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ART. VII.-Stories of Spanish Life. From the German of Huber. Edited by LIEUT. COL. CRAWFURD. 2 Vols. London: Colburn. 1837. COLONEL CRAWFURD, it would appear, has twice visited Spain, and finding that Huber's sketches of life and scenery in that country not only accorded with his own experience and observation, and were besides, as every reader of the original or the translation will find, extremely vivid and truth-looking, he was induced to undertake the work which is now before us. The volumes, in fact, contain one of the best pictures of one of the most interesting kingdoms in the world that we have ever beheld. It is as spirited and stirring as any romance can be, and as attractive as imagination can figure. But the author not only is lively and sketchy, but his philosophy is remarkable for the consistency of its keeping, its depth, and excursiveness. To be sure his subjects are not so numerous or varied as some travellers have introduced; but in every thing which he has written, a distinct insight is gained into some portion of Spanish character and manners; all which possesses the excellence of being exactly according to the observation and judgment of the author, without exhibiting any symptoms of a striving after exaggerated effect, whether good or ill has to be brought out.

It is true, the date at which Huber traversed Spain is by-gone, for it was between the year 1820, in which Riego proclaimed the Constitution of 1812, and the occupation of the country by the Duke d'Angoulème and his army in 1823. In no part of Europe, however, has there been less change of character and circumstances than in Spain during the period in question, and that which has since elapsed. The nation was at that time divided as it is now. There were timid Moderates or unstable Liberals then as at present, as well as brave and adventurous Exaltados. Between the inhabitants of the towns and the peasantry a marked difference has all along existed; and the priests then as now were intriguing and influential-active in counsel and in the field in support of Absolutism. There was no doubt a want of organisation among the Exaltados, and of a definite purpose, which now under Carlos is easily perceived and understood; but in a desultory warfare, energy, enthusiasm, and courage, made up in a great measure for unity of plan and movements, and seemed fully equal to a Government in which treachery, incapacity, or tardy diplomacy too frequently was exhibited. If in Spain the position and principles of political parties have pretty nearly continued the same, we may be certain that in so far as the private manners of the people at large are concerned, there is a still more remarkable similarity; their prejudices, their superstitions, their animosities, and their strongly marked virtues are little or none at all changed.

It is declared that the work before us contains realities, of which the author was either an eye-witness, or that the circumstances were related to him by those who had a hand in them-the only liberty taken being to transpose, arrange, and connect the individual traits and isolated pictures, so that they form a loosely connected whole. The story and fortunes of a family, belonging to what would in England be said to be respectable among the Yeomen, form the groundwork of the book, and with the several members of that family all the adventures and incidents are connected more or less. Something after the manner of a novel, the conclusion keeps time with the tragic issue both of a public and domestic drama; this form throughout having been adopted on account of the impossibility of inserting in a strict narrative all those single traits and pictures which presented themselves in endless succession to the traveller. Digressions become in such a work natural and pleasant enough, though the thread by which they are tied to the primary story be but slender; thus, whether it be antiquities or present occurrences-manners or scenery, in city or in country, all may be brought in without violence or offence. Such is the plan of the performance.

Then as to the ground-work story-one of the sons, Antonio, has been educated for the church, but its enormous abuses having disgusted him, he travelled and became more enlightened. He returns about the time that proclamation of the Constitution took place, as already referred to. He has a cousin, Christoval, who is betrothed to Dolores, (Antonio's sister). This young man has been a contrabandist and ruined by the laws as enforced by the Liberals. He therefore buckles on the belt and takes to the mountains, like another Rob Roy, but far more Spanish in every way. A number of other characters, besides the rest of the family chiefly concerned, appear on the stage, the entire work including great diversity of impressive scenes and incidents, so perfectly characteristic of Spain, that there is no mistaking them even by the reader least versant in Spanish history.

