78 
SEVILLE. 
nies with which its trade is carried on; and the repeated 
occurrence of pestilential disease in Cadiz and the neigh¬ 
bouring ports. 
SEVILLE, a large city in the south-west of Spain, in 
Andalusia, the capital of the preceding province. It stands 
in a fine plain on the left bank of the Guadalquivir (which 
is here a great river). It is surrounded by an old wall of 
considerable height, which is entered by ] 2 gates, and con¬ 
tains 166 turrets. The environs affording no stone, the wall 
w'as built of cement, which has long since acquired great 
hardness and solidity, without, however, being defensible 
against a modern army, its circuit being between 5 and 6 
miles. The population of the town, not correctly ascer¬ 
tained, is commonly stated at 100,000. The interior is 
built in a great measure in the Moorish style, the streets 
being often so narrow that a person can touch the houses on 
either side by extending his arms. This closeness of build¬ 
ing was adopted for the sake of coolness, and to prevent the 
rays of the sun from penetrating The streets are in general 
badly paved ; the squares are neither numerous nor spacious; 
most of them have a fountain in the centre; but as the water 
is seldom cool, the inhabitants are in a great measure sup¬ 
plied from stalls in different pa.rts of the town, for the 
sale of filtered water. There are here several beautiful public 
walks, one in particular on the bank of the Guadalquivir, 
which is frequented by the higher classes. The suburbs are 
tolerably built; one situated on the west side of the river, 
called Triana, communicates with the city by a bridge of 
boats. 
Edifices .—The houses of Seville generally cover a large 
space, there being in the middle of each a court with a 
fountain. On the side towards the streets they have often a 
mean appearance, the Moors being accustomed to confine 
their embellishments to the interior. There are here, how¬ 
ever, a number of public edifices, no less than 30 churches, 
84 convents, and 24 hospitals, great and small. The cathe¬ 
dral is a large and magnificent Gothic pile, built in the loth 
century, and containing so many as 82 altars. Its tower, 
250 feet in height, is reckoned the finest in Spain. Of the 
other churches and convents, several are elegant, but their 
chief attraction consists in their paintings. A convent called 
De Buenavista, situated on the opposite side of the Guadal¬ 
quivir, is remarkable for its prospect, which, in this clear 
atmosphere, takes in an extent that is surprising to persons 
accustomed to a cloudy sky; the spectator being enabled to 
distinguish the mountains of Ronda at a distance of 70 miles 
to the east, and the Sierra Morena at nearly the same distance 
to the north-west. 
Of the edifices not ecclesiastical, the most conspicuous are 
the Alcagar or palace, the Longa or exchange, the artillery 
school, and the mint. The Alcaqar, a Moorish building, 
was extended by several Christian princes in the same style. 
Though the outside is mean, the inside is very different, 
containing several courts, with fountains, galleries and baths; 
the garden, said to have remained unchanged since the time 
of the Moors, has also its fountains, ever-greens and walks 
paved with marble. In one of the saloons is a collection of 
Roman antiquities, brought from the ancient town of Italica 
in the vicinity. The Lonja, a modern edifice, is of the 
Tuscan order, and finely situated in the centre of a square. 
It was built by the merchants for an exchange, but now 
serves chiefly as a deposit for the old official correspondence 
with America, distr.buted formerly in several public build¬ 
ings. Here are collections of letters from Cortez, Pizarro, 
and other invaders of the new world. 
Seville being one of the most ancient cities of Spain, con¬ 
tains several objects of interest to the antiquary. Water is 
brought from a distance of 8 miles by a Roman aqueduct of 
very old date. A large house, formerly the residence of a 
Moorish chief, is in complete preservation; the principal 
rooms are in the form of a double cube, being 60 feet in 
height, and about 30 in breadth and width. The walls are 
covered with a sort of net-work of exquisite workmanship, 
on a plaster which does not exhibit a single flaw, though 
above five centuries old. 
