into the power of the house of Bourbon,--that is,
about the beginning of the eighteenth century,--she sunk very low in
industry and commerce, and she has, since that period, continued to fall.

And yet, as we have observed, she possesses great natural advantages: a sea
coast on the Atlantic and Mediterranean of considerable extent; a great
variety of climate and soil, and consequently of productions,--she might
become, under a wise and free government, distinguished for her political
power and her commerce.

On the Atlantic, the first port towards the north is Saint Sebastian; then
succeeds Bilboa, St. Andero, Gijon, Ferrol, and Corunna; but though some of
these, especially Ferrol and Corunna, possess excellent harbours, yet the
poverty of the adjacent country prevents them from having much trade. To
the south of Portugal is Seville, on the Guadalquiver, sixteen leagues from
the sea; large vessels can ascend to this city, but its commerce was nearly
destroyed by the transfer of the colonial trade to Cadiz. This last town,
one of the most ancient commercial places in the world, is highly favoured
both by nature and art as a port; and before the French revolutionary war,
and the separation of the American colonies from the mother state, was
undoubtedly the first commercial city in Spain. The exports of the northern
provinces consist principally in iron, wool, chesnuts and filberts, &c.;
the imports, which chiefly come from England, Holland, and France, are
woollen, linen, and cotton goods, hardware, and salted fish.

On the Mediterranean, Malaga may be regarded as the third commercial city
in Spain, though its harbour is not good; the other ports in this sea, at
which trade is carried on to any considerable extent, are Carthagena,
Alicant, and Barcelona, which ranks after Cadiz in commercial importance,
and now that the colonial trade is destroyed, may be placed above it. The
principal exports from these Mediterranean towns are wines, dried fruits,
oils, anchovies, wool, barilla, soap, kermes, antimony, vermilion, brandy,
cork, silk, &c. Barcelona formerly exported an immense number of shoes to
the colonies. The imports consist chiefly of Baltic produce, the articles
enumerated as forming the imports of the north of Spain, and some articles
from Italy and Turkey.

Portugal, not nearly so extensive as Spain, nor blessed with such a fertile
territory, is before her in commerce: she possesses two sea-ports of the
first con