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diff --git a/18053.txt b/18053.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..87006d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/18053.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8543 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Spanish Life in Town and Country, by +L. Higgin and Eugene E. Street + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 + + +Title: Spanish Life in Town and Country + +Author: L. Higgin and Eugene E. Street + +Editor: William Harbutt Dawson + +Release Date: March 26, 2006 [EBook #18053] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY *** + + + + +Produced by Riikka Talonpoika, Pilar Somoza and The Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: Spelling mistakes have been left in the text to +match the original, except for a few obvious typos.] + + + + + OUR EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURS + + + _French Life_ + _German Life_ + _Russian Life_ + _Dutch Life_ + _Swiss Life_ + _Spanish Life_ + + _Italian Life_ + _Danish Life_ + _Austro-Hungarian Life_ + _Turkish Life_ + _Belgian Life_ + _Swedish Life_ + + + + + OUR EUROPEAN + NEIGHBOURS + + + EDITED BY + WILLIAM HARBUTT DAWSON + + + SPANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND + COUNTRY + + +[Illustration: "IN CHURCH." SHOWING THE MANTILLA AND VELO] + + + + + SPANISH LIFE + IN TOWN AND + COUNTRY + + + BY L. HIGGIN + + + WITH CHAPTERS ON + + PORTUGUESE LIFE IN TOWN AND + COUNTRY, BY EUGENE E. STREET + + * * * * * + + ILLUSTRATED + + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + NEW YORK AND LONDON + The Knickerbocker Press + 1904 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1902 + BY + G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS + + + Published, May, 1902 + Reprinted, February, 1903 + May, 1904; September, 1904 + + + The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + + + +NOTE BY THE EDITOR + + +It has been thought well to include Portugal in this volume, so as to +embrace the entire Iberian Peninsula. Though geographically contiguous, +and so closely associated in the popular mind, the Spanish and +Portuguese nations offer in fact the most striking divergences alike in +character and institutions, and separate treatment was essential in +justice to each country. The preferential attention given to Spain is +only in keeping with the more prominent part she has played, and may yet +play, in the history of civilisation. + + * * * * * + +I am indebted for the chapters on Portugal to Mr. Eugene E. Street, +whose long and intimate acquaintance with the land and its people +renders him peculiarly fitted to draw their picture. + + L. HIGGIN. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +_SPANISH LIFE_ + + PAGE +CHAPTER I +LAND AND PEOPLE 1 + +CHAPTER II +TYPES AND TRAITS 24 + +CHAPTER III +NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS 38 + +CHAPTER IV +SPANISH SOCIETY 55 + +CHAPTER V +MODERN MADRID 77 + +CHAPTER VI +THE COURT 97 + +CHAPTER VII +POPULAR AMUSEMENTS 111 + +CHAPTER VIII +THE PRESS AND ITS LEADERS 129 + +CHAPTER IX +POLITICAL GOVERNMENT 142 + +CHAPTER X +COMMERCE AND AGRICULTURE 156 + +CHAPTER XI +THE ARMY AND NAVY 183 + +CHAPTER XII +RELIGIOUS LIFE 198 + +CHAPTER XIII +EDUCATION AND THE PRIESTHOOD 213 + +CHAPTER XIV +PHILANTHROPY--POSITION OF WOMEN--MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 226 + +CHAPTER XV +MUSIC, ART, AND THE DRAMA 236 + +CHAPTER XVI +MODERN LITERATURE 246 + +CHAPTER XVII +THE FUTURE OF SPAIN 260 + + +_PORTUGUESE LIFE_ + +CHAPTER XVIII +LAND AND PEOPLE 277 + +CHAPTER XIX +PORTUGUESE INSTITUTIONS 298 + + +INDEX 315 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + +"IN CHURCH." SHOWING THE MANTILLA AND VELO _Frontispiece_ + +PEASANTS 2 + +A CORNER IN OLD MADRID 8 + +SEVILLE CIGARRERA 20 + +PEASANTS 20 + +VALENCIANOS 26 + +THE WATER TRIBUNAL IN VALENCIA. SHOWING VALENCIAN COSTUMES 34 + +PAST WORK 50 + +KNIFE-GRINDER 50 + +OUTSIDE THE PLAZA DE TOROS, MADRID 78 + +BUEYES RESTING 94 + +IN THE WOODS AT LA GRANJA 104 + +PLAZA DE TOROS. PICADOR CAUGHT BY THE BULL 120 + +PLAZA DE TOROS. THE PROCESSION 124 + +DRAGGING OUT THE DEAD BULL 126 + +THE ESCURIAL 140 + +A WEDDING PARTY IN ESTREMADURA 170 + +A COUNTRY CABIN IN GALICIA 292 + + + + +SPANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +LAND AND PEOPLE + + +Only in comparatively late years has the Iberian Continent been added to +the happy hunting-grounds of the ordinary British and American tourist, +and somewhat of a check arose after the outbreak of the war with +America. To the other wonderful legends which gather round this romantic +country, and are spread abroad, unabashed and uncontradicted, was added +one more, to the effect that so strong a feeling existed on the part of +the populace against Americans, that it was unsafe for English-speaking +visitors to travel there. Nothing is farther from the truth; there is no +hatred of American or English, and, if there had been, they little know +the innate courtesy of the Spanish people, who fear insult that is not +due to the overbearing manners of the tourist himself. + +To-day, however, everyone is going to Spain, and as the number of +travellers increases, so, perhaps, does the real ignorance of the +country and of her people become more apparent, for, after a few days, +or at most weeks, spent there, those who seem to imagine that they have +discovered Spain, as Columbus discovered America, deliver their judgment +upon her with all the audacity of ignorance, or, at best, with very +imperfect information and capacity for forming an opinion. + +For many years, the foreign element in Spain was so small that all who +made their home in the country were known and easily counted, while +those who travelled were, for the most part, cultivated people--artists, +or lovers of art, or persons interested in some way in the commercial or +industrial progress of the nation. Even in those days, however, too many +tourists spent their time amongst the dead cities, remnants of Spain's +great past, and came back to add their quota to the sentimental notions +current about the romantic land sung by Byron. Wrapped in a glamour for +which their own enthusiasm was mainly responsible, they beheld all +things coloured with the rich glow of a resplendent sunset; their +descriptions of people and places raised expectations too often cruelly +dispelled by facts, as presented to those of less exuberant +imaginations. + +[Illustration: PEASANTS] + +[Illustration: PEASANTS] + +On the other hand, the mere British traveller, knowing nothing of art, +almost nothing of history, and very little of anything beyond his own +provincial parish, finds all that is not the commonplace of his own +country, barbarous and utterly beneath contempt. His own manners, not +generally of the best, set all that is proud and dignified in the lowest +Spaniard in revolt; he imagines that he meets with discourtesy where, in +fact, he has gone out to seek it, and his own ignorance is chiefly to +blame for his failure to understand a people wholly unlike his own class +associates at home. He, too, returns, shaking the dust off his feet, to +draw a picture of the land he has left, as false and misleading as that +of the dreamer who has overloaded his picture with colour that does not +exist for the ordinary tourist. Thus it too often comes to pass that +visitors to Spain experience keen disappointment during their short stay +in the country. Whether they always acknowledge it or not, is another +question. To hit the happy medium, and to draw from a tour in Spain, or +from a more prolonged sojourn there, all the pleasure that may be +derived from it, and to feel with those who, knowing the country and its +people intimately, love it dearly, a remembrance of its past history and +of its strange agglomeration of nationalities is absolutely necessary; +nor can any true idea be formed of the country from a mere acquaintance +with any one of its widely differing provinces. Galicia is, even to-day, +more nearly allied to Portugal than to Spain, and it was only in 1668 +that the independence of the former was acknowledged, and it became a +separate kingdom. + +With all rights now equalised, the inhabitants of the remaining +provinces of Spain differ as widely from one another as they do from the +sister kingdom, while the folklore of Asturias and of the Basque +Provinces is very closely allied with that of Portugal. To judge the +Biscayan by the same standard as the Andaluz, is as sensible as it would +be to compare the Irish squatter with Cornish fisher-folk, or the +peasants of Wilts and Surrey with the Celtic races of the West Highlands +of Scotland, or even with the people of Lancashire or Yorkshire. + +Nor is it possible to speak of Spain as a whole, and of what she is +likely to make of the present impulse towards national growth and +industrial prosperity, without remembering that her population counts, +among its rapidly increasing numbers, the far-seeing and business-like, +if somewhat selfish, Catalan, with a language of his own; the dreamy, +pleasure-loving Andaluz; the vigorous Basque, whose distinctive language +is not to be learned or understood by the people of any other part of +Spain; the half-Moorish Valencian and the self-respecting Aragonese, who +have always made their mark in the history of their country, and were +looked upon as a foreign element in the days when their kingdom and that +of Leon were united, under one crown, with Castile. It was only after +Alfonso XII. had stamped out the last Carlist war that the ancient +_fueros_, or special rights, of the Basque Provinces became a thing of +the past, and their people liable to conscription, on a par with all the +other parts of Spain. + +Every student of history knows that the era of Spain's greatness was +that of _Los Reyes Catolicos_, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of +Aragon, when the wonderful discovery and opening up of a new world made +her people dizzy with excitement, and seemed to promise steadily +increasing power and influence. Everyone knows that these dreams were +never realised; that, so far from remaining the greatest nation of the +Western World, Spain has gradually sunk back into a condition that +leaves her to-day outside of international politics; and that, with the +loss of her last colonies overseas, she appears to the superficial +observer to be a dead or dying nation, no longer of any account among +the peoples of Europe. + +But this is no fact; it is rather the baseless fancy of incompetent +observers, to some extent acquiesced in, or at least not contradicted, +by the proud Castilian, who cares not at all about the opinions of other +nationalities, and who never takes the trouble to enlighten ignorance of +the kind. True, there was an exhibition of something like popular +indignation when the people fancied they discovered a reference to Spain +in the utterances of two leading English statesmen, during the war with +America, and the feeling of soreness against England still to some +extent exists; in fact, strange as it may appear, there is far less +anger against America, which deprived Spain of her colonies, than +against England, which looked on complacently, and with obvious sympathy +for the aggressor. But all this is past, or passing. The Spaniards are a +generous people, and no one forgets or forgives more easily or more +entirely. Those who knew Madrid in the days of Isabel II., would not have +imagined it possible that the Queen, who had been banished with so much +general rejoicing, could, under any circumstances, have received in the +capital a warm greeting; in fact, it was for long thought inexpedient to +allow her to risk a popular demonstration of quite another character. +But when she came to visit her son, after the restoration of Alfonso +XII., her sins, which were many, were forgiven her. It was, perhaps, +remembered that in her youth she had been more sinned against than +sinning; that she was _muy Espanola_, kind-hearted and gracious in +manner, pitiful and courteous to all. Hence, so long as she did not +remain, and did not in any way interfere in the government, the people +were ready to receive her with acclamation, and were probably really +glad to see her again without her _camarilla_, and with no power to +injure the new order of things. + +No nation in the world is more innately democratic than Spain--none, +perhaps, so attached to monarchy; but one lesson has been learned, +probably alike by King and people--that absolutism is dead and buried +beyond recall. The ruler of Spain, to-day and in the future, must +represent the wishes of the people; and if at any time the two should +once more come into sharp collision, it is not the united people of this +once-divided country that would give way. For the rest, so long as the +monarch reigns constitutionally, and respects the rights and the desires +of his people, there is absolutely nothing to fear from pretender or +republican. At a recent political meeting in Madrid, for the first time, +were seen democrats, republicans, and monarchists united; amidst a +goodly quantity of somewhat "tall" talk, two notable remarks were +received with acclamation by all parties: one was that Italy had found +freedom, and had made herself into a united nationality, under a +constitutional monarch; and the other, that between the Government of +England and a republic there was no difference except in name--that in +all Europe there was no country so democratic or so absolutely free as +England under her King, nor one in which the people so entirely governed +themselves. + +Among the many mistaken ideas which obtain currency in England with +regard to Spain, perhaps none is more common or more baseless than the +fiction about Don Carlos and his chances of success. A certain small +class of journalists from time to time write ridiculous articles in +English papers and magazines about what they are pleased to call the +"legitimatist" cause, and announce its coming triumph in the Peninsula. +No Spaniard takes the trouble to notice these remarkable productions of +the fertile journalistic brain of a foreigner. There are still, of +course, people calling themselves Carlists--notably the Duke of Madrid +and Don Jaime, but the cult, such as there is of it in Spain, is of the +"Platonic" order only,--to use the Spanish description of it, "a little +talk but no fight,"--and it may be classed with the vagaries of the +amiable people in England who amuse themselves by wearing a white rose, +and also call themselves "legitimatists," praying for the restoration of +the Stuarts. + +The truth about the Carlist pretension is so little known in England +that it may be well to state it. Spain has never been a land of the +Salic Law; the story of her reigning queens--chief of all, Isabel la +Catolica, shows this. It was not until the time of Philip V., the first +of the Bourbons, that this absolute monarch limited the succession to +heirs male by "pragmatic sanction"; that is to say, by his own +unsupported order. The Act in itself was irregular; it was never put +before the Cortes, and the Council of Castile protested against it at +the time. + +[Illustration: A CORNER IN OLD MADRID] + +This Act, such as it was, was revoked by Charles IV.; but the revocation +was never published, the birth of sons making it immaterial. When, +however, his son Ferdinand VII. was near his end, leaving only two +daughters, he published his father's revocation of the Act of Philip V., +and appointed his wife, Cristina, Regent during the minority of Isabel +II., then only three years of age. + +At no time, then, in its history, has the Salic Law been in use in +Spain: the irregular act of a despotic King was repudiated both by his +grandson and his great-grandson. Nothing, therefore, can be more +ridiculous than the pretension of legitimacy on the part of a pretender +whose party simply attempts to make an illegal innovation, in defiance +of the legitimate kings and of the Council of Castile, a fundamental law +of the monarchy. Carlism, the party of the Church against the nation, +came into existence when, during the first years of Cristina's Regency, +Mendizabal, the patriotic merchant of Cadiz and London, then First +Minister of the Crown, carried out the dismemberment of the religious +orders, and the diversion of their enormous wealth to the use of the +nation. Don Carlos, the brother of Ferdinand VII., thereupon declared +himself the Defender of the Faith and the champion of the extreme +clerical party. _Hinc illae lachrymae_, and two Carlist wars! + +The position of the Church, or rather what was called the "Apostolic +party," is intelligible enough, and it is easy also to understand why +Carlism has been preached as a crusade to English Roman Catholics, who +have been induced in both Carlist wars to provide the main part of the +funds which made them possible; but to call Don Carlos "the legitimate +King" is an absurd misnomer. + +For the rest, as regards Spain herself and the wishes of her people, it +is perhaps enough to remark that if, after the expulsion of the Bourbons +in 1868, at the time of the Revolution known as "La Gloriosa," when Prim +had refused to think of a republic and declared himself once and always +in favour of a monarchy, and the Crown of proud Spain went a-begging +among the Courts of Europe,--if, at that time of her national need, Don +Carlos was unable to come forward in his celebrated character of +"legitimate Sovereign of the Spanish people," or to raise even two or +three voices in his favour, what chance is he likely to have with a +settled constitutional Government and the really legitimate Monarch on +the throne? The strongest chance he ever had of success was when the +Basque Provinces were at one time disposed, it is said almost to a man, +to take his side; but, in fact, the men of the mountain were fighting +much more for the retention of their own _fueros_--for their immunity +from conscription, among others--than for any love of Don Carlos +himself. They would have liked a king and a little kingdom all of their +own, and, above all, to have held their beloved rights against all the +rest of Spain. + +All that, however, is over now. In all Spain no province has profited as +have those of the North by the settled advance of the country. Bilbao, +once a small trading town, twice devastated during the terrible civil +wars, has forged ahead in a manner perhaps only equalled by Liverpool in +the days of its first growth, and is now more important and more +populous than Barcelona itself; with its charming outlet of Portugalete, +it is the most flourishing of Spanish ports, and is able to compare with +any in Europe for its commerce and its rapid growth. Viscaya and +Asturias want no more civil war, and the Apostolic party may look in +vain for any more Carlist risings. More to be feared now are labour +troubles, or the contamination of foreign anarchist doctrines; but in +this case, the Church and the nation would be on the same side--that of +order and progress. + +In attempting to understand the extremely complex character of the +Spaniard as we know him,--that is to say, the Castilian, or rather the +Madrileno,--one has to take into account not only the divers races which +go to make up the nationality as it is to-day, but something of the past +history of this strangely interesting people. To go back to the days +when Spain was a Roman province in a high state of civilisation: some of +the greatest Romans known to fame were Spaniards--Quintilian, Martial, +Lucan, and the two Senecas. Trajan was the first Spaniard named Emperor, +and the only one whose ashes were allowed to rest within the city walls; +but the Spanish freedman of Augustus, Gaius Julius Hyginus, had been +made the chief keeper of the Palatine Library, and Ballus, another +Spaniard, had reached the consulship, and had been accorded the honour +of a public triumph. Hadrian, again, was a Spaniard, and Marcus Aurelius +a son of Cordoba. No wonder that Spain is proud to remember that, of the +"eighty perfect golden years" which Gibbon declares to have been the +happiest epoch in mankind's history, no less than sixty were passed +beneath the sceptre of her Caesars. + +The conquered had become conquerors; the intermarriage of Roman soldiers +and settlers with Spanish women modified the original race; the Iberians +invaded the politics and the literature of their conquerors. St. +Augustine mourned the _odiosa cantio_ of Spanish children learning +Latin, but the language of Rome itself was altered by its Iberian +emperors and literati; the races, in fact, amalgamated, and the Spaniard +of to-day, to those who know him well, bears a strange resemblance to +the Roman citizens with whom the letters of the Younger Pliny so +charmingly make us familiar. The dismemberment of the Roman Empire left +Spain exposed to the inroads of the Northern barbarians, and led +indirectly to the subsequent Moorish inrush; for the Jews, harassed by a +severe penal code, hailed the Arabs as a kindred race; and with their +slaves made common cause with the conquering hordes. + +The Goths seem to have been little more than armed settlers in the +country. Marriage between them and the Iberians was forbidden by their +laws, and the traces of their occupation are singularly few: not a +single inscription or book of Gothic origin remains, and it seems +doubtful if any trace of the language can be found in Castilian or any +of its dialects. It is strange, if this be true, that there should be so +strong a belief in the influence of Gothic blood in the race. + +In all these wars and rumours of war the men of the hardy North remained +practically unconquered. The last to submit to the Roman, the first to +throw off the yoke of the Moor, the Basques and Asturians appear to be +the representatives of the old inhabitants of Spain, who never settled +down under the sway of the invader or acquiesced in foreign rule. Cicero +mentions a Spanish tongue which was unintelligible to the Romans; was +this Basque, which is equally so now to the rest of Spain, and which, if +you believe the modern Castilian, the devil himself has never been able +to master? + +The history of Spain is one to make the heart ache. Some evil influence, +some malign destiny, seems ever to have brought disaster where her +people looked for progress or happiness. Her golden age was just in the +short epoch when Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon reigned and +ruled over the united kingdoms: both were patriotic, both clever, and +absolutely at one in their policy. It is almost impossible to us who can +look back on the long records, almost always sad and disastrous, not to +doubt whether in giving a new world "to Castile and Aragon," Cristobal +Colon did not impose a burden on the country of his adoption which she +was unable to bear, and which became, in the hands of the successors of +her _muy Espanoles y muy Catolicos_ kings, a curse instead of a +blessing. Certain it is that Spain was not sufficiently advanced in +political economy to understand or cope with the enormous changes which +this opening up of a new world brought about. The sudden increase of +wealth without labour, of reward for mere adventure, slew in its infancy +any impulse there might have been to carry on the splendid manufactures +and enlightened agriculture of the Moors; trade became a disgrace, and +the fallacious idea that bringing gold and silver into a country could +make it rich and prosperous ate like a canker into the industrial heart +of the people, and with absolute certainty threw them backward in the +race of civilisation. + +Charles V. was the first evil genius of Spain; thinking far more of his +German and Italian possessions than of the country of his mother, poor +mad Juana, he exhausted the resources of Spain in his endless wars +outside the country, and inaugurated her actual decline at a moment +when, to the unthinking, she was at the height of her glory. The +influence of the powerful nobility of the country had been completely +broken by Isabella and Ferdinand, and the device of adopting the +Burgundian fashion of keeping at the Court an immense crowd of nobles in +so-called "waiting" on the Monarch flattered the national vanity, while +it ensured the absolute inefficacy of the class when it might have been +useful in stemming the baneful absolutism of such lunatics as Felipe II. +and the following Austrian monarchs, each becoming more and more effete +and more and more mad. The very doubtful "glory" of the reign of the +Catholic Kings in having driven out the Moors after eight centuries of +conflict and effort, proved, in fact, no advantage to the country; but +twenty thousand Christian captives were freed, and every reader of +history must, for the moment, sympathise with the people who effected +this freeing of their country from a foreign yoke. + +Looking at the marvellous tracery of the church of San Juan de los Reyes +at Toledo, picked out by the actual chains broken off the miserable +Christian captives, and hanging there unrusted in the fine air and +sunshine of the country for over four hundred years, one's heart beats +in sympathy with the pride of the Spaniards in their Catholic Kings. But +Toledo, alas! is dead; the centre of light and learning is mouldering in +the very slough of ignorance, and Christianity compares badly enough +with the rule of Arab and Jew. + +Nevertheless, it must be said that, had matters been left as Isabella +and Ferdinand left them, Spain might have benefited by the example of +her conquerors, as other countries have done, and as she herself did +during the Roman occupation. Philip II. was too wise to expel the +richest and most industrious of his subjects so long as they paid his +taxes and, at least, professed to be Christians. It was not until the +reign of Philip III. and his disgraceful favourite Lerma, himself the +most bigoted of Valencian "Christians," that, by the advice of Ribera, +the Archbishop of Valencia, these industrious, thrifty, and harmless +people were ruthlessly driven out. They had turned Valencia into a +prolific garden,--even to-day it is called the _huerta_,--their silk +manufactures were known and valued throughout the world; their industry +and frugality were, in fact, their worst crimes; they were able to draw +wealth from the sterile lands which "Christians" found wholly +unproductive. "Since it is impossible to kill them all," said Ribera, +the representative of Christ, he again and again urged on the King their +expulsion. + +The nobles and landowners protested in vain. September 22, 1609, is one +of the blackest--perhaps, in fact, the blackest--of all days in the +disastrous annals of Spain. The Marques de Caracena, Viceroy of +Valencia, issued the terrible edict of expulsion. Six of the oldest and +"most Christian" Moriscos in each community of a hundred souls were to +remain to teach their modes of cultivation and their industries, and +only three days were allowed for the carrying out of this most wicked +and suicidal law. In the following six months one hundred and fifty +thousand Moors were hounded out of the land which their ancestors had +possessed and enriched for centuries. Murcia, Andalucia, Aragon, +Cataluna, Castile, La Mancha, and Estremadura were next taken in hand. +In these latter provinces the cruel blunder was all the worse, since the +Moors had intermarried with the Iberian inhabitants, and had really +embraced the Christian religion, so called. + +Half a million souls, according to Father Bleda, in his _Defensio +Fidei_, were thrust out, with every aggravation of cruelty and robbery. +No nation can commit crimes like this without suffering more than its +victims. Spain has never to this day recovered from the blow to her own +prosperity, to her commerce, her manufactures, and her civilisation +dealt by the narrow-minded and ignorant King, led by a despicable +favourite, and the fanatical bigot, Ribera. With the Moors went almost +all their arts and industries; immense tracts of country became arid +wastes: Castile and La Mancha barely raise crops every second year where +the Moriscos reaped their teeming harvest, and Estremadura from a +smiling garden became a waste where wandering flocks of sheep and pigs +now find a bare subsistence. Nor was this all. Science and learning were +also driven out with the Arab and Jew; Cordoba, like Toledo, vanished, +as the centre of intellectual life. In place of enlightened agriculture, +irrigation of the dry land, and the planting of trees, the peasant was +taught to take for his example San Isidro, the patron saint of the +labourer, who spent his days in prayer, and left his fields to plough +and sow themselves; the forests were cut down for fuel, until the +shadeless wastes became less and less productive, and the whole land on +the elevated plains, which the Moors had irrigated and planted, became +little better than a desert. + +It was not only in the mother country that frightful acts of bigotry and +lust for wealth were enacted. In Peru the Spaniards found a splendid +civilisation among the strange races of the Incas, a condition of order +which many modern states might envy, a religion absolutely free from +fetish worship, and a standard of morality which has never been +surpassed. But they ruthlessly destroyed it all, desecrated the temples +where the sun was worshipped only as a visible representative of a God +"of whom nothing could be known save by His works," as their tenet ran, +and substituted the religion which they represented as having been +taught by Jesus of Nazareth; a religion which looked for its chief power +to the horrible Inquisition and its orgies called _Autos da fe!_ + +As regards the mysterious race of the Incas, who in comparison with the +native Indians were almost white, and who possessed a high cultivation, +it is curious to note that during the late troubles in China records +came to light in the Palace of Pekin showing that Chinese missionaries +landed on the coast subsequently known as Peru, in ages long antecedent +to the discovery of the country by the Spaniards, and established +temples and schools there. No one who reads the minute accounts of the +Incas from Garcilaso de la Vega--himself of the royal race on his +mother's side, his father having been one of the Spanish +adventurers--can avoid the conclusion that the religion of the Incas, +thus utterly destroyed by the Spaniards, was much more nearly that of +Christ than the debased worship introduced in its place. The whole story +of these "Children of the Sun," told by one of themselves afterwards in +Cordoba, where he is always careful to keep on the right side of the +Inquisition by pretending to be a "Christian after the manner of his +father," is fascinatingly interesting as well as instructive. + +It is almost impossible to speak of the Spanish Inquisition and its +baneful influence on the people without seeming to be carried away by +prejudice or even bigotry, but it is equally impossible for the ordinary +student of history to read, even in the pages of the "orthodox," the +terrible repression of its iron hand on all that was advancing in the +nation; its writers, its singers, its men of science, wherever they +dared to raise their voices in ever so faint a cry, ground down to one +dead level of unthinking acquiescence, or driven forth from their native +land, without ceasing to wonder at all at Spain's decadence from the +moment she had handed herself over, bound hand and foot, to the Church. +Wondering, rather, at her enormous inherent vitality, which at last, +after so many centuries of spasmodic effort, has shaken off the incubus +and regained liberty, or for the first time established it in the realms +of religion, science, and general instruction. + +It matters little or nothing whether the Inquisition, with its secret +spies, its closed doors, its mockery of justice, and its terrible +background of smouldering _Quemadero_, was the instrument of the Church +or of the King for the moment. Whether a religious or a political +tyranny, it was at all times opposed to the very essence of freedom, and +it was deliberately used, and would be again to-day if it were possible +to restore it, to keep the people in a gross state of ignorance and +superstition. That it was admirable as an organisation only shows it in +a more baneful light, since it was used to crush out all progress. Its +effect is well expressed in the old proverb: "Between the King and the +Inquisition we must not open our lips." + +"I would rather think I had ascended from an ape," said Huxley, in his +celebrated answer to the Bishop of Oxford, "than that I had descended +from a man who used great gifts to darken reason." It has been the +object of the Inquisition to darken reason wherever it had the power, +and it left the mass of the Spanish people, great and generous as they +are by nature, for long a mere mob of inert animals, ready to amuse +themselves when their country was at its hour of greatest agony, debased +by the sight of wholesale and cruel murders carried out by the priests +of their religion in the name of Christ. + +[Illustration: PEASANTS] + +[Illustration: SEVILLE CIGARRERA] + +Even to-day the Spaniard of the lower classes can scarcely understand +that he can have any part or parcel in the government of his country. +Long ages of misrule have made him hate all governments alike: he +imagines that all the evils he finds in the world of his own experience +are the work of whoever happens to be the ruler for the time being; that +it is possible for him to have any say in the matter never enters his +head, and he votes, if he votes at all, as he is ordered to vote. He has +been taught for ages past to believe whatever he has been told. His +reason has been "offered as a sacrifice to God," if indeed he is aware +that he possesses any. + +The danger of the thorough awakening may be that which broke out so +wildly during Castelar's short and disastrous attempt at a republic: +that when once he breaks away from the binding power of his old +religion, he may have nothing better than atheism and anarchism to fall +back upon. The days of the absolute reign of ignorance and superstition +are over; but the people are deeply religious. Will the Church of Spain +adapt itself to the new state of things, or will it see its people drift +away from its pale altogether, as other nations have done? This is the +true clerical question which looms darkly before the Spain of to-day. + +To return, however. The Austrian kings of Spain had brought her only +ruin. With the Bourbons it was hoped a better era had opened, but it was +only exchanging one form of misrule for another. The kings existed for +their own benefit and pleasure; the people existed to minister to them +and find funds for their extravagance. Each succeeding monarch was ruled +by some upstart favourite, until the climax was reached when Godoy, the +disgraceful Minister of Charles IV., and the open lover of his Queen, +sold the country to Napoleon. Then indeed awoke the great heart of the +nation, and Spain has the everlasting glory of having risen as one man +against the French despot, and, by the help of England, stopped his mad +career. Even then, under the base and contemptible Ferdinand VII., she +underwent the "Terror of 1824," the disastrous and unworthy regency of +Cristina, and the still worse rule of her daughter, Isabel II., before +she awoke politically as a nation, and, her innumerable parties forming +as one, drove out the Queen, with her _camarilla_ of priests and +bleeding nuns, and at last achieved her freedom. + +For, whatever may be said of the last hundred years of Spain's history, +it has been an advance, a continuous struggle for life and liberty. +There had been fluctuating periods of progress. Charles III., a truly +wise and patriotic monarch, the first since Ferdinand and Isabella, made +extraordinary changes during his too short life. The population of the +country rose a million and a half in the twenty-seven years of his +reign, and the public revenue in like proportions under his enlightened +Minister, Florida Blanca. No phase of the public welfare was neglected: +savings banks, hospitals, asylums, free schools, rose up on all sides; +vagrancy and mendicancy were sternly repressed; while men of science and +skilled craftsmen were brought from foreign countries, and it seemed as +if Spain had fairly started on her upward course. But he died before his +time in 1788, and was followed by a son and grandson, who, with their +wives, ruled by base favourites, dragged the honour of Spain in the +dust. Still, the impulse had been given; there had been a break in the +long story of misrule and misery; Mendizabal and Espartero scarcely did +more than lighten the black canopy of cloud overhanging the country for +a time; but at last came freedom, halting somewhat, as must needs be, +but no longer to be repressed or driven back by the baneful influence +known as _palacioe_, intrigues arising in the immediate circle of the +Court. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TYPES AND TRAITS + + +It is the fashion to-day to minimise the influence of the Goths on the +national characteristics of the Spaniard. We are told by some modern +writers that their very existence is little more than a myth, and that +the name of their last King, Roderick, is all that is really known about +them. The castle of Wamba, or at least the hill on which it stood, is +still pointed out to the visitor in Toledo, perched high above the red +torrent of the rushing Tagus; but little seems to be certainly known of +this hardy Northern race which, for some three hundred years, occupied +the country after the Romans had withdrawn their protecting legions. On +the approach of the all-conquering Moor, many of the inhabitants of +Spain took refuge in the inaccessible mountains of the north, and were +the ancestors of that invincible people known in Spain as "los +Montaneses," from whom almost all that is best in literature, as well as +in business capacity, has sprung in later years. + +How much of the Celt-Iberian, or original inhabitant of the Peninsula, +and how much of Gothic or of Teuton blood runs in the veins of the +people of the mountains, it is more than difficult now to determine. It +had been impossible, despite laws and penalties, to prevent the +intermingling of the races: all that we certainly know is that the +inhabitants of Galicia, Asturias, Viscaya, Navarro, and Aragon have +always exhibited the characteristics of a hardy, fighting, pushing race, +as distinguished from the Andaluces, the Valencianos, the Murcianos, and +people of Granada, in whom the languid blood of a Southern people and +the more marked trace of Arabic heritage are apparent. + +The Catalans would appear, again, to be descendants of the old +Provencals, at one time settled on both sides of the Pyrenees, though +forming, at that time, part of Spain. Their language is almost pure +Provencal, and they differ, as history shows in a hundred ways, from the +inhabitants of the rest of Spain. The Castilians, occupying the centre +of the country, are what we know as "Spaniards," and may be taken to +hold a middle place among these widely differing nationalities, modified +by their contact with all. Their language is that of cultivated Spain. +No one dreams of asking if you speak Spanish; it is always: _Habla v +Castellano?_ And it is certainly a remnant of the old Roman, which, as +we know, its emperors spoke "with a difference," albeit there are many +traces of Arabic about it. + +Even at the present day, when Spain is rapidly becoming homogeneous, the +people of the different provinces are almost as well known by their +trades as by their special characteristics. A _Gallego_--really a native +of Galicia--means, in the common parlance, a porter, a water-carrier, +almost a beast of burden, and the Galicians are as well known for this +purpose in Portugal as in Spain, great numbers finding ready employment +in the former country, where manual labour is looked upon as impossible +for a native. The men of the lowest class emigrate to more favoured +provinces, since their own is too poor to support them; they work hard, +and return with their savings to their native hills. Their +fellow-countrymen consider them boorish in manners, uneducated, and of a +low class; but they are good-natured and docile, hard-working, +temperate, and honest. "In your life," wrote the Duke of Wellington, +"you never saw anything so bad as the Galicians; and yet they are the +finest body of men and the best movers I have ever seen." There is a +greater similarity between Galicia and Portugal than between the former +and any other province of Spain. + +Although they lie so close together, Asturias differs widely from its +sister province both in the character of its people and its scenery. The +Romans took two hundred years to subdue it, and the Moors never obtained +a footing there. The Asturians are a hardy, independent race, proud of +giving the title to the heir-apparent of the Spanish throne. The people +of this province, like their neighbours the Basques, are handsome and +robust in appearance; they are always to be recognised in Madrid by +their fresh appearance and excellent physique. For the most part they +are to be found engaged in the fish trade, while their women, gorgeously +dressed in their native costume by their employers, are the nurses of +the upper classes. + +[Illustration: VALENCIANOS] + +The ladies of Madrid do not think it "good style" to bring up their own +children, and the Asturian wet nurse is as much a part of the ordinary +household as the coachman or _mayordomo_. They are singularly handsome, +well-grown women, and become great favourites in the houses of their +employers; but, like their menkind, they go back to spend their savings +among their beloved hills. Many of these young women come to Madrid on +the chance of finding situations, leaving their own babies behind to be +fed by hand, or Heaven knows how; they bring with them a young puppy to +act as substitute until the nurse-child is found, and may be seen in the +registry offices waiting to be hired, with their little canine +foster-children. It is said that the Asturian women never part from the +puppies that they have fed from their own breasts. + +The Basque Provinces are, perhaps, the best known to English travellers, +since they generally enter Spain by that route, and those staying in the +south of France are fond of running across to have at least a look at +Spain, and to be able to say they have been there. The people pride +themselves on being "the oldest race in Europe," and are, no doubt, the +direct descendants of the original and unconquered inhabitants of the +Iberian Peninsula. In Guipuzcoa, the Basque may still be seen living in +his flat-roofed stone house, of which he is sure to be proprietor, using +a mattock in place of plough, and leading his oxen--for _bueyes_ are +never driven--attached to one of the heavy, solid-wheeled carts by an +elaborately carved yoke, covered with a sheepskin. He clings tenaciously +to his unintelligible language, and is quite certain that he is superior +to the whole human race. + +The _fueros_, or special rights, already spoken of, for which the +Basques have fought so passionately for five hundred years, might +possibly have been theirs for some time longer if they had not unwisely +thrown in their lot with the Carlist Pretender. They practically formed +a republic within the monarchy; but in 1876, when the young Alfonso XII. +finally conquered the provinces, all differences between them and the +other parts of the kingdom were abolished, and they had to submit to the +abhorred conscription. With all the burning indignation which still +makes some of them say, "I am not a Spaniard; I am a Basque," the +extraordinary advance made in this part of Spain seems to show that the +hereditary energy and talent of the people are on the side of national +progress. + +The distinctive dress of the Basques is now almost a thing of the past; +the bright kerchiefs of the women and the dark-blue cap (_boina_) of the +men alone remain. The Viscayan _boina_ has been lately introduced into +the French army as the headgear of the Chasseurs and some other +regiments. + +"Aragon is not ours; we ought to conquer it!" Isabel la Catolica is said +to have remarked to her husband; and, indeed, the history of this little +province is wonderfully interesting and amusing. It alone seems to have +had the good sense always to secure its rights before it would vote +supplies for the Austrian kings; whereas the other provinces usually +gave their money without any security, except the word of the King, +which was usually broken. Among the provisions of the _fueros_ of the +Aragonese was one that ran thus: _"Que siempre que el rey quebrantose +sus fueros, pudiessen eligir otro rey encora que sea pagano"_ (If ever +the King should infringe our _fueros_, we can elect another King, even +though he might be a pagan), and the preamble of the election ran thus: +"We, who are as good as you, and are more powerful than you (_podemos +mas que vos_) elect you King in order that you may protect our rights +and liberties, and also we elect one between us and you (_el justicia_), +who has more power than you: _y si no, no!_" which may be taken to mean, +"otherwise you are not our King." + +Somewhat of this spirit still abides in the Aragonese. The costume is +one of the most picturesque in Spain. The men wear short black velvet +breeches, open at the knees and slashed at the sides, adorned with rows +of buttons, and showing white drawers underneath; _alpargatas_, or the +plaited hempen sandals, which, with the stockings, are black; a black +velvet jacket, with slashed and button-trimmed sleeves, and the +gaily-coloured _faja_, or silk sash, worn over an elaborate shirt. + +In the old days, when one entered Spain by diligence from Bayonne to +Pampeluna over the Pyrenees, one learned something of the beauty of the +scenery and the healthy, hardy characteristics of the people, as one +whirled along through the chestnut groves, over the leaping streams, +always at full gallop, up hill and down dale, with a precipice on one +side of the road and the overhanging mountains on the other. Below lay a +fertile country with comfortable little homesteads and villages +clustering round their church, and the like dotted the hillsides and the +valleys wherever there seemed a foothold. As the diligence, with its +team of ten or twelve mules, dashed through these villages or past the +isolated farms, the people stood at their doors and shouted; it was +evidently the event of the day. The mules were changed every hour, or +rather more, according to the road, and as the ascent became steeper +more were added to their number; sometimes six or eight starting from +Bayonne where twelve or fourteen were needed for the top of the Pass. At +least half the journey was always made at night, and if there were a +moon the scenery became magically beautiful; but, in any case, the +stars, in that clear atmosphere, made it almost as bright as day, while +a ruddy light streamed from the lamp over the driver's seat, far above +the coupe, along the string of hurrying mules, as they dashed round +precipitous corners, dangerous enough in broad daylight. If one of the +animals chanced to fall, it was dragged by its companions to the bottom +of the gorge, where it would get up, shake itself, and prepare to tear +up the next ascent as if nothing had happened. + +A good idea could be formed of these hardy mountaineers in passing +through their village homes. They are tall and good-looking, and seem to +be simply overflowing with animal spirits. If it chanced to be on a +Sunday afternoon, the priest, with his _sotana_ tucked up round his +waist, would be found playing the national game of _pelota_ with his +flock, using the blank wall of the church as a court. + +One is apt to forget that Old Castile is one of the provinces having a +northern seaboard. The inhabitants of this borderland are, to judge by +appearance, superior to the people of the plains, who certainly strike +the casual observer as being dirty and somewhat dull. The Castilian and +Aragonese, however, may be said to constitute the heart of the nation. +Leon and Estremadura form a part of the same raised plateau, but their +people are very different. In speaking of the national characteristics, +one must be taken to mean, not by any means the Madrileno, but the +countrymen, whose homes are not to be judged by the _posadas_, or inns, +which exist mainly for the muleteer and his animals, and are neither +clean nor savoury. + +"All the forces of Europe would not be sufficient to subdue the +Castiles--_with the people against it_," was Peterborough's remark, and +our Iron Duke never despaired "while the country was with him." He bore +with the generals and the _Juntas_ of the upper classes, in spite of his +indignation against them, and, "cheered by the _people's support_," as +Napier says, carried out his campaign of victory. + +The ancient qualities of which the Castilians are proud are _gravedad, +lealtad, y amor de Dios_--"dignity, loyalty, and love of God." No wonder +that when the nation arises, it carries a matter through. + +Estremadura, after the expulsion of the Moors, in whose days it was a +fruitful garden, seems to have been forgotten by the rest of Spain; it +became the pasturage for the wandering flocks of merino sheep, the +direct descendants of the Bedouin herds, and of the pigs, which almost +overrun it. Yet the remains of the Romans in Estremadura are the most +interesting in Spain, and bear witness to the flourishing condition of +the province in their day; moreover, Pizarro and Cortes owe their birth +to this forgotten land. The inhabitants of the southern provinces of +Spain differ wholly from those of Castile and the north--they have much +more of the Eastern type; in fact, the Valenciano or the Murciano of the +_huerta_, the well-watered soil which the Moors left in such a high +state of cultivation, in manners and appearance are often little +different from the Arab as we know him to-day. + +From the gay Andaluz we derive most of our ideas of the Spanish peasant; +but he is a complete contrast to the dignified Castilian or the brusque +Montanese. From this province, given over to song, dancing, and outdoor +life, come--almost without exception--the bull-fighters, whose graceful +carriage, full of power, and whose picturesque costume, make them +remarkable wherever seen. Lively audacity is their special +characteristic. _Sal_ (salt) is their ideal; we have no word which +carries the same meaning. Smart repartee, grace, charm, all are +expressed in the word _Salada_; and _Salero_ (literally, salt-cellar) is +an expression met with in every second song one hears. + + Ole Salero! Sin vanidad, + Soy muy bonita, Soy muy Sala! + +is the refrain of one of their most characteristic songs, _La moza e +rumbo_, and may be taken as a sample:-- + + Listen, Salero! without vanity, + I am lovely--I am Salada! + +During the _Feria_ at Seville, the upper classes camp out in tents or +huts, and the girls pass their time in singing and dancing, like the +peasantry. + +The Valencians are very different, being slow, quiet, almost stupid to +the eye of the stranger, extremely industrious, and wrapped up in their +agricultural pursuits. They fully understand and appreciate the system +of irrigation left by the Moors, which has made their province the most +densely populated and the most prosperous in appearance of all Spain. + +A curious survival exists in Valencia in the _Tribunal de las Aguas_, +which is presided over by three of the oldest men in the city; it is a +direct inheritance from the Moors, and from its verdict there is no +appeal. + +Every Thursday the old men take their seats on a bench outside one of +the doors of the cathedral, and to them come all those who have disputes +about irrigation, marshalled by two beadles in strange, Old-World +uniforms. When both sides have been heard, the old men put their heads +together under a cloak or _manta_, and agree upon their judgment. The +covering is then withdrawn, and the decision is announced. On one +occasion they decreed that a certain man whom they considered in fault +was to pay a fine. The unwary litigant, thinking that his case had not +been properly heard, began to try to address the judges in mitigation of +the sentence. + +"But, Senores--" he began. + +[Illustration: THE WATER TRIBUNAL IN VALENCIA. SHOWING VALENCIAN +COSTUMES] + +"Pay another peseta for speaking!" solemnly said the spokesman of the +elders. + +"_Pero, Senores_--" + +"_Una peseta mas!_" solemnly returned the judge; and at last, finding +that each time he opened his lips cost him one more peseta, he soon gave +up and retired. + +The Valencian costume for men consists of wide white cotton drawers to +the knees, looking almost like petticoats, sandals of hemp, with gaiters +left open between the knee and the ankle, a red sash, or _faja_, a short +velvet jacket, and a handkerchief twisted turban-fashion round the head. +The _hidalgos_ wear the long cloak and wide sombrero common to all the +country districts of Spain. + +In speaking of Spaniards and their characteristics, as I have already +said, we have to take into account the presence of all these widely +differing races under one crown, and to remember that to-day there is no +hard-and-fast line among the cultivated classes: intermarriage has fused +the conflicting elements, very much for the good of the country, and +rapid intercommunication by rail and telegraph has brought all parts of +the kingdom together, as they have never been before. Education is now +placed within reach of all, and even long-forgotten Estremadura is +brought to share in the impulse towards national life and commercial +progress. Comte Paul Vasili, in his charming _Lettres inedites_ to a +young diplomatist, first published in the pages of _La Nouvelle Revue_, +gives such an exact picture of the Spanish people, of whom he had so +wide an experience and such intimate knowledge, that I am tempted to +quote it in full. + +"The famous phrase, _A la disposition de V._, has no meaning in the +upper ranks, is a fiction with the _bourgeoisie_, but is simple truth in +the mouth of the people. The pure-blooded Spaniard is the most +hospitable, the most ready giver in the world. He offers with his whole +heart, and is hurt when one does not accept what he offers. He does not +pretend to know anything beyond his own country ... he exaggerates the +dignity of humanity in his own person.... Even in asking alms of you he +says: _Hermanito, una limosna, por el amor de Dios._ He does not beg; +no, he asks, demands; and, miserable and in rags as he may be, he treats +you as a brother--he does you the honour of accepting you as his equal. +The Spaniard who has a _novia_, a guitar, a _cigarillo_, and the +knowledge that he has enough to pay for a seat at the bull-fight, +possesses all that he can possibly need. He will eat a plateful of +_gazpacho_ or _puchero_, a sardine, half a roll of bread, and drink +clear water as often as wine. Food is always of secondary importance: he +ranks it after his _novia_, after his _cigarillo_, after the bulls. +Sleep? He can sleep anywhere, even on the ground. Dress? He has always +his _capa_, and _la capa todo lo tapa_. The Spaniard is, above all +things, _rumboso_; that is to say, he has a large, generous, and sound +heart.... The masses in Spain are perfectly contented, believing +themselves sincerely to be the most heroic of people. The Spaniard is +naturally happy, because his wants are almost _nil_, and he has the +fixed idea that kings--his own or those of other nations--are all, at +least, his cousins." + +This is not the place to speak at large of the religion of the people; +but one remark one cannot fail to make, and that is, the place which the +Virgin holds in the life and affections of the masses. The name of the +Deity is rarely heard, except as an exclamation, and the Christ is +spoken of rather as a familiar friend than as the Second Person in the +Trinity; but the deep-seated love for the Virgin, and absolute belief in +her power to help in all the joys and sorrows of life is one of the +strongest characteristics of this naturally religious people. The names +given at baptism are almost all hers. Dolores, Amparo, Pilar, Trinidad, +Carmen, Concepcion,--abbreviated into Concha,--are, in full, Maria de +Dolores, del Pilar, and so forth, and are found among men almost as much +as among women. The idea of the ever-constant sympathy of the divine +Mother appeals perhaps even more strongly to the man, carrying with it +his worship of perfect womanhood, and awakening the natural chivalry of +his nature. Be this as it may, the influence of the Virgin, and the +sincerity of her worship in every stage of life, in all its dangers and +in all its woes, is a religion in itself. