; 
624 Mr. Jacob’s Letters from Spain. ‘ 
is very remote from the churlish and 
awkward manners of the English and 
German feasaiftry. Their sobriety and 
endurance of fatigue are very remarkable ; 
and there is a constaut cheerfulness in 
their demeanour, which stronyly prepos- 
sesses a stranger in their favour, This 
‘cheerfulness is displayed in singing either 
antient ballads, or songs which they com- 
pose as they sing, with all the facility of 
the Italian improvisatori. One of their 
sungs varying in words, according to the 
skill of the singer, has a termination to 
certain, verses, which says, “ that, a8 
Ferdinand bas no wife, he shall marry 
the King of England’s daughter.” Some 
of these songs relate to war or chivalry, 
and many to gallantry and love: the 
latter not always expressed in the most 
decorous language, according to our 
ideas. 
The agility of the Spaniards in leaping, 
climbing, and walking, has been a con- 
stant subject of admiration to our party. 
We have frequently known a man on 
foot start from a town with us, who were 
well mounted, and continue his journey 
with such rapidity as to reach the end of 
the stage before us, and aynounce our 
arrival with officious civility. A servant 
likewise, whom we hired at Malaga, has 
kept pace with us on foot ever since; 
and though vot more than seventeen 
years of age,-he seems incapable of being 
fatigued by walking. Ihave heard the 
agility of the Spanish peasants, and their 
power of enduring fatigue, attrrbuted to 
a custom, which, though it may proba- 
bly have nothing to do with the cause, 
deserves noticing from its. singularity, 
A young peasant never sleeps ona bed 
till he is married; before that event he 
_rests on the floor in his cloaths, which he 
never takes aff but for purposes of clean- 
liness: and dering the greater part of the 
year it is a matter of indifference whether 
he sleep under a roof or in the open air. 
I have remarked that though the Spa- 
niards rise very early, they generally keep 
late hours, and seem*most lively and 
alert at midnight: this may be attributed 
to the heat of the weather during the day, 
and to the custom of sleeping after their 
meal at noon, which is so yeneral, that 
the towns and villages appear quite ce- 
serted from one til! four o’clock. The 
Jabours of the artificer, and the attention 
of the shopkeeper, are suspended during 
those hours; and the doors and windows 
_of the Yatter are as closely shut as at 
night. or on a holiday. 
‘hough the Spanish peasantry treat 
every man they meet with. politeness, 
they expect an equal return of civility; 
and to pass them without the usval ex- 
pression, ‘* Vaja usted con Dios,” or sa 
luting them without bestowing on them 
the utle of Cabaleros, would be risking 
an insult from: people who, though ciul : 
and even polite, are nota little jealows 
of their claims to reciprocal attentions 
LThave been informed, that most of the 
domestic virtues are strongly felt, ant 
practised, by the peasantry; and thata 
degree of parental, filial, and fraterna, 
affection is observed among them, whica ~ 
is exceeded in no other country- I have 
already said sufficient of their religion; 
it is a subject on which they feel le 
greatest pride. ‘To suspect them of hz. 
resy, orof being descended froma Moor — 
ora Jew, would be the most unpartog-  — 
able of all offences; but their laxity wth 
respe‘t to matrimonial fidelity, it must : 
be acknowledged, is a stain upon thar 
character; which, though common, a= 
pears wholly irreconcileable with the g~ 
neral morality of the Spanish characte, 
They are usually fair and honourable n 
their dealings; and a foreigner is les 
subject to imposition in Spain than in any 
other country I have visited, 
GENERAL CASTANOS, 
The celebrity of this officer entitles , 
him to more than a casual notice, and 
the conduct of the Junta towards him | 
would stamp indelible disgrace on that , 
body, even if their other follies, and T 
fear, in some instances, their treachery, , 
could be forgotten. Castanos was com: : 
mander of the Spanish army before Gib 
raltar during the last war, His polite 
ness, his respect for the English nation, | 
and his friendship for many individuas - | 
within this garrison, created a degree of 
civility between the two hostile armies, 
which, though formerly common, gave 
such umbrage to the French ambassador, 
who at that time ruled the cabinet of 
Madrid, that repeated orders were sent 
to Castanos, to suffer no kind of inter- 
course between the garrison and the con- 
unent, ‘These orders Castanos. treated 
with as much attention as was necessaty - 
to screen him from disgrace, but still 
adhered to that line of conduct which 
had been customary between: civilized 
nations, as far as his power, and the jea-) 
lous feelings of those who ruled his go-- 
vernment, would allow. 
When the conduct of Buonaparte» 
roused. the Spanish nation to oppose his 
mandates, Casianos was among the frst 
he 
