124 DOMESTIC MANNEUS OF THE SPANISH. 



silk, their trowsers, which scarcely reached their knees, but so wide they might 

 be mistaken for petticoats ; in fine, by the species of stocking, which reached 

 from the ankle a little above the calf, so as to leave the knee and the foot naked, 

 the latter protected by the alpargatas or sandals. Each one carried on his 

 shoulder a blanket in a leathern case, the only preservative against the incle- 

 mencies of the weather, at once a bed in the camp or bivouac, and a table- 

 cloth at meals, the indispensable vade mecum of every Valencian, as the cloak is 

 of the Castilian. 



" As the new comers entered the tent, they politely saluted the company. 

 Their chief called for the best wine, passed it round to his companions, and 

 carelessly throwing down a piece of money, double the value of what he might 

 owe, went out, after saluting the company with the same courtesy as at his 

 entrance. 



" ' Who is this Don Bernardino Marti, who seems to exercise such an 

 influence over the crowd ?' said Antonio. 



" ' What ! is it possible you don't know him ?' exclaimed a dozen of voices at 

 the same time ; ' you must be a great stranger here/ 



" ' That man,' said one of the bystanders, ' is well known from Castilian de la 

 Plana to Reuss, and justly so. He is one of the richest land-owners in the 

 neighbourhood of Valencia, and Captain in the Queen Amelia's regiment of 

 heavy cavalry. He is the terror of the banditti, whom he hunts like wild 

 beasts, and he has done more in a few years towards re-establishing the tran- 

 quillity of the country than all the brigades of the Santa Hermandada for 

 centuries. He is followed in his excursions by his own peasants, and sometimes 

 by a small detachment of his regiment, and these expeditions are made at his own 

 expense. This new Theseus has succeeded in purging the kingdom of Valencia 

 of all the bands of robbers that infested it, and you may walk there now with 

 your fists full of gold, without the least apprehension.' 



" 'A brave man ! a noble fellow!' replied the company in chorus ; and one 

 of them, a real Castilian, added half aloud, ' What a pity he is not a Castilian, 

 and that he should be nothing more than a Valencian, for you know the proverb 

 In Valencia the meat is vegetable, the vegetables water ; the women are 

 beggars, and the men nothing at all/ "****** 



" But soon after, the evening bell, or oration, was heard, and gave the signal 

 for departure. At the first sound, the several groups stopped short. A religious 

 silence succeeded the noise of conversation, and each one, uncovered and bowed, 

 prayed silently. At this solemn moment, the same takes place all over Spain. 

 After a few seconds of mental prayer, each one made the sign of the cross ; and 

 putting on his hat, saluted his neighbour, to the right and left, wth buenas noches, 

 (good night). A great number of the pedestrians separated, and returned home, 

 but the Paseo still continued crowded ; for the night had set in, sweet, fresh, 

 and voluptuous, as it is in those climates ; and its complacent shade served as a 

 signal for another species of promenade, which was prolonged until midnight. 



The last struggles of this constitutional regime, in which most of his 

 dramatis personae meet with a miserable end, form the subject of our 

 author's last sketches. 



We lay down this volume with a mingled feeling of satisfaction and 

 regret. Satisfaction derived from the contemplation of the varied and 

 agreeable pictures which the author has exhibited to our view, in a 

 style always easy and natural, and at times spirited and eloquent. Of 

 regret at the deplorable termination of a struggle, in which ardent and 

 heroic lovers of liberty and their country perished ignominiously. But 

 this regret is not unaccompanied by a confident expectation that the 

 spirit that is abroad, and that " hath shook monarchs from their slum- 

 bers on the throne," is repressed, but not extinguished ; and that under 

 happier auspices, and better direction, it may be ultimately successful in 

 restoring the fallen and debased Spain to her place among European 

 states. 



