privateering. A fête was celebrated in honour of the peace of Leoben; and Mars, Apollo, Ceres, and Victory, fat. very fociably together in a triumphat car. The Bifcayans are particularly fond of playing with leather air-balls; and bull-fights are newly introduced. The Bayonnefe are generally confidered as the very Gafcons of the Galcons thenfelves. A dangerous bar lies off the two fine dykes of Bayonne. the province of Bifcay it is well known that the antiest Cantabrian language is preferved, and the Caftillano or Spanish very little or ill fpoken; fo that it was with the greatest difficulty my landlady and myfelf could make ourselves underftood. However, I had no fooner anfwered her firft enquiry, whether I was a Chriftian, by which is meant a Catholic, in the affirmative, than the was fo pleafed with me that he brought me a fione bottle of delicious wine and a large loaf of bread, made of flour and maize in equal quantities, but of a very pleafant tale. She had nothing elfe to offer, except a dozen fried fardines, or fprats, withwhich I was obliged to be contented. When I retired to reft, I found no other bed than a paillafle of maize leaves laid on vine twigs, and two blankets; and foon after four muleteers came in, and occupied the two other beds. One of them spoke French tolerably well, and was extremely pleafed to find I was a Christiano, and I could not refufe tafting his wine." (p. 57.) The husband of the landlady was the furgeon at Gueturia, and in the laft war with France had learned a little French of the foldiers quartered in his houfe. Among his books were tranflations of Buchan's Domeftic Medicine, and of Tiflot's Avis au Peuple, a complete treatife on furgery, á treatife on the materia medica, and a differtation on midwifery. All this convinced our traveller of the progrefs of knowledge in Spain, which he observed with-pleafire. Guctaria contains near 500 inhabitants, has but one well-built house, which is inhabited by an Indiano, or a man who has made a fortune in America, about 1000 dollars a year, which he spends in public works, and does a great deal of good. He is generally carried in a fedan chair by two young girls: his only emjoyment is fmoking the fineft Havanna tobacco; and he had a flock of above 200lbs. of cigars. His houfe is the only one that has glafs

1. Travels in Spain in 1997 and 1798. By
Frederick Auguftus Fifcher. With an
Appendix on the Method of travelling in that
Country Tranflated from the German.
THE author profelles rather to note
thofe particulars which have efcaped
other writers, and to form a feries of
practical notes to Bourgoanne and other
works. In the Appendix he has added
the prefent ftate of literature, and the
mode of travelling in Spain. The
tranflator has introduced the notes of
the original into the text, and diftin-
guilhed his own by brackets. The firft
fix letters and 20 pages are perfectly
uniuterefting; the 7th brings us to the
mouth of the Garonne and Bordeaux,
whole quay is not to be compared
with the beautiful ones of Holland; its
magnificent theatre was attended by
crowds of young people elegantly drefled,
and loaded with diamonds; and, at a
concert given by a Jew virtuofo, every
thing difplayed fuch a boundless paflion
for pleafure, and fuch a friking ego-
tifin, that the fpectator could not avoid
making the most painful reflections on
the flow progrefs of philofophy in an
age fo proud of its enlightened reafon.
(p. 31.) The Gafcons always fpeak in
hyperboles, and perpetually talk of them-
felves. Wine is the fiaple commodity
of Bordeaux, and is diftinguifhed into
vin de grave and vin de la palud; and
the art of cultivating the vine is no
where fo relined as here. The exporta-
tion amounts on an average to 150 000
barrels a year, but is much diminished
fince the commerce of the North and
the upper provinces ceated; and the
merchants have turned to privateering,
and fitted out not lefs than 21 priva-
teers. All other manufactures are at a
ftaud. Berquin, author of fo many
works for children, was a native of
Bordeaux. The landes of Bordeaux
are heaths intersected with long rows
of offers and firs. Every body here walks
on ftilts, and thus even dance, turn
round with cafe, and pick up money
on them. About Bayonne, an infigui
ficant and dirty town, with fome fine
ftreets, feveral tolerably fine edifices,
cultivation grew better; every thing
wears a Spanish air. The Bifcayan
women fet off their perfons by their
coiffure, a handkerchief tied round the
head. The trade of Bayoune, very
much in chocolate, ufed to be with
Spain; but now, as at Bordeaux, the
merchants have turned their minds to
GENT. MAG. January, 1803.

