SPAIN YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY. CHAPTER I. A DEPARTURE-THE INFLUENCE OF THE INQUISITION IN SPAIN, AND THE SUPERIOR PROGRESS OF KNOWLEDGE IN OTHER COUNTRIES SINCE THE REFORMATION. RICHES, pleasant as they are, do not always give unmingled satisfaction. This truth was sensibly felt by Mr. Delville, a gentleman of easy fortune in the north of England, who had recently become heir to a rich relation in Spain. A large portion of his new property being invested in commercial speculations in that country, it was requisite to examine his concerns upon the spot, and in person. Attached to his home and his connexions, the idea of leaving them for an indefinite period was unpleasant to him; and he more than once regretted his good fortune. B After some weeks of uneasy deliberation, he determined to take his family with him; a resolution which gave infinite pleasure to all parties. His two boys, though differing in taste and disposition, were unanimous in their opinion on this subject; and Ellen, an intelligent girl of thirteen, expressed, in animated terms, her own delight. The pleasure that this arrangement gave them was heightened by the immediate hurry of preparation. No time was lost in suspense or in expectation: the day was fixed at once; the trunks were packed in haste; and the smiles of hope and farewell tears to their many friends were so mixed together, that they had little leisure for reflection till their journey was fairly begun. They crossed from Dover to Calais, and travelled rapidly through France; it being no part of their plan to linger on the road. While all they saw was equally new and amusing, their attention was completely engrossed by the changing scene around them: but we become accustomed even to novelty; and after the lapse of a fortnight, they were somewhat satiated with perpetual variety. This feeling, however, was not expressed until they had entered upon that singular, yet monotonous part of France called the Landes, in their progress to Bayonne. Their near approach to the frontier of Spain then became an object of interest; and Ellen was anxious to know if there was any resemblance between the French and Spanish people. "I hope there is," said Frank: "I like these lively-looking gentlemen exceedingly." "I do not," said his elder brother, Edward; " and I am persuaded, from what I have read of the Spaniards, that I shall like them better than the French." "Papa," said Ellen, "you were saying, the other day, that the manners of a country might generally be traced to its early institutions and its established form of government. Will you, during this long, dull stage, give us a sketch of some of the most remarkable features of the Spanish history; especially that part of it which has most influenced the manners and feelings of the nation ?" "Do, sir," said Edward; "do tell us of the Arabs, and the Moors, and the Inquisition. Above all things, I want to hear of that institution, in the very country where it flourished, and the people it influenced.” 66 "And I," said Frank, am not fond of horrors, any more than my mother. I love to dwel on scenes When Cheerfulness, a nymph of healthiest hue, Her buskins gemm'd with morning dew, Blew an inspiring air, that dale and thicket rung, 4 A POET'S OPINION OF LIFE. The hunter's call, to faun and dryad known. The oak-crown'd sisters, and their chaste-ey'd queen, Peeping from forth their allies green; Brown Exercise rejoiced to hear, And Sport leapt up, and seized his beechen spear.'' Mrs. Delville smiled. "Yours is a most inviting creed, Frank; but life does not always offer such cheering views; and to form a right judgment we must look on both sides of the tapestry, 'Let observation, with extensive view, Survey mankind from China to Peru; How rarely reason guides the stubborn choice, When vengeance listens to the fool's request ! Each gift of nature, and each grace of art; The "Vanity of Human Wishes," by Dr. Johnson. |