Chap. IV. through Spain. 70J 
die, i^c, juft as they did at Naples under the Rebellion In the firft Place thCn, with Regard td the Govern- 
oi Mafaniello. Upon which the King lent to all the ment, the King, though he feems abfolute enough, want^ 
Towns about for Bread Corn, and in two or three Days Power to take thofe Steps that may appear neCeflary 
Bread was very plentiful and cheap. All over Cata- for the Good of his Subjects. In Spain Forms are not 
Ionia Bread is very cheap. The Spanifh Bread is com- only regarded, but reverenced as facred. There is not 
mended for the beft of the World j and well it may a fingle Nobleman in Spain but has very great Rights 
be, if, as we have heard, they pick their Wheat Grain and Privileges in his own Lands ; on the other Hand, 
by Grain. At my being at Madrid, there was an En- there are very few of the great Nobility that have not 
gineer there, fent by the Emperor, that had invented cOnfiderable Towns upon their Eftates, to which the/ 
a Plow, called by the Spaniards a Sembrador, to fow have granted Immunities •, and in Refpeft to either of 
Corn at equal Diftances, and one Grain in a Hole ; the thefe^ there can be no Innovation made, though ever fo 
Defcription whereof hath been fince publifhed in the muchj or ever fo apparently, for the Advantage of the 
PhilofophicalTranfa3ions. Subjefts in general. Thus it appears that there is a 
In ail Kind of good Learning the Spaniards are be- great deal of Liberty in Spain, and the People are very 
hind the reft Europe, underftanding nothing at all tenacious Of it. The King alfo has great Power, more 
but a little of the old wrangling Philofophy and efpecially in the Countries that hold immediately of the 
School Divinity. The People are much difcontented Crown; he therefore favours them in Point of TradCjj 
all over Spain, complaining of Taxes, evil Counfellors, and in other RefpeCts ; but the Crown of Spain has been 
Cfc. but they have a good Opinion of, and are gene- fo long at an exorbitant Expence, both of Treafure and 
rally well affected to their King, whole Intentions they of Men, that it wants Force to rid itfelf of old In** 
fay are very good. As for their Habit and Drefs, in that conveniencies, at the fame time that, from its prefenc 
they are to be commended that they are conftant to Weaknefs, nev/ ones are continually growing. It muft 
the fame Fafhions, though they be not the moft con- indeed be owned, that the Cortes, or Affembly of the 
venient that might be deviled. To change for the States, might remove many of thefe Evils, but Princes, 
better, I think it rather commendable than blame- if they can avoid it, are unwilling to borrow Powers 
worthy ; but to change out of meer Levity, or an apilh from their People and Minifters, much more un- 
Imitation of others, is foolifli and unreafonable. willing to have their Management of Power looked in- 
They wear great Hats with broad Crowns, and the to and examined. To fecure the Peace of the King- 
Top broader than the Bottom. Their Hair moft com- dom, the Defendants of the Moors were baniftied ; 
monly, and efpecially when they travel, they tie up in this depopulated the Kingdom of Granada, then the 
a Knot behind, and fometimes braid like Women’s, richeft; and moft fertile Part of Spain ; and now^ for 
Their Bands lie upon black Collars juft of the fame want of thofe induftrious People, the moft barren. Up- 
Bignefs, or a little bigger. They are joined to the on a Mixture of religious and political Principles, the 
Collar, and put on Band and Collar together. They Jews were alfo driven out, and with them went all In- 
wear very much Cambrick Half Shirts, and have their duftry in the low Arts of Retailing and Pedlary, as well 
Sleeves open before and behind, both Winter and Sum- as in the fuperior Branches of the mercantile Bufinefs, 
mer : They have great Skirts upon their Doublets ; In a Word, to exprefs the Thing as clearly as poffible to 
their Breeches are very ftrait and clofe to their Thighs, an Englifh Reader, the firft Meafure was calculated to 
and button’d down on each Side, and reach a little deftroy the Land, and the latter effectually ruined the 
lower than the Knee. They wear very flight wrought Money’d Intereft. 
