TRAVELS

I N

S PA I N.

VOLUME II.

TRAVELS I N
SPAIN: CONTAINING
A NEW, ACCURATE, AND COMPREHENSIVE VIEW
OF THE
PRESENT STATE OF THAT COUNTRY.
BY THE
CHEVALIER DE BOURGOANNE.
TO WHICH ARE ADDED,
COPIOUS EXTRACTS
FROM THE
ESSAYS ON SPAIN
O F
M. P E Y R O N.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.
ILLUSTRATED WITH TWELVE COPPER-PLATES.

VOLUME II.

LONDON:
PR I NTED FOR G. G. J. AND J. ROB1S50N,
PATER -NO ST ER-ROjy, 1789.

THE

PRESENT STATE

O F

SPAIN.

WE fhall now proceed to confider
the navy of Spain. Charles III.
found it in an imperfect ftate, though
Ferdinand VI. had lefs neglected this
than other branches of the adminiftra-
tion, and though his minifter, the mar
quis de la Enfenada is efteemed its re-
ilorer. It is divided into three depart
ments, thofe of Ferrol, Carthagena and
Cadiz. Vol, II. B The

2 THE PRESENT STATE
The firft has real inconveniencies, on
-account of the unhealthiriefs of the cli
mate, and the frequent rains which re
tard the operations in the port whence
no vefTel can fail but with one particu
lar wind. This department for the
north coaft of Spain would, perhaps, be'
better placed at Vigo, the climate of
which is very healthy, the foil fer-tile,
and the harbour fafe, and fpacious ; this
change has more than once been in con
templation; in cafe it had taken place,
arfenals and magazines muft havebeen ef-
tablifhed atVigo, where at prefent there is
not one of either ; and the harbour muft
have been fortified at a very confiderable
expence, becaufe it is a kind of open road; '
this,together with its vicinity to Portugal,
which has long been confidered as the na
tural enemy of Spain, for no other rea
fon, perhaps, than becaufe it is its neareft
neighbour, feemed to appear forbidding
circumftances ; and fuch confiderations
of oeconomy and policy have hitherto
prevented the execution of < this pro
ject. The

O F S P A 1 N. 3
The department of Carthagena has
many advantages over that of Ferrol.
The fafety of its harbour is known by
an old proverb among feamen, who fay,
there are but three good ports for veffels,
the months of June and July, and the
harbour of Carthagena. This fafety ex
tends to the arfenals and dock yards,
which in a narrow place may, if I may
fo fay, be locked up by a fingle key ; ac
cording to the expreffion of the Spa
nifh failors. Cathagena therefore is the
port where the greateft number of fhips
are built, caulked, and careened. The
prefent monarch eftablifhed, in 1770, a
corps of navy engineers under the direc
tion of M. Gauthier, of whom I fhall
hereafter fpeak.
The department of Cadiz is, however,
the moft important of the three, on ac
count of its favourable fituation for the
departure of fleets. As I mean to con
duct my reader to Cadiz, where I refided
fome time, I fhall refer him to my ac
count of it for the information I have
B 2 been

4 THE PRESENT STATE
been able to collect relative to its port,
dock-yards and arfenals ; which will
ferve as a fupplement to what I fhall
here fay of the Spanifh navy.
It is governed much in the fame man
ner as that of France. Inftead of vice-
admirals there are captains general, who
enjoy the fame honours as thofe of the
army. Don Louis de Cordova, whom
we have feen at the head of the Spanifh
fquadrons, is at prefent captain general
of the navy. Immediately after the
captains general rank, as in France, the
lieutenants general, who are at prefent
feventeen in number, and the commo
dores to the number of fifteen. But in
the Spanifh navy, there is an interme
diate rank between thefe and captains of
veffels or poft-captains ; that of briga
dier. There are at prefent forty officers
of this defcription. The number of cap
tains of fhips is a hundred and fifteen,
and of thofe of frigates a hundred and
fifty-two. Befides thefe there is a gene
ral infpector of the navy, who annually vifits

O F S P A I N. 5
vifits the three departments, in each of
which he has a fub-infpector.
One rule to which there are but few
exceptions is, that as in France, to ac
quire rank in the navy, it is neceffary to
have paffed through the Garde-marine.
This corps was eftablifhed in 1717; it
confifts of three companies, each con
taining ninety-two cadets, for whofe in-
ftruftion there is an academy, compofed
of a director and eight profeffors.
With thefe means of obtaining the
theory of the difficult and perilous art
of navigation, and the facility the vaft
extent of the Spanifh monarchy offers to
acquire a practical knowledge in frequent
and diftant expeditions, malignity might
be authorifed to judge with feverity the
officers of tbe Spanifh navy ; and we
know that even in Spain this was freely
done in the courfe of the late war. It is
not for me to form an opinion of thefe
decifions, which fome events feemed to
juftify ; I leave that to our fea officers
B 3 who

6 THE PRESENT STATE
who failed and fought by the fide of their
allies ; let them declare whether or not
fuch decifions were not frequently dic
tated by prejudice and injuftice, and if
fome Spanifh officers did not acquire^
right to their efteem as well by their ta
lents as their bravery. I fhall not name
one of them, becaufe I wifh not to com
bat the pretenfions of any. In fuch
cafes, to mention commanders by name
can be but little flattering, becaufe men
of merit have no need of the fuffrages
of an obfcure individual, and filence may
be taken for an injury. The officers of
the navy are, with refpect to military re
wards, upon a footing with thofe of the
army ; they find places fuitable to their
profeffions in the three departments.
The vice-royalties, governments of pro
vinces, or places in America are indif-
criminately given to general officers of
the army and thofe of the navy. . But
the officers of the Spanifh navy have, in
the exercife of their profeffion, many
other means of enriching themfelves,
pf which they take advantage, and for
this

GF SPAIN. 7
this reafon render the king's favours lefs
neceffary. The failors are claffed as in France,
and divided into three departments. The
regifters of -the clafTes make the number
of the whole amount to fifty thoufand.
But well informed perfons affured me,
that in 1759, there were but thirty^iix
thoufand; and in 1776 it would have
been difficult to have found fo many.
It appears however that a greater num
ber was employed in the courfe of the
late war, if we may judge of the number
of veffels of every rate then fitted out.
Spain was not reduced to the fole re-
fource of the clafTes, and the fhips be-
fides were but feldom completely man
ned. On the other hand, a reafon may
be given for the fmaller number of
Spanifh failors, fo little proportioned to
the population of the kingdom. In
every ftate maritime commerce can alone
render flourifhing and fupply the royal
navy. The commerce of Spain being
much more paffive than active, and its
B 4 interior

8 THE PRESENT STATE
interior navigation reduced almoft to no*
thing, few failors are employed in mer
chant fhips. At prefent thefe amount
to about four or five hundred fail,
three-fourths of which are from the
coafts .of Catalonia, and moft of the re
mainder from Bifcay. This number will
appear very moderate, efpecially when it
is recollected that England has, perhaps,
upwards of feven thoufand merchant
men, Holland at leaft fix thoufand fix
hundred, and France about four or five
thoufand. It feems by this gradation,
that ftates are more particularly invited
by their fituation to become maritime
powers, and that for Spain to become
fuch more efforts are neceffary than in
thofe countries which have received this
advantage from Nature herfelf. One
circumftance is in favour of her pro
grefs in this refpect ; the eftablifhment
of a free commerce between the inhabi
tants and the greateft part of her colonies.
This meafure, which is as recent as 1778,
has already fenfibly increafed the num* ber

O F S P A I N. 9
ber of her trading veffels, and cannot
but continue fo to do.
Spain has alfo for the fervice of her
fhips -of war, a marine infantry, com
pofed of twelve battalions, which con
fifting of a hundred and fixty-eight men
each, form a corps of about twelve thou
fand men.
Befides thefe there is a particular corps
of artillery, of two thoufand five hun
dred and ninety-five men, for whom
there are theoretical and practical fchools
in each of the three departments.
Spain has alfo a fociety of pilots, with
fchools of pilotage.
In the reign of Ferdinand VI. the
Spaniards adopted the Englilh princi
ples in building their fhips. Don Jorge
Juan, one of the moft able naval officers
as well in theory as practice, had gone to
the true fource, and afterwards drew to
Spain fome Englifh fhip-builders. When
Charles

io THE PRESENT STATE
Charles III. came from Naples to take
poffeffion of the vacant'throne, he found
the building of the Spanifh fhips entruft
ed to individuals of a nation which
had but too much power in the cabinet
of his predeceffor, and which at that time
was at war with France. In this war
he foon took a part, and was a victim to
his affection for France. The Englifh
took from him the Havannah, and
twelve fhips of war which were in that
port. This check given to the Spanifh
navy was a new motive with the mo
narch to put it upon a refpectable foot
ing. He renounced the Englifh manner of
building, and afked the court of France
for a French fhip-builder. The duke of
Choifeul ferit him M. Gautier, who, al
though a young man, had already given
proofs of great talents in his profeffion.
This ftranger was to the navy what M.
Maritz had been to the artillery. Spirit
of party, national prejudices, and more
efpecially the jealoufy of fome individuals, created

O F S P A I N. j,
created him, as they had done M.
Maritz, fuch difficulties as almoft fup-
preffeji his zeal. The marquis d'Offun,
then ambaffador from France to the
court of Madrid, whom his catholic ma
jefty honoured with his favour, fupport
ed M. Gautier in his experiments, and
enabled him to triumph over his ene
mies. He began his operations and dif
played in them equal activity and in
telligence. His firft efforts, however,
were not followed by all the fuccefs
which might have been wifhed.
The form of the veffels of every rate
which he con ftructed enabled them to fail
with a velocity until then unknown to the
Spaniards ; but they were found not to
be fufiiciently covered in, which made it
very difficult to manoeuvre them in bad
weather. He has fince improved his me
thod to fuch a degree as to leave but
little to defire in that refpect. A great
part of the Spanifh veffels employed in
the late war were built by M. Gautier ;
-ind feveral of them excited the admira tion

i2' THE PRESENT STATE
tion of both French and Englifh feamefli
The Conception, built according to his
plan, was judged by intelligent perfons
of both thefe nations, to be the fineft
veffel in Europe.
But while we do juftice to the hulls
and folidity of the Spanifh fhips, it muft
be admitted that all feamen exclaim with
reafon againft their heavinefs of failing*
This I have been told was owing to the
manner in which they are rigged and
flowed ; which appears probable, fince
thofe taken in 1780 by admiral Rodney
from M. de Langara, acquired under the
management of the Englilh, a celerity
which they were not thought capable of
receiving. The Spaniards, who difdain
not to learn, even in the fchool of their
enemies, are endeavouring, if the public
prints are to be believed, to improve their
fhip-building according to the models
which the fuccefs of war delivered into
their hands. M. Gautier

O F S P A I N. j3
M. Gautier is not the fole author of
the change. He has not only formed
artifts who partake with him of the me
rit ; but Spain has national fhip-builders,
who, without his aid, have improved
their art, and will render his lofs lefs fen
fible to the Spanifh navy.
The difpleafure of the minifter had
for fome years condemned M. Gautier to
inactivity ; and the court of France took
this occafion to reclaim from her ally a
fubject, who feemed to have become ufe*
lefs. The king of Spain reftored M*
Gautier to his country, continuing to
him the falary he enjoyed in the Spanifh
navy. He laid but one reftriction upon
this favour, and which does no lefs ho
nour to the goodnefsof the monarch than
to the talents of M. Gautier : This was
that he fhould again dedicate his talents
to the fervice of Spain, if hereafter need
fjiould require them.
Since his return, I have heard him re
gretted, even by thofe who had oppofed, or

14 THE PRESENT STATE
or were hurt at his fuccefs, which
proves, that in that nation, truly loyal
and generous, juftice gets the better of
prejudices againft foreigners, My own
experience has proved to me that thefe
are exaggerated, or at leaft that they
ought to be more excufed. What other
nation, in the fame circumftances as that
of Spain, would not have fhewn more
of this odious fentiment ? Can it be fup
pofed that when Louis XIV- penfioned
learned foreigners ; when he fought be
yond his frontiers, renowned artifts or
fkilful manufacturers, he did not excite
againft them the hatred of the French,
who imagined they had a greater right to
his bounty, or that their indignation rofe
not againft the contempt fhewn their
talents by penfioning foreign induftry ?
The felf love and patience of the Spaniards
have, within 'the laft century, been put
to much feverer proofs. In the retinue
of the French prince, who came to re
ceive their crown, there appeared a crowd
of foreigners, who filled up all the avenues
to the the throne ; French favourites, French

O F S P A I N. ,5
French valets de chambres, and French
confeffors, furround the monarch. The
princefs of Urfins and the French am-
baffadors reigned by turns in the cabinet.
A Frenchman repaired to Spain to re
form their finances*; and French generals
were placed at the head of their armies +.
Soon afterwards an Italian ecclefiaftic J,
invited by the fecond wife of Philip V.
fhook the monarchy by the agitation
which his turbulent character endea
voured to excite in Europe ; nor did
his difgrace, the proper punifliment of
his tumultuous adminiftration, for a
long time reftore the Spaniards to their
former ftate. A Dutchman §, ftill more
extravagant, gained the favour of the mo
narch, feized in one year on every dignity
and every favour, and foon afterwards
efcaped loaded with the curfes of the
people, carrying from Spain nothing
* M. Orry.
f The marfhal de Teflc, the duke of Berwick
and the duke of Vendome,
J The abbe Alberoni.
§ Rippcrda. ¦¦ but

i6 THE PRESENT STATE
but the ftigma of a ftate criminal. Under
the fucceeding monarch two foreign na
tions* reigned in the midft of the Spani
ards by the fide of their throne. An Irifh
minifter-r, raifed himfelf by that intrigue,
of which the court was the theatre, but
by the eafinefs of the yoke he impofed,
his quality of foreigner was overlooked,
and he preferved his influence under the
new fovereign, who quitted the throne
of Naples for that of Spain. One of the
Italians +, who accompanied the mo
narch, foon prefided over the depart
ment of finances ; and a few years after
wards, another Italian minifter § fuc
ceeded M. Wall. The difcipline of the
infantry was reformed by an Irifhman ||,
whilft two Frenchmen improved **, one
* The Englifh and the Italians ; the former by
M. Keen, their ambaffador • the latter by the mu
sician, Farinelli.
t M. Wall.
J The marquis of Squilace.
§ The marquis of Grimaldi,
|| M. O'Reilly.
** M. Maretz. the

O F S P A I N. j?
the artillery, the other*, the building
of fhips. At London, Stockholm, Paris,
Vienna, and Venice, the Spanifh fove
reign was reprefented by foreigners +.
Strangers have eftablifhed manufac
tures J, and prefide over the conftruc-
tion of great roads and canals §, direct
fieges ||, command armies**, caufe plans
of finance to be adopted -j--}-, and offer
money to government upon the moft ad
vantageous terms jj. In commercial places
thefe are ftill the perfons who difcourage
* M. Gautier.
t The prince MafTerano, the count de Lacy,
the marquis of Grimaldi, before he became mini
fter ; the count de Mahoni, the marquis de Squilace
after his retreat from the miniftry.
X At Valencia, Barcelona, Talavcrna, Madrid,
&c. § M. le Maur.
|| The fame M. le Maur at Mahon ; M. d'Arcon
at Gibraltar.
** The duke de Crillon at Mahon, and at the
camp of St. Roche; the prince of NafTau on the
floating batteries, &e. &c.
ft M. Cabanus.
XX The principal Fiench commercial houfes efta
blifhed at Madrid.
Vol. II. C the

t8 THE PRESENT STATE
the Spaniards by their adtivity and fuc-r
cefs. At Barcelona, Valencia, Cadiz,
Bilboa, and other great trading cities, the
richeft merchants are foreigners. I have
frequently- heard the hatred they infpire
in Spain declaimed againft. I confefs,
that if any thing has furprifed me, it is
the eafe with which the Spaniards fuffer
them in their country, and the difpo
fition they have to love, them, pro
vided they be not prevented by their
haughty manners and infulting preten
fions : and fhould fome of the natives
look upon them with an eye of envy,
and be offended at the concourfe of for
tunate ftrangers, whofe fuccefs of every
kind feems inceffantly to upbraid Spanifh
idlenefs and ignorance, would not this
be excufable by thatfelf-love which men
in all countries have fo much difficulty
in conquering, and by that attachment
fo natural to national glory which may
be honoured, if men will, by the fine
name of patriotifm ? After apologizing
to the reader for this digreffion, which
was neceffary for the fatisfaction of my
own

OF SPAIN. i9
own mind, and which he too perhaps
may not find abfolutely impertinent. I
fhall proceed with what! have yetf urther
to fay, concerning the Spanifh navy.
It certainly owes much to the prefent
monarch. His efforts to new model and
increafe it, which were begun in the
firft years of his reign, have not been
ineffectual. In 1764, the Spanifh navy
confifted only of thirty-feven fhips of
the line, and about thirty frigates. In
1770, there were fifty-one fhips of
from fifty- eight to* one hundred and
twelve guns ; twenty -two frigates, eight
hoys, nine xebecs, and twelve other
fmall fhips of war. Their number has
fince increafed. Spain at feveral periods
of the late war had not lefs than fixty
fhips of the line ; and fince the peace,
government has made every effort to
repair the loffes fuftained from the ele
ments and the enemy.
The three divifions in Europe of the
navy of Spain, are not the only places
C 3 where

zo THE PRESENT STATE
where fhips of war are built. There are
dock-yards at the Havannah ; and a fund
of feven hundred thoufand piaftres was
fometime fince eftablifhed to carry on
the works.
Spain and her colonies might furailh
her navy with all the imp-timber ne
ceffary for that fervice. There are
great quantities in the mountains of
Afturia and Navarre, and particularly
in the Pyrenees on the fide of Arragon
" and Catalonia, there is a fpecies of pine
more folid and durable than the oak.
The plain of Cuba contains many ce
dars, although it has been thought to be
exhaufted by the quantities drawn from
the country adjacent to the coafts. In
thofe of Cumana alfo, there is timber
fit for fhip-building, and during the ad-
miniftration of M. le Bailli d'Arriaga, it
was in contemplation to apply it to that
ufe. But Spain has not derived all the
advantages fhe might have done from
thefe refources, and conftantly depends
upon the northern ftates, at leaft for
a fup-

O F S P A I N. 21
a fupply of mails. According to the
account which the bank of St. Charles
has this year given to the public, in
confequence of its being charged with
the furnifhing of naval ftores, it ap
pears that from the firft of December
1784, to the firft of December 1785,
upwards of eight millions and a half of
reals were paid for mafts alone, which
were brought from the north. Spain
is ftill obliged to employ Dutch veffels.
She will be able to do without them, if the
direct commerce ihe has for fome years
carried on in the Baltic continues to
profper. She has already begun to efta-
blifh connexions with Ruffia for naval
ftores. In the courfe of the year 1781,
four Ruffian veffels unloaded their car
goes of hemp, in the department of
Ferrol, and took back wools from the
neighbouring coafts. The two nations
cannot but find their advantage in ren
dering this communication more fre
quent. C3 It

±z THE PRESENT STATE
It were alfo to be wifhed, that untiL
Spain fhall be in a fituation to fupply
her own wints of this kind, intelligent
agents from that kingdom might he
employed in Livonia, whofe bufinefs it
fhould be to make a good choice of pur
chafes at every price. It is well known
that the Ruffian merchants, whofe aid
is had recourfe to by maritime powers,
keep for their own nation the fineft
mafts ; that the Englifh, more active
and lefs parfimonious than their ,com-
petitors, pur chafe fome of thefe, and that
other powers obtain none but what are of
a fecondary qualityl If the Spaniards
-would imitate them, the fum they might
facrifice in the fpeculation would pro
duce more than an equivalent by the
advantage of procuring the beft ftores,
and that of avoiding the rifk of being
furprifed, unprepared, into a naval war.
They are ftill nearer the time of be
ing independent of other powers for
the hemp neceffary for their navy.
For many years they received from tbe

O F S P A I N. 23
the north all they made ufe of in
their navy ; but at prefent the king
dom of Granada furniihes a great quan-
„ tity, and fome is obtained from Navarre
and Arragon. At this moment moft of
the cordage, cables, and fail-cloth ufed in
Spain, are made from hemp grown in the
country, and are not on this account of a
worfe quality, as the officers of the French
navy, which during the late war was fup
plied with them from the Spanifh
arfenals, may have obferved.
The Spaniards have alfo adopted from
the Englifh the method of fheathing
the bottoms of their ihips of war with
copper, but for want of knowing how
to prepare for the purpofe the copper
from Mexico, they have hitherto im
ported all their fheets of that metal
from Triefte and Sweden.
All thefe circumftances prove that
Spain poffeffes within herfelf every thing
neceffary to her navy, and that after
having long neglected thefe benefactions
C4 of

24 THE PRESENT STATE
of Nature, fhe now makes fuceefsful
efforts to render it independent of other
nations. To give an idea of the pro
grefs already made in this refpect, under
the princes of the Bourbon line, it will
be fufficient to recollect, that under
Philip V- Spain purchafed from the
Dutch, veffels ready built, and the cor
dage neceffary for her fleets and galleons ;
from the French her fail-cloths ; copper
from the Germans ; tin and lead for the
fervice of the artillery from the En
glifh ; and galleys from the Genoefe.
She let her timber rot upon the giound,
and neglected the cultivation of hemp.
Solely intent on the mines of Mexico
and Peru, of which the rich contribu
tions only ferved to impoverifh the ftate,
fhe neglected to work her own mines,
which might have contributed to de
fend it; and thus war became doubly
burthenfome to the nation. The evil
became ftill greater under the reign of
Charles II. but the fucceedinp; monarchs
have roufed Spain from her fatal ftupor.
The nation, which waited but for this,
entered

O F S P A I N. 2S
entered into their views, and found mi
nifters capable of feconding them. The
minifter who prefided over the naval
department during the late war, was
reproached with an improper ceconomy.
His fucceffor, although introduced by
him into the favour of the monarch,
and brought up in the fame principles,
makes a wifer ufe of his power, and
feems convinced, that to ferve his fove
reign well, it is not fo neceffary to pre
vent him from incurring expences, as to
be particularly careful to confine them
to fuch objects as are ufeful.
The navy naturally leads me to fpeak
of commerce ; that of Spain is perhaps
divided into more branches than the
commerce of any other power of Europe.
At the asra of its greateft fplendour,
it was impoffible for it to be more active.
Foreign merchants went into the center
of the kingdom to exchange their mer
chandize againft the productions of the
foil and manufactures. But under the
fuc-

a6 THE PRESENT STATE
fucceffors of Charles V. thefe advan
tages vanished, and Spain, during a long
time, was confined to a paifive com
merce. The very few veffels fhe em
ploys in this are at once the caufe and
proof of the change ; although agricul
ture and induftry be ftill far from the
profperity to which they tend, had Spain
only herfelf to furnifh with the mer
chandize fhe wants, that whieh fhe fends
into neighbouring kingdoms might per
haps balance what fhe receives from
them. In the firft place fhe poffeffes all the
neceffauies of life in abundance. We
have fpoken of her wools ; and when we
treat of Valencia we fhall fee what re
sources fhe derives from her filk. Her
brandies, rich wines, fruits, barilla, &c.
form, for the eaftern- and fouthern
coafts, a confiderable branch of expor
tation. She makes all the common
wines neceffary to the confumption of
the kingdom. Agriculture if more encou
raged would furriUh corn fufficient for
hams

O F S P A I N. 27
home confumption, and leave a furplus
for exportation.
Notwithftanding the prefent back
ward ftate of the country, fome of the
provinces, as Andalufia and Old Caftile,
produce more corn than they can con-
fume ; but the difficulty of inland car
riage renders this fertility almoft ufelefsi
to the reft of the kingdom, which is
fometimes at the mercy of foreigners,
whilft certain diftricts enjoy abundance,
Befides, with refpect to the regulations
concerning grain, there is nothing fta-
ble, nothing encouraging for the huf-
bandman. Befides being obliged by the periodical
journeyings of the fheep, and the pri
vileges of the mefia, extended to the pro-i
prietors of permanent flocks, to leave
his fields open in all feafons, and that
from the day after harveft to that on
which he fows them again, they are lefs
his property than that of the public ; nor
can he depend upon a certain market for

28 THE PRESENT STATE
for the furplus of their productions."
Until the prefent reign, the exportation
of grain had been prohibited almoft
without interruption, and the price of
corn invariably fixed. The inconveni
ence of thefe fhackles was at length per
ceived. M. de Campomanes, at that
time fifcal of the council of Caftile, had
long condemned the meafure, but was
almoft the only perfon in power who
gave himfelf any concern about it. At
length, aided by the monarch, whom
he had perfuaded to adopt his opinion,
he toqk off the prohibition*
In 1765, it was eftabliihed by a royal
mandate, that the interior commerce
of grain fhould be abfolutely free ; that
it fhould be permitted to ftore it in ma
gazines, but that thefe fhould be public ;
and that to fupply preffing neceffities,
corn fhould be taken thence at the cur
rent price ; that a power fhould be
granted to take grain from the maga
zines, when after three fucceffive mar
kets, it fhould have continued at a cer
tain price ; that corn from abroad might be

O F S P A I N. 29
be introduced and ftored in magazines
within the country as far as fix leagues
from the fea ; but not further, unlefs
that in three fucceffive markets of the
neighbouring diftricts it had not exceed
ed the price at which it ought to be
fold to enable the pur chafer to make ex-
portations. The reprefentations from
fome provinces, and the meafures of
the council of Caftile, occafioned feve
ral alterations in this regulation. The
exportation of grain was prohibited in
1769; but the regulation of 1765 was
wholly re-eftablifhed by the mandate of
the month of February 1783.
Thefe variations muft increafe the
timidity and indolence of cultivators.
To encourage them to derive all poffi
ble advantages from their lands, a more
permanent law would be neceffary, and
one efpecially which fhould be better
obferved. For that which permits ex
portation is inceffantly eluded by the
caprice or avarice of the alcaldes and
governors of the frontiers ; and when
nothing is oppofed to its application (which

3o THE PRESENT STATE
(which is a rare cafe, corn being almoft
conftantly above the price fixed for that
purpofe) there are ftill many formali
ties to go through, before the expor
tation can take place. This is therefore
rare, and but to a trifling degree in the
manner authorized by law. The flow,
painful, and expenfive manner of carri
age in Spain, is an infurmountable ob-
fracle to the fmuggling of that quan
tity of corn from the kingdom which is
fuppofed to leave it illegally.
The fmall quantity of legal exporta
tion, can therefore be attributed to
nothing but the continual mediocrity
of the harvefts ; it is certain that Ga
licia and Afturia frequently receive corn
from abroad, although the people there
confume a great deal of Turkey wheat ;
that Bifcay takes fome from the pro
vince of Alava, from Navarre, and Arra
gon, and fometimes from foreign nations
by the way of St. Sebaftian ; that all the
eaftern coaft of Spain is in continual want
of fupply, and that the kingdom of Va
lencia receives it from abroad, when La
Mancha,

O F S P A I N. Si
Mancha, hi which corn almoft conftantly
abounds, cannot furniih it with a fuffi
cient quantity ; and, laftly, that Andalu-
/ fia, notwithftanding its fertility, receives
grain from other countries bymeansof its
ports of Cadiz and Malaga. The expor
tation of grain could not be advantage-
oufly made, except by the frontiers of
Portugal. This kingdom feldom reaps
enough for its own confumption, and
the neighbouring Spanifh provinces
might produce it in abundance.
There is no confiderable fuperfluity
of corn in any province of Spain, except
in Old Caftile, and this is fent from St.
Ander, and fome neighbouring ports in
Galicia, Afturia, Andalufia, and even
to France; this happened in 1782 and
1783, when the fouthern provinces of
that kingdom were threatened with a
dearth. This exportation is not made
without great oppofition from the rooted
prejudices of Old Caftile, which how
ever ought not to weigh againft ex
perience; fince the regulation of 1765 was

3a THE PRESENT STATE
was juftified by an increafe of almoft ai
third in the produce.
About the fame time, a meafure was
adopted for the encouragement of agricul
ture, by inftituting the pojitos. Thefe
are magazines of corn, eftablifhed in up
wards of five thoufand cities, towns,
and villages in the kingdom, to infure'
fubfiftence to the people againft all ac
cidents, and to prevent alarms, which
in fuch cafes are often equivalent to real
evils. When it is intended to eftablifh
one of thefe pofitos in any place, the mu
nicipal corps (ayuntamiento) obliges every
inhabitant who has afield, either in fee
or at a quit-rent, to contribute thereto
a certain number of fanegues (a meafure
of wheat weighing, in fome places, ninety
pounds) the price of which is about four
livres tournois.(3d. 4d.) The year follow
ing, the inhabitant takes back what he
has furnifhed, and fubftitutes for it an
other quantity, fomething more confi
derable ; and thus in the following years
until the whole of the different quantities depo-

O F S P A I N. 33
depofited, which is called creces, has fuf
iiciently filled the magazine.
But this period is retarded at the will
of avarice, and there are few pojitos in
Spain, the management of which does
not enrich the adminiftrators at the ex-
pence of the poorer claffes of the people.
However, this branch is at prefent in
the hands of a vigilant minifter *,
who endeavours to remedy all abufes,
and re-eftablifh the pojitos according to
their original deftination, that they may
tend to the encouragement of cultiva
tors, and is determined, if poffible, to ap
ply the exceedings to the affiftance of
thofe who may be in want of grain for
fowing their lands. Thefe public ma
gazines, which in practice are burthen
fome to the poor, and but a feeble
refource to the rich, muft not be con
founded with the magazines of corn,
* The count of Florida-Blanca, who is properly
feconded by a magiftrate of equal abilities and inte
grity, Donjuan de Acedo Rico.
Vol. II. D efta-

34 THE PRESENT STATE
eftablifhed in feveral places, by the cha
rity of individuals, to furniih pcor huf-
bandmen with the means of fowing
their lands. Befides thefe, there are at
Valencia and Malaga other beneficent
ettabliihments, whofe object likewife is
the encouragement of agriculture. Thefe
are named erarios, and confift of funds
deftined to make advances in money to
labourers, for a year only. Thefe funds
were taken from the produce of the /po-
lios y vacant es.
The permiffion to export grain, the
eftablifhment of the pojitos^ and like re
medies, will be but feeble palliatives of
the evil which ftill occafions agricul
ture to languiih in Spain, until internal
communication fhall be facilitated by
making the roads paffable in all feafons,
and efpecially by the conftruction of ca
nals and the aid of navigable rivers, two
objects to which we have feen that go
vernment has already turned its atten
tion. At

OF SPAIN. 35
At prefent the interior commerce of
Spain chiefly confifts in wine and oil,
Vvhich are carried in leathern bottles by
mules or affes from one province to ano
ther ; in grain, which in like manner, by
the aid of beafts of burden, is the fuper
fluity of one diftrict transferred to ano
ther, to prevent the fcarcity to which that
other may be expofed ; and in wool fent
from the fheep-folds and wafhing-places
of Caftile to Bilboa, St. Ander, and fome
other ports of the northern coaft. Ma
terials neceffary to the manufactures and
merchandize, which from the ports or
frontiers pafs into the interior parts of
the kingdom, are tranfported thither by
the fame flow and confequently expen-
five conveyance.
It has been calculated * that the dif
ference between the prices of water and
land carriage, even upon the beft roads
of France, is in the proportion of one
* See the excellent work of M. de Fcrdfl laNotiere,
Sur P Economic dans les travaux puhlits.
T> 2 to

36 THE PRESENT STATE
to a hundred and fifty. We may judge
by this calculation what Spain will gain,
when fhe comes to have the full ufe of
the canals already begun in the king
dom, or of which the plans are adopted.
In the mean time let the Spaniards con
tinue to level their uneven roads, which
in mountainous countries are often im-
paffible in a bad feafon, and they will
be able more generally to fubftitute car
riages to beafts of burthen, and make
fome progrefs in facilitating conveyance.
Spain is not much farther advanced in
the coafting trade. Excepting the veffels
of Catalonia and thofe of Bifcay, the car
rying trade along the coaft is almoft wholly
in the hands of the French, Dutch, and
Englilh, three nations which have the ad
vantage of being more active and who un-
derftand to navigate their veffels at a lefs
expence, and with fewer hands than the
Spaniards. What has hitherto obliged
Spain to employ a greater number of
failors, is the ftate of perpetual war fhe

O F S P A I N. 37
fhe is in againft the Moors of Barbary,
which has befides the inconvenience of
diminifhing the confidence her flag might
infpire. The prefent minifter is in a fan-
way to remove this chief obftacle to the
profperity of Spanifh navigation in the
Mediterranean. The peace he has lately concluded
with the regencies of Africa, is undoubt
edly an effential part of his fyftem,
which at once embraces agriculture,
induftry, and navigation. He per
ceived that thefe three objects were in-
diflblubly united, and rejecting the ex-
clufive principles which favoured one at
the expence ot the others, has made
them aid each other and mutually con
cur to remedy the national inaction. In
vain would he have endeavoured to en
courage the cultivation of commodities,
and the produce of firft materials, of
which the manufactures and workfhops
are in expectation, had he not provided
the means of facilitating their circula
tion by roads and canals, and of pro-
D 3 moting

38 THE PRESENT STATE
moting the exportation of the produc*
tions of the foil and manufactures, by
rendering the navigation lefs expenfive
and more certain. The fuccefs of this
plan, equally extenfive and well d\r
gefted, muft foon produce effects to the
advantage of the foreign commerce pf
Spain. In this point of view particularly, is
it that Spain acts but a paffive part. J.
{hall foon convince my readers of this
by taking a view of the coafts. In the
firft place thofe of Catalonia are an exr
ception. But few of the reproaches al
leged againft the ; Spaniards are appli
cable to the Catalonians. When we
crofs their well cultivated province, and
fee it full pf manufactures of various
kinds, we find it difficult to believe it
belongs to Spain. The port of Barce
lona exports its filks, middling cloths,
and cotonnades, its indians, wines, bran
dies, and pther productions ; and if we
wifh to judge of the part the Cata-
Jonians take in this commerce, it muft be

O F S P A I N. 39
be obferved that in 1782, of fix hun
dred and twenty-eight veffels which
entered Barcelona, three hundred and
feventeen belonged to Spain. It is true
that filks from Lyons, ftockings from
Nimes, feveral kinds of fluffs and cottons,
notwith ftanding the prohibition, and par
ticularly dried cod, an article for which
Spain is yet tributary to the Englilh in
the fum of three millions of piaftres,
pafs into Catalonia by the fame port.
It is a remarkable Angularity in the
hiftory of commerce, that a proteftant
nation fhould furnifh a catholic king
dom with an article which that nation
only can prepare according to the tafte
of the confumers, by fetching from their
own coafts * the fait neceffary to cure the
fifh taken upon the banks of Newfound
land, an ifland difcovered by the Spa-
* The fait with which the Englifh fait their cod
is brought from Setubal and Alicant : whither their
fhips, fometimes come in ballaft to load with fait
thence to proceed to Newfound lai-d.
D 4 niards.

40 THE PRESENT STATE
niards, and where they long exercifect
the right of fifhery ; and as if this
fpecies of fervitude were irrevocably de
creed by fate, all the attempts hitherto
made to fubftitute fifh. taken on the
coafts of Bifcay and Afturia, refembling
Englifh cod, have been ineffectual, and
have proved that laws, policy, arid even
intereft, difappear before the caprice?
pf tafte.
The other ports of Catalonia are much
in the fame fituation as that of Barce
lona. Tarragona, and the neighbouring
ports receive, in addition, fome articles'of
neceffity, and export dry fruits. Tortofa
exports or imports wheat, according as
the harvefts of Arragon and Catalonia
are good or bad ; but the principal ar
ticle > of exportation from this port is
pot-aih. A confiderable commerce is alfo car
ried on in the ports upon the coaft of
Valencia, and which is chiefly in favour
pf France, The French fend to Valencia linens,

O F S P A I N. 4I
linens, woollens, hardware, fpiceries,
and grain, to almoft as great an amount
as the wines, wool, dried fruits, pot-aih,
and barilla, which they take from thence.
They go to Gandia in fearch of the wool
ufed by the manufacturers of Languedoc
and Elbeuf, and carry with them French
cloths, filks, linens, hardware, and cocoa.
The Engliih alfo carry thither their
cloths; and the Dutch export thence the
brandies of the country, to tranfport them
to the coafts of Normandy and Bretagne,
The commerce of Alicant is lefs dif-
advantageous to Spanifh navigators. Of
nine hundred and fixty-one veffels, which
arrived in this port in 1782, fix hun
dred were Spanifh, the greateft part
Catalonian. French linens, thofe of Swit
zerland and Silefia, French camblets
and fome woollens, are brought thither,
and the return is in dried fruit, wool,
barilla, &c.
To Carthagena, the Engliih, Dutch,
and Neapolitans carry merchandize of

4a THE PRESENT STATE
all kinds, and return loaded with filk,
wool, pot-aih and barilla.
Almeria is a fmall port, the principal
commerce of which is in the hands of the
French, whofe fhips carry thither the
productions of their manufactures, and
return loaded with lead, pot-afh, &c.
Wine i and fruits are exported from
Velez, Malaga, and Marbella.
Malaga has a very confiderable com
merce, the advantage of which is en
tirely in favour of Spain, but almoft with
out any to its navigation ; of eight hun
dred and forty two veffels which ar
rived at this port in 1782, from almoft
every commercial nation, fcarcely a hun
dred were Spanifh, even reckoning the
fhips of war which anchored there.
The Englifh, who are in poffeffion of
the greateft part of the trade, carry
thither woollens and great quantities of
fmall ware ; the Dutch carry fpice,
cutlery ware, laces, ribbons, thread,
&c. Thefe nations, thofe of the north, and

O F S P A I N. 43
and Italy, export to the amount of two
millions and a half of piaftres in wines,
fruits, fumach, pickled anchovies, oil,&c.
and all they carry thither amounts only
to about a million and a half. The ba
lance would be ftill more advantageous
for Malaga, if the filk and wool of the
kingdom of Granada were exported from
this port ; but thefe are employed in the
country where they are produced.
Cadiz, the commerce of which I
fhall not here mention, becaufe I
fliall fpeak of it at fome length in
another place, is a ftriking proof of the
inactivity of Spanifh navigation. A
thoufand and thirty-three veffels arrived
there in 1783, of which but fifty be
longed to Spain. The neighbouring
little ports of St. Lucar and St. Mary, in
like manner, afford but little employ
ment for the veffels of the nation.
If we pafs from the coafts of Anda-
lufia to the northern coaft of Spain,
we fhall find the French, Englifh and
Dutch

44 THE PRESENT STATE
Dutch in poffeffion of the trade from
Vigo, Ferrol, and particularly from
Corugna, and which moftly confifts in
importation ; for the pilchards, cattle,
and common linens, the only articles
Gallicia has to export, ferve to pay the ba
lance due to the neighbouring provinces.
Corugna owes to the prefent reign a
feeble commerce of exportation which
it has to America by the packet-boats,
that fail every month for the Havannah,
and every two months for Buenos- Ayres.
Thefe were eighteen in number, when
the late war began. Several fell into the
hands of the enemy, but were after
wards replaced. The conveyance of
packets and paffengers is the principal
object of their inftitution ; but it occa
fionally furnifhes the means of exporta
tion to the productions of Galicia. They
employ about eight thoufand failors,
and enliven the circumjacent countries.
Upon the coaft of Afturias there are
eighteen ports, fcarcely known to have
a name,

O F S P A 1 N. 45
a name, the trade of which is almoft
exclufively in the hands of the Dutch.
A little before the late war the Englifli
and French, who had been driven from
them by preceding wars, appeared there
again with linens, woollens, and fmall
ware. Some veffels from the country
however fail to France and England in
fearch of what is neceffary to fupply
the wants of the province ; and fince
the eftablifhment of a free commerce
with America, the trade of Gijon, the
moft important of thefe ports, begins
to acquire fome activity.
The country adjacent to the Afturias
is called the Montana s de Burgos ; and is
one of the diftricts of Spain the moft un
provided with refources. Government
confidered this when it permitted this
diftrict to receive the ncceffaries of life
duty free. The treafury was not long
before it repented of the conceffion,
under favour of which all forts of fo
reign merchandize were introduced by
the

46 THE PRESENT STATE
the ports of this coaft, and administra
tion has recently taken meafures to
prevent future abufes.
Saint Ander is the principal of thefe
ports ; it receives, by about a hundred
French veffels, every thing they can fur-
nifh to confumption of every kind. Thefe
fhips return loaded with wool for the
manufactures of France, and corn for
the other Spanifh provinces, and fome
times for thofe of their own kingdom.
The Englifh export from Saint Ander
the fame articles, in exchange for cod,
oil, fifh, &c. and employ, in this com
merce, about forty veffels. Some Dutch
and Hamburgh veffels trade thither alfo.
The eftabliihment of a free commerce
has begun to animate the national navi
gation. The neighbouring ports, fuch
as thofe of Suances, Comillas, and St.
Vincent de la Barquera carry on a little
coafting trade with the barks of the
country. Santona, which has an excel
lent port, fends fome veffels loaded with
cheft-

O F S P A I N. 47
cheftnuts to Holland and a few cargoes
of lemons to France.
The trade of this coaft, which, as
we have feen, is almoft wholly in the
hands of foreigners, approaches to an
equality with that of Bifcay, the moft
active commerce in Spain after that
of Catalonia.
The principal ports of Bifcay, Bilboa,
the Paffage, and St. Sebaftian, are much
frequented by the Englifh, French, and
Dutch, who carry thither the produc
tions of their induftry, and return with
iron, wool, and anchors. But the Bif-
cayners are not idle fpectators ; they fur-
nifh in a great meafure foreign merchan
dize to the Mediterranean provinces, and
their fhips have a conftant communica
tion with the other ports of the penin-
fula, and thofe of France, England, and
Holland. St. Sebaftian has a long time
been the center of commerce for the pro
vince of Caracas ; and although the
company of this name has no longer the
form

48 THE PRESENT STATE
form of an exclufive company, the Bif-
cayners will, for a confiderable time, have
the advantage in this trade over their
competitors. A few words upon the trade of the
Mediterranean iflands, which make a part
of the crown of Arragon, will complete
this flight fketch of the commerce of
Spain. The ifland of Majorca, the principal
one of the three, produces wine and fruits
which are fent to Spain, fome brandies,
taken by veffels from the north, a
little filk which goes to Catalonia, and
coarfe wools fent to Sardinia and Italy.
It receives corn from the French and Ita
lian ports, cattle from thofe of Languedoc
and Catalonia, and rice and filks from
the coafts of the kingdom of Valencia.
The French, Engliih, and Dutch carry
to it all the other articles of which it
has need : but the French poffefs three-
fourths of the commerce of the ifland.
The people of Majorca, like the inha
bitants

OF SPAIN. 49
bitants of moft iflands, have an inclina^
tion and aptitude for navigation. Their
fhip-timber is made ufe of at Palma,
which is their principal port; they.
fetch cocoaf, fugar, iron, and planks from
Marfeilles ; arid their xebecks go to Ca
diz, where they take in^ cargoes. Their
flag, more expofed than any other to
the kifults of the rovers of Barbary,
their -fierce neighbours, may here
after be difplayed with greater fecurity
in the Mediterranean, and their port
of Palma being one of thofe which
fince 1778, has a right to trade with
Spanifh America, muft ftill increafe their
induftry. This for a long time will riot be rivalled
by their neighbours, the inhabitants of
Minorca. This ifland, unfruitful and al
moft withoutinduftry,was furnifhed with
every thing by foreign veffels, and parti
cularly by thofe of France, before it was
conquered by Spain. I know not whe
ther the change will be advantageous to
the inhabitants with refpect to their
Vol. II. E com-*

5o THE PRESENT STATE
commerce or not, it has only appeared to
me that they were in doubt what might
be its effect.
Ivica, the thud of the iflands ancient
ly called the Balearic, exports but little,
and receives its fupplies of neceffaries
from Majorca and the coafts of Spain. Its
principal riches confift in fait, of which
foreign fhips, particularly Swedifh, come
thither to take in their cargoes.
Thefe accounts are more than fuffi
cient to prove that the commerce the
Spaniards have with foreigners is but
paffive. But the eftablifhment of pa-
triotical focieties, the conftruction of
roads and canals, and particularly the
extenfion of the free commerce with
Spanifh America, muft produce a new
order of things. I have fufiiciently
fpoken of the two firft beneficial fources ;
and the third only now remains to be
confidered. * After

O F S P A I N. 5,
After the conqueft of Spanifh Ame
rica, the court of Madrid confided the
adminiftration of that country to a per
manent council, under the name of the
Council of the Indies, which ftill fubfifts,
with nearly the fame laws and principles,
that, according to circumftances, were
at firft adopted. The form of admini
ftration which government gave, at the
fame time, to its vaft poffeffions, is no
part of my fubject ; this would be a
work above my abilities, and would be
fides lead me too far from my purpofe :
I fhall fay no more of it than what will
be neceffary to give a proper knowledge
of modern Spain, with refpect to her
connexions with her colonies.
The council of the Indies is, in many
refpects, modelled upon the council of
Caftile : like the latter it is compofed
of feveral chambers, two of which are
efpecially charged with affairs of admini
ftration, and the third with the decifion
of law fuits. It has alfo its camara com
pofed of the oldeft counfellors, one of
E 2 whofe

52 THE PRESENT STATE
whofe principal functions is topropofeto
the king, by means of his minifter, fuch
perfons as it judges proper to fill the
places of vice-roy,, governor, and other
magistrates, and 'to hold bifhoprics and
benefices in Spanifh America. It is by
this council alfo that the laws and regu
lations by which that country is governed
are framed, and there are very few mea
fures which the minifter of the Indies
can take without having, although it be
but for the fake of form, the fanction
of the council. This having been the
permanent depositary of the funda
mental laws upon which the constitution
of Spanifh America was at firft erected, it
has been, and perhaps too obstinately,
an enemy to all meafures by which it
might undergo any change.
One of thefe laws confined the com*
jnerce of Spain, with her colonies, to a fin
gle Port ; at firft that of Seville : but when
the Guadalquivir, which in the time of
Charles V. was navigable up to this port,
became inacceffible to large veffels, the
center

OF SPAIN. S3
center of the Spanifh American com
merce was removed to Cadiz. The man
ner in which it was carried on is gene
rally known.
At ftated times a fleet failed to Mexico
to furnifh a fupply of fuch articles as were
neceffary for that country, and bring
back the productions of that part of
America to Cadiz. At the fame time
galleons failed for Porto Bello. In this
port was held a kind of fair, the ren
dezvous of all the merchants from the
other Spanifh colonies. This was con
tinued until the war which begun in
1732, when regifter fhips were fubfti-
tuted to galleons. But the fleet for
Mexico, and the regifter fliips, conti
nued to fail from Cadiz.
The coaft of Caracas only received its
fupplv of merchandize from another
port. The care of furnifhing this had
been confided by Philip V. to a company
which took the name of that of Guipuf-
coa, from the province in which it was
E 3 infti-

54 THE PRESENT STATE
instituted, and the ports whence the
veffels failed. The company enjoyed all
the advantages of an exclufive privilege,
without having received it in form.
A bad administration, by inriching
the agents, and exciting complaints from
the fettlers at Caracas has occafioned it to
decline. The check it received at the
beginning of the laft war * gave it the
finifhing stroke ; the company then felt
the burthen too heavy to be fupported,
and prayed the king for his afiiftance.
His catholic majefty releafed the com
pany from the obligation it was under to
keep Garda Coftas, which were an expence
of two hundred thoufand piastres per ann.
though they did not do. their duty, as
the fettlers of Caracas received much more

* I mean the taking of the convoy from Bifcay in
the month of January 1780, by Admiral Rodney,
The lofs fuftained by the company on this occa
fion was eftimated at fifteen hundred thoufand
piaftres ; and it was faid, that fum was equal to the
Whole real property pf the company.
mer-

OF SPAIN. 55
merchandize from fmugglers than from
the company. The latter loft nothing by
the change ; its fliares had become treble
the original purchafe, thanks to the in
sufficiency of the articles furnifhed, to the
exorbitant price at which they were fold,
and to that the company laid upon its re
turns. The company preferved the fame
means of carrying on the commerce of Ca
racas with great advantage over the new
competitors, who were to be affociated
with it. In the year 1785, it was employ
ed in liquidating its capital. The court of
Spain had already permitted fome indi
viduals to make voyages to the coaft of
Caracas, then greatly diftreffed by the
depredations of the enemy's privateers,
and the more prejudicial austerity of the
governor. But I have known intelligent
people in Spain who doubted of the
happy fuccefs of thefe new regulations.
The experiment made in favour of the
fettlers of Caracas was a ftep towards
new attempts of the fame kind. In.
1755 Ferdinand VI. permitted a com-
e 4 ranv

56 THE PRESENT STATE
pany of merchants at Barcelona to fend
out fliips to St. Domingo, Porto Rico
and Margaretta ; but the privilege was
clogged with fo many restrictions that
the company made no ufe of it.
In 1763, the dawn of a new day
began to appear in Spanifh America.
Several underftanding perfons had per
ceived and wifhed to make government
fenfible of the inconvenience of con
fining to a fingle port, and to periodical
voyages, all the commerce of the exten
five colonies in that quarter of the
world. An attachment to old forms for
a long time rendered their remonstrances
ineffectual : two arguments were op
pofed to them, which were the more
embarraffing as they were the refult of
the experience of two diftant periods.
It was obferved that under Charles V.
a free commerce had been attempted to
be eftablifhed, but that foon afterwards
it was found neceffary to reftore the
former restrictions. It was further
added, that from 1748 to 1754, regifter fhips

OF 'SPAIN. 57
fhips had failed from other ports of
Spain than that of Cadiz ; and that the
numerous failures which followed in
confequence foon caufed the meafure to
be abandoned. But thofe who made
thefe objections did not obferve that
more precautions on the part of govern
ment, and regulations better adopted to
the time and the nature of the dif
ferent expeditions, muft have prevented
the ruinous fpeculations of the new
adventurers ; that Spanifh America, bet
ter known by its wants than its re
fources, at leaft to government, could
no longer embarrafs merchants with the
fame obftacles, provided they submitted
their operations to its inspection. The
wants of the Spanifh colonies daily in-
increafed ; and obliging all the veffels ¦
which went to relieve them to depart
from one port, was on one hand expofing
the colonifts to a monopoly, and on the
other leaving too great an opening to
the fpeculations of fmugglers. A tarif

58 THE PRESENT -STATE
A tarif drawn up in 1720, feemed to
have been calculated for the advantage
of thofe who purfued this illicit trade.
It loaded with duties of export to
America the productions of the mother
country, fuch as iron, wines, brandies,
oil, &c. It eftablifhed the duty of Palmeo,
which was received upon the bales, not
according to the quality of the mer
chandize, but in proportion to their di
menfions; a duty which thus favoured
high priced articles, that occupy but
little fpace, at the expence of thofe
which require confiderable room, and
rendered it impoffible to take any ac
count of the quantity or quality of fo
reign fluffs fhipped for the colonies.
The tariff moreover fubjected the ma
nufactures of Spain to the fame duties
as thofe from foreign countries ; in a
word, it prefcribed a number of forma
lities perplexing to legal commerce ; and
fmuggling added to the advantage of
eluding them, that of defrauding go
vernment of duties of exportation and
importation to the amount of fixty per
cent.

O F S P A I N. 59
cent. The Englifh had fo much pro
fited by this, that according to calcula
tions which I have reafon to believe
exact, their contraband trade produced
them after the peace of 1763 twenty mil
lions of piastres per annum.
The court of Spain loft no time in en
deavouring to frame other regulations
for a part of the colonies. By a decree
of the 16th of October 17&*, feveral
European ports were permitted to trade
immediately with the Carribbees, and the
provinces of Campeachy, St. Martha and
Rio de la Hacha. The decree diminifhed
the duties of the fatal tarif of 1720, and
difpenfed with many formalities. Its
effect was not at firft very fenfible. The
Spaniards, ever tardily circumfpect, were
not eager to enter this new channel.
The ifland of Cuba became the princi
pal object of fpeculation. Yet in 1770
this ifland, which well cultivated, might
fupply all Europe with fugar, did not
furnifh enough for the confumption of
Spain.

6o THE PRESENT STATE
Spain. Speculations have fince become
more enterprizing. Government has
given new encouragement to the trade
with the Havannah, efpecially by faci
litating the importation of negroes, by a
confiderable diminution of the duty paid
on their being carried thither. The
company exclusively permitted to fur
nifh them, had almoft ruined itfelf in
the undertaking ; but thefe new mea
fures foon gave it the means of repair
ing its loffes. The ifland of Cuba, which
had conftantly languifhed under the auf-
pices of the exclufive company of the
Havannah, began from that moment
fenfibly to profper. Before the year 1765,
it fcarcely received into its ports fix fhips
in a year; in 1778, its commerce gave
employment to more than two hundred.
Its crops of fugar were more than fuffi
cient to fupply the demands of Spain ;
and although thefe' fugars were at that
time eight per cent, dearer than thofe of
France, it was forefeen that they would
foon enter into competition with them
in the European markets. Like

O F S P A I N. 61
Like fucceffes juftified the meafures
taken in 1765, and invited the court of
Spain ftill further to enlarge its plan.
The department of the Indies had juft
been beftowed on one whofe enterpriz-
ing character, knowledge and experience
permitted him not to remain fatisfied with
fuch timid experiments. By a decree of
the 2d of February, 1778, the free com
merce was extended to the province of
Buenos Ayres, and the kingdoms of
Chili and Peru ; and by another decree,
of the 1 6th of October following, to
the vice-royalty of Santa Fe, and the
province of Guatimala. It therefore was
now permitted to all Spanifh America,
except Mexico.
The laft decree regulated the new
form to be given to the free trade ; and
admitted to a participation in it the
ports of Seville, Cadiz, Malaga, Alicant*
Carthagena, Barcelona, St. Ander, Gijon,
Carugna, Palma in the ifland of Majorca,
and St, Croix in Teneriffe one of the
Canary Iflands. As

62 THE PRESENT STATE
As all fliips which fhould hereafter
fail from thefe ports were to pafs by the
cuftom-houfes, thofe of Bifcay, one of
the privileges of which confifts in not
having any fuch houfes, were by the
filence of the new regulation excluded
from this trade. Government has at
tempted to persuade the Bifcayners to
permit cuftom-houfes in their ports, with
the view of an immediate commerce with
Spanifh America ; but this temptation,
as we have obferved in another place,
has not induced them to abandon their
privileges ; and hitherto thofe mer
chants of Bifcay who have fent veffels
to the Indies, have been obliged to fit
them out from the neareft port, to
their coaft ; a troublefome formality,
which, however, has appeared to them
lefs difagreeable than the admiffion of
revenue officers. The regulation of
1778, extends the free commerce to
twenty-four ports of Spanifh America,
and favours, by' lowering the duties,
fuch of them as were in need of that
advantage to be frequented. This

O F S P A I N. 63
This is not the only proof of bene
ficent policy contained in the regulation.
One of the principal objects of its au
thor, was to encourage the productions
of the foil and manufactures of the
mother country. In confequence of
which, feveral articles are there exempt
from duties for ten years from the date
of the decree ; fuch as woollens, cotton,
and linens of the manufacture of Spain ;
hats, fteel, glafs, and a hundred other
articles of which the enumeration would
be too tedious.
With the fame view the regulation
actually excluded many articles of fo
reign merchandize, fuch as cotton fluffs,
half-beaver hats, filk stockings, and
liquors of all kinds, as wine, oil, brandy,
and others, known in Spain by the ap
pellation of caldos .
And ftill more to excite the Spaniards
to export to the Indies the productions
of their country, the regulation exempts from

&4 THE PRESENT STATE
from a third of the duty every yeffel
wholly laden with national merchandize.
The regulation of 1778 tends riot lefs
to the profperity of the colonics thari
to that of the mother country ; it wholly
exempts from duty, on beirig fhipped
from America, a great quantity of the pro
ductions of the country, as cottori,f ugar,
cochineal, indigo, coffee, copper, jefuita-
bark, and all productions, as well of the
Spanifh Indies as of the Philippines,
which have not yet been brought to
Europe. The precious metals of Amfcriea rriake
a feparate article. Gold, on entering
Spain, paid a duty of five per cent, and
filver one of ten per cent. The new re
gulation fixes thefe duties at two and
five and a half per cent, and, had the
minifter had it in his power, the duty
of four per cent, upon the exportation
of piaftres from Spain, would in like
manner have been reduced to the half.
Certain articles of merchandize coming from

O F S P A t N. 65
from the Indies are neceffary to the Spa
niards who confume or manufacture
them. The exportation of thefe to fo
reign kingdoms is abfolutely prohibited
by the regulation : the principal ones
are filver in ingots, gold in every form,
fpun cotton, and fhip timber.
America produces many other articles
little known in Europe, and of which
Spain ought to favour the exportation.
The regulation which exempts them
from export duties on leaving the Indies,
extends the exemption to their expor
tation from Spain. Such are certain
woods, gums, plants and drugs with
which America abounds. Thefe may
fupply luxurious enjoyments, and pre^-
ferve or reftore the health of the inha
bitants of the old Continent ; and though
placed by Nature at a diftance from them,
ought long fince to have been rendered
common hi Europe by commerce.
All thefe meafures would have been
infufficient, if the court of Madrid had
Vol. II. F fuf-

66 THE PRESENT STATE
fufiered the numerous duties eftablifhed
by the tarif of 1 720 to remain.
The new regulation abolifhes them
all, and fubftitutes in. their ftead a fingle
duty, which is a certain part of their
value. It is accompanied by a tarif,
in which the various articles of mer
chandize are eftimated ; iron by weight,
cloths by meafure, fluffs by the piece,
and other articles by the dozen. Thofe
which cannot be thus valued, are taken
at the current price of the manufactories
whence they come, if they be Spanifh ;
or according to the price they bear in
the port in which they were ihipped, if
foreign. According to thefe different
valuations, which, as it appears, leave
but little room for arbitrary decifions,
the tarif fubjects all national merchan
dize to a duty of three per cent, and fo
reign goods to one of feven per cent.
when either are fhipped for any one of
the great ports of America ; that is to
fay, the Havannah, Carthagena, Buenos
Ayres, Montevideo, Callao, Arica, Guy-
aquil,

O F S P A I N. 67
aquil, Valparayfo and Conception ; and
the duty is but one and a half, or four
per cent, when national or foreign mer
chandize is fhipped for one of the leffer
Indian ports.
Notwithftanding the wifdom of the
intentions with which the regulation
was drawn up, it excited many com
plaints. It left, faid the complainants,
much to be defired with refpect to the
encouragement meant to be given to
national productions ; fome of which
were highly taxed, fuch as iron, oil,
wines, brandies, &c. Why did it ftill
leave the duties to which woollens, li
nens, cottons, filks, &c. were fubject in
paffing from one province to another?
On the other hand, why were articles
of foreign manufacture excluded from
the commerce of America, to which
the national manufactures could not
long be fufficient, particularly the
article of filk ftockings ? Was not this
inviting the manufacturers of Spain,
convinced of their inability, to engage
F 2 with

68 THE PRESENT STATE
with foreigners for a fupply ? And muft
not this neceffary fuccour, eafy to be
obtained in fpite of prohibitions, caufe
their manufactures to languifh by favour
ing idlenefs? The heavieft complaint
was againft the troublefome formalities
to which the regulation fubject ed the
expeditions from the ports of Spain to
America. Merchants were expofed to the
caprices of favour and the inconvenience
of delay, which, added to a duty of
feven per cent, to be eluded as well in
exports as imports, and to abfolute pro
hibitions of certain articles of merchan
dize, could not but offer feducing ad
vantages to contraband fpeculations.
Could the name of a free trade, faid
the complainants, be given to commerce
thus fhackled, for each operation of
which an exprefs permiffion was necef
fary from the minifter ; which intrigue,
nnwillingnefs, the flownefs of the forms
of office and intermediate agents might
delay too long, and confequently ren
der ufelefs ? Inftead of the advantages
of' liberty, prohibitions, threats and pu-
nifhments,

O F S P A I N. 69
nifhments, it was added, had been an
nexed to each article of the regulation.
The merchants of Madrid were the
chief complainants. Thefe only had hi
therto had connexions with Spaniih
America ; they were the only perfons
who had capitals fufficient for fuch dif
tant expeditions, of which the returns
were expofed to every kind of hazard.
The affociates given them in thirteen
other ports of Spain would, faid they,
engage in ruinous fpeculations, which
without benefiting- the colonies would
be a real lofs to. the cemmerce of Cadiz.
The voice of felf-intcreft was eafily dif
tinguifhed in thefe complaints. The
experience of a few years has already
been fufficient to determine whether or
not they were well founded.
Thofe of which Mexico was the ob
ject, feemed to carry with them two
more fpecious reafons. It was afked,
why that vice-royalty only was excepted
-Hy the new law ? If the law were to con-
F 3 tribute

70 THE PRESENT STATE
tribute to the profperity of the reft of
Spanifh America, could it be thought
dangerous for Mexico only ? If its fuc
cefs were uncertain, how had minifters
dared to make a hazardous experiment
upon fuch a vaft extent of country ?
The partifans of adminiftration replied,
that not to expofe at once the fate of
all the colonies to the uncertainty of
irregular voyages and adventures, ithad
been thought proper to leave a part fub
ject to the ancient regulation of peri
odical fuccours ; that the minister of
the Indies chofe the moft' populous co
lony, and at the fame' time that with
which he was beftV acquainted ; that
Spain had not yet either veffels, capital,
or merchants fufficient to rely upon the
diftarit and uncertain inclination of
individuals, to furniih this vaft colony
with fuccours. The 'reply to thefe ar
guments was, Do not confound tbe effect
with the caufe. If you want fhips, mer
chants and capital, is it not becaufe
America, perhaps, does not yet offer all
the openings fhe has to give to com
merce ?

