celibate
life has probably been the best for me, as well as the best for some
unknown other.

[Footnote 53: From Part XII of the "Autobiography." Copyright 1904, by
D. Appleton & Co.]

HENRY THOMAS BUCKLE

Born in 1821, died in 1862; his father a wealthy ship owner
in London; published the first volume of his "History of
Civilization" in 1857, second volume appearing in 1861; his
death occurred in Syria, where he was traveling for his
health; his last words "Oh, my book; I shall never finish my
book."

I

THE ISOLATION OF SPAIN[54]

The Spaniards have had everything except knowledge. They have had
immense wealth, and fertile and well-peopled territories in all parts
of the globe. Their own country, washed by the Atlantic and
Mediterranean, and possest of excellent harbors, is admirably situated
for the purposes of trade between Europe and America, being so placed
as to command the commerce of both hemispheres. They had, at a very
early period, ample municipal privileges; they had independent
parliaments; they had the right of choosing their own magistrates, and
managing their own cities. They have had rich and flourishing towns,
abundant manufactures, and skilful artizans, whose choice productions
could secure a ready sale in every market in the world. They have
cultivated the fine arts with eminent success; their noble and
exquisite paintings, and their magnificent churches being justly
ranked among the most wonderful efforts of the human hand. They speak
a beautiful, sonorous and flexible language, and their literature is
not unworthy of their language. Their soil yields treasures of every
kind. It overflows with wine and oil, and produces the choicest fruits
in an almost tropical exuberance. It contains the most valuable
minerals, in a profuse variety, unexampled in any other part of
Europe. Nowhere else do we find such rare and costly marbles, so
easily accessible, and in such close communication with the sea, where
they might safely be shipped, and sent to countries which required
them. As to the metals, there is hardly one which Spain does not
possess in large quantities. Her mines of silver and quicksilver are
well known. She abounds in copper, and her supply of lead is enormous.
Iron and coal, the two most useful of all the productions of the
inorganic world, are also abundant in that highly favored country.
Iron is said to exist in every part of Spain, and t