black Silk Stockings, that the white Linnen Stockings The plain Remedies for thefe Mifchiefs muft be the 
which they wear underneath, may be feen through bringing all the Kingdoms in Spain under one Confti- 
them. Their Shoes juft fit their Feet, very light and tution and Form of Laws, as they are fubjeft only to 
thin, with low Heels. Over their Doublets they wear one Prince. The raifing Men and Money ought to be 
a clofe Coat or Jerkin, with open Sleeves like the Doub- reftrained to Cafes of NecefTity, and then it fhould be 
let, and for the moft Part with hanging Sleeves, like done as equally as poffible *, for when every Body Puffers 
Childrens, yet never reaching lower than their Skirts, alike, it very feldom happens that any Body com- 
a very long Sword and a fhort Dagger hanging juft plains. Titles of Honour, and the Privileges annexed 
behind them *, and at iaft, over all, a Cloak with a to them, fhould be connedled with Property, as well as 
great Cape. The Women wear great Fardingales, with Defcent, which amongft the People, naturally 
Handing fo far out on each Side, that to enter in at proud, would prove the greater Spur to Induftry. The 
an ordinary Door, they are forced to go Sideways ; when Trade of the new World ought to be laid open to all 
they go Abroad are covered with a Veil of black, hav- the Subjects of Spain, under Reftridlions that may be 
ing only a Hole left for one Eye. complied with, and thofe Reftridlions ought not to be 
The poor People wear Shoes made of Packthread, relaxed ; as it ftands at prefent, this Commerce is fo far 
The moft noble Sport in Spain is the Jeu de Tarreau, or in the Hands of the Crown, as to hinder it from being 
Bull-Fighting, pra£lifed at V alentia, Madrid, &c. At beneficial to the Peoplq ; and yet there is fuch a univer- 
Madrid, three times in the Year, where in the Market- fal Corruption reigns amongft the Officers employed by 
Place, a brave Don on Horfeback, and a great many the Crown, that greatly abridges the King’s Profits. If 
Pages on Foot, fight with a wild Bull ; when one Bull Strangers fettled in Spain had the Means of acquiring 
is killed or much wounded, they turn in another. Sel- Property, and the Privileges that ought to be annexed 
dom but fome of the Pages are killed ; and with thefe to Property, Manufactures would rife of themfelves, 
cruel and bloody Spedtacles the People are much de- and the Produce of Spanifh Commodities would remain 
lighted, as were the Romans of old in the Time of in Spain, whereas now all the Advantages arifing from 
Heathenifm. _ Trade are colledfed as it were in a Sieve, fo that as 
16. We fee very plainly from Nlv . Willoughby^ s Ac- they come in they appear to be very great, but they 
count, that Spain is not naturally fo poor a Country as fpeedily leak through, and that to fuch a Degree that 
is commonly imagin’d. The Climate is excellent, the little or nothing is left behind. 
Soil very far from being bad, and what Corn is produ- The Want of Attention to thefe plain Maxims has 
ced in Spain may be truly call’d the beft of its kind in rendered the Government weak and infirm ; the purfu- 
Europe. The only thing that is wanting is, a right ing Schemes diredtly oppofite to thefe Maxims has in- ' 
Government, for this would encourage Induftry, render creafed this Weaknefs into a kind of galloping Con- 
the Country more populous, and make the People fumption, and this has enervated the Monarchy to fuch 
willing to work hard, in order to fare well. It is a Degree, that without a fpeedy Reformation, it muft 
highly probable, that the Reader will incline to know crumible to Pieces by its own Weight; and that this is 
what are the principal Faults of this Government, whence not a Conjecfture but a Faft, appears plainly from the 
it comes to pafs that they have fubfifted fo long, and miferable State of Si. Domingo, Porto Rico ', -And other 
are like fo much longer to fubfift, and what might be Spanifh Settlements ; but if fuch a Reformation were to 
reafonably expedled in Favour of iht Spanifh Nection, take Place, the Kingdom of Spain has in itfelf vaft 
if proper Remedies were applied to thefe Evils. Refources. There are in it many fine Pons which 
would 