O F S P A 1 N. 71
merce r Open the ports of Mexico, and
this will foon produce unbounded fpe
culations ; for there are many fettlers in
that colony, who have wants and de-
fires, with abundant means of fatislying
them ; whereas the fleets you fend thither
only from time to time, and after long
intervals, leave an immenfc opening to
contraband trade, deftroy the induftry
of the Mexicans, and expofe them to
the extortions of the avaricious and
opulent, who engrofs the merchandize
fent to Mexico for the confumption of
four or five years.
The minifter of the Indies had un
doubtedly ftill ftronger reafons for not
changing the manner of supplying Mex
ico, and notwithftanding all the com
plainants may alledge, that province,
with which he is thoroughly acquainted,
and which is one of the chief objects of
his care, owes to him its profperity in
more than one refpect, and the advan
tage of rendering that profperity ufeful
to the other colonies and the mother
F 4 coun-

72 THE PRESENT STATE
country. The corn now produced there
is fufficient for its confumption, and will
foon contribute to furnifh a part towards
that of all Spanifh America. The cul
tivation of tobacco, confined however
to two districts in the neighbourhood
of Mexico, by offering a new gratification
to the Mexicans," has increafed the reve
nue of Spain.
The miners, in particular, of Mexico,
have much reafon to be fatisfied with
the prefent minifter of the Indies, who
by improving the works of the mine of
Almaden, has furnifhed them with a great
quantity of quicksilver. Before the time
of M de Galvez, this mine, situated near
the Sierra Morena, produced but about
feven or eight thoufand quintals. The
minifter has almoft doubled the pro?
duce, and made, with the miners of
Mexico, an arrangement, by virtue of
which he will furnifh them, at forty-one
great piaftree per quintal, the quicksilver
for which they formerly paid eighty pi
aftres. This has given great activity to
the

O F S P A I N. 73
the working of the mines. Thofe of
Mexico produced, in 1782, twenty- feven
millions of great piaftres, and would have
produced thirty millions had not they
wanted quickfilver ; not that the rich
fource of Almaden is exhausted, but a
defect in the construction of the ealle-
ries of that mine had retarded the works.
Until this impediment fhall be removed,
the Spanifh government has made an
agreement, whereby it is to be furnifhed
with fix thoufand quintals of filver the
year for fix years, from the mines of
Idria in Austrian Iftria, for which Spain
is to pay about fifty-two great piaftres the
quintal. The miners of Mexico have
reconciled themfelves to this additional
expence, to be enabled to continue the
working of their mines with all poffible
vigour; the of reafon this activity on
their part is eafily conceived.
The mines of which they are in pof
feffion, are a fpecies of raw materials,
which it is their intereft to employ.
The greater the produce the more con
fiderable

74 THE PRESENT STATE
fiderable are the profits which refult to
the undertakers ; but does this exift in
an equal proportion for the Spaniards of
the Old Continent ?
This queftion was of magnitude fuf
ficient to be confidered. Our modern
ceconomifts, fupported by the experience
of the laft century, would not hefitate
in refolving it; they would fay, and
with them many good citizens beyond
the Pyrenees, that the exceffive increafe
of coin is diametrically oppofite to the
endeavours of Spain to render her ma
nufactures flourifhing; that the price
of every thing, as well in Spain as elfe
where, muft be in proportion to the
quantity of fpecie ; that if the progrefs
of Spaniih induftry keeps in the king
dom the greateft part of the coin, hi
therto deftined to pay the balance of
trade, the refult will foon be that the
high price of workmanfhip will again
check induftry in the midft of its ca
reer, and throw it back into that eter nal

O F S P A I N. 75
nal circle from which it will never be
extricated. According to this principle the ceco-
nomifts, whofe arguments I am now re
peating, would fay to the Spaniards ;
Inftead therefore of extracting from your
mines every thing they can poffibly pro
duce, rather fhut up a part of them ;
confine the quantity of the precious me
tals fent to the Old Continent, to what
is neceffary to replace that which is in-
fenfibly loft, which luxury employs in or
naments, or avarice buries either in Afia
or Europe. Follow the example of the
Portuguefe, who limit the working of
their diamond mines, that their precious
products may not become common; or
that of the Dutch, who burn what
fpices remain after having provided for
the demand of the confumers, which
they carefully eftimate. The filver of
Mexico is your diamonds and fpices ; if
you treble their quantity, your miners,
whofe hands might be more ufefully cm-
ployed, will be obliged to labour more, but

76 THE PRESENT STATE
but you will not be more rich. You
will pay three times the price for foreign
productions, which will always continue
to be more or lefs neceffary to you.
I know not whether thefe arguments
appear specious, but I can imagine the
anfwer which would be made to them
in Spain. We fee nothing alarming, it
would be faid, in the increafe of coin,
which you reprefent as a thing fo mon
ftrous. In the firft place it would pro
duce a certain profit to. the revenue,,
becaufe it muft augment, in the fame
proportion, the duties paid upon metals
on their entrance into Spain. Now,
whilst other ftates of Europe endeavour
to increafe their revenues, and find in
them the means of fupporting the great
enterprizes of peace and war, we fee not
by what fatality Spain alone ihould find
the means of decline in that which con
tributes to the profperity of neighbour
ing kingdoms. We have the fame ob
fervations to make upon her manufac
tures. When they fhall be on a foot ing

OF SPA.1N. 77
ing with our mines, our coin will be
increafed by that which now pays for
foreign induftry, and by the furplus fur
nifhed us by Mexico and Peru. We there
fore fee nothing to be feared in this fug-
geftion, and would afk our opponents
what nations are moft flourifhing. Are
they not England and France, mdifputa-
bly thofe which have the greateft quantity
of coin ? What fignifies the fource, whence
it is derived ? The combined produce of
our mines and our induftry, will nevcr-
thelefs be very ufeful to Spain in the
hands of rich individuals, who, in their
turn, will embellifh our cities and coun
try, furnifh capitals for public institu
tions, and from whom the ftate, in criti
cal moments, may receive loans, and find
lefs burthenfome fuccours than here
tofore. We however agree, that a time
may arrive when our profperity, carried
to its greateft height, might bring with
it our decline. This may happen when
our manufactures fhall be fufiiciently
active and improved to render foreign
induftry abfolutely ufelefs to us. If at
the

78 THE PRESENT STATE
the fame time the produce of oUr mined
conftantly tended to augment the quan
tity of our current Coin, Without its
finding a means of decreafe, certainly-
this fituation, which from the viciffi-
tudes of human affairs ought to be
looked upon as a chimera, Would have
an inevitable inconvenience. Such an
exceffive. plenitude of the body politic
would render an evacuation neceffary,
which would give it the moft violent
fhock. The extreme high price of
workmanfhip in Spain would invito
thither, in fpite of all prohibitions,
every kind of foreign manufacture.
The coin would be drained off by the
channels which thefe would open to re
ceive it; the national- manufactures
would languifh for want of fale ; work
men would difappear, as ufelefs in future
from want of employment, and * Spain
would again fall into depopulation^ flug-
gifhnefs and poverty. But we arc faf
from being in fuch circumftances a£
could realize thefe melancholy ideas j
and until a more imminent danger con
demn;

O F S P A I N. 79
demns to inactivity our manufactures
and mines, we may continue to derive
from this two-fold fource our future
profperity. Whether this reafoning may be
well or ill founded, it ferves as a
bafis to the plan which Spain has for
feveral years followed. Government is
perfuaded, that the greateft poffible
advantages muft refult from great acti
vity in the manufactures, an abundant
production from the mines, and a con
tinual correfpondence between the mo
ther country and the colonies.
Some of the colonies have merited
more particular cares than that of Mex
ico ; thefe are Louifiana, Trinidad, and
the Philippines.
From the moment Louifiana was
ceded by the French to Spain, the court
of Madrid, which to fubjugate this co
lony had employed fuch vigorous mea
fures as could not fail to render its yoke
odious,

8a THE PRESENT STATE
odious, endeavoured to foften its fate
by granting to the inhabitants privileges
proper to infure their profperity, and
the advantage of the mother country.
In 1768, it was enacted, that merchan
dize going from Spain to Louifiana, and
the productions received from that co
lony, fhould be exempt from all duties
of exportation ; and that the produce of
the colony fhould pay a duty of but four
per cent, upon entering Spain. But as
thofe in the greateft abundance, fuch
as tobacco, indigo, cotton, and parti
cularly furs, could not find a great fale
in Spain, it was agreed that French vef
fels might load writh them at New Or
leans, but that they fhould arrive there
in ballaft. This restriction was fo fre
quently eluded, that the Spanifh govern
ment faw the neceffity of taking it off;
and was moreover convinced, that the
furs, fkins, &c. of Louifiana could not
be exchanged but for goods manufac
tured in France. The

OF SPAIN. 8i
The regulation of 1778, added to the
privileges of Louifiana, a total exempt
tion of duties for furs, &c. during
ten years. Afterwards in 1782, Penfi
cola and Weft Florida having been ad
ded to the Spanifh poffeffions within
the Gulph of Mexico, it was eftablifhed,
that for ten years, reckoning from the
conclufion of the peace, fhips fhould be
permitted to fail from French ports to
Louifiana and Penficola, and returns
made of all the productions of the two
colonies, and that the articles, as well
exported as imported, fhould pay a duty
of no more than fix per cent, that in
cafe of neceffity the inhabitants fhould
be permitted to furnifh themfelves with
neceffaries from the French American
iflands ; and that the negroes, which
they might procure from friendly colo
nies, fhould enter their ports duty free.
The regulation exprefsly mentioned,
that foreign merchandize received at
Louifiana iliould be there entirely con-
fumed. But this reftriction has cer
tainly been eluded ; for confidering the
Voi,. II. G nume-

82 THE PRESENT STATE
numerous expeditions made to New Or
leans in confequence of the regulation,
many fpecylators. would have ruined
themfelves had not their cargoes had
other markets than that of Louifiana,
This very regulation of 1 782_fapjimade
further enlargements appear neceffary;
the people of Louifiana were to form no
commercial connexions but with. France,
to which they were difpofed by an at
tachment independent of treaties, and
which is frequently stronger in propor
tion to the oppofition it meets with.
Had this intention been realized, the
French would have deprived the con
traband traders of the produce of their
fraudulent commerce by way of Flori
da, and the north of the Miffifippi, and
would have had it in their power to
have procured at an eafy rate the furs,
beaver fkins, and other productions of
Louifiana. Neverthelefs as the inhabir
tants of this colony alfo consumed fome
foreign merchandize, fuch as Silefia li
nens, Englifh copper, &c. to leave the
French

OF SPAIN. g3
French the whole profit of this new
arrangement, it would have been necef
fary to obtain from the French govern
ment a free importation for , thefe arti
cles, which might afterwards have been
fhipped from the ports of that king
doni immediately to Louifiana... The
Spanifh minifter had confided this 'ne
gociation to' M. Maxerit, father-in-law to
general Gal vez, fo advantagebu fly known
in thV late war, and who previoufly had
prepared the profperity of Lbuifiaria,
by the mildnefs and wifdom of his admi-
riiftrajtion. M. Maxent was not able to
fucceed in the negociation with which
he was charged, and in 1785 it was
pfefumed that the Spanifh government
had determined to extend to other foreign
pofts, fuch as Oftend, Amsterdam, Ge
noa, &c. a privilege which at firft had
been referved for thofe of France.
Trinidad had for a long time been one
of the moft unprofitable of the Spanifh
colonies. Its fituation at the entrance
of the Gulph of Mexico, near the coaft
G2 of

84 THE PRESENT STATE
of Terra Firma, the falubrityof its cli
mate, the fertility of its foil, and the excel
lence of fome of its harbours, ought o*
the contrary to make it a valuable pof
feffion. This had not efcaped the mi
nifter of the Indies, who that he might
reftore life to this dead member of the
Spanifh monarchy, added in 1776 the
ifland of Trinidad to the department of
the company of Caracas. This was but
a trifle compared to what M. Galvez .ftill
intended to do for the ifland. In 1778
it was included in the new regula
tion. M. d'Avalos, intendant of the
province of Caracas, a citizen full of zeal
and information, of a firm and vigorous
character, who ' has been harfhly cen-
fured by the colonifts confided to his
care, but properly appreciated by the
Spanifh- miniftry, who have lately named
him to the government of Andalufia,
was confulted in 1779, upon the proper
means of restoring it to new life. M.
d'Avalos, from that moment, took upon
himfelf to people and fertilife Trinidad.
A Frenchman, not lefs active than him felf,

OF SPAIN. 8$
felf came very a-propos to fecond his
intentions : this was M. de Saint Lau
rent, who, fixed by his poffeffions in
the ifland of Granada, had paffed under
the dominion of England by the peace
of 1763, and who, after the taking of
the ifland, which he forefaw would not
be reftored to France, went to fettle at
Trinidad. He was perfectly acquainted
with all the refources of the ifland, had
connexions with all the Caribbee iflands,
and poffeffed, in a fuperior degree, the
talent of inspiring confidence and bene
volence by his sincerity and eafy manners.
M. d'Avalos charged him to procure
fettlers for the ifland of Trinidad. M.
de Saint Laurent, who knew that fe
veral perfons in France and Ireland
had already turned their views to that
ifland, propofed, to engage them to de
termine upon it, a regulation which
insured to them lands in proportion to
their capital, and the number of blacks
and whites that each colonist fhould
take to the colony ; which exempted for
G 3 ten

86 THE PRESENT STATE
ten years the exportation of their pro
ductions and the entry of negroes, from
all duties ; and granted them other pri
vileges Jefs confiderable, the enumera
tion of which would carry me too far
beyond the bounds of my plan.
The regulation, approved of hy M.
d'Avalos, was publifhed, by his order, at
the beginning of 1780, without waiting
for the confent of the court, and it pro
duced a fpeedy effect. In the month of
June, 1782, there were a hundred and
feventy families of new colonifts, who
had brought with them a thoufand and
eighty-five flaves, and had nearly two
hundred, plantations for fugar, coffee,
and cocpa-
This beginning was not, however,
properly fupported; the greateft part of
the emigrants, upon whom M. d'Avalos
reckoned, waited until the court of
Spain fhould make a formal avowal of
the promifed privileges ; and M. de St.
Laurent came in 1783 to Europe to
folicit.

O F S P A I N. s?
folick it. He had feveral conferences with
the Spanifh minifters, and prefented to
them memorials Which had not the fuc
cefs he expected. To juftify the pro
mises he had made to the emigrants, he
demanded privileges which were found
incompatible with the laws of the In
dies ; and the council, the depositary of
thefe laws, oppofed to him the ancient
inflexibility of its principles. He be
lieved he had a perfonal right to the
acknowledgements of Spain, and de
manded them, perhaps, with that auftere
franknefs which knows not how to afk
for juftice in the accents commonly em
ployed in the folicitations of favour. In
fhort, the fate of Trinidad, reflecting
which he poffeffed fo much information,
and to the profperity of which he had
in fo many refpects contributed, "was
decided without his concurrence *. In
* This eftimable man found himfelf, as the re
ward of his talents and labours, abandoned to all
she anxieties caufed by a derangement of property,
y. hen Marina} de Caftries, who had found an op-
G 4 partunity

88 THE PRESENT STATE
In the month of November 1783, a
royal mandate granted to the new colo
nifts of Trinidad, a part only of the
privileges he had judged neceffary; it
permitted them a free trade with the
French of Europe and the Caribbees,
but ftipulated that the commerce fhould
be carried on in Spanifh veffels, and left
but the fpace of three years to acquire
foreign ones. It exempted from duties,
during ten years, all merchandize from
Spain, and for five years that from
France. It favoured the importation of
cattle, with which the neighbouring
continent abounds.
With refpect to the importation of
negroes, which the colony wanted, it
was permitted with restrictions. In
stead of requiring that all the colonifts
who wifhed to fettle at Trinidad, fhould
take negroes with them, it ftipulated
portunity of becoming acquainted with his merit,
recompenfed him for the injuftice and caprice of
fortune, by nominating him commiflary at Tobago. that

OF 'SPAIN. 89
that this ifland fhould ferve as a depo
sitory for all thofe which foreign nations
fhould bring thither. Spain could not
do without thefe to furnifh her colo
nies. At the expiration of the famous
affiento, which the Englifh had obtained
at the peace of Utrecht, this charge was
transferred to a company which had
made Porto Rico the depository of all
the negroes it bought at fecond-hand,
whether from the Dutch at the Cape, or
the Englifh at Jamaica. The contract
of the company expiring in 1780, Spain
determined to make her own purchafes
of flaves. With this view government
had acquired from Portugal, by the
treaty of peace in 1778, two fmall iflands
near the coaft of Africa. But, befides
-their being infufficient for the purpofe
intended, Spain ftill wants what is efpe
cially neceffary for the negro trade ;
fhe has neither veffels properly built for
the purpofe, nor the merchandize moft
fuitable to purchafe negroes ; fhe more
over wants feamen acquainted with the
particular diforders to which thefe
wretched

5o THE PRESENT STATE
wretched flaves are fubject ; and fur-
geons, who understand^ how they
fhould be treated ; and until fhe thus
becomes upon an equality with the na
tions ufed to this commerce, fhe will be
obliged to have recourfe to their affif
tance. Thus, during the late war, at
the moment when the privilege of the
company to which the furnifhing of
negroes was confided, was about to
expire, Spain permitted all her colonifts
to procure them from the Caribbee
iflands belonging to foreign powers.
But this means proved infufficient. Con
traband commerce, with which the Spa
nifh colonies are "befet on all fides, to
the detriment of the revenue but to the
advantage of the colonifts, fupplied the
greateft part. The Spanifh minifter,
until he Shall be able to take perma
nent meafures to procure negroes, has
given to foreign merchants fome parti
cular permiffions to land them in the
Spanifh. American ports. We have al
ready feen what lie eftablifhed in favour
of Trinidad ; and at the fame time an
Irifh,

O F S P A I N. ,,
Irifhman obtained the privilege of tranf-
porting four thoufand flaves to thr.t
ifland, at a hundred and fifty piaftres a
head. ] Still more lately the minifter has
contracted with an Englifh commercial
houfe, which has engaged to furnifh
negroes to the Havannah at a hundred
and ninety-five piaftres a head for thofe
of the beft kind.
Thefe facts, and feveral others I have
adduced, inconteftibly prove that Spain,
far from being inattentive to ber wants?
and thofe of the colonies* is vigilant in
providing for. them; and that the irre-
folutenefs with which fuperficial per
fons may reproach the Spanifh govern
ment, is the inevitable refult of circum
ftances, and bears the marks of that
laudable prudence which collects from
every quarter the information neceffary
previous to fixing upon an invariable
plan. But the meafure adopted by govern
ment, which, moft proves to what a de
gree

92 THE PRESENT STATE
gree its attention is engaged in diffus
ing new life through every part of the
monarchy, is the eftablifhment of the
company of the Philippine iflands.
Thefe iflands, placed at the extremity
of the world, relative to the mother
country, and which, including the La-
drone iflands, dependant upon them,
form a more extenfive poffeffion than
France, Spain and Italy, were not long
fince entirely ufelefs to the Spanifh mo
narchy, to which they might be made
more profitable, than any of its colonies.
Not only all tlie neceffaries of life are
there found in abundance*, but great
quan-
* Beafts of burthen, domeftic animals, game and
fifti abound in thefe iflands. They alfo produce great
quantities of corn and rice ; the vegetable kingdom in
particular is there richly ftored. This country, hi
therto almoft a maiden one with refpea to botanical
lefearches, produced to M. Sonnerat fix thoufand
plants unknown in Europe ; a precious treafure
with which that learned naturalift enriched ©ur
Continent On his return to Madrid there hap
pened to him an odd circumftance, from which, how-.

O F S P A I N. 93
quantities of fhip-timber, woods proper
for dying, feveral iron mines, and rivers
navigable a long way up the country.
Cotton, tobacco, indigo, and fugar thrive
in that foil ; fome gold is alfo found
among the fand of certain rivers. The
number of fubjects who acknowledge the
Spanifh dominion is upwards of a mil
lion, without including the wild natives
however, I muft beg the reader not to infer any
thing againft the tafte of the Spaniards for the
fciences. The produce of his refearches was con
tained in a great number of cafe«, which upon their
being landed were to be fearched by the commiflioner
of the cuftoms, that the proper duties might be paid
upon their entry. The officer already fignifi-
cantly finiled at the profits which the bulky
cargo would undoubtedly produce to the revenue.
Before he confulted his tarif, he had the cafes opened,
and was not a little furprized to find in them no
thing but dried infects, animals fluffed with ftraw,
and plants curioufly preferved in beds of mofs
or cotton. The officer, in other refpedts an eftima
ble man, but undoubtedly no great lover of natural
hiftory, and fomewhat mortified to find his tarif de
fective (for thefe kinds of merchandize were not
taxed in it) exclaimed with an air of pity : Good
God ! with what ftrange f:\tig: thefe Frcn:kmen amuje
tbemfehes !
who

94 THE PRESENT STATE
who live in the woods, arid of .which
the enumeration would be almost irri-
poffible. But inftead of profiting by fo
many advantages, S]?ain, firiking, if I
may fo fpeak, under the weight of her
foreign poffeffioris, refembleS a great
body with cloath s badly proportioned to
its gigantic ftature, arid which; will riot
cover one part of it without leaving
another naked.
Let not therefore the inability 'nor
the indolence of Spain be accufed be
caufe the Philippines, its moft diftarit
colony, are abandoned to themfelves
and reduced to be only one of the prin
cipal depositories of the Indies. Con
vinced of the impoffibility of eftablifh-
ing a regular and immediate cornmerce
between them and the mother country,
the kings who conquered them con
fined their efforts to bestowing on them
a communication, by the port of Aca-
pulco, with the weftern coaft of Mexico.
The famous Nao (Galleon) which every
year makes the voyage from Manilla to
Aca-

QF SPAIN. 9S
Acapulco, acrofs the South-Sea, is ge
nerally known. It was, for the moft
part, by this route that Spain commu
nicated with the Philippines ; a com
munication without profit for hei Euro
pean fubjects*. and of which the prin
cipal advantage was reaped by the
Chinefe, the- Armenians and other na
tions who frequent the eaftern ocean.
Even the revenue derived no advantage
from, it ; and* the moderate produce of
the duties waSi not fufficient to defray
the expences; incurred in. their admini
stration. The. inhabitants of the Phi
lippines, without cultivation or in
dustry, had: no other r-efouree than the
commiffions tjo which their fituatiom
was favourable. Like Spain in Europe,
the ifland. of Luconia or Manilla,, which
is the principal of the Philippines, was
only a channel through which the pi
aftres of Mexico paffed to the Indian na
tions ; fo that, notwithftanding the enor
mous fums of money which commerce
has carried to thefe iflands fince, the
time

96 THE PRESENT STATE
time of their conqueft, there remains in
them but a very moderate quantity.
Their defence was as much neglected
as their interior profperity. It may be
recollected with what eafe they were
taken in the war before the laft, by the
fame general Draper who commanded
at Minorca under general Murray when
that ifland was furrendered to the duke
de Crillon. Spain has profited by the
leffon. The prefent monarch has or
dered the port of Cavite or Cavina, at
the bottom of which is situated Manilla,
the capital of the ifland of Luconia, and
the refidence of the governor, to be
fortified ; and when the late war broke
out, this important place was in a fitu
ation to brave the attacks of the very
enemies to whom fixteen years before
it had been fo eafy a prey.
This, however, was not fufficient.
The minifter of the Indies endeavoured
to excite the induftry of the inhabitants,
who, notwithftanding their fupinenefs, from

O F S P A I N. 91
from which the appearance of gain only
can awaken them, have the greateft ap
titude to manufactures, agriculture, na
vigation, and the building of fhips.
Cotton manufactures were eftablifhed
at Manilla, and their productions have
already proved, that if the inhabitants
had until then been ufelefs colonifts,
it was not from ignorance. At length,
the minifter of the Indies, feconded by
M. Cabarrus, whofe repeated fucceffes
had gained him univerfal approbation,
took advantage of the general fermen
tation which inclined the nation to ufe
ful objects, to adopt a direct commerce
from Spain to the Philippines.
Circumftances were propitious. After
various fluctuations, credit and confi
dence feemed to be eftablifhed ; the Spa
niards began to familiarife themfelves
to hazardous fpeculations ; perfons of
property, become lefs timid, at length
gave an employment to their capitals,
which miftruft and an attachment to
ancient forms had before prevented.
Vol. II. H The

c.8 THE PRESENT STATE
The company of Caraccas was diffolved,
and the proprietors, about to receive
their capitals, naturally . wifhed for a
fpeedy opportunity of placing them -out
again. The time was favourable to the efta
blifhment of a new company, which
undertaken under the moft happy
aufpices, might infpire confidence and
a defire of gain. The plan was difcuffed
and approved of, in July 1 784, in a junto
compofed of different members of admi
nistration, and at which the minifter of
the Indies prefided. It was propofed to
form a capital of eight millions of great
piaftres, divided into thirty-two thou
fand fhares, each of two hundred and
fifty piaftres, and to employ this capital
in trading from Spain to the Philip
pines. The advantages which Spain
would have over the other European
ftates, in carrying immediately from
Mexico to thefe iflands the piaftres
Which other nations could not convey
thither but by a prodigious circuit, were
enurne-

OF SPAIN. Q9
enumerated. It was afferted that Spain,
thus receiving from their fource the
merchandizes of India fo much defired in
Europe, would receive them upon better
terms, might furnifh them to her colo
nies and European fubjects, and open
to them a market with other nations.
The plan approved of by the junto,
received the fanction of the king, and
means were immediately fought to carry
it into execution. The monarch and royal
family gave the fame example as they
had done when the bank was eftablifhed,
and fubfcribed to the capital of the new
company. To this were added, as we
have formerly obferved, twenty-one mil
lions of reals, arifing from exceedings of
the value of the fhares of the bank ;
and that the ardour which feemed to be
awakened might not be abated by delay,
directors and other perfons were imme
diately named for the new eftablifhment,
and the patent of its inftitution was pre
pared and publifhed. H 2 It

ioO THE PRESENT STATE
It ftated, that the veffels deftined tc>
this commerce fhould fail from Cadiz,
double Cape Horn, put into" the ports
upon the coaft of Peru, and thence take
piaftres fufficient to make their pur
chafes, crofs the South Sea to the Phi
lippines, and bring their returns imme
diately to Cadiz, taking their courfe by
the Cape of Good Hope,
This precipitate zeal, which feemed to
be a contraft to the fuppofed flownefs
of the Spaniards, was feconded by a cir
cumftance which happened very oppor
tunely. The company of Gremios, of
which we have feveral times fpoken,
had already attempted to fend fome fhips
to the Philippines ; and, notwithftand*
ing they had not fucceeded, were pre
paring to make another experiment,
when the plan of the new company
was under confideration.
The Gremios were offered a part in the
project, and had declined accepting the
offer. They haftened the departure of
the

O F S P A I N. rot
the veffel which was preparing for Ma
nilla ; but the elements, more favoura
ble than their intentions to the minifter,
foon obliged it to return to Cadiz, after
having received confiderable damage. To
have .repaired and refitted it would have
been expenfive, and muft have required
time. Government offered to purchafe
the veffel and cargo, and the propofal
was accepted. Thus was the firft expedi
tion undertaken by the Philippine com
pany*, in the moment even of its efta
blifhment, which may ferve to give pro
per ideas upon the fubject.
It may eafily be imagined that opi
nions muft be different according to the
various points of view under which the
company has been confidered. I have
heard the fubject difcuffed, by perfons
of the beft information, on both fides of
the queftion, and cannot but acknow
ledge that, as a ftranger, and wholly un
interested, I thought I difcovered pre
judice and exaggeration as well in the
company's partifans as in its detractors ;
H 3 on

102 THE PRESENT STATE
on one fide enthufiafm, which is always
to be fufpected ; on the other the lan
guage of defamation, againft which it
is equally neceffary to be guarded. I
will briefly relate the ftrongeft objec
tions I have heard againft the Philip
pine company. They were made in a
converfation, I had upon the fubject,
with a well-informed Spanifh merchant,
towards the end of the year 1785. I
beg the reader to remember, that it is
the merchant who fpeaks and not the
author, Could Spain, faid he, be affured of
fix or feven years peace to lay the foun
dation of this inftitution, it rnight, per
haps, acquire a kind of temporary foli-
dity. But what anfwer will govern
ment make to the following queftions ?
How can Spain, which has, nearer
home, colonies deftitute of population
and induftry, think of making her moft
diftant poffeffions flourifh ? Is not the
idea of aftonifhing the world by a vaft and

O F S P A I N. 103
and brilliant project, the only motive
for this preference ?
But what can be expected from the
new company, after the little fuccefs
which thofe of Seville, the Havanah,
and particularly that of Caracas have
had, upon the ruins of which it is
founded *. A like project was conceived
in the reign of Philip V. The regula
tion, according to which the new com
merce was to be profecuted, was already
prepared. The war which foon followed
prevented its execution, and, at the re
turn of peace, the project was no more
thought of. Can we expect the Spa
niards of the prefent age to be more
fortunate, more a6tive, and more per-
fevering. * We have obferved, that the proprietors of
{hares in the company of Caracas, had been invited
to place that part of their capitals, in future tranf-
ferable, in the ftock of the new company. The
one was, if I may fo fay, founded upon the other;
and of the three directors named to the new compa
ny, two had held the fame ftation in that of Caracas.
H 4 Befides

io4 THE PRESENT STATE
Befides, to whom was the direction
of this new company confided ? To the
fame directors in whofe hands the com
pany of Caracas had juft been diffolved.
They might have much information re
lative to the coafts of Newfoundland;
but in that kind of ftudy, certainly, had
not acquired much knowledge of the
navigation of the Indian ocean.
Other nations have chofen the moft
enlightened perfons to direct their fpe
culations in diftant parts of the world,
thofe who had a thorough local know
ledge, and were well acquainted with
the refources and openings of their com
merce, and had at the fame time long
eftablifhed and continued communica
tions with the particular country in
queftion ; neverthelefs moft of their en
terprizes have had but precarious fuc
cefs ; and Spain confides the direction
of hers to three projectors, who have
never paffed the Cape of Good Hope,
and have no other knowledge of the
• Eaft-Indies than what they have ac
quired

Of SPAIN. 105
quired from imperfect or fufpicious nar
ratives ! Her navigators are flow and
little experienced, and yet fhe flatters
herfelf that fhe fhall rival the Engliih,
French, and Dutch !
She has over them, fay they, the ad
vantage of an undifputed poffeffion.
Thefe iflands are fituated commodioufly
for a highly profitable commerce, and
Spain is able to fend thither her filver
in piaftres, a commodity which exclu-
fively belongs to her, and which is the
principal article of this trade, on much
lower terms than other nations.
This, undoubtedly, is the moft favour
able fide of the undertaking: but to
how many objections is it ftill liable ?
The Philippines, in fact, inconteftibly
belong to Spain. She is not indebted
for them to the forbearance of the In
dians, to violence, or local circumftances
which may hereafter change. Yet, how
precarious is this poffeffion, notwith ftanding

106 THE PRESENT STATE
ftanding all endeavours to render its
principal -port inacceffible, and to for
tify and garrifon Manilla the capital ?
Is it forgotten that the ifland of Lu
conia is of confiderable extent ? In how
many places may troops be landed, ef
pecially if aided by the kings of neigh
bouring iflands, fome of whom, as
thofe of Joloo and Mindanao, are not
to be defpifed, and by the* unsubdued
inhabitants of the ifland of Luconia,
who leave to the Spaniards the peace
able poffeffion of the coafts only, and
upon the leaft fignal would fall upon
them from the tops of the mountains ?
I know not, added the merchant, what
may be the difpofitions of the powers
to whom the undertaking may give um
brage ; but will not the Spanifh govern
ment deceive itfelf if it attributes their
filence to inability or affent ? What
would become of the company if their
vigilance, excited by intereft, jealoufy,
and paft experience, fhould create it em-
barraffments ? How

O F S P A I N. 107
How eafy is it to injure at a great
diftance, to conceal the hand which
strikes, and to difavow that whence the
blow immediately comes, when the
mifchief is done and irreparable ? With
out being initiated in the mysteries of
politics, I know one of thefe powers has
pretended that the Spanifh flag was ex
cluded by treaty from the Indian ocean.
I am alfo informed, that Spain has re
futed thefe pretenfions with arguments
drawn from natural reafon and political
right, and that no reply was made to
them. But is this filence to be taken
for an avowal ? Can Spain be certain,
that after having peaceably formed her
eftablifhment, the fruits of it will not
be fnatched from her in the moment
when ihe fhall imagine fhe is about to
reap them ? More trifling caufes have
occafioned war, which may well be ex
pected to arife from this fatal fource,
if the Coloffus, fhe is at prefent place-
ing on its bafe, cannot be otherwife
overturned. Will it be faid that fhe
can prevent or brave the fword of her
enemies

io8 THE PRESENT STATE
enemies by maintaining fea and land
forces in the Philippines ? But whence
will fhe take them, without weakening
herfelf in Europe, where certainly fhe
poffeffes nothing fuperfluous in her fleets
and armies ? I forefee the anfwer ; it
will be alleged, fhe may embody na
tives of the ifland. The iflands of Lu
conia abound in ihip-timber, iron,
hemp, and tar; Spain will eftablifh
dockyards there ; that is, before these
be in the ifland either induftry, culti
vation, or even- a fufficient population,
fhe will make it the center of a military
eftablifhment ? Can it be fuppofed that
¦ other nations will fuffer the Spaniards
peaceably to avail themfelves of all the
refources which the Philippines offer
for this purpofe, if even more ability
in administration, more activity in the
fervants of government, and more fta-
bility in the cabinet of Madrid fhould
render the execution of fuch a project
more eafy? I 'Will

O F S P A I N. ,09
I will go ftill farther, continued the
merchant, who began to grow warm ; I
will fuppofe all thefe difficulties and dan
gers furmounted, and all the objections I
have hitherto made removed ; I will fup
pofe the Spaniards to have eftablifhed
their Philippine company without obfta
cle, and upon a national and firm bafis.
Yet where will it make its purchafes t
where find a market for its returns ?
In the firft place, the courfe of com
merce is already eftablifhed in the Afiatic
feas. The firft attempt of an unexperi
enced nation will not be fufficient to turn
it afide ; this can be effected only by time
and perfeverance. But will the fubfcri-
bers, difgufted with the ill fuccefs of
their firft attempts, be inclined to repeat
them ? If Spaniards only are to be con
cerned in this undertaking, as govern
ment, by excluding foreigners, has de
clared, they will be defirous to enjoy, and
inclined to miftruft. Once or twice de
ceived in their fpeculations, they will
abandon them. The property, of which they

no THE PRESENT STATE
they are the holders, injured by difeou-
ragement, will foon be reduced to little
value; the company will decline, and
where will it find the means of re-imbur-
fing the fubfcribers, whofe capitals will
in a great meafure be funk in vaft and
expenfive eftablifhments ? In vain will
it open the port of Manilla to all the na
tions of India : if they go there they, will
carry with them, like the Moors and
Americans, nothing but the refufe of
merchandize deftined for the people of
Europe. But will traders come from Ben
gal and Coromandel to offer to a nation,
yet unknown to them, their productions;
which already find a certain market,
eftablifhed by length of time, with the
Englifh, Dutch, French and Portuguefe ?
Befides, would the Engliih, who reign def-
poticallyover the manufactures and cul
tivation of India, fuffer this diversion,
which would create them a dangerous
competition in the markets of Europe ?
I therefore fee no place but China to
which the new company can carry on a
i direct

O F S P A I N. m
direct commerce by means of the vicinity
of the Philippines, which are but two
hundred leagues diftant from it. But be
fides that jealoufy would there occafion
the fame obftacles ; what commodities
could it take from that empire ? Silks,
it will be anfwered, tea and china-ware.
Silks? where will the company fell
them again ? In the mother country ? A
tafte for this kind of luxury has not yet
been introduced there, nor can it ever be
except at the expence of the manufactures
of Valencia, Talavera, Granada, Cor
dova, &c. which Spain efteems it of fuch
confequence to encourage. Will they be
difpofed of in France, England, Holland,
or in the North ? Thefe countries re
ceive them immediately from Afia, and
meafures will certainly be taken to keep
out thofe which fhall be brought by the
Spaniards. Will they fend them to Italy ?
All the powers of this part of Europe
have either filk manufactories or fump-
tuary laws. Spanifh America therefore
only remains to receive thefe filks ; and, will

iii THE PRESENT STATE
will that be fufficient to produce to the
fubfcribers the great profits they expect ?
Of this I cannot but doubt when I con
fider the immenfe circuit the merchan
dize muft make before it arrives there.
Charged with the expences of the voyage
from Manilla to Cadiz, with thofe of
that from Cadiz to Spanifh America, to
which muft be added the damage ine
vitable in fo long a voyage, will they not
have loft moft of the advantage of their
primitive cheapnefs ? And what will the
mother country gain by furniihing the
colonies in this manner ? She will be
come tributary to Afia inftead of Europe,
and open a new channel by which her
coin will be drawn off, whilft on the other
hand, all her efforts tend to render the
balance of her commerce lefs difadvan-
tageous. With respect to tea, the ufe of it is
almoft unknown in Spain, and the na
tions which confume that article will
certainly double their vigilance to pre
vent the tea of the Spanifh Philippine company

O F S P A I N. 1I3
company from being introduced among
them. China-ware can never become an im
portant article of commerce ; it is a bulky
and brittle merchandize, which luxury
only can defire, is of little efteem in
Spain, and would find no market in any
other country.
Lastly, though we ihould fuppofe in
the management of the new company,
that ability which can be the refult of ex
perience only, and that probity by which
the Spaniards are characterized in Eu
rope, and which the ftrong temptation
of the hope of impunity renders fo rare
in their.colonies ; in a word, though we
fuppofe all poffible fuccefs, it may always
be objected that the company cannot
profper, except at the expence of the filk
and cotton manufactures of the mother
country. To feel the force of this ob
jection, it is only neceffary to be informed,
that this feeble commerce, eftablifhed
between IVIanilla and Acapulco, has al-
Vol. II. I ready

»i4 THE PRESENT STATE
ready been the object of frequent remon
strances from the Spanifh manufacturers,
who have remarked that the arrival of
the filks and cottons of Afia at Mexico,
was very prejudicial to the fale of thofe
articles produced in Spain, and brought
by the periodical fleets ; on which ac
count, as foon as the patent for the
eftablifhment of the new Philippine com
pany was publifhed, the manufacturers
of Catalonia addreffed the strongest re
monstrances to government againft its
inftitution. Thefe arguments of the merchant with
whom I converfed, appeared to me fo
forcible, that I was at a lofs to reply j
but' I attributed this to my ignorance,
and not to the weaknefs of the caufe I
wifhed to fupport. I afked him what, in
his opinion, Spain ought to do with the
Philippines? whether they ought al
ways to be left to languifh in indolence,
without advantage to themfelves or the
mother country ; and if it were not time
for Spain to vindicate herfelf from the
reproaches

O F S P A 1 N. nj
reproaches of ignorance and indolence
to which ihe had fo long been expofed ?
Even that would be better, replied the
merchant, than to rifle, by endeavouring
to derive new and romantic ¦ advantages
from the iflands, exciting the jealoufy
of thofe powers which forbear to disturb
them at prefent on account of their inu
tility, and who would not have fuffered
them to remain fo long in the poffeffion
of a more active nation. It would alfo
be more advantageous than to increafe
and extend their commerce at the ex-
pence of the manufactures of Spain, and
at the rifk of disturbing the tranquility
of Europe. But my affertions are not fo
oppofite to reafon and policy as you feem
to imagine.
I do not mean that Spain fhould con
tinue to abandon the Philippines en
tirely to themfelves. Let thofe kinds of
agriculture and induftry, to which the
foil and character of the inhabitants ren
der them proper, be encouraged, but
I 2 let

n6 THE PRESENT STATE
let thefe be entirely directed to the ad
vantage of the people of the ifland. You
fay, their port is inacceffible in time of
war. In that cafe, the chief tafk of the
mother country is performed. It would be
fufficient that now, in time of peace, that
port fhould be opened to all the Eaftern
nations, and that the inhabitants fhould
be permitted to make voyages from one
part of India to another. This would
fuffice for their profperity without en
dangering their fafety. By this means the
reproaches you would wifh Spain to free
herfelf froni will be without foundation,
and the mother country will fignalize
that virtue fo worthy of a great power,
the generofity of rendering her fubjects
happy, without expecting1 any other re
turn than that refulting from a volun
tary benefaction.
In fact, what reafon can a government
which is fo fuccefsfully employed in mak
ing roads and canals to facilitate commu
nication through every part of the coun
try ; which inceffantly labours to encou rage

O F S P A I N. n7
rage agriculture and manufactures, to
increafe population, to emancipate the
inhabitants from their ancient prejudices,
to render Ihe navy respectable, and to
extend commerce to fo many other co
lonies which without the Philippines
would fufiiciently contribute to the riches
and fplendor of Spain, be reproached
wTith indolence and ignorance ? a govern
ed o
ment which, not fatisfied with the eftab
lifhment of a free trade with Spanifh
America in general, has had the wifdom
and courage to take particular meafures
in favour of thofe parts of that America
which, as Trinidad and Louifiana, had
a more immediate claim to its attention ?
Who that has a refpeet for truth will.
henceforth dare to give fo odious and
unjuft a defcription of this nation? The
only anfwer I can return to fuch declama
tions is, either the character of the Spa
niards has been improperly eftimated,
or it is greatlv changed. *
* The gloomy predictions cf the Spanifh merchant
have been contradicted in part by experience. Of
three veflels fent out by the n;w company, one indeed
1 3 iuucred,

Ii8 THE PRESENT STATE
This led me to a difcuffion of the
manners and character of the modern
Spaniards, in which we agreed much
better than on the fubject of -the Philip
pine company. It confirmed me in the
ideas I had conceived of them after a re-
fidence of feveral years in the countiy.
fuffered, from a want of fkill in thofe who had the care
of it, confiderable damages, which were repaired at the
ifle of France ; but tlie two others arrived fafe at Cadiz
towards the end of 1787. Their cargoes were received
with the greateft eagernefs : their fales exceeded the
price at which they were eftimated on their arrival
from fifteen to fifty per Cent. It is however feared,
that this fplendid beginning cannot be fupported.
The high price was attributed to novelty, and the
icarcity of the commodities brought by the veflels.
lt is prefumed, that if a tafte for them were eftab
lifhed, fmuggling would furnifh them at a cheaper
rate; forthe company, for want of having placed expe
rienced fupra cargoes in the veflels, made in this firft
expedition very dear purchafes, and of a middling
quality ; it is even thought, that in future, the com
pany muft renounce the article of tea, which among the
Spaniards has a rival difficult to fupplant. Befides, the
confumption of chocolate cannot be diminifhed but
to the detriment of feveral colonies, the property of
which is ftill more interefting to Spain than that of
fhe new company.
The

O F S P A 1 N. no
The recapitulation I am about to offer to
my readers, will inform them what is my
own opinion.
I fhall begin by a few words concern
ing fuch eftimates of national charac
ter. They are portraits, which under
a brilliant and ingenious pencil, have
every merit except that of refemblance.
It is not according to them that an
idea can be formed of any modern people.
For individuals to refemble each other,
they muft be under the influence of the
fame climate, have the fame occupations,
and profefs the fame religion. They
muft alfo live under a well-eftabliihed '
form of government, and moft of them
give to their ideas, fentiments and ex
terior habitude of body, a constant and
uniform turn. It is the concurrence
only of all thefe particulars which can
authorize us to apply to all the portrait
of an individual. A difference among
them, in any one of thefe refpects, is
fufficient to give infinite variety to their
moral and phyfical features. For this
I 4 reafon

no THE PRESENT STATE
reafon it would be eafy to defcribe the
ancient Scythians, or other paftoral na
tions, the favages of Canada and barba
rians in general, who have but one fim
ple and uniform mode of Worfhip, few
laws, and little communication with
other nations. The Greeks and Romans
alfo in the happiest tiriies of their repub
lics, almoft entirely devoted to thelove
of their country, liberty and fame, in
habiting a confined fpace, where the in
fluence of climate was jn every place
nearly fimilar, and all taking a part more
or lefs active in government, might be
generally defcribed by the fame linea
ments. For which reafon, among mo
dem nations, the Englifh and Dutch
would be found nearer this uniformity,
the firft from that univerfal inquietude
which fixes their attention upon govern
ment, whofe operations are fubmitted to
their infpection, and from that national
pride which keeps their minds in conti
nual activity, and which is not, asiri
other countries, confined to certain claffes
cf fociety; and the latter becaufe, notwith ftanding

O F S P A 1 N. ,al
standing the various constitutions of their
feven provinces, they have all a point
of sinion which attaches them to their
country and liberty, by their portion of
an authority infinitely fubdivided ; and,
becaufe the nature of their foil, and their
fituation with refpect to other countries, *
* I find in the republick of Holland, a confirmation
of this obfervation. Six of the provinces refemble
each other in the nature of the foil, which obliges them
to commerce, and reduces them to almoft a fingle kind
of cultivation, and in their conftitution, which is dif
ferently compofed of ariftocracy and democracy ; while
the province of Guelderland which has notoneconfi-
derable harbour, is almoft without canals, of which the
foil is more unequal and lefs fertile than that of the reft
of the republick, and which has been long fince fafhi-
oned to the yoke of a mafter, contains inhabitants
which fenfibly differ from the fubjects of the other uni
ted provinces. It is therefore upon Guelderlapd that
the Defpot, who has juft reduced them to fubjection,
has made the firft eflay of his power ; and, whilft the
other provinces glowed with the noble enthufiafm of
liberty, its ftates, chiefly compofed of gentlemen de
voted by intereft to tyranny, fighed for his fuccefs .
They were the firft to offer him affiftance, and gave the
warmeft reception to thofe who came to aflure them of
his' triumph. After this, let the portrait of a real
Dutchman be applied to an inihabitajat of Guelderland !
prefcribe

i2S THE PRESENT STATE
prefcribes them all nearly the fame tafte
and employments. But who can flatter
himfelf with the idea of giving a good
portrait of the German, Italian, and
French nations ? What a difference be
tween the climates, productions, em
ployments, laws and language of one
province and thofe of another ! Who
would apply to an inhabitant of West
phalia the defcription of a Saxon or an
Austrian ; that of a Neapolitan to a Ve
netian ; or that of a Fleming to an in
habitant of Languedoc ?

t>

The Spaniards are in the fame fitu-
atioh as thefe three nations. There
are in the inhabitants of their chief
provinces fuch striking differences of
climate, manners, language, habits,
character, and even exterior form, that
the portait of a Galician would more re
ferable a native of Auvergne than a Ca-
talonian, and that of an Andalufian a
Gafcqn more than a Castilian. If the
Spaniards have ever had characteristic
marks, applicable to all the inhabitants of

OF SPAIN. rij
of their Peninfula, v it was when the
Arabians, by eflablilhing themfelves in
the nation, had stamped it with a par
ticular impreffion, and notwithftanding
the different caufes which feparated
them from it, had communicated to it
a part of their manners, ideas, tafte
for the arts and fciences, and of every
thing of which the traces are ftill found
in the provinces where they mostly re
fided ; it was when the high idea they
had of their nation, and which was
justified by circumftances, appeared in
their perfons, and gave- them all a re
femblance to the defcription ill given
of them ; by reprefenting them all
grave, austere,, generous, and breath
ing nothing but war and adventures. It
was, in fine, when in their general af-
femblies, which they called Cortes, all
took a part, more or lefs active, in go
vernment, directing or watching its
operations, and when they felt more
ftrongly than at prefent. that patrio
tifm which acts fo powerfully upon the
opinions, affections and manners of thofe
whom

124 THE PRESENT STATE
whom it animates. But thefe three
caufes of uniformity in national cha
racter have almoft entirely difappeared,
and left the Spaniards more immediately
to the influence of the climate, and the
laws and productions of their different
provinces ; fo that to defcribe them in
their prefent ftate, they muft be divided
into Caftilians, Catalonians, Arragoni-
ans, Navarrians, Andalufians, and Aftu-
rians, and to each of thefe people muft
be affigned a particular portrait ; a dif
ficult and difagreeable tafk, which could
never be compleated without almoft
continually placing the exception by
the fide of the rule ; in which it would
be fcarcely poffible to be exact without
defcending to minutenefs, to be juft
without being fevere, or a eulogist with
out appearing to flatter.
However, this revolution has not been
fo compleat as not to leave many fea
tures, by which the whole Spanifh na
tion may ftill be known. A part of its
manners have furvived the event by
which

O F S P A I N. us
which they were changed. The influ
ence of the climate has been modified,
but not deftroyed ; in many refpects the
provinces have the fame form of go
vernment. The court of a monarch
almoft abfolute, is ftill the center of all
views and affections. All the modern
Spaniards profefs the fame religion. In
literature they have ftill the fame tafte,
and copy the fame models. In many
refpects they have preferved fome re
femblance to their anceftors, and this
is what I fhall endeavour to point out.
When Spain difcovered and con
quered the New World, not contented
to reign over a great part of Europe,
fhe agitated and convulfed the other
either by intrigue or military enterprizes.
At this period the Spaniards were intox
icated with that national pride which
appeared in the exterior of their per
fons, in their geftures, language and
writings. As there was then fome rea
fon for this, it gave them an air of
granJeur which was at leaft pardoned by

426 THE PRESENT STATE
by thofe whom it infpired nOt with
respect. But by a concurrence of un->
fortunate circumftances this fplendour
has been eclipfed, and the affuming man
ners it excufed have furvived it.
The Spaniard of the fixteenth Cen
tury has difappeared, but his mafk re
mains* Hence that exterior fiercenefs
,and gravity by which he is at prefent
diftinguifhed, and Which have frequently
recalled to my recollection two lines
of one of our poets on the fubject of
original fin, notwithftanding the con-
fequences of wdiich the fublime fta
tion man was intended to fill is ftill
eafy to be known.
C'eft du haut de fon trone un roi predpite,
Qui garde fur fon front un trait de majefte**.
The modern Spaniard ftill preferves
in his air and ^gesture the marks of his
ancient greatnefs. Whether he fpeaks
* He is a king precipitated from his throne, who
ftill preferves in his air fome traces of majefty. or

O F S P A I N. iay
or writes, his expreffions have an exag
gerated turn which approaches bombaft.
The Spaniards will pardon me for treat
ing them in this point with a little fe-
verity. To enable them to fupport it,
let them recollect that each nation has
its defects as well as good qualities ; and
that thefe are fo joined, that defects are
fometimes the confequence or excefs Of
good qualities, in the fame manner as
good qualities are an excufe for, and
frequently the confequences of defects.
I therefore fhall not fcruple to repeat
that the Spaniard has an exalted idea of
his nation and of himfelf, and expreffes
it without the leaft difguife of art. His
vanity is not nourifhed by thofe plea
fant exaggerations which provoke laugh
ter rather than anger, and which cha-
racterife the inhabitants of one of the
provinces of France. When he boafts
it is gravely, with all the pomp of his
language. In a word, the Spaniard, as
a man of wit once faid to me, is a Gafcon
who bas put on the bufkin. I am

328 THE PRESENT STATE
I am neverthelefs much difpofed to
believe that the genius of the language
may alfo be one reafon for this pompous
•ftyle. The Spaniards have not only
adopted many words and expreffions
from the Arabic, but their language is
impregnated, as it were, with the oriental
fpirit which the Arabians naturalized
in Spain. This is found in all the pro
ductions of Spanifh imagination, in
works of piety, in comedies and novels.
It is, perhaps, one of the caufes of the
flow progrefs of found philofophy, be
caufe carrying every thing beyond the
truth, accumulating images round the
moft fimple ideas, and favouring what
ever borders upon the wonderful, the
fanctuary of truth is furrounded with
illusion and rendered inacceffible. The
Spaniard is fo prolific, fo diforder-
ed in his conceptions, that to fay a
man conceives brilliant chimeras, or that
he receives them as realities, cuftom has
introduced the proverb, II fait des cha
teaux en Efpagne, he builds caftles in
Spain, an expreffion, for the etymology of

;,-*.-- OF S P A IN. ,<¦¦ X99
of 'which, I think, it would be fuper
fluous to feek elfewhere. cv; ;' L,,; . o.^j.

ar "'/.T.-.ii .c'l'jyjs^-'oj

But the haughtinefs of the Spaniard,
which would'"' be noble were' it more
moderated, : and his gravity which al
ways awes, and fometimes repels, are
compenfated by very eftimable qualities^
or are rather the fource. of thofe qua
lities: Individual pride, like that of a
nation; elevates the mind and -guards it
againft meannefs; and fuch is the effect
of Spanifh haughtinefsJ In Spain th era
are vices and crimes as in other coun
tries; butin general they bear this1 na
tional characteriftic. It is obfervablenn
the moft obfcure claffes, in dungeons,*
and even under rags and'imifery.r It
compenfates, to a certain ' degree, the
genius of a language naturally -diffufe,
in which the ear feems to be ' gratified
by an accumulation of fonorous words,
and wherein multiplied ^expressions are
frequently miftaken for an abundance
of ideas. Haughtinefs is commonly pfe-
cife ; it difdains- detail and loves enig-
?Vol. II. K matical

I-3P THE PRESENT STATE
matical expreffions becaufe they are eon-
cife, and leave room to think, and fbrne-
times to conjecture. Hence is it that
the fame Spaniards who,.- when their
imagination is in the leaft warmed, dis*
play alf^th ei luxury of 'their, language*
are laconic when -their mind is cairn;
Of this; I might give a hundred exam
ples, but I fhall mention one only. I
had occafion to fpeak to a Spaniard of
the loweft.elafs, and found hirn gravely
caressing a little child. I afked him if
he were the < father? A Frenchman of
the fame rank would have modeftly an
fwered* t Yes, Sir ; or, at leaft, I believe
fa;* and would have faid much more on
the fubject than I fhould have wifhed
to hear... The Caftilian, without dis
turbing himfelf, or even receiving my
quleftion with a fmile, aiifwered me
coldly: '* he was born in my houfe,"
after whichrhe immediately turned the
difcouTfelto fome other fubject.
= »:-*•¦. -^-l-jas" --'i rv
This gravity, -almoft become prover
bial, is however far from what it is
gene-

OF SPAIN. 13,
generally fuppofed to be ; in fact it ex
cludes in the Spaniards what we call
affability. They do no*y anticipate, but
Wait for you. But this austere covering
frequently conceals a good and benevo
lent mind, which will become manifest on
the leaft examination. Strangers to the
vain hypocrify of French politeriefs, the
Spaniards are fparirig in profeffions.
Their fmile of benevolence is not the
mai k of duplicity, and their heart com
monly opens with their features. How
often have I been repulfed by the ex
terior of a Spaniard, and remained a
long time without being able to ap
proach him, or to conquer my repugnance,
which was all that was neceffary, to
find in him a complaifance not affected
but real ; an obliging manner, not that
which promifes but that which grants !
The Spaniards are, perhaps, in want of
that urbanity which is beftowed by what
we call a refined education, but which
too frequently ferves as a covering to
falfehoodand contempt. They fupply this
by that unaffected franknefs and good-
K z nature

132 THE PRESENT STATE
nature, which announces and inspires
confidence. The great among them have no dig
nity, if we mean that which is circum-
fpect in its affability, for fear of provok
ing familiarity, and which cares but
little whether or not it be loved, pro
vided it be but refpected. Without for
getting who they are, they mark not
in a mortifying manner the distinction
of claffes, and do not difdain to form
connections among thofe beneath their
own. They have no longer among them
a Duke of Alba, a Don Louis de Haro,
and a Penaranda, whofe characters dif
played in the face of Europe, have
undoubtedly contributed to propagate
the idea ftill entertained of the impe
rious haughtinefs of the Spanifh nobi
lity of the firft rank. If fome have ftill
preferved the traces of it, in them it is
coolnefs, timidity, and embarraffment ;
or at leaft, if I may ufe the expression,
their point of contact with the reft of
the nation. Wc

OF SPAIN. t33
We muft not forget likewife, that
this exterior gravity conceals in perfons
of every clafs a cheerfulnefs, which to
difcover itfelf only needs to1 be excited.
To prove this, I fhall not have recourfe
to the Spanifh theatres, where buffoon
eries are fo well received ; this would
rather be an argument againft my affer-
tion, becaufe it has been remarked,
that the theatres of gay nations are
more ferious than thofe of grave ones,
as if the mind were principally delighted
with thofe emotions which are moft
oppofite to its habitual ftate.
But to enable the reader to judge
whether or not the Spaniards have the
vivacity I have attributed to them, I
will conduct him to circles where they
are at their eafe ; to their repasts, even
before the vapours of the food and
wine have fermented in their brain; I
will introduce him to their converfations
which abound in fprightlinefs-, plea-
fantries and equivoques, all the legiti
mate or -illegitimate offspring of viva-
K 3 city;

134 THE PRESENT STATE
city ; and will there afk him, if this be
not more open and better fupported than
in French focieties, circles, or peth-foupers.
Undoubtedly he will fay, that this vi»
vacity is too noify, that it is vulgar,
But contemptible is that delicacy which
condemns men to tirefome infipidity,
Let this cheerfulnefs liowever, be con
demned or not, by the caprice of fafhion,
it does not the lefs exift becaufe our pre
judices have taken a contrary turn.
Similar obfervations may be made on
other defects with which the Spaniards
are continually reproached. If I have
not quite abfolved them from their idle
nefs, I have taken the liberty to affert,
that it was the confequence of tranfient
circumftances, and will difappear with
them. In fact, when we witnefs the
activity which appears upon the coaft of
Catalonia, throughout the whole king
dom of Valencia, in the mountains of
Bifcay, and in all places were induftry is
encouraged, and commodities have an
pafy and certain fale ; when on the othcr hand

OF SPAIN. i35
hand, we obferve the laborious life of
ther muletiers and caleffieros, who cou-
rageoufly conduct their mules and car
riages throughout the whole country by
the moft dangerous roads ; the hufband-
men who, in the plains of La Mancha
and Andalufia, harden themfelves to
the labours of the fields, which the na
ture of the foil, the diftance of their ha
bitations, and the heat of the moft burn
ing climate in Europe, render more pain
ful than in other countries ; when we
confider the number of Galicians and
Afturians who, like our Auvergnians
and Limoufins, feek at a diftance the
flow and painful means of fubfiftence ;
when we perceive that the idlenefs with
which the Spaniards are fo much re
proached, is circumfcribed within the
boundaries of the two Caftiles, that is,
the part of Spain the moft unprovided
with roads, canals, and navigable rivers ;
it is but juft, to conclude that this vice
is not an indelible ftain in the character
of the Spanifh nation ; that it is only the
refult of the tranfient nature of things ;
K 4 and,

136 THE PRESENT STATE
and that a government active and en
lightened like the prefent, will find means
intirely to eradicate it.
There is another defect which has
much affinity to idlenefs, at leaft it ma-
nifefts itfelf by much the fame fymptoms ;
which is flownefs ; and from this it
would be more difficult to exculpate the
Spaniards. It muft be allowed, that know
ledge penetrates but flowly into Spain.
In political meafures, war, and all the
operations of government ; nay, even in
the common occurences of life, when
other nations act, they ftill deliberate.
Miftruftful and circumfpect, they fail in
as many affairs by flownefs, as others by
precipitation. This is the more extraordi
nary, as their lively imagination fhould
feem of a nature to be irritated by delay.
Butin nations, as in individuals, there is
not a fingle quality which is not frequently
modified by a contrary one, and in the
ftruggle, the triumph is always on the
fide to which tfce mind is moft forcibly
difpofed by the circumstance of the mo
ment.

