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nation of church, and cell, and cloister. The good fathers might be seen all day from my window, moving about as busy as bees, with their long beards and dingy habits of gray, girded with a rope, superintending the labour of twenty or thirty workmen. In watching their manœvres, and commiserating the poor Spaniards, I found a gloomy distraction for all my idle hours

"The balconies in the front of our fonda offered a gayer view; for it overlooked the wide walk and busy scenes of the Rambla. It was constantly frequented by every variety of people, and in the afternoon was thronged to overflowing. The scene then became animated indeed. There were many well-dressed men and women, evidently the fashion of the place; country people and artisans; French officers and soldiers, moving along with pretty girls hanging on their arms, and each apparently as much at home as though he were in the centre of his own department. There were also students rolled in long black cloaks ; their breeches, stockings, and cocked hats, also black, and without even so much as a shirt collar to relieve the gloom of their attire. But the most numerous class of pedestrians were the clergy. Their appearance was grotesque enough; the seculars, canons, curates and vicars, wore frocks of black, concealing their breeches and stockings of the same colour. Over all, they had an ample cloak of black cloth or silk, without a cape, which either hung loosely around them, or was thrown into a graceful fold by placing the right skirt over the opposite shoulder. The hat, however, was the most remarkable object of their dress. It consisted of an immense flat, three or four feet in diameter, turned up at the sides until the two edges met above the crown. It was worn with the long part pointing before and behind; for, had it been carried side-ways, a few would have served to block the Rambla, and render passing impracticable. The best time to convince one's self of the convenience of this head gear is in a gale of wind. Many a severe fit of laughter have I had in Spain, when it has been blowing hard to see a priest coming unexpectedly upon a windy corner and struck by a flaw. One hand is stretched to the front of the long hat, the other to the back of it, as though devotion had prompted a new way of signing the cross; and then his many robes fluttering and struggling to the sad entanglement of the legs, combined to form a figure perfectly ludicrous. Besides the secular clergy, there was a goodly store of monks in black, white, blue or gray, with their fat and unseemly heads shaved bare at the crown and about the neck and temples. A few were worn down and emaciated, as if from fasting, vigils, and maceration, with an air of cold-blooded and fanatic abstraction; the greater part were burly and well-conditioned, with a sensuality engraven on every feature. As they waddled contentedly and self-complacently along the Rambla, they would peer into the mantilla of every pretty girl that passed them, exchanging a shake of the fingers or a significant glance with such as were of their acquaintance. There is no part of Spain where the clergy are more numerous than in Catalonia; for they form more than two per cent. of the entire population. Two men in a hundred, who neither sow, nor reap, nor labour, and who, nevertheless, eat and drink, and luxuriate! The fact is its own best commentary." vol. i. pp.

38-40.

The environs of Barcelona yield silk, wine, oil, flax, wheat, rye, barley, oats, a great variety of valuable fruits, in short, products that would seem to promise a wealth it does not possess. After giving a pituresque description of the city, and a history of its former glories, the book before us thus proceeds:

"At length, however, when the discovery of America and the progress of intelligence had revolutionized the public mind, and when the spirit of war and destruction had given place to the spirit of civilization, the Catalans were among the foremost to yield obedience to the change. Barcelona became a vast magazine, where goods of wool and silk, fire-arms and cutlery, with almost every fabric, were prepared for the distant colonies of Spain. The Catalan sailors repaired with these commodities, to every part of America, and adventurers from among the surplus population would be absent a few years, and then return with fortunes to increase the resources and quicken the industry of their native province. Such was Barcelona in former times; her present reverse is a very sad one. Though industry and frugality still characterize the Catalan, yet capital and outlets which give activity to these qualities, are either idle, or no longer exist. The manufactories of cutlery and fire-arms are ruined and forgotten, and the wines and brandies of Catalonia, the cotton and woollen goods, which used formerly to be carried to every corner of the Americas are now either shipped away by stealth or consumed only in Spain. The ships and brigs whose tall mast once loomed like a forest within the mole of Barcelona, are now replaced by a paltry assemblage of fishing boats and feluccas. Even these are not allowed a free communication along the coasts of the Peninsula ; nor does Spain even enjoy the pitiful privilege of an interchange of her own productions. Pirates and outcast adventurers of every nation, except Columbia, assuming the easy flag of that country, and the name of patriot rendered loathsome by its wearers, post themselves along the headlands of the Peninsula and pilfer all who pass. Will this state of things last always? Those who believe that the prosperity of one country does not involve the ruin of another, may hope that it will not. Spain must sooner or later sacrifice her prejudices to her interest; and when the Americas shall be independent in name as in fact, the influence of a community of language, manners, and wants will not fail to assert itself. The spirit of enterprise, smothered, but not extinct among the Catalans, will revive, and Barcelona may again resound to the rattle and clank of the loom and the hammer." vol. i. pp. 47-49.

After entering Spain the diligences are drawn by mules, which are preferred to horses, as they are more sure-footed, eat less and coarser food, labour more, and endure heat and hardship better. The females, on account of their superior beauty and docility, are preferred for draught, while the male is condemned to drudgery. We had, heretofore, thought that the donkey in

Hadji Baba was the only one of the asinine tribe ever submitted to the barber's hands, but we find that the Spanish mules, the better to enable them to staud the heat, are neatly shaven, except a few symetrical stripes, and a tuft on the tail, much in the manner that shaggy lap-dogs are sometimes shorn with us. The road onwards, towards Tarragona, exhibited, every where, abundant evidences of industry and poverty.

"When the day-light came, and the sun at length rose into a spotless sky, I looked with pleasure upon the varied scene around me. Our road, though it followed the general outline of the sea-coast, and commanded occasional vistas of the Mediterranean, sometimes struck into the interior to avoid a head-land, and thus gave an insight into the character and cultivation of the country. From my first entrance into Spain till my arrival at Barcelona, I had seen ranges of mountains constantly rising in the interior of the neighbouring Pyrenees; but the same state of things now continued to fix my attention. The land soared upwards as it receded from the sea; ridges overlooking ridges, and I found what, indeed, I have every where found in Spain, a broken country, and a constant succession of mountains. These, however, do not baffle the efforts of the cultivator. Many of them were covered with forests of cork trees, orchards of olive, or furnished pasture to goats and sheep, while the hill sides, declining towards the sea, were spread out in vineyards or grain-fields, now no longer verdant. The wine here raised, is much esteemed in the country, and Villafranca, through which we passed at seven in the morning, produces a malvoisie or chian of some celebrity. The population was, every where, busy in ploughing the fields, and in laying the foundation of a future harvest. The spirit of industry seemed strong; and yet there were not wanting appearances of a pervading poverty. The implements of husbandry were ill contrived, and rudely made; and the plough, instead of making a regular and rapid furrow, went forward crookedly and slowly, and seemed to linger in the soil. It was drawn sometimes by mules or oxen, sometimes by meagre cows; and I once saw a poverty-stricken peasant, rolled up in a tattered blanket and pushing his plough through an ungrateful looking field, with no better assistance than an ass and a COW. The scene was a characteristic one, and as I looked upon the gaunt form and wasting figure of the poor peasant, as he struggled for the bread that was to meet the cravings of his hungry family, I could not avoid the conclusion that he must be kept poor by some unfriendly participation in the fruits of his labour; that he must be toiling to pay the pageantry of some degenerate noble in Madrid, or to fatten and sensualize the monks I had seen rolling along the Rambla of Barcelona." vol. i. pp. 54, 55.

An English stage-coach or a French diligence is a humdrum matter enough, but travelling in Catalonia has more life and spirit if not quite as much convenience.

