632 



SPAIN. 



For a late and more substantial breakfast, like the French dejeuner a la fourchette, eight reals 

 is charged, and for dinner, twelve reals. The provisions, or equivalents, are specified. The 

 dinner, it is ordered, shall consist in a soup, an olla of fowl, bacon, beef, sausage, beans, and 

 pot herbs, a fritter, or ham and eggs, two dishes of chopped meats, a pudding, peppers, hari 

 cots, or beans, a roast, a salad, a dessert of three dishes, a glass of brandy, and bread and wine 

 " at discretion." The bed is four reals, and must consist of a mattress of straw, and another 

 of wool, two clean sheets, two pillows, a quilt, and a blanket. 



The traveler in Spain may have, from one end of the land to the other, the feeling of dignity, 

 that danger is said to beslow ; for there is no part free from robbers. They do not often 

 murder unless they are resisted, yet the traveler on whom they find little to plunder, seldom 

 escapes without a severe beating. It is, therefore, not uncommon to carry a silver watch of 

 small value, and a few dollars in silver, to be surrendered as a peace-offering ; this is one of 

 the usual expenses of the road ; and the rest of the money is taken in drafts. On the receipts 

 that are given at some of the diligence oflices, a caution is indorsed, that the traveler should 

 not take too much money, on penalty of being answerable for any consequent damage done to 

 the diligence by robbers. There are often guards to the diligences, but they have sometimes 

 an understanding with the robbers, and the danger of the traveler is thought to be in proportion 

 to the strength of his escort. Some diligences compound with the robbers, who are some- 

 times well known, by paying black mail, for security. The robber, who has followed for years 

 his trade of violence, is, it may be, a dweller in some hamlet, where men know more of his 

 trade than they will testify ; sometimes when outlawed, he surrenders himself upon pardon, 

 and becomes a trusty guard to the diligence. The " Young American " had, in his single 

 " Year in Spain," the chance to be twice robbed ; once by such gallant cavaliers, that they 

 scorned to touch the lady's baggage, and again by miscreants so hardened, that they murdered 

 the muleteers, probably because they belonged to the same village with themselves. In the 

 dangerous defiles, crosses are erected close together, each marking the place of a murder, 

 and bearing the inscription, " here they killed John, Thomas," &c. The established formula 

 of the robbers is to call to each passenger " a tierra ladron,^^ " on the ground, you thief" ; 

 where the sufferers lie quietly on their faces, while they are pillaged. 



14. Character, Manners., and Customs. For centuries there has been little change in the 

 Spanish character, and every inlet to innovation or improvement is closed. There is a say- 

 ing, that Adam returned to the earth, where he recognised no country but Spain. " Ah, this," 

 said he, " is exactly as I left it." There is a tradition too, in Spain, that he was king of the 

 country, and that his capital was Toledo. 



The Spaniards are an honorable race, and in Spain the spirit of chivalry is not extinct, 

 though the institutions have passed away. The national songs and ballads, and the popular 

 romances of chivalry, but particularly the former, have a great influence in forming the char- 

 acter ; they are sung by all ; they are of high poetic excellence, and rich in the sentiments 

 that incite a Spaniard to die for his mistress, his country, or his faith. 



Pride and courtesy are inseparable from a Spaniard ; but it is not the pride of an English- 

 man ; it is the accompaniment of a lofty character, in which meanness cannot exist. He is 

 not deceitful, for falsehood is a part of meanness or fear, and he has neither. His individual 

 self-respect is associated with a pride for his country ; " we are not all old Castilians," is his 

 saying, when he would reprehend an act of baseness in another. It is not without some rea- 

 son, that he boasts of his provinces, where all are nobles, or gentlemen. The very peasants 

 have great independence of spirit, and dignity of manner ; and, though they readily admit 

 equality, they acknowledge no superiority. The poorest laborer seems to think, that fortune 

 only has depressed him from his proper station, and he raises his soul above his humble con- 

 dition ; " as good a gentleman as the king, only not so rich," is the national proverb. But 

 the proudest Spaniard exacts no greater tribute than he is ready to pay. The courteous Don 

 of Cervantes was in this, and other respects, a picture of his countrymen ; punctilious in 

 rendering courtesy, and strict in exacting it. There is much of the national character embodi- 

 ed in Don Quixote and his Squire ; and this chivalric phase of madness, is probable and 

 natural in Spain, though it would not be so in any other country. 



The humblest person in Spain, will take offence to be addressed under a lower title than 

 Senor or Maestro. No circumstances or reverses can deprive a Spaniard of his dignity of 

 carriage. The very beggars are so easily repulsed, that they seldom repeat a solicitation. 

 The characteristic reply of a mendicant, who was advised to work, was, " I asked your char- 