windows,

windows, iron balconies, drinkingglafles, arm-chairs, or pewter plates. In this little place are ten ecclefiaftics, who talk Spanish and Latin, and meet every evening at a public houte round a dith of fardines and a capacious pitcher. Thefe fardines are caught in June, July, and Augutt, in nets, fold for a half penny a dozen, and, when falted, for three farthings.

the fpectators; the steeples, roofs, bridge,
buildings beyond the river, even the
hills, and Francifcan convent on the
height, were all full of people, and in
the fquare itfelf was a crowd of aficis-
nados, or amateurs, who came there to
be active in tiriking the bulls, but fo as
to escape, in cafe of need, by leaping over
the pales. The corridas de toros are
the great bull-fights properly fo called,
in which the combatants are on horfe
back, and the bulls must be killed.
The corridas de novillos are combats of
young heifers, in which the beast only
receives flight wounds, and is irritated
to fury. The fquare was covered with
fand; and the place where the bulls
were kept was by the fide of one of the
amphitheatre, open at top, and each
bull had a feparate ftall, in which he
was provoked by feveral aficionados
mounted on the planks. At length
the corregidor or mayor gave the fignal,
when a ferjeant, dreffed in white, opened
the inclofure, and had fcarcely leaped
out of the way before the bull furioutly
rushed into the arena. Several imen
expected him with banderillas or darts;
hut he ran impetuoutly toward the
four fides of the fquare, feeking a way
out. In the midt of the crowd, who
held out pikes, hayforks, fticks, and
parafols, the aficionados were diftin-
guifhable emulating each other,and striv-
ing who fhould first place his hat or his
cloak on his horns, or ftrike him. But
one could fcarcely avoid laughing at
the agility and ridiculous poftures with
which they fcrambled over the baluf-
trades as foon as the bull feemed fe-
rioufly to aim at them. But the ban-
derillas were foon multiplied, and in a
fhort time he had no retreat; he was
covered with them, and flew away fe-
veral times, roaring, and hedding tor-
rents of blood. The fpectators, defirous
of varying their amufement, now cried
on all fides for the dogs (los perros! los
perros!); and at length a great bull-dog
was let loose at him. A new combat
now commenced, in which the different
inftinct of the two animals was appa-
rent, the one endeavouring to conquer
by art, the other by force. The dog
always attacked his enemy fideways,
and turned off at every motion of the
bull, who always kept his horns ready
to tofs him in the air, which he fre-
quently did. If the dog avoided the
blow, and at length fucceeded in feiz-
ing the bull, the latter dragged him
along in fury, and firuggled to trample

Bilboa has many picturesque and romantic views in its environs. Every thing in the inn called Cafa de Antonio has fomething fingular in its appear ance, and their forms are quite original and foreign. The rooms are covered with floor-cloth reprefenting bull-fights, and feats mean, old-fashioned, and extremely low; the floors brick, and the walls full of faints and crucifixes. The town ftands in a valley: the upper part is antique and unpleasant, the freets narrow, and the houfes high and ill-built; the fireets end in a fquare on the river fide, having only one good houfe, which is the town house. The lover part is new, containing three broad fireets, and houfes built of free-fione, four or five ftories high, inhabited to the roofs, the inhabitants amounting to near 13,000. Building goes on every day, because the war compels the rich capitalifts fo to employ their money. In the old town the houses are built mofily of wood; in the new, of brick. The former are deftitute of art or convenience, but in the latter we find a prodigious improvement of tafte: inficad of the heavy balconies of wood, they are of iron, neatly manufactured; and, instead of the wooden fhutters, and finall round panes of glafs, we find large panes and Venetian blinds. The only thing that aftonifles and difgulis foreigners is the finding certain conveniences placed in the kitchen, and clofe to the chimney. (p. 73.) Along the river fide are walks of clins, and profpects of fertile cultivated mountains. The fealt of Corpus Chrifti, or Holy Thursday, is kept with great folemnity and pageantry, and the afternoon appropriated to the corrida, or bull fights, which, with the proceflion, engrofled the whole attention. During the laft three days the bulls were led about the town in grand proceflion, amid the acclamations of the populace; and at night in particular the fquare was filled with an immenfe crowd of people. At each end of the fquare an amphitheatre was raifed, and the whole inclofed with high pales. The benches and balconies on either fide bent under the weight of

