7^4 Mr. WiLLou( 
would enable its Inhabitants to carry on an extenfive 
Commerce, and the Means of carrying them on are 
alfo in the Hands of the Inhabitants. We will give 
a few Inftances, which at the fame Time that they in- 
form, cannot fail of pleafing and entertaining an in- 
telligent Reader. 
To begin then with the Wooll. All the World knows 
that Spain produces as good, fome, who are well verfed’ 
in that Comnftodity, fay better, than any in Europe ; of 
this the Englijh ufe a vaft Quantity, and of late the 
French and Dutch a much greater. Their Wine is 
alfo a very confiderable Article *, fo long ago as the 
Year 1690. it appeared by their Cuftom-houfe Books, 
that they exported fixteen thoufand Pipes annually from 
Malaga., AUcant^ Port Sc. Marfi., Porto Real^ Sr. Lucar., 
and Rota. They make vaft Quantities of Oil in the 
Ifland of Majorca, and in the Country about 6 'm 7 and 
Malaga. Cajiile Soap is another great Article, and be- 
fides this, Pot-Afhes for the Ufe of Glafs-works, and 
the Whitening of Linnen, a Commodity that de- 
fer ves Notice. 
They have great Quantities of the very beft Sort of 
Salt, of which they fell a great deal at prefent, but no- 
thing in Comparifon of what they might fell. In the 
Principality of Bifcay, and in the upper Navarre, they 
have large Quantities of Iron, and that Iron is juftJy 
efteemed excellent. From Bilboa and St. Sebajiians they 
carry on two or three kinds of Fifheries, and thefe 
might be extended vaftly. We will add to thefe Ar- 
ticles, that of Fruits, which is very confiderable, fuch as 
Oranges four and fweet, Raifins of the Sun, and many 
others ; befides all the Drugs that they derive from the 
Weft- Indies, which are at once the richeft and moft 
faleable, fuch as, Cochineal, .Indigo, Vanella’s, Jalap, 
Sarfa Parilla, Jefuits Bark, Iftc. The Tobacco Trade, 
Skins and Hides, and a Multitude of other Things 
might be added. 
All this plainly fhows, that if Spain is very thin of 
People, it IS entirely owing to Errors in Government, 
lince the Country would have wherewithal to maintain 
its Inhabitants, if it was ever fo populous, and it might 
be filled with Inhabitants from other Countries, if fome 
idle foohfh Cuftoms were taken away ; for thefe Cuftoms 
make Strangers leave Spain, as foon as they have ac- 
quired Fortunes in it, Vv^hich is doubly difadvantageous 
to the State •, firft by the Lofs of fo many Subjefts, and 
next by the great Sums they carry off. We may judge 
of this from the Balance that is faid to arife to France, 
from what is acquired by itinerant Labourers, that go 
to Spain in the Slpring, and return before Winter, 
which has been computed, and not extravagantly neither, 
at half a Million Sterling j yet fuch is the Folly of the 
Spaniards, that inftead of regretting this Lofs, they va- 
lue themfelves upon it, and believe, that in Comparifon 
of the French, they are a rich and great People, to 
whom others willingly fubmit themfelves, for the Sake 
of getting Bread by them, without confidering that 
thefe Strangers whom they defpife, eat that Bread which 
they want, and go Home rich into their own Country, 
v/hile thofe v^/ho call themfelves their Mafters are left to 
ftarve. If this Fa6f was not evident and undeniable, it 
would certainly be incredible. 
