[1] The Andalusians aspirate the _s_, and in pronunciation confound it
with _c_ soft and _z_, which the Spaniards pronounce like the English
_th_. It is possible to recognise an Andalusian by the one word _señor_.
[2] That is, the _privileged provinces_, which enjoy special _fueros_,
namely, Alava, Biscay, Guipuzcoa, and a part of Navarre. Basque is the
language spoken in those provinces.
[3] A café provided with an ice-house, or rather with a store of snow.
There is hardly a village in Spain which has not its _neveria_.
[4] In Spain every traveller who does not carry about with him
specimens of calico or silk is taken for an Englishman, _Inglesito_. It
is the same in the East; at Chalcis I had the honour of being announced
as a Μιλὸρδος Φραντσέοος.
[5] Fortune.
[6] In 1830 the nobility alone enjoyed that privilege. To-day (1847)
under the constitutional _régime_, the plebeians have obtained the
privilege of the _garrote_.
[7] Ironshod staves carried by the Basques.
[8] The magistrate at the head of the police and municipal
administration.
[9] The ordinary costume of the peasant women of Navarre and the Basque
provinces.
[10] Yes, sir.
[11] Enclosure, garden.
[12] Bravoes, bullies.
[13] All the Spanish cavalry are armed with lances.
[14] Alcala de los Panaderos, a hamlet two leagues from Seville, where
they make delicious small loaves. It is claimed that their excellence
is due to the water of Alcala, and great quantities of them are taken
to Seville daily.
[15] Good-day, comrade.
[16] Most of the houses in Seville have an interior courtyard
surrounded by porticos. The inhabitants live there in summer. The
courtyard is covered with canvas, which is kept wet during the day and
removed at night. The gate into the street is almost always open, and
the passage leading into the courtyard is closed by an iron gate of
elaborate workmanship.
[17] _Mañana sera otro dia._--A Spanish proverb.
[18] A gypsy proverb.
[19] Sugared yolks of eggs.
[20] A kind of nougat.
[21] King Don Pedro, whom we call the _Cruel_, but whom Isabella
the Catholic always called the _Justiciary_, loved to walk the
streets of Seville at night in search of adventures, like the
Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid. On a certain night he had a quarrel in an
out-of-the-way street with a man who was giving a serenade. They fought
and the king slew the love-lorn knight. Hearing the clash of swords,
an old woman put her head out of a window and lighted up the scene
with a small lamp (_candilejo_) which she held in her hand. You must
know that King Don Pedro, who was very active and powerful, had one
physical peculiarity: his knees cracked loudly when he walked. The old
woman had no difficulty in recognising him by means of that cracking.
The next day the Twenty-four who was on duty came to the king to make
his report. “Sire, there was a duel last night on such a street. One
of the combatants was killed.” “Have you discovered the murderer?”
“Yes, sire.” “Why is he not punished before now?” “I await your orders,
sire.” “Carry out the law.” Now the king had recently issued a decree
providing that every duellist should be beheaded, and that his head
should be exposed on the battle-field. The Twenty-four extricated
himself from the dilemma like a man of wit. He caused the head of a
statue of the king to be sawed off, and exposed it in a recess in the
middle of the street where the murder had taken place. The king and all
the good people of Seville thought it an excellent joke. The street
took its name from the lamp of the old woman, who was the sole witness
of the adventure. Such is the popular tradition. Zuñiga tells the story
a little differently. (See _Anales de Sevilla_, vol. ii., p. 136.)
However, there is still a Rue de Candilejo in Seville, and in that
street a stone bust said to be a portrait of Don Pedro. Unfortunately
the bust is a modern affair. The old one was sadly defaced in the
seventeenth century, and the municipal government caused it to be
replaced by the one we see to-day.
[22] _Rom_, husband; _romi_, wife.
[23] _Calo_; feminine _calli_; plural _cales_. Literally _black_--the
name by which the gypsies call themselves in their own tongue.
[24] The Spanish dragoons wear a yellow uniform.
[25] A gypsy proverb.
[26] Saint--the Blessed Virgin.
[27] The gallows, supposed to be the widow of the last man hanged.
[28] The red (land).
[29] _Flamenço de Roma_--a slang term to designate a gypsy. _Roma_ does
not mean here the Eternal City, but the race of _Romi_, or married
folk, a name which the gypsies assume. The first that were seen in
Spain probably came from the Low Countries, whence the designation
_Flemings_.
[30] A bulbous root of which a very pleasant drink is made.
[31] The ordinary rations of the Spanish soldier.
[32] That is, with address, and without violence.
[33] A sort of unattached body of troops.
[34] The idiots, to take me for a swell!
[35] A name which the common people in Spain give to the English, on
account of the colour of their uniform.
[36] That is to say, to the galleys, or to all the devils.
[37] My lover, or rather, my fancy.
[38] _La divisa_, a bow of ribbon, the colour of which indicates the
place from which the bull comes. This bow is fastened in the bull’s
hide by a hook, and it is the very climax of gallantry to tear it from
the living animal and present it to a woman.
[39] Maria Padilla has been accused of having bewitched King Don Pedro.
A popular tradition says that she presented to Queen Blanche de Bourbon
a golden girdle, which seemed to the fascinated eyes of the king a
living serpent. Hence the repugnance which he always displayed for the
unfortunate princess.