amble through Spain, occupying the same space of time, would prefer the
former, as likely to be less inconvenient, and decidedly far less
perilous. The wars and rumours of wars, revolutions, rebellions,
skirmishes, and _pronunciamentos_, that newspapers have recorded during
the last ten or twelve years, with an occasional particularly bloody and
barbarous execution by way of interlude, have certainly not been
calculated to reassure timid travellers; nor can we well wonder that, at
the mere mention of an excursion beyond the Pyrenees, tourists are
seized with a vertigo; and that visions, not only of rancid _gaspachos_
and vermin-haunted couches, but of chocolate-complexioned ruffians with
sugar-loaf hats, button-bedecked jackets, fierce mustaches, and lengthy
_escopetas_, peering out of the gloomy recesses of a cork wood, or from
among the silvery foliage of an olive grove, pass before the eyes of
their imagination. Dangers often appear greater at a distance than upon
close examination; many a phantom of ghastly aspect proves upon
inspection to be but a turnip-faced goblin after all: and we suspect
that if some of the timorous would adventure themselves upon Spanish
soil, they might find their precious persons far safer than they had
anticipated; and discover that they were in the hands neither of Caffres
nor cannibals, but amongst a courteous and generous people, who, if
occasionally a little too disposed to slit each other's weasands, on the
other hand are very rarely forgetful of the laws of hospitality, or of
the kindness and protection to which travellers in a foreign land have a
fair claim. We do not mean to recommend Spain as a desirable travelling
ground for those adventurous English dames, whom we have occasionally
met journeying by coachfuls in France, Germany, and other peaceable
lands, unsquired and unescorted save by their waiting-maids: to them the
encounter of _rateros_, _salteadores_, or other varieties of Spanish
banditti, might be in various respects disagreeable; but for men, who,
without leaving Europe, may wish to visit other scenes than those in
which every Cockney tourist has wandered, we know of few expeditions
more interesting than one into the interior of Spain. Fine scenery,
interesting monuments, associations historic, classic, and poetical,
and--which to our thinking is still preferable--a people who, in spite
of Gallo and Anglo manias, still possess great originality of character
and customs,