Seminaries .—Seville had an academy and public library 
in the time of the Moors, and at present it has an academy 
for the physical sciences, another for the fine arts, and a 
medical society. To these is to be added a university 
founded in 1502, but almost as backward in science as at 
the time of its constitution, the teachers having little idea of 
the discoveries and improvements familiar to professors in 
British, French and German universities. The number of 
under graduates is about 200. A humbler institution called 
St. Elmo, is appropriated to the edueation of young men for 
the sea service, and was founded by the son of Christopher 
Columbus; but the teachers here are equally backward. 
There is a public library in the cathedral, and another in 
the archbishop’s palace. Seville being the residence of pro¬ 
vincial nobility and gentry, has a genteel society; and the 
Spanish manners are exhibited here more conspicuously than 
at a town of foreign intercourse like Cadiz. 
Manufactures and Trade .—-The silk manufactures of 
Seville are said to have been formerly considerable, but to 
have declined in the middle and end of the 17th century. 
In the 18th they recovered, and the number of looms at 
present at work varies from 2000 to 3000; the silk is brought 
chiefly from the provinces of Granada and Valencia. 
Woollens of the coarser kind are also made here, but from 
the aukwardness of the machinery, are dearer than English 
cloth. There is here a considerable manufactory of leather 
for private account, and a very conspicuous one of tobacco 
and snuff for account of government. The latter is carried 
on in one of the largest buildings in the city, a structure in 
the style of the age of Charles V., 200 yards in length, and 
105 in breadth ; the interior consists of no less than 28 courts, 
around which are arranged the different rooms for the pro¬ 
cesses. The mills, to the number, it is said, of 100, are all 
driven by horses and mules; and a similar want of mecha¬ 
nical power exists in a cannon foundry, carried on also for 
government account. 
Seville was, after the discovery of America, invested with 
the monopoly of the trade between that country and Spain, 
but the difficulty of navigating the Guadalquivir with large 
vessels, led to its transfer to Cadiz. Vessels drawing more 
than 10 feet water are obliged to load and unload 8 miles 
below Seville; and the largest vessels stop at St. Lucar, at 
the mouth of the river. The navigation is limited partly 
from this cause, more from a want of industry in the inha¬ 
bitants, who in general confine their exertions to the supply 
of their immediate wants. Among the exports are wool, 
the skins of goats and kids, fruit, and, in a small quantity, 
oil and silk. The imports are various manufactures from 
England, Nuremberg wares from Germany, iron from 
Bilboa, and colonial produce from America. It is not pro¬ 
bable that the former trade of Seville, whatever may be the 
allegations of Spanish writers, was greater than at present. 
The adjacent country is of great fertility, and the markets 
plentifully supplied; but the lowness of the ground exposes 
it to inundations, and to vapours which engender agues and 
malignant fevers. The heat of summer and autumn is some¬ 
times very oppressive, particularly on the occurrence of the 
solano, a scorching wind that blows from the sandy de¬ 
serts of Africa. 
History .—Seville stands on the site of the Hispolis of the 
Romans, the birih-place of the emperors Trajan, Adrian, and 
Theodosius. The date of its foundation is unknown ; it 
opened its gates to the Moors in 711, soon after their inva¬ 
sion of Spain, and continued in their possession above five 
centuries, being the seat first of a regal, afterwards of an 
aristocratical government. It was taken from them by the 
Christians in 1247, after one of the most obstinate sieges 
mentioned in Spanish history. Since then it has seldom 
been the scene of military exploits. In 1729 a treaty was 
concluded here between Spain, England, France, and Hol¬ 
land. In 1755 the city felt the shock of the dreadful earth¬ 
quake of Lisbon, its cathedral having sustained considerable 
injury. In the autumn of 1800, it was visited by the pesti¬ 
lential fever which caused such mortality at Cadiz; it was 
computed that between 12th August and 1st November of 