"The manner, too, in which these Catalans managed their mules was quite a study. The zagal kept calling each by name, and apparently endeavouring to reason them into good conduct, and make them keep in a straight column, so as not to rub each other with their traces, and draw each his share of the burthen. I say he called them by their names; for every mule in Spain has its distinctive appellation, and those that drew our diligence were no exceptions. Thus, beside Capltana, we had Portugesa, Arragonessa, Coronela, and a variety of other cognomens, which were constantly changing during the journey to Valencia. Whenever a mule misbehaved, turning from the road or failing to draw its share, the zagal would call its name in an angry tone, lengthening out the last syllable and laying great emphasis on it. Whether the animals really knew their name, or that each was sensible when it had offended, the voice of the postillion would usually restore order. Sometimes, when the zagal called to Coronela, and Portugesa obeyed the summons by mistake, he would cry sharply Aquella otra !' 'That other one!' and the conscience-stricken mule would quickly return to its duty. When expostulation failed, blows were sure to follow. The zagal would jump to the ground, run forward with the team, beating and belabouring the delinquent; sometimes jumping upon the mule immediately behind it and continuing the discipline for a half hour together. The activity of these fellows is, indeed, wonderful. Of the twenty miles, which usually compose a stage, they run at least ten, and, during part of the remainder, stand upon one foot at the step of the diligence. In general the zagal ran up hill, flogging the mules the whole way, and stopping occasionally at the road-side to pick up a store of pebbles, which he stowed in his sash, or more frequently in his long red cap. At the summit he would take the mule's tail in his hand and jump to his seat before the descent commenced. While it lasted, he would hold his cap in one hand, and with the other throw a stone, first at one mule, then at another, to keep them all in their proper stations, that the ropes might not hang on the ground and get entangled round their legs. These precautions would not always produce the desired effect; the traces would sometimes break, or become entangled, the mules be brought into disorder, and a scene of confusion follow. This happened several times in one stage, when a vicious mule had been put among the teem to be broken to harness. It was, indeed, an obstinate and perverse animal and even more stupid than perverse. It would jump first to one side, then to another, and kick the ribs of its neighbour without mercy. When, at length, it had succeeded in breaking its own traces, and entangling its legs into those of its companions, it would stand as quiet as a lamb until the damage was repaired, and then renew the same scene of confusion. Nor did the more rational mules behave themselves much better. They would start to one side when the zagal cried out' Arre!' and when he whistled for them to stop, they would sometimes go the faster. If one had occasion to halt, the rest would not obey the hissing signal of the postillion, but drag the reluctant animal forward; and presently after, the mule which had been most unwilling to stop would be itself taken with a similar inclination, and receive similar treatment from its comrades; where

as the horses of a French diligence would all have halted simpathetically, at the invitation of the driver. I hate a mule most thoroughly, for there is something abortive in every thing it does, even to its very bray. An ass, on the contrary, has something hearty and whole soul about it. Jack begins his bray with a modest whistle, rising gradually to the top of his powers, like the progressive eloquence of a well adjusted oration, and then as gradually declining to a natural conclusion; but the mule commences with a voice of thunder, and then, as if sorry for what he has done, he stops like a bully when throttled in the midst of a threat, or a clown, who has begun a fine speech, and has not courage to finish it." vol. i. pp. 58-60.

Before entering Spain, our traveller had been warned of the frequency and boldness of robberies; but heretofore he had escaped with a sound body and full purse. After leaving Amposta he had his first sample of the descendants of Captain Rolando, much degenerated, however, in courtesy from even the brigand of Le Sage. The diligence was rolling on rapidly in the night, and the young American was pleasantly dreaming of his own distant country and friends.

"This pleasing deception had not lasted long, when the noise of the hoofs and bells of our mules, and the clattering of the wheels were silenced. The rapid progress of the diligence ceasing as suddenly, and my body, which it had kept snug in the corner, still retaining its mometum, was thrown forward with my head against the pannel. I was now awake, but as if loth to relinquish so pleasing a dream, I at first fancied myself arrived at the end of my journey. The delusion was but momentary. There were voices without, speaking in accents of violence, and whose idiom was not of my country. I now raised myself erect on my seat, rubbed my eyes, and directed them out of the window.

"By the light of a lantern that blazed from the top of the diligence, I could discover that this part of the road was skirted by olive trees, and that the mules, having come in contact with some obstacle to their progress, had been curtailed of their open column, and brought together in a close huddle, where they stood as if afraid to move, with pricked ears and frighted, gazing upon each other in dumb wonder at the unaccused interruption. A single glance to the right hand gave a clue to unravel the mystery. Just beside the fore-wheel of the diligence stood a man dressed in that wild garb of Valencia, which I had seen for the first time in Amposta. His red cap was drawn closely over his forehead, reaching far down the back, and his striped manta, instead of being rolled round him, hung unembarrassed from one shoulder. Whilst his left leg was thrown forward in preparation, a musket was levelled in his hands, along the barrel of which his eye glared fiercely upon the visage of the conductor. On the other side, the scene was somewhat different. Pepe being awake when the interruption took place, was at once sensible of its nature. He had abandoned the reins, and jumped from his seat to the road side, intending to escape among the trees. Un

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