LIII. 1808. Estremadura, have from time immemorial been devoted CHAP. to pasturage; over their dry and unenclosed expanses immense flocks of sheep constantly wander, the wool of which is celebrated all over the world for the fineness of its texture. Such is the wealth and influence of the owners of these flocks, that it has enabled them to perpetuate for centuries the privileges of the Mesta, so ruinous to agriculture, by which they are permitted to wander at pleasure over nearly the whole extent of the kingdom. In some alluvial plains, as those of Valencia, the Llobregat in Catalonia, and the banks of the Guadalquivir in Andalusia, the soil is of surpassing fertility, and the crops rival those of Lombardy or the Campagna of Malte Naples in variety and richness. Manufactures, with a 665, 666. few exceptions, are in every part of the country in a state 275, 481. of infancy.1 Brun, vii. Thiers, viii, In almost every quarter, the Peninsula is intersected 6. mountain Portugal. by long rocky and almost inaccessible mountain ridges, Great which form a barrier between province and province, ranges of almost as complete, not merely to hostile armies, but Spain and even to the inhabitants of the country, as is that interposed by the Alps or the Pyrenees. Branching out from the great chain which separates France from Spain, one vast assemblage of mountains runs to the westward, forming in its course the Alpine nests and inaccessible retreats of Asturias and Galicia; while another, stretching to the eastward, covers with its various ramifications nearly the whole of Catalonia, and encloses in its bosom the admirable industry and persevering efforts of its hardy cultiIn the interior of the hills which descend from the crest of the Pyrenees to the long vale of the Ebro, are formed the beautiful and umbrageous valleys of Navarre and Biscay, where, in mountain fastnesses and amidst chestnut forests, liberty has for six hundred years diffused its blessings, and the prodigy has been exhibited of independent privileges and democratic equality having been preserved untouched, with all their attendant secu VOL. VIII. 2 C LIII. 1808. CHAP. rity and general comfort, under an otherwise despotic monarchy. Beyond the Ebro, one great mountain range, stretching across from the frontiers of Catalonia to the neighbourhood of Lisbon, forms the almost impassable barrier between the valleys of the Tagus and the Douro, and the provinces of Old and New Castile, Leon, and i. 168, 170. Estremadura. Its western extremity has been immortalised in history; it contains the ridge of Busaco, and terminates in the rocks of Torres-Vedras.1 1 Malte Brun, vii. 647,651, 659, 664. Laborde, Thiers, viii. 480. 7. Another, taking its rise from the high grounds which Those in the form the western limit of the plain of Valencia, extends south of Spain. in a south-westerly direction to Cape St Vincent in the south of Portugal, and separates in its course the valleys of the Tagus and the Guadiana. A third, also reaching in the same direction across the whole country, forms the boundary between the valleys of the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir, under the name of the Sierra-Morena, divides the province of New Castile from that of Andalusia, and has been immortalised as the scene of the wanderings of the hero of Cervantes. A fourth, detached by itself in the southern extremity of the Peninsula, forms the romantic mountains of Ronda, whose summits, wrapped in perpetual snow, withstand the genial sun which ripens oranges and citrons and all the productions of Africa on their sides. Two great and rich alluvial plains alone are to be found in Spain, the character of whose inhabitants differs from that of all the rest of the Peninsula in the first of which, amidst water-melons, luxuriant harvests, and all the richest gifts of nature, the castanets and evening dances of the Valencians present Humboldt, the unforeseeing gaiety of tropical regions; while in the Espagne, second, the indolent habits, fiery character, and impetuous i. 170, 175. disposition of the Andalusians attest, amidst myrtle thickets, the perfume of orange groves, and the charms of a delicious climate, the undecaying influence of Moorish blood and Arabian descent. 2 2 Malte Brun, vii. 494, 500. Geog. de in Laborde, Lord Caernarvon's Spain, ii. 254, 270. Spain has never been remarkable for the number or LIII. 1808. 8. nary resolu which in other tion with reso- every age the Span their cities. opulence of its towns: Madrid, Cadiz, Valencia, Barcelona, CHAP. and Seville, the largest of which, after the capital, does not contain above a hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, alone deserve the name of cities. But it Extraordihas in every age been distinguished beyond any country recorded in history, by the unconquerable lution with which their inhabitants have defended their ads have walls, even under circumstances when more prudent defended courage would have abandoned the contest in despair. The heart of every classical scholar has thrilled at the fate of Numantia, Saguntum, and Astapa, whose heroic defenders preferred perishing with their wives and children in the flames to surrendering to the hated dominion. of the stranger; and the same character has characterised their descendants in modern times.t With invincible resolution Barcelona held out for its rights and privileges, after Europe had adjusted its strife at Utrecht, and * Madrid contained, in 1808, 190,000 inhabitants.