1811] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
JOURNAL of a recent VOYAGE tO CADIZ. 
HAVE heard a Spanish proverb, 
which significantly says of Cadiz, 
that it is “the heaven for women, the 
purgatory for men, and a hell for asses.” 
“There is a sort of galiantry in the first 
part, which is not perhaps altogether in- 
applicable to the ladies: and with every 
partiality towards the fair sex on the 
other side the water, I confess that, fora 
time at least, 1 am apt in this instance 
to say that here is ‘‘the human face 
divine.” 
The Spaniards do, however, admire 
the beautiful complexion of our fair 
countrywomen, 
** Whose every beauty, every grace, 
As shines the lily, 
Oras the ruse amid the mo-ning dew, 
Fresh- from Ausora’s hand, more sweetly 
glows.” 
And it was but the other evening a 
-genuleman in company, whose name was 
Flores, met an HKnglish lady just come 
‘from Malta, he admired her, for she'was 
handsome, and pleasantly remarked to 
me that, althouch there were many flowers 
by name in Spain, yet the English had 
the finest flowers by nature. 
I will endeavour to give youa descrip- 
tion of the Spanish ladies: they are for 
the most part not so tall as the English, 
slender in their form until they are about 
tweuty-five or thirty years of age; they 
walk remarkably upright and gracefully, 
displaying at the same time a delicately 
small foot. In their manners they are 
very polite, agreeable, and chearful, 
without that caint of reserve which some. 
times reduces conversation to thoughtful 
silence. They are foud of music and 
singing, and the English piano forte is in 
every family of - fashion. A young lady 
was ‘playing to me one morning some of 
their national airs and songs, but did not 
accompany the mistrument with her voice. 
On asking her to sing, she pleasantly 
replied,‘ Yo no puedo cantar, pero puedo 
encantar,” “*I cannot sing, bat | can 
enchant.” I think they are fond of pun- 
ning; but as you do. not know much of the 
Janguage, you will lose the expression of 
this, which I cannot well translate in its 
oy spirit. 
The ladies and females of every de- 
serhition dress in black when they appear 
‘abroad; and a stranger on his first arri- 
wal, would be apt to conclude that the 
whole-city was in mourning; there is a 
couvenience in this arising from their res 
ligious ceremony of prostrating them. 
° 
Journal of a recent Voyage to Cadiz. 
(335 
selves to the host, if it passes while they 
are in the streets, as I have before de- 
scribed to you; did they wear the trans- 
parent robe of our fair ones, you may 
hence guess how sovun its colour would 
he changed. On other occasions, such 
as going to the theatre and on visits, they 
dress much as in England, but pernaps 
with a little more decorum. 
They wear no hats or bonnets in the 
open air, but laced veils or a’small piece 
of black casimir, called a mantilla, deco- 
rated with lace or velvet, which they nc= 
gligently throw over the head and shoul- 
ders; but this part of their dress is not 
intended to hide the face; on the con- 
trary the graceful manner in which they 
continually dispose i it, ser¢es to heighten 
their charms. The fan isalso a universal 
appendage to a lady’s dress, she 
scarcely ever seen without it when in a 
promenade or in the drawing room; in 
this warm climate it is rather indispen= 
sable fur its utility, and it serves also as 
a graceful assistant to their expressive 
action in conversation. Dr. Johnson 
would not have been pleased with the 
* attitudinising” of the Spaniards when 
they talk, 
Lady W—— is here assimilating her~ 
self with Spanish fashion, she has 
adopted the dress of the ladies, which is 
considered as a mark of respect; but in 
the playful use o/ the fan, she o: .fesses 
her deficiency; she has translate.’ Addi- 
son’s description of the application of it 
by the ladies of different ayes and incli+ 
nations, which the Spanish Belles exem- 
plify and allow to becorrect. You wauld 
hardly have supposed that the spectator 
was in Cadiz, but as I have it at hand, [ 
will quote the passage which gives you 
the words of command, and [ will refer 
vou to the 102d paper of the work for the 
full explanation of them, 
“¢ Handle your fans, 
Unfurl your fans, 
Discharge your fans, 
Ground your fans, 
Recover your tansy 
Flutter yopr fans,” 
All these parts of tlre exercise a lady 
told me were severally correct, and she 
went through her part in the various uses 
of it, from youth to age, as perfectly as if 
Addison had been the drilltserjeant. 
When a young lady walks unaccomipas 
nied by her friends; she is attended by an 
old female domestic, called a Duenna, 
who follows her at a respectful distance, 
either to mass or for a morning’s prome-~ 
nade. The father confessor in some 
‘ Catboe 
