a vanity so egregious, so childish, so grotesque, that the onlooker is
astounded. The Andalusians have a passion for gorgeous raiment and for
jewellery. They must see themselves continually in the brightest light,
standing for ever on some alpine eminence of vice or virtue, in full
view of their fellow men. Like schoolboys they will make themselves out
desperate sinners to arouse your horror, and if that does not impress
you, accomplished actors ready to suit your every mood, they will pose
as saints than whom none more truly pious have existed on the earth.
They are the Gascons of Spain, but beside them the Bordelais is a
truthful, unimaginative creature.

Next comes laziness. There is in Europe no richer soil than that of
Andalusia, and the Arabs, with an elaborate system of irrigation,
obtained three crops a year; but now half the land lies uncultivated,
and immense tracts are planted only with olives, which, comparatively,
entail small labour. But the inhabitants of this fruitful country are
happy in this, that boredom is unknown to them; content to lie in the
sun for hours, neither talking, thinking, nor reading, they are never
tired of idleness: two men will sit for half a day in a _cafe_, with a
glass of water before them, not exchanging three remarks in an hour. I
fancy it is this stolidness which has given travellers an impression of
dignity; in their quieter moments they remind one of very placid sheep,
for they have not half the energy of pigs, which in Spain at least are
restless and spirited creatures. But a trifle will rouse them; and then,
quite unable to restrain themselves, pallid with rage, they hurl abuse
at their enemy--Spanish, they say, is richer in invective than any other
European tongue--and quickly long knives are whipped out to avenge the
affront.

Universal opinion has given its verdict in an epithet: and just as many
people speak of the volatile Frenchman, the stolid Dutchman, the amatory
Italian, they talk of the proud Spaniard. But it is pride of a peculiar
sort; a Sevillian with only the smallest claims to respectability would
rather die than carry a parcel through the street; however poor, some
one must perform for him so menial an office: and he would consider it
vastly beneath his dignity to accept charity, though if he had the
chance would not hesitate to swindle you out of sixpence. But in matters
of honesty these good people show a certain discrimination. Your
servants, for exampl