OF SPAIN. is7
ment. The Spaniard, naturally cold and
deliberate when nothing extraordinary
moves him, is inflamed to enthufiafm,
when his haughtinefs, refentment, or
any of the paffions which compofe his
character, are awakened either by infult
or oppofition. Hence it is, that the Spa
nifh nation, apparently the moft grave,
cold, and flow in Europe, fometimes be
comes one of the moft violent when cir
cumftances deprive it of its habitual calm
and deliver it up to the empire of the
imagination. The moft dangerous ani
mals are not thofe which are in the moft
continued agitation. The afpect of the
lion is grave as his pace ; his motions
are not without an object ; his roar
ings not in vain. As long as his in
action is undisturbed, he loves peace and
filence, but if he be provoked, he fhakes
his mane ; fire fparkles in his eyes ; he
roars tremendoufly, and the king of ani
mals appears.
It is this combination of flownefs and vio
lence which perhaps constitutes the moft
formidable

138 THE PRESENT STATE
formidable courage ; and fuch feems to
me to be that of the Spaniards. The
-caufes which retained them in continual
inactivity have difappeared. The vici
nity of the Moors, which was not the
leaft of them, has long loft its effect ;
as well as the united motives of hatred,
jealoufy and fanaticifm which increafed
its intensity. The wars of the laft cen
tury, and that of the Spaniih fucceffion,
were not fufficient to keep it up to the
height at which it then was. Spanifh
courage therefore, may feem abated ; but
it is capable of being rouzed, and is eafily
excited upon the leaft fignal. The re
volution in this refpect is not fenfible,
except in circumftances in which courage
is ufelefs, or fometimes prejudicial, and
rather the vice of a ferocious people, than
the virtue of a polifhed nation. The
name alone of infidels excited fury, but
the age of the Pizarros and Almagros is
forgotten, happily for Spain and huma
nity. The colonifts of Spanifh America,
and the natives fhe has ftill preferved, no

OF SPAIN, i39
no longer tremble under the yoke of the
mother country.
If religious intolerance exifts in Spain,
it is only in declamation, and the zeal of
perfecution is considerably abated. The
Spaniards begin to think that religion
may permit policy to treat as ufeful
neighbours, thofe whom they had only
viewed as irreconcileable enemies. In
Spain, as well as in other nations, the
progrefs of knowledge' and philofophy,
though it may have been flow, has fen-
fibly foftened the manners. The traces
of ancient barbarity fucceffively difap-
pear. Affaffinations were formerly com
mon in Spain. Every man of refpectabi-
lity, and every one who held a public
employment had his affaffins at com
mand ; which were hired in the kingdom
of Valencia, as it is pretended witneffes
are in fome of the French provinces.
This dreadful cuftom was in fome mea
sure the confequence of the weapons then
in ufe. One of thefe was a fpecies of
triangular poniard which, concealed un der

14© THE PRESENT STATE
der, the cloak, was drawn forth to take
vengeance in the firft moment of refent
ment. A stroke from it was much more
dangerous than onefrofn a fword, the ufe
of which cannot be fecret, and requires
fome dexterity ; and it was more to be
feared than the common poniard known
by the name of rejon. The ufe of thefe
perfidious weapons is not yet entirely
abolifhed, and furniihes a ground for
the accufations wjth which foreigners
continue to vilify the Spaniards. It is
feldom that the manners of a people are
corrected by violent and precipitate
means. A minifter of the prefent reign
has made the fad experiment. The long
cloaks and rourid hats pulled over the
face favoured diforders, and particularly
thofe which endangered the fafety of the
citizens. He wifhed to ufe coercive means,
and even open force, to prevent their be
ing worn for the future in the capital.
The people mutinied, and the minifter
was facrificed ; the manner of drefs fo
fuddenly attacked, was in part continued
after. his difgraqe ; but milder and more,. flow

OF S PA I N. 141
flow meafures, the example of the court,
and thofe: about it, added to the acti
vity of a vigilant police, have confide
rably contributed to correct the evil.
The fpecies of mafk, under the name
of a hat, which encouraged infolence
by infuring impunity, is totally laid
afide; and the cloak, very convenient
for thofe who know how to wear it,
now favours nothing but idlenefs.
The ufe of the fatal poniard ftill exifts
in fame parts of Spain, efpecially in
the fouthern provinces, but it is wholly
confined to the lowest rank. Some bra-
voes make it a bug-bear to the weak,
and with the violent and paffionate it
is the inftrument of immediate ven***
geance. The ecclefiaftics have made it
a part of their miffion of peace and
charity to difarm their parifhioners.
The archbifhop of Granada, in particu
lar, has with this view fuccefsfully em
ployed his arguments from the pulpit.
Poniards and affaffinations are, however,
ftill common in Andalufia; where the
power-

14* THE PRESENT STATE
powerful influence of climate yet is
manifeft, when not counter-balanced
by moral agency. During the fummer,
a certain eafterly wind caufes hi that
province a kind of phrenzy, whieh
fenders thefe exceffes more common then
than at any other feafon. of the year.
But let the natural face of Spain be
renewed ; let roads and canals crofs the
districts hitherto almoft inacceffible'; let
a more eafy communication render fhe
vigilance of the agents of government
more active and certain ;, let an increafe-
ing population expofe to the public eye,
and to public punifhment, the villains
who reign but in folitude, like wild beafts
ki a defart ; let the progrefs of agricul
ture, induftry,. and commerce give em
ployment to mifchievous idlenefs ; in a
word, let the prefent plan of govern
ment be executed, and it will foon ap
pear, in this refpect as in others, that
the influence of climate will yield to
fuch powerful caufes. The revolution
in manners, within the laft half cen
tury,

O F S P A I N. 143
tury, evinces the truth of this predic
tion. It was not until the prefent cen
tuiy that two barbarous cuftom s were
by degrees abolifhed, which ought long
before to have been profcribed by reafon
and humanity. I mean the Rondalla and
the Pedreades. The former of thefe is a
kind of defiance which two bands of
muficians give to each other. Without
any other motive than that of giving a
proof of bravery, they meet with fwords
and fire-arms, fire at each other, and
then clofe with fwords. Will it be be
fieved that this cuftom ftill exifts in
Navarre and Arragon ? That of the
Pedreades has but lately been difufed.
This was alfo a kind of combat between
two companies, armed with flings, who
attacked each other with ftones.
Such manners are equally fhameful to
thofe who retain them and the govern
ment by which they are tolerated. How
ever, as there is fcarcely any vicious cuf
tom which has not its reafons as well as
apparent advantages, there are certain per-

144 THE PRESENT STATE
perfons who are difpleafed thefe inftitu-
tions fhould be abolifhed, alledging that
though they cannot be denied 'to be
proofs of ferocity, they are equally fo
of courage, which they contribute to
maintain among the people. Nothing
but pity remains for thofe who fhew
by fuch argumerits that reafon, in
their opinion, is incompatible with
true courage, the only one which the
glory and fafety of nations require ;
as if in any war the arms of barba
rians had ever been known to com
bat with advantage againft difciplined
troops ; or the ferocity of wild difordei
to infure fuccefs in military operations.
The abettors of fuch paradoxes undoubt
edly regret the revolution, which it is
faid the work of Cervantes has operated
in the manners of Spain, by throwing
an indelible ridicule on thofe adventu
rers who, neglecting the duties of their
ftation, and the care of their families
create themfelves dangers to enjoy the
vain glory of braving them ; who offer
the aid of their reftlefs valour to thofe who

O F S P A I N. i45
who afk it not, and whofe importunate
fervices are at leaft ufelefs in countries
where charity watches to affift the
wretched, and where the weak are pror
tected by a well regulated police,
The bull- fights are what principally
feem to be fome remains of barbarifm
in the manners of the Spaniards, but
at the fame time they are more fufcep
tible of apology. Thefe combats, to
which the Spanifh nation has the
strongest attachment, though highly
repugnant to the delicacy of the reft of
Europe, are confidered by many Spa
niards as one means of preferving, in
their nation, the energy by which it 1*
characterifed ; from the habit of excit
ing violent emotions, which are dif
agreeable to none but weak mind$.
For my part, though I wifh to re-
fpect a tafte which I confefs is by no
means in unifon with my own, I have
never been able to comprehend what
relation there is to ftrength and cou
rage, in a spectacle where thofe prefent
Vol. II. L are

146 THE PRESENT STATE
are expfofed to no danger, in which thtf
actors prove by the rarity of accidents*,
that the hazard they run is not of a
nature to excite much concern, and in
which the wretched victims that are
¦f^crinced have nothing to expect but a
pertain and painful death, as a reward
"¦ for their courage and vigour. Another
proof that this fpectacle has no influ
ence upon the mind is, that Ihave feen
among the fpectators, children, young
women, the aged of both fexes, men
of every age, clafs, and character, in whorh
the habit of frequenting thefe bloody en
tertainments corrected not their weaknefsi
Qr timidity, or changed the foftnefs of
* Whatever may be faid to the contrary, they ar*
very rare. The cavaliers who are thrown fometime$-
receive contufions, but during almoft four year**?
that I was prefent at bull-fights, I knew but one
Tarreador who died of his wounds. A prieft, how
ever, provided with the viaticum and holy oils, is
conftantly prefent in a kind of latticed box, -yrhero
he is not feen by the fpe£tators ; a precaution. which.
notwithftanding its inutility, has been preferved,
like many other human inftitution?, merely by the
force of cuftom. their

OF SPAIN. l47
their manners. Thefe diverfions are Very
expensive, but very profitable to the
undertakers. The price of the lowest
places is two, or four reals, according as
they are expofed to the fun or in the
(hade. The higheft price is a great pi-
aftre. After the value of the horfes
and bulls, and the falary of the I'drre-
adores have been deducted from the
money received, the remainder is com
monly dedicated to pious ufes .-: at Ma
drid it forms the principal funds for
the fupport of the hofpital.
Bull-fights are mostly given in fum*
mer, becaufe in this feafon fpectator^
may remain in the open air, and the
animals are more vigorous. Privileged
breeds are condemned to thus fpecies of
facrifice. As foon as the bull appears
in the circle, all fhe connoiffeurs name
the breed he is of. There are twenty
benches round the circle, and that only
which is moft elevated is covered. The
boxes are in the upper part of the edi
fice. In fome cities, as in Valladolid,
L a where

H8 THE PRESENT STATE
where there is no particular place fet
apart for the combat, the principal fquare
is converted into a theatre for the pur
pofe. The balconies of the different
ftories are continued acrofs the ends of
the streets which there terminate : the
fight of the people of every clafs affem
bled round the fquare, expecting the'
fignal for battle, and exhibiting in their
countenances every fign of joy and im
patience, has in it fomething interefts
•ing if not pleafing.
The exhibition begins by a kind of pro
ceflion round the fquare, in which the
champions,- \as well on foot as on horfe^
back^ who are to attack the fierce ani-
mal, make their appearance; after thefe-
come, two alguazils on horfeback, grave
ly advancing, in wigs and black robes,
who go to the president of the combat
(the governor or the corregidor) for an
prder to begin. . The fignal is immedi
ately given. The animal, until then
fhut up in a kind of cabin, the door of;
which opens into the circle, makes his
ap-

OF SPAIN. 149
appearance. The agents of Themis,
who have no quarrel with him, pru
dently haften their retreat, and their
fear, but ill feconded by their horfes,
is the prelude to the cruel pleafure
which the fpectators are about to enjoy.
The bull is received and ftunned with
their cries and noify expreffions of joy.
He has firft to combat with the horfe-
men (Picadores) who, cloathed after the
ancient manner of the Spaniards, and
as it were faftened down upon their fad-
dies, wait for him armed with long
lances. This exercife, which requires
addrefs, ftrength and courage, has no
thing in it degrading. Formerly the
greateft among the nobility difdained
not to take a part in it ; at prefent, even
fome hidalgos folicit the honor of com
bating on horfeback, and upon occa
fion are previoufly prefented to the peo
ple under the aufpices of a patron, who
is commonly one of the principal per
fons of the court L 3 The

150 THE PRESENT STATE
The Picadores, whoever they may be,
open the fcene. The bull, without be
irig provoked, frequently attacks them,
from which circumftance, when it hap
pens, all the fpedators conceive a great
opinion of his courage. If,1 notwith
ftanding the. pointed fteel which repels
his attack, he again returns to the charge,
the cries -are redoubled, pleafure then
becomes enthufiafm : but if the animal
be pacific, difconcerted, arid cowardly
runs round the circle, avoiding his per-
fecutors, murmurs and hiffings refound
throughout the theatre. All thofe
within whofe reach he pafles, load him
with blows and execrations. It feems as
if he were a common enemy who has a
great crime to expiate, or a victim whofe
facrifice is of confequence to all the
people. If nothing can roufe his courage,
he is judged unworthy of being tor
mented by men, and the repeated cries of
ferros, perros, bring on him new enemies.
Great dogs are then let loofe upon
hjm, who feize him. by the neck and
ears,

O F S P A 1 N. i5«
ears. The animal now finds the ufe of
his natural weapons. The dogs thrown
into the air, fall ftunned, and fometimes
lacerated, upon the ground ; they rife
again, renew the combat, and commonly
end by. overthrowing their adverfary,
who then perifhes ignobly. On the
contrary, if he has prefented himfelf
with a good grace, his career is more
glorious, but longer and more painful.
The firft act of the tragedy belongs to
the combatants on horfeback; this is
the moft animated but the moft bloody
and difgufting part of the whole. The
irritated animal braves the fteel which
makes deep wounds in his neck, falls
furioufly upon the innocent horfe who
carries his enemy, gores his fides and
overturns him with his rider.
In this cafe, the latter upon the
ground and difarmed, is in imminent
danger, until the combatants on foot,
called Chulos, come to his affiftance, and
provoke the animal by fhaking before
him fluffs of different colours.
L4 ^ut

15* THE PRESENT STATE
But it is not without danger to them*
felves that they fave the difmounted
horfeman. The bull fometimes purfues
them, and they then have need of their
utmoft agility. They frequently efcape
him by letting fall the fluff which is their
only weapon, and upon which the fury of
the deceived animal is exhaufted. But it
fometimes happens that he is not thus to
be impofed upon, and the champion has
no other refource than leaping over the
barrier fix feet high-, which forms the
interior of the circle. In fome places
there are two barriers, and the interme
diate fpace forms a kind of circular gal
lery, behind which the purfued torre*
ador is in fafety. But when the barrier
is Angle-, the bull makes efforts to leap
it, which he fometimes accompiifhes.
The alarm of the neareft fpectators may
eafily be imagined ; their precipitation
in retiring, and crowding upon the
upper benches, becomes more fatal to
them than the fury of the animal, which
stumbling at each ftep upon the narrow
und uneven fpace, rather thinks of fa^
- * ving

Of spain. ,53
ving himfelf than fatisfying his ven
geance ; and befides, foon falls under
the blows that are haftily and repeatedly
given him*
Except in thefe cafes, which are rare*
he returns to the charge. His dii-
mounted adverfary having had time to
recover* himfelf, immediately mounts his
horfe again, provided the latter be not
too much wounded, and the attack is
renewed ; but the cavalier is frequently
obliged to change his horfe. I have
feen feVen and eight horfes gored, or
their bowels torn out, by the fame bull,
fall dead upon the field of battle. No
words can then fufficiently celebrate thefe
acts of prowefs, which for feveral days
become the favourite fubjects of con-
verfation. The horfes, aftonifhing ex
amples of patience, courage and docility,
prefent, before they die, a fight at which
I fhall willingly permit my gay country
men to fhudder. They tread under their
feet their bloody entrails which fall from
their lacerated fides, and for fometime obey

*#. THE PRESENT STATE
©bey the hand which leads them on to
new torments. Difguft then feizes fuch
of the fpectators as poffefs any fenfibility
¦and embitters their pleafure.
But a new act foon reconciles them to
the diversion. When it is judged that
the bull has been fufficiently tormented
by the combatants on horfeback, thefe
withdraw, and leave him to the champi
ons on foot, called bander illeros; who
meet the animal, and the moment he
attacks them, flick into his neck, two
by two, a kind of arrow, called a bande-
rilla, terminated like a fifh-- hook, and
ornamented with little streamers of ftaiiv
ed paper. The fury of the bull is re
doubled ; he roars, and his vain effort?
render more acute the dart which has
been lodged in him. This laft torment
gives a fine opportunity for a difplay of
the agility of his new adverfaries. The
fpectators at firft tremble for their fafety
when they fee them brave the terrible
horns of the animal; but their fkilful
hands give the blow fo furely, and they
efcape

OF SPAIN. i$s
efcape fo nimbly from the danger, that
after a few times they are neither pitied
nor admired ; and their addrefs appears
nothing more than a trifling epifode in
the tragedy of which the catastrophe is
as follows.
When the vigour of the bull appears
almoft exhaufted, and his blood, flowing
from twenty wounds, and pouring from
his neck, moiftens his robust fides, the
fury of the people, thus fatiated upon him,
calls for another victim ; the prefident
then gives the fignal for his death, whieh
is announced by the found of drums
and trumpets. The Matador advances
and is feen alone in the circle ; in one
hand he holds a long knife, in the other
a kind of flag which he waves before his
adverfary. Thus together they flop and
obferve each other. The impetuofity of
the bull is feveral times avoided by the
agility of the Matador, and the pleafure
of the fpectators is rendered more lively
by their fufpence. Sometimes the animal
remains immoveable; he fcrapes the
ground

156 THE PRESENT STATE
ground with his feet and feems to me
ditate vengeance. Thofe who are fa
miliar with the beauties of Racine, may
then perhaps recollect the two following
lines of that admirable author.
II le voit, il Fattend et fon ame irritee,
Pour quelque grand deffein femble s'etre arretec*
The bull in this situation, and the
Matador Who difcovers his intention
and carefully obferves his flighteft mo
tion, form a picture which an able pen
cil might not difdain to delineate. The
filence of the affembly refpects this dumb
fcene. At length the Matador gives the
fatal blow ; and if the animal immedi
ately falls, the triumph of the conqueror
is celebrated by a thoufand exclamations ;
but if the blow be not decifive, if the
bull furvives and again strives to brave
the fatal knife, the murmurs are not lefs
numerous. The Matador, whofe addrefs
was about to be extolled to the fkies, is
* He fees and waits for him, and his irritated min'd
feems to be fixed on fome great defign. confidered

OF SPAIN. ,57
confidered only as a clumfy butcher. He
inftantly endeavours to recover from his
difgrace, and difarm the feverity of his
judges. His zeal fometimes becomes a
blind fury, and his partifans tremble for
the confequences of his imprudence. At
laft he gives a better directed blow. The
animal vomits ftreams of blood, and ftrug-
gling with death, ftaggers and falls, while
his conqueror becomes intoxicated with
the applaufes of the people. The bull U
then tied by the horns which have be
trayed his valour ; and, although fo
lately furious and haughty, is ignomini-
oufly dragged from the circle he has juft
honoured, leaving nothing behind but
the traces of his blood, and the remem
brance of his exploits, which is foon ef
faced by the appearance of his fucceffor.
On each of the days dedicated to thefe
feafts are facrificed (at leaft at Madrid)
fix bulls in the morning and twelve in
the afternoon. The names of the com
batants of each are previoufly announced
in the public prints. The three laft of
the animals are exclusively left to the
Matador,

158 THE PRESENT STATE
Matador, who, without the affiftance of
the Picadores, employs all his dexterity
to vary the pleasures of the fpectators.
He fometimes fuffers an intrepid stranger,
mounted upon another bull, to eombat
them ; at others he turns a bear againft
them. The laft bull is particularly de
voted to the entertainment of the po
pulace. The points of his horns are
covered with a round eafe-j which di-
tninifhes the effect of their ftrokes.
In this ftate the bull, which isthen cal
led Embolado, lofes the power of piercing
and lacerating his adverfary. The fpec
tators defcend in crowds to torment him,
each according to his own manner, and
often expiate their cruel pleafure by vio
lent contufions. But the creature always
falls at laft under the blows of the Ma
tador. The few fpectators who par
take not of the general fury, regret that
thefe wretched animals purchafe not their
lives, at leaft, at the expence of fo many
tortures and efforts of courage. They
-Would willingly aid them to efcape from their

OF SPAIN. 459
their perfecutors. In tlie humane few? .
difguft fucceeds to compaffion, and wea-
rinefs to difguft : the uniform fucceffion
of fimilar fcenes throws a languor upon
the amufement which the fpectacle pro
mifed at the beginning.
But to the connoiffeurs who have ftu
died the artifices of the bull, the refources
of his addrefs and fury, the different
methods of alluring, deceiving, and
tormenting him (for in fome provinces
this is a ftudy from youth to manhood')
no fcene refembles another, and they
pity frivolous obfervers who know not
how to diftinguifh their variety.
In this purfuit, as in othei"6, the fpirit
of party confers reputation ; and difputes
or exaggerates fuccefs. When I arrived
at Madrid, the connoiffeurs were di
vided between two famous Matadores,
Coftillares and Romero, as people might
be in other countries with refpect to the
merits of two celebrated actors. Each
feet was as enthufiaftic in its eulogiums and

160 THE PRESENT STATE
and pofitive ' in decifion as the Gluckifts
and Piccinifts perhaps were in France.
It is difficult to believe that the art of
killing a bull, which feems to be the
exclufive privilege of a butcher, fhould
be gravely difcuffed, and extolled with
tranfport, not only by the people, but
by the moft fenfible men, and women
pf the greateft fenfibility.
We can fcarcely conceive how the
Chariot races in the Olympic games could
furnifh Pindar with a fubject for his
fublime odes, which charmed all Greece,
and confered immortality on the con
querors, The bull- fights feem to be a
fubject ftill more fterile, and yet infpire
enthufiafm. Every thing which pleafes
us in childhood, or that awakens in our
minds violent emotions which are not
abated by habit, may excite and excufe
that exalted fentiment. Nothing ought
to be inferred againft the morals of a
nation from objects, whatever they may
be, by which enthufiafm is infpired,
The combats of gladiators, and the hor rid

O F S P A I N. ,61
rid contefts of criminals with ferocious
beafts excited it in the Romans. Horfe
races produce in the Englilh a kind of
delirium. Shall we, on this account, re
fufe the title of a polifhed people to the
former, or that of a philofophical nation
to the latter ? In like manner the
Spaniards, notwithftanding their immo
derate love of bull-fights, and the bar
barous pleafure they take in feeing the
blood of thofe innocent and courageous
animals filed, are not therefore lei's fuf
ceptible of every amiable and delicate
emotion. After leaving thefe bloody
diverfions, they enjoy not lefs the plea-
fures of domeftic peace, the confidence
of friendfhip, and the delights of love ;
their hearts are not lefs fufceptible of
pity, nor is their courage more ferocious.
I am of opinion that in the ages when
fingle combats and affaflinations were
more frequent, they were not more at
tached than at prefent to their favou
rite diversion.
Vol.11. M They

i6i THE PRESENT STATE
They are become much more pacific
Their manners are foftened without
their paffion for bull-fights being dimi-*
nifhed ; it ftill exifts in all its fervour.
The day on which they are celebrated
is a day of rejoicing for the whole dis
trict, as well as for the inhabitants for
ten or twelve leagues, round the place.
The artift who can fcarcely provide for
his fubfiftence, has always a furplus to
expend on this fpectacle. The very
chastity of the poor girl, whofe poverty
fhould exclude her from it, would be in
danger : her firft feducer would be the
man who fhould pay for her admiffion.
The Spanifh government is well aware
of the moral and political inconvenience
.of this kind of phrenzy ; it has long
been convinced, that for a people, among
whom it would wifh to encourage in
duftry, it is a caufe of diforders and dif
fipation ; that it is prejudicial to agri
culture by facrificing, in fuch numbers,
the robust animals which might be em
ployed in cultivation, by deftroying the
fourci

OF SPAIN. 163
fource of cattle which would fertilize
the country and feed the inhabitants,
and by turning the paftures from their
moft valuable deftination. But it is
forced to have respect for amufements,
which, perhaps, could not be openly
attacked without danger ; it, however,
avoids encouraging them. Formerly the
court counted the bull-fights in the
number of entertainments it gave at
certain times. The plaza-mayor, on
fuch occasions, was the theatre of thefe
exhibitions. The king and his family
honoured the fpectacle with their pre
fence. His military houfhold prefided
to keep order. His halbardiers formed
the inner circle of the theatre, and their
long weapons were the only barrier
they oppofed to the dangerous ca
prices of the bull. Thefe feafts, which
by diftinction were called Fiejlas-reales,
are become more rare. There has been
but one under the prefent reign. The
reigning monarch, who endeavours to
poliih the manners of his nation and
to turn its attention towards more ufe-
Ma ful

164 THE PRESENT STATE
ful objedts, wifhes to deftroy in it ari
inclination in which he perceives no
thing but inconvenience ; but he is too
wife to employ violent means.
He has, however, confined the num
ber of bull-fights to thofe of which the
produce ferves to the fupport of fome
charitable inftitution, referving to him
felf the power of hereafter fubftituting
other funds. The combats, by this
means rendered lefs frequent, will, per
haps, lofe by degrees a part of their
attraction, until more favourable cir
cumftances fhall permit them to be en
tirely abolifhed.
It is thus that, by fucceffive grada
tions, more the effect of time than wif
dom, the manners of a people are re
formed and foftened. Thofe of the Spa
niards have within the laft century un
dergone, in other refpects, fenfible re
volutions. Formerly the point of ho
nour, delicate to excefs, occafioned
among them frequent duels ; were other
proofs

OF SPAIN. j65
proofs wanting, their comedies and no
vels would furnifh a fufficient number.
At prefent their courage is not fo reftlefs,
yet it is ftill fufficient in time of war to
defend the country without difturbing
its repofe during the mild reign of peace.
On the other hand the Spaniards have
preferved their ancient virtues, patience
and fobriety ; the former renders them
conftant in their enterprizes, and inde
fatigable in their labours ; the latter
preferves them from the exceffes too
common in the other countries of Eu
rope. I mean not to diminifh their merit;
befides of what importance is the caufe
of virtues in men, provided they are
ufeful in their effects. I dare therefore
affert, that the fo much boafted fobriety
of the Spaniards is, in a great meafure,
the confequence of their phyfical con-
ftitution, and of the quality of their
food. Their robust and mufcular bo
dies, dried and hardened by the active
heat of a burning climate, fupport better
the deprivation and fuperabundance of
M 3 nourifh-

166 THE PRESENT STATE
nourifhment. In the firft cafe, the ab-
ftinence to which they may be compelled
does not weaken them ; in the fecond,
their ftrength refifts the exceffes of in
temperance. The flefh of animals, at
leaft in the Mediterranean provinces of
Spain, contains, in a given quantity,
more nutritive matter than elfewhere.
Their roots, lefs fpongy than in coun
tries where water contibutes more than
, the fun to their growth, are of a more
nourifhmg fubftance. Strangers who
remain fometime at Madrid, foon per
ceive this fuperiority, and if they yield
to the appetite they may have upon their
arrival, an endemial difeafe, called Entri-
pado, a kind of cholic, which the phy
sicians of the country only know how"
to treat, painfully informs them of their
change of food and climate. It is fo
true, that the power of eating little or
much is a confequence of air and foil,
that in the provinces, or in the king
dom of Valencia, for inftance, where
aliments contain lefs fubftance, a much
greater indulgence of the appetite is
neither

0 F S P A I N. 167
neither profcribed by cuftom nor pre
judicial to health. With refpect to in
toxicating liquors, the fobriety of the
Spaniards proceeds in a great meafure
from Nature, which, always employ
ing means proportioned to her end, has
beftowed on them a conftitution anala-
gous to the ftrength of the wines pro
duced by their foil, whilft strangers
cannot with impunity drink of them to
excefs. Nothing is ,moi'e uncommon
than to fee a Spaniard inebriated with
wine, although that which he drinks
is more fpiritous than thofe of France ;
and if a drunken foldier be feen in the
streets of Madrid, it is very probable he
is a foreigner.
We may remark on this occafion, that
fobriety feems to be the inheritance of
the inhabitants of the South, as intem
perance is that of thofe of the North.
We may alfo obferve, that the people
who commit moft exceffes in chinking
are not thofe whofe foil produces the
liquors by which they are inebriated, as
M4 if

168 THE PRESENT STATE
if Nature, which has given them the
means of fatisfying their thirft and ap
petite, and adapted their organs to the
ufe of thefe means, intended to punifh
them for feeking, at a diftance, the food
and liquor fhe has created for others.
Thefe difpofitions are undoubtedly de
ranged by other combinations. Habit
changes them in more than one climate ;
but it feems to me that with a little at
tention, it is eafy to difcover the traces
of the primitive intentions of Nature.
However this may be, the Spaniards
will pardon me for confidering their fo
briety as a virtue of climate ; this is only
refembling them to other nations, and
even to all the individuals of the human
fpecies, who equally owe their qualities
to their education, rank in life, habits,
the examples they have before them, and
a thoufand other caufes which depend not
on themfelves. It is ftill a great merit
not to refift beneficial impulfes. The

O F S P A I N. 169
The Spaniards have, befides, that of
triumphing over thofe influences which
difppfeto certain exceffes, for which they
might have ferved as an apology. I have
particularly in view a depraved tafte, re
probated by Nature, injurious to the fair
fex, and too common among the people
of the fouth. This is abfolutely - un
known in Spain. . ¦ '>
Jealoufy, another outrage on the fex,
the object of our homage, feems alfb to
depend upon the influence of climate
which communicates its ardour to the
fenfes and imagination. This odious
paffion, formerly fo injurious in its fuf-
picions, cruel in its precautions, and im
placable and fometimes atrocious in its
refentments, is much weakened among
the modern Spaniards. There are no
people in Europe among whom fewer
jealous hufbands are to be found. The
women, who were formerly hidden from
the public, of whom it was fcarcely pof
fible to gain a glimpfe through the open
ings of the lattices, which undoubtedly owe

170 THE PRESENT STATE
owe their name to the vile fentiment
which was the caufe of their being in
vented *, now enjoy full liberty. Their
rivals, the only remains of their ancient
fervitude, only ferve at prefent to fhel-
ter their charms from a burning fun,
and to render them more attractive.
Firft invented by jealoufy, they are now
employed to very different purpofes. Co
quetry has converted them into one of
its moft feducing ornaments ; and in fa
vouring fecrefy they infure impunity to
the ftolen pleafures of love. The lovers
who, under the balconies of their in-
vifible miftreffes, fighed without hope,
and had nothing but their guittar for
witnefs and interpreter, are banifhed to
comedies and romances. Hufbands are
become more docile, wives more accef-
fible, and conquefts, as it is, faid, lefs
flow and difficult. In this refpect it be
longs not to me to pronoun6e the eulo-
gium of Spanifh manners. Were I to
* Jaloujie, in the French language, fignifies a
lattice. confine

OF SPAIN, 171
confine myfelf to the evidence of my own
experience, there are no women in Eu
rope more pure. Whether it was from
fcruple, want of addrefs, or that I felt
not in myfelf conftancy fufficient for the
affiduities to which thofe who render ho
mage to the Spaniih ladies muft be de
voted ; or whether I was deterred by
dangers ftill more to be feared, although
in fome refpects, perhaps chimerical, to
which lovers are expofed, I have no lefs
reafon to believe in their virtue, than
to do juftice to their charms. But not
to advance any thing upon fufpicious
evidence, I fhall fpeak of nothing rela
tive to the Spanifh ladies of which I have
not myfelf a knowledge.
The women of every country have par
ticular charms by which they are cha-
ractefifed. In England, by the elegance
of their fhape, and modefty of their car
riage ; in Germany by frefhnefs of com
plexion, and in France by that amiable
gaiety which animates all their features.
The charm felt on approaching a Spanifh lady,

172 THE PRESENT STATE
lady has fomething of deception whicli
is not eafily defined. It owes but
little to the aid of the toilet. The com
plexion of a Spanifh beauty is never or
namented with borrowed brilliance : art
fupplies not the colouring which nature
has refufed by exposing her to the in
fluence of a burning climate. But by
how many beauties is fhe recompenfed
for her palenefs ? Where are finer fhapes,
greater eafe in every motion, or fofter
delicacy of feature to be found than
among the Spanifh beauties ? Grave, and
rather melancholy, at firft fight, yet,
fhould one of thefe fair ones open on yoU
her large black eyes, full of expreffion,
fhould fhe accompany her glances with a
fmile, infenfibility itfelf falls at her feet.
But if the coldnefs of her reception dif-
courage not her admirer from addressing
her, ihe is as decided and mortifying in
her difdain, as flie is feducing in permit-'
ing him to hope.
In the laft cafe fhe leaves him no room
to fear a long cruelty ; but perfeverance, which

O F S P A I N. 17J
which in other countries accelerates the
denouement, muft furvive it in Spain, and
becomes a fevere duty. The fortunate men
whom fhe deigns to conquer, and who are
called Cortejos, are lefs difintereftedbutnot
lefs affiduous than the cicifbei of Italy. A
total facrifice is required of them. They
muft give proofs of this at all hours of
the day, accompany the lady to the pub-
lick walk, the theatres, and even the
confeffional. But what is particular in this
kind of intimacy, is that two perfons thus
united by a fentiment which feems inex-
hauftible, are frequently filent, melan
choly, and appear not as in other places,
happy in the happinefs of each other's
company. I know not if I injure the
Spanifh fair fex ; but I am difpofed to
believe, their chains are not fo eafy to be
borne, as difficult to avoid. The Spanifh
beauty is faid to be very rigorous in many
refpects ; her caprices are fometimes ra
ther hafty, and too obedient to the im-
pulfe of an ardent imagination. But that
which is not eafy to conciliate with her
eternally varying fancies, and concurs with

174 THE PRESENT % STATE'
with a thoufand other obfervations to
prove the incoherency of the human
heart, both in male and female, is, the
conftancy of Spanifh women in their at
tachments. The intoxication they caufe
and experience, far different from all ex
treme agitations or affections of the mind,
which continue but a ihort time, is pro
longed greatly beyond the common term;
and I faw, during my refidence in Spain,
more than one fuch paffion continue
conftant till the parties expired with old
age. I have frequently fought for the
t reafon of this conftancy ; which difcon-
certed all my ideas, and have imagined
it to be in a religious fcruple, certainly
ill underftood, as moft fuch fcruples are.
Perhaps, faid I to myfelf, the confci
ence of a Spanifh lady, fufficiently
complaifant to permit her one gratifica
tion which offends her duty, would be
terrified at a fucceffion of infidelities. In
the firft flie may poffibly find an excufe
in human infirmity, in the irrefiftible
wifh of the heart, which inclines her
toward?

O F S P A I N. ,7S
towards one object, deftined by nature to
fix her affections.
It belongs to thofe who are acquainted
with the female heart and confcience to
judge of this conjecture. It is certain,
that in Spain, more than in any other
country, both men and women appear
to conciliate the irregularity of manners
with the moft fcrupulous obfervance of
religious duties, and even with the mocke
ries of fuperftition. In many countries
thefe exceffes alternately fucceed each
other. In Spain they are fimultaneous;
and the women, in confequence of this
strange mixture of religion and frailty,
feem to aim lefs to prevent fcandal, or
conceal their conduct, than to eftablifh
a kind of equilibrium between their faults
and their merits ; an incoherence in
which both fexes appeared to me to par
ticipate. It is the confequence of error
and weaknefs, and the moft ferious re
proach I have to make that nation. How

ij6 THE PRESENT STATE
How' rnany men have I known, who,
though they led an extreme diforderly
life, frequented publick worfhip with an
afliduity, which even true chriftians do
not confider as an indifpenfible duty,
carefully obferved every injunction of
the church relative to abftinence, and
rendered to the minifters almoft degra
ding homages ? How many women aban
doned to an attachment utterly incon-
fiftent with their duty, are furrounded
with relicks, cover themfelves with a
fcapulary, oblige themfelves by vows to
fhe performance of actions indifferent in
their own nature, and fcrupuloufly fulfil
them. I believe hypocrites to be very rare
in Spain ; but to compenfate for this the
ridiculous affociation of certain moral
improprieties with fuperftitious prac
tices, is more common there than elfe
where. Muft this be attributed to a want
of knowledge, or the criminal complai-
fance of the directors of confcience, who
are thus prodigal of the indulgence of
which the"y" themfelves ftand in need ?
Or is it the climate which muft ferve as
an

O F S P A I N. 177
an excufe for fome vices, as it is the caufe
of fome virtues ; does it command the
gratification of certain frailties too im-
perioufly for confciences, fcrupulous in
other refpects, to be terrified from yielding
compliance ?
To endeavour to explain the diffolute-
nefs of morals, is to acknowledge it exifts,
and, notwithftanding my favourable opi
nion of the Spaniards, I cannot but con-
fefs this charge. More faithful how
ever, to the refolution I have formed to
be impartial, I muft add, that this de
pravity is not fo general as libertines,
who always exaggerate their indifcretions,
are pleafed to fay it is ; that there are even
at Madrid families exemplary in their
conduct, faithful hufbands, and wives
who in other countries would be models
of modefty and propriety ; that their
daughters, although in general not re
ferved in their carriage, promife much
more than they grant, and that nothing
is more rare than their anticipation of the
rights of matrimony ; that if opportuni-
tiesof purchasing pleasures equally fhame-
Vol. II. N ful

i-S THE PRESENT STATE
ful and eafy to obtain, are frequent for
thofe who feek them, at leaft profti
tution is neither fo pubhc nor impu
dent as in other countries; and that
the pohce, by feverely prohibiting its
fcandalous feminaries, obliges it to con
ceal itfelf, and fometimes pursues it
to its fecret retreats. I fhall far
ther obferve, that women rigoroufly
banifh from their fociety thofe familiari
ties * which are confidered as indifferent
by other nations, wtiere the fenfes, not
fo quickly inflamed, more flowly betray
their diforder ; and that this diftruft of
themfelves is at leaft an homage which
their weaknefs renders to modesty. But
provided they be not too nearly approach
ed, they permit, and fometimes provoke
thofe allurements at which decency is in
other places alarmed.
They pardon equivoque, obfcenity,
indelicate defcriptions, all witticifms and
indifcreet expreflions. The free manner
* A woman would not permit the moft chafte kifs
to be given her in publick; and thofe which are
ciftomary in our comedies, and of which no node*
is taken, are entirely baniihed from the Spanifh ftage, in

OF SPA IN. ,79
in which they explain themfelves in fome
inftances, cannot but aftonifh a ftranger
accuftomed to convey his thoughts on
fimilar occafions under a thicker veil.
The Engliih women have an extremely
delicate and pure imagination, and no per
fon would dare to wound their ears with an
expreffion in the leaft tending to indecen
cy. It is faid, they carry referve in this re-
fpect to that degree of excefs which we
fhould call prudery. French women who
do not repel the fallies of an innocent gaie
ty, but whofe decency impreffes awe upon
effrontery, are, in. their turn, prudes in
comparifon to the Spanifh women. I
have feen the latter hear without a blufh,
and even permit themfelves expreffions
which men of but few fcruples would
have referved for the orgies of debauchery.
I have heard feveral of them fing couplets
which breathed fomething more than
voluptuoufnefs, and left the penetration
of the hearer nothing to imagine. This
circumftance alone however, would not
be fufficient to prove the depravity of
manners in Spain. N a Purity

180 THE PRESENT STATE
Purity of morals is certainly not a matter
of convention. In every country depra
vity is nearly the fame, except the mo
difications given it by law and religion.
The moral purity of language is fome
thing different ; this varies according to
time and place ; it depends upon climate,
cuftom, manners and genius of language.
Women who permit themfelves freedom
of expreffion, and give the example of it,
are certainly not on that account more
feducing to perfonsof delicacy, but they are
not more eafily feduced. The woman
who jefts with vice is, perhaps, farther
removed from it than fhe who carefully
repels it from her imagination, from a
conviction of her own weaknefs ; betides*
as it has frequently been remarked, man'
ners are never more corrupted than when
the moral purity of language is carried
to the moft fcrupulous excefs ; becaufe
then every mind is filled with depraved
ideas, and the greateft precaution muft
be taken that they may not be awakened.
On the contrary, a nation not yet cor
rupted by excefs of civihf-ation, may have
: in

O F S P A I N. ,8X
in its language a kind of ingenuoufnefs
which renders expreffions far from en
tirely chafte ; and when, like our firft
parents, it begins to blufh at its naked-
nefs, we may be fure, that like them, it
has no longer preferved its innocence.
. This however, is- not the cafe of the
Spanifh nation. I have only wifhed to
prove that the liberties the Spaniards
permit themfelves in their language, may
neveithelefs be reconciled with much
purer manners. I fhould be inclined to
believe thefe modes of expreffion, fhock-
ing to the decency of other nations,
would difappear by a more refined civi-
lifation, more precautions in the educa
tion of young perfons, almoft exclufively
abandoned to the govern ment of fervants,
even in the moft diftinguifhed houfes,
and efpecially by better example, the moft
efficacious of all educations. But can a
younglady, who from the moft tender age
has been familiarifed to the grofieft expref
fions which her prefence commands not
refpect enough to reprefs ; who in com-
N 3 panies,

18a THE PRESENT STATE
panies,to which fhe isfrequently admitted,
hears applaufe beftowed on, impudence,
which difdains to throw a tranfpafent
veil even over the obfcenities in which
it indulges ; can one, whofe ears are
early accuftomed to the indecent ex-
preffions which are permitted on the
ftage, and whofe eyes repeatedly behold
the wanton attitudes exhibited in the
favourite Spaniih dance, long preferve
in her imagination and language that
virgin purity which is, perhaps, the
greateft charm of her fex ?
The dance I allude to, is the famous
Fandango, at which foreigners are equal
ly aftonifhed and offended, but to which
they foon become more than partial.
No fooner is this begun at a ball, than
every countenance becomes animated, and
even thofe who by their age and pro
feffion are moft obliged to gravity, have
much difficulty in preventing them
felves from joining in the cadence. It
is related, on this fubject, that the court of

0 F S P A 1 N. igs
of Rome, fcand?.!ized that a country re
nowned for the purity of its faith,
fhould not have long before profcribed
this profane dance, refolved to pro
nounce its formal condemnation. A
confiftory affembled, the profecution of
the Fandango was begun, according to
rule ; and fentence was about to be thun
dered againft it, when one of the judges
judiciou fly obferved, that a criminal ought
not to be condemned without being
heard. The obfervation had weight with
the affembly. Two Spaniards were
brought before it, and to the found of
instruments difplayed all the graces of
the Fandango. The feverity of the
judges was not proof againft the exhi
bition ; their austere countenances began
to relax ; they rofe from their feats, and
their arms and legs foon found their
former fupplenefs. The confiftory-
hall was changed into a dancing-room,
and the Fandango was acquitted.
After fuch a triumph, it may be ima
gined that the remonftrances of decency
N 4 have

1 84 THE PRESENT STATE
have but little affect ; its empire feems
to be firmly eftablifhed. It is, how
ever, different according to the places
in which it is practifed. It is frequently
called for at the theatre, and generally
clofes private dances. In thefe cafes the
intention is no more than lightly indi
cated ; but, on other occafions, when a
few perfons affembled feem wantonly to
fhake off all fcruples, the meaning is
then fo ^marked, that voluptuoufnefs-
affails the mind at every avenue ; its in
citements caufe the heart of the modeft
youth to palpitate with defire, and
reanimate the deadened fenfes of eld
age. The Fandango is danced by two
perfons only, who never touch fo much
as even the hand of each other; but
when we view their reciprocal allure
ments, their retreats and approaches ;
when we obferve the female, in the
moment when her languor announces
an approaching defeat, fuddenly acquire
new courage to efcape from her con
queror, who purfues her, and is pur
fued in his turn -? the manner in which thefe

O F S P A 1 N. ,85
thefe emotions are expreffed by their
looks, gestures and attitudes, it is im-
poflible not to confefs with a blufh, that
thefe fcenes are, to the real combats of
Cytherea, what our military evolutions
in peace are to the real difplay of the
art of war. The Seguidilla is another
dance peculiar to the Spaniards. The
figure is formed by eight perfons ; at
each corner the four couple retrace,
although but momentarily the principal
movements of the Fandango. A Spanifh
female dancing the Seguidilla, dreffed
in character, accompanying the instru
ments with caftanets, and marking the
meafure with her heel with uncommon
precifion, is certainly one of the moft fe-
ducing objects which love can employ
to extend his empire.
The Spanifh nation has a decided
tafte for dancing, and the greatest ap
titude to excel in the art. Befides the
dances peculiar to the nation they have
adopted thofe of other countries with
out excepting the minuet ; but the
noble,

S86 THE PRESENT STATE
noble, decent and eafy graces of this
dance efcape them. It appears, how
ever, to have many attractions in the
eyes of the Spaniards, and makes an
effential part of their education. Each
ball has a president, who, under the
name of Baftonero is to make every body
dance the minuet, and who, notwith
ftanding his utmoft endeavours to con-
fult the inclination of every one, in
forming the couples, never fails to £ive
offence to fome. In the reign of Phi
lip V. mafquerades were forbidden
throughout all Spain. The count
de Aranda, who while attentive to the
police of the capital, did not neglect
its pleasures, had revived the pub
lic balls, and profcribed mafquerades
under Philip ; but thefe two amufe
ments, which in other places are con
fidered as innocent, furvived not the re
treat of the minifter, and being difufed
when his administration ceafed, added
to the regret of the inhabitants of the
capital. The

OF SPAIN. !87
The Spaniards are therefore reduced,
for public diverfions, to bull-fights, and
the national spectacles of which we
fhall hereafter take notice. Their pri
vate pleafures have fomething of the
gravity which appears, at leaft, in the
exterior of their perfons. The game to
which the common people feem moft
attached, is a feeble and fpiritlefs
image of the games which kept the
ftrength and addrefs of the ancients in
continual activity. It is called El juego
de la barr a, and confifts in throwing a
bar of iron to a certain diftance.
People of fafhion have recreations of
another kind. In general they feldom
affemble to eat at each others houfes ;
and this is undoubtedly one of the cir
cumftances which contributes to their
reputation for fobriety. They are little
acquainted with the innocent and
healthful pleafures of the country. But
few among them are fond of the chace;
of which the monarch and his family feem
fo poffefs the exclufive privilege. The
amufe-

iS8 THE PRESENT STATE
amufements of the country appear to have
no attractions for the Spaniards. Their
countiy-houfes might eafily be num
bered. Among the many rich individuals
who inhabit the capital, there are, per
haps, not ten who have a country re*
treat. With respect to the caftles, feats,
&c. fo numerous in France, England,
and Italy, and which contribute to the
embellifhment of the environs of their
capitals, there are fo few in the vici»-
nage of Madrid and the reft of the Pe-
ninfula, that many travellers are of
opinion the proverbial expreffion, buildr
ing caftles in Spain, is thence derived.
The rich fubjects of the kingdom
therefore concentrate all their pleafures
within the cities. Mufic is one of thofe
for which the Spaniards have the greateft
tafte. They cultivate this art with fuc
cefs. Not that their national mufic has
made any great progrefs. If it has a par
ticular character, it is to be found moftly
in little detached airs, called, in Spain,
Tonadillas and Seguidillas ; fometimes agree-

O F S P A I N. i39
Agreeable melodies, but of which the
modulations are little varied, and prove
that the art of compofition is ftill in
its infancy. In return for this they do
the greateft juftice to the grand compo
sitions of Germany and Italy, which al
ways form a part of their frequent
concerts ; but they have the moft pro
found contempt for French mufic,
which, in their opinion, is languid and
monotonous, not excepting the Vaude
ville. Their prejudice, in this refpect,
is carried to fuch a height, that an Ita*
lian air Would become difpleafing to
them by appearing in the livery of
French words ; fo vain are they of their
fonorous and cadenced language, and
fo perfuaded that French fyllables, by
turns, mute and nafal, exclude the lan
guage from the poffibility of being
adapted to mufic. They have many
lovers of harmony, but few compofers
worthy of notice.
A young pOet at Madrid produced a
few year9 fince a poem on mufic, wherein didactic

i9o THE PRESENT STATE
didactic drynefs is compenfated by feveral
epifodes, and brilliancy of imagination.
Connoiffeurs affure us that the cha
racter of Spanifh mufic in particular
is there given by a mafterly hand;
but many examples muft be added to
the precepts contained in the poem,
before it can be relifhed by the reft of
Europe. Balls and concerts are not the only
entertainments at which the Spaniards
affemble. They have alfo their Tertu-
lias and Refrefcos. The Tertulias are af-
femblies very fimilar to thofe of France.
Perhaps more liberty reigns in the
former, but langour fometimes efta-
blifhes its throne there as well as in the
midft of our circles.
Women in general feek not many oc-
cafions to affemble ; each afpires to be
the center of a Tertulia ; and exclufive
pretenfions undoubtedly contribute to
banifh from Spanifh focieties what we
call French gallantry. Women are there
admi-

O F S P A I N. I9i
admired, and even adored, as well as
elfewhere ; but when they infpire not a
lively fentiment, the men feldom pay
them thofe attentions which our polite-
nefs prodigally and indifcriminately be
llows upon every individual of the. ami
able fex. It is not in the reciprocal
communication of tendernefs that man
ners are foftened. The language of
mere politenefs is too cold for love : that
impetuous paffion commands and exacts
facrifices, but defpifes fimple respect.
On the contrary, it is in the difinte-
refted affociation of the two fexes that
the neceffity and mutual defire of pleaf
ing arifes, which forms the charm and
cement of fociety. This is, perhaps,
the only means wanting to the Spaniards
to accomplifh the polifhing of their
manners. Their Refrefcos, the invention of lux
ury and greedinefs, contribute no lefs
than the Tertulias to facilitate the inter
courfe of the two fexes. In general,
thefe are only light repafts, prepared for

192 THE PRESENT STATE
for perfons from whom vifits are re
ceived, and are as a prelude to the Ter-
tulias ; but on great occafions, when a
wedding, chriftening, or the birth-day
of the head of a family is to be cele
brated, the Refrefco becomes an impor
tant and a very expenfive affair. ' All
the family acquaintance are invited ; and,
in proportion as they arrive, the men
feparate from the women. The latter
take their feats in a particular chamber,
and etiquette requires they fhould re
main alone until all the company be
affembled, or at leaft until the men ftand
up without approaching them. The
lady of the houfe waits for them under
a canopy, in a place fet apart in the
hall, which in ancient manners, not
yet entirely abolifhed, was called the
Eftrado, over which is commonly fuf-
pended an image of the virgin. The
appearance of the Refrefco, at length,
enlivens every countenance, and infufes
joy into every heart ; converfation be
comes animated, and the fexes approach
each other. The company aTe firft pre
fented

OF SPAIN. i93
fented with great glaffes of water, in
which little fugar-loaves, called Azucar
efponjado, or rofado, fquare and of a very
fpongy fubftance, are diffolvcd ; thefe
are fucceeded by chocolate, the favourite
refreflnrient twice a day of the Spa
niards, and which is believed to be fo
nourifhing, or at least innocent, that it
is not refufed to perfons dangeroufly ill.
After the chocolate come all forts of
Confectionary, Et tOus ces mets lucres en pate ou bien liquideg,
Dont eftomacs devots furent toujours avides *.
It is fcarcely poffible to conceive the
profufion with which all thefe delicacies
are diftributed. People are not only
cloyed with them in the houfe of fefti
vity, but they put quantities of them
into paper, and even into their hats and
handkerchiefs ; and the fervants are
fpeedily difpatched home with the pre-
* And all thofe fugared paflries and fweet cordials
of which devout ftomachs were ever fo greedy.
Voi>. II. O cious

194 THE PRESENT STATE
cious favings, which undoubtedly ferv£
to furnifh the table of more than one
mifer for feveral days. There is fome
thing odd in this general rapacioufhefs ;
and a ftranger admitted, ' for the firft
time, to thefe kind of feftivals, in which
intoxicating liquors only are fpared, fecks*
to difcover the fober nation and finds it
not. It may be imagined that fuch en
tertainments muft weigh heavily on the
ceconomy of many individuals ; moft1
people regret the cuftom which makes
them neceffary On certain occafions ; but,
as is the cafe with ali abufes become
facred by length of time, nobody has
fufficient courage to be the firft to fhake
off the yoke.
A ball or card-tables commonly fuc-
ceed to the. Refrefco ; but it very feldom
happens that the entertainment is con
cluded with a fupper. This is always a
very frugal repaft with the Spaniards",
and at which they rarely affemble. Their

Of SPAIN. ,9?
r Their cookery, fuch as they received
It fiom their anceftors, is of a nature to
pleafe but very few people. They are
fond of high feafonings ; pepper, pi-
menta, tomates, or faffron, colour orfeafon
moft of their difhes. One of them only
has been introduced amongft strangers,
and the art of the French kitchen has
not difdained to adopt it ; this is what
in Spain is called Olla-podrida, and is a
fort of hotch-potch of every kind of
meat cooked together. There is, how
ever, generally a mixture in the Spa
nifh cookery, except in fome obfcure
families attached to ancient cuftoms ;
in moft houfes it participates of the
French cookery, and in fome this has
wholly fupplanted that of Spain. Thus
are the French every where imitated,
whilst they are ridiculed and fometimes
detefted. The modes of France have reached Spain
as well as many other countries. French
cloths, and the faihions and colours
approved in France, are worn urider the
Spanifh cloak. The veil is no longer
exclufively worn but by the women of
O 2 the

196 THE PRESENT' STATE
the lowest elaffes ; for, others it' ferve s
but to hide the diforder of their drefs
when they go out on foot. Except in
this cafe, their head-d'refs and whole
attire are carefully adjusted to theFrench
fafhion. The Spaniih manufacturers
exert themfelves to the utmoft to ferve
the reigning tafte, and .to follow it
through all its rapid variations without
requesting the aid of France ; but it
may be afferted, without prejudice, that
they are'yetfar from being able to attain
their end. Great cities, and even the
court, tacitly acknowledge this by
having immediate rccourfe to Paris or
Lyons, as to the only true fources of
faihions. In this scfpect, as in many
others, the Spaniards ,who affect the
bon ton, confefs the fuperiority of France,
and receive from that nation leffons on
elegance. Their tables are ferved after
the French manner ; they have French
cooks, houfe stewards, and valets de
chambre. French miliners are employed to
invent and make new ore fibs for the ladies.
Their heavy inelegant equipages difap- pear

OF SPAIN. lg7-
pear by degrees, and are exchanged for
thofe of their French neighbours. They
neglect no means of engaging French
artifts and manufacturers to fettle in
Spain, and hold not out to them in vain
the profpect of a rapid fortune.
Thefe ' homages are not confined
merely to frivolous objects. The beft
French works on morality, philofophy,
and hiftory are, as well as thofe of the
Englifh, tranflated into the Spaniih lan
guage, provided they do not appear dan
gerous to the purity of the faith. French
literary works of mere amufement, are
for the moft part thofe only which
have but little merit in the eyes of the
Spaniards; and their tafte, in this re-
fpect, ftill appears far from inclining
to change.
Their imagination bold to extrava
gance, for which bombaft is but en
thufiafm, finds French ideas cold and
timid. Accuftomed to exaggeration and
redundance, they are unable properly to
O 3 value

198 THE PRESENT STATE
value either the juftnefs or precifion of
the language of French writers. The
fine fhades of French ridicule and man
ners efcape their eyes, too much accuf-^
tomed to caricature ; and with refpect
to ftyle, their ear, vitiated by the pom
pous profody of their cadenced periods,
by the frequent and affected repetition
of their fonprous words, can find no
grace in accents which fpeak more to
the mind than the fenfes ; and the
roundnefs of elegant French periods js
to them entirely loft.
What chiefly prevents a reform in
their literature, are the models they {till
admire and endeavour to imitate ; thefe
are diftinguifhed by that bad tafte
which infected all the nations of Europe,
and fo which the firft literary men in
France have paid an ample tribute.
The great Corneille was not always free
from it, but the fineft productions of
Racine, Boileau, Pafchal, Boffuet, la
v Bruyere, Maffillon, Bourdaloue, Flechier
^nd Fene}on were erefted on its ruins ;
8?

OF SPAIN, i99
as were alfo thofe of Voltaire, who,
placing the top ftone of the edifice,
has infured its immortal duration.
Had French literature remained in
the ftate it was when Ronfart, Marot,
Benferade, Voiture and Balzac wrote,
their very defects would ftill ferve as
models, and we fhould poffefs wit and
imagination without either reafon or
tafte. What might have happened
in France, had no improvement been
there made in letters by a concurrence
of circumftances, has happened to the
Spaniards. Since the time of Lopes
de Vega, Quevedo, Rebolledo and others,
whofe imaginations, though wild and
licentious, were brilliant and fertile, no
author with thefe fplendid qualities, and
at the fame time endowed with that good
fenfe which directs their ufe, has ap
peared in Spain. Letters have, for up
wards of a century, been in the fame
ftate. Thefe men of genius, frequently
extravagant even to absurdity in their
conceptions, have remained models of
O 4 ftyle ;

2oo the Present state
ftyle ; and their example, without hav
ing produced any thing comparable with
that which in them is juftly admired,
has ferved as an excufe to every repre
hensible irregularity of imagination, and
all the violent bombast of falfe elo
quence. The national tafte is formed
upon thefe models in fo invariable a
manner, that fome authors who have
endeavoured to introduce into the the
atre the elegant fimplicity which French
dramatic writers have attempted to re
vive, have gained no attention, fo that the
Spanifh ftage 'is ftill in the fame fitu
ation as when Boileau fatirized its extra
vagance with fo much feverity.
It would, however, be unjuft to judge
of this theatre according to Boileau's
fevere criticifm. It undoubtedly ftill
fuffers pieces in which the law of the
three unities is flagrantly violated. But
befides that, this law may be confidered
as arbitrary, or at leaft not abfolutely
indifpenfable ; there are many Spanifh
pieces in which it is not tranfjgreffed in
fuch

OF SPAIN. 20!
fuch a manner as to be prejudicial to
the interest. The Spaniards themfelves
pafs condemnation upon moft of their
heroic comedies, in which princes and
princeffes, from all corners of Europe,
affembled without motive, as well 'as
without probability, are by turns either
actors or fports of the moft incredulous
adventures, relate, converfc, and joke
even in the moft critical fituations, and
conclude by ufelefsly ihedding their
blood without having made any fpec
tator filed a tear. Although feveral of
thefe pieces have original beauties, and
all afford proofs of the rare talent of
inventing a complicated intrigue, and of
finding its denouement in the thread which
has ferved to form it, the Spaniards
found not upon this the much concerted
reputation of their theatre.
But there are fome of thefe produc
tions which they juftly confides as inti-
tled to the admiration even of strangers.
Thefe are their characteriftic pieces,
which, though not fo well conducted as

2oz THE PRESENT STATE
as the beft French pieces of the fame
kind, and though they cannot boaft the
fameaccur&cy in the choice of ideas and
expreffions, are generally pleafing in the
ground work, faithful in moft of the
characters, and prove in their authors an
uncommon fertility of imagination.
The pieces the Spaniards call de Capa
y Efpada, are thofe which more parti
cularly prefent an exact reprefentation of
ancient manners, and thefe comedies are
perhaps the real fources to be re
forted to in the ftudy of them. It is
in thefe pieces that the generofity by
which thofe manners are' ftill charac-
terifed, thofe flights of patriotifm and
religious zeal which formerly rendered
the Spaniards capable of the greateft
efforts ; the fwellings of national pride,
which the pornp of ftyle renders fo noble j
that irritability with refpect to the delicate
fubjects of love and honour, which made
duels fo frequent in Spain, before the
caufes which foftened the manners of
all Europe had gained fufficient influence over

OF SPAIN. 003
over thofe of the modern Spaniards;
the facrifices and ardour of hopeful
love, and the anguifhes and arts of a dif
appointed paffion are traced in the moft
lively colours. Ali the combats of
the paffion of love, all its refources, all
the diforders it produces, in a word, all
the intrigues now in ufe, were never
publickly reprefented by any nation with
greater variety than by the Spaniards
at the period when jealoufy, the diffi
culty of approaching women, and a thou
fand other obftacles arifing from the
circumftances of the times, rendered
lovers more impatient, defires stronger,
and temptations more violent. Such is
the defcription given by the comedies
of which the Spaniards are as fond as
they were at the time they firft appeared.
Their authors, of which Lopes de
Vega, Roxas, Solis, Moreto, Arellano,
and particularly the immortal Calderon
de la Barca are the moft celebrated,
have fo eftablifhed this kind of comedy
by their fuccefs* that more modern
authors,

204 THE PRESENT STATE
authors, as Zamora and Canizares, who
wrote at the beginning of this century,
dare not attempt any other.
The Spanifh theatre therefore ftill con
tinues, excepting fome difference, what
it was in the laft century ; and notwith
ftanding all I have juft faid, I cannot but
allow that it is full of defects. Incidents
unfeafonably fucceed each other, and are
without probability ; inequalities are un-
merous and every thing is confounded.
Real tragedy is never feen without a mix
ture unworthy of its noble nature ; and
all the comedies, like fome of our cham
ber pieces, equally condemned by reafon
and tafte, affociate with affecting and
fometimes terrible fcenes, a wretched
parade, fit only for the booths of a fair.
An infipid buffoon, under the name of
Graciofo, inceffantly disturbs the attention
with his vulgar grimace, and by the burfts
of laughter he provokes, arrefts the tears
which were ready to flow. Lovers are prolix
haranguers ; an expreffion of fentiment
or deficacy from them, is preceded by a
long

OF SPAIN, ao5
long and cold metaphysical differtation
upon love. Inftead of a mother, fon,
king or warrior, you would imagine you
were hearing fome profeflbr of rhetoric,
wfiO; to diftinguifh himfelf in his art,
abufes the talent of fpeech. Cuftom
has made it neceffary that each comedy
fhould contain feveral recitals or narra
tives, in which the author and actor, lof
ing fight of the ftory and the audience,
feem to be wholly employed in making a
parade, one of his vain eloquence, the
other of his pretended talent of enforcing
at the expence of his lungs, and by ridi
culous, vulgar, and monotonous gestures,
the multiplied defcriptions of his long
declamation. Both are certain to receive,
as a recompence for their effort of
ftrength, an ample fhare of applaufe. On
the other hand the plot is fo confufed,
tfiat there are few Spaniih pieces to which
thefe lines of Boileau may not be applied :
Et qui debrouillant mai une penible intrigue
D'un dLvertiflernent me fait une fatigue. *
* And who badly developing a laboured plot, ren
ders amufement a fatigue.
What

ao6 THE PRESENT STATE
• What however appears fingular is,
this fatigue feems not to be felt by Spa
nifh auditors, although they are for the
moft part of thofe claffes which a total
want of education, or at leaft one much
neglected, renders incapable of reflection
and combination. I have known many
well informed strangers, acquainted with
the language of the country, who have
declared to me, after the reprefentation of
a Spanifh comedy, that they fhould have
great difficulty in giving an analyfis of
it, whilft uneducated Spaniards proved
by their recitals, that they had not for
a fingle inftant loft the thread of the laby
rinth in which others had been bewildered.
Has habitually frequenting the theatre,
added to a knowledge of the language
and manners, which strangers can never
poffefs to the fame degree as natives of
the country, exclufivelylbeftowed on thefe
perfons this fingular aptitude ? or have
the Spaniards received to a greater degree
than others the gift of imagining com
plicated plots, and of fallowing through all

O F S P A I n. . 2dy
all their workings thofe which they
themfelves have not invented? They have
however, this inconteftible advantage
over the French. Several of my coun
trymen, who Want neither wit nor edu
cation, have confeffed to me, that at a
firft reprefentation they have not been
able to conceive the whole of fome of
our modern comedies, which in fact, ap
proach in certain refpects thofe of the
Spaniards, and it is perhaps the only
reafon why feveral of the latter, which,
were a few particulars changed, ought to
be every where approved, would not be
fuccefsfully reprefented on the French
ftage. This is a homage which our
anceftors were more difpofed to render
them than we are.
The advantages which Moliere and
Corneille derived from the Spanifh thea
tre are well known. The principal beauties
of the Cid and of Heraclius were taken
from Guillen de Caftro and Calderon. The
Spanifh theatre might ftill be to us an
abundant fource of dramatic wealth,
efpecially

soS THE PRESENT STATE
efpecially at prefent, when our imagina
tion, much lefs fertile than that of our
neighbours, appears to be exhaufted, and
when our tafte more refined and fixed than
in the time of Corneille, would be better
able to extract from that mine the trea
fures it conceals. Exact tranflations of
the beft Spanifh pieces would furniih the
means. Thefe we have hitherto wanted ;
Mr. Linguet gave fome of them to the
public on entering his literary career.
But he confeffed that he knew not
enough of the Spaniih language, com
pletely to fulfil the talk ; on which ac-i.
count his tranflations are no more than
abridgements, in which, nothing but the
fkeleton of a dramatic poem is preferved ;
and the paffages not rendered, were not
thofe which difpleafed the tranflator, but
fuch as he did not underfland. Still thefe
effays, imperfect as they may be, are
fufficient to prove the great talents of
the Spaniards for the theatre, their fer
tile imagination, their art in forming and
working up a plot, and producing inte<-
refting fituations and unexpected dif-<
coveries.

O F S P A I N. 2o9
coveries. With all thefe advantages, they
ftill want more natural dialogue to poffefs
every effential to produce a good comedy.
Authors who would enrich themfelves
with'thcir works, muft confult reafon and
their own national tafte, to add to the
pieces they may borrow this additional
grace. They would not fail to retrench
the long and tedious narratives, the cold
differtations, and thedifguftingbuffoone-
ries of the Graciofo, which are difpleafing
even to fuch of the Spaniards as are fami
liar with the real beauties of foreign
Writers, and ancient and modern litera
ture. They would alfo facrifice thofe
points, the play of words, the concetti,
a tribute paid by every nation to falfe wit
at the revival of letters, which feveral
authors of the age of Louis XIV. fuch as
Voiture, Balzac, and Moliere himfelf, did
not efcape, and to which the modern Spa
niards are ftill fubject. I have frequently
remarked with aftonifhment, that they
honoured with the appellation of ingenious
thoughts, and applauded with a kind of
ecftafy, many pleafantries which we, who
from our levity feem to be lefs nice about
Vol. II. P any

aio THE PRESENT STATE
any thing capable of exciting it, fhould
place in the clafs of low witticifm. When
I obferved to them that a play upon words
was contrary to fine tafte, that it fhould
be abandoned to the populace, or confined
to famihar converfation, in which, every
thing is found agreeable provided it ex
cites laughter, they obstinately main
tained that in Spanifh it had a fubtilty
which it was impoffible for a ftranger to
perceive. It is true that even their ferious
works are fo interlarded with thefe mifer-
able quibbles, that there are fome of them*
which to me, it feems impoffible to tranf
late. * The Spaniards have no theatrical
pieces in which they are not profufely
beftowed ; and the fuccefs they have with
the multitude, proves their authors to be
* This is the cafe of all playing upon words, be
caufe it refults from a fortuitous refemblance between
two words in a language which have different
meanings. It is eafy to perceive, that a work in which
there are many of thefe quibbles cannot be rendered
in another language. Who would undertake to
tranflate la Bequillc f Several paflages, and even whole
works of fome writers, as thofe of Quevedo, in other
refpect-. full or wit and originality, would be almoft as
difficult to render in French. carried

O F S P A I N. 2It
Carried away by the corrupted tafte of the
nation : they have endeavoured to flatter
it, and by the afcendancy of their autho
rity have rendered it incurable. Such of
our authors as fhould attempt to introduce
fome of thefe pieces to the French theatre,
would have no great merit in retrench
ing fuch vain ornaments. I would re
commend them to chufe from thofe of
Calderon. Moft of the other Spanifh
comic poets recompence not, like him,
their defects by the originality of their
invention. Lopez de Vega, the Spanifh
author with whom strangers are moft
acquainted, and whom his countrymen,
always emphatfcal in their eulogiums,
extol as, admirable in lyric poetry, eloquent
tn heroic, melodious in paftoral, grai)e in epic,
and ingenious and fertile in dramatic, * is
ftill
* The epithet fertile cannot be difputed him : it
has been repeatedly faid, that he wrote three thoufand
pieces. When truth already furpafles probability,
exaggeration is at leaft ufelefs. Perez de Montalvan,
who knew Lopez de Vega, allows him but eighteen
hundred comedies ; but thefe fufficiently entitle him
to the epithet fertile. His cotemporaries afTure us,
that upon a hint from the king or fome courtier, he
P'a compofed

*i2 THE PRESENT STATE
ftill more extravagant in his plots than
Calderon. However, he was better ac
quainted
compofed a comedy in one night. Thefe rapid pro
ductions had then a merit which at prefent they have
not. They related fome temporary anecdotes, and
prefented good likenelles of certain perfons whom the
malignity of the court wifhed to turn into ridicule.
They could not farvive thefe tranfient circumftances.
But few of them are now pleafing to the modern
Spaniards, and in the voluminous edition they have
recently given of the works of Lopez de Vega, very few
of thofe comedies are inferted. The principal among
them is his Dorothea, which the Spaniards ftill confider
as a mafter piece of wit, fenfibility, and delicacy, but
in which I found nothing but vulgar manners, de
fcribed in a perplexed ftyle -there are neverthelefs
ibme ingenious ideas and marks of fentiment. I open
this comedy by accident, and find in the ftanzas which
Ferdinand fings in praife of Dorothea the following
jiaflage : Between the moon and thy favoiir, and the fun
and ihy-eyes, the earth of thy rigour places itfelf to cafl a
jhade and caufe eclipfes. In another place, fpeaking of
his grief, of which, he fays, he has no confidents but
the rocks and wild beafts, he adds : Ikcfc, by their roar
ings, fpread terror, and find in their entrails the echo of
my complaints. An old woman who cajoles Dorothea
with no good intention, and who praifes her for the
tafte of her drefs, fays to her, Behold thefe ornaments
with which the fun might trim the robes of his planets.
The-

OF SPAIN. 513
quainted than any of his cotemporaries
with the rules of the theatre. He has
reconciled his countrymen to them. He
perhaps wrould have had the honor of
effecting a total revolution in their tafte
had he had the courage to join example
to precept ; but he preferred to. this the
momentary fatisfa<5tion of flattering their
foibles. Pofterity has paffed . judgment
upon this culpable complaifance. Few of
his pieces have come down to us, whilft
thofe of Calderon, more original, elegant
and varied, with a greater juftnefs in his
characters, are ftill received with tranf
port in the prefent age. After Calderon,
Moreto holds a diftinguifhed rank among
the Spaniih dramatists ; but his plots
are no lefs faulty, and his ftyle ftill more
corrupt than thofe of the former ; and
the buffooneries of his Graciofos, which
constitute the chief merit'of his pieces,
would not be fuffered on our theatre.
The comedy ol Dorothea, like rnoft of thofe of the
Spanifh theatre, is full of fimilar witticifms, which
Moliere would not have dared to give to his Precieufes
Ridicules,
P 3 Nearly

214 THE PRESENT STATE
Nearly the fame obfervations are true
of Zamora, who wrote towards the
end of the laft century. Cannizares, who
began when Zamora was upon the de
cline, was fuccefsf ul in fome pieces which
are ftill well received, called by the Spa
niards, Comedia's de figurones ; a kind of
caricature farce in the ftyle of our Mon-
Jieur de Pourceaugnac*, but which can
only be relifthed by fpectators who are
well acquainted with the originals they
are meant to fathize. Such are Domine
Lucas ^ and the Montanez en la Corte, of
which the vulgar buffoonery and gro-r
tefque fcenes would not fucceed upon
Our theatre, if even a number of circum-*
fiances, which exclufively relate to the
cuftoms of the country, did npt render
them unintelligible.
The comedies which have appeared
fince thefe, are without merit in the eyes
of the Spaniards themfelves. This kind
pf literature has been left to the mof};
* A favorite French, comedy by fyloliere. ordinary

O F S P A I N. 215
ordinary writers, who, without geniu«,
and fervilely following their models,
imitate their extravagance only, and '.,;¦
feem to have nothing by view but to*'
pleafe the populace in flattering their
inclination to the marvellous, laviih-
ing romantic adventures, and grofs wit
ticifms, and having recourfe to all the
contemptible refources which fo ill fup
ply the want of real abilite§. The men
of letters who may have talents proper
for the drama, defpairing to bring it
among their countrymen to the rules
of good tafte, cultivate other branches
of literature.
They have, however, made fome at
tempts, the fuccefs of which has proved
that what is really excellent pleafes
in all countries. Several tranflations
of the beft French tragedies have been
well received by the fame public, which
has been fo much accuftomed to the
extravagance and buffoonery of the Spa
nifh theatre. Poets, ftill living, have
written fome tragedies invented by them-
P 4 felves,

216 THE. PRESENT STATE
felves, and executed upon the models
of thofe of the French ftage, that is
to fay, freed from that irregularity of
ftyle, complication of incidents, and that
mixture of vulgar and wretched buf
foonery with the moft pathetic fcenes.
Their works, however, have only ex
cited a cold admiration, and were foon
obliged to give place to irregular pro-:
ductions which now reign without a
rival. There are, notwithftanding, fome mo-;
dern pieces which have at leaft the merit of
faithfully delineating characters. Thefe
are what the Spaniards call Saynetes or En-
trcmesj which are little pieces in one act,
as fimple in their plots as thofe of great
pieces are complicated. The manners and
character of the inferior claffes of fo-
ciety, and the petty interefts which affo-
ciate or divide them, are therein repre
fented in the moft ftriking manner. It
is not an imitation but the thing itfelf.
The fpectator feems to be fuddenly tranf-
ported into a circle of Spaniards, where he

O F S P A 1 N. 217
he is prefent at their amufements and
little cavilings. The manner of drefs is fo
faithfully copied that he is fometimes dif
gufted. He fees porters, flower girls, and
fifh-women, who have all the gestures,
manner and language of thofe he has
feen a hundred times in the street. For
thefe kinds of characters the Spanifh
comedians have an admirable talent.
Were they equally natural in every other
they would be the firft actors in Eu
rope. The compofition of thefe little
pieces, however, require no great talents.
It might be fuppofed the author was
afraid of going too far, and only waited
for an expedient to withdraw himfelf
from his embarraffment. He opens the
door of a private houfe, and prefents,
as by chance, fome of the fcenes which
moft commonly pafs in it ; and as foon
as he thinks the fpectator's curiofity
fatisfied, he fhuts the door and the piece
concludes. The Saynetes feem to have been in
vented to give relief to the attention of
the

2iS THE PRESENT STATE
the audience fatigued by following the
intrigue cf the great piece through its
inextricable labyrinth. Their moft cer
tain effect is that of making you loofe
the clew; for it feldom happens that
the real Spanifh comedies are repre
fented without interruption. They are
compofed of three acts, called Jornadas.
After the firft act comes the Saynete,
and the warrior or king, whom you have
feen adorned with a helmet or a crown,
has frequently a part in the little piece ;
and to fpare himfelf the trouble of en
tirely changing his drefs, fometimes pre
ferves a part of his noble or royal gar
ments. His fafh or bufkin ftill appears
from beneath the dirty cloak of a man
of the lowest clafs, or the robe of an
Alcalde. The ftranger, who is ignorant
of the odd cuftom of joining together
objects fo incongruous, imagines the hero
who has fo long occupied his imagina-t
tion has affumed a difguife ufeful to
his purpofe ; and ferioufly feeks for the
connexion between that fcene and thofe pre-

OF SPAIN. 219
preceding. When the Saynete is finifhed,-
the principal piece is continued.
After the fecond act, there is a new
interruption longer than the firft; ano
ther Saynete begins, and is fucceeded
by a fpecies of comic-opera, very fhort,
and called Tonadilla. A fingle actrefs
frequently performs the whole, fhe re
lates, in finging, either an uninterr-fting
adventure, or fome trivial maxims of
gallantry ; if fhe be a favourite with the
public, and her indecent manner fatif-
fies the admirers of this infipid and
fometimes fcandalous reprefentation, flie
obtains the applaufe, which fhe never
fails to folicit at the conclufion, and the
third act of the great piece is permitted
to begin. It may be imagined what be
comes of illusion and intereft after thefe
interruptions, on which account, it is
not uncommon to fee, after the Tona
dilla is finifhed, the audience diminiili and
become reduced to the few who are unac
quainted with the principal piece or whole
curiofity is ftrong enough to make them wait

iio THE PRESENT STATE
wait to fee the unravelling. From what
has been faid, it may be judged that
the Spaniards feel but few lively, ftrong
or contrived emotions, which in other
countries are the delight of the lovers
of the dramatic art. The Saynetes and •
Tonadillas are frequently in Spain what;
are moft attractive in thefe ftrange med
leys, and it muft be confeffed the au
ditor uiay be fatisfied with them when
he goes to the theatre to relax, and not
agreeably to employ, his mind. After a
fhort residence in Spain, it is eafy to
conceive the attraction which the Say
netes and Tonadillas may have for the
people of the country. Manners, drefs,
adventures and mufic; all are national ;
befides, there are frequently prefented
in thefe little pieces two fpecies of beings
peculiar to Spain, and whofe manners"
and expreffions ought to be held in con
tempt ; but which, on the contrary, are
the objects of much mirth and plea-
fantry, and fometimes of imitation.
Thefe are the Majos and" the Majas on
the

OF SPAIN. <-.« ,
the one part,and the Gitanos and Gilanas
on the other.

The Majos are beaux of the lower
clafs, or rather bullies, whofe grave and
frigid pomposity is announced by their
whole exterior. They have an accent,
habit and gesture peculiar to themfelves.
Their countenance, half concealed under
a brown fluff bonnet, called Monteray
bears the character of threatening feve-
rity, or of wrath, which feems to brave
perfons the moft proper to awe them
into respect, and which is not foftened
even in the prefence of their miftrefs. The
officers of juftice fcarcely dare attack
them. The women, intimidated by
their terrible afpect, feem to wait with
resignation the foft caprice of thefe
petty fultans. If they are provoked by
any freedoms, a gesture of impatience, a
menacing look, fometimes a long ra
pier or a poniard concealed under theu:
wide cloak, announce that they cannot
permit familiarity with impunity. The
Majas, on their parts, rival thefe caprices as

-in THE PRESENT STATE
as much as their feeble means will per
mit ; they feem to make a ftudy of effron*.
tery. The licentioufnefs of their man
ners appears in their attitudes, actions*
and expreflions ; and when lewdnefs in
their perfons is cloathed with every
wanton form, all the epithets which
admiration can infpire are lavifhed upon
them. This is the difagreeable fide of
the picture. But if the fpectator goes
with a difpofition, not very fcrupulous,
to the reprefentation in which the Majai
figure ; when he becomes familiarized
to manners very little conformable
to the virtues of the fex, and the
means of infpiring ours with favourable
fentiments, he fees in each of them the
moft feducing prieftefs that ever pre
fided at the altars of Venus. Their im
pudent affectation is no more than a
poignant allurement, which introduces
into the fenfes a delirium that the Wifeft
can fcarcely guard againft, and which,
if it infpire not love, at_ leaft promifes
much pleasure. The

O F S P A I N. *i$
The moft indulgent perfons will,
however, be difpleafed that the Majos
and Majas are thus received upon the
theatre, and preferve their allurements
even in the circles of good company.
In moft countries the inferior claffes
think ic an honour to ape their fupe-
riors ; in Spain it is the contrary, in
many refpects. There are, among both
fexes, perfons of diftinguifhed rank, who
feek their models among the heroes of
the populace, who imitate their drefs,
manners, and accent, and are flattered
when it is faid of them, He is very like a
Mojo. — One -would take her for a Maja. This
is, indeed, renouncing the nobility of
one of the fexes, and the decency which
conftitutes the principal charm of the
other. The Gitanos and Gitanas, ftill more
dangerous than the Majos and Majas,
might be the objects of the fame re
flections. They are, in fact, a kind of
gipfies who run about the country, lead
9. diffolute life, tell fortunes, exercife all

*24 THE PRESENT -STATE
all kinds of fufpicious professions, have
amono- themfelves a language, particular
figns, and the appearance of dexterous
knaves - who prey upon the innocent.
This clafs of vagabonds, of which fo-
ciety ought to be purged, has hitherto
been tolerated*; and characters are
given to them upon the ftage, amufing
by their originality and their refem
blance to the models of which they are
the copies ; but their effect renders vice
familiar by concealing its deformity un
der a gay exterior. They are, if I may
fo fay, the fhepherds of the Spanifh
ftage, certainly lefs infipid, but at the
fame time lefs innocent than thofe of
ours. Their tricks, plots, and amo-
* Two years ago, tlie king, in confequence. of
reprefentations from the council of Caftile, which
conftantly watches over the manners of the country,
ordered a kind of edict to be publifhed, which
relates to this wandering race, and forbids the
Gitanos from living in troops and in places diffi
cult of accefs, and from continuing their name,
language and figns, and, befides, offers them tlie
means of becoming ufeful and refpectful citizens. rous

OF SPAIN. 225
rous intrigues, fuited to their manners,
are the fubjects of feveral faynetes and
tonadillas, and probably ferve as leffons
to fome of the fpectators.
It appears to me that the Spaniards,
more than other nations, have loft fight
of the influence the theatre might have
upon public morals. By confining the
fun<5tions of Thalia to her motto, not
perfectly applicable in my opinion (Caf-
tigat ridendo mores) they are reduced to
the correcting of fome ridiculous ab
furdities, by amufing and interesting a
chofen part of the nation. Comedy, I
think, might have a more ufeful and
extended purpofe ; and notwithftanding
the authority of our beft pieces, and
the cenfures of the critics, it inclines
to this in France. If the aim of the
comic mufe fhould be, indeed, the im
provement of morals, why does not fhe
more frequently prefent us models of
virtue, more within our reach and eafier
of imitation than thofe of our trage
dies ? If patriotifm, the love of glory,
Vol. II. Q^ heroic

2^6 THE PRESENT STATE
heroic virtues and philofophy of an or
der fuperior to the ordinary claffes pe
netrate our minds at the reprefentation
of one of our beft tragedies, why fhould
not they be foftened, warmed and im
proved by the affecting reprefentation
of virtues more frequently Ja^&^? and
who would then dare to fay, that co
medy was not "one of the moft fucceff-
ful teachers of morality ? Do not we
too frequently fee how fuccefsfully vice
borrows the mafk of Thalia ? Why
ihould it not then be employed in the
fervice of virtue ? The Spaniards, our
predeceffors if not our matters, our guides
if not our models, in the drama, have
been lefs timid than we. They have, in^
their ancient comedies, powerful exam
ples of every virtue which can be re
commended to a people ; loyalty, firm
nefs, juftice and beneficence. What
ever may be faid to the contrary, and
notwithftanding the extravagance which
ferves as a canvafs to the poet, and the
exaggeration of the features of the pic
ture he gives, people leave thefe repre- fen-

O F S P A I N. 227
fentations more difpofed to the exercife
of thofe virtues, than they would be
after the performance of the beft pieces
entirely comic, in which the poet con
fines himfelf to placing a well-drawn
character in different fituations, and
whence leffons of a vicious tendency and
malignity are rather learned than thofe
of goodnefs. I compare not the talents
neceffary to excel in either kind of
writing ; I fpeak of their moral effect
only, and am free to fay, that in this
point of view, it is to be regretted that
governments take not more effectual
means to recall comedy to the aid of
virtue ; whereas, on the contrary, they
have fuffered it to ridicule what ought
to be held in the higheft refpect.
In their modern productions, equally
irregular and immoral, the Spaniards
have gone greater lengths than we
have. Not only the moft generally re
ceived propriety is facrificed in them,
but they'contain a defcription of every
kind of vice and debauchery, without
Q2 exci-

228 THE PRESENT STATE
exciting the horror they fhould infpire.
The confpiracies of a fon againft a fa
ther, the brutality of hufbands, the in
fidelity of wives, even the plottings of
malefactors who efcape punifliment, all
are hazarded by the authors, fuffered by
the police, and well received by the
public. The confequences of this tole
rance are, however, important, particu
larly in Spain, where the theatre is fre
quented by every clafs of citizens, and
may infect, with the venom diftillecj
there, the higher as well as lower ranks
of fubjects. The populace feems to be
the principal object the authors and
actors have in view ; and the greater
number of frequenters of the theatres
are of that defcription. Their fancies
muft be pleafed, and their perverfe taftes
flattered ; and the tumultuous manner in
which they exprefs their coarfe fenfations,
intirely drowns the lefs noify approbation
of the more enlightened part of the audi
ence ; perhaps the only example of the kind
in a government of the nature' of thofe
in which the common people are but
little

OF SPAIN. 22$
little confidered, and fafhioned to the
yoke of a power which may almoft be
ftiled arbitrary.
We fhould be naturally led to fuppofe
a theatre, under fo little restraint, muft
prevent perfons, who by their age and
profeffions are more particularly obliged
to preferve an appearance of decency,
from frequenting it ; for which reafon
a ftransrer is not a little aftonifhed to fee
at thefe reprefentations, in whick mo-
defty and morality are fo often infulted,
not only young perfons of exterior mo-
defty, but ecclefiaftics, whofe grave
countenance and drefs, au flere in its
fimplicity, might be expected to impofe
an awe upon licentioufnefs. A wife
pagan formerly left the theatre of Rome,
for fear of authorizing, by his prefence,
the diforders there defcribed in colours
at which his virtue was offended. Spanifh
priefts, intolerant in the moft trifling ob
jects, are not fo fcrupulons. If their vir
tue be above fcandal, ought not they to
fear the effect of an example, wiiich, ina
country where they have fo much in-
Q 3 fluence,

a3p THE PRESENT STATE
fluence, muft become authority ? But
each country has its cuftoms and inco
herences. In other nations ecclefiaftics
never appear in prophane theatres, and
yet in other places permit themfelves
the greateft irregularities.
To reform the Spanifh theatre, a con
currence of circumftances, which are
ftill wanting to that part of admini
stration, would be neceffary. The fo
vereign who, in this refpect as well as
in fo many others, might have the
greateft influence, is totally indifferent
about theatrical amufements. The the
atre of Saragoffa having been burned a
few years ago, the director of the king's
confcience, who feemingly had forgotten
that fire from heaven had deftroyed more
than one temple, wifhed to reprefent that
accident as a proof of divine wrath. The
inhabitants at Saragoffa strove to appeafe.
the anger of heaven by banifhing from
their city all profane spectacles. Had the
king's confeffor been liftenedto, the fame
fentence would have been pronounced

O F S P A I N. 231
againft all that were in the kingdom.
The good fenfe of the king protected
them againft the blind zeal of the di
rector; he thought it fufficient to have
fhut up thofe of Buen Retiro and his
other palaces : he continued to tole
rate the reft : this was all his goodnefs
permitted him to do. The particular
management of thefe amufements efcapes
his obfervation. His minifters, who are
mostly near his perfon, cannot give
them much of their attention.
At Madrid, the police of the theatre
is divided between the corregidor, the
city magistracy, and the alcaldes de
corte ; but the limits of their jurifdic-
tion are ill defined ; and from this un
certain authority refult the diforders
which every one fees, and nobody has
the power of fuppreffing. The pieces,
the admiffion of which is accompanied
with many difficulties and formalities,
efcape from a fimilar reafon the animad
version of their examiners.

Qj. Befi

ore

232 THE PRESENT STATE
Before they are permitted to be per-*
formed, they have to pafs through the
hands of three or four cenfors. It might
be fuppofed that this excefs of precau
tion would banifh ffpm thefe composi
tions every thing which can offend re
ligion or decency Each cenfor confides.
in the care and attention of his affociate.
A fuperficial examination does not permit
them either to forefee the fcandal which
feveral expreffions, fometimes unintelligi
ble to them, may produce ; or that which
may refult from certain fcenes with the
theatrical effect of which they are un
acquainted ; and the fenfible part of the
audience is aftonifhed at feeing, after
fo many precautions, the ftage difgraced
by immoral pieces, at which decency
and tafte are equally fhocked. The
cenfors, befides, are frequently infected
with the general contagion ; they fear
but little the confequences of an abufe,
the effects of which are flow and unperr
ceived by thofe who confider only the
prefent moment. Courage would be ne
ceffary to take fuddenly from the people the

OF SPAIN. 233
the favourite objects of their affection,
and not to yield to the reprefentations
of the comedians whofe receipts would
fuffer fome diminution, abcut which
icruples might arife. Reformation is thus
retarded by weaknefs, excefs cf caution,
and becaufe no perfon fufficiently con
cerns himfelf in the matter, to v ith-
ftand the clamours of the actors and
the populace.
There have been in the prefent reign,
however, examples of bold reforms,
which cannot be too foon repeated to
compleat the poliih ing of the Spanifh
nation. Government has entirely abo
lifhed the Autos Sacrameniales, in which
angels, faints and virtues, perfonified,
were exhibited, to the fcandal of re
ligion and common fenfe ; ridiculous
pieces, in which Calderon had dif
played all the extravagance of his ima
gination. The reprefentation of feveral
other pieces is alfo fuppreffed. Thefe
were in the clafs of ordinary comedies,
and contained fcenes not lefs fcandalous in

234 THE PRESENT STATE
in throwing ridicule upon religion ; fuch
were Los Zeks de San Jofef, La Princefa
Ramtra, Virgin y Martyr, Sec. Drafnas,
in which the fimplicity of an earlier age,
no doubt, found edification, while the
progrefs of knowledge and modern de
pravity finds in them nothing but im
piety or indecency. While I was at Ma
did, this prohibition was extended to
other compofitions of the fame kind/
which had been protected, nobody knows
how, until the prefent age. Thefe were
Cain de Catalunna, in which the enmity
between two brothers, and the murder
of the youngest were defcribed in the.
manner and expreffions found in the
Bible, in the hiftory of the Death of
Abel ; and El Diablo predicador (the Devil
turned preacher) a comedy, Which I faw
feveral times reprefented, and of which
the author of Effays upon Spain has
given a good abstract. The devil con
demned by the Almighty to take the
frock in a convent of Francifcans,
preaches there charity, performs mi
racles, torments the monks by his fe-
verity,

O F S P A I N. 235
verity; frightens them by his fudden ap
pearance when they imagine him at a
great diftance, and produces fcenes really
comic, to which nothing but another mode
of introducing them could havebeen de
fired. The prefent adminiftration is too
wife not to purfue this plan of reform,
and not infenfibly to infpire the Spa
niards with a more rational tafte,
Befides the correction of the moral
defect of the theatre, another revolution
in the mechanical part remains to be
effected. This has been, begun in the
prefent reign, by the attention of fome
perfons of understanding. The deco
rations are better underftood, and the
dieffes more in character than formerly.
The Spaniih theatre had weaker begin
nings than ours, and, in fome places,
preferves the forms of its infancy. Two
parallel curtains, facing the fpectators,
compofed the whole mechanifm of the
theatre, and this fimplicity was ftill
found in fome theatres which I entered
in Spain. The prompter, for want of
a pro-

236 THE PRESENT STATE
a proper fituation, and finding no room
between the fide fcenes, ftands behind
the fecond curtain, his candle in one
hand and the book in the other, and
runs acrofs the ftage to affift the actor
who is in want of his aid ; this, by the
tranfparency of the curtain, is feen by
all the fpectators, and adds to their
amufement. But in well-contrived the
atres, as thofe of Madrid, and other
.great cities, the fide-fcenes, green-room,
changes of decoration, and place of the
prompter refemble our own. A ftrariger
is, however, furprized to hear the
prompter recite all the parts almoft as
loud as the actors, and is tempted to
requeft the latter to be filent, to let him,
who fo well fupplies the places of them
all, fpeak alone.
The Spanifh theatres are divided into
five parts ; the Apofentos, or two ranges of
boxes, of which the upper part of the
edifice confifts. The Cazuela, a kind of
amphitheatre at the bottom, into which
none but women, covered with their
veils,

O F S P A I N. 237
veils, are admitted, and who might be
taken for a company of nuns, were it
poffible for the mind to be fo abfent as
to confound things facred with profane.
Las Gradas, another amphitheatre under
the boxes on each fide of the theatre,
and where perfons who love to be at
their eafe are placed. The Patio, which
anfwers to the parterre or pit, but for
the moft part contains the meaneft of
the people, who fufficiently difplay their
vulgarity, ignorance, and rags. The
Luneta which correfponds with the
French parquet *, and receives much the
fame company. The actors often apof-
trophize thefe five claffes of fpectators,
under the name of Mofqueteros, and la-
vifh upon them all the infipid epithets
which they think likely to gain their
fuffrages. Thefe flatteries are not fpared
upon the Patio, which is always noify,
and as difficult as if it had a right to be fo.
When we obferve the attention the come-
* An enclofed place between the pit and the
orcheftra in the French theatre. dians

«38 THE PRESENT STATE
dians pay to this part of the audience,
we cannot but recollect the Indians wor-
fhipping the devil, or the honey cake
thrown by the Sibyl into the jaws of
Cerberus. Thefe infipid homages are rendered
after every piece to the audience in ge
neral, and are degrading to the come
dians, who are not treated with lefs ri
gour, when they have the misfortune
to dlfpleafe the public. At Madrid they
are divided into two theatres, that of
De la Cruz, and that of Du Principe, who
are joined in one intereft, but fepa
rated by vanity. The partifans of the
former are diftinguiflied by the epithet
ofPolac&s (Polifh) and thofe of the latter
by that of Chorizos (Saufages) odd names,
the etymology of which is a matter of
no importance, but which ferve to rally
the fpirit of party, and are motives of
emulation to the actors of the two the
atres, much lefs to improve their talents
than to increafe their audience, and con-
fequently their revenues. Each theatre has

OF SPAIN. 839
has for manager one of the comedians,
who every year, at the approach of Eafter,
diffotves and recompofes his company
according to his fancy. Thofe whofe
talents are approved of by the public,
then treat with both managers, and en
gage with him who has moft cunning or
generofity. It may be fuppofed the Gra-
c'wfos are not forgotten in this periodical
arrangement. Of thefe there are two principal ones at
Madrid, who, excepting a little exaggera
tion, would be well received a&imletsuipon
every other theatre. The two managers
agree to take each of them one, as well as
to divide the principal actors, leaft there
fhould be in their companies too great an
inequality, by which they would both
fuffer. Befide thefe, they have each of
them performers of both fexes, whofe ta
lents are much efteemed by the public ;
but they are of a nature more proper for
parade, than for the real theatre of Thalia,
AH- thofe who ftudy nature, who add
cheerfulnefs to the graces, the force of
fentiment

240 THE PRESjENT STATE
fentiment to noblenefs of expression, and
render the art of declamation the fifter
and rival of the fine arts, are little known
in Spain. The comedians of that king
dom are confined to the fervile imitation
of the models before their eyes, in their
drefs, manners and inflections of voice.
They know not how to create imaginary
but yet poffible characters, and repre-
fent princes as haughty without being
boisterous, or lovers as impaffioned
without lofing fight of decency; in
which, declamation cofts not the lungs
continual and monotonous efforts, but is,
varied according to the affections of the
mind, in which gestures, modified by the
fame caufes, are varied and expreffive,
without being lefs noble or true, and
nature embellifhed without being dif-
guifed. Inftead of effecting this, upon
whichthe improvement of the art depends,
the Spanifh comedians, once removed
from objects within their reach, forget
every rule, exaggerate and disfigure every
thing, and inftead of ceconomifing their
ftrength to obtain an end, exhauft them felves

O F S P A I N. 241
felves in going beyond it. Their angry
women become furies, their heroes
braggadocios, their confpirators vile
malefactors, and their tyrants mere
butchers. If they have fomething gal
lant to fay, their manner and tone of
voice are moft infipid. They roar inftead
of fobbing ; their fighs fatigue and fome
times terrify the audience, but are never
moving. Scenes which might be pathe
tic, either become uninteresting or excite
laughter. The gestures are well fuited
to the declamation. Moft of them are
forced and improper, and all are confined
within a narrow circle. Invented by folly,
they are confecrated by cuftom, from
which no actor dares to depart. They
are undoubtedly far different from thofe
of Clairon, le Kain, Garrick and other
modern actors and actreffes who might
be mentioned. For which reafons, co
medians in Spain, notwithftanding the
indulgence with which prejudice and
even religion treat their profeffion,
are confidered as mercenaries, admitted
into fociety as jugglers who amufe for a
' Vol. II. R moment

242 THE PRESENT STATE
moment, and are fent away after beirig
paid ; whilft, in other countries, where
civil and religious prejudices are more
unfavourable to them, the juft admira
tion they infpire raifes them to the level
of great artifts, and almoft to that of
men of genius. This proves public opi
nion not to be always inflexible in its
decifions, and that this tyrant which
reigns over every thing is, in turn, sub
jected by a certain degree of fuccefs.
Since the death of Ferdinand VI. whofe
fplendid court had an Italian theatre
which rivalled the firft of thofe in Italy,
there has been no theatre in Spain but
a national one. Charles III. however,
has lately permitted in the capital an
Italian comic opera which is much fre
quented ; and ftill more recently an
attempt has been made to introduce
there French comedy. Subfcriptions
were opened to this effect, but the de
votees cabaled ; they were more fcanda-
lized at the Mifanthrope and Athaliah
than at the indecencies of their Saynetes. The

6 F SPAIN. 'S43
The French dramatic pieces, faid they,
are filled with maxims of toleration*
they breathe too much modern philo-
fophy. They enumerate thirteen here
tical affertions in the fingle piece of Pyg
malion. The general hofpital alfo, a
part of the revenues of which arife
from the contributions of the two Spa
nifh theatres* expreffed its fears leaft its
receipt fhould be diminifhed. The mo
narch yielded to this double claim of
fcruple and charity ; and the Thalia
of France, who already faw the doors
of the Spanifh theatre open to receive
her, was thruft from them, perhaps, for
a long time.
I fhall conclude what I had to fay of
my long refidence at Madrid with this
impartial defcription of the theatre of
Spain, in which the Spaniards them
felves canriot but acquiefce, and fhall
next conduct my reader to the only
royal manfion of which I have not yet
fpoken ; that of Aranjuez, where the
court paffes three months in the year ;
R.2 from

244 THE PRESENT STATE
from the Monday after Eafter week to
the end of the month of June.
t The road from Madrid to Aranjuez is
one of the fineft in Europe. It croffes
the famous bridge of Toledo, built by
Philip II: and, which it has been faid,
wanted only a river. The bridge has
nothing remarkable except its length
and breadth ; it is befides a maffive struc
ture, and the parapets are loaded with
ill-chofen ornaments. When the Man
zanares is very low, which is moft com
monly the cafe, this little river is ford
able, and the bridge avoided, which cuts
off a quarter of a league in croffing the
fine part of the environs of Madrid
called las Delicias, a walk confifting of
two divergent alleys which terminate at
the canal of Manzanares.
This canal was begun under the ad
ministration of M. de Grimaldi, and was
to join the Manzanares at the Tagus.
Scarcely were three leagues of it finifhed
when a want of capital and induftry fuf-

OF SPAIN. 245
fufpended the works. The only ad
vantage derived, from it is the pro
duce of a few mills ; and this is abforbed
in the repair of bridges, fluices, and the
falaries of the perfons employed. For
in Spain, as in other countries, fcarcely
is an eftablifhment begun before the ex-
pences of fupporting it are as confide
rable as if it were compleated. But the
activity given to. all the branches of ad
ministration will foon have its effect
upon the canal of Manzanares. The
mills upon it are already ufeful to the
undertakings of the bankj charged with
victualling the army, and the canal it
felf will in a fhort time become a part
of that which, as we have already ob
ferved, is to crofs all the interior part
of Spain. The Manzanares is fordable
a little beyond the bridge of Toledo, and
on the other fide begins the fine road
of Aranjuez, whence are feen fome groups
of olive trees which announce to the
traveller that he approaches their native
foil, la Mancha, the kingdom of Valen
cia, and Andalufia. After having jour-
R 3 neyed

246 THE PRESENT STATE
neyed fix leagues, on a narrow and even
road, you defcend by a fpiral declivity
to the charming valley of Aranjuez.
The Xarama, which you crofs over a
very fine ftone bridge, runs at the foot of
the hills, by which the river is formed,
tq the north. As foon as you arrive in
this valley, the dry and naked plains of
Caftile difappear, and are fucceeded by
a richer foil, where you travel in the
fhade, ferenaded by the noife of caf
cades and the murmur of rivulets. The
meadows are enamelled with flowers,
and the paftures difplay the moft lively
and variegated colours. Vegetation ap
pears in all its richnefs, and proclaims
a neighbouring river which, with its be
neficent waters, fertilifes and vivifies the
landfcape. The Tagus, which enters
the vaUey at the eaft end, runs in
meanders for two leagues, and, after
having reflected the images of the moft
beautiful plantations, joins the Xarama. Th?

View of araistjuez.
from the Tao-u s .

O F S P A I N. 247
The learned find in this junction
the etymology of the name of Aran
juez. They tell us the ancients erected
temples at the confluence of rivers ; that
there was one in honour of Jupiter at
that of the Tagus and Xarama ; and
that thence is derived the name Aram-
Jovis, whence Aranjuez by corruption.
However ancient the name may be the
embellifhments of Aranjuez are modern.
The firft Spanifh monarch who refided
there for a confiderable length of time
Was Charles V. He began to build the
palacaJiis fucceffors have inhabited, and
to which Ferdinand VI. and Charles III.
have each added a wing. In this new
form, it is ftill lefs a royal manfion than
a very agreeable country-houfe moft de
lightfully fituated, where art has done
nothing more than make an advan
tageous ufe of the advances of nature.
The Tagus which runs in a right line
to the eaftern front, glides by the par
terre, and forms almoft under the win
dows an artificial cafcade.
R 4 A fmall

248 . THE PRESENT STATE
A/mall arm of the river efcapes from
the cafcade, and fo clofely wafhes the
walls of the palace, that from the ter
race the monarch may take the diversion
of fifhing. This arm afterwards rejoins
the river, and thus forms a pleafant
ifland, which is a vaft garden of an ir
regular form, in which fhade and frefh
air are copftantly found. In every fea-
fon the warblings of birds, added to the
murmurs of the waters of the Tagus,
and of thofe which are fpouted from
the feveral fountains fimply decorated,
form a concert much lefs fatiguing to
the mind than the languid and unvary
ing pleafures which magnificence leads
in its traui. While wandering amid
the groves and thickets, or the laby
rinth of the winding walks, and enjoy
ing the luxury and calm of Nature, we
imagine ourfelves in the midft of rural
folitude, and forget the vicinity of the
pourt, the perplexity of intrigue, and
the folicitudes of ambition. If we ap
proach the palace, filled with the pleaf
ing ideas infpired by the afylum we have

OF SPAIN. 249
quitted, we cannot but reflect on the
viciffitude of human affairs. This, we
exclaim, is the peaceful retreat of a mo
narch, whofe laws are obeyed beyond
the immenfe ocean to the extremities
of the Andes, and the moft diftant
iflands of the Indian Archipelago. In
this palace was it that Charles V- and
Philip II. agitated Europe by their tur
bulent politics. Hence was the league
which disputed the crown of France
with the prince called to it by birth
right and the wifhes of his people, fup
ported by the court of Madrid. At pre
fent a defcendant of Henry IV. reigns
there in peace ; he poffeffes a throne
whence the moft dangerous enemies of
his houfe have difappeared. He en
larges and embellifhes their abode. In
fact, Charles V. and Philip II. would
find fome difficulty in recognizing
Aranjuez, which by the attention and
improvements of the two laft kings
has been rendered one of the moft pleaf
ing palaces in Europe. The

25© THE PRESENT STATE
The principal alleys, that efpecially
of the Calle de la Reyna, which is the
favourite walk of the court, were planted
long before their time. The height of
the trees, their enormous trunks and
thick foliage, atteft their antiquity and
the fertility of the foil in which they
have flourifhed for feveral centuries. But
thefe are not the only ornaments of the-
valley of Aranjuez. Under Ferdinand VI.
this palace confifted of little elfe than
the caftle. A few poor houfes fcattered
over uneven and rugged ground at fome
diftance from the royal habitation,
ferved to lodge ambaffadors and the no
bles and gentry who followed the court,
Thefe huts have given place to regular,
though not magnificent, buildings. The
streets are ftreight and wide, perhaps
too wide for the height of the houfes
and the heat of the climate. The plan,
after which the new village of Aranjuez
was built, was given by the marquis of
Grimaldi, who, before he became firft
minifter to his Catholic majefty, had
refided at the Hague as his reprefen- tativc,

O F S P A I N. a51
tative. He had there conceived the
idea of forming in the centre of Caftile
a kind of Dutch village. His plan was
accepted. The principal streets of Aran
juez are fliaded by two double rows of
trees, between which runs a river that
keeps them continually frefh.
The village is feparated from the caftle
by a large, but irregular fquare, deco
rated with a fountain. To crofs the
fquare in the hot feafon, a part of which
the court paffes at Aranjuez, was. a pain
ful tafk, from which the beneficent mag
nificence of the fovereign has exempted
thofe by whom he is approached. From
one of the streets of Aranjuez there
runs a covered portico, which is conti
nued to the buildings adjoining to the
palace. It would require too much time to
conduct the reader through all the fine
plantations of Aranjuez ; I fhall fpeak
only of the principal. Arriving from
Madrid we crofs a circular fpace called Las

25a THE PRESENT STATE
Las doce calles, from twelve allies which
there terminate. One of the allies leads
to the entrance of Las Huertas, a large
enclofure, in which we cannot but admire
the aftonifhing fertility of the foil of
Aranjuez. All kinds of fruit trees,
flowers, and vegetables luxuriantly flou-
rifh beneath the fhade of trees whofe
tops are fometimes loft in the clouds.
If the traveller wiihes to fee more rich
cultivation, and on a larger fcale, he
muft take the road for Toledo and crofs
the Campo Flamenco, which undoubtedly
takes its name from the refemblance it
bears to the fine fields of Flanders. The
Cortijo is alfo worthy of his particular
attention. This is a large enclofure fhut
in on the fide to the north by hills,
and on the other by a latticed barrier,
within which the foil, cultivated with
particular care, repays with intereft the
labours of the hufbandman, and the at
tention of the king, who has caufed it to
be planted with vine-fuckers, brought
from different parts of his kingdom. Laftly,

OF SPAIN, 253
Lastly, the Huerta de Valentia prefents
the traveller with various new and fuc-
cefsful modes of cultivation, and, as it
were, a foretaste of that kingdom. Be
fides fields of flax, vineyards, and arti
ficial meadows, there are mulberry plan
tations, and a building confecrated to
the produce of the precious infect which
feeds upon their leaves. But the Calk
de la Reyna, which, If I may fo fpeak,
forms the angle of the plantations of
Aranjuez, is that which is moft known
and remarkable in them. Its direction,
for about half a league, is from eaft to
weft, and its termination at the foot of
a ftone bridge lately built over the
Tagus. It is renewed on the other
fide, continues to much the fame dif
tance, and again terminates by a bridge
over the fame river, the windings of
which can only be difcovered by the
imagination, while it wanders through
a valley ihaded with groves of high trees,
which at intervals conceal its courfe.
Behind one of thefe thick Curtains is a
cafcade heard at a great diftance, the
noife

254 THE PRESENT STATE
noife of which is the only disturbance*
fuffered by the tranquility of this foli
tary place. If with intention to dif->
cover this cafcade We pafs the fecond
bridge of the Tagus, and follow the
courfe of the river, it is impoffible not
to be delighted with the beauty of the
profpects from the banks. In the happy
confufion of the trees which line its bor
ders, we recognize that Nature Which
art, taking for her model, imperfectly imi
tates in her feeble productions. Nature is
no where more varied in her sportive ca
prices. Here t,he trees feem to have
changed their element, and plunge their
green tops into the waters of the Tagus.
There knotted trunks, placed as in equi
librium on the banks, are ready to efcape
from the earth, and wait but for the
northern blaft to obstruct with their
fpreading branches the courfe of the
river by which they are watered. As
we advance, the ftream reflecfs the tufts
of waving fhrubs which, according to
the idea of the Abbe de Lille, receive
verdure

O F S P A I N. 255
Verdure in exchange for the decoration
they afford.
If we retire from the banks, the fame
pleafing diforder reigns in the wood,
which is fufficiently thick to afford a
fhade, without making it too difficult
to find a paffage through it. At length
we approach the cafcade which had
awakened our curiofity. We arrive at
it through thick bufhes, and by zigzag
paths ; the object of it is to take from
the Tagus a part of its waters. Tho
arm turned from the bed of that river,
runs in a deep ditch between artificial
banks, and goes to water fome of the
plantations of Aranjuez, and to provide
more at hand for the wants of the inha
bitants. But fhade and verdure inftantly
ceafe. Nothing is here feen but the
naked hills which form the inclofure
of the valley, and the fpectator cannot
but admire the art with which the pic
ture is finifhed to recompence, as much as
poffible, the coarfenefs of its frame.

At

256 THE PRESENT STATE
At the foot of thefe hills are ftables
of breeding mares, belonging to the king
of Spain, and in which the breed of
Spanifh horfes is ftill preferved in all its
ancient beauty. The building has for
infcription , Vento gravidas ex prole putaris.
By their race or breed you would imagine
them prolific by the winds: the fwiftnefs
of the horfes bred here juftifies the
infcription; but they are exclufively
referved to the fervice of the king and
his family. Leaving this building to
the left, you enter large walks which
terminate at the Calle de la Reyna.
The high trees, of which I have
fpoken, are not the only ornaments of
this alley. It is edged on both fides with
tufted copfes which render its regula
rity more agreeable. Here the numerous
herds of deer which furnifh amufement
for the royal family, and, as at St. II-
defonfo, feem confcious they have ob
tained a fecurity that Nature appeared
to have denied them, bound and run.
They

0 F S P A I N. 257
They are feen peaceably feeding by the
fide of the great walk, and when they fly
at the approach of any perfon, they feem
lefs under the influence of their natu
ral timidity than defirous to difplay
their agility.
But the garden of the Primavera, or
of the fpring, is the gieateft ornament of
the Calle de la Reyna, at the fame time
that it delightfully perfumes the air du
ring the feafon of which it bears the
name. It extends, for the fpace of a mile,
along one of the fides, and is feparated
from it by a low wall upon which is a
lattice barrier. The fertility of the foil
of the valley appears in all its richnefs
in this garden. The greatest part of it
is dedicated to ufeful cultivation. Po
mona and Flora reign jointly, and mu
tually prefent each other tlieir charms.
Fruits and flowers flouriih there in per
fection. The groves oppofe their hof-
pitable fhades to the noontide heat.
Copfes of odoriferous fhrubs perfume the
morning air, and the balmy vapours
Vol. II. S they*

258 THE PRESENT STATE
they exhale, fall at fun-fet to add to
the charms of the evening walk.
When I arrived in Spain, all the
ground between the inclofure of the gar
den and the primitive banks of the Ta
gus, was uncultivated. The prince of
Afturias, by his tafte and attention, con
verted this into one of the moft pleaf
ing parts of the valley. He ordered
fome ufelefs trees, which fhaded this
fertile foil, to be cut down ; grafs plats,
fhrubberies and parterres have fucceeded
them, and paths wind acrofs this new
treafure of vegetation. From one fpring
to another a vaft garden was produced,
infinitely varied in its form as well as
productions, which bears the name of
its projector.
A little dock-yard is contrived within
its inclofure, and communicates by an
eafy defcent with the Tagus. In this yard
are carried on the works of a navy
in miniature, which has its builders,
failors, and veffels. Farther on was a
kind

OF SPAIN. a5g
kind of port, defended by a battery pro
portioned to the place. A f_w hand
fome gondolas are anchored under its
protection, and ferve for the recreations
of the younger branches of the royal
family. There are likewife little frigates,
elegantly decorated, the guns of which
reply to the artillery of the port. The
noife of their cannon, the huzzas of
the failors, and the difplay of the flags
and streamers, almoft induce the fpec
tators to believe they are contemplating
the contefts of Mars and Neptune. Happy
would men be, did they but content
themfelves with reprefentations only,
and had not a thirft after fame and
riches converted into means of destruc
tion the properties of elements which
Nature, perhaps, had defigned but for
their pleafures ! Thofe of the court of
Spain at Aranjuez are not confined to the
amufements afforded by a river, the banks
of which prefent the moft enchanting
landfcapes, whilst the peaceful ftream
never deviates from its courfe but to
S 2 fer-

26o THE PRESENT STATE
fertilize the adjacent foil*. The resi
dence of Aranjuez favours all the inno
cent diverfions of the country ; walks
are no where more varied ; whether with
a book in your hand you wander in the
fhrubberies, or pafs through the long
alleys on horfeback or in a carriage, you
may fecurely indulge in meditation and
reverie. The deer there forget their timidity,
and even the wild boars are lefs fero
cious. They run in the streets as fa
miliarly as domeftic animals. The firft
time I quitted the inn, after my arrival
at Aranjuez, I was obliged to make my
way with my cane through a herd of
wild boars, who blocked up my paffage.
Some of them, ftill more familiar, enter
the houfes, and there difpute with the
* Since this work was finifhed, I have learned
that the Tagus quitted its bed at Aranjuez,
broke down the caufeway which fheltered the new
gardens of the prince from its overflowings, and
almoft deftroyed the new cultivation which the
author of the plan had already found correfpond
fo well with his expeftation. dogs

O F S P A I N. 261
dogs the fpoils of the kitchen. At Pardo
they carry their assurance ftill farther ;
at certain hours, to which they are very
exact, they run from the neighbouring
foreft to receive food from the hands of
the domestics of the palace.
The wild boars are not the only ani
mals naturalized at Aranjuez. The buf-
falos, brought thither from Naples, have
taken the place of the oxen, as work
ing cattle. A part of their labours were
performed by camels, which could not
long refift the baneful influence of a fo
reign climate. At the fame time two
zebras grazed in a meadow near the high
road, as alfo two guanacos, which feemed
as perfectly at their eafe as in their own
country, whilst an elephant calmly
moved his huge body without being
in the leaft difcompofed by the crowds
of people, whom curiofity brought about
him. It is, perhaps, in this manner
that fovereigns fhould openly expofe all
the foreign animals which they crowd
together in their menageries. Thefe
S 3 mag-

262 THE PRESENT STATE
magnificent prifons accufe man of ty
ranny without proving his power, and
the beafts which there roar in their
chains, would, perhaps, lay afide their
ferocity on recovering their liberty. But
man is every where too much inclined
to abufe his power; and rather chufes
to reign over furious flaves than govern
happy fubjects.
The animals which more efpecially
contribute to the embellifhment of Aran
juez are horfes. They there peculiarly
difplay all the beauty of their motions
and their fpeed. The king fometime$
brings thither his magnificent fets with
which his ftuds furnifh him, and his
children enjoy, without danger, all trie;
pleafure of horfemanfhipf
Formerly the Calle de la Reyna was
the courfe where horfes from Barbary
difplayed their fwiftnefs, and each had
his partifans among the courtiers, who
interested themfelves by wagers in his.

A few

O F S P A I N. 263
A few years fince the prince of Af-
turias fubftituted to thefe races a more
reafonable and ufeful amufement. It
is called the Parejas, and takes place a
few days before the departure of the
court from Aranjuez ; it has not been
interrupted for twenty years, except by
the war which took from the court a
great part of thofe whom his majefty
admitted to partake of it. Thefe form,
with the prince and his two brothers,
a fquadron of four in front and twelve
deep. Each file is directed by one of
the three princes, affifted by one of the
principal perfons of the court. The
forty-eight cavaliers are all cloathed and
accoutred in the ancient Spaniih manner,
but in different colours according to the
file they belong. The uniform gives to
the whole a military and antique air,
which carries back the actors to the
age of their anceftors, and gives them
that interesting appearance which the
image of things paft generally wears.
They practice a confiderable time for
the exhibition, which is given imme-
§ 4 diately

264 THE PRESENT STATE
diately before the court departs from
Aranjuez, and by this means have fre
quent opportunities of exercising the do
cility and elegant paces of their horfes,
the fineft the modern ftuds of Spain pro
duce. When, at length, the cavaliers
and their horfes are well exercifed in
the parts they are to perform, the firft
day of reprefentation is fixed *. The
theatre is a large fquare court before the -
Caftle. The brilliant fquadron arrives
there in a column, to the found of trum-?
pets and kettle-drums, preceded by run
ning footmen, and led horfes richly ca-
parifoned. They flop before the king's
balcony and falute him. Afterwards
pace round the fquare, and, arrived
in the prefence of his majefty, fall into
a gallop and begin their evolutions,
Thefe are figures which cannot be bet
ter compared than to our contre danfes.
The four files, under the conduct of
* There are commqnly three ; the king is only
{'een at the firft • but the princefs of Afturia honours.
fhem all with her prefence.

O F S P A I N. 265
their directors, withdraw from and ap
proach each other by turns ; fometimes
following the figure of the ground, at
others croffing it diagonally, and defcrib-
ing circles and fpirals with fuch time
and precifion as to delight both the
eyes and ears of the fpectators. How
ever this fpectacle, rather too unvaried,
amufes not the mind ; it is but a feeble
reprefentation of the ancient tourna
ments, and makes thofe festivals more re
gretted where under the eyes of fove-
reigns, and the beauties of the age, the
knights, obeyed the double impulfe
of love and fame, and where the suffrages
of thofe who reigned over their hearts
were an inestimable recompenfe for their
courage and addrefs. Nothing lefs than
the prefence of the monarch, and con
tributing to his pleafures, could be fuf
ficient to give fatisfaction to the actors in
this modern dance of centaurs. At the
expiration of twenty minutes, the fqua
dron forms a column, and retires from
the fquare in the fame order as it en
tered. After the exhibition there is

a66 THE PRESENT STATE
is commonly another ball, with refrefh-
ments ; and for thofe whofe curiofity
has been fatisfied in preceding years,
this acceffary is well worth the principal.
When the weather is fine the Parejantes
(for fo the figurans of the equestrian
contre danfe are called) walk in their
dreffes in the gardens of the palace, and
join the fpectators. The fubjects of
Charles V. and thofe of Charles III.
feem then to be united ; imagination
approaches thefe two reigns, and com*r
pares with pleafure the age of fplendour
in Spain with that of its regeneration.
Art feems to have left to Nature the
care of embellifhing Aranjuez. The pa
lace and other edifices are of a pleafing
form, but without magnificence. The
furniture of the apartments is lefs rich
than elegant. The paintings are not fo nu
merous as in other royal manfions. There
are only a few portraits of the princes
of the houfe of Bourbon and Braganza,
and fome Neapolitan paintings, in which
Nature is imitated with more truth than
grace-

O F S P A I N. 267
graeefulnefs. The new chapel of the
caftle is that part of it to which moft
attention has been paid in the construc
tion and ornaments. Sculpture and gild
ing are therein diftributed with tafte,
without profufion, and a few pieces by
Mengs contribute not a Uttle to its de
coration. Aranjuez contains three churches ;
in one of which the connoiffeur views
with pleafure a copy of Raphael's carry
ing of the crofs, of which I have fpoken
in the account of the palace of Madrid.
It has for companion a crucifixion, by a
modern painter named Ferro, the author
of the copy. The moft recently built
church is that of the convent of Fran-
cifcans, called Saint Pafchal, and was
founded by fhe confeffor to the king.
I remarked, in the vestibule of this con
vent, pious infcriptions in the form of
ftanzas, which appeared to me of a An
gular kind. I could not refift my in
clination to copy and tranflate them.
The reader wjll not, perhaps, be dif-
pleafecj

^68 THE PRESENT STATE
pleafed at feeing the language of devo
tion in Spain when it means to fpeak
that of poetry. A penitent foul confeffes
ks fins to God, and comforts itfelf in its
contrition by the following stanzas.
** Oh ! leave me, my fins, in God's name
" leave me ! I have ufed you fo much
" that you are unable to fupport your-
*' felves any longer ; neither you nor
" myfelf can go farther : I have fo ex-
" haufted you, that to fin to-morrow,
" I want defire, as you want power to
" make me do it.
" Who would believe that thou thy-
" felf, my God, hadft retarded my con-
•*' verfion ? Thou haft wronged thyfelf
1 ' by thy patience in waiting for me ;
" I could not perfuade myfelf (this be-
" tween ourfelves) that thou wert
" God; thou appearedft to me too of-
" fended and too patient for a God.
" Thanks to thy cares, Oh my God,
" I am now converted. I yield to laffi--
'« tude

O F S P A I N. 269
*' tude if not to repentance : I have fo
*¦** often followed the ways of vice, that
'*¦ to adopt another manner of life, hav-
" ing finned as much as it is poffible to
" do, at length, I fin no longer.
" I have offended thee to fo great a
«' degree that I thought, being unable
" to do any thing with me, thou wouldft
*' be forced to pardon me. Here only
*' is there ftill mercy, the moft immu-
" table law of thy eternal throne; for
" fuch is my perverfity, that thou muft
" either not execute juftice on me, or
" increafe the pains of hell."
This convent ftands in the higheft and
moft healthy fituation of the valley ;
and hence the palace and plantations
appear in the moft agreeable point of
profpect. Some of the views of Aranjuez-
were-taken from this elevation. They
form a pleafing collection, although but
indifferently engraved. The king makes
prefents of the fets to fuch ftrangers of
dif-

ayo THE PRESENT STATE
distinction as are defirous of having
them. Since this collection appeared, the
count of Florida Bianca, who has the
fuperintendency of the fitios or royal
manfions, has added, by new planta
tions, to the embellifhments of Aranjuez*
He has not, like his predeceffors, an
exclufive predilection for one of the
four royai houfes at the expence of the
others ; his attention is equally divided
among them all. It is, however, diffi-*
cult to render that of Aranjuez healthy*
As long as the temperature of the air is
moderate, every thing about the palace
charms the fenfes, and the happinefs of
exiftence is perfectly enjoyed. Fo
reigners, who have travelled in many
countries, have affured me that they
knew no place in Europe where they
, would rather chufe to pafs the fine feafon
of the year than at Aranjuez. But
at the approach of the violent heats of
fummer, when the fcorching air, fhut
in by the valley, is loaded with exhala tions

O F S P A I N. 27I
tions from a flow and muddy river, and
with nitrous vapours drawn by the fun
from the hills between which the Tagus
runs, this valley of Tempe becomes a
pernicious abode, fufficient to fend troops
ef fouls to Acheron in a fingle day. The in
habitants withdraw from it, and feek,
upon the neighbouring heights, parti
cularly at Ocanna, a little city, two
leagues from the valley, a more whole-
fome air. Aranjuez, which during the
month of May and the beginning of
June, contains about ten thoufand in
habitants, and is the refort of thofe who
wiih either for health or pleafure, be
comes a defert exclufively inhabited by
wild boars and deer. Few perfons re
main there, except thofe who are at
tached to it either by profeffion or
poverty. Let us now leave this charming pa
lace, which I could wiih to have in
fpired my reader with a defire of feeing ;
and fince we have advanced almoft ten
leagues towards the kingdom of Valen cia,

272 THE PRESENT STATE
cia, let us proceed to vifit the terreftrial
paradife of Spain.
I undertook a journey to it, with a
friend, at the end of April 1783, confe-
quently, in the moft favourable feafon.
We fet out from Aranjuez, and after hav
ing followed the Calle de la Reyna, turned
to the left, and bid adieu to the fhade,
verdure and beauties of the environs.
During the firft feven leagues we feveral
times approached the Tagus, but its
naked and uninhabited banks offered
not a fingle pleafing profpect.
A hamlet by the fide of the river, at
the diftance of a league from the, village
of Villa-Man rique, muft however be ex
cepted. The noife of an artificial caf
cade, which drives two mills, the ap
pearance of fome beautiful trees, and
about a dozen houfes covered by their
foliage, inclines the mind of the tra
veller to -a momentary mufing. This
pleafing retreat is inhabited for fome
weeks in the year by monks, who at
other

O F S P A I N. a7,
other times reside at the caftle of Ucles,
by which we afterwards paffed.
The road from Aranjuez to Fuenti-
duennas, a diftance of feven leagues, is
tolerably good, but the country is thinly
peopled. Fuentiduennas is a large vil
lage, in every part of which poverty and
idlenefs are too confpicuous. There is
not fo much as a tree or a blade of grafs ;
not a fingle inhabitant who feems to
tafte the happinefs of exiftence. Three
leagues farther on, I found the large
town of Tarancon, which contains
about a thoufand houfes, and where
feveral roads crofs each other. I pro
ceeded by that which leads to Villa-
Rubio, at the diftance of a league from
which I difcovered the caftle of Ucles.
This manfion rather refembles the ha
bitation of fome fubaltern tyrant, in the
ages of the feudal fyftem, than the peace
ful abode of a religious fociety. It was,
no doubt, formerly one of the fortified
places which the knights of the order
of Saint James had built to defend
Vol. II, T them.