Give me Leave alfo to obferve, that as Spain is a 
very large Country, and compofed of Provinces that 
differ very much from each other in Soil and Climate ; 
fo thofe, v/ho feem to be lefs happy in thefe Par- 
ticulars, are by much the beft cultivated, and fuJleft of 
Inhabitants : As, for Inftance, the Upper Navarre, for 
the Lower belongs to France, is very cold and moun- 
tainous •, yet Pampeluna, which is the Capital, is a fair 
well- built City, and has a good Trade : The People 
there, and throughout the whole Country, are aftive, 
frugal and induftrious, civil to Strangers, and gene- 
rally fpeaking, free from moft of thofe Vices that are 
commonly imputed to the Spaniards. It is the fame 
Thing in Bifcay, where, though the Land is alfo far from 
being fertile 9 yet the People are never in Want j their 
Farms require Labour and Manure •, the Owners be- 
ftow it chearfully and there is more Trade carried 
on, in Proportion to the Extent of this Diftrid, than 
JHBv’i- Travels Book II, 
in all the Kingdom befide. The People alfo of Bifcay 
and Navarre are the beft Soldiers, not only as they are 
robuft in their Conftitutions, and very hardy, but as 
^ey are aftive, diligent and very capable of bearing 
Fatigue. The Bifeaneers alfo are excellent Seamen • 
their Barks are well built •, they are well vidualled and 
vvell manned ; they fifh for Cods on the Newfoundland 
Banks ; they have a Share in the Greenland Fifhery ; 
and whereas the Spanijh in general are flow and 
awkward, tnefe are as brisk and as capable in every 
Refipeeft as ours. But in Valencia, Murcia and Granada, 
Countries that were formerly very rich, and produced 
vaft Quantities of Grain, the Land lies untilled, and 
the People are poor and ftarving, merely becaufe they 
are idle and will not work. In Andalufia, indeed, which 
may be ftiled the Paradife of Spain, there is great 
Plenty, and the Country has a fine Appearance ; but 
even here vaft Improvements might be made, if the 
Inhabitants were more induftrious, and did not think- 
four Hours Labour in twenty four an intolerable Fa- 
tigue. 
That the Spaniards have Genius and Parts is certain 
and yet both are commonly mifapplied j for as our Au- 
thor obferves, they are a Hundred Years behind the 
reft of Europe, in almoft all Branches of'Literature ; 
not becaufe they want Abilities, but becaufe they are 
attach’d to their old Notions, and had rather go on in 
the Paths of their Forefathers, though ever fo rugo-ed 
and uncooth, than difhonour them fo far, as to ffrTke 
out into better Roads that are new. In Poetry Ro- 
mances, Novels, and fuch Kind of Writings, they’ftiow 
a Spirit and an Invention, that is a clear Evidence of 
their falling fhort in other Things, merely from Want 
of Attention and Application : Yet with all this, their 
Reverence and Regard for Authority, they want not 
a ftrong Propenfuy to Liberty ; and though no People 
in the Univerfe are more loyal to their Princes, yet 
they are far from being blind to the Errors in their 
Adminiftration ; which, however, they aferibe con- 
ftantly to their Minifters, never to themfelves. When 
they meet in the Evenings, as they commonly do in 
the great Squares of Madrid, and other Cities, they 
difcourfe very frankly upon all Sorts of Subjeas,-and 
fpare their Superiors as little as in the freeft Countries 
in Europe. 
In thefe little Cabals, the fecret Hiftory and Policy 
of Spain may be very truly learned, at the fame Time 
that it gives you a very natural Pi.cfture of the real Genius 
and genuine Difpofition of the People. The Birth, the 
Rife, Progrefs and Summit of every Minifter’s For- 
tune, are here fairly difeuffed ; his private Life, as well 
as his publick Adminiftration, canvafTed, and the Con-- 
fequences of his Miftakes either preditfted before they 
happened, or traced to their true Sources afterwards. It 
muft be owned, that thefe Politicians are but very low 
People •, a Taylor, perhaps, or a Shoemaker, is one of 
the moft enlightened Members of this Society j but 
they are ftrangely miftaken, who fhall perfuade them- 
felves from thence,_ that nothing great or fenfible paftes 
in thefe Converfations. The very contrary is ftridlly 
true : This Cuftom has reigned fo long in Spain, that 
the whole Nation are become Statefmen, at leaft, to 
fuch a Degree, as to form a right enough Judgment of 
a Minifter’s Behaviour in Domeftick Concerns ; and 
therefore the famous Conde-Duke de Olivarez, had 
always his Spies amongft them, whofe Reports he com- 
mitted to Writing ; and it was againft the Charge 
drawn from them, that he wrote his famous Juftifica- 
tion, which is beyond Controverfy the beft Apology 
that ever fell from a Minifter’s Pen. The King, at ’ 
the Time he wrote it, was ftrongly inclined to reftore 
him to his Favour, but the Mob Politicians of Madrid 
pronounced him undone ; as foon as this excellent 
Piece appeared : A Favourite, faid they, can never rife 
again, after flowing that his Mafter was in the Wrong ta 
let him fall. 
Now we are upon this Chapter of Politicks, I can- 
not help adding a Thought of my own, which is this, 
that the indulging the People of Spain in thefe extra- 
ordinary Liberties has been the great Secret by which 
they 