The work is divided into three parts-the first consisting of an historical introduction by Col. Crawfurd, which, to those who have paid little attention to the affairs of Spain, will be useful, although to better informed persons it must be superfluous, Then comes an Essay on the Social life of the Spaniards by Huber, which displays no small share of analytical discrimination, as well as picturesque drawing, evidently, however, from the life. Sometimes the love of subtlety and a tendency to adhere to German metaphysics are too apparent, as the heavier portions of the performance will correctly point out to those who have no taste for vain philosophy. The third part consists of the Story to which reference has been made; from both parts we proceed to copy some passages, chiefly from the last.

The absence of constraint which is witnessed in Spanish society is vividly described by Huber. In speaking of their Tertullas, which answer in a general way to the conversaziones of the Italians, he says, that "whoever is introduced into a house is seldom or ever (never?) again formally invited; leave only is given him by the general impression, this house is yours,' to come again as often as he likes, but with the understanding that neither he nor its inhabitants are to impose the slightest restraint upon each other." In general, it would appear, that the fundamental principle of this social species of intercourse is, that the ordinary household affairs are not to be in any way disturbed by it. There is not even any expenses connected with it, since usually nothing is presented to the guest beyond a glass of water or a cup of chocolate. There is no formality of dress required, nor a necessity of changing that which has been worn all day during usual occupations. In short, the character of social life in Spain is said to be best described by an expression which cannot be literally translated, "because the thing itself is not known in other countries, Aqui hay franqueza."

As to the question which may be asked what pleasure or profit can arise from such assemblies in a country where so little knowledge exists, and where the intellectual condition of the people is so limited, as more enlightened nations are inclined to think Spaniards to be, Huber gives an answer, which, with its preface, we quote.

"My intention is here to try the weak sides of that which we praise in other countries, as education, and to examine to what degree this education, this repletion of impressions and images, which flow almost entirely from books, and seldom from the external life to the internal, enriches and strengthens the mind, or blunts and enervates it, and how far social life, to keep to that point, gains or loses by it.

"I wish only to explain the grounds of the reproach which people apply to the Spaniards. I lay it down as a thing proved by experience, that a foreigner who brings with him a healthy, open mind as it were an undepraved intellectual stomach--will in a very short time take a permanent liking to the social life and conversation of the Spaniards; in a word to the tertulla.

"The causes which produce this pleasure are easy to discover. The Spaniards, however confined the circle of their ideas and knowledge may be, bring to any conversation on the subjects which lie within this circle a certain earnestness and well-intentioned zeal, which is necessarily the soul of conversation. They bring, on the other hand, a hearty, open feeling for a jest; a free understanding of the maxims, give and take;' and, generally, a natural wit and a lusty humour, which over-refinement excludes. The Spanish language itself is the only one, except the English, which contains humour in copious streams. Moreover, the Spaniard generally brings to social intercourse a capacity for all that is beautiful and noble, a very just if not a very supple understanding, a lively imagination, and efficient practical sense in his circle of wants and wishes; frequently an ardent desire of knowledge, which, however, only yields to

conviction, and which prefers the living word to the letter; lastly, and what is most to be remarked, a natural address and a dignity of behaviour, which excludes vulgarity, and great facility of expression in a language whose force and richness he alone can rightly estimate who has heard it in the country itself. The thing might perhaps be said in two wordsthe Spaniards are less blases than we civilized and more highly-educated people; and they are less sophisticate,' as Shakspeare somewhere says." It may hence be learned that the author's estimate of the Spanish people is far more favourable than that which is entertained by many who have not enjoyed the same opportunities for forming a discriminating judgment. Let it also be borne in mind that Huber carried to Spain a mind highly trained for such investigations as he there pursued, not forgetting, however, the tinge of German idealism which he could not be expected to leave entirely behind. At the same time it must be said, that when he comes to delineate individual characters, or to represent scenes actually witnessed, the vices and crimes of the people and the degraded condition of the country, in consequence of its protracted turbulence, are not glossed over or spared, while the chivalrous virtues and the beauty of peaceful domestic life are not exaggerated. But the result of the whole, is to induce palliation even for the atrocities which disfigure and disgrace the nation, inasmuch as the actors in the horrible transactions alluded to, seem to be what circumstances could hardly fail to make them.

