Spanish Life in Town and Country

Spanish Life in Town and
Country, by

L. Higgin and EugŠne E. Street This eBook is for the use of anyone
anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You
may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
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Title: Spanish Life in Town and Country
Author: L. Higgin and EugŠne E. Street
Editor: William Harbutt Dawson
Release Date: March 26, 2006 [EBook #18053]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY ***

Produced by Riikka Talonpoika, Pilar Somoza and The Online
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[Transcriber's note: Spelling mistakes have been left in the text to
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OUR EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURS
French Life German Life Russian Life Dutch Life Swiss Life Spanish
Life
Italian Life Danish Life Austro-Hungarian Life Turkish Life Belgian
Life Swedish Life

OUR EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURS
EDITED BY WILLIAM HARBUTT DAWSON
SPANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY
[Illustration: "IN CHURCH." SHOWING THE MANTILLA AND
VELO]

SPANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY
BY L. HIGGIN
WITH CHAPTERS ON
PORTUGUESE LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY, BY EUGÈNE E.
STREET
* * * * *
ILLUSTRATED
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON The
Knickerbocker Press 1904

COPYRIGHT, 1902 BY G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Published, May, 1902 Reprinted, February, 1903 May, 1904;
September, 1904
The Knickerbocker Press, New York

NOTE BY THE EDITOR
It has been thought well to include Portugal in this volume, so as to
embrace the entire Iberian Peninsula. Though geographically
contiguous, and so closely associated in the popular mind, the Spanish
and Portuguese nations offer in fact the most striking divergences alike
in character and institutions, and separate treatment was essential in
justice to each country. The preferential attention given to Spain is only
in keeping with the more prominent part she has played, and may yet
play, in the history of civilisation.
* * * * *
I am indebted for the chapters on Portugal to Mr. Eugène E. Street,
whose long and intimate acquaintance with the land and its people
renders him peculiarly fitted to draw their picture.
L. HIGGIN.

CONTENTS
SPANISH LIFE
PAGE
CHAPTER I
LAND AND PEOPLE 1

CHAPTER II
TYPES AND TRAITS 24
CHAPTER III
NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS 38
CHAPTER IV
SPANISH SOCIETY 55
CHAPTER V
MODERN MADRID 77
CHAPTER VI
THE COURT 97
CHAPTER VII
POPULAR AMUSEMENTS 111
CHAPTER VIII
THE PRESS AND ITS LEADERS 129
CHAPTER IX
POLITICAL GOVERNMENT 142
CHAPTER X
COMMERCE AND AGRICULTURE 156
CHAPTER XI

THE ARMY AND NAVY 183
CHAPTER XII
RELIGIOUS LIFE 198
CHAPTER XIII
EDUCATION AND THE PRIESTHOOD 213
CHAPTER XIV
PHILANTHROPY--POSITION OF WOMEN--MARRIAGE
CUSTOMS 226
CHAPTER XV
MUSIC, ART, AND THE DRAMA 236
CHAPTER XVI
MODERN LITERATURE 246
CHAPTER XVII
THE FUTURE OF SPAIN 260
PORTUGUESE LIFE
CHAPTER XVIII
LAND AND PEOPLE 277
CHAPTER XIX
PORTUGUESE INSTITUTIONS 298

INDEX 315

ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
"IN CHURCH." SHOWING THE MANTILLA AND VELO
Frontispiece
PEASANTS 2
A CORNER IN OLD MADRID 8
SEVILLE CIGARRERA 20
PEASANTS 20
VALENCIANOS 26
THE WATER TRIBUNAL IN VALENCIA. SHOWING
VALENCIAN COSTUMES 34
PAST WORK 50
KNIFE-GRINDER 50
OUTSIDE THE PLAZA DE TOROS, MADRID 78
BUEYES RESTING 94
IN THE WOODS AT LA GRANJA 104
PLAZA DE TOROS. PICADOR CAUGHT BY THE BULL 120
PLAZA DE TOROS. THE PROCESSION 124
DRAGGING OUT THE DEAD BULL 126

THE ESCURIAL 140
A WEDDING PARTY IN ESTREMADURA 170
A COUNTRY CABIN IN GALICIA 292

SPANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY
CHAPTER I
LAND AND PEOPLE
Only in comparatively late years has the Iberian Continent been added
to the happy hunting-grounds of the ordinary British and American
tourist, and somewhat of a check arose after the outbreak of the war
with America. To the other wonderful legends which gather round this
romantic country, and are spread abroad, unabashed and uncontradicted,
was added one more, to the effect that so strong a feeling existed on the
part of the populace against Americans, that it was unsafe for
English-speaking visitors to travel there. Nothing is farther from the
truth; there is no hatred of American or English, and, if there had been,
they little know the innate courtesy of the Spanish people, who fear
insult that is not due to the overbearing manners of the tourist himself.
To-day, however, everyone is going to Spain, and as the number of
travellers increases, so, perhaps, does the real ignorance of the country
and of her people become more apparent, for, after a few days, or at
most weeks, spent there, those who seem to imagine that they have
discovered Spain, as Columbus discovered America, deliver their
judgment upon her with all the audacity of ignorance, or, at best, with
very