sarily binds all the capitalists to support the Government; and the purchase of the national domains in France, unites all the new small proprietors in maintaining the Constitution against the old noblesse. There are interests however in Spain, which it appears almost impossible to reconcile, and which the Cortes seems fearful, rather than unwilling to disturb. Thus the Constitution includes a chamber of peers, and the legislature still preserves the feudal rights of the grandees. This explains, perhaps, the dignified quiet of the nobility, and their readiness to make any pecuniary sacrifice as long as those privileges are continued to them with which their feelings are the most gratified. If this conduct does not bring them to poverty the day of their permanent ascendency will certainly arrive. The tendencies of the age, and the events in which the nation has been both spectator and actor for the last fifteen years, have already prepared it for many changes; and if they are to be gradually effected by the course of things rather than prematurely forced on by the contrivances of legislation, the national character will countenance, and the climate will confirm them. Nature, in endowing the Spaniards with powerful feelings, placed them in a country where the physical faculties are often condemned to absolute inactivity. The English complain that their sun is not sufficiently brilliant for them, and of the window-taxes which create an additional gloominess. The Spaniards close up their windows for whole weeks and live in obscurity and listlessness, since the least bodily exertion would make the heat still more insupportable. The shops are all shut up precisely at the time when in the other cities of Europe there is the greatest bustle, and from two o'clock till four, all classes, the old and young, male and female, king and beggar, are sleeping at Madrid. This siesta keeps them awake for the serenades and nocturnal songs, which are among the pleasantest of those recollections which travellers bear with them from Spain. From the very precautions which the Spaniards take against the climate they derive enjoyments unknown to us. In Andalusia every house has in the middle a spacious court surrounded with porticoes, beneath which bloom the orange-trees, and all those plants which belong to the most flowery country of the world. The sun is excluded by a linen roof or tent, suspended over the court, and in the centre are jets d'eau which constantly agitate and refresh the air. Here sitting cross-legged about this fountain, and surrounded by flowers and fragrance, they lead the same life as their Moorish ancestors ;-a life, perhaps, the most blissful which mortals may enjoy. Here the Andalusian maids pay their visits throughout the day, as the Italian ladies do in their opera boxes, and as soon as the evening cools the air, the linen roof is withdrawn, and they sing and dance under the clear heavens." Who late so free as Spanish girls were seen, With braided tresses bounding o'er the green, While on the gay dance shone night's lover-loving queen. CHILDE HAROLD, c. I. And all this-without the hurry and bustle of dismantling apartments of their furniture-of despatching couriers with a thousand invitations-of paying the music, and the newspapers for informing the public of the magnificence and crowd of their balls. This free and continual intercourse imparts a spirit to their conversation which is rendered more enchanting by the eloquence of their large eyes. The habit of dancing adds vivacity to their motions and beauty to their forms, which, among the Andalusians, are taller and more delicate than those of the females of other provinces. But throughout Spain, a girl always enters the room"As when a lady, turning in the dance, Doth foot it featly, and advances scarce One step before the other to the ground, Veiling her sparkling eyes.”—DANTE, Cary's Transl. Our young ladies, having adopted the Spanish dress, conceived too late the dress ought to be adapted to the shape; then the short petticoats, which were only unbecoming to their feet, were condemned as indecent. In Spain, however, this shortness never appears improper, because it is a fashion enjoined by nature, which directs women to display to advantage their beauty, and the small feet of a Spanish girl deserve to be presented to the sight with the utmost care of the toilette. Their power is principally in the largeness and fire of their eyes. The blue ones are more admired, possibly for their rarity; but more probably because, though less striking than eyes of a darker hue, they are more lasting in their attraction. The girls are generally pale, which, by exciting the idea that the heart is not tranquil, renders them more interesting and more dangerous; yet, whatever be their complexions, the colour changes and succeeds with the quickness of their sensations, so that the same female might afford in the same day to a painter, the model of a young Bacchante and of a penitent Magdalen. As liberty is one of the passions of youth, and as almost all young men rank among the liberals, all the young ladies who have lovers are still more liberal. When, in 1820, Riego made his entry into Madrid, his carriage was covered with the flowers which they lavishly scattered from the windows, while their voices were heard mingling with those of the soldiers, chantVOL. I. PART II. Y ing patriotic hymns, of which this stanza may serve as a specimen: "¿Qué es la Francia en cotejo de España? ¿Las naciones del norte ¿qué son? El que quiera ser libre que aprenda : En España hay un Pueblo y un Rey, El segundo sujeto a la ley." So many of the fair are partisans of the constitution, that youth and beauty are now synonymous with patriotism, insomuch that, as our author remarks, there are few old ladies who support the ancient government. They sing for liberty-they dance in commemoration of the revolution-at the theatre they applaud every passage which is directed against tyranny, and they even write in the cause of liberty. Thus, although the revolution has not altered in the least the manners of the country, yet the capital begins to resemble the other large cities of Europe. Sooner or later it is not improbable, that literature, the arts, and the refinements of life, will bring with them more civilization, more intelligence, more activity, and more enjoyment in Spain-and, perhaps, at the same time, more corruption and more wants, with less simplicity, originality, and real happiness. MEETING. [An extract from an unpublished Life.] MEETING, after long absence, with those dear to us, is said to be one of the highest enjoyments of human existence. To me it proved one of the saddest moments of a sad life. Revisiting the scenes of our childhood is also accounted a great, though a melancholy, pleasure: -my return to them was even more bitter than my departure had been. During the long and dreary years which I had passed in India, the thoughts of home had been the food on which my soul had lived. The hope of one day being restored to it-of being again united to the dear ones who dwelt there-had supported me under the martyrdom of the heart, which is caused by long banishment. At length the time was come to which I had looked unvaryingly for five-and-twenty years. I embarked for England; and, as our voyage lessened before us, my heart expanded with the near accomplishment of long-deferred hope. During the last week of the passage, I felt sickening impatience for the sight of land. Our course had been rapid till within a few days' sail of England, when we met with baffling winds, which increased my eagerness to a painful pitch. I used to pace the deck during the first watch with the officer until he was relieved, and listen with engrossing interest to his stories of the usual circumstances of approaching England-of the chances of wind at the entrance of the channel-of the pilot coming on board-of running up to the Downs-of all the minutiæ, in short, with which the close of his different voyages had been varied. This man and his fellows looked happily forward to reaching home but how different were their feelings from mine! They looked to the recurrence of a periodical pleasure: I felt the condensed intensity of long years of hope. On the morning that we did make land, I was awakened by my servant with the tidings that we were close in shore. My cabin was on the seaward side of the ship, so, as I looked from the port-hole, I saw only the green waves dancing and glittering in the breeze and sunshine of a summer morning: but the waves were green—and I blessed the colour, as assuring our nearness to land, and |