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS + + +Certain strong characteristics of the Spanish people, with which the +history of the world makes us well acquainted, are as marked in this +hurrying age of railway and telegraph as ever they were in the past. One +of the stupid remarks one constantly hears made by the unthinking +tourist is: "Spain is a country where nothing ever changes." This is as +true of some of the national traits of character as it is false in the +sense in which the speaker means it. He has probably picked it out of +some handbook. + +Chief among these traits is dignity. The most casual visitor is +impressed by it, sometimes very much to his annoyance, whether he finds +it among the unlettered muleteers of Castile, the labourers of Valencia, +or the present proprietor of some little Old-World _pueblo_ off the +ordinary route. The _mayoral_ of the diligence in the old times, the +domestic servant of to-day, the senora who happens to sell you fish, or +the senor who mends your boots, all strike the same note--an absolute +incapacity for imagining that there can be any inequality between +themselves and any other class, however far removed from them by the +possession of wealth or education. Wealth, in fact, counts for nothing +in the way of social rank; a poor _hidalgo_ is exactly as much respected +as a rich one, and he treats his tenants, his servants, all with whom he +comes in contact, as brothers of the same rank in the sight of God as +himself. + +_Bajo el Rey ninguno_ is their proverb, and its signification, that +"beneath the King all are equal," is one that is shown daily in a +hundred ways. The formula with which you are expected to tell the +beggars--with whom, unfortunately, Spain is once more overrun--that you +have nothing for them, is a lesson in what someone has well called the +"aristocratic democracy" of Spain: "Pardon me, for the love of God, my +brother," or the simple _Perdone me usted_, using precisely the same +address as you would to a duke. It is no uncommon thing to hear two +little ragged urchins, whose heads would not reach to one's elbow, +disputing vigorously in the street with a _Pero no, Senor, Pero si, +Senor_, as they bandy their arguments. + +English travellers are sometimes found grumbling because the senor who +keeps a wayside _posada_, or even a more pretentious inn in one of the +towns, does not stand, hat in hand, bowing obsequiously to the wayfarer +who deigns to use the accommodation provided. + +This is one of the things in which Spain, to her honour, _is_ +unchanged. The courtesy of her people, high or low, is ingrained, and if +foreign--perhaps especially English and American--travellers do not +always find it so, the fault may oftenest be laid to their own ignorance +of what is expected of them, and to what is looked upon as the absolute +boorishness of their own manners. + +When a Spaniard goes into a shop where a woman is behind the counter, or +even to a stall in the open market, he raises his hat in speaking to her +as he would to the Duquesa de Tal y Fulano, and uses precisely the same +form of address. The shopman lays himself at the feet of his lady +customers--metaphorically only, fortunately, _A los pies de V., +Senora!_--with a bow worthy of royalty. She hopes that "God may remain +with his worship" as she bids him the ordinary _Adios_ on going away, +and he, with equal politeness, expresses a hope that she may "go in +God's keeping," while he once more lays himself at the senora's feet. +All these amenities do not prevent a little bargaining, the one asking +more than he means to take, apparently for the purpose of appearing to +give way perforce to the overmastering charms of his customer, who does +not disdain to use either her fan or her eyes in the encounter. The old +woman will bargain just as much, but always with the same politeness. +When foreigners walk in and abruptly ask for what they want with an air +of immense superiority, as is the custom in our country, they are not +unnaturally looked upon as _muy bruto_, and at the best it is accounted +for by their being rude heretics from abroad, and knowing no better. + +In Madrid and some of the large towns it is possible that the people +have become accustomed to our apparent discourtesy, just as in some +places--Granada especially--spoiled by long intimacy with tourists, the +beggars have become importunate, and to some extent impudent; but in +places a little removed from such a condition of modern "civilisation," +the effect produced by many a well-meaning but ordinary Saxon priding +himself on his superiority, and without any intention of being ill-bred +or ill-mannered, is that of disgust and contemptuous annoyance. + +No Spaniard will put up with an overbearing or bullying manner, even +though he may not understand the language in which it is expressed; it +raises in him all the dormant pride and prejudice which sleep beneath +his own innate courtesy, and he probably treats the offending traveller +with the profound contempt he feels for him, if with nothing worse. A +little smiling and good-natured chaff when things go wrong, as they so +often do in travelling, or when the leisurely expenditure of time, which +is as natural to the Spaniard as it is irritating to our notions of how +things ought to move, will go infinitely farther to set things right +than black looks and a scolding tongue, even in an unknown language. + +When English people come back from Spain complaining of discourtesy, or +what they choose to call insult, I know very well on whose head to fit +the accusing cap, and it is always those people whose super-excellent +opinion of themselves, and of their infinite importance at home, makes +them certain of meeting with some such experience among a people to whom +the mere expression "a snob" is by no means to be understood. + +That railway travelling in Spain calls for a great exercise of patience +from those accustomed to Flying Dutchmen and such-like expresses is +quite true; though, by the way, many of the lines are in French hands, +and served by French officials. It may safely be said, however, even at +the present day, that those who are always in a hurry would do well to +choose some other country for their holiday jaunt. A well-known English +engineer, of French extraction, trying to get some business through in +Madrid, once described himself as feeling "like a cat in hell, without +claws." Perhaps the ignorance of the language, which constituted his +clawless condition, was a fortunate circumstance for him. But that was a +good while ago, and Madrid moves more quickly now. + +Another characteristic of the Spaniard which awakens the respect and +admiration of those who know enough of his past and present history to +be aware of it is his courage: not in the least resembling the +excitement and rush of mere conflict, nor the theatrical display of what +goes by the name of "glory" among some of his neighbours; but the cool +courage, the invincible determination which holds honour as the ideal to +be followed all the same whether or not any person beyond the actor will +know of it, and an unquestioning obedience to discipline, which call +forth the ungrudging admiration of Englishmen, proud as we are of such +national stories as that of our own _Little Revenge, The Wreck of the +"Birkenhead,"_ or of "plucky little Mafeking," amongst hundreds of +others. Spaniards are rich in such inspiring memories, reaching from the +earliest days of authentic history to the terrible episodes of the late +war with America. The story of Cervera's fleet at Santiago de Cuba is +one to make the heart of any nation throb with pride in the midst of +inevitable tears. + +Again and again in reading Spanish history do we come upon evidences of +this nobility of courage and disinterested patriotism. It was the +Spaniard Pescara who brushed the French army of observation from the +line of the Adda, and marched his own forces and the German troops to +the relief of Pavia. All were unpaid, unclothed, unfed; yet when an +appeal was made to the Spaniards, Hume tells us that they abandoned +their own pay and offered their very shirts and cloaks to satisfy the +Germans, and "the French were beaten before the great battle was +fought." They did precisely the same in the days of Mendizabal. + +Again, in the height of Barbarossa's power, when Charles V., hoisting +the crucifix at his masthead, led his crusading Spaniards against +Goletta, and it fell, after a month's desperate siege, without pause or +rest the troops, half dead with heat and thirst, pressed on to Tunis to +liberate twenty thousand Christian captives. It was a splendid +achievement, for the campaign was fought in the fierce heat of an +African summer. Every barrel of biscuit, every butt of water, had to be +brought by sea from Sicily, and as there were no draught animals, the +soldiers themselves dragged their guns and all their provisions. It is, +as we well know, no light task to find six weeks' supply for thirty +thousand men with all our modern advantages; but these Spaniards did it +when already exhausted, half fed, burnt up by the fierce African sun, +and in face of an enemy well supplied with artillery and ammunition. + +In the miserable time of Philip II., a garrison of two hundred men held +out for months against a Turkish army of twenty thousand men at +Mers-el-Keber; and the same heroic story is repeated at Malta, when the +enemy, after firing sixteen thousand cannon shots in one month against +the Christian forts, abandoned the siege in despair. Meanwhile the +unspeakable bigot, Philip, was wasting his time in processions, +rogations, and fasts, for the relief of the town, while he stirred no +finger to help it in any effective manner. + +These are stories by no means few and far between; the whole history of +the race is full of such. We read of one town and garrison of eight +thousand souls, abandoned by their king, starved, and without clothes or +ammunition. Reduced at last to two thousand naked men, they stood in the +breach to be slain to a man by the conquering Turk. Conqueror only in +name, after all; for he who conquers is he who lives in history for a +great action, and whose undaunted courage fires other souls long after +he is at rest. + +"But all this is very ancient history, of the days of Spain's greatness; +now she is a decadent nation," says the superficial observer. The column +of the _Dos de Mayo_ on the Prado of Madrid, with its yearly memorial +mass, shows whether that spirit is dead, or in danger of dying. The +second of May is well called the "Day of Independence"; it was, in fact, +the inauguration of the War of Independence, in which Spain gained +enough honour to satisfy the proudest of her sons. The French had +entered Madrid under pretence of being Spain's allies against Portugal, +and Murat, once settled there to his own perfect satisfaction, made no +secret of his master's intention to annex the whole peninsula. The +imbecile King, Charles IV., had abdicated; his son, Ferdinand VII., was +practically a captive in France. The country had, in fact, been sold to +Napoleon, neither more nor less, by the infamous Godoy, favourite of the +late King. + +A riot broke out among the people on discovering that the French were +about to carry off the Spanish _Infantes_. The blood of some +comparatively innocent Frenchmen was shed, and the base governor and +magistrates of Madrid allowed Murat to make his own terms, which were +nothing less, in fact, than the dispersion of the troops, who were +ordered to clear out of their barracks, and hand them over to the +French. The two artillery officers, Daoiz and Valarde, with one infantry +officer named Ruiz, and a few of the populace, refused, and, all +unaided, attempted to hold the barracks of Monteleon against the French +army of invasion! The end was certain; but little recked these Spaniards +of the old type. Daoiz and Valarde were killed, the former murdered by +French bayonets after being wounded, on the cannon by which they had +stood alone against the whole power of the French troops; Ruiz also was +shot. On the following day, Murat led out some scores of the patriots +who had dared to oppose him, and shot them on the spot of the Prado now +sacred to their memory. Thus was the torch of the Peninsular War +lighted. As one man the nation rose; the labourer armed himself with his +agricultural implements, the workman with his tools; without leaders, +nay, in defiance of those who should have led them, the people sprang to +action, and, with England's help, the usurper was driven from the throne +of France, and finally caged in St. Helena. But it is never forgotten +that Spain--these two or three sons of hers preferring honour to +life--has the glory of having been the first to oppose and check the +man and the nation that aspired to tyrannise over Europe. + +It is not too much to say that the conduct of every individual in +Cervera's fleet at Santiago de Cuba showed that the Spaniard's +magnificent courage, his absolute devotion to duty, and his disregard of +death are no whit less to-day than when those two thousand naked men +stood in the breach to be slain in the name of their country's honour. +The _Oquendo_, already a wreck, coming quietly out of her safe moorings +in obedience to the insane orders of the Government in Madrid, steering +her way with absolute coolness so as to clear the sunken _Diamante_, to +face certain and hideous death, is a picture which can never fade from +memory. It was said at the time by their enemies that there was not a +man in the Spanish fleet that did not deserve the Victoria Cross; and +this was all the more true because there was not even a forlorn hope: it +was obedience to orders in the absolute certainty of death, and, what +was harder still, with full knowledge of the utter uselessness of the +sacrifice. + +It is difficult to imagine that anyone can read the record of this +heroic passage in the history of the Spain of to-day without a throb of +admiration and pity. No wonder that the generous enemy went out of their +way to do honour to the melancholy remnant of heroes as they mounted the +sides of the American ironclads, prisoners of war. + +Cervantes gave to the world a new adjective when he wrote his romance +of _The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha_--a world in which the +filibusters are those of commerce, the pirates those of trade. When we +English call an action "quixotic," we do not exactly mean disapproval, +but neither, certainly, do we intend admiration; unless it be that of +other-worldliness which it is well to affect, however far we may be from +practising it ourselves. It is, at best, something quite unnecessary, if +acknowledged to be admirable in the abstract. The quixotic are rarely +successful, and success is the measure by which everything is judged +to-day. Be that as it may, the more intimately one knows Spain, the more +one becomes aware that what is with us an amiable quality of somewhat +dubious value, is one of those which go to make up the Spaniard in every +rank of life. His chivalry, his fine sense of honour, are nothing if not +quixotic, as we understand the word; and just as in Scotland alone does +one appreciate the characters in Sir Walter Scott's novels, so in Spain +does one feel that, with due allowance for a spirit of kindly +caricature, Don Quijote de la Mancha is not only possible, but it is a +type of character as living to-day as it was when the genius of +Cervantes distilled and preserved for all time that most quaint, +lovable, inconsequent, and chivalrous combination of qualities which +constitute a Spanish gentleman. Among her writers, her thinkers, her +workers--nay, even now and then among her politicians--we come upon +traits which remind us vividly of the ingenious gentleman and perfect +knight of romance. + +But this estimate of the Spanish character differs a good deal from the +pictures drawn of it by the casual tourist; and it is scarcely +surprising that it should be so. It has been well said that "the +contrast between the ideal of honour and the practice of pecuniary +corruption has always been a peculiar feature of Spain and her +settlements." If we hear one thing oftener than another said of Spain, +it is fault-finding with her public men; the evils of bribery, +corruption, and self-seeking amongst what should be her statesmen, and, +above all, her Government employees, are pointed out, and by none more +than by Spaniards themselves. There is a good deal of truth at the +bottom of these charges; they are the melancholy legacy of the years of +misrule and of the darkness through which the country has struggled on +her difficult way. No one looks for the highest type of character in any +country among its party politicians. The creed that good becomes evil if +it is carried out under one _regime_, and evil good under another, is +not calculated to raise the moral perception; and it is only when a +politician has convictions and principles which are superior to any +office-holding, and will break with his party a hundred times sooner +than stultify his own conscience, that he earns the respect of +onlookers. There are, and have been, many such men among the politicians +of Spain whose names remain as watchwords with her people; but they +have too often stood alone, and were not strong enough to leaven the +mass and raise the whole standard of political integrity. Some of the +highest and best men, moreover, have thrown down their tools and +withdrawn from contact with a life which seemed to them tainted. But +because Spain has done much in overthrowing her evil rulers and is +struggling upwards towards the light, we expect wonders, and will not +give time for what must always be a slow and difficult progress. + +In Spain, everyone is a politician. The schoolboy, who with us would be +thinking of nothing more serious than football, aspires to sum up the +situation and give his opinion of the public men as if he were an +ex-prime minister at least. These orators of the _cafes_ and the street +corners are delighted to find a foreigner on whom they can air their +unfledged opinions, and the traveller who can speak or understand a few +words of Spanish comes back with wonderful accounts of what "a Spaniard +whom I met in the train told me." In any case, no one ever says as hard +things of his countrymen as a Spaniard will say of those who do not +belong to the particular little political clique which has the extreme +honour of counting himself as one of its number. These cliques--for one +cannot call them parties--are innumerable, called, for the most part, +after one man, of whom no one has heard except his particular friends, +_Un Senor muy conocido en su casa, sobre todo a la hora de comer_, as +their saying is: "A gentleman very well known in his own house, +especially at dinner-time." + +[Illustration: PAST WORK] + +[Illustration: KNIFE-GRINDER] + +Ford is answerable for many of the fixed ideas about Spain which it +seems quite impossible to remove. Much that may have been true in the +long ago, when he wrote his incomparable Guide Book, has now passed away +with the all-conquering years; but still all that he ever said is +repeated in each new book with unfailing certainty. Much as he really +loved Spain, it must be confessed that he now and then wrote of her with +a venom and bitterness quite at variance with his usual manner of +judging things. It is in great part due to him that so much +misunderstanding exists as to the Spanish custom of "offering" what is +not intended to be accepted. If that peculiarity ever existed--for my +part, I have never met with it at any time--it does so no longer. When a +Spaniard speaks of his house as that of "your Grace" (_su casa de +Usted_), it is simply a figure of speech, which has no more special +meaning than our own "I am delighted to see you," addressed to some one +whose existence you had forgotten, and will forget again; but nothing +can exceed the generous hospitality often shown to perfect strangers in +country districts where the accommodation for travellers is bad, when +any real difficulty arises. + +It is customary, for instance, in travelling, when you open your +luncheon-basket, to offer to share its contents with any strangers who +may chance to be fellow-passengers. Naturally, it is merely a form of +politeness, and, in an ordinary way, no one thinks of accepting +it--everyone has his own provision, or is intending to lunch somewhere +on the way; but it is by no means an empty form. If it should chance, by +some accident, that you found yourself without--as has happened to me in +a diligence journey which lasted twenty hours when it was intended only +to occupy twelve--the Spanish fellow-travellers will certainly insist on +your accepting their offer. Also, if they should be provided with fresh +fruit--oranges, dates, or figs--and you are not, their offer to share is +by no means made with the hope or expectation that you will say _Muchas +gracias_, the equivalent of "No, thank you." + +What is really difficult and embarrassing sometimes is to avoid having +pressed on your acceptance some article which you may have admired, in +your ignorance of the custom, which makes it the merest commonplace of +the Spaniard to "place it at your disposition," or to say: "It is +already the property of your Grace." Continued refusal sometimes gives +offence. The custom of never doing to-day what you can quite easily put +off till to-morrow is, unfortunately, still a common trait of Spanish +character; but as the Spaniard is rapidly becoming an alert man of +business, it is not likely that that will long remain one of the +national characteristics. Time in old days seemed of very little value +in a country where trade was looked upon as a disgrace, or at least as +unfitting any one to enter the charmed circle of the first _Grandeza_; +but that is of the past now in Spain, as in most countries. To be sure, +it has not there become fashionable for ladies to keep bonnet-shops or +dress-making establishments, nor to open afternoon tea-rooms or +_orchaterias_, still less to set up as so-called financiers, as it has +with us. However, even that may come to pass in the struggle for "_el_ +high life," of which some of the Spanish writers complain so bitterly. +Imagination absolutely refuses, however, to see the Spanish woman of +rank in such surroundings. + +For the rest, the Spanish woman, wherever you meet her, and in whatever +rank of society, is devout, naturally kind-hearted and sympathetic, +polite, and entirely unaffected; a good mother, sister, daughter; +hard-working and frugal, if she be of the lower class; fond above all +things of gossip, and of what passes for conversation; light-hearted, +full of fun and harmless mischief; born a coquette, but only with that +kind of coquetry which is inseparable from unspoiled sex, with no taint +of sordidness about it; and, before all things, absolutely free from +affectation. Their own expression, _muy simpatica_, gives better than +any other the charm of the Spanish woman, whether young or old, gentle +or simple. + +It was the possession of all these qualities in a high degree by Dona +Isabel II. that covered the multitude of her sins, and made all who +came within her influence speak gently of her, and think more of excuses +than of blame. It is these qualities which give so much popularity to +her daughter, the Infanta Isabel, who, like her mother, is above all +things _muy Espanola_. That the Spanish woman is passionate, goes +without saying; one only has to watch the quick flash of her +eye--"throwing out sparks," as their own expression may be +translated--to be aware of that. While the eyes of the men are for the +most part languid, only occasionally flashing forth, those of the women +are rarely quiet for a moment; they sparkle, they languish, they +flame--a whole gamut of expression in one moment of time; and it must be +confessed that they look upon man as their natural prey. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SPANISH SOCIETY + + +There is something specially charming about Spanish society, its freedom +from formality, the genuine pleasure and hospitality with which each +guest is received, and the extreme simplicity of the entertainment. In +speaking, however, of society in Madrid and other modern towns, it must +be remembered that the old manners and customs are to a great extent +being modified and assimilated with those of the other Continental +cities. A great number of the Spanish nobility spend the season in Paris +or in London as regularly as any of the fashionable people in France or +England. There is no country life in Spain, as we understand the word; +those of the upper ten thousand who have castles or great houses in the +provinces rarely visit them, and still more rarely entertain there. A +hunting or a shooting party at one of these is quite an event; so when +the great people leave Madrid, it is generally to enter into London or +Paris society, and, naturally, when they are at home they to a great +extent retain cosmopolitan customs. At the foreign legations or +ministries also, society loses much of its specially Spanish character. + +The word _tertulia_ simply means a circle or group in society; but it +has come to signify a species of "At Home" much more informal than +anything we have in the way of evening entertainment. The _tertulia_ of +a particular lady means the group of friends who are in the habit of +frequenting her drawing-room. The Salon del Prado is the general +meeting-place of all who feel more inclined for _al fresco_ +entertainment than for close rooms, and the different groups of friends +meeting there draw their chairs together in small circles, and thus hold +their _tertulia_. The old Countess of Montijo was so much given to +open-handed hospitality, and it was so easy for any English person to +obtain an introduction to her _tertulia_, that her daughter, the Empress +Eugenie, used to call it the _Prado cubierto_--"only the Prado with a +roof on." It is not customary for anything but the very lightest of +refreshments to be offered at the ordinary _tertulia_, and this is one +of its great charms, for little or no expense is incurred, and those who +are not rich can still welcome their friends as often as they like +without any of the terrific preparations for the entertainment which +make it a burden and a bore, and without a rueful glance at the weekly +bill afterwards. Occasionally, chocolate is handed round, and any amount +of tumblers of cold water. The chocolate is served in small coffee-cups, +and is of the consistency of oatmeal porridge; but it is delicious all +the same, very light and well frothed up. It is "eaten" by dipping +little finger-rusks or sponge-chips into the mixture, and you are +extremely glad of the glass of cold water after it. This is, however, +rather an exception; lemonade, _azucarillas_ and water, or tea served in +a separate room about twelve o'clock, is more usual. The _azucarilla_ is +a confection not unlike "Edinburgh rock," but more porous and of the +nature of a meringue. You stir the water with it, when it instantly +dissolves, flavouring the water with vanilla, lemon, or orange, as well +as sugar. Sometimes you are offered meringues, which you eat first, and +then drink the water. + +I have a very perfect recollection of my first _tertulia_ in Madrid, +when I was a very young girl. We had been asked to go quite early, as we +were the strangers of the evening. Between seventy and eighty guests +dropped in, the ladies chiefly in morning dress, as we understand the +word. A Spanish lady never rises to receive a gentleman; but when any +ladies entered the large drawing-room where we were all seated, every +one rose and stood while the new arrivals made the circuit of the room, +shaking hands with their friends or kissing them on both cheeks, and +giving a somewhat undignified little nod to those whom they did not +know. The first time every one rose I thought we were going to sing a +hymn, or take part in some ceremony; but as it had to be repeated each +time a lady entered the room, I began to wish they would all come at +once. As soon as the dancing began, however, this ceremony was +discontinued. When you are introduced to a partner, the first thing he +does is to inquire your Christian name; from that time forth he +addresses you by it, as if he had known you from infancy, and in +speaking to him you are expected to use his surname alone. If there be +more than one brother, you address the younger one as "Arturo," "Ramon," +or whatever his Christian name may be. The diminutives are, however, +almost always used--Pacquita, Juanito, etc., in place of Francisca or +Juan. Even the middle-aged and old ladies are always spoken to by their +Christian names, and it is quite common to hear a child of six +addressing a lady who is probably a grandmother as "Luisa" or +"Mariquita." + +Between the dances the pauses were unusually long, but they were never +spent by the ladies sitting in rows round the walls, while the men +blocked up the doorways and looked bored. There were no "flirting +corners," and sitting out on the stairs _a deux_ would have been a +_compromiso_. The whole company broke up into little knots and circles, +the chairs, which had been pushed into corners or an ante-room, were +fetched out, and the men, without any sort of shyness, generally seated +themselves in front of the ladies, and kept up a perfectly wild hubbub +of conversation until the music for the next dance struck up. Dowagers +and _duenas_ were few; they sat in the same spot all the evening, and +asked each other what rent they paid, how many _chimeneas_ (fireplaces) +they had, whether they burned wood or coal, and lamented over the price +of both. They reminded one irresistibly of the "two crumbly old women" +in _Kavanagh_ "who talked about moths, and cheap furniture, and the best +cure for rheumatism." + +The dances were the same as ours, with some small differences: the +_rigodon_ is a variation of the quadrille, and the lancers are slightly +curtailed. There was a decided fancy for the polka and a species of +mazurka, which I remembered having learned from a dancing-master in the +dawn of life, under some strange and forgotten name. Spaniards dance +divinely--nothing less. They waltz as few other men do, a very poetry of +motion, an abandonment of enjoyment, as if their soul were in it, +especially if the music be somewhat languid. This is especially the case +with the artillery officers, who are great favourites in society, and +belong exclusively to the upper ranks. + +I have described this _tertulia_ at length because it was a typical one +of many. The cotillon was a great favourite, and generally closed the +evening. I always had an idea that one cause of its popularity was the +extended opportunities it gave for a couple who found each other's +company pleasant to enjoy it without much interference. It rather made +up for the loss of the staircase and the window-seats, or balconies, +dear to English dancers. The rooms are generally kept in a stifling +state of heat, a thick curtain always hanging over the door, and never +an open window or any kind of ventilation; this, however, does not +inconvenience the Spaniard in the least. It is usual to smoke during the +intervals of the dances--cigarettes as a rule; but I have often known a +man to lay his cigar on the edge of a table, and give it a whiff between +the rounds of a _valse_ to keep it going. + +This, however, is the Spanish _tertulia_. You are "offered the house" +once and for always, and told the evenings on which your hostess +"receives," generally once, sometimes many more times in the week; then +you drop in, without further invitation, whenever you feel inclined; +after the opera, or on the days when there is no opera, or on your way +from the theatre, or at any hour. This sort of visiting puts an end to +what we, by courtesy, call "morning calls." There is always conversation +to any amount, generally cards, music, and, when there are sufficient +young people, a dance. + +There is no exclusiveness and no caste about Spanish society; all the +houses are open, and the guests are always welcome. There are, of +course, the houses of the nobility, and there are many grades in this +_Grandeza_, some being of very recent creation, others of the +uncontaminated _sangre azul_; but there is no hard-and-fast line. The +successful politician or the popular writer has the entree anywhere, +and there is no difficulty about going into the very best of the Court +society, if one has friends in that _tertulia_. One guest asks +permission to present his or her friend, the permission is courteously +granted, and the thing is done. Poets and dramatists are in great +request in Madrid society. It is the custom to ask them to recite their +own compositions, and as almost every Spaniard is a poet, whatever else +he may be, there is no lack of entertainment. All the popular +authors--Campoamor, Nunez de Arce, Pelayo, Valera, and many others--may +thus be heard; but the paid performer (so common in London +drawing-rooms) of music, light drama, or poetical recitation, is +probably absolutely unknown in Madrid society. + +During the season balls are given occasionally at the Palace, and at the +houses of the great nobility, the Fernan-Nunez, the Romana, the +Medinaceli, and others, whose names are as well known in Paris and +London as in Madrid. Dinner-parties are also becoming much more common +in private houses than they were before the Restoration, and as for +public dinners, they are so frequent that they bid fair to become of the +same importance as the like institution in England. Costume balls, +dances, dinners, and evening entertainments among the _corps +diplomatique_ abound. Everyone in Madrid has a box or stall at the +Teatro Real, or opera-house, and many ladies make a practice of +"receiving" in their _palcos_; and in the entrance-hall, after the +performance is over, an hour may be spent, while ostensibly waiting for +carriages, in conversation, gossip, mild flirtation, and generally +making one's self agreeable among the groups all engaged in the same +amusement. Almost everyone, also, whatever his means may be, has an +_abono_ at one or other of the numerous theatres, sometimes at more than +one; and if it be a box, the subscribers take friends with them, or +receive visits there. It is a common thing, either in the opera-house or +in the theatres, for a couple of friends to join in the _abono_; in this +case it is arranged on which nights the whole box or the two or three +stalls shall be the property of each in turn. Besides paying for the +seats, there is always a separate charge each night made for the +_entrada_--in the Teatro Real it is a peseta and a half, in the others +one peseta. By this arrangement anyone can enter the theatre by paying +the _entrada_, and take chance of finding friends there, frequently +spending an hour or so going from one box to another. All this gives the +theatre more the air of being an immense "At Home" than what we are +accustomed to in England. The intervals between the acts are very long, +and, as all the men smoke, somewhat trying. + +Spanish women are great dressers, and the costumes seen at the +race-meetings at the Hippodrome, and in the Parque, are elaborately +French, and sometimes startling. The upper middle class go to Santander, +Biarritz, or one of the other fashionable watering-places, and it is +said of the ladies that they only stop as many days as they can sport +new costumes. If they go for a fortnight they must have fifteen +absolutely new dresses, as they would never think of putting one on a +second time. They take with them immense trunks, such as we generally +associate with American travellers; these are called _mundos_ +(worlds)--a name which one feels certain was given by the suffering man +who is expected to look after them. + +There are many little details in Spanish life, even of the upper +classes, which strike one as odd. One, for instance, is the perfect +_sangfroid_ with which they pick their teeth in public; but so little is +this considered, as with us, a breach of good manners, that the +dinner-tables are supplied with dainty little ornaments filled with +tooth-picks, and these are handed round to the guests by the waiters +towards the close of the meal. Nor is it an unknown thing for a Spanish +lady to spit. I have seen it done out of a carriage window in the +fashionable drive without any hesitation. At the same time, as one of +the great charms of a Spanish woman is the total absence in her of +anything savouring of affectation, one would far sooner overlook customs +that are unknown in polite society with us than have them lose their own +characteristics in an attempt to imitate the social peculiarities of +other nations that have incorporated the ominous word "snob" in their +vocabularies. It has no equivalent in the language of Castile, and it +is to be hoped will never be borrowed. Nevertheless, a recent Spanish +writer laments the fact that in the race for "_el_ high life" his +fellow-countrywomen "are not ashamed to drink whisky!" We have yet to +learn that whisky-drinking among women is an element of good style in +any class of English society. The idea that Spanish ladies were in the +habit of smoking in past times is a mistake. If they do so now it is an +instance of the race for "_el_ high life," of which the writer quoted +above complains. + +In imitation of foreign customs, many of the ladies in Madrid and the +more modern cities have established their "day" for afternoon visitors. +After all, this is but the Spanish _tertulia_ at a different hour, but +if it should ever supersede the real evening _tertulia_ it will be a +thousand pities; it would be far more sensible if we were to adopt the +Spanish custom, rather than that they should follow ours. In the +evening, the hour varying, of course, with the time of year, all Madrid +goes to drive, ride, or walk in the Buen Retiro, now called the Parque +de Madrid. It is beautifully laid out, with wide, well-kept roads and +well-cared-for gardens; it has quite superseded the Paseo de la Fuente +Castellano, which used to be the "Ladies' Mile" of Madrid. + +Madrid is a city of which one hears the most contradictory accounts. The +mere traveller not uncommonly pronounces it "disappointing, uninteresting, +less foreign than most Continental capitals,"--"everything to be seen at +best second-rate France," etc., etc. The Museo, of course, must be +admired,--even the most ignorant know that to contemn that is to write +themselves down as Philistines;--but for the rest, they confess themselves +glad to escape, after two or three days spent in La Corte, to what they +fancy will prove more interesting towns, or, at any rate, to something +which they hope will be more characteristic. But those who settle in +Madrid, or know it well, winter and summer, and have friends among its +hospitable people, come to love it, one might almost say, strangely, +because it is not the love that springs from habit or mere familiarity, +but something much warmer and more personal. One charm it has, which is +felt while there and pleasantly remembered in absence--its much-maligned +climate. The position of Madrid at the apex of a high table-land, two +thousand one hundred and sixty feet above the level of the sea, with its +wide expanse of plain on every hand but that on which the Guadarramas +break the horizon with their rugged, often snow-capped, peaks, naturally +exposes it to rapid changes of temperature; that is to say, that if the +snow is still lying on the Sierra, and the wind should chance to blow from +that direction on Madrid, which is steeped in sunshine winter and summer +for far the greater part of the year, there is nothing to break its course, +and naturally, a Madrileno, crossing from the sheltered corner, where +he has been "taking the sun," to the shady side of the street and the +full force of the chilly blast, will be very likely to "catch an air," +as the Spaniard expresses it. But that _tan sutil aire de Madrid_, which +Ford seems to have discovered, and which every guide-book and slip-shod +itinerary has ever since quoted, might very well now be allowed to find +a place in the limbo of exploded myths; it has done far more than its +duty in terrifying visitors quite needlessly. That _pulmonia fulminante_ +(acute pneumonia) is a very common disease among the men of Madrid, +there is no doubt, and in the days when Ford wrote, they were no doubt +immediately bled, and so hastened on their way out of this troublesome +world by the doctors; but one has not very far to seek for the cause of +this scourge when one notices the habits of the Madrileno. In the first +place he hates nothing quite so much as fresh air, and the cafes, clubs, +taverns, and places where he resorts are kept in such a state of heated +stuffiness that it seems scarcely an exaggeration to say that the air +could be cut out in junks, like pieces of cake. If he travel by train, +all windows must be kept closely shut, while he smokes all the time. +When, at last, it is necessary to brave the outer air in order to reach +home, he, carefully and before leaving the vitiated atmosphere he has +been breathing, envelops himself in his cloak, throwing the heavy cape, +generally lined with velvet or plush, across his mouth and nose, barely +leaving his eyes visible; he thus has three or four folds of cloth and +velvet as a respirator. It often happens that at the corner of some +street the long arm of the icy "Guadarrama" reaches him; a sudden gust +of wind plucks off his respirator, and the mischief is done. But should +he reach the safe closeness of his own house, he has certainly done his +level best to charge his lungs with unwholesome and contaminated air. + +You have only to see the women on the coldest day in winter with nothing +over their heads but a silk or lace mantilla, or a mere _velo_ of net, +and the working-women with nothing but their magnificent hair, or, at +most, a kerchief, to be certain that it is not the "air" that is to +blame. I have seen the women going about Madrid in winter, both by day +and night, when the men were muffled to the eyes, with thicker dresses, +of course, and perhaps a fur cape, but no sort of wrap about their head +or throat; and _pulmonia_ is comparatively unknown among women. To +English people, accustomed to plenty of fresh air and water, Madrid has +never been an unhealthy place, and it is extremely probable that one of +these days our doctors will be sending their consumptive patients there +for the winter. They might easily do worse. + +One of the coldest winters I remember in Madrid, a young Englishman came +out with a letter of introduction from friends. He looked as if he had +not many weeks to live, and in truth he was condemned by his doctors, +and his hours were numbered. He was a Yorkshireman by birth, but had +some years past developed seeds of consumption. He had been sent year +after year to Madeira and other of the old resorts, having been told +that a winter in England would certainly finish him. Finally, he made +his doctors tell him the truth: it was that he had not many months, +perhaps not many weeks, to live. + +"Very well, then," he replied, "there is no use worrying any more about +my health. I shall do my best to enjoy the little time I may have left." +He threw all his medicines and remedies out of the window, he looked out +for the most unhealthy place he could find, where he would be most +certain of never meeting another consumptive patient; and in the course +of the search he came across the well-worn chestnut about the air of +Madrid. "That is the place for me," he exclaimed; "only strong and +healthy people can live there. At any rate, so long as I do live, I +shall be amongst sound lungs, and shall see no more fellow-sufferers. +The _aire tan sutil_ will kill me, and that will be the end of the +matter." So far from killing him, the fine champagne-like air of Madrid +went as near curing him as was possible for a man with only one lung. He +took no precautions, never wrapped up, went out at night as well as by +day, and when he died, fourteen years later, it was not of consumption. +He used to come to Madrid for the winter to escape the damp of England, +and revelled in the warmth and freshness of that sun-steeped air. + +The climate of Madrid has sensibly altered since I have known it, and +will continue to do so as vegetation increases and trees spring up and +grow to perfection within and around it. In the old times, before the +splendid service of water of the Lozoya Canal was in common use, the air +was so dry as to make one's skin uncomfortable, and one's hair to break +off into pieces like tinder under the brush; there was also a constant +thickening in the throat, causing slight discomfort, and a penetrating, +impalpable dust which nothing ever laid, and which formed a veritable +cloud reaching far above the heads of the promenaders in the Salon del +Prado. A very short time changed all this. Twice a day the streets were +watered with far-reaching hose, a constant stream ran about the stems of +the trees in the Prado, gardens were planted and constantly watered, and +while the hitherto barren, dust-laden places began to blossom as the +rose, the air itself became softer, less trying, and, perhaps, there is +rather more uncertainty about the weather, or at any rate a greater +rainfall. At one time there were but two rainy seasons--spring and +autumn--and never a cloud in between. For about three days clouds would +be gathering gradually in the sky, beginning with one literally "no +bigger than a man's hand." Whenever there was a cloud, you might be +certain of rain, past or to come. Then one day, when there was no longer +any blue to be seen, the heavens opened and the rain came down. There +could be no mistake about it. When it rains or thunders in Madrid, it +tries to get it all over as quickly as possible. There is nothing like +doing a thing well when you are about it, and Madrid thoroughly +understands this matter of rain. It never ceases, never tempts people to +go out and then drowns them. No, if you go out, it is with a thorough +understanding of what you are undertaking; and if you are disposed to be +critical about anything in the municipal management of La Corte now, try +to imagine what it was when the water from the roofs was carried out in +wide pipes a few feet from the edge, and allowed to pour on the heads of +the defenceless foot-passengers, or almost to break in the roof of +carriage or cab which had to pass under them. This is the time to learn +why the bridges over the Manzanares are so wide and so strong; not one +whit too much of either, if they are to withstand the mighty on-rush. We +used to go off to the Casa de Campo the moment the rain was over, for +the sake of seeing Madrid as one never sees it at other times--its +magnificent Palace crowning the steep bluff, round which a mighty river +is rushing to the sea. + +The rain lasts a week, a fortnight, or even more, and then the sky takes +at least three days to clear, during which it resembles our English +white-flecked blue, or its hurrying grey masses, and the cloud-shadows +fly over the wide landscape, now all suddenly changed to verdure, and +lie on the distant _sierra_, giving an unwonted charm to the scene. The +Casa de Campo, the Florida, and all green spots become carpeted with +wild flowers; the trees seem to have put on new leafage, so fresh are +they and free from the over-loading of dust. And then, gradually, the +Manzanares repents him of his anger and haste; no more foam is dashing +against the piers of the bridges, no more crested waves are hurrying +before the wind; he sinks gently and slowly back to his accustomed +lounging pace, "taking the sun" with lazy ease once more; and the +washerwomen come down and resume their labours under the plane trees; +and there is no more thought of rain for many a week, perhaps month, to +come; and that strangely deep, impenetrable vault of a blue unknown +elsewhere spreads its canopy over a clean, rain-washed city. + +The Parque de Madrid, which lies high above the Prado, affords a +striking view of the country on all sides. An Englishman of wide +Continental experience, describing this prospect, says he was "more than +recompensed by the sudden apparition, through an opening between the +houses, of the exquisite _campagna_ that surrounds Madrid.... Compared +with that of Rome, it seemed to me clearer, and more extensive, while +the hue of the atmosphere that overspread it was of a rich purple." I +have quoted these remarks because it is so rare for English visitors, +accustomed to the lush green of our own meadows and woods, to find +anything to admire in what is too often called the "mangy," or at best +the "arid," surroundings of the capital of Spain. This, however, was +written in September, and there had been heavy rains; after the crops +are gathered and before the autumn rains come on, the prospect is +scarcely so much to be admired. That the view is extensive, no one can +deny; there is unbroken horizon, except where the rugged peaks of the +Guadarramas pierce the sky, and the atmospheric effects are often +marvellously beautiful, especially when the swift shadows of clouds pass +over the wide landscape, or lie upon the "everlasting hills." + +For myself, this vast expanse, with the sense of immensity which we +generally are only able to associate with the sea, has always had an +extraordinary charm. I have seen it at all times of the year, early in +the morning, and at, or just before, sundown--nay, even once or twice by +moonlight, or with the marvellous blue vault overhead, that seems so +much higher and greater there than elsewhere, studded with planet and +star, luminous beyond all that we know in our little island, where the +blue is so pale by comparison, and the atmosphere laden with moisture +when we think it most clear. I do not remember elsewhere in Spain, or in +any other country, such a depth of sky or such brilliancy of moon and +star light as in Madrid, where it is as easy to read by night as by day +on some occasions. + +Given plenty of water, and Madrid is an ideal place for flowers. Such +carnations as those which are grown in the nursery gardens there are +never seen elsewhere--they are a revelation in horticulture; nor are the +roses any less wonderful. The bouquet with which a Spaniard, whether +_hidalgo_ or one of your servants, greets your birthday is generally a +pyramid almost as tall as yourself. It needs to be placed in a large +earthenware jar on the floor, and if you should be happy enough to have +a good many friends, there is scarcely room for anything else in your +_gabinete_. The flowers one can raise in a balcony in Madrid merely by +using plenty of water, syringing the dust off the leaves, and shading +them occasionally from the worst heat, are more than equal to anything a +hothouse in England can produce. An idea may be formed of the really +marvellous fertility of the soil and climate by the rapidity with which +seeds develop. I remember one summer, when some of the new gardens were +being laid out in the Buen Retiro, a grand concert and evening _fete_ +was to be given as the opening function. On the evening before this +entertainment was to take place we happened to be near, and strolled in +to see how the preparations were going on. The gravel walks were all +there, the stands for the bands, the Chinese lanterns hanging from the +trees, but where was the grass? Alas! wherever it ought to have been +were to be seen brown, sad-looking patches of bare earth, not a blade +springing anywhere; what was worse, an army of gardeners were, at that +moment only, sowing the seed in some patches, while others were being +rolled, and watered with hose. _Cosa de Espana!_ of course. It had been +put off to _manana_, until now there might be _fete_, but no gardens. +The following evening, when in company with all Madrid we went to the +concert, behold a transformation! Soft, green, velvety sward--not to be +walked on, it is true, but lovely to behold--covered the patches so +absolutely bald twenty-four hours ago. The seed we had seen sown had +sprung up as thickly as finest cut velvet. _Cosa de Espana_, indeed! It +is not always in Spain--the land of the unexpected--that _Manana +veremos_ is foolishness. + +Until after Christmas the winter in Madrid is charming, even if it be +cold; the glorious sunshine from dawn to sunset, the fine exhilarating +air, raise one's spirits unconsciously; but very often the old year is +dead before any real cold comes on. I have sat out in the Buen Retiro +many a day in December with book or work, and scarcely any more wrap +than one wears in summer in England. After that there is generally a +cold, and perhaps disagreeable, spell, when the wind comes howling +across the plains straight from the snow and ice, and the Madrileno +thinks it terrible; as a matter of fact, so long as the sky remains +clear, there is always one side of the street where one can be warm. +Sometimes, but not often, the cold weather or the bitter winds last +pretty far into the spring, and it has certainly happened in the depth +of the frost that one of the sentries on duty at the Palace, on the side +facing the mountains, was found frozen to death when the relief came. +After that the watch was made shorter, and the change of guard more +frequent in winter. I have seen the Estanque Grande in the Retiro +covered with ice several inches thick; but as all Madrid turned out to +see the wonder and watch the foreigners skate, a thing that appeared +never to have been seen before, it could not have been a very common +occurrence. + +Riding early in the morning in winter outside Madrid, even with the sun +shining brightly and a cloudless sky, the cold was often intense, +especially in the dells and hollows. We have often had to put our hands +under the saddle to keep them from freezing, so as to be able to feel +the reins, and if I were riding with the sun on the off-side, my feet +would become perfectly dead to feeling. But what an air it was! +Something to be remembered, and long before we reached home we were in a +delicious glow. The horses, English thoroughbreds, enjoyed it immensely, +and went like the wind. I have been in Madrid in every part of the year, +and never found it unbearably hot, though one does not generally wait +for July or August; but here again the lightness and dryness of the air +seem to make heat much easier to bear. Numbers of Madrid people think +nothing of remaining there all the summer through. