CHARACTERS. 



819 



tinct, may still be traced. The 

 national characters are not yet des- 

 troyed ; they pass through the uni- 

 formity which government endea- 

 vours to introduce, and which imi- 

 tation and example cause to be in- 

 sensibly adopted. 



There are no two provinces of 

 which the manners and character are 

 exactly alike. In travelling through 

 France, one is surprised to find 

 there the ruling character of some 

 parts of Spain ; the Biscayan may 

 be compared to the Basque; the 

 Catalan to the Provencal; the Va- 

 lencian to the native of Lower Lan- 

 guedoc; the Galician to the Au- 

 vergnese; the Andalusian to the 

 Gascon. 



Some customs, however, and some 

 traits of character, run through all 

 the provinces. The national pride is 

 every where the same. The Spani- 

 ard has the highest opinion of his 

 nation and himself, which he ener- 

 getically expresses by his gestures, 

 words, and actions. This opinion 

 is discovered in all ranks of life, 

 and classes of society ; in crimes 

 and iQ virtues ; amongst the great 

 and the small; under the rags of po- 

 verty as much as in the royal palace. 

 Its result is a kind of haughtiness, 

 repulsive sometimes to him who is 

 its object, but useful in giving to 

 the mind a sentiment of nobleness 

 and self-esteem, which fortifies it 

 against all meanness. This pride 

 may be considered as one cause of 

 the great number of persons who 

 quit the world, and embrace the 

 ecclesiastical profession ; theslight- 

 est contempt, the least constraint, 

 often produce, on these haughty 

 dispositions, the effect of real mis- 

 fortune. 



The Spaniards possess, almost 

 unirersally, a natural dignity of 



sentiment, which is certainly su- 

 perior to the pride of birth. It is 

 often stigmatized as pride, because 

 we are pleased so to call spirit in 

 those classes in which we are ac- 

 customed to find a base humility. 

 We cannot bear that a muleteer 

 should answer us; that a peasant 

 should refuse to sell us what we 

 wish to buy, because he keeps it 

 for his family ; we are astonished 

 that, immoveably attached to his 

 own habits, he should be regard- 

 less of our expostulations and oui 

 anger; — that he should think him- 

 self as good as we, and show that 

 he does so ; but, if We see in this 

 man, instead of any thing base, a 

 native greatness of mind ; — instead 

 of intemperance, a sobriety of 

 which we should be incapable; — 

 instead of that luxury and vanity 

 which amongst us is not incompati- 

 ble with poverty, and indifference 

 to the indulgencies of life carried 

 to as high a pitch as the austerity 

 of the ancient republics; if we 

 observe in him, instead of bad 

 faith, of the instinct of theft and 

 avidity, disinterestedness, honour, 

 and fidelity; — instead of impu- 

 dence, reserve and respect; — and 

 instead of impiety, a fervent faith; 

 we shall no longer be surprised to 

 see men of the lowest class under- 

 stand the pleasures of solitude, seek 

 them at the price of the severest 

 trials, and form to themselves a 

 mode of life at once simple and sub- 

 lime, made up of labour and prayer, 

 nature and heaven. 



The national pride of the Spani- 

 ards is commonly attributed to 

 their success in the fifteenth and 

 sixteenth centuries. *' The Spa- 

 niard of the sixteenth century has 

 disappeared," says M. Bourgoing, 

 " but his mask remains ; under 



3 G 2 which, 



