SPAIN. 



only advantage that accrues of nec€fIity,on admifnoii into any 

 of thefe four orders, is the honour of wearing the crols, 

 bcfides a few unimportant privileges : the commanderies are 

 places of pecuniary profit, belonging to thofe who have 

 taken the vow of combating the infidels, of fidelity towards 

 the fovereign, and, of conjugal charity. The order of 

 Calatrava has 20 of thcie, valued at 71,250/. ftcrling ; 

 that of San Jago has 87, valued at 81,250/.; ihat of Al- 

 cantara has 37, worth 39,000/.; and that of Montefa 13, at 

 12,588/. To each of the orders belong monks, and leve- 

 ral convents of nuns. The order of Charles III. was 

 founded by the king of that name, on the 19th of Septem- 

 ber, 1771, and placed under the immediate proteiilion of 

 the Holy Virgin, under the title of the Conception. Of 

 this order the fovereign is chief ; he alone nominates the 

 grand croiles and knights. The order is compoled of fixty 

 grand crofles, two hundred penfioned knights, and an inde- 

 finite number of others ; of a grand chancellor and miniller, 

 who is always the patriarch of the Indies ; of a fecretary, a 

 mailer of the ceremonies, and a treafurer. 



The crofs of this order is of eight points, furmounted by 

 a royal crown, with a figure of tlie conception in the middle ; 

 it is worn hung to a ribband of three equal Itripes, the two 

 outer of which are blue, and the inner white. The grand 

 crofTes wear this ribband much broader than the knights, 

 lalticrwife from the right (houlder to beneath tlie left arm, 

 with a conception of filver embroidery on the left iide of the 

 habit and cloak. On days of ceremony they wear along 

 cloak, and a collar, the links of which are formed alter- 

 nately of the king's cypher and the arms of Caftile. The 

 knights wear the crofs hung from the button-hole by a nar- 

 row ribband. The penfioiis of the knights (of which there 

 are 200) are each fixed at the fum of 4000 reals : they are 

 given to military men, to men of letters, to lawyers, to 

 gentlemen, and to thofe employed in the minillerial depart- 

 ments. This order has a fuprerae council, compofed of the 

 fovereign, of the grand chancellor of the order, who is alfo 

 vice-prefidcnt, of a fecretary, a fifcal, an accomptant, and 

 ten counfellors. 



The order of Maria Louifa is very modern, having been 

 cftablifhed in 1792, by Charles VI., who named it after the 

 queen hie wife. Only ladies are admitted into this order. 

 The grand-maltcr(hij) is velted in the queen, and the number 

 of ladies is thirty. The crofs of the order is a medallion, 

 with a portrait of the queen, hung to a violet ribband, di- 

 vided in the middle by a white itripe, and worn fall lerwifc. 



In Spain there is a delcription of perfons denominated 

 " Mayorazgos." The term, derived from the word nuiyor, 

 or firii-born, implies, (Irictly Ipeaking, the right polleiled 

 by the eldell-born of a family, to inlierit certain property, 

 on the condition of tranfmitting it entire and undiminiHied 

 to thofe who may be podefied of the fame right on his 

 deceafe. 



The import of this term has, however, been much ex- 

 tended by ufe ; for, thojigli it properly means <inly tlie right 

 of fucceliiou to a perpetually entailed ellate, in virtue of 

 primogeniture, yet it now fignifies, in addition, the caule 

 which products the right, the pro])erty which is the objcdl 

 of It, the adlual poflellor of the property, and the perfou 

 who (lands next in fuccellion. 



Of tlicfe mayorazgos there are five clafles or kinds, dif- 

 tinguidied by certain circumllance-; incident to the defccnt 

 or transfer of property. Many difadvantages have attended 

 the extenfive multiplication of mayorazgos ; cfpecially when 

 the fucceflion defcends to females. Inllead of perpetuating 

 families, far which purpofe the inditution was intended, it 

 very much contributes to tlitir extinftion ; it injures the ge- 



neral progrefs of agriculture, and it encourages idienefs, to 

 which the Spaniards are very much addifted. 