Having seen part of what Huber says of social life in Spain, and how he contrasts its people and those of more favoured lands, let us observe what he has to say of the bearing of an Englishman as witnessed towards an educated Spaniard.

"Antonio found also another companion, whose broken French and still more broken Castilian, but above all, his whole appearance and manner, declared him to be an Englishman. This person was dressed with the greatest elegance, in wide plaited pantaloons and coat of the newest London fashion, a high stiff neckcloth, and a small hat with the narrowest possible brim.

"He seemed at first disposed to treat his clerical travelling companion with all the arrogance of English enlightenment; but when Antonio kindly offered his services, on seeing his fruitless endeavours to make himself understood by the Corsario, it turned out that Antonio was one of the so-called enlightened liberal clergy, and that he spoke French, and even some English, the Englishman fell immediately into the other extreme, overwhelmed him with questions, with philosophical and economical treatises upon Spain, and how every thing there ought to be differently arranged. All this, uttered about a country which the speaker had entered for the first time three days before, and in the language of which he could scarcely speak three words correctly, so thoroughly satiated, and even disgusted Antonio with his own favourite subject, that, without remarking it himself, he gradually became a zealous defender of that which his companion and himself frequently were pleased to call Spanish barbarism.

"At the same time, with all this, it annoyed him not a little that the Englishman always observed him with a kind of condescending curiosity. An enlightened and well-informed Catholic priest was a kind of lusus naturæ in his eyes, and the heat alone prevented his immediately laying hold of his journal and noting down his observations. All the facts which Antonio opposed to his English and Protestant prejudices about Spain, could not shake him one moment in his conclusions, and in the triumphant wisdom of his civilization; and it was only the increasing heat of the day which procured any repose for his harassed antagonist."

Of the graphic manner in which Huber sketches cities, private scenes, and social life as beheld in Spain, we shall present some specimens, without confining ourselves to their regular sequence in the course of these "Stories." Of the land approach to Cadiz there occurs a spirited descriptive picture. According to Huber the subject which this city offers to the eye of the painter is so impressive as to be ineffaceable on the imagination, at the same time it has a very peculiar character, inasmuch as it is completely wanting in shade, and mild tones, till from the abundance of light the whole becomes painful to the eye-" the azure blue sky-the dark blue sea, reflecting the beams of the sun with thousand-fold brilliancy." He also says that

"The snow-white dazzling walls, and flat roofs of Cadiz, which emerges like a gem from the blue flood; the bald and mostly white downs round the bay; the white buildings of Puerto de Santa Maria, Puerto Real, La Carraca, San Fernando, and other places, scattered along the shore like glittering vases;-the white sails of the innumerable vessels of every form and size, which cut the blue mirror in all directions; and this almost without a tree, except some palms scattered along the coast, with a foreground of the gigantic aloe and the cactus;-all this without any other colour or shade of colour; yet brilliant blue and dazzling white make an almost stupifying impression; and, whoever has once stood on this spot would never forget it, even if it had not been the place where Riego began his career, which he was at last to end, like that of the noble Padilla before him, upon the scaffold,"

"There is, perhaps, no town, which has such a continual holiday appearance as Cadiz. This arises partly, from the circumstance of the streets cutting each other at right angles; from the height of the houses, being in proportions the most agreeable to the breadth of the street, and their structure and size being almost uniform throughout; from the streets being carefully paved; and also from quite a Dutch degree of cleanliness prevailing both inside and outside the houses, which, however, is more the climate and situation than of any particular care.

"But this holiday impression which Cadiz produces, arises still more from the incredible fulness of light, which the imagination cannot reconcile with the usual every-day life, especially of a commercial town. It appears to a stranger, especially to the northern one, as if he were living in one of the palaces of sapphires and brilliants, such as are described to us in eastern fairy tales. Whereever the eye turns, it meets with nothing but the beaming blue sky, the blue sea, or dazzling white walls. So that