SIS ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



Aiagonese most exacting aftd im- 

 perious; the Andalusian women 

 most adroit and seducing; but the 

 general disposition is nearly the 

 same in all. 



There is a freedom in the man- 

 ners and conversation of the Spa- 

 nish women, which causes them to 

 be judged unfavourably of by 

 strangers ; but on further acquaint- 

 ance, a man perceives that they 

 appear to promise more than they 

 grant, and that they do not even 

 permit those freedoms which most 

 women of other countries think 

 there is no harm in allowing. A 

 rnodern traveller, who is some- 

 times severe, often hasty in his 

 judgments, Jias anticipated me in 

 this remark ; but he deduces from 

 it an inference unfavourable to the 

 Spanish women. " Feeling,'' says 

 he, ♦' their own weakness, and 

 knowing how inflammable they are, 

 they are distrustful of themselves, 

 and fear they should yield too easi- 

 ly." This is supposing them very 

 abandoned.andverycalculating.and 

 they are neither one nor the other. 

 This reserve belongs to their no- 

 tions and manners; it sometimes 

 proceeds from the embarrassment 

 of which we have spoken, and of- 

 tener from their ideas of love, 

 which forbid them to grant their 

 favours by halves, or to employ 

 that coquetry so common among 

 the women of other countries. 



If the Spanish ladies are agreea- 

 ble, if they are sometimes well-in- 

 formed, they owe it only to them- 

 selves, and in no degree to their 

 education, which is almost totally 

 neglected. If their native quali- 

 ties were polished and unfolded by 

 a careful instruction, they would 

 become but too seductive. 



Many different people liave oc* 

 cupied Spain in succession : the 

 Carthaginians, ihe Romans, the 

 Suevi, the Alani, the Vandals, the 

 Arabs, and the French ; and with 

 all these the natives have been 

 confounded. 



Towards the end of the eighth 

 and beginning of the ninth century, 

 four principal nations inhabited 

 the country: the natives, then 

 known by the name of Romans; 

 the Goths, comprehending the re- 

 mains of the Suevi, Alani, and Van- 

 dals, a portion of whom were also 

 confounded with the natives and 

 with the Moors, whilst a con- 

 siderable part had taken refuge in 

 the Asturias and in Navarre ; the 

 Moors, with whom the natives of 

 Africa were mingled ; and the 

 French, who occupied a great part 

 of Catalonia, Navarre, and the 

 Pyrenees. Each of these nations 

 brought with it its own genius, 

 manners, laws, and customs. 



When the Moors were driven 

 out of Spain, several independent 

 sovereignties were formed; each 

 of which had its own laws, cus- 

 toms, constitution, and particular 

 form of government. Galicia, 

 Leon, the Castiles, Biscay, Na- 

 varre, Aragon, and Catalonia, had 

 each its own sovereign. Andalu- 

 sia, Murcia, and Valencia, were 

 peopled by a mixture of different 

 nations. Hence resulted a diver- 

 sity in genius, temper, manners, 

 and customs ; and this diversity, 

 though modified by the pre- 

 sent uniformity of government, by 

 the more intimate communication 

 between different provinces and 

 their inhabitants, and by the as- 

 similation of general customs, left 

 to each country a peculiar tinge, 

 of which vestiges, more or less dis- 

 tinct 

 * 



