s of women, dressed in white,
surround the image; and the most celebrated singers from the public
theatres chant hymns to the accompaniment of the organ and a numerous
orchestra. Enough has been said to enable the reader to perceive the
strict analogy that exists between the worship of saints and true
idolatry; but still, Spaniards have carried the personification of these
fragile works of men's hands far beyond the idolatries of ancient and
modern times. Not content with addressing words to them, as if they
possessed intelligence and the sense of hearing, they kiss their feet and
their hands, as though the marble, the plaster, or the wood, of which
they are made, were sensible of these demonstrations of tenderness. To
kiss an image is an act of merit which confessors recommend, and one to
which the popes have conceded spiritual privileges.

There is an anecdote related in Madrid, which proves to what an extreme
vices deserving the severest censure may be associated with the grossest
superstition. There was in that capital, towards the end of the reign of
Charles IV., a grandee of Spain, the Duke of A---, who professed especial
devotion to an image of the Virgin, which he was continually kissing.
Having taken under his protection a notorious courtesan, whose house he
furnished sumptuously, he ordered an image of the Virgin to be placed in
a corner of the staircase, which he never ascended without bestowing his
accustomed tokens of affection upon that representation of the object of
his devotion. One day, however, the favoured paramour had capriciously
elevated the image far above the reach of the lips of her protector.
Deprived of the exercise of his daily ceremony, the duke contented
himself with throwing up his handkerchief against the image, and on its
descent kissing it as an object which had been blessed by its mere
contact with the idol!

We could adduce several other proofs of the belief, prevalent in the
minds of Spaniards, that images can exercise many of the faculties of
animate objects, and therefore are capable of reciprocal intercourse in
the same way as living persons. For example, if it is intended that an
immoral act shall be committed before a picture, or a piece of sculpture,
representing the Virgin or any saint, in the first case it is turned
towards the wall; or, in the second, it is covered over with a sheet, in
order that it may not be a witness of the sin. In asking a favour of an
image, i