[11], 23 sqq. Vuestra Merced, here Your Honor, is the courteous form of address to one who has no special title, or whose title is unknown to the speaker; Vuestra Señoría, here Your Worship: these two titles in this book belong exclusively to the laity. Vuestra Reverencia, Your Reverence, is addressed indiscriminately to the more distinguished clergy; Vuestra Ilustrísima, Your Lordship, belongs specially to bishops; Vuestra Paternidad was originally the address of the humbler members of religious orders to their priors and abbots and other superiors. Translate, Your Reverence.
[11], 26. subsidio, alcabala, frutos-civiles. Three of the very numerous taxes exacted in Spain at the time: cf. note to [6], 28.—The subsidio was a tax on commerce or manufactures, here on the output of the mill; the alcabala was a tax on sales, fixed at the time of the story at 14 per cent. of the amount involved; the frutos-civiles were the tax levied on income from real estate, royal grants, and privileges of jurisdiction.
[11], 28 sqq. una poca hoja, una poca leña, una poca madera: this use of poco is not literary. The meaning is perfectly clear.
[13], 8. Ser Supremo, the Supreme Being, the usual denomination of God in the philosophic writing of the time of the French Revolution.
Jovellanos. Gaspar Melchior de Jovellanos or Jove-Llanos, was born in 1744, and died in 1811. He has been called the most eminent Spaniard of his time; was distinguished as a writer in economics and politics, and on education; and as a poet. He took prominent part in public life, was twice exiled for his political views and his mode of expressing them; and was minister of Justice, 1797. For a good appreciation of his value in literature, see E. Mérimée, Etudes sur la Littérature Espagnole au XIXe Siècle—Jovellanos. Revue Hispanique, vol. I, 1894, pp. 34-67.
[13], 10. la señá Frasquita. Señá is a popular corruption of the word señora, used as in the present case to qualify one rather above the level of the common, yet unable to claim the conventional doña of the gentlewoman. Compare the use of señor in the case of Juan López in Chapters XVII and XXIV, and the note on tío, [2], 16 above. Frasquita is one of several diminutives of Francisca (Paca, Paquita, Frascuela, Francisquita); so la señá Frasquita is about equivalent to "Mrs. Fanny" or "Mistress Fanny," the discounting quality of the señá being in English in the use of the given name. It may be suggested, however, that it is rarely profitable to force the translation of ordinary proper names.
[13], 19. golilla, f., a diminutive of gola, throat, is a high, stiff collar of cardboard, covered with black silk, over or on which is worn a stiffstarched ruff of white gauze or tulle. The golilla was a very characteristic part of the dress of Spanish officers of the civil government, and is, as here, used by metonymy, with change of gender, to stand for their persons. It is still to be seen in a very few ceremonial official costumes. A few hints of its place and significance may be found in A. Morel-Fatio, Etudes sur l'Espagne, III, Paris, 1904, pp. 229-278: "La golille et l'habit militaire."
[14], 1. The Royal Academy of History was founded under Philip V in 1738. It has in its building in the Calle de León at Madrid a museum of antiquities and a valuable library. Since 1865 it has been in charge of the national monuments of Spain.
[14], 2. Franciscanos: the Franciscans, Gray Friars, Minorite Friars, a mendicant order of preaching friars founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1210.
[14], 14. Niobe, Queen of Thebes, it will be remembered, had seven sons and seven daughters.