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +MODERN MADRID + + +Madrid has grown out of all knowledge in the last thirty years. No one +who had not seen it since the time of Isabel II. would recognise it now, +and even then much had been done since Ferdinand VII. had come back from +his fawning and despicable captivity in France--where he had gloried in +calling himself a "French prince"--to act the despot in his own country. +The Liberal Ministers who, for short periods, had some semblance of +power during the regency of Cristina had done a little to restore the +civilisation and light established by Charles III., and wholly quenched +in the time of his unworthy and contemptible successors. But even in +1865, the Alcala Gate, standing where the Plaza de la Independencia is +now, formed one boundary of Madrid, the Gate of Atocha was still +standing at the end of the _paseo_ of that name, and the Gate of Sta. +Barbara formed another of the limits of the city. The Museo was +unfinished and only to be entered by a side door, encumbered with +builders' rubbish and half-hewn blocks of stone. The Paseo of la Fuente +Castellana ended the Prado, and not a house was to be seen beyond the +Mint, or outside the Gate of Alcala. + +All the town outside these barriers has arisen since; the magnificent +viaduct across the Calle de Segovia, the Markets, the Parque de Madrid, +the Hippodrome, the present Plaza de Toros, all are new. The old Bull +Ring stood just outside the Alcala Gate, and all beyond it was open +country; no _casas palacias_ along the Fuente Castellana, no Barrio +Salamanca. Madrid has, however, always been a cheerful, noisy, stirring +city, full of life and the expression of animal spirits. In days not so +very long past the streets were filled with picturesque costumes of the +provinces, with gaily decorated mules and donkeys carrying immense loads +of hay or straw, or huge nets filled with melons or pumpkins, almost +hiding everything but the head and the feet of the animal; or a +smart-looking "Jacket" man from the country districts would go whistling +by, Asturians, Murcians, Gallegos, gypsies, _toreros_ in their brilliant +_traje_ Andaluz--always to be recognised by their tiny pigtails of hair, +and by their splendidly lithe and graceful carriage--all these jostling, +singing, chaffing each other, while the jingling bells on innumerable +horses, mules, donkeys, rang through the sunlit air, and made the Puerta +de Sol and the streets branching from it a constant scene of life and +gaiety. Now and then would come the deep clang of the huge bell of the +draught oxen, drawing their Old-World carts, often with solid discs of +wood for wheels, while the women of the lower class sported their +brilliantly embroidered Manila shawls, chattered, and fluttered their +gaily-coloured fans just like the other senoritas. Mantillas, even then, +were only to be seen on old ladies; but the smart little _velo_ +coquettishly fastened with a natural flower adorned all the young +girls--French millinery, which never suits a Spanish face, being kept +for the evening _paseo_. It is a pity these national costumes have gone +out of fashion. A Spanish girl with _velo_ and fan is something quite +superior to the same fascinating young person dressed after the style of +Paris--with a difference; for there is always a difference. + +[Illustration: OUTSIDE THE PLAZA DE TOROS, MADRID] + +Madrid, in fact, is becoming cosmopolitan, and is little to be +distinguished from other capitals, except in the _barrios bajos_ on the +national _fiestas_, and wherever the country people, as distinguished +from the Madrid work-people, congregate. These last are rapidly losing +all picturesqueness, dressing just as the workers in any other capital +dress. They are, perhaps, still no less _gatos_ (cats), those of them at +least who have had the honour of being born in La Corte, this being the +name given them by their fellow country-people. + +If it be meant as a term of reproach, the Madrileno has an excellent +answer in giving the history of its origin. In the reign of Alfonso VI., +during one of the many war-like operations of this King, he wished to +take an important and difficult fortress, and had collected all his +forces to attack it--the Madrilenos alone were late; it was, in fact, +only the day before the assault was to take place that they arrived upon +the scene. The King was furious, and when their leader approached his +Majesty to know where the troops were to bivouac for the night, he +replied that there was no room in his camp for laggards; pointing to the +enemy's fortress, he added: "_There_ will be found plenty of lodging for +those who come too late for any other." Saluting his Majesty very +courteously, the soldier withdrew, understanding thoroughly the indirect +sneer at the valour of his troops; he went back to his regiment, +summoned his officers and men, and repeated to them the King's word. One +and all agreed that they would, in fact, seek their night's lodging just +where the King had indicated. Impossible as the feat appeared, they +instantly rushed to the attack of the formidable fortress with such +irresistible dash that they succeeded in scaling the walls and entering +it, pikes in rest. The King, who had run forward as soon as he heard of +the attack, watched with delight his loyal Madrilenos climbing up the +face of the masonry with extraordinary skill, and not a little loss. + +"Look, look!" he cried to those near him. "See how they climb! They are +cats!" + +The other forces at once came to their assistance, the fortress fell +into the King's hands before nightfall, and those who had been in "no +hurry" to join the army found their lodgings within it, as his Majesty +had contemptuously recommended them to do. His anger was forgotten in +admiration and praise; and, from that time, all those born in Madrid +have the right to call themselves _gatos_. + +It is curious how the observation of those who know Spain intimately +differs--one must suppose according to temperament. Thus Antonio +Gallenga, the well-known correspondent of the _Times_, who really knew +Spain well, has left it on record that the people are not musical, and +that he never remembers to have heard any of them singing in the +streets, or at their work. I do not know how this could have happened, +unless our old friend did not recognise the singing he did hear as +music, for which he might, perhaps, be forgiven. My own experience is +that the people are always singing, more or less, if you agree to call +it so. As the houses are almost all built in flats, many of the windows +open into _patios_, or court-yards, large or small, as the case may be. +You may reckon on always having two or three servants, male or female, +at work in the _patio_, the women washing or scrubbing, the men probably +cleaning their horses, carriages, or harness; but whatever else they may +be doing, you may be quite certain they will all be singing, though it +is equally certain that, by the greatest exercise of amiability, you +could scarcely call the result a song; the words seem to be improvised +as the performer goes on. There was a light-hearted groom in one of the +_patios_ of our flat, in the Calle Lope de Vega, who would continue +almost without a break the whole day. An old friend who used to amuse +himself by listening to this remarkable performer declared that if he +started his song in the early morning with a stick that was thick +enough, he would go on till midnight telling the world in general all +the people he had killed with it, and the other wonders of Hercules it +had performed. + +The ditty always begins on a high note, and goes quavering irregularly +downwards, with infinite twirls, shakes, and prolonged notes, these +being sung to the exclamation "Ay!" Minor keys enter a good deal into +this kind of performance, and the most remarkable part of it is that the +singer, once having reached the bottom of the scale--for there is no +end--is able to begin again on the same high note, and hit upon, more or +less, the same variations a second time. If you have nothing better to +do than to listen to some of these improvisatores, you will get a long, +and more or less connected, history of some event; but it takes a long +time--and, perhaps, is not often worth the expenditure. The songs which +you hear to the accompaniment of the guitar are different from these, +though the introduction of the "Ay!" and the frequent shakes and twirls +are always there. + +The working Madrileno's ideal of happiness is to go a little way along +one of the dusty _caminos reales_ (highways) to some little _venta_, or +tavern, or to take refreshments out in baskets. They will sit quite +contentedly in the dust by the side of the road, or in a field of +stubble or burnt-up grass, to eat and drink, and then the guitar comes +into play, and the dancing begins. It is always the _jota aragonesa_, +which is not so much dancing as twirling about slowly, and, it would +almost seem, sadly; but there is always a circle of admiring lookers-on, +who beat time with stamping of feet and clapping of hands, and watch the +performance as eagerly as if there were something quite fresh and new +about it. Occasionally, these parties go out by omnibus or tram, as far +as they can, and then start their picnic repast, to be followed by the +inevitable dance and song, just wherever they happen to be. + +One of the most curious sights of Madrid is the great wash-tub of the +Manzanares. As you descend the steep bluff on which the city stands, +towards the river, you find the banks covered with laundresses, kneeling +at short distances from one another, each scrubbing the clothes on one +board, which slopes down into the water, while another board, fixed so +as to stand out into the stream, or a little embankment made of sand, +dams up the scanty supply of water she can obtain. As the Manzanares in +summer is divided into a great number of small streams, this scene is +repeated on the edge of each one, while the expanse of sand which +occupies the centre of what ought to be the river-bed is one forest of +clothes-props, with all the wash of Madrid hanging on the lines. On the +banks the children, in the intervals of school, are playing bull-fights, +or some of their innumerable dancing and singing games; the women are +one and all performing the gradual descent of the gamut with variations +called singing; and above all is the glorious sun, transfiguring all +things, and throwing deep, purple shadows from the high plane-trees +along the banks. + +The road which runs along the bank of the Manzanares, at the farther +side from Madrid, is a revelation to those who only know the plains +through which the railway from the north passes, and which for the +greater part of the year, except when the crops are growing, are quite +as arid as we are accustomed to suppose. On the left lies the Casa de +Campo, an immense extent of park, containing, on the high ground, some +splendid specimens of the Scotch fir, and, in more sheltered spots, +groves of beech, avenues of plane, and masses of the dark-leaved ilex, +which grows to great perfection in this climate. The "Florida," another +of the royal properties, lies to the right, and a splendid road shaded +by majestic trees, and with wide, grassy margins, stretches away to the +village of El Pardillo, where Longfellow established his quarters, and +which he describes in his _Outre Mer_, and from that on to the forest, +or whatever you may call it, of El Pardo, where there is a royal +residence now but seldom used, you may ride for many hours and still +find yourself in this wild park, which many of the inhabitants of Madrid +have never seen. Here one can realise a little how the city may have +once been a hunting lodge of the Kings, as we are told. The Pardo may be +reached through the Casa de Campo, a gate at the extreme end of the +principal drive leading into the forest. + +Up on the high ground of the Casa de Campo there is a splendid view of +Madrid, with the Palace crowning the steep bluff overhanging the +Manzanares. It was in the "country house" itself, near the gate, that +our "Baby Charles" is said to have climbed the high wall of the +courtyard to get a glimpse of the Infanta whom he hoped to make his +wife. When I knew the place intimately, on the very highest part of the +Park was a large enclosure of the wild forest, railed in with high +wooden palisading. Within this lived a flock of ostriches, belonging to +the Crown. No one seemed to know anything about them, nor how long they +had been there. What puzzled us much was how they were fed, or if they +were left to cater for themselves. One thing I can answer for: they were +very wild, and very ferocious; the moment they saw our horses coming up +the hill they would run from all parts of the enclosure trying their +best to get at us, striking with their feet and wings, and uttering +gruesome shrieks. It was one of our amusements to race them, keeping +outside their high fence while they strode over the ground, their necks +stretched out, and their absurd wings flapping after the manner of a +farmyard gander; but, with the best efforts, the horses were never able +to keep up the pace for long; the birds invariably won, and we left them +screeching and using language that did not appear to be parliamentary, +when they found that the fence was the only thing that did not give in, +as they craned their necks and stamped in their baffled rage. The +horses, at first rather afraid of the birds, soon learned to enjoy the +fun, and raced them for all they were worth. I do not know if this +strange colony is still settled there. + +A curious feature of Spanish country life to us are the goatherds. Where +the large flocks of goats about Madrid pasture, I know not; but I have +often seen them coming home in the evening to be milked, or starting out +in the morning. The goatherd, clad in his _manta_, and carrying a long +wand of office over his shoulder, and I think also a horn, stalks +majestically along with all the dignity of a royal marshal of +processions, and the goats follow him, with a good deal of lagging +behind for play, or nibbling, if they should chance to see anything +green. Still, they scamper after their _generalissimo_ in the end, and +meanwhile he is much too dignified to look back. Taking advantage of +this, I have seen women come out of their cottages on the roadside and +milk a goat or two as it passed; and from the way the animal made a full +stop, and lent itself to the fraud--if such it were--it was evidently a +daily occurrence. + +In times not long past, if indeed they do not still exist, the +dust-heaps outside Madrid were the homes of packs of lean, hungry dogs, +great brindled creatures of the breed to be seen in Velasquez pictures; +these animals prowled about the streets of Madrid in the early morning, +acting as scavengers. When they became too numerous, the civil guards +laid poison about at night in the dust-heaps before the houses, and the +very early riser might see four or five of these great creatures lying +dead on the carts which collect the refuse of Madrid before the world in +general is astir. These wild dogs were disagreeable customers to meet +when riding outside the city, until we learned to avoid the localities +where they spent their days, for they would give chase to the horses if +they caught sight of them, and the only thing to be done was to remain +perfectly quiet until they tired of barking and returned to the +dust-hills to resume their search for food. + +The description of peasant life in Madrid would be incomplete if we left +unmentioned the daily siesta in the sun of the Gallegos and lower-class +working-men. On the benches in the Prado, on the pavement, in the full +blaze of the sun, these men will stretch themselves and sleep for an +hour or two after their midday meal. I have seen the Gallego porters +make themselves a hammock with the rope they always carry with +them--_mozos de cuerda_ they are called--literally slinging themselves +to the _reja_ or iron bars of the window of some private house, and +sleep soundly in a position that would surely kill any other human +being. "Taking the sun" (_tomando el sol_) is, however, the custom of +every Spaniard of whatever degree. + +The casual visitor to Madrid is always struck with the number of +carriages to be seen in the _paseo_; but the fact is that everyone keeps +a carriage, if it be at all possible, and it is no uncommon thing for +two or three _pollos_ to join together in the expense of this luxury, +and a sight almost unknown to us is common enough in Madrid--young men, +the "curled darlings" of society, lazily lounging in a Victoria or +Berlina in what is known as the "Ladies' Mile." The Madrid _pollo_ is +not the most favourable specimen of a Spaniard; the word literally means +a "chicken," but applied to a young man it is scarcely a complimentary +expression, and has its counterpart with us in the slang terms which +from time to time indicate the idle exquisite who thinks as much of his +dress and his style as any woman does or more. The Madrid _pollo_ often +is, or ought to be, a schoolboy, and the younger he is, naturally, the +more conceited and impertinent he is. It is curious that with the +feminine termination, this word (_polla_) loses all sense of banter or +contempt; it simply means a young girl in the first charm of her +spring-time. + +Riding in the Row has always been a favourite pastime in Madrid, but to +English ideas the _pollo_ is more objectionable there than elsewhere, +since his idea of riding is to show off the antics of a horse specially +taught and made to prance about and curvet while he sits it, his legs +sticking out in the position of the Colossus of Rhodes, his heels, armed +with spurs, threatening catastrophe to the other riders. An old English +master of foxhounds, who was a frequent visitor in Madrid, used to +compare the Paseo of the Fuente Castellana at the fashionable hour to a +"_chevaux de frise_ on horseback." These gentlemen must not, however, be +supposed to represent Spanish horsemanship. Ladies ride a good deal in +the Paseo, but one cannot call them good horsewomen. To get into the +saddle from a chair, or a pair of stable steps, and let their steed walk +up and down for an hour or so in the Row, is not exactly what we call +riding. If you hire a carriage in Madrid you are so smart that your best +friends would not recognise you. A grand barouche and pair dashes up to +your door, probably with a ducal coronet on the panels. The coachman and +footman wear cockades, and the moment you appear they both take off +their hats and hold them in their hands until you are seated in the +carriage. This ceremony is repeated every time you alight, the coachman +reverently uncovering as you leave the carriage or return to it, as well +as the footman who is opening the door for you. + +It is most comforting; royalty, I feel sure, is nothing to it! We will +not look critically at the lining of the noble barouche, nor at the +varnish on its panels, still less make disagreeable remarks about the +liveries, which do not always fit their wearers--it is economical to +have liveries made a good medium size, so that if the servants are +changed the clothes are not;--one can always feel grateful for the +polite and agreeable attendants. How oddly it must strike the Spaniards +in England to notice the stolid indifference of "Jeames de la Plush," +and the curt tap of his first finger on the brim of his hat as his lady +enters her carriage or gives her directions! + +All the mules, and most of the horses, ponies, or donkeys ridden by the +"Jacket" men or country people are trained to pace instead of to trot; +it is said to be less fatiguing on a long journey. The motion as you +ride is, to our notions, very unpleasant, being a kind of roll, which at +first, at any rate, gives one the feeling of sea-sickness. The animal +uses the fore and hind feet together alternately, as he literally runs +over the ground. It does not appear to be a natural pace, but is +carefully taught, and, once acquired, it is very difficult to break the +animal of it; his idea of trotting has become quite lost; nor is it a +pretty action, nor one suited to show off good qualities--it has always +something of a shuffle about it. If it has its advantages, except that +stirrups may be dispensed with, they are not very apparent to those +accustomed to the usual paces of an English horse. Personally, I +disliked it particularly. + +There have been many efforts to introduce racing, with its contingent +improvement in the breed of horses, perhaps the earliest during the +regency of Espartero; but these ended, as most things did in the old +days when Spain was only beginning her long struggle for freedom, in +failure and loss to the enterprising gentlemen--of whom the then Duque +de Osuna was one--who spent large sums of money in the effort. The old +race-course of that time lay somewhere in the low ground outside Madrid +on the course of the Manzanares; many a good gallop I have had on it, +though it was abandoned and forgotten long ago by the Madrilenos. At the +present time horse-racing may be said to have become naturalised in +Spain under the _Sociedad del Fomento de la Cria Caballar_ (Society for +the Encouragement of Horse-breeding), and all that concerns horsemanship +is naturally improved and improving. + +A good idea of Spanish horses may be gained by a visit to the Royal Mews +in Madrid. There are the cream-coloured horses from the royal stud at +Aranjuez, _jacuitas_ from Andalucia, as well as the mountain ponies of +Galicia. Those who have never seen the Spanish mule have no idea what +the animal is--powerful, active, graceful, and almost impossible to +injure. They are used in the royal stables and in those of the nobility, +for night work, since they are so hardy as not to be injured by long +waiting in the cold or wet. They are the correct thing in the carriages +of the Papal Nuncio and all ecclesiastics, and are generally preferred +to horses for long or difficult journeys. They are a great feature in +the army; kept in splendid condition and of great size, they not only +drag the heavy guns, but in the celebrated mountain artillery each mule +carries a small gun on his back. A brigade of this arm would have been +invaluable to the British in South Africa, having no doubt had its +initiation in the guerilla warfare of Spain's frequent civil wars. + +The clipping of mules and donkeys, which are also very superior animals +to anything we know by that name, is in the hands of the gypsies, who +have a perfect genius for decorating their own animals and any others +committed to their manipulation. Only the upper part is shaved, or +clipped to the skin, the long winter coat being left on the legs and +half-way up the body. Generally, on the shoulders and haunches a pattern +is made by leaving some of the hair a little longer; the figure of the +cross with rays is not uncommon, but it is wonderful how elaborate and +beautiful some of these patterns are, looking as if embossed in velvet +on the skin. One day, passing a _venta_ in a street in Madrid, we were +attracted by a gaily-decked donkey standing outside. He had the words, +_Viva mi Amo_ (Long live my Master!), finished with a beautiful and +artistic scroll pattern, in rich velvet across his haunches. While we +stood admiring this work of art, the master within laughingly warned us +that the ass kicked if anyone came near him. Perhaps the elaborate +decoration was a practical joke! + +The mules and donkeys which come in from the country are generally very +picturesque, with a network of crimson silk tassels over their heads, +and a bright-coloured _manta_ thrown across their sleek, glossy backs. +These _mantas_ serve many purposes; they are made of two breadths of +brightly striped and ornamented material of wool and silk, sewn up at +one end, or sometimes for some distance at each end, like a purse; +sometimes they are thrown across the mule to serve as saddle-bags, +sometimes one end is used as a hood and is drawn over the master's head, +while the remainder is thrown across his chest and mouth and over the +left shoulder. The best of these _mantas_ are elaborately trimmed at +both ends with a deep interlacing fringe, ending in a close row of +balls, and have a thick ornamental cord sewn over the joining. These, +which are intended for human wraps and not as saddle-bags, are only sewn +up at one end, so as to form something very like the old monkish hood. +All the horses, mules, donkeys, and oxen wear bells: the oxen have +generally only one large bronze bell, which hangs under the head; the +others have rows of small jingling silver or brass bells round their +collars or bridles. + +These draught oxen are beautiful animals, mostly a deep cream in colour, +with dark points, magnificent eyes, and a sphinx-like look of patience, +as if biding their time for something much better to come. Their harness +is not apparently irksome to them, and is not so heavy as one sees on +the Portuguese oxen, for instance. They are coupled by a wooden bar +across the head, and their driver, if such he can be called--rather, +perhaps, the guide--walks in front with a long stick, possibly a wand of +office, over his shoulder to show them the way. The dress of this +functionary is picturesque: a wide-brimmed hat (_sombrero_), a shirt, +short trousers to the knees, with gaiters of woven grass (_esparto_), a +_faja_ round his waist, and _manta_ thrown over his shoulder if cold. He +stalks majestically along, followed by his equally majestic _bueyes_, +and one wonders of what all three are thinking as they trudge along the +sun-smitten roads, regardless of dust or of anything else. The cars are +rude enough, and the wheels sometimes solid discs of wood. Occasionally, +a hood of bent pieces of wood covered with linen is fixed. Tame oxen, or +_cabestros_, as they are called, play a very important part in the +_ganaderos_ and the bull-rings. They appear to be held in some sort of +superstitious reverence, or strange affection, by the poor beasts who +only live to make sport for men. In driving the bulls from one pasture +to another, or bringing them into the towns, the _cabestros_ are +followed with unwavering faith by these otherwise dangerous animals; +where the _cabestro_ goes, clanging his great bell, the bull follows, +and while under the charge of his domesticated friend he is quite +harmless. + +[Illustration: BUEYES RESTING] + +At one time, the bulls used to be driven to the bull-ring outside Madrid +in specially made roads sunk some fifteen feet below the level of the +fields, and paved. Along these the _pastor_, or shepherd, and +_picadores_, armed with long lances, went with the _cabestros_ and the +herd of bulls to be immolated. I have frequently met this procession +when riding, either in the early morning or late evening, outside +Madrid; but so long as the _cabestros_ are present, there is nothing to +fear, for the bulls are perfectly quiet and harmless. Once, however, +riding with a friend, I had a disagreeable and exciting adventure. We +were quietly walking our horses along the Ronda de Alcala, when we heard +an immense amount of shouting, and suddenly became aware that we +ourselves were the objects of the excitement, waving of hands, +screaming, and gesticulating. Before we had time to do more than realise +that we were being warned of some terrific danger in wait for us round +the corner of the high wall, some little distance in advance, two +_picadores_ on horseback, armed with their long pikes, galloped round +the corner, also shouting wildly to us, and pointing across the fields +as if telling us to fly, and almost at the same moment the whole drove +of bulls, tearing along at a terrific rate, without _cabestros_, +appeared, charging straight towards us. We did not need a second hint. +At one side of the road was the old wall of Madrid, at the other a high +bank with a wide ditch beyond it. Without a word, we put our horses at +the bank,--they had realised the situation as quickly as we had,--jumped +the ditch at a flying leap from the top of the bank, and were off across +a field of young wheat. Once only I looked behind, and saw a magnificent +black bull, with his tail in the air--a signal of attack--on the top of +the bank over which I had just leaped, preparing to follow me. Long +afterwards, as it seemed, when my horse slackened his pace, I found +myself alone in a wide plain, neither bulls nor fellow-rider to be seen. +His horse had bolted in another direction from mine, and we heard +afterwards that the _picadores_ had galloped in between me and the +sporting bull and turned him back. Eventually, the _cabestros_ appeared +on the scene, and the poor misguided bulls were inveigled into the +shambles for the _fiesta_ of the morrow. How they had ever managed to +break away or gain the public road at all, we were never able to learn. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE COURT + + +During the reign of Don Alfonso XII., except during the interval when +the melancholy death of his first beloved Queen, Mercedes, plunged King, +Court, and people into mourning, Madrid was gayer than perhaps it has +ever been. No one loved amusement better than the young King, who was +only seventeen when the military _pronunciamiento_ of Martinez Campo +called him to the throne from which his mother had been driven seven +years previously. He had taken his people, and indeed all the world, by +storm, for from the first moment he had shown all the qualities which +make a ruler popular, and Spain has never had a young monarch of so much +promise. He had the royal gift of memory, and an extraordinary facility +in speaking foreign languages; it was said that the Russian and the +Turkish envoys were the only ones with whom he was unable to converse as +freely in their languages as in his own. He was an excellent speaker, +always knew the right thing to say, the best thing to do to gain the +hearts of his people, and to make himself agreeable to all parties and +all nationalities alike. He was the first King of Spain to address his +people _de usted_ in place of _de tu_, a mark of respect which they were +not slow to appreciate; he was a modern, in that he would go out alone, +either on foot or riding, allowed applause in his presence at the +theatres, unknown before, and himself would salute those he knew from +his box. He gave audience to all who asked, was an early riser, devoted +to business when it had to be performed, was an enthusiast in all +military matters, and, perhaps better than all in the eyes of his +people, he was devoted to the bull-ring. Extremely active, resolute, +firm, fond of all kinds of active sports, such as hunting and shooting, +equally fond of society, picnics, dances, and all kinds of +entertainments, he seemed destined to become the idol of his people, and +to lead his beloved country back to its place in Europe. His death, when +only twenty-seven, changed all this. Queen Maria Cristina has been a +model wife, widow, mother, and Regent. She was devoted to her husband, +and though it was said at first to be a political marriage, contracted +to please the people, it was undoubtedly a happy one. The Queen has +scarcely taken more part in public life during her sad widowhood than +Queen Victoria did. She has devoted herself to her public duties as +Regent and to the education and care of her children. + +Alfonso XIII., born a king after his father's death, has always been +rather a delicate boy; his mother has determined that his health and his +education shall be the first and chief care of her life, and nothing +turns her from this purpose. If she has never been exactly popular, she +has at least the unbounded respect and admiration of the people. She +does not love the "bulls," and, therefore, she is not _Espanola_ enough +to awaken enthusiasm; she keeps the boy King too much out of sight, so +that his people scarcely know him, even in Madrid; but this is the very +utmost that anyone has to say against her, while all shades of +politicians, even to declared Republicans, speak of her with respect and +with real admiration of her qualities of heart and mind. + +All Court gaieties are, however, at an end. Once a year or so a ball at +the palace, a formal dinner, or reception, when it cannot be +avoided--that is all, and for the rest the Queen is rarely seen except +at religious ceremonies or state functions, and the King, never. He is +supposed to take his amusements and exercise in the Casa de Campo, and +rarely crosses Madrid. + +Numerous stories used to be told of his precocity as a child, and of his +smart sayings; sometimes of his generosity and sympathy with the poor +and suffering. Now one is told he is somewhat of a pickle, but fables +about royalty may always be received with more than a grain of salt. One +of the stories told of him, which ought to be true, since it has the +ring of childhood about it, is well known. When a small boy, his +Austrian governess, of whom he was very fond, reproved him for using his +knife in place of a fork. "Gentlemen never do so," she said. "But I am a +King," he replied. "Kings, still less, eat with their knives," said the +governess. "_This_ King does," was the composed reply of the child. + +The etiquette of the Spanish Court, although it was much modified by +Alfonso XII., is still very formal. A perfectly infinite number of +_mayordomos, caballerizos, gentiles hombres de casa y boca, ujieres, +alabarderos, monteros_, aides-de-camp, _Grandes de Espana de servicio_, +ladies-in-waiting, lackeys, servants, and attendants of every possible +description abound. A man going to an audience with royalty uncovers as +he enters the Palace. First, he will find the _alabardero de servicio_ +placed at the entrance of the vestibule; farther on, more _alabarderos_. +Whenever a Grande de Espana, a prelate, a grand cross, or a title of +Castile passes, these guards strike the marble floor with their arms--a +noise which may well cause the uninitiated to start. Three halls are +used for grouping, according to their rank, those who are about to be +presented: first, the _saleta_, where ordinary people--all the world, in +fact--wait; next, the _camara_, for those who have titles or wear the +grand cross; third, the _antecamara_, reserved for the Grandes of Spain, +and _gentiles hombres en ejercio_. The Grandes of Spain, chamberlains +of the King, share between them the service of his Majesty. They are +called in rotation, one day's notice being given before they are +expected to attend in the Palace. In the ante-chamber of the King there +is always the _Grande_ in waiting, the lady-in-waiting on the Queen, two +aides-de-camp, and a _gentil hombre del interior_ (the last must not be +confounded with the _gentiles hombres en ejercicio_, who have the right to +enter the ante-chamber). There are, of course, equerries +(_caballerizos_) who attend, as ours do, on horseback, when the King or +Queen goes out; but the most essentially Spanish attendants are the +Monteros de Espinosa, who have the exclusive right to watch while +Royalty sleeps. These attendants must all be born in Espinosa; it is an +hereditary honour, and the wives of the existing Monteros are careful to +go to Espinosa when they expect an addition to their family, as no one +not actually born there can hold the office. At the present time this +guard is recruited from captains or lieutenants on the retired list. + +In the ante-chamber of each member of the Royal Family two of these take +their place at eleven o'clock; they never speak, never sit down, but +pass the whole night pacing the room, crossing each other as they go, +until morning relieves them from what must be rather a trying watch. At +eleven o'clock each evening there is a solemn procession of servants and +officials in imposing uniforms down the grand staircase of the Palace; +every door is closed and locked by a gentleman wearing an antique +costume and a three-cornered hat, and having an enormous bunch of keys. +From that time the Palace remains under the exclusive charge of the +Monteros de Espinosa. Although this is the official programme, it is to +be hoped the hour is not a fixed one. It would be a little cruel to put +the Royal Family to bed so early, without regard to their feelings; +especially as Madrid is essentially a city of late hours, and the +various members of it would have to scamper away from opera, or in fact +any entertainment, as if some malignant fairy were wanting to cast a +spell at the witching hour of midnight. There are some curious +superstitions, however, about being abroad when the clocks strike +twelve, which we must suppose do not now affect the Madrileno. + +While the old church of Atocha was still standing, the Court, with a +royal escort, or what is called _escadron de salut_, all the dignitaries +of the Palace in attendance, guards, outriders, etc., in gorgeous array, +drove in half state (_media gala_) across Madrid and the _paseos_ to +hear the _salut "sa'nt"_ on Saturday. The Queen Regent and her +daughters, but not often the King, now visit in turn some of the +churches, but without the old state or regularity. + +Since the death of Alfonso XII., many of the purely Spanish customs of +the Court have been modified or discontinued. Although the late King was +credited with a desire to reduce the civil list, and to adopt more +English customs, he was to some extent in the hands of the +Conservatives, who had been the means of his restoration, and when he +went forth to put an end to the Carlist insurrection and finish the +civil war, which had laid desolate the Northern provinces and ruined +commerce and industry for some seven years, it was at the head of a +personal following of over five hundred people. Nor was the Court much, +if any, less numerous when the Royal Family removed in the summer to the +lovely Palace of St. Ildefonso at La Granja--that castle in the air, +which has no equal in Europe, hanging, as it does, among gardens, +forests, rivers, and lakes, three thousand eight hundred and forty feet +above the level of the sea. + +The Queen is Austrian, and she has never gone out of her way to +conciliate the people by making herself really Spanish. This she has +left to the Infanta Isabel, the eldest sister of Alfonso XII. For many +years before the birth of her brother, the Infanta Isabel was Princess +of Asturias, as heiress apparent of the Crown. With the advent of a boy, +she became, of course, only Infanta, losing the rank which she had held +up to this time. Being but a child at the time, she perhaps knew or +cared little for any difference it may have made in her surroundings. +She shared in the flight of the Royal Family to France in 1868, and her +education was completed in Paris. When the whirligig of Spanish politics +called her brother Alfonso, who at the time was a military student at +Sandhurst, to the throne from which his mother had been driven, Princess +Isabel returned with him to Madrid, and was once more installed in the +Palace, above the Manzanares, as Princess of Asturias. This rank +remained hers during the short episode of her brother's marriage to his +cousin Mercedes, and the melancholy death of the girl Queen at the +moment when a direct heir to the throne was expected. Once more, when +the daughter of Alfonso's second wife, the present Queen Regent, was +born, the Infanta Isabel became her title, and she took again the lower +rank. + +Nothing in history is more pathetic than this first marriage of Alfonso +XII. and its unhappy termination. The children of Queen Isabel and those +of her sister, the Duquesa de Montpensier, had been brought up together, +and there was a boy-and-girl attachment between the Prince of Asturias +and his cousin Mercedes. When Alfonso became King, almost as it seemed +by accident, and it was thought necessary that he should marry, the boy +gravely assured his Ministers that he was quite willing to do so, and in +fact intended to marry his cousin. Nothing could be more inopportune, +nothing more contrary to the welfare of the distracted country! From the +time that the notorious "Spanish marriages" had become facts, the Duke +of Montpensier had been an intriguer. The birth of heirs to the throne +of Spain (it is useless to go back to those long-past scandals) had +completely upset the machinations of Louis Philippe and his Ministers. +So long as Don Francisco de Assis and the Spanish nation chose to +acknowledge the children as legitimate, there was nothing to be done. +The direct hope of seeing his sons Kings of Spain faded from the view of +the French husband of the sister of Isabel II., but he never for one +moment ceased to intrigue. Although loaded with benefits and kindness by +the Queen, Montpensier took no small part in the revolution which drove +her from the country. Topete, and Serrano--who had once been what the +Spaniards called _Pollo Real_ himself--were bound in honour to uphold +his candidature for the vacant throne; their promise had been given long +before the _pronunciamiento_ at Cadiz had made successful revolution +possible. Prim alone stood firm: "_Jamas, jamas!_" (Never, never!) he +replied to every suggestion to bring Montpensier forward. In those words +he signed his own death-warrant. His actual murderers were never brought +to justice, ostensibly were never found; but there never was a Spaniard +who doubted that the foul deed was the result of instigation. + +[Illustration: IN THE WOODS AT LA GRANJA] + +To have Mercedes as Queen Consort, was to bring her father once more +within the limits of practical interference with national politics. To +all remonstrance, however, the young King had one answer: "I have +promised," and the nation, recognising that as a perfectly valid +argument, acquiesced, though with many forebodings. The marriage took +place, and within a few months the girl Queen was carried with her +unborn child to the melancholy Panteon de los Principes at the Escorial. + +The marriage of the Infanta Isabel with Count Girgenti, a Neapolitan +Bourbon, was an unhappy one, and she obtained a legal separation from +him after a very short matrimonial life. Spaniards have a perfect genius +for giving apt nicknames. Scarcely was the arrangement for the marriage +made known when the Count's name was changed to that of _Indecente_. He +fought, however, for Isabel II. at Alcolea, which was at any rate acting +more decently than did Montpensier, who had furnished large sums of +money to promote the rising against his confiding sister-in-law, and, in +fact, never ceased his machinations against every person and every thing +that stood in his way, until death fortunately removed him from the +arena of Spanish politics, his one overmastering ambition unfulfilled. +He had neither managed to ascend the throne himself, nor see any of his +children seated there, except for the few months that Mercedes, "beloved +of the King and of the nation," shared the throne of Alfonso XII. + +The Infanta Isabel, except for the episode of her exile in France, has +always lived in the Royal Palace of Madrid, having her own quarters, and +her little court about her. At times she has been the butt of much +popular criticism, and even dislike, but she has outlived it all, and is +now the most popular woman in Spain. It must have required no common +qualities to have lived without discord--as a separated wife--with her +brother and her younger sisters; then with Queen Mercedes, her cousin as +well as sister-in-law; again, during the time of the King's widowhood +and her own elevation to the rank of Princess of Asturias, and, finally, +since the second marriage of her brother, and his untimely death, with +Maria Cristina and her young nephew and nieces. + +One thing is to be said in favour of Isabel II. Deprived of all ordinary +education herself, as a part of the evil policy of her mother, she was +careful that her own children should not have to complain of the same +neglect. One and all have been thoroughly educated: the Infanta Paz, now +married to a Bavarian Archduke, has shown considerable talent as a +poetess; and the Infanta Isabel is universally acknowledged to be a +clever and a cultivated woman, inheriting much of her mother's charm of +manner, and noted for ready wit and quick repartee. Her popularity, as I +have said, is great, for she is careful to keep up all the Spanish +customs. She is constantly to be seen in public, and, above and beyond +all things, she never fails in attendance at the bull-fight, wearing the +white mantilla. This alone would cover a multitude of sins, supposing +the Infanta to be credited with them; but there has never been a breath +of scandal connected with her. She is very devout, and never fails in +the correct religious duties and public appearances. At the fair, and on +_Noche buena_, she fills her carriage with the cheap toys and sweetmeats +which mean so much to Spanish children, and she must be a veritable +fairy godmother to those who come within her circle. She takes a close +personal interest in many sisterhoods and societies for the help of the +poor. In a word, she is _muy simpatica_ and _muy Espanola_. What could +one say more? + +A gala procession in Madrid is something to be remembered, if it be only +for the wealth of magnificent embroideries and fabrics displayed. The +royal carriages are drawn by eight horses, having immense plumes of +ostrich feathers, of the royal colours, yellow and red, on their heads, +and gorgeous hangings of velvet, with massive gold embroideries reaching +almost to the ground; the whole of the harness and trappings glitter +with gold and silk. The grooms, leading each horse, are equally +magnificently attired, their dresses being also one mass of needlework +of gold on velvet. Equerries, outriders, and military guards precede and +surround the royal carriages, and the cavalcade is lengthened by having +a _coche de respecto_, caparisoned with equal splendour, following each +one in which a royal person is being conveyed. Behind come the carriages +of the Grandes, according to rank, all drawn by at least six horses, +with trappings little, if at all, inferior to those of the Court, and +each with its enormous plume of gaily-coloured ostrich feathers, showing +the livery of its owner. In addition to all this grandeur, the balconies +of the great houses lining the route of the processions display +priceless heirlooms of embroideries, hanging before each window from +basement to roof. If these ancient decorations could speak, what a +strange story they might tell of the processions they have seen pass! In +honour of the victories over the Moors; of the heroes of the New World; +of the miserable murders of the _Autos-da-fe_; of the entry of the _Rey +absoluto_, to inaugurate the "Terror," on to the contemptible "galas" of +Isabel II., supposed to keep the people quiet; and, almost the last, the +entry of Alfonso XII., after he had put an end to the Carlist war! On +the day of rejoicing for "La Gloriosa" there was no such display, +although all Madrid was _en fete_. It was the triumph of the people, and +their heirlooms do not take the form of priceless embroideries. + +In former days the receptions at the Palace were known as _besamanos_ +(to kiss hand). On Holy Thursday the Royal Family and all the Court +visit seven churches on foot--at least, that is the correct number, +though sometimes not strictly adhered to. As no vehicular traffic is +allowed on that day or on Good Friday, the streets where the royal +procession pass are swept and laid with fresh sand. The ladies are in +gala costume, and drag their trains behind them, all wearing the +national mantilla. All Madrid also visits its seven or less number of +churches, passing without obeisance before the high altars, on which +there is no Host,--as the people will tell you _su Majestad_ is +dead,--and after the _funcion_ is over there is a general parade in the +Puerta del Sol and the Carrera de San Geronimo, to show off the smart +costumes of the ladies, while the officers sit in chairs outside the +Government offices and smoke, admiring the prospect. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +POPULAR AMUSEMENTS + + +Nothing strikes one so much in studying the popular customs and +pleasures of Spain as the antiquity of them all. Constantly one finds +one's self back in prehistoric times, and to date only from the days +when Spain was a Roman province is almost modernity. No one can travel +through Spain, or spend any time there, without becoming aware that, +however many other forms of recreation there may be, two are universal +and all-absorbing in their hold on the widely differing +provinces--dancing and the bull-ring. In the Basque Provinces, the +national game of _pelota_, a species of tennis, played without rackets, +is still kept up, and is jealously cultivated in the larger towns, such +as Vitoria, San Sebastian, and Bilbao. In Madrid at the present time it +is played in large courts built on purpose, and attracts many strangers. +To view it, however, as a national sport, one should see it in some of +the mountain villages, where it is still the great recreation for +Sundays and religious _fiestas_. The working-classes also play at +throwing the hammer or crowbar. This is more especially the case in the +Northern provinces, where the workmen are a sound, healthy, and sober +race, enjoying simple and healthy amusements, and affording an excellent +example to those of countries considering themselves much more highly +civilised. + +Pigeon-shooting, which was a great favourite with the late King Alfonso +XII., and was made fashionable among the aristocracy in Madrid by him, +is a very old sport--if it deserves the name--among the Valencians. Near +La Pechina, at Valencia, where the great _tiro de las palomas_ takes +place, was found, in 1759, an inscription: _Sodalicium vernarum colentes +Isid_. This, Ford tells us, was an ancient _cofradia_ to Isis, which +paid for her _culto_. Cock-fighting is still practised in most of the +Spanish towns, as well as in Valencia, the regular cock-pits being +constantly frequented in Madrid; but it is looked upon as suited only to +_barrio's bajos_, and is not much, if at all, patronised even by the +middle classes. It is said by those who have seen it to be particularly +brutal; but it was never a very humanising amusement when practised by +the English nobility not such a very long time back. + +Whatever amusements, however, may be popular in the towns, or in +particular provinces, the guitar and the dance are universal. So much +has been written about the Spanish national dances that an absurd idea +prevails in England that they are all very shocking and indecent. It is +necessary, however, to go very much out of one's way, and to pay a good +round sum, to witness those gypsy dances which have come down unchanged +from the remotest ages. As Ford truly says, "Their character is +completely Oriental, and analogous to the _ghawarsee_ of the Egyptians +and the Hindoo _nautch_." "The well-known statue at Naples of the Venere +Callipige is the undoubted representation of a Cadiz dancing-girl, +probably of Telethusa herself." These dances have nothing whatever in +common with the national dances as now to be seen on the Spanish stage. +They are never performed except by gypsies, in their own quarter of +Seville, and are now generally gotten up as a show for money. Men +passing through Seville go to these performances, as an exhibition of +what delighted Martial and Horace, but they do not generally discuss +them afterwards with their lady friends, and to describe one of these +more than doubtful dances as being performed by guests in a Madrid +drawing-room, as an English lady journalist did a short time ago in the +pages of a respectable paper, is one of those libels on Spain which +obtain currency here out of sheer ignorance of the country and the +people. + +Wherever two or three men and women of the lower classes are to be seen +together in Spain during their play-time, there is a guitar, with +singing and dancing. The verses sung are innumerable short stanzas by +unknown authors; many, perhaps, improvised at the moment. The _jota_, +the _malaguena_, and the _seguidilla_ are combinations of music, song, +and dance; the last two bear distinct indications of Oriental origin; +each form is linked to a traditional air, with variations. The +_malaguena_ is Andalusian, and the _jota_ is Aragonese; but both are +popular in Castile. All are love-songs, most of them of great grace and +beauty. Some writers complain that some of these dance-songs are coarse +and more or less indecent; others aver that they never degenerate into +coarseness. _Quien sabe?