It is not, however, from pique or resentment that the Author has dwelt so long and so warmly upon the painful and disgusting picture of Spanish bigotry. Spain, “with all her faults,” is still and shall ever be the object of his love. But since no man, within the limits of her territory, can venture to lay open the canker which, fostered by religion, feeds on the root of her political improvements; be it allowed a self-banished Spaniard to describe the sources of such a strange anomaly in the New Constitution of Spain, and thus to explain to such as may not be unacquainted with his name as a Spanish writer, the true cause of an absence which might otherwise be construed into a dereliction of duty, and a desertion of that post which both nature and affection marked so decidedly for the exertion of his humble talents.
Chelsea, June 1822.
TABLE
OF
CONTENTS.
LETTER I.
Mistakes of Travellers.—Townsend’s Accuracy.—View of Cadiz from the Sea.—Religion blended with Public and Domestic Life in Spain.—Customs relating to the Host or Eucharist.—Manners and Society at Cadiz.—Passage by Sea to Port Saint Mary’s.—St. Lucar.—Passage up the Guadalquivir to Seville.—Construction and internal Economy of the Houses in that Town.—Knocking, and greeting at the Door.—Devotion of the People of Seville to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
LETTER II.
Difficulty of describing National Characters.—Nobles and Plebeians, in Spain.—Purity of Blood.—Tizon de España.—Grandees.—Hidalgos in Low Life.—Execution of an Hidalgo.—Spanish Pride, visible among the Lower Classes.—Usual Employment of Day at Seville.—Spanish Politeness.—Absence of Jealousy in Modern Times.—Dinner.—Siesta.—Public Walks.—Dress of the Spanish Ladies.—Various Uses of the Fan.—Character of the Spanish Females.