideous faces of the players; I was at first dumb with astonishment, and then convulsed with laughter, and all the while dying with curiosity to know the reason of so grotesque an exhibition. It was a Biscayan game, called mus ;-answering to each card there is a particular contortion of the face, which interprets its value; and the point of the game consists in the dexterity with which partners are able to convey to each other by grimaces, the state of each other's hand. This is a favourite game in Biscay, but it is said to require a lifetime to become expert in it : I should think it requires also the natural gift of grimace.'--vol. i. pp. 37, 38. We are accustomed to talk and hear a great deal about the system of political slavery and oppression, which is supposed to exist in Spain. Theoretically speaking, the king seems, indeed, to have the power of doing almost what he pleases with those whom he calls his vassals. Nevertheless, there is, in fact, no country in Europe in which the local interference of the supreme government is so little felt as in Spain. Almost all the principal districts, as Andalusia, Murcia, Catalonia, and the Basque provinces, govern themselves by virtue of privileges which they have enjoyed for many ages. Ferdinand, for instance, is not the king, but the lord of Biscay. The conscription does not extend to that provincethat is to say, to Biscay Proper; in case of invasion only is it bound to furnish troops, and when the occasion for their services ceases, they have a right to disband themselves. Neither can a Biscayan be hanged; if he be condemned to death, he must be strangled-like a nobleman. The distinction, however, only involves this difference, that the criminal so privileged is put to death in a sitting posture, strangulation being the usual mode of inflicting capital punishment in Spain. Further, a Biscayan cannot be whipped; and he is governed by a peculiar code of laws, the advantages of which, however, are exceedingly doubtful. No regular fiscal impositions are laid upon the province. When the king wants money he sends a requisition for that purpose, and he takes as much as he can get. If the demand be, as it has sometimes happened, inconsistent with the rights and privileges of Biscay, the money is given, but with this adjunct," Biscay obeys, but does not comply." "Se obedese, y no se cumple." The maritime laws of Biscay form the basis of those, which were framed for the government of the Spanish-American colonies. Returning to Vittoria, Mr. Inglis resumed the high road to Madrid, whither he travelled by the excellent diligence now established upon that line of approach to the capital. Having so lately gone over almost every street of that stately city with other tourists, we shall only notice some of the objects, which attracted our author's particular attention. Among other things he observes that he never perceived in Madrid that squalid appearance of poverty, which occasionally disgusts the stranger so much in London, and other capital towns of Europe. A single fact which he mentions shows, however, that so far as real poverty is concerned, appearances are not always to be trusted. 6 I purposely walked several times into the lowest quarters of the city, but I never encountered any such pictures of poverty and wretchedness as are to be found abundantly in Paris, London, Dublin, Manchester, and other great towns of France and England. When the king arrived in Madrid from La Granja, there were at least 10,000 persons present at his entrée; and upon the occasion of the queen's accouchement, there were three times that number in the court of the palace; and yet I did not see a single person in rags-scarcely even a beggar. It is possible, however, that a cloak may conceal much wretchedness; and of this I had one day an example. Sauntering one morning in the retired part of the Prado, in front of the botanical garden, I sat down upon the low wall that supports the iron railing: a man, with a decent cloak wrapped around him, sat a few paces distant, seemingly in a reverie; he happened to have taken his seat upon some prohibited place, and one of the guards, unperceived by him, walked forward, and tapped him on the shoulder with his musket; whether the sudden start which this intrusion occasioned had unfastened the cloak, or whether he had accidentally let go his hold of it, is of no consequence; but the cloak dropped half off his body, and I discovered that it was his only garment, excepting his neckcloth. The man was no beggar; he hastily replaced the cloak, and walked away. He was probably one of that class who, in Madrid, sacrifice all to the exterior; or, possibly, one of those very few Castilians who yet inherit old Castilian pride, and who would die rather than ask an alms.'—vol. i. pp. 76, 77. We can ourselves bear testimony to the accuracy of the author's report of the crowds which repair to the Prado: of the picturesque animation of the sketch the reader himself may judge. 66 In my expectations of beauty I was miserably disappointed; beauty of features I saw none, Neither at that time, nor at any subsequent visit to the Prado, did I ever see one strikingly lovely countenance; and the class so well known in England, because so numerous, denominated, pretty girls," has no existence in Spain. The women were, without exception, dark,—but the darkness of the clear brunette, is darkness of a very different kind from that of the Castilian. I saw no fine skin, no glossy hair dark expressive eyes I certainly did see, but they were generally too ill supported to produce much effect. But let me do justice to the grace of the Spanish women. No other woman knows how to walk,the elegant, light, and yet firm step of the small and well-attired foot and ancle, the graceful bearing of the head and neck; the elegant disposition of the arms, never to be seen hanging downward, but one hand holding the folds of the mantilla, just below the waist; the other inclining upward, wielding, with an effect the most miraculous, that mysterious instrument, the fan,-these are the charms of the Spanish women. As for the fan, its powers are nowhere seen displayed to such advantage as on the Prado. I believe I shall never be able to look at a fan in the hands of any other than a Spanish woman, certainly no other woman understands the management of it. In her hands it is never one moment at rest,she throws it open, fans herself, and furls it to the left, and all with three fingers of one hand. This is absolutely marvellous to one who has been accustomed to see a fan opened with both hands, and furled only on one side. But that I may at once exhaust the subject of fans, let me add, that in the hands of its true mistress, the fan becomes a substitute for |