_ Perhaps it is a case of _Honi soit qui mal y +pense_. In any case, throughout the length and breadth of Spain, outside +the wayside _venta_, or the barber's shop, in the _patios_ of inns, or +wherever holiday-makers congregate, there is the musician twanging his +guitar, there are the dancers twirling about in obvious enjoyment to the +accompaniment of the stamping, clapping, and encouraging cries of the +onlookers, and the graceful little verse, with its probably weird and +plaintive cadence: + + Era tan dichoso antes + De encontrarte en mi camino! + Y, sin embargo, no siento + El haberte conocido. + + I was so happy before + I had met you on my way! + And yet there is no regret + That I have learned to know you. + +The _malaguena_ and the _seguidilla_, which is more complicated, are +generally seen on the stage only in Madrid, where they must charm all +who can appreciate the poetry of motion. The dance of the peasant in +Castile is always the _jota Aragonesa_. The part the tambourine and the +castanets play in these dances must be seen and heard to be understood: +they punctuate not only the music, but also the movement, the sentiment, +and the refrain. The Andaluces excel in playing on the castanets. These +are, according to Ford, the "Baetican _crusmata_ and _crotola_ of the +ancients": and _crotola_ is still a Spanish term for the tambourine. +Little children may be seen snapping their fingers or clicking two bits +of slate together, in imitation of the castanet player; but the +continuous roll, or succession of quick taps, is an art to be learned +only by practice. The castanets are made of ebony, and are generally +decorated with bunches of smart ribbons, which play a great part in the +dance. + +The popular instrument in the Basque and Northern provinces is +the bagpipe, and the dances are quite different from those of +the other parts of Spain. The _zortico zorisco_, or "evolution +of eight," is danced to sound of tambourines, fifes, and a kind of +flageolet--_el silbato_, resembling the rude instruments of the +Roman Pifferari--probably of the same origin. + +Theatrical representations have always been a very popular form of +recreation among the inhabitants of the Iberian continent, from the days +when the plays were acted by itinerant performers, "carrying all their +properties in a sack, the stage consisting of four wooden benches, +covered with rough boards, a blanket suspended at the back, to afford a +green-room, in which some musician sang, without accompaniment, old +ballads to enliven the proceedings." This is Cervantes's description of +the national stage in the time of his immediate predecessor, Lope de +Rueda. + +The Spanish _zarzuela_ appears to have been the forerunner and origin of +all musical farce and "opera comique," only naturalised in our country +during the present generation. The theatres in all the provinces are +always full, always popular; the pieces only run for short periods, a +perpetual variety being aimed at by the managers--a thing easily to be +understood when one remembers that the same audience, at any rate in the +boxes and stalls, frequent them week in, week out. In Madrid, with a +population of five hundred thousand inhabitants, there are nineteen +theatres. With the exception of the first-class theatres, the people pay +two _reales_ (_5 d._) for each small act or piece, and the audience +changes many times during the evening, a constant stream coming and +going. Long habit and familiarity with good models have made the lower +class of playgoers critical; their judgment of a piece, or of an actor, +is always good and worth having. + +The religious _fiestas_ must also count among the amusements of the +people in Spain. Whether it be the Holy Week in Seville or Toledo, the +_Romeria_ of Santiago, the _Veladas_, or vigils, of the great festivals, +or the day of Corpus Christi, which takes place on the first Thursday +after Trinity Sunday--at all these the people turn out in thousands, +dressed in their smartest finery, and combine thorough enjoyment with +the performance of what they believe to be a religious duty. There is +little or no drunkenness at these open-air festivities, but much gaiety, +laughter, fluttering of fans, "throwing of sparks" from mischievous or +languishing eyes--and at the end always a bull-fight. + +Here we touch the very soul of Spain. Take away the bull-rings, make an +end of the _toreros_, and Spain is no longer Spain--perhaps a country +counting more highly in the evolution of humanity as a whole, but it +will need another name if that day ever comes, of which there does not +now seem to be the remotest possibility. All that can be said is that +to-day there is a party, or there are individuals, in the country who +profess to abhor the bull-fight, and wish to see it ended; it is +doubtful if up to this time any Spaniard ever entertained such an +"outlandish" notion. The bull-fight is said to have been founded by the +Moors of Spain, although bulls were probably fought with or killed in +Roman amphitheatres. The principle on which they were founded was the +display of horsemanship, use of the lance, courage, coolness, and +dexterity--all accomplishments of the Arabs of the desert. It is +undoubtedly the latter qualities which make the sport so fascinating to +English _aficionados_, of whom there are many, and have caused the +_fiestas de toros_ to live on in the affections of the whole Spanish +people. In its earliest days, gentlemen, armed only with the _rejon_, +the short spear of the original Iberian, about four feet long, fought in +the arena with the bulls, and it was always a fair trial of skill and a +display of good horsemanship. + +When the fatal race of the French Bourbons came to the throne, and the +country was inundated with foreign favourites, the Court and the French +hangers-on of the kings turned the fashion away from the national sport, +and it gradually fell into the hands of the lower classes, professional +bull-fighters taking the place of the courtly players of old, and these +were drawn from the lowest and worst ranks of the masses; the sporting +element, to a great extent, died out, and the whole spectacle became +brutalised. _Pan y toros_ (bread and bulls) were all the people wanted, +and, crushed out of all manliness by their rulers, and taught a thirst +for cruelty and bloodshed by the example of their religious +_autos-da-fe_, the bull-fight became the revolting spectacle which +foreigners--especially the English--have been so ready to rail against +as a disgrace to the Spanish nation, while they rarely let an +opportunity escape them of assisting as interested spectators at what +they condemned so loudly, and they quite forgot their own prize-ring, +and other amusements equally brutal and disgraceful. If the _corrida de +toros_ was ever as bad as it has been described by some, it has improved +very much of late years, and most of its revolting features are +eliminated. The pack of dogs, which used to be brought in when a bull +was dangerous to the human fighters, has long been done away with. The +_media luna_, which we are told was identical with the instrument +mentioned in _Joshua_, is no longer tolerated to hamstring the +unfortunate bull; and if a horse is gored in the fair fight, there are +men especially in attendance to put him out of his misery at once. It is +doubtful whether the animal suffers more than, or as much as, the +unhappy favourites, that are sent alive, and in extremest torture, to +Amsterdam and other foreign cities, to be manufactured into essence of +meat and such-like dainties, after a life of cruelly hard work in our +omnibuses and cabs has made them no longer of use as draught animals. + +The bull-fighter of to-day is by no means drawn from the dregs of the +people; there is, at any rate, one instance of a man of good birth and +education attaining celebrity as a professional _torero_. He risks his +life at every point of the conflict, and it is his coolness, his +courage, his dexterity in giving the _coup de grace_ so as to cause no +suffering, that raise the audience to such a pitch of frenzied +excitement. I speak wholly from hearsay, for I have myself only +witnessed a _corrida de novillos_--in which the bulls are never killed, +and have cushions fixed on their horns--and a curious fight between a +bull and an elephant, who might have been described as an "old +campaigner," in which there was no bloodshed, and much amusement. My +sympathies always went with the bull,--who, at least, was not consulted +in the matter of the fight,--as I have seen the popular _espada_, with +his own particular _chulo_, a mass of white satin and gold embroidery, +driving out to the bull-ring on the afternoon of a _fiesta_, bowing with +right royal grace and dignity to the plaudits of the people. I was even +accused of having given the evil eye to one well-known favourite as he +passed my balcony, when I wished, almost audibly, that the bull might +have his turn for once in a way that afternoon. And he had; for the +popular _espada_ was carried out of the ring apparently dead, the +spectators came back looking white and sick, and I felt like a very +murderess until I learned later that he was not dead. All Madrid, almost +literally, called to inquire for him daily, filling books of signatures, +as if he had been an emperor at least. Personally, I was more interested +in his courage after the event and the devotion of his _chulo_, who +never left his side, but held his hands while the injured leg was cut +off, in three separate operations, without any anaesthetic. Eventually, +he completely recovered, and was fitted with an admirable mechanical +cork limb in place of the one removed in three detachments; and my sense +of evil responsibility was quite removed when I heard that his young +wife was delighted to think that he could never enter the bull-ring as a +fighter again, and her anxieties were at an end. + +[Illustration: PLAZA DE TOROS. PICADOR CAUGHT BY THE BULL] + +It is quite impossible to over-estimate the popularity of the _toreros_ +with the Spanish people. They are the friends and favourites of the +aristocracy, the demi-gods of the populace. You never see one of them in +the streets without an admiring circle of worshippers, who hang on every +word and gesture of the great man; and this is no cult of the hour, it +is unceasing. They are always known for their generosity, not only to +injured comrades, but to any of the poor in need. Is there a disaster by +which many are injured--flood, tempest, or railway accident? Immediately +a bull-fight is arranged for the sufferers, and the whole _cuadrilla_ +will give their earnings to the cause. Not only so, but the private +charities of these popular favourites are immense, and quite unheard of +by the public. They adopt orphans, pay regular incomes to widows, as +mere parts of every-day work. They are, one and all, religious men; the +last thing they do, before entering the arena with their life in their +hands, is to confess and receive absolution in the little chapel in the +Bull-Ring, spending some time in silent prayer before the altar, while +the wife at home is burning candles to the Virgin, and offering her +prayers for his safety during the whole time that the _corrida_ lasts. +Extreme unction is always in readiness, in case of serious accident to +the _torero_, the priest (_mufti_) slipping into the chapel before the +public arrive on the scene. + +Rafael Molina Lagartijo, one of the veterans of the bull-fighters, and +an extreme favourite with the people for many years, died recently, +after living for some time in comparative retirement in his native +Cordoba. Some idea of the important place which these men occupy in +Spanish society may be gathered from the numerous notices which appeared +in the newspapers of all shades of political opinion after his death. I +quote from the article which appeared in the charming little illustrated +_Blanco y Negro_, of Madrid, on the favourite of the Spanish public. In +what, to us, seems somewhat inflated language, but which is, however, +quite simple and natural to the Spaniard, the writer began his notice +thus: + +"He who has heard the magic oratory of Castelar, has listened to the +singing of Gayarre, the declamation of Cabro, has read Zorilla, and +witnessed the _torear_ of Lagartijo, may say, without any kind of +reservation, that there is nothing left for him to admire!" Having thus +placed the popular bull-fighter on a level with orators, authors, and +musicians of the first rank, the writer goes on to describe the beauties +of Lagartijo's play in words which are too purely technical of the ring +to make translation possible, and adds: "He who has not seen the great +_torero_ of Cordoba in the plenitude of his power will assuredly not +comprehend why the name of Lagartijo for more than twenty years filled +_plazas_ and playbills, nor why the _aficionados_ of to-day recall, in +speaking of his death, times which can never be surpassed.... The +_toreo_ (play) of Lagartijo was always distinguished by its classic +grace, its dignity and consummate art, the absence of affectation, or +struggle for effect. In every part of the fight the figure of Rafael +fell naturally into the most graceful attitudes; and for this reason he +has always worn the rich dress of the _torero_ with the best effect. He +was the perfect and characteristic type of a _torero_, such as Spanish +fancy has always imagined it. Lagartijo died with his eyes fixed on the +image of the Virgen de los Dolores, to whom he had always confidently +committed his life of peril, and with the dignity and resignation of a +good man." + +The article was illustrated with numerous portraits of Don Rafael: in +full _torero_ dress in 1886; his very last photograph; views of him in +the courtyard of his home in Cordoba, and outside the Venta San Rafael, +where he took his coffee in the evening, and others. The notice +concludes by saying that his life was completely dedicated to his +property, which he managed himself, and he was looked upon as the +guardian angel of the labourers on his farm. _Probre Rafael!_ "The +lovers of the bull-fight are lamenting the death of the _torero_, but +the poor of Cordoba mourn the loss of their 'Senor Rafael.'" + +[Illustration: PLAZA DE TOROS. THE PROCESSION] + +The wives of the _toreros_ are generally celebrated for their beauty, +their wit, and their devotion to their husbands--indeed, the men have a +large choice before them when choosing their helpmates for life. To +their wives is due much of the making and all the keeping up of the +elaborate and costly dress of the _torero_. They are, as someone has +said, "ferociously virtuous," and share in the open-handed generosity of +their husbands. The earnings of a successful _torero_ are very large. In +some cases, they make as much as L4000 or L5000 a year of English money, +during the height of their popularity, and retire to end their days in +their native and beloved Andalucia. + +Whatever may be said by foreigners of the brutalising effect of the +Spanish popular game, it certainly has no more effect on those who +witness or practise it than fox-hunting has on Englishmen, and it is +doubtful whether there is any more cruelty in one sport than in the +other. The foxes are fostered and brought up for the sole purpose of +being harried to death, without even a semblance of fair play being +allowed to them, and if a fox-hunter risks his life it is only as a bad +rider that he does so. There is no danger and certainly no dignity in +the English sport, even if it indirectly keeps up the breed of horses. + +A curious incident is related by Count Vasili as having happened in the +Bull-Ring in Madrid some years ago during a _corrida_ of Cuchares, the +celebrated _espada_. It is usual during _fiestas_ of charity to enclose +live sparrows in the _banderillas_ which it is part of the play to +affix, at great risk to the _torero_, in the shoulders of the bull; the +paper envelope bursts, and the birds are set at liberty. Crossing the +arena, one of the men carelessly hit at a bird turning wildly about in +its efforts to escape, and killed it. "In my life," says the Count, "I +have never seen such a spectacle. Ten thousand spectators, standing up, +wildly gesticulating, shouting for death on the 'cruel _torero_'; nay, +some even threw themselves into the arena, ready to lynch the heartless +creature!" + +Horse-racing may now be said to have been fairly established in Spain in +most of the great centres, and the Hippodrome in Madrid is little behind +one of England's popular race-courses in its crowds, the brilliant +dresses of the ladies, and the enthusiasm evoked; but whether it will +ever supersede the really national _fiesta_ is to be doubted. The upper +classes also affect polo, tennis, and croquet, and go in a good deal for +gymnastics, fencing, and fives. + +Cycling does not appear to commend itself greatly to the Spanish idea of +recreation. Bicycles are, of course, to be seen in the large and more +modern towns, but they are never very numerous, and as far as ladies are +concerned, may be said to have made no way. + +I have referred to a curious spectacle several times presented in +Madrid, chiefly in _fiestas_ for charitable purposes, where an elephant +was introduced into the Bull-Ring to fight, in place of the usual +_cuadrilla_ of men. This was an old elephant named Pizarro, a great +favourite of many years' standing with the Madrilenos. He was an +enormous animal, but one of his tusks had been broken off about a third +from the tip, so that he had only one to use in warfare or as +protection. He was tethered in the centre of the arena, by one of his +hind legs, to a stump about twelve inches high. Then the bulls were let +out one at a time. Meanwhile, Pizarro was amusing himself by eating +oranges which were showered on him by his admirers on the benches. With +the greatest coolness he continued his repast, picking up orange after +orange with his trunk, all that he was careful to do being to keep his +face to the bull, turning slowly as his enemy galloped round the ring +trying to take him in flank. At last the bull prepared to charge; +Pizarro packed away his trunk between his tusks, and quietly waited the +onslaught. The bull rushed at him furiously; but the huge animal, quite +good-naturedly and a little with the air of pitying contempt, simply +turned aside the attack with his one complete horn, and as soon as the +bull withdrew, a little nonplussed, went on picking up and eating his +oranges as before. Bull after bull gave up the contest as impossible, +and contentedly went out between the _cabestros_ sent in to fetch +them. At last one more persistent or courageous than the others came +bounding in. Pizarro realised at once that for the moment he must pause +in eating his dessert; but he became aware at the same time that in +turning round to face the successive bulls, he had gradually wound +himself up close to the stump, and had no room to back so as to receive +the attack. The most interesting incident in the whole affray was to +watch the elephant find out, by swinging his tethered leg, first in one +direction and then in another, how to free himself. This he did, first +by swinging his leg round and round over the stump, then by walking +slowly round and round, always facing the bull, and drawing his cord +farther and farther until he was perfectly free: then he was careful +only to turn as on a pivot, keeping the rope at a stretch. Finally the +bull charged at him with great fury; stepping slightly aside, Pizarro +caught him up sideways on his tusks, and held him up in the air, +perfectly impotent and mad with rage. When he considered the puny +creature had been sufficiently shown his inferiority, he gently put him +down, and the astonished and humbled bull declined further contest. The +fighting bulls of Spain are wonderfully small in comparison with English +animals, it should be said. + +[Illustration: DRAGGING OUT THE DEAD BULL] + +Every night, after his turn at the circus was over poor old Pizarro used +to walk home alone under my balcony, open his stable door with his own +latch-key, or at least his trunk, and put himself to bed like any +Christian. + +One of the most fashionable amusements in Madrid is to attend on the +morning of the bull-fight while the _espadas_ choose the particular +bulls they wish to have as enemy, and affix their colours, the large +rosette of ribbon which shows which of the _toreros_ the bull is to meet +in deadly conflict. The bulls are then placed in their iron cages in the +order in which they are to enter the arena. The fashionable ladies and +other _aficionados_ of the sport then drive back to Madrid to luncheon +and to prepare for the entertainment of the afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PRESS AND ITS LEADERS + + +Perhaps there are few countries where the influence of the Press is +greater than in Spain, and this is largely due to the fact that while +the journals are read by everyone, for a great number of the people they +form the only literature. The free library is not yet universal in the +country, though, doubtless, in the near future it may become general. In +the meantime, every imaginable shade of political opinion has its organ; +even the Bull-Ring has at least two excellently illustrated newspapers: +and the extra sheets, printed hastily and sold immediately after the +_corrida_ has terminated, have an enormous sale. Deserving of mention is +the curious little paper known as the "Night-cap of Madrid," because it +is supposed to be impossible for anyone to go to rest until he has read +the late edition, which comes out not long before midnight. It is said +to have no politics, and only pretends to give all the news of the +world. There are many illustrated papers, both comic and serious. The +charmingly artistic little _Blanco y Negro_, beautifully gotten up, is +at the head of all the more dignified illustrated journals of the +country. There are no kiosks; the papers are sold by children or by old +women in the streets, and the Madrid night is rent by the appalling +cries of these itinerant vendors of literature. For the Spanish +newspaper is always literature, which is a good deal more than can be +said for some of the English halfpenny Press. Whatever may be the +politics of the particular journal, its _Castellano_ is perfect; perhaps +a little stilted or pompous, but always dignified and well-written. + +The journalists of Madrid have a special facility for saying with an air +of extreme innocence what they, for various reasons, do not care to +express quite openly. Allegories, little romances, stories of fact full +of clever words of "double sense" make known to the initiated, or those +who know how to read between the lines, much that might otherwise awaken +the disagreeable notice of the censor, when there is one. There is an +air of good-natured raillery which takes off the edge of political +rancour, and keeps up the amenities and the dignity of the Spanish +Press. Only the other day one of the leading English journals pointed +out what a dignified part the Press of Madrid, of every shade of +politics, had played in the recent effort made by some foreign +newspapers--of a class which so far does not exist in Spain--to make +mischief and awaken national jealousy between England and Spain on the +subject of the works now being carried out by the English Government at +Gibraltar. The Spanish newspapers, of all shades of opinion, have made +it abundantly evident that their country entertains no unworthy +suspicion of England's good faith, and has not the smallest intention of +being led into strained or otherwise than perfectly friendly relations +with their old allies of the Peninsular War, to gratify the rabid enmity +of a section of a Press foreign to both countries. This is, perhaps, the +more remarkable because a certain amount of misunderstanding of England +exists among some elements of the Spanish Press. + +The Liberal party in Spain is, in fact, the party of progress, and the +nation has at last awakened from its condition of slavery under unworthy +rulers, and is practically united in its determination to return to its +place among the nations of Europe. + +There are many shades of Liberalism, and even Republicanism, but, as +will be seen in another place, the real welfare of the people, and not +the success of a mere political party, is the underlying motive of all, +however wild and unpractical may be some of the dreams for the carrying +out of these ideas of universal progress. It is impossible for a +Spaniard to conceive of maligning or belittling his own country for +merely party purposes; and, therefore, when he finds an English +newspaper calling itself "Liberal" he imagines the word to have the same +signification it has in his own country. So it has come to pass that +many of the worst misrepresentations--to use a very mild term--of a +portion of the English Press have been reproduced in Spanish newspapers, +and believed by their readers. + +Among the principal newspapers, in a crowd of less important ones, _La +Epoca_, Conservative and dynastic ranks first; this is the journal of +the aristocrats, of the "upper ten thousand," or those who aspire to be +so, and it ranks as the _doyen_ of the whole Press. Its circulation is +not so large as that of some of the other papers, but its clientele is +supposed to be of the best. _El Nacional_ is also Conservative, but +belonging to the party of Romero Robledo. What the exact politics of +that variation of Conservatism might be, it is difficult, I might almost +say impossible, for a stranger to say. If you were told nothing about +it, and took it up accidentally to read of current events, you would +certainly suppose it to be independent, with a decidedly Liberal +tendency. Still it calls itself Conservative. + +_El Correo_ is Liberal, of the special type of Sagasta, the present +Prime Minister. _El Espanol_, which also gives one the impression of +independence, is Liberal after the manner of Gemaro. _El Heraldo_, +calling itself _Diario Independente_, is credited with being the Liberal +organ of Canalijas. _El Liberal_ and _El Pais_ are Republican, and _El +Correo Espanol_ is Carlist, or clerical. This paper appears to be looked +upon a good deal in the nature of a joke by its colleagues, and +quotations from it are always accompanied by notes of exclamation. + +_La Correspondencia de Espana_ is a paper all by itself, an invention of +Spanish journalism, and its unprecedented success is due to many of its +quite unique peculiarities. Its originator, now a millionaire, is proud +of relating that he arrived in Madrid with two dollars in his pocket. He +it was who conceived the brilliant idea of founding a journal which +should be the special organ of all. "_Diario politico independiente, y +de noticias: Eco imparcial de la opinion y de la prensa_," he calls it, +and the fourth page, devoted to advertisements, would make the fortune +of ten others. His boast was that it had no editor, paid no writers, and +employed no correspondents. It simply possessed a certain number of +"caterers" for news, who thrust themselves everywhere, picking up +morsels of news--good, bad, and indifferent, for the most part scribbled +in pencil and thrown into a receptacle from which they are drawn in any +order, or none, and handed to the printer as "copy"; coming out in +short, detached paragraphs of uneven length, ranging from three lines to +twenty. Extracts from foreign newspapers, official news, provincial +reports, money matters, religious announcements, accidents, everything +comes out pell-mell--absolutely all "the voices of the flying day," in +Madrid and everywhere else, in one jumble, without order or sequence, +one paragraph frequently being a direct contradiction to another in the +same sheet. There are three editions during the day, but the +"Night-cap," which sums up them all, appears about ten o'clock or later, +and it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that it is bought by almost +every householder in the city. + +The nature of the _Correspondencia_ has changed very little since its +earliest days. It is a little more dignified, condescends even to short +articles on current subjects of interest, but it is the same universal +provider of news and gossip as ever. It goes with the times; so far as +it has any leanings at all, it is with the Government of the hour; but +it is for the most part quite impersonal, and it makes itself agreeable +to all parties alike. Santa Ana, the clever initiator of this new and +highly successful adventure in journalism, has two other very prosperous +commercial enterprises in his hands--the manufacture of paper for +printing and the supply of natural flowers. He himself is an enormous +and indefatigable worker, personally looks after his various businesses, +especially the _Correspondencia_, and, mindful of his own early +difficulties, he has created benefit societies for his workmen. + +He who, being a foreigner, would attempt to understand Spanish politics, +deserves to be classed with the bravest leaders of forlorn hopes. In the +first place, it is doubtful whether Spaniards understand them +themselves, although they talk, for the most part, of nothing +else--except bulls. Whenever and wherever two or three men or boys are +gathered together, you may be quite certain as to the subject of their +conversation--that is, if they show signs of excitement and interest in +the matter under discussion. Each man you meet gives you the whole +matter in a nut-shell: he has studied politics ever since he was able to +talk; all the other innumerable parties besides his own are _nada_! he +can tell you exactly what is wrong with his country, and, what is more, +exactly how it may all be made right. The only thing which puzzles one +is that all the nut-shells are different, and, as there are an unlimited +number of them, all that one carefully learns to-day has to be as +carefully unlearned to-morrow, and a fresh adjustment made of one's +political spectacles. After all, however, this is very much what would +happen in any country if we were in turn to sit at the feet of +successive teachers, and try to bring their doctrines into any kind of +accord. The peculiarity in Spain lies rather in the multiplicity of +private political opinions and the energy with which they are expressed, +and in the fact that they are all honest. + +Emerson has somewhere said that "inconsistency is the bugbear of little +minds." The Spanish politician has evidently not a little mind, for he +has no fear whatever of inconsistency, nor, in fact, of making a +_volte-face_ whenever he sees any reason for doing so. There are +Conservatives, Liberals, Republicans, Radicals, Socialists, as in other +countries, but there are, besides all these, an infinite number of +shades and tones of each political belief, each represented, as we have +seen, by a newspaper of its own, and, for the most part, bearing the +name of one man. It would seem, then, that you have only to make +yourself acquainted with the opinions, or rather with the political +acts, of that one man, and there you are! Vain and fond fancy! He has +been a rabid Republican, perhaps, or he has belonged, at least, to the +party which put up in Madrid in conspicuous letters, "The bastard race +of the Bourbons is for ever fallen. Fit punishment of their obstinacy!" +but you will find him to-day lending all the force of his paper to the +support of the Queen Regent, and at the same time allying himself with +the various classes of Republicans, even to the followers of Zorilla, +who have, at any rate till now, been consistent enemies and haters of +the Bourbon. + +Senor Don Romero Robledo, one among the politicians of the day who +possess the gift of perfect oratory, so common among his countrymen, is +an example of this puzzling "open mind." He appeared first in the +character of revolutionist in 1868; then he became the Minister of the +Interior in Amadeo's short reign, held somewhat aloof from the wild +experiment in a republic of Castelar, joined the party of Don Alfonso on +the eve of its success, and supported Canovas del Castillo in his +somewhat retrograde policy in the restoration of the very Bourbon whom +he had announced as "banished for ever," and, in fact, by his admirable +genius for organising his party, enabled the Government of Canovas to +continue to exist. It is said of him that he "buys men as one would buy +sheep," and that he will serve any cause so long as he has the +management of it, or rather so long as he may pull the wires. Comte +Vasili says of him: "In politics, especially Conservative politics, men +like Romero Robledo are necessary, finding easily that 'the end +justifies the means,' energetic, ambitious, always in the breach +opposing their qualities to the invasions of the parties of extremes." +This was written of him some fifteen years ago by one eminently +qualified to judge. At the present moment we find Senor Romero Robledo +refusing office, but consulted by the Queen Regent in every difficulty. +In the late crisis, when the Conservative party under Silvela, called +into office for the sake of carrying the extremely unpopular marriage of +the Princess of Asturias with the Count of Caserta, had nearly managed +to wreck the monarchy, or, at any rate, the regency, and to bring the +always dangerous clerical question to an acute stage by suspending the +constitutional guarantees over the whole of Spain, it was Romero Robledo +who told the Queen quite plainly that before anything else could be done +the guarantees must be restored, that the liberties of the people could +not be interfered with, and that, in short, the Liberal party must be +called into office. Then we find him holding meetings in which +Conservatives, Republicans, even Zorillistas, all combined, +enthusiastically declaring that they are on the side of order and +progress, agreeing to hold up England, under her constitutional monarch, +as the most really democratic and free of all nations, since in no other +country, republican or otherwise, is the government, as a matter of +fact, so entirely in the hands of the people; swearing eternal enmity +against the interference of the clergy in government or in education, +but counselling "quiet determination without rancour or bigotry in +dealing with those of the clergy who openly, or through the +confessional, attempt to usurp authority which it is intended they shall +never again acquire in Spain." In fact, to read Senor Romero Robledo's +discourses on these occasions, and the excellent articles in the +newspaper which represents his views, _El Nacional_, one would imagine +the Golden Age to have dawned for Spain. Liberty, honour, real religion, +progress in science, art, manufactures, trade, the purification of +politics, the ideal of good government--these are only a few of the +things to which this amalgamation of parties is solemnly pledged. + +One thing, at least, is promising among so much that might be put +down as "words, words": a general agreement as to the wisdom of making +the best of the present situation, opposing a firm resistance to any +attempt at a return to absolutism on the part of the monarchy, or +domination in temporal matters by the Church; but no change, no more +_pronunciamientos_, no more civil wars. Whenever the political parties +of a country merge their differences of opinion in one common cause, the +end may be foreseen. This was what happened in 1868; and if the party of +Romero Robledo is what it represents itself to be and holds together, we +may hope to see the reign of the young Alfonso XIII. open with good +auguries this year (1902), as it seems to be certain that he is to +attain his majority two years in advance of the usual time. + +The life, political career, and retirement of Emilio Castelar is one of +the most pathetic pictures in history, and one altogether Spanish in +character. It was after Amadeo had thrown down his crown, exclaiming, "A +son of Savoy does not wear a crown on sufferance!" that the small party +of Republicans--which Prim had said did not exist, and which had in fact +only become a party at all during the disastrous period of uncertainty +between the expulsion of Isabel II. and the election of the Italian +prince--edged its way to the front, and Castelar became the head of +something much worse than a paper constitution--a republic of +visionaries. Don Quijote de la Mancha himself could scarcely have made a +more pure-intentioned yet more unpractical President. Castelar, with his +honest, unsophisticated opinions and theories, his unexampled oratory, +which is said to have carried away crowds of men who did not understand +or hear a word that he said, with the rhythm of his language, the simple +majesty and beauty of his delivery, launched the nation into a +government that might have been suited to the angels in heaven, or to +what the denizens of this earth may become in far distant aeons of +evolution--a republic of dreams, headed by a dreamer. The awakening was +rude, but it was efficient. When Castelar found that in place of +establishing a millennium of peace and universal prosperity, he had let +loose over the land all the elements of disorder and of evil, he had the +greatness to acknowledge himself mistaken: his own reputation never +troubled him, and he admitted that the Cortes, from which he had hoped +so much, worked evil, not good. It is said that he himself called on +General Pavia, the Captain-General of Madrid, to clear them out. The +deputies--Castelar had withdrawn--sat firm: "Death rather than +surrender," they cried. Pavia, however, ordered his men to fire once +down the empty lobbies, and the hint was enough: the Cortes dispersed, +and Pavia, had he so minded it, might have been military dictator of +Spain. But he had no such ambition, though there were not wanting those +who ascribed it to him. + +[Illustration: THE ESCURIAL] + +As for Castelar, when angrily charged with inconsistency, he said: +"Charge me with inconsistency, if you please. I will not defend myself. +Have I the right to prefer my own reputation to the safety of my +country? Let my name perish, let posterity pronounce its anathema +against me, let my contemporaries send me into exile! Little care I! I +have lived long enough! But let not the Republic perish through my +weaknesses, and, above all, let no one say that Spain has perished in +our hands!" Castelar went back to his chair of philosophy, which he had +never resigned, poor as he left it, to the modest home and the devoted +sister whom he loved so well--and no one laughed! Is there really any +other country than Spain where such things can happen? His enthusiasm, +his high-mindedness, his failures, his brave acknowledgment that he had +failed, were accepted by the country in the exact spirit in which he had +offered himself to her service, and the memory of Castelar stands as +high to-day as ever it did in the respectful admiration of his +fellow-countrymen. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +POLITICAL GOVERNMENT + + +The Government of Spain ever since the restoration of Don Alfonso XII. +has been in reality what it was only in name before--a constitutional +monarchy. During the first years of the young King's reign, Canovas del +Castillo being Prime Minister, there was a distinctly reactionary +tendency from the Liberalism of Prim and the revolutionary party of +1868. It was almost impossible that it should be otherwise, considering +the wild tumult of the varying opinions and the experiments in +government that the country had passed through; and some of the +difficulties of the situation to-day are no doubt due to the concessions +made to the ultra-Conservative party in the re-introduction of the +religious orders, which had been suppressed during the regency of +Cristina, and had never been tolerated even during the reign of the +_piadosa_, Isabel II. + +Prim had, from the first moment that the success of the Revolution was +assured and the Queen and her _camarilla_ had crossed the frontier to +seek asylum in France, declared for a constitutional monarchy. "How can +you have a monarchy without a king?" he was asked by Castelar. "How can +you have a republic without republicans!" was his reply. He might have +made himself king or military dictator, but he wanted to be neither; nor +would he hear of Montpensier, to whom Topete and Serrano had pledged +themselves. + +The House of Savoy was the next heir to the Spanish throne, had the +Bourbons become extinct, and to it the first glances of the Spanish +king-maker were directed, but difficulties arose from the dislike of the +Duke of Aosta himself to the scheme. A prince of some Liberal country +was what was wanted: there was even some talk of offering the crown to +the English Duke of Edinburgh, while one party dreamed of an Iberian +amalgamation, and suggested Dom Luis of Portugal or his father Dom +Ferdinand, the former regent. The candidature of Prince Leopold of +Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who was a Roman Catholic, was looked upon with +a certain amount of favour, but at the eleventh hour Napoleon III. made +this scheme a pretext for the quarrel with Prussia which led to the +fateful war of 1870 and 1871. Eventually, almost two years after the +outbreak of the Revolution, Amadeo of Savoy was chosen by the Cortes at +Madrid by a majority of one hundred and five votes, only twenty-three +being given for Montpensier and sixty-three for a republic. + +On the day that King Amadeo set foot on Spanish soil Prim was +assassinated; it was perfectly well known at whose instigation, and the +man whom the Spaniards themselves said was _demasiado honesto_ (too +honourable) for the hotch-potch of political parties into which he was +thrown without a friend or helper, began his vain effort to rule a +foreign nation in a constitutional manner. After he had thrown up the +thankless task in despair, the absurd Republic of Zorilla and Castelar +made confusion worse confounded, and it was with a feeling of relief to +all that the _pronunciamiento_ of Martinez Campos at Muviedro put an end +to the Spanish Republic under Serrano, and proclaimed the son of Isabel +II. as King. + +He was but a lad of seventeen, but he had been educated in England; he +was known to be brave, dignified, and extremely liberal, so that he was +acclaimed throughout Spain, and during his short life he fully justified +the high opinion formed of him. But the Government of Canovas was +reactionary, and when the unexpected death of Alfonzo XII. left his +young wife, the present Maria Cristina of Austria, a widow under +exceptionally trying circumstances, Canovas himself placed his +resignation in her hands, knowing that the Liberals were the party of +the nation, and promised to give his own best efforts to work with what +had up to then been his Opposition, for the good of the country and of +the expected child, who a few months later had the unusual experience +of being "born a king." + +Whatever may be said about the present Regent,--though in truth little +but good has been said or thought of her,--she has been most loyal to +the constitution, holding herself absolutely aloof from all favouritism +or even apparent predilection. She has devoted her life to the education +of her son and to his physical well-being, for he was not a strong child +in his early years, and she has done her best, possibly more than any +but a woman could have done, to keep the ship of State not only afloat, +but making headway during the minority of her son. + +Two things militate against good government in Spain, and will continue +to do so until the whole system is changed: what is known in the country +as _caciquismo_, and the pernicious custom of changing all the +Government officials, down to the very porter at the doors, with every +change of ministry. It is much, however, that the Government does go out +in a constitutional manner instead of by a military _pronunciamiento_ on +each occasion, as in the old days; also that a civilian and not a +soldier is always at the head of it. In reality, there are two great +parties in Madrid, and only two: the _Empleados_ and the _Cesantes_--in +plain English, the "Ins" and the "Outs." Whatever ministry is in power +has behind it an immense army of provincial governors, secretaries, +clerks, down to the porters, and probably even the charwomen who clean +out the Government offices. This state of things is repeated over the +whole country, and there is naturally created and sustained an enormous +amount of bribery and corruption, which is continually at work +discrediting all governments and giving to Spanish affairs that "bad +name" which, according to our old proverb, is as bad as hanging. The +_Cesantes_ haunt certain _cafes_ and possess certain newspapers, and the +_Empleados_ other _cafes_ and other papers. The "Outs" and the "Ins" +meet at night to discuss their prospects, and wonderful are the stories +invented at these reunions, some of which even find their way into +English newspapers--if their correspondents are not up to the ways of +Spain--for we read ludicrous accounts of things supposed to have been +taking place, and are treated to solemn prophecies of events never +likely to occur, even in first-class English journals. It is naturally +the interest of these subordinate employees of a vicious system to +hasten or retard the day that shall see their respective chiefs change +position, and if a few plausible untruths can do it, be assured they +will not be wanting. Both in the popular novels, _de costumbres_, and in +actual life, it is the commonest thing to hear a man described as a +_Cesante_, in the same way that we should speak of him as being an +engineer or a doctor, as if being out of place were just as much an +employment as any other. + +One thing that appears strange to a foreigner about these _Cesantes_ is +that they never seem even to dream of seeking other employment; they +simply sit down to wait until their particular patron is "in" again, and +in the old days they were a constant force making for the +_pronunciamiento_ which would sooner or later make a place for them. As +they had no means of existence except when in receipt of Government pay, +it is easy to understand that, according to their views, they had to +prepare for the evil day which assuredly awaited them, by appropriating +and exacting all the money that was possible during their short reign of +power. Probably the only difference between the highest and the lowest +official was in the actual amount he was able to acquire when he was +"in." + +This system, subversive of all efficient service, and leading inevitably +to the worst evils of misappropriation of the national funds, had +perhaps its worst aspects in the colonies. A Government berth in Cuba +was a recognised means of making a fortune, or of rehabilitating a man +who had ruined himself by gambling at home. Appointments were made, not +because the man was fitted for the post, but because he had +influence--frequently that of some lady--with the person with whom the +appointments lay, or because he was in need of an opportunity for making +money easily. That there have always been statesmen and subordinate +officials above all such self-seeking, men of punctilious honour and of +absolutely clean hands, is known to all; but such men--as Espartero, +for instance--too often threw up the sponge, and would have naught to do +with governing nor with office of any description. Espartero, who is +generally spoken of as the "Aristides of Spain," when living in his +self-sought retirement at Logrono, even refused to be proclaimed as King +during the days when the crown was going a-begging, though he would +probably have been acclaimed as the saviour of his country by a large +majority. Long years of foreign kings and their generally contemptible +favourites and ministers, long years of tyranny and corruption in high +places, leavened the whole mass of Spanish bureaucracy; but the heart of +the nation remained sound, and those who would understand Spain must +draw a distinct line between her professional place-hunters and her +people. + +Caciqueism is a mere consequence or outcome from the state of affairs +already described. While the deputies to the Cortes are supposed to be +freely elected as representatives by the people, in reality they are +simply nominees of the heads of the two political powers which have been +see-sawing as ministers for the last sixteen years. Two men since the +assassination of Canovas have alternately occupied the post of First +Minister of the Crown: Don Praxadis Mateo Sagasta, one of those mobile +politicians who always fall on their feet whatever happens, and +Francisco Silvela, who may be described as a Liberal-Conservative in +contrast to Canovas, who was a Tory of the old school, and aspired to be +a despot. Toryism, though the word is unknown there, dies hard in Spain; +but there are not wanting signs that the Conservatives of the new school +have the progress and emancipation of the country quite as much at heart +as any Liberal. It was the Conservative _Nacional_ that in a leading +article of March 29th in 1901, under the head of "Vicious Customs," +called attention to the crowds of place-hunters who invade the public +offices after a change of ministry, and to the barefaced impudence of +some of their claims for preferment. "The remedy is in the hands of the +advisers of the Crown," it continued. "Let them shut the doors of their +offices against influence and intrigue, keep _Empleados_ of acknowledged +competence permanently in their posts, and not appoint new ones without +the conviction that they have capacity and aptitude for the work they +will have to do. By this means, if the problem be not entirely solved, +it will at least be in train for a solution satisfactory at once for a +good administration and for the highest interests of the State." + +The way in which the wire-pulling is done from Madrid, in case of an +election, is through the _cacique_, or chief person in each +constituency; hence the name of the process. This person may be the +Civil Governor, the _Alcalde_, or merely a rich landowner or large +employer of labour in touch with the Government: the pressure brought +to bear may be of two sorts, taking the form of bribery or threat. The +voters who hang on to the skirts of the _cacique_ may hope for +Government employment, or they may fear a sudden call to pay up arrears +of rent or of taxes; the hint is given from headquarters, or a +Government candidate is sent down. It matters little how the thing is +done so long as the desired end is accomplished. Speaking of the general +election which took place last June, and in which it was well known +beforehand that the Liberals were to be returned in a large majority, +one of the Madrid newspapers wrote: "The people will vote, but assuredly +the deputies sent up to the Cortes will not be _their_ representatives, +nor their choice." + +We, who have for so many years enjoyed a settled government, forget how +different all this is in a country like Spain, which has oftener had to +be reproached for enduring bad government than for a readiness to effect +violent changes, or to try new experiments; but the progress actually +made since the Revolution of 1868 has really been extraordinary, and it +has gone steadily forward. Spain has always been celebrated for the +making of _convenios_--a word which is scarcely correctly translated by +"arrangement." During the Carlist wars, the Government, and even +generals in command, made _convenios_ with the insurgents to allow +convoys to pass without interference, money value sometimes being a +factor in the case; but one of the strangest of these out-of-sight +agreements, and one which English people never understand, is that +which has existed almost ever since the Restoration between the +political parties in the Congress, or, at least, between their leaders. +It is an arrangement, loyally carried out, by which each party is +allowed in turn to come into power. The Cortes is elected to suit the +party whose turn it is to be in office, and there is little reality in +the apparent differences. Silvela and Sagasta go backwards and forwards +with the regularity of a pendulum, and the country goes on its way +improving its position daily and hourly, with small thanks to its +Government. + +Perhaps it is as well! It gives assurance, at least, that no +particularly wild schemes or subversive changes shall be made. When one +administration has almost wrecked the ship, as in the Caserta marriage, +the other comes in peacefully, and sets the public mind at rest; both +parties wish for peace and quietness, and no more revolutions, and the +political seesaw keeps the helm fairly straight in ordinary weather. To +what extent the insane and disastrous policy which led to the war with +America by its shilly-shally treatment of Cuba, now promising autonomy, +now putting down the grinding heel of tyranny, and to what extent the +suicidal action of the oscillating parties--for both share the +responsibility--in their instructions to their generals and admirals, +and the astounding unpreparedness for war of any kind, still less with a +country like America, may be traced to this system of "arrangements," +which allows one party to hand its responsibilities over to the other, +one can only guess. It is to be hoped that when the two figureheads at +present before the country go over to the majority, there may come to +the front some earnest and truly patriotic ministers, who have been +quietly training in the school of practical politics, and can take the +helm with some hope of doing away with the crying evils of _empleomania_ +and _caciquismo_. Until then there will be no political greatness for +Spain. + +The advance which Spain has made, "in spite of her Governments, and not +by their assistance," has been remarkable in past years. Since the +beginning of the last century she has gone through a series of political +upheavals and disasters which might well have destroyed any country; +and, in fact, her division into so many differing nationalities has, +perhaps, been her greatest safeguard. Even after the Revolution of 1868 +the series of events through which she passed was enough to have +paralysed her whole material prosperity; the actual loss in materials, +and still more in the lives of her sons, during the fratricidal wars at +home and in her colonies, is incalculable, and that she was not ruined, +but, on the contrary, advanced steadily in industry and commerce during +the whole time, shows her enormous inherent vitality. Since then she has +undergone the lamentable war with America, has lost her chief colonies, +and the Peninsula has been well-nigh swamped by the _repatriados_ from +Cuba, returning to their native country penniless and, in many cases, +worn out. And yet the state of Spain was never so promising, her steady +progress never more assured. Looking back to the Revolution, it will be +enough to name some of the measures secured for the benefit of the +people. They include complete civil and religious liberty, with reforms +in the administration of the laws and the condition of prisoners, +liberty of education, and the spread of normal schools into every corner +of the Peninsula, the establishment of savings banks for the poor, +somewhat on the lines of England's Post Office Savings Bank; railways +have received an enormous impulse; quays and breakwaters have been +erected, so that every portion of the kingdom is now in immediate touch +with Madrid; while the universities are sending forth daily young men +thoroughly trained as engineers, electricians, doctors, and scientists +of every variety to take the places which some years ago were almost +necessarily filled by foreigners for want of trained native talent. + +Local government in the smaller towns of the Peninsula is generally said +to be very good, and to work with great smoothness and efficiency +hand-in-hand with centralised authority in Madrid. The fusion of the +varying nationalities is gradually gaining ground, and the hard-and-fast +line between the provinces is disappearing. There is more nationality +now in matters of every-day life than there has ever been before. In old +times it needed the touch of a foreign hand, the threat of foreign +interference, to rouse the nation as one man. Commerce and industry and +the national emulation between province and province are doing gradually +what it once needed the avarice of a Napoleon to evoke. + +The paper constitutions of Spain have been many, beginning with that of +1812, which the Liberals tried to force on Ferdinand VII., to that of +1845, which the Conservatives look upon as the ideal, or that of 1869, +embodying all that the Revolution had gained from absolutism, including +manhood suffrage. In the first Cortes summoned after the Restoration, +thanks to the good sense of Castelar, the Republican party, from being +conspirators, became a parliamentary party in opposition. Zorilla alone, +looking upon it as a sham, retired to France in disgust. By the new +constitution of 1876, the power of making laws remained, as before, +vested in the Cortes and the Crown: the Senate consists of three +classes, Grandes, Bishops, and high officers of State sitting by right, +with one hundred members nominated by the Crown, and one hundred and +eighty elected by provincial Councils, universities, and other +corporations. Half of the elected members go out every five years. The +deputies to the Congress are elected by indirect vote on a residential +manhood suffrage, and they number four hundred and thirty-one. A +certain number of equal electoral districts of fifty thousand +inhabitants elect one member each; and twenty-six large districts, +having several representatives, send eighty-eight members to the Cortes. +Every province has its provincial elective Council, managing its local +affairs, and each commune its separate District Council, with control +over local taxation. Yet, though ostensibly free, these local bodies are +practically in the power of the political wire-puller, or _cacique_. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +COMMERCE AND AGRICULTURE + + +Commerce and industry had progressed by leaps and bounds even during the +disastrous and troublous years between the expulsion of Isabel II. and +the restoration of her son. The progress is now much more steady and +more diffused over the whole country, but it is by no means less +remarkable, especially taking into consideration the disaster of the war +with America and the loss to Spain of her old colonies. + +Among her politicians in past times there were never wanting those who +considered that the loss of Cuba would be a distinct gain to the mother +country, and perhaps it may be safely said that since the colony had not +only been for so many years the forcing-house of bureaucratic +corruption, but had also drained the resources of Spain both of money +and lives to the extreme limit of her possibility, she is more likely +now to regain her old position among European nations, when left at +peace to develop her enormous resources and set her house in order +without the distraction of war, either at home or abroad. When one +remembers that this happy condition has never obtained in the country +since the death of Ferdinand VII. until the close of the +Spanish-American War, and that the country is only now recovering from +the disorganisation caused by the return of her troops and refugees from +Cuba and Manila, it is not surprising to find that the activity +manifested in her trade, her manufactures, and her industries is such as +to give the greatest hopes for her future to her own people and to those +who watch her from afar with friendly eyes. + +Whichever we may regard as cause or effect, the progress of the country +has been very largely identified with the extension of her railway +system. It must have been a great step towards liberal education when +the country which, priding herself on her geographical position and her +rich internal resources, had hitherto wrapped herself in her national +_capa_, and considered that she was amply sufficient to herself, +condescended to throw open her mountain barriers to immigrants. It was +not until 1848 that the first Spanish railway was opened, and it was but +seventeen miles in length; but in the next ten years five hundred miles +had been constructed, and between 1858 and 1868 no fewer than two +thousand eight hundred and five miles, the Pyrenees had been pierced, +and direct communication with the rest of Europe accomplished. + +During the troublous years following the Revolution and the melancholy +struggles of the second Carlist war, very little progress was made. +Foreign capital, which had hitherto been invested in Spanish railways, +was naturally frightened away, and the Northern Railway itself, the +great artery to France, was constantly being torn up and damaged, and +the lives of the passengers endangered, by the armed mobs which infested +the country, and were supposed by some people to represent the cause of +legitimacy, and which had, in fact, the sanction of the Church and of +the Pope. It was not, in the majority of cases, that the people +sympathised with Don Carlos, but it was easier and more amusing for the +lazy and the ne'er-do-weels to receive pay and rations for carrying a +gun, and taking pot-shots at any object that presented itself, human or +other, than to work in the fields, the mines, or on the railways. Hence +public enterprise was paralysed; again and again the workmen, with no +desire of their own, were driven off by superior bands of these +wandering shooters, who scarcely deserved even the name of guerillas, +and public works were left deserted and decaying, while the commerce and +industry of the province were wrecked, and apparently destroyed +irrevocably. + +In the earlier stages of railway construction and management, French +capital and French labour were employed. England held aloof, partly on +account of the closing of the London Stock Exchange to Spanish +enterprises, in consequence of the vexed question of the celebrated +coupons, but also because the aid afforded by the State did not fall in +with the ideas of English capitalists. They desired a guaranteed rate of +interest, while the Spanish Government would have nothing but a +subvention paid down in one lump sum, arguing that it would be +impossible to tell when a line was making more than the guaranteed +interest, "as the companies would so arrange their accounts as to show +invariably an interest smaller than that guaranteed!" With this view of +the honesty of their own officials, no one else could be expected to +have a better opinion of them; and England allowed France and Belgium +thenceforward to find all the capital and all the materials for Spanish +railways. + +The total amount of subventions actually paid by Government up to +December 31, 1882, was L24,529,148. "If," says the author of _Commercial +and Industrial Spain_, "the money that we so candidly lent to the swarm +of defaulting South American Republics had been properly invested in +Spanish railways, a great deal of trouble might probably have been +spared to the unfortunate investors." + +All that, however, is altered now: the State schools and universities +are turning out daily well-equipped native engineers, both for railway +and mining works, and Spaniards are finding their own capital for public +works. The phrase "Spain for the Spaniards" is acquiring a new +significance--perhaps the most hopeful of all the signs of progress the +country is making. In 1899, there were working 12,916 kilometros of +railways, or 7.9 kilometros for each 10,000 of the population. A +kilometro equals 1.609 English mile. There is no part of the country now +isolated, either from the centre of government in Madrid, or from the +coast, and communication with Portugal, and, through France, with the +rest of Europe, is easy and constant. With this advance in means of +transit, the trade of the country has received an immense impulse, and +its raw and manufactured goods are now reaching all markets. + +The rich mineral wealth of the country and its wonderful climate only +need enlightened enterprise to make Spain one of the richest and most +important commercial factors in the world's trade. The list of minerals +alone, raised from mines in working, amounts to twenty-two, ranging from +gold and silver, copper, tin, zinc, quick-silver, salt, coal, etc., to +cobalt and antimony; and 8,313,218 tons of minerals of all these +twenty-two classes were raised in 1882 against 1,201,054 in 1862. The +value of mines in 1880 was represented by one hundred and eleven +millions of pesetas (francs), but in 1898 by three hundred and nineteen +millions (pesetas). The value of imports in 1882 was 816,666,901 +pesetas, and of exports 765,376,087 pesetas. In 1899, imports were +1,045,391,983, and exports 864,367,885. But this is taking exactly the +period covered by the war with America; a fairer estimate of exports is +that of 1897, which stood at 1,074,883,372. No statement has been +published since 1899, but intermediate statistics show the trade of the +country to be advancing rapidly. + +To return, however, to Spanish industries. In late years large +smelting-works have been opened in Spain, with Spanish capital and +management, while at Bilbao are large iron-works for the manufacture of +steel rails. There are splendid deposits of iron in the country, and as +the duty on foreign rails entering Spain is _L3 4s._ per ton, it is +probable that the near future will see the country free from the +necessity of importing manufactured iron, or, in fact, metal of any +kind. A Catalan company has established important works for reducing the +sulphur of the rich mines near Lorca, and confidently expects to produce +some thirty thousand tons of sulphur per annum. The rich silver mines of +the Sierra Almagrera are almost wholly in native hands, and have already +yielded large fortunes to the owners. With the present improved +transport and shipping facilities in every part of the country, it is +probable that the valuable mines scattered all over the Peninsula will +be thoroughly worked, to the advance of commercial and industrial +interests over the entire country. + +While the seaboard provinces are rich in fisheries, as well as in mines, +in the south the country is able to grow rice, sugar-cane, maize, +raisins, as well as wheat, olives, oranges, grapes, dates, bananas, +pine-apples, and almost all kinds of tropical fruits. The cultivation of +all varieties of fruit and vegetables, and their careful gathering and +packing have become the object of many large companies and private +individuals. Dates, bananas, grapes, plums, tomatoes, melons, as well as +asparagus and other early vegetables, are now being shipped to foreign +markets as regular articles of trade, in a condition which insures a +rapid and increasing sale. The exportation of fruit has doubled within +the last few years. The production of cane sugar in 1899 was thirty-one +thousand tons, or exactly three times the amount of that produced in +1889. The exportation of wine, which in 1894 was two millions of +milelitros, was in 1898 nearly five millions, and it is daily increasing +(one gallon English measure equals about four and one half litros). + +Spain has always had excellent wines unknown to other countries, besides +that which is manufactured into what we know as "sherry"; but many of +them were so carelessly made as to be unfit for transit abroad. The +attention of wine-growers has, however, been steadily turned to this +subject during the last twenty years; greater care has been taken in the +production; the best methods have been ascertained and followed, and it +is possible now to obtain undoctored Spanish wines which perfectly bear +the carriage in cask without injury; and, to meet a direct sale to the +customer, small barrels containing about twelve gallons are shipped +from Tarragona and other ports to England. + +One of the most hopeful signs of the economic awakening of the country +is the establishment of the _Boletin de la Camara de Comercio de Espana +en la Gran Bretana_, published each month in London. + +In this little commercial circular a review is given of the commerce and +industry of all nations during the month; all fluctuations are noted, +extracts from foreign statistics or money articles given, suggestions +made for the opening up of Spanish commerce, and the introduction of her +manufactures into this and other countries. Speaking on the question of +the introduction of pure Spanish wines into England, a recent writer in +the _Boletin_ remarks that English workmen are thirsty animals, that +they like a big drink, but they are not really desirous of becoming +intoxicated by it. In fact, they would most of them prefer to be able to +drink more without bad effects. The writer goes on to say that if the +English workman could obtain pure wine that would cost no more than his +customary beer, and would not make him intoxicated, and if Spanish light +wines--which he says could be sold in England for less than good +beer--were offered in tempting-looking taverns and under pleasant +conditions, he believes that a really enormous trade would be the +result, to the benefit of both nations. The suggestion is, at least, an +interesting one, and though the scheme would certainly not benefit the +habitual drunkard, who becomes enamoured of his own debauchery, it +might be very welcome to many of the working people, who, as "our +neighbour" quaintly remarks, like a big drink, but do not necessarily +wish to become intoxicated. + +In this connection, it may be interesting to know that the small +twelve-gallon casks of red wine, resembling Burgundy rather than claret, +but less heavy than the Australian wines, and forming a delicious drink +with water, are delivered at one's own door carriage free for a price +which works out, including duty, at _8-1/2d._ the ordinary bottle, or +_1s. 2d._ the flagon, such as the Australian wine is sold in. This is, +in fact, cheaper than good stout or ale. + +Spain has always been celebrated for two special manufactures--her silk +and woollen goods; but for very many years these have been almost +unknown beyond her own boundaries. In the time of the Moors her silken +goods had a world-wide fame; and the silk-worm has been cultivated there +probably from the earliest days, when it was surreptitiously introduced +into Europe. Groves of mulberry trees were grown especially for +sericulture in the irrigated provinces of the South, the care of the +insect being undertaken by the women, while the men were employed on +tasks more suitable to their strength. Native-grown spun and woven silk +forms such an important part in the national costumes of the people that +it has attained to great perfection without attracting much foreign +notice. The silk petticoats of the women, the velvet jackets and trunk +hose of the men, the beautiful silk and woollen _mantas_, with their +deep fringes of silken or woollen balls; the _madronos_, or silk tufts +and balls, used as decorations for the Andalusian or the gypsy hats, not +to mention the beautifully soft and pure silks of Barcelona, or the silk +laces made in such perfection in many parts of the country,--all these +are objects of merchandise only needing to be known, to occasion a large +demand, especially in these days when the French invention of weighted +dyes floods the English market with something that has the outward +appearance of silk, but which does not even wait for wear to disclose +its real nature, but rots into holes on the drapers' shelves, and +would-be smart young women of slender purses walk about in what has been +well called "tin attire," in the manufacture of which the silk-worm has +had only the slenderest interest. + +The blankets and rugs of Palencia have been known to some few English +people for many years, owing to their extreme lightness, great warmth, +and literally unending wear; but it is only within the last very few +years that they can be said to have had any market at all in England, +and now they are called "Pyrenean" rather than Spanish goods. One of the +suggestions of the little commercial circular already referred to is +that Spaniards should open depots or special agencies all over England +for the sale of their woollen goods, after the manner of the Jaeger +Company. + +The flocks of merino sheep to be seen on the wooded slopes of the +Pyrenees, and all over Estremadura, following their shepherd after the +manner with which Old Testament history makes us familiar, are said to +be direct descendants of the old Arabian flocks, and certainly the +appearance of one of these impassive-looking shepherds leading his flock +to "green pastures, and beside the still waters," takes one back in the +world's history in a way that few other things do. The flock know the +voice of their shepherd, and follow him unquestioningly wheresoever he +goes; there is no driving, no hurrying; and the same may be said of the +pigs, which form such an important item in the social economy of a +Spanish peasant's home. + +Staying once at Castellon de la Plana, in Valencia, my delight was to +watch the pig-herd and his troop. Early in the morning, at a fixed hour, +he issued from his house in one of the small alleys, staff in hand, and +with a curious kind of horn or whistle. This he blew as he walked along, +from time to time, without turning his head, in that strange trance of +passivity which distinguishes the Valencian peasant. Out from dark +corners, narrow passages, mud hovels on all sides, came tearing along +little pigs, big pigs, dark, light, fat, thin pigs,--pigs of every +description,--and joined the procession headed by this sombre-looking +herdsman, with his long stick and his blue-and-white striped _manta_ +thrown over his shoulder. By the time he had reached the end of the +village he had a large herd following him. Then the whole party slowly +disappeared in the distance, under the groves of cork-trees or up the +mountain paths. The evening performance was more amusing still. Just +about sundown the stately herdsman again appeared with his motley +following. He took no manner of notice of them. He stalked majestically +towards his own particular hovel, and at each corner of a lane or group +of cottages the pigs said "Good night" to each other by a kick-up of +their heels and a whisk of their curly little tails, and scampered off +home by themselves, until, at the end of the village, only one solitary +pig was following his leader--probably they shared one home between +them. It seemed a peaceful, if not an absolutely happy, life! + +One would expect a country with such a climate, or rather with so many +climates, as Spain, to make a great feature of agriculture. It can at +once produce wheat of the very finest quality, wine, oil, rice, sugar, +and every kind of fruit and vegetable that is known; and it ought to be +able to support a large agricultural population in comfort, and export +largely. Taking into account, also, the rich mineral wealth, which +should make her independent of imports of this nature, it is sad to see +that in past years, even so late as 1882, wheat and flour, coal and +coke, iron and tools figure amongst her imports--the first two in very +large proportions. Although the vast plains of Estremadura and Castile +produce the finest wheat known to commerce, the quantity, owing to the +want of water, is so small in relation to the acreage under cultivation, +that it does not suffice for home consumption, except in very favourable +years; while the utilisation of the magnificent rivers, which now roll +their waters uselessly to the sea, would make the land what it once was +when the thrifty Moor held it--a thickly populated and flourishing +grain-producing district. In place of the wandering flocks of sheep and +pigs gaining a precarious existence on the herbage left alive by the +blistering sun on an arid soil, there should be smiling homesteads and +blooming gardens everywhere, trees and grateful shade where now the +ground, between the rainy seasons, becomes all of one dusty, half-burnt +colour, reminding one more of the "back of a mangy camel," as it has +been described, than of a country that has once been fruitful and +productive. + +The late General Concha, Marques del Duero, was the originator of +sugar-cane cultivation. He spent a large portion of his private fortune +in establishing what bids fair to be one of the most productive +industries of his country. But, like most pioneers of progress, he +reaped no benefit himself. His fine estates near Malaga, with their +productive cane-farms, passed into other hands before he had reaped the +reward of his patriotic endeavours. For a long time the cheap, +bounty-fed beet sugars of Germany, which never approach beyond being an +imitation of real sugar--as every housewife can testify who has tried to +make jam with them--were able to undersell the produce of the cane; but +the latest statistics show that this industry is now making steady +progress, the production of 1899 being thirty-one thousand tons, or +exactly three times that of 1899. _A propos_ of the difference between +cane and beet sugars for all domestic purposes, and the superior +cheapness of the more costly article, it is satisfactory to note that in +England the working classes, through their own co-operative societies, +insist on being supplied with the former, knowing by experimental proof +its immense superiority; and one may hope that their wisdom may spread +into households where the servants pull the wires, and care nothing +about economy. + +Looking at the ordinary map of Spain, it appears to be ridiculous to say +that the greater part of the country is in want of water. Although it is +intersected by three large ranges of mountains beyond the Pyrenees, and +innumerable others of smaller dimensions, thus making a great proportion +of the country impossible for agriculture, it is rich in magnificent +rivers and in smaller ones, all of which are allowed to run to waste in +many parts of the country, while even a small portion of their waters, +artificially dammed and utilised for irrigation, if only of the lands +lying on each side of them, would mean wealth and prosperity and an +abounding population where now the "everlasting sun" pours its rays over +barren wastes. Moreover, by the growth of the wood, which once covered +the plains and has been cut down, little by little, until the whole +surface of the land was changed, in process of time the climate would +become less dry, and vegetation more rapid and easy. + +Ever since the expulsion of the Moors from Castile and Estremadura, the +land has been allowed gradually to go almost out of cultivation for want +of water, the wholesale devastation of forests, in combination with the +lapse of all irrigation, acting as a constantly accelerating cause for +the arid and unproductive condition of the once genial soil. Irrigation +has been the crying want of Spain for generations past; but even now the +Government scarcely seems to have awakened to its necessity. Perhaps, +however, the Spaniard who goes on his way, never troubling to listen to +the opinion or advice of his neighbour, has not, after all, been so +wanting in common sense as some of the more energetic of his critics +have thought. In spite of all the changes and disasters of successive +Governments, a steady and rapid advance has been made in providing means +of transport and shipping, by the construction of railways to every part +of the country, the making and keeping in condition of admirable +highways, and the building of breakwaters and quays in many of the +seaports, so that now the output of the mines and produce of all kinds +can find market within the country, or be shipped abroad freely. + +[Illustration: A WEDDING PARTY IN ESTREMADURA] + +If the money no longer being expended in railways and docks were now +devoted to irrigation wherever it is needed, a rapid change would become +apparent over the whole face of the country, and the population would +increase in proportion as the land would bear it. Irrigation works have +been more than once undertaken by the aid of foreign money, and under +the charge of foreign engineers; but the people themselves--the +landowners and peasant proprietors--were not ripe for it, and, alas! +some of the canals which would have turned whole valleys into gardens +have been allowed to go to ruin, or to become actually obliterated, +while the scanty crops are raised once in two or three years from the +same soil, which will yield three crops in one year by the help of +water. Difficulties arose about the sale of the water--a prolific cause +of dispute even in the old irrigated districts--and the people said: +"What do we want with water, except what comes from heaven? If the +Virgin thinks we want water, she sends it." Fitting result of the +teaching of the Church for so many years, with the example ever held up +for admiration of the patron saint, Isidro, who knelt all day at his +prayers, and left the tilling of his fields to the angels! It would seem +that these ministers of grace are not good husbandmen, since the land +became the arid waste it now is, while successive Isidros have been +engaged in religious duties, which they were taught were all that was +necessary. + +As an example of what irrigation means in the sunlit fields of Spain, an +acre of irrigable land in Valencia or Murcia sells for prices varying +from L150 to L400, according to its quality or its situation, while land +not irrigable only fetches sums varying from L7 to L20. In Castile, land +would not in any case fetch so high a price as that which has been under +irrigated cultivation for centuries past; but in any district the value +of dry land is never more than a twelfth of what it is when irrigable. +In truth, however, there is more than irrigation needed to bring the +lands of Castile and Estremadura into profitable cultivation, and it +cannot be done without the expenditure of large sums of money at the +outset in manures, and good implements in place of the obsolete old +implements with which the ground is now scratched rather than ploughed. +Given good capital and intelligent farming, as in the irrigated +districts, and two, and even three, crops a year can be raised in +unceasing succession; lucern gives from ten to twelve cuttings in one +year, fifteen days being sufficient for the growth of a new crop. + +I have pointed out what one day's sun can do in raising grass seed in +Madrid, which stands on the highest point of the elevated table-land +occupying the centre of Spain. Seeing that the principal item of the +revenue is derived from the land tax, and that it is calculated on the +value of the land, it would appear to be the first interest of an +enlightened government to foster irrigation in every possible way, and +encourage agriculture and the planting of trees. + +Although the people of Spain have hated their more immediate neighbours +with an exceeding bitter hatred,--as, indeed, they had good cause to do +in the past,--her public men have had a strange fancy for importing or +imitating French customs. One that militates more than anything else +against agricultural prosperity is the law of inheritance, copied from +the French. By this the State divides an estate amongst the heirs +without any reference to the wishes of the proprietor at his death. Not +only are all large estates broken up and practically dissipated, so that +it is to no one's interest to improve his property or spend money on it, +but the small farms of the peasant proprietor are broken into smaller +fragments in the same way; and it is no uncommon thing to see a field of +a few acres divided into six or eight furrows, none of them enough to +support one man. While he has to go off seeking work where he can get +it, his strip of land clings to him like a curse, for he must lose his +work if he would try to cultivate it, and at his death it will again be +subdivided, until at last there is nothing left to share. Meanwhile, the +land, which is not enough to be of any value to anyone, has been allowed +to go almost out of cultivation; or if it bear anything at all, it is +weeds. + +Until some remedy be found for this enervating system, it would seem as +if Spanish agriculture is doomed to remain in its present unsatisfactory +condition over a great part of the kingdom. The improvement of +agriculture is practically a question of private enterprise, and under +the existing law of inheritance neither enterprise nor interest can be +expected of the small proprietor; nor indeed of the large landowner, who +knows that, whatever he may do to improve his estate, it is doomed to be +cut to pieces and divided amongst his next of kin until it is eventually +extinguished. Whether, in some future time, an enlightened scheme of +co-operation could work the arid lands into cultivation again, if the +Government would give the necessary aid in the form of irrigation, +remains among the unanswered riddles of the future. Prophecy in Spain is +never possible; it is always the unexpected which happens in that +country of sharp contradictions. All one can do is to note past progress +and the drift of the present current, which, whatever government is at +the nominal head of affairs, seems to be towards widespread--in fact, +quite general--advance both in knowledge and industrial activity. + +The greatest hope for the future lies in the fact that it is no longer +foreign money or foreign labour that is working for the good of the +country; the impulse is from within, and every penny of capital that is +sunk in public works, manufactures, or industrial enterprise, is so much +invested in a settled state of affairs. When the individual has +everything to lose by revolutionary changes, when the commerce of the +country is becoming too important to be allowed to be upset easily, and +it is everybody's interest to support and increase it, the main body of +the people are ranged on the side of peace and progress. They have had +enough of civil war, enough of tyranny; they have achieved freedom, and +want nothing so much as to taste of it in quietness. + +To revert for a moment to the special manufactures of the country, it +appears to be the wise policy of the powers that be in Spain to-day to +encourage, by every possible means, native industries and the +development of the rich resources of the country. If it be only in the +superior education required of the workmen, and the drawing out of their +natural talents, the movement is an immense gain to the people, so long +purposely kept in a condition of slothful ignorance. + +Besides the woollen manufactures of Palencia, Lorca, Jerez, Barcelona, +Valencia, and other places, are many cloth factories in Cataluna, as +well as others for the production of silk fabrics, lace, and very +high-class embroideries, for which last Spain has long been famous, but +which have hitherto been little known beyond her own frontiers. In +artistic crafts may be named the pottery works of Pickman, Mesaque, +Gomez, and others in Seville, where magnificent reproductions of Moorish +and Hespano-Moresque tiles and pottery are being turned out; there are +also factories for this class of goods in Valencia, Barcelona, Segovia, +Talevera, and many other places. Ornamental iron and damascene work +holds the high reputation which Spain has never lost, but the output is +very largely increased. Gold and silver inlaid on iron, iron inlaid on +copper and silver, are some of the forms of this beautiful work. That +executed in Madrid differs from that of Toledo, Eibar, and other centres +of the craft. The iron gate-work executed in Madrid and Barcelona is +very hard to beat, and the casting of bronzes is carried out with every +modern improvement. The wood-carvers of Spain have always been famous, +and the craft appears to be in no danger of falling behind its old +reputation, much beautiful decorative work of this description being +produced for modern needs. The _Circulo de Artes_ holds an exhibition in +Madrid every other year, and in the intervening years the Government has +one, in the large permanent buildings erected for the purpose at the end +of the Fuente Castellana. The manufacture of artistic furniture and +other connected industries are encouraged also by a bi-yearly exhibition +in Madrid, where prizes and commendations are given. The chief centres +of artistic furniture-making are Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, and +Zaragoza. Exhibitions of arts and crafts and of all kinds of industries +and manufactures are also held, at intervals, in the principal towns all +over the country. An interesting exhibition of Spanish and South +American productions was held in 1901 in Bilbao with great success. + +Nor ought we to forget the industry for which Seville is famed. The +manufacture of tobacco is almost wholly in the hands of women, and is a +very important industry, thousands being employed in the large factories +making up cigars, cigarettes, and preparing and packing the finer kinds +of tobacco. The cigar-girl of Seville is a well-known type, almost as +much dreaded by the authorities as admired by her own class. The women +are mostly young, and often attractive, extremely pronounced both in +dress and manners, and are quite a power to be reckoned with when they +choose to assert themselves. On more than one occasion they have taken +up some cause _en masse_, and have gathered in thousands, determined to +have their way. + +When this happens, the powers that be are reduced to great straits. +Neither the _Guardia Civile_ nor the military can be relied on to use +force, and unless the army of irate women can be persuaded to retire +from the contest it is probable that, relying with perfect confidence on +the privileges of their sex, they will gain what they consider their +rights--at all events their will. + +No country in the world is more suited for manufactures and exports than +Spain. She has an unexampled seaboard, and many magnificent natural +harbours, and now an easy approach through Portugal to the sea, even if +her own ports should be insufficient. Common commercial interests are +likely to bring that Iberian kingdom or commonwealth to pass which has +been the dream of some of her politicians, and is still cherished in +parts of both countries. The northern ports in the Atlantic are, +perhaps, the most important; that of Bilbao, a most unpromising one by +nature, has grown out of all recognition since the close of the Carlist +war. The railway to the iron mines was already in course of construction +when the war broke out; everything was stopped, the workmen carried off +willy-nilly to join the marauding bands of the Pretender, the +town--which boasts that it has never been taken, although twice almost +demolished during the two insane civil wars--was wrecked and well-nigh +ruined, its industries destroyed, its commerce at an end. With peace and +quietness came one of the most extraordinary revivals of modern times: +the population increased at a marvellous rate, the new town sprang into +existence on the left bank of the Nerrion, the river was deepened, the +bar, which used to block almost all entrance, practically removed, +extensive dock-works carried out; so that in ten years the shipment of +ore from the port sprang up from four hundred and twenty-five thousand +tons to 3,737,176, and is increasing daily. Bilbao, with its five +railway stations, its electric tramways, and its population of +sixty-six thousand, has become the first and most important shipping +outlet of Spain. Nor have the southern ports of Huelva and Seville been +much behind it in their rapid progress; while on the Mediterranean coast +are Malaga, Almeria, Aguilas, Cartagena, Valencia, and Tarragona--all +vying with the older, and once singular, centre of commercial and +industrial activity, Barcelona. The northwest seaboard has been hitherto +somewhat behind the movement, owing to a less complete railway +communication with the rest of the country; now that this is no more a +reproach, the fine natural harbours of Rivadeo, Vivero, Carril, +Pontevedra, Vigo, and Coruna, are gradually following suit, some with +more vigour than others. The little land-locked harbour of Pasages has +for some years been rapidly rising to the rank of a first-class shipping +port. + +It is satisfactory to note, from the latest statistics, that in 1899 +Spain possessed a total of one thousand and thirty-five merchant ships, +that in the same year she bought from England alone sixty-seven, and +that 17,419 ships, carrying 11,857,674 tons of exports, left Spanish +ports for foreign markets. Although no official information has been +published since that year, the increase since the close of the war has +been in very much greater ratio. From the same records we find that +during the year 1899 no fewer than sixty-nine large companies were +formed, of which twenty-three were for shipping, eight were new sugar +factories, seven banks, seven mining, six electric, and ten others +related either to manufacture or commerce, the total capital of these +new enterprises representing one hundred and twenty-eight millions of +pesetas. + +In contrast to Portugal, the _caminos reales_, or high-roads, of Spain +have long been very good. It is true that where these State roads do not +exist, the unadulterated _arroyo_ serves as a country road, or a mere +track across the fields made by carts and foot-passengers, and when an +obstruction occurs in the form of too deep a hole to be got through, the +track takes a turn outside it, and returns to the direct line as soon as +circumstances permit. An _arroyo_ is given in the dictionary as "a +rivulet"; it is, in fact, generally a rushing torrent during the rains, +eating its way through the land, and laying down a smooth, deep layer of +sand, or even soil, between high banks. Immediately after the rainy +season this affords a firm, good road for a time, but eventually it +becomes ploughed into impassable ruts by the wheels of the carts, unless +trampled hard by the feet of passing flocks. + +Government undertakes the cost and the super-intendence of the _caminos +reales_, and does it well. The corps of engineers is modelled on French +lines, and is a department of the Ministry of Public Works. The course +of study is extremely severe, and the examinations are strict and +searching. When a candidate passes, he is appointed assistant-engineer +by the Ministry, and he rises in his profession solely by seniority. +Every province has its engineer-in-chief, with his staff of assistants; +the superintendents of harbours, railways, and other public works are +specially appointed from qualified engineers. In addition to the care of +the construction and repair of all highways and Government works in his +district, the engineer-in-chief has the overlooking of all works which, +although they may be the result of private enterprise and private +capital, are authorised or carried out under Government concession. +These concessions are only granted after the project has been submitted +to, and approved by, the Ministry of Public Works, and it passes under +the supervision of the engineer of the provinces. In old days, if not +now, there was a good deal of "the itching palm" about the officials, +not excluding the Minister himself, through whose hands the granting of +concessions passed, even the wives coming in for handsome presents and +"considerations," without which events had a knack of not moving; and +when the army of _Empleados_ became _Cesantes_, this work, of course, +began all over again. The railway engineers form a separate body, the +country being mapped out into arbitrary divisions, each under the charge +of one engineer-in-chief, with a large body of assistants. + +The telegraph system of Spain has now for many years been in a good +condition. The construction of the lines dates from about 1862, when +only five miles were in operation. There is now probably not a village +in the whole country that does not possess its telegraph office, and in +all the important towns this is kept open all night. A peseta for twenty +words, including the address, is the uniform charge, every additional +word being ten centimos. The telegraphs were established by the +Government, and are under its control. All railway lines of public +service, and those which receive a subvention, must provide two wires +for Government use. Telephones are now in use in all large centres, and +electric lighting and traction are far more widely used than in England. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ARMY AND NAVY + + +It is not necessary to say to anyone who has the smallest acquaintance +with history that Spaniards are naturally brave and patriotic. The early +history of the Peninsula is one of valour in battle, whether by land or +sea. The standard of Castile has been borne by her sons triumphantly +over the surface of the globe. Few of us now remember that Johnson wrote +of the Spain of his day: + + Has Heaven reserved, in pity to the poor, + No pathless waste, no undiscovered shore, + No secret island on the trackless main, + No peaceful desert, yet unclaimed by Spain? + +In the old days when Drake undertook to "singe the King of Spain's +beard," and carried out his threat, our sailors and those of Philip II., +some time "King of England," as the Spaniards still insist on calling +him, met often in mortal combat, and learned to recognise and honour in +each other the same dogged fighting-power, the same discipline and quiet +courage. The picture of the Spaniards standing bareheaded in token of +reverence and admiration of a worthy foe, as some small English ships +went down with all their crew rather than surrender, in those old days +of strife, touches a chord which still vibrates in memory of battles +fought and won together by Englishmen and Spaniards under the Iron Duke. +True, some battered and torn English flags hang as trophies in the +armoury of Madrid, but one likes to remember that in the only battle +where our colours were lost, the Spanish troops were commanded by an +Englishman, James Stuart, Duke of Berwick, the direct ancestor of the +present Duque de Berwick y Alva, and the English by one of French birth. +In every case where foreign foes have invaded Spain, sooner or later +they have been driven out. _Santiago! y Cierra Espana!_ was the war-cry +which roused every child of Spain to close his beloved country to alien +domination. + +Unfortunately, the yoke of the foreigner came in more invidious guise. +From the death of Ferdinand and Isabella to the year 1800, the sons of +Spain were immolated to serve causes which were of no account to her, to +protect the interests of sovereigns who had nothing in common with her +provinces, to add to the power of the Austrian Hapsburgs and the French +Bourbons. We have seen how the people whom Napoleon had believed to be +sunk in fanaticism, dead to all national aspiration, the mere slaves of +a despicable King, and the sport of his debauched Queen and her lover, +sprang to arms and drove the invader from their land. So would it be +to-day if the country were even threatened by foreign invasion. "The +dogs of Spain," as Granville called them, know well how to protect their +soil. + +Within comparatively recent years the campaign in Morocco, and the +expeditionary force sent to Cochin-China, showed that the Spanish army +was not to be despised. It has been the misfortune of Spain that her +soldiers have too often had the melancholy task of fighting against +their own people, or those of their colonies, both of whom have been +excited and aided in insurrection for years by foreign contributions of +arms and money. In these unhappy fratricidal struggles the fighting has +never been more than half-hearted, and during the numerous military +_pronunciamientos_ it has often been necessary to keep the troops from +meeting, as they could never be trusted not to fraternise; and after the +first abortive attempt by Prim to effect the revolution which later +freed the country, the curious spectacle was afforded of Prim and his +soldiers marching quietly out of one end of a village, while the troops +of the Queen, sent in pursuit, were being purposely kept back from +marching too quickly in at the other. + +The army of Spain would seem to suffer from a plethora of officers, +especially those of the highest rank. In the time of Alfonso XII., there +were ten marshals, fifty-five generals, sixty-six _mariscales de +campo_, and one hundred and ninety-seven brigadiers; adding those on the +retired list liable for service, there were in all five hundred and +twenty generals, four hundred and seventy-two colonels, eight hundred +and ninety-four lieutenant-colonels, 2113 commandants, 5041 captains, +5880 lieutenants, and 4833 sous-lieutenants. With such an array of +officers, it is scarcely to be wondered at that promotion in the +ordinary way was looked on as impossible, and the juggle of military +_pronunciamientos_ was regarded as almost the only means of rising in +the army. It was no uncommon thing to promise a rise of one grade +throughout a whole corps to compass one of these miniature revolutions. +However, all that is happily past. General Weyler,--whose name indicates +alien blood at some period of his family history,--the present Minister +of War, has taken the thorough reform of the army in hand, though it is +too soon to say if he will be as successful as is generally expected +from his known energy and common sense, since the work is only now in +progress. + +One of the most fertile sources of disturbance in the old days of Isabel +II. was the presence of the _primo sargentos_. These petty officers, +having risen from the ranks, and invested with an authority for which +they were often quite unsuited, were always ready, for a consideration, +to aid the cause of some aspiring politician, now on one side, now on +another. They are now, fortunately, abolished. + +The Spanish artillery is a splendid body, and is officered from the +best families in the country. In the only military insurrection in which +the common soldiers shot some of the officers obnoxious to them--that of +the Montano Barracks, in 1866--the leader of the mutinists was a certain +_hidalgo_. It was the promotion of this man that led indirectly to the +abdication of Don Amadeo, who opposed the action. Indignant at the +disgrace to the service, all of the artillery officers in Spain sent in +their resignations. They were accepted, and the _primo sargentos_ raised +to the rank of officers to fill their places. The result was unlimited +mutiny among the rank and file and danger to the State. Some of the +young officers who had retained their uniforms, though no longer +attached to the corps, finding the troops in utter disorder and revolt, +quietly donned their uniforms, went down to the barracks, and gave their +orders. The men instantly fell into the ranks, and the situation was +saved. The _primo sargentos_ were abolished, the officers reinstated. +But Amadeo had had enough; he ceased to attempt to reign +constitutionally in a country where the constitution meant only one more +form of personal greed and excess. He was _demasiado honesto_ for the +crew he had been called to command, and he left the country to tumble +about in its so-called "republican" anarchy until another military +_pronunciamiento_ set Alfonso XII. on the throne. And that has been, +fortunately, the last performance of a kind once so common in Spain. + +All military men admire the effective corps of light mountain artillery. +The small guns are carried on the backs of the splendid mules for which +the Spanish army is famous, and can be taken up any mountain path which +these singular animals can climb. Mules are also used to drag the +heavier guns, and must be invaluable in a mountainous country. The +animals are quite as large as ordinary horses, are lithe, active, and +literally unhurtable. I have myself seen a mule, harnessed to a cart +which was discharging stones over the edge of a deep pit, when levelling +the ground at the end of the Fuente Castellana in Madrid, over-balanced +by the weight behind him, fall over, turn a somersault in mid-air, cart +and all, and, alighting thirty feet below, shake himself, ponder for a +few seconds on the unexpected event in his day's labour, and then +proceed to draw the cart, by this time satisfactorily emptied, out of +the pit by the sloping track at the farther side, and continue his task +absolutely unhurt and undisturbed. + +Until the final overthrow of the Carlists by Alfonso XII., the Basque +Provinces, amongst their most cherished _fueros_, were exempted from the +hated conscription; but the victorious King made short work of that and +of all other special rights and privileges--which, in truth, had been +abused--and now all the country is subject to conscription. Every man +from nineteen to twenty years of age is liable to serve in the ranks, +except those who are studying as officers. A payment of L60 frees them +from service during peace; but if the country is at war there is no +exemption. The conscripts are bound for twelve years--three with the +colours, three in the first reserve, three in the second, and three in +the third. + +Navy? Alas! Spain has none. Two battle-ships alone remain--_El Pelayo_ +and _Carlos V._ (the former about nine thousand five hundred tons, the +latter not more than seven thousand)--and some destroyers and torpedoes. +How a nation that once ruled the sea, and whose sailors traversed and +conquered the New World, has allowed her navy to become practically +extinct at the moment when nations which have almost no seaboard are +trying to bring theirs up within measurable distance of England's, it is +impossible to say. Even before the outbreak of the war with America +there were but a few battle-ships, and these were wanting in guns and in +almost all that could make them effective--save and except the men, who +behaved like heroes. It seems to be a consolation to Spaniards to +remember that it was in the pages of an English journal that an +Englishman, who had seen the whole of the disastrous war, wrote: "If +Spain were served by her statesmen as she has been served by her navy, +she would be one of the greatest nations of the world to-day." + +The history of the part borne by the Spanish navy in the late war with +America, as written by one of Admiral Cervera's captains,[1] with the +publication of the actual telegrams which passed between the Government +and the fleet, and the military commanders in the colonies, is one of +the most heartrending examples of the sacrifice, not only of brave men, +but of a country's honour to political intrigue or the desire to retain +office. This, at least, is the opinion of the writer of this painful +history, and his statements are fully borne out by the original +telegrams, since published. It is impossible to imagine that any +definite policy at all was followed by the advisers of the Queen Regent +in this matter, unless it were the incredible one ascribed to it by +Captain Concas Palan of deliberately allowing the fleet, such as it was, +to be destroyed--in fact, in the case of Admiral Cervera's squadron, +sending it out to certain and foreseen annihilation--so as to make the +disaster an excuse for suing for peace, without raising such a storm at +home as might have upset the Ministry. With both fleets sunk, and those +of their men not slain, prisoners of war, there was no alternative +policy but peace. Captain Concas Palan claims for his chief and the +comrades who fell in this futile and disastrous affair "a right to the +legitimate defence which our country expects from us, though it is +against the interested silence which those who were the cause of our +misfortunes would fain impose on us," and says that "some day, and that +probably much sooner than seems probable at present," the judgment of +Spain on this episode will be that of the English _Review_, which he +quotes as the heading of his chapter. He goes on: "War was accepted by +Spain when the island of Cuba was already lost to her, and when the +dispatch of a single soldier more from the Peninsula was infinitely more +likely to have caused an insurrection than that of which our Ministers +were afraid--at the moment, also, when our troops were in want of the +merest necessaries, the arrears of pay being the chief cause of their +debilitated condition, and when a great part of the Spanish residents in +Cuba, under the name of 'Reformers,' 'Autonomists,' etc., had made +common cause with the insurgents, while they were enriching themselves +to a fabulous extent by contracts for supplies and transports. In these +circumstances it was folly to accept a struggle with an immensely rich +country, possessing a population four times that of ours, and but a +pistol shot from the seat of action." The Government of Spain was +perfectly aware that the troops in Cuba were already quite insufficient +even to cope with the insurgents, that the people at home were already +murmuring bitterly at the cost of the war, and that it was impossible to +send out a contingent of any practical value. Sickness of all kinds, +enteric, anaemia, and all the evils of under-fed and badly found troops, +were rapidly consuming the forces in Cuba, "and yet the Government took +no thought of who was to man the guns whose gunners were drifting daily +into the hospital and the cemetery.... The national debt was increasing +in a fabulous manner, and recourse was had to the mediaeval remedy of +debasing the currency, while even at that moment the troops had more +than a year's pay in arrear, and absolute penury was augmenting their +other sufferings." + + [1] _La Escuadra del Almirante Cervera_, por Victor M. + Concas Palan. + +This was the moment which the responsible Ministers of the Crown thought +propitious to throw down the gauntlet to the overwhelming power of +America rather than to face what the writer terms the "cabbage-headed +riff-raff of the Plaza de la Cevada" of Madrid. Again and again was the +absolute inefficiency of the fleet pointed out to them. Even the few +ships there were, all of them vastly inferior to those of the United +States' navy, were without their proper armament; they might have been +of some service in defence of the coast of Spain, but in aggressive +warfare they were useless. Allowing somewhat for the natural indignation +of one of those who was sacrificed, who saw his beloved commander and +his comrades-in-arms sent like sheep to the slaughter, and all for an +idea,--and that a perfectly stupid and useless one,--there is no +gainsaying the facts which Captain Concas Palan relates, and the +original telegrams verify every word of his story. Admiral Cervera was +sent out with sealed orders; but he had done all that was in his +power--even asking to be relieved of his command--to prevent the folly +of sending away from the coasts of the mother country the only ships +which could have protected her, while they were absolutely useless +against the American navy in the Antilles. Left with no alternative but +obedience, he managed to gain the safe harbour of Santiago de Cuba with +his squadron intact. Secure from attack, he landed his men to assist in +the defence of the town from the land side. And then came the incredible +orders that he was to take out his four ships to be destroyed by the +American navy waiting outside! Never in the world's history was a more +magnificent piece of heroism displayed than in the obedience to +discipline which caused Admiral Cervera to re-embark his marines and +lead them forth to certain death, well knowing what they were to face, +for he hid nothing from them. He called on them as sons of Spain, and +they answered heroically, as Spaniards have ever done in history: "For +honour!" + +Spain has suffered deeply and sorely in her pride; but she has never +worn her heart on her sleeve--she suffers in silence. A quotation from +the _Epoca_ of July 5th, two days after the destruction of Cervera's +fleet, shows the spirit in which the country bore that terrible blow. It +is headed "Hours of Agony." "Our grief to-day has nothing in it which +was unexpected. The laws of logic are invincible; our four ships could +not by any possibility have escaped the formidable American squadron. +The one thing that Spain expected of her sons was that they should +perish heroically. They have perished! They have faced their destiny; +they have realised the sole end which Spain looked for, in this +desperate conflict into which she has been drawn by God knows what blind +fatality; they have fallen with honour." + +That is true; but how about the leaders whose long misrule of the +colonies had helped to bring on the disaster which their predecessors +for many years had courted? How about the political corruption which, +when large sums were being spent on the colonies, had allowed immense +private fortunes to be made while Manila was left without defences, and +the absolutely unassailable bay of Santiago de Cuba had on the fort +which commanded its entrance only useless old guns of a past century, +more likely to cause the death of those who attempted to serve them than +to injure an enemy? How about the Government that deliberately entered +on a war of which the end was perfectly foreseen, and, while seated +safely in office at home, thought the "honour of Spain" sufficiently +vindicated by offering up its navy, already made useless by neglect and +niggardliness, as a sacrifice? Captain Concas Palan points out that even +after it was fully recognised that the retention of Cuba was impossible, +the worst catastrophes might have been avoided. "In place of treating +for peace while the squadron was intact at Santiago, which, as well as +Manila, could have been defended for some time, the Ministers waited to +sue for peace until everything was lost, while it was perfectly well +known beforehand that that result was inevitable." During the whole +time, _manana veremos_ was the rule of action--a to-morrow that never +was to dawn for those whose lives it was intended to sacrifice. Heaven +works no miracles for those who fling themselves against the impossible! + +So long ago as 1823, Thomas Jefferson wrote to President Monroe: "The +addition of the island of Cuba to our Confederacy is exactly what is +wanted to round our power as a nation to the point of its utmost +interest." John Quincy Adams went so far as to state that "Cuba +gravitates to the United States as the apple yet hanging on its native +trunk gravitates to the earth which sustains it"--a statement which has +the more force when it is remembered that for over fifty years the Cuban +insurgents had been liberally supplied with arms, ammunition, stores, +and troops from the United States whenever they required them! And this, +not because Cuba was mismanaged by Spain, but because America coveted +her as "the most interesting addition that could be made to our system +of States," to quote Jefferson once more. + +Nevertheless, the heroic sons of Spain were offered up as an expiation +for the sins of her political jugglers for generations past. With the +knowledge that America had at least for seventy years been seeking an +excuse for "rounding her power as a nation" by the seizure of Cuba, no +real effort was made to redress the grievances of her native population, +nor to efficiently defend her coasts. + +The state of affairs in Manila was still worse. The culpable neglect of +the Government had resulted in the so-called squadron not being +possessed of one single ship of modern construction or armament; and +when the unfortunate marines and their heroic commanders had been +immolated by the overwhelming superiority in numbers and efficiency of +the Americans, the noisy injustice and anger of a senseless crowd at +home were allowed to compass the lasting disgrace of casting the blame +for the foreseen disasters on Admiral Montojo, who was thrown as a +victim to the jackals. + +To-day, we find Spain absolutely without a navy. Two second- or +third-class ships--and they not even properly found or armed--are all +she possesses. Men she has, however, with the traditions of a great +past, while the officers of her navy are thoroughly alive to the class +of ships and the armament which are needed to give their country the +protection, and their foreign policy the dignity, which other countries +of far less importance are able to sustain. No wonder that her writers +are pointing out that instead of being satisfied with immense +long-winded despatches and notes, couched in grandiloquent language, +which Spanish Foreign Ministers seem to think amply sufficient, strong +nations have a habit of sending an iron-clad, or two or three cruisers +to back up their demands, and that no other European country but Spain +thinks it safe or wise to leave her coasts and her commerce entirely +without protection in case of a European war breaking out. Will the +nation itself take the matter in hand, and in this, as in so many other +matters, advance in spite of its Government? If it waits for the +political seesaw by which both parties avoid responsibility, there will +be small chance of a navy. The same ministry is in power to-day which +landed the country in the Spanish-American War, and it would seem as if +the nation considers it the best it can produce. _Manana veremos?_ + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +RELIGIOUS LIFE + + +The natural bent of the Spanish mind is religious. Taking the nation as +a whole, with all its marvellous variations in race and character, no +portion of it has ever been reproached for insincerity in its religious +beliefs. It has been often held up to reproach for bigotry and +superstition; but the people have in past ages been penetrated by a +sincere reverence for what they have believed to be religion, and +perhaps no other nation has been more thoroughly imbued with an +unwavering faith in the dogmas taught by its religious instructors. +English Roman Catholics--especially those who have seceded from the +Anglican Church--are fond of declaring that Spain is "a splendid +Catholic country," "the home of true Catholicism," and so forth. To a +certain extent this has been true of it in the past, and "dignity, +loyalty, and the love of God" are still the ideals of the people at +large, although in Spain, as in some other Continental nations, the +practice of religious duties is now, to a great extent, left to the +women of the family and to the peasantry. Young Spain, and the +progressive party in it, can no longer be said to be under the +domination of the Church, even in outward appearance. It will be well if +the swing of the pendulum does not carry them very far from it, and into +open revolt. + +The history of the Church in Spain and of its relations with Rome is a +curious one. It can scarcely be said to have been much more amenable to +the Papacy than that of the Church of England, though it has remained +always within the pale of the Roman Catholic persuasion. In the old time +the kings aspired to be the head of the Spanish Church, and were none +too subservient to the Pope. The Inquisition and the Society of Jesus +were distinctly Spanish, and not Roman, and were at times actually at +variance with the Vatican. Probably from their long struggles with the +barbarians, and later with the Moors, Spaniards have a habit of always +speaking of themselves as Christians rather than Catholics, which +strikes strangely on one's ears. + +The evils which have been wrought in Spain by the terrible incubus of +the Inquisition, and by the domination of the Jesuits and other orders, +who obtained possession of the teaching of youth, have been little less +than disastrous, because their power has been deliberately used for ages +past to keep the lower classes in a state of absolute ignorance, slaves +of the grossest superstition, and mere puppets in the hands of the +priesthood. Even well within the memory of living people it was thought +a pity that women should be allowed to learn even to read and +write,--safer to have them quite ignorant,--while the peasantry and the +inferior classes believed anything they were told, and could be excited +to any pitch of fanaticism by the preaching of their religious teachers. +The Inquisition was often used as a political machine, and was sometimes +only clothed with the semblance of religion; but by whomsoever it was +directed, and for whatsoever purpose, it was a vile and soul-destroying +institution. It deliberately ground down and destroyed every spark of +intelligence, of liberty, of attempt at progress; it dominated the whole +nation like the shadow of the upas tree, manufactured hypocrites, and +led to the debasing of a naturally fine people of good instincts to an +ignorant and fanatical mob, who, in the name of religion, were +entertained with gigantic _autos-da-fe_, as the Roman populace were with +the terrible spectacles of their gladiatorial shows and the immolation +of Christian victims in the arena. + +It was the people themselves who rose against this hateful tyranny; it +was their better instincts that put an end to the "Holy Office" and its +enormous crimes. Shortly after the Revolution of 1868, when religious +liberty had been established, and the people, for the first time in +their long history of disaster, were breathing the air of freedom, +certain improvements which were being made, in the shape of laying out +new streets, pulling down old rookeries, and building better houses, led +to a new road being cut through the raised ground outside the Santa +Barbara Gate. The exact spot of the great _Quemadero_--the oven of the +Inquisition--was not known, but it chanced that the workmen cut right +through the very centre of it. A more ghastly sight, or an object-lesson +of more potency, could scarcely be imagined. The Government of the day +found it advisable to cover it up as quickly as possible; the excitement +of the people was thought to be dangerous; and though those at the head +of affairs were no friends to the priests or the Jesuits, there was no +desire to reawaken the passions and let loose the vengeance which led +the populace in 1834 to murder them wholesale. + +I happened to be returning from a ride with a companion when, quite +accidentally, we came upon this excavation, and even passed down the new +road before we realised where we were. The _Quemadero_ had evidently +been in the shape of an immense basin. There in the banks at each side +were the stratified layers of human ashes; between each _auto-da-fe_ it +was evident that the remains had been covered with a thick layer of +earth; finally, at the top of all these smaller bands of black, horrible +ashes, came one huge deposit, which marked the awful scene of the last +gigantic _auto_. This ghastly bonfire was sixty feet square, and seven +feet high, as history records, when one hundred and five victims were +slowly tortured to a frightful death in the name of Christ, while the +King, Charles II., and his Court and the howling rabble of Madrid looked +on with savage enjoyment. Nothing can ever obliterate the impression of +that scene, nor make one forget the deadly clinging of those ghastly +black ashes, which the wind scattered about, and which it was impossible +to escape or to get rid of. The fell work of the "religious" authors of +the holocaust had been well done--nothing was left but ashes; and the +next day, by order of the Government, sand or soil had been thrown over +all that could bear witness to this horrible episode in the history of +the Church in Spain, while the people who inhabit the houses built over +the spot probably know nothing of the records of human agony and brutal +bigotry that still lie beneath their homes. + +We hear of these things and read of them in history, but one needs to +have seen that awful memorial to realise what share the Inquisition has +had in transforming a naturally heroic and kindly people into the inert +masses which nothing, or almost nothing, would move so long as they had +_pan y toros_ (bread and bulls). Thanks to the horrors of the +Inquisition and the _Autos-da-fe_, the whole people have acquired a +character which assuredly they do not deserve. The blind bigotry and +cynical cruelty of Philip II. and his lunatic successors have been +identified with the races over which, unfortunately for Spain, they +ruled for so many years. When one remembers that this is the view taken +of the Inquisition, and of the domination of the Church in effacing all +kinds of culture, by the liberal and educated Spaniard of to-day, and +that there is, even now, an extreme party which would fain see the "Holy +Office" re-established, with all its old powers, it is easy to +understand at what a critical point the clerical question has arrived in +Spain; nor need one wonder at the feeling which in all parts of the +kingdom has been aroused by the recrudescence of the religious orders, +more especially of the determined struggle of the Jesuits to retain and +even to reassert their power. + +The Madonna, who is always spoken of as "La Virgen," never as "Santa +Maria," is the great object of love and of reverence in Spain, while the +words _Dios_ and _Jesus_ are used as common exclamations in a way that +impresses English people rather unfavourably. It is a shock to hear all +classes using the _Por Dios!_ which with us is a mark of the purest +blackguardism, and the use as common names of that of Our Lord and of +_Salvador_, or Saviour, always strikes a disagreeable note. There is in +Madrid a "Calle Jesus," and the sacred name, used as a common expletive, +is heard on all sides. One of the most charming of Yradier's Andalusian +songs, addressed by a _contrabandista_ to his _novia_, runs thus: + + Pero tengo unas patillas. + Que patillas punala! + Es lo mejor que se ha jecho + En de Jesu Cristo aca![2] + + [2] "But I have such a stunning pair of whiskers! + The best that have ever been seen since those of Jesus Christ!" + +And no one is offended; in fact, no irreverence is probably meant. + +But the innumerable "Virgenes" which abound throughout the country, and +all seem different, have the heartfelt devotion of all classes. To one +or other of them the bull-fighter goes for protection and aid before he +enters the arena; the mother whose child lies sick vows her magnificent +hair to the Virgin of the Atocha, or of the Pillar, or some of the many +others scattered about the country, if only she will grant what she +asks; and you may see these marvellous locks, tied with coloured +ribbons, hanging amongst the motley assemblage of votive offerings by +the side of her altar, when the prayer has been answered. It is +difficult for us, with the best intentions, not to let prejudice colour +our judgment, and to understand what we are told--that these are really +all the same "Mother of God"; for, if so, one would imagine that she +would hear the devout prayers of her worshippers, to whichever of the +wooden images--most of them said to have been carved by St. Luke, and +black by age, if not by nature--they are addressed. But no, the Virgen +del Carmen is only efficacious in certain circumstances; and in the time +of Isabel II. she used to be taken down from her altar and placed in the +Queen's bedroom whenever an addition to the Royal Family was imminent. +Those in the other parts of Spain have each their specialty, and +pilgrimages are necessary to their shrines before the prayers addressed +to them can be listened to by the original. + +The various saints in their way are wooed with candles burnt before +their images, or little altars set up to them at home; but they are +sometimes treated with scant courtesy if they do not answer the +expectations of their worshippers. On one occasion in Madrid, I +remember, San Isidro, who is the patron of the labouring classes, had +the bad taste, as his votaries considered, to send rain on his own +_fiesta_--a thing unknown before. Lest he should err in this way again, +the mob went to his church, at that time the principal one in Madrid, +smashed the windows, and did all the damage they could compass before +the Civil Guards came to the rescue. A servant-girl I knew, had for a +long time been praying to San Antonio to send her a _novio_ +(sweetheart), expending money in tapers, and otherwise trying to +propitiate the saint. At last, finding him deaf to all entreaties, she +took the little wooden image she had bought, tied a string round his +neck, and hung him in the well, saying: "You shall stop there till you +send me what I want." Some little time after, she actually found a +_novio_, and hastened gratefully to take San Antonio out of his damp +quarters, set him up on his altar again, and burn tapers for his +edification. I had thought this an example of special ignorance and +superstition; but the other day, in reading some of the papers of the +_Spanish Folklore Library_, I found there is a widespread belief that if +San Antonio, and probably some other saints, do not answer the prayers +of their votaries who burn candles before them, it is a good thing to +hang them in a well till they come to their senses! It is difficult for +any unbiassed person to understand that this is not fetish worship, as +it would certainly seem to be, but we are told that it is something +quite different. + +The religious _fiestas_, as I have said, may be classed among the +amusements of the people. During the warm season they invariably end +with a bull-fight. In winter there are no bulls. Whether it be the +_Romeria_ of Santiago de Compostelo, the _Santa Semana_ in Toledo or +Seville, _Noche-Buena_ and the _Day of the Nativity_ in Madrid or +Barcelona, gaiety and enjoyment seem to be the order of the day. Even +Lent is not so bad, for just before it comes the Carnival and the +grotesque "Burial of the Sardine" by the _gente bajo_, and of the three +great masked balls, one is given in mid-Lent, to prevent the Lenten +ordeal being too trying, and Holy Thursday is always a _fiesta_ and day +of enjoyment. On this day, in Madrid, takes place the washing of the +feet of the poor in the Royal Palace--a function that savours a good +deal of the ridiculous, but which was never omitted by the _piadosa_ +Isabel II., and was revived by her son. For forty-eight hours the bells +of all the churches remain silent, no vehicles are allowed in the +streets, which are gravelled along the routes Royalty will take to visit +on foot seven of the churches, where the Holy Sepulchres are displayed; +and in the afternoon all Madrid resorts to the Plaza del Sol and the +Carrera San Geronimo, to show off their gayest costumes in a regular +gala promenade. Finally, on Saturday morning--why forty-eight hours only +is allowed for the supposed entombment does not quite appear--the bells +clang forth, noise and gaiety pervade the whole city, and the day ends +with a cock-fight and the reopening of the theatres, and the first grand +bull-fight of the season is held on Easter Sunday. Verily, the Church is +mindful of the weakness of its vassals, and shows as much indulgence as +is thought needful to keep the people amused and careless of all else. I +remember, when I first noticed this wearing of the most gaudy colours on +Maundy Thursday, a day one would naturally expect to be one of special +mourning, I was told it was allowed by the Church because on that day +Pilate put the purple robe on Our Lord! + +The processions and functions of Holy Week and other _fiestas_ have been +so often and so fully described that there is no need to refer to them; +but there are several curious survivals and religious customs in +out-of-the-way places which seem to have escaped notice. I have not been +able to find in any book on Spain a description of the strange dance +which takes place in the cathedral of Seville on, I think, three days in +the year, of which two are certainly the day of the Virgin and that of +Corpus Christi. The origin of the dance seems to be lost, nor is its +special connection with Seville known. All that one can hear of it is +that one of the archbishops of Toledo objected to the dance as being +irreverent and unusual, and ordered it to be stopped. The indignant +people referred the matter to the Pope, but even the date of this appeal +seems to be dubious, if not unknown. His Holiness replied that he could +not judge of the matter unless he himself saw the dance. Accordingly, +the boys who figure in this strange performance were taken to Rome, and +they solemnly danced before the Pope. His verdict was that there was +nothing irreverent about the dance, but he thought, as it was known only +to Seville, it would be better eventually to discontinue it; but so long +as the dress worn on the occasions when it is practised, lasted, the +dance might continue. The dresses have lasted to the present day, and +will always continue to last, say the Sevillanos, for as one part wears +out it is renewed, but never a whole garment made. The dress is +peculiar: it consists of short trousers to the knees, and a jacket which +hangs from one shoulder, stockings and shoes with large buckles or +bows, and a soft hat, somewhat of the shape of a Tam-o'-shanter, with +one feather--that of an eagle, I think. The dress is red and white for +the day of Corpus, and blue and white for the day of the Virgin, covered +with the richest gold embroidery, for which Spain has always been +famous. The boys, holding castanets in each hand, advance, dancing with +much grace and dignity, until they reach the front of the High Altar; +there they remain, striking their castanets and performing slow and very +graceful evolutions for some time, gradually retiring again as they came +in, dancing, down the nave. The boys are regularly instructed in the +dance by the priests, and the number is kept up, so that neither dancers +nor garments ever fail. The Pope's order is obeyed, while the Sevillanos +retain their strange religious function. The fact of the performance +taking place in the evening perhaps accounts for its being so little +known, but it would seem also as if the authorities of the cathedral do +not care to have attention drawn to it. The dance is called _los +seises_, and even the origin of the name is unknown. + +In Holy Week and at Christmas are performed passion plays at some of the +theatres, strangely realistic, and sometimes rousing the audience to +wild indignation, especially against Judas Iscariot, who is hissed and +hooted, and is often the recipient of missiles from the spectators, +while interspersed with this genuine feeling one hears shouts of +laughter when anything occurs to provoke it. On one occasion one of the +Roman soldiers (always unpopular in the religious processions) appeared +on the stage, dragging, by a cord round the neck, a miserable-looking +man carrying a huge cross, so heavy that it caused him continually to +fall. As the soldier kicked him up again, and continued to drag him +along by the neck, the audience became ungovernable in their rage. +"_Dejale! Dejale! Bruto! Bruto!_" they yelled; and, finally threatening +to storm the stage and immolate the offending soldier, the play had to +be stopped and the curtain rung down. + +In villages too poor to possess _pasos_--the beautifully modelled +life-size figures which form the _tableaux_ in the rich churches and +processions--human actors take their place. In Castellon de la Plana, +where there is a yearly procession in honour of Santa Maria Magdalena, +somewhat curious scenes take place. The Magdalen, in the days of her +sin, is acted by a girl chosen for her beauty, but not for her +character. She is gorgeously attired, and is allowed to retain her dress +and ornaments after the performance. She is installed in state in a cart +decorated with palms and flowers, and is surrounded by all the men of +the village on foot, for it is part of the performance that they are +allowed to say what they please to her. She acts the part to perfection +apparently, and enjoys it, to boot. In another car comes the penitent +Magdalen, dressed in pure white, and decorated with flowers. This part +may be taken only by a young girl of unblemished character. It is +thought the greatest honour that can be paid to her, and you are told by +the people that she is always married within the year. This procession +winds its way up the mountain to a small shrine of Santa Maria +Magdalena, where it is said that her church once stood; but finding the +climb up the hill was inconvenient to the lame and the aged, she very +considerately, one night, moved the whole edifice down intact to +Castellon de la Plana, where it now stands. + +Going by rail once, many years ago, to Toledo, to see the processions on +Good Friday, the train was accidentally delayed for some time a little +distance from one of the stations, and there, in a small garden by the +roadside, was being enacted the scene of the Crucifixion by human +actors. A full-size cross was erected, and on it, apparently, hung a man +crowned with thorns, and with head bowed upon his breast. In reality he +was kneeling on two ledges placed for the purpose at a convenient +distance from the cross-bars. It was cold, and the actor was covered by +an old brown tattered cloak, such as the peasants wear now, and which we +see in Velasquez's pictures. His feet stuck out behind the cross, but +his arms were tied in a position which must soon have become painful. +Around lay a cock tied by his legs, a ladder, a sponge tied on a stick, +a sword, a lantern, and all the usual emblems of the Passion. The holy +women and the Roman soldiers with their spears were just coming out of +the cottage near by to take up their positions in this strange and +pathetic _tableau_. The face of that peasant in the tattered brown +cloak, not less than the spectacle of the people kneeling around in +evident sorrow and worship, haunted me for many a day. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +EDUCATION AND THE PRIESTHOOD + + +Education, especially that of the masses, has made great strides since +the Revolution. At that time perfect liberty of religion and of +instruction was established, and in this particular the somewhat +retrograde movement at the Restoration, in allowing the return of the +religious orders banished in the early years of the century, has only +resulted in a greater number of private schools being established by the +Jesuits and other teaching orders. With the public instruction they have +never been allowed to interfere. + +Every town and village has now its municipal and free schools, kept up +by the _Diputacion provincial_. In all the chief towns there are +technical and arts and crafts schools, also free, the expenses being +borne by the Ministry of Fomento. Besides these are many private +schools, taught by Jesuits and other teaching orders. The Ministry of +Fomento is at present trying to bring in a law making education +compulsory, and bringing all schools under State control. There are +numerous girls' schools, managed by committees of ladies, as well as +the convent schools and other private establishments. There are also +normal schools, maintained by the Ministry of Fomento, where women and +girls, as well as men, can take degrees and gain certificates for +teaching purposes. In every capital of Spain one of these schools is +established. There are ten universities, of which the principal is that +of Madrid. In some of these only medicine and law are studied, but +others are open for every class of learning. In all these numerous +schools and colleges great advance has been made in late years; in the +department of science, electricity has taken a very noticeable step +forward, and in applied electricity Spain probably compares favourably +with any of the European nations. Even the small towns and some villages +are lighted by electricity, having gone straight from petroleum to +electric light. Most of the large towns have, besides the light, +electric tramways, telephones, etc., the engineers and artisans employed +in these works being of a very high class. Electrical engineers are not +under Government control, as the civil and mechanical engineers are, and +have therefore better chances of coming to the front and making a career +for themselves. The Government engineers, however, are kept up to the +mark of other countries, and an attempt has been made by the present +Minister to alter the system by which civil and mechanical engineers are +compulsorily a body appointed and controlled by Government. + +Medical science has made great strides during the last ten or twelve +years. The hospitals are reformed, and all sanitary and antiseptical +arrangements are now strictly attended to, and brought into line with +the latest developments of science. A fine new hospital, San Juan de +Dios, has been built in Madrid, on the plan of St. Thomas's in London, +and this is only one of many improvements. The reorganisation of all +scientific teaching is now engaging the attention of the Minister. An +excellent sign of the present state of medical science in Spain--which +only a few years ago was so far behind the age--is the fact that the +International Congress of Medicine is fixed to meet in Madrid, for the +first time, in 1902. + +Since the establishment of religious liberty, the Americans seem to have +made themselves very busy in missionary work. Mrs. Gulick, the wife of +the American missionary in San Sebastian, claims to have "proved the +intellectual ability of Spanish girls," and has secured State +examination and recognition of her pupils by the National Institution of +San Sebastian, and a few have even obtained admission to the +examinations of the Madrid University, where they maintained a high +rank. One always has a feeling that missionaries might easily find a +field for their zealous labours in their own country; but if an impulse +was needed from a foreign people for the initiation of a higher +education among the daughters of Spain, they will certainly be able to +carry on the work themselves, with such women as Emelia Pardo Bazan to +lead the way. Mrs. Gulick is said to project a college for women in +Madrid without distinction of creed. The whole affair sounds a little +condescending, as though America were coming to the aid of a nation of +savages; but if the Spaniards themselves do not object, no one else has +any right to do so. + +The Protestant movement has made but little progress in Spain. The +religion is scarcely fitted to the genius of the people, and the +Anglican Church has shown no desire to proselytise a nation which has as +much right to its own religious opinions and form of worship as the +English nation. The Americans and English Nonconformists are very busy, +however, and talk somewhat largely of the results of their labours. In +most of the large towns there are English chapels and schools, and a +certain number among the lower classes of Spaniards have joined these +communities. A private diary of a visit to Madrid so long ago as 1877 +describes the English service there. The congregation numbered "quite +five hundred." "They were of the poorer classes of both sexes, with a +sprinkling of well-dressed men and women. They seemed to perform their +devotions in a spirit of entire reverence and piety, not unlike a +similar class in our churches at home. The clergyman delivered an +impressive and forcible discourse, chiefly on the honour due to the name +of God, and reprobated the profane use of the most sacred names, so +common among the Spanish people.... Altogether I look upon the +congregation at the Calle de Madera as a nucleus of genuine +Protestantism in Spain." + +As this is the opinion of a perfectly unbiassed onlooker, and has +nothing of the professional element about it, it may be taken as +absolutely reliable. In the towns, such as Bilbao, where there is a +large English colony, there are various churches and chapels, and +considerable numbers of communicants and Sunday scholars. Looking back, +as I am able to do, to the days when there was no toleration for an +alien faith; when even Christian burial for the "heretic" was quite a +new thing, and living people could tell of the indignities heaped on the +corpse of any unlucky English man or woman who died in "Catholic" Spain; +when to have omitted, or even hesitated about, any of the religious +actions imposed by the Church would have exposed one to gross insult, +and perhaps injury; the progress towards enlightened toleration of the +opinions of others seems to have been remarkable. It is, perhaps, more +significant that the members of the new congregations should be +generally of the lower classes, because it is precisely these people who +have always been mere unthinking puppets in the hands of their priests. + +Although there is at the present moment such a deep and widespread +revolt against the Jesuits and some of the other orders, especially +among the students and the better class of artisans and workmen, there +is not, so far as a stranger may judge, a revolt against the Church +itself, nor even against the parochial clergy. It would seem rather that +there is a fixed determination that the priests shall keep to their +business, that of the service of religion, and shall not be allowed to +interfere in secular education, or, by use of the confessional, to +dominate the family; and, above all, that the convents shall not be +filled by force, undue persuasion, or cajolery. The state of the Roman +Catholic religion and its priesthood in England is constantly being held +up as the ideal of what the Church in Spain should be. + +Almost all the modern novelists of Spain show us characters of priests +with whom every reader must feel sympathy. Valera, Galdos, Pardo Bazan, +and others depict individual clerics who are simple, straightforward, +pious, and in every way worthy men, the friend of the young and the +helper of the sorrowful. Sometimes they are not very learned, and not at +all worldly-wise, but they show that the type is largely represented +amongst the priesthood of Spain, and there are not wanting some of +distinctly liberal tendencies. There was a remarkable article in a +Madrid paper of radical, if not socialistic, tendencies, the other day, +by one who signed himself "A priest of the Spanish Catholic Church." +Lamenting over the sentimentalism of modern religion, and the distance +it had travelled from its old models, he says: "Instead of the Virgen +being held up to admiration as the Mother of Our Lord, and as an example +of all feminine perfection, the ideal woman and mother, the people are +called on to worship the idea of the Immaculate Conception, an abstract +dogma of recent invention, and in place of showing us the perfect man in +the Son of God, they are asked to worship a 'bleeding heart,' abstracted +from the body, and held up as an object of reverence, apart from the +living body of Jesus Christ." It is the reform of the national religion +still ardently loved in spite of all the crimes that have been committed +in her name, that the liberal-minded Spaniard wants, not the +substitution of a foreign church; although no doubt the opportunity, now +for the first time possible, of learning that there are people every +whit as good and earnest as themselves, who yet hold religious opinions +other than theirs, is bound to have a widening and softening effect on +the narrowness of a creed which has hitherto been regarded as the only +one. + +The extraordinary outbreak against the Jesuits and the religious orders +of the last year had many causes, and had probably long been seething, +and waiting for something to open the floodgates. That something came in +the marriage of the Princess of Asturias, and the coincidence, +accidental or otherwise, of the production of Galdos's play of +_Electra_. The marriage was a love match; the two young sons of the +Count of Caserta, who were nephews of the Infanta Isabel on her +husband's side, had been constantly at the Palace in Madrid, companions +of the boy King. An attachment sprang up between Don Carlos, the elder +of the two, and the King's elder sister, the Princess of Asturias. In +every way the projected marriage was obnoxious to the people. The Count +of Caserta himself had been chief of the staff to the Pretender, Don +Carlos, and though he and his sons had taken the oath of allegiance to +the young King, Spaniards have learned to place little reliance on such +oaths. Had not Montpensier sworn allegiance to his sister-in-law Isabel +II.? and of how much was it worth when the time came that he thought he +could successfully conspire against her? To allow the heiress to the +Crown to marry a Carlist seemed the surest way to reopen civil war, and +upset the dynasty once more. Moreover, the Jesuits were supposed to be +behind it all. The Apostolic party was apparently scotched and Carlism +dead, but was not this one more move of the hated Jesuits to resuscitate +both? The Liberal Government refused to allow the marriage; the Queen +Regent, actuated, it is said, solely by the desire to secure what she +considered the happiness of her daughter, who refused to give up her +lover, was obstinate; and rather than give in, Sagasta and his Ministers +resigned. A Conservative Ministry was formed--the methods of +manipulating elections must be borne in mind--and the marriage was +carried out. Even before the wedding-day the storm broke, and things +looked ugly enough. Riots and disturbances occurred all over the +country, as well as in Madrid itself; attacks were made on the houses of +the Jesuits, who were credited with being the authors of the situation; +and then followed the Government's suicidal step of suspending the +constitutional guarantees over the whole country. Absolutism had once +more raised its head! The Conservative Ministers, or many of them, were +accused of being mere tools in the hands of the Jesuits, and it was +complained that the confessor of the young King was one of the hated +order. + +For a time Spain seemed to be on the verge of one of her old +convulsions. It appeared doubtful if the Queen Regent had not sacrificed +the crown of one child to gratify the obstinacy of another. Fortunately, +a catastrophe was averted. After vain efforts to retain the Conservative +party in power, or to form a coalition, which all the best public men +refused to join, Sagasta was once more recalled to power, the +constitutional guarantees were restored, and the sharp crisis passed. +But the attention of the nation had been attracted to what it considered +the machinations of the Jesuits; order was indeed restored in Madrid and +the provinces, but the "clerical question" had come to the front, and +there was no possibility of allowing it to slumber again. It was +discovered that not only had many of the religious orders, whose return +had been allowed by convention after the Restoration, under certain +limitations, largely increased their numbers beyond the limits allowed +them, but that others had established themselves without any +authorisation from the Government; also that considerable properties +were being acquired in the country by the orders, though, of course, +held under other names. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Madrid +petitioned the Government to order an inquiry into the affairs of these +religious bodies, pointing out that they were establishing manufactories +of shoes, chocolate, fancy post-cards, and other objects of commerce, +interfering with the ordinary trades, and underselling them, because, +under the plea of being charitable institutions, they evaded duty. The +heads of colleges and the Society of Public Teachers also asked for +Government interference and the reassertion of the laws of 1881 and +1895, guaranteeing perfect liberty of instruction, because they affirmed +that the Fathers, Jesuit and others, undermined the teaching of science +in the schools by means of tracts distributed to the pupils, and also by +using the power they obtained in the confessional to set aside the +lessons in science given in the colleges. + +The action of the Government was prompt and judicious. Strict inquiries +were at once made into the question of the manufacturing orders, and +those not paying the duty were reminded of the immediate necessity of +doing so, and of furnishing to the Ministry of Fomento full particulars +of the trades carried on by them. Houses that were permitted by +convention were warned to reduce their numbers to those allowed by law, +and all unauthorised orders were warned at once to leave the country. +The Press took a dignified and moderate position in the matter. It +pointed out that perfect religious liberty existed, and that all that +was needful was to see that the religious orders obeyed the law of the +country as other people did; but that to inaugurate a system of +persecution would be to return to the Dark Ages, and to follow the bad +example set by the Church itself in former years. + +Meanwhile, a clear intimation had been given by the Government that +public instruction was absolutely free, and that no interference would +be allowed with the teaching of science in the public schools. After +all, public opinion alone can deal with the question of the confessional +and the occult influence of the priest, for the remedy lies in the hands +of those who place themselves under the domination of the confessor. + +So far, well! The riots were at an end, and the more sensible and +law-abiding people were satisfied that the ground stealthily gained by +the Jesuits had been cut from under their feet as soon as the full light +of day had been let in on their proceedings. Then came the extraordinary +excitement caused by Galdos's play. To a stranger reading it, it is +obvious that the public mind must have been in a strange condition of +alarm and distrust to have had such an effect produced upon it by a +drama which has no great literary worth, and which appears commonplace +and harmless to an outsider. The story is simply that of a young orphan +girl, who, according to Spanish ideas, is extremely unconventional, +though nothing worse. There is nothing of the emancipated young woman +about her as the type is known in England; in fact, she has a perfect +genius for those domestic virtues which "advanced" English women regard +with disdain. The villain of the piece, is a certain Don Salvador, who, +though the fact is never mentioned, is obviously a Jesuit, and the +interest of the play consists in the efforts made by this man, first by +fair means and then by foul, to separate Electra from her _fiance_, and +immure her in a convent. He succeeds, to all appearance, by at last +resorting to an infamous lie, which reduces the girl to a state of +insanity, in which she flies to the convent from the lover whom she has +been led to believe is her own brother. Finally, by the action of a nun +who leaves the convent at the same time as Electra, the truth is made +known, and the girl is rescued. + +"You fly from me, then?" exclaims Don Salvador. + +"It is not flight, it is resurrection!" replies the lover, in the last +words of the play. + +This drama ran an unprecedented number of nights in Madrid, over fifteen +thousand copies of the book were sold in a few weeks, and it is still +running in the provinces. Some of the bishops and the superior clergy +have had the folly to denounce the play and to forbid their +congregations to witness or to read it. There is not an objectionable +word or idea in it from first to last, except such as may be +disagreeable to the Church--as that women should be educated so as to be +the intellectual companions of their husbands, and should not be +entrapped into convents by foul means and against their will. The action +taken by the clergy in this matter has not only largely advertised the +play, but has led to angry demonstrations against them, and has +strengthened the temper of the people to resist all clerical domination +in temporal matters. + +There have not been wanting from time to time signs, especially in the +large manufacturing towns, of a spirit of revolt against all religion. +Socialism, atheism, and even anarchism are all in the air, and if these +are to be counteracted by religious teaching at all, it will certainly +not be by the narrow dogmatism of the old school. There is a deep fund +of religious feeling in the Spanish character which it would take a +great deal to uproot, but it must be a wide-spirited and enlightened +faith which will retain its hold over the people, who are everywhere +breaking their old bonds and thinking for themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +PHILANTHROPY--POSITION OF WOMEN--MARRIAGE CUSTOMS + + +Travellers complain somewhat bitterly of the increase in the numbers and +the importunity of beggars in Spain; but wherever monks abound, beggars +also abound, and the long-unaccustomed sight of the various religious +habits naturally brings with it the hordes of miserable objects who +afford opportunities for the faithful to exercise what they are taught +to believe is charity--loved of God. This, however, is more especially +the case in Granada, or those favoured spots affected by the rich +tourist, who has not always the same opinion about indiscriminate +charity as the native Spaniard. In old days, the wise policy of Charles +III. had reduced very greatly the swarm of beggars. A certain number of +terrible-looking objects--the fortunate possessors of withered limbs, +sightless eyeballs, or other disqualifications for honest work--still +ostentatiously displayed their badges of professional mendicancy, and +lived, apparently quite comfortably, on the alms of the passers-by. But +the enormous competition which has since sprung up in this "career" +must interfere a good deal with its lucrativeness. + +There is no poor law as yet in Spain. Philanthropy is left to voluntary +effort; but the list of charities is so great, and so widely spread over +the whole country, that one would think wholesale beggary would be +superfluous. Madrid is divided into thirty-three parishes, each having a +board of _Beneficencias_, the Government holding a fund which these +boards administer. The Queen is the President of the whole. Each board +has its president and vice-president--generally ladies of the +aristocracy--a treasurer, vice-treasurer, secretary, and vice-secretary, +and a body of visitors; accounts are rendered monthly to the governing +board, whose vice-president presides in the name of the Queen. There are +also the confraternities of St. Vincent and St. Paul, the members of +which are gentlemen and ladies who work independently of each other. +These, however, have no established funds, but depend on voluntary +subscriptions and gifts. Both these associations visit the poor in their +own homes. The Pardo and the San Bernadino are societies and homes for +benefiting men, women, and children; they have been founded by ladies. +For boys there is the School of the Sacred Heart, and the Christian +Brothers. The School of San Ildefonso belongs to the _Ayuntamiento_, and +has secular masters. There is a small asylum, with chaplaincy attached, +for architects. Santa Rita is a reformatory for boys in Carabanchel, +under a religious brotherhood. For girls there is the Horfino, the +Mercedes Asylum--founded in memory of and kept up by the rents of Queen +Mercedes--Santa Isabel and San Ildefonso, the French St. Vincent de +Paul, San Blas, on the same lines as the Mercedes, Santa Cruz, the +Inclusa, and the Spanish Vincent de Paul. For fallen girls there are the +Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament, the Ladies of the Holy Trinity, and +the Oblates of the Holy Redeemer. + +In all parts of the country branches of these or similar institutions +abound. None are more liberal to the funds of these voluntary charities +than the bull-fighters, who, if they make large fortunes, never forget +the class from which they sprang, and are most generous in their +donations. When occasion demands an extra effort, a _fiesta_ is given at +the Plaza de Toros, and the whole of the profits go to the charity for +which it has been held. No doubt these schemes have their faults in +operation, and Galdos in some of his popular novels does not fail to +hold up--not exactly for admiration--the fashionable ladies who think +it "smart," as we should say, to join these boards and societies, and +talk with much unction of their public good works and the statistics of +their pet societies, while neglecting the poor and the needy at their +own doors, or trying to send into "Homes" those who have no desire or +need to go there if a little Christian charity were only shown them by +their neighbours. Nevertheless, there is a large amount of organised +philanthropy in Spain to-day, and it appears to be of a wise and +efficient kind. One should not forget to mention also the workshops for +the lowest orders, established by the Salerian Fathers, to which the +attention of the Government has been called by late events. + +The general position of women in Spain and their influence in public +life cannot be described as of an advanced order. As a rule, they take no +leading part in politics, devoting themselves chiefly to charitable +works, such as those already named. There is, as we have seen, a general +movement for higher education and greater liberty of thought and action +amongst women, and there is a certain limited number who frankly range +themselves on the side of so-called "emancipation," who attend +socialistic and other "meetings"--a word which has now been formally +admitted into the Spanish language--and who aspire to be the comrades of +men rather than their objects of worship or their playthings. But this +movement is scarcely more than in its infancy. It must be remembered +that even within the present generation the bedrooms allotted to girls +were always approached through that of the parents, that no girl or +unmarried woman could go unattended, and that to be left alone in the +room with a man was to lose her reputation. Already these things seem to +be dreams of the past; nor could one well believe, what is however a +fact, that there were fathers of the upper classes in the first half of +the last century who preferred that their daughters should not learn to +read or write, especially the latter, as it only enabled them to read +letters clandestinely received from lovers and to reply to them. The +natural consequence of this was the custom, which so largely prevailed, +of young men, absolutely unknown to the parents, establishing +correspondence or meetings with the objects of their adoration by means +of a complaisant _doncella_ with an open palm, or the pastime known as +_pelando el pavo_ (literally plucking the turkey), which consisted of +serenades of love-songs, amorous dialogues, or the passage of notes +through the _reja_--the iron gratings which protect the lower windows of +Spanish houses from the prowling human wolf--or from the balconies. Many +a time have I seen these interesting little missives being let down past +my balcony--how trustful the innocents were!--to the waiting gallant +below, and his drawn up. Only once I saw a neighbour, in the balcony +below, intercept the post, and I believe substitute some other letter. +Cruel sport! + +Perhaps born of this necessity of making acquaintance by fair means or +foul comes the custom, which appears to savour of such grossly bad +manners to us, of a man making audible remarks on the appearance of a +girl he has never seen before as she passes him in the street. _Ay! que +buenos ojos! Que bonita eres! Que gracia tienes!_ and the like. Far +from giving offence, the fair one goes on her way, perhaps vouchsafing +one glance from those lovely eyes of hers, with only a sense that her +charms have received their due tribute--not much elated, perhaps, but +certainly by no means offended; nor, indeed, was offence intended. The +fixed stare, which to us would mean mere ill-bred ignorance, is only +another ordinary tribute to the passing fair one from the other sex. + +Marriage customs have changed much in the last few decades, and even +civil marriages are now not wholly unknown. In old days, if the ceremony +was performed in church, the bride and all the ladies must be attired in +black, for which reason the fashionable world established marriages in +the house, where more brilliant costumes might be displayed. These +generally take place in the evening, and the newly married couple do not +leave the house, unless the new home happens to be close by. In any +case, honeymoon tours are, or were, unusual. The _velada_ is the +ceremony in church, which must take place before the first child is +born, to legalise the marriage, but it does not necessarily immediately +follow the other ceremony. At it the ring is given. When the two +ceremonies take place at the same time it must be in the morning, +because the bride and bridegroom partake of the Holy Sacrament fasting. +From the description of a _boda_ in Galicia, in one of Pardo Bazan's +novels, it would seem that the bride there wears white, even at the +church. The wedding is a portentous affair, lasting all day from early +morning, and the bride and bridegroom remain in the house. Fernan +Caballero devotes some pages in _Clemencia_ to showing how preferable is +the Spanish custom of "remaining among friends" to that of the newly +married couple, as she says, "exposing themselves to the jeers of +postilions and stable-boys." Yet the English custom is in fact gaining +ground, even in conservative Spain. + +Although marriages are often made up by the parents and guardians, as in +France, without any freedom on the part of the bride at least, custom or +law gives the Spanish woman much more power than even in England. A girl +desiring to escape from a marriage repugnant to her can claim protection +from a magistrate, who will even, if necessary, take her out of her +father's custody until she is of age and her own mistress. More than +that, if a girl determines to marry a man of whom her parents +disapprove, she has only to place herself under the protection of a +magistrate to set them at defiance, nor have they the power to deprive +her of the share of the family property to which by Spanish law she is +entitled. I do not know if these things are altered now,--one does not +hear so much of them,--but I know of several cases where daughters have +been married from the magistrate's house against the wishes of their +parents. In one case, the first intimation a father received of his +daughter's engagement was the notice from a neighbouring magistrate that +she was about to be married, and in another, a daughter left her +mother's house and was married from that of the magistrate to a man +without any income and considerably below her in rank. In all these +cases, the contracting parties were of the upper classes. + +While on this subject, I must mention what seems to us the barbarous +manner in which infants are clothed and brought up, though the English +fashions of baths, healthy clothing, and suitable food are now largely +followed amongst the upper classes. When the King was still an infant a +great deal of his clothing came from England, and he was brought up in +the English method. This probably set the fashion, and the little ones +playing in the Park now are much like those one is accustomed to see in +London. But among the poor, and even some of the bourgeois class, the +old insane customs prevail, and it is not surprising to hear that the +death-rate among infants is extraordinarily high. From its birth the +poor child is tightly wrapped in swaddling clothes, confining all its +limbs, so that it presents the appearance of a mummy, swathed in coarse +yellow flannel, only its head appearing. So stiffly are they rolled up +that I have seen an infant only a few weeks old propped up on end +against the wall, or in a corner, while the mother was busy. There is a +superstition, too, about never washing a child's head from the day it +is born. The result is really indescribable. When it is about two years +old, a scab, which covers the whole head, comes off of its own accord, +and after that the head may be cleansed without fear of evil +consequences. Some English servants who have married in Spain set the +example of keeping their infants clean, and, therefore, healthy, from +the first, and, seeing the difference in the appearance of the children, +a few Spanish women have followed suit; but it requires a good deal of +courage to break away from old traditions and set one's face against the +sacred superstitions of ages--and the mother-in-law! + +One wonders, not that Spanish men grow bald so early, and not bald only, +but absolutely hairless, but that they ever have any hair at all; for +after all the troubles of their infancy their heads are regularly +shaved, or the hair cut off close to the skin all the summer. On the +principle of cutting off the heads of dandelions as soon as they appear, +as a way of exterminating them, the surprising thing is that the hair +does not become too much discouraged even to try to sprout again. Funny +little objects they look, with only a dark mark on the skin where the +hair ought to grow in summer, and at most a growth about as long as +velvet in the winter, until they are quite big boys! The girls generally +wear their hair so tightly plaited, as soon as it is long enough to +allow of plaiting at all, that they can scarcely close their eyes. +Young Spanish women, however, have magnificent hair; though they, too, +grow bald when they are old, in a way that is never seen in England. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MUSIC, ART, AND THE DRAMA + + +One is apt to forget how much the history of music owes to Spain. The +country was for so long considered to be in a state of chronic political +disturbance that few foreigners took up their abode there, except such +as had business interests, and for the rest the mere traveller never +became acquainted with the real life of the people, or entered into +their intellectual amusements. It is quite a common thing to find the +tourist entering in his valuable notes on a country which he has not the +knowledge of the world to understand: "The Spaniards are not a musical +people," and remaining quite satisfied with his own dictum. Yet Albert +Soubies, in his _Histoire de la Musique_, says, in the volume devoted to +Spain: "Spain is the country where, in modern times, musical art has +been cultivated with the greatest distinction and originality. In +particular, the school of religious music in Spain, thanks to Morales, +Guerrero, and Victoria, will bear comparison with all that has been +produced elsewhere of the highest and most cultivated description. The +national genius has also shown itself in another direction, in works +which, like the ancient _eglogas_--the contemporary _zarzuelas_ of Lope +de Vega and Calderon--and the _torradillas_ of the last century shine +brilliantly by the verve, the gaiety, the strength, and delicacy of +their comic sentiment.... The works of this class are happily inspired +by popular art, which in this country abounds in characteristic +elements. One notes how much the rhythm and melody display native +colour, charm, and energy. In many cases, along with vestiges of Basque +or of Celtic origin, they show something of an Oriental character, due +to the long sojourn of the Moors in this country." + +As regards this pre-eminence, it is enough to remember that Spain was +anciently one of the regions most thoroughly penetrated by Roman +civilisation. It is not too much to say that this art has never sunk +into decadence in Spain. During the sixteenth century the archives of +the Pontifical chapel show the important place occupied by Spanish +composers in the musical history of the Vatican, and among the artists +who gained celebrity away from their own country were Escoledo, Morales, +Galvey, Tapia, and many others. To the end of the seventeenth century a +galaxy of brilliant names carried on the national history of Spanish +music, both on religious and secular lines; and though in the eighteenth +and part of the nineteenth centuries there was a passing invasion of +French and Italian fashion, the true and characteristic native music +has never died out, and at the present time there is a notable musical +renaissance in touch with the spirit and natural genius of the people. + +A Royal Academy of Music has, within recent times, been added to the +other institutions of a like kind, and native talent is being developed +on native lines, not in imitations from countries wholly differing from +them in national characteristics. Spaniards are exacting critics, and +the best musicians of other countries are as well known and appreciated +as their own composers and executants. Wagner is now a household word +among them, where once Rossini was the object of fashionable admiration. +The national and characteristic songs of Spain have been already +referred to. They are perfectly distinct from those of any other nation. +There is about them a dainty grace and pathos, combined frequently with +a certain suspicion of sadness, which is full of charm, while those +which are frankly gay are full of life, audacity, and "go," that carry +away the listeners, even when the language is imperfectly understood. +The charming songs, with accompaniment for piano or guitar, of the +Master Yradier, are mostly written in the soft dialect of Andalucia, +which lends itself to the music, and is liquid as the notes of a bird. +The songs of Galicia are, in fact, the songs of Portugal; just as the +Galician language is Portuguese, or a dialect of that language, which +has less impress of the ancient Celt-Iberian and more of French than +its sister, Castilian, both being descendants of Latin, enriched with +words borrowed from the different nations which have at one time or +another inhabited or conquered their country. + +The guitar is, of course, the national instrument, and the songs never +have the same charm with any other accompaniment; but the Spanish women +of to-day are prouder of being able to play the piano or violin than of +excelling in the instrument which suits them so much better. The +Spaniard is nervously anxious not to appear, or to be, behind any other +European nation in what we call "modernity," a word that signifies that +to be "up-to-date" is of paramount importance, leaving wholly out of the +question whether the change be for the better or infinitely towards the +lower end of the scale. + +The records of Spain in art, as in literature, are so grand, so +European, in fact, that it is much if the artists of to-day come within +measurable distance of those who have made the glory of their country. +Nevertheless, the modern painters and sculptors of Spain hold their own +with those of any country. After the temporary eclipse which followed +the death of Velasquez, Ribera, and Murillo--the eighteenth century +produced no great Spanish painter, if we except Goya, who left no +pupils--Don Jose Madrazo, who studied at the same time as Ingres in the +studio of David, began the modern renaissance. He became Court painter, +and left many fine portraits; but, perhaps, as Comte Vasili says, "La +meilleure oeuvre de Don Jose fut son fils, Federico; de meme que la +meilleure de celui-ci est son fils Raimundo." + +Raimundo Madrazo and Fortuny the elder, who married Cecilia Madrazo, +Raimundo's sister, have always painted in Paris, and have become known +to Europe almost as French artists. Fortuny, by his _mariage Espagnol_, +became the head of the Spanish renaissance. Unfortunately, he has been +widely imitated by artists of all nations, who have not a tithe of his +genius, if any. Pradilla, F. Domingo, Gallegos, the three Beulluire +brothers, Bilbao, Gimenez, Aranda, Carbonero, are only a few of the +artists whose names are known to all art collectors, and who work in +Spain. Villegas has settled in Rome. The exhibition of modern Spanish +paintings in the London Guildhall last year (1901) was a revelation to +many English people, even to artists, of the work that is being done at +the present day by Spanish painters, both at home and in Paris and Rome. +In sculpture, also, Spain can boast many artists of the highest class. + +The drama in Spain has in all times occupied an important place. The +traditions of the past names, such as Calderon, Lope de Vega, Tirso de +Molina, Moreto, and others, cannot exactly be said to be kept up, for +these are, most of them, of European fame; but in a country where the +theatre is the beloved entertainment of all classes, and perhaps +especially so of the poor or the working people, there are never wanting +dramatists who satisfy the needs of their auditors, and whose works are +sometimes translated into foreign languages, if not actually acted on an +alien stage. It would be impossible and useless to give a mere list of +the names of modern dramatists, but that of Ayala is perhaps best known +abroad, and his work most nearly approaches to that of his great +forerunners. His _Consuelo_, _El tejado de Vidrio_, and _Tanto por ciento_ +show great power and extraordinary observation. His style, too, is +perfect. Senor Tamago, who persistently hides his name under the +pseudonym of "Joaquin Estebanez," may also be ranked amongst the leaders +of the modern Spanish drama, and his _Drama Nuevo_ is a masterpiece. +Echegaray belongs to the school of the old drama, whose characteristic +is that virtue is always rewarded and vice punished. His plays are very +popular because they touch an audience even to tears, and he has several +followers or imitators. The comedies of manners and satirical plays are +generally the work of Eusebio Blasco, Ramos Carrion, Echegaray the +younger, Estremada, Alverez, though there are others whose names are +legion. Echegaray is really a man of genius. A clever engineer and +professor of mathematics, he was Minister of Finance during the early +days of the Revolution. His first play took the world of Madrid by +surprise and even by storm. _La Esposa del Vengador_ had an +unprecedented success, and at least thirty subsequent dramas, in prose +and in verse, have made this mathematician, engineer, and financier one +of the most famous men of his day. His art and his methods are purely +Spanish. I have already referred to the phenomenal success of Perez +Galdos's _Electra_ within the last few months. It must, however, be +ascribed chiefly to the moment of its presentation rather than to any +superlative merit in the drama. It is well written, which is what may be +said of almost all Spanish plays, for the language is in itself so +dignified and so beautiful that, if it be only pure and not disfigured +by foreign slang, it is always sonorous and charming. To the state of +the popular temper, however, and the coincidence of the political events +already referred to must be ascribed the fact that a piece like +_Electra_ should cause the fall of a Government, and bring within +dangerous distance the collapse of the monarchy itself. The excitement +which it still produces, wherever played, is now in a great part due to +the foolish action of some of the bishops and the fact that individual +clerics use their pulpits to condemn it, and attempt to forbid its being +read or seen. + +Spain is not particularly rich in great actors, although she has always +a goodly number who come up to a fair standard of excellence. The great +actors of the day in Madrid are Maria Guerrero and Fernando Diaz de +Mendoza. They obtained a perfect ovation during the last season in the +play, _El loco Dios_, of Echegaray--a work which gives every opportunity +for the display of first-class talent in both actors, and which led to a +fury of enthusiasm for the popular dramatist, which must have recalled +to him the early days of his great successes. + +Since the beginning of the eighteenth century, Spain has had three great +Academies, which, even in the troublous times of her history, have done +good work in the domains of history, language, and the fine arts; but it +is since the Revolution that they have become of real importance in the +intellectual development of the nation, and other societies have been +added for the encouragement of scientific research and music. The +earliest of her academies was that of language, known as the Royal +Spanish Academy. It is exactly on the lines of the Academie Francaise. +Founded in 1713, its statutes were somewhat modified in 1847, and again +in 1859. There are only thirty-six members, about eighty corresponding +members in different provinces of Spain, and an unlimited, or at least +undetermined, number of foreign and honorary correspondents. Besides the +Central Society in Madrid, the Royal Spanish Academy has many +corresponding branches in South America, such as the Columbian, the +Equatorial, the Mexican, and those of Venezuela and San Salvador. The +existence of academies of language in the South American States does not +appear to effect much in the way of maintaining the purity of Castilian +among them, for South American Spanish, as spoken at least, is not much +more like the original language than the South American Spaniard is like +the inhabitant of the mother country. The dictionary of the Royal +Academy of Spain, like that of France, is not yet completed. + +Philip V. founded the Royal Academy of History in 1738. Under its +auspices, especially of late years, much valuable work has been done in +publishing the original records of the country, to be found at Simancas +and other places; but the authentic history of Spain is still +incomplete. Up to the time of his assassination, Don Antonio Canovas del +Castillo was its director, and Don Pedro de Madrazo its permanent +secretary. The society, now known as the Real Academia de San Fernando, +founded in 1752, under the title of Real Academia de las tres nobles +Artes, has now had a fourth added to it--that of music. The functions of +its separate sections are much the same as those of the English Academy +of Painting and the sister arts. A permanent gallery of the works of its +members exists in Madrid, and certificates, diplomas, honourable +mention, etc., are distributed by the directors to successful +competitors. + +Later societies are the Academies of Exact Science, Physical and +Natural, of Moral and Political Science, of Jurisprudence and +Legislation, and last, but by no means least, the Royal Academy of +Medicine, under whose auspices medical science has of late years made +immense strides, and is probably now in line with that of the most +advanced of other countries. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MODERN LITERATURE + + +The name of Pascual de Gayangos is known far beyond the confines of his +own country as a scholar, historian, philologist, biographer, and +critic. Although now a man of very advanced age, he is one of the most +distinguished of modern Orientalists, and his _History of the Arabs in +Spain_, _Vocabulary of the Arabic Words in Spanish_, and his _Catalogue +of Spanish MSS. in the British Museum_ are known wherever the language +is known or studied. He has published in Spanish an edition of Ticknor's +great work on Spanish literature, and has edited several valuable works +in the Spanish Old Text Society besides innumerable other historical and +philological books and papers, which have given him a European +reputation. His immense store of knowledge, his modesty, and his genuine +kindness to all who seek his aid endear him as much for his personal +qualities as for his learning. + +Next to Gayangos in the same class of work, Marcelino Menendez y Palayo +may perhaps be mentioned. His _History of AEsthetic Ideas in Spain_ has +been left unfinished so far, owing to the demands made on his time by +his position in the political world as one of the Conservative leaders. +Don Modesto Lafuente, though scarcely possessing the qualities of a +great historian, is accurate and painstaking to a great degree; but in +the field of history many workers are searching the archives and +documents in which the country is so rich, and throwing light on +particular periods. Canovas del Castillo, in spite of his great +political duties, was one of the most valuable of these; and the eminent +jurist, Don Francisco de Cardenas, and the learned Jesuit, Fidel Fita, +and other members of the Academy of History are constantly working in +the rich mine at Simancas. New papers and books are continually being +brought out under the auspices of this society, throwing light on the +past history of the country. + +Fernan Caballero, a German by race, but married successively to three +Spanish husbands, may be said to have inaugurated the modern Spanish +novel _de costumbres_, and her books are perhaps better known in England +than those of some of the later novelists. By far the greater writer of +the day in Spain, however, in light literature, is Juan Valera, at once +poet, critic, essayist, and novelist. His _Pepita Jimenez_ is a +remarkable novel, full of delicate characterisation and exquisite style, +second to none produced in any country--a novel full of fire, and yet +irreproachable in taste, handling a difficult subject with the mastery +of genius. It has been translated into English; but however well it may +have been done, it must lose immensely in the transition, because the +Spanish of Valera is the perfection of a perfectly beautiful language. +In this novel we have the character of a priest, who, while we know him +only through the letters addressed to him by the young student of +theology, the extremely sympathetic hero of the story, lives in one's +memory, showing us the best side of the Spanish priest. Other novels of +Valera's, _Dona Luis_ and _El Comendador Mendoza_, a number of essays on +all sorts of subjects, critical and other, and poems which show great +grace and correctness of style, have given this writer a high place in +the literature of the age. + +Perez Galdos is a writer of a wholly different class, although he enjoys +a very wide reputation in his own country and wherever Spanish is read. +His _Episodes Nacionales_, some fifty-six in number, attract by their +close attention to detail, which gives an air of actuality to the most +diffuse of his stories. They are careful and very accurate studies of +different episodes of national life, in which the author introduces, +among the fictitious characters round whom the story moves, the real +actors on the stage of history of the time. Thus Mendizabal, Espartero, +Serrano, Narvaez, the Queen of Ferdinand VII., Cristina, and many other +persons appear in the books, giving one the impression that history is +alive, and not the record of long-dead actors we are accustomed to find +it. Galdos appears to despise any kind of plot; the events run on, as +they did in fact run on, only there are one or two people who take part +in them whom we may suppose to be creations of the author's brain. +Certainly, one learns more contemporary history by reading these +_Episodes_ of Perez Galdos, and realises all the scenes of it much more +vividly than one would ever do by the reading of ordinary records of +events. As the tendency and the sympathy of the writer is always +Liberal, one fancies that Galdos has written with the determined +intention to tempt a class of readers to become acquainted with the +recent history of their country who would never do so under any less +attractive form than that of the novel. His works must do good, since +they are very widely read, and are extremely accurate as history. His +play, _Electra_, which is just now giving him such wide celebrity, is of +the actual time, and the scene is laid wholly in Madrid. The freedom +that he advocates for women is merely that which Englishwomen have +always enjoyed, or, at least, since mediaeval times, and has nothing in +common with the emancipation which our "new women" claim for themselves. +Galdos, also, is fond of introducing the simple-minded and honest, if +not very cultivated, priest. His style is pure, without any great +pretention to brilliancy, or any of the straining after effect which so +many of the English writers seem to think gives distinction. + +Pedro Alarcon is novelist first, and historian, poet, and critic +afterwards. That is to say, his novels are his best-known and most +widely read works. He has two distinct styles. His _Sombrero de Tres +Picos_ is a fascinating sketch of quaint old village life, full of quiet +grace, while _El Escandalo_ and _La Prodiga_ are of the sensational +order. He writes, like Galdos, in series, such as _Historietas +Nacionales_, _Narraciones Inverosimiles_, and _Viajes por Espana_. +Parada is a native of Santander, and writes of his beloved countrymen. +_Sotilezas_, his best-known, and perhaps best, novel, treats of life +among the fisher-folk of Santander, before it became an industrial town. +Writing in dialect makes many of his stories puzzling, if not impossible +for foreign readers. + +The lady who writes under the pseudonym of "Emelia Pardo Bazan" may be +said to be the leader or the pioneer of women's emancipation in the +sense in which we use the words. She is a native of Galicia, and is +imbued with that intense love of her native province which distinguishes +the people of the mountains. Her novels are chiefly pictures of its +scenery and the life of its people, though in at least one she does not +hesitate to take her readers behind the scenes of student life in +Madrid. It would not be fair to apply to this writer's work the standard +by which we judge an English work, because in Spain there is a +frankness, to call it by no other name, in discussing in mixed company +subjects which it would not be thought good taste to mention under the +same circumstances with us. _Una Cristiana_ and _La Prueba_, its sequel, +are founded on the sex problem, and, probably without any intention of +offence, Pardo Bazan has worked with a very full brush and a free hand, +if I may borrow the terms from a sister art. Her articles on +intellectual and social questions show an amount of education and a +breadth of view which place her among the best writers of her nation. +She is not in the least blinded by her patriotism to the faults of her +country, especially to the hitherto narrow education of its women. She +holds up an ideal of a higher type--a woman who shall be man's +intellectual companion, and his helper in the battle of life. She is by +no means the only woman writer in Spain at the present time; but she is +the most talented, and occupies certainly the highest place. Her +writings are somewhat difficult for anyone not conversant with +Portuguese, or, rather, with the Galician variety of the Spanish +language, for the number of words not to be found in the Spanish +dictionary interfere with the pleasure experienced by a foreigner, and +even some Castilians, in reading her novels. Pardo Bazan was an +enthusiastic friend and admirer of Castelar, and belongs to his +political party. A united Iberian republic, with Gibraltar restored to +Spain, is, or was, its programme. + +_Hermana San Sulpicio_, by Armando Palacio Valdes, is one of the +charming, purely Spanish novels which has made a name for its author +beyond the confines of his own country; but since that was produced he +has gone for his inspiration to the French naturalistic school, and, +like some English writers, he thinks that repulsive and indecent +incidents, powerfully drawn, add to the artistic value of his work. +Padre Luis Coloma, a Jesuit, obtained a good deal of attention at one +time by his _Pequeneces_, studies, written in gall, of Madrid society. +His stories are too narrowly bigoted in tone to have any lasting vogue, +and his views of life too much coloured by his ultramontane tendencies +to be even true. Nunez de Arce is, like so many Spaniards of the last +few decades, at once a poet and a politician. He played a stirring part +from the time of the Revolution to the Restoration, always on the side +of liberty, but never believing in the idea of a republic. His _Gritos +del Combate_ were the agonised expression of a fighter in his country's +battle for freedom and for light. Since the more settled state of +affairs, Nunez de Arce has written many charming idyls and short poems. +In the _Idilio_ is a wonderful picture of the, to some of us, barren +scenery of Castile, in which the eye of the artist sees, and makes his +readers see, a beauty all the more striking because it is hidden from +the ordinary gaze. + +Of Jose Zorilla as a poet there is little need to speak. His countrymen +read his voluminous works, but they are not of any real value. +Campoamor describes his _Dorloras_ as "poetic compositions combining +lightness, sentiment, and brevity with philosophic importance." His +earlier works were studied from Shakespeare and from Byron, who was the +star of the age when Campoamor began to write. His most ambitious work, +the _Universal Drama_, is "after Dante and Milton." He is a great +favourite with his fellow-countrymen, both as poet and companion. He is +a member of the Academy and a Senator. + +It is impossible, however, to do more than indicate a few of the writers +who are leaders in the literature of Spain to-day. There has, in fact, +been an immense impulse in the production of books of all classes within +the last twenty or thirty years. In fiction, Spain once more aspires to +have a characteristic literature of her own, in place of relying on +translations from the French, as was the case for a brief time before +her political renaissance began. + +A notable departure has been the foundation of the Folklore Society, and +the publication up to the present time of eleven volumes under the name +of _Biblioteca de las Tradiciones Populares Espanolas_, under the +direction of Senor Don Antonio Machado y Alvarez. In the introduction to +the first volume, the Director tells us that, with the help of the +editor of _El Folklore Andaluz_ and his friends, D. Alejandro Guichot y +Sierra and D. Luis Montolo y Raustentrauch, he has undertaken this great +work, which arose out of the _Bases del Folklore Espanol_, published in +1881, and the two societies established in 1882, the Folklore Andaluz +and Folklore Extremeno. These societies have for object the gathering +together, copying, and publishing of the popular beliefs, proverbs, +songs, stories, poems, the old customs and superstitions of all parts of +the Peninsula, including Portugal, as indispensable materials for the +knowledge and scientific reconstruction of Spanish culture. In this +patriotic and historical work many writers have joined, each bringing +his quota of garnered treasure-trove, presenting thus, in a series of +handy little volumes, a most interesting collection of the ancient +customs, beliefs, and, in fact, the folklore of a country exceptionally +rich in widely differing nationalities. + +Many of the tales, which it would seem even at the present time, +especially in Portugal and Galicia, are told in the evening, and have +rarely found their way into print, have the strong stamp of the +legitimate Eastern fable, and bear a great family resemblance to those +of the _Arabian Nights_. As, in fact, the _Thousand and One Nights_ was +very early published in Spanish, it is probable that its marvellous +histories were known verbally to the people of the Iberian continent for +many centuries, and have coloured much of its folklore. _The Ingenious +Student_ is certainly one of these. Barbers also play an important part +in many of these tales. It is quite common for the Court barber to marry +the King's daughter, and to succeed him as ruler; but the barber was, +of course, surgeon or blood-letter as well as the principal +news-agent--the forerunner of the daily newspaper of our times. The +transmutation of human beings into mules, and _vice versa_, is a common +fable, and we meet with wolf-children and the curious superstition that +unbaptised people can penetrate into the domains of the enchanted Moors, +and that these have no power to injure them. The story of the Black +Slave, who eventually married the King's daughter and had a white mule +for his Prime Minister, is very Eastern in character. "From so wise a +King and so good a Queen the people derived great benefit; disputes +never went beyond the ears of the Chief Minister, and, in the words of +the immortal barber and poet of the city, 'the kingdom flourished under +the guidance of a mule: which proves that there are qualities in the +irrational beings which even wisest ministers would do well to +imitate.'" _The Watchful Servant_ is, however, purely Spanish in +character, and it closes with the proverb that "a jealous man on +horseback is first cousin to a flash of lightning." _King Robin_, the +story of how the beasts and birds revenged themselves on Sigli and his +father, the chief of a band of robbers, recalls "Uncle Remus" and his +animal tales; for the monkeys, at the suggestion of the fox, and with +the delighted consent of the birds and the bees, made a figure wholly of +birdlime to represent a sleeping beggar, being quite certain that Sigli +would kick it the moment that he saw the intruder from the windows of +his father's castle. In effect both father and son became fast to the +birdlime figure, when they were stung to death by ten thousand bees. +Then King Robin ordered the wolves to dig the grave, into which the +monkeys rolled the man and the boy and the birdlime figure, and, after +covering it up, all the beasts and birds and insects took possession of +the robbers' castle, and lived there under the beneficent rule of King +Robin. + +_Silver Bells_ is, again, a story of a wholly different type, and +charmingly pretty it is, with its new development of the wicked +step-mother--in this case a mother who had married again and hated her +little girl by the first husband. _Elvira, the Sainted Princess_ tells +how the daughter of King Wamba, who had become a Christian unknown to +her father, by her prayers and tears caused his staff to blossom in one +night, after he had determined that unless this miracle were worked by +the God of the Christians she and her lover should be burned. + +One fault is to be found with these old stories as remembered and told +by Mr. Sellers; that is, the introduction of modern ideas into the +Old-World fables of a primitive race. Hits at the Jesuits, the +Inquisition, and the government of recent kings take away much of the +glamour of what is undoubtedly folklore. The story of the _Black Hand_ +seems to have many varieties. It is somewhat like our stories of Jack +and the Bean Stalk and Bluebeard, but differs, to the advantage of the +Spanish ideal, in that the enchanted prince who is forced to play the +part of the terrible Bluebeard during the day voluntarily enters upon a +second term of a hundred years' enchantment, so as to free the wife whom +he loves, and who goes off safely with her two sisters and numerous +other decapitated beauties, restored to life by the self-immolation of +the prince. The _White Dove_ is another curious and pretty fable which +has many variations in different provinces--a story in which the King's +promise cannot be broken, though it ties him to the hateful negress who +has transformed his promised wife into a dove, and has usurped her +place. Eventually, of course, the pet dove changes into a lovely girl +again, when the King finds and draws out the pins which the negress has +stuck into her head, and the usurper is "burnt" as punishment--an ending +which savours of the _Quemadero_. + +The making of folklore is not, however, extinct in Spain, a country +where poetry seems to be an inherent faculty. One is constantly reminded +of the Spanish proverb, _De poetas y de locos, todos tenemos un poco_ +(We have each of us somewhat of the poet and somewhat of the fool). No +one can tell whence the rhymed _jeux d'esprit_ come; they seem to spring +spontaneously from the heart and lips of the people. Children are +constantly heard singing _coplas_ which are evidently of recent +production, since they speak of recent events, and yet which have the +air of old folklore ballads, of concentrated bits of history. + + Rey inocente--a weak king, + Reina traidora--treacherous queen, + Pueblo cobarde--a coward people, + Grandes sin honra--nobles without honour, + +sums up and expresses in nine words the history of Goday's shameful +bargain with Napoleon. + + En el Puente de Alcolea + La batalla gano Prim, + Y por eso la cantamos + En las calles de Madrid. + + At the bridge of Alcolea + A great battle gained Prim, + And for this we go a-singing + In the streets of Madrid. + +Senor Don Eugenio de Olavarria-y Huarte, in citing this _copla_ (_Folklore +de Madrid_), points out that it contains the very essence of folklore, +since it gives a perfectly true account of the battle of Alcolea. +Although Prim was not present, he was the liberator, and without him the +battle would never have been fought, nor the joy of liberty have been +sung in the streets of the capital. There is seldom, if ever, any +grossness in these spontaneous songs of the people--never indecency or +double meaning. No sooner has an event happened than it finds its +history recorded in some of these popular _coplas_, and sung by the +children at their play. + +The Folklore Society has some interesting information to give about the +innumerable rhymed games which Spanish children, like our own, are so +fond of playing, many of them having an origin lost in prehistoric +times. One finds, also, from some of the old stories, that the devils +are much hurt in their feelings by having tails and horns ascribed to +them. As a matter of fact, they have neither, and cannot understand +where mortals picked up the idea! The question is an interesting one. +Where did we obtain this notion? + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE FUTURE OF SPAIN + + +An Englishman who, from over thirty years' residence in Spain and close +connection with the country, numbered among her people some of his most +valued friends, thus speaks of the national characteristics: + +"The Spanish and English characters are, indeed, in many points +strangely alike. Spain ranks as one of the Latin nations, and the +Republican orators of Spain are content to look to France for light and +leading in all their political combinations; but a large mass of the +nation, the bone and sinew of the country, the silent, toiling tillers +of the soil, are not of this way of thinking.... There is a sturdy +independence in the Spanish character, and an impatience of dictation +that harmonises more nearly with the English character than with that of +her Latin neighbours.... There is a gravity and reticence also in the +Spaniard that is absent from his mercurial neighbour, and which is, +indeed, much more akin to our cast of temper. + +"True it is that our insular manners form at first a bar to our +intercourse with the Spaniard, who has been brought up in a school of +deliberate and stately courtesy somewhat foreign to our business turn of +mind; but how superficial this difference is may be seen by the strong +attachment Englishmen form to the country and her people, when once the +strangeness of first acquaintance has worn off; and those of us who know +the country best will tell you that they have no truer or more faithful +friends than those they have amongst her people." + +Speaking of her labouring classes, and as a very large employer of +labour in every part of the Peninsula he had the best possible means of +judging, this writer says: + +"The Spanish working man is really a most sober, hard-working being, not +much given to dancing, and not at all to drinking. They are +exceptionally clever and sharp, and learn any new trade with great +facility. They are, as a rule, exceedingly honest--perfect gentlemen in +their manners, and the lowest labourer has an _aplomb_ and ease of +manner which many a person in a much higher rank in this country might +envy. When in masses they are the quietest and most tractable workmen it +is possible to have to deal with. The peasant and working man, the real +bone and sinew of the country, are as fine a race as one might wish to +meet with--not free from defects--what race is?--but possessed of +excellent sterling qualities, which only require knowing to be +appreciated. I cannot say as much for the Government employees and +politicians. Connection with politics seems to have a corrupt and +debasing effect, which, although perhaps exaggerated in Spain, is, +unfortunately, not by any means confined to that country only."[3] + + [3] _Commercial and Industrial Spain_, by George Higgin, + Mem. Inst. C. E., London, 1886. + +In Spain to-day everything is dated from "La Gloriosa," the Revolution +of 1868, the "Day of Spanish Liberty," as it well deserves to be called, +and there is every reason to look back with pride upon that time; +because, after the battle of Alcolea, when the cry raised in the Puerta +del Sol, _Viva Prim!_ was answered by the troops shut up in the +Government offices, and the people, swarming up the _rejas_ and the +balconies, fraternised with their brothers-in-arms, who had been +intended, could they have been trusted by their commanders, to shoot +them down, Madrid was for some days wholly in the hands of King Mob, and +of King Mob armed. The victorious troops were still at some distance, +the Queen and her _camarilla_ had fled across the frontier, the +Government had vanished, and the people were a law unto themselves. Yet +not one single act of violence was committed; absolute peace and +quietness, and perfect order prevailed. The ragged men in the street +formed themselves into guards: just as they were, they took up their +positions at the abandoned Palace, at the national buildings and +institutions; the troops were drawn up outside Madrid and its people +were its guardians. Committees of emergency were formed; everything went +on as if nothing unusual had happened, and not a single thing was +touched or destroyed in the Palace, left wholly at the mercy of the +sovereign people. The excesses which took place in some of the towns, +after the brutal assassination of Prim and the abdication of Amadeo, +were rather the result of political intrigue and the working of +interested demagogues on the passions of people misled and used as +puppets. + +With the advance of commerce and industry, and the massing of workers in +the towns, has come, as in other countries, the harvest of the +demagogue. Strikes and labour riots now and then break out, and the +Spanish anarchist is not unknown. But the investment of their money in +industrial and commercial enterprises, so largely increasing, is giving +the people the best possible interest in avoiding disturbances of this, +or of any other, kind: and as knowledge of more enlightened finance is +penetrating to the working people themselves, the number who are likely +to range themselves on the side of law and order is daily increasing. +The improved railway and steamer communication with parts of the country +heretofore isolated, much of it only completed since this book was +begun--in fact, within the last few months--is bringing the northern and +western ports into prominence. Galicia now not only has an important +industry in supplying fresh fish for Madrid, but has a good increasing +trade with Europe and America. Pontevedra and Vigo, as well as +Villagarcia, are improving daily since the railway reached them. Fresh +fruit and vegetables find a ready market, and new uses for materials are +coming daily to the front. Esparto, the coarse grass which grows almost +everywhere in Spain, has long been an article of commerce, as well as +the algaroba bean--said to be the locust bean, on which John the Baptist +might have thriven--for it is the most fattening food for horses and +cattle, and produces in them a singularly glossy and beautiful coat. +This bean, which is as sweet as a dried date, is given, husk and all, to +the mules and horses at all the little wayside _ventas_, and is now used +in some of the patent foods for cattle widely known abroad. The stalk of +the maize is used for making smokeless powder, and the husks for two +kinds of glucose, two of cotton, three of gum, and two of oil. _Glucea +dextrina_ paste is used as a substitute for india-rubber. These products +of the maize, other than its grain, are employed in the preparation of +preserves, syrup, beer, jams, sweets, and drugs, and in the manufacture +of paper, cardboard, mucilage, oils and lubricants, paints, and many +other things. The imitation india-rubber promises to be the basis of a +most important industry. Mixed with equal portions of natural gum, it +has all the qualities of india-rubber, and is twenty-four per cent. +less in cost. + +A great deal has been said about the depreciation of the value of the +peseta (franc) since the outbreak of the war with America, but this +unsatisfactory state of affairs is gradually mending; and the attention +of the Government is thoroughly awakened to it. The law of May 17, 1898, +and the Royal decree of August 9 provide that if the notes in +circulation of the Bank of Spain exceed fifteen hundred millions, gold +must be guaranteed to the half of the excess of circulation between +fifteen hundred and two thousand, not the half of all the notes in +circulation. The metal guarantee, silver and gold, must cover half of +the note circulation, when the latter is between fifteen hundred and two +thousand millions, and two-thirds when the circulation exceeds two +thousand. But the Bank has not kept this precept, and there has, in +fact, been an illegal issue of notes to the value of 6,752,813 pesetas. +So states the _Boletin de la Camara de Comercio de Espana en la Gran +Bretana_ of April 15, 1901. + +The _Boletin_, after giving an account of the English custom of using +cheques against banking accounts, instead of dealing in metal or paper +currency only, as in Spain, strongly advocates the establishment of the +English method. It is only in quite recent years that there has been any +paper currency at all in Spain; the very notes of the Bank of Spain were +not current outside the walls of Madrid, and had only a limited +currency within. + +Barcelona has long been called the Manchester of Spain, and in the days +before the "Gloriosa" it presented a great contrast to all the other +towns in the Peninsula. Its flourishing factories, its shipping, its +general air of a prosperous business-centre was unique in Spain. This is +no longer the case. Although the capital of Cataluna has made enormous +strides, and would scarcely now be recognised by those who knew it +before the Revolution, it has many rivals. Bilbao is already ahead of it +in some respects, and other ports, already mentioned, are running it +very close. Still, Barcelona is a beautiful city; its situation, its +climate, its charming suburbs full of delightful country houses, its +wealth of flowers, and its air of bustling industry, give a wholly +different idea of Spain to that so often carried away by visitors to the +dead and dying cities of which Spain has, unfortunately, too many. + +It is becoming more common for young Spaniards to come to England to +finish their education, or to acquire business habits, and the study of +the English language is daily becoming more usual. In Spain, as already +remarked, no one speaks of the language of the country as "Spanish"; it +is always "Castellano," of which neither Valencian, Catalan, Galician, +still less Basque, is a dialect--they are all more or less languages in +themselves. But Castellano is spoken with a difference both by the +_pueblo bajo_ of Madrid and also in the provinces. The principal +peculiarities are the omission of the _d_--_prado_ becomes _praoe_--in +any case the pronunciation of _d_, except as an initial, is very soft, +similar to our _th_ in _thee_, but less accentuated. The final _d_ is +also omitted by illiterate speakers; _Usted_ is pronounced _Uste_, and +even _de_ becomes _e_. _B_ and _v_ are interchangeable. One used to see, +on the one-horsed omnibus which in old times represented the locomotion +of Madrid, _Serbicio de omnibus_ quite as often as _Servicio_. Over the +_venta_ of El Espirito Santo on the road to Alcala--now an outskirt of +Madrid--was written, _Aqui se veve bino y aguaardiente_--meaning, _Aqui +se bebe vino_, etc. (Here may be drunk wine). + +The two letters are, in fact, almost interchangeable in sound, but the +educated Spaniard never, of course, makes the illiterate mistake of +transposing them in writing. The sound of _b_ is much more liquid than +in English, and to pronounce _Barcelona_ as a Castilian pronounces it, +we should spell it _Varcelona_; the same with _Cordoba_, which to our +ears sounds as if written _Cordova_, and so, in fact, we English spell +it. + +Spaniards, as a rule, speak English with an excellent accent, having all +the sounds that the English possess, taking the three kingdoms, England, +Scotland, and Ireland, into account. + +Our _th_, which is unpronounceable to French, Italians, and Germans, +however long they may have lived in England, comes naturally to the +Spaniard, because in his own _d_, soft _c_, and _z_ he has the sounds of +our _th_ in "_th_ee" and "_th_in." His _ch_ is identical with ours, and +his _j_ and _x_ are the same as the Irish and Scotch pronunciation of +_ch_ and _gh_. + +The Spanish language is not difficult to learn--at any rate to read and +understand--because there are absolutely no unnecessary letters, if we +except the initial _h_, which is, or appears to us, silent--and the +pronunciation is invariable. What a mine of literary treasure is opened +to the reader by a knowledge of Spanish, no one who is ignorant of that +majestic and poetic language can imagine. With the single exception of +Longfellow's beautiful rendering of the _Coplas de Manrique_, which is +absolutely literal, while preserving all the grace and dignity of the +original, I know of no translation from the Spanish which gives the +reader any real idea of the beauty of Spanish literature in the past +ages, nor even of such works of to-day as those of Juan Valera and some +others. + +Picturesque and poetic ideas seem common to the Spaniard to-day, as +ever. Only the other day, in discussing the monument to be erected to +Alfonso XII. in Madrid, one of the newspapers reported the +suggestion--finally adopted, I think--that it should be an equestrian +statue of the young King, "with the look on his face with which he +entered Madrid after ending the Carlist war." What a picture it summons +to the imagination of the boy King--for he was no more--in the pride of +his conquest of the elements of disorder and of civil war, which had so +long distracted his beloved country--a successful soldier and a worthy +King! + +Spain is a country of surprises and of contradictions; even her own +people seem unable to predict what may happen on the morrow. Those who +knew her best had come to despair of her emancipation at the very moment +when Prim and Topete actually carried the Revolution to a successful +issue. Again, after the miserable fiasco of the attempt at a republic, +the world, even in Spain itself, was taken by surprise by the peaceful +restoration of Alfonso XII. + +I can, perhaps, most fitly end this attempt at showing the causes of +Spain's decay and portraying the present characteristics of this most +interesting and romantic nation by a quotation from the pen of one of +her sons. Don Antonio Ferrer del Rio, Librarian of the Ministry of +Commerce, Instruction, and Public Works, and member of the Reales +Academias de Buenas Letras of Seville and Barcelona, thus writes, in his +preface to his _Decadencia de Espana_, published in Madrid in 1850: "It +is my intention to point out the true origin of the decadence of Spain. +The imagination of the ordinary Spaniard has always been captivated by, +and none of them have failed to sing the praises of, those times in +which the sun never set on the dominion of its kings." While professing +not to presume to dispute this former glory, Senor Ferrer del Rio goes +on to say that he only aspires to get at the truth of his country's +subsequent decay. "There was one happy epoch in which Spain reached the +summit of her greatness--that of the Reyes Catolicos, Don Fernando V. +and Dona Isabel I. Under their reign were united the sceptres of +Castilla, Aragon, Navarra, and Granada; the feudal system +disappeared--it had never extended far into the eastern limits of the +kingdom--the abuses in the Church were in great measure reformed, the +administration of the kingdom with the magnificent reign of justice +began to be consolidated, in the Cortes the powerful voice of the people +was heard; and almost at the same moment Christian Spain achieved the +conquest of the Moors, against whom the different provinces had been +struggling for eight centuries, and the immortal discovery of a new +world. Up to this moment the prosperity of Spain was rising; from that +hour her decadence began. With her liberty she lost everything, although +for some time longer her military laurels covered from sight her real +misfortunes." After referring to the defeat of the _Comuneros_, and the +execution of Padilla and his companions, champions of the people's +rights, he goes on to show that while the aristocracy had received a +mortal blow in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella in the cause of +consolidating the kingdom and of internal order, they had retained +sufficient power to trample on the liberties of the people, while they +were not strong enough to form a barrier against the encroachments of +the absolute monarchs who succeeded, or to prevent the power eventually +lapsing into the hands of the Church. "Consequently, theocracy gained +the ascendency, formidably aided and strengthened by the odious tribunal +whose installation shadowed even the glorious epoch of Isabel and +Fernando, absorbing all jurisdiction, and interfering with all +government. Religious wars led naturally to European conflicts, to the +Spanish people being led to wage war against heresy everywhere, and the +nation--exhausted by its foreign troubles, oppressed internally under +the tyranny of the Inquisition, which, usurping the name of 'Holy,' had +become the right hand of the policy of Charles V., and the supreme power +in the Government of his grandson, Philip II.--lost all the precious +gifts of enlightenment in a blind and frantic fanaticism. The people +only awoke from lethargy, and showed any animation, to rush in crowds to +the _Autos da fe_ in which the ministers of the altar turned Christian +charity into a bleeding corpse, and reproduced the terrible scenes of +the Roman amphitheatre. Where the patricians had cried 'Christians to +the lions!' superstition shouted 'Heretics to the stake!' Humanity was +not less outraged than in the spectacle of Golgotha. Spanish monarchs +even authorised by their presence those sanguinary spectacles, while the +nobles and great personages in the kingdom thought themselves honoured +when they were made _alguiciles_, or familiars of the holy office. +Theocratic power preponderated, and intellectual movement became +paralysed, civilisation stagnated." + +This has ever been the result of priestly rule. One can understand the +feeling of the liberal-minded Spaniard of to-day that, without wishing +to interfere with the charitable works inaugurated by the clergy, nor +desiring in any way to show disrespect to the Church, or the religion +which is dear to the hearts of the people, a serious danger lies, as the +Press is daily pointing out, in the religious orders, more especially +the Jesuits, obtaining a pernicious influence over the young, +undermining by a system of secret inquisition the teachings of science, +gaining power over the minds of the officers in the army, and +establishing a press agency which shall become a danger to the +constitution. + +Spain's outlook seems brighter to-day than it has ever been since her +Golden Age of Isabella and Ferdinand; and it is the people who have +awakened, a people who have shown what power lies in them to raise their +beloved country to the position which is her right among the nations of +the world. But prophecy is vain in a country of which it has been said +"that two and two never make four." This year, if all go well meantime, +Alfonso XIII. will take the reins in his own hands--a mere boy, even +younger than his father was when called to the throne; than whom, +however, Spain has never had a more worthy ruler. But Alfonso XII. had +been schooled by adversity--he had to some extent roughed it amongst +Austrian and English boys. He came fresh from Sandhurst and from the +study of countries other than his own. To a naturally clever mind he had +added the invaluable lesson of a knowledge of the world as seen by one +of the crowd, not from the close precincts of a court and the elevation +of a throne. + +For his son it may be said that he has been born and carefully educated +in a country where absolutism is dead, and by a mother who, as Regent, +has scrupulously observed the laws of the constitution. He will come, as +King, to a country which has known the precious boon of liberty too long +to part with it lightly; to a kingdom now, for the first time in +history, united as one people; where commerce and mutual interests have +taken the place of internecine distrust and hatred. It is only at the +present moment that this happy condition of things is spreading over the +country; each month, each week, giving fresh evidence of new industries +arising, of fresh capital invested in the development of the country. It +is in the sums so invested by the mass of the people that those who +believe in a bright future for Spain place their hopes; but we may all +of us wish the young monarch for whom his country is longing, +"God-speed." + + + + +PORTUGUESE LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +LAND AND PEOPLE + + +It has been said, and it is often repeated, that if you strip a Spaniard +of his virtues, the residuum will be a Portuguese. This cruel statement +is rather the result of prejudice than arising from any foundation in +fact. It has a superficial cleverness which attracts some people, and +especially those who have but an imperfect knowledge of the true life +and character of the people thus stigmatised. + +Lord Londonderry, in Chapter VI. of his _Narrative of the Peninsular +War_, writes thus of the difference of character between the two +nations: "Having halted at Elvas during the night, we marched next +morning soon after dawn; and, passing through a plain of considerable +extent, crossed the Guadiana at Badajoz, the capital of Estremadura. +This movement introduced us at once into Spain; and the contrast, both +in personal appearance and in manners, between the people of the two +nations, which was instantly presented to us, I shall not readily +forget. Generally speaking, the natives of frontier districts partake +almost as much of the character of one nation as of another.... It is +not so on the borders of Spain and Portugal. The peasant who cultivates +his little field, or tends his flock on the right bank of the Guadiana, +is, in all his habits and notions, a different being from the peasant +who pursues similar occupations on its left bank; the first is a genuine +Portuguese, the last is a genuine Spaniard.... They cordially detest one +another; insomuch that their common wrongs and their common enmity to +the French were not sufficient, even at this time, to eradicate the +feeling. + +"It was not, however, by the striking diversity of private character +alone which subsisted between them, that we were made sensible, as soon +as we had passed the Guadiana, that a new nation was before us. The +Spaniards received us with a degree of indifference to which we had not +hitherto been accustomed. They were certainly not uncivil.... Whatever +we required they gave us, in return for our money; but as to enthusiasm +or a desire to anticipate our wants, there was not the shadow of an +appearance of anything of the kind about them. How different all this +from the poor Portuguese, who never failed to rend the air with their +_vivats_, and were at all times full of promises and protestations, no +matter how incapable they might be of fulfilling the one or +authenticating the other! The truth is that the Spaniard is a proud, +independent, and grave personage; possessing many excellent qualities, +but quite conscious of their existence, and not unapt to overrate +them.... Yet with all this, there was much about the air and manner of +the Spaniards to deserve and command our regard. The Portuguese are a +people that require rousing; they are indolent, lazy, and generally +helpless. We may value these our faithful allies, and render them +useful; but it is impossible highly to respect them. In the Spanish +character, on the contrary, there is mixed up a great deal of +haughtiness, a sort of manly independence of spirit, which you cannot +but admire, even though aware that it will render them by many degrees +less amenable to your wishes than their neighbours." + +With due allowance for time and circumstances, much in this passage +might have been written to-day instead of nearly ninety years ago, and +one cause of the difference in feeling is no doubt explained truly +enough. Perhaps some shallow persons are affected by the fact that in +good looks the Portuguese are as a race inferior to the Spaniards. But +there is no such real difference in character as to justify an impartial +observer in using a phrase so essentially galling to England's allies, +of whom Napier said: "The bulk of the people were, however, staunch in +their country's cause ... ready at the call of honour, and susceptible +of discipline, without any loss of energy." + +Throughout the whole Iberian Peninsula the main axiom of life appears to +be the same: "Never do to-day what you can put off to to-morrow." On the +left bank of the Guadiana it is summarised by the word _manana_; on the +right bank the word used is _amanha_. There is only a phonetic +distinction between the Spanish and the Portuguese idea. It is necessary +for the traveller in these countries to keep this axiom well in mind, +for it affords a clue to character and conduct the value of which cannot +be over-estimated, and not only to the character and conduct of +individuals, but to the whole national life of the inhabitants. In +Portugal it permeates all public and municipal life, and appears to +affect most especially that portion of the population who do not earn +their living by manual labour. The higher one goes up the scale, the +greater becomes the evidence of the ingrained habits of dilatoriness and +procrastination, and so any hard work on the part of the lower class of +toilers cannot be properly directed, and the commerce and industry of +the country either dwindle away together, or fall into the hands of more +energetic and active foreigners, who naturally carry off the profits +which should be properly applied to the welfare and prosperity of the +Lusitanians. + +The mineral wealth and natural resources of the country are enormous, +and it is really sad to contemplate the little use that is made of the +one or of the other unless developed by alien energy and worked by alien +capital. As regards this latter important factor, the administrative +corruption and the unsound state of the national finances render it +difficult to find foreign capitalists who are able and willing to embark +in the industrial enterprises, the successful issue of which affords the +only chance for this most interesting nation to recover something of its +ancient prosperity and to once more take a position in the world worthy +of the land of the hardy sailors and valiant captains who have left so +imperishable a record over the earth's surface. + +The intellectual life of Portugal seems to have ceased with Camoens. It +is rather pathetic the way in which the ordinary educated Portuguese +refers back to the great poet and to the heroic period which he +commemorated. No conversation of any length can be carried on without a +reference to Camoens and to Vasco da Gama. All history and all progress +appear to have culminated and stopped then. Apparently nothing worthy of +note has happened since. Camoens returned to Lisbon in 1569, and his +great epic poem saw the light in 1572. He died in a public hospital in +Lisbon in 1579 or 1580. In the latter year began the "sixty years' +captivity," when Portugal became merely a Spanish province; yet there +is no recollection of this--except the ingrained hatred of Spaniards and +of everything Spanish--or of the shaking off the yoke in 1640, and of +the battle of Amexial in 1663, where the English contingent bore the +brunt of the battle, and the "Portugueses," as they are called by the +author of _An Account of the Court of Portugal_, published in 1700, +claimed the principal part of the honour. The traces of the Peninsular +War have faded away, and on the lines of Torres Vedras there is scarcely +any tradition of the cause of their existence. In Lisbon, indeed, there +is one incident of later date than Camoens, which is considered worthy +of remembrance,--the great earthquake of 1755,--but this can scarcely be +looked upon as a national achievement, or a matter of intellectual +development. + +That Camoens is a fitting object for a nation's veneration cannot for a +moment be doubted. The high encomium passed upon "the Student, the +Soldier, the Traveller, the Patriot, the Poet, the mighty Man of Genius" +by Burton, appears to be in no way exaggerated. The healthful influence +of his life and writings has done and is still doing good in his beloved +country. But though the man who in his lifetime was neglected, and who +was allowed to die in the depths of poverty and misery, is now the most +honoured of his countrymen, and his rank as one of the world's great +poets is universally acknowledged, his labours have been to a certain +extent in vain. + +Not only industry, but culture, literature, and art appear to be +infested with the mildew of decay. There is a good university at +Coimbra, where alone, it is said, the language is spoken correctly. +There is an excellent system of elementary and secondary schools, but in +practice it is incomplete and subject to many abuses, like most public +institutions in the country. The irregularities of the language, without +authoritative spelling or pronunciation, and the best dictionary of +which is Brazilian, have a bad effect upon the literature of the +country. + +The language, more purely Latin in its base than either of the other +Latin tongues, with an admixture of Moorish, and strengthened by the +admission of many words of foreign origin, introduced during the period +of great commercial prosperity, possesses ample means for the expression +of ideas and of shades of thought, and though it loses somewhat of the +musical quality of the other languages in consequence of a rather large +percentage of the nasal tones which are peculiar to it, yet it will hold +its own well with the remaining members of the group. + +Whatever the cause, however, there is hardly any general literature; +almost the only books (not professional or technical) which are +published, appear to be translations of French novels--not of the +highest class. Perhaps in the study of archaeology and folklore is to be +found the most cultured phase of Portuguese intelligence. The +Archaeological Society of Lisbon strives to do good work, and has a +museum with interesting relics in the old church of the Carmo, itself +one of the most interesting and graceful ruins left out of the havoc +caused by the great earthquake. + +As might be expected under such circumstances, the newspapers are, with +few exceptions, of the "rag" variety. Conducted for the most part by +clever young fellows fresh from Coimbra, they are violent in their views +and incorrect in their news, especially with regard to foreign +intelligence. They have some influence, no doubt, but not so much as the +same type of newspaper in France. The habitual want of veracity of the +Portuguese character is naturally emphasised in the newspapers, and no +one in his senses would believe any statement made in them. + +A sure sign of the decadence of intellectual life, as well as of +commercial activity, is to be found in the postal service, with its +antiquated methods and imperfect arrangements. It is administered in a +happy-go-lucky manner, which amuses at the same time that it annoys. +Truly, with the post-office, it is well constantly to repeat to one's +self the phrase: "Patience! all will be well to-morrow!" Probably it +won't be well; but none but a foolish Englishman or Frenchman or German +will bother about such a little matter. + +A kindly, brave, docile, dishonest, patient, and courteous people, who, +to quote Napier "retain a sense of injury or insult with incredible +tenacity;" and a due observance of their customs and proper politeness +are so readily met, and friendly advances are so freely proffered, that +a sojourn amongst them is pleasant enough. I have wondered that the +tourist has not found his way more into this smiling land, though, no +doubt, his absence is a matter of congratulation to the traveller in +these regions. The country has many beauties, the people and their +costumes are picturesque, and the cost of living--even allowing for a +considerable percentage of cheating--is not excessive. There is, I +suppose, a want of the ordinary attractions for the pure tourist or +globe-trotter. There are churches, monuments, and objects of interest in +goodly numbers, and there is beautiful scenery in great variety; but the +true attraction to a thoughtful visitor lies in the contemplation of the +people themselves. + +The Portuguese, taken as a whole, are not a good-looking race. The +women, who, as a rule, are very pretty as little girls, lose their good +looks as they grow up, and are disappointing when compared with the +Spaniards. Sometimes one comes across fish- or market-women of +considerable comeliness, which, when conjoined to the graceful figure +and poise induced by the habitual carriage of heavy weights on the head +and the absence of shoes, makes a striking picture. The costume is +attractive, and the wealth of golden ear-rings, charms, chains, and such +like, in which these women invest their savings, does not somehow seem +anomalous or incongruous, though