-Edin. Gazetteer, Art. Madrid. The population of the principal Spanish towns in 1834 was as follows: "Locum in foro destinant, quo pretiosissima rerum suarum congererent; super eum cumulum conjuges ac liberos considere quum jussissent, ligna circa exstruunt, fascesque virgultorum conjiciunt. Fœdior alia in urbe trucidatio erat, quum turbam feminarum puerorumque imbellem inermemque cives sui cæderent, et in succensum rogum semianima pleraque injicerent corpora, rivique sanguinis flammam orientem restinguerent; postremo ipsi, cæde miserandâ suorum fatigati, cum armis medio se incendio injecerunt."-LIVY, xxviii. c. 22, 23. Numantia and Saguntum have become household words over the world, but the heroism of ASTAPA here narrated has not received the fame it deserves. CHAP. England, with perfidious policy, had abandoned her LIII. Peninsular allies to the arms of their enemies. 1808. 9. insula which dered it a community. The double siege of Saragossa, the heroic defence of Gerona, the obstinate stand at Rosas, have put the warriors of northern Europe to the blush for the facility with which they surrendered fortresses to the invader, incomparably stronger and better provided with arms and garrisons; while Cadiz alone of almost all European towns successfully resisted the utmost efforts of the spoiler, and, after a fruitless siege of two years, saw the arms even of Napoleon roll back. The peculiar political constitution of the Spanish Peculiari monarchy, and the revolutions which its inhabitants civil history have undergone in the course of ages, have been as of the Pen- favourable to the maintenance of a defensive and isolated have ren- internal, as they were prejudicial to the prosecution of a divided vigorous external warfare by its government. Formed by the amalgamation at various times of many different nations of separate descent, habits, and religion, it has never yet attained the vigour and unity of a homogeneous monarchy. Its inhabitants are severed from each other, not only by desert ridges or rocky sierras, but by original separation of race and inveterate present animosity. The descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the Spanish soil are there mingled with the children of the Goth, the Vandal, and the Roman; with the faithlessness of Moorish blood, or the fire of Arabian descent. These different and hostile races have never thoroughly amalgamated. For many centuries they maintained separate and independent governments, and kept up prolonged and bloody warfare with each other; and when at length they all yielded to the arms and fortune of Ferdinand and Isabella, the central government neither acquired the popular infusion nor the inherent energy which is necessary to mould out of such discordant materials a vigorous state. The peculiar character of the people formed by this singular blending of so many different LIII. 1808. races in their progenitors, is chiefly to be seen in the CHAP. inhabitants of the country. The Spanish peasant has no resemblance either to the French, the English, or the German. He has neither the gaiety of the former, nor the perseverance of the latter. He unites the individual energy of the Turk or the Arab to the religious and political passions of the European. He is not worn out, like the labourers of most other countries, by incessant toil, nor occupied with the exclusive care of amassing money. Indolent, when not roused by passion, in towns; wandering for the most part over vast plains after flocks of sheep, or pursuing the more gainful trade of smuggling. he is ever ready to join in his favourite amusements of dancing or bull-fighting, or to listen to heart-stirring tales 1 Thiers, of ancient days, or share in the political passions of the viii. 481. present moment.1 been tho amalga The example of Great Britain, where the various and 10. hostile races of the Britons, the Saxons, the Danes, Scots, It has never and Normans, have been at length blended into one roughly united and powerful monarchy, proves that such an mated. amalgamation is possible; that of Ireland, where the Saxon and the Gael are still in fierce and ruinous hostility with each other, that it is one of the most difficult of political problems. Without the freedom of the English constitution, which unites them by the powerful bond of experienced benefits and participated power, or the crushing vigour of the Russian despotism, which holds them close in the bands of rising conquest, it is hardly possible to give to such a mixed race the vigour of homogeneous descent. In Spain this had never been attempted, and, if attempted, it would probably have proved unsuccessful. The Aragonese were jealous of the Catalonians; the Castilians despised the Valencians; the Galicians even were at variance with the Asturians; and the freeborn mountaineers of Navarre and Biscay had their local antipathies. All the inhabitants of the north regarded as an inferior race the natives of Grenada and Andalusia, where Moorish |