erness which attracts some people, and
especially those who have but an imperfect knowledge of the true life
and character of the people thus stigmatised.

Lord Londonderry, in Chapter VI. of his _Narrative of the Peninsular
War_, writes thus of the difference of character between the two
nations: "Having halted at Elvas during the night, we marched next
morning soon after dawn; and, passing through a plain of considerable
extent, crossed the Guadiana at Badajoz, the capital of Estremadura.
This movement introduced us at once into Spain; and the contrast, both
in personal appearance and in manners, between the people of the two
nations, which was instantly presented to us, I shall not readily
forget. Generally speaking, the natives of frontier districts partake
almost as much of the character of one nation as of another.... It is
not so on the borders of Spain and Portugal. The peasant who cultivates
his little field, or tends his flock on the right bank of the Guadiana,
is, in all his habits and notions, a different being from the peasant
who pursues similar occupations on its left bank; the first is a genuine
Portuguese, the last is a genuine Spaniard.... They cordially detest one
another; insomuch that their common wrongs and their common enmity to
the French were not sufficient, even at this time, to eradicate the
feeling.

"It was not, however, by the striking diversity of private character
alone which subsisted between them, that we were made sensible, as soon
as we had passed the Guadiana, that a new nation was before us. The
Spaniards received us with a degree of indifference to which we had not
hitherto been accustomed. They were certainly not uncivil.... Whatever
we required they gave us, in return for our money; but as to enthusiasm
or a desire to anticipate our wants, there was not the shadow of an
appearance of anything of the kind about them. How different all this
from the poor Portuguese, who never failed to rend the air with their
_vivats_, and were at all times full of promises and protestations, no
matter how incapable they might be of fulfilling the one or
authenticating the other! The truth is that the Spaniard is a proud,
independent, and grave personage; possessing many excellent qualities,
but quite conscious of their existence, and not unapt to overrate
them.... Yet with all this, there was much about the air and manner of
the Spaniards to deserve and command our regard. The Portuguese are a
p