shown on a background of dirty and +ragged clothing. + +One unfortunate peculiarity that cannot help being noticed is the number +of persons whose eyes are not on the same level. When this does not +amount to an actual disfigurement, it is still a blemish which prevents +many a young girl from being classed as a beauty. This and the peculiar +notched or cleft teeth seem to point to an hereditary taint. Also +unmistakable signs of a greater or lesser admixture of black blood are +numerous. As a rule, the Portuguese are dark-complexioned, with large +dark eyes and black hair; but, of course, one meets many exceptions. The +men of the working class are fond of wearing enormous bushy whiskers, +and women of all classes are accustomed to wear _moustachios_. The thin +line of softest down which accentuates the ripe lips of the _senhorina_ +of some seventeen summers becomes an unattractive incident in the broad +countenance of the stout lady of advancing years; and when, as sometimes +happens, the hirsute appendages take the form of a thin, straggling +beard, with a tooth-brush moustache, it can only be described as an +unmitigated horror. + +Society in Portugal is very mixed. There are the old _fidalgos_, haughty +and unapproachable, and often very poor, the descendants of the nobles +whose duplicity, ability in intrigue, and want of patriotism are so +often alluded to in the pages of Napier. Then there are the new +nobility, the "titled Brasileros," as Galenga calls them, who have come +back from Brazil to their native land with large fortunes acquired +somehow, and who practically buy titles, as well as lands and houses. +Wealthy tradesmen, also, hold a special position in the mixed middle +class. There is, too, a curious blending of old-fashioned courtesy with +democratic sentiments. The tradesman welcomes his customers with +effusive politeness--shakes hands as he invites them to sit down, and +chats with these perhaps titled ladies without any affectation or +assumption. After a while the parties turn to business. A sort of +Oriental bargaining takes place, the seller asking twice as much as the +object is worth and he intends to take. The purchaser meets this with an +offer of about half what she intends to give. With the utmost politeness +and civility the negotiations are conducted on either side. Each gives +way little by little, and in the end a bargain is struck. The amounts +involved appear to be enormous, as the _reis_ are computed by thousands +and hundreds; but, then, the _real_ is only worth about the thousandth +part of three shillings and twopence at the present rate of exchange, +and the long and exciting transaction, in all its various phases, has +resulted in one or other of the parties having scored or missed a small +victory. Verily, even to the loser, the pleasure is cheap at the price. + +The Brazilian element is most conspicuous in Lisbon, and partly in +consequence that city is only a little modern capital, somewhat feebly +imitating Paris in certain ways, and, consequently, lacking the +individuality and interest of Oporto. Yet Lisbon has a charm of its own; +and the beauties of the Aveneida, the Roscio (known to the English as +the "Rolling Motion Square," from its curious pattern of black and white +pavement), the Black Horse Square, the broad and beautiful Tagus, the +hills whereon the city is built, and the lovely gardens with their +sub-tropical vegetation, will repay a stay of some weeks' duration. + +Outside the mercantile element, there is considerable difficulty for a +stranger to formulate the boundaries of other social strata. It would +appear that the professions are in an indifferent position. Lawyers, of +course, as in most other countries, are looked upon as rogues. How far +this is the effect of the general prejudice, or whether it has any +special foundation in fact, it would be hard to say. No doubt there are +upright men amongst them, as in every other walk of life. There is a +general idea that the medical training is lax, and the doctors, as a +rule, are not highly considered. It is admitted, however, that they are +as devoted, and as ready to risk their own lives, as those of other +countries, a fact which was fully proved by several of the doctors at +Oporto and Lisbon on the occasion of the outbreak of the plague in 1899. + +The system of fees in general use tends to damage the position of both +lawyers and doctors. In reply to the question as to his indebtedness, +the client or the patient is told: "What you please." This sounds +courteous, but is, in effect, embarrassing, as it is hard to estimate +what is a fair fee under the circumstances, and generally one or the +other of the parties is dissatisfied, and a sore feeling is left behind. + +There are several orders of knighthood, which are showered about on +occasion. The reasons for giving them are various. For instance, a Court +tradesman may receive a decoration in lieu of immediate payment of a +long-standing bill. The ribbons and buttons are not worn so freely as +elsewhere on the Continent. The polite style in addressing a stranger is +in the third person, and such titles as Your Excellency, Your Lordship, +and Your Worship, sometimes enlarged with the adjective _illustrissimo_ +(most illustrious), are common enough. When an Englishman is first +addressed as _Vossa Illustrissima Excellencia_ (Your Most Illustrious +Excellency), he begins to feel as if he were playing a part in one of +Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas. He soon gets used to it, however, +and accepts the superlatives without turning a hair. + +Of all classes it may be said that their manners are, on the whole, +good, and their morals generally lax. Cleanliness has no special place +assigned to it amongst the virtues. If it comes next to godliness, then +the latter must be very low down the scale. It seems incredible, but +verminous heads are to be found in the ranks of well-to-do tradespeople. +Fleas and bugs abound, and happy is he whose skin is too tough, or whose +flesh is too sour, to attract these ferocious insects. There is not much +luxury and there is a fair amount of thrift, while frugality of living +is common, especially among the populace. + +One great characteristic is the intense love of children which is +exhibited by all classes, and there is no surer way to the good will of +a native than a kindness, however slight, to a child in whom he or she +is interested. As is natural under such circumstances, the children are +shockingly indulged and spoilt, with all the resultant unpleasant and +evil consequences. Cats, also, are great favourites with the Portuguese, +and the thousands of shabby animals of Lisbon and Oporto show no sign of +fear if a stranger stops to stroke them. They are accustomed to kind +treatment, and look upon all human beings as friends. + +As a rule, a rather large number of servants are employed. They are +poorly paid, and in many households indifferently fed and housed. Often +they are dirty, lazy, dishonest sluts. They chatter shrilly with the +master or mistress, answer and argue when told of any shortcoming, and +are always ready to go off at a moment's notice. But they are often +capable of devoted service, and of a sincere desire to be obliging, and +may always be counted on to exhibit the utmost kindness to the children +of the house. Their written references, as a rule, are frauds. If you +ask for the _boas referencias_ (good references), so often mentioned in +the advertisements of _criadas_ (female servants), you will probably +find that, even if genuine, they are antiquated, and that they leave +many gaps between the various periods of service which can only be +filled up by conjecture. _Criadas_ are not, as a rule, of immaculate +virtue, and give some trouble by their desire to go to _festas_ and to +servants' balls. The male servants are, as a rule, better than the +_criadas_. Servants are somewhat roughly treated, and are ordered about +as if they were dogs. It is always said that they do not understand or +appreciate milder or more civil treatment, and are inclined to despise a +master or mistress who uses the Portuguese equivalent to "please," or +who acknowledges a service with thanks. I am inclined to doubt this, +both from my personal observation and from a casual remark made to me by +the landlady of a hotel at Cintra, that her waiters and servants much +preferred English to native visitors, because of the greater politeness +and consideration shown to them by the former. Of course, as in all +other countries, servants are described as one of the greatest plagues +in life; but this must be taken for what it is worth. And what would the +ladies do without such a subject to grumble about? + +Portugal is a poor country, despite its natural resources. The wealthy +people are few, and consist mainly of returned Brazilians. It cannot be +said, either, that the classes in the enjoyment of a competence +constitute a fair average of the community. But the poor are very +abundant. Wages are terribly low, even a foreman in an engineering shop +getting only a milrei a day, averaging _3s. 2d._ in English money. On +the other hand, it must be remembered that in such a climate the "living +wage" is necessarily lower than in England. Many necessities in England +are superfluities or even inconveniences under sunnier skies. The +people, too, are very frugal, and even in towns, though rents be high, +all other necessaries are moderate in price. The standard of life is not +high, and the people are contented with a style of living which would be +indignantly rejected by English labourers. + +The artisans are not good workmen, but plod on fairly well, and, with +the exception of _festas_, require few holidays. They prefer to work on +Sundays, and grumble at their English employers, who generally split the +difference, by closing their shops for half a day. They look upon this +as a grievance, however much they may be assured that it makes no +difference in their wages. + +[Illustration: A COUNTRY CABIN IN GALICIA] + +A very hard-working class of men are the Gallegos, the natives of +Galicia, who are nearly as numerous in Lisbon as they were when Napier +wrote, and where, then as now, they act as porters, messengers, +scavengers, and water-carriers, and are found in all sorts of lowly +and laborious occupations. As porters and messengers, they have an +excellent reputation for honesty, and for being most civil and obliging. +Gallenga, a fairly shrewd observer, considers that the employment of +these Spaniards has deplorable effects on the character of the +Portuguese nation. I cannot go all the way with him in the gloomy view +he takes of it, but it must be conceded that the existence of such a +body of aliens (estimated at twelve thousand in Lisbon alone) working +hard and well at occupations which the Portuguese will not do at all, +or, if they attempt them, will do indifferently; herding together some +ten or twelve in a small room, living on maize bread and a clove of +garlic washed down with water; accepting thankfully a very attenuated +hire, and yet contriving to send substantial savings back to +Galicia,--must considerably affect the labour market and tend to keep +wages low. They also close certain forms of labour to the native worker, +and cause these industries to be looked on with contempt. + +In towns like Lisbon and Oporto a great number of persons are employed +in the fish trade. The fish-girls, with their distinctive costumes, +their bare feet, and the graceful poise of the heavy basket of fish on +their heads, are a very characteristic feature of both towns. The +costumes differ in the two cities, mainly in the head-gear, but they are +both picturesque and dirty, and emit the same "ancient and fish-like +smell." The men, too, with their bare legs and feet, balancing a long +pole on the shoulder, with a basket of fish at each end, will cover a +marvellous amount of ground in a day at the curious trotting pace which +they affect. Miles inland these men will carry their finny wares, +stopping at the public water-supplies to moisten the cloth which +protects the fish from the sun and dust. These may or may not be fresh +when the day's work is nearly done, but housewives purchasing a supply +in the afternoon had better keep a very sharp look-out. + +Fish plays an important part in the domestic economy of dwellers within +a reasonable distance of the sea, and forms a considerable item in the +food-stuffs of the working classes. It is fairly cheap, and is cooked so +as to get the full value of it. More important than the fresh fish is +the salted cod (_bacalhao_). This, which Napier described as "the +ordinary food of the Portuguese," is the backbone of the worker's +_menu_. It is not fragrant, nor is it inviting in aspect in its raw +state, but it is said to be highly nutritive, and it can certainly be +cooked in ways which make it appetising. The midday meal, which the wife +brings to her husband at his work, and shares with him as they sit in +the shade, is often composed of a _caldo_ (soup) made of _bacalhao_, or +of all sorts of oddments, thickened with beans and flavoured with +garlic, accompanied by a bit of rye-bread or of _broa_, the bread made +from maize. These soups and breads, accompanied by salads, onions, +tomatoes, and other vegetables, washed down with draughts of a light red +table-wine of little alcoholic strength, form the not unwholesome +average diet of the worker with his hands. If he wants to get drunk, he +can do so, with some difficulty, by imbibing sufficient wine, but the +easiest method is to drink the fearful crude spirit _aguardente_. If he +survives, he gets horribly, brutally drunk, and possibly does some +mischief before he recovers. But it is only fair to say that he but +rarely gets drunk, and that when he is thirsty he quenches his thirst +with water, with a harmless decoction of herbs or lemonade, or with the +almost innocuous wine. This sobriety is not the result of any temperance +legislation or restrictions. No license is required for opening a shop +for the sale of liquor. Only revenue dues and _octroi_ duties have to be +paid, and, of course, there is a liability to police supervision, which +provides the police with a means of increasing their very inadequate pay +by bribes or blackmail. + +The amusements of the workman in the town are few enough, and mostly of +a domestic character. He sits on his doorstep, or on a bench in the +nearest gardens. He smokes the eternal cigarette, gossips with his +neighbours, plays with his children, and pets the cat. His only real +playtimes are the _festas_, when for some hours he indulges in +revelry--if, indeed, it be worthy of such a title. He reads the +newspaper but little,--if he can read at all,--which is, perhaps, a +good thing for him, and he is generally a Republican. This Republicanism +is mostly academic, but the "red" type is not wanting, and a fiery +spirit might be roused at any time, with consequences that cannot be +foreseen. Of course, the younger men tinkle the guitar, and make love +more or less openly to the girls. When age overtakes a man or misfortune +overpowers him, there is no poor law to take him in charge, but there +are extensive and well-organised charities in every centre which are +eager and willing to assist those who are temporarily afflicted, and to +afford sustenance--a bare sustenance, perhaps--to those who are +permanently disabled. + +The amusements of the town--the theatre, the concert, and the opera--do +not affect the workman much; his budget does not allow of such +indulgence, except on the occasion of a free performance. Though they +are fairly musical and love the theatre, the Portuguese have no really +aesthetic side to their character. There is a queer song and dance, +topical and rather broad, the _chula_, the somewhat monotonous refrain +of which is to be heard everywhere and at all hours, and from all +manners of lips. The washerwomen kneeling by the brook bang the +unfortunate clothes on the flat stones in rhythm with the tune, and +beguile the time with the interminable song. It arises in unexpected +places, and is a fairly sure item in the gathering of the younger folk, +both in towns and villages, in the cool of the evening. Concerts and +theatres are fairly patronised by the more moneyed classes, but the +performances are not, as a rule, of a very high calibre. There is a +subsidised theatre at Lisbon, but it does little to elevate the dramatic +art elsewhere. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +PORTUGUESE INSTITUTIONS + + +The Portuguese army is raised by conscription, each parish, according to +size, having to contribute an annual quota of young men between twenty +and twenty-one years of age. These have to serve three consecutive years +with the colours, and then pass into the reserve for another ten years. +During the latter period no conscript can leave the country without a +passport. In time of peace the army is supposed to number about thirty +thousand men, and on the war footing should consist of about one hundred +and twenty thousand men and two hundred and sixty-four guns. The men, +who in summer wear brown holland clothes, look hardy enough, and, +according to ordinary report, are worthy of the plucky _cacadores_ of +the Peninsular War, who, according to Napier, made most excellent +soldiers when properly led. It is still said of the Portuguese soldier +that with three beans in his pocket he can march and fight for a week +without making any further demands upon the commissariat department. +This military service does not affect the nation much, either morally +or physically, and the only economical effect is probably that it +provides a fruitful source of plunder to corrupt officials. As any man +can free himself of the three years' service with the colours by paying +a sum of about L24, it may be imagined what an opening this affords for +special peculation. + +The navy consists of about five thousand men, and of a few modern +war-ships, and of some old boats whose seaworthiness is questionable. +The best ship at present on the list is the cruiser _Dom Carlos_, which +was sent to take part in the naval pageant which formed the first +portion of the funeral of Queen Victoria. The sailors, who are much to +be seen in Lisbon, where the great naval barracks are situated, look +smart enough, and as the Portuguese have always been good sailors, it +may safely be predicted that, in case of necessity, they will make the +most of the limited means at their disposal, or of such of them as have +not been utterly ruined by official indifference or worse. + +In the towns one meets men in various employments, such as the police, +who have served in the army, and still retain some sort of soldierly +appearance, but once get into the country, and it is vain to look for +any evidence of military service amongst the rural population. + +The country-folk are a patient lot; most of them ruminants, like their +own oxen. Sleepy always, and slow in their movements, they are often +devoted to the farm, or _quinta_, on which they work, and are, perhaps, +slightly more honest than their fellows in the towns. They are frugal +enough, and enjoy their huge junks of dark bread, washed down with +water, at their midday meal, and a sound sleep under the shade of an +orange tree or a eucalyptus, or a bit of a wall, until it is necessary +to begin work again. The peasant costumes are not inviting; they are +simply squalid. Costumes in the towns are much better. Still, on festal +days the village women deck themselves out with bright-hued shawls, and +the men wind brighter scarfs round their waists to keep up their +patchwork trousers, and thus relieve what would otherwise be the +intolerable dinginess of the whole scene. The farmer himself, mounted on +his mule, with high-peaked saddle and enormous wooden stirrups decorated +with brass, his cloak, with the bright scarlet or blue lining folded +outwards, strapped on in front, with his short jacket and broad-brimmed +hat, offers a smart and typical figure. + +In town or country, the beautiful oxen are worthy of admiration. They +are the most satisfactory of all the rural animals. Horses, shabby and +attenuated, little sheep of a colour from black to dirty grey, showing +affinity to goats, and having neither the grace of the latter nor the +sleepy comeliness of our own sheep, black and white cows whose points +would not be much thought of by judges at an agricultural show, goats of +all sorts of breeds, and finally pigs of a most lanky and uninviting +appearance, form the stock of the farms. Heaps of chickens of all sorts +run about everywhere, and enjoy fine dust-baths by the side of the road. + +The aspect of the country varies much between north and south. In the +former, one sees real grass and hedges, and the bright flowers that are +common everywhere look all the better for their green background. The +commonest hedge in the south, and occasionally in the north, is made of +a few layers of stones loosely laid together with a row of aloe plants +on the top. These grow formidable in time, with huge sharp-pointed +leaves, and they present a curious appearance when at intervals in such +a row plants send up their huge flowering stems from nine to twelve feet +high, looking at a little distance like telegraph poles. + +Despite the squalid clothes of the peasants, there are many picturesque +aspects of rural life. The driving of large herds of cattle by mounted +men, armed with long goads, is an interesting as well as an artistic +sight, and the same may be said of the primitive agricultural +occupations. The crops are harvested with a sickle, and you may wake up +some morning to see the field opposite your house invaded by some twenty +to thirty reapers, men and women, boys and girls, patiently sawing their +way through the wheat or barley, or whatever it is. The corn is threshed +out with the flail, or trodden out by the oxen--all operations fair to +look upon. Forms of cultivation interesting to watch are the very +primitive ploughing, the hoeing of the maize, and all those connected +with the culture of the vines and the orange and other fruit trees, and +especially the irrigation, which is so important to these latter. In +fact, one of the most charming of rural sights is the old water-wheel, +groaning and creaking as it is turned by the patient ox or mule or pony, +splashing the cool water from the well out of its earthen pots--each +with a hole in the bottom--and discharging it into the trough leading to +the irrigation channels or to the reservoir from which the water may +afterwards be let off in the required direction. + +But agriculture is not always so backward and primitive. There are great +landowners and large farmers who use the newest and best agricultural +implements. The Government does what it can to encourage the use of +artificial manures, and there are societies which render important +services to agriculturists and to fruit-growers. Amid such labours live +the quiet country-folk. They have no thought of anything; they have no +special amusements beyond an occasional _festa_ and a dance. They sit +round the village well in the evening, and when not talking scandal, +tell stories about--"Once upon a time there was a poor widow with one or +more daughters," or "There was once a king's son"--often a Moorish +king. The old well-known tales reappear, modified to the Portuguese +character and morality. + +The following is a story taken from Braga's excellent book: "There was, +once upon a time, a poor widow that had only one daughter. This girl, +going out to bathe in the river with her companions on St. John's eve, +at the advice of one of her friends, placed her ear-rings on the top of +a stone, lest she should lose them in the water. While she was playing +about in the river an old man passed along, who, seeing the ear-rings, +took them and placed them in a leather bag he was carrying. The poor +child was much grieved at this, and ran after the old man, who consented +to restore her belongings if she would search for them inside his sack. +This the girl did, and forthwith the artful old man closed the mouth of +the bag and carried her off therein. He subsequently told her that she +must help him to gain a living, and that whenever he recited-- + + 'Sing, sack, + Else thou wilt be beaten with a stick!' + +she was to sing lustily. Wherever they came he placed his sack on the +ground, and addressed the above formula to it, when the poor girl sang +as loud as she could: + + 'I am placed in this sack, + Where my life I shall lose, + For love of my ear-rings, + Which I left in the stream.' + +The old man obtained much money from the audiences attracted by his +singing leather bag. The authorities of one town, however, became +suspicious, and, examining the sack while its owner was asleep, found +and released the child. They filled up the bag with all the filth they +could pick up, and left it where they had found it. The little girl was +sent back to her mother. When the old man woke next morning, and took +out the sack to earn his breakfast, the usual incantation had no effect, +and when he applied the threatened stick the bag burst, and all the +filth came out, which he was compelled to lick up by the enraged +populace." At the close of the story the cigarettes glow, the white +teeth gleam, the bushy whiskers wag, the old women chuckle, the girls +giggle, and the youths snigger, and as the short twilight is now over, +the group breaks up, and each vanishes into his or her own +vermin-pasture to sleep until _amanha_ has actually become to-day, and +the sun shines on another exact repetition of yesterday. + +The Portuguese are superstitious, and are devout up to a certain point, +and the clerics are exceedingly intolerant. In the morning one sees, as +in all Roman Catholic countries, devout worshippers kneeling about in +the churches before their favourite shrines, but, unlike the practice of +most Roman Catholic countries, the churches are closed at or about noon +for the most part, and are only open for special masses after that time. +The procession of the Host is greeted with most extreme reverence, and +whether it be in the fashionable Chiado at Lisbon or along a country +lane, all uncover and make the sign of the cross, and many, even +fashionably dressed ladies and gentlemen, kneel down and bow themselves +humbly as the sacred wafer passes by, borne by the gorgeously vested +priest; at least, in the cities the vestments are gorgeous, and a long +train of acolytes and attendants makes the procession imposing, but in +the country the vestments are often mildewed and decayed, and the one or +two rustic attendants are not dignified in appearance. Still, the sacred +symbol is the same, and the reverence and the devotion are the same. + +There is an excessive hierarchy for the size of the country, there being +in Portugal proper three ecclesiastical provinces, ruled respectively by +the Patriarch of Lisbon and by the Archbishops of Braga and Evora. +Besides these, there is the colonial province which is ruled by the +Archbishop of Goa, Archpriests and other dignitaries abound, so that a +priest has something to look forward to in the way of promotion; and +yet, as a rule, the priests perform their duties without zeal and in a +slovenly manner. One often hears it said that their behaviour and their +morality leave much to be desired. There are among them gentlemen of +blameless life and even of ascetic practices, but it is commonly +reported that, as a whole, they are of inferior birth and education. It +is not easy for a stranger to form any opinion on these points, but it +must be conceded that their appearance is generally suggestive of the +truth of the statement, and it may be admitted that there is an undue +proportion of ignoble and sensuous faces amongst them. + +Funerals are occasions of great pomp, and are often picturesque enough, +while the masses for the dead at intervals after and on the anniversary +are, no doubt, profitable to the Church. By attending these one has a +good opportunity of testifying to the esteem in which the deceased was +held, or to one's good will towards the family or representatives. These +masses are generally advertised in the papers, with thanks to those +friends who have attended funeral masses. As there is scarcely any +intellectual activity in Portugal, there is practically no religious +thought. A dull acquiescence in the dictates of the Church may be +crossed by an occasional gleam of rebellion against sacerdotalism, +roused by some temporary stirring up of the hatred felt against the +Jesuits. But it in no way alters the habitual attitude of the people +towards religion and its outward manifestations. One thing is certain, +and that is that in town or country a man or a woman must be in the +lowest depths of poverty and distress to refuse to throw a few _reis_ +into the bags of the licensed mendicants who, bareheaded, and clad in +scarlet or white gowns, go round soliciting alms for the support of the +churches on whose behalf they are sent out. + +As is customary in most countries, the women are more amenable to +religious influences than the men, and are more under the dominion of +the priest. This is not likely to be altered yet awhile, for, under the +present system of education and bringing up, the female portion of the +community is not only not intellectual, but may even be described as +being unintelligent. They are slovenly, and cannot be described as good +housewives. They are pleasure-loving and garrulous, though this latter +trait is not, I suppose, a specially national characteristic. They do +much hard work, especially in the fields. In the classes above (if +_above_ be the proper word) the hand-workers, the young girls are still +kept very strictly, and are not allowed to go out alone. Their knowledge +of life is limited to the view from the windows of their homes, where +they may be seen looking out on the street scenes below whenever the +shade allows them to stand at the window or on the balcony. No "new +woman" movement of any importance has yet taken place, and though there +are modifications in woman's position in the national life, it is +probable that it will take one if not more generations before women in +Portugal achieve the emancipation which their sisters have attained in +more progressive countries. + +In one circumstance, however, woman does take her place by the side of +man, and that is in the bull-ring--not, indeed, in the arena, but in +every part of the amphitheatre, from the worst seats on the sunny side +to the costly boxes in the shade. She takes as great an interest in the +bull-fight as the man, and if she does not shout and swear, or fling her +hat into the ring in her enthusiasm, she delights probably more than the +man in the beauty of the spectacle, and appreciates almost as fully the +feats of skill and daring which give such special attraction to the +national pastime. This is a right royal sport, and as in Portugal the +horrid cruelty which defaces it in Spain is absent, there is no +overwhelming reason why the women should not sit and applaud the +picturesque scene and the exhibitions of pluck and agility shown by the +performers. + +The scene is really magnificent, and the enthusiasm of the audience must +be witnessed in order to understand the underlying potentialities of the +Portuguese character. The vile abuse of a bull who will not show fight +is comical to listen to. Probably, in such a case, the bull has been +through it all before, and he does not care to make wild rushes at +cloaks which have nothing substantial behind them. So he paws up the +sand and looks theatrical, but refuses to budge. Then a nimble +_bandarilhero_ faces him, and fixes a pair of _bandarilhas_ in his +neck--one on each side if he can manage it. This is unpleasant, no +doubt, but the bull's former experience tells him that it is not +serious, and not even very painful. It was irritating the first time, +but no well-bred bull should condescend to be upset by such a trifle. +Another pair of _bandarilhas_, and yet another, are fixed into his +shoulders by their barbed points--or the attempt is made to fix them. +Then the bull begins to play the game in a condescending sort of way. +Then the great man, the _espada_ himself, comes on the scene, and +arranges and waves his scarlet flag, and walks up to the obstinate +animal, perhaps flicks him in the nostrils with his pocket-handkerchief +and calls him _vacca_ (cow)! At last, seemingly out of good nature, the +bull rushes at the red flag, has the highly decorated dart stuck between +his shoulders, by the daring _espada_ who may perform some other feat, +listens to the applause, and laughs to himself when he hears the +bugle-call and sees the trained oxen rush in with their long bells and +their attendant herdsmen, and with more or less of a frolicsome air he +trots out of the arena in their company and, having had his sore +shoulders attended to, and having had a good feed, chews the cud with a +pleasant reminiscence of the afternoon's work. It is a mistake not to +kill the bull, which is not cruel in itself, but which would prevent +some rather tiresome interludes when a knowing old bull refuses to be +coaxed into playing his part of the game. + +Far different, however, is the scene when a really spirited bull comes +in with a rush and charges wildly at the brightly attired performers, +and makes them skip over the barrier, often leaving their cloaks behind +them. Sometimes the bull skips over too, and then there is a most +amusing scene, as performers, attendants, and all vault back over the +barrier into the ring itself. When the _espada_ finally performs his +courageous feat under such conditions, he obtains such an ovation as his +skill deserves. Hats of all sorts and shapes are cast to him in the +arena, which he has to pick up and throw or hand back to the admirers +who testify their satisfaction in this curious manner. Cigars, also, are +thrown at the successful bull-fighter's feet, and these he keeps. The +most famous _espadas_ are all Spaniards, and they all wear the +traditional dress of their calling. If, on the one hand, there is not +the thrill of the actual killing of the bull, on the other there are no +miserable old horses to be ripped up, and no smell of blood. Next to the +actual bull-fights come the selections of the young bulls from the +herds, when the members of the Tauromachian Societies exhibit their +skill, and where many a gay young fellow gets much knocked about in +exhibiting his agility or the want of it. + +Other sports cannot be said to have any marked existence. Dancing is a +national amusement, and a few of the Anglicised Portuguese go in for +cricket and lawn-tennis. Cycling, though not unknown, is far from +common, the roads being, as a rule, much too bad for comfortable or even +for safe riding. + +Local and provincial government leaves much to be desired in Portugal. +The keeping up of the roads is inconceivably bad. A royal road (_estrada +real_) is generally the worst of all, and, with such an example before +them, it is not to be wondered at that local authorities neglect their +duties in this matter. + +"No capital city in Europe suffers so much as Lisbon from the want of +good police regulations." This quotation from Napier might very well be +written to-day, and extended to include all Portuguese towns. Perhaps it +is fair to say that it is not so much the regulations that are at fault +as the incompetence and indifference of each local authority, which +irresistibly suggest that corruption alone can account for such a mass +of evil. The administrative machine is elaborate, and ought to be more +effective. First, there is the district, ruled by the Civil Governor, an +officer somewhat resembling a French prefect, with its corporate body +known as the District Commission. There are seventeen districts, which +are subdivided into two hundred and sixty-two communes. The head of a +commune is the Administrator, and the corporation is known as the +Municipal Chamber. The last subdivision is that of the communes into +parishes, of which there are three thousand seven hundred and +thirty-five. Each of these has as its head an officer called a +_regedor_, and occupies the attention of a _junta de parochia_, or +parish council. + +The scavenging, sanitation, watering, paving, and all the other works +which fall within the sphere of the municipality or local authority are +defective and neglected. The one bright point, both in Oporto and +Lisbon, is the care, skill, and attention with which the public gardens +and squares are tended. The palms, tree-ferns, cacti, and other +semi-tropical and sub-tropical plants are beautiful in themselves, and +are arranged and intermingled with other trees and shrubs in a most +artistic manner. The grass (upon which no one, of course, may walk) is +kept green by constant watering, and affords a delightful contrast to +the generally dry and dusty aspect of the city. Another organisation +which is generally efficient and well conducted is that of the fire +brigades. The municipal firemen--the _bombeiros_--are often stimulated +by a healthy rivalry with the volunteer brigades, which are numerous, +well found, and, as a rule, well managed. The latter are often centres +of good charitable work outside their actual fire service, and they are +valuable as offering a fair and worthy opportunity for the display of +sound public spirit and good feeling. + +Though Portuguese laws are, as a rule, admirable in themselves, the +administration thereof is bad in the extreme, and the judiciary have a +reputation for turpitude remarkable even amongst the recognised +corruption of all officials. In Portugal proper there are two judicial +districts--that of Lisbon and that of Oporto. Each has a high court +known as a _Relacao_, and there are inferior courts of various styles +and titles. Above all is the Supreme Tribunal of Justice at Lisbon, +which is the final court of appeal, and the reputation of which is +somewhat better than that of any other tribunal. The administration of +criminal justice is naturally amongst the worst. According to common +repute, the only consideration with the judges is how they are to get +the costs paid--whether they are more likely to obtain them through an +acquittal, which throws them on the prosecutor, or by a conviction. +Also, it is generally said that the police themselves are recruited from +amongst the very lowest classes. + +The prisons are described as being something awful, only to be equalled +in Morocco and savage countries. In the market-place of beautiful Cintra +stands the prison, against the barred windows of which crowd the +prisoners, begging for money, cigarettes, and food, which are supplied +to them through the prison bars by their friends and sympathisers, and +by soft-hearted people. Those who are incarcerated in the upper story +have baskets, which they lower by means of strings, so that they may be +supplied in the same manner. This seems to have amused Miss Leck +(_Iberian Sketches_, Chap. VI.), but it assumes a much more serious +aspect when one considers that in those filthy dens all the prisoners +are huddled together--old men and boys, the murderer and the petty +thief, habitual criminals and unfortunate persons taken into custody on +mere suspicion, or charged with an alleged breach of some police or +even railway regulation; for it must be remembered that a station-master +has nearly the same power as a policeman in taking a person into +custody. "No one shall be put in prison," says the Portuguese code, +"except under special circumstances"; but when the exceptions are +considered, they are found to cover nearly every abuse of authority on +the part of the pettiest official which can be conceived. Hence, all +persons are obliged to submit to gross injustice and to a certain amount +of blackmail if they wish to avoid the noisome experiences of a +Portuguese gaol. + +The Portuguese must be undoubtedly "of a docile and orderly +disposition," as Napier says, or the crying injustices to which they +submit with such patience would lead them to revolt; and if this were to +happen, who could attempt to predict what excesses would be left +uncommitted by a violent southron mob whose passions had been roused to +such a pitch of activity? Perhaps _paciencia_ and _amanha_ have their +utility, and enable the people to bear the ills they have. They can even +joke and caricature themselves, and though the comic journals are +neither brilliant nor artistic, they show, at least, that a sense of +humour is still left in our Lusitanian friends. + + + + +INDEX + + + Academies, 238, 243 + + Actors, 242 + + Agriculture, 167 _et seq._ + + Alfonso XII., 28, 104, 144, 268, 273 + + Alfonso XIII., 98, 272 + + Amadeo, King, 143 + + American War, 192 _et seq._ + + Amusements, 111 _et seq._ + + Andaluces, 33 + + Andalucia, 33 + + Apostolic party, 9 + + Aragon, 29 + + Army, 183 _et seq._ + + Art, 236 _et seq._ + + Artillery, 187 + + Artistic furniture, 176 + + Arts and crafts, 175, 176 + + Asturian nurses, 27 + + Asturias, 26 + + Asturias, Princess of, 103, 219 + + Austrian kings, 15, 21, 22 + + _Autos-da-fe_, 18, 200, 201 + + + Bank of Spain, 265 + + Barcelona, 266 + + Basque Provinces, 26, 27, 188 + + Basques, 28 + + Beggars, 226 + + Berwick y Alva, Duke of, 184 + + Bilbao, 11, 161, 177, 178, 266 + + _Boletin de la Camara de Comercio_, 163, 265 + + _Bueyes_, 28 + + Bull-fighters, 126 _et seq._ + + Bulls, 95 _et seq._ + + Bureaucracy, 148, 156 + + + _Cabestros_, 95 + + Caciqueism, 145, 148 _et seq._ + + Caesars, Spanish, 11, 12 + + _Camarilla_, 6 + + Campoamor, 61 + + Canovas del Castillo, 136 + + Capital, 174, 175 + + Carlos, Don, 7, 9, 10 + + Carriages, 88-90 + + Casa de Campo, 84, 85 + + Castelar, 139 _et seq._ + + _Castellano_, 266 + + Castile, 31 + + Castilians, 11, 25, 32 + + Catalans, 25 + + Cataluna, 17, 175, 266 + + Cats, 79 _et seq._ + + Cervantes, 47, 48 + + Cervera, Admiral, 47, 190, 193 + + _Cesantes_, 145-147 + + Characteristics, 38 _et seq._, 260 + + Charitable institutions, 227 + + Charles III., 22 + + Charles V., 14 + + Children, 233 + + Church, the, 9, 199 + + Cigar industry, 177 + + Clerical question, 21, 221, 272 + + Climate of Madrid, 65 _et seq._ + + Climates of Spain, 167, 170 + + Cock-fighting, 112 + + Colonies, 147 + + Commerce, 156 _et seq._ + + Concas Palan, 190 + + Confessional, 218, 222, 223 + + Conscription, 188 + + Constitution, 154 + + Consumption, 67, 68 + + Costume, national, 78, 79 + + Courage, 42 _et seq._ + + Court, 97 _et seq._ + + Cristina, Queen, 9, 98 + + Cuba, 147, 195 + + + Dance and song, 113 _et seq._ + + Dances, modern, 58, 59 + + Dances, national, 112 _et seq._ + + Dances, religious, 208 + + Daoiz y Valarde, 46 + + Democratic feeling, 6, 39 + + Dignity, 38 + + Donkeys, 90, 92 + + _Dos de Mayo_, 45 + + Drama, modern, 209, 240 _et seq._ + + Dramas, religious, 209-212 + + Dress of Spanish women, 62 + + + Echegaray, 241 + + Education, 159, 213 + + Electra, 219, 242 + + Electrical science, 214 + + Elephant and bull, 126 + + Emperors, Roman, 12 + + _Empleomania_, 145, 146, 152 + + Engineers, 214 + + Espinosa, Monteros de, 102 + + Estremadura, 32 + + Etiquette of Spanish Court, 100 _et seq._ + + Exports, 177 + + + Factories, 175, 176, 266 + + Ferdinand and Isabella, 5, 13, 15 + + Ferdinand VII., 8, 22 + + _Feria_ of Seville, 34 + + Fertility of soil, 73 + + _Fiestas_, 116, 206 + + Flowers, 73 + + Folklore, 253 _et seq._ + + Ford, 51 + + French influence, 173 + + Fuente Castellana, 78 + + _Fueros_, 10, 28, 188 + + _Fueros_ of Aragon, 29 + + + Gala procession, 108, 109 + + Galdos, 219, 248 + + Galicia, 25, 26 + + Gallegos, 26, 87 + + Games, national, 111 + + Gayangos, 246 + + Geographical features, 178 + + Gloriosa, La, 10, 262 + + Goths, 12, 24 + + Government, 142 _et seq._ + + Government, local, 153 + + Grandes of Spain, 100 + + Guitar, 113, 238 + + + Hippodrome, 62 + + Horse-racing, 125 + + Horses, 91 _et seq._ + + + Iberian rejon, 118 + + Iberian unity, 251 + + Incas, 18 + + Independence, War of, 45 + + Industries, 161, 263 _et seq._ + + Infantas, 54, 103, 106 + + Influence of the Press, 129 + + Inquisition, 19, 199, 200, 271 + + Irrigated land, 172 + + Irrigation, 171 _et seq._ + + Isabel II., 6, 53, 107, 207 + + Isabel la Catolica, 5, 8, 15, 29, 270 + + + Jaime, Don, 8 + + _Jota Aragonesa_, 114 + + Jesuits, 199, 213, 217, 218, 220 _et seq._, 272 + + Journalists, 130 + + + King Alfonso XIII., 272, 273 + + Kings, Austrian, 21, 22 + + Kings, Bourbon, 8, 22, 118 + + + Labour, 174 + + Lace, 165 + + Lagartijo, 122 _et seq._ + + Land and people, 1 + + Land laws, 173 + + Landscape round Madrid, 71, 72 + + Land value, 172 + + Language, 266 _et seq._ + + Literature, modern, 246 _et seq._ + + + Madrazo, 239, 244 + + Madrid, modern, 77 + + Madrid, old, 77 + + _Manana_, 52, 74, 195, 197 + + Manners, 40 + + Mantilla, 79 + + Manufactures, 164, 165, 175 _et seq._ + + Manzanares, 83 + + Marriage customs, 229 _et seq._ + + Medical science, 215 + + Meetings, political, 138 + + Mendizabal, 9, 23 + + Metal work, 176 + + Military system, 183 _et seq._ + + Mineral wealth, 160 _et seq._ + + Montpensier, Duke of, 104 _et seq._ + + Moors, 17 _et seq._ + + Mules, 90, 188, 255 + + Music, 81, 236 + + + Narvaez, 249 + + National feeling, 184, 185, 193 + + National games, 31 + + Navy, 47, 189 _et seq._ + + Newspapers, 132 _et seq._ + + Nicknames, 106 + + _Noche Buena_, 108 + + + Orders, religious, 203, 213, 219, 221, 272 + + Ostriches, 85 + + Outlook, 260 _et seq._ + + Oxen, draught, 94 + + + Pacing horses, 90 + + Painters, 239 _et seq._ + + Palace Royal, 61 + + _Palacioe_, 23 + + Pardo Bazan, 251 + + Pardo, el, 85 + + Parque de Madrid, 71 + + _Pasos_, 210 + + Passion plays, 209, 212 + + Pavia, 140 + + _Pavo, pelando el_, 230 + + Peasants, 24 _et seq._ + + Pelayo, 61 + + _Pelota_, 31, 111 + + People, 38 _et seq._ + + Philip II., 16, 202, 271 + + Pigs, 166, 167 + + Poetry, 114, 268 + + Politeness, national, 39, 40, 51, 52 + + Political parties, 7, 134 _et seq._ + + Politicians, 50, 135 + + _Pollos_ and _pollas_, 88, 89 + + Ports and harbours, 178 + + Pottery, 175, 176 + + Poverty, 226 + + Press, 129 _et seq._ + + Priesthood, 199, 218 + + Prim, 142-144 + + Procrastination, 52 + + Productive land, 172 + + _Pronunciamientos_, 144, 145, 147, 186 + + Protestants, 216 + + Pyrenees, 25, 30 + + + Queen Cristina, 97, 98, 103 + + Queen Mercedes, 97, 106 + + _Quemadero_, 20, 201 + + Quijote, Don, 48 + + Quixotic characteristics, 48 + + + Race, 24 + + Railways, 157 _et seq._ + + Regent, 9, 98, 145 + + Religion, 37, 109, 198 _et seq._ + + Republic, 139, 141 + + Restoration, 144 + + Revolution, 10, 262 + + Rice, 161 + + Riding, 89 + + Roads, 180 + + Roman Spain, 11, 12 + + Romero Robledo, 136, 137 + + + Sagasta, 151 + + _Sala_, 33 + + Salic Law, 8, 9 + + Schools, 159, 160 + + _Seises, los_, 208, 209 + + Sericulture, 164 + + Serrano, 105 + + Sheep, merino, 32, 166 + + Shipping, 178 + + Silk manufactures, 16, 164 + + Silvela, 151 + + Smoking, 36, 60 + + Society, 55 _et seq._ + + Songs, 33, 81, 82, 114, 238 + + Songs and dancing, 114 + + Spanish-American War, I, 192 _et seq._ + + Sugar industry, 168 + + Superstitions popular, 102, 205, 233 + + + Teatro Real, 62 + + Telegraphic system, 181 + + Terror of 1824, 22 + + _Tertulia_, 56 _et seq._ + + Theatres, 62, 116 + + Tobacco, 177 + + Toledo, 15 + + Toothpicks, 63 + + _Toreros_, 121 + + _Tribunal de las Aguas_, 34 + + + Universities, 159 + + _Usted, de_, 98 + + + Valencia, 34 + + Valera, Juan, 61 + + _Velo_, 79 + + Verse-making, 257 + + Virgin, 37, 203 + + + War of Independence, 45 _et seq._ + + War, Spanish-American, 1, 192 _et seq._ + + Wars, Carlist, 9 + + Water, want of, 169 + + Wellington, Duke of, 26 + + Weyler, General, 186 + + Wines, 162 _et seq._ + + Women, 53, 62, 229 _et seq._, 249 + + Wood-carving, 176 + + Woollen manufactures, 164 + + Working men, 21, 83, 241, 261 + + + _Zarzuela_, 116 + + Zorilla, 122, 252 + + _Zortico zorisco_, 115 + + +PORTUGUESE LIFE + + Agriculture, 301, 302 + + Aloes, 301 + + _Amanha_, 280 + + Amusements, 296, 302 + + Army, 298 + + Artisan class, 292 + + + _Bacalhao_, 294 + + Bargaining, love of, 287 + + Brazilian elements, 287-291 + + Bull-fighting, 307 _et seq._ + + + Camoens, 281 + + Characteristics, 278 _et seq._, 284, 285 + + Charities, 296 + + _Chula_, 296 + + Cleanliness, 289 + + Coimbra, 283 + + Costumes, 285, 300 + + Customs, 285 + + + Dances, 296 + + Decorations and forms of address, 289 + + + Fish, 294 + + Fish-girls, 293 + + Funerals, 306 + + + Gallegos, 292 + + Gallenga, 293 + + Government, local, 310 + + + Insects, 290 + + Institutions, 298 + + Intellectual life, 281 + + + Land and people, 277 + + Language, 283 + + Laws, 312 + + Lisbon, 281 + + Londonderry, Lord, 277 + + + Manners and morality, 289 + + Medical training, 288 + + Military system, 298 + + Mineral wealth, 281 + + _Moustachios_, ladies', 286 + + + National fare, 294 + + Navy, 299 + + Newspapers, 284 + + + _Octroi_ duties, 295 + + Oporto, 293 + + Oxen, 300 + + + Peninsular War, 277 + + Police, 311 + + Postal service, 284 + + Prisons, 313 + + + Religion, 304, 305 _et seq._ + + + Scenery, 285 + + Servants, 290 + + Society, 286 + + + University, 283 + + + Wages, 292 + + Wealth, 292 + + Wealth, mineral, 281 + + Women, 285, 287, 307 + +THE END + + + + +Our European Neighbours + +Edited by WILLIAM HARBUTT DAWSON + + + 12º. Illustrated. Each, net $1.20 + By Mail. 1.30 + + +=I.--FRENCH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By HANNAH LYNCH. + +"Miss Lynch's pages are thoroughly interesting and suggestive. Her +style, too, is not common. It is marked by vivacity without any drawback +of looseness, and resembles a stream that runs strongly and evenly +between walls. It is at once distinguished and useful.... Her five-page +description (not dramatization) of the grasping Paris landlady is a +capital piece of work.... Such well finished portraits are frequent in +Miss Lynch's book, which is small, inexpensive, and of a real +excellence."--_The London Academy._ + +"Miss Lynch's book is particularly notable. It is the first of a series +describing the home and social life of various European peoples--a +series long needed and sure to receive a warm welcome. Her style is +frank, vivacious, entertaining, captivating, just the kind for a book +which is not at all statistical, political, or controversial. A special +excellence of her book, reminding one of Mr. Whiteing's, lies in her +continual contrast of the English and the French, and she thus sums up +her praises: 'The English are admirable: the French are lovable.' +"--_The Outlook_. + + +=II.--GERMAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By W. H. DAWSON, author of "Germany and the Germans," etc. + +"The book is as full of correct, impartial, well-digested, and +well-presented information as an egg is of meat. One can only recommend +it heartily and without reserve to all who wish to gain an insight into +German life. It worthily presents a great nation, now the greatest and +strongest in Europe."--_Commercial Advertiser_. + + +=III.--RUSSIAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By FRANCIS H. E. PALMER, sometime Secretary to H. H. Prince +Droutskop-Loubetsky (Equerry to H. M. the Emperor of Russia). + +"We would recommend this above all other works of its character to those +seeking a clear general understanding of Russian life, character, and +conditions, but who have not the leisure or inclination to read more +voluminous tomes.... It cannot be too highly recommended, for it conveys +practically all that well-informed people should know of 'Our European +Neighbours.'"--_Mail and Express._ + + +=IV.--DUTCH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By P. M. HOUGH, B.A. + +"There is no other book which gives one so clear a picture of actual +life in the Netherlands at the present date. For its accurate +presentation of the Dutch situation in art, letters, learning, and +politics as well as in the round of common life in town and city, this +book deserves the heartiest praise."--_Evening Post._ + +"Holland is always interesting, in any line of study. In this work +its charm is carefully preserved. The sturdy toil of the people, +their quaint characteristics, their conservative retention of old +dress and customs, their quiet abstention from taking part in the +great affairs of the world are clearly reflected in this faithful +mirror. The illustrations are of a high grade of photographic +reproductions."--_Washington Post._ + + +=V.--SWISS LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By ALFRED T. STORY, author of the "Building of the British Empire," etc. + +"We do not know a single compact book on the same subject in which Swiss +character in all its variety finds so sympathetic and yet thorough +treatment; the reason of this being that the author has enjoyed +privileges of unusual intimacy with all classes, which prevented his +lumping the people as a whole without distinction of racial and cantonal +feeling."--_Nation._ + +"There is no phase of the lives of these sturdy republicans, whether +social or political, which Mr. Story does not touch upon; and an +abundance of illustrations drawn from unhackneyed subjects adds to the +value of the book."--_Chicago Dial._ + + +=VI.-SPANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By L. HIGGIN. + +"Illuminating in all of its chapters. She writes in thorough sympathy, +born of long and intimate acquaintance with Spanish people of +to-day."--_St. Paul Press._ + +"The author knows her subject thoroughly and has written a most +admirable volume. She writes with genuine love for the Spaniards, and +with a sympathetic knowledge of their character and their method of +life."--_Canada Methodist Review._ + + +=VII.--ITALIAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By LUIGI VILLARI. + +"A most interesting and instructive volume, which presents an intimate +view of the social habits and manner of thought of the people of which +it treats."--_Buffalo Express._ + +"A book full of information, comprehensive and accurate. Its numerous +attractive illustrations add to its interest and value. We are glad to +welcome such an addition to an excellent series."--_Syracuse Herald._ + + +=VIII.--DANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By JESSIE H. BROCHNER. + +"Miss Brochner has written an interesting book on a fascinating subject, +a book which should arouse an interest in Denmark in those who have not +been there, and which can make those who know and are attracted by the +country very homesick to return."--_Commercial Advertiser._ + +"She has sketched with loving art the simple, yet pure and elevated +lives of her countrymen, and given the reader an excellent idea of the +Danes from every point of view."--_Chicago Tribune._ + + +=IX.--AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By FRANCIS H. E. PALMER, author of "Russian Life in Town and Country," +etc. + +"No volume in this interesting series seems to us so notable or valuable +as this on Austro-Hungarian life. Mr. Palmer's long residence in Europe +and his intimate association with men of mark, especially in their home +life, has given to him a richness of experience evident on every page of +the book."--_The Outlook._ + +"This book cannot be too warmly recommended to those who have not the +leisure or the spirit to read voluminous tomes of this subject, yet we +wish a clear general understanding of Austro-Hungarian life."--_Hartford +Times._ + + +=X.--TURKISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By L. M. J. GARNETT. + +Miss Garnett, while not altogether ignoring the dark side of life in the +Empire, portrays more particularly the peaceable life of the people--the +domestic, industrial, social, and religious life and customs, the +occupations and recreations, of the numerous and various races within +the Empire presided over by the Sultan. + +"The general tone of the book is that of a careful study, the style is +flowing, and the matter is presented in a bright, taking way."--_St. +Paul Press._ + +"To the average mind the Turk is a little better than a blood-thirsty +individual with a plurality of wives and a paucity of virtues. To read +this book is to be pleasantly disillusioned."--_Public Opinion._ + + +=XI.--BELGIAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By DEMETRIUS C. BOULGER. + +"Mr. Boulger has given a plain, straight-forward account of the several +phases of Belgian Life, the government, the court, the manufacturing +centers and enterprises, the literature and science, the army, education +and religion, set forth informingly."--_The Detroit Free Press._ + +"The book is one of real value conscientiously written, and well +illustrated by good photographs."--_The Outlook._ + + +=XII.--SWEDISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY= + +By G. VON HEIDENSTAM. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Spanish Life in Town and Country, by +L. Higgin and Eugene E. 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