x 
strikingly. 
. feeling resentment 
612 
the horses sufficiently cumbrous, These 
singularities, however, only served to 
display the national peculiarities more 
The toys, perhaps, of every 
nation offer traits of national character ; 
and I could not help remarking, on the 
resent occasion, that almost every one, 
exhibited at this fair, bore some allusion 
to that illicit intercourse between the 
sexes, which forms the great stain upon 
the moral character of the country. 
Horns of various shapes, with bells, and 
inscriptions of indecent import, were 
most prevalent, and the presenting them 
to each other, with sarcastic insinuations, 
appeared the most universal species of 
wit. marked deference was paid to 
the female sex even by the peasantry, 
which shewed that a degree of gallantry 
is customary with this nation, which is 
too often dispensed with in other coun- 
tries. 
I heard that two assassinations had oc- 
eurred at this fair that day, both caused 
-by jealousy, not between husbands and 
the lovers of their wives, but between 
young men who sighed for the same mar- 
ried woman. It appears most extraor- 
dinary, but it is nevertheless notoriously 
the fact, that though husbands feel no 
jealousy on account of their wives, yet 
that this powerful passion should be fele 
in the most acute manner between men 
who wish to. supplant each other in the 
affections of the same female; and that 
otber parts of a family, so far from 
towards the man 
who addresses “their mother or sister, 
treat him with as much kindness and at- 
tention as if he were connected with them 
by legal and honourable ties, or paid a 
eompliment to the family by selecting a 
member of it for the object of bis attach- 
ment. These kind of attachments are 
much more durable, and more assidu- 
ously cultivated, than affection between 
amarried couple. Inconstancy to a fa- 
vourite mistress, perhaps the’ wife of a 
friend, is deemed a greater disgrace to 
the party than any matrimonial infidelity, 
and more effectually excludes a man from 
the future confidence and respect of the 
ladies, all of whom are jealous of the 
privileges of their sex, and preserve. no 
terms with aman who is.unfaithful to his 
fair friend. The females of all classes, 
considering their husbands as beings of 
no consequence, expect a degree of at- 
tention from a cortejo, which a Spaniard 
ean alone pay; and the consequence is, 
that foreigners, especially Englishmen, 
- Rr. Jacob's Letters from Spain. 
are by no meanis favourites with the Spa+ 
nish ladies. 
GENERAL INSTRUCTION. ! 
It is a question which has been fre# 
quently agitated in England, whether a 
system of national education would be 
productive of beneficial or injurious con- 
sequences: many ingenious arguments 
have been advanced on both sides, and 
it is but lately, that a distinguished mem- 
ber of the House of Commons framed a 
plan for this purpose, which, though it 
displayed the benevolence of the proposer, 
was, after mature deliberation, found 
impracticable. 
In Spain, however, such a plan has 
been adopted and carried into execution; 
so that there is no person born within 
the last thirty years, who has not been 
instructed in the first rudiments of know 
ledge, When the society of the Jesuits 
was abolished, and their property cons 
fiscated, Count Florida Blanca and Cam, 
pomanes succeeded in obtaining the ap- 
propriation of part of the funds of that 
order to the purposes of parochial edu- 
cation, and schools were established in 
every part of Spain for the gratuitous 
education of the children of the poor. 
STATE OF EDUCATION. 
The education of the higher classes in 
Spain is intolerably bad, which, perhaps, 
is a greater evil than the deficiencies of 
the lower orders in other countries. I 
am informed, thac, among the nobility, 
the instances of their being incapable of 
writing are far from uncommon; that to 
appear learned would by no means be 
considered a distinction; and that the, 
whole care of keeping accounts, and 
even writing letters, devolves on their 
domestics.’ I have scarcely seen a book 
in any of their houses, and a library is so 
rare, that the man who possesses one is re- 
garded almostasa phenomenon. The fa- 
culties of the higher orders are soblunted 
by early dissipation, that they want that 
acuteness which distinguishes their infe~ 
riors, by whom they are consequently 
despised. 
Yhe early period of life at which the 
young Spanish gentry are introduced into 
society, the time they usually spend in 
that society, the trifling subjects com- 
monly discussed, and the great familiarity 
with which they are allowed to behave 
to their elders, all contribute to prevent 
their acquiring that knowledge which is 
so necessary to form ’the character of 
virtuous and intelligent men. The quiet 
solitude of domestic life seems unknown 
1a 
md notes . 
