CHARACTERS. 



805 



birth ; he is not to be seen at courts 

 or in camps, in courts of justice, 

 universities, or commercial towns ; 

 he lives with apathy, a life of sloth 

 and indifference. He eats, drinks, 

 sleeps, counts his beads, and drags 

 his cloak to a place where he sits 

 himself down to think of nothing. 

 He does not even suspect that there 

 is a more agreeable life than that 

 which he now leads ; that there is a 

 greaterextentofknowledgethanthat 

 "which he possesses; that there are 

 abodes happier than that which he 

 inhabits; nay, he does not think 

 that there exist men more useful 

 than himself. We may conse- 

 quently read the history of Spain 

 from one end to the other, without 

 finding any names of Murcians who 

 have distinguished themselves in 

 arras, or in the arts and sciences. 

 The common people participate 

 this indolence; a countryman or a 

 porter employed to carry ever so 

 light a load, if it even weighed no 

 more than 25 pounds, would lay it 

 on an ass, and refuse to carry it 

 himself. 



Ignorance and sloth render the 

 manners of this town disagreeable; 

 prejudices are carried to the great- 

 est height, and the inhabitants are 

 extremely litigious. Each pries 

 into the actions of his neighbour, 

 in order to censure his conduct, 

 whence arises a general distrust; 

 they fear and avoid one another ; 

 every one lives by himself and to 

 himself, away from his relations, 

 without friends or connections ; 

 this detached Ufe foments suspi- 

 cion, sours the temper, and pro- 

 duces savage habits ; dissention 



makes its way into families, who 

 seldom if ever assemble together. 

 Through curiosity to know fo- 

 reigners and travellers, the Mur- 

 cian seeks them, but only to avoid 

 them afterwards with pointed affec- 

 tation. Thus the society here takes 

 a complexion of that savageness 

 with which the iMurcians unaptly 

 reproach their predecessors the 

 Moors. 



This account is not overcharged ; 

 it is confirmed by the testimony of 

 cardinal Belluga, wholong occupied 

 the see of this city, and who was 

 distinguished for his learning and 

 virtue ; he justly estimated thecha* 

 racter of the Murcians; he said, 

 and all Murcia knows it. El cieloy 

 el stielo buenos, el entre siiola malo; 

 the sky and the ground are good, 

 it is what is between them that is 

 bad.* An exception should be 

 made in favour of the Murcian wo- 

 men ; they are mild and affable, and 

 would be fond of society, but their 

 husbands allow them very little li- 

 berty, and are always ready to find 

 fault with their conduct, however 

 innocent. 



Character, Manners, Customs, Sfc. 

 of the Biscay ans. \_From the 

 same.'] 



There is an opinion pretty gene- 

 rally received, that the Biscayans 

 and Irish sprang from one origin. 

 Some historians assert that about 

 two hundred years before the 

 Christian »?ra, a colony of Bis- 

 cayans sailed to Hibernia, landed, 



took 



• The point of this saying is lost in English, but from the coi respondence of cus- 

 toms is preserved in French : Le del et k sol sont bons, I'enirescl mauvais. 