'hin

Its trade confifts in wool, chefnuts, iron, and oil. Of the foreign mer chants the Germans are most numerous. Many difficulties, however, attend the eftablishment or a foreign houfe of trade at Bilboa, where no foreign confuls are recognized. The Bifcayans have in general a kind of national haired for the French, increafed by the late events to horror. Heretics as they are, the Engh are preferred. The number of French Reagees in Spain are computed at 22,000. Befides the revenue they derive from their males (fix pence each), they employ themselves in handicraft trades, practife phyfic, teach languages, ferve the rich canons, and adopt every means of fupporting their wretched exiftence. The language is that of the antient Cantabri, preferved pure and unmixed, except a few French and Spanith words adopted to expreis new ideas. Immenfe population, afflux of foreigners, and abundani circulation of fpecie, make Bilboa one of the dearest places in Spain. Sardines and chefnuts, and maize bread, form the food of the poor. The light wine called chacoli ferves rather to cool than ftrengthen the body. The air of Bilboa and Bifcay is excellent, and fuch as may be expected in a mountainous country near the fea; the climate mild and temperate The trees are rarely deprived of all their leaves, and the verdure begins to re-appear towards the end of January. Thefe foft winters, however, produce epidemical putrid fevers, and the finall-pox makes the greater ravages, as the ignoraut phyficians adminifter their cooling medicines to all conftitutions ftrong or weak, without diftinction; and fome, in chronic rheumatifim, adminifter nothing but an ointment of ftorax; and, in certain cutaneous difcates, cafily gueffed ai, apply only goulard or mer cur al plafiers. (p) 95—111.)

The road from Bilboa is through Miravalles, a village with a pofuda, or inn, crowded with maleteers, but fur nishing excellent beds. The feenery like Chamouny. Leaving Orduna, remarkable for its antiquity, and the fuperb architecture of its cuftom-houfe, they were overtaken on the afcent of a mountain with terrible fo ms and darkness, and with difficulty defcended to the venta at the foot, where they had reafon to be con ented with their fleep ing-place and reception. Next day procceded to Ofma, where cultivation and

cattle, except fheep and black swine, begin to decline. Our fleeping-places became lc's clean, and the bread as well as water bad, but the wine better and cheaper. Indigence and forrowful countenances. We crolled the Ebro, and paffed the night at Villa nueva, a poor town. Defart heaths and the moft hideous fterility, except the monaftic cultivation. In a farm half a mile from Burgos, which ferved as an inn, met with a French ecclefiaftic pilgrim, and a man of rank, whofe head had been turned by devotion. "If a man wishes to become acquainted with the inhabitants of Old Caftile, he muft obferve them at Burgos; for, no where can be found fo many ill-dreffed people, or fo many beggars in the fireets, fupported by monafteries. Hence, notwithstanding its extent, the place has a dull and inanimate appearance, At Lerma a mule fell fick, and was cured by exorcifins. Aranda boasts fome tanneries and feveral woollen manufac-. tories, has a degree of affluence, and belongs to the Prince of Peace. The villages from hence miferable, and the kitchen of the inn at Boffequillas contained nothing but objects of mifery. Afcended the fnow-clad mountains of Guadarrama." The road to Somofierra is one of the most magnificent in all Spain. It was begun by Ferdinand VI. and finished under Charles III. We defcended pretty rapidly, found the air below fenfibly milder; and, after two full hours, arrived at the small town of Buytrago, which, by its antieut towers and walls, is eafily perceived to have been a fortrefs. The pofada was kept by Catalonians. The laft fleeping-place was San Agoftin in New Caftile, where was more cleanli nefs and affluence. At San Sebaftian, three leagues from Madrid, the country is more cultivated, and a fine road filled with travellers. At the port of Fuencarral, the name of which is writ

ten

over the gate in a fquare of porcelain, we were obliged to top to be eaxamined with great rigour, efpecially as to fnuff. Before our turn came, we faw above 30 pauniers in-. fpected, which is done in a very singular manner. The custom-house-officers being furnished with a long bar of iron, channelled out and rubbed with greafe, pafs it in every direction into the pannier, where, if it meets with fnuff, fome will adhere to the greafe. We were dispatched more quickly, becaufe

Qur

our portmanteaus were fealed, and our paffports did not defcribe us to be merchants. I was furprized to find, a few paces from this pofi, in the middle of the road, a heap of dirt, on which lay a dead carcafe. (pp. 129-131.)

