CHARACTERS. 



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tournaments, balls, and refresh- 

 ments thrice a year create a great 

 expense, but nothing equal to that 

 incurred by the old French lords 

 in the feasts they gave. 



The merchants are not surround- 

 ed by those apoderados, those 

 lawyers and agents who prey upon 

 the nobility : they transact their 

 own business, and of course know 

 better how to turn their wealtli to 

 account. 



The tradesmen would all be in 

 easy circumstances if they knew 

 how to make a better use of their 

 business; but their gains are squan- 

 dered in expenses for the table and 

 in gaming; in gifts to monks, 

 convents, chapels ; in payments to 

 pious societies, in illuminations of 

 altars, and in aims to sturdy beg- 

 gars, by which a great many per- 

 sons who would rather live by 

 begging than by honest labour are 

 supported in idleness and vice, and 

 consequently it is impossible to go 

 into the streets, particularly in the 

 night, without being assailed by a 

 crowd of those wretches. 



Valencia, in spite of its opulence, 

 of the taste of its inhabitants for 

 pleasure, and of their natural affa- 

 bility, is far from being an amusing 

 town. It is difficult to gain ad- 

 mission into private houses ; and, 

 without great intimacy, no one 

 sees the ladies but from twelve at 

 noon to one o'clock. There are 

 no coffee-houses ; some out-of-the- 

 way places, called botellerias, sup- 

 ply their place, but are not 

 used for sociable meetings. The 

 Valencians seldom give dinners. 

 The nobility meet generally in 

 large and boisterous parties, in 

 which they do not converse, but 

 play, an amusement of which the 

 women are passionately fond. In 



these assemblies strangers are ad- 

 mitted without much difficulty ; 

 the party meet because it is neces- 

 sary, and separate with indiffer- 

 ence, going away with minds as 

 vacant as they came. The second- 

 rate societies are much less numer- 

 ous, but are perhaps more amusing : 

 they often make parties to go and 

 dine at Grao, or other adjacent 

 places, and spend the timeagreeably 

 enough. 



There was formerly a play-house 

 at Valencia, said to have been very 

 handsome. An archbishop of the 

 town, through a mistaken zeal, 

 caused it to be demolished. After 

 the death of that prelate, a tempo- 

 rary one was erected, decorated 

 simply, but with taste. There are 

 plays in it every night, and the 

 prices of admission are moderate. 



The women of every class carry 

 the luxury of dress to the highest 

 pitch : those of the first and second 

 never wear Spanish clothes but 

 when they go out on foot, or to 

 church ; at home, in visiting, in 

 parties, at balls, or plays, in car- 

 riages, or on the promenade, they 

 dress in the French fashion. Their 

 stuffs are handsome and choice ; 

 they are elegantly made up, and 

 arranged with taste : they come 

 from France. In their head- 

 dresses they wear flowers and fea- 

 thers, and they are very attentive 

 to their shoes and stockings. With 

 all this richness of dress, their ear- 

 rings and other trinkets are of 

 false stones: there are very few 

 who wear diamonds. 



The women are not more elegant 

 than the men are simple and mo- 

 dest in their dress. The nobility 

 find the uniform of the maeslranza 

 very economical, as it exempts 

 them from following the fashions. 



The 



