g alms of you he
says: _Hermanito, una limosna, por el amor de Dios._ He does not beg;
no, he asks, demands; and, miserable and in rags as he may be, he treats
you as a brother--he does you the honour of accepting you as his equal.
The Spaniard who has a _novia_, a guitar, a _cigarillo_, and the
knowledge that he has enough to pay for a seat at the bull-fight,
possesses all that he can possibly need. He will eat a plateful of
_gazpacho_ or _puchero_, a sardine, half a roll of bread, and drink
clear water as often as wine. Food is always of secondary importance: he
ranks it after his _novia_, after his _cigarillo_, after the bulls.
Sleep? He can sleep anywhere, even on the ground. Dress? He has always
his _capa_, and _la capa todo lo tapa_. The Spaniard is, above all
things, _rumboso_; that is to say, he has a large, generous, and sound
heart.... The masses in Spain are perfectly contented, believing
themselves sincerely to be the most heroic of people. The Spaniard is
naturally happy, because his wants are almost _nil_, and he has the
fixed idea that kings--his own or those of other nations--are all, at
least, his cousins."

This is not the place to speak at large of the religion of the people;
but one remark one cannot fail to make, and that is, the place which the
Virgin holds in the life and affections of the masses. The name of the
Deity is rarely heard, except as an exclamation, and the Christ is
spoken of rather as a familiar friend than as the Second Person in the
Trinity; but the deep-seated love for the Virgin, and absolute belief in
her power to help in all the joys and sorrows of life is one of the
strongest characteristics of this naturally religious people. The names
given at baptism are almost all hers. Dolores, Amparo, Pilar, Trinidad,
Carmen, Concepcion,--abbreviated into Concha,--are, in full, Maria de
Dolores, del Pilar, and so forth, and are found among men almost as much
as among women. The idea of the ever-constant sympathy of the divine
Mother appeals perhaps even more strongly to the man, carrying with it
his worship of perfect womanhood, and awakening the natural chivalry of
his nature. Be this as it may, the influence of the Virgin, and the
sincerity of her worship in every stage of life, in all its dangers and
in all its woes, is a religion in itself.

CHAPTER III

NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Certain strong characteristics of the Spanish people, with which the
history of the world ma