274 THE PRESENT STATE
themfelves from the incurfions of the
Moors, and the edifice ftill remains,
though no longer neceffary for the pur
pofe for which it was originally de
figned. I paffed the night in the town of Say-
lices. The next day I found, at fome
diftance from it, other veftiges of the
refidence of the Moors. Thefe were the
remains of an old entrenchment fituated
upon an eminence. I remarked, that in
places where the little inclination of the
flope rendered the approach more eafy,
the traces of a large ditch were ftill vi
fible. I afterwards paffed through two
agreeable villages, Montalva and El
Congofto, before I changed horfes at
Villar del Saz. The latter village is
three leagues from Olivarez, and the
country round it uneven and but little
cultivated. There are fome vineyards
in the neighbourhood of Olivarez, the
fituation of which is highly agreeable;
and which are fhut in by a chain of hills
almoft circular. Bonaehe

OF SPAIN. 275
Boriache is alfo three leagues from
Olivarez, and from the former to the
town of Campillo, the bounds of my
fecond day's journey, the diftance is five
leagues. This laft ftage appeared to me
Very incommodious. Continued rain,
the brifknefs of my horfe, which feemed
to enjoy my fatigue, a road full of ftones
and prefenting on every fide sterility and
depopulation, all contributed to put me
out of humour ; the cheerfulnefs of my
guide, and his rustic fongs, were not
sufficient to fmooth my brow. This
liowever became ferene, when after hav
ing been fome minutes in the inn, I
eaft my eyes upon the innkeeper and
his wife. They looked at me with a
kind of concern, which, perhaps, was.
rather the effect of curiofity than com-
paffion. Their attention was more
marked than that commonly found in
Spanifh inns. They appeared to be in
eafy circumftances and happy in their
fituation, and it is in more elevated
claffes only that thefe two advantages
contract and debafe the mind ; in thofe
T 2 in

-o?6 THE PRESENT STATE
in which luxury and the abufe of civi-
lifation have not changed the nature
of man, he is better and more amiable,
in proportion as he is happier. Opu
lence renders the poffeffor penfive and
little communicative. Moderate inde
pendence banifhes care, and difpofes
the mind to joy and beneficence.
This is what I thought I difcovered in
the humble fireside of our village fociety,
Which, after a frugal fupper, I left,
enjoying the mufic of a guitar, and
went to feek repofe, then more precious
to me than pleafure.
Early the next morning it was necef
fary to quit the downy pillow fatigue
had rendered fo delicious. Before five,
o'clock I was on the road to Villargordo,
the difficulties of which I fhall for a
long time remember. I had been in
clined to continue my journey the even
ing before, but the frightful defcription
given me of what I was to encounter,
determined me to wait at Campillo the
return of day-light, and I had reafon to
be

O F S P A I N. 277
be fatisfied with the delay. A great part
of the road lies over the fummits of
mountains, and confifts in paths in
which two men cannot walk a-breaft,
without one of them running the risk
of Weing precipitated by the firft falfe
ftep into a profound abyfs. After having
thus ftumbled for fome hours over pieces
of rock, and againft the roots of trees,
acrofs a wild and uncultivated country,
I defcended for the fpace of a league by
a winding road. Half way down I faw
the only pleafing profpect which had
prefented itfelf fince my departure from
Aranjuez. This was the river Cabriel,
ferpentining in a narrow valley covered
with verdure, which it leaves, after hav
ing paffed under a handfome bridge of
one arch, called El puente de Pajazo.
Near this bridge my guide ihewed me
the entrance of a vaft cavern, formed
by Nature, in the fide of the enormous
mountains I had juft paffed over. It
ferves as a retreat to fmugglers and rob
bers. In the bofom of thefe mountains,
in a bafon, three leagues from Campillo,
T 3 is

278 THE PRESENT STATE
is the royal falt-pit of Minglanilla, the
property of the king, and worked by
about thirty men.
After paffing the bridge of Pajazo I
turned to the left, and followed for fome
time the courfe of a river confiderably
wide, but not very deep. I had after
wards to climb a fteep hill before J
reached Villargordo.
Thofe who gain a harbour after a
fhipwreck feel not more pleafure than
I did on entering this miferable village
in the middle of a wood.
The four next leagues took me to Re-
quena, acrofs a plain which offered a
fpecimen of the fine cultivation of the
kingdom of Valencia. The neighbour
ing rivulets, which water the plain,
concur with the goodnefs of the foil and
the mild climate, in producing corn,
wine, and pafturage, and efpecially mul
berry trees. The little city of Requena,
fituated upon the top of a high hill,
commands all the neighbouring country. Wealth

O F S P A I N. 279
Wealth and activity proclaim there the
prefence of industry. The number of
filk looms, as I have been, informed,
amounts to nine hundred.
The mountains, over which the road
lies from Campillo to Villargordo, are
called Las Contreras, a name alarming to
travellers. Thofe on the other fide of
Requena are known by that of Las
Cabrillas, no doubt on account of the
great number of goats which feed upon
them. I had been prepared to expect
many difficulties in this road ; in fact,
fome parts of it are very rugged, and
there are deep crevices in the rock ; but
this fecpnd trial of my patience and cou
rage did not continue long ; after tra
velling three leagues I arrived at a Venta,
called La Venta del Relator, becaufe it
was built for the convenience of tra
vellers by a recorder of the council of
finance. On the other fide of Requena I en
tered the kingdom of Valencia, and from
T 4 that

2S0 THE PRESENT STATE
that moment my curiofity was confi
derably increafed. I was impatient to
judge whether or not the defcription I
had heard of that fine country was ex
aggerated. The fteep and rocky entrance
at firft aftonifhed me. What ! exclaimed
I, is this the country fo renowned for
its fine cultivation, fertile plains, and
varied productions ! However, I ob
ferved to the right and left that the
mountains were cultivated almoft to
their fummits wherever the nature of
the foil permitted them to be fo. The
people of Valencia, faid I, are at leaft
industrious ; I find not here the grave
indolence of the Caftilians. The Va-
lencians are not fatisfied with the bene
factions Nature of herfelf offers ; with
the plough in their hands they wreft
them from her upon the fummit even
of the mountains.
With thefe reflections I arrived at
Chiva, a town diftant three leagues from
the Venta del Relator. Its environs, for
about half a league, began to juftify the

OF SPAIN. _ 281
the defcription which had been given
me. After croffing the dry and barren
plains of Caftile, almoft without a tree,
where the s:rafs is without verdure and
the lands have no inclofures, I fhall
leave the reader to judge of the pleafure
I felt on finding myfelf between quick
hedges, formed by aloe trees, and ferv-
ing as enclofurcs to orchards, paftures
and plantations of olive and mulberry
trees. The fun was declining, the air
mild, and the atmofphere perfectly fe
rene. The exhalations of fo many plants,
the fweet vapours which rife from cul
tivated lands after long rains, and the
beauty of the different ihades of verdure,
all contributed to render the landfcape
enchanting. I was but five leagues from
Valencia, and no longer felt fatigue ; I
could have arrived there the fame even
ing, but nothing prefled me. Befides,
why fhould I deprive myfelf of the plea
fure of feeing the environs of that citv ?
Chiva appearing fo agreeable to me, why
fhould I fo immediately quit it ? I re
folved to fleep there, but foon repented of

282 THE PRESENT STATE
of my refolution. The inn I alighted at
contained all the inconveniences which
fo much difguft travellers in Spain. My
hoft had neither provifions nor an in
clination to procure me any. At ano
ther moment I might have given way to
my paffion. But Nature, who difplayed
her treafures around me, had prepared
me to indulgence, and I forgave the in
habitants in favour of the foil.
On leaving Chiva I found the fame
profufion and variety of natural riches
as at entering it. But at the diftance of
half a league, an entirely new fcene be
gan to abate my enthufiafm. To the
fertile plains I had paffed over, fuc
ceeded vaft tracts of country, where,
within inclofures of aloe trees, appeared
fields of thin corn, and a few olive and
mulberry trees fcattered at different dif
tances ; but a part of the ground was
uncleared, or, at leaft, infufceptible of
cultivation. Two

O F S P A I N. 283
Two leagues-farther on I was well re
compenfed for this momentary difap-
pointment. From an eminence I difco
vered Valencia and the Mediterranean.
The fun, which had juft rifen, eaft his
beams upon the gently agitated furface
of that fea. I imagined I faw a vaft
mirror placed at the extremity of the
horizon, and, for the firft time, I hailed
thofe waters which, though confined
within narrow bounds, have been the
theatre of the immortal deeds of the
moft famous nations of the earth, and
ef the firft efforts of rifing commerce,
as well as that of numerous combats and
fhipwrecks. This, faid I to myfelf, is
the fea which ancient mythology peo
pled with fo many wonderful beings,
to which our anceftors paid the wor
ship only due to the fupreme Being,
and whofe names their posterity can
not pronounce without a kind of refpect.
Jupiter was born in one of the iflands.
Latona chofe Delos, in which to bring
forth the twin deities fhe bore in her
womb. The Titans, crufhed by the
thunder

284 THE PRESENT STATE
thunderof Olympus, heaved up the moun
tains of Sicily. Eolus and Vulcan had
their empire there, and the infernal ri
vers their mouths. The amorous Are-
thufa croffed an arm of this fea to join
her waves to thofe of Alpheu6. In lefs
fabulous ages Themiftocles there dif
played the victorious ensigns of the
Greeks, and ftained them with the blood
of the Persians. The Romans there de
ftroyed the Carthaginian navy. Octa-
vius, triumphant, there defeated Antho
ny, who, crowding fail upon the waters
which had been witneffes" to his difafter,
haftened to confole himfelf for his dif
grace in the arms of the famous queen
of Egypt. In more modern ages our
anceftors, pioufly infane, traverfed
thefe feas to recover the Holy Land
from profanation. Illuftrious knights,
inheriting their zeal, but capable of pu
rifying it from its extravagance, took
up their abode in the ifland of this fea
to which they have given their name,
and from this new bulwark of Christi
anity, combat Barbarians more as ene
mies

O F S P A I N. 285
mies to humanity than religion. The
count of Touloufe triumphed off Ma
laga, the Ottoman fleet was deftroyed
at Chefmai, and the gallant Howe cruifed
here with as much fafety as in one of the
bays of Great Britain, and braved his
enemies equally formidable by their
number and valour.
The recollection of thefe circum
ftances contributed to fhorten the road,
which is tolerably good and even, but
which my impatience made me think
rather long. At length we arrived '(for
I had a friend with me) at the villa of
the Quarte, a league on this fide Va
lencia, and entered the terreftrial para-
dife. From this moment nothing is
feen but an uninterrupted fucceffion of
orchards, parterres, and country-houfes ;
the fimplicity of the latter is an agree
able contraft to the luxury of Nature.
Half a league farther we entered a fecond
village, of which the continuation joins
the fuburbs of Valencia. When.

286 THE PRESENT STATE
When we entered Quarte, a young
man, who waited our arrival, ftopped
us at the paffage, and begged we
would get into his carriage. He was
the fon-in-law of the merchant with
whom we were to lodge. We were
fatigued, and, as may be fuppofed,
wifhed to be at the end of our jour
ney. We therefore thanked the young
ftranger and galloped on. We foon
entered the fuburbs of Valencia, and
found our hafty progrefs prevented by
an elegant Berlin and fix horfes ; a lady
and a gentleman were in the carriage*
We made way for each other, and the
carriage ftopped ; we were afked, if we
were not the travellers expected from
Madrid ; and on our anfwering in the
affirmative, we were invited to accept
the vacant places. We hefitated and
stammered out an apology. The lady
and gentleman infifted, and we imagined
they were detached from the family who
expected us ; and not thinking to con
tract a new engagement, got into the
Berlin,

OF SPAIN. 287
Berlin, and the coachman turned about
and drove back.
During the fhort time we had to re
main in the carriage we endeavoured to
learn, by indirect questions, who the
lady and her hufband might be. We
arrived without being able to clear up
the myftery; and were then ready to
think ourfelves in fairy-land. We entered
an elegant houfe, croffed feveral apart
ments, and were ufhered into thofe def
tined to our ufe. Rich hangings and fine
glaffes dazzled our eyes, fo lately only ac
cuftomed to the coarfe fimplicity of the
Ventas. We imagined ourfelves under
the protection of fome beneficent genius,
which had wrought a miracle in our
favour. Our apartments were on the
ground floor, with a fhaded terrace, de
corated and perfumed by groups of
orange trees : large quantities of fruit, in
three different ftages of maturity , weighed
down the branches, fome of which were
ftill partly in flower. Delighted with
fo many agreeable objects, we, at length,
believed

288 THE PRESENT STATE
believed the kingdom of Valencia to be
really another valley of Tempe, inha
bited, not by gods, but what was much
better, by the moft hofpitable men on
earth. Their politenefs was fo refined
as to exprefs a fear, leaft their eager
defire of fhewing every attention fhould
be importunate. We were offered re-
frefhments, liberty, repofe and every
thing moft agreeable to travellers thirsty
and fatigued, and whofe external ap
pearance demanded the immediate affif
tance of water and clean linen. We
confeffed that a breakfast of fruit would
fatisfy the moft preffing of our wants.
The table was covered in an inftant,
and the wand of our fairy fent in two
great bowls of the fineft strawberries we
had ever feen. Valencia is the real
country, and it was then the feafon, of
this delicious fruit, which in that king
dom unites to the large fize of the gar
den ftrawberry, the colour and tafte of
that of the woods. We highly relifhed
our breakfast, and bufied ourfelves, to
no purpofe, in conjectures concerning our

O F S P A I N. 289
oufjiofts, we were ftill incapable of
folving the enigma, when the young
man, whom we had met upon our firft
arrival, entered our apartments. He
had juft learned that we had preferred
the lodgings in which we were, to thofe
his mother-in-law had provided for us.
He came to reproach uSj and to tell
thofe who had out-manoeuvred him,
that their behaviour was more rude to
his relations than flattering to us* The
quarrel became warm, we were the in
nocent caufe of it, and knew not Which
fide to take. In a conflict of politenefs,
to take any part is to run the rifk of
being accufed of ingratitude ; we had
recourfe therefore to an accommodating
meafure. One of us remained in the
enchanted palace, in which all our
fenfes had been fo amply gratified, while
the other went with the young gentle
man to the apartments which had been
prepared for us. On the way my friend
learned that the hufband of our bene
ficent fairy, was M. V — , a merchant in
timately connected with the houfe of
Vol. II. U D— ,

290 THE PRESENT STATE
D — , which without our knowing it,
had ftrongly recommended us to him-
His truly polite attention was continued
to us during our ftay at Valencia, which
was fix days ; eveiy moment was em
ployed to gratify the caprices of our
curiofity. His offers of every kind an
ticipated our defires and imagination. We
obey the impulfe of gratitude in thus
making our public acknowledgments to
the amiable couple which fo kindly con-
ferred upon us every mark of the moft
refined hofpitality. This family was not
the only one in which we were flatter
ingly received ; and I cannot but add,
that no people can be more complaifant
and delicately attentive to ftrangers than
the citizens of Valencia.
After having refrefhed ourfelves, and
beftowed a little attention upon our per
fons, we began to wander about Va
lencia. There is nothing very remark
able within the city. Fine edifices are
not numerous. The streets are narrow
and crooked ; but the whole of this ca
pital,

O F S P A 1 N. 291
pital, even in the infide, is generally
pleafing. It appears to be very clean
and neat, particularly to thofe who have
paffed through Caftile. Activity and
induftry are feen in every fhape. The
streets, indeed, are not paved, but this
is becaufe the fweepings, mixed with
the filth with which they are strewed
for fome moments in the day, are car
ried without the walls to fertilize the
adjacent country, and the inhabitants
are perfuaded, that were they paved
the vaft orchard by which Valencia is
furrounded, would be deprived of one
of its chief fources of fertility. Indo
lence and mifery are baniihed from the
city, or dare not fhew themfelves there.
About four thoufand filk looms and
frames of different dimenfions give em
ployment to upwards of twenty thou
fand of the inhabitants, without enu
merating thofe who exercife profeffions
relative to the manufacture, fuch as
perfons who prepare the wood and iron
work of fo great a number of machines,
or fpin, wind, or die the filk.
Ua The

292 THE PRESENT STATE
The filk manufacture, however, is
not the only fource of employment to
the Valencians. Their foil produces
hemp, and they export of this article,
for the king's arfenals, to the amount of
a million of piaftres per annum. Their
wines and brandies are alfo exported in
great quantities. Formerly they had no
other market than England, by the
ifland of Guernfey, &c. and Holland by
way of Dunkirk, where the greateft part
of the brandies of Valeneia were adul
terated. Within a few years paft thefe
productions have found a new market
in Spaniih America.
Rice is another fource of riches for
this fine country, to which it annually
produces upwards of a million and a
half of piaftres*. Barilla is a produc tion
* The cultivation of it is accompanied with an
inconvenience to the falubrity of the country. The
waterings, which are favourable to the crops, cover
too long the plains where it is grown, and occafion
exhalations pernicious to the inhabitants. The new
captain-

O F S P A I N. 293
tion peculiar to the kingdoms of Valen
cia and Murcia ; it is effential in the
making of glafs. About a hundred and
fifty thoufand quintals a year are ga
thered of it, moft of which is fent to
France and England, and a fmall quan
tity to Genoa and Venice.
Potafh, in Spanifh called Sofa, is a
fpecies of barilla employed in the foap
manufactories of France and England.
The kingdom of Valencia produces about
twenty-five thoufand quintals a year.
The Agua-azul is a third fort of barilla.
About four thoufand quintals of this are
annually produced, moft of which is
fent to Marfeilles.
captain-general of the kingdom of Valencia, the duke
de Crillon, who neglefts no means of making his
administration ufeful to the country, has noticed this
inconvenience, and is endeavouring to remove it,
by confining the cultivation of rice to lands near the
fea, upon which the waters remain not long, and
where peftilential difeafes are not the confequence
of the fertility they occafion. XJ 3 Laftly,

294 THE PRESENT STATE
Laftly, the Solicor, a fourth kind, is
produced without cultivation, and is
employed in the glafs manufactories of
France, England and Italy.
When the plant of thefe four forts
of barilla is well matured, it is left a
day or two in heaps to dry ; afterwards
it is put into a hole without much pref
fure, three or four feet deep, then fet
on fire and turned over or stirred up with
long poles; and in proportion as the
firft plants are confumed others are
thrown in. When they are all fuffici
ently burned, the hole is covered, and
the barilla left to cool. It is too often
adulterated by mixing with it bastard
herbs produced in the fame foil. The
cinders that remain after this burning
form lumps, which are exported and
ufed in manufactories.
Potafli differs in fome refpects from
barilla, but is applied to much the fame
ufes. It is known by the names of Sal-
fola, Salicornia, and Glajftmon. The leaf is

O F S P A I N. 295
is long, narrow, thick, and full of juice
like the leffer marine fennel.
Oil is one of the moft abundant pro
ductions of the kingdom of Valencia,
but permiffion is not given to export
it except when the price is very low ;
this prohibition difcourages the cultiva
tion of olive trees which might be
confiderably increafed.
The manner in which the oil of Va
lencia is prepared, renders it difagree
able to palates accuftomed to the oil
of Provence. I wifhed to know the
caufes of the imperfection ; three prin
cipal ones were mentioned to me ; firft,
the cuftom of defpoiling the olive trees
of their fruit by bruiting, inftead of ga
thering it with caution ; fecondly, keep
ing the ftone too long in the fruit;
thirdly, the fcarcity of oil mills, which
occafions the olives to be left feveral
months in heaps, in which they fer
ment and rot before the juice is ex
preffed. But thefe caufes alone would
U 4 not

296 THE PRESENT STATE
not produce fo certain and general an
effect, and I am of opinion, this muff
be attributed to the nature of the foil
and the habit and tafte of' the inhabi
tants. The manufactories of foap at Mar-
feilles have confirmed me in this idea :
thefe prefer the oils of Valencia to all
others, becaufe they have a natural tart-
nefs/ independent of their preparation,
which gives them a deterfive quality
that the other oils of Europe have not
to the fame degree. There are, however,
certain districts where the olive trees,
perhaps more favoured by the foil, pro
duce fweeter oils, the tafte of which
nearly approaches that of thofe of Pro
vence ; this muft in a great meafure be
attributed to the care the proprietors
take in gathering the olives and paffing
them through the mill whilst they are
frefh. The induftry of the people of Valen-*
cia derives advantage from all the pro
ductions,

O F S P A 1 N. 297
ductions of their foil. The province
contains a kind of earth of which
they make fquares, or tiles of co
loured delph, called Azulejos, and which
are manufactured at Valencia only.
They are ufed to pave apartments or cover
ceilings ; the moft complicated fubjects
are painted upon them ; fuch, for in
ftance, as a mafked ball, ora bull-fight.
Red is the only colour which cannot be
fixed on this kind of delph; it vanifhes
entirely in the baking.
Efpart, although one of the commonest
productions of the kingdom of Valencia,
is of great ufe to the inhabitants ; they
make with it mats and cordage. For
merly great quantities of it were fent
to the ports of France and the Medi
terranean. This exportation was pro
hibited in 1783. Thofe to whom it was
an article of fpeculation murmured at
. fhe meafure, and pretended that all the
efpart produced by the land could not
be confumed in the country ; and in
1784, feveral petitions were prefented to

198 THE PRESENT STATE
to the Spanifh miniftry to obtain per
miffion to export a confiderable portion
of it. They endeavoured to prove that
this exportation would not be prejudi
cial to the charitable eftablifhments, in
which poor citizens were employed in
fpinning the production, feeing that
much more of it was grown than their
industry required. The court of Spain
paid fome attention to thefe reprefen
tations, and permitted certain indivi
duals to export confiderable quantities
of raw efpart ; the ports of Toulon and
Marfeilles, where it is of great ufe in
the dockyards and arfenals, have reaped
advantage from the permiffion.
The Valencians make ufe even of the
aloe plant, which feems, at leaft in the
kingdom of Valencia, to be deftined to
decorate and enclofe landed poffeffions.
They draw from its long and thick leaves
a kind of thread of which they make
bridle reins.
I carefully examined all thefe particu
lars of manufacture and cultivation. But

O F S P A I N. 299
But before I fulfilled this object of in-
ftructive curiofity, which was the chief
motive of my journey, I difcharged the
firft duties of politenefs, by vifiting the
marquis de Croix, captain-general of the
province, a venerable old man, who, after
having difplayed in the vice-royalty of
Mexico, all the honour of his character,
calmly terminates at Valencia a laborious
and ufeful life, the courfe of which has
not been embittered either by chagrin or
remorfe*. He inhabited an ancient edi
fice without the city, called, El Real.
This part of Valencia has fomething in

* Since this work was written, the marquis de
Croix is dead, and has been fucceeded by the duke
de Crillon, fo much known by the fieges of Mahon
and Gibraltar, and in whom the focial virtues are
united to great military talents. The government of
the kingdom of Valencia had been too long given to
old general officers, who waited in foft indolence the
clofe of their days. The inhabitants wilhed for one
whofe beneficent activity fhould be direfted to the
embellifhment and profperity of the country * and
fuch a one they have at length found in the perfon of
the duke de Crillon.

lt

3oo THE PRESENT STATE
it majeftic. A long vacant fpace upon
which five fine bridges over the Guada-
laviar are terminated, runs between the
walls of the town and the fuburb, of which
the Real and the church of the Domini
cans nearly form the two extremities.
Were the river full, it would be diffi
cult to imagine a finer point of view;
but under the walls of Valencia it is a good
deal exhaufted by the flukes, in its paf
fage, for the purpofe of watering and
fertilising the plain through which it
runs. Thus its benefactions are destruc
tive to itfelf, and, like the pelican in
the fable, it nourifhes its progeny at the
expence of its own fubftance. The tri
bute required from this river, feveral
leagues from its mouth, is received in fo
uniform a manner as to prevent disputes.
It is previoufly fettled, that at fuch a
time of the year, certain perfons fhall
have a right to turn a part of the Gua-
dalaviar to the profit of fuch and fuch
lands. Thofe who are interested prepare
for the fructifying feafon ; and at the
time agreed on, their fluices are opened, the

O F S P A I N 301
the ditches round their fields are filled,
their olive plants and vineyards are covered
with water, and the inundation extends to
a confiderable diftance over the adjoining
lands. This great benefit is conferred
on all the eftates fituated in this fine
country ; and the value of them depends
more or lefs upon the facility they have
of enjoying it. The general and perio
dical watering has undoubtedly great
advantages. It maintains verdure and
fertility in the foil of this favoured
country. It multiplies productions to
fuch a degree as to continually cover the
earth with fruits. The mulberry trees are
three times defpoiled of their leaves ; the
meadows of trefoil and luzerne are mown
eight and ten times a year ; and the earth
not fatisfied with bearing forefts of olive
and mulberry trees,produces beneath their
fhade, strawberries, grain and vegetables.
But this watering has alfo a great incon
venience. The artificial fertility beftows
not on the plants the fubftance they re
ceive from Nature alone, when her fa
vours are waited for without foliciting them

302 THE PRESENT STATE
them by extraordinary means ; for which
reafon aliments in this country are much
lefs nourifhing than thofe of Caftile.
My ftomach felt the difference. Our din
ners were each a kind of feaft, where
there was a profufion of meats as well as
politenefs. I yielded to the excefs of the
double temptation, and had no reafon to
repent of my weaknefs. The abundance
of water which changes the nature of
the plants, appeared to me to have an
effect upon the animal kingdom. Ma
lignity has gone farther, and produced
the following Spanifh proverb, which
I am too grateful and polite to adopt.
En Valencia la came eshierba, la hierba
agua, Ios hombres mugeres, y las mugeres
nada *.
The fineft walks of Valencia, the
Alameda, Monte Olivite and the road of
Grao, a little village half a league from Va-
* In Valencia meat is herbs, herbs are water, men
are women, and women nothing.

OF SPAIN. 3o3
Valencia, and by the fea fide, are upon
the banks of the Guadalaviar, ready to
finifh its courfe, and render its waters to
the Mediterranean. Valencia is lefs a
harbour, than a bad road without an
chorage or fhelter. Had nature beftowed
on this city a better port, it would have
been the richest in Spain. Ships feldom
approach nearer than half a league to
the coaft, and thofe of three mafts are
feldom feen there. The cargoes of large
veffels which arrive within fight of Va
lencia, are put into barks, which are
rowed almoft to the fhore, and after
wards towed by oxen until they are out
of the water ; for not before is the cargo
begun to be unloaded. On account
of thefe obftacles, the port of Valen
cia is but little frequented. The firft
time I vifited it, these were but from
twenty to thirty veffels of every different
.fize. In general, the coaft of Valen
cia has not one good harbour*. From

* It has for fome time been in contemplation to
improve the harbour of Culleras, a few leagues to
the

304 THE PRESENT STATE
the mouth of the Ebro, to Carthageriat
which belongs to the kingdom of Murcia*
the roads of Alicant and Santa-Pola are
the only places where the anchoring is
fufficiently fafe. Even fhips of war may
anchor there; but thefe never enter
either of thefe roads, except in cafes of
neceffity. The whole coaft of the king
dom of Valencia is befides low, danger
ous and expofed to winds, efpecially
thofe from the eaft.
Upon this coaft, a little to the fouth
of Alicant, is a new eftabliihment, which
fhould have done honour to the admi
nistration of the count d'Aranda, but
it appears to have deceived his expecta
tions. A great number of Spaniih flave9
the fouth of Valencia. Its communication with the
lake of Albufera, and a canal dug from this lake to
the center of the capital, would make amends for.
what nature has refufed it. If this projeft, of which *
the plans and eftimates are compleated, be adopted
by the Spanifh miniftry, the execution of it will be
an additional favour the city of Valencia will owe to
the duke de Crillon.
lan-

O F S P A I N. 305
languifhed in the chains of the Algerines
in the little ifland of Tabarca. The king
of Spain, moved by their complaints,
laid before him by the Count de Aranda,
ranfomed thefe unhappy men, and found
them an afylum in a little defart ifland
on fhe coaft of Alicant, which upon
that occafion was called, Nueva Ta
barca, but it is feared this eftabliihment,
fomewhat expenfive, and befides, on a
barren rock, will never profper. Nature,
by refufing it wood, ftone, earth and
water, feems to have condemned it to
remain defert. — But to return to the
Grao of Valencia. It is mostly inha
bited by fea-faring perfons. The road
to it is, like all the environs of Valencia,
for three or four leagues round it, bor
dered with orchards, which wear an
appearance of the higheft cultivation.
The fituation in which the whole of
the capital, and the delightful enclo
fure is embraced in one point of view,
is from the top of a tower called Miquelety
Hear the cathedral. Valencia, feen from
this elevation, feems not to be more than
Vol. II. X a league,

3oo THE PRESENT STATE
a league in circumference. It is, how>
ever, faid to contain from ninety to a
hundred thoufand inhabitants. The
streets are narrow, the fquares not fpa
cious, and men, as in moft manufac
turing cities, are crowded together. The
eye is never fatisfied with viewing the
profpect from the top of the tower.
From this situation Valencia feems built
in the middle of a great orchard, in
which are difperfed a vaft number of
villages, that appear like a continuation
of the fuburbs of the city. From one
part of the tower we have an extenfive
profpect of the fea, and the humble ftream
of the Guadalaviar, after .having paffed
under the five bridges, runs to the right
of the Grao, and is loft in the Mediter
ranean. Near the mouth of this river
we difcover the Albufera, a lake which
empties itfelf into the fea by a very nar
row channel *. The lake is fo near to
* This is the lake fpoken of in the preceding note,
and which the duke de Crillon wifhes to render ufe
ful in future to the navigation and commerce of tjje
city of Valencia, as it has hitherto conduced to the
pleafures of the inhabitants. the

O F S P A I N. go,
the Mediterranean, that in the map it
appears like a bay of which the channel
is the entrance ; but the tafte of its wa
ters, and their courfe towards the fea,
leave no doubt of its being a lake. The
banks are covered with game and aqua
tic birds ; and fifhing and fhooting upon
the Albufera are the moft agreeable re
creations of the people of Valencia.
The tower, from the top of which
this fine landfcape is difcovered, is re
markable for nothing but its loftinefs,
and by this it is prejudical to the ca
thedral, which it feems to crufh by its
maffy bulk. This edifice, which has
been too much extolled, jhas nothing
very grand in its appearance. The in
side is more pleafing than majeftic The
body of the building is not fufficiently
elevated, and the walls, ornamented with
gilt ftucco compartments, feem rather
thofe of a mufeum than a temple. It con
tains fome valuable paintings, particularly
thofe of Joanes, who holds a diftin
guifhed rank among painters of the fe-
X 2 cond

308 THE PRESENT STATE
cond order. Some enthufiaftic admirers
of this artift (Spaniards, as it may natu
rally be fuppofed) have extolled him as
the equal of Raphael. He is, in truth,
like the prince of painters, judicious
and correct ; but how inferior is he to
iaim in dignity and gracefulriefs! Th*
moft remarkable of his paintings is a
baptifm of Chrift, which muft certainly
give pleafure to thofe who can pardon
the colouring, which the dampnefs of
the place has, perhaps, confiderably
injured. The doors of the great altar, orna-.
rnented with admired paintings, muft
not be forgotten in the defcription of
the cathedral of Valencia. Philip V.
to whom it was remarked that the altar
was of maffy filver, replied that the
doors by which it is fhut in, appeared to
him much more precious. The paint
ings are fuppofed to be by Leonardo de
Vinci, -or at leaft of his fchool. I alfo

OF SPAIN. 3o9
I alfo paid a vifit to the other pro
ductions of the fine arts in the different
edifices of Valencia, efpecially thofe in
the college del Patriarca, which I had
heard much praifed. I found there the
famous painting of the Laft Supper by
Rivalta, placed over the great altar, to
fee which the painter Carducho,. un
dertook a journey to Valencia. Except
this piece, there is nothing remarkable
in the church of the Patriarch. It is-
indeed beautiful in its fimplicity. Enor
mous quantities of tapers and incenfe are
con-fumed there. The moft fenfible ef
fects of this profufion is the dirtinefs, in
confequence of fo much fmoke, of the
walls and facred ornaments of the church.
Jt contains a rich fhrine, which is fhewn
with much ceremony to the curiousi, and
even to thofe who are not fo. It was
not poffible to efcape the enumeration of
the much more difgufting than venera
ble treafures it contains. We were obliged
to hear, on ous knees, from a young
clerk, the recital of the lift of bones, jaws,
fkulls and other parts of the human
X 3 body,

jio* THE PRESENT STATE
body, which devotion has removed from
the tomb to become ornaments to the
altar. From motives of politenefs, we
fubmitted to undergo this painful cere
mony, and noted it in our travelling
journal, to preferve from it others who,
in future, may vifit the college of the
Patriarch. I obferved, in feveral other churches,1
paintings, by Joanes, Rivalta and Orrente,
the three artifts of Valencia who have
acquired the greateft celebrity. I was not
much furprifed to find the beft pieces of
Victoria and Vergara, whom the Spa
niards highly extol, feeble and deftitute
of expreffion. I was, however, tolera
bly fatisfied with the paintings in frefco,
with which Palomino, the fame who
wrote the hiftory of the painters of
Spain, has decorated the ceiling of San
Juan* del Mercado, and that of Nuefira
Senora de Ios Defamparados.
Before I conclude what I have to fay,
relative to the facred edifices of Valen cia,

OF SPAIN. 3n
cia, I muft not ohiit to mention the
Temple, a church entirely modern, and
built in a fimple and noble tafte. I faw
there two fmall paintings by Joanes,
which gave me much pleafure ; one of
thefe is a Laft Supper in the manner of
Vandyk, and the 'other a Carrying of the
Crofs. The latter refembles confiderably
the painting by Raphael, known by the
name of Paftr.o de Sicilia. The refem
blance confirmed what had been told me,
that Joanes had taken that painter for
his model.
: But what engaged my attention ftill
more than the productions of the fine
arts, were the manufactures of filk which
give Valencia its reputation, and con
tribute to render that city flpurifhing. I
followed the works from the cultivation
of the mulberry tree to the finilhing of
the richest filks ; and fhall endeavour to
give a fucceffive defcription of them.
Spain, the kingdom of Valencia in
particular, might have great quantities
X 4 of

3i2 THE PRESENT STATE
of filk to export after fupplying all the
manufactures of the nation. Govern
ment feems not convinced of this truth,
becaufe it creates frequent obftacles to the
exportation of filk, and when this is
permitted, the duties are confiderable.
They amount to nine reals a quartillo,
about two livres feven fols (two fhillings)
the pound of Valencia, which is but
twelve ounces, and at the moft common
price is worth about fifteen livres (twelye
and fixpence) raw, {en rama). In bad
years, as in 1784, it has rifen to eighty
reals, or twenty livres (fixteen fhillings
and eightpence). There was in that year
fuch a want of filk, that the manufac
turers of Valencia afked Government
permiffion to import to Spain two hun*
dred thoufand pound weight of French
and Italian filk, duty free. In common
years the pound of raw filk cofts eight
reals, the throwing, and dying green,
blue, and other common colours ; fo that
a pound of filk, in a ftate to be employed,
comes to about feventy- one reals, or fe-
yenteen or eighteen livres (fifteen fhil»
lings). It

OF SPAIN. 3tj
It may naturally be fuppofed the price
varies with circumftances. One of thofe
which has the moft influence is the
greater or leffer plenty of mulberry leaves.
Thefe precious trees are very numerous
in the plain of Valencia, and are all of
the white kind (moreras). This distinc
tion, which in France would be fuper
fluous, is not fb in Spain, where, in
fome provinces, as the kingdom of Gra
nada for inftance, the leaves of the black
mulberry tree (morales) ferve to feed the
filk worms, and produce almoft as fine
filk as that which comes from the white
ones. Thefe leaves are fold by the load
(cargo) of ten arrobas; the arroba
of Valencia, which is about twenty-
feven French pounds, coft, in 1783,
about thirty-fix fols tournois (eighteen
pence). The leaves of the mulberry tree are
gathered once, twice, and at moft three
times a year ; but it feldom happens that the

3*4 THE PRESENT STATE
the two laft gatherings' are either fo
abundant or of fo good a quality as the
firft. The feafon for gathering lafts al
moft the whole year, and the trees are
fucceffively deprived of their leaves, in
proportion to the confumption the filk
worms make of the latter, and which
gradually increafes until the moment of
their beginnirig to form their balls. The
leaves only of the mulberry tree are
plucked or beat off, the branches are
fpared as much as ''poffible. Thus de-
fpoiled of its verdure, in the middle of
the fine feafon of the year, and during
the richest vegetation, it refembles trees
withered upon their roots. The quan
tity of naked trunks which feem to be
ftruck with sterility, and increafe in
number as the feafon advances, disfi
gures the plains, which in other refpects
are fo verdant and fertile. The effect
is ftill more difagreeable when the mul
berry trees are pruned or lopped, and
wholly deprived of their branches ; an
operation which muft be performed at
leaft every three years. The

O F S P A I N. 3t5
The kingdom of Valencia has pro
duced, in ten years, fix millioris of pounds
weight of filk, which makes fix hun
dred thoufand pounds annually ; and
as all Spain produces only a million
of pounds weight per annum, it appears'
that the kingdom of Valencia alone fur
niihes more than half of the general
produce. The filk of Valencia is the
fineft in Spain, and in this' refpect to be
Compared to the beft in Europe ; but
the fpinning is ftill imperfect, becaufe
there are not, as in France and other
kingdorns, houfes where the fpinners
are affembled, and superintended by an
infpector, who takes care that all the
filks are uniformly fpun. In Valencia
the fpinning is divided among thoufands
of hands ; thefe put fix, feven, eight and
more ends in a thread wrhich fhould
have a determined number ; hence the
inequalities in the tiffues in which thefe
filks are employed ; on which account
thofe we receive from- Spain are never
made ufe of in any fine work. The
filk ufed in our high priced tiffues comes from

3i6 THE PRESENT STATE
from Piedmont and our fouthern pro-*
vinces. For a few years paft there has
been lefs demand in France for the filks
of Valencia ; the repeated prohibitions of
their exportation has Increafed the cuU
tivation of the mulberry trees in Lan-
guedoc. The peafants, feeing the pro
fits thefe trees would produce, have
preferred them to others, and multi
plied them prodigioufly, fothat in 1783,,
the filk in France was lefs dear than
that of Valencia bought on the fpot,
deducting the duties with which the ex
portation is charged. A merchant of
my acquaintance, who at this time had
the privilege of exporting, duty-free, a
hundred thoufand pounds weight a year,
for fix years fucceffively, could not dif-
pofe of that quantity in France in the
courfe of the year 1783. Spain might,
perhaps, fupply the want of this market
by increasing the number of her looms,
which fhe does every day, and fending
to her American colonies greater quan
tities of the produce of her induftry ; but
her fluffs cannot be improved but in
pro*

OF SPAIN. 31,
proportion to the fale fhe can obtain
for them in foreign countries, where the
tafte of the confumers will concur in
forming that of the manufacturers.
The filks of fhe kingdom of Valencia
are eftimated, communibus annis, at fix or
feven millions of piaftres (from eight to
nine hundred thoufand pounds fterling).
At the time I was in Spain it employed
snot half this quantity, although there
were in the capital near four thoufand
looms. The reft are fent out of the
kingdom in fpite of prohibitions, either
to France by Barcelona, or to Portugal
by Seville and Eftramadura. At pre
fent more filk muft remain in Spain;
ferious meafures have been taken to en
courage the induftry which is exercifed
in the manufacture of them. Silk looms
had been eftablifhed in Catalovia, in the
kingdom of Granada, Cordova, Seville,
&c. in which were made handkerchiefs,
ribbons, and various plain filks in quan
tities nearly fufficient to the national
confumption. The. French manufactures of

3i* THE PRESENT STATE
of Languedoc, however, ftill found a
confiderable market among the Spa
niards. The Spanifh government in the
fegulation of 1778 had excluded filk
ftockings only from foreign merchandize
fent to the colonies. But as thefe con
tinue to be fent into Spain, the law was
eafily eluded ; it was only neceffary to
affix to French filk ftockings the mark
of one of the Spanifh manufactories.
Intereft invited to; this- fraud; it would
have required too much vigilance, and
even a fpecies of inquifition, to have
prevented it. Government endeavoured
to render it ufelefs by iffuing, in 1785,
an abfolute prohibition of thefe articles
from France ; which, added to the efta
blifhment of a great number of new
frames, has produced almoft a total ftag-
nation in the fales which the manufac
tures of Languedoc had in Spain. — But
to return to the manufactures of Va
lencia.- There is' not in this city any edifice
wherein all the operations through which

QF SPAIN, . 3I9
tohich .filk .paffes are performed. Per
fons who wifh to fee them fucceffively
muft go from one workfhop to another.
This I did, conducted^bya manufacturer,
equally obliging and intelligent, named
Don Manuel Foz, who had travelled a
Jong time to acquire knowledge in the
manufacture of filks, and amongft other
difcoveries, brought from Conftantino-
ple the fecret of watering them. As a
recompence for his zeal he was made in-
fpecftor of all the manufactures of Va
lencia. There are but few merchants and
tradefmen in Valencia who are not more
or lefs interested in the filk manufac
ture ; this is a kind of point of honour
among them. Some have but four or
five looms or frames, others feveral
hundreds. The firft operation to be performed
after the worm has finifhed its inge
nious cell, is to deftroy it before it breaks
through its own work to enter on a
new

320 THE PRESENT STATE
new ftate of exiftence. To this effect
the balls are thrown into an oven mo
derately heated ; when the worm is killed
they may be kept unfpun as long as may
be thought proper.
To defpoil them of the net-work in
which they are inveloped, they are
thrown into hot water; women then
felect, with aftonifhing facility and quick-
nefs, the threads of feveral balls, and join
and wind them thus united upon quills
or bobbins. On the make of thefe
quills depends the greater or leffer per
fection in the winding of the filk. Thofe
ftill made ufe of in Spain are very im
perfect, as I fhall hereafter explain.
It muft firft be obferved, that the
threads of filk ought to be drawn from
four balls at leaft, and even in this cafe-
it is only fit for flight filks, ribbons and
taffeties. Indeed, I faw a fkein which I
was told was made from but two balls ;
but fo delicate a filk thread cannot be
applied to any ufe. The threads are
com-

O F S P A 1 N. 321
Commonly taken from feven or eight
balls, and afterwards doubled to form
one fit for ufe in the loom or frame.
The contexture is, as every one knows,
compofed of two distinct parts, the weft
and the chain. The weft is what the
fhuttle draws from one fide of the loom
to the other, and leaves interwoven be
tween the two plains formed by the
chain. The weft being more worked
than the chain muft neeeffarily have a
greater confiftence. To this effect the
two threads of which it is compofed are
firft twitted feparately and afterwards to
gether; but for the chain the fecond
operation is fufficient. From this dif
ference, the thread of the weft, viewed
through a microfcope, appears indented,
or uneven, like a cable ; whereas that of
the chain is fmooth and flat, and confe-
quently proper to be expofed to the
light, that is to receive the brilliant
luflre which is fo beautiful in filks.
Vol. II. Y But

32i THE PRESENT STATE
But their beauty depends more parti
cularly upon the manner in which the
filk is reeled or wound from the ball. This
firft winding is performed in three dif
ferent ways, accordirig to the quills em
ployed in it. That which is conftantly
pradtifcd in Spain has this defect ; the
little threads of fix, feven or eight balls
are unwound at a time, from one fingle
thread, and are wound on a fmall fpin-
dle, without rubbing againft each other,
which would lay the little hairs that
render them rough ; whence it refults
that the thread of filk thus formed eafily
frays, In the Piedmont manner of wind
ing,, each thread is joined to another,
and thefe are never feparated until they
have been twitted round each other
four or five times,
The third manner, that of Vaucan-
fon, is ftill an improvement upon the
latter. Upon the quill or bobbin which
he invented, the two threads of filk,
after their firft twitting, join a fecond time,

O F S P A I N. 333
time, for the fame purpofe. This ope
ration is called the double crojfing.
If thefe threads, thus upon the fpin-
dles, be deftined to the weft, they are
placed perpendicularly upon a machine
of feveral ftories, where they are fepa-
rately twitted; they are carried hence
to another machine, where they are
twitted together, after which they are
fit to be ufed in the loom. Thofe for
the chain, as I have before obferved, are
not twitted until they have been joined
together. Thefe machines, fo precious
to the arts, which fave the labour of fo
many hands, are known at Valencia, and
Talavera de la Reyna. I had already feen
in Talavera, a fingle wheel from which
a thoufand of thefe little fpindles upon
which the twitted filk threads arewound,
receive their motion ; but thofe I faw at
Valencia were lefs, becaufe this city con
tains not, like Talavera, a royal manu
factory confined to one edifice. Each
manufacturer there finds, divided into
different quarters,workmen and machines
Y 3 necef-?

324 THE .PRESENT STATE
neceffary to his operations, and prefers
thofe moft fit for the purpofe.
Nothing is more fimple than the ma
nagement of thefe twifting machines
when the wheel has put them in mo
tion. Women and children guide the
operation of the little perpendicular fpin-
dles ; the moment they meet any obfta
cle, a touch with the finger fets them
again at liberty. If one of the threads
break, the damage is replaced in the
twinkling of an eye ; their fingers, from
long exercife, are aftpnifhingly expert in
the work, feize the two ends with a
quicknefs bordering upon prodigy, unite
them by an imperceptible knot, and the
fpindle immediately regains its motion
with the reft.
The thread of filk, before it is twitted
. double, undergoes an operation which
I muft not omit to mention. Whilft it
is in fkeins, it is fpread over a wide and
fhallow caldron, in which feveral vifcid
ingredients are boiling ; and the fteam from

OF SPAIN. 325
from which prepares the threads to ad
here to each other. This operation is
called, by the French manufacturers,
making the threads, paffer a la breve.
The fkeins are carried hence to the
twifting machine. The filk, after com
ing from this operation, is called organfin:
it is in this ftate only that it can be
brought from Piedmont, where the
twifting was better performed than elfe
where, until it was improved by Vau
canfon*. This able mechanic has united
all the operations performed in the ma
nufacture of filk. His method is exclu
fively followed at Lyons : but his quills
for double croffing can ferve only for
the filk of the country, becaufe foreign
filk, which for the moft part is ufed in
thefe manufactures, to be exported muft
be reduced to organfin.
* It muft be remarked, that the filk wound and
twifted after the manner of Vaucanfon, forms a
texture more even, and one third ftronger than the
textures of tlie ordinary filk.
Y 3 Spain

326 THE PRESENT STATE
Spain has in this respect a great ad
vantage over manufacturing nations;
fhe has more filk than fhe can employ,
and might manufacture it in the beft
manner poffible, yet ftill fhe continues
her defective method. Government has
endeavoured to employ the only means
capable of producing a change of this
kind; means which are flow but per-
fuafive. In 1 78 1, a French merchant ef
tablifhed at Madrid, engaged with the
count of Florida Bianca, to furnifh, firft
to the manufactures of the kingdom of
Mercia (the country of the Spanifh mi
nifter) afterwards to thofe of Valencia,
and fucceffively to others as they fhould
require it, a hundred reels or frames to
wind the filk, according to the manner
of Vaucanfon ; and in return the count
granted the merchant the privilege of
exporting, duty-free, fix hundred thou
fand pound weight of filk in fix years.
This meafure may, however, be ineffec
tual for fome time from the idlenefs of
the Spanifh manufacturers, who will not
willingly make ufe of a clofer and finer fill;

OF SPAIN. 327
filk, becaufe it would be neceffary to
weave it with greater care, and becaufe
the thread of this filk contains three ends
inftead of two, by which means the la
bour is increafed without a proportion
able increaf- or profit ; for which reafon
French hands were obliged to be em
ployed in the firft experiments of this
kind. Their fuccefs cannot be expected to
be great, if we may judge by a manu
facture eftablifhed a few years fince at
La Milanefa, a league from Valencia, by
an intelligent manufacturer of the name
of Payeffa. He introduced there the
method of Vaucanfon ; and, when I vi
fited his manufactory, he had no prof
pect of recovering what he had advanced
to form it. He fcarcely ever employed
two hundred perfons ; thefe were con
fined to winding and reeling the filk,
to bring it to the ftate in which it is
called organfin ; and, thus prepared, it
was from fifty to fixty reals a pound
dearer than that which was prepared ac-
Y 4 cording;

3a8 THE PRESENT STATE
cording to the Spanifh method, and con-
fequently found but little fale.
I fhall not enter into a detail of the
dying or manufacturing of filks. The
firft is eafily conceived ; the other diffi
cult to comprehend, and much more
fo to explain without the affiftance of
plates. I fhall only obferve, with respect
to the firft, that all the filks are dyed
in the fkein, and immediately afterwards
put upon the loom. It fometimes
happens that they are dyed in the
piece, but this is only when they are
ftained, or when the dying in the fkein
has not well fucceeded. When I was
at Valencia there were a hundred and
feventeen mafter dyers, but fome of them
wanted bufinefs.
The manufactures in which the peo
ple of Valencia fucceed beft, are moftly
thofe of plain filks: fine damafks worked
with large flowers, to hang apartments,
are made there in great perfection ; but,
in general, thefe undertakings depend upon

OF SPAIN.- 329
upon the orders from the court, the
capital and the provinces. The patterns
of France are followed as clofely as pof
fible through all their variations, and
thofe invented in Spain, more or lefs,
refemble the former. The academy of
fine arts at Valencia, however, is ear
nestly endeavouring to encourage pat
tern-drawers ; and for this purpofe, there
is a fchool which has already produced
feveral of diftinguifhed abilities ; among
others a young man of the name of
Ferrers, who died a little before my ar
rival at Valencia, fome of whofe groups
of flowers I faw and could not but greatly
admire. But what the Valencians excel moft
in is the art of watering the filks (dar
las aguas); which M. Foz has brought
to the greateft perfection. He very
clearly explained to me the whole of
this operation, which confifts in rolling
a cylinder upon the filk intended to be
watered: the cylinder is preffed by an
enormous weight moved by a great round ftone,

330 THE PRESENT STATE
ftone, which draws a lever in its cir
cular motion ; the filk is folded in the
manner of an outer lattice window-ihut-
ter when it is fhut, and thefe folds muft
be frequently varied that the undula
tions may be equally divided. M. Foz
obferved, that the distribution and form
of thefe were almoft the effect of cnance ;
but he proved that they might, in fome
meafure, be influenced by wetting the
filk in certain places, and in a particular
manner ; and in this confifts the fecret
of which he alone is the poffeffor in
Spain. The excellence of his method
is proved by the beauty of the waterings
which come from his preffes : he ena
bled me to judge of it by comparing the
blue ribbons of the order of Charles III.
watered by him, with thofe of the order
of the Holy Ghoft ; I was obliged to
confefs that the latter gained nothing
by the comparifon.
The Exchange of Valencia is one of
the remarkable edifices pf that capital;
Here the merchants, traders and manu
facturers

O F S P A 1 N. 331
facturers affemble to learn the daily
price of filks, as in other places of the
price of flocks.
Valencia has alfo had, for a few years
paft, a patriotic fociety, the principal
cares of which are diredted to the im
provement of the cultivation of mul*
berry trees, and the quality of filks : it
has already produced feveral volumes of
memoirs full of ufeful papers. The en
couragement it gives to arts is not con
fined to the manufacture of filk. To
wards the end of the year 1786, it
gave a premium to the inventor of a
new frame for the manufacture of filk,
cotton, and worsted stockings at lefs
expence than according to the common
method ; as alfo a fecond premium to a
dyer for the invention of a fimple and
ingenious machine, which, with great
facility, reduced to powder the wood of
Brazil and Campeachy ; and a third to
the inventor of a machine for d; effing
flax. It is particularly in countries
which are not populous^ and where the
arts

332 THE PRESENT STATE
arts are as yet in their infancy, that it
is efpecially ufeful to fave labour, by
Amplifying the workmanfhip of manu
factures. At Valencia there is a public library ;
that of the archbifhop's palace ; it ap
peared to me to be but little frequented.
Manufacturing cities feldom abound in
lovers of fcience, and the belles lettres-j
the cultivation of thefe fuppofes leifure;
ufeful arts require a continued afliduity.
Valencia, however, is the country of
Gregory Mayans, who died a few years
ago, leaving behind him a reputation of
vaft esudition, which extends beyond
the limits of Spain, and to which M. de
Voltaire did not difdain to do juftice on
various occafions. The library of the
epifcopal palace contains a collection of
ftatues and antique bufts, collected by
the nephew of the late, archbifhop. The
fcruples of the prefent prelate have di-
minifhed the value of the collection by
mutilating fome of thefe monuments.
The auflere morality of the archbifhop has

OF SPAIN. 333
has deprived this capital of all public
amufements. The theatre of Saragoffa
having been burned a few years ago, the
prelate, a declared enemy to all profane
pleafures, obtained a promife from the
court that the reprefentations of the
drarria fhould never more pollute his fee.
The people of Valencia are difpleafed
with him ; and, according to what I
heard of his character, he appeared not
to me to join to the advantage of edify
ing by his virtues the more rare talent
of rendering them beloved.
My fpeculations and amufements were
not confined to this capital ; I vifited a
part of its environs. The moft agree
able of my excurfions was to the charm
ing retreat of a canon of the cathedral,
Don Pedro Mayoral. This ecclefiaftic,
a well informed man, and fimple in his
manners, has conciliated a philofophical
life with the enjoyments of the beauties
of Nature that furround his habi
tation, which is fituated in the village
of Benimamet, half a -league from Va
lencia,

334 THE PRESENT STATE
lencia, upon an eminence, in the middle
of a garden, in which the orange and
lemon trees perfume the pureft air. The
verdure of the walks, the variety of the
profpects, and the varied fertility on
everv fide, make it a moft delicious
abode. The reception I there met with
added to the charms of the place. Our
difpofitions naturally take a tincture of
the objects by which we are furrounded.
How is it poffible to perceive a contracted
brow in the midft of a beautiful land
fcape, and in the moft temperate climate ?
The canon exhibited, both in his mind
and perfon, the reflection of that fere
nity which reigned around him. In imi
tation of Nature, which had abundantly
beftowed upon him her gifts, he was
profufe in his polite attentions ; he com-
plaifantly accompanied me to view the
treafures of his garden, and would not
be fatisfied with confining my enjoyment
of them to bare contemplation. He had
prepared a fumptuous collation, of which
the principal riches were produced by
this land of promife. Among other fo
reign

OF . SPAIN 335
reign trees, the cultivation of which occu
pied his leisure, he fhewed me that which
produces the chirimoya, the American
fruit fo much extolled for its fine flavour,
and which, it is faid, has never fucceeded
in Europe. He proved to me the con
trary ; the trees had ftill fome remains
of fruit, with which he gratified my cu
riofity. The chirimoya, which was as
big as a middling pear, was divided into
eight or ten parts, that each of the guefts
might tafte it. The pulp is whitifh, and
contains five or fix flat black kernels ; its
tafte refembles thofe of an apple, butter
and a nut united ; but with this there
is a certain insipidity which, if the fruit
merits its reputation, it certainly has not
in its native foil,
Benimamet is diftant a quarter of a
league from Burjafot, another village
which ftands on higher ground , and in the
church of which lies interred Mademoi-
felle l'Advenant, a celebrated actrefs, the
le Couvreur of Spain *, but whofe remains
* Mademoifelle le Couvreur, a famous tragic a&refs
in France, who died a few years ago. were

336 THE PRESENT STATE
were not fo feverely treated as thofe of
the French Melpomene. At Burjafot I
was fhewn, as fome of the curiofities of
the country, the Sichat, or Silhos, which
are large holes, dug vertically, and lined
with hewn ftone. They are the work of
the Moors, who ufed in them to ftore
their grain.- The modern inhabitants of
Valencia employ them for the fame pur
pofe. I had the curiofity to defcend the
deepeft of thefe Silhos, but had nearly
found reafon to repent of my courage.
The defcent was eafily enough effected .
with my feet in a ftraw bafket, and my
hands fixed to a cord which was gradually
let down. I got to the bottom without ef
fort or danger; but when I was to re-
afcend, though my heart did not fail
me, my head was ready to turn. I had
no fooner been raifed about thirty feet,
than I had nearly quitted my hold ;
happily I cried out in time to be let eafily
down again. Had not my cries, which
announced fear on my part, and caufed
it in thofe whom I had left above, been
immediately complied with, moft pro
bably

O F S P A I N. 337
bably I fhould never have written an ac
count of my journey : but perhaps I
ought to afk, would this have been a
lofs to the public ? As foon as I found
myfelf at the bottom, a robust and ex
perienced waggoner came down and fatt
ening me to his ;girdle by the cord which
had nearly been fatal to me, accom
panied me in my perpendicular af-
cent. I made it with as much confi
dence as fafety ; and arriving like truth
from the bottom of my well, I remarked
in the faces of thofe who had affifted me,
more fear than I. myfelf had felt.
Another interesting excurfion which
I made from Valencia was to Murviedro.
This city is built upon a part of the
ground upon which old Saguntum for
merly ftood.
Murviedro is diftant four leagues from
Valencia, upon the road to Barcelona.
This road croffes one of the moft fertile
and variegated districts in the kingdom
of Valencia. I ftopped twice by the
Vol. IL Z way;

33» THE PRESENT STATE
way ; once to fee San Miguel de Ios Reyes,
a convent of Francifcans, the cloisters of
which greatly refemble thofe of the Ef-
curial, and appear to have had the fame
architect ; and afterwards to vifit the
Carthusian monaftery of Porta Cceli, one
of the three in the environs of Madrid.
ThepredilectionoftheCarthufianmonks, for this country, would alone be fuffi
cient to give an idea of its beauty and
fertility. Nothing can be more delight
ful than the fituation of the Carthusian
monaftery I vifited. Every thing breaths
abundance, and preferves a calm in the
mind. It is impoffible to confider as the
God of vengeance, whofe anger is to be
appeafed by austerity and felf-denial, the
Supreme Being who pours down his be
nefactions in fuch profufion around this
habitation. Thofe who reside in it,
feem only to be infpired with peace
ful fentiments. I entered fome of their
cells, which are remarkable for their
neatnefs and elegant fimplicity; it ap
peared to me that a good confcience, en
joying its own purity, ought rather to
reside

O F S P A I N. 339
refide there than repentance drinking
her own tears. I vifited the church-yard
of the monks ; modeftly furrounded by
palm trees, which fhade their tombs ;
while rofe bufhes are planted on the out-
fide as if they were intended to prevent
their remains from infecting the air which
is refpired in this peaceful afylum. I re
gretted that, as in this place, death was
not every where prefented under lefs hi
deous forms, and deprived of the images
which render it fo frightful. Why, faid
I to myfelf, fhould this inevitable paffage
be ftrewed over with funereal objects and
furrounded with horrors ? Why fhould
we not rather aid mortals to pafs through
it, if not with joy, at leaft with fere
nity ? Far then be removed from the
bed of death every thing which may ter
rify furvivors ! Let us enjoy without ex
cefs, and confequently without remorfe,
the good things which the earth pro
duces; and when the organized duft,
which for a few moments is animated by
the breath of life, is required of us by that
common mother of mankind, let it ferve
Z2 to

340 THE PRESENT STATE
to fertilife her entrails, and, if it be pof
fible, to beautify her furface.
With thefe reflections I fet off to Mur
viedro. Two leagues from it, the caftles
by which it is commanded, prefented
themfelves to view. Having Livy in my
pocket, I fought for the defcription of the
famous fieige the citizens of Saguntum
fuftained againft Hannibal. I doubted
not but the walls were the remains of
the ramparts from which thefe courage
ous people fo long repelled the Cartha
ginian hero. I afterwards learned that
thefe caftles were the work of the Moors.
They hadbuilt upon the heights on which
they are fituated, feven fortreffes that com
municated with each other by fubterrane
ous paffages, fome of which are ftill almoft
entire. It appears that the ground up
on which they ftand was not a part of
old Saguntum, and that this city, built
half way up the eminence, extended on
"the other fide into the plain approach
ing the fea. Livy fays, it was not a
thoufand paces from it ; if he was exact in
his

OF SPAIN. 3+I
his calculation, the opinion I adopted is
well founded : for in that cafe Sagun
tum muft have extended far beyond the
prefent confines of Murviedro, which is
at the diftance of a league from the fea.
In fupport of this opinion it was re
marked to me, that at the foot of the
eminence many . Carthaginian and Ro
man antiquities had been difcovered.
We ftill find, in Murviedro, ftones with
Phoenician or Latin infcriptions, and
the latter are numerous. Some of them
are inferted in the walls, and there are
five of them, remarkably well preferved,
to be feen in the walls of a church.
Thofe on the fide of the mountain ap
pear to have been unintentionally car
ried thither by the Moors, in common
with other ftones for building. Thus,
in the walls of their ancient fortreffes,
we find a ftatue of white marble without
ahead, and fome ftones with infcriptions
placed in an inverted pofition by the

hands of ignorance.