MADRID is fituated in the centre of Spain, aud on all fides almoft equidiftant from the fea. The fineft view of it is from the hill before the port [gate] of Segovia The city forms a regular fquare, is furrounded by a mud wall of no great thickness, but tolerably high. To walk round it takes three hours and a half According to the lateft accounts by Lopez, in his Grografia moderna, the number of inhabitants, excepting the garrifon, hofpitals, and children, amounts to 130,980, occupying 7100 houfes, and it contains 77 churches, 44 monafteries, and 31 convents. The old houfes are almoft all of wood, rarely exceeding four ftories, decorated with bull-fights, dancers, and the antient coftume; the new, five, of granite, brought 16 or 18 leagues, fimple, and almoft all painted yellow. This mixture of old and new houfes is particularly ftriking in places remarkable for their magnificence or deformity. In one of the most animated streets, the Red de San Luis, you fee a crowd of women in black and veiled, men in long cloaks, watercarriers, fruit-fellers, magnificent equipages, dufty diligences, light caletas, heavy loaded waggons drawn by mules, a multitude of affes with pack-faddles and bells, and herds of goats with peafants going from door to door to milk them; blind muficians finging their tornadillas or popular fongs, alguazils crying the orders of police, a crowd of gallegos or porters, proceflions of chaplets, guards following the drum, or confraternities efcorting a funeral and finging Pfalms; and, lalily, the foJemn procellion of the venerulile, or hoft; when, the bells of the children of the choir being heard, every one kneels down, all tongues are filent, and all hats off, all the carriages flop, and the tumultuous mals feems inflantly petrified, but in two minutes the accuftomed clangor is renewed. In the great Square, when it has ftruck 11, a troop of officers of the guard with brilliant accoutrements, monks in black cloaks, charming women in veils embroidered *We are more furprized our traveller does not tell us whether of mau or beaft, or how either came by its end. Edit.

with gold holding the arms of their
cortejos (or cicibeos), and a party-co-
loured crowd of all kinds, wrapped up
in their cloaks, pour from every fireet,
to read the advertisements and polting-
bills (noticias fueltas). "To-day there
will be a fermon and mufick at the
Francifcans; an opera, and fuch plays.
To-morrow a bull-fight, or the novena
of San Felipo commences. Loft yefter-
day at the Prado a little girl, and this
morning a chaplet. Stolen three days,
a jewel; if it has been taken through
want, and if the thief will reftore it by
his confeflor, he fhall receive a hand-
fome reward. The day after to-morrow
will be fold a large crucifix, an image
of the Madona, and a nacimiento
(or cafe containing the infant Jefus,
with the two other perfons of the Tri-
nity, in wood or plafter). This even-
ing the proceffion of the rofary will fet
out about 8 o'clock." The fquare is
conftantly filling, fo that it becomes
very difficult to pafs. Here are criers of
journals tunning the paffengers with
their noife, people reading the Gazette
for a quarto or farthing, Walloon and
Swifs guards offering goods for fale, hack-
ney-coaches plying for fares, old cloaths-
men, coblers, tharpers, fellers of images
and cigars, and hucksters of all kinds, tor-
menting the paffengers; there a nume-
rous circle crowd round an ingenious
memorialift, or notary, a very profitable
occupation, and abounding in every
ftreet, for nothing is to be obtained by
verbal applications, even to a passport,
for which a memorialito muft pafs thro'
an infinity of offices; and there a loto with
a dial to be pulled; next him a juggler
with dancing monkies, and farther
on goods felling by auction; women
ogling the paflengers alfo mingle in the
crowd, while capuchins with long
beards parade with gravity and folem-
nity. Here you are attacked by a
couple of ballad-fingers, and there an-
noyed by au importunate beggar; to
all which is added the noife of car-
riages and calefas, and of the neigh-
houring fountain, re-echoing with the
loud hallooing voices of the water-
carriers. This place is ftill more noify
on Sundays and holidays, when crowds
are flocking to the neighbouring
churches. It is the fathion to pats
thefe days in the fquare; and many a
fair who has miffed her lover at church
is fure to find him here. The groups
then crowd upon each other to the very
*A Nativity:

gates