28 Notes of Spanish Travel. 



ing, and had never lost anything. Indeed, the scrupulous 

 honesty of the people had struck him as one of their natural 

 characteristics. 



Spain is remarkable for its beggars, and there are two or 

 three ways of dealing with them. There is no use in 

 trying to ignore them, because they are not to be ignored, 

 as they put themselves in evidence too strongly. It is 

 best to appeal to their sense of humour, and then one may 

 get off cheap enough. 



A great drawback to Spanish travel is the bad traffic ar- 

 rangements made by the railway companies ; but they are not 

 under Spanish management, but under French management. 

 One or two of the companies are, however, getting to be under 

 English management, which, he hoped, will effect a remedy 

 in this respect. Excellent arrangements are made at the rail- 

 way stations, where travellers can get served with a good meal 

 at a reasonable cost, and if there is a long delay they can be 

 provided with a sleeping apartment. 



Spain is admirably supplied with maps and plans — maps of 

 provinces, and plans of cities. The first great city he had visited 

 was Bordeaux, whose great attraction is its cathedral, which 

 is well known to everybody, and there he had an opportunity 

 of seeing the portraits of its former bishops, which very few 

 persons know anything about. His object was to see the portrait 

 of a singular man and a remarkable character, known by 

 the name of Solomon the Levite, who was succeeded by his 

 son, and this was, he believed, the only instance in Christian 

 history of one Hebrew succeeding another on the episcopal 

 throne. With regard to Madrid, it was his opinion that it is 

 the meanest capital in Europe. It has no cathedral, no good 

 church, one good street, of which it is very proud, no fine 

 shops, and no handsome cafes. But the one great glory of 

 Madrid is its picture-gallery, and it is rather sad for a 

 Britisher to think that the finest pictures in that room once 

 belonged to our own Charles I. The Commonwealth, being 

 short of funds, sold them to the Spanish Crown. He had 



