to him when his dormant frenzies are aroused, and once his blood is up and he sticks a knife into his neighbour, he finds a joy in driving the blade haftdeep into the victim's abdomen, and sleeps, in jail, more soundly for the recollection of his skill. If you have an eye for the artistic, and a nose that can defy the congregated smells of Christendom, be sure to step inside an Andalusian prison. Any warder will show you round for a peseta. Such perfect filth. Such perfect inaction. Such perfect insouciance. Such rarely savage faces. You will remember the experience to your last day, even though, unlike poor Borrow, you make the entrance in an amateurish. style, and as a self-incarcerated visitor.

The Castilian is quite the fine gentleman, the flor y nata of the Spains. His is the Court, and he sets the mode for the enlightenment of hinds provincial. He is polite and pleasure-loving, with something of a leaning to the superficial, but the heart more often than not is good material, and the brain perceptive and intelligent. Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Garcilaso de la Vega, Quevedo, Calderón, Moratín, and Quintana were Castellanos netos, and the mantle of their merits and ingenio has fallen, in some degree, upon the moderns of Madrid and Old and New Castile.

In what he says of the Extremadurans, the Leonese, the Murcians, the Navarros, the Valencians, and the Vizcaínos, I agree so nearly with Verdejo, that he shall speak for me:

The Extremadurans are "clear-headed, sagacious, and honourable, very reserved, strongly built, and excellent soldiers. Unfortunately they mar these

sterling qualities by living in idleness and selfabstraction, and by allowing themselves to be carried away by their short and difficult temper.

The natives of León are "serious and straightforward, silent, honourable, and of simple habits and ready intellect. In spite of their industriousness, they enjoy few commodities, since their want of property reduces them to the category of mere labourers, or tenants of estates which are owned by the mayorazgos or comunidades." To-day this state of things has slightly altered for the better.

The Navarros are "grave, reserved, supporters of their rights, brave, industrious, active in running and leaping, and at games of ball. Though somewhat slow-witted, they are capable of tuition, and once they acquire a lesson, remember and improve upon it. Some people accuse them of being capricious and intractable. They know Castilian, but in their daily intercourse prefer a Frenchified Vascuence (Basque)."

The Vizcaínos, who comprise "the natives of the three provinces (Alava, Vizcaya, and Guipúzcoa), are generally called Viscainos by the rest of Spain. They regard themselves as having been the primitive inhabitants of the Peninsula, and retain the nature of the old Cantabrians, albeit softened by the influence of civilization. Still, they are high-spirited and courageous, alert and active, true to their word, kindly and hardworking, but obstinate in defending their opinion.

"The women are tall and powerful, agreeable of feature, fresh-complexioned, and of pleasant speech.

They work in the fields side by side with the men, help to load and unload freight in the seaports, and make no scruple to handle an oar."

The Valencian is "well-built, active, cheerful, frank, and hardworking, clever at his studies, but inclined to be restless and effeminate. The women are pretty, and noted for their cleanliness and pleasant manners. There is no village in Valencia province where the Spanish tongue is not known, but the natives speak a language derived from the Limousin, and softened by the character of its speakers and the sweetness of the climate."

Here Verdejo is again supported by the verdict of Cervantes. "Valencia," avers the great Castilian, in his Pérsiles y Segismunda, "famous for all that makes it rich and lovely above all other cities of Spain and even of the whole of Europe, and chiefly for the beauty of its women, their extreme cleanliness, and pretty language."

There is a silly proverb in Castilian, which

says

"Valenciano & Catalán

Si no te lo han hecho te lo harán."

It is possible that the doggerel is more illnatured than veracious, and certainly the verdict of Baron Rosmithal that "the Cataláns are a treacherous and damned race, calling themselves Christians, but wickeder than heathen," is wholly wide of the mark.

* "A Valencian or a Catalán-if he hasn't paid you out yet, he will some day."

The Murcians, according to Verdejo, “are less lively than the Valencians, but resolute and fitted for war, in which pursuit they have produced some notable captains. They are ready-witted, quick at study, and attached to their country, leaving it with reluctance. Those of the north tend to be apathetic, churlish, and sullen, while the coastdwellers are more refined, sociable, and industrious. They speak Castilian, with an admixture of Arabic and Valencian, and with a slight lisp resembling that of the Andalusians. Their accent is far from disagreeable, especially that of the women, who are amiable and expressive."

The Galician (Gallego) is a mingling of many qualities. He is diligent, thrifty, and sober. He knows how to make money, and keep himself from spending it, trusting to time to accumulate a decent capital. If selfishness be not a positive crime, he is selfish. If it is, I waive my accusation for the sake of courtesy, but I think none the less that he must have been the author of the refrán—

"Más cerca están mis dientes que mis parientes."*

As a menial or worker where little or no intellect is required, he is beyond compare, and the bulk of Spanish hotel-waiters, stablemen, and suchlike underlings are Galicians. He is a pachyderm from whom the shafts of contumely and derision that riddle other men and send them gasping to an early grave, fall blunted and innocuous; a lucky thing for him, since

*.

My teeth are nearer to me than my relations."

he is the standard butt for half the merriment of the Peninsula. A silly fellow in a cartoon-Gallegu, a clownish recruit-Gallegu, a Diggory at the diningtable-Gallegu, for sheer stupidity relieved by a dash of cunning-Gallegu, a buffoon of any age or category -Gallegu.

His thick head well befits his double face. He has the wit to say one thing and mean another. If I meet a Galician where two roads meet, and politely ask: "Which leads to village X-road A, or road B?" what does the Galician do? To begin with, he does nothing. He makes no answer. He thinks, and the following is the labyrinthine process of his reasoning. “This man wants to learn the way to X, where I live. What does he want to know the way to X for? he want me? What does he want me for? want to abduct my wife, or steal my poultry, or cheat me at a bargain? Perhaps; very likely; probablyno doubt at all." And the answer comes at last, with an illustrative and perfectly shameless wave of the arms: "B is the road, Señor. Vaya Vd. con Diós."

Does Does he

If I be a mere tourist, unaccustomed to Galician pleasantries, and follow road B, I end my pilgrimage three leagues from village X, and cursing the kind Galician; but if I be initiated, through previous personal experiment or having studied The Land of the Dons, I murmur a grateful gracias, and briskly stride along road A, reflecting: "This good fellow has set me right, after the Galician fashion; lucky I met someone to tell me." And the Galician either goes his way, confessing to his chagrin that the stranger is not such a fool as he looks, or

: