50 
excellency,” ‘‘ Yes, your excellency.” It is said that the 
Spaniard is polite even in his crimes. There is a consecrated 
saying for the emergency of refusing a beggar, ‘‘ Excuse me, 
for the love of God, my brother.”’ 
The seclusion of the women is a marked characteristic and 
is a trace of the Moorish influence. No Spanish lady walks 
in the street. She rides, and it is the proper thing for everybody 
to possess a carriage, even if they have to pinch themselves 
in other ways to get it. Many of the workpeople were very 
beautiful. He believed with Sir John Hibbert, that the Lan- 
cashire mill girls are the most splendid specimens of woman- 
hood in existence, and he esteemed them highly, yet he did 
sometimes wish they had a little more of the grace of the 
Spanish maidens—their neatness, the wonderful way they had 
of dressing their hair, and the way they put a rose into it. 
The girls of Spain had very little part in finding their future 
husbands, less even than the French. A short time before 
the marriage the young man was allowed to stand outside the 
window with his nose between the bars and whisper his love 
to his inamorato; this operation was called ‘‘ Chewing the 
iron.” ‘ 
The Cathedral at Seville is the largest and richest Gothic 
building in the world. During the time he was there he did 
not pass a day without visiting it. It was the palace of 
the Alcazar of which the poet says 
“Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp, 
Abode his hour or two, 
And went his way.” 
The cult of bull-fighting had reached its culmination in 
Spain. The national pastime had more points in it than 
either cricket or boxing ; yet, one could but hope for the day 
when bull-fighting would be a thing of the past. 
Many views were shown of Granada, the Alhambra palace, 
and the mosque of Cordova, which was now but the “‘calcined 
skeleton of its former glory.” 
The lecture was brought to a close by an expression of 
opinion that, though Spain has for some centuries seemed 
decadent, there was at the present time a rustling among 
the dry bones. Everywhere one saw signs of revivifying, a 
new interest in civilization. There were trains, electric cars, 
the telegraph and the telephone. Some progress has been made 
in developing the natural resources of the country. All these 
things meant progress and he did not doubt that, under the 
rule of Alphonso and his English princess, Spain, although 
it might not attain the greatness of the past, had an important 
future before it. 