Z 3 I could

342 THE PRESENT STATE
I could not but walk with a kind of
reverence over this ground, trodden in
turns by Carthaginians, Romans, Goths,
Moors and Spaniards, all of whom had
here diftinguifhed themfelves either by
their valour or their induftry. I com
pared the different ftates through which
it had paffed under thefe different matters.
It has undoubtedly been the fcene of
greater fplendor and magnificence, but
are not the riches of Nature with which
it is covered, the olive and mulberry trees,
the vines, the verdure which decorates it
from the confines of Murviedro to the
fea, and on every other fide as far as the
eye can reach, with the induftry of the
inhabitants which converts all thefe
productions into profit, as valuable in
the eye of the philofopher as the exploits
of the warlike inhabitants of Saguntum,
and the magnificence which the Romans
formerly difplayed within its walls ? For
the city haying been punifhed for its brave
defence by a total destruction, was af
terwards rebuilt by the Romans, who
made it one of their municipia, and one of
the

O F S P A I N. 343
the moft fplendid cities they poffeffed
out of Italy. At this period was erected
the monument of which the mutilated
remains ftill prove the power and opu
lence of Saguntum during the laft ages
of the Roman republic. Among other
temples there was one confecrated to
Bacchus, fome remains of which are feen
to the left, when, returning from Valen
cia, we arrive at the entrance of Mur
viedro. The mofaic pavement was pre
ferved until the prefent century : but the
negligence of thofe to whom the care of
it was entrufted, had nearly fuffered this
precious relic of antiquity to be loft to
the world, when what remained of it
was removed to the library of the arch
bifhop, where it is ftill to be feen.
The foundation of the ancient Circus
of Saguntum is ftill difcoverable, upon
which walls, ferving as an inclofure to a
long continuation of orchards, have been
built. A part of it yet remains above
ground, in which the mafonry of the Ro
mans is clearly difcernible. This Circus,
Z 4 as

344 THE PRESENT STATE
as it is eafy to perceive, was adjoining to
a fmall river, which was the chord of
the fegment formed by the Circus. The
bed only of the river now remains. It
cannot be doubted but that, when the
mock fea fights, called Naumachice, were
here exhibited, this bed was filled by the
tributes of neighbouring canals which
ftill exift.
But of all that remains of old Sagun
tum, nothing is in fo good prefervation
as the theatre. The examination of this
noble monument cannot but be extremely
pleafing to a real lover of antiquity. My
guide was the curate of one of the
churches of Murviedro, a man equally
polite and well informed on the fubject
in queftion. He acknowledged, that all
he was going to advance was taken from
a differtation by a learned Spanifh Dean
of the laft century, named Marti. Mr,
Peyron has given an extract of this per
formance in his EJfais fur CEfpagne, and
I muft refer thofe who wifh to form an
accurate idea of an ancient Roman theatre

OF SPAIN. 34s
theatre to the extract. I fhall confine
myfelf to the following particulars,
which appeared to me the moft inte
resting :
The theatre is fufficiently well pre
ferved for us plainly to diftinguifh the
manner in which the fpectators were
diftributed at thefe dramatic reprefenta
tions. The different feats which the
citizens occupied, each clafs according
to its rank, are distinctly feen. At the
bottom, in the place of our orchestra
are the feats for the magiftrates ; next
thofe for the equestrian order, and laft
of all thofe for the body of the people.
The two door ways at which the magif
trates entered ftill remain ; alfo two
higher up, exclufively referved for the
equestrian order ; and almoft at the top
of the amphitheatre," which continues
without interruption from top to bot
tom, the two galleries by which the
multitude withdrew, and for that reafon,
called by the ancients, vomitoria ; lastly,
the four or five higheft rows of feats
were

34-5 THE PRESENT STATE
were deftined to lictors and courtefaris,
who entered without either door or ftair-
cafe. As this theatre is built on the de
clivity of a mountain, the ground rifes
in proportion with the benches ; fo that
on which ever fide the people entered
they found themfelves almoft on a
level with the place they were to oc
cupy. Thofe of the lictors and cour-
tefans are ftill in good prefervation ; and
the femicircular roof of the whole edifice
is entire. On the outside, a part of the
plinth which terminates it yet remains, as
alfo the projecting ftones, in which were
inferted the bars to which was fattened
the great curtain, fufficiently large to
cover the whole affembiy, and drawn to
keep off rain and the fun ; for except in
this cafe the whole audience was expofed
to the open air. The care of the Romans
to avoid tumult, either on entering the
theatre or quitting it, and every kind
of accident, appears to have been admira
ble. It is manifest that in fuch a theatre,
all of ftone, without a foot of timber,
accidents from fire were not to be feared. We

O F S P A I N. 347
We have juft feen that the whole af-
fembly was feated and defended from
the injuries of the air. Every means
was taken to prevent diforder. The
places of the judges are clearly difcerni
ble towards the right fide of the am
phitheatre. If any turbulent fpectator
drew upon himfelf their animadversion,
they had lictors at hand to feize him ;
thefe conducted him into a private
chamber, between which and the judges!
feats there was a communication by a
little ftaircafe; he was there interro
gated, and, if found culpable, was cod-
fined in a prifon, under the chamber, un
til the exhibition was concluded.
I did not take the dimenfions of this
noble monument; but my guide fup
pofed it, according to the estimate of
dean Marti, capable of containing nine
thoufand perfons ; and this appear ed to
me credible. But what feemed to me
but little fo was, that the actors fhould,
in the open air, have been able to make
themfelves heard by fo numerous an
audi-

348 THE PRES;ENT STATE
audience. 1 wifhed to affure myfelf -of,
this, and placing a boy where the ftao-e
formerly was, but of which no traces,
remain, whilft I was at the top of the
amphitheatre, made him repeat phrafes,
of which I loft not a word. I have faid
no traces of the ftage remain ; in fact,
beyond the amphitheatre, of which fome
of the benches towards the center are.
fenfibly decayed, fcarcely any veftiges of
the place Occupied by the actprs are to
be found. The ground about the the
atre offers nothing but a few trees and
decayed buildings. The front of the
ancient ftage, which, in our modern
theatres, may be compared to the fpace
in which the foot-lights are placed, has
been converted into an alley of mulberry
trees ; and ropes are now made on that
ground where formerly the verfes
of Terence were recited to a Roman
audience. This comparifon caufed me
to reflect for an instant on the viciffi
tude of human affairs: man, faid I,
feems to wiih to recompence himfelf
for the frailty and fhortnefs of his ex
iftence

OF SPAIN. 349
ifterice by raifing monuments, which re
main whilst ages and generations arife
and pafs away : we might fuppofe them
-capable of braving the ravages of years ;
but Time, jealoUs of his imprefcriptible
rights, beats down, overturns, and an-
riihilates thefe pretended immortal edi
fices. The stars in the celestial canopy,
ever perfect, ever incorruptible, fhine
only on their ruins ; and men will foon
-difagree about the place they have oc
cupied : the stars themfelves, which by
their immenfity and duration awe our
imagination, as our eyes are dazzled by
their fplendour, will one day be extin-
guifhed by the voice of that Eternal
Being, who alone will furvive our works
and his own creation.
Before I quit the theatre of Saguntum,
I muft obferve, that no care is taken to
preferve this valuable monument. A fort
of keeper has his habitation there, which
he extends or changes as is moft conve
nient to himfelf, by pulling down what
ever incommodes him. A few poor fa
milies

350 THE PRESENT STATE
milies build within it wretched huts,
for which the Romans, almoft twenty
centuries ago, prepared walls and ceil
ings. Never was time better affifted in
its ravages. Had count Caylus or Win-
kelmann been witneffes to thefe facri-
leges, they would have watered this bar
barous earth with their tears ; but an
tiquity appears not to have one enthu-
fiaftical admirer within a hundred leagues
round Murviedro. I muft, however,
do juftice to the ingenious idea of the
corregidor of Murviedro, notwithftand
ing it would appear to us, who are ac
cuftomed to the circumfcribed limits of
our modern theatres, too vaft and gi
gantic. This magistrate raifing up, if
I may fo fpeak, the remains of a Roman
theatre, laft year reftored it for fome
hours to its ancient ufe, by caufing a
Spanifh piece to be reprefented within
its walls.
From the theatre of Saguntum we
climb rather than walk up to the an
cient fortreffes of the Moors, which crown

O F S P A I N. SSi
crown the enclofure ; upon the platform
on the fummit, is an humble hermitage,
the inhabitant of which enjoys one of
the fineft profpects in Spain. It com
mands the rich plain which feparates
Murviedro from Valencia. From the
hermitage we fee the fteeples of this
capital rifing through the orchards,
by which it is furrounded. Before us we
view, in perfpective, a confiderable part
of the Mediterranean, the fhores of
which are covered with vineyards, olive
and mulberry trees from Murviedro to
the edges of its banks: on the left a
chain of hills bounds the horizon and
infenfibly diminifhes to a level with the
fea, leaving no interval but that formed
by the road to Barcelona.
Satisfied with admiring, I defcended
to Murviedro. The fervant of our oblig
ing guide there waited for us, and had
prepared a plentiful dinner, to which
all the productions of the neighbouring
country had contributed. Sufficiency,
though without luxury or elegance, dif
played

352 THE PRESENT STATE
played itfelf in all his rustic apartments.
I remarked that one of the fteps which
led to them was a ftone ' » from among
thofe with antique infcriptions in the
ruins of ancient Saguntum ; rnontimfefrits
never intended to be trodden under foot by
the ignorarit modern inhabitants of that
city. Even they,1 however, applauded
the happy idea of the corregidor ; and
their facrileges are expiated.
The wine of the environs of Mur
viedro* is ftrong and ¦'Well tafted ; but
moft of it is converted into brandy,
which is put into barrels on the fpot.
Thefe are fent to a fmall port about a
league from Murviedro, where they are
there fhipped for the North, or for
Spanifh" America, which for fome years
paft has afforded -a confiderable market
for the brandies of the coaft of Va
lencia. In the evening I returned to Va
lencia, whence I departed two days after,
and I muft confefs with great regret: I had

O F S P A I N. 353
I had there found what might well en
gage a curious traveller to remain much
longer; instruction and pleafure. My
vifit to Saguntum and the manufactures
did not prevent me from affifting at great
dinners, country parties, concerts, and
balls ; and, notwithftanding the aufte-
rity of the prelate, at a private play
reprefented by fome of the firft nobi
lity, who in this capital are fo blind
to their own intereft as to be the flaves
of vanity by excluding merchants from
their fociety. They are punifhed for
this by the infipid life they in general
lead ; to fhake off which, in fome mea
fure, they conceived the defign of re
prefenting a Spanifh tragedy. The
count de Carlet was the only perfon
among this fomewhat too fupercilious
nobility, to whom I had recommenda
tions. The count is a nobleman of Va
lencia, has travelled much, and in fo
reign countries acquired a tafte for the
fine arts. He procured me the pleafure
of pafling an hour at this reprefentation.
I faw there the people of quality of
Vol. II. A a Va-

354 THE PRESENT STATE
Valencia, and perceived it was much
to be regretted that feveral of the fair
fex were not more frequently feehj and
in a narrower circle. I cannot omit
mentioning, with the utmoft refpea,
the countefs of LumiareZ', and the two
mademoifelles de Mafcarell*
In returning from Valencia to Madrid
I would not take the road by which I
had come. There was another, longer
by feven leagues, but much lefs rugged
and difficult. As it was not the poft
road," and as that mode of travelling had
befides been inconvenient to me, I hired
one of the little cabriolets, called Calezin,
fo'much in vogue in that country, and
which, even in the streets of Valencia,
perform the fame fervice as our hack
ney coaches. I took my place in this
humble carriage, after dining with frhe
count of Carlet. His guefts, as well as
himfelf, fhewed me, until the laft mo
ment, the moft flattering politenefs. I
was accompanied to the diftance of half
•a league from the city by five or fix
perfons,

O F S P A I N. 355
perfons, one of whom was the king's
lieutenant, M. de Cortes, an old man,
equally amiable and respectable, who
appeared to have honoured me with a
diftinguifhed place in his efteem, and
feemed much affected when he took his
leave; I continued to take the road to
San-Felipe, ftill enchanted with the
beauties Nature has fo prodigally be
ftowed on this favoured country, and de
lighted with the kindnefs and cordiality
of its inhabitants.
For fix leagues I croffed the richest
country imaginable, by one of the beft
roads in Spain. The three laft leagues
to San-Felipe, are lefs agreeable than
the former, but the nurferies of mul
berry and olive plants, interfperfed with
fields of rice, continue to the environs
of the city.
I did not arrive at San-Felipe until
one o'clock in the morning, which
obliged me to pafs the remainder of the
night upon the boards in the kitchen,
Aa2 fur-

356 THE PRESENT STATE
furrounded by dogs and cats, and flung
by infects. I fliortened this difagreeable
night as much as poffible, and at four
o'clock was ready to purfue my journey;
but, before I departed, I had time fuffi
cient to vifit the city, known in the war
of the Spanifh fucceffion by the name
pf Xativa. The city and fuburbs occupy
a confiderable fpace ; yet the inhabitants
amount not to more than ten thoufand.
It is built on the declivity of a moun
tain, at the foot of two caftles, which
form an amphitheatre. This fituation
accounts for the long refiftance made
by Xativa to the arms of Philip V. for
which it was punifhed by the lofs of its
name and privileges. Among the churches
of San- Felipe there is one intirely new,
which has a better appearance than
many cathedrals. San- Felipe has alfo a
great number of fountains that would
embellifh even the moft confiderable
cities. I now took leave of fine roads and 4
rich countries,, and foon travelled be
tween

OF S%P A I N. 3S7
tween uncultivated and depopulated hills,
feeing nothing either to the right or left
but a little hemp and corn. After three
leagues of unequal road, by turns over
ftones and a greafy foil which the leaft
rain diffolves, I arrived at the Venta del
Puerto, a miferable village, fourteen
leagues from Valencia, and upon the
Confines of the kingdom of Murcia,
which I had heard fo much extolled.
From this point the view is confined on
all fides by sterile mountains, croffed by
the road to Almanza. After having
travelled half a league, I difcovered this
place, at the extremity of a vaft plain,
famous for the victory which insured
the throne to Philip V. This plain is
well cultivated, and its fertility feems
to increafe as we approach Almanza.
It produces corn and hemp. There is
a tradition at Almanza, that the years
immediately fucceeding the battle, which
has received its name from that place,
were extremely fertile ; a fad compen-
fation for the destruction the victory
had occafioned to the human fpecies.
Aa 3 The

358 THE PRESENT STATE
The conquerors and the conquered,
heaped upon each other on the field of
battle, fattened the foil, the fcene of their
victory or defeat, and increafed, by their
death, the fertility of the country they
had ravaged during their lives. About
the diftance of a cannon fhot, on this
fide Almanza, is a focle, which isafcended
by a few fteps, and bears upon its four
fides Latin and Spanifh infcriptions, re
lative to the victory gained by the Mar
fhal Berwick. Above the focle rifes a
little pyramid, upon which was formerly
an armed lion. As the pyramid is placed
clofe by the fide of the great road, the
people of Valencia had continually before
their eyes an upbraiding token of their
rebellion, and, with ftones, beat down the
lion which ftill feemed to threaten them.
The fmall ftatue the pyramid now bears,
was fubftituted to the lion. To eternile
a victory like that of Almanza, a more
magnificent monument would be to be
wifhed for. Al-

O F S P A I N. 35o.
Almanza is only a fpacious village
with wide streets, and low but hand
fome houfes.* Its induftry is confined
to the weavers, who indeed are nu
merous : the hemp grown in the neigh
bourhood is not fufficient for their em
ployment. To the north of the village
are the ruins of an old inhabited caftle,
and to the weft, at about a quar
ter of a league from Almanza, is an ir
regular mountain, of fuch a fhape, that
at a diftance the traveller is inclined to
take it for an enormous intrenchment.
The roads which lead from Almanza
are bad, acrofs a ftony country, wild,
and covered with heath ; this is ano
ther not very pleafing part of the king
dom of Murcia. For about a league the
road runs by the fide of a wood of Caf-
carrales, large trees, the fruit of which
is a long hufk, full of a kind of Coagu
lated juice, and given as a treat to the
cattle of the country. A little farther
on I croffed a wood of green oaks,
(Encinas) which produce the bcllotta or
Aa 4 acorn,

360 THE PRESENT STATE
acorn, a fruit formerly precious to our
anceftors, and which, in the prefent age,
is not too vulgar for the delicate tafte
of the Spanifh ladies. It is true the
acorn of thefe green oaks fenfibly differs
from that of the common oak (Robles).
It is leffer, and has a tafte a good deal
like that of a hazel nut. The other kind
of acorn, which in Spain has the fame
bitternefs as in other countries, is em
ployed for the fame purpofe as elfe
where. Two leagues from the little village
, Del villar, is the Venta del Rincon, a foli
tary inn, but tolerably good, although
fituated in a barren foil. A league far
ther on we perceive Chinchilla, a town
on a barren eminence, but which com
mands the fpacious and fertile plains of
la Mancha. As we approach Albacete
the foil gives fufficient indications that
they are near. This* town, fituated thirty
leagues from Valencia and Alicant, is a
quarter for cavalry, and has in its envirpns
•fields of wheat, barley and fome paftures. About

OF SPAIN. 361
About half a league from it is a tolerably
handfome aqueduct, the road leading to
which is the favorite walk of the inha
bitants. Albacete covers a confiderable fpace
of ground ; it is a place much frequented
by travellers, and efpecially by people
in bufinefs. Its induftry is exercifed on
the iron and fteel brought thither from
Alicant. The manufactures of Albacete
will not for a long time be prejudicial to
the hard-ware of France and England ;
but they are at leaft fufficient to banifh
from the city idlenefs and poverty, and
to give to the inhabitants an appearance
of opulence and activity, which pleafes
the eye of the traveller, fatigued with
croffing a barren and wretched coun
try. From Albacete, after having paffed
through two extenfive villages, La Gineta
andLaRoa, I arrived at Minalia, another
large village, fo unprovided that I found
npthing I could purchafe to eat, not
evert

362 THE PRESENT STATE
even bread ; of which each individual
bakes as much as is fufficient for his own
wants, and has none to fell. The nine,
leagues of road from Albacete to Minalla
lie acrofs a vaft plain which, not being
well cultivated, produces only a little
corn and fome faffron. The inhabitants,
however, though in all other refpects
without induftry or activity, feed num
bers of thofe impure animals profcribed
by the law of Mofes, and which poetry
dares not name without a periphrasis.
I went in the evening to Al Provenzio,
where I flept. This is a town rather
confiderable ; the cultivation of faffron
is the principal employment of the in
habitants. At Al Provenzio I met with
a French baker, who was delighted at
hearing me fpeak his own language,
which infpired him with fufficient confi
dence to induce him to make his com
plaints to me of the perfecutions he fuf
fered, and to requeft me to lay them be
fore the minifter. Although he had long
been married and eftablifhed in the coun try,

O F S P A 1 N. 363
try, he never had been able to expiate
the crime of being a Frenchman ; he was
looked upon with a jealous eye, and fe
verely treated : his great and unpardon
able fault was, making better bread than
the other bakers. Thus, in every fituation,
envy accompanies and embitters fuccefs.
I administered to the poor baker all the
confolation my humanity could fuggeft :
and, for a few comforting words and
vague promifes of ufing my credit in his
favour, I received his benedictions and
the effufions of his gratitude.
Beyond Al Provenzio the foil becomes
better ; Icroffed well cultivated lands, and
paffed througn two villages. Pedronera,
in which there is a manufactory of falt-
petre, and La Mota well fituated in
no very deep valley. This village is
commanded by an eminence upon
which are twelve windmills, which
appear as if ranged in order of battle.
According to their pofition, relative to the
two villages, Quintanar and El Tobofo,
which owe all their renown to the immor tal

364 THE PRESENT STATE
tai Cervantes, I doubted not but thefe
windmills were thofe on which Don Quix
ote made his firft effay in chivalry. I fur-
veyed the extenfive plains which had been
the fcene of his adventures. I was only
a league fiom El Tobofo, the birth place
of the fair Dulcinea ; and by making a lit
tle circuit, might pafs through this vil
lage, which the lively pen of Cervantes
has almoft nearly rendered equal in fame
to the greateft cities hiftory has celebrated.
I feemed to fee the fhades of this great
man, and of his hero wandering in thefe
fields. To have gone out of the way
about half a league would have com
pletely gratified my curiofity; but my
conductor, who was but little verfed in
literature, and like la Fontaine's flag,
not accufiomed to read, did not partake of
my curiofity : I was obliged to content
myfelf with difcovering, from the great
road, the fteeple of El Tobofo, the little
wood in which Don Quixote waited for
the tender interview to be procured him
by his faithful fquire, and the houfe in
which

OF SPAIN. 3fj5
which Dulicinea received his amorous
meffage. Full of the ideas which thefe ro
mantic plains called to my recollection,
I paffed through Quentavar, and arrived
at Corral, a large viUage within nine
leagues of Aranjuez.
It was to this place that one of the fine
roads of Spain, for which the kingdom
is indebted to the Count de Florida Bian
ca, had been brought, and which has
fince been further continued. No road
can be more straight, folid, or better
formed. It begins at Aranjuez, and, crof
fing Ocana, advances into la Mancha,
within fixteen leagues of the capital.
Thence to Madrid the road is as fine as
any in Europe ; but this barren, naked and
ill peopled country yet remains to be
rendered flourifhing ; the induftry of the
inhabitants, crowded together in the great
villages, at leaft three leagues from each
Other, without fo much as a hamlet,
farm or thicket, in the interval which
feparates

f/o THE PRESENT STATE
feparates them, is yet to be excited ; and
commodious afylums to be built for tra
vellers, who in croffing the extended
and burning plains, frequently ftand in
need of fhade, refrefhment, and repofe.
Thefe conveniences are wanting on all
the roads in Spain : to furniih them is a
tafk worthy of the intelligent zeal of the
Count de Florida Bianca, who has for
feveral years paft dedicated the leifure of
peace to this beneficent purpofe.
At the time of my return from Valen
cia, this minifter was ferioufly employed
in eftabliihing ftage carriages. Until
then, the only manner of travelling ex
peditioufly was on poft horfes ; and thofe
whofe age, fex or fituation would not
permit them to travel in this dangerous
manner, were obliged to be flowly drag
ged in the carriages of the country, drawn
by fix mules, the only animals ufed here
to draw. Thefe carriages, called toiler as,
go eight or, at moft, ten leagues a day, fo
that the journey from Cadiz to Bayonne,
a diftance of an hundred leagues, took up

O F S P A 1 N 367
Up at leaft three weeks. The Count de
Florida Bianca perceived that one means
of giving new life to the country, was to
render communication more fpeedy and
eafy. He therefore conceived the pro
ject of making roads, building inns, and
eftablifhing poft horfes. The expences
and difficulties of the late war retarded
the execution of the plan; and, even
fince the re-eftablifhment of the peace, it
has been but flowly and gradually exe
cuted *. The four principal roads, thofe
from Madrid to Cadiz, to Barcelona, to
the frontiers of France, and to Portugal,
were firft attended to by the minifter ;
and among thefe that which eftablifhed a
communication between the two moft
eminent cities in the kingdom required
the preference ; for which reafon, the firft
cares of the Count de Florida Bianca were
* I have been informed that, fince my departure
from Spain, there are diligences eftablifhed on fome
of the principal roads, among others, from Bay
onne to Madrid, by which means the journey may be
performed in fix days. dedicated

368 THE PRESENT STATE
dedicated to it ; and towards the end of
1784, travelling in a poft-chaife from
Madrid to Cadiz, was already commodi
ous, at leaft in fine weather; for the
roads of Andalufia have ftill need of
much repair, not to be impaffable after
long rains.
In the year 1 785, 1 was one of the firft
who made ufe of the new convenience to
crofs this famous Province, and to vifit
one of the moft celebrated ports in the
world. From Aranjuez, I firft went to Ocana, a
little city upon a rifing ground, which
infenfiby lowers as we approach Gu
ardia, diftant from it three leagues. In
1785 Ocana contained nothing remark
able, but a riding fchool, which flourifhed
under the direction of lieutenant-general
Don Antonio Ricardos, and furnifhed
the Spanifh cavalry with able officers,
when the count, for reafons of which. I
will not pretend to judge, thought pro
per to fupprefs it. On

OF SPAIN. 369
On leaving Ocana the eye embraces
a vaft plain perfectly level, which gives
fome previous idea of thofe of la Mancha.
As we approach this province we meet
with frequent groups of olive trees. All
Guardia, except the church, appears at
a diftance like a large heap of ruins.
Tembleque, which is two leagues from
it, has not a bad appearance, nor is it
deftitute of induftry. Silks are woven
there from the raw materials brought
from Toledo. The neighbouring country
alfo produces a little faltpetre: this,
however, - does not embellifh the en
virons. The firft ftage after Tembleque, is a
little folitary houfe, called Canada de la
Higuera : this is the moft—miferable inn
upon the whole road. I found nothing
there but water, which, for want of a
glafs, I was obliged to drink out of the
pitcher. Two leagues farther on is Madridejos,
a handfome village, on leaving which
Vol. II. B b the

3?o THE PRESENT STATE
the traveller is agreeably furprifed to
find, in fhe midft of plains entirely with
out verdure, an alley of white elms, a
few kitchen gardens, and feveral clumps
of trees : — Rari nantes in gur git e vqflo.
This plain leads to Puertolapiche, a
little village, near to which Don Quixote,
at the beginning of his adventures, was
dubbed knight-errant. It is fituated at
the extremity of two hills, over which
are fcattered a few orange trees. The
hills gradually lower towards a kind
of defile, where the vaft plains of la
Mancha become narrow for a fhort
fapce, and afterwards widen and extend
themfelves to the feet of the Sierra
Morena. Villalfa is a village two leagues from
the latter, where coarfe cloths are made
with the wool of the district. Before I
arrived there I paffed a long and narrow
ftone bridge, badly kept in repair, on
each fide of which is a large morafs co
vered-

OF SPAIN. 371
vered with ftanding water and weeds.
The traveller is not a little furprifed
when he learns that this fpecies of
marfh is the ftream of the river Guadi
ana, which, at a 'little diftance from the
bridge, hides its lazy waters under
ground, afterwards appears again, crofles
Eftramadura, then a part of Portugal,
and forms, where it falls into the fea,
the limit between that kingdom and
Spain. From Villalta to Manzanares, one of
the greateft towns of la Mancha, are five
long leagues ; the carabineers have there
one of their chief quarters, and in return
for the plenty they diffufe through the
district, they fomewhat violate, regard-
lefs of moral propriety, the rights of
hofpitality. They form the fineft corps of
the Spaniih army, and their being fixed
in la Mancha fecures to that province
the continuation of a fine race of iub-
jects. Frederick II. in his political and
military fyftem, would, perhaps, have
commended a diforder ufeful to his
B b 3 views,

37^ THE PRESENT STATE
views. Charles III. is certainly unac
quainted with it ; his virtue would never
fuffer him to tolerate an open violation
of order and decency.
At a fhort diftance from Manzanares
I croffed the little river of Javalon, the
waters of which, according to the plan
adopted in 1785, are to be employed to
effect a junction between the Tagus and
the Guadiana. The wine of the envi
rons of Manzanares is little inferior to
that of Valdepennas, another town, four
leagues from the former. All this dif-
trict is the real good wine country of
la Mancha. Santa Cruz, two leagues far
ther on, is the chief place of the eftates
of thegrandee of Spain, who, fince thelaft
year, has been grand-matter of his Catho
lic majefty's houfhold. Two leagues from
Santa Cruz, is the little village of Alrno-
radiel, where, towards the fouth, the
vaft plains of la Mancha terminate. I be
lieve there is not a country in Europe
lefs varied than that for twenty long
and tedious leagues between Tembleque and

OF SPAIN.' 373
and Almoradiel. Nothing can be more
undiverfified than the afpect of this vaft
horizon : we travel three or four leagues
without meeting with an human habi
tation to give repofe to the wearied eye ;
we wander over fields, almoft countries
even, the cultivation of which does not
appear lively, although the foil wants
nothing but lefs aridity to become excel
lent. A few thin plantations of olive trees
fometimes interrupt the uniformity of
the plain ; fewer vineyards are found than
we fhould expect there when the great
confumption of the wine of la Mancha in
Spain is confidered. This province is
not fo uniform in its dimenfions as that we
crofs from Madrid to Cadiz. To the weft
of Tembleque and Madridejos, there are
wide valleys lefs dry than the plains. Every
two years the king goes to take the diver
sion of hunting in the environs of Ye-
venes, a village in the weftern part of la
Mancha, twelve leagues from Aranjuez,
that commands a fine and very exten
five valley, in which is a vaft number
of olive plants, and on the other fide,
B b 3 the

374 THE PRESENT STATE
the old caftle of Confuegra is feen on
a chain of hills. The city of this name
is at the foot of the caftle. Here a
Frenchman, M. Salvador Dampierre, of
whom I have formerly fpoken, eftablifhed,
ten or twelve years ago, a manufacture
of faltpetre, the fuccefs of which an
fwered riot to his endeavours,
After leaving Almoradiel, we approach
the Sierra Morena. A few years ago
this district was the dread of travellers,
who, therefore, when they were to crofs
it, went more to the weft, to gain the
chain of mountains of the fame name ;
pafling by the town of Vifo, and thence
croffing the mountains, almoft at the
peril of their lives, in one of the fteepeft
parts, called Puerto del Rey. M. le Maur,
a Frenchman, who for a long time has
been one of the corps of engineers in
Spain, and whofe talents languiihed in
oblivion, was chofen in 1779, by the
cotmt de Florida Bianca, to render prac
ticable a road the moft frequented of
ajly in. the kiugdorn. He has made it
one

O F S P A I N. 375
one of the fineft in Europe ; it con
tinues for fix leagues, from Almoradiel
to Carolina: at firft it has an afcent
almoft infenfible ; but the rocks of
which this country is full, rife ftill
higher ; and the road paffes through the
windings they form. M. le Maur had
no choice but that of carrying it through
the valleys, which lie at their foot, or
over their craggy tops. The hand of
genius found a medium, and conducts
the ,- aftonifhed traveller along the
fide of the rocks. Thofe which op
pofed his paffage were either removed
by the explofion of gunpowder, or le
velled by art and induftry ; fome of them
fupport the fame road to which they
feemed to oppofe invincible obftacles, as
conquerors overthrow the enemies of
their glorious defigns, and convert them
into instruments to execute their will.
By long circuits only, it is that art has
gained tl^s triumph ; it called to its aid
bridges, arched flopes, and walls breaft
high : feeble ramparts, behind which the
traveller proceeds without danger or fear
B b 4 upon

376 THE PRESENT STATE
upon the brink of an abyfs. In this
manner he arrives at the defpena perros,
where the rocks approach each other fo
near that they feem to form a vault over
his head. A brook runs through the
valley ; and its water will be of great affif
tance to the canal of which M. le Maur
has drawn the plan.
About a quarter of a league beyond
this mafs of rocks, is the poft ftage of
Las Correderas, a group of folitary thatched
cabins, in the bofom of the mountains.
There is no difficulty in afcending from
this place to la Carolina, the chief town
of the new fettlement of the Sierra Mo-
rena. I have already obferved, that the
flou rifhing ftate of this fettlement is due
to Don Pablo Oiavide. The difgrace
of this illuftrious man has been the
caufe of their decline ; not that his fuc
ceffor Don Miguel Ondeano has not the
ftrongeft zeal and moft excefcent inten
tions : but befides his not having the
fplendid talents of M. Oiavide, and ef
pecially that intelligent activity which
animates

OF SPAIN. 377
animates every place to which it is di
rected, he was deprived, during all the
late war, of the hundred thoufand reals
a month which the king affigned for
the fupport of thefe colonies ; this fuf-
pends indifpenfible meafures, the ex-
pences of which the intendant eftimated,
in 1785, at near four millions and a half
of reals. Such were the building of a
certain number of houfes, the repairing
of feveral others which had been almoft
deftroyed by the injuries of time, the
eftablifhment of eight magazines of corn,
the building of two new churches,
of an oil- mill, of barracks, &c all
neceffary to th,e progrefs of cultiva
tion and population. Another fource
of the decline of this colony, the efta
blifhment of which, notwithftanding its
defects, does honour to the reign of
Charles III. is the taxes government is
too much in a hurry to draw from it.
The poor colonifts, who do not culti
vate a foil by much fo fertile as at firft
it was thought to be, already pay to
the king contributions for the wine, oil,
brandy,

3y8 THE PRESENT STATE
brandy, fait and even corn, which they
confume. It feems too much pains has
been taken to prove to the court, that
this eftablifhment, far from being long
an expence to it, might in a few years
reimburfe the advances made in its fa
vour. Thefe different difcouragements
have made agriculture languifh, and
driven feveral families from the colony.
However, as I paffed through it, a well-
informed perfon affured me the emigra
tions had ceafed, and that in the little
capital of la Carolina and the hamlets
depending upon it, there were ftill five
thoufand and forty-four perfons. A part
of the German families, which at firft
were numerous in the colony, have re
tired from it. Thofe which remain affo-
ciate by degrees with the Spaniards ; and
at la Carolina they have no longer a prieft
among them who fpeaks their language.
Guarroman, the firft ftage from la Ca
rolina, is one of the principal places of
the colonies of the Sierra Morena. It
contains about a hundred and fourteen fami-

O F S P A I N. 379
families, and continues to profper. Corn
and cattle are the principal refources of
the colonifts. From Guarroman we de
fcend towards Baylen, near the con
fines of the Sierra Morena. Baylen is
an ancient town, in the neighbourhood
of which we find fome of the fineft
horfes in Andalufia.
The ftage from Baylen to the Cafa del
Rey, is the worft upon the road. It is
by turns fandy and rocky, fteep and
crooked, and the traveller would fooner
go over it on foot than in a poft-chaife.
At about a league from Baylen I re
marked to the left a large Venta, M. Oia
vide had ordered to be begun, but
which, fince his difgrace, has been neg
lected, as if it had been fubjected to
the fame anathema as its founder.
I afterwards paffed the Rumblar, which.
a league farther on falls into the Gua
dalquivir, over a handfome ftone bridge.
At laft I arrived at the Cafa del Rey, a
foli-

3§o THE PRESENT STATE
folitary inn 'in the middle of the woods#
Here I began to perceive the Guadalqui
vir, at which I arrived, at a little diftance
from Anduxar. The whole road from
Guarroman to this city is planted with
olive trees ; and their pale and gloomy
foliage is the only verdure feen in that
interval. Anduxar has a good appearance ; its
environs are agreeable, and fufficiently in
dicate the neighbourhood of a river.
The Guadalquivir runs at a little diftance
from the walls of the city. It has long
been intended to make it navigable here ;
but the firft thing neceffary to be done
is to pull down three mills which ob
struct its courfe, and extend almoft from
one bank to the other.
From this city the road lies over two
bridges, feparated by an old and very
maffy gate, and afterwards runs by the
fide of a long plantation of olive trees.
It then continues over a fteep hill, and,
after a ftage of three long leagues and a
half,

OF SPAIN. 38t
half, brings you to Aldea del Rio, a vil
lage upon an eminence, on the bank of
the Guadalquivir. Its fituation is de
lightful, and the inhabitants feem happy,
and not fo poor as thofe of the reft of
the district. They manufacture fome
coarfe cloth wTith the wool they gather.
I found there excellent water melons,
for which the Lucullufes of Paris would,
in the heat of the dog-days, have paid a
guinea each, although they were fold to
me at five-pence.
The road from this village runs near
the Guadalquivir to that of Del Carpio,
fituated upon a fteep hill, and com
manded by an old caftle, which, as I was
confidently informed, was built before
the time of the famous Bernard del
Carpio. From this place to Cordova is five long
leagues. This ancient city, celebrated
for having been the native place of
Seneca and Lucan ; the residence, du
ring feveral centuries, of the Moorifh kings,

382 THE PRESENT STATE
kings, and producing in the neighbour
ing country the fineft horfes in Andalu
fia, has nothing majeftic in its appear
ance. The only remarkable edifice it
contains is the cathedral. The ftreets
are narrow and ill-paved. The beft
view of it is as you arrive from Cadiz.
It forms, upon a very gentle declivity,
a kind of femicircular amphitheatre on
the banks of the Guadalquivir.
Coming from Madrid, the river is paffed
over a bridge, called Puente d'Alcoleda.
It was much out of order when I was
at Cordova, and was then undergoing a
repair. From the bridge to the walls of Cor
dova, the ground is even, the foil well
cultivated, and planted with many young
olive trees.
During the fhort ftay I made in this
city, I did not fail to vifit the famous
cathedral, which formerly ferved as a
mofqueto the Moors. It forms a long
fquare

O F S P A I N. 383
fquare of a hundred and fifty-eight paces
by a hundred and thirty-eight, and is
well lighted, but too low. The columns
are marble, placed in quincunx and well
preferved. Without counting them one
by one, it is difficult to know exactly
their number, becaufe moft of the rows
are interrupted by fome door or chapel ;
but as far as I could judge I fhould
eftimate them at about fix hundred.
Thefe columns of blackifh marble reach
not the ceiling ; they are fcarcely more
than ten or twelve feet high, and have
neither bafe nor capital ; they are joined
to each other by two arches placed one
above the other, covered with plaifter,
and fupported with ftone-work whitened
over. The refult of the whole is but
little agreeable to the eye. The cathe
dral therefore is more remarkable for
its oddity than any real beauties. How
ever, thi6 vaft edifice, fupported by a
foreft of columns, and ornamented with
chapels, in general well decorated, has
fomething grand in its appearance. The
Chriftians, when they confecrated the
mofque

384 THE PRESENT STATE
mofque to the worfhip of the true God,
added no embellifhments. They have
fomewhat leffened its dimenfions by the
principal chapels ; the ceiling of one of
which feems to be preferved as it was in
the time of the Moors.
By the fide of the cathedral is a court,
the precious remains of the refidence of
the Moors at Cordova. It is planted with
orange trees, the ancient and tufted foli
age of which ferves as an afylum to great
numbers of birds, and covers, with its
fhade, feveral fountains, which render the
air conftantly cool. I fhall not foon
forget the ill reception I met with in this
city. If I had formed my opinion of the
character of the people of Cordova like
the Englifhman, who paffed a night at
Blois, and judged of all the inhabitants
by the woman of the inn where he flept,
I fhould have conceived a very indifferent
idea of their urbanity. I had entered the
cathedral without difficulty ; but whilft I
was numbering the columns, and eftima
ting its dimenfions, the few perfons I had
found

OF SPAIN. 385
found there retired, and the different doors
I had obferved were fhut ; none but that
which opens to the fine orangery of the
Moors was left unlocked : I went to it to go
out. But what was my furprife at being
addreffed by two beadles, who reproached
me, without much ceremony, for the time
I had loft in furveying, as they called it, their
church , as if that had been the proper time
to remain there. I reprefented to them
mildly (for this was not the moment to
be refractory) that as I was a ftranger in
Cordova, I could not know that noon was
an improper time to be in the cathedral.
It is well for you, replied they harfhly
(for mildnefs often encourages infolence)
that thefe two dogs (fhewing me the
animals) which are kept to guard the
church, did not fee for you ; in that cafe
you would have made your efcape much
quicker than you came in, as they
would not have given you time to count
the pillars. While going out, by a door
in the court, which they rather unwil
lingly opened to me, I expreffed my
aftonifhment that the ftrange office of
Vol. II. C c driving

386 THE PRESENT STATE
driving the faithful from the houfe of
God, fhould be conferred upon dogs.
But my travelling drefs had nothing in
it which commanded refpect ; and my
remonstrance could have had no effect ;
which I cannot but regret on account of
thofe who may go thither in future.
The exterior appearance of this cathe
dral has in it nothing extraordinary. It -
prefents a maffy and irregular building
with enormous fquare pillars. In the city,
we perceive no traces of that activity
which accompanies induftry, although
there are manufactures of ribbons, laces
and hats.
From Cordova to Eccija is a diftance
of ten leagues, acrofs a fine well culti
vated country, with feveral plantations
of olive trees. On tjiis road the travel
ler firft changes horfes at El Cortejo del
Mango Negro, a folitary farm-houfe, which
I found furrounded with cows, where,
however, it would not have been more
difficult to find a glafs of nectar than a
bafon

O F S P A I N. 387
bafon of milk. The people of the coun
try told me, it was not the cuftom to milk
the cows. »
La Carlotta, a handfome new built
village, is three leagues from this ftage.
The foundation of la Carlotta was nearly
at the fame time, and had a like object
with that of la Carolina. It is the chief
place of the new fettlements of Anda
lufia. The intendant who presides over
them, as alfo over thofe of la Carolina,
was at la Carlotta when I arrived there.
I went to vifit this refpectble man, whom
I had known at Madrid. I greatly ad
mired the beauty of his apartments ; but
could not but call to mind, what I had
frequently heard obferved, that it was
by fuch beginnings, that in Spain, moft
fuch psojects failed* La Carlotta is de
lightfully fituated in the center of an
open country, where olive trees fucceed
remarkably well. It is not fo large as la
Carolina, but more fo than a third fettle
ment of the fame kind, called la Luifiana,
three leagues beyond Eccija. There are
at moft but a hundred and fifty fami-
Cc 2 lies

388 THE PRESENT STATE
lies in this colony, and the cultivation
of grain is almoft their only refource.
Between thefe two colonies, and four
leagues from the former, ftands Eccija,
a pretty large town, well built, and one
of the handfomeft in Andalufia.
The road to it from la Carlotta is pjea-
fant; it crofles a well cultivated coun
try, abounding in plantations of olive
trees and villas. Farm houfes and oil
mills are feen fcattered over the whole
horizon. On the other fide of Eccija the land
is lefs cultivated. Leaving the town
I obferved, at no great diftance, an obe-
lifk in a bad ftyle. I afterwards paffed
the Xenil, over a handfome bridge.
The ground gradually lowers after leav
ing la Luifiana. The little farm houfes,
which make a part of this new colony,
are continued near the great road, at
fmall diftances from each other, for
half

O F S P A I N. 3s9
half a league ; fome of them Ure inha
bited by German families, who, hap
pily for the thirsty traveller, are ac
quainted with the cuftom of milking
cows. Soon after I had left la Luifiana, I per
ceived, at a diftance, fome of the houfes
of Carmona, which from this fide has
no very promising appearance ; it is,
however, a confiderable town. The
fteeple of the principal church is of a
fingular ftructure. It is a high tower,
which gradually inclines to and termi
nates in a fteeple, and upon which are
placed the moft whimfical ornaments of
architecture. This modern toy proves
that true tafte has not yet penetrated
into that part of Spain. It certainly has
not had the fanction of the academy of
San Fernando.
From Carmona to Seville is fix leagues,
during which you once change horfes.
The country is level and covered with
olive trees. I had only one afternoon
Cc ^ ^

39o THE PRESENT STATE
to dedicate to the remarkable things of
the fecond city in Spain. A very oblig
ing Frenchman, to whom I was recom
mended, gratified the wilhes of my im
patient curiofity.
We firft vifited the tobacco manu
factory ; a prodigious eftabliihment, as
well for the fize of the edifice as the
number of hands employed in it. We
faw the tobacco in leaves as it comes
from~the Havannah, where but a fmall
quantity is manufactured, the manner of
rafping it, that of preparing the kind
of ochre (almazarron) with which it is
mixt to give it a colour and oilinefs ;
the manner of making this mixture, and
that of forming the little rolls of it,
called Cigarros, the confumption of which
is fo confiderable in Spain. We went
through the feparate chambers in which
the different kinds of tobacco are kept
labelled, and ready to be fent to the dif
ferent provinces of the kingdom. It
would be difficult to find in fo fmall a
fpace more activity or a greater variety of
occu-

O F S P A I N. 39i
occupations. This manufacture is one
of the moft abundant fources of revenue
to the fovereign. The annual produce
to the treafury is eftimated at twenty
millions of livres (above eight hundred
thoufand pounds sterling).
We afterwards went to the foundry
of copper cannon, which, with that of
Barcelona, fupplies all the Spanifh arfe
nals in Europe. The method of M.
Maritz is ftill followed there, with fome
trifling variations. I obferved, with
pleafure, the ingenious machine with
which the cannon are bored, after hav
ing been eaft folid.
From what I could learn relative to
this foundry, I concluded, that either
from negligence or difhonefly in the
people employed, there was room for a
confiderable faving in the expences. Six
thoufand quintals of copper from Mex
ico and Peru are annually refined at
Seville, and each quintal of refined cop
per cofts the king about fifty reals
C c 4 (ten

392 THE PRESENT STATE
(ten fhillings and three-pence). A lit
tle before I arrived at Seville, a French
man propofed to the king a method
which would have made a faving of
twenty- two reals a quintal. But either
from a fervile attachment to old forms,
a prejudice againft the nation of the
propofer, or other lefs innocent mo
tives, the propofition was rejected. The
Frenchman was not difcouraged ; he re
fined a quantity of copper, and eaft a
few pieces of cannon according to his
own method. The proofs, at which the
Spaniards vouchfafed to be prefent, that
they might not too openly betray their
uiiwillingnefs to adopt the propofal of
the ftranger, fhewed the cannon to be
of an excellent quality : but intrigue,
which was not idle on this occafion,
found means to prevent the experiment
from being any further profecuted.
Leaving this foundry, we vifited the
fineft parts of Seville. We walked along
the banks of the Guadalquivir, which
the late intendants of Andalufia, Mef-
fieurs

Toz.H.Tcye $g$ .

Cathedral of Sevtlle.with the Giralda.

O F S P A I N. 393
fieurs Oiavide, Domefain and Lerena,
were at great pains to embelliih. I
could not but admire the large open
fpace facing the fuburb of Triana, a con
fiderable part of the city, from which it
is feparated by the river. Some prin
cipal buildings adorn, to a certain dif
tance, this part of the banks. In the
interval between the former and the
Guadalquivir, M. Lerena had begun
to form a walk, which his promotion
prevented him from finifhing. M. Oia
vide was ftopped by another caufe in his
projects of embellifhments. Seville, how
ever, is indebted to him for a part of
its quays, fome eftablifhments, feveral
handfome edifices, and a long alley of
trees which are planted by the fide of
the Guadalquivir, beyond the walls of the
city. In fpite of the anathemas of the
inquifition, he will not foon be forgotten
by the inhabitants.
To judge of the whole of Seville,
we went up to the Giralda (the name
given to the fteeple of the cathedral) by
a f pi rai

394 THE PRESENT STATE
a fpiral afcent without fteps. The
cathedral is a vaft edifice, and one of
the fineft gothic monuments which re
main. The ground, on which Seville
ftands, feemed to us nearly as extenfive
as the city of Madrid itfelf.
I did not forget to feek for the tomb
of Chriftopher Columbus, before the
choir of the cathedral; it is diftinguifhed
by one ftone only which bears thefe
words A CaftiUa y Arragon otro munda
dio Colon * : a laconic infcription in the-
true lapidary ftyle, to the full as ex-
preffive as thofe pompous ones with
which high founding rhetoric, bribed
by vanity, loads the maufoleums of fo
many ufelefs perfonages, without being
able to preferve them from oblivion.
I knew that Seville was the native
place of the famous painter Murillo, and
that his principal works were preferved
* To Caftile and Arragon Coiurnbus gave ano
ther world. there.

O F S P A 1 N. 395
there. I found them in the capuchin
convent and the hospital of charity.
In the convent 1 was particularly de-
delighted with a Chrift who loofens
himfelf from the crofs, with an expref-
fion of the moft affecting fweetnefs, to
embrace Saint Francis.
In the hofpital are ten paintings by
Murillo, all of which equally claim at
tention. That of Mofes bringing water
out of the rock excited my admiration ;
as did alfo thofe of the return of the
prodigal fon, and Saint Elizabeth curing
feveral young perfons about her of a
loathlome difeafe.
I vifited the Alcazar of Seville, for
merly the palace of the Mooriih kings,
and the mint, two neighbouring edi
fices, each remarkable in its kind. The
Alcazar is very fpacious, but irregular :
the mint is the moft ancient in Spain. The

3^6 THE PRESENT STATE
The environs of Seville appeared like
thofe of the other cities of Andalufia,
tolerably well cultivated. I remarked
in them, what is very rare in Spain, or
chards and feveral villas.
In the fpace of fixteen leagues, which
feparates Seville from Port Saint Mary, no
thing engaged my attention except the
handfome town of Xerez, the environs of
which produce the excellent wine of
that name, and contain the richest Car-
thufian monaftery in Spain. This
fouthern part of Andalufia is covered
with vineyards, corn fields, and olive
trees, but the cultivation was what did
not particularly ftrike me. I croffed
fome barren parts of this district which
did not bring to my recollection the
boafted beauties of the ancient Baetica
The road from Xerez to Port Saint
Mary begins On an uneven ground, and
terminates in the middle of fands. Thefe
continue until we arrive at Saint Mary,
a handfome town, almoft wholly new
built,

PLAK of the BAY of CADIZ

A f art. Sf Mary
B Pua*o Seal
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REFER E N C E S
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OF SPAIN. 3<)7
built, with wide ftreets in straight lines.
It is properly the refidence of the cap
tain-general of Andalufia ; but count
O'Reilly, who then held this govern
ment with that of Cadiz, refided in the
latter. He obtained leave, a few years
fince, to remove the military fchool,
which he founded, when governor of
Madrid, to Port Saint Mary. Thus hav
ing it under his eye, he began to re
vive it from that ftate of languor to
which his abfence and the war had re
duced it, when he was difmiffed from the
two important employments he held in
that country.
The bay of Cadiz is firft feen from
the top of a hill, half way from Xerez
to Port Saint Mary. The profpect is
beautiful, efpecially to thofe who have
previoufly feen plans of that fpacious
bay. From the eminence the eye sur
veys the whole, as in a large map ; the
two points which form the entrance of
the bay are distinctly feen, the fort of
Saint Sebaftian on one fide, and the town of

398 THE PRESENT STATE
of Rota on the other. In front is the
city of Cadiz, and we difcover the nar
row tongue of low land which fepavates
it from the ifland of Leon, and the al
moft femicircular bending of the bay to
the Carraque, Port- Real and Saint Mary.
Thus, no doubt, do provinces, chains
of mountains, and the windings of coafts
and rivers appear to the eyes of birds
when they approach the clouds and efcape
our fight. Thus do grand and extenfive
objects appear in their aftonifhing whole,
and the fucceffion of their minuter parts
to the bold rivals of the inhabitants of
the air, the aerial travellers, whofe in
trepidity firft awakened our rapturous
applaufe,but whom we afterwards flight
ed in the fame degree we had magni
fied. Posterity will, perhaps, revenge
them for our difdainful levity, by im
mortalizing their names and improving
their difcoveries.
From Port Saint Mary, I had the
choice of two roads ; that which goes
straight to Cadiz in croffing the Bay, and

OF SPAIN 399
and the other leading to it by land, paf
fing by Port-Real and the Ifle of Leon.
I preferred the former, and having hired,
for fixty reals, one of the large barks
which the owners are fo ready to offer to
the fervice of paffengers, in lefs than
an hour was tranfported by a favour
able wind to the quay of Cadiz. Port
Saint Mary lies near the mouth of the
Guadalete which, by driving its fands
into the Bay, forms a bar not to be
paffed over without fome danger, par
ticularly in winter. The boatmen, whofe
intereft it is to keep the paffengers in
fear, to which they render them tribu
tary, never fail to exaggerate the dan
ger ; and in the moment when it is moft
imminent, recite a prayer, the price of
which they afterwards demand by col?
lecting contributions ; but the moft timid
paffengers, and even the greateft devo
tees, have more confidence in the fkill
of their conductors than in the inter-
ceffion of the faint they invoke. lar-

400 THE PRESENT STATE
I arrived at Cadiz at the time when
that city, under the beneficent govern
ment of the count O'Reilly, experienced
feveral kinds of changes. As his power
was uncontrouled, he found no obftacle
too great for his activity to furmount.
Cadiz owes to him its embellifhment,
augmentation and cleanlinefs ; why can
not I add its fecurity ? But the vigilance
of the count had not, in the year 1785,
extended to this effential part of the po
lice ; and, at that time, murders were
very frequent in the city.
If any thing can fupply the want of
that wjiich insures the peaceable exiftence
of the citizens, this omiffion has been
fully compenfated for. By order of the
count the old houfes were pulled down,
to. give place to new ones regularly
built ; the ftreets were paved, made
ftraighter, and conftantly kept clean,
and the wafte ground was covered with
new houfes. The governor may be re
proached even with excefs of ceconomy,
with refpect to this ground. In feveral
triangular

O F S P A I N. 401
triangular fpaces houfes were built which,
without convenience for thofe who in
habited them, feemed to have no object
but that of incommoding their neigh
bours. The count endeavoured to ex
tend the confines of the city by gaining
fpace from the fea. The ground upon
which the cuftom-houfe ftands, and
that adjacent, was formerly covered by
the watery element, but this was ante-
riorto the administration of M. O'Reilly.
He meditated another project of the fame
kind. He wifhed to take poffeffion of the
ground of the Alameda, a walk by the fea
fide near the bay, the trees of which bear
the vifible marks of that neighbourhood.
His intention was to build there, and to
lengthen the fpace, by raifing to a level
with it that part of the fhore which runs
towards the inner part of the city ; and,
on the outer bank of the new enclofure,
he intended to plant a new alley of trees.
But to effect this kind of miracle, funds
•jyere neceffary, and ftones and rubbifh
fufficient to fill up the extenfive fpace
the count projected to gain upon the fea.
Vol. II. D d I know

402 THE PRESENT STATE
I know, not what has become of his pro
ject fince his retiring from office. Wait
ing for a time favourable for its execu
tion, he repaired a kind of rampart,
called la Muralla, which commands the
harbour, and formed a new bafon on
that fide of the quay, where merchan
dize from the Indies is landed.
He beftowed much attention on the
embellifhment of the gate on the land
fide, which was formerly covered with
briars, and ferved as an afylum . for rob
bers. Under the adminiftration of one
of his predeceffors, gardens were laid
out, and feveral houfes built there. At
the time of the difpute relative to Falk
land Iflands, the pufillanimous governor
imagining the place in danger, and the
enemy near his gates, entrenched be
hind the feeble efforts of his induftry, and
destroyed the houfes, without obfervsng
that the ground on which they flood was
wholly commanded by the battery from
the land gate. Under

OF SPAIN. 40j.
Under the administration of the count
de Xerena, predeceffor to count O'Reilly,
it was intended to rebuild them ; but
they did not acquire an agreeable form
till the latter became governor. He ex
tended the cultivation of the Ifthmus to
the fide of the great road which leads
from Cadiz to the ifland of Leon, and
opened the garden he made there by a
railing. The example was imitated by
the neighbours ; fo that for a quarter of
a league from the land gate the road
is bordered with fimilar fences, which,
by their uniformity, feem to belong to
.the fame proprietor. The neighbour
hood of the fea, the heat of the climate,
and the nature of the foil, the fand of
which it is not poffible to cover with
good earth above a certain height, are
vifible in this cultivation ; but it is not the
lefs agreeable to fee verdure, and gather
flowers and fruits in a foil which fo>
many circumftances feem to condemn
to sterility. While walking in the gar
den of the affeffor Mora, and that of
the governor, which joins it, and viewing
Dd 2 all

404 THE PRESENT STATE
all the Rich productions of Andalufia, the
vines, mulberry and olive trees that flou-.
rifh there, we forget the natvire of the
ground on which we tread, and the eler
ment by which it is almoft furrounded.
In time, thefe environs of the laud gate
will form a kind pf suburb ; a church
is already built, a quarter of a league
from the city, for thofe who reside in
that neighbourhood.
But nothing does more honour to the
zeal, understanding, and humanity of
count O'Reilly than the Hofpitium,
which owes to him, if uot its firft efta
blifhment, at leaft the admirable form
given it in the courfe of the year 1785.
No foundation of the kind can be better
directed ; it provides, within the fame
edifice, fuccour tp every clafs of fubjects,
who claim either the cares or inspection
of government ; to the aged of both
fexes, to incurables, vagabonds, proftir
tutes, the infane, and children of both
fexes whom their parents are incapable
pf maintaining. Each clafs is placed in,
fpacious

OF SPAIN. 4b5
fpacious and well aired apartments. Eve
ry perfon is furnifhed with food and em
ployment according to his age and fitua-
tionv Poor families find there an asy
lum, and the number of individuals
does not alarm the beneficence of go
vernment. Whilst I was at Cadiz a poor
widow came to the Hofpitium to procure
her five children to be received. How
ever, to prevent abufes, each Alcalde de
Barrio (commiffary of the quarter) was
obliged to prefent, weekly, to the gover
nor of the province, an account of all the
perfons, of both fexes, who in his quar
ter were in need of the fuccours of cha
rity, and intitled to receive them. The
governor examined the ftatement, and
wrote his directions in the margin. He
has often boafted, with an air of fatis-
faction, in which benevolence was as
ftrongly depicted as felf-approbation,
that in the feventeen divifions of which
Cadiz was compofed, there were already
fourteen*, in which not one perfon who
had a difficulty in gaining a livelihood,
or was deprived of the fuccours which
D d 3 might

406 THE PRESENT STATE
might render life fupportable, was then
to be found ; and that in a little time
he flattered himfelf with the hopes of
entirely banifhing idlenefs and mifery
from the city. The good order con
ftantly maintained in this inftitution,
was the fruit of his continued infpec-
tion. He paffed there the greatest part
of moft of his afternoons ; he Was well
feconded by feveral citizens of diftinc-
tion who, fome from fentiments of
-humanity, and others to make their
court to him, diftributed among them
felves the direction of the different apart
ments. Their prefence feemed to in
fpire refpect and confidence. The fere
nity that reigned in every countenance
diftinguifhed this charitable inftitution
from moft of the fame kind, which, in
general, prefent the image of confine
ment and wretchednefs. Proftitutes and
the infane are the only perfons deprived
of liberty. Individuals of every other
clafs go out in companies at certain
hours. None but the aged and infirm
are exempt from labour. Such as are
capab le

OF SPAIN. 407
capable of working are mostly employed
in carding, fpinning, and weaving the
cotton imported from the; colonies of
America. In the month of September,
1785, fhere were more looms, &c. than
hands to employ them. I faw a ware-
houfe full of fluffs manufactured with
in the eftabliihment ; thefe were fuffi
cient to the confumption of its inhabi
tants, and the governor had hopes that
in a little time there would be a surplus,
which would be another fource of reve
nue to the institution. When the count
O'Reilly became governor, he faw the
hopes of his predeceffor realized, and
added to this new revenue by the fale
v of certain pieces of ground belonging
to the city. The charity of the citi
zens alfo produces confiderable contri
butions. I left the Hofpitium, which in fo many
refpects deferves our higheft commen
dation, full of the greateft admiration,
which it would be impoffible to exprefs
with too much warmth, might we be-
D d 4 flow

408 THE PRESENT STATE
flow fo much praife on a man in dif-
'grace. I doubt not but the poft of the
count O'Reilly has been worthily filled
in every refpect ; but will his fucceffors
be generous enough to carry to the
greateft degree of improvement, an in
ftitution of which they have neither
had the pleafure nor the merit to have
been the founders ?
The inhabitants of Cadiz are almoft
exclufively employed in commerce ; this
will eafily be believed on obferving the
number of veffels in the port, which
commonly amount to fix or feven hun
dred : though when I was in that city the
number did not exceed three hundred.
The bay is fo fpacious that there are moor
ings for the different veffels according to
their various deftinations. The merchant
fliips, from the different ports of Europe,
are anchored oppofite the city. The
whole fpace which feparates them from
the bank of the river is covered with
numerous barks, boats, &c. continually
employed. The veffels for the Indian trade

OF SPAIN. 4o9
trade are anchored more to the eaft,
in the canal of Trocadero, formed by an
ifland feen at low water ; the entrance
of the Trocadero is defended by two
forts ; the fire from which crofles thofe
of the Puntal ; one is the fort Matagordo,
the other that of Saint Louis, built by
Duguay-Trouin. The handfome town of Saint Real is
built at the further end of the canal ;
and the magazines, arfenals, and dock
yards for merchant fhips are on the
banks. A merchant dug a bafon there,
and had fo calculated the dimenfions as
rendered it incapable of receiving any
veffels but merchantmen. However,
when I was at Cadiz, it had juft been
purchafed of him for the king, and pre
parations were making to form another
not far from the fame place.
The fhips of the royal navy are an
chored towards the eaft fide of the Bay,
near the arfenals and magazines. The
great fpace thefe occupy, and which land

41,0 THE .PRESENT STATE
land and fea difpute ,with each other,
is known by the name of the Carraque*
The court of. Spain, from a precaution
pften eluded,, always ufelefs, and which
only ferves to .create fufpicions unfavour
able to ; the navy of Spain, rigoroufly
excludes all .ftrangers frqm the Carraque.
I endeavoured to obtain an exception in
my favour, but the governor fent me
for anfwer, that he could not grant my
request without a formal order from the
king. I found means to, do without it ;
I went to the ifle of Leon, a confidera
ble city, long, open, and well built, on
the eaft fide of the Bay, and the feat of
the marine department. From this city,
acrofs an arm of the fea, to the Carraque
is about a quarter of a league. I went
in company with one of thofe curious
perfons, before whom all impediments
vanifh, and we vifited, at our leifure, all
the arfenals, and remarked what they
contained in fails, cordage, cables, an
chors, arms, fhip-timber, mails and
rigging. I was particularly pleafed with
the rope-yard and the lodgings of the
galley-

OF* SPAIN. 4II
galley- flaves ; the building is fix hun
dred yards long, and has as good an ap
pearance as that of Breft. Although this
work was .only .begun iri 1777, great
progrefs has already been made in it:
intelligent perfons, who had compared
the xordage and cables of the principal
dock-yards -and . magazines in Europe,
affured mey that in this refpectithe
riavy of Spain was not in the leaft infe
rior to any-; that the cordage was better
-made -and more durable,, becaufe, in
combing the hemp, all the tbwy part
we leave in it was taken out, and made
ufe of in caulking, whence results the
•double advantage, of ; more ifolid cordage
and the better caulking of veffels. Ano
ther cuftom in our ^rope-yards, which
the Spaniards have avoided adopting, is
the tarring the. cordage and keeping it
a long time piled up. In this ftate the
tar ferments and eats the hemp, and
the cordage is extremely apt to break
after being ufed but a fhort fpace of
time. The

412 THE PRESENT STATE
The Spaniards formerly obtained their
hemp from the north, at prefent they
are able to do without the affiftance, in
this article, of any other nation. The
kingdom of Granada already furnifh es
them with the greateft part of the hemp
they ufe ; and, in cafe of need, they
may have recourfe to Arragon and Na-
;varre. rAll the failcloth and cordage I
faw in the magazines at Cadiz were made
with Spaniih hemp ; and the texture of
the former appeared to>me even, clofe,
and folid. '; • eq>
ejji./n : ; ,".:?o ].¦'¦
I found alfo in the arfenals of the Car
raque, a great quantity of fheets of cop
per ; but it was all brought from Swe
den or Triefte. The Spaniards do not
»yet know how to refine copper well
••enough to ufe that from Mexico in bot-
- toming their fhips. Their, firft experi-
.*. ments of this kind were made at the be
ginning of the late war. When I left
¦_ Spain, moft of the Spanifh frigates were
copper bottomed ; and preparations were
making

O F S P A I N. 4,3
imaking to fheathe all the fhips of the
line.

We were fhewn fome caronades
brought from England; but more in
convenience than advantage was found
in this fpecies of cannon.
The magazines of the Carraque appeared
to me but moderately provided, parti
cularly with masts, rigging and timoer.
Until the prefent adminiftration fhips of
war could neither be built nor refitted
jn the department of Cadiz ; and, before
they could be careened, it was neceffary
to lay them on a hulk. M. de Valdez,
at that time fub-infpector of the Car
raque, adopted the plan of forming there
a bafqn ; and, fince he became minifter
of the naval department, he has been
very attentive to its execution. The
nature of the ground feemed to render
the thing impoffible ; it is a kind of
play which eafily finks in, and feems to
partake of the in liability of the element
with which it is furrounded and fatu-
rated.

