GRANADA is the see of an archbishop, and the seat of one of the two high courts of Chancery of Spain. It is not a place of much trade, its inhabitants being chiefly employed in horticultural pursuits; but it contains manufactories of gunpowder, of silk and woollen goods on a small scale, and numerous tanneries.
The busiest part of the city is a narrow crooked street, which still retains its corrupted Moorish name, El Zacatin,[145] the little market. But the square where the market is now held (likewise a relique of the Moors,) presents also, at certain times, a scene of considerable bustle. The houses encompassing it are very lofty, and, at each successive story, have wide projecting galleries, wherein dwell the lowest classes of Granada’s inhabitants. The arches of these galleries are patched up with old pieces of board, canvas, and other materials, of all sizes and shapes, between the chinks, and crevices, and rents of which, smoke issues in every direction.
Towards the centre of the city is a bazaar, constructed, not like our London toy fairs so called, but on the oriental plan, each little gloomy stall being boarded off from the rest. The goods, also, as in the east, are offered for sale by smoking men, instead of being, as with us, handed to you by smiling houries. The modern merchants, however, enter their shops by a door, instead of clambering over the counter; and they occupy chairs instead of sitting in the cross-legged fashion of the founders of this remnant of Mohammedanism. At a certain hour in the evening the bazaar is closed, and given over to the care of three or four large dogs, which, shut into the building for the night, will not suffer any one to enter but him whose office it is to feed them, and to unlock the gates.
The population of Granada may be reckoned at 60,000 souls; and I think the female portion of it the least good looking, not to speak harshly, of all the dark complexioned natives of southern Spain. The Granadinas have not the carriage of either the Sevillanas, or Gaditanas, nor even of the Malagueñas, who are celebrated rather for beauty than gracia; and, consequently, the lovely Alameda, on the banks of the Genil, has no attraction for strangers beyond that of its own intrinsic beauty.
The ladies of Granada lose somewhat, perhaps, in the comparison with the fair of other places, from having adopted, in a greater degree, a harlequin French costume, that but ill becomes them,—or, more correctly speaking, perhaps, that they do not become. Thus, the admirable set of their well poised heads is lost under a huge silk chapeau and groves of Roses de Meaux, clematis, and woodbine; their lustrous eyes no longer range, en barbette, as it were, over three quarters of a circle, but, pointed through a narrow embrasure, can only carry destruction in one direction. Their fans, too,—telegraphs of their slightest wishes or commands,—can no longer be flirted with the wonted effect; and their stately, though somewhat peculiar gait, does not receive its just tribute of admiration, unless set off by the black silk basquiña, under whose graceful folds their well tutored limbs have been accustomed to move.
The Granadinas of all classes are passionately fond of masked balls; which circumstance may partly be accounted for by one of the above-named disadvantages under which they labour-want of beauty; and all the masquerades at which I “assisted” seemed expressly got up for carrying on intrigues. No character, in any sense of the word, appeared to be maintained; and the whole amusement seemed to consist in the ladies going about to the gentlemen, who were almost all unmasked, and asking in a screaming voice, “mi conoces?”[146]
Although every body went to these balls, which were held at the theatre, yet, amongst the elite, it was deemed fashionable (now quite a Spanish word) for the ladies to have a box and receive masks. But the temptation of the waltz was too strong to be resisted, and all, I observed, descended occasionally, putting on a mask and domino, to join in its fascinating circumgyrations.
A letter of introduction to Madame Martinez de la Rosa,[147] equally noted for her accomplishments and her hospitality, gave us an opportunity of seeing the best society of Granada. The same want of beauty was observable amongst the beau monde at her Tertulia, as on the paseo on the banks of the river; but, to make amends, the music and waltzing were particularly good. The Spaniards may certainly be reckoned the best waltzers in Europe, now that the Germans have converted that graceful dance into a mere bear’s hug.
I afforded some amusement in the course of the first evening passed at Madame Martinez’ house, by asking a Spanish gentleman the name of a most laborious performance, which all appeared to be engaged in with great delight, to the total sacrifice of the graces. He started back with astonishment. “What description of dance? why it is an English country dance!” He thought it too good a joke to keep to himself, and, the performance concluded, went about telling all the ladies they had so disguised an English country dance that one of its countrymen did not recognise it. This information occasioned great dismay, contra danzas Inglesas being, at that particular juncture, “muy facionables;” and all the Señoritas crowded round with exclamatory “Jesuses!” to gather the appalling truth from my own lips, and ask instructions as to their future proceedings.
I explained, in the best manner I could, that, though the ladies and gentlemen in our national dance were deployed in two long opposing lines; in the same way that their sexes had respectively been drawn up, yet that various preliminary evolutions were performed by us, ere the parties began racing up and down the middle at full speed, in which their imitation entirely consisted; and, moreover, that we did not hurry the matter over, by beginning at both ends, as they did.