Literature, Sciences, the jirts, and Language. — Tiic Hate 

 of fcience in Spain, before the time of the Romans and 

 Carthaginians, is wholly unknown ; but when the Romans 

 introduced with their arms the arts of civilization, the 

 Spaniards began to cultivate literature and the I'ciefices, 

 and produced feveral writers who attradted diilinguilhed 

 notice: fuch were L. A. Seneca, a native of Cordova; 

 the geographer M. Pomponius Mela, of Andalufia ; and 

 J. M. Columella, ot Cadiz, whofe works on agriculture 

 and rural economy are even now held in high eltimation. 

 Under the Goths, when literature was rellrained and op- 

 preffed, Spain fun.ifhed perfons no lefs diilinguilhed by their 

 virtues than by their talents and writings. To this clafs we 

 may refer PJolius, bifiiop of Cordova; Gregorius Boeticus, 

 billiop of Elvira ; S. Ildefoiifo, archbiihop ot his native place, 

 Toledo ; S. Ifidore, a native, and afterwards archbiihop, of 

 Seville ; Prifcillianus of Galicia ; Petrus of Saragoll'a, a dif- 

 tinguilhed orator ; Aurelius Prudentius, of Calahorra, an 

 elleemed poet ; and Aquihus Severus, who wrote an account 

 of his travels in Africa. The invafion of the Moors intro- 

 duced a period of barbarifm ; but at this time we find, with- 

 out mentioning perfons of lefs note, king Alphonfo IV. of 

 Callile and X. ot Leon, wlio was celebrated tor his acquire- 

 ments in various departments of literature and fcience ; who 

 was a legiflator, orator, hillorian, poet, mathematician, and 

 altronomer ; and who merited the appellation of " El Sabio," 

 the fage, which was conferred upon him by gcr.eral confent. 

 Although the native Spaniards were plunged in ignorance, the 

 Moors united with the moll romantic bravery, a pallionate love 

 of fcience and the arts. Belides their theatres, public lliows, 

 and touriianicnls, they eilablilhcd public Ichools in every town 

 under their dominion, of which tliole of Seville, Cordova, 

 and Granada, obtained a high degree of reputation. They 

 ellabliflied in various places colleges and academies, as well 

 as libraries, for the promotion of fcience and literature. 

 The fciences cultivated by them with eminei.t fucccfs 

 were, geography, experimental philofcphy, optics, botauy, 

 chemittry, medicine, natural hiltory. geometry, and other 

 branches of the mathematics. When the Moors were ex- 

 pelled, the fortunate and brilliant reign of the Catholic 

 fjvcreigns Ferdinand and Ifabella was the era in which 

 knowledge revived, and its boundaries were enlarged during 

 the reigns of Charles V. and Philip II. During the inaufpi- 

 cious period that fucceedcd the reign of Philip II., feveral 

 perfons ot didinguiihed genius and attaiRmenls exerted them- 

 lelves tor the protcttion and encouragement ol Icience ; and 

 it would be tedious to mention evm the names of thole who 

 excelled in various branches ot learning. We cannot, how- 

 ever, lorbear mentioning Benedict Eeyjoo, a BeiiediCline 

 monk, who died at Oviedo in 1762, and who did honour 

 to his country at a tune when literature, Icience, and the 

 arts, were almoll wholly neglected and unknown. To him 

 Spain was indebted tor tlie relloration of literature, good 

 talle, and the love ot lludy. We might alio eiuimirate 

 among its dillinguiflied poets and hillonans, Quevedo, Cer- 

 vantes, Saavedra, Lopez de Vega, Guevara, Mariana, Gra- 

 nada, Solis, Hcrrera, &c. 



The number of umvcrlilies, or rather academies, in Spain, 

 was formerly twenty-tour, but the following leventeen are 

 all which now remain, via. that of Pampeluna, in Navarre ; 

 of Oviedo, ill the Allurias ; of San Jago, in Galicia; of 

 Seville, and ot Granada, in the provinces of tiie fame name; 

 of Hueica and Saragolia, in Aragon ; of Avila< OInia, 

 and Valladolid, in Old Callile ; of Toledo, Siguenza, and 

 Alcala de Ilamarez, in New Cullile ; of Cervera, in Cata- 

 lonia ; 