414 THE PRESENT STATE
rated. It was in the moft elevated part
that a bafon was begun to be dug in
Auguft, 1785. I faw the piles driven,
upon which a bed Of ftone was to- be
laid, and the minifter hoped by this
means to give the bafon a folidity againft
which every impediment feemed to con-
fpire. The engineers who directed the
works fcarcely dared to expect fuccefs ;
their purpofe feemed to meet new obfta
cles daily : at each moment the want of
confiftence in the ground deceived their
efforts, and betrayed its inability to fup
port the heavy burthen intended to be
laid upon it. Art and perfeverance, at
length, triumphed over every difficulty,
and in the year 1787, inftead of one
bafon at the Carraque, there were two
for the' building of veffels of fixty-four
guns. I went on board fome of thofe lying
at anchor, and greatly admired their
beauty and folidity. It is impoffible to re
prefs a figh on feeing thefe fuperb works
of human induftry, when we reflect that
their

O F S P A I N. 4iS
their principal destination is to become
the instruments and victims of a rapid
and violent destruction, as if to anni
hilate them the ravages of time and
the rage of winds and waves were not
fufficient. Thus man, the fublimeft cre
ation of Nature, and whofe faculties
expand fo flowly, after having caufed
fo much folicitude to the authors of his
exiftence, is frequently fnatched from
their tendernefs by fome of the acci
dents to which he is perpetually expofed,
and which his paffions have multiplied an
hundred fold.
From the Carraque we returned by a
road which engaged our attention. As
we leave Cadiz, it is a quarter of a
league wide, but afterwards becomes fo
narrow that at the diftance of a league
the tide wafhes the two fides of the
caufeway, which feems to be boldly ele
vated above the abyfs of the ocean. The
prefent caufeway is another advantage
for which Cadiz is indebted to count
O'Reilly. He had confided this under taking

416 THE PRESENT STATE
taking to M. du Bournial, an engineer
well verfed in the act of conftructing
bridges and caufeways, whom he had
fent for fromFranceto employ him in his
mihtary fchool of Port Saint Mary. M,
du Bournial has raifed this road, and
rendered it more folid ; his fuccefs gained
him the acknowledgments of the city
of Cadiz, and new marks of confidence
in his talents,
M. Bournial was the perfon whom,
in 1785, O'Reilly wifhed to charge with
the execution of a project, which could
not but feduce the imagination of this
governor, who, it is faid, is fonder of
the wonderful * than of the pubhc good,
His object was to bring frefh water to
Cadiz from the diftance of eleven leagues.
He and the engineer had calculated that
* I had added fome other reftri&ions ta the eu,-
loghjm of this officer; I learned the particulars of
them in Luifiana, on the coaft of Barbary and elfe
where. I afterwards heard of his difgrace, and fup
preffed them entirely. for

OF SPAIN, 417
for two millions of piaftres this appa
rent miracle might be performed ; and
in Auguft, 1785, the count had received
fubfcriptions to the amount of one mil
lion two hundred thoufand piaftres. I
heard the pompous project difcuffed with
great impartiality. Thofe who approved
of it reafoned in this manner : a fpring
of frefh water is an article of the firft
neceffity, efpecially to a rich and popu
lous city, which, like Cadiz, daily in
creafes in both thefe refpects. The water
brought with fo much labour from the
fountains of Port Saint Mary, but im
perfectly fupplies the want of it in the
city: iii dry feafons it has fometimes
been found infufficient for the neceflities
of the inhabitants. Why fhould this
important city be longer expofed to a
fcarcity fo diftrefsful, when it might be
fecured from it at a trifling increafe of ex-
pence ? The city annually pays ninety-
fix thoufand piaftres for the precarious
fupply from the fountains of Saint Mary.
No more than a fum not exceeding two
millions of piaftres, that is, a capital, the
Vol. II. Ee in-

4i8 THE PRESENT STATE
interest of which, at five per cent, is a
hundred thoufand piaftres, was required
to procure it, an uninterrupted plenty.
The moft fordid cecOnomy could make
no objection to an eXpence of four thou-
fend piaftres for a purpofe of fuch ef-
fential utility. Such is the queftion con
fidered with refpect to the eXpenoe : let
us now, faid the favourers of the plan,
examine it in a political point of view. '
According to the prefent fyftem -'*- of
Europe, and the clofe connexion be
tween France and Spain, Cadiz is of the
greatest importance in the naval wars
of thofe powers: their fleets intended
to act in concert in any foreign expedi
tion muft rendezvous at that port. Muft
it not therefore be abfolutelyi neceffary
to render the victualling, watering, &c.
©f fuch fleets as eafy and expeditious
as poffible ? The canal would be highly
ferviceable for the latter purpofe ; in
ftead of which, fhips ready to fail have
often, during the War, been delayed
twenty-

O F S P A 1 N. 419
twenty-four hours, waiting to take in
their water from Port Saint Mary.
The project befides would not be dif
ficult to carry into execution. M. Bour
nial had furveyed and taken the levels
of the eleven leagues which the canal
was to pafs ; his plans were all finifhed ;
he had calculated the extent within a
fathom, and the expence to a piastre.
He had difcovered the traces of an old
canal, dug by the Romans for the fame
purpofe ; and the bed of this might in
a great meafure be rendered of ufe to the
new project, the completion of which
would not be expenfive for above two
leagues. Ought not the Romans, fo
fuperior in many refpects to modern
nations, . fometimes to ferve them as a
model, and, among the latter, were any
people more worthy than the Spaniards
of being immortalized by their great
and ufeful undertakings ?
The opponents confidered the project
of the governor as one of thofe fplendid
E e 2 but

420 THE PRESENT STATE
but chimerical conceptions feducing to
ardent imaginations, but in adopting
which prudent perfons are ever extremely
cautious. Cadiz, faid they, had, until
then, received the frefh water neceffary
to the wants of the inhabitants from
the fountains in the neighbourhood ;
why therefore fhould it now be pro
cured at a greater experice, when the
fupply, although brought thither with
more art and labour, would not be more
certain ? It was well known what reliance
ought to be placed on an eftimate of
an undertaking fo vaft and complicated.
Who would anfwer that the author of
ihe project would be well fupported ?
That Jie would not be difgufted with
vthe obftacles of every kind which he
¦muft meet? or that death might not
furprife him before the completion of
•his work ? .Supposing even that he fi-
•nifhed the undertaking, who could fay
¦the ftream from the spring, reprefented
as inexhaustible, might not be obstructed
. .in its courfe by fome one of a thoufand
accidents -to which -the ground it was to
be

OF SPAIN. 4u
be carried through, and the ftone aque
duct by which it was to be conveyed
muft be expofed ? We allow thefe ac
cidents may be provided againft or re
paired ; but befides that this con-
ftant vigilance is, as all will allow,
an equivocal bafis, upon which the fup
ply of a great city, with an article fo ne
ceffary, ought never to reft, the inha
bitants would experience fhort interrup
tions in the running of the water ; and
from that moment the benefit would be
come ftill more precarious than that
with which they had before been con
tented. I was certainly an impartial hearer ;
but I faw, with concern, that the quef
tion was in turns decided by partiality
and prejudice, by adulation and jealoufy,
by a blind fondnefs of novelty, and a ftill
blinder hatred to innovation. Thus it
happens that projects are never weighed
in any country by unbiaffed reafon, the
paffions of men conftantly infeeble then-
judgment, and he who prides himfelf in
E e 3 fhe

4S2 THE PRESENT STATE
the estimation of the public, is frequent^
ly influenced without knowing it by fome
difgraceful motive. Genius undertakes,
conftancy only executes, overcomes obfta
cles, and deprives fortune of her caprice,
and envy of its forked tongue. I know
not what is become of the noble project
of count O'Reilly fince his retirement
from office, or whether it will be num-
bered among the few which furvive
their authors ? May we hope that fome
generous citizen will be found who,
adopting the bantling deferted in the
cradle j will generoufly beftow on it the
cares of a father.
An account of the commerce of Ca
diz, would alone furniih fufficient matter
for a confiderable work, and confequent-
ly exceed the bounds I muft prefcribe to
mine. I fhall therefore add but little,
to what I have already faid, of the trade
pf Spain in general.
An idea -may be formed of that of
Cadiz, by knowing the number of
veffels

OF SPAIN. 423
veffels which annually enter and fail
from that port. This knowledge may
eafily be acquired by the lift printed
every week, as in all the great fea-ports
of Europe. In. 1776, nine hundred and
forty-nine fhips from different ports
entered that of Cadiz, of which two
hundred and fixty-five were French. In
1777, there entered nine hundred and
thirty-five veffels, two hundred and
eighty of which were belonging to
Fiance. The war which happened foon after
flackened this activity, but the number
of French fhips entering Cadiz appeared
111,1785, rather to have increafed than
diminiflied. Formerly no French veffel
from any port more to the north than
that of Calais arrived at Cadiz. Lately
feveral have been difpatched to Ham
burgh and Amsterdam, and refreighted
for Cadiz. To the advantages which
already gave us fome right to preference,
we began to add that of navigating at
almost as little expence as the Dutch;
E e 4 but

4*4 THE PRESENT STATE
but it feems we fliall not long enjoy
thefe favourable circumftances.
The ports of France which have com
mercial connexions with Cadiz, are thofe
of Marfeilles, Havre, Rouen, Morlaix,
Saint Malo, Bayonne, Bourdeaux, Nantes
and Saint Valery. I have named them
in fucceffion according to the degrees of
intercourfe which they maintain with
Cadiz ; merchandize is annually fent thi
ther from Marfeilles to the amount of
twelve millions of French money (five
hundred thoufand pounds sterling) of
which filks and gold laces are the prin
cipal articles. The greateft part of the
cargoes fent thither from Havre and
Rouen confift of woollens ; and thofe
from Morlaix and Saint Malo, in linens ;
the fales of which will hereafter be di-
minifhed by the competition of thofe
from Silefia, fince, notwithftanding our
remonftrances, we have for fbme time
been deprived of the advantages we in
this refpect enjoyed. Linens are alfo
a principal article in the few importa tions

O F S P A 1 N. 455
tions from Nantes. Flour and bacon
are the principal commodities fent from
Bordeaux and Bayonne, and the wool
lens of Amiens the chief contributions
of Saint Valery.
The people who moft abound at Cadiz
are, firft the Irifh, and next the Flemings,
Genoefe and Germans. The Engliih and
Dutch are not numerous. There are
many Frenchmen, but more among the
workmen of every kind, and retail deal
ers, than among the merchants. There
are, however, feveral commercial houfes
equally refpectable for their unimpeached
reputation, great capitals, and extenfive
credit. In proof of this affertion, it will-
only be neceffary to mention the names
pf Le Couteulx, De Magon, and feveral
other diftinguifhed houfes which divide
their property and fpeculations between
Cadiz and their own country, and of which
the individuals, after having advanta-
geoufly paffed feveral years at Cadiz, re
turn to enjoy, in the boibm of their fami
lies, an affluence they have fo well earned. This

4zi THE PRESENT STATE
This fpecies of colonifts is truly valu
able, and cannot be attached by too many
ties to the mother country, which they
doubly enrich by favouring the fale of
her productions, and returning to her
loaded with the fruits of their ufeful
induftry. They form at Cadiz a iociety
which has its funds, affemblies and pri
vileges, but to which the Spanifh go
vernment has lately, from a jealoufy
perhaps excufable, created many diffi
culties. The French are not the only objects
of this fufpicious conduct, nor is it
confined to Cadiz. All foreigners who
are eftablifhed at Cadiz and in other
commercial places of Spain, ought to
enjoy particular privileges, which date
from the period when the paflive ftate
of Spain relative to commerce, made it
r-eceffary to purchafe by facrifices the
aid of their capitals and induftry ; but
fince the kingdom is awakened from its
stupor, and that each citizen knowing
his perfonal resources, fnys to ^himfelf with

O F S P A I N. 42y
with a fatisfadtion which fuccefs already
juftifies, ed io anche fon pittore*, he feels
the yoke Spain impofed on herfelf in
lefs happy times ; and the agents of go
vernment, fure of a tacit approbation,
employ, to fhake it off, fuch means as
the rights of perfons do not quite ap
prove of, and againft which foreign mer
chants make complaints, fometimes ex
aggerated ; thefe means will in the end
be fanctified by continued infractions on
one fide, and forced condefcenfion on
the other, by which treaties will fall
into difufe without ever being formerly
abolifhed. For it is upon treaties that the
privileges of foreign merchants eftablifhed
in Spain are founded. The moft ancient
treaty is that concluded with the Hans
Towns, and which ferved as a model to
thofe with the Englifli, Dutch and
French. The French, in general, more
reftlefs and exacting than other nations,
whofe activity and fuccefs fooner awaken
* The exclamation of Corregio — " And I too
ara a painter." jea-

4*8 THE PRESENT STATE
jealoufy, in whom the power of ufing
is fo near to abufe, who know not how
to flatter the weaknefs of thofe with
whom they are connected, are more ex-
pofed to that kind of fecret perfecution
which foreign commerce experiences
from the Spanifh government. Their
griefs become accumulated ; their repre
fentations are eluded by excufe or totally
difregarded, and reparation is very rare
or unfatisfactory. As in fociety men
perferve their ill-humour and rigorous
proceedings for their beft friends, whilft
their attention is beftowed upon indif
ferent perfons, becaufe from the former
they have nothing more to gain, and
they may lofe by the latter ; fo the Spa
niards ufe, with refpect to their allies,
a feverity which they know how to
foften to thofe with whom they are not
fo nearly connected. The national cha
racter may alfo account for this dif
ference. The moft intimate connexions
between courts are not fufficient to ce
ment national friendfhip; and thofe
which policy would unite are frequently fepa-

OF SPAIN 4,9
feparated by Nature. There are people
whofe manners are lefs contrafted to
thofe of the Spaniards than ours ; and
thefe, in fpite of treaties, and regulations
will ever have the preference.
This is the text I frequently heard
commented upon whilst I was in Spain,
and efpecially at Cadiz. I only relate
the fact, without ornamenting, or rather
disfiguring it, by the colours of refent
ment. I am almoft arrived at the end
of my work, and am determined to finifh
with that fpirit of conciliation which
induced me to take up my pen. Let
us hope that lasting connexions, a re
ciprocity of generous communication,
and particularly the confideration of inr
tereft, the firft fpring in politics as well
as fociety, will conciliate and unite the
charadters of two nations which are fo
intimately connected with each other,
and moderate the reciprocal grievances
of whichl have juft given aflight fketch.

It

436 THE PRESENT STATE
It appears, however, that the com
merce of the Frerich, as well as that
of other foreigners at Cadiz, approaches
its decline. As a proof of this, I might
mention feveral bankruptcies from
misfortune, the withdrawing of feveral
merchants, the difcouragement of moft
of them, arid the "recent diminution of
the number of French veffels trading to
Cadiz". This revolution was not Wholly
produced by the caufes I have juft in
dicated ; it is alfo the confequence of the
extenfiori of the commerce of the Spanifh
Indies to feveral other ports of the
kingdom of Spain, of the activity
of the Spaniih merchants, excited
by the wife meafures of government,
atfid of the recent part which ;fome
of the colonies have taken in a com
merce in which they had for a long
time been but paffive instruments. Such
is the fate -of nations. The profperity
of one almoft conftantly enfeebles ano
ther. The beft of all worlds would be
that in which national fucceffes were fo
balanced that war, the human paffions and

O F S P A I N. 43x
and revolutions in empires, could not
derange the equilibrium. The world
which we inhabit feems in this refpect
effentially different.
The occupations which commerce
offers to thofe who inhabit Cadiz leave
but few hands to induftry. There are,
however, about twenty ribbon looms
and machines for knotting filk, none of
Avhich are much employed, and yet ap
pear to have a confiderable fale for their
produce. There are feveral manufac
turers at Cadiz, whofe chief employ
ment is to apply their marks to the
embroidered ftockings they receive from
Nimes, and which, having undergone
this ceremony, are fhipped for the Ame
rican colonies, where all foreign ftock
ings are prohibited. Induftry makes
fome efforts in the cities near Cadiz.
There are at Port Saint Mary, the Ifle
of Leon, and at Xeres linen manuafac-
tuses which are in a flourifhing ftate.
No linens but thefe and thofe of Cata
lonia can be fliippcd for the Indies ; but to

4S2 THE PRESENT STATE
to judge how far the law is eluded it
will be fufficient to compare the quan
tity exported with that the manufacturers
can furnifh. Cadiz is the real feat of
fraud ; and this will continually be the
cafe wherever prohibitions are nume
rous, temptations to elude them fre
quent, and theprafits confiderable enough
to be divided with thofe who, having
but a moderate falary to prevent fmug
gling, find their account in favouring
it. This is chiefly exercifed upon pi
aftres, toelude the duty of four percent.
to which their exportation is fubject ;
and the fmugglers find the officers much
more difpofed to convey them on board
than to confifcate them. This abufe
was carried to the higheft degree when
I was at Cadiz. The zeal of the new
minifter of finances became warm ; a
commiffion of magistrates was fuddenly
fent to Madrid to examine into it, an4
proceed againft the authors. The ex
amination was condudted with all the
impartiality of juftice. The fraud and
peculation of the officers of the revenue were

O F" S f A 1 N. 433
Wefe proved and punifhed. The cuftom-
houfe of Cadiz underwent a total refor-
rnation ; to treacherous and corrupt agents
Were fubftituted heros of integrity. Every
thing Was to be reftored to order ; fmug
gling was to expire under the ftrokeS of
authority and the eyes of vigilance ; but
thefe flattering expectations proved de
ceitful. Smuggling is a plant faft rooted
in the foil wherein it is naturalized ; in
Vain is it plucked from the ground; roots
which have efcaped the vindictive
hand of juftice foon fhoot forth new
fuckers. Thofe who follow fmuggling*
like the rabbits of M. de la Rochefou-
cault, retire and conceal themfelves in
the critical moment. As foon as that is
paft prefumptuOus audacity returns to its
old habits* and intereft renews its claims.
Wherever this is as powerful as at Ca
diz, confcience is filent ; and the heros
of integrity, encouraged by the hope of
impunity, and excufed by example, foon
become as relaxed in their principles as
their predeceffors; Authority fuppofes
it has formed virtuous men, when it has
Vol. IL F f only

434 THE PRESENT STATE
only facrificed victims, which are firft.
pitied and afterwards imitated.
But to return to the industry of Cadiz
and the environs. At Port Saint Mary
there is a wax refinery, through which
all the wax fent to America muft pafs ;
it is, however, fo badly purified and
whitened there, that the merchants,
preffed to fhip that which they receive
from the north, chearfully pay to the
officers of the refinery the two du
cats at which each quintal whitened
in it is taxed, and fend it in the fame
ftate in which it was received there.
I muft remark upon this occafion,
that the Spaniards of the Havannah
were, a few years ago, upon the point
of gathering wax enough for the whole
confumption of Spanifh. America. They
owed this new production to a fingular
circumftance, and have lately loft it by
another not lefs extraordinary. When
Florida was ceded to the Englifh, in
1763, fome Spanifh colonifts flying be
fore

O F S P A I N. 435
fore the conquerors, and carrying with
them their treafures and their induftry,
had retired to the ifland of Cuba, and
taken with them bee-hives, the bees of
which had confiderably increafed and
gave excellent wax ; they were accuf
tomed to the climate and feemed to be
. fettled in the ifland ; but they found in
Cuba other perfecutors. The colonifts
of the Havannah, alarmed by the inju
ries they did to their fugar plantations,
lighted up fires to drive them off. This
remedy fucceeded fo well that the ifland
of Cuba, forfaken by the bees, has difap
pointed the hopes all Spanifh America
had from it, and the colonies are again
obliged to depend on Poland and Bar
bary for their fupply of wax. The rage
of conquest would certainly not long
continue could the riches of the foil
always thus efcape through the air from
the avarice of the conquerors ?
The manufacture of fait is the moft
interesting branch of induftry in the en
virons of Cadiz. The falt-pits encom-
F f % P^fs

436 THE PRESENT STATE
pafs a great part of the Bay from the .
Puntal to Port Saint Mary. I acquired
fome accurate information relative to the
manner of working them ; which may
be compared to the mode adopted in
our fklt-marfhes.
In the firft place, fea water is intro
duced, by means of a little fluice, into a
large kind of bafon, cut into wide canals
of equal depth. The water remains-
there a certain time, during which, its
lightest parts evaporate by the heat of
the fun. From this firft refervoir it
runs into other canals not quite fo deep,
where the fame caufe produces the fame
effect, volatilizing the lighter parts. The
corrosive quality of the water which re
mains after this fecond operation is fo
increafed, that the workmen can no
longer remain with their feet uncovered
without burning them as with aqua
fortis. The water, thus changed, is let
into a long and riarrow canal, which
runs by the fide of a fquare space, di
vided into quadrangular compartments, the

O F S P A I N. 437
the inner of which is lower than thofe
at the edges. From this canal, where
the water, paffing through a third ope
ration, becomes ftill more corrofive, it is
thrown with fcoops into the fmall bafons
where it receives the laft heating, while
the workmen continually ftir it with
long rakes. The fediment it depofes be
comes as hard as ftone, and the work
men are conftantly employed in detach
ing, taking it out, and pounding it.
This continual agitation produces upon
the furface a white fcum, that is care
fully taken off, and which produces a
much whiter, but a weaker, fait than
fne fediment. The reft is laid in great
heaps in the open air. The neceffary
quantity for the king's fait magazines is
taken from thefe heaps, and paid for at
the rate of two piaftres the laft of two
hogfheads ; but it is fold again at a hun
dred and twenty piaftres -to individuals,
excepting fifhermenwho have it cheaper.
The fait manufacturers fell what re
mains to them, after furnifhing the king's
magazines, more or lefs dear according
Ff 3 to

438 THE PRESENT STATE
to circumftances ; and as the rains of the
autumn threaten them with confidera
ble wafte, they lofe no time in felling ;
and, far from giving the law to pur-
chafers, they folicit orders from perfons
who buy for exportation. The nations
which carry it are Sweden, Denmark,
Holland, England, and particularly Por
tugal, until lately, when the fear of the
Algerine corfairs difcredited their flag.
The cargoes fhipped by the Portuguefe
are mostly fent. to the coafts of Galicia
and Afturia, where this commodity is
Wanted, and which they have long had
the exclufive privilege of furniihing with
their own fait. The fifhermen from
Saint Malo, Dieppe and Granville fome
times go to the Bay of Cadiz to take in
cargoes of fait for Newfoundland ; and,
when the falt-pits of France fail, the
French take large quantities of it for
home confumption.
Every individual who wifhes to efta
blifh one of thefe artificial falt-pits upon
ground of his own is at liberty to do it.
He

OF SPAIN. 439
He may fell the produce to foreigners,
but not to his countrymen, fait being
in Spain, as in France, exclufively fold
for the king's account. Guards are
placed round the heaps of fait, which
at a diftance appear like fo many white
houfes about the Bay ; but the guards
do not always fecure them from thieves
and fmugglers.
Cadiz contains but few remarkable
edifices or monuments of the arts. The
cultivation of thefe fuppofes two claffes
of indolent people, which are never nu
merous in commercial and manufactur
ing cities ; the clafs of profeffors and
that of amateurs. Arts profper in pro
portion to the number of connoiffeurs
who encourage and fupport them. The
cathedral of Cadiz was begun in 1720.
Whenever it is finifhed it will be but a
heavy mafs, defective in many refpects.
The grotefque mouldings of the Gothic
architecture are joined to the fimple tafte
of the ancient orders ; however, fome
of the interior parts are beautiful. The
F f 4 eight

440 THE PRESENT STATE
eight columns of the choir are of Tor-?
tofian marble of the firft quality ; thofe
of the nave, although a little heavy, are
beautiful in their proportions. Their
capitals, vafes, and the ceiling of the
cupolas, are excellently fculptured.
Until the new cathedral is finifhed,
divine fervice is performed in the old
one, in which I remarked feveral little
paintings in the Flemifh ftyle, and in a
good tafte. There are a few much more
valuable in the church of the capuchins.
They are the mafter-pieces of Murillo ;
among them is an Ecce homo, in which
the foft touch of that artift feemed to
me to be united with the noble fubli
mity which Guido knew fo well how to
give to his figures.
Among other edifices deferving attenr
tion are the cuftom-houfe, a new and
fpacious building, and the theatre, which
is finifhed with tafte and on an excellent:
Pla^r Cadiz

OF SPAIN. 44I
Cadiz is furrounded with walls, which
contribute more to its embellifhment
than to its defence. The fortifications
on the fide of the land gate are in a to
lerable good condition. It is the only
place where the city can be attacked by
fand. Fort Saint Catharine, to the
north-eaft, would not obstruct the en
trance into the great Bay; nor would
Fort Saint Sebaftian, which is rather
more to the weft, be of greater fervice
in its defence. It communicates with
the city by an uneven fandy fhore co
vered at high water ; the light- houfe
which directs mariners when they en
ter the port, is placed upon the tower
pf this fort.
The paffage from the great Bay to the
road of the Puntal, is much better de
fended by two forts, one that of the
Puntal, the other that of Matagordo,
placed oppofite each other, where the
Bay becomes narrower. I croffed

442 THE PRESENT STATE
I crofted this kind of ftreight, arid,
quitting Cadiz with the regret every per
fon who has paffed fome time in that
city muft feel on the fame occafion, I em
barked for Chiclana with fome merchants
who had treated me with the greateft
civility. I there experienced, for the fe
cond time in Spain, that it is from this
clafs of men, all things equal in other
refpects, that the beft reception is to be
expected. Eafy circumftances, multipli
city of connexions, and perhaps the
neceflity felt at every moment of culti
vating or augmenting them (for what
virtue is it that intereft does not adulte
rate by its impure alloy ?) feem to have
beftowed on this clafs of men more than
any other thofe precious focial qualities,
affability and obliging manners. Thefe
I met with, to the greateft degree, from
the foreign and Spaniih merchants, but
more particularly from the French.
The French conful, M. de Mongelas,
was not then at Cadiz : I was forry for
it ; and ftill more fo to obferve, that he
was

0 F S P A I N. 443
was heavily censured. I had found an
opportunity to become acquainted with
his excellent qualities, and fhould have
imagined that thefe, added to the ami-
ablenefs of his lady, would have miti
gated the rigour of the perfons who
feemed to think moft harfhly of him.
In his abfence 1 was received by M. Poi-
rel, the vice-conful ; and I can never fuffi
ciently acknowledge the attention I re
ceived from him, and all with whom he
was connected. In general, there are
few cities fo agreeable as Cadiz, even to
thofe frivolous and contemptuous per
fons of the French nation, who believe
that once out of their country they can
only vegetate. The agreeable and ami
able qualities of the fair fex renders a
refidence at Cadiz delightful ; the ladies
poffefs, to a very uncommon degree, the
pleafing exterior of the Andalufians,
modified by the fociety of ftrangers, who
are there found in great numbers, and
by that general defire to pleafe, which the
refinements of fociety and a concourfe
of admirers maintain in continual ac
tivity.

444 THE PRESENT STATE
tivity. They, however, feldom are be
trayed into thofe immoralities which
their charms, the perpetual adulation
to which they are expofed, and the influ
ence of climate might perhaps excufe
more here than in other countries. I re
marked feveral young and handfome wo
men entirely occupied in houfehold cares
and the education of their children.
Pleafures are not much varied at
Cadiz. During fome years there was a
French comedy, which a reprehenfible
adminiftration fuppreffed in 1778. The
only theatre at prefent is the national
one, which rivals thofe of the capital,
and fometimes is enriched by their loffes,
The fituation of the city, which is but
of a middling extent for a population of
eighty thoufand inhabitants, and which
the fea almoft furrounds, renders the
pleafures of public walks but very few.
At a quarter of a league from the land
gate, sterility again appears, and conti
nues for feveral leagues round, if a few
kitchen gardens and fome orchards in
the

O F S P A I N. 44s
the neighbourhood of the ifle of Leon,
where waterings fupply the want of
moisture in the fandy drynefs of the foil,
be excepted. The bull-fights are exhi
bited in the hottest months of the year.
Cadiz is ftill one of the few cities in
Spain whence they have not been ba-
nifhed, and it is not that in which the
people are leaft delighted with them.
The diftance from Cadiz to Chiclana
is four leagues : a favourable wind with
the tide carried us over in two hours.
Leaving the ifle pf Leon to the right, and
the Carraque to the left, we paffed the
bridge of Suaco, an ancient monument
of the Romans, that joins the ifland on
which Cadiz ftands on the north fide,
and the ifle of Leon on the fouth-eaft,
to the Continent. Under the arches of
this bridge the Bay becomes fo narrow
that, after paffing them, it is nothing
more than a wide canal, which foon af
terwards feparates into different branches.
One of thefe leads to Chiclana, which is
built on the right bank, commanded by
feveral

446 THE PRESENT STATE
feveral eminences, and particularly by
the ruins of an old Moorifh caftle. This
branch of the canal is affected by the
tide, fo that fometimes there is fufficient
water to cary large barks, and at others
it is fordable.
Chiclana is a handfome village, where
feveral merchants of Cadiz have country-
houfes. They have embellifhed and
furrounded them with that verdure of
which they are deprived in their chief
refidences. They frequently retire to
them for- relaxation from bufinefs ; but
Chiclana is particularly agreeable in the
fpring and autumn. The citizens of
Cadiz carry thither, and enjoy for a time,
all the luxuries of Cadiz ; dinners, flip
pers, bafts, concerts, all thedifplay of opu
lence, and every ornament of the toilette ;
it is, if I may fo fay, a theatre opened
by luxury and tafte, in which the polite
and amiable difplay their charms, fmooth
the brows of the calculators who ac
company them, and generoufly bellow
ing unnumbered pleafures oblige them to

O F S P A I N. 447
to confefs that there are things more
precious than gold.
I went to the eminences which com
mand this little valley of Tempe, whence
we furvey the moft extenfive and varied
horizon. We fee in one view the ifle of
Leon, Cadiz, the Bay, all the places by
which it is furrounded, and the fea be
yond it. The eye follows the courfe of
the river Santi Petri till it falls into the
fea. Turning to the eaft we perceive
Medina Sidonia, whence comes the wind
fo dreaded by the inhabitants of Cadiz,
becaufe it feems, by its pernicious influ
ence upon many of the people, to blow
into that city both crimes and diforders.
From the fame point of view we embrace
the vaft plains of the fouth part of An
dalufia, which I had to pafs in my way
to Algefiras and Gibraltar.
Algefiras is fourteen leagues from
Chiclana. I performed the journey on
the fame horfe in one hot day of fum
mer, croffing the moft defert country that

448 THE PRESENT STATE
that can be found amongft thofe which
are not quite uncultivated. Indeed I
croffed plains, to avoid circuits, which
would have led me through fome vil-*
lages. But will it be credited that in all
this road, except Vejer on the right at a
Confiderable diftance, and Medina Sido-'
nia on the left ftill farther off, I faw no
other human habitations than four or
five groupes of miferable cabins, called
Cortijos, in which labourers lodge a part
of the year. This is the inconvenience
of great poffeffions, of which the anci
ents, if we believe Plutarch and Pliny*
were well aware, and on the fubject of
which modern politicians have endea
voured to miflead us by prefenting us the
exception for the rule. A more modern
author fays that, " Conquerors always
" have found very feeble refiftance iri
" countries divided into great poffef-
** fions." It appears that the fouth
part of Andalufia will not be long a prey
to them ; but in the mean while, two
fcourges, idlenefs and famine, pollute*
by their prefence, a tract of country which

OF SPAIN. 449
Which nature hadproduced in a moment
of berieficence. It will fcarcely be be
lieved that I was nearly wanting bread
in croffing this province. I had neglected
to provide myfelf with it at Chiclanai
But I fortunately met in the fields fome
civil reapers, who permitted me to take
half their provifions.
For ten leagues I Cfoffed the duchy of
Mediria-Sidonia which, in 'this district,
confifts of corn fields and paftures. Iii
no part of them was a veftige of an hu
man habitation. Not an orchard, kit
chen garden'; ditch nor tile. The great
proprietor feems to reign there like the
lion in the forefts, by driving away by
his roarings thofe by whom he might
Otherwife be approached ; and both
therefore alike reign over deferts. In
ftead of men and women, I met with
feven or eight great herds of horned
cattle and fome troops of mares* On
feeing them free from the yoke and bri
dle, wandering, over an iirimenfe region
unbounded to the eye by enclofure or
Vol* II. G g barrier

450 THE PRESENT STATE
barrier, we are ready to imagine ourfelves
in the firft ages of the world, when ani
mals in a ftate of independence, divided
with man the dominion of the earth,
found every where their own property,
and were not that of any perfon.
All Andalufia, however, muft not be
judged of by this dtftrict ; it appears not
fo much a defert except in parts wholly
fet apart to corn and pafturage. It has
been divided into great poffeffions as
far back as the conqueft of it by the
Moors. The principal Caftilian noble
man, who then accompanied the con
quering kings, obtained enormous in
heritances in perpetuity, according to the
fatal cuftom introduced into almoft the
whole of the monarchy. The extinction
of males in the great families has en-
creafed the inconvenience. Rich heir-
effes carry with them their opulent por
tions into families not lefs opulent,
fo that this abfurd law of fucceffion is,
if I may ufe the expreffion, a vaft ton
tine which fooner or later will make the
greateft

O F S P A 1 N. 451
greatest part of Spain the inheritance of
the few families which fhall fur vive the
reft. How can one individual manage
fuch eftates ? Thefe proprietors, there
fore, farm them out to different perfons,
but this for three years only, or five at
moft ; too fhort a term to permit the
former to undertake the clearing of
lands or any confiderable improvement.
Another circumftance concurs with thefe
destructive customs to prevent agricul
ture flourifhing in Andalufia. The land
is divided into three portions; one is
cultivated, another remains fallow,
and the third is fet apart to feed the
cattle belonging to the farmer, and
which he augments as much as poffible,
to reap what advantage he can from his
fhort leafe. This is what gives an ap
pearance of depopulation to vaft diftricts
fufceptible of rich cultivation. The fi rft
improvement to be made in the agricul
ture of Andalufia, would therefore be
to grant longer leafes. The example
of Catalonia, Navarre, Galicia, and the
Afturias fhould ferve as a leffon. There
G g a the

4S2 THE PRESENT STATE
the leafes. are for a confiderable number
of years, ,anp! cannot be broken by the
caprice of the proprietors : every kind
of cultivation is in a flourifhing ftate ;
each farmer creates hinifglf a little efta
blifhment, keeps cattle, and has round
his habrfation an orchard and kitchen
garden ; and while he procures himfelf
conveniences, improves and fertilifes the
land which he is fure to hold for a long
time, as well as to be fucceeded in his,
farm by his children. What a contraft
between. this ftate of things, and that I
had be'fore my eyes for ten leagues after
leaving Chiclana !
At the end, of thefe ten leagues the
road lay through a wood, and afterwards
acrofs an enormous chain of high moun
tains, which become not lower before
they reach the weftern part of the bay
of Gibraltar. The four laft leagues are
exceflively fatiguing, and even dangerous
in fome places. However-, the traveller is
Well rewarded for his, pains when, from
the fummit of the mountains, a leagueand a half

t/'faAm/tar. fUA/olr.
*fotr f/VuJitfati,

4.M»Meie.5£uropa Point. ':
s-6aieet>tfuland.

VIEW of GIBRALTAR.

7. Gate fy> fAe Sea.
S.A/^ej'^raj:

g.J/Ze o/*sl//je.ru-a.r.

OF S P A I N. 45-
a half from the bay, he perceives the
famous rock of Gibraltar rifing from the
bofom of the waves like the genius of the
ftbrrny Cape, which furnifhed to C.i-
riioens one of the fineft epifodes iii his
Lufiad. From this point, the eye com
mands the fortrefs, the outlines of which
Appeared to me perfectly well defined iri
the ferene horizon. The "rock prefents
the form of an immenfe Catafalco feen
on one fide ; at Orie view the eye em
braces the town of Algefiras, the whole
circuit of the Bay, two little rivers which
fall into it, the town of Saint Roche,
placed Upon an eminence; the flope
which from this town leads to the lines,
and the tongue of flat and narrow land,
that feparates them from Gibraltar ; and
at a diftance to the right, at the extre
mity of the horizon, we imagine, rather
than difcover, the coaft of Africa.
Algefiras, the boundary of my long-
day's journey, is a town agreeably fituated
on a gentle flope clofe by the fea fide.
A very little river (the MielJ which rifes
0 g 3 in

454 THE PRESENT STATE
in the neighbouring mountains, wafhes
the right fide of Algefiras, and gently
runs on into the fea; uponjts right bank
is a little dock yard, the dimenfions of
Which, although proportioned to the bed
of the river, are fufficient for the building
of barks. It was made ufe of for the
construction of fome of the gun-boats
which made fo poor a figure at the fiege
of Gibraltar. At the time of the frefhes,
this river, or rather rivulet, has water
enough to float the little veffels to the
fea, which is diftant but a few paces.
Near this place are the ruins of the old
citadel of Algefiras, whence the Moors
ftill defended themfelves for fome time
after their city was taken. This filled
the fame ground as the modern town
of the fame name. Algefiras, as well as
Saint Roche, was peopled at the begin
ning of the prefent century with Spa
niards from Gibraltar, who would not
live under the dominion of the Englifh.
In order to draw thither the refugees,
the privileges Algefiras now enjoys were
granted. The Spaniards are feparated from

O F S P A I N. 4tf
from their old country by two leagues
of fea, in which, during the late war*
feveral of them found their tombs, while
endeavouring the conqueft of the native
place of their forefathers.
The little ifland of Palomas, called alfo
the Green Ifland, is within a mufket
fhot of Algefiras : it has a fort in which
a company detached from the garrifon
of Algefiras does duty. This Ifland is fo
fine and regular, that it feems to have
been traced by art, and placed there until
fome perfon of tafte can find a fituation
for it in a garden.
Algefiras is watered in a manner which
feems to be referved for important places.
Water is brought to it from the diftance
of a quarter of a league by a new aque
duct built with hewn ftone.
A packet boat fails twice a week from
this town to Ceuta, a Spanifh fea port,
at five leagues diftance, on the coaft of
Africa. This voyage is often made in
Gg 4 three

456. THE PRESENT STATE
three or four hours, but it fometimes
fakes up nine or ten : the paffage is five
reals ; no great fum to betranfportedfrom
one quarter of the world tp another ; a
traveller is eafily tempted to 'make the
trip. Particular circumftances, however,
prevented me froiii fo far gratifying my
inclination. The little port of Algefiras is very
confined in fpeculations pf commerce ;
it receives fome cargoes of corn and
brandy by Catalpnian barks ; and its
exportations chiefly confift in coal from
the neighbouring mountains which is
fent to Cadiz.
A great part of the two leagues froni
Algefiras to Saint Roche, is by the fide
of the Bay. There are two little rivers
which fall into it to be croffed in boats,
El Rio de Ios Pulmones and the Guaraipe,
which might be taken for an arm of the
fea. After paffing the latter, you leave
the Bay and gain, the back part of the
hill upon which the ill paved town of
Saint

OF SPAIN. 457
Saint Roche is fituated. The late war,
which in part had its feat in the neigh
bourhood, and the prefence of a nu
merous garrifon feem not to have en-
riehed it j the environs are agreeable,
and the adjoining hills are carefully cul
tivated. At Saint Roche I was addreffed to an
aid-major of the place, an Iriihman (Mr,
James Lyons) a man of underftanding
and confiderable knowledge, whofe name
my gratitude has obliged me to mention.
He obtained from the commander of the
lines, permiffion for me to approach
Gibraltar as near as the recent and ri
gorous order which prevented all com
munication between that place and the
Spanifh continent would permit. We
fet off from Saint Roche, on horfeback,
about four o'clock ; and left Buenavifta
to the right. This is a large houfe up
on an eminence, in which the duke de
Crillon, his aides-de-camp, and all their
retinue were lodged, and whence they
liad a view of Gibraltar, the two feas and the

458 THE PRESENT STATE
the coaft of Africa. At length we ar
rived on the ground of the two famoui
camps of Saint Roche. Deftroyed by
peace, as other things are by war, it
prefented nothing but a heap of ruins
and fome broken walls, but neither a
roof nor window. This theatre, of the
moft profound filence and folitude,
after having, during four years, been
that of the tumult accompanying ar
mies, and of death which follows their
motions, prefented me a fufficient fub
ject for reflection on the viciffitudes
of all human affairs. We croffed this
ground diagonally to go ftraight to the
Mediterranean, and follow the coaft to
Fort Saint Barbe which forms the right
of the lines : we afcended them as far as
the principal guard, where we prefented
the order of the commander, and the
great gate, which leads to the lines be
fore Gibraltar, was opened to us : a petty
officer was fent to watch rather than di
rect our motions. Immediately on going
out we found the long trench planned by
M. d'Arc*on, and opened in the night of
the

OF SPAIN. 459
the 15th of July 1782 ; it proceeded from
the center of the line, paffed under the
fire of the places and terminated at the
Mediterranean. We were afterwards
fhewn the trenches and epaulement
thrown up by general Alvarez, and
which were fo much fpoken of in the
gazettes of Madrid ; the fight of them
infufed a fmall portion of farcafm into
my philanthropical reflections, and made
me recollect the verfes fome elegant idler
of Paris wrote at the time, to cheer the
langour of the besiegers and that of the
reader of their tardy and unvaried ex
ploits. Perhaps my reader may not be
difpleafed at finding them here : thofe
who are the fubjects of them had at the
time the generofity to laugh at the fatire,
and probably will not be offended at it
five years afterwards.
Meflieurs de Saint Roch, entre nous,
Ceci pane la raillerie.
En avez-vous la pour la vie ?
Ou quelque jour finirez vous ?
Ne pouvez-vous a la vaillance
Joindre le talent d'abreger ? Votre

460 THE PRESENT STATE
Votre e'ternelle patience
Ne fe lafle point d'affieger.
Mais vous mettez a bout la notre.
Soyez done battafits ou battus,
Meffieurs, du camp & du blociis.
Terminez de facon ou d'autre ;
Terminez, car on ne tient plus.
Frequentes font vos canonnades :
Mais helas ' qu'ont-elles produit ?
Le tranquille Anglois dort au bruit
De vos no&urnes petarades ;
Ou s'il repond de tems en tems
A votre prudente furie,
C'eft par egard, je le parie,
Et pour dire je vous entends.
Quatre ans ont du Vous rendre fages,
Laiffez done la vos vieux ouvrages,
Quittez vos vieux retranchemens :
Retiiez vous, vieux affiegeans.
Un jour ce memorable fiege
Sera fini par vos enfans,
Si toutefois Dieu les protege.
Mes amis, vous le voyez bien,
Vos bombes ne bombardent rien :
Vos petarades, vos corvettes,
Etvos travaux & vos mineurs,
N'epouvante que les lefteurs
De vos redoutables gazettes.
Votre blocus ne bloque point ;
Et grace a votre heureufe adrefle,
Ceux que vous affamez fans cefle
Ne periront que d'embonpoint Illuftrious

O F S P A I N 4$i
Illuftrious warriors of Saint Roche,
Believe me, this exceeds a joke :
Say, will you here remain for life,
Or one day end the gallant ftrife ?
Or can you not contrive to join
Difpatchto valour fo divine?
Your patience ftill may laft, no doubt,
But ours is fairly wearied out.
Then, heroes of the long blockade,
Cqnclude at length your vain parade.
Th' inceffant roar your batteries keep
But lulls the carelefs foe to fleep ¦
Or if he anfwer you by chance,
'Tis but in common complaifance.
Your laboured works grow old, and you,
Heroic Sirs, are grown old too.
'Tis time to quit thefe martial cares,
And leave the bufinefs to your heirs ;
Your fons, or your fons fons, perchance,
With Spain's whole force, and aid of France,
If. fortune on .their labours fmile,
Shall terminate the glorious toil.
Your clofe circumvallation lines,
And all your mortars and your mines,
Which your gazettes with pride difplay,
The coffee houfe alone difmay :
In vain you block, in vain you batter,
Thofe you would ftarve grow daily fatter ;
And, at the worft, will only die
Of corpulence and lethargy.
But

462 THE PRESENT STATE
But to return to profe, and conclude
what I have to fay of the camp of Saint
Roche. We found traces of all the
works ; but the fand and earth of which
they were constructed had crumbled
down in many places ; the fafcines that
bound them lay heaped together and
ferved to make fires in the few chim
neys which fmoke in this part of the
country, or were abandoned to the flower
destruction of time. We were fhewn a
large ftone tower, called the tower of
the mill, which, placed between the be
siegers and the befieged, Was the only
thing that had efcaped their combined
ravages. We difcoVered the place where
the Engliih had made fome' little gar
dens before their fortrefs, and beyond
the limits fixed by the peace of Utrecht;
the inclofure was ftill marked with
reeds ; but the ground they incircled, by
being reftored to its real proprietors, or
rather becoming neuter, had refumed
its former sterility. Kings, like indivi
duals, are never good near neighbburs ;
and the feparation of deferts is neceffary to

OF SPAIN. 463
to preferve them on terms of friendfhip
with each other; were that the cafe,
the earth would indeed be lefs inhabited ;
but would that oh the whole be a mif-
fortune to mankind ? I hear the friends
of population exclaim againft the idea,
and wave the enquiry to return to the
works constructed by general Alvarez.
After having for fometime followed
thefe works on the fide of the Bay, and
in front of the old mole, we took a di
agonal direction towards the Mediter
ranean, to furvey nearer at hand, and
under different afpedts, the rock which
for five years had been the object of fo
many military and political fpeculations.
We approached a fmall tower, fituated
near to a prodigious fortefs, clofe by the
Mediterranean, when our ftern conduc
tor faid to us in Spanifh, which at that
moment did not appear to us to be the
language of the gods, " You can go no
" farther, the firft Englifh guard is clofe
" to the tower you fee before you." I
afked him, whether war or a peftilence obliged

464 THE PRESENT STATE
obliged us to keep at a diftance ; but he*
feemed; not to take this fally of wit in
good part. He was doing his duty ; and
although not very ufeful to our purpofe;
might have rendered us the victims of his
ill humour. The fafeft method was not
to provoke his refentment, but turn to
the right ; which refolution we imme
diately took. But in paffing fo near the
fortrefs, whence the Englifh foldiers,
placed- upon the edges of fome of the
batteries on the land fide, feemed' to
threaten our heads with a perpendicular
fhot, our conductor pointed out to us
the mouth of a mine the duke de Crillon
had hollowed within the rock, and by
which he intended to j revenge -the /fate
of the floating batteries, when the peace
obliged him to defift, and gave fafety to
the foundation of the fortrefs. During
the fiege, fome daring workmen climbed f
up in the night to this opening, by fa
vour of a heap of crumbled earth which
adhered to the rock. The excavation
had already advanced feveral fathoms,
when hoftilities were fufpended ; but
had

. O F S P A I N. 465
had it been ftill deeper, it is difficult to
conceive how powder could have raifed
up and broken the enormous mafs which
would ftill have borne upon the mine
even when compleated, or how the ex-
plofion could have been prevented from
re-acting towards the fide of the orifice
where it would have found lefs refif
tance. This was not the only point of
the rock the duke de Crillon threatened :
on the Mediterranean fide, the declivity,
though fo deep as to be almoft perpen
dicular, does not continue fo to the fur
face of the earth. Between the foot of
the mountain and the fea, there is a
kind of path which leads to Europa
point. At the entrance of this path,
and near the Engliih guard of which I
have fpoken, M. de Crillon had made a
fecond opening in the rock. But it may
be afked, what this general could have
gained by fcaling this fide in the moil
elevated part, and at the greateft diftance
from the main body of the place.
Vol. II. II h Not-

466 THE PRESENT STATE
Notwithftanding thefe queftions, which
I have heard put by profeflional men,
and the farcafms thrown out againft
both thefe attempts, I have been af
fured by perfons who were prefent, that
when general Eliott, after hoftilities had
ceafed, walked with the duke de Crillon
round the place he had fo valiantly de
fended, he appeared furprifed at feeing
the progrefs made in a mine he had
fcarcely fufpected, and that he faid to
the French general, had he known the
ftate it was in he fhould not have been
fo eafy. Was [this expreffion from the
Englifh hero, an effort he made to imi
tate French complaifance ; or did he
mean fincerely to praife the bold enter-
prife of the duke de Crillon ? On this
** I fhall not undertake to decide. Be this
as it may, the rock of Gibraltar which is
fteepeft on the fide toward the Mediterra
nean has gradually lefs declivity towards
the Bay of Algefiras. It is on this kind
of talus that the art of fortification has
employed numerous means of defence.
Some foldiers having perceived us from the

O F S P A I N. 467
the top of the formidable amphitheatre,
addreffed us in Spanifh, and gave notice
to their officers.
Let it be here obferved, that Nature,
as if to render Gibraltar inacceffible on
all fides, has placed between the foot of
this fortrefs, to the fouth, and on the
fide of the Bay of Algefiras, a deep marfh
which leaves between it and the place,
as far as the land gate only, the breadth
of a narrow caufeway, commanded by
an hundred cannon at a very trifling
diftance. A fmall dyke between the
marfh and the Bay runs by the fea fide
to confine the water, and terminates at
the land gate; and the marfh is con
tained in the enclofure of the place by
a palifade, which begins at the foot of
the mountain and terminates at the fea;
the purpofe of the palifade is to prevent
defertion. It was the firft vidtim facri-
ficed at the fiege of Gibraltar, and its
ruins, blackened by the fire, carried off
from under the cannon of the place,
ferved as trophies to fome Spanifh gre-
H h 2 nadiers,

468 THE PRESENT STATE
nadiers, who prefented them to the
count d'Eftaing ; a general equally able
to appreciate valour and difpofed to re
ward it.
As long as the war lafted it remained
in ruins, but it has. been carefully re
paired fince the peace : the old mole is
distinctly feen from it ; it advances into
the Bay, almoft perpendicularly to the
body of the place ; it is a kind of narrow'
bank or caufeway, with cannon planted
on both fides, and entirely mafks the
new mole, which is half a league behind
it, and nearly in the fame direction.
The Englifh officers, informed by their
foldiers, faw us on the other fide of the
palifade, and faluted us in their lan
guage. The Irifh officer who accom
panied me having anfwered them in En
glifh, they drew near, and a converfation
was begun. The officers, who were three
in number, were young and very polite;
they invited us to enter with them into
the fortrefs, and particularly infifted upon

OF SPAIN. 469
upon it whenl told them I had a letter
for general Eliott. We objected to this on
account of the formal prohibition of the
court of Madrid, which we as little per
mitted ourfelves to interpret as to in
fringe, our fear of exposing the Irifh
officer, who was the principal interlocu
tor, and the impoflibility of efcaping
the vigilance of our conductor. He had,
however, abated fomewhat of his feve-
rity ; he confented, with a good grace,
to our interview, and fat himfelf quietly
down upon a ftone whilst the conver-
fation lafted, which would not have
been very interesting to him had he un
derftood it : its having a little the ap
pearance of a forbidden gratification was
fufficient to make it agreeable to us,
Five perfons of different nations, fpeak
ing to each other over a palifade, which,
by the strict prohibition of the court of
Spain, oppofed an infurmountable ob
ftacle to their uniting,- reminded me of
a converfation obtained in a convent
through an iron grate, in which both
parties endeavour to deceive the eyes
Hh 3 of

4)6 THE PRESENT STATE
of the female Argus, who increafes
the pleafure of the meeting by add
ing to the conftraint. The eyes of
our Argus had no need of being de
ceived. Shut by heedleffnefs and lan
guor, they opened with regret, when it
was neceffary we fhould again mount
our horfes. The Englifh officers, unable
to overcome our fcruples, offered us re-
frefhment ; we accepted fome beer, and
had the fatisfadtion of drinking, with
them, under the cannon of Gibraltar, a
few glaffes of porter, to the health of
king George III. and general Eliott. In
fuch circumftances, the distinctions by
which nations are claffed, and the fpi
rit of rivalry that divides them are an
nihilated. We were neither Frenchmen,
Spaniards, nor Englifhmen ; but merely
fo many members of the immenfe family
of mankind. If the uniting of men into
nations conftitutes their ftrength, and a
great part of their virtues, it is alfo the
fource of moft of their vices and mif-
fortunes ; without this fewer mifchiefs
would defolate the earth : revolts againft
authority, the oppreflion of crowned defpots,

O F S P A I N. 47,
defpots, that ftill more fevere of fubal-
tern tyrants, the filent intrigues of po
licy, and the noify ravages of war would
be unknown ; men would no longer de
ftroy each other in purfuit of that phan
tom called Glory ; they would no more
facrifice their repofe, and that of their
wives and children, to interefts foreign to
their own ; and, in defedt of magiftrates
and laws, each man would take upon
him to revenge his own wrongs. The
greater contraft thefe refledtions formed
to fo many recent events, the remem
brance of which was awakened by the
fight of Gibraltar, the more affecting
and profound was the impreffion they
made, and the more fenfible the charm
they added to our little congrefs. It
foon became neceffary to banifh them,
and return from the illufion of the gol
den age to the fad realities of that of
iron. The fun was fetting, and the
calm of the evening made the cries of
the failors, on board the veffels anchored
before us at the foot of the old mole,
more diftinctly heard. The famous rock
H h 4 already

472 THE PRESENT STATE
already began to fade from our fight. We
took leave of the Englifh officers, and
again returned by the lines. In retiring
I turned twenty times towards Gibraltar ;
I wifhed, by frequently looking at it, to
carry in my memory the exadt image of
an object which had been fo fertile a
fource of military, political, and philofo
phical reflections. That, faid I to my
felf, is the rock which, during five years,
engaged the attention of all nations.
It is in every refpect ufelefs to the En
glifh, but they imagine their honour in-
terefted in preferving that little portion
of land, in fpite of Nature, which feems
to have allotted it to the monarch who
reigns over the Peninfula of which it
makes a part ; they facrifice millions to
fortify, preferve and defend it. On the
other hand, the vanity only of Spain is
interested in recovering it ; and to this
chimera, under a monarch fparing of the
blood and treafure of his fubjects, fhe
facrificed, during five years, the moft
enormous fums, the moft advantageous
plans of more diftant expeditions, and, if

O F S P A I N. 473
if I may dare to ufe the expreffion, the
glory of the kingdom, were that glory
rightly underftood ; while the houfe of
Bourbon chained the greateft part of its
naval forces to the foot of this rock,
more contemptible in itfelf than formi
dable by the art of war.
¦ In the midft of thefe reveries, I ar
rived at Fort Saint Philip, which is at
the other extremity of the lines on the
fide of the Bay. We rode within them
until we came to the principal guard ;
we there left our ftoical conductor, who
had felt nothing but langour and fatigue,
where I had found fo much pleafure and
interesting objects which had given birth
to fo many reflections. We took the
road to Saint Roche, keeping by the
fea- fide, and paffing over the little wooden
mole, where the embarkations were
made, and the wounded received on
fhore, during the fatal night of the float-
ins; batteries. We afterwards croffed
the bridge of Mayorga, oppofite to which
thefe batteries took their departure when they

474 THE PRESENT STATE
they failed to the attack. I imagined
that I heard the groans of the manes of
the valiant befiegers who found death
in the midft of waves and flames ; I
feemed to hear the roar of that formida
ble artillery, which on both fides made
fo much noife and fuch few ravages. We
arrived at Saint Roche at eight o'clock
in the evening.
My firft intention was to go from Saint
Roche to Malaga, and to return to Ma
drid by croffing the kingdom of Granada.
This is, perhaps, the part of Spain which
moft excites the curiofity of the travel
ler. He there finds all the majefty as
well as all the beauties of nature : high
mountains whofe fummits are conftant
ly covered with fnow; fertile valleys,
of which the agreeable coolnefs is not
diminifhed even by the heat of the dog-
days ; torrents of limpid water, which
rulh from the rocks, and fertilife the
country without overflowing it, and the
moft beautiful points of view. In the
capital he finds monuments for which he

OF SPAIN. 475
he would fearch in vain in the reft of
Europe ; weli preferved palaces of the
ancient Moorifh kings, to whom the
kingdom of Granada was the laft afylum ;
baths, gardens, mofques, and other re
mains of the magnificence and tafte of
the Arabs, which have furvived the ra
vages of conquerors for the pleafure
and information of posterity. M. Pey-
ron, in his Effays on Spain, has already
given a defcription, equally accurate and
interesting, of thefe wonders of art and
nature, which greatly increafed the de
fire I had to fee them. His defcription
diminifhes my regret on the readers ac
count, to whom I can offer nothing bet
ter ; but it can never confole me for
having been prevented by circumftances
from gratifying my curiofity. I was
obliged to put off this agreeable journey
on account of bufinefs, which called me
to Madrid ; and from Saint Roche I
took the direct road to that capital, mak
ing one little circuit only to fee the efta-
blifhments of Ximena. This

476 THE PRESENT STATE
This place is four leagues from Saint
Roche. The two firft of which lie most
ly over fand, but through a wood, in
which tufts of fhrubs fill up the inter
vals between the great trees, and which,
befides, contains wild olive and fig-trees,
green oak, and the alcornoque or cork
tree. The road for the two laft leagues
winds through a vaft plain, or rather a
garden, abounding in melons, cucumbers
and Indian corn.
Ximenais built upon the declivity of
a fteep rock commanded by the ruins of
an old caftle. I had letters of recom
mendation to Don Manuel Behic, de
fcended from a French family, and who
had for fome years been comptroller of
a foundery of iron cannon, and balls, ex
clufively intended for Spanifh America.
The manufacture was eftablifhed by the
minifter of the Indies, M. de Galvez,
under the direction of a captain of a fhip
of war. His management of the under
taking was not fatisfactory to govern
ment, and I found at Ximena a colonel of

O F S P A I N. 477
of engineers who was charged to fcruti-
nife the proceedings, and examine whe
ther or not the eftablifhment could be
continued. The refult of his obferva
tions was, that the river which fet in
motion the forges was dry eight months
in the year, and that, during the other
four, it was not fufficient to drive a fin
gle hammer. Notwithftanding thefe
deficiencies, which ought to have made
the intendant more fparing in his ad
vances, he had already made fuch as
feemed to be calculated for the moft
flourifhing manufacture ; an error or a
treachery too common among the Spa
niards, who often make the moft ex
penfive efforts in the beginning of efta-
blifhments, which experience foon after
caufes to be abandoned. The minifter
of the Indies has chofen another fitua
tion for the manufactory of Ximena,
three leagues from the old one, on the
river Guadiaro, in which there is always
water fufficient to drive two forges. Af
ter I had left Ximena, I paffed by the
place where fome workmen were already
employed.

THE PRESENT STATE
employed. The eftablifhment cannot
there fail of fuccefs ; the fituation is very
favorable, fince it is near a rich mine
which produces twenty five pounds of iron
for every hundred weight of ore. From
Ximena I proceeded three leagues far
ther to Gaufin, a handfome town in the
middle of very high mountains, whence
the rock of Gibraltar may be diftindtly
feen. From the fummits of thefe moun
tains, the peaceable inhabitants of Gaufin,
faw the fire iffue from that fortrefs with
out being in the leaft alarmed at its
thunders, as the Gods of Epicurus from
their celeftial abodes looked down with
unconcerned tranquility on all the pain
ful ftruggles and cruel fufferings of
wretched mortals.
I took the advantage of what light re
mained to admire the fituation of Gaufin.
At the foot of it is a deep valley, which
receives the tribute of the rivulets that
run from the fides of neighbouring
mountains ; the inhabitants have fo far
profited by this advantage, as to have
furrounded

O F S P A I N. 4?g
furrounded themfelves with vegetables
and verdure. The neighbouring hills
are covered with vineyards, and what
ferves to decorate the landfcape is a great
enclofure, belonging to the Francifcans,
which runs by the fide of the great road,
following its rapid defcent. Though the
monks are generally exclaimed againft, it
muft be allowed that their poffeffions are
every where, and particularly on the
outfide of cities, cultivated in the beft.
manner ; that their habitations form
agreeable points of view ; and their refi
dence enlivens the adjacent country. Is
it that the pious complaifance of the
faithful has permitted them to chufe the
moft agreeable fituations ; or do the lei
sures of their folitary life furnifh them
with more means of embellifhing their
places of retirement ?
In my walk of obfervation I met the
Corregidor, who gave me a defcription
of Gaufin worthy of a good patriot ; he
extolled the pofition of the old caftle
which commanded the town, and whence the

480 THE PRESENT STATE
the inhabitants judged of the attack and
defence of the befiegers and befieged of
Gibraltar. I led the converfation to the
national bank ; he feemed to regret that
the capital had been increafed by the
fubfidies from cities and communities.
In his opinion they might have been
better employed. Gaufin, for inftance,
had been obliged to part with forty thou
fand reals, which would have anfwered
a moie ufeful purpofe, had they been
applied to paving the town, or repair
ing the roads about it. Thus it every
where happens, that the folitary citi
zen, confining himfelf within his own
narrow sphere, and not in a fituation to
comprehend the great views of admi
niftration, would wifh, in his felf impor
tance, every thing to be facrificed to his
particular convenience.
Beyond Gaufin, the road for two or
three leagues lies over the fide of the
mountains, acrofs the vineyards, which
from within a fmall diftance of their tops
defcend to the bottom of the valleys. The

O F S P A I N. 481
The little habitations of the vine dref-
fcrs on the declivity of the mountains,
prove the adtivitv which reigns in this
happy diftridt. The country afterwards
becomes ftill more mountainous 4, and the
reft of the road lies acrofs the moft enor
mous mountains entirely deprived of
covering. From time to time we meet
with fome wretched villages, hung, as it
were, upon the fides of naked rocks, and
which are the retreats of thieves and
fmugglers. Their names and fituation
fufiiciently indicate they were built by
the Moors, who, no doubt fought, in
the bofom of the moft inacceffible moun
tains, afylums where they might be fecure
from the attacks of the Christians. The
principal of thefe villages are Guatazin,
Benali, and Atajate : the laft is three
leagues from Gaufin, almoft at the foot
of the rocks ; the road from it afcends
again and continues to the fummit of
the high mountains, whence we fee, for
the laft time, the rock of Gibraltar. "
Vol. II. Ii We

482 THE PRESENT STATE
We foon afterwards difcover Ronda,
which, feen at that diftance, appears fi
tuated in the middle of a bafon formed
by the neighbouring hills, and in the
bofom of the moft barren and ftoney
country imaginable- We are, however,
undeceived as foon as we arrive in the
city, which, from the ftrength of its na
tural fortifications, was not taken from
the Moors until the end of the fifteenth
century. It is furrounded with a double
enclofure of rocks, between which runs a
little river. In the time of the Moors, the
only entrance was by a low gate, flanked
with great towers ; afterwards a fhort
but very high bridge was to be paffed,
at the foot of which was a great fpring,
that has never difappeared. The city of
Ronda covers a confiderable but uneven
fpace of ground. The double natural
rampart which surrounds it is incommo
dious to the inhabitants, fince it is no
longer neceffary to their fafety, A pro
ject has been formed to construct a fe
cond bridge, at the place of the neareft
approach of the rocks to each other. This

O F S P A 1 N. 483
This idea animated the patriotic zeal of
M. Giron, a general officer of diftin
guifhed birth and talents, and one of the
principal citizens of Ronda. He prefled
the execution of the project, and towards
the end of the year 1785, enormous piles
had already been driven at the bottom
of the natural ditch, and promifed the
inhabitants a new means of efcaping from
their fpacious prifon.
To the North Eaft, the environs
which are not feen as we approach from
Gaufin, are covered with orchards that
furnifh abundance of peaches, plumbs,
different kinds of pears, and apples of an
excellent quality ; thefe fruits are riot
often met with good in Spain ; for whe
ther the gardeners want fkill, or the na
ture of the foil be improper, the country
of oranges, figs and olives, is not that of
the exquifite fruits which constitute the
moft ornamental and delicious part of
our autumnal deferts. We fhall indeed
be inclined to fufpect this arifes from
want of fkill in the art of gardening, if
Ii % we

484 THE PRESENT STATE
we confider that the king's table is co
vered with excellent fruits of this kind
from the gardens of Aranjuez and Saint
Ildefonfo, whilft it would be in vain
to fearch for them in the reft of Caftile.
Paxarete, famous for its wine, is four
or five leagues from Ronda, and belongs
to M. Giron.
Grazalema, fituated like Ronda, in the
bofom of rocks, is only three leagues from
the latter town. The inhabitants having
abundance of water, and but few re
fources, employ themfelves in the pre
paration of wool. The refult has been
one of the principal manufactures of
Spaniih cloths for home confumption. ,
The firft league and a half from Ron
da is agreeable from the great number of
orchards by the fide of the road ; the
ground afterwards becomes uneven, fto
ney, and but little cultivated. I reached
Cannete the fame day, a large unhand-
fome.town, commanded by the ruins of
an

O F S P A I N. 485
an old fort. The country beyond it, as
far as Offuna, is barren and uneven, and
prefents nothing but a few olive planta
tions ; their pale verdure, which fcarcely
fhades a grey foil, faddens rather than
embelliihes the landfcape.
Five leagues farther we arrive at Offu
na, the capital of the duchy of that name.
The city is confiderable, but nothing in
it announces affluence, although many
of the nobility refide there. I remarked
an alameda, or public walk, decorated
with a fountain : two pillars in a bad
tafte are alfo intended to contribute to
its embellifhment ; they bear a pom
pous infcription, in which are named the
pope, the king of Spain, the duke of
Offuna, who was then alive, and the
two corregidors, founders of the pillars,
which have been honoured with the ap
pellation of f amo fa obra : the infcription
concludes by declaring, that it had been
. engraved as an eternal monument. I ob
ferved that this monument, this famous
work, confifted in two fountains of but
I i 3 very

486 ' THE PRESENT STATE
Veiy middling appearance, and in two
rows of heavy ftone benches clumfily co
vered with plaster. In 1785, they difir
appointed the modeft intention that had
dedicated them to eternity ; their ruins,
with which the ground is covered, though
it is only eight years fince the erection
of the pillars, fufficiently evince the fra
gility of the works of rnaq. It would be
difficult to find a monument in a worfe
ftate, and efpecially a more ftriking gaf-
coUade ; with reafon, therefore, are the
Andalufians called the gafcons pf Spain.
Eccija is fix leagues from Offuna, acrofs
a flat and well cultivated country. At
about the diftance of a league from Offur
na, I semarked a great marfh almoft co
vered with white birds, bigger and
longer bodied than ducks, and called in
Spanifh, alablancos. At the leaft noife
they rife in flocks and difplay their
wings, in which a bright red is, in a fin
gular manner, mixed with the white. X
cannot better compare the appearance
they make, than to that of a pack of
cards

O F S P A I N. 487
cards thrown into the air and falling in
diforder. The water upon which thefe
birds live is brackifh ; fportfmen fhoot
them, but they are not good to eat.
At Eccija, which I had already feen
as I went to Cadiz, I took poft horfes
and, following for feventy five leagues
the road I had travelled at the beginning
of my journey, arrived at Madrid.
After my return to the capital, I took
the advantage of the leifure my affairs
permitted me, to make excursions to fe
veral places little known, and which
excited my curiofity.
I began with San Fernando, a village
three leagues from Madrid, which for
fome time was remarkable on account
of a manufacture of cloths eftablifhed
there. This has been removed to Gua-
dalaxara, but the cloths ftill preferve
the name of the place where they were
firft made ; and as the fign brings custo
mers, the change of the place has neither
I i 4 diminiihed

488 THE PRESENT STATE
diminifhed the vogue or reputation. San
Fernando, formerly animated by induf
try, is now the abode of filence and me
lancholly. The vaft edifice that re
founded with the noife of machines and
the cheerful fongs of workmen, is now
filled with the impure voices of wretched
prostitutes, which the police of Madrid
delivers from vice to condemn to peni
tence ; they there expiate the pleafures
they have beftowed upon their numerous
lovers, of the court and capital, and
fometimes the refufals their caprice has
given to perfons who are not to be de
nied with impunity, San Fernando is
to Madrid, what the Salphriere is to Paris,
the fcarecrow of vice, but fometimes a
retreat that opens to the voice of venge
ance concealed under the appearance of
juftice. Befides, united as it were in
one body, the wretches leave the hospi
tal more corrupted or rather lefs capable
of amendment.
At nearly the fame diftance from Ma
drid is a little village, fcarcely known by
name,

O F S P A 1 N. 489
name, which appeared to me to merit
-attention; it is called Loeches. I had
become defirous of feeing it, from having
read a little Englifh pamphlet which
appeared during my refidence at Ma
drid, entituled, Anecdotes of eminent
painters in Spain. Mr. Cumberland, more
known by his dramatic pieces, than his
fuccefs as a negociator, refided almoft
a year at Madrid. He had in charge, it
is faid, to induce Spain to detach her
felf from her alliance with France. He
was accompanied by his daughters.
Thefe two young ladies were, notwith
ftanding the wars which divided the two
countries, perfectly well received in the
circles of Caftile. In fact, there was no
great merit in laying at their feet all na
tional prejudices. In them wit was uni
ted with elegance of figure, and the
graces with talents. Gallantry rendered
them the homage which was their due,
but ftate-policy in vain endeavoured to
make them ufeful to its views. In treat
ing with Mr. Cumberland, the minifter
of the court of Madrid forgot he was
their

490 THE PRESENT STATE
their father, and Spanifh loyalty thus
acquired another triumph.
Thofe who know thefe accomplifhed
ladies, whom I have fince had the plea
fure of feeing in England, will excufe
this digreffion ; of every body elfe I afk
pardon. The dutchefs of Vauguyon,
who has lived fome years at Madrid,
can, befides, attest that it is not for ami
able Engliih ladies only that the Spa
niards referve their polite attention ; but
that people of all nations are fure of
pleafing them when they have the defire
and the means of doing it.
Mr. Cumberland after his return to
London, communicated to the public,
in a pamphlet, the obfervations he had
made on the arts at Madrid. This pro
duction was nothing more than a deful
tory compilation, wherein the author
had collected anecdotes concerning the
painters who had poffeffed the greateft
reputation in Spain. Rubens, who had
made two journies into that kingdom was not

O F S P A I N. , 49I
not forgotten. I' knew that, well re
ceived at the court of Philip the Fourth,
he had enriched with the productions of
his pencil the palace of that monarch ;
but I had not learned that he had bu
ried feveral of them in a little convent of
nuns four leagues from Madrid. This
I gathered from the pamphlet of Mr.
Cumberland, and was determined to be
convinced of the truth with my own
eyes. I found at Loeches, a little church
founded by the duke de Olivarez, the
decorations of which might be envied
by the metropolitan of the Chriftian
world. Six capital paintings by Rubens,
of the largeft fize and moft magnificent
effect, adorn the altars or enrich the
walls. The principal of thefe is an alle
gorical painting of the triumph of reli?
gion ; it is over the great altar, and
unites all the beauties, and even defects,
which charadterife its author ; richnefs
of compofition, brilliant colouring,
ftrength of expreffion, and negligence
pf defign. After this painting, I was
.moft ftruck with, that in which Elias is
reprefented

49a THE PRESENT STATE
reprefented ftanding in the defert, at the
moment when an angel appears to com
fort him ; there is fomething divine in
the attitude of the prophet, and in the
expreffion of his countenance. I re
marked, with pleafure, that Rubens had
given to his features a ftriking refem
blance to thofe of Henry IV. whether
it Were that thefe features, which he
has more than once traced upon canvafs,
were unconfcioufly produced by his pen
cil, or whether he availed himfelf of
his art to perpetuate in Spain, under the
form of a prophet, the portrait of a ma-
narch fo odious to that country, both
with refpedt to his religion and his po
htical fy ftern ?
There is in the fame church an excel
lent copy of a holy family, by Andrea del
Sarto, the original of which is at the Ef-
curial, as alfo a copy of another painting
in the fame convent, reprefenting a dead
Chrift on the knees of his mother : this
painting is alfo by Rubens, There

O F S P A I N 493
There are fome pictures in the veftry
which have their merit ; among others,
two by Baffan and one by Titian. I
fpent fome hours in contemplating thefe
mafterly produdtions, which are almoft
unknown in the hiftory of painting.
Satisfied, but not cloyed, I quitted the
church of Loeches to return to Madrid.
Another object of curiofity, perhaps ftill
more unknown to the Spaniards them
felves, is found in the bofom of the moun
tains of Caftile, four or five leagues from
the Efcurial : this is a monument which
has caufed much perplexity to fome an
tiquarians, and which they know by the
name of Toros de Guifando. Guifando is
a convent of Hieronymites, placed up
on the fide of a chain of fteep rocks
where, according to tradition, the fons
of Pompey were defeated by tbe party
of Casfar, and where the conquerors, to
celebrate their triumph, facrificed to the
gods an hundred bulls, and left the figures
of four in ftone on the place where they
obtained their victory. Another traditiou afferts

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Missing Page

496 THE PRESENT STATE
tion of which I have fpoken, is pre
ferved upon a kind of fcroll, conftantly
put into the hands of ftrangers, who may
there read distinctly the Latin infcrip
tions cut in the fides of the blocks, but
which are now almoft effaced. The
principal of thefe infcriptions is as fol
lows : Bellum Cafaris et Patria ex magna
parte confeElum fuit ; S.etCn.Pompeii fillis hic
in agro Bafietano profligatis. And another,
Exercitus viclor hoftibus effufts. They fuffi
ciently indicate that the monuments
were defigned to celebrate a victory over
the fons of Pompey. It remains to be de
termined whether the ground uponwhich
they are placed be the Agrum Baftetanum ;
and to reconcile the hypothesis with hif
tory, which places the defeat of Pompey's
party in Andalufia. The worthy monks,
jealous of the renown of their district,
found an answer to all my objections;
and that nothing might be wanting to
my belief, they fhewed me the caverns
in which the fons of Pompey found their
death in feeking an afylum after their
defeat. I could fcarcely perfuade myfelf but

O F S P A I N. 497
but that I heard the groans of their il
luftrious manes ; and my imagination
going back eighteen centuries, made
me forget that I was furrounded by
Hieronymites. This they recalled to my
recollection, by remarking to me, that
thefe afylums of the martyrs to liberty
had fourteen hundred years later been
thofe of the martyrs of penitence ; and
I was obliged to hear the recital of the
retreat of the founders of their order
to the caverns, the detail of their auste
rities, and to diftinguifh the traces of
their fteps, and thofe even of their tears,
Fatigued with this folemn narrative ; but
perfectly fatisfied with the cordial recep
tion I had met with from the Monks, I
defcended to the plain ; where I took a
laft view of the miihapen hieroglyphics to
which the good father had given me a
key, and purfued the road to theEfcurial.
The Toros de Guifando, which many
people at Madrid think imaginary, are
frequently introduced into familiar con
verfation, to exprefs, in a burlefque man
ner, the courage of a man capable of
Vol. II. Kk facing

498 THE PRESENT STATE
facing the .greatest dangers ; and in this
fenfe they are ufed by one of the heros
of Cervantes. When after my return
I faid I had feen and touched thefe fa
mous bulls, I was looked upon as an
extraordinary peifon. The wonder,
however, ceafed when I had defcribed
the enemy whom I had fo refolutely
braved. Another diftrict, farther from Madrid,
makes a ftill greater figure than the Toros
de Guifando in the fabulous hiftory of
Spain ; I mean the diftrict of Battuecas,
to which Montefquieu alludes in his Per
fian Letters, when he fays, the Spaniards
have in their own kingdom districts un
known to themfelves. According to anci
ent tradition, the religion, language and
manners of Spain were unknown in the
Battuecas. Extraordinary voices had
been heard there from the neighbour
ing villages ; the fhepherds were afraid
to approach it with their flocks. Fewer
alarms would have made it the retreat pf
daemons or favages ; and each related in
his

O F S P A I N. 499
his own manner, the origin and parti
cularities of the place. The Battuecas
have alfo furnifhed a fubject for the wits
of Spain ; they are introduced into
comedies and novels ; and Moreri did
not difdain to give to thefe ridiculous
ftories a place in his dictionary.
Father Feijoo, an extremely well in
formed and intelligent Monk, lately
deceafed, was one of the firft who fuc-
cefsfully combated thefe abfurdities.
The refult of my refearches, and the lit
tle tour I made to the Battuecas a ihort
time before my departure from Spain is,
that they are two uncultivated valleys,
fcarcely a league in length, and fo narrow
and clofely ihut in, that it is difficult
for the fun to enter them in winter. This
little diftrict is remarkable for groupes
of rocks oddly formed, for variety of
trees, the meandering of the little river
which waters the valleys, the excava
tions of the mountains by which they
are formed, and the great numbers of
all kinds of animals to which it ferves as a
Kk 2 retreat.**

joo THE PRESENT STATE
retreat. The only human habitation,
which merits attention, is the convent
of the bare-footed Carmelites, whofe
cells are buried, as it were, under the fteep
rocks by which they are threatened, and
the trees that give them fhade. A tra
veller might make the tour of Europe
and not find a place more fit to become
the afylum of filence and peace. The
diftrict, which is almoft inacceffible, and
not upon the road to any city, is fcarce
ly ever frequented. The curious few who
go thither, are looked upon as perfons
impelled by an extravagant curiofity, by
the peaceful inhabitants, who cannot
imagine what they have come to feek
among them. Their little diftridt which
they feldom or never leave, is in the
diocefe of Coria, between old Caftile and
Eftramadura, eight leagues from Civi-
dad Rodrigo, and fourteen from Sala
manca. I had a ftrong defire to fee, before I
left Spain, this city fo famous in romance,
and the hiftory of Spanifh literature. For

O F S P A I N. Soi
For want of a guide who knew the road
from the Battuecas to Salamanca, I de
termined to return to Madrid and take
my departure from that city.
The court was then at Saint Ildefon-
fo. I paffed by that royal manfion,
which brought me twelve leagues nearer
the end of my journey ; from Salamanca
the diftance is twenty feven leagues of
that country, which make about forty
of ours. All the diftrict through which
we paffed (for I had ftill a travelling
companion) although barren in appear-
rance, is fertile and well cultivated :
this, in a great meafure, proceeds from
the extent of the poffeffions, which is
there much more confined than in fe
veral other provinces of Spain ; the
people themfelves having lands, or farm
ing to advantage thofe of great propri
etors. The hufbandmen refide near
their farms ; this has encreafed the
number of the towns and villages. Al
though complaint has been made of the
depopulation of this part of Spain, I
K k 3 counted

, 502 THE PRESENT STATE
counted twelve towns, hamlets, and
villages which might be difcovered from
one fpot of ground in the environs of
Arevalo. The firft remarkable place at which
we arrived after paffing by Segovia,
was Santa Maria de Nieva. This
town contains fix hundred houfes. The
inhabitants, more happy than thofe of
the greateft part of Spain, have full per
miffion to fell all kind. of eatables. They
reckon among other advantages, the pof
feffion of a miraculous image of the vir
gin, and the innocent privilege of hav
ing an annual bull fight, at which all
the lovers of that diversion in the neigh
bourhood affemble, and where the moft
famous Mat adores of Spain difdain not tq
gather bloody laurels.
From the eminence on which Santa
Maria de Nieva is placed, we difcover a
fine country, if a large extent of land, in
which there is neither runing water,
trees, verdure nor country houfes, and
which

O F S P A I N. 5o3
which offers nothing but the dull uni
form afpedt of immenfe fields of wheat,
can be fo called.
We foon after came to a wood of firs,
which bears a faint refemblance to the
heaths of Bourdeaux, but the induftry
of the inhabitants has not taken ad
vantage of the refource which thefe trees
prefent. On the outfide of the wood the ground
becomes bare and uniform. Notwith
ftanding its drynefs, it is well cultivated
to the very gates of Arevalo, a town
which muft formerly have been a con
fiderable city. It is almoft furrounded
by a little river the deep bed of which
feems to have been dug for the defence
of a fortrefs. The gate of Arevalo is a
maffive building without ornament; it
leads to a bridge which is not more in
debted toa art, but its folidity may brave
the ravages of inundations and almoft
thofe of time. However, it has not been
thought unworthy of a pompous infcrip-
K k 4 tion,

504 THE PRESENT STATE
tion, which informs the traveller that
the town and villages for thirty leagues
round contributed to its construction.
The interior of Arevalo, notwithftand
ing the impoverifhed ftate of the mo
dern inhabitants, ftill bears the marks
pf having formerly been an important
city. There are fome remains of an
tique columns upon which are placed
miferable barracks and half-rotten bal
conies. The fight of thefe called to my
recollection thofe bankrupts who, for
merly opulent, wear out in their dif
trefs the tattered remains of their once
fumptu.ous wardrobe. The clergy only
preferve their riches in the midft of the
poverty with which they are furround
ed. There are ftill in Arevalo eight
parifhes, and as many convents.
The only cultivation for the fpace of
fix leagues, the diftance from Santa Ma
ria Je Nieva to Arevalo is that of corn :
a few vineyards produce wines, the bit
ter and earthy tafte of which nothing
but habit can render supportable. From

OF SPAIN. 505
From Arevalo to Penaranda, nothing
is feen but a fertile and well cultivated
country. Yet notwithftanding the riches
of the earth the inhabitants feem poor.
Reduced to articles of pure neceflity,
they defpife thofe of convenience, and
deprived of all exterior communication
and objedts of comparifon, they feem not
to have either the defire or knowledge
of thefe enjoyments. T.hey never have
a thought of embellifhing their inheri
tances ; a pleafure or kitchen garden is
to them an object of luxury, which their
parfimony refufes. Idlenefs impofes on
them deprivations, and, in turn, the habit
of thefe increafes indolence : they will
move round this circle until roads, canals,
and eafy means of conveyance fhall have
' taught them the advantages of com-

merce.

We paffed the night at Flores de Avila,
a miferable village where we fuffered
every inconvenience. The frugal fupper
fet before us was twenty times inter
rupted by the barking of dogs, the thefts of

506 THE PRESENT STATE
of cats, the importunities of beggars,
and the cavils of a tooth lefs old woman
who did the honours of the inn. We
«
paffed the night upon beds as hard as
it is poffible to conceive beds to be, de
voured by the infects, which in Spain
fo frequently disturb the repofe of the
traveller. Accommodated in this man
ner, we rofe early without much effort,
and immediately fet out for Penaranda,
a handfome little town, which contains
about a thoufand houfes. Like Are
valo, it has fome ruins of architecture,
which prove it was formerly more con
fiderable ; it belongs to the counts of
the fame name, one of whom was the
count de Penaranda fo well known in
political hiftory by his arrogance, which
twenty times was near breaking up the
congrefs of Weftphalia. After the ex
tinction of the male line of the counts,
Penaranda paffed over to the houfe of
Uceda, by the marriage of the prefent
duchefs pf that name. The

O F S P A I N. 507
The inhabitants of the city have the
greateft confidence in an image of the
HolyVirgin ; without the aid of which, fay
they, they fhould repeatedly have funk
under their wretchednefs. Such are the
mild illusions which modern philofophers
have had the cruelty to ridicule, and
which, perhaps, fhould be fupported
for the confolation of the poor, when
yigilant and enlightened authority has
otherwife the means of remedying the
abufes of fuperftition. Illufions like thefe
are furely innocent, and even precious
when their only effect is to nouriih hope
and patience in the bofom of the unfor
tunate^. The inhabitants of Penaranda,
like thofe of moft of the Spanifh pro
vinces, appeared to me to ftand in need
of thefe two refources ; they are over-
burthened with taxes; they painfully
earn what they poffefs, and diftrefs de-
ftroys their induftry. Their lords, who
* But^what becomes of truth, I fhall be afked?
I would not have it offended, but let us at leaft be
convinced it is preferable to the illufion we would
jeje.<a. are

508 THE PRESENT STATE
are fometimes ignorant to the degree of
being unacquainted with the geographi
cal fituation of their eftates, confide the
management of them to stewards, trea-
furers, or alcaldes, who bring curfes
upon their names by the abufe of their
authority. Who in fuch a cafe would
dare to fpeak in favour of the oppreffed ?
And who amongft the latter would ven
ture to lay his complaints at the foot
of the throne ? In vain do the laws offer
him a refuge ; their interpreters are too
much afraid of perfons who know how
to elude them, and againft whom they
are never invoked with impunity. I
know that in the prefent age there have
been magiftrates virtuous and intrepid *
enough to brave the refentment of the
great, by rigoroufly difcuffing the na
ture of their rights, and defpoiling them
of their ufurpations. The honour of
restoring to the crown the poffeffion of
* I would name them were not I afraid of awaken
ing againft them the hatred their courage has excited ;
but my Spanifh readers will add what, from deli
cacy, I here omit, its

O F S P A I N. 509
its privileges was attached to this bold
refolution, and fuch a project has fome
thing in it brilliant, which is a fupport
..to courage. But where are they to be
found, who, without other motives than
equity and humanity, undertake the ob
fcure and hazardous defence of certain
citizens, who, as the price of fuch fer
vices, frequently have nothing more to
offer than their gratitude, admiration
and efteem ? Thefe are not more nu
merous in Spain than in other coun
tries. 1 did not expect I fhould have had
fo much to fay relative to the little town
of Penaranda ; nor can I take my leave
of it without rendering a tribute of juf
tice to the inn in which I took the ne
ceffary refrefhment. It is certainly the
cleaneft and moft convenient of any I
met with in Spain. Contrary to the
cuftom of the country, the innkeeper
and his wife are complaifant, attentive,
and always have provifions to offer to
their guefts. Half

510 THE PRESENT STATE
Half a league from this city we en
tered a wood of green oaks, which we
were almoft an hour and an half in
croffing. It belongs to the counts of
Penaranda. We met in the road a
mafter mafon, whom we accofted, and
with whofe good fenfe we were rather
ftruck ; I fhould have been much more
furprifed at it in the former part of my
refidence in the country ; but for feveral
years paft I had been accuftomed to find
wit, clear ideas, and remarkable preci
fion of language in claffes, which in
other countries wretchednefs and pro- .
found mifery reduce almoft to the level
of brutes. The corregidor of Penaranda
would not perhaps have given us fuch
clear accounts of the cultivation of the
country, the meansoffucceedinginit,&c.
as thofe we received from our travelling
companion ; who difcovered us in a mo
ment, upon our addreffing him, in a lan
guage with which we were not familiar.
He feafoned his difcourfe with ftrokes of
pleafantry, which our moft fafhionable
wits need not have been aihamed to
own.

OF SPAIN. 5ti
own. From him we learned that moft
of the lands of the diftrict were farmed
out to labourers, who did not pay more
than a quarter of their produce to the
proprietors, taking uppn themfelves all
expences, and who, with a little good
fortune, became rich in a few years.
However, I thought he took advantage
of our being ftrangers, to give us as an
undoubted fact, that which then appeared
to us, and ftill feems to me to be a ridi
culous ftory. He affured us, that in
fome of the neighbouring parilhes there
were droves of cows, the male calves of
which never had horns ; but this de
fect prevented not their having ali the
properties of a bull or an ox.
I do not advife naturalists to affert
upon the authority of the mafon of Pe
naranda, that in certain countries, there
are breeds of horned cattle, which have
no horns ; but if this oddity of nature
fhould not be new to them, they are
here furnifhed with another authority. Whether

512 THE PRESENT STATE
Whether the accounts of our travel
ing companion were true, or mere plea
fantries, his chearfulnefs and inftrudtive
converfation fhortened the two long
leagues which feparate Penaranda from
Ventofa, a miferable village upon an
eminence whence Salamanca begins to
be feen. After paffing Ventofa we ar
rived at the town of Huerta ; and in
the inn there, I for the firft time obferved
a Angularity which in fome refpects well
deferves to be imitated in other places.
At the entrance we found a placart, in
which the alcalde mayor prefcribed "to
the innkeeper the manner in which he
ought to treat travellers, the price he
was to receive for their beds, food, horfes,
&c. So far there was nothing amifs ;
but the foresight of the alcalde extended
to forbidding the innkeeper from keep
ing pigs and hens, from fuffering certain
prohibited games to be played in his houfe,
and from receiving into it armed men, or
women of ill fame. Such fhackles pro
duce inconvenience, without being of
any real benefit to morals, and by thefe
means

OF SPAlk 513
means Spain will long be without good
inns, and the dread of travellers. Thofe
who travel over that kingdom, without
reflection, lay the blame on the indo
lence and careleffnefs of the Spaniards.
But obfervation fhews, that the defect
rather proceeds from the municipal con-
ftitution of cities and communities, the
tyranny of the great, and from old cuf-
toms which cannot be abolifhed with
out new modelling a confiderable part
of the legiflation. Time only and per-
feverance can produce fuch a revolution :
the prefent minifter has it in contem
plation, and is preparing for the change,
but does not mean it fhall be violent
or fudden.
On leaving Huerta we diftinctlv faw
the fteeples of Salamanca, and did not
again lofe fight of them. The road lies
along the banks of the Tormes, near to
which the city is fituated. At a certain
diftance its fituation is beautiful; and
were the country a little lefs naked
it would confiderably refemble that of
Yoi,. II. L 1 Tours

5i4 THE PRESENT STATE
Tours on the banks of the Loire. The
appearance of Salamanca is very like that
of Tours, as we arrive at it from Blois.
To the right are fome little barren and
ftoney hills, on which are feen a few
habitations, with fome tufts of trees, and
to the left feveral copfes which feparate
the great road from the river. At about
half way we croffed one of the vaft paf
tures or commons, called Valdios, which
are but too frequent in Spain, but they
are not cloathed with that brilliant ver
dure, which is the fineft ornament of
the country. A great drove of bulls
paffed us upon the road. The theatres
of the bull-fights at Madrid and Valla-
dolid are fupplied from this diftrict.
After having frequently been witneffes
to their bloody conflicts, it was not
without fome emotion that we found
ourfelves furrounded by thefe formidable
animals ; but they were at liberty and
unprovoked; they had loft their fero
city, and we were foon as much at
our eafe as we could have been in the
midft of a flock of fheep. Nature has
formed

O F S P A 1 N. 5*5
formed but few mifchievous beings, ne-
ceffity only forces fome to become fo,
and this happens when it impofes' the
law either of felf-defence or feeking food
for nourifhment. In fuch cafes, and alfo
in fome others, are men more mild or
lefs dangerous than bulls or lions ?
On entering Salamanca we paffed thro'
dirty ftreets, narrow and thinly peopled,
which do not appear to belong to a great
city : but we were agreeably furprifed on
arriving at the fquare, which is equally
remarkable for cleannefs and regularity
of architecture ; it appeared to us much
fuperior to the Plaza Mayor , of which the
inhabitants of Madrid are fo vain. It is
built with hewn. ftone, and ornamented
with three rows of balconies that run
all round without interruption. The
firft ftory is formed by arcades, and their
freeze is ornamented with medallions
of the moft illuftrious perfonages Spain
has produced. On one fide are
thofe of all the kings of Caftile to
Charles III. exclufively ; on the other
L 1 2 thofe

516 THE PRESENT STATE
thofe of the moft celebrated heroes, fuch
as Bernard del Carpio, Gonfalves de Cor
dova, and Hernando Cortez. Thofe to
the eaft are not yet filled up. May
Spain foon have great men to fill thefe
vacant places.
The edifices which form the fquare
of Salamanca are not the only ones
worthy of attention ; the cathedral, al
though cotemporary with Leo X. and
built by a number of architects, has paid
more than One tribute to bad tafte. It
muft, liowever, be confeffed, that the
boldnefs of the nave and the finifhing of
the Gothic ornaments make it one of the
moft remarkable churches in Spain.
When the traveller is informed that,
befides the cathedral, there are in Sala
manca, twenty-five parifh churches,
twenty- five convents of monks, and
fourteen of women, without enumerat
ing a confiderable number of pious foun
dations, he is neither aftonifhed at its
poverty nor want of population. Its
univerfity, formerly fo famous, to which
ftudents

O F S P A I N. 517
ftudents were fent from all parts of
Europe, has confiderably fallen from its
ancient fplendor, although it is yet
far from meriting the ignominious epi
thets beftowed upon it by modern tra
vellers. According to the laft form
given it by the council of Caftile, it has
fixty-one profefforihips, without reckon
ing an anatomical theatre, and the col
lege of the three languages (Hebrew,
Greek and Latin). At prefent it con
tains feveral able profeffors, employed in
purfuing and forcing from its laft re
treat the pretended philofophy of Arif-
totle, the object of the invectives of all
Europe, after having been that of ftupid
veneration, in Fiance and Italy no lefs
than in Spain.
The edifices of this university are com
pofed of two parts, feparated from each
other by a street. The little fchools,
(Efcuelas minores) are on one fide ; and on
the other the gates of the university pro
perly fo called. One of thefe gates im
mediately strikes the eye. Befides its be-
Ll 3 ing

5i$ THE PRESENT STATE
ing decorated with flowers extremely
well fculptured, it bears an infcription
which informs the reader that he is al
ready at the door of the fandluary of
the fciences ; the infcription is in He
brew. This gate opens to a court that
leads to the different fchools. Bad paint
ings, with which the wall is daubed,
indicate the fcience taught near at hand ;
and Latin verfes written beneath, fcarce
ly more tolerable than the paintings,
record either the generofity of the prin
cipal patrons of the univerfity, as Al-
fonfo X. furnamed the Astronomer, and
Ferdinand III. or the advantages of the
fcience in queftion. The library is above ;
it is public, and if the librarians may be
judged of by the reception I met with,
thofe who may have occafion to vifit
them hereafter will be perfectly fatif-
fied with their politenefs. This library
contains a good collection. We remarked
there many foreign books, efpecially En-
gljfh and French ; but there feemed to
be but few modern works. The whole con*

O F S P A I N. 5ig
confifts of upwards of twenty thoufand
volumes. Another foundation, more modern
than the univerfity of Salamanca, and
more celebrated in the prefent age, is
that of the great colleges, or colegios
mayores. There are in Spain feven houfes
of education which bear this name.
The moft diftinguifhed youth of the
kingdom are brought up in them : and
thence it was, formerly, that all thofe who
held places in the adminiftration were
taken, as I have obferved in another
part of this work. Such a distinction
excited emulation amongft the ftudents
of the colleges (Colegiales) and the order
of advocates, whofe moderate fortunes
were unequal to fo illuftrious an edu
cation. The latter have lately been fully
revenged ; fince it was among them the
ftate has found thofe who do it moft
honour ; and their triumph has thrown
a ridicule upon their difdainful rivals.
Befides, they who fupplanted them pro
duced the reform of the abufes to which
L 1 4 thefe

52Q THE PRESENT STATE
thefe colleges were fubject. In 1776,
the council of Caftile gave a new form
to the whole, which in making them
more regular, will probably render them
more ufeful.
The city of Salamanca alone contains
four of thefe colleges, thofe of St. Bar-?
tholomew, Cuenca, Oviedo, and del Ar-
sobifpo. The firft, and the moft ancient,
has been recently rebuilt, and merits the
attention of connoiffeurs : the architect
was a Bifcayner, who had formed his
tafte in Italy ; but his genius feems to
have exhaufted itfelf in the facade and
the court; the interior of the building
bears not the leaft marks of it. How
ever, it contains a library rich in manu-
fcripts. This college has produced feveral
learned men ; fuch as Alphonfo Toftado,
whofe immenfe erudition and prodigious
fertility of invention are ftill proverbial
among the modern Spaniards.
The college of Cuenca, refpedtable in
its appearance by its mafs and fymmetry,

OF SPAIN. S2I
is overcharged with paltry ornaments.
The fame obfervation holds with refpect
to that of el Arzobifpo ; they are both
monuments of the indefatigable patience
which charadterifed the artifts of former
ages; though it muft be allowed they
might better have employed their time
and pains.
Little can be faid of the Colegio Mayor of
Oviedo. I had indeed heard much of the
church of the Dominicans, the front of
the convent of the Auguftin nuns, and
the church of San Marcos, heretofore
belonging to the Jefuits.
In the midft of this profufion of facred
edifices at Salamanca, it was neceffary
to make a choice ; we therefore confined
our obfervations to thefe three churches.
The front of that of the Dominicans
is an elaborate performance, in the gothic
tafte; the nave is fpacious, and the light
judicioufly admitted ; the chapels are rich
ly decorated, and in all thefe refpects it
appeared

522 THE PRESENT STATE
appeared to us to refemble many other
churches in Spain. But we fought in
vain for the fine paintings of which we
had heard fo many encomiums. The
ceiling of the choir is painted in frefco,
by the fame Palomino of whom I have
feveral times fpoken, and who, in writ
ing the lives of the Spanifh painters,
has given excellent instructions relative
to the fine arts. However, it feemed to
us, that at Salamanca he had not added
example to precept.
A very officious monk prefented him
felf to ihew us the curiofities of his
church. We prefumed he would be our
Cicerone for the paintings; but he led us
directly to the fhrine. Our difappointed
curiofity was a fecond time obliged to
put on the mafk of devotion, and imme
diately we found ourfelves in the midft of
a dozen foldiers and perfons of the
lowest rank, liftening to a recital of the
lift of all the relics contained in the
cabinet. My travelling companion, to
whom his religion rendered thefe details lefs

O F S P A I N. 523
lefs interefting than to the implicit be
lievers, withdrew his attention, and
employed himfelf in endeavouring to
explain the ex votos with which he
was furrounded. The demonstrator,
aftonifhed his fervices fhould be re
fufed, recalled the wanderer, made
him fome exhortations which, accord
ing to the intention of the worthy
monk, would have penetrated a mind
prepared for grace ; but the strayed fheep
remained deaf to the voice of the fhep-
herd. He vainly offered him fometimes
the nail, and at others one of the double
teeth of fome faint to kifs, but the wan
dering brother fuffered not himfelf to be
prevailed upon. At length the monk
came to a little box full of relics. Pope
fuch a one had made a prefent of it to
the community. " We have nothing,"
faid he, " more precious, bring all your
" chaplets and rub them againft this col-
" lection of fpiritual riches." Every body
prefent, except my companion and my
felf, eagerly obeyed the exhortation.
We appeared a little confufed at being
furprifed without that emblem of a good
Chrif-

$14 THE PRESENT STATE
Christian, and the fpectators began to look
on us with an evil eve. We were quite
unknown in the city ; and prefently re
collecting the holy office, with a flight
impreffion of fear, fought for an op
portunity to remove the fufpicions which
we perceived were entertained of us.
This vve foon found ; the monk fhewed
to his audience a relic which, he told
them, was nothing lefs than fome of
our Saviour's hair. Each bent his knee,
whilst the dominican exclaimed : Come
near, this indeed merits adoration. I ap
proached with the reft, and devoutly
kiffed the holy selic. The fituation of
my companion became a little embar
raffing. Was he, by his inaction, to de
clare himfelf an heretic ; or might he,
from refpect to the company, confent
to do what to him appeared an adt of
idolatry ? His choice was foon made ; he
was neither fuperftitious nor fanatical,
and he took the refolution to imitate
us. I know feveral perfons of his per-
fuafion, who would impute this to him
as a crime ; but I think him very ex-
cufable

O F S P A I N 525
cufable in permiting himfelf an adt
which to him muft feem indifferent.
This apparent veneration for an object we
think unworthy it, is not certainly any
thing more than bowing to a man in
place whom we do not efteem. And
who amongft us has not rendered fuch
homage ? Befides, this was a mere matter
of courfe, I will add, almoft of general
polity. And what purpofe would it have
anfwered, to have offended fo many peo
ple, by a tacit condemnation of their
practice ? In the eyes of an indifferent
perfon the exterior acts of religion make
a part of their manners. The times of
fanaticifm, when it was thought a merit
to infult the objects of a religion which
was looked upon as idolatrous, and in
which my maxims of toleration would
have been construed into fo many crimes,
are happily paft. I however wifh, for
the honour of the Spanifh nation, that
as a religion different from that of the
eftablifhed one, is fuffered in the fea-port
towns of that kingdom, a traveller may
be able to go over the whole conutry without

5a6 THE PRESENT STATE
without being expofed to the danger
which my travelling companion, had
he been lefs prudent, might have in
curred in the church of the Dominicans
at Salamanca.
I fhall omit the enumeration of all
the facred treafures there fhewn to us,
except the bible of the famous anti-pope
Benedict XIII. who was born in Spain,
and depofed by the council of Conftance.
" Take care," faid our conductor, " not
" to confound him with a pope of the
" fame name who was of the Dominican
" order; the latter was a real pope."
We recollected the words of Moliere :
Tou are a goldfmith, Mr. foffe.
The front of the church of the Au-
guftin nuns is maflive and loaded with
a profufion of ornaments, but the edi
fice in general is in a bad ftate. It faces
a caftle of the duke of Alba, which in
Spain is called a palace, as the poffeffions
of the grandees of Spain are called ftates.
A part of thofe of the houfe of Alba are

O F S P A I N. 527
are in the environs of Salamanca ; and,
at the diftance of four leagues from it,
there is a city called after their name
(Alba de Tormes) in which they have alfo
a palace. But thefe ftates and palaces
fuffer not a little by the continual abfence
of their proprietors, proofs of which very
frequently occur in making the tour of
Spain. So long as the opulent land
holders fhall neglect to animate by
their prefence their vaft poffeffions, the
patriotic focieties, eftablilhments of ma
nufactures, encouragements for clearing
of lands, and prohibitions of foreign
merchandize, will all prove ineffectual
to redrefs the evils which for two cen
turies havebeen undermining the Spanifh
monarchy. They are the moft proper
perfons to fecond the efforts of admini
ftration and infure their fuccefs. How
can they, who are conftantly at fuch a
diftance from their eftates, redrefs the
grievances committed in their names,
project and execute plans of improve
ment, or encourage and facilitate the
fale of the productions of their lands ?
So

$it THE PRESENT STATE
So Ions: as the obfcure and ruinous lux1-
ury which they difplay at court and in
the capital fhall abforb their riches, they
muft be deprived of the means of ren
dering them ufeful to their fellow ci
tizens. The ancient college of the Jefuits,
among the facred edifices at Salamanca,
is that moft dcferving our attention ; it
has been given to a community of re
gular canons, under the name of the
church of San Marcos, or Saint Mark.
In front is a magnificent portail of the
Corinthian order. The ancient feminary
of the Jefuits, which, at the requeft
of the laft bifhop of Salamanca, was de
dicated to the education of thirty young
ecclefiaftics, eftablifhed there in 1778, is
upon the fame line. The ceremony of
their admiffion by the prelate is repre
fented in a fine painting by Bayeux, a
pupil of the famous Mengs, and one of
the beft painters now in Spain. The
paintings upon the walls of the
great cloister have for their fubject the
prin-

O F S P A I N. 529
principal actions of the life of Saint Ig
natius ; the Jefuits had them painted at
Rome. The back part of the edifice is occupied
by a community of Irifh priefts ; which
caufes the church of Saint Mark to be
improperly called the Irifh church.
Before we left Salamanca, we went to
vifit the ancient Roman bridge of twen-
ty-feven arches, over which, on leaving
the city, we paffed the little river of
Tormes, and afterwards took the road
to Madrid. This journey, including our
return, was of about fifty Spaniih, or
feventy- five French leagues.
There is a city nearer to Madrid, and
more celebrated than that of Salamanca,
to which I made feveral journies; I
mean the city of Toledo, the ancient
refidence of the Moorifh kings, and the
feat of the primate of all Spain. To
ledo is fituated upon the right bank of
the Tagus, which surrounds it on all
Vol, II. Mm fides,

53° THE PRESENT STATE
fides, except to the north ; it is twelve
leagues from Madrid, and feven from
Aranjuez, the royal manfion from which
I took my departure for Toledo. The
road is uneven and badly paved, and fe
veral times recedes from and approaches
the Tagus. Not far from Aranjuez, to
wards tbe weft, the valley of that name
becomes more* open and fpacious, and
the banks of the Tagus, which is here
wider, alfo are lefs decorated with trees
and verdure. However, upon the road
to Toledo they prefent fome very agree
able profpects ; the river is hidden be
hind clumps of trees, and fhe eye wifhes
todifcover it again, when inftantly it ap
pears watering the end of a meadow, or
reflecting the image of fome hamlet, till
after a number of thefe pleafing mean
ders it arrives at the walls of Toledo.
But during its courfe the banks become
higher, and a little craggy, and this
river, which runs fo fmoothly near
Aranjuez that it is with difficulty the
eye diftinguifh.es its courfe, or the ear
can fufpect its vicinity, as it approaches Toledo,

O F S P A I N. 531
Toledo, and, under the walls of that
city, is heard from afar rolling with great
noife over an uneven bed.
The ground, however, rifes infenfibly;
fo that after having paffed the bridge of
the Tagus, which is of a frightful height,
we find ourfelves on a level with To
ledo, although a part of this city is
fituated upon a fteep rock. Solitary
ftreets, houfes in ruins, and the almoft
total abfence of induftry and afflu
ence but ill agree with the idea formed
of a city *, the firft in rank in the Cortes
of the kingdom of Caftile +, which for
a long time paffed for its capital, and
of which all the monuments prove the
ancient fplendour. Madrid, which in
the latter centuries increafed its popu
lation at the expence of the neighbour
ing cities, laid Toledo in particular un
der a heavy contribution. The afpect
* It bore the pompous title of Imperial City. The
king ot" Caftile, Alphonfo VI. took it from the
Moors, and with it the title of Emperor.
f Burgos difputes with it the pre-eminence. t
Mm 2 of

53a THE PRESENT STATE
of the ruins and the barrennefs of the *
environs concur in giving it an appear-'
ance of wretchednefs, which, however,
is in fome refpedts contradicted when we
enter their houfes, which are clean and
neat to the extreme, a good quality rarely
found where poverty resides. The in
habitants of Toledo are not much infe
rior in this refpedt to the Dutch them
felves, and the great pains which the
latter take to waih their Walls and win
dows, and to make all their furniture
fhine like glafs, the former employ in
defending the entrance of their habita
tions from the rays of the fun, and in
procuring coolnefs even in the middle
of the dog-days. I vifited feveral of thefe
little manfions after dinner; I thought
myfelf tranfported into the palace of
fleep : nothing difturbed the calm of
their peaceful inhabitants. At three
o'clock in the afternoon the fun feemed
fet to them. The windows and lattices
clofe fhut, the floors nioiftened by fre
quent sprinklings, and large fheets fpread
over their courts, all concurred to make us

OF SPAIN. 533
us forget the heat of the climate and the
hour of the day.
The induftry of the inhabitants of
Toledo was not long fince confined to
thefe effeminate inventions. Within a
few years they have ihaken off that
ftupor to which they feemed condemned.
Their prelate declared, with a charitable
zeal, open war againft indolence and
wretchednefs. His immenfe alms, which
annually amounted to from fifty to fixty
thoufand livres (above two thoufand
pounds sterling) were unequal to the
beneficence of his intentions. The Al
cazar, the ancient habitation of the
Gothic kings, has been almoft entirely
rebuilt under Charles V- but fince the
conflagration at the beginning of the
prefent century, it has been in a ftate
of ruin : the only remains of this fine
edifice were the fronts, and the principal
court, furrounded with arcades, which
leads to a magnificent ftaircafe. The
prefent archbifhop has had fome part of
£he building repaired, all the rooms upon
M m 3 the

534 THE PRESENT STATE
the ground-floor have been,properly ar
ranged for the reception of filk looms,
t&c. which give employment to a great
number of perfons, who, before this ef
tablifhment, were idle, and the pro
ductions of whofe induftry are already
circulated at confiderable diftances from
Toledo. The prelate has likewife founded
an hospital for poor women and old
men ; he has alfo taken under his pro
tection two hundred poor children, who
are brought up at his expence, and are
taught every thing neceffary to fit them \
for aits and manufactures.
Such is the laudable manner in which
the archbifhop employs his leifure and
the furplus pf his fortune. Thofe who
approach him, as I have feveral times
had occafion to do, perceive he is rich
in knowledge and virtue; but nobody
would fufpedt the revenues of his fee
were very confiderable. His manners
have a truly apoftolical fimplicity, and
he feems quite unacquainted with the
luxury of the table. Notwithftanding his

O F S P A 1 N. 535
his punctuality in the fulfilment of his
spiritual functions, he ftill finds leifure
for literary amufements. Before he was
tranflated to the fee of Toledo he held
that of Mexico ; he there difcovered the
collection of the letters of Hernando
Cortez ; and, at his return to Europe,
publifhed them with obfervations. He
has alfo given to the world fome works
of erudition, and, among others, a new
edition of the Mofarabic Miffal *.
* A colleftion of forms of prayer, &c. according
to the ancient Mofarabic ritual, obferved by the
Chriftians in Arabian countries. It differs from the
Roman ritual in a few prayers, and the tranfpofltion
of the ordinary ceremonies of the mafs ; trifling
differences which, perhaps, would efcape hearers
that were not very attentive. Having fallen into
difufe, it was revived by cardinal Ximenes, who had
it reprinted, and afterwards founded at Toledo a
chapel, in which the fervice has ever fince been per
formed according to this ritual. In 1783, I heard
there a Mofarabic mafs which the archbifhop had
fung to gratify the curiofity of the Nuncio. This
mafs is ftill ufed in one of the churches of Sala
manca.
M m 4 The

536 THE PRESENT STATE
The archiepifcopal palace proves his
averfion to magnificence, but the cathe
dral is one of the moft noble facred edi
fices in Europe. Its foundation is dated
as far back as the end of the fixth cen
tury. During four hundred years it was
in poffeffion of the Moors, and profaned
by the Mahometan worfhip. Although
recovered by Alphonfo VI. it preferved
the form of a mofque until the reign of
St. Ferdinand, Who gave it that under
which it now appears. It displays all
the fumptuoufnefs of Gothic edifices,
and in the reigns fucceeding that of St.
Ferdinand was enriched with every kind
of decoration. The glafs of the windows
is covered with paintings in the moft
brilliant colours. Two of the fronts are
remarkable for the number, finifhing,
and variety of the fculptures with which
they are adorned. The flails of the ca
nons merit a clofe examination on ac
count of the fine tafte and elegance of
their bafs reliefs. Several of the chapels
are equally worthy of attention for the
paintings, and more particularly the
tombs

O F S P A I N. 537
tombs they contain. In the choir there
are four of the latter, which are thofe
of the kings of Caftile, who are com
monly called Reyes viejos, old kings, and
that of the cardinal Mendoza, one of the
moft illuftrious prelates who have held
the fee of Toledo.
The chapel of the Virgin is magnifi
cently decorated. Cardinal Portocarrero,
who wTas archbifhop of the fee, was in
terred in front of it. His epitaph bears
no refemblance to that of Piron, as Mr.
Peyron has carelefsly afferted in his effays
on Spain. The latter was compofed in
a moment of epigrammatical fpleen ; but
that of the cardinal breathes chriftian
humility and has nothing of the epigram.
Hicjacet pulvis, cines, ef nihil ; " Here lies
" duft, afhes, nothing." This is very
(different from the peevifh pleafantry of
the author of the Metromanie:
Ci-git Piron, qui ne fut rien ;
Pas mime Academicien *.

* Here lies Piron, who was nothing,
Not even an Academician.

In

S38 THE PRESENT STATE
In the chapel of St. James our admi
ration and meditation are excited by the
tomb of Don Alvar de Luna, the illuf
trious and unfortunate favourite of
John II. and that of Donna Juana Pi-
mentel his wife. We may there reflect
on the instability of the favour of kings,
and the vanity of monuments, fomewhat
more durable it may be, but wiiofe ma
jeftic ornaments cannot difguife the in-
fignificance of human greatnefs. In vain
are infcriptions pompous, like thofe of
thefe two tombs ; they ferve merely to tell
us the heros they immortalize have once
exifted, but are now no more. The
fame chapel contains the tombs of fe
veral relations of the favourite : among
others, that of the archbifhop of To
ledo, one of the fineft in the cathedral.
I recommend to the curious traveller to
vifitthe monument of another archbifhop,
Don Juan deContreras, and that of a bifhop
of Avila, in the chapel of St. Ildefonfo.
But the moft remarkable chapel of all in
this refpect is, that of the new kings
(delo4

O F S P A I N. 539
fdelos reyes nuevos) which, befides being
richly decorated, contains the tombs of
fix kings or queens of Caftile, each bear
ing an infcription and a ftatue recum
bent on a fepulcliral urn. The fight of
thefe recalled to my memory the follow-
* ing elegant lines :
Pour mieux reprcfentcr leurs grandeurs abattues,
L'artijle fur le marbre a couche leurs flatucs*.
The capitulary hall contains the por
traits in fucceffion of all the archbifhops
of Toledo ; a valuable collection, not
only becaufe many of thefe prelates, as
Mendoza, Cifneros, Tavera, Albornos
and Tenorio eftablifhed themfelves a
fame independant of their dignity, and
that fome of them who held this fee
were of the blood royal, as Don Louis,
brother to the prefent monarch, but
becaufe feveral of their portraits take
date from the revival of the art of paint-
* The artift, better to reprefent tlieir fallen greatnefs,
has extended their ftatues on the marble. ing

540 THE PRESENT STATE
ing in Spain, arid that by comparing
them the different gradations through
which it has paffed may be clearly dif
covered; and lastly, becaufe fince the
time of cardinal Ximenes (known in
Spain only by the name of cardinal Cif
neros) they, have all had the merit of
refemblance. In ' the cathedral are feveral* other
paintings worthy of attention ; efpeci
ally thofe in the veftry. An Affump-
tion by Carlo Maratti ; one of the matter-
pieces of Dominico Greco, a pupil of Ti
tian ; a painting not much inferior to the
beft of that great mafter; and one of
the capital works of de Orrente, a Va-
lencian painter, of whom I have already
fpoken. The ceiling of the veftry is
painted in frefco, by Luca Giordano,
and is not the leaft excellent of his pro
dudtions, efpecially in this kind of com
pofition. He had alfo a particular ta
lent in imitating the manner of other
painters, a proof of which is feen in one
of his paintings in an apartment adjoin ing*

O F S P A I N. 54I
ing to the veftry. This is a baptifm of
Chrift, which thofe who are not real
connoiffeurs would certainly take for
one of the beft productions of Raphael.
The fame apartment, called El Vefiuario,
contains feveral other valuable paint
ings; among others, the birth and cir
cumcision of Chrift, both by Baffan ; a
Samaritan woman, by Rubens, a Saint
Agnes, and a Pope feated, in which is
difplayed all the wondrous powers of the
pencil of Vandyk.
I might mention feveral other remark
able paintings with which the cathedral
of Toledo is enriched, were not I ap
prehensive of fatiguing the reader by
too minute an exactnefs ; but I cannot
refrain from fpeaking of a production
by a Spaniih painter, little known in his
own country, although very deferving
to be fo. The name of this artift is
Bias de Prado, a native of Toledo, one
of whofe pictures is feen in the cloifter
of the cathedral. The moft indifferent
connoiffeur cannot but be ftruck by the
cor-

542 THE PRESENT STATE
corredtnefs of the drawing, the excel
lence of the colouring, and efpecially
by the foftnefs of expreffion in the fi
gures. It reprefents the Holy Virgin
surrounded with feveral faints, and
crowned by angels, in prefence of a knight
in compleat armour. I confefs that not-»
withftanding the refpedtable names of
the painters, whofe works I have above
mentioned, this gave me a pleafure which,
on viewing them, I had not experienced,
and that when I heard the name of the
artift, I had the weaknefs to reproach
myfelf for my admiration. I am of
opinion, that feveral virtuosi have fre
quently found themfelves in the fame
fituation : in fuch cafes they endeavour
to juftify themfelves in their own eyes,
and redouble their attention to difcover
the perfections of the great mafter,
and the defects of the obfcure pain
ter, as if men of fuperior talents did
not frequently fink to mediocrity, or
mediocrity did not fometimes foar
above itfelf. Befides, does not accident
in every purfuit often beftow greater repu-

OF SPAIN. 543
reputation than real merit ? How many
men have paffed their lives in obfcurity
who, had they met with patrons and
praife, would have ranked with thofe
of fuperior talents !
The cloister of the cathedral in which
the excellence of the paintings of Bias
de Prado was pointed out to me, though
I think I fhould of myfelf have difcovered
it, is remarkable in feveral other refpects ;
it is very fpacious, and the architectural
proportions extremely fine ; the walls
were once adorned with tolerable good
paintings in frefco, which were begin
ning to yield to the ravages of time and
humidity, when the prefent archbifhop
confided the care of repairing them to the
beft painters Spain at prefent can boaft.
Meffieurs Bayeux and Maella began the
undertaking in 1777, and when I left the
kingdom, they had nearly compleated
their work. The paintings reprefent the
principal adtions of the life of Saint
Eugenia and Saint Leocadia, patrons of
the cathedral, and thofe of fome other faints

544 THE PRESENT STATE
faints famous at Toledo by their zeal for
the Chriftian religion. The fubjects ap
peared to me interefting, and fome of
them had a great effect. I was particu
larly ftruck with the foft and affecting
expreffion of a Santa Cafilda, a young
princefs, who from the top of the paface
of her father, ftill a Pagan, ftretches
out a hand of fuccour to the Chriftians
languifhing in the prifons of the perfe-
cuting monarch.
I might give a long enumeration of
the ornaments, furniture and vafes con
fecrated to divine fervice in the cathe
dral ; a fufficient idea may be formed of
them by confidering that Toledo is one
of the richest fees in Chriftendom, that
it has frequently been held by pious pre
lates, who would have thought it a re
proach on themfelves had they made a
profane ufe of their opulence, and that
it has always had many opportunities
to benefit by the munificence of the fo-
vereigns of Spain. I fhall only remark
farther, that the curious are fhewn a
throne

OF SPAIN. 545
throne of maffive filver weighing twelve
hundred and fifty pounds^ on which is
placed an image of the Virgin. Behind
the choir is a piece of fculpture, in the
very worft tafte, and for what reafon I
know not, called the Tranfparent. It is a
modern work, which disfigures inftead
of embellifhing the edifice. Piety, or
rather credulity, will find there a much
more curious monument. This is a ftone
which bears the impreffion of the feet
of the Holy Virgin ; fhe placed them
upon it when fhe defcended from heaven
to bring to Saint Ildefonfo the firft cha-
zuble or priest's cap ; a miracle which a
modern fculptor has perpetuated in one
of the chapels of the cathedral. This
piece was juft finifhed when I faw it for
the firft, time, and it feemed to me to
do more honour to the chifel of the ar
tift than to religion. The rough ftone
which bears the proof of the miracle,
more precious than the hiftorical marble,
is expofed to public view behind an iron
railing. I dare not fay of what country the
Vol. II. Nn feet

546 THE PRESENT STATE
feet are of which it preferves the form ;
but I fhould not fcruple to affert, they
did not belong to a Chinefe.
After the cathedral there are feveral
other edifices which merit the attention
of the traveller. Such is the hofpital of
Saint John the Baptift, of which the
porticos, courts, and the church in par
ticular, fufficiently prove, by the elegance
and exactnefs with which they are exe^ -
cuted, the period of its foundation to
have been about the middle of the six
teenth century, at the fame time that
they do honour to the good tafte of the
founder, cardinal Tavera, who has there
a magnificent tomb. The latter was the
laft work of Alfonfo Berruguete, an able
fculptor, formed in the fchool of Mi
chael Angelo, and honoured with the
favour of Charles V.
Another fine foundation of the fame
kind which Toledo owes alfo to one of
its prelates, (Cardinal Mendoza) is the
found-

OF SPAIN. 547
foundling hofpital, or the hofpital of
Santa Cruz, an edifice fomewhat in the
Gothic ftyle, but of which nothing can
be particularly admired except the fi
nifhing of the ornaments and the prin
cipal ftaircafe. In the church there are
fix great paintings of the fchool of Ru
bens, and which for a long time were
thought to be by the hand of that mafter.
Another afylum open at Toledo to
suffering humanity, alfo claimed my
attention. This is an hofpital for the in-
fane. There are two principal ones in
Spain; one at Saragoffa, the other at
Toledo. I went feveral times to the
latter, and was always furprifed at the
cleannefs and regularity which I con
ftantly found there ; and comparing my
obfervations with thofe I had made in
the hofpitals of Valencia, Burgos, Cadiz,
the general hofpital of Madrid, and fe
veral other institutions of the fame kind,
I could not but admire how different
devotion and chriftian charity render
Nn 2 men

548 THE PRESENT STATE
men from themfelves, in what a manner
they triumph over their defects, and
create in them virtues to which they
feem ftrangers. The Spaniards are as
magnificent in the decorations of their
temples, as fimple in thofe of their pri
vate houfes. On examining their pious
foundations, their indolence and dirtinefs,
two accufations from which they can
not be intirely abfolved, are forgotten.
Had religion conferred but this one be
nefit upon mankind, it would ftill be
highly worthy of our love and admira
tion. But I fhall be told that, on the
other hand, it has awakened in them
deflrudtive paffions which flept in their
bofoms. Religion is the mother of ar
dent fanaticifm and barbarous intole
rance, as well as companionate charity.
But without examining whether reh
gion may not difown fuch children, let
us congratulate ourfelves that we are
born in an age when, even in Spain,
it is greatly purified from the bafe alloy
by which it wa* too long difhonoured. Jt

OF SPAIN. 549
It is time, however, to return to the
hofpital for the infane at Toledo.
The fight of fuch a place has always
fomething in it afflicting to humanity,
even when viewed with the curiofity of
philofophy ; but I confefs I have never
felt the fentiment of thofe who fay they
are humbled at the fight of this degra
dation of human reafon. I never feel hu
miliation except when I can make com-
parifons to my own difadvantage. What
clafs in the creation is better treated
than the human fpecies? If any other
be fo, is our fituation fuch as to make
us blufh before it? Shame fuppofes a
reciprocal confcioufnefs between the be
ing which feels, and that by which it is
caufed. We know not angels ; beafts
are unacquainted with us ; and infanity
being an involuntary defedt from which
no perfon is fecure, I fee not in what
manner any individual of the human
fpecies can feel humiliation at the fight
of a madman ; he himfelf would not feel
Nn 3 it

5jo THE PRESENT STATE
it were he capable of a reafonable fen-
timent. The drunkard and paflionate
man are thofe who ought to blufh; they
rebel againft the reafon which would
restrain them. The madman, no longer
under its empire, is the flave of a power
which has fubjugated it without his
confent ; he is not to be pitied unlefs
when lucid intervals give him a know
ledge of his fituation. Except in thefe
cafes, a wretch racked with the gout
feems to have a greater claim to compaf-
fion. With thefe preliminary reflexions,
the afylums of humanity defpoiled of
its moft exalted endowment, may be en
tered with a greater degree of compo-
fure. I found but one man raving mad
in the hofpital at Toledo ; he waa a
prieft, who, from the wretched bed to
which he was chained, uttered uninter
rupted execrations againft the principal
perfonages of the kingdom of Spain. I
beheld in him only a ferocious beaft in
an human form, whofe roarings were
expreffed by words. Without blaming or

O F S P A I N. 55!
or pitying him, I fled from his approach.
His companions were much lefs fright
ful. I particularly remarked a Francif-
can Monk who had preferved his habit,
and had wrapped up his head in a wig
made of paper : his only mania was that
of mounting on a ftone, and thence,
as from a pulpit, delivering fcraps of
fermons, which he mingled with face
tious jokes, and ended with making ca
pers. In 1783, I had paffed a quarter
of an hour amongft his audience ; two
years afterwards I again appeared before
him, and was not a little aftonifhed at
his recollecting me. I admired this in
explicable oddity of Nature, which in
fo feverely treating his intellectual fa
culties had ftill preferved to him a happy
memory. Is not this another problem
for metaphysics to refolve ?
Before I finifli my obfervations on
Toledo, I muft not omit to take notice
of an invention which is an honour to
that city. I mean the famous machine
Nn 4 now

552 THE PRESENT STATE
now gone to ruin, invented by a Cre-
monian of the name of Juanelo, to
raife the water of the Tagus into To
ledo. According to the defcription we
have received of it by tradition, it muft
have been extremely complicated, and
for that reafon could not but make the
fupply of water more dear to the inha
bitants than it has been fince the la
bour of mules has been fubftituted to
carry water from the river to every
houfe in the city. Several attempts
have been made to fupply the want of
the machine of Juanelo by fimilar in
ventions. The mules, however, have
triumphed over every confpiracy againft
them, and remain in poffeffion of their
painful functions.
Near the ruins of this machine there
are others more ancient, which muft
have been a part of an aqueduct erected
to convey, on a level with the Alcazar,
the water from a fpring feven or eight
leagues from Toledo. This is one of
thofe

O F S P A I N. 553
thofe works, equally ufeful and magni
ficent, by which the Romans have
marked their refidence in feveral places
in Spain; nor is this the only Roman
monument of which the remains are
found in the environs of Toledo. Near
a convent of Minimes, on the outfide
of the city, I difcovered the ruins of a
circus, and not far from the caftle of
St. Servant the traces of *an old Roman
road. Thus the Romans, the Arabians, the
Goths, and the Spaniards of the time
of Charles V- by turns improved and
embellifhed Toledo. I cannot fay as
much for the modern Spaniards. Houfes
out of repair, fine edifices going to ruin,
few or no manufactures, a population
reduced from two hundred thoufand to
twenty-five thoufand perfons, and the
moft barren environs are all that now of
fer themfelves to the fight of the traveller
drawn thither by the reputation of that
famous city. Under the prefent reign fome

554 THE PRESENT STATE
fome fuccefsful efforts have been made
to recover it from the universal decay
into; which it is fallen. We have, feen
that the archbifhop j has rebuilt a part
of the Alcazar, and eftablifhed there fome
manufactures* of filk. The blades of
Toledo were formerly famous for their
temper and folidity. Charles III. has
erected a very fpacjous edifice for mak
ing them ; and the experiments al
ready made feem to promife that the
modern citizens of Toledo will not in
this refpedt be long inferior- to their
predeceffors. ;
The inhabitants of this city would
fcarcely pardon me were I to pafs over
in filence their Cigarrales. Thefe are little
country houfes, which I can compare to
nothing that they more refemble than
to the Bajiides which surround the city
of Marfeilles, except that they are lefs
ornamented and not fo numerous. Upon
the banks of the Saone, the Loire, or the
Thames, thefe cigarrales would difho- nous

O F - S P A I N. 555
nour the country. In the barren parf
of Caftile they are delightful retreats,
and in the heat of the dog-days offer
coolnefs and repofe amid the fhade of
orchards. It is neverthelefs impoffible to
arrive at them except by the fweat of
the brow, in croffing fome burned and
unfhaded meadow, or climbing over rug
ged hills. They are however, the gar
den of Eden to the inhabitants of To
ledo, why therefore fhould I attempt to
deftroy the pleafing illufion ?
I fhall here conclude the account of
my travels in Spain, or rather the de
fcription I promifed of that kingdom.
I do not pretend that my journies from
Bayonne to Madrid, from Madrid to
Valencia, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Salamanca,
Toledo, &o. have furnifhed me with
fufficient knowledge to enable me to
give intire fatisfadtion with refpedt to
the curiofities of all kinds to be found
jn Spain *, or the produdtions, manners
* In matters of curiofity, it would have been
neceaary for me to have vifit'd and defcribed the
Moorifh

556 THE PRESENT STATE
and government of the different pro
vinces. The general account I have
endeavoured to give of thefe prefent (at
leaft I fo would hope) what may in this
Moorifh antiquities of which Granada contains
almoft the only remains to be found in Eu
rope ; tbe Roman antiquities of Tarragona,
Alcantara, Merida, &c. the facred treafures in
Saragoffa, Saint Jago de Compoftella, and other
monuments of the pious magnificence of the Spa
niards, fome whole provinces and moft of the
ports of the Peninfula. My principal intention
was to make known modern Spain under prefent
circumftances, which remain not like chains of
mountains, and the courfe of rivers to be obferved
during fucceffive ages, and to render to the inhabitants
that juftice which at prefent is their due. What may
be wanting in my work will be found in the Effais
fur V Efpagne, by M. Peyron, [prefixed to this work]
who, by a primature death, was prevented from com-
pleating them ; but chiefly in the Viage de Efpana,
by the Abbe Pons, who has particularly defcribed
the monuments of every kind, good, indifferent
and bad, ancient and modern, facred and profane,
which are to be found in Spain. This work is not
yet finifhed ; but it already proves, to the moft dif
ficult readers, the author's indefatigable patience and
love of his country. refpect

O F S P A I N. 557
respect gratify the curiofity of thofe
who wiih to be acquainted with a fo
reign country without refiding in it for
a confiderable time, and free from the
prejudices hitherto as prevalent as ill-
founded. My objedt was not to write
a book merely for amufement. If this
be interefting it is, perhaps, fo from
the variety it contains. A work which
fhould have been thought profound
would have been above my capacity,
and one entirely frivolous appeared to
me unworthy of the time I had dedi
cated to writing my journal and obfer
vations, and of the clafs of readers
whofe fuffrages I am anxious to obtain.
In all I have faid I have endeavoured
to preferve a juft medium between the
enthufiafm which extols every thing,
and the fpirit of defamation which
fpares nothing. May I hope it will be
allowed that I have fulfilled my inten
tion ,? Will the Spaniards be of opinion
that I have treated them as well as they
did me ? I fhould be very forry were they

558 THE PRESENT STATE, &c
they to accufe me of want of gratitude,
but my other readers would have juft
caufe of complaint had I fuffered that
fentiment to influence my judgment.

END of vol. ir.