452 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



par 

 fou 



bunches of grapes of 141bs., are gather- 

 ed wheat yields 30 for 1 rice, 40 

 and Indian corn, as a second crop, 100. 

 The author travelled, for the most 

 t, by the public conveyances, and 

 ound them generally the least liable 

 to interruptions and delays. Twice they 

 were stopped by robbers. Between 

 Tarragone and Valencia, the wretches 

 deliberately crushed the head of the 

 guard, by battering it with a stone, and 

 stabbed the driver, a boy till both were 

 left for dead ; and, in fact, one died 

 within a few hours, and the other lin- 

 gered only a little longer. Great diffi- 

 culty occurred in procuring assistance. 

 Instead of hastening to lend their aid, 

 in such cases, Spaniards will in general 

 run the other way- Persons found near 

 the body of a murdered person are de- 

 tained either as witnesses, or as suspect- 

 ed persons. The author doubts whether 

 the Spaniards do not dread the law worse 

 than robbers and murderers. The word 

 justicia, he says, as in the davs of Gil 

 Bias, is never pronounced without a 

 shudder. Three of the robbers were 

 taken into custody, the author learnt, 

 when at Madrid ; and upon inquiring if 

 they were likely to be hanged, his in- 

 former told him" The fact of one of 

 them being a stranger rendered it pro- 

 bable ; but if they had money to put into 

 the hands of an escribano, or notary, to 

 fee him and the judges or to buy an 

 escape or, as a last resort, if they 

 could procure the interposition of the 

 clergy, they might yet go unpunished." 

 At Madrid, he had the assistance, for 

 the language, of Don Redondo y Mo- 

 reno, who, in the days of the Constitu- 

 tion, had been a minister of state. He 

 was still an impurificado. This requires 

 explanation : 



The reader is not perhaps aware, that on the 

 return of despotism in Spain, Juntas of Purifica- 

 tion were established in all parts of the kingdom, 

 before which all persons who had held offices un- 

 der the abolished system were bound to appear, 

 and adduce evidence that they had not been 

 remarkable for revolutionary zeal, nor over-active 

 in support of the Constitution, before they could 

 be admitted to any new employment. Such as 

 come out clean from this investigation, from be- 

 ing impurificados or unpurified, become inde- 

 finidos or indefinites, who are ready to be em- 

 ployed, and have a nominal half-pay. These in- 

 definidos have long formed a numerous class in 

 Spain, and now more so than ever. They are 

 patient waiters upon Providence, who, being on 

 the constant look-out for a god-send, never think 

 of any new means to earn a livelihood. They may 

 be seen in any city^ of Spain, lounging in the 

 coffee-houses, where they pick their teeth, and 

 read the gazette, but never spend anything ; or 

 else at the public walk, where they may readily 

 be known, if they be military officers of rank, by 

 the bands of gold lace which bind the cuffs of their 

 sin touts of blue or snuff colour, and by their mili- 

 tary batons, or still more readily by their huge 



cocked-hats of oil-cloth, with which they cover 

 their sharp and starved features. 



The bigotry of the Spanish court and 

 government are ascribed wholly to the 

 priests : 



From these causes, then, and not from the so- 

 vereign will of a single individual, originate 

 those persecuting decrees and apostolic denun- 

 ciations which have brought OB Ferdinand the 

 appellation of bloody bigot, and all the hard names 

 in the calendar of abuse*. There is much reason 

 to believe, on the contrary, that he cares little 

 for religion ; and though, by way of flattering the 

 clergy and the nation, he may once have made a 

 petticoat for the Virgin Mary, yet, if the truth 

 were known, he would doubtless be willing to do 

 less for her ladyship than for any living Manola 

 or Andaluza. The character of the present king 

 is indeed little known in foreign countries, where, 

 from the mere fact of being called El Key Also- 

 Into, every thing is supposed to emanate from his 

 individual will. His character is not, in fact, so 

 much a compound of vices, as made up of a few 

 virtues and many weaknesses. He is ready to 

 receive the meanest subject of his kingdom ; and 

 is said to be frank, good-humoured, accessible, 

 courteous, and kingly, in an unusual degree. He 

 will listen attentively to those who appeal to him, 

 appear convinced of the justice of what they ask, 

 and promise compliance, without ever thinking 

 again of the matter. Facility is his great foible, 

 and yet is he occasionally subject to irritability, 

 and disposed to be wrong-beaded and have his 

 own way, to the no small inconvenience of those 

 who undertake t o direct him. The faults of Fer- 

 dinand are partly natural, partly the effect of edu- 

 cation. Instead. of being trained up and nurtured 

 with the care necessary to fit him for the high 

 station to which he was born, his youth was not 

 only neglected, but even purposely perverted. 

 There is about him a look of blunt good-humour 

 and rough jollity, which gives a flat denial to the 

 cruelty ascribed to him. He is said to have a lean- 

 ing towards liberalism weak, perhaps in propor- 

 tion to the inefficiency of his character, yet render- 

 ed probable by the fact that he is now more detested 

 by the ruling party, and acting under more re 

 straint, than in the most boisterous period of the 

 Constitution. 



Proposal for the Establishment of Vil- 

 lage Schools of Industry, $c. The pur- 

 pose of this brief address is to urge upon 

 the proprietors of land the utility and 

 practicability of village schools of in- 

 dustry. In this country we have no no- 

 tion of any purpose to be promoted by 

 schools, but the acquisition of A, B, C. 

 The fundamental principle of the pro- 

 posed institutions is to communicate not 

 merely letters, but whatever knowledge, 

 mental and manual, is likely to be of 

 service to the future labourer, and no 

 more. Industry is the first object the 

 essential habit to be inculcated and for 

 this purpose a piece of land is to be at- 

 tached to the school, to be cultivated by 

 the children, under the direction of a 

 master, who, with the aid of a workman, 

 accustomed to farm -labour, is to allot 

 and enforce the labours. The children, 



