y once in four or five years,--an
interval of time necessary for the brotherhoods to accumulate the
required amount, which, according to assurances from persons likely to
know the fact, does not fall far short of four thousand pounds sterling.
The figure which on this occasion represents the dead body of our
Saviour, and which is a fair work of art, is placed in an urn made of
large squares of glass, in framework of silver, and adorned with
extraordinary magnificence. Behind this goes the image of the Virgin,
also the size of life, in a cloak of black velvet embroidered with
silver, on her head a crown of gold, and in her hand, as if to wipe away
her tears, an exceedingly rich cambric pocket-handkerchief, embroidered
and trimmed with the most costly Brussels lace. There is also in this
procession a figure emblematical of death, which is represented by a
human skeleton at the foot of a cross. Such is the importance given in
all Andalusia to the procession of the holy funeral, that the year in
which it is celebrated forms an epoch in the history of Seville, and for
many years, both before and afterwards, nothing else is spoken of. Many
persons from Madrid and other principal cities, and even the English
_employes_ of the garrison of Gibraltar, are present in the Andalusian
capital on these occasions.

As a proof that Spaniards themselves, and even the clergy, consider these
ceremonies as a mere mundane spectacle, it is related of a king of Spain
that, having gone to Seville at a time very far distant from the Holy
Week, he was favoured by the authorities and the chapter with all the
rites, feasts of the church, and processions, appropriate to that holy
occasion.

In all the towns of Spain the last week of Lent is celebrated by
processions. Where there are no _pasos_, or groups of statues, to
represent the scenes of the passion, these are substituted by real men
and women, among whom are distributed the parts of the Virgin, the
apostles, Pilate, and the Saviour himself;--and this profanation does not
excite the least scruple in a nation calling itself Christian.

It is certain that this abuse greatly prevailed in all the nations of
Europe during the middle ages, and that such was the origin of those
so-called _mysteries_, which, in reality, were but a species of sacred
dramatic representation that preceded the true comedy, and turned the
porch, and even the altar, of the sanctuary, into a theatre. But those
custom