10

THE EFFECTS OF

which the government looked on their labours. Ever since that time,' observes a celebrated Spaniard, the study of the ancient languages has disappeared among us, without any benefit to other departments of learning. Science with us ceased to be the means of investigating truth, and became a mere shift to get a livelihood.' Such being the situation of the professors of learning, it is easy to imagine the state of ignorance in which all the other classes of society were kept. The prohibition of books was carried to such an extravagant excess, that editions of the classics, with notes by a Protestant, were prohibited; and the law visited with death the owners and readers of works on controversial subjects. Such were the jealous precautions of despotic ignorance. From that peculiar mixture of thoughtfulness and animation, which marks the natives of Spain, it is evident that the intellectual pleasures of reading would be highly congenial to their taste. The Spaniard is a compound of indolence and fancy. The pleasures of reading were just what the retired habits of the women, and the idle ones of the men, required. These were rigidly denied them; and a degrading sloth, and yet more degrading ignorance, was entailed on the better classes of society; while the knowledge acquired secretly, by

* Jovellanos :-Ley Agraria. Agrarian law.

RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE

11

a few individuals, is partial, and prejudiced in its nature, and has not therefore tended to raise it in public estimation."

"And do you think, father," said Edward, "that the difference that exists between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant faith is the cause of the astonishing difference we see in the two countries ?"

"No, certainly not. The mere articles of our mutual belief are not calculated to create such important changes: the true cause of this moral phenomenon is to be found elsewhere. The supreme authority which, in matters of belief, the church of Rome had with fierce jealousy kept within her own bosom, suddenly, by the Reformation, devolved upon the great body of Christians. Religion, the only subject on which all classes of men possess some information, invited even the humblest individual to exert his intellectual faculties; and the Bible, the only foundation of revealed knowledge, was consequently in the hands of all. All thought, all discussed, all decided. is true that many thought and decided wrong : but there is no unmixed good on this side heaven; and what at first sight may appear an evil, is constantly and visibly turned into a most powerful instrument of good, in the hands of an all-wise Providence. No man loves to be taught; you must either force him to learn, or persuade him

12

CONTRASTED WITH THOSE

that it is his interest. The discipline of learning, however useful in the formation of regular and subordinate habits, would have been unable to produce that sudden and general change in the intellectual energies, which the liberty of discussing religious questions gave, in a short time, to whole nations, at the beginning of the sixteenth century. We have been so long accustomed to this freedom of thought, that we are not able to appreciate its blessings as we ought."

"True father," said Edward. "I was thinking how transporting a change it must have been to the peasant, never allowed to think before, to be permitted to judge and decide on his eternal and everlasting interests."

"The idea thus presented to our minds, Edward, has in it something sublime; but that which is of the earth has always a taint of sin. Those new and important powers were not always wisely used; and in their first great ferment they levelled the throne of these kingdoms: but it is the nature of all moral, as well as physical energies, to exceed the limits beyond which they are destructive to man; yet it is to them that man is indebted for happiness and for life.”

"And does the Inquisition still exist in Spain ?" said Ellen.

"It has no longer the same power over the life and liberty of the subject that it formerly had;

PRODUCED BY SUPERSTITION.

13

but, as late as 1805, it inflicted punishments so rigorous as to cause death in a short time afterwards. Bigotry, and the most debasing superstition, have still a most powerful hold on the belief and affections of the lower classes in Spain. The attachment of a Spaniard to his religion is closely connected in his mind with his loyalty and his patriotism. These sentiments have been handed down from father to son, for many generations, and can only be dissipated by good government, and the permission to read the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue. All their best actions, and their most heroic conduct, is founded on the veneration they entertain for the superstitions they have been taught. The defence of Saragosa, which, considered in all its wonderful details, stands unrivalled in history, owed, we are told, much of its fervour and intensity to their unbounded faith in the protection afforded them by their patron saint, our Lady of Pilar.'”

"Wonderful!" said Edward. "Our sober reason does not apprehend clearly the spring of these actions."

"No; but they are well fitted for moments of enthusiasm, and they are not uncongenial to that deep and unalterable loyalty which distinguishes the Spanish people above every other. One faith and one king' is their motto. As a nation, I cannot doubt but that much suffering is in store for

them. The weight of blood is on their souls, and they must expiate it by a purifying process, through which they will be brought to a knowledge of the truth. The lower orders are still credulous and fanatic; while the higher are very generally unbelievers, and indifferent and regardless on the subject of religion. So nearly allied are superstition and unbelief. The nation we are about to visit you will find full of contradictions. Nature has done much for the country and its inhabitants; but neglect in the one, and hereditary faults in the other, have contributed to reduce both to a most pitiable and miserable condition. Some one has said of Spain, that She only retains the lingering blessing which remained in Pandora's box-hope."

"Which Alexander thought the greatest of all, papa," said Frank.

Yes," said Mr. Delville; "but that was when he was in the actual possession of his most sanguine wishes. Alexander would not have made that answer if he could have changed places with Darius."

66

Hope," said Mrs. Delville," applied to temporal blessings, is a very unsubstantial possession." "But it disguises evils, mamma," said Ellen; "and that is something.

'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,

And robes the mountains in their azure hue.'"