253 PEOPLE OP SPAIN. 



of the country. Although not abounding in evidences of 

 prosperity, it was filled with beautiful and romantic scenery. 

 Hill and dale succeeded each other along the route. Here, ' 

 fresh vineyards smiled among a fortification of crags 

 there, a cluster of ancient vine covered cottages were 

 nestled in a dell. I had heard that the Spaniards were a 

 serious, melancholy, and treacherous nation ; and accord- 

 ingly looked with pity and distrust upon almost every 

 person I met. Yet I found that every village resounded 

 with the music of voices and guitars. The people talked 

 loudly and with much vehemence. Like most of the 

 natives of warm climates, they are filthy in their persons. 



We found four classes of people in Southern Spain, viz : 

 the nobility, wealthy, and arrogant; the priests un- 

 bounded in their influence over the lower classes ; the la- 

 boring peasantry, wretched and ignorant, and the beggars, 

 degraded below the meanest wretches of other European 

 countries. Cloaks and broad-brimmed hats were gene- 

 rally worn by the men, and mantillas and furs-are in uni- 

 versal use among the females. 



We travelled continually in dread of the banditti, who, 

 we were informed, were very numerous throughout the 

 rural districts of Southern Spain. It is said that the 

 poorer class of Spaniards have a natural fondness for the 

 life of a bandit they are attracted by its freedom, its ro- 

 mance, and its exciting adventure. But